ABUSE TRACKER

ALASKA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Juneau

PRESS RELEASE
December 13, 2016

Diocese of Juneau
For Immediate Release
907-586-2227 x 32

JUNEAU, AK – His Holiness Pope Francis has named Bishop Edward J. Burns, 59, as the new Bishop of Dallas, Texas. Until today, Bishop Burns has served as the fifth Bishop of Juneau, Alaska. Bishop Burns succeeds Cardinal Kevin Farrell who left Dallas for Rome after being appointed by Pope Francis as the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. The announcement of Bishop Burns’ appointment was made today by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, in Washington, DC.

“I am humbled and grateful to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, for this appointment as the next bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. At the same time, this announcement fills my heart with gratitude for the privilege and honor of serving the priests, deacons, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Juneau,” Bishop Burns said. “I am profoundly grateful for my experience in Southeast Alaska and I pray for God’s grace as I take on my new duties as Chief Shepherd of the Diocese of Dallas.”

The son of Geraldine Little Burns and the late Donald P. Burns, Bishop Burns was born and raised in the Pittsburgh, PA area. He graduated from Lincoln High School (1975) in Ellwood City, PA and then attended St. Paul Seminary/Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. With his BA degree (Philosophy and Sociology) he attended Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD where he graduated in 1983 with a Master of Divinity degree and a Master in Theology. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh on June 25, 1983.

After ordination, Bishop Burns served in parish ministry, diocesan administration, and in vocation and seminary work. He was the Director of Clergy Personnel for the Diocese of Pittsburgh when Bishop Donald Wuerl at the time, now Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC, released him to serve at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop in Washington, DC.

He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Juneau by Pope Benedict XVI on January 19, 2009; ordained a bishop on March 3, 2009 at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA; and installed as Bishop of Juneau on April 2, 2009.

Bishop Burns is currently serving the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as the Chair of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, a member of the Committee on Home Missions and a member of the Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services.

His installation as the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas will take place on Thursday, February 9, 2017.

Photos of Bishop Edward J. Burns

Curriculum Vitae

[For more information, please contact Mr. Dominique Johnson, Director of Communications, at 907-586-2227 x32 or communication@dioceseofjuneau.org]

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TEXAS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Many cardinals, bishops and priests have reached out to express their congratulations to the new chief shepherd of the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Edward J. Burns.

“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Bishop Edward Burns on his appointment as Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. I have known Bishop Burns and worked with him at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for many years. His warm, outgoing and collaborative personality as well as his extensive experience in vocations, safe environment and parish ministry make him an excellent choice to lead the Diocese of Dallas. I know he will be warmly welcomed in the diocese that I love so well. May God bless Bishop Burns and the Diocese of Dallas.”

– Cardinal Kevin Farrell

“It is indeed a joy to hear that our Holy Father Pope Francis has entrusted the Church of Dallas to Juneau Bishop Edward Burns. From his time in Pittsburgh as a priest, as rector of Saint Paul’s Seminary, and then also in his service at the U.S. Conference of Bishops where he worked on vocations and priestly formation, I have seen the great pastoral care and spiritual leadership with which Bishop Burns has faithfully served the Church.. The Diocese of Dallas is blessed to be gaining an extraordinary shepherd, and he brings with him our prayers for his pastoral ministry.”

– Cardinal Donald Wuerl

“I appreciate Bishop Burns’ great energy and enthusiasm about his new assignment here and we are very grateful that our Holy Father has sent us a Chief Shepherd so quickly. I enjoyed working closely with Cardinal Kevin Farrell and I now look forward to doing all that I can to assist Bishop Burns in continuing to build up the Catholic Church in the Dallas area.”

– Bishop Greg Kelly

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TEXAS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Pope Francis has named the Most Reverend Edward J. Burns to serve as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. The much anticipated appointment was announced today, December 13, 2016 in Washington, D.C. by the papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre. Bishop Burns, the new Chief Shepherd of the 1.3 million Catholics in the Dallas diocese, succeeds Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who left Dallas for Rome on October 1 after the Pope appointed him the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Bishop Burns will be introduced and speak to the media at a news conference on Tuesday, December 13th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Pastoral Center of the Diocese of Dallas. View live stream coverage at www.cathdal.org/video.

Since 2009, Bishop Burns has served as the Bishop of Juneau, Alaska. Prior to that, the 59-year-old bishop served the Catholic Church on the national level as Executive Director of the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. from 1999 -2008. In 2008 he was named the Rector of St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. In January 2009, he was named the Bishop of Juneau. Prior to 1999, Bishop Burns served in parish ministry, diocesan administration and did extensive work in vocations.

The new Bishop of Dallas says he is looking forward to his appointment, “I am extremely happy and humbled that Pope Francis has chosen me to lead such an important diocese and I look forward to serving the local Church of the Diocese of Dallas. I am profoundly grateful for my experience in Juneau and I pray for God’s grace as I take on my new duties as Chief Shepherd of this ever-growing Diocese of Dallas.” The new Bishop-designate also stressed that “I look forward to listening and learning all that I can about this beautifully diverse Catholic community and I want to assure all in the Diocese of Dallas that I will be a shepherd for all people.”

Bishop Greg Kelly, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dallas, said “I appreciate Bishop Burns’ great energy and enthusiasm about his new assignment here and we are very grateful that our Holy Father has sent us a Chief Shepherd so quickly. I enjoyed working closely with Cardinal Kevin Farrell and I now look forward to doing all that I can to assist Bishop Burns in continuing to build up the Catholic Church in the Dallas area.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bullettin

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, United States of America, as bishop of Dallas (area 19,475, population 3,975,996, Catholics 1,258,656, priests 228, permanent deacons 179, religious 188), United States of America.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Bishop Edward Burns is a poor choice to head the Dallas diocese. Pope Francis continues to promote clerics who share his personal leadership style and sadly, his lack of action on children’s safety.

[SNAP]

[U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]

Until last month, Juneau Bishop Edward Burns headed the US bishops sex abuse committee. For years, he had tangible power to protect kids. As best we can tell, he did little or nothing in that post. For years, he has an enormous bully pulpit. He could have used it to exhort church staff to act responsibly. As best we can tell, he never did.

Instead, he postured. He claimed, in an interview, he was “shocked” by an Altoona PA grand jury report that showed the same horrific cover ups that virtually every other US grand jury reported in every diocese that was investigated.

Never mind Burns’ national failure. He controls his own diocese. Here again, however, he’s done nothing more than the bare minimum that’s required of him regarding abuse.

About 30 US bishops have posted predators’ names on their website. Burns refuses to do so.

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RHODE ISLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

We share the outrage of those hurt at St. George School over delays in acting against an allegedly callous therapist who reportedly refused to call police about suspected child sex crimes. The officials in charge simply must do better.

[Providence Journal]

The state Health Department and state Board of Psychology must move more quickly to at least suspend Peter Kosseff. It doesn’t take a year to investigate the charges that he hurt kids by refusing to call 911.

In the years since his alleged wrongdoing at St. George, one wonders how many other possible cases of sexual violence has he kept silent about. How many other known or suspected child sex crimes is he hiding right now?

If wrongdoing is ignored, wrongdoing is repeated.

Many blame victims of sexual violence for not reporting promptly. But few express outrage when authorities don’t respond to such reports promptly. This is an unjust and unhealthy “double standard.”

Those who commit child sex crimes are sick and compulsive. They can’t be deterred. But those who conceal child sex crimes CAN be deterred. As a society, we must simply expose, ostracize and “throw the book” at them. When therapists, doctors, teachers and lawyers lose their license for endangering kids by keeping quiet, this kind of irresponsible inaction will end.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

We applaud the brave victims and law enforcement officials who are prosecuting a child molesting Episcopalian priest and who are reminding all of us of an important lesson – even older child sex crimes and cover ups must be reported to police and prosecutors. And we beg church officials in four states to do aggressive outreach to find and help others who were assaulted by this cleric.

All too often, we all assume “it’s just too late” to pursue those who commit or conceal sexual violence. Increasingly, that’s just not true. Even in decades-old cases, more lawyers, cops and prosecutors are being increasingly creative and aggressive about going after these predators and enablers, a long-overdue move we deeply appreciate.

Rev. Howard J. “Howdy” White Jr., formerly of St. George’s School in Rhode Island, is in court today in Boston. Our hearts ache for those he molested. We hope they take some comfort in the fact that he’s been publicly exposed and faces potential jail time.

We urge all Episcopalian officials in all four states: North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia and Pennsylvania, to use church websites, parish bulletins and pulpit announcements to aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rev. White’s crimes and beg them to call police. This is the very least that church officials should do.

All too often, when clergy sex crimes emerge, church staff pretend to be powerless. They are not. They have both the resources and the duty to spread the word and actively help police and prosecutors build a strong case against predatory preachers.

Rev. Howard W. White Jr. worked at two places in North Carolina. In the 1980s, Rev. White Jr. was headmaster of what was then the Asheville Country Day School in Asheville, North Carolina and was rector of Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John R. Ellement GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 13, 2016

A former Rhode Island Episcopal priest is due in a Boston courtroom Tuesday to face sexual assault charges dating back to the 1970s when he allegedly assaulted a teenager during trips to the Boston area.

Howard White was indicted on five counts of assault and battery for assaulting the victim, who was 16 years old at the time, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. Prosecutors said White’s nickname was “Howdy.’’

White, 75, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court.

While White is accused of sexually assaulting the teenager, Conley’s office said in a statement that the crime of indecent assault and battery did not exist in the 1970s.

White is also facing charges some four decades after the alleged crimes because he never lived in Massachusetts, meaning the statute of limitations never started to run, Conley’s office said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Hohenzolleranische Zeitung

[Investigation will continue into alleged abuse at a Protestant brothers home in Kotntal.]

Nach monatelangem Streit um die Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen in Heimen der evangelischen Brüdergemeinde Korntal (Kreis Ludwigsburg) wagen Betroffene und Gemeinde einen Neuanfang. Eine Gruppe aus ehemaligen Heimkindern, ihren Unterstützern, der Brüdergemeinde und zwei Mediatoren haben sich am Montag darauf geeinigt, einen unabhängigen Aufklärer zu suchen. Das teilte die Brüdergemeinde am Dienstag mit.

Obwohl der Betroffene Detlev Zander, der den Missbrauch im Sommer 2014 öffentlich gemacht hatte, schon lange einen solchen Aufklärer fordert, hat er die Auftraggebergruppe verlassen. „Wir werden uns im Aufklärungsprozess nicht wieder in die Obhut der Brüdergemeinde geben“, sagte Zander im Namen des Netzwerks Betroffenenforum der Deutschen Presse-Agentur. In der derzeit achtköpfigen Auftraggebergruppe sitzen zwei Vertreter der Brüdergemeinde.

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DANMARK
SH-ugeavisen

[Pastor partly confesses new accusations.]

By Günter Schwarz | Regional, Schleswig-Holstein | 12 Dezember 2016

(Tømmerup / Sjælland) – Der in Haft befindliche Pastor wird in insgesamt 11 Fällen wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern beschuldigt. Der 46-jährige Pastor, der sich seit Juni in Haft befindet, gesteht teilweise die gegen ihn erhobenen Anschuldigungen. Das sagt der Verteidiger des 46-Jährigen, Thomas Philipp, zu Danmarks Radio-Avis (Nachrichten).

Nach Angaben der Polizei aus Pressemitteilungen werden Beschuldigungen des Verkehrs, Verkehrsversuchen und andere sexuelle Handlungen wie Geschlechtsverkehr und Exhibitionismus gegen ihn erhoben. Die Anklage bezieht sich auf Taten gegen vier Jungen und ein Mädchen – alle im Alter von 12 bis 17 Jahren.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

BOSTON —
A former Rhode Island priest will be in court Tuesday in connection with allegations he sexually
assaulted a teenage boy in the 1970s.

Howard White, 75, faces five counts of assault and battery for allegedly sexually assaulting a then-16-year-old boy, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

White is charged with assault and battery because, at the time of the offenses, the charge of indecent assault and battery had not yet been enacted, according to the district attorney’s office.

The statute of limitations does not bar White’s prosecution of because he was never a resident of Massachusetts.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Steve Limtiaco , slimtiaco@guampdn.com December 13, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana on Monday issued a statement, responding to the latest child sexual abuse lawsuit filed against Guam clergy and the church.

Robert Aguon Perez, 45, on Dec. 7 sued the Rev. David Anderson and the archdiocese, alleging that Anderson started molesting him when he was an 11-year-old altar boy and then started raping him when he was 12 or 13 years old. The lawsuit states Anderson was a priest in Sinajana and a theology teacher at Father Duenas Memorial School.

The archdiocese confirmed that Anderson was a priest who served on Guam in the 1970s and 1980s, under the order of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars.

Anderson was assigned to the St. Jude Thaddeus Church, in Sinajana, from 1978 to 1983, according to the archdiocese, and taught at Father Duenas Memorial School from 1978 to the 1980s.

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MINNESOTA
Voice of Alexandria

Minnesota News Network

(Minneapolis, MN) — Another hearing is set this week in federal court on two proposals for compensating those who’ve been abused by Catholic priests.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis would set aside 155 million dollars or more for a victims’ fund, and attorney Charles Rogers says the church negotiated the best deal it could with its insurers. Victims’ attorney Mike Finnegan says the archdiocese is only putting in 16 million dollars of its own money, and the rest comes from its insurance policies. Finnegan says the church has one-point-three billion dollars in assets it can tap, plus one billion dollars in insurance funds that could potentially be available. Survivors and other creditors will vote on the plans, and then a judge will make the final decision.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Michelle Smith
Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Nearly a year after receiving a complaint that a former boarding school psychologist did not do enough to address sexual abuse reports, Rhode Island licensing officials have not resolved it, leaving victims of abuse at the school frustrated at the slow pace.

Two women who were among at least 31 girls abused by a now-deceased athletic trainer at St. George’s School in Middletown asked that psychologist Peter Kosseff’s license be revoked. They tell The Associated Press they are bothered their complaints still are pending and Kosseff is still practicing.

Kosseff and the state health department would not comment. Both cited the pending case before the state Board of Psychology.

“It’s really frustrating,” said Katie Wales Lovkay, who told Kosseff about her abuse at the hands of athletic trainer Al Gibbs. As far as she knows, Kosseff never reported it to authorities.

Another of Gibbs’ victims filed the first complaint against Kosseff on Dec. 26, 2015.

“To me it’s pretty clear cut. Children were being raped and molested. He knew about it he didn’t report it. Is that the kind of person you want to license?” the victim said.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

This question has been floating around social media lately, as well filling much of my time as Director of Magen, an agency that comprehensively tackles the problem of child sexual abuse in Israel.

When a perpetrator admits to his crimes and expresses a desire to stop offending, Magen believes in providing him with support along with monitoring. Enter the familiar chill in the room… the uncomfortable silence. How can I, as a victim advocate, promote support for “those monsters”? In short, Magen’s goal is to keep children safe from sexual abuse. If a sex offender wants to “stay clean” and stay out of trouble, his success is our success. The ultimate act on behalf of victims is to prevent known abusers from abusing.

How is this done? Magen advocates an approximation of the COSA Model, or Circle of Support and Accountability. A COSA consists of a “core member” or sex offender attempting to reintegrate into a community (usually after prison time), and 4-6 volunteers who form a Circle around the Core Member, as well as a professional who guides and supports the volunteers. (Note: a COSA is in no way a substitute for legal action or following reporting requirements. Magen urges people to report any suspicion of child abuse to the Police and/or other legal authorities). The volunteers in the Circle have a few jobs.

The first job is setting boundaries as to what the Core Member cannot do, based on his risk assessment. This includes his avoiding triggers and access to potential victims. Warning community members may be necessary as a safety measure.

(I’ve heard this described as, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” In truth, monitoring requires a lot of contact with the perpetrator, and not letting him sink beneath the radar, and this requires a rapport. This is the opposite of the time honored approach of “run him out of town.” Running someone out of town may be gratifying in the short term, but translates to driving him to some other community where he will hurt someone else’s children. Even public shaming/warning demands a next step — okay, everyone knows — what should people do with that information? How can we best lower the risk this individual poses? How does the community interact with his wife and children? In short: now what?)

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KENTUCKY
Portsmouth Daily Times

By Frank Lewis – flewis@civitasmedia.com

A Lewis County, Kentucky church has been sued by a male teen for child sexual assault. According to attorney Bruce MacDonald of the McBrayer McGinnis Leslie & Kirkland, law firm, their client, known for the record as “John Doe,” is suing Vanceburg Christian Church where a former pastor, Duncan D. Akers, Jr., 65, pleaded guilty and was convicted of criminal charges for sexually abusing the plaintiff, “John Doe.”

Akers pleaded guilty to five counts of first degree sexual abuse as part of a plea agreement. Several other charges were dropped as a part of the plea deal.

“John Doe is having a lot of problems,” MacDonald told the Daily Times. “He is not able to function well in society, and hence, is unemployed and he needs counseling and he needs medical help, and we hope to be able to obtain those things for him, and allow him to finish his education, perhaps go to vocational school and hopefully become a production citizen and right now he’s not. He’s having a lot of problems. Therefore, we want to get him some financial assistance so he can get a vehicle and get stabilized in life.”

The lawsuit explains that the plaintiff met Akers when the Plaintiff was a young “latch-key” child who lived near the church and was invited by Pastor Aker to come to the Church. The Plaintiff then began going to the church regularly after school and on the weekends, according to the complaint. The complaint goes on to say Aker used those opportunities to “groom” the plaintiff and make him susceptible to the sexual abuse. According to the lawsuit, “between late 2007 and early 2010 . . when the plaintiff was 9-12 years old and Akers was 56-59 years old, Akers brutally and repeatedly sexually molested and raped the plaintiff at the Church as well as at locations off the site where Akers would take plaintiff.” The lawsuit says that Akers threatened the plaintiff not to tell anyone and used his position in the church to intimidate the plaintiff.

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KENTUCKY
Ledger Independent

MARY ANN KEARNS

A lawsuit has been filed in Lewis County, on behalf of a “John Doe,” who, as a child, was sexually abused by a former pastor of the church.

The complaint is in relation to former VCC minister Duncan Akers and involves acts which took place between 2007 and 2010. Aker pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree sexual abuse on March 4.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by attorneys Konrad Kircher, Bruce W. MacDonald, Stephen F. Crew and Peter B. Janci, claims the Vanceburg Christian Church had a duty to protect the plaintiff from harm and to closely supervise leaders and was negligent in doing so.

As a result of Akers’ abuse, the plaintiff has suffered permanent and lasting damages, the complaint alleges.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Kent Online

by Tom Acrestacres@thekmgroup.co.uk

Harrowing accounts of historical child abuse have been revealed by a further review into a Church of England home for young girls.

More than three decades of cruelty at Kendall House in Gravesend was first exposed by the findings of an expert panel in June, with residents found to have been drugged, sexually assaulted, locked in an isolation room and kept in straitjackets.

The 137-page report, compiled by Dr Sue Proctor, part-time judge Samantha Cohen and former police detective superintendent Ray Galloway, described Kendall House as “a frightening, violent and unpredictable place to live”.

Dr Proctor, who chaired the investigation into disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, said the abuse at Kendall House was the most troubling thing she had worked on.

So many other former residents came forward after its publication that the Rt Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester, agreed to an extended review, which has resulted in testimonies from one woman who was just nine when she was sent to Kendall House.

She had never been in a children’s home previously and it remains unclear why she was sent there, with other girls sent there by the Dioceses of Rochester and Canterbury ranging from 11 to 16-years-old.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Graeme Powell

An Anglican priest from Preston Beach south of Perth has been charged with child sex offences after allegedly abusing a young girl during a 16-month period.

The priest, 64, has been accused of sexually assaulting the girl between August 2010 and November 2011 while working at a church in Secret Harbour, north of Mandurah.

The child was 10 when the abuse allegedly began.

The man has been charged with three counts of indecent dealing with a child under 13 and one count of persistent sexual contact with a child under 16.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Brendan Foster

A former Anglican priest has been charged with alleged sexual offences against a 10-year-old girl from more than 15 years ago.

Police allege the 64-year-old man from Preston Beach sexually assaulted the young girl from August 2010 to November 2011 when he was an Anglican Priest at a church in Secret Harbour.

He has been charged with three counts of indecent dealing of a child under 13 years, and one count of persistent sexual conduct with a child under 16 years and will appear in Rockingham Magistrates court on Tuesday.

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CALIFORNIA
OC Family

BY JOELLE CASTEIX
November 28 – 2016

I am many things. I am a wife and a mother. I am a writer and an advocate. But there is one thing that shaped the adult I have become more than anything else:

I am a survivor of child sexual abuse.

A teacher at my well-known Orange County Catholic high school sexually molested me for two years when I was a young teen. He left me pregnant and with a sexually transmitted disease.

The crime was pernicious, but it was only the beginning. School administrators knew about the abuse and did nothing, even though they knew he had molested other girls.

What wounded me the most, however, wasn’t the actual abuse. It was the cover-up by school officials. It was the fact that my parents and many of my peers blamed me for what happened. The adults who were supposed to protect me instead threw me to the wolves. They protected a school instead of a child.

I left my teen years isolated, depressed, ashamed, self-destructive and hurt. Very, very hurt. I spent years wanting to die. I trusted no one, because to me, friendship meant betrayal. I didn’t know how to have a healthy romantic relationship within my peer group, because my predator had isolated me and flung me into a manipulative and abusive world.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Seth Williams should bring an umbrella to work.

Why? Because our corrupt district attorney, already under investigation by the FBI, the IRS and a grand jury, is about to see his proudest achievement as a prosecutor get splattered with excrement.

What does Seth Williams consider to be his proudest achievement? Why his self-described “historic” prosecution of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic cleric in the country to be sent to jail, not for touching a child, but for failing to control sexually abusive priests. It’s an achievement that has caused church haters and so-called victims advocates to swoon over Seth. At the height of this adulation, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd proclaimed Seth, raised Catholic, to be the “avenging altar boy.”

But there’s long been a problem with the Lynn case, namely that the alleged victim — former altar boy Danny Gallagher AKA “Billy Doe” — is a transparent fraud, as revealed in his copious medical records, legal depositions, and in two interviews with a couple of psychiatrists.

Today, Lynn’s lawyer, Thomas A. Bergstrom, filed a motion in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court that seeks to take the pre-trial testimony of retired Detective Joseph Walsh. Here’s why alarm bells are about to go off at the D.A.’s office as soon as they read Bergstrom’s motion — Walsh was the lead investigator in the Billy Doe case. And, according to Bergstrom’s motion, Walsh has talked to defense lawyers and “provided exculpatory evidence” never revealed to defense lawyers during two previous archdiocese sex abuse trials.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec 12, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Altoona’s Catholic bishop must take strong steps now to “un-do” the harm caused when his predecessor deceitfully and quietly sent a serial predator priest across state lines. We suggest that he use newspaper and radio ads to aggressively seek out and help other victims of the child molesting cleric.

Long secret, just-released church records show that then-Bishop James Hogan gave a “glowing recommendation” as he sent a Msgr. Francis McCaa – who authorities call a “monster” who may have “molested hundreds” – to West Virginia where he worked for years among especially vulnerable families.

[Tribune-Democrat]

No rational person thinks a three hour road trip cures pedophilia. Msgr. McCaa no doubt assaulted West Virginia kids too. So current Altoona Bishop Mark Bartchak must do all he can to try to find and console and compensate Msgr. McCaa’s victims in West Virginia. That’s the bare minimum moral obligation he faces.

If Bartchak’s predecessor burned down a church, Bartchak would rebuild it. If Bartchack’s predecessor made terrible investments, Bartchak would re-invest. So since Bartchak’s predecessor enabled a predator to hurt kids, Bartchak must try to find and help them.

Why wouldn’t Bartchack do this? Because he values his personal comfort more than the pain of abuse victims? Because he values his diocese’s wealth more than the still-deep suffering of boys and girls who were assaulted by an Altoona priest?

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

​12 December 2016

​On behalf of some of Yeshivah Melbourne’s victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, I welcome the conclusion of the formal election process at the Yeshivah Centre Melbourne.

We believe it is imperative that the new boards of Chabad Institutions of Victoria Limited and Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Schools Limited act decisively and expeditiously to address those issues emanating from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Report into Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi, so that the community can truly move forward from this stain.

In particular we note the findings of the Royal Commission in respect of Yeshivah Melbourne that:

a. “The leadership did not create an environment conducive to the communication of information about child sexual abuse. If anything, the mixed messages are likely to have produced inaction.”

b. “There was a marked absence of supportive leadership for survivors of child sexual abuse and their families within Yeshivah Melbourne. Halachic principles were stridently – even if incorrectly applied. Criticism of those that spoke out was forceful.”

c. “If the Yeshivah Melbourne, the Committee of Management and Rabbi Telsner had shown leadership, survivors of child sexual abuse and their families and supporters might have received a very different response from the members of the Yeshivah Melbourne community.”

As the Community is already aware, following the release of the findings of the Royal Commission, the Rabbinic Council of Australia and New Zealand, Rabbinical Council of Victoria and Rabbinical Council of New South Wales, released a public statement, calling on:

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

The Archdiocese of Agana released a statement yesterday in response to the latest allegations of child sexual abuse, apologizing for allegations of abuse made against clergy who served on Guam over the past several decades.

The latest suit, filed Dec. 7, came from Robert Aguon Perez, a 45-year-old Los Angeles resident, and named former Guam priest Rev. David Anderson. The suit alleges that Anderson sexually abused Perez when he was a child serving as an altar boy at the St. Jude parish in Sinajana and a student of Father Duenas Memorial School between the years 1982 and 1986. According to Post files, Perez would have been between the ages of 11 and 15 when the alleged abuse took place.

Yesterday’s statement released by the archdiocese confirmed that Anderson was a priest who served on Guam during the period of time indicated by Perez’s suit.

“Regarding the latest allegation of sexual abuse by clergy and lawsuit filed by Mr. Robert Aguon Perez, the Archdiocese confirms that David Anderson was a priest who served on Guam in the 1970s and ‘80s under the order of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars,” the statement read. “He was assigned at St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Sinajana from 1978-83. He also taught at Father Duenas Memorial School from 1978 to the 1980s.”

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DENMARK
CPH Post

December 12th, 2016 by Lucie Rychla

A 46-year-old priest from Tømmerup near Kalundborg in west Zealand, who has been in custody since June facing charges that he sexually abused an underage girl, has now been accused of doing the same to four boys.

According to the West Zealand Police, the priest is currently being investigated on 11 charges of sexual abuse relating to four boys and one girl aged 12-17.

The charges include sexual intercourse, attempted sexual intercourse and indecent exposure.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
PUBLISHED
01/11/2016

Compensating everybody who spent time in a residential home in Northern Ireland run by or on behalf of the state could cost £300m, a lawyer who specialises in abuse cases has suggested.

Sir Anthony Hart is drawing up his report for ministers following two-and-a-half years of Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry hearings involving abuse victims and institutions.

He has already said that there should be an award of compensation to those children who suffered abuse in children’s homes and other institutions in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995.

A group of survivors is calling for a common experience payment of £10,000 per resident and an additional payment of £3,000 for each year spent in an institution.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Jonathan Bandler , jbandler@lohud.com December 11, 2016

Through early January, reporters will be looking back at and following up on stories and topics that were the most popular with our readers in 2016, according to metrics on lohud.com. This story is part of that series.

A Kiryas Joel principal seen on a pair of videos in close physical contact with young boys had no choice but to leave the school because of the firestorm of publicity, a longtime community activist said this week.

But Joseph Waldman, whose own children and grandchildren had gone to the school, insisted that his inquiries into the videos and the principal’s behavior revealed what he had suspected: that the longtime, respected educator was no molester, but used a loving form of discipline to straighten out misbehaving students.

“He showed a very, very fine fatherly type of love to the kids,” Waldman said. “Instead of expelling the kid, throwing him out of school, bringing anguish to his parents … he is expressing love, expressing feeling, so the kid knows they’re not a throwaway kid.”

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Jamaican girl sexually abused by New York-based Franciscan priest, Fr. Paul A. Walsh, OFM, a/k/a Fr. La Salle Walsh, has asked the Franciscan Friars for help so she can heal. The Franciscan Friars have told her to “take a hike”

Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, based in Manhattan with parishes and ministries throughout the NY City/northern New Jersey metropolitan area, refuse to help a Jamaican woman even with the costs of counseling so she can begin to heal. She was sexually abused by a Franciscan missionary when she was approximately 10 years old in Kingston, Jamaica

What
Demonstration and leafleting in Northern NJ alerting the media, parishioners, and ordinary citizens of the refusal of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, based on West 31st Street, Manhattan, to help a Jamaican childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Paul A. Walsh, heal

When

Sunday, December 11, 2016 – 6:00 am until 9:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk and alongside a procession for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe beginning at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 65 Bartholdi Avenue, Butler, NJ, as the procession makes its way through the Town of Butler, and on to St. Mary’s Parish, Pompton Lakes, NJ, where a 9:00 am Mass will be held

Who
Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a New Jersey-based non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

Why
The Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, based in Manhattan, refuse to assist in the recovery of a childhood sexual abuse victim of one of their priests, Fr. Paul A. Walsh, OFM. This Kingston, Jamaica, woman was a little girl of approximately ten years old at Our Lady of Angels Parish and School in Kingston, Jamaica, when Fr. Paul A. Walsh, OFM, also known as Fr. La Salle Walsh, sexually abused her. This innocent victim wants to heal, but the Franciscan Friars have told her to “take a hike,” refusing, even, to help her with the costs of counseling. Demonstrators will call upon parishioners of Franciscan parishes in Butler and Pompton Lakes, NJ, and ordinary citizens to demand of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province that they do the right thing and help this Jamaican woman heal.

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

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com December 10, 2016

The author of the bill that has paved the way for 12 former altar boys, so far, to sue for alleged rape or sexual abuse they went through in the hands of priests decades ago, said the sheer numbers come as a shock but not necessarily a surprise.

Sen. Frank Blas Jr., R-Barrigada, said Thursday that providing a venue for individuals to seek justice and closure and preventing others from laying a hand on children today is worth the criticism he got in introducing Bill 326-33, to allow victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers and the institutions with which they are associated, at any time. Gov. Eddie Calvo signed the bill into law on Sept. 23.

“If I have to relive my life, I would have introduced the bill much earlier,” Blas said. “Any person should not live his life in fear, in shame and with guilt for something that happened to him when he was a child. And if this bill stops an individual today from sexually assaulting a young child, then it’s well worth any criticism.”

As of Wednesday, 12 child sex abuse lawsuits had been filed against Catholic priests, the Archdiocese of Agana and up to 50 other unnamed persons who may have helped, abetted, concealed or covered up the abuses.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne Independent

By Kevin Kearney
kkearney@wayneindependent.com

A Roman Catholic priest recently charged in a child pornography case in Wayne County had been vetted by the Vatican 13 years ago on accusations he molested a 16-year-old boy in New Jersey, the Archdiocese of Newark confirmed Tuesday.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, currently in the Wayne County prison on $1 million bail on 40 counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography at his Lehigh Township vacation home, was suspended from ministry in New Jersey in 2003 after the accusations were made he had molested the boy.

Gugliotta was ordained in 1996 and the alleged molestation happened prior to that, in the 1980s, said Jim Goodness, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark.

Since Gugliotta was not in ministry at the time of the alleged molestations, the archdiocese referred the case to the Vatican for guidance, Goodness said.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By ALLAN WOODS
Quebec Bureau
Sat., Dec. 10, 2016

MONTREAL—A former police officer charged with rape after a massive investigation into abuse of indigenous women by law enforcement officials in Quebec is a residential-school survivor who says he was sexually assaulted by a priest, the Star has learned.

Jean-Luc Vollant, a 65-year-old Innu man, is a former officer with a native police force who was charged last month after a probe of nearly 40 allegations from indigenous people who say they had been mistreated by police.

Vollant was among more than 30 current and former officers in Quebec who were the subject of the allegations. He was one of just two people to be charged with a criminal offence.

He faces three charges of rape, indecent assault on a female and sexual assault ― stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred between 1980 and 1986 in Schefferville, Que., a remote town near the border with Labrador that is home to a small, predominately Innu population.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

After the passage of three decades – and the release of a scathing report by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General that provided details about an alleged cover-up of rampant child sexual abuse within its ranks – the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown changed positions as to whether information in a civil litigation against Msgr. Francis McCaa should be made public.

In 1986, counsel for the monsignor, diocese, former Bishop James Hogan, and Holy Name Catholic Church in Ebensburg argued that pretrial documents – in a case brought by four plaintiffs – should be sealed in order to “prevent serious and irreparable harm to the defendants through the disclosure of information which may not be relevant or admissible at the trial of the case,” as described in the papers.

But, when The Tribune-Democrat sought to have the documents unsealed this year, the diocese did not resist, so long as the accusers’ names were redacted.

“Their policy now is to be as transparent as possible without hurting someone else,” Eric Anderson, an attorney for the diocese, said.

Michael Sahlaney, a lawyer who handled the action for the newspaper, complimented the diocese for not fighting the legal action.

“The diocese, I want to give them credit,” he said. “They were very open. They had no objection to the file being open at this time. It is what it is.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Thirty years ago today – on Dec. 11, 1986 – an order was issued to seal the pretrial records in a case filed by petitioners against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, former Bishop James Hogan, Holy Name Catholic Church and Msgr. Francis McCaa.

The decision prohibited parties and attorneys from publicly disseminating any information obtained from pleadings or documents.

The seal was to remain in place “until the time of trial,” according to the decision issued by then Cambria County Judge Gerard Long – who attended Holy Name parish, where McCaa served, and who years later decided to not recuse himself in the case, in which a newspaper attempted to have the records unsealed.

McCaa had been accused of sexually abusing an unknown number of children, but never went to trial. A financial settlement was reached in 1987.

And the records remained locked away for decades, until current Cambria County President Judge Norman Krumenacker III released the information at the request of The Tribune-Democrat in the aftermath of a grand jury report that accused the diocese of carrying out a decades-long cover-up to protect religious leaders accused of child sexual abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Msgr. Francis McCaa was allegedly one of the most egregious sexual abusers of children in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown.

A grand jury report issued earlier this year by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, which detailed an alleged decades-long coverup of abuse in the diocese, succinctly called him a “monster” with a “sickening hunger for innocence.”

The report alleges, based on testimony from interviewed victims, that McCaa may have abused hundreds of children when he served at Holy Name Catholic Church in Ebensburg from 1961 to 1985.

A civil case was brought against McCaa in 1986.

Pretrial records were sealed by a Cambria County judge on Dec. 11, 1986, leaving them unseen until they were opened this year following an appeal by The Tribune-Democrat.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

ROME, N.Y. — Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said that after investigating the allegations made against a Catholic priest in Central New York they found no proof, evidence, or witnesses to back up the allegations.

Rev. Paul Angelicchio, pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish in Rome, is currently on a leave of absence after allegations surfaced of abuse of a minor from nearly three decades ago.

The investigation is currently being conducted by the Diocese of Syracuse who have confirmed that Angelicchio has been accused of abusing a minor 27 years ago.

DA Fitzpatrick says that the “allegation is of passive conduct on the priest’s part while faced with knowledge of sexual abuse.” He goes on to also say that, “The complainant only revealed this last year although he has been interviewed many times in the past and never disclosed this.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy investigates the work of self-styled paedophile hunter groups in the UK.

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UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Journalism

How Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders hide child abuse secrets at all costs

For the past two years, Reveal reporter Trey Bundy has been uncovering how the Jehovah’s Witnesses hide child sexual abuse in their congregations – in fact, it’s official policy. The religion’s leaders have been going to extreme lengths to keep the details from public view.

On this episode of Reveal, we track down people who know the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ secrets and expose stories behind a religion with 8 million followers across the globe.

We begin in San Diego, where Trey meets an attorney trying to get access to a Jehovah’s Witnesses database containing the names and whereabouts of likely thousands of accused child abusers within the organization – living freely in communities across the U.S.

Later in the hour, we hear from a victim who tells us how the threat of being banished from their communities keeps members from reporting abuse.

Trey’s investigation also takes him to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, the Watchtower, where the culture of secrecy goes far beyond child abuse – it’s a core part of life. Watchtower leaders have refused to talk to Trey, but a former insider told him some of their secrets.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Ann O’Loughlin

A woman, who claims she was sexually abused by a chaplain when she was a secondary school student, yesterday alleged in the High Court the priest performed oral sex on her in the school oratory.

The 28-year-old woman said that, after the sexual activity, the two of them got ready for a sixth-year graduation Mass. She said she was in fifth year at the school in the South-East at the time and was wearing her school uniform.

Referring to the alleged encounter, Miriam Reilly, counsel for the former Catholic priest, asked was it not very risky. The woman said “everything about this relationship was risky”. Replying to Ms Reilly, who put it to her this did not happen, the woman said she knew it happened and the priest had performed oral sex on her.

The woman has sued alleging that, between 2004 and 2007, she was repeatedly and wrongfully physically and sexually assaulted, falsely imprisoned, sexually abused, and subjected to sexualised behaviour by the Catholic chaplain and teacher. She has sued the now former priest, as well as the school and the local bishop.

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FLORIDA
ABC 7

SANIBEL –
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is dropping their investigation into Father Christoper Senk after the State Attorney’s Office announced they would not be pursuing charges.

The two-year long investigation was halted when the sheriff’s office attempted to get an arrest warrant for Senk to charge him with exploiting parishioner Marion McIntyre.

The SAO determined that there was not enough evidence of intimidation or deception on Senk’s part.

ABC7 spoke with McIntyre’s niece, who said Senk crossed the line and accepted lavish gifts from her aunt.

In the lengthy report by LCSO, they explain how the investigation began after a $30,000 gold and diamond ring belonging to McIntyre went missing from her hospital room. McIntyre’s family said the last person to be in the room with her was Senk. The ring would turn up later in a drawer as McIntyre was being moved, but it forced family to look into the relationship between Senk and Marion. They discovered in that time that Senk had been on the receiving end of thousands of dollars from McIntyre. Family members said McIntyre mysteriously withdrew $5,000 on one occasion and $3,500 on another occasion as gifts to the church. Other times McIntyre would write checks for the church, but would write the checks to Senk.

Before McIntyre’s husband died, friends said she took a trip through Europe with Senk and his family. McIntyre reportedly fronted the bill and paid for everyone’s trip.

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FLORIDA
NBC 2

By Levi Ismail, Reporter

SANIBEL –
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is dropping their investigation into Father Christoper Senk after the State Attorney’s Office announced they would not be pursuing charges.

The two-year long investigation was halted when the sheriff’s office attempted to get an arrest warrant for Senk to charge him with exploiting parishioner Marion McIntyre.

The SAO determined that there was not enough evidence of intimidation or deception on Senk’s part.

NBC2 spoke with McIntyre’s niece, who said Senk crossed the line and accepted lavish gifts from her aunt.

In the lengthy report by LCSO, they explain how the investigation began after a $30,000 gold and diamond ring belonging to McIntyre went missing from her hospital room. McIntyre’s family said the last person to be in the room with her was Senk. The ring would turn up later in a drawer as McIntyre was being moved, but it forced family to look into the relationship between Senk and Marion. They discovered in that time that Senk had been on the receiving end of thousands of dollars from McIntyre. Family members said McIntyre mysteriously withdrew $5,000 on one occasion and $3,500 on another occasion as gifts to the church. Other times McIntyre would write checks for the church, but would write the checks to Senk.

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NEW YORK
WSYR

SYRACUSE, NY (WSYR-TV)

The Pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration Church in Rome, Oneida County has been placed on leave by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

However, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick says there has not been any evidence to substantiate the claims of abuse against Reverend Paul Angelicchio.

The Diocese was looking into an allegation of abuse of a minor 27 years ago.

Cummings says “the allegation has not been substantiated…but under diocese policy and in conformity with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Father Angelicchio is not permitted to publicly function as a priest until the matter is resolved.”

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MINNESOTA
WNAX

Two proposals for compensating survivors of priest sex abuse remain in play after a hearing in federal court. Attorney Charles Rogers says the plan submitted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis earmarks 155 million dollars or more for a victims’ fund.

Finnegan says the archdiocese has 1.3 billion dollars in assets and well over a billion dollars of insurance money that’s potentially available to compensate victims of priest sex abuse.

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RHODE ISLAND
St. George’s School

Meet the 12th Head of St. George’s School

What drew you to St. George’s?

St. George’s holds a special place for my family. My maternal grandfather (James B. Congdon, ’41), great grandfather (Johns H. Congdon, ’03 – I think), great uncle (Charles B. Congdon, ’40), and uncle (James B. Congdon, Jr. ’66) all graduated from St. George’s. That history is obviously very important to me. I am proud to continue their legacy. That said, as a professional, I am drawn to the St. George’s of today and its commitment to help all students develop into compassionate and contributing community members. Not only are St. George’s kids acquiring the skills necessary to compete in the mid-21st century economy, they are becoming forces for good. My entire career has been spent helping teenagers to be kind, to watch out for each other, and to be contributing community members. To now do that work in a school that has such deep roots for my family makes me humble and proud.

What are the greatest challenges a school leader faces in today’s world? And what are the greatest opportunities?

Oh goodness. There is so much to say. We are living in a time of such change and evolution. In fact, in many ways the only constant for our kids is change. In their short lifetimes, smart phones, social media and Wi-Fi have gone from practically non-existent to ubiquitous. There is no doubt that rate of change will continue. As a result, our students need to be well situated to embrace change, learn new skills, and assimilate knowledge. And it is no exaggeration to say that they will need to do this daily. There is an oft-cited statistic that something like 50 percent of the jobs our students will inhabit haven’t even been invented yet. It is our job as educators to prepare students for that world. In addition to teaching kids a body of knowledge, we need to teach them how to approach new situations, how to adapt to change, how to access information – in short, how to think. To do this well, teachers need to put their students at the center of the classroom. No longer is it important for students to spit back facts and figures. Instead, they need to know how to approach a problem, how to manipulate data, how to construct an argument, and how to collaborate.

As someone who has spent her professional life in the presence of adolescents, I also feel a deep commitment to helping them develop into good people. I am excited to join the St. George’s community because I think a boarding school provides a unique opportunity to help students learn to be contributing citizens. We can be an incubator of sorts, a place where amazing faculty model what it means to be a good community member, and then inspire (and occasionally compel) similar behavior in their students.

What do you want parents to know about you? … What do you want alumni to know about you?

I want parents to know that I approach the work of educating and caring for adolescents with the expertise of a professional educator and the spirit of a mom. In each of those capacities, I have come to understand that no two teenagers are alike. What it takes to inspire one kiddo isn’t always what it takes to inspire the next. It is our job as educators to figure out how to inspire each one – and then to do it!

As for alumni, I want them to know that I am working hard to understand the school’s history – both the parts that make people proud, and the difficulties that a number of students experienced. My commitment is to create a school of which they will all be proud, and at which they all feel welcome.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

Callen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brown University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University. She has been head of the upper school at Lakeside School in Seattle, Wash., since 2013.

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Alexandra “Alixe” Callen will become the first female to lead the 120-year-old St. George’s School when she begins her tenure on July 1, 2017. The school’s Board of Trustees announced Callen’s appointment Friday at the 12th head of school.

Callen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brown University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University. She has been head of the upper school at Lakeside School in Seattle, Wash., since 2013.

The elite Episcopal boarding school – embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal this year – launched a search after current Headmaster Eric F. Peterson announced in June that he would not seek to extend his contract after it ends in June 2017. Peterson had served as headmaster for 12 years.

Watch an interview with Callen.

Controversy had embroiled the school since allegations of systemic sexual abuse at the school in the 1970s and ’80s became public a year ago.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

By Laura Krantz and Michael Levenson GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 09, 2016

The Rhode Island prep school embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal for the past year has named the former principal of Acton-Boxborough High School as its new headmaster, the school announced Friday.

St. George’s School has hired Alexandra “Alixe” Callen as its 12th headmaster and the first female to lead the 120-year-old institution. She is currently the head of upper school at Lakeside School in Seattle, Wash., and was principal in Acton from 2008 to 2013.

A New England native with multiple degrees from Brown University and Harvard, Callen will face the challenge of steadying the elite prep school in Middletown, R.I., whose reputation has been badly damaged.

“We are confident that she will steer the course boldly for St. George’s, continuing to build on our long-standing strengths while at the same time moving St. George’s confidently into the future,” wrote Leslie Heaney, chair of the board of trustees, in a letter to the school co-authored by Tad Van Norden, an alumnus and chair of the search committee.

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RHODE ISLAND
ABC 6

By: News Staff
news@abc6.com

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – A Rhode Island boarding school rocked by widespread sexual abuse says it has hired a new head of school to succeed its departing leader.

St. George’s School in Middletown said on Friday that Alexandra Callen will become the first woman to lead the 120-year-old school when she takes over in July.

Callen has held leadership positions in public and private schools in Seattle and Massachusetts.

Dozens of alumni have said they were abused at St. George’s from the 1970s to the 2000s.

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RHODE ISLAND
Turn to 10

The St. George’s School Board of Trustees announced Friday that they appointed a new head of school.

According to a press release, Alexandra Callen will become the twelfth head of the school when she begins her tenure in July 2017.

Callen, who has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Brown University, as well as a master’s and doctorate from Harvard University, will also become the first woman in the school’s history to hold the position.

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve as St. George’s next head of school,” Callen said in the release. “The chance to lead this highly professional faculty is a tremendous opportunity. To do so with the endorsement of a dedicated and supportive board is icing on the cake.”

The 120-year-old boarding school, which is located in Middletown, has made headlines in recent years, as authorities launched an investigation into widespread sexual abuse reported by former faculty members and students.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

Barry Simms
I-Team Reporter

TIMONIUM, Md. —
A 26-year-old Timonium man is charged with sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl during a recent Sunday morning Mass at a church, Baltimore County police said.

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MARYLAND
The Intelligencer

TIMONIUM, Md. (AP) — Baltimore County police say a church nursery volunteer has been charged with sexual abuse.

Cpl. John Wachter said in an email Friday that officers called to the Church of the Nativity in Timonium on Nov. 27 learned that a 4-year-old girl told her mother that a man volunteering in the nursery during mass sexually abused her.

Twenty-six-year-old Terrence Smalls of Cockeysville was charged with sex abuse of a minor and other offenses Thursday.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore says it alerted parishioners after police notified them of an investigation. The county school system says Smalls, hired as temporary elementary school employee in 2013 and who was a classroom assistant, hasn’t worked for the system since Nov. 28.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A 63-year-old woman who embezzled more than $73,000 from her Northeast Portland church was sentenced Friday to three years in prison.

It won’t be Christine Marie Culver’s first stint in prison. This is at least the third time Culver has been convicted of charges related to fraud or embezzlement, stretching back nearly 40 years.

In this latest case, she was entrusted as the bookkeeper at Metropolitan Community Church, at Northeast 24th Avenue and Broadway. She stole $73,208 over the course of about 21/2 years — 2013 to 2015.

The church learned of Culver’s theft after the Oregon Department of Revenue contacted the church because its payroll taxes weren’t being paid, said prosecutor Ryan Lufkin.

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UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

Secrets of the Watchtower

By Trey Bundy / December 10, 2016

The leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses has boldly defied court orders to turn over the names and whereabouts of alleged child sexual abusers across the United States.

Since 2014, courts have slapped the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ parent corporation – the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York – with multimillion-dollar judgments and sanctions for violating orders to hand over secret documents.

The documents could serve as a road map to what are likely thousands of alleged child abusers living freely in communities across the country, who still could be abusing kids. The files include the names of known and suspected perpetrators, the locations of their congregations and descriptions of their alleged crimes.

“I’ve been practicing law for 37 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said attorney Irwin Zalkin, who represents victims of sexual abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses. “They do everything to protect the reputation of the organization over the safety of children.”

Zalkin said he believes that state and federal law enforcement agencies have a moral obligation to investigate the Watchtower’s child abuse policies and seize its files.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Ashley Ludwig (Patch Staff) – December 9, 2016

LAKE FOREST, CA — A former Lake Forest youth pastor was sentenced Friday to two years in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration for sexual battery of four female church members.

Sean Patrick Aday, a 39-year-old Lake Forest resident, pleaded guilty on Nov. 4, to two felony counts of sexual battery by restraint and two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office chief of staff, Susan Kang Schroeder.

“At the time of the crime, Aday was working as a youth pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest,” she said. “The defendant sexually assaulted four adult female church members on church property or during church trips overseas.”

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, between Jan. 1, 2008, and Nov. 6, 2015, Aday sexually touched four women against their will for the purpose of the defendant’s sexual arousal, gratification and abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
Clay Center Dispatch

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A former pastor in Southern California has been sentenced to two years in state prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery against four female church members.

Authorities say 39-year-old Sean Patrick Aday was working as a youth pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest when he committed the crimes.

According to prosecutors, Aday sexually assaulted the women on church property and during church trips overseas between 2008 and 2015.

During a pre-trial hearing in November, one of the victims said Aday abused his authority and “tried to use God to manipulate me.”

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KENTUCKY
Lewis County Herald

Attorneys for a sexual abuse victim have said they will file a lawsuit Monday at the Lewis County Justice Center against Vanceburg Christian Church.

An advisory from Kircher Law Office in Mason, Ohio, states the lawsuit “will allege that the Vanceburg Christian Church is liable to the victim for the sexual abuse inflicted upon him by the church’s pastor and the victim’s resulting injuries.”

The advisory states the victim (Plaintiff “John Doe”) is a teenager who suffered severe and repeated sexual abuse at the hands of former Vanceburg Christian Church pastor Duncan Aker Jr.

Aker pleaded guilty in March to five counts of first degree sexual abuse as part of a plea agreement in which charges of four counts of first degree sodomy were dropped.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

The business manager of the Newcastle Anglican Diocese has launched legal action against the church with the employment watchdog, alleging he has been ostracised and bullied because of his stand for victims of child sexual abuse.

John Cleary says he has filed a case with the Fair Work Commission against the church claiming he was marginalised because of his advocacy for victims of child sexual abuse inside the church.

Cleary has been an outspoken supporter for victims of abuse in the church, and has spoken out in favour of reforms.

The Newcastle Herald reported that his statement said he had been marginalised and bullied: “I have been punished by the church for being a ‘whistleblower’, and for my actions in trying to get the best outcome for survivors.”

They reported Cleary’s claim is an “adverse action” application for bullying and harassment.

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NEW YORK
NewYorkUpstate

By Elizabeth Doran | edoran@syracuse.com
on December 09, 2016

SYRACUSE, NY – Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said today his office investigated an allegation against Rev. Paul F. Angelicchio and found no proof, evidence or corroborating witness to back up the allegation.

Angelicchio, a priest for decades in the Syracuse area and more recently in Rome in Oneida County, has been placed on leave by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse while it investigates a claim of abuse that is alleged to have happened 27 years ago, a diocese spokeswoman confirmed this week. Angelicchio is pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish in Rome.

Fitzpatrick said when the allegation against Angelicchio surfaced, his office investigated and found nothing to back up the claim – no physical evidence, no crime and no corroborating witness. In addition, the alleged crime was decades old, thus the statute of limitations had run out, he said.

In addition, Angelicchio vehemently denied the allegation, Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said his office determined Angelicchio “was not a clear and present danger to any minors,” and turned the allegation over to the Syracuse diocese, the DA’s normal practice.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, December 9, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Nude photos of a man found on a boy’s cellphone have been traced to a Raliegh North Carolina youth pastor. We are grateful to the boy’s mom and to law enforcement for quick action. Now, it’s time for church officials to step up aggressively, by reaching out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s alleged crimes.

[ABC 11]

Tyler Simkus Smither of Raleigh, who’s with Harbor United Methodist Church in Masonboro, apparently sent the Florida child the inappropriate pictures. He’s now behind bars.

We’re grateful that Rev. Russ Nanney called police when he learned of the offense. Too many ministers put their comfort and careers, and those of colleagues, ahead of kids’ safety. They try to avoid “scandal” and “embarrassment” (and litigation) by keeping abuse reports secret. Hopefully, more in leadership posts are beginning to understand that this is self-defeating and immoral. We hope other clergy will follow Rev. Nanney’s excellent example and immediately involve the independent, unbiased and experienced professionals in law enforcement in cases like this, rather than try to talk of “forgiveness” and sweep them under the rug.

We call on Rev. Nanney and every other person who works at or attends Harbor United to work hard to find and help others who may have been hurt by Smither. That’s their moral and civic duty.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 9, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

A Catholic church volunteer has been arrested on child sexual abuse. Now Baltimore Archbishop William Lori must act. If he doesn’t other church staff and members should.

[ABC 2]

Terrence Shondry Smalls is charged this week with sex abuse of a minor, second degree assault, child abuse, second-degree custodian and second-degree sex offense, crimes he allegedly committed at Church of the Nativity in Lutherville. He also worked or volunteered at a Girl Scout troop, Epworth church and at Pot Spring Elementary School.

Lori should personally visit Nativity this weekend. He should beg anyone with information or suspicions about Smalls to call police. He should use church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements across the archdiocese to do the same.

Why? Because that’s what a caring shepherd would do. Because that’s what will help police and prosecutors resolve this case. Because that’s what will help keep Smalls behind bars longer if he’s convicted. Because that might help avoid Smalls exploiting technicalities and going free. And because that’s how Catholic officials will start to break the centuries-long culture of secrecy in the church about sexual crimes, misdeeds and cover-ups.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from A Ewe

75 years ago yesterday, Franklin Roosevelt said it was a “date which will live in infamy.” However, yesterday in Catholic hierarchy land was a day which will live in irony. Here are a few highlights:

* The Vatican began its first organization for female workers in the Vatican.
* Pope Francis begged media outlets to be responsible and not spread disinformation.
* The Vatican updated its guidelines for priestly formation.

Since it first emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Vatican never had an organization for female employees – a group currently numbering around 750 or 20% of the Vatican population. I’ve not found many details on the new organization’s activities but I suspect they do not include grooming women for executive positions in the Vatican. In general, women are not groomed for anything in the church other than obedience and servitude.

However, boys and men willing to consider the priesthood merit volumes of guidelines, programs and efforts to support their development. The latest in the lot was published yesterday.

Reading the updated priest formation guidelines kind of reinforces my sneaking suspicion about the Vatican’s women’s organization lacking executive leadership development. The document is a masterpiece of self-admiration for clergy calling themselves “diamonds” and emphasizing how grateful we all should be that priests are better than other humans. It is a truly bizarre document feigning humility whilst reeking of hierarchical arrogance. It scorns clericalism but is so very clerical itself. It says priests should be shepherds that smell like sheep but then extols priests hanging out with other priests. It says priests should learn how to interact with women but then suggests myriads of clerical figures to help, etc….

Meanwhile, Pope Francis, who leads an organization which sometimes makes stuff up and declares it “truth,” appeals to media outlets not to spread misinformation or disinformation. He thinks the media shouldn’t just make things up and pass them off as factual news.

Though I agree that spreading disinformation is reprehensible, I found the pope’s plea rather ironic. I can provide a litany of examples where hierarchy members spread disinformation…from various hierarchy members’ lies covering up for abusive priests, to rejecting scientific understandings about human physiology and psychology, to pretending women were never ordained as deacons though they were for centuries, to made-up “facts” about women and their roles, to a September, 2015 US bishops’ smear campaign which propagated false news that a US social service organization sold aborted baby parts.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

By David Clohessy

It’s 23 degrees in St. Louis, the coldest day of winter so far. At times like this, my mind wanders to the hundreds of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests who’ve quietly been sent or moved to warmer clients.

Today, I think of two who are in San Diego and one who was arrested there:

–Fr. Denis Heames of Saginaw now works for San Diego lawyer Richard McEntyre (619-221-0279). He claims, on his Linked In page, that he moved to California for “family” reasons. But Fr. Heames makes no mention of the pending lawsuit against him which says he sexually exploited a 22 year old student who worked under him. Nor does he mention the findings by officials at Central Michigan University that he sexually harassed that brave young woman,

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2016/01_02/2016_02_15_Sydney_Life_Internal_sexually.htm

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-heames-9a9736122

–Fr. Paul E. Hosler of Kansas City Kansas works (as best we can tell) for Catholic Charities of San Diego. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hosler-15237ba9

He’s accused of breaking his vow of celibacy and sexually exploiting at least one married adult parishioner back in Kansas. Larry Davis of Lenexa saw his 11 year marriage “wrecked” when his wife was sexually manipulated by Fr. Hosler.

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ks_man_appeals_to_vatican

–Joel A. Wright of Vermont and Ohio (Steubenville and Columbus) is now in prison. In January, he was arrested in San Diego. Why? Because he was trying to buy babies and toddlers to abuse them.

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NEW YORK
Daily Gazette

If state legislators don’t want to extend the statute of limitations on sex crimes, then let them volunteer to put their child or grandchild in a room with Louis VanWie.

VanWie will be getting out of prison at the end of the month after serving 20 years for sexually abusing three children.

He actually admitted to abusing more than 300 children from the 1960s until his conviction in 1996. But because of short statutes of limitations on sex crimes in New York, only three of his victims were allowed to press charges.

Had the law allowed prosecutors to charge him with sodomizing and sexually abusing more children, he’d likely have not been able to abuse as many children as he did. And he’d likely be in prison the rest of his miserable life, unable to take advantage of the state’s early-release laws and unable to prey on more children.

Instead, just four days after Christmas, he’ll be out walking around our streets again. Maybe he’ll be working in a fast-food restaurant or as a volunteer somewhere. More likely, the 74-year-old — who was denied parole fi ve times — will just be lying around all day, waiting for the next wave of urges to overcome him.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For Immediate Release, December 9, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

We’re very disappointed that DC Catholic officials have again apparently blocked reforms that would protect kids, expose predators and deter cover ups of heinous child sex crimes.

[NBC Washington]

Police and prosecutors are underpaid and overworked. Most sex crimes aren’t reported or pursued. So thousands are assaulted by repeat offenders. Most prisons are overcrowded.

So it’s crucial, if rape and abuse are to be stopped, that victims are given a chance to warn parents and protect kids through the civil justice system. And it’s crucial that those who ignore or conceal sex crimes are also exposed – and punished – in civil courts, so other employers and employees stop enabling heinous wrongdoing by their actions and inaction.

But Catholic officials and their high-priced, quiet lobbyists fight reforming the statute of limitations time and time again. Why? Because they know that if victims can file lawsuits, complicit bishops will be undergo uncomfortable depositions and face tough questions and be discredited and disgraced when their corruption becomes unmasked.

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AUSTRALIA
South Burnett Times

Chris Calcino | 9th Dec 2016

A FORMER Anglican priest who sexually preyed on two young boys before moving to the Diocese of Grafton has been jailed for at least one year and 10 months.

Lindsay Thomas McLoughlin, 65, pleaded guilty to performing oral sex, fondling and attempting to have anal intercourse with a young teen, and exposing himself while approaching another child in the 1980s.

McLoughlin was linked to former senior priest Peter Rushton, whom a royal commission has heard ran a child sex ring from the Hunter region of New South Wales.

Rushton died in 2007 without ever being charged.

McLoughlin carried out the sexual attacks while employed in the Diocese of Newcastle.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

TIMONIUM, Md. – A volunteer at the Church of the Nativity in Lutherville has been charged with sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl, Baltimore County Police said.

Terrence Shondry Smalls, 26, of Lutherville was charged this week with sex abuse of a minor, second degree assault, child abuse, second-degree custodian and second-degree sex offense. He is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Police said the girl told her mother last month she had been sexually abused by a man volunteering in the church nursery during a Sunday morning mass.

Police said Smalls has been employed or has volunteered at a number of locations that put him in contact with children, including:

* Babysitting services for children under six advertised on www.Sitter.com
* An assistant at Pot Spring Elementary School
* Volunteer with the Girl Scout troop that met at Pot Spring Elementary School and Epworth Church from 2011 to 2015
* Before and After Care program at Pot Spring Elementary School from 2011 to 2014
* Church of the Nativity
* Little Gym in Hunt Valley from July to October of 2016

There are no known victims at locations other than the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore County Police said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Paul F. Morrissey | Dec. 9, 2016

VIEWPOINT

“Having the horror heard helps to heal the hurt.” My stepmother, Dot, shared her wonderfully alliterative mantra with me years ago as we pondered the benefits of a person going to a counselor when stuck in pain. In her wise and eye-twinkling way, Dot — whose husband had been struck by a car and killed many years before, leaving her with 12 children to raise — was telling me how she had survived.

After my mother died suddenly from brain cancer at 64, my father, Tom, was traumatized with grief and seemed to be on his way “out of the picture,” as he used to say of others who had died. One of my nine sisters, Kate, challenged him to get up and start living again. “Because at least you had a life before Mama, but we never did,” she reminded him. My father not only started to live again, five years later he married Dot. Between the two of them — Dot with her 12 kids, and Tom with his 14 — they had 26 mostly grown children. Talk about having the horror heard!

Dot’s mantra shows how she understands people getting over the pains of life. They need to be heard. If someone is willing to listen to the horrors that befall us, it feels like we are not alone. We can bear it and even find meaning in it. As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

I believe this is one of the keys to understanding and healing the sexual abuse wounds in the church. It isn’t that people are just looking to bash the church, or that they want to wallow in victimhood. They desperately need to be heard so that the hurt can be healed in God’s way.

When I experienced this phenomenon recently, Dot’s almost hokey way of describing our primal human need came back to me.

At first I had resisted the invitation. The “Circle of Healing” would be dealing with the clergy sexual abuse crisis and cover-up in the Catholic church. Even though this gathering would take place in a beautiful, sunny, comfortable living room of someone’s Victorian home in Philadelphia, I wondered what the real agenda was. I knew the facilitator who had invited me, a former member of my religious order’s novitiate class over 50 years ago, and I trusted him. But as one of perhaps only a few priests participating, would I be a target for the anger of any survivors of abuse there? Could I really listen to all of their grief on a Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.?

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com December 9, 2016

For 25 years, Sharon Tell didn’t know why she got no response after reporting she had been sexually abused by a priest.

As an adult, she told a priest at a Lancaster County church that a priest in the Allentown diocese had abused her for two decades, beginning when she was 12. Although Tell eventually notified the Allentown diocese herself, she said she never heard from anyone in the Harrisburg diocese, which oversees churches in Lancaster County.

A York Daily Record investigation published in August offered a clue about what might have happened, said Tell’s son, Patrick Conlin.

The article detailed accusations of sexual abuse against 15 priests with ties to the Harrisburg diocese. Among them was William Geiger, who was at Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Ephrata when Tell disclosed her abuse.

A light bulb went off. Tell said Geiger, whose name she had forgotten over time, was the priest she told of her abuse. Conlin said the family now believes that Geiger didn’t pass along Tell’s report because he was allegedly an abuser.

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ARIZONA
Daily Courier

By Scott Orr
Originally Published: December 9, 2016

A national advocacy group, pushing to find more alleged victims of abuse at the hands of Rev. Thomas Chantry, called out the current leader of the suspect’s Prescott church for “distancing himself” from the issue.

However, Pastor Chris J. Marley, Miller Valley Baptist Church, says his church strives to minister to the alleged victims and has a stringent background check now in place.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a news release Wednesday, Dec. 7. “These churches (in Arizona and Wisconsin) gave Chantry access to kids. So their civic and moral duty doesn’t end with his arrest. They must help put him behind bars and help ameliorate the severe harm he’s caused.”

Clohessy said that “one minister essentially distanced himself, basically saying, ‘Hey, I wasn’t around when he was here,’” referring to Marley.

In an email to the Daily Courier, Marley wrote, “I can tell you that everyone at our church who was here that far back is well aware of the situation and that we have been striving to minister to those who have come to us as victims. We also have a background check policy for all who are involved in children’s ministry that exceeds standard legal requirements.”

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NEW YORK
News 12

December 9, 2016

ROCKVILLE CENTRE – Pope Francis has announced his appointment of a new bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

Rev. John Barres, 56, bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, Penn., will succeed Bishop William Murphy. Murphy, 76, lead the Rockville Centre Diocese since 2001.

Bishop Murphy released a statement regarding the appointment saying, “It is my deep conviction that he will be a bishop for all of us without exception. He has shared with me his love of youth and his care for the elderly.”

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VATIKANSTADT
der Standard (Osterreich)

[Vatican issued new guidelines for priestly education.]

8. Dezember 2016

Missbrauchsprävention und soziale Netzwerke werden berücksichtigt – Schwule, die ihre Sexualität ausleben, sind ausdrücklich ausgeschlossen

Vatikanstadt – Der Schutz von Minderjährigen vor sexuellem Missbrauch soll künftig weltweit fester Bestandteil der Ausbildung römisch-katholischer Priester sein. Diesem Thema müsse “größte Aufmerksamkeit” gewidmet werden, heißt es in aktualisierten vatikanischen Richtlinien zur Priesterausbildung, die die Zeitung “Osservatore Romano” laut Kathpress am Donnerstag veröffentlichte.

Es sei darauf zu achten, das Kandidaten für das Priesteramt “in diesem Bereich nicht in ein Verbrechen oder problematisches Verhalten verwickelt gewesen sind”, heißt es in dem Dokument weiter. Der Vatikan ermahnt die Bischöfe in diesem Zusammenhang dazu, “sehr vorsichtig” zu sein, wenn aus Priesterseminaren anderer Diözesen entlassene Kandidaten um Aufnahme in ihrem Seminar ersuchten.

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PENNSYLVANIA/NEW YORK
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) –- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and appointed as his successor Bishop John O. Barres of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Bishop Barres, 56, has headed the Diocese of Allentown since 2009. Bishop Murphy, who has been Rockville Centre’s bishop since 2001, is 76. Canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope when they turn 75.

The changes were announced Dec. 9 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Dan Sheehan
Of The Morning Call

Allentown Diocese Bishop John Barres transferring to diocese on Long Island
Allentown Bishop John O. Barres, who has served the diocese since 2009, has been appointed bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York.

Barres, 56, will be installed Jan. 31 to lead the Long Island diocese, which serves 1.5 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties and is the sixth-largest by population in the United States.

“I must thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown,” Barres said in a statement. “You will always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of holiness and mission together.”

Barres will be introduced to his new diocese today when he concelebrates Mass with retiring Bishop William Murphy at the Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre. The Mass will be streamed on telecaretv.org at 8:30 a.m.

At 10:30, Barres and Murphy will appear on the website’s “Everyday Faith Live” program.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

Pope Francis has appointed Diocese of Allentown Bishop John O. Barres as the next bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., which consists of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, church officials announced this morning.

The Allentown diocese consists of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.
Barres, 56, is the first Bishop in the Allentown diocese’s 55 year history to be transferred to another diocese.

The Rockville Centre Diocese, established in 1957, is the sixth largest diocese by Catholic population in the United States. It serves 1.5 million people with 291 active priests in 133 parishes.

Barres has led the Allentown diocese since July 2009. In a statement on his new appointment, he said: “I must…thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown, where I have had the great blessing of serving as bishop for the last seven-and-a-half years. You will all always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of ‘holiness and mission’ together.”

Bishop Barres will take his new post on Jan. 31. Until then he will serve as administrator for the Diocese of Allentown. Upon his installation, the Diocese of Allentown’s College of Consultors, a group of 10 senior priests, will elect an administrator who will serve until a new bishop is installed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lehigh Valley Live

By Jim Deegan | For lehighvalleylive.com

Bishop John Barres is leaving the Diocese of Allentown.

Barres, the leader of Catholics in a five-county region that includes the Lehigh Valley, has been appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of Rockville Centre, N.Y. The diocese consists of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, and its 1.5 million Catholics make it the sixth-largest diocese by population in the nation.

Barres, 56, becomes the first Allentown bishop transferred to another diocese in the diocese’s 55-year history. He has headed Allentown for more than seven years.

Barres became bishop here in July 2009.

“I must…thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown, where I have had the great blessing of serving as bishop for the last seven-and-a-half years,” he said in a statement.

“You will all always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of ‘holiness and mission’ together.”

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NEW YORK
Newsday

Updated December 9, 2016
By Bart Jones bart.jones@newsday.com

Pope Francis on Friday named Bishop John O. Barres of Allentown, Pennsylvania, as the new bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the country.

Barres, 56, will succeed Bishop William Murphy, who has led the diocese — home to 1.5 million Catholics — since Sept. 5, 2001. Barres will be the fifth bishop of the diocese, created in 1957 when it was carved.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Pope Francis has announced that Bishop John Barres is being transferred out of the Diocese of Allentown.

Bishop Barres has been appointed the next bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, consisting of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island.

Barres is 56 years old and is now the first Bishop in the diocese’s 55 year history to be transferred.

He’s been with the diocese since 2009 and will join his new diocese on January 31st.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown

December 9, 2016

Pope Francis has appointed Diocese of Allentown Bishop John O. Barres as the next Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, which consists of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. The announcement was publicized this morning by the Papal Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Christophe Pierre.

Bishop Barres, 56, is the first Bishop of Allentown in the diocese’s 55 year history to be transferred to another diocese. The Rockville Centre Diocese, established in 1957, is the sixth largest diocese by Catholic population in the United States. It serves 1.5 million Catholics with 291 active priests (diocesan and extern) in 133 parishes.

Bishop Barres will succeed Bishop William Murphy, 76, who has led the Rockville Centre Diocese since 2001. Bishop Murphy turned 75 in May 2015 and submitted his letter of resignation at that time as required by church law. The Pope accepted Bishop Murphy’s resignation today.

Bishop Barres will be introduced to his new diocese when he concelebrates morning Mass with Bishop Murphy at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes in Rockville Centre. The Mass will be streamed on telecaretv.org at 8:30 AM. At 10:30 AM, Bishops Murphy and Barres will appear jointly on Telecare’s news program “Everyday Faith Live,” also live streamed at telecaretv.org

Bishop Barres has been shepherd of the Diocese of Allentown since July 2009. In a statement on his new appointment, Bishop Barres said, “I must…thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown, where I have had the great blessing of serving as bishop for the last seven-and-a-half years. You will all always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of ‘holiness and mission’ together.”

Bishop Barres will be installed as the new Bishop of Rockville Centre at the cathedral there on January 31. Until that date, he will serve as the Diocesan Administrator for the Diocese of Allentown. Upon his installation, the Diocese of Allentown’s College of Consultors, a group of ten senior priests, will elect an Administrator who will serve until a new bishop is installed.

Contact: Matt Kerr
610-871-5200, Extension 263

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – December 9, 2016 – Pope Francis today appointed Most Reverend John O. Barres, S.T.D., J.C.L., D.D., 56, to serve as the fifth Bishop of Rockville Centre. Until today, he was serving as Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, PA. He succeeds Bishop William Murphy, 76, who has led the Diocese of Rockville Centre since 2001.

The appointment was made public in Washington, December 9, 2016 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Barres will assume leadership of the Diocese during a Mass of Installation at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes on January 31, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. Until that time, Bishop Murphy will serve as Apostolic Administrator.

“It is my deep conviction that he will be a Bishop for all of us without exception,” said Bishop William Murphy in a statement today. “He has shared with me his love of youth and his care for the elderly. He has a keen sense of parish life and has a special expertise in education. He has a deep love for the poor and will support Catholic Charities, parish outreach as well as Catholic Hospitals on Long Island. He will be a good neighbor to our brothers and sisters of the Christian Churches, our Jewish and Muslim friends and the many civic and political leaders with whom he will work in building up Long Island for future generations. Above all he is a man of prayer, both the prayer of the Church through Eucharist and the sacraments as well as the many devotions of our Catholic tradition, especially the Blessed Virgin and St. Agnes,” said Bishop Murphy.

Bishop Barres will be introduced to his new diocese when he concelebrates the 7:30 AM Mass with Bishop Murphy at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes in Rockville Centre. The Mass will air on TelecareTV and stream on telecaretv.org at 8:30 AM. At 10:30 AM, Bishops Murphy and Barres will appear jointly on Telecare’s news program “Everyday Faith Live,” which will be live streamed at telecaretv.org.

PRESS AVAILABILITY
A press event will be held today with Bishop-designate Barres and Bishop Murphy:
When: Friday, December 9, 2016, 12:30 PM
Where: Monsignor Kelly Parish Center (adjacent to St. Agnes Cathedral)
29 Quealy Place
Rockville Centre, NY 11570

Bishop Barres has been shepherd of the Diocese of Allentown since July 2009. In a statement on his new appointment, Bishop Barres said, “I must thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown, where I have had the great blessing of serving as bishop for the last seven-and-a-half years. You will all always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of ‘holiness and mission’ together.”

Bishop John Barres

Bishop Barres was ordained a Bishop and installed as the fourth Bishop of Allentown on
July 30, 2009. He was the first priest ordained a bishop within the Diocese of Allentown.
Recognizing that vibrant parishes make a vibrant diocese, Bishop Barres has initiated a pastoral planning process for parishes across the Diocese of Allentown and has called on every parish to establish a Parish Pastoral Council. As shepherd of the Diocese, Bishop Barres has supported efforts of pastors, teachers and parents to strengthen our Catholic schools.

Bishop Barres has guided the Diocese of Allentown in its ongoing pastoral and strategic planning which has resulted in cutting edge efforts to enhance evangelization and pastoral ministries and helped to strengthen the financial condition of the Diocese. The Bishop sees the value of social media in spreading the Gospel message and the New Evangelization. Nationally, Bishop serves on the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and is the USCCB’s Episcopal Liaison to the Pontifical Mission Societies.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Times

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has named a new bishop for Rockville Centre, New York, tapping the bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania whose diocese is one of six undergoing a statewide grand jury investigation into clerical sex abuse.

Bishop John Barres has said the Allentown diocese is fully cooperating with investigators and noted that since 2002, it has given county prosecutors all records of accused priests.

The abuse scandal, which exploded in the U.S. in Boston in 2002, has heated up recently in Pennsylvania. In March, a state grand jury report said two former bishops who led the Altoona-Johnstown diocese had helped cover up the abuse of hundreds of children.

Barres replaces Rockville Centre’s retiring bishop, William Murphy, in the eighth-largest U.S. diocese that serves 1.45 million Catholics on Long Island.

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NEW YORK
WIBX

By Andrew Derminio December 9, 2016

The pastor of a church in Rome is being investigated for abuse of a minor. Fr. Paul Angelicchio is the pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish, and the diocese announced that the decision was made as a result of an allegation of abuse that has surfaced after 27 years.

Syracuse.com reports that the diocese said its practice is to prohibit Angelicchio from functioning publicly as a priest until the matter is resolved. The allegation will be reviewed by professionals and the Diocesan Review Board. Fr. Angelicchio has served the diocese since the 1970s, and spent several years as the Syracuse police chaplain.

In a statement from the diocese spokeswoman Danielle Cummings said, “The allegation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office who forwarded it to the diocese after their review. Please note that the allegation has not been substantiated.” It was back in mid-November that Fr. Angelicchio notified parishioners he would be taking a leave of absence. The investigation is ongoing.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington

By Mark Segraves

The sun is about to set on proposed legislation that would make it easier for victims of sexual assault to seek justice in the District of Columbia.

Current law in the District requires sex assault victims to report allegations before the statute of limitations runs out in order for prosecutors and courts to act on the allegations. For civil cases the statute of limitations is three years; for criminal cases it’s up to 15 years. In cases where the victim is a minor, the statute of limitations doesn’t kick in until the victim’s 21st birthday.

Advocates for victims of sex assault say there shouldn’t be any limits on justice. A movement to eliminate or extend statutes of limitations has gained momentum across the country. California recently became the 16th state to eliminate them, and Nevada and Colorado recently extended the limits in those states.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

9 Dec 2016

THE case against a former St Stanislaus’ College priest accused of historic indecent and sexual assaults on students at the school is due to return to court next week.

Charges against Glenn Michael Humphreys were mentioned briefly in Bathurst Local Court on Monday, November 28 when magistrate Michael Allen adjourned the matter until Monday, December 12 for further mention.

Humphreys, 63, was arrested in Western Australia in August following his release from jail serving a two-year sentence there.

Humphreys was immediately subsequently extradited to NSW to face further charges.

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ARKANSAS
The Daily Beast

Kate Briquelet

He promised spiritual counseling and a shot at parole. But for years, Kenneth Dewitt, the aging chaplain at an Arkansas lockup, called female prisoners to his office for “special training” and raped them instead.

Dewitt was sentenced to five years for assaulting three women at the McPherson Unit in Newport from 2013 to 2014. He originally faced 50 counts of sexual assault, each carrying 10 years behind bars, but took a plea deal this summer.

Now the crooked clergyman is named in a lawsuit from one of his victims, Leticia Villarreal, a single mother from Mexico. Villarreal claims Dewitt sexually assaulted her 72 times, or every Monday for about a year and a half.

Dewitt, 68, degraded Villarreal while he assaulted her, calling her his “Mexican whore” and “my Mexican,” the lawsuit states. “You are a criminal from Mexico. No one will help you here but me, so you better do as you are told,” Dewitt allegedly told her.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Jason Warick, CBC News

Wanuskewin Heritage Park could soon play host to one of the biggest events in Saskatchewan history.

CBC News has learned of extensive efforts to bring Pope Francis to the area in 2018 or 2019.

The centrepiece of the visit would be a long-awaited residential school apology at Wanuskewin, located just north of Saskatoon.

The initial goal was to host the event next year in conjunction with a papal visit to Montreal. Earlier this month, the Vatican said Francis would not be available in 2017.

That hasn’t stopped the efforts of organizers such as Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas or Regina Archbishop Don Bolen, who served until recently as Bishop of the Saskatoon diocese. They’ve extended the invitation to 2018 or 2019.

“If it was up to us, it would have happened yesterday. We’d like to think it’ll happen sooner rather than later,” Thomas said.

“We need to heal and move on.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

REBEKAH ISONAustralian Associated PressDecember 9, 2016

A man who was sexually abused by four teachers at his Newcastle Marist Brother’s high school in the 70s has described his anger upon finding out one of the abusers had been appointed principal at his child’s soon-to-be school.

The man, known as CQP, was himself a deputy principal in 1996 when he read Brother Dominic, whose real name is Darcy O’Sullivan, was set to become the leader of his former school the following year.

“I remember being really angry and telling my wife, ‘This can’t happen’,” the man told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Friday.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, December 09, 2016

Ann O’Loughlin

A woman who claims she was sexually abused by her school chaplain when she was a secondary school student yesterday told the High Court that the first time he performed oral sex on her they were both naked in bed in his house.

The woman, now aged 28, said they chatted and had tea before moving to the bedroom. She said she was shocked afterwards and felt guilty.

On the fifth day of the case yesterday — where the woman is claiming damages against the former priest — she also alleged that, when she was drunk on a youth trip to Cologne, Germany, to see the pope, the then school chaplain performed oral sex on her in a house where other students were also staying.

The woman has sued alleging that, between 2004 and 2007, she was repeatedly and wrongfully physically and sexually assaulted, falsely imprisoned and sexually abused, and subjected to sexualised behaviour by the then Catholic chaplain and teacher in her secondary school in the South East.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tom Olsen

A year into bankruptcy, legal bills are continuing to mount for the Diocese of Duluth.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel on Thursday approved the spending of another $750,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses — swelling the total cost of the process to $1.28 million and counting.

The biggest chunk of the money has gone to four law firms representing the diocese, but more than $183,000 also has been paid out to attorneys for a creditors’ committee, which represents people who have filed child sexual abuse claims against the diocese.

While in bankruptcy protection, the diocese’s expenses must be submitted to and approved by a judge. The order issued Thursday covers attorney compensation through October.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 7, 2015, in wake of a $4.9 million verdict in the first case to go to trial under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for victims of decades-old abuse cases to file suit.

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December 8th 2016

By Connie Leonard, Anchor/Reporter
KENTUCKY
WAVE

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – A week after a now suspended Louisville priest and former Trinity High School teacher is found guilty of inappropriately touching a child, S.N.A.P., Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is asking the Archdiocese of Louisville not to push for a light sentence for Father Joseph Hemmerle.

S.N.A.P. took their written concerns to the Office of the Archdiocese on Thursday. While S.N.A.P. representatives feel the archdiocese has improved education about abuse when it comes to adults around children in churches and schools, they still believe when it comes to priests, there’s an instinct to protect at all costs.

“Here in Louisville, we’ve had over 30 some-odd priests who have been credibly accused, we’ve got around four in jail at this time,” said S.N.A.P. member Cal Pfeiffer.

Now, that Father Joseph Hemmerle has been convicted, they want the Archdiocese to be proactive and find out if other victims could be out there.

“Very seldom does an abusive priest only abuse one or two children,” Pfeiffer said. “There were hundreds and hundreds of children at Camp Tall Trees.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Vanessa Brown
news.com.au
@vanessajbrown

TARA refuses to keep Milo in her house.

Because for her, the green tin resembles the night she lost her innocence; and a moment of horror that still keeps her awake at night 26 years on.

When Tara was just four years old, her parents made the decision to join the Jehovah’s Witness organisation, which is currently at the centre of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Jehovah’s Witness organisation relied on outdated policies and practices, including a 2000-year-old two-witness rule, the royal commission found.

Tara’s abuse is an example of no-one believing the then eight-year-old because she was the only witness to the ordeal.

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NEW JERSEY
Newsworks

PHIL GREGORY

One of the Democrats who wants to be New Jersey’s next governor has an unusual background for a political candidate.

West Orange resident Bob Hoatson is a former Catholic priest and co-founder of a nonprofit organization that helps victims of sexual abuse.

“I just keep fighting for justice and fighting for the rights of people who have been harmed,” said Hoatson. “I did a doctoral degree in leadership, and I’ve been a high school and college administrator, an elementary school administrator.

“I’ve run a lot of organizations. I have run some fairly large budgets. I think that qualifies me.”

Hoatson said he has he leadership skills to make needed change.

“I think New Jersey is severely broken, and I’ve had a history of looking at broken institutions and corrupt organizations and trying to reform and do something about it,” he said. “I think the people have been shortchanged by the leadership.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Nicole Sotelo | Dec. 8, 2016

Have you heard of “Battlefield Hardline”? It is a video game in which players pretend to be police who shoot people in urban areas. Common Sense Media named it among the top 10 most violent video games of 2015, the same year in which public awareness was rising about police brutality. It is also the same year that the video game’s maker showed up as a top stock holding in a new Knights of Columbus mutual fund; a fund that is now being offered to employees of multiple Catholic institutions across the United States.

In March 2015, Knights officials announced the creation of a new subsidiary called the Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors. This new firm offers investment strategies tailored to Catholic institutions. As of the most recent annual report, there were 50 such clients ranging from dioceses to religious orders. In turn, these institutions may then offer Knights mutual funds to their employees as part of a retirement plan. In my own Chicago archdiocese, Catholic employees were given the option to invest in three Knights mutual funds with combined investments totaling more than $83 million as of April 2016.

While church workers may think they are investing in their own retirement, they may be investing against their best interest. There are three things church workers should know before they invest with the Knights of Columbus.

Knights and women

The Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors’ website notes that the profits go back to the Knights organization, “a portion of which further funds Catholic initiatives.” After repeated attempts to talk to the Knights Communications Department about where the profits went and what initiatives were being funded, no response was given by the deadline. Church workers deserve to know that Knights officials have repeatedly used the organization’s resources to back political causes that go against church worker interests, including those of women working for Catholic institutions.

In recent years the organization has donated significant financial backing out of its “charitable contributions” to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C., law firm that has been arguing the case against equal access to contraception for women who work at Catholic institutions such as hospitals and universities. The Knights have also demonstrated that they agree with denying women church workers equal access, something that was a guarantee for other women under the Affordable Care Act. Knights officials also submitted an amicus brief that sided against women’s fair access to contraception. With 80 percent of Catholic lay ministers being women, they deserve to know that the profits being made off their retirement investments may go toward political causes that don’t support women’s health.

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NEW YORK
NewYorkUpstate

By Elizabeth Doran | edoran@syracuse.com

ROME, NY – A priest in Rome, NY has been placed on leave while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse looks into an allegation that dates back 27 years, diocese officials said Thursday.

The Rev. Paul F. Angelicchio, pastor of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration parish in Rome, has been placed on administrative leave while the allegation dating back 27 years involving abuse of a minor is being investigated, said Danielle Cummings, speaking for the diocese.

“The allegation was first made to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office who forwarded it to the diocese after their review,” the diocese said in a statement. “Please note that the allegation has not been substantiated.”

The diocese said its practice is to prohibit Angelicchio from functioning publicly as a priest until the matter is resolved.

The allegation will be reviewed by professionals and the Diocesan Review Board, the statement said.

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NORTH CAROLINA
ABC 11

Thursday, December 08, 2016

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WTVD) — Court records indicate a Florida woman who found nude photos of an adult male on her son’s cellphone was able to trace the sender’s telephone number back to a New Hanover County youth pastor.

The StarNews of Wilmington reports that, according to an affidavit, the mother had a parental control option on her 11-year-old son’s cellphone. She was notified by Verizon that an unknown number was contacting her child. When she searched the number on Facebook, she found it was linked to the page of Tyler Simkus Smither.

WWAY-TV reports that according to his Facebook page, Smither is from Raleigh, where he also served as an intern and youth leader at a church.

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KENTUCKY
Courier-Journal

Chris Kenning , @ckenning_cj December 8, 2016

In the wake of a Louisville priest’s conviction for molesting a child, a victim’s advocacy group on Thursday called on the Archdiocese of Louisville to better publicize clergy convictions among parishioners and do more to urge other possible victims to come forward.

Several members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, visited archdiocese headquarters Thursday to deliver that message after former Trinity High teacher Father Joseph Hemmerle was convicted on Nov. 30 in Meade County of molesting a boy at a Catholic summer camp in the 1970s. A second accuser’s trial is slated for next year.

The group asked through a letter that Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz “put on their diocesan websites the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics” and that the Archdiocese use parish bulletins, church websites, pulpit announcements and personal visits to “seek out those with knowledge or suspicions about Father Hemmerle’s crimes and beg them to call law enforcement.”

“Rarely is it just one or two. So many kids went through that camp. There is a good chance others are out there,” said Cal Pfeiffer, a member of SNAP in Louisville. “They need to reach out and urge (any potential victims) to come forward.”

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NORTH CAROLINA
Star News

After determining the man in the nude photo looked like the man on Facebook, the woman called Harbor United Methodist Church in Masonboro and spoke with the Rev. Russ Nanney. At the time Tyler Smither’s cellphone number was listed as his contact information on the church’s website.

By F.T. Norton StarNews Staff

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A savvy Florida mother who found nude photos of an adult male on her preteen son’s cellphone, traced the sender’s phone number back to New Hanover County youth pastor Tyler Simkus Smither, court documents revealed Wednesday.

An affidavit seeking a search warrant filed Tuesday in New Hanover County Superior Court state’s the mother, who had a parental control option on her 11-year-old son’s cellphone, was notified by Verizon that an unknown number was contacting her child. When the mother searched the phone number on Facebook, she found it was linked to Smither’s page, according to the document.

After determining the man in the nude photo looked like the man on Facebook, the woman called Harbor United Methodist Church in Masonboro and spoke with the Rev. Russ Nanney. At the time Smither’s cellphone number was listed as his contact information on the church’s website.

Nanney then called the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

Smither, 30, is charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was arrested Dec. 2 and posted a $100,000 bond the same day, according to New Hanover County jail records.

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UNITED STATES
Mennonite World Review

Dec 5, 2016 by Mennonite World Review staff

Eastern Mennonite University announced on Nov. 28 that an external investigation of its response to allegations of sexual misconduct by a former vice president of enrollment found no evidence that administrators had reason to dismiss Luke Hartman prior to his January resignation.

In July, the EMU board of trustees engaged D. Stafford & Associates, a Delaware-based consulting firm that investigates campus safety and law enforcement issues, including compliance with federal regulations.

The external investigation was done in response to allegations of sexual misconduct by Hartman, who resigned days after a Jan. 8 arrest for solicitation of prostitution — a charge that was ultimately dismissed by a judge.

On March 20, Lindale Mennonite Church pastors and elders acknowledged in a congregational letter that an alleged “abusive relationship” involving member Hartman was brought to staff attention in August 2014.

EMU’s release states that DSA found no evidence that EMU administrators had prior information that would have been reason not to hire Hartman. DSA also found administrators did not have information that would have been reason to dismiss Hartman prior to his January resignation.
In performing its inquiry into what EMU knew, D. Stafford & Associates accepted as credible Lauren Shifflett’s April 12 blog posting, which included a recounting of her relationship with Hartman. The DSA report indicates Hartman and Lindale Pastor Duane Yoder met with EMU President Loren Swartzendruber on Sept. 2, 2014. The two men described the relationship as a consensual affair with a 19- to 20-year-old woman from the congregation — diverging from Shifflett’s descriptions of verbal abuse and threats of physical violence.

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AUSTRALIA
Chinchilla News

Chris Calcino | 9th Dec 2016

A FORMER Anglican priest who sexually preyed on two young boys before moving to the Diocese of Grafton has been jailed for at least one year and 10 months.

Lindsay Thomas McLoughlin, 65, pleaded guilty to performing oral sex, fondling and attempting to have anal intercourse with a young teen, and exposing himself while approaching another child in the 1980s.

McLoughlin was linked to former senior priest Peter Rushton, whom a royal commission has heard ran a child sex ring from the Hunter region of New South Wales.

Rushton died in 2007 without ever being charged.

McLoughlin carried out the sexual attacks while employed in the Diocese of Newcastle.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

The Vatican has released a new set of guidelines for seminaries, including measures to protect minors from sexual abuse. Women are also set to take part in seminars as the future clergy must be able to work with women.

Catholic priests-in-training will soon be required to take part in classes on protecting minors from sexual abuse, according to the Vatican’s new seminary guidelines published Thursday.
“The programs include specific lessons, seminars or courses about the protection of youths,” the new priest training regulations said, as published by the Vatican newspaper “Osservatore Romano.”

When evaluating candidates for priesthood, instructors would have to ensure that potential priests have “not been involved in a crime or problematic behavior in this area.”

In the document, the Vatican urges bishops to be “very cautious” when assessing priesthood candidates previously dismissed from other seminaries attempting to enter another theological school.

A greater role for women

Women are also set to play a larger role in the training of priests in the future. The guidelines recommend that women also take part in seminars and university classes with priests as the future male clergy will need to be able to work with women.

The Vatican even recommended that a candidate’s ability to interact with and work alongside women should be taken into account when when being considered for the priestly ordination.

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