AUSTRALIA
Catholic Leader

May 24, 2016

POLICE have appealed to any victims of child abuse to come forward following a court appearance of a former Capuchin friar named at the child abuse royal commission.

Former priest Anthony Francis “Damian” Colbourne, an ex-member of the Capuchin Friars, faced Wynnum Magistrates Court on May 23 — across the road from the Guardian Angels Primary School – over the alleged abuse of an eight-year-old girl multiple times in the mid-1970s.
Colbourne is facing 13 child sex charges.

Arresting officer, Detective Sergeant Michael Froggatt, urged anyone with relevant information to contact their nearest police station or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

“These might be 40-year-old (alleged) offences but these charges demonstrate that police will be tenacious in our pursuit of alleged child sex offenders,’’ he said.

The commission has so far referred 1050 people, including clergy, to police.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tom Olsen

Claims are pouring in ahead of a Wednesday deadline for child sexual abuse victims to seek damages from the Diocese of Duluth.

As of Monday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court was reporting that 112 confidential claims had been turned over to attorneys representing the diocese and the group of trustees advocating for its creditors in the bankruptcy proceedings.

As expected, that number was a significant jump from the 46 claims reported just a month ago, with many people apparently making the last-minute decision to file or lose their legal rights to seek damages in decades-old abuse cases.

“It’ll be right up until the end,” said Mike Finnegan, an attorney representing dozens of the claimants through St. Paul-based Jeff Anderson and Associates. “I think there’s a lot of people out there that are trying to decide right now what to do and are struggling with it.”

The Wednesday deadline was set by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel and matches the date imposed by the state Legislature in the Minnesota Child Victims Act. The legislation opened a three-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits that would otherwise be barred by statutes of limitation.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com May 23, 2016

The Diocese of St. Cloud on Monday was served with several dozen civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse against children by former monks and priests who were assigned positions within the diocese.

The filings came just ahead of Wednesday’s deadline to file lawsuits under the Child Victims Act, which provided a three-year window in which victims could sue for decades-old sexual abuse. Those claims previously would have been dismissed because of statute of limitations violations.

The lawsuits served Monday on the diocese involve priests and monks from multiple religious orders and cover conduct that happened 30 years or more ago, said Michael Bryant, the St. Cloud attorney who prepared the lawsuits. Bryant said he served 75 complaints on the diocese Monday.

The diocese said it has received 73 such complaints in the three years that the Child Victims Act window has been in effect.

Those filings mean almost 900 lawsuits have been initiated in Minnesota by Bryant and Jeff Andersonsince the Child Victims Act has been law. Many have been filed against clergy, but other defendants statewide have included ​schools, Lutheran churches, a children’s theater company and the Boy Scouts.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Mike McAndrew | mmcandrew@syracuse.com

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Senate rejected Monday an attempt to force a vote on legislation that would give people sexually abused as children a one-year window to sue over decades-old incidents.

The Senate voted 30-29 against allowing Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, to add controversial provisions eliminating the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse to an unrelated bill that requires hospital emergency rooms and other sites to hang posters about a human trafficking resource center hotline.

The Senate then unanimously passed the human trafficking hotline bill without the amendment that Hoylman was trying to add.

In New York, people who were sexually abused as children must initiate criminal charges or a civil suit by the time they reach 23 or they are barred from doing either.

Victims of sexual abuse have been pressuring state lawmakers to pass bills sponsored by Hoylman and Assemblywoman Margaret Markey that would give victims a one-year window to file lawsuits over past sexual abuse no matter how long ago the incident allegedly occurred. Going forward, the bills would eliminate the time restrictions for bringing a civil suit or criminal charges for sexually abusing a child. The bill would allow lawsuits to be filed against individuals, their employers and institutions, both public and private.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

ALBANY, N.Y. – (AP) — An effort to force a vote in the New York Senate on a bill extending the statute of limitations on suing child sex abusers has failed.

During consideration of another bill Monday, Democrats in the Senate tried to use a procedural maneuver to put the sex abuse legislation to a vote. But Senate Republicans blocked the move, saying the measure wasn’t relevant to the underlying bill, which concerned human trafficking.

The proposal would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for several child sexual abuse crimes and create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits.

Victims now have until they turn 23 to file lawsuits, but supporters say it can take years before victims step forward.

The proposal has faced opposition from the Catholic Church and other institutions.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY GLENN BLAIN KENNETH LOVETT

ALBANY — Senate Republicans on Monday chose to block a push to help victims of child sex abuse.

Frustrated at the lack of action by the Republican majority, Senate Democrats sought to attach a bill making it easier for adults who were sexually abused as children to bring lawsuits to another bill in hopes of forcing a vote on the issue.

Instead of accepting the amendment and allowing for a vote, the Senate Republicans blocked it.

“It’s a shame today that the Senate chose not to side with the survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and instead continued to aid and abet predators by refusing to fix New York’s broken statute of limitations for these abominable crimes,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the Child Victims Act.

Dems will try to force N.Y. Senate to vote on Child Victims Act
Because the Republicans control the agenda and what bills come to the floor for a vote, the Senate Democrats have precious few options to try and move legislation.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

Mon, 05/23/2016

Rabbi Ari Hart

Our Torah, our history, and our God demand us to pursue justice. As Jews, we are called to stand with the oppressed and the mistreated. We are endowed with a sacred responsibility to seek and pursue justice where it has been denied.

This year, the Jewish community in the State of New York has an opportunity to act on this responsibility on behalf of one of the most violated groups in all society: victims of child sexual abuse.

To pursue justice, a victim must turn to the legal system for criminal or civil proceedings. Currently, New York offers legal adults a mere five-year window to report abuse they suffered as children. Once a victim turns 23, the statute of limitations takes effect and victims are no longer able to bring charges against their abusers. This policy prevents many victims from getting the justice they deserve. As mental health experts can attest, it often takes decades for a victim of child sexual abuse to overcome the fear, shame and trauma involved in coming forward to report these reprehensible crimes.

New York’s criminal justice system ranks among the very worst offenders, alongside Mississippi, Alabama and Michigan, when it comes to the treatment of survivors of child sex abuse.

Now is the time to change that — our community can and should play an integral role in this fight. It is no secret that faith leaders have long been on the wrong side of history when it comes to exposing and prosecuting perpetrators of child sex abuse. In New York, members of the faith community have stalled and blocked passage of crucial reform efforts.

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UNITED STATES
News & Observer

BY TERESA WELSH
twelsh@mcclatchy.com

Complaints of sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy were up 35 percent in 2015, according to an audit of claims and related settlements released Friday.

Between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, 838 people filed complaints saying they had been abused by church personnel while they were children. This is up from 620 complaints filed the year before.

Twenty-six reports were from minors alleging recent abuse, but the majority were claims dating back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The rise in claims dating back decades is partially attributed to bankruptcy proceedings in dioceses around the country that can lead people to file complaints when they otherwise may have kept silent, due to the possibility the diocese would no longer have money to pay out a settlement if the claims were found to be substantiated.

The report was produced by an independent auditor, StoneBridge Business Partners, commissioned to evaluate church compliance with the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. This is the 13th year the church has produced the report, which was mandated in 2002 following major revelations of the widespread nature of sexual abuse throughout the church.

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KENTUCKY
Courier-Journal

Andrew Wolfson, @adwolfson May 23, 2016

More than 30 years after he was repeatedly abused by a Catholic priest in Louisville, a man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using two boys to manufacture child pornography.

Michael Mudd’s lawyer pleaded for leniency, noting that “abuse begets abuse begets abuse.”

The attorney, Chief Federal Public Defender Scott Wendelsdorf, said in a pre-sentencing memo that while there is never an excuse for criminal sexual conduct, “occasionally there is an explanation and that explanation justifies a degree of mercy not otherwise warranted.”

“This is such a case,” Wendelsdorf said, asking that Mudd get 15 years, the mandatory minimum.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo Lawless noted that plenty of children who are sexually abused don’t go on to abuse others. And Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell said that while Mudd’s own abuse was unfortunate, the public still has to be protected and he still needed to be punished.

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ARGENTINA/PARAGUAY
Dia a Dia

[Another Argentine priest accused of abuse worked in Paraguay. He is Raul Mendoza del Castillo, who allegedly abused a child. This is another case like Carlos Ibañez.]

Por Ary Garbovetzky

Cómo se hizo la investigación del cura que abusó en Córdoba y huyó a Paraguay
Como el acusado en Córdoba Carlos Richard Ibañez, otro cura argentino denunciado por abusos sexuales terminó refugiado y trabajando para la Iglesia de Paraguay, según reveló la investigación del diario La Nación de ese país.

En su última publicación, el equipo de La Nación Investiga reveló que un cura mendocino, acusado de abuso sexual en Argentina cuando dirigía un colegio católicoa, llego a ser el líder de un programa de la Iglesia.

Se trata de Raúl del Castillo, cuya protección generó ya una causa judicial contra la Congregación Salesiana por haber ocultado información a la supuesta víctima del cura del Castillo, un hombre que denunció que cuando tenía 14 años, en el año 1998, el cura en calidad de director del colegio salesiano Don Bosco, lo sedujo y tuvo con él relaciones sexuales.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
May 23, 2016

I WAS in the foyer of Sydney’s Downing Centre Court after a day of evidence in one of the child sex trials against Catholic priest David O’Hearn.

There have been so many trials, re-trials and hearings since he was first stood down in May 2008 that I can’t remember exactly which one it was.

I didn’t pay much attention to a group across the foyer until their conversation became animated.

Suddenly a woman walked quickly towards me. She was upset. I asked if she was okay. She asked if I would walk with her out of the court because the people she had been talking to would still be outside. She didn’t want to face them again on her own.

They were supporters of O’Hearn. She had been friendly with the priest, but was shocked after hearing evidence of his crimes. There were heated words after she said she believed the victims.

I walked her out. There was a group outside the court but no one said a word. They just glared.

The case of David O’Hearn has highlighted why we needed a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He is in jail awaiting sentence after separate juries found him guilty of 44 child sex offences against six victims, but the cost to the community including victims, their families, O’Hearn’s supporters and the justice system has been extraordinary.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

By: Saafia February

Cape Town – The reverend who is at loggerheads with ministers of the Anglican Church says she has become a victim of cyber-bullying.

A woman has posted photos of Reverend June Dolley-Major on Facebook, accusing her of dressing like a “cheapy” and lying about being a sex attack victim.

June hit the spotlight two weeks ago when she went on a hunger strike outside the offices of the Anglican Church in Woodstock to protest against alleged unfair practices against her.

The cleric accused her former employer, Bishop Garth Counsell, of badmouthing her to a potential new employer in Australia.

She also claimed that she was nearly raped by a reverend, whose name she publicly revealed at a press conference last week.

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PARAGUAY/ARGENTINA
La Nacion

Clérigos denunciados siguen impunes

[Argentine priests with abuse and crimes hidden in Paraguay. At least five Argentine priests accused of sexual abuse and crimes against humanity were hidden in Paraguayan territory covered by the local Church and with a striking attitude of the judiciary, while some of them were wanted by Argentina Justice. Until recently, one of the priests continued to exercise and another continues normally in charge of a formation community of the Salesians as in the case of Carlos and Raul Ibanez del Castillo. Priests Carlos Urrutigoity and Luis Eduardo Sierra are no longer in our country. The first was taken from the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in June 2015, returning to his hometown of Mendoza, Argentina. His bishop in Ciudad del Estee, Rogelio Livieres Plano was dismissed by Prope Francis. The second was convicted of abuse in Claypole, Argentina but never set foot in jail because he was granted house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet.]

Al menos cinco sacerdotes argentinos denunciados por abuso sexual y crímenes de lesa humanidad estuvieron escondidos en territorio paraguayo, amparados por la Iglesia local y con una llamativa actitud del Poder Judicial, mientras algunos de ellos eran buscados por la Justicia argentina.

Hasta hace poco, uno de los curas seguía ejerciendo y otro continúa normalmente a cargo de una comunidad formadora de los salesianos, como son los casos de Carlos Ibáñez y Raúl del Castillo, respectivamente.

Los sacerdotes Carlos Urrutigoity y Luis Eduardo Sierra ya no están en nuestro país. El primero fue sacado de la diócesis de Ciudad del Este en junio del 2015, retornando a su ciudad natal Mendoza, Argentina. Su caso le habría costado el cargo al entonces obispo Rogelio Livieres Plano, quien fue destituido por el papa Francisco; el segundo, si bien fue condenado por abusos cometidos en Claypole, Argentina, no pisó la cárcel, ya que fue beneficiado con arresto domiciliario con tobillera electrónica en su casa.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics 4 Change

Written by OWLFAN

This past week has been a whirlwind for survivors such as myself with the news that House Bill 1947, which passed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in April, would be going to the Senate for hearings in June. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has begun circling the wagons in anticipation of this bill passing. Last Tuesday, Archbishop Chaput and other archdiocesan officials and “consultants” (aka attorneys), gathered for two meetings at St. Helena parish in Blue Bell – ironically, my registered parish!

According to an article by Matthew Gambino on CatholicPhilly.com, “speakers at the meetings described the dire financial impact upon Catholic parishes, schools and institutions that would likely result from an expected flood of civil lawsuits should the bill be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor.”

In coming weeks, parishioners will receive “information about how the legislation might affect them, as well as the parishes, schools, and charitable works they love and support based on what has happened in other states” according to Ken Gavin, spokesman for the archdiocese.

As a survivor, I wanted to give my take on these meetings, the archdiocese response, and the feelings that it has stirred up in me.

First, it is true that the archdiocese and Victims’ Assistance has helped me obtain therapy, doctors and medications. They pay for all of these visits. A rough calculation, if I should continue this course of action, until the age of 75, they will spend over $250,000 on my case alone. Not one person is disputing the facts that the Archdiocese is helping victims in this way.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the 2015 Annual Report on clergy sexual abuse that was released last week by the National Review Board of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, there were seven substantiated allegations against clergy for the sexual abuse of minors that were made by current minors. Given that the data covered priests (35,987) and deacons (16,251), this means that .01 percent of the 52,238 members of the clergy had a substantiated allegation made against him; conversely, 99.99 percent did not.

Why is this not being widely reported by the media—including the Catholic media?

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ROME
National Catholic Register

BY EDWARD PENTIN 05/23/2016

In a speech reflecting on Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, Archbishop Georg Gänswein has confirmed the existence of a group who fought against Benedict’s election in 2005, but stressed that “Vatileaks” or other issues had “little or nothing” to do with his resignation in 2013.

Speaking at the presentation of a new book on Benedict’s pontificate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome May 20, Archbishop Gänswein also said that Pope Francis and Benedict are not two popes “in competition” with one another, but represent one “expanded” Petrine Office with “an active member” and a “contemplative.”

Archbishop Gänswein, who doubles as the personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus and prefect of the Pontifical Household, said Benedict did not abandon the papacy like Pope Celestine V in the 13th century but rather sought to continue his Petrine Office in a more appropriate way given his frailty.

“Therefore, from 11 February 2013, the papal ministry is not the same as before,” he said. “It is and remains the foundation of the Catholic Church; and yet it is a foundation that Benedict XVI has profoundly and lastingly transformed by his exceptional pontificate.”

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WISCONSIN
WBAY

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – A retired priest with the Green Bay Catholic Diocese has pleaded not guilty to four felony charges of Exposing Genitals to a Child.

Richard Thomas, 78, appeared in a Brown County court room Monday for an arraignment hearing.

Thomas was arrested in April. According to a criminal complaint, Thomas exposed himself to a 16-year-old boy on March 14, 15, 16 and 17.

The teen told investigators it happened while he walked to school past Grellinger Hall in Allouez. The boy said he saw a naked man standing in one of the windows. Grellinger Hall is an independent living facility for retired priests.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune MAY 23, 2016

More than 850 child sex abuse claims, including about 500 against Minnesota Catholic clergy, have been made in the past three years under a landmark Minnesota law sunsetting this week that allowed victims of older abuse cases to have their day in court.

The Minnesota Child Victims Act, which rocked the Catholic Church to its core, set a May 25, 2016 deadline for filing older claims. Victims’ lawyers are rushing to the finish line, expecting a last-minute surge in claims.

And the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is on alert, as its victim compensation plan heads to bankruptcy court soon after the count is in.

In the three years since the law’s passage, the local church has witnessed an archbishop’s resignation, two bankruptcies and the public naming of more than 100 priests credibly accused of child sex abuse.

But its most profound impact was felt by the abuse victims themselves.

“It’s been a sea change,” said Bob Schwiderski, a decades-long victims’ advocate who was sexually abused by a priest as a boy. “We’re no longer considered ignorant money-grabbers … I’ve gone from being spit on to being applauded.”

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PHILIPPINEN
Zeit

Der künftige philippinische Präsident Rodrigo Duterte hat die katholische Kirche als “scheinheiligste Institution des Landes” bezeichnet und die Bischöfe seines Landes als “Hurensöhne” beschimpft. Bei einer Pressekonferenz am Sonntag sagte Duterte, die Bischöfe hätten ihn und andere Politiker um unlautere Gefälligkeiten gebeten. Zudem hielten sich mehrere Kirchenmänner nicht an das Zölibat. Duterte hatte die Präsidentschaftswahlen auf den Philippinen am 9. Mai mit großem Vorsprung gewonnen, obwohl sich einflussreiche Bischöfe in dem überwiegend katholischen Land gegen ihn ausgesprochen hatten.

Duterte, bislang amtierender Bürgermeister der Großstadt Davao im Süden der Philippinen, hatte bereits im Dezember für Aufsehen gesorgt, nachdem er den Papst als “Hurensohn” beschimpft hatte. Duterte inszeniert sich als Politiker der harten Hand und ist berüchtigt für seine ausschweifenden Reden, obszöne Sprache und sexistischen Witze. Als Präsident werde er die Todesstrafe wieder einführen und Zehntausende Kriminelle gezielt töten lassen, hatte Duterte schon im Wahlkampf angekündigt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Neue OZ

[Rinteln. A former Protestant Superintendent is suspected of having abused. Although the alleged crimes date back decades, the church in Weserbergland is investigating and has sent letters to potential victims.]

Rinteln. Ein früherer evangelischer Superintendent steht im Verdacht, Konfirmanden missbraucht zu haben. Obwohl die mutmaßlichen Verbrechen Jahrzehnte zurückliegen, sucht die Kirche im Weserbergland jetzt per Post nach möglichen Opfern.

Der evangelische Geistliche inszenierte ein Treffen im Pfarramt St. Nikolai in Rinteln. Er verschloss die Tür von innen. Dann verging er sich an dem Konfirmanden. So schildert es das Opfer. Der Junge wagte es nicht, seinen Eltern von dem Verbrechen zu erzählen. Er traute sich nicht zu, im Rinteln der 1960er Jahre den zu erwartenden Skandal durchzustehen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

[Diocese of Trier is investigating priest who is accused of sexual abuse.]

Das Bistum Trier hat gegen einen Pfarrer einer saarländischen Pfarrei ein kircheninternes Ermittlungsverfahren eingeleitet. Es geht um den Vorwurf eines sexuellen Missbrauchs.

Die Vorwürfe richten sich gegen einen 63-jährigen Pfarrer im Ruhestand, der rund 30 Jahre lang in einer Pfarrei im Saarland tätig war. Es geht um einen Vorfall Ende der 1990er Jahre. Dreimal hatte die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken in den vergangenen zehn Jahren gegen den Mann wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs ermittelt. Ein Verfahren aus dem Jahr 2006 wurde wegen Verjährung eingestellt, in den beiden anderen Fällen aus den Jahren 2013 und 2016 ließen sich die Taten nicht nachweisen. Das teilte ein Sprecher der Saarbrücker Staatsanwaltschaft dem SWR mit.

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UNITED STATES
NPR

April 9, 2016

Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

As the church works through its sex-abuse crisis, the Vatican is struggling to figure out how to hold cardinals and bishops accountable, investigative journalist Jason Berry tells NPR’s Scott Simon.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Yesterday, Pope Francis released his Amoris Laetitia proclamation on family life. He calls on priests to support their parishioners, including those who are divorced, gay or pregnant out of wedlock, and to love rather than judge them. But the pope stopped short of actually endorsing same-sex marriage. The document lands on a Catholic church that is still working through its abuse crisis.

Earlier this month, another cover-up in western Pennsylvania’s Altoona Johnstown Diocese received attention. Jason Berry is an investigative journalist who has covered the church crisis. He joins us now. Mr. Berry, thanks so much for being with us.

JASON BERRY, BYLINE: My pleasure.

SIMON: And help us understand, please, what happened in Altoona.

BERRY: Well, it was a grand jury report. And what it found was the long reach of a cover-up going back many decades. You know, the rooted problem of this crisis is structural mendacity, institutionalized deception and lying. And bishops, in depositions over the years, have often said that they were doing this to protect the church, for the good of the church. But in fact, it leaves the victims, the children, on the short end of a moral calibration. And to this day, the Vatican is still struggling to figure out a way to hold bishops accountable.

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DENMARK
CPH Post

A free church in Jutland has been closed after several children and young people said at a meeting that they had been abused by a priest.

The attacks are alleged to have taken place from 2006 to 2011.

“We are in shock,” the church leader told Metroxpress. “It is difficult to understand that so much has been going on that we were not aware of.”

Investigation continuing

After the allegations were revealed, the leader of the church said that he decided to close the church on April 27.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Krystal Paco

While thousands flocked to Hagatna for the Festival of Pacific Arts opening ceremonies, the island’s faithful had another mission. A peaceful demonstration was held just outside Sunday morning mass at the Hagatna Cathedral, where concerned Catholic Marilu Martinez says they continue efforts to get Archbishop Anthony Apuron to step down.

“We’re gathered here today because we have a unified message, and one voice that we want to send to our archbishop, and that is archbishop, you have only one option and that option is for you to resign. Any other choice is not acceptable – we’d like for you to resign now!” Martinez said.

Earlier this month, former Agat resident Roy Quintanilla accused Apuron of molesting him as a child. While the archdiocese has stated it would convene their archdiocesan review board to look into the allegations, their current policy states the archbishop overseas the investigation.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 11

BY ANDREW LACOMBE, FOX 11 NEWS MONDAY, MAY 23RD 2016

GREEN BAY (WLUK) – A retired priest is scheduled to be back in court Monday morning on allegations he exposed himself to a minor.

Rev. Richard Thomas will enter a plea at his arraignment on four counts of exposing genital area to a child. He waived a preliminary hearing earlier this month in Brown County Circuit Court.

After the report of misconduct, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay restricted Thomas from performing any public ministry.

Thomas was living in Grellinger Hall, a home for retired priests in Allouez. He allegedly exposed himself four times in March to a 16-year-old boy when the boy was walking to school.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)– Private schools in New York would be required to report sexual abuse under a bill moving through the State Assembly.

The bill would legally require private school officials to report accusations of sex abuse to law enforcement, WCBS 880’s Stephanie Colombini reports. Right now, only public schools have to do that.

Dr. Mary Pulido with the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said that is outrageous.

“It’s a double-standard and it leaves half a million children at risk for sex abuse and it simply doesn’t make sense,” she said.

Pulido said the need for legislation has been heightened in recent years by sex abuse scandals at Horace Mann, Poly Prep and Yeshiva University High School.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Gian De Poloni

A man charged with raping a seven-year-old girl at a Christian mission in Western Australia’s South West more than 40 years ago has pleaded not guilty to six child abuse charges.

Philip Howard Street, 74, is accused of sexually assaulting the girl multiple times while he was employed at the Roelands Christian Mission near Collie in 1974 and 1975.

The mission was once home to hundreds of Stolen Generations’ children, with about 500 Aboriginal children housed there from the 1940s to the 1970s.

In February, Street was charged by a specialist police taskforce acting on allegations that came to light during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com May 23, 2016

Legislation introduced Monday morning would lift any time limit on filing lawsuits against alleged child molesters.

Sen. Frank F. Blas Jr.’s Bill 326 states: “victims of child sexual abuse that occurred on Guam who have been barred from filing suit against their abusers by virtue of the expiration of the civil statute of limitations shall be permitted to file those claims in the Guam Superior Court.”

Guam lawmakers in the past temporarily gave victims of child sexual abuse a two-year limit to file a lawsuit, and that window has closed.

This bill would not restrict the filing of a lawsuit against a child sex abuser or child molester who committed the act before this bill would become law, according to Blas.

“There is no restriction on retroactive cases,” he said.

Blas’ legislation states statute of limitations — or legal time limits — “have been a particularly pressing problem in light of the delicate nature of child sex crimes; victims often need many years to overcome the pain of their abuse and time to obtain the courage needed to speak out about the abuse that they have suffered.”

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GUAM
KUAM

By Ken Quintanilla

One senator is looking to abolish the two-year statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. Senator Frank Blas, Jr. introduced Bill 326 today to give victims more time to seek justice against their perpetrators.

The legislation follows the silent no more movement and other allegations that have surfaced where victims are now adults, but report being molested as young children.

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PHILIPPINES
Manila Bulletin

by Leslie Ann Aquino
May 23, 2016

Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz sees no need for the bishops to debate with incoming president Rodrigo Duterte. Instead, Cruz suggested that Duterte should just expose what he knows about the so called sins of the Catholic Church.

“Debates do not resolve matters. So, if he wants to expose what he knows about the mistakes or sins of churchmen, please do so. There is no problem. So, they can be corrected,” he said in an interview.

“If he says that he knows of some bishops and priests with children, I think he should reveal this and give the proper evidence so that the Church can do something about it,” added Cruz.

The prelate said the church never said that there are no bad bishops and priests.

“Of course there are!” said Cruz.

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PHILIPPINES
Newshub (New Zealand)

Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte says he will defy the Roman Catholic Church and seek to impose a three-child policy.

It puts him on a new collision course with the bishops a day after he called them “sons of whores”.

The southern mayor has yet to be declared the May 9 poll winner, but an unofficial vote count by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed him ahead over his four rivals, three of whom conceded defeat. Duterte assumes office on June 30.

Duterte’s often outrageous comments have won him huge support and his tirades about killing criminals and a joke about a murdered rape victim do not appear to have dented his popularity in the largely Catholic country. …

On Saturday, he criticised the Church as the “most hypocritical institution”, meddling in government policies and said some bishops were enriching themselves at the expense of the poor.

“You sons of whores, aren’t you ashamed? You ask so many favours, even from me,” Duterte said in an interview broadcast by TV station GMA.

Monsignor Oliver Mendoza, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Lingayen, whose head is the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the Church respected Duterte’s opinion but that it would continue to speak against government policies that are contrary to Church teaching.

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PHILIPPINES
Catholic Herald (UK)

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte accused some bishops of violating their vow of celibacy

The presumptive Philippine president-elect has launched a verbal attack on the country’s dominant Church as “the most hypocritical institution” and accused some of its bishops of corruption for allegedly asking favours from politicians, including him.

In a late-night news conference that dragged on to the early hours of Sunday in southern Davao city, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte questioned the relevance of Catholic bishops, citing his overwhelming victory in the May 9 presidential election based on an unofficial count despite efforts by them to persuade Filipinos not to vote for him.

Such harsh public condemnation of the influential Church and its bishops by a top politician is rare in the Philippines, Asia’s bastion of Catholicism.

It presages a potentially thorny relationship between the Church and the incoming president, who shocked bishops in November when he criticised Pope Francis for sparking a huge traffic jam that trapped him for hours during a visit to Manila. Duterte apologised after bishops denounced his action. During the campaign, Duterte said he warned Catholics they may go to hell if they voted for him because bishops have criticised him as immoral partly for advocating the killing of criminals. Millions of Filipinos, however, still voted for him in the election, which he said served like a referendum.

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NIGERIA/UKRAINE
Daily Post

The Nigerian founder and general overseer of the Embassy of Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations Church in Kiev, Ukraine, pastor Sunday Adelaja, has denied claims that he had extramarital affairs with no fewer than 20 women in his church.

The pastor had reportedly been asked to step down as the spiritual head of the church after the adultery scandal made the rounds.

The allegations against him as divulged in a statement on its website, the Russian Union of Christians Evangelical Faith, Adelaja, at a meeting of pastors and board of elders of the church, confessed to having committed adultery with his female parishioners and that he had repented.

According to a letter posted on the website of the Spiritual Council Russian Union of Christians Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), written by one Apostle Toff Ulissis, a clergyman said to be providing spiritual care to the Nigerian pastor, Adelaja was urged to, “seek psychiatric help in Kiev and the United States.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

Two grand juries have exposed systematic child sexual abuse covered up by the Catholic Church in Philadelphia, convicted serial predator Jerry Sandusky’s crimes have drawn international attention to Penn State, and, most recently, state prosecutors have leveled charges of widespread pedophilia and official silence in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. Now the Pennsylvania legislature may finally be ready to show mercy to victims.

Legislation to extend the time limits for criminal charges and civil complaints in abuse cases would be late in coming but nonetheless welcome. For too long, the legislature has bowed to church and insurance industry lobbying, seemingly unable to grasp the impact of the crimes on victims.

The very shame and fear that abuse inflicts prevents many survivors from reporting the crimes for years, if at all. They deserve a chance to heal and obtain justice.

One of the most dedicated opponents of legislation to give more victims that chance has changed his mind. State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D., Berks) had his epiphany after Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced a pair of disturbing grand jury findings of serial clergy abuse in western and central Pennsylvania. One grand jury reported that abuse was so rampant in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese that a bishop kept a chart of payouts to victims, even as local law enforcement participated in the cover-up. Another charged three former regional leaders of the Franciscan order with allowing a friar to abuse more than 80 children at a high school in Johnstown.

It’s been 11 years since legislation extending the statute of limitations was suggested by then-Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham based on a grand jury’s charges of widespread abuse and secrecy. The recommendation was reaffirmed by subsequent grand juries.

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MAINE
WABI

MAY 22, 2016

A Vermont man is suing a former Greek Orthodox priest from Bangor, already convicted of sexually assaulting him, this according to a report in the Bangor Daily News.

He’s suing 53-year-old Adam Metropoulos.

Metropoulos was found guilty last year of sexual abuse of a minor last year and pleaded guilty to having sexually explicit images and invasion of privacy.

The man was an altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor.

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Crux

By Austen Ivereigh
Crux Contributor May 23, 2016

Both in the Catholic Church as well as in individual lives, sometimes the area where one becomes truly great is the same place where once you failed badly and got burned.

Theologically speaking, grace redeems what was once the place of darkness. Conversion isn’t just about overcoming vices, but making space for God’s grace to turn them into virtues.

To take a classic example, back in the 1990s Opus Dei had the most disastrously defensive communications operation in the Catholic Church. But in the interlude between the 1992 beatification and the 2002 canonization of their founder, St. Josemaría de Escrivá, they turned that around, forging an approach based on transparency and accountability that paid off big-time when the “Da Vinci Code” movie appeared.

These days, Opus Dei’s communications office in Rome is the go-to source for huge numbers of journalists seeking their way around Church stories, while its Holy Cross University runs the Church’s must-attend conference for Church communicators.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea | May. 23, 2016

ANALYSIS Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of “Hell, hope and healing,” an NCR four-part series on sexual abuse. You can read the series introduction and Part 1, which are also available at the feature series page Hell, hope and healing. Parts 3 and 4 will be published first in our print edition first and then posted to our website.

In the first article of this series I discussed the commonality and damage of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including clergy sexual abuse. Here, I focus on the hope that most trauma survivors can heal because of inherent or learned resilience and/or through access to healing resources.

Resilience

Since the 1980s, when child abuse and domestic violence emerged from society’s skeleton closet, researchers and clinicians have rightly prioritized the tremendous wounds caused by adverse childhood experiences. Recently, however, researchers also have concluded that while about two-thirds of trauma survivors will experience at least some negative outcomes after trauma, almost another third will emerge into adults who seem not to have been deeply affected by earlier traumas.

Even more exciting are indications that resilience can be learned or expanded to moderate the long-term impact of traumatic stress on the body, mind and spirit.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of threat.” Resilience researchers like Dennis Charney and Steven Southwick have investigated the genetic, biological, social and spiritual factors contributing to resilience. They and others have identified a number of factors that appear to endow an individual with resilience:

* Above average intelligence.
* An internal locus of control. A sense that the individual can determine his/her own fate, even when trauma occurs.
* An optimistic cognitive style. Resilient individuals tend to be able to find the silver lining in even the darkest, most thunderous clouds. They are able to imagine a time when life will be better.
* A close, safe relationship with at least one adult not involved in the trauma. This is an area in which abusive priests were often the most despicable and damaging. Children known by predator priests to be in difficult home situations, or kids who came to the priests for advice or comfort about other traumas, were often selected as victims. Instead of responding to an already hurting young person with kindness and mercy, abusing clergy too often became another trauma for the child or teen.
* A consistent faith and/or cultural traditions that provided hope and a steady belief system. Once again, we see the travesty of priests whose sexual violations robbed victims of a faith-based building block of resilience to life’s challenges.
* A good sense of humor, even when life is tough.

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PHILIPPINES
ABC News (Australia)

The Philippines’ president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has described the Catholic Church as the country’s “most hypocritical institution” and says he is ready to take on senior Filipino bishops in a debate about their wrongdoings before he takes office next month.

The tough-talking 71-year-old has yet to be proclaimed the May 9 poll winner, but an unofficial vote count by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed a huge lead over his rivals, three of whom conceded defeat. He is due to take office on June 30.

Mr Duterte’s often outrageous comments and no-nonsense approach have won him huge support and his tirades about killing criminals and even a joke about a murdered rape victim, appear not to have dented his popularity.

“I will lecture until June 29 the sins of the Catholic Church and whether or not you are still relevant,” Mr Duterte told reporters in Davao City, where he is the incumbent mayor.

“The most hypocritical institution is the Catholic Church.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, May 23, 2016

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission has yet to decide whether to ask for an extension of its remit to examine other institutions.

It comes as adoption groups have reiterated calls for a number of adoption agencies as well as a range of State and private maternity homes to be included in the investigation.

Under its terms of reference, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission will investigate how unmarried mothers and their babies were treated between 1922 and 1998 at 14 State-linked religious institutions.

The three-year inquiry — which has a €23.5m budget — will examine mother and baby homes, county homes, vaccine trials on children, and illegal adoptions where babies were sent abroad.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Commission said it “not yet made any decision about recommending any extension of its terms of reference”.

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NEW YORK
Journal News

Steve Lieberman, slieberm@lohud.com May 22, 2016

Mosdos Sanz Klausenberg has not responded in state court to Ramapo request that a judge order the Eckerson Lane yeshiva closed after three years of lacking final town approvals

Ramapo has asked a state court to shut down an Eckerson Lane yeshiva for overstaying temporary permits that allowed it to use a house and classroom trailers for students while building a more permanent school.

The yeshiva was opened three years ago by a congregation without approvals. But the congregation later received town permission to use a single-family house for classrooms and add modular trailers for additional students.

Ramapo is arguing in court papers that Mosdos Sans Klausenberg of Monsey is violating zoning regulations after failing to build a school on the property within two years. Town law gives developers one year – with the potential of a 12-month extension – to run a school with temporary modular classrooms while constructing a more lasting structure.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

An Irish priest censured by the Vatican has cast doubts that his future or the futures of other clerics in his situation will improve following last week’s meeting between Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) colleagues and bishops.

“Experience leads me to have little hope or expectation from the meeting,” Fr Tony Flannery said.
He is among six Irish priests censured by the Vatican in recent years for their more liberal views on issues such as contraception, priesthood, women priests and homosexuality.

Others include Fr Brian D’Arcy, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Owen O’Sullivan, Fr Iggy O’Donovan and Fr Seán Fagan.

A member of the ACP delegation, Fr Seán McDonagh, told the bishops at the Maynooth meeting that the six priests’ treatment by the church was seen as a source “of great scandal by many Catholics in Ireland”.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Herald

Australian priest had continued to act publicly as a priest after having priestly facilities removed

An Australian priest who supports the ordination of women has been excommunicated by Pope Francis.

In the first such excommunication since the new pontiff took office Fr Greg Reynolds was dismissed in a letter from the Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart, which stated that “the decision by Pope Francis to dismiss Fr Reynolds from the clerical state and to declare his automatic excommunication has been made because of his public teaching on the ordination of women contrary to the teaching of the Church and his public celebration of the Eucharist when he did not hold faculties to act publicly as a priest.”

Archbishop Hart also told other priests in the archdiocese by letter that Fr Reynolds’s excommunication was “because of his public teaching on the ordination of women”, which are grounds for automatic excommunication.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

[with video]

by Joe Holden

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A new fight is brewing between the Catholic Church and Harrisburg.

A full-scale battle over Pennslvania’s statute of limitations is expected to break out.

“Just looking at it from a moral compass standpoint? They are so wrong,” said Pennsylvania lawmaker Mark Rozzi.

He and others predict a coordinated challenge from the Catholic Church. But for Rozzi of Berks County, the battle is personal.

He says he was sexually abused by a priest in grade school.

“If I could’ve spoke up when I was 13 years-old, I might have been able to save hundreds of others boys that came after me,” said Rozzi.

CBS 3 was outside a meeting of virtually every Philadelphia priest with Archbishop Chaput this week. There, sources say that talking points were provided to the clergy on House Bill 1947.

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

Two senior members of Guam’s Catholic Church have resigned from the archdiocese review board amid sexual abuse allegations against an Archbishop.

The Pacific Daily News reported the members resigned citing a conflict of interest as the board is likely to be called upon to review allegations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

52-year-old Roy Quintanilla alleges he was abused by Bishop Apuron when he was an altar boy more than 40 years ago, and says he knows of other victims.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted May 22, 2016

BANGOR, Maine — A Vermont man, who as a teenager was an altar server at a Bangor church, has sued in Penobscot County Superior Court the former Greek Orthodox priest convicted of sexually assaulting him, his supervisors and the church community he served.

Adam Metropoulos, 53, was convicted in March 2015 on four felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor following a jury-waived trial. The charges stemmed from the former priest’s sexual assault on a 15-year-old altar server, who is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, at the church in 2006 and 2007.

The man, now 24 years old, is not being named because he was the victim of sexual abuse.

The victim claimed to have sustained severe and permanent physical injury, emotional distress, mental anguish and future and past medical expenses because of Metropoulos’ sexual abuse. He claimed the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, its leader Metropolitan Methodios, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, based in New York City, and the Greek Orthodox community in Bangor were negligent in their supervision of Metropoulos.

The lawsuit did not name St. George Greek Orthodox Church by name.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Shawn Raymundo, sraymundo@guampdn.com
May 23, 2016

Whether Roy Quintanilla does decide to take legal action against Archbishop Anthony Apuron for allegedly molesting the 52-year-old man 40 years ago, Guam’s laws on sexual abuse crimes could thwart any attempts to bring the matter to court.

According to Guam law, a person who was sexually abused as a minor has until three years from the time they reach 18 years old to bring the issue to the attorney general’s office to file criminal charges against the assailant. The statute of limitations kicks in after the victim has turned 21 years old.

Speaking to the media in front of the Archdiocese of Agana Chancery Office last Tuesday, Quintanilla spoke about the reported encounter with Apuron. Quintanilla said the alleged abuse happened when he was a 12-year-old altar server for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Agat while Apuron was the parish priest.

Apuron also faced sexual abuse claims back in late 2014, when John C. Toves accused the archbishop of molesting his cousin. The cousin, however, never came forward to confirm the allegations, news files state.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
May 22, 2016, 10 p.m.

CATHOLIC priest David O’Hearn was the master manipulator who charmed and groomed people to get his way and told child victims to “look up at Jesus” pictures as he sexually abused them in church buildings.

He was the priest who stood in the dock during trials, waved to supporters and implored them to “keep the faith” in him as an innocent man and victim of injustice, despite juries finding him guilty of child sex crimes.

After four years of trials, appeals, re-trials and hearings where his name could not be reported in the media, O’Hearn on Friday could finally be revealed for what he is – a serial child sex offender who is sexually attracted to young boys and preyed on the most vulnerable.

“He was a predator. I faced him in court because we no longer have to carry the shame of what was done to us. That shame has now shifted. He should be the one who’s ashamed,” said a victim of O’Hearn’s who was 12 in the mid 1980s when he was sexually abused.

O’Hearn was convicted of 44 crimes against six boys. He gained sexual gratification from wrestling with boys. He was found guilty of multiple indecent assault charges in church buildings, parks, cars and on camps and forcing oral sex.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, May 22, 2016

Private school administrators in New York are not required to report sexual abuse allegations to law-enforcement officials — even after horrifying scandals roiled three prominent city prep schools.

Assemblyman David McDonough (R-Merrick) says it’s time to close a loophole that contributed to sex abuse scandals at Horace Mann, Poly Prep and Yeshiva University High School.

“The sad fact is so many students have been abused in schools and it is not reported,” McDonough said. “You can’t continue to sweep this stuff under the rug. Parents are surprised to learn that their kids are not protected under the laws of New York.”

Public school administrators are already required by state education law to report sexual abuse allegations to police or prosecutors. McDonough introduced legislation last month in the Assembly that would amend the law to include private school officials as well.

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DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
Montecristi Horas

LA ROMANA.- El Ministerio Público de esta demarcación logró que fueran impuestos tres meses de prisión preventiva, como medida de coerción, contra un pastor evangélico que abusó sexualmente de una menor de 12 años de edad de un centro educativo de la comunidad de Villa Hermosa.

El Juzgado de Atención Permanente de La Romana dictó la medida cautelar en contra del pastor Maximiliano Mota, por supuestamente haber incurrido en los delitos de seducción, acoso y abuso sexual en perjuicio de la niña, cuyo nombre se omite por razones legales.

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DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
DomRep Total

[A Protestant pastor is accused of sexual harassment in the Dominican Republic.]

21. MAI 2016

La Romana.- Drei Monate Untersuchungshaft erreichte das Öffentliche Ministerium gegen den evangelischen Pfarrer Maximiliano Mota aus La Romana. Sexuelle Belästigung und Missbrauch gegenüber einem 12 jährigen Mädchen werden dem Kirchenmann vorgeworfen.

Das Mädchen kommt aus Villa Hermosa und der Name wird aus Gründen des Jugendschutzes nicht veröffentlicht.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Lotoskraft

[The hype is over, forget the victims again.]

Als 2010 die katholische Kirche in den Fokus geriet, weil sie über Jahrzehnte den sexuellen Missbrauch an überwiegend Jungen durch Geistliche bemäntelte und die Täter vor Strafverfolgung schonte, wurden für eine kurze Weile auch die Opfer der Schandtaten sichtbar und durch die Talkshows gereicht. Die kommerzielle Instrumentalisierung der Opfer war gewaltig. Schließlich muss man es so sehen, wenn Markus Lanz ein Opfer sexualisierter Gewalt vorführt, erhält das Opfer neben Reisespesen noch rund 150 € extra zugereicht. Der Profit des Moderators und seiner Produktionsfirma aber ist ein vielfacher davon.

Nachdem im Zuge des Skandals in der katholischen Kirche immer mehr Fälle in renommierten Institutionen wie der Odenwaldschule oder bei den Grünen aufgedeckt wurden, blieb das Thema virulent. Nach der Bundestagswahl 2013 hatten die Opfer ihre Schuldigkeit getan. Die Grünen hatten ihren Dämpfer bekommen und die Talkmaster ihre Sendeminuten gut verkauft. Das Interesse brach ab, die Welle war geritten und verebbt. Auch der veröffentlichte Bericht zu den Missbrauchsfällen der Berliner Grünen interessierte nur noch wenige. Nach einer Woche war das Thema aus den Medien, obwohl gerade dieser Bericht eine schreckliche Seite aufdeckte, nämlich dass die Grünen damals die Täter schützten und ihnen die Opfer – einmal mehr fast ausschließlich Buben ‑ auslieferten.

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TENNESSEE
WISH

KNOXVILLE (WATE) – The pastor of Grace Baptist Church said he is shocked after a children’s pastor at the church was charged for patronizing prostitution and trafficking.

Ron Stewart, the Senior Pastor at Grace Baptist Church said he found out about child youth pastor Jason Kennedy’s arrest when he got a phone call from a friend that knew about the situation that was taking place. Court records say Kennedy negotiated a $100 fee for a half hour of sex with a 15 and 18-year-old girl.

“I was devastated, I was totally shocked. It is something you can not anticipate, in fact I speak about it constantly,” said Stewart. “I have nine other pastors and I speak to them constantly, ‘we are held to a higher standard and what someone else may do and be accepted is not accepted and anything you do will be magnified and we understand much is given, much is required.’ It goes with being a pastor.”

During TBI’s operation to combat human trafficking in Knoxville, 32 people were arrested. However, the only two people charged with trafficking were pastors: Pastor Kennedy and volunteer creative pastor Zubin Parakh at Lifehouse Church in Oak Ridge.

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MINNESOTA
The Journal

Breaking the Silence

May 22, 2016

By Kevin Sweeney – Journal Editor , The Journal

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles The Journal is publishing on the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests in the New Ulm Diocese. Today’s article tells the story of Kim Schmit, who was abused as a child in Willmar by Fr. David Roney.

Next Sunday: Leon’s story.

Kim Schmit is different from many other victims of clerical sex abuse of children. She told someone what happened, when it happened.

Her parents told officials at St. Mary’s Church in Willmar what Father David Roney had done to her, and were assured Roney would be dealt with. But Roney remained pastor at St. Mary’s and has been the subject of several lawsuits accusing him of sexually abusing more children in the years after Schmit’s accusation. To Schmit, it was an example of the way the Catholic Church as an organization has harbored and protected predatory priests.

Schmit’s family had moved to Willmar when she was 2. Her father, a self-taught musician, was the music teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic School. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom.

“She didn’t even have a drivers license. She would send a taxi cab to pick us up from after school functions,” Schmit recalls.

As a child, Schmit’s mother would send her and her younger sister to St. Mary’s for religious education classes on weekdays and Saturday mornings. She and her sister would wait at St. Mary’s school for the cab to pick them up.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Maria Hernandez, mohernande@guampdn.com May 22, 2016

In the midst of recent allegations of sexual abuse made by former Guam resident Roy Taitague Quintanilla against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, residents and a church official have shared their opinions on the developments.

Quintanilla, 52, spoke publicly at a press conference on Tuesday about abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of Apuron 40 years ago when he was an altar boy. Quintanilla said he was a 12-year-old altar server for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, in Agat, when the alleged abuse took place.

Apuron was the pastor of the parish at the time, Quintanilla said. He said the archbishop touched his private areas through his pants.

“I was trying my best to push your hand away; it was painful,” he said as he read aloud a letter addressed to Apuron at the press conference.

Deacon Elias “Itoy” Ruda of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, in Toto, said he doesn’t really know how to feel about the allegations.

“I’m just surprised. I’m just praying,” he said.

The news, he said, whether true or false, will possibly bring a divide in the church.

“My opinion is maybe the archdiocese is going to be divided into groups of people, but it’s better to stay strong in faith,” he said.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

MEGAN GILLIS, POSTMEDIA

The city’s archbishop vows that “we will do better” in tackling sexual abuse in the church.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast makes the comment in a column in the Ottawa Sun, in the wake of a Postmedia series about historic abuse by local Catholic clergy published last week.

Prendergast calls the articles “shocking” despite containing “not many surprises,” the impact coming from “seeing all the details displayed in one place.”

“They laid out the enormity of the evil committed and the need for ongoing healing,” Prendergast wrote, later adding that “the situation in which we find ourselves humbles us all, making us feel raw in our exposure to public vilification and scorn.

“Still, the ties of communion among us Catholics will help us in this moment of testing. God is inviting us to come to grips with our sinfulness so that we can strive together towards a better future.”

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MINNESOTA
The Journal

May 22, 2016

By Bishop John M. LeVoir – Diocese of New Ulm , The Journal

The New Ulm Journal is publishing several powerful articles sharing the stories of victims and survivors of sexual abuse by priests. On behalf of the Diocese of New Ulm, I want to express my gratitude to those victims and survivors it takes great courage to come forward and tell this horrible story. It is essential that their experiences be shared and for the Church to publicly acknowledge what happened.

I have been humbled when personally meeting with and hearing the stories of victims and survivors. It is heartbreaking. Many times, the only response possible is one of sincere apology and a solemn vow to never forget the lessons of this tragic chapter in the Church’s history.

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ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star

By Johanna Willett Arizona Daily Star

After 15 years serving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas must submit a letter of retirement to Rome by mid-August.

He has no choice. The church’s canon law requires all bishops to submit a letter by the time they turn 75. Kicanas hits that benchmark Aug. 18.

From there, it’s up to Pope Francis to accept or reject the resignation. Usually, the pope accepts.

But that doesn’t mean August heralds the last days for the current Tucson bishop. Retiring bishops usually serve until the pope appoints a replacement. That can take six to eight months — sometimes longer.

Even after a successor is established, Kicanas, a Chicago native, has no plans to live elsewhere. …

Before Kicanas’ arrival, the diocese had paid $155,000 to settle claims from eight people who reported being sexually abused by diocesan personnel, Star archives show.

The following years would bring a $14 million settlement with 10 men who described abuse by four local clergy members from the 1960s to the 1980s, the sentencing of three priests to prison for sexually abusing children, and 22 lawsuits that drove the diocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004.

“We were faced with abuse allegations, and we had no idea where the end was,” Kicanas said. “The concern was: How do we treat people equally and fairly so that the resources were available to help anybody who would come forward? And that’s when we went into bankruptcy.”

The Tucson diocese followed the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon in the unprecedented move. At the time, plaintiffs expressed concern that the move was a copout.

The reorganization process took a year and involved the sale of diocese properties and creation of a $22.2 million settlement pool for victims both known and unknown, Star archives show.

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CONNECTICUT
Republican-American

In 1965, a priest in Naugatuck, now accused of sexual abuse, made boys fear

BY MICHAEL DOOLING REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

A new assistant pastor, Rev. Arthur J. Perrault, arrived at St. Francis Parish in Naugatuck in September 1965.

Two weeks ago, Perrault, an accused pedophile, was found living in Morocco. He had fled his New Mexico parish in 1992 after lawsuits alleging sexual abuse were filed against him and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

EMILY SPINK

Sexual abuse support agencies in Christchurch have waiting lists up to six months long for victims needing help.

Demand for counselling and education services in the city has surged as well. One agency said it had more than doubled in the last five years as people become more willing to accept support and aware of how to get it.

Services have felt the strain with resource increases not “anywhere near” matching the rising demand. They welcomed a $46 million funding boost for the sexual assault services sector announced by the Government on Wednesday.

A survey of 24 support organisations, conducted by the Green Party and released the same day, found some victims were waiting up to three months for support.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

Jerome Christenson Daily News

On May 31, 1958, Thomas Paul Adamson was ordained a priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona.

More than a half-century later, the Diocese of Winona has received 36 accusations of child sexual abuse by Adamson, one of 17 men who served as priests in the diocese who have substantiated claims against them of sexually abusing a minor.

The names of those 17 men, among the 320 Minnesota religious of all denominations — including priests, ministers, clerics, nuns and staff — credibly accused of sexual abuse as compiled by SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), are known largely because of a piece of state law that expires this week.

The law has led to hundreds of civil lawsuits against dioceses across the state, as well as the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, with the resulting claims raising significant questions about whether those dioceses will declare bankruptcy. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January 2015, and has been reorganizing since.

Whether the Diocese of Winona will follow the same route isn’t clear, but also not out of the question, according to previous diocese statements and a reading of both internal and public documents.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KENNETH LOVETT

ALBANY — When it comes to dealing with child sex abuse victims, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle says public and private institutions should be held to the same standard even while he opposes the idea of making it easier for some survivors to sue.

Morelle, a Rochester Democrat and the second most powerful lawmaker in the chamber, expressed serious concerns about doing away with laws limiting the window that adult child sex abuse victims have to bring civil or criminal cases.

Under current law, victims have up until their 23rd birthday to bring civil cases.

Morelle says he can support extending the timeframe for civil cases, but not eliminating it entirely, a position similar to one revealed by Gov. Cuomo this week. But Morelle opposes the idea of doing away with the time limits for bringing criminal charges on child sex abuse cases, a change the governor’s office says Cuomo would like to see.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Schaumburger Zeitung

[Rintelner priest abused boys and other victims are possible.]

RINTELN. Vor 50 Jahren soll der damalige Superintendent des Kirchenkreises Grafschaft Schaumburg, Kurt Eckels, einen Jungen sexuell missbraucht haben. Erst jetzt wandte sich das damals 14 Jahre alte Opfer mit seinem Fall an die Kirche. Der Kirchenkreis geht davon aus, dass der mittlerweile verstorbene Geistliche auch andere Schutzbefohlene missbraucht oder zu missbrauchen versucht hat. Deswegen wurden vorgestern bereits mehr als 300 ehemalige Konfirmanden der Jahrgänge 1965 bis 1976 – der Dienstzeit von Eckels – postalisch kontaktiert.

In dem Brief, welcher der Schaumburger Zeitung vorliegt, räumt der aktuelle Superintendent Andreas Kühne-Glaser eine Mitschuld der evangelischen Kirche ein, „dass so viele zu Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs wurden und sich viele Betroffene nie gemeldet haben“. Weiter schreibt er in dem zweiseitigen Brief: „Wir haben viele Jahrzehnte oft nicht richtig hingesehen und nicht reagiert.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

[Counties remain firm: No money for fund sexual abuse.]

BERLIN –
Trotz drohender Finanzierungsprobleme im Hilfsfonds für die Opfer sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs in Familien lehnen viele Bundesländer eine finanzielle Beteiligung weiter hartnäckig ab. Bisher stellte der Bund rund 50 Millionen Euro für Therapien und Lebenshilfe bereit.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Bayern zahlten zusammen rund acht Millionen ein. Alle anderen Bundesländer verweigern jedoch Zahlungen – oft mit Hinweis auf die Verantwortung des Bundes. Die meisten wollen, wenn überhaupt, für Missbrauchsopfer an staatlichen Schulen, Kindergärten und anderen Institutionen des Landes zahlen, ergab eine Umfrage der Deutschen Presse-Agentur.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBIT

[Diocese of Trier: Bishop Ackermann encounters harsh criticism.]

Man habe die Sitzung in Freisen kurzfristig einberufen, um die zuständigen Gremien darüber zu informieren, dass gegen den ehemaligen Freisener Kooperator ein „Kirchliches Voruntersuchungsverfahren“ aufgrund Vorwürfen sexuellen Missbrauchs eingeleitet worden sei.

Mit diesen Worten leitet Ulrich Stinner als Verantwortlicher der Rätearbeit im Bistum Trier die Versammlung in Freisen ein.

Stinner weist daraufhin, dass die aktuelle Entwicklung im Fall von Pfarrer M. absolut nicht in Verbindung mit den seit Wochen laufenden Recherchen zu bringen sei. Dies sei reiner Zufall. Man könne dies glauben – oder auch nicht. Dies betont er mehrmals an diesem Abend. Er selbst sei davon überrascht worden, dass der „Volksfreund“ zufällig wenige Minuten vor Beginn der Veranstaltung den Artikel über Pfarrer M. online veröffentlichte. – Den ausgedruckten Artikel hatte er da bereits schon vor sich liegen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

[(Trier) After a Trierer Volksfreund on the diocese of Trier, a pastor has been provisionally suspended and church legal proceedings are to be initiated. The priest in a Saarland parish is accused to sexually abusing children and is said to have stockpiled weapons in the closet in the sacristy.]

(Trier) Nach TV-Informationen hat das Bistum Trier den beschuldigten Pfarrer offenbar vorläufig suspendiert. Ein kirchengerichtliches Verfahren soll eingeleitet worden sein. Dem katholischen Priester einer saarländischen Pfarrei wird vorgeworfen, Kinder sexuell missbraucht und Waffen im Schrank der Sakristei gehortet haben.

Das behaupten Pfarrangehörige. Mindestens drei Mal hat die Staatsanwaltschaft gegen den Geistlichen ermittelt – 2006, 2013 und 2016. Der Priester hatte weiter Messen gehalten. Das Bistum Trier hat die Suspendierung noch nicht bestätigt.

Der katholische Priester einer saarländischen Pfarrei soll Kinder sexuell missbraucht und Waffen im Schrank der Sakristei gehortet haben. Das behaupten Pfarrangehörige. Mindestens drei Mal hat die Staatsanwaltschaft gegen den Geistlichen ermittelt – 2006, 2013 und 2016.

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FRANCE
France Bleu

[Case Preynat: Cardinal Barbarin has had an “examination of conscience”.]

Par Émeline Rochedy, France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire et France Bleu
Samedi 21 mai 2016

Le cardinal de Lyon reconnait qu’il ne s’est pas donné les moyens de prendre la mesure de l’affaire de pédophilie.

“J’ai fait mon examen de conscience”, estime Philippe Barbarin, au micro de Maurice Fusier. Le cardinal est visé par deux enquêtes préliminaires pour “non dénonciation” d’agressions sexuelles commises sur de jeunes scouts entre 1986 et 1991 par Bernard Preynat, qui a fini sa carrière dans le Roannais l’été dernier. “J’aurais dû aller au-devant, écouter les gens, essayer de me renseigner de manière beaucoup plus précise, et après, en constatant la gravité des faits dont je n’avais pas idée à ce moment-là, reconnait-il. J’aurais dû dire stop. (…) Ce n’est pas possible que quelqu’un qui a fait des choses comme ça continue d’exercer son ministère sacerdotal, de célébrer la messe ou des baptêmes.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Compiled by BishopAccountability.org
From reports commissioned by the USCCB
May 20, 2016

As of May 20, 2016, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has counted 6,528 clerics “not implausibly” and “credibly” accused in the period 1950 through June 31, 2015 of sexually abusing minors. These USCCB counts effectively omit from the running totals any allegations made in 2003 and any allegations made in January-June 2014.

The USCCB has counted 17,651 victims who have alleged that they were abused as minors by priests. The USCCB counts effectively omit from the running totals any persons who made allegations in 2003, and any persons who made allegations in January-June 2014.

In the table below, we provide a year-by-year summary of the USCCB’s data and also calculate running totals, which are lacking in the USCCB reports. The numbers in the table are color-coded for easier reference – red for credibly accused priests and purple for victims. We also provide links to all the USCCB source documents from which the numbers are derived.

The USCCB hired the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to evaluate data submitted by member bishops regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, bishops, deacons, and seminarians. In its 2004 report, the John Jay College found, according to survey forms completed by the bishops, that the bishops had received in 1950-2002 “not implausible” allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by 4,392 priests, including 12 bishops.

In 2004, the USCCB commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University to begin collecting annual data on allegations and settlements, and starting in Spring 2005, CARA has published a report each year. (See Bendyna’s 2/15/05 letter to Skylstad describing the commission, in the 2005 Report, PDF p. 12.) Among other data, that report counts the number of diocesan and religious order priests “credibly” accused of abuse during the previous calendar year, and states how many of those had been accused in prior years or are being accused for the first time. These data were obtained using a survey that was available to the bishops and superiors of religious orders online. See, for example, the 2009 diocesan and religious order surveys (populated by CARA with aggregate U.S. numbers), and see below for the Manchester diocese’s summaries of its responses to the surveys.

The latest CARA report – the CARA report on 2014-2015 allegations – was released on May 20, 2016 along with an audit of the implementation of the Charter. We have cached a copy of the report for safekeeping.

The previous report – the CARA report on 2013-2014 allegations – was the first report to implement a change in the reporting period for the reports, an unfortunate change that has been continued in the latest report.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

Matt Rocheleau GLOBE STAFF MAY 20, 2016

The Catholic church paid $153 million in the United States last year to settle lawsuits, and fielded hundreds of new accusations, as fallout continued from the clergy sex abuse scandal exposed in the early 2000s, a new report from church leaders says.

The annual report from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which covers July 2014 to June 2015, said 384 victims came forward with allegations the church deemed credible.

The figure, while somewhat higher than the 330 allegations deemed credible in the prior year, generally fit into a trend in which the number of such allegations has declined in recent years.

“One instance of abuse is one too many,” Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the conference’s Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, wrote in the report.

“May our Lord continue to heal all who have been victimized by this crime and may our efforts toward healing, reconciliation, and peace be blessed,” he added. …

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was sharply critical of the bishops’ annual reports, calling them “flawed” and “deceptive.”

“Bishops’ policies, procedures, protocols, and panels sound good. But they are meaningless because there’s no independent monitoring or enforcement,” Clohessy wrote in an e-mail. “It’s as if bishops design the game, hire the umpires, and declare themselves winners.” …

Mary Gautier, a senior research associate there who worked on this year’s report, said the number of abuse allegations has generally declined each year as spending has increased on programs designed to protect youth in the church.

“It shows the proactive attitude of the dioceses, that they’re taking this seriously,” she said.

But Terence McKiernan founder of Bishop Accountability, an organization that tracks the abuse crisis, said holes still remain in the church’s annual reports, including one introduced when the report last year began using a different reporting period for some data.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

SELENA ROSS
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, May 20, 2016

The Service Ontario office on Lawrence Avenue West is the most public of places: public in its stream of passersby and public in the sense that it’s a conduit, bland and efficient, to the government.

That is where Joe Schacter sat down at a computer terminal in December and began looking at child pornography, police say.

Mr. Schacter reportedly appeared surprised when people were alarmed enough by the photos, allegedly of little boys in bathing suits, that they called police. The 55-year-old, a retired teacher at two private Orthodox Jewish schools, was arrested and charged.

That news, reported in local media, ended a 20-year internal battle for Adam, a North York man. He picked up his phone and asked to speak to a police detective. Joe Schacter, he said, had coached him into performing sex acts for three years of his childhood.

Adam was in his 40s and he says in every year of his adult life he had talked himself out of making that call. “‘I should go to the cops,’” he would say to himself. “‘I should go to the cops. I should go to the cops.’”

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OKLAHOMA
KTUL

BY KRISTIN DICKERSON
FRIDAY, MAY 20TH 2016

It began as a short speech in a small room of the state Capitol. “This is the first time that I’ve gone public with my story,” said Ginger Lewis.

But the response from Lewis’s testimony, that she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, has grown larger than she ever imagined.

“I’ve heard from hundreds and hundreds of survivors from all around the world,” Lewis said.

She was testifying in support of House Bill 2292, seeking to extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims, giving them more time to seek justice. It passed unanimously in the House, but then, “it died in the Senate,” Lewis said.

An indication she says, of the amount of education needed by lawmakers who often fear a tidal wave of frivolous lawsuits if the statute is changed.

“The facts and the research just don’t back that up,” said Lewis.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Metro

Ashitha Nagesh for Metro.co.uk
Saturday 21 May 2016

A formerly respected school teacher pretended to be a teenager online to trick young boys into sexual activity.

Richard Lythall, 35, has now been jailed after police discovered a trove of child abuse images on his computer in March last year.

Officers also found that he had been posing as a 15-year-old boy in order to chat to boys of the same age, and exchange explicit images with them, over a four year period.

As a result of the allegations Lythall, who also worked as a church organist, immediately lost his job at Sir Thomas Boughey High School in Halmerend, Staffs.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
5.20.2016

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The annual report on the implementation of the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” warns against complacency in dioceses, and the firm contracted to conduct audits of dioceses and parishes said there was “plenty of room for improvement” in implementing two of the charter’s articles.

In remarks prefacing the report, Francesco C. Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, the all-lay group that tracks for the bishops how dioceses address clergy sexual abuse, said this year’s audit results “continue to demonstrate the progress that has been made in ensuring safe environments for children in the church.”

“The bishops need to be acknowledged for keeping the protection of children and young people in the forefront of their leadership by continually enhancing their efforts to comply with the charter,” Cesareo said.

However, he also warned that the U.S. church’s progress can “foster a false sense of security” that can “lead to complacency.”

“Such complacency can lead to a minimalist approach to the charter, which can be seen simply as a series of requirements that need to be checked off, as opposed to an implementation that renders the charter fully operative,” he said.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KEVIN T. MULHEARN

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle has expressed his reservations about supporting legislation that would reform the New York statute of limitations for sexual abuse survivors.

While I appreciate Mr. Morelle’s candor in addressing this hot-button issue, as an attorney on the front lines of this issue for more than a decade, I can state with confidence that his opposition is based on misconceptions, half-truths, and false suppositions.

Mr. Morelle raises the holy grail legal issue of due process. But he wrongly assumes that individuals accused of molesting children and institutions accused of facilitating their employees’ sexual assaults of children will be denied due process if the statute of limitations law is reformed. In fact, right now in New York State there are scores of men and women whose childhood innocence was stolen from them who, without a doubt, have already been denied due process, a fair procedure to give them their days in court on claims against those who grievously hurt them, by the existing law as it is written (by the legislators) and interpreted (by the judges).

The best example of this is the Yeshiva University case, where two venerable federal courts took the law into their own hands and — in direct opposition to the arguments made and investigation conducted by Yeshiva University itself — manufactured from thin air a preposterous judicial finding that 34 plaintiffs who sued Yeshiva University in 2013 after learning that the school’s top administrators had engaged in a multi-decade cover-up of sexual abuse at Yeshiva University High School in Manhattan, would have discovered Yeshiva’s own misconduct had they reported their abuse to school administrators before they turned 21.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

Joe Augustine
Updated: 05/20/2016

Survivors of child sex abuse in Minnesota have only five days left to file a claim under a state law that opened a window for civil lawsuits outside the statute of limitations. A state lawmaker says it is doubtful survivors will have another opportunity to take legal action, and advocates say it’s putting pressure on victims who may not feel ready to come forward.

The deadline to file civil claims under Minnesota’s Child Victim’s Act expires May 25.

Cordelia Anderson, a nationally recognized expert on child sex abuse prevention who has counseled adult survivors for forty years, says the deadline has created a “ticking time bomb.”

“What I’ve been hearing is just some painful pressure,” Anderson said Friday.

She believes the state should extend the deadline, re-open the window in the future or, in a perfect world, throw out statute of limitations in old sex abuse cases.
She says many survivors did not know about the state law or thought it only applied to victims of clergy abuse.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | May. 20, 2016

The U.S. bishops’ conference released this morning its 13th Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The report, which covers the period July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, is really two reports in one:

An auditor — this year as in the last couple years, the Rochester, N.Y.-based StoneBridge Business Partners — reports on the compliance of bishops and diocese with the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted in 2002 at the bishops’ meeting in Dallas.

Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA, reports on its Annual Survey of Allegations and Costs of the abuse crisis, a report it has prepared since 2004.

“The Charter,” the report explains, “lays the foundation for child protection in our dioceses, parishes, and schools as it outlines a multi-faceted approach to how the Church responds to child sex­ual abuse.” The audit, then can be seen as a measure of the success of implementing the charter.

The audit reports that five ecclesial jurisdictions/ecclesiastical units are not in compliance with the Dallas Charter. For the 13th consecutive year the Lincoln, Neb., diocese and the eparchies (the Orthodox churches’ equivalent of a Latin rite diocese) of St. Peter the Apostle, Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark for Syrians, Our Lady of Nareg for Armenians and Stamford for Ukrainians did not participate in the audit.

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the diocese-like structure created by the Vatican in 2012 for former Anglican communities and clergy seeking to become Catholic, also did not participate in the audit. …

Cesareo notes, as has he and his predecessors have noted in past reports, that progress the bishops have made in addressing this issue can “foster a false sense of security and lead to complacency.” He cites several explains of complacency:

* Some diocesan review boards rarely meet or have not met in several years.
* Some dioceses do background checks on personnel and volunteers, but no follow-up rescreening after several years have passed.
* Some diocese policies have not been updated to reflect revisions that have been made to the Charter.

“These are examples of how easy it is to become complacent, which opens the possibility for problems to occur that could have been prevented,” Cesareo writes.

As evidence of the danger of complacency, Cesareo notes that while most allegations of sexual abuse come from adults reporting abuse from years past, in this reporting cycle are 26 allegations of sexual abuse of current minors by clergy. Seven of those allegations were substantiated and nine were under investigation. Nine were unsubstantiated.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

Washington D.C., May 20, 2016 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- In their annual report on nationwide measures for the protection of minors, the U.S. bishops found extensive diocesan cooperation with recommended standards.

“When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002, we made a pledge to heal and a promise to protect. These promises remain essential priorities for our Church,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the bishops’ conference.

“We remain ever vigilant in the protection of children and the outreach to those most harmed by sexual abuse. The Church cannot become complacent with what has been accomplished. We look for new ways of addressing the issue and showing others a model of protection.”

In 2002, in response to the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades, the U.S. bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The charter made voluntary recommendations to bishops, including an audit to ensure compliance.

The report, carried out by the bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection and the National Review Board, found that 189 dioceses and eparchies were compliant with the Charter and one diocese was partially compliant specifically with Articles 12 and 13, which require proof that training programs are in place and that background checks are conducted on employees, clergy and volunteers.

The one diocese not fully compliant is the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., though according to the report, the diocese plans to fully participate in the audit next year.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

By Matthew Gambino • Posted May 20, 2016

About 350 priests and deacons of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia attended two sessions this week designed to inform the clergy about pending state legislation to lift the statutes of limitation on cases involving sexual abuse of minors.

The afternoon and evening meetings on Tuesday, May 17 at St. Helena Parish’s hall in Blue Bell were led by Archbishop Charles Chaput, archdiocesan officials and consultants, and were intended to equip the clergy to discuss the legislation immediately with parish pastoral and finance council members plus other parish leaders.

The speakers described House Bill 1947, which passed in the state House of Representatives in April by a 180-15 margin, and its potentially devastating effects to the Catholic Church and all other private institutions across Pennsylvania.

Parishioners throughout the archdiocese will be strongly encouraged in early June to contact their state senators and express opposition to the bill. It is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings beginning June 14 to study the constitutionality of the bill.

Speakers at the meetings described the dire financial impact upon Catholic parishes, schools and institutions that would likely result from an expected flood of civil lawsuits should the bill be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

May 20, 2016

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection and the National Review Board released its 2015 Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People May 20.

Protection and prevention efforts continue being a priority. Over 4.3 million children and 2.4 million adults have been trained to identify the warning signs of abuse and how to report them. Over 99 percent of priests (35,987), deacons (16,251), educators (162,803), and 98 percent volunteers (1,930,262) and candidates for ordination (6,473), and 97 percent (260,356) of other employees received training.

Over 2.4 million background checks were performed on adults at parishes and schools. These include, background checks performed on 99 percent of priests (35,720), deacons (16,257), 98 percent of volunteers (1,935,310) and other employees (263,690), and 96 percent of educators (158,556).

189 dioceses and eparchies were compliant with the Charter and one diocese was partially compliant specifically with Articles 12 and 13, which require proof that training programs are in place and that background checks are conducted on employees, clergy and volunteers. Ongoing efforts continue toward full participation of the one diocese and five eparchies that did not participate in the last cycle. Next year all dioceses and a majority of the eparchies will be involved in data collection or an on-site audit for the 2016 evaluation.

Between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015, a total of 26 allegations against clergy received were from current minors, of those, seven were substantiated. All allegations were reported to local civil authorities.

“When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002, we made a pledge to heal and a promise to protect. These promises remain essential priorities for our Church,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the USCCB. “We remain ever vigilant in the protection of children and the outreach to those most harmed by sexual abuse. The Church cannot become complacent with what has been accomplished. We look for new ways of addressing the issue and showing others a model of protection.”

Out of the 838 people who reported to have suffered past abuse as minors, 46 percent or 386 accepted diocesan outreach and healing. Continued support has been provided to 1,646 victims/survivors. All dioceses and eparchies have offices and personnel whose primary role is to assist victim/survivors, treating them with respect and offering them pastoral care.

The information in the report was gathered between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. The report on the response of the Catholic Church in the United States to clergy sexual abuse includes an annual survey conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and an annual audit to numerous dioceses and eparchies.

The full report is available at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/15-118-CYP-Annual-Report.pdf.
—
Keywords: clergy sexual abuse, Catholic Church, Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, annual audit report, background checks, safe environment training, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Secretariat for the Protection of Children and Young People, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
# # #
MEDIA CONTACT:
Norma Montenegro Flynn
O: 202-541-3202

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By Scott Malone

BOSTON, May 20 (Reuters) – An annual audit of reports of sexual abuse by members of the U.S. Roman Catholic clergy released on Friday showed sharp increases in the number of new claims and in the value of settlements to victims.

The audit showed that 838 people came forward from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015, to say they had been sexually abused by priests, deacons or members of religions orders while they were children, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

That is up 35 percent from 620 new reports of abuse a year earlier, an increase that the bishops said largely reflected a large number of claims in six dioceses that had either filed for bankruptcy or were located in states that opened windows allowing victims to sue over old cases of sexual assault.

While the bulk of the reports related to cases of abuse date back to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, there were 26 reports made by minors of more recent abuse.

The report also found that Catholic parishes and other orders spent $153.6 million on settlements, legal fees and other expenses related to claims of sex assault over the audit period, up 29 percent from $119.1 million a year earlier.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

BY TYLER HEAD FRIDAY, MAY 20TH 2016

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Jason Kopp, the Liverpool man accused of multiple counts of child sexual exploitation, stood in an orange jumpsuit and was emotional as a federal judge accepted his guilty plea in federal court Friday morning.

Kopp, 40, pleaded guilty to a total of 22 counts; one count of conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, 10 counts of sexual exploitation of children, nine counts of distribution of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.

11 of those counts call for a maximum of 30 years of imprisonment and a minimum of 15 years per count. Nine of the counts call for a maximum of 20 years and a minimum of 5 years per counts, and two of the counts call for a maximum sentence of 20 years per count. In all, Kopp faces a maximum of 550 years of imprisonment.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, May 20, 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)

Year after year, bishops issue the same flawed, deceptive self-survey trying to promote complacency when they should be promoting vigilance.

Under intense public pressure 14 years ago, US bishops adopted a weak, vague abuse policy. Bishops ‘comply’ with these self-serving steps of course because their insurers, defense lawyers and public relations experts insist that they do.

And even then, they often give only the appearance of compliance.

For example, at least ten admitted, proven or credibly accused pedophile priests remain on the job in the US today.

[SNAP]

One of them, Fr. Eric Swearingen of Fresno, was actually found guilty of child sex crimes by a jury yet has since been promoted.

[SNAP]

So for all the pledges of reform, in reality, bishops are still safeguarding their comfort and careers instead of safeguarding innocent kids and vulnerable adults.

Bishops continue to ignore several massive ‘elephants in the room’ that aren’t changing. The biggest of them is the rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy in which prelates are never defrocked, demoted, disciplined or even denounced no matter how irresponsibly they act regarding kids’ safety. And it’s worth noting that this monarchy remains every bit as intact now as it was 14 years ago.

Bishops’ policies, procedures, protocols and panels sound good. But they are meaningless because there’s no independent monitoring or enforcement. It’s as if bishops design the game, hire the umpires and declare themselves winners.

It’s disingenuous for bishops to pretend their “review board” is in any way independent. They claim it’s a watchdog when in fact it’s a lap dog.

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AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate

David Barwell | 21st May 2016

A FORMER Catholic priest charged with a string of historic child sex abuse offences will stand trial in Lismore next month.

John Patrick Casey has pleaded not guilty to charges relating to alleged sexual offences committed against two brothers, aged nine and 11, in 1985.

The 68-year-old was based at the Mary Help of Christians Primary School in Sawtell until the day before his arrest on July 9 last year.

Casey also worked as a part-time police chaplain, with his duties including conducting funerals and other religious services for police officers.

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TENNESSEE
Knowville News Sentinel

By Hayes Hickman of the Knoxville News Sentinel

KNOXVILLE — Two local ministers face felony charges for seeking sex with underage girls during an undercover sting targeting human trafficking and prostitution this week, authorities said Friday.

Jason Evan Kennedy, 46, head of the children’s ministry at Grace Baptist Church of Knoxville, was one of two men charged with felony human trafficking and patronizing prostitution after they answered online advertisements specifically offering sex with an underage girl, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced during a news conference.

Also charged with felony trafficking is Zubin Percy Parakh, 32, of Oak Ridge, who serves as creative pastor with Lifehouse Church in Oak Ridge, according to the church’s website.

In reality, the ads were placed by law enforcement as part of a four-day sting operation at a North Knoxville motel, deemed “Operation Someone Like Me,” conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Knoxville Police Department.

Another 25 men who responded to the ads were cited for patronizing prostitution. They include a local engineer and a volunteer firefighter, whom authorities did not identify Friday.

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TENNESSEE
WBIR

[with video]

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Friday authorities arrested 32 people in a Knoxville human trafficking operation.

The TBI said in a release two of the men, including a children’s minister, arrested in “Operation Someone Like Me” responded to ads for what they thought were girls under the age of 18.

TBI identified Knoxville’s Jason Kennedy, 46, as the children’s minister arrested for patronizing prostitution and human trafficking. Kennedy was a minister at Grace Baptist Church in Karns. He was fired after the charges were revealed.

Grace Baptist Church released the following statement to the media about Kennedy’s arrest:

The children’s pastor of Grace Baptist Church has been terminated as as result of an arrest in a police sting related to prostitution and human trafficking.

We are praying for his family and will continue to provide the services of our ministry to them.

According to a TBI release, the only other person charged with trafficking was Zubin Parakh, 32, from Oak Ridge.

Parakh is connected to Lifehouse Church in Oak Ridge. A church spokesperson said Parakh serves as a volunteer as a “creative pastor.”

Although Parakh is not officially a pastor at LIfehouse Church, he was working toward becoming one. The church said Parakh has never worked with children.

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TENNESSEE
Local 8

[with video]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — After a three-day investigation, nearly two dozen men were arrested on charges related to human trafficking, including Jason Evan Kennedy, a pastor of children’s ministry at Grace Baptist in Karns.

Grace Baptist responds

Those with the church say Kennedy lost his job as a result of the arrest.

The release stated:

“The actions of the children’s pastor for which he has been arrested were part of his life outside the church, and we have received no questions or concerns related to his conduct within the church or its ministries.”

It said Kennedy was hired two-and-a-half years ago. Church administrators got a background check on Kennedy and it turned up no issues at the time. It did not indicate any previous problems. Church leaders believed Kennedy was a good fit because he listed a children’s pastor as a reference on his application. That pastor affirmed Kennedy had no issues in his background.

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TENNESSEE
KGW

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The children’s minister at a 4,000-member Baptist church was among 32 people arrested on prostitution and human trafficking charges, state investigators announced Friday.

Two men, including the children’s minister, answered ads for what they thought they were girls under the age of 18, said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Jason Kennedy, 46, of Knoxville was charged Thursday with patronizing prostitution and trafficking. He was a children’s minister at Grace Baptist Church in the Knoxville suburb of Karns, Tenn., until his arrest; his name had been scrubbed as of Friday from the church’s website, Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Church officials have no comment, a church secretary said Friday.

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TENNESSEE
WKRN

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Thirty-two men and women, including a children’s minister, were arrested on prostitution and human trafficking-related charges in Knoxville.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation made the arrests during a three-day operation called Operation Someone Like Me.

It was fifth operation of its kind in the state between the TBI and other law enforcement agencies to help identify, investigate, and prosecute trafficking suspects as well as rescue victims.

Undercover agents posted ads on Backpage.com. Authorities say those ads received over 300 responses within three days.

In one ad, authorities posed as a juvenile girl. That ad received more than 24 responses, according to the TBI. …

WATE identifies the minister as Jason Kennedy for Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville. The church’s website says Kennedy, 46, is a pastor for children from birth through fifth grade.

Court records say he allegedly responded to an ad on May 19 via a text message and was made aware another girl would be present who was underage. A $100 fee for a half hour of sex with both females was reportedly negotiated, according to court records, and Kennedy arranged to meet them at a Best Western.

The children’s minister is further accused of finding out the underage girl was only 15 upon arriving and saying he wanted to have sex with both. WATE reports court documents say he placed $100 on the counter and removed his pants before law enforcement took him into custody.

Kennedy faces charges of patronizing prostitution and trafficking. He was fired from his position as a minister following his arrest.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Julie McMahon | jmcmahon@syracuse.com
on May 20, 2016

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Liverpool man faces more than 500 years in prison for his admission today that he sexually exploited three children to make child pornography.

Jason Kopp, 40, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby to taking sexually explicit photos of three children with help from an aide at All Saints Elementary School. At least one of the images was taken at the school, a source said. Kopp also possessed hundreds of lewd images and videos of other children.

Last week Kopp pleaded guilty to the charges, but Suddaby refused to accept his plea because he would not admit to a detailed account of his crimes.

Today, prosecutor Lisa Fletcher read the litany of Kopp’s crimes, including detailed and graphic descriptions of how he took photos of children in lewd positions and photos of himself making sexual contact with an infant. He transmitted those photos through text messages, messaging applications and email.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

MI5 and MI6 have agreed to be central participants at an imminent inquiry into a paedophile ring at a notorious Belfast care home, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Counsel for the probe into the Kincora scandal also insisted it has been given unrestricted access to information and documents from government departments and agencies.

The disclosure came during continuing legal action by one victim over claims of state collision and the cover-up of sexual abuse throughout the 1970s in order to protect an intelligence-gathering operation.

Gary Hoy, 54, is seeking to overturn a ruling that the examination should remain within the current remit of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) sitting in Banbridge.

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By BETH DALBEY (Patch Staff) – May 20, 2016
MICHIGAN
Patch

EASTPOINTE, MI – The Rev. Kenneth Kaucheck, the banished priest who was removed from parishes in Royal Oak and Ferndale seven years ago over decades-old allegations he had sex with a teenage girl he was counseling, has resigned from a Catholic center that takes in pregnant teens and women.

The Archdiocese of Detroit said in a statement that Kaucheck’s job as development director for Gianna House Pregnancy and Parenting Center violated the restrictions placed on his ministry when he was removed from St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak and St. James Parish in Ferndale in 2009.

Kaucheck was in his mid-20s and was assigned to Guardian Angels Parish in Clawson in 1976 when he was accused of having a sexual relationship, which reportedly included a trip to Florida, with a 16-year-old pregnant teen he was counseling. Church officials became aware of the relationship and reassigned Kaucheck to a parish in Dearborn. The allegations resurfaced in 2009, and the Diocese banished Kaucheck from public ministry.

In a statement Thursday, the Archdiocese of Detroit said the church doesn’t own Gianna House, which operates out of a former convent adjacent to St. Veronica Catholic Church in Eastpointe.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT – Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

Ein erneuter Schlag ins Gesicht:
Sowohl für die Betroffenen als als auch für ihre Angehörige.

Bischof Ackermann, der nur wenige Wochen zuvor noch in einem Interview sagte, “Glaubwürdig zu sein, ist eine Frage des Handelns” gerät erneut in Erklärungsnot. Dass dieser neue gravierende Fall ausgerechnet von dem Missbrauchsbeauftragten der DBK, Bischof Ackermann, selbst vertuscht wurde, zeigt erneut und zugleich auch umso deutlicher, wie es um den versprochenen “ernsthaften Aufklärungswillen” der Kirche tatsächlich steht.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Editor May 20, 2016

This week, Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register published a major sit-down interview with Bishop Bernard Fellay, leader of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the headline from which was Fellay’s diagnosis that a deal for reunion with Rome is close, coupled with his insistence the society won’t betray its principles to get it.

There was a delicious throw-away line on a different topic, however, which shouldn’t get lost.

At one stage, Pentin asked Fellay about the pope’s repeated denunciations of “doctors of the law” and “fundamentalists,” wondering if Fellay takes those jibes as directed at his society or traditionalists generally. In response, Fellay said he’s asked around Rome what the pope means by that language.

“The answer I got most was ‘conservative Americans!’” Fellay, who’s Swiss, laughingly told Pentin. “So really, frankly, I don’t know.”

One might suspect Fellay was deflecting, except for this: He’s absolutely, one hundred percent right about what one typically hears in Rome on the subject of who leaves this pope cold.

By now, it’s clear that one defining feature both of Francis’ personality and his approach to governance – which shouldn’t be at all surprising, when you think about it – is a distinct ambivalence about the United States and about Americans.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MAY 21, 2016

Gerard Henderson
Columnist

I have had two encounters of the personal kind with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, neither of which was satisfactory.

The first occurred on May 6, 2014, when I was walking to my Sydney office on Phillip Street. It was early in the morning and I was surprised to see former ABC Radio National presenter, producer and journalist Stephen Crittenden on the corner of Phillip and Bent streets.

Crittenden was dressed in a fine suit, well-pressed shirt and tasteful tie. I asked him how it came to pass that a one-time left-wing ABC journalist looked so CBDish so early in the morning. Crittenden replied that he had been appointed to a senior bureaucratic position at the royal commission based in nearby Governor Macquarie Tower.

At the time, it was known that the royal commission appeared to be taking a special interest in ­George Pell relating to his time as a priest in the Catholic diocese of Ballarat in the 1970s and early 80s, as auxiliary bishop in Melbourne in the late 80s and early 90s, as archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001 and archbishop of Sydney before his appointment to the Vatican in February 2014.

There had been several pedophile priests active in both areas of Victoria — particularly Gerald Ridsdale in western Victoria and Peter Searson in Melbourne.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Schwaebische

[In the 1960s and 1970s children were abused in the homes of the Brethren in Korntal and Wilhelmsdorf. The work-up process, however, has stalled.]

Wilhelmsdorf sz In den 1960er- und 1970er-Jahren wurden Kinder in den Heimen der Brüdergemeinde in Korntal und Wilhelmsdorf missbraucht, der Aufarbeitungsprozess ist allerdings ins Stocken geraten.

Es war vor fünf Jahren, als Detlev Zander nachts aufwachte, weil er im Schlaf eingenässt hatte. 50 Jahre alt war er zu diesem Zeitpunkt. Erholsamen und ruhigen Schlaf hatte er nicht mehr. Seine Alpträume katapultierten ihn zurück in seine Kindheit – zurück in die 1960er-Jahre, die er im Kinderheim der Evangelischen Brüdergemeinde in Korntal bei Stuttgart verbracht hatte. Alles kam wieder hoch: Misshandlungen und Vergewaltigung. Plötzlich bekamen die schwarz-weißen Bilder, die Detlev Zander in seinem Gedächtnis tief vergraben hatte, wieder Farbe. Bilder, wie er damals vom Hausmeister im Heizungskeller missbraucht wurde, wie er von einer Erzieherin windelweich geschlagen wurde, so sehr, dass sein rechter Wangenknochen brach. „Das wurde nie ärztlich behandelt. Quasi ein Andenken an früher“, sagt er ruhig und deutet auf sein schielendes Auge.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutschlandfunk

[Sexual abuse of children and adolescents and again creating headlines. Many victims find it difficult to trust relatives or counseling centers – the sense of shame is often too large. An independent commission of experts will now work up the cases in homes, schools and families.]

Sexueller Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugendlichen sorgt immer wieder für Schlagzeilen. Vielen Opfern fällt es schwer, sich Angehörigen oder Beratungsstellen anzuvertrauen – das Gefühl der Scham ist oft zu groß. Eine unabhängige Expertenkommission will die Fälle in Heimen, Schulen und Familien jetzt aufarbeiten.

Von Dörte Hinrichs

Am Anfang steht eine Zahl. Eine unfassbare Zahl. Sie bestätigt die enorme gesellschaftliche Dimension von sexuellem Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugendlichen:

“Die Zahlen sind ja auch lange bekannt, sind jetzt kürzlich auch wieder belegt worden, durch eine Studie, die im Auftrag des Missbrauchsbeauftragten publiziert wurde: Also etwa für Deutschland jenseits dieser 12-13 000 Fälle, die jedes Jahr aktenkundig und juristisch verfolgt werden, eine Zahl von 1 Million betroffenen Kindern und Jugendlicher.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel Online

[Three years ago, the federal government of Germany established a fund for victims of child sexual abuse – now it is out of money. SPIEGEL ONLINE has requested from the abuse officer: What’s going on?]

Von Annette Langer

Vor drei Jahren richtete die Bundesregierung einen Fonds für Opfer sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs ein – nun geht ihm das Geld aus. SPIEGEL ONLINE hat beim Missbrauchsbeauftragten nachgefragt: Was ist da los?

Der Fonds wurde im Mai 2013 auf Empfehlung des Runden Tischs Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch eingerichtet. Das Ziel: Betroffene, die keine Hilfen nach dem Opferentschädigungsgesetz erhalten oder keinen Anspruch auf Kostenübernahme für Therapien durch die Krankenkassen haben, sollten unterstützt werden. Bis zu 10.000 Euro können seitdem jedem Einzelnen für Therapien und Hilfen im Alltag zur Verfügung gestellt werden.
Eine gute Sache, doch jetzt schlägt der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung Alarm: Der Fonds sei bereits fast leer und eine Anschlussfinanzierung nicht in Sicht, sagt Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig.

Zwar stellte der Bund 50 Millionen Euro zur Verfügung. Die Länder sollten zügig noch einmal dieselbe Summe zuschießen. Doch es blieb bei einzelnen Absichtserklärungen: Bis heute haben lediglich Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Bayern eingezahlt – knapp über eine Million Euro kam aus dem Norden, 7,6 Millionen Euro aus dem Süden. Der Rest der Republik scheint die Sache aussitzen zu wollen.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The woman at the centre of an alleged abuse investigation, involving the Anglican Church in Jersey, has rejected a formal apology.

The Bishop of Winchester, Tim Dakin, has told ITV News he wrote to her to say sorry that ‘investigating her case had caused her further distress.’

But today she has hit back, describing it as a “pretence of apology.”

The allegation of abuse, involving a church warden, was investigated in 2013, and led to the temporary suspension of Jersey’s Dean, Bob Key, over his handling of the case.

He has received his own apology from the Archbishop of Canterbury for the “stress, hurt and uncertainty” of the past three years.

An investigation into the specific alleged abuse incident, and a wider study of safeguarding in Jersey’s church, are yet to be published.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., May 14, 2016

Reorganization plan includes amends for sex abuse victims

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP – Once the Diocese of Gallup emerges from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Bishop James S. Wall will have an extensive list of non-monetary commitments to fulfill as part of the diocese’s plan of reorganization.

The list of non-monetary commitments includes 17 provisions that were drawn up in negotiations between attorneys for the Gallup Diocese and attorneys and representatives for clergy sex abuse claimants in the case. The document (Doc 567-18) was filed May 3 with U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Some of the provisions call for the continuation of policies the Diocese of Gallup already has in place, while other provisions will require new policies and programs to be instituted.

Bishop’s participation

Two provisions require the active participation of the Gallup bishop. One provision requires Wall to send letters of apology to all abuse claimants in the bankruptcy case and/or, if requested, to immediate family members of the claimants unless claimants request in writing that they do not wish to receive a letter from the bishop.

“Letters of apology shall state that the survivor was not at fault for the abuse and the Diocese take responsibility for the abuse,” the document states. “The Bishop shall personally sign the letters of apology.”

A second provision requires Wall to personally visit each operating Catholic parish or school in which “abuse is alleged to have occurred or where identified abusers served” with the bishop’s schedule to be well publicized at least 30 days in advance of the visit. All known survivors of abuse in that area will be invited to attend, and Wall will be available to address questions and comments.

According to the list of credibly accused abusers posted on the Diocese of Gallup’s website, Wall may be making visits to nearly 40 currently operating Catholic parishes and schools in the diocese. Arizona communities in the diocese that have had abusers include Chinle, Cibecue, Fort Defiance, Holbrook, Lukachukai, McNary, Overgaard, Page, Pinetop, San Rafael/Concho, Show Low, Snowflake, Springerville, St. Johns, St. Michaels, Tuba City and Winslow. New Mexico communities include Aragon, Blanco, Bloomfield, Bluewater, Cebolleta/Seboyeta, Chichiltah, Crownpoint, Cuba, Cubero, Farmington, Flora Vista, Gallup, Grants, Lumberton, Pinehaven, San Fidel, Shiprock and Thoreau.

Communities like Gallup and Winslow have had credibly accused abusers in more than one parish, and Gallup has had abusers who volunteered at Catholic nonprofits, served in hospitals and worked in the chancery. Winslow’s two Catholic parishes had 15 known, credibly accused abusers serve as priests between 1955 and 1989. Winslow’s Madre de Dios parish, which served mostly low-income Hispanic families, had at least one credibly accused abuser as a priest for 15 straight years, from 1961 to 1976.

Other assignments

Abusers were also assigned to parishes that have been closed or parishes that were transferred to the Diocese of Phoenix. Closed parishes include the Tolani Lake Indian Mission near Leupp, Arizona, and New Mexico parishes such as St. Philip Parish in Churchrock, Mission Center for Navajo Indians in Smith Lake and St. Jerome Parish in Gallup.

The Diocese of Phoenix took over a number of Gallup parishes that also had abusers assigned to them. Those include churches in Ash Fork, Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Humboldt, Kingman, Mayer, Prescott, Seligman and Yarnell.

In addition, the credibly accused list posted on the Diocese of Gallup’s website does not include several priests who worked in the Gallup Diocese and have been identified as credibly accused abusers by other dioceses or religious orders. It also does not include some clergy identified as perpetrators by abuse claimants in the bankruptcy case.

If those additional names are added to the Gallup Diocese’s list, Wall’s visiting schedule to Catholic parishes and schools could grow longer.

.As part of that provision requiring parish and school visits by the bishop, the non-monetary commitment list requires that Wall “shall be available upon reasonable notice to have a private conference” with any person who informs the diocese he or she was sexually abused in the Gallup Diocese.

Editor’s Note: Other new policies and programs required in the plan of reorganization will be the subject of a future article.

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FRANCE
Religion News Service

By David Gibson and Tom Heneghan

(RNS) For years, seminaries and monasteries around France sent students and novices to Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a prominent French priest and therapist who has written disparagingly of gays, if their superiors decided the young men were struggling with homosexuality.

Now Anatrella, who argues that gay men cannot be ordained as priests, is facing mounting allegations that he himself had sex with male clients under his care, a scandal that could have repercussions all the way to the Vatican, where the priest is still regularly consulted on matters of sexuality.

The reports about Anatrella that have emerged in recent weeks also landed just as the Catholic Church in France has been embroiled in a crisis over charges that senior churchmen shielded priests even after they received reports that the clerics had molested children.

Anatrella stoked that furor earlier this year when it was revealed that he told new bishops at a Vatican-sponsored course that they are not obligated to report a suspected abuser to authorities even in countries where the law requires such reporting.

The Vatican quickly said that Anatrella’s remarks did not change in church policy on reporting, and Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, head of Pope Francis’ new Commission for the Protection of Minors, issued a statement saying that beyond the requirements of civil law, all members of the church “have a moral and ethical responsibility to report suspected abuse to the civil authorities who are charged with protecting our society.”

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