ABUSE TRACKER

FRANCE
Telesur

The Cardinal has been caught up in a scandal over abuses that took place 25 years ago, long before he became archbishop of Lyon in 2002.

A French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests apologized to victims during a mass, his diocese said Thursday .

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, quoting Pope Francis, said Wednesday he was “obliged to assume all the evil committed by some priests and personally apologize for the damage they have caused by sexually abusing children.”

He said he apologized even though he was not in power in the diocese “when the abominable acts took place”.

Barbarin has been caught up in a scandal over abuses that took place 25 years ago, long before he became archbishop of Lyon in 2002.

A priest in his diocese, Bernard Preynat, was charged in January after victims came forward with claims he had sexually abused Scouts between 1986 and 1991.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 23 March 2016 – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., in response to questions from journalists, confirmed this morning that for some time Pope Francis has expressed his intention to open up for consultation the Vatican archives relating to the period of dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). This naturally presupposes the cataloguing of the material.

This task is proceeding in a regular fashion and it is expected to be completed during the coming months, after which the times and conditions for consultation may be studied, in agreement with the Argentine Episcopal Conference. So far, Fr. Lombardi explained, the intention is to respond to specific legal questions requested by rogatory or matters of a humanitarian nature.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Mar 24, 2016 / 07:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has named Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda as the new head of the Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese – a surprise move for the archbishop, who was expected to take over the diocese of Newark in July.

In a March 24 press release, Archbishop Hebda said that he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence.”

He also said he was honored to serve in a diocese with such a “rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

Archbishop Hebda has been serving as apostolic administrator for the Minneapolis archdiocese since June 15, 2015, when the former archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, stepped down after the diocese was charged with mishandling cases of child sexual abuse.

On June 5, 2015, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was charged with six counts of failing to protect minors, specifically with regard to the actions of the now-former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five year prison sentence for sexually abusing two minors and possession of child pornography.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 25, 2016

Meredith Doig

Religious groups are not taxable. No wonder there’s no transparency in how their billions of dollars are spent.

Whether or not you are a practising Christian, Easter is a time to think about religious traditions.

The ongoing proceedings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse​ and the cover-ups so long perpetrated within religious institutions are added reason to do so this year. So, too, is the trial at the Vatican of two investigative journalists for accessing secret Vatican documents about financial corruption and incompetence.

There’s a lot to reflect on here, for the religious and the non-religious alike. Right now, we are also embroiled in the politics of the forthcoming federal budget and no issue is more important or more entangled in obfuscation than that of tax reform. The confluence of these things is worth considering, because the tax-exempt status of religious organisations in this country is a much-neglected topic and one which ought finally to be seriously addressed.

I believe in the application of reason to public policy, as distinct from the application of lobbying by special interest groups. But the application of reason requires considerable transparency. Special interests work hard to shield their interests from the public gaze and lobby behind closed doors.

Religious organisations are among such special interest groups. Under Australian law, religious organisations are exempt from taxation. This exempts something of the order of $30 billion a year from taxation. The Catholic Church accounts for half of that. It is bigger than all the others combined, pulling in about $16 billion annually.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

OPINION

BILL LEONARD | MARCH 24, 2016

“This was like God showing up.” That’s how one victim of clergy sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese described his family’s response when a priest came to visit. He added fatefully, “When a priest paid attention to you it was a big deal.” Unfortunately, in this case and hundreds like it, such attention was actually a way of “grooming” Catholic children for abuse.

Those stories come tumbling out in the Oscar-winning motion picture Spotlight, an account of a group of investigative reporters at the Boston Globe who uncovered multiple cases of clergy abuse and the efforts of certain members of the church hierarchy to cover up the practices year after year. It is a lesson in ecclesiastical evil, individual and institutional, with implications for all Christian communions.

Spotlight is the name of the Globe’s four-person research team. Lapsed Catholics all, they were charged by the paper’s new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) with in-depth research into accounts of clerical abuse surfacing in the Boston area. The reporters, led by Walter (Robby) Robinson (Michael Keaton), initially resisted, suggesting that it was only a case of “a bad apple” priest or two. They warned the new editor that his willingness to sue the archdiocese in order to secure church records would be political suicide in a Catholic town like Boston. And indeed it was. In one of many powerful scenes, Baron visits with Boston prelate Bernard Cardinal Law (Len Cariou), who gives the Jewish editor a copy of the Catechism and tells him: “This city flourishes when its great institutions work together.” To which Baron responds that newspapers are at their best when they “stand alone.”

Ultimately, the Spotlight team digs in, documenting case after case of serial child molestation by multiple priests, most moved from parish to parish, or sent to church-based half-way houses, “protected” by church officials. Small cash settlements were provided, paid after pledges of secrecy from the families. In the end, their Pulitzer Prize winning story was released in 2002, detailing the extent of the abuse and tracing protectionist actions all the way to Cardinal Law. Forced out of his archbishopric, Law was transferred to Rome and installed as Archpriest at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, an office he holds to this day.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 24, 2016

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis has appointed a new leader for a Catholic archdiocese in the American Midwest where mismanagement of clergy sexual abuse cases led to the dual early resignations of the former archbishop and an auxiliary bishop last June.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda will now lead the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, canceling his former appointment to take over the archdiocese of Newark, N.J., in July.

Hebda, a Pennsylvania native, had been serving as the apostolic administrator of the Minnesota archdiocese since Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation in June 2015.

Nienstedt resigned alongside Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché ten days after prosecutors in his archdiocese brought criminal charges against the archdiocese “for its failure to protect children.”

Hebda’s new appointment comes as a bit of a surprise. He had previously been appointed as the coadjutor archbishop in Newark, meaning he would have automatically replaced current Newark Archbishop John Myers as head of the archdiocese at his retirement, expected to come when he turns 75 in July.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

Dave Aeikens

Bernard Hebda will stay as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Pope Francis on Thursday morning appointed Hebda, who has been Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese since June 15, according to a news release from the archdiocese.

Hebda, who had been a Coadjutor Archbishop in New Jersey, came to Minnesota after the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt after criticism of how the archdiocese handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Hebda’s installation Mass is planned for 2 p.m. May 13 at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

When Hebda arrived he had to rebuild trust among those he served. He conducted his first mass in July and he met with the priests in Minnesota.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Pope Francis announced Thursday morning that Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda has been appointed as Archbishop of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Hebda has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese since June of 2015, since former Archbishiop John Nienstadt stepped down in the midst of a clergy sex abuse scandal. The appointment was intended to be temporary, but the Vatican apparently believes Hebda is the man

In a news release Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pop Francis’ confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER

The priest who had been expected to take over the archdiocese of Newark has been appointed by the pope to become the next archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Bernard A. Hebda had been appointed coadjutor or assistant archbishop of Newark in late 2013. It was believed he would take over the Newark archdiocese when the current archbishop, John J. Myers, reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Hebda wrote a letter to his new archdiocese, where he had served as apostolic administrator about nine months ago while Pope Francis mulled over the naming of a new archbishop there.

“The Pope and the Holy Spirit evidently had different plans for me than I had anticipated, and I am humbled and honored to be named your shepherd,” Hebda said.

It wasn’t immediately clear who would take over Newark’s archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
Beaumont Enterprise

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The interim leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been officially appointed to the position, the Vatican announced Thursday.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, 56, has been overseeing the archdiocese since Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned last year, after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from a priest later convicted of molesting two boys. Nienstedt denied wrongdoing in that case and was not charged.

Hebda’s installation Mass is scheduled for May 13.

The archdiocese has been under fire since 2013, when a former church official went public with concerns about its handling of abuse cases. That same year, a state law opened a three-year window for victims of past sex abuse to file lawsuits. The archdiocese has declared bankruptcy and more than 400 victims have come forward.

“I know from my nine months in the Archdiocese that there is much work yet to be done to overcome the significant challenges we continue to face, but I am firm in my conviction that the Lord is truly present here, even in our struggles,” Hebda said in a letter to congregants. “The exceptional staff and leadership team at the Archdiocese, along with our strong priests, committed religious (order members), and dynamic lay leaders are all reasons for great hope.”

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

03/24/2016

Jennifer Haselberger

In announcements sent out early this morning, temporary administrator Bernard Hebda informed the priests and faithful of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis that he has been given the job of Archbishop permanently. The decision of the Holy Father was made while the Archdiocese continues its meanderings through bankruptcy, while the Archdiocese is battling criminal charges against it as a corporation, and in the wake of several concerning decisions by Hebda including his failure to prevent Archbishop Nienstedt from assuming a ministerial position at a parish in Michigan, the delayed removal of a priest under investigation for possible possession of child pornography, his decision to return Reverend Paul Moudry to ministry, and his being caught off guard when criminal charges were filed against the Franciscans.

Here is Archbishop Hebda’s statement to priests:

Dear Brothers,

Please pray for me as I prepare to begin my service as the next Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am humbled by the Holy Father’s confidence in me and pray that I will be able to be a shepherd who imitates the One who “came to serve rather than to be served,” as we will remember at this evening’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper. I particularly hope and pray that I as bishop will be able to be the “father, brother and friend” that Saint John Paul envisioned in Pastores Gregis

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has often said that our God is a God of Surprises.

Today is surely a perfect example of that.

I have been both privileged and blessed to have worked closely with Archbishop Bernard Hebda here in Newark over the last two and a half years. And I also can say that I have been doubly blessed because of our strong personal relationship that began when he was a Seminarian at the Pontifical North American College.

For more than two decades we have shared many common ministries – from service to the seminarians at the Pontifical North American College and on the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome, to our roles as Shepherds of dioceses and members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a great Priest, and a great Bishop.

While it may have been difficult for him at times to manage the travel and commitments of serving in two large Archdioceses these past months, he embraced this call from the Holy See willingly and prayerfully. His tireless, positive approach to dealing with the challenges presented him will be one of the graces that he will share with the people of the Twin Cities.

In our many conversations about what we had both assumed would be a temporary assignment in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Archbishop Hebda has always spoken with great affection and admiration for the people of St. Paul-Minneapolis – his new local Church. The parishioners and general community of the Twin Cities have experienced what the people of Newark already have come to know – a happy spiritual leader who loves people, loves priests and Religious, and who loves God and His Church.

The people of this local Church of Newark are truly grateful for all that he has done here since 2013, and he will be missed. At the same time, we pray that God will continue to bless him as he enters this new chapter in a life of service to the Church as the new Shepherd of this local Church of St. Paul-Minneapolis.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

Today at 6:00 a.m. local time, Pope Francis formally announced Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda’s appointment as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Archbishop Hebda has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese since June 15, 2015. During that time, he has also been serving the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, as Coadjutor Archbishop, and was scheduled to replace Archbishop John J. Myers when he is expected to retire in July.

Upon being told of his appointment, Archbishop Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

In addition to serving the Archdioceses of Newark and Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Hebda was Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan and has served at the Vatican and in parishes in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Archbishop Hebda’s Installation Mass is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, at the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

Because today marks the beginning of the solemn time of the Triduum in the Catholic Church, Archbishop Hebda will hold a brief news conference at 9:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, located at 239 Selby Avenue.

For more information on Archbishop Hebda’s appointment and background, go to www.archspm.org/newabp and www.thecatholicspirit.com.

Read the Statement of The Most Reverend John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark, On the Appointment of The Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda As Ninth Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2016

Source: Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Archbishop-Designate

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I arrived in Minnesota for the first time last June, I was but a visitor — assigned as Apostolic Administrator to help with the operations of the Archdiocese until Pope Francis named a new Archbishop. In the nine months since then, I have been blessed to witness your deep faith and your commitment to Christ’s Church, His people, and the Eucharist. I consider many of you friends.

That is why it is with joy that I tell you of Pope Francis’ decision to appoint me as the next Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The Pope and the Holy Spirit evidently had different plans for me than I had anticipated, and I am humbled and honored to be named your shepherd.

I know from my nine months in the Archdiocese that there is much work yet to be done to overcome the significant challenges we continue to face, but I am firm in my conviction that the Lord is truly present here, even in our struggles. The exceptional staff and leadership team at the Archdiocese, along with our strong priests, committed religious, and dynamic lay leaders are all reasons for great hope. You all seem to work tirelessly to serve Christ and His people no matter where they are found and for that I am most grateful.

It has already been an honor serving you and I very much look forward to continuing to serve you and this vibrant community for as long as the Lord sees fit.

Now more than ever, I will be counting on your prayers and support. Be assured of my prayers for you, your families, and this local Church.
Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda
Apostolic Administrator and Archbishop-Designate
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Tim Harlow Star Tribune MARCH 24, 2016

The Rev. Bernard Hebda has been named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials announced Thursday morning.

Hebda has been the acting leader of the archdioceses since June 15, 2015 after Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in the wake of a clergy sex abuse scandal, a series of related lawsuits and investigations, and a bankruptcy filing.

Hebda, 56, was appointed Thursday morning by Pope Francis.

Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

Hedba has been splitting his time between the Twin Cities and Newark, N.J., where he was on track to succeed Archbishop John J. Myers this year. Instead, Hebda will oversee the Twin Cities archdiocese.

Hebda joined priesthood in 1989 when he was ordained at the St. Paul Cathedral in his native Pittsburgh. In 1996, he was appointed to work in the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome, which is responsible for the interpretation of the church’s laws, especially the Code of Canon Law. He served in that position until 2009 when he was named as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Mich., by Pope Benedict XVI.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

[Victorian Legal Services Commissioner v Lewenberg (Legal Practice) [2016] VCAT 439 (23 March 2016)]

March 23, 2016

Shannon Deery Herald Sun

A VETERAN lawyer who told a child sexual abuse victim that Jews shouldn’t help police prosecute other Jews, regardless of their crimes, has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

In a damning judgment handed down by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal yesterday Alex Lewenberg’s conduct was slammed as “truly shocking”.

The finding could lead to career-ending sanctions for the controversial lawyer who has previously had his practising certificate cancelled for unprofessional conduct.

VCAT acting president Judge Pamela Jenkins said comments made by Mr Lewenberg constituted a most serious breach that had no place in 21st century law.

“For (Mr Lewenberg), as a legal practitioner, to suggest that members of the Jewish community or indeed any community or religious affiliation, should close ranks and decline to assist in the prosecution of charges of this nature is truly shocking,” she said.

“If such a position had been adopted by other Jews, it not only would have had the capacity to hamper the prosecution of a child sex offender but, also, previously, to have allowed Mr Cyprys’ offending to continue for longer than it might otherwise have done.

“It is discreditable for (Mr Lewenberg), practising law as he does in a 21st century secular society, to nevertheless proselytise his misguided concept of religious or cultural solidarity, thus effectively allowing such views to take precedence over his professional obligation to uphold the principle of equality before the law.

“I draw the only reasonable inference that (Mr Lewenberg) not only espouses such views but that he practises law in accordance with them.”

Mr Lewenberg admitted two charges of misconduct at common law, but unsuccessfully contested charges of professional misconduct at a VCAT hearing last week.

It took Judge Jenkins just a week to find him guilty of the charges.

On two separate occasions: the first while in court; and the second during a covertly recorded phone conversation, Mr Lewenberg told a child sexual abuse victim that Jews shouldn’t help prosecute each other.

The Jewish victim had helped police in their prosecution of notorious Jewish paedophile David Cyprys, who Mr Lewenberg was representing at a bail application hearing in 2011.

Cyprys was jailed for the abuse of a string of children aged seven to 17 in the 1980s and 1990s.

During the bail hearing, Mr Lewenberg turned to Cyprys’s father and said: “It is most disappointing when a person who has nothing to do with the case and being a fellow Jew does wilfully seek to hinder another Jew in his defence of criminal charges.”

In a subsequent conversation with the victim, Mr Lewenberg, fresh from representing Cyprys, reiterated that: “I am not exactly delighted that another Yid would assist police against an accused, no matter whatever he is accused of. There is a tradition, if not a religious requirement, that you do not assist against (the people of Abraham).”

Mr Lewenberg did not dispute making the comments, but said they were taken out of context.

The matter will return to court next month to hear submissions in relation to appropriate sanctions for Mr Lewenberg.

In 1989, Mr Lewenberg was fined $3000 and his practising certificate was cancelled for unprofessional behaviour.

A Supreme Court judge found while there was no suggestion Mr Lewenberg had gained financially from the behaviour, he could not be trusted in his dealings with other solicitors.

Mr Lewenberg had behaved disgracefully and dishonestly, had shown no remorse, and was unfit to be a solicitor, the judge said.

But on appeal, the cancellation of Mr Lewenberg’s certificate was reduced from three years to two years.

shannon.deery@news.com.au

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WASHINGTON
Washington Post

[with copy of the letter from a psychiatrist]

Justin Wm. Moyer March 24

After being sued by eight women who alleged they were molested by a priest four decades ago, the Seattle Archdiocese has settled for $9.1 million.

The settlement, reported by the Seattle Times, came Wednesday after a damning psychiatrist’s letter, among other documents, surfaced last year reporting Michael Cody, the priest at the center of the suit, was a pedophile who needed to “be removed from parish work as soon as possible.” The letter, part of correspondence among church officials expressing concerns about Cody, was written in 1962; the women were abused between 1968 and 1975.

“He told me that he was suffering from an abnormal sexual attraction toward young girls,” psychiatrist Albert M. Hurley wrote. “… He has molested at least eight girls twelve years of age or younger. As you know, there have been complaints about his hostility and temper in the various parishes where he has served. He also complains of feelings of severe depression, during which time he prays that God will allow him to die rather than continue this behavior.”

Hurley was explicit about his diagnosis, saying Cody was a pedophile who showed “sadistic tendencies” to boys he knew and talked of killing others and himself.

“It is likely that if external controls on his acting out are made, and this cycle of aggression and depression sufficiently interrupted, then he can once again assume a useful and productive life,” the psychiatrist wrote.

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IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

BOONE, Iowa —A Boone pastor has resigned after meeting with church leaders about allegations from a former member of the church’s youth group.

The pastor has not been criminally charged in connection with the case, but Ames police told KCCI that they are actively investigating what was reported to them and looking for him.

Police said that on Monday a 19-year-old woman came forward about her relationship with Grace Community Church’s Youth Pastor Joel Waltz.

“We believe the misconduct happened over a several year time period. We believe the victim was a minor when some of the acts occurred,” said Ames police spokesman Commander Jason Tuttle.

The girl, whose name has not been released, also reportedly described the relationship in detail to church leaders, saying it started when she was in youth group and continued after she graduated.

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SCOTLAND
The National

MARCH 24TH, 2016

JANICE BURNS

SURVIVORS of historical child abuse have been urged to come forward and share their experiences as a four-year investigation into allegations surrounding youngsters in care launches a call for evidence.

Susan O’Brien QC, chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, together with other panel members Glenn Houston and Professor Michael Lamb, made the announcement in Glasgow yesterday and outlined how it will take evidence.

They have already heard from a small number of seriously ill or very elderly survivors but the invitation has now been extended to all victims.

Those who suffered abuse as children in residential or foster care and who wish to provide evidence to the inquiry are being urged to make contact by email, post or, from Tuesday March 29, through freephone number, 0800 0929 300.

O’Brien also confirmed that survivors providing evidence in this way would become known as “applicants”, with the first private evidence-gathering meetings taking place from late April. The word “applicants” has been chosen because these are survivors who have applied to assist the inquiry.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

THE public inquiry into child abuse in state care is set to become the biggest and most expensive in Scottish history.

It was revealed yesterday that Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry (CAI) had already cost more than £600,000 in just two months and is predicted to dwarf previous high-profile hearings by millions of pounds.

Launching the first official call for evidence for the inquiry, chairwoman Susan O’Brien QC said: “Be clear from the outset that this is a complex inquiry and it will be expensive.”

One of Scotland’s largest inquiries, investigating C. difficile infections in the Vale of Leven Hospital, cost £10.7 million, while the Penrose inquiry into contaminated blood products cost over £12m.

With estimates based on inquiries elsewhere suggesting there may be more than 50 million pages of evidence to sieve through, a source close to the CAI predicted costs during the hearing’s four-year lifespan will eclipse all that have gone before.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

The Chair of the Inquiry today launched the Inquiry’s first formal call for evidence, inviting survivors of abuse to come forward and share their experiences.

Those who suffered abuse as children in residential or foster care and who wish to provide evidence to the Inquiry are being asked to make contact by email, post or, from Tuesday 29 March, through a dedicated Freephone number, 0800 0929 300.

Survivors who provide evidence in this way will be known as “applicants”. The description “applicants” has been chosen because these are survivors who have applied to assist the Inquiry. The first private evidence gathering meetings will take place from late April.

Applicants will initially have the opportunity to have their evidence heard in private and recorded anonymously by experienced and specially trained lawyers. There will also be public hearings and names can be public if applicants want them to. Rules providing for applications for anonymity have also been published on the Inquiry’s website.

The Inquiry expects public hearings to begin in November 2016, with the first looking at the current provision of psychological support for abuse survivors in Scotland.

Ms O’Brien aims to provide an interim report on the first public hearings next year as that may enable the Inquiry to make recommendations that could improve the situation for survivors before publication of the Inquiry’s final report. It is likely that interim reports will be published for subsequent public hearings.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY PAUL WARD

SUSAN O’Brien QC says investigation will address seven decades of abuse of children in faith-based organisations, children’s homes, foster care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

THE inquiry into the abuse of children in care is not just to provide answers for survivors but to protect “some Scottish children yet to be born”, its chair said as she launched a call for evidence.

Susan O’Brien QC described the scale of the inquiry as “huge” as it aims to look over seven decades of abuse of children in faith-based organisations, children’s homes, foster care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

Some elderly and ill witnesses have started giving evidence to the inquiry team but a formal call for evidence was launched in Glasgow on Wednesday.

Those who wish to provide evidence are being asked to make contact by email, post or through a dedicated freephone number – 0800 0929 300 – from March 29.

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WASHINGTON
KIRO

SEATTLE —
The Archdiocese of Seattle announced Wednesday a settlement has been reached with eight women sexually abused as children by Michael Cody, a priest who served in parishes in Whatcom & Skagit counties between 1968 and 1974.

The eight cases were settled for $9.1 million.

From Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle >>

“I deeply regret the abuse by Michael Cody against these victims and I hope this monetary settlement, and the counseling we have provided them, will bring healing and give them a measure of closure so they can move forward. It also is my hope that these individuals will accept my offer to meet with me so I can offer them my personal apology.”

Cody, now deceased, was ordained in 1958 and has not served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Seattle since 1979. He was a parish priest throughout Western Washington.

The women who participated in the settlement were abused while Cody served at the following parishes:

St. Charles Parish, Burlington;
Sacred Heart Parish, La Conner;
St. Paul Mission, Swinomish; and,
The Church of the Assumption, Bellingham.

Anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse or misconduct by a member of the clergy is asked to call the hotline at 1-800-446-7762.

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WASHINGTON
KOMO

SEATTLE (AP) – The Seattle Archdiocese will pay just over $9 million to eight women who were sexually abused as children by a former priest in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

The abuse occurred between 1968 and 1974 at churches in Burlington, La Conner, Swinomish and Bellingham, according to a news release from the archdiocese.

Lawyers for the women said in a news release Wednesday they hope the resolution will be part of the healing process.

“I feel privileged to have helped represent these women and to have experienced their courage and determination,” attorney Rand Jack of Bellingham said. “They have stood up for themselves and other victims of sexual abuse.”

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain said in a statement Wednesday he deeply regrets the abuse by Michael Cody, a former priest who died last year.

“Our first priority is the protection of children and healing for past victims,” Sartain said. “It is my firm commitment to build on the good efforts of the past and continue to take steps that will truly help victims of clergy sexual abuse to heal. This $9 million settlement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to acknowledge and address the devastating impact of clergy sexual abuse, and to encourage victims to come forward.”

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By ERIN ALBERTY | The Salt Lake Tribune

The Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday said a polygamous sect’s charitable trust can be held liable for Warren Jeffs’ role in forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry.

The ruling sends the case back to a lower court where the former child bride, Elissa Wall, may seek up to $40 million.

“As trustee … Jeffs was called upon to administer the trust in accordance with the doctrines and principles of the FLDS church. Those doctrines and principles, according to [Wall’s] allegations and evidence in the record, included the arrangement of plural, underage marriages,” Wednesday’s ruling states. “Thus, as abhorrent and troubling as this may appear to be, there is a basis in the record for the conclusion that Jeffs’ acts were aimed in part at advancing the interests of the trust as he perceived them.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 24, 2016

Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago

A Bayside church linked to historical clerical abuse and destroyed by an arsonist last year will be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $20 million – almost double the total compensation paid by the Archdiocese of Melbourne to 326 victims of paedophile priests.

The decision to restore St James Church in Gardenvale to its former glory has incensed victims of Father Ronald Pickering, who preyed on more than a dozen boys while he served at the church from 1978 to 1993 before fleeing to Britain.

A property claims manager at Catholic Church Insurance, Effie Valavanis confirmed the restoration of the 123-year-old church was the “largest single property claim in CCI history”.

The project to rebuild the heritage-listed church will include the replacement of the choir loft, organ, stained glass windows and mosaics all destroyed by the deliberately lit fire days before Easter last year.

“It’s disgusting they want to rebuild this place after what happened,” said one of Pickering’s victims, who received an ex gratia payment $50,000 from the Melbourne archdiocese.

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NEVADA
Clay Center Dispatch

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — A former Las Vegas-area church pastor already convicted and facing life in prison for sexually assaulting teenage girls in his congregation appeared in court on more charges Wednesday in a similar but new case in Henderson.

Otis Holland remained in custody while Justice of the Peace David Gibson scheduled an April 25 preliminary hearing on 22 felony charges including child sexual assault, lewdness, battery and use of a minor in pornography.

Prosecutor Robert Langford said the new case involves five victims.

Holland, 59, faces sentencing April 6 in Clark County District Court after a jury found him guilty in January of 15 similar charges of child sexual assault and lewdness, but also including conspiracy to destroy evidence and bribing a witness.

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OHIO
Public News Service

March 24, 2016

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio Supreme Court decision is expected soon that could impact the amount of financial compensation child sexual abuse victims can receive.

Jessica Simpkins was raped at the age of 15 by her church pastor – a man hired by Grace Brethren Church in Sunbury despite the knowledge that he had previously sexually abused two girls.

In a civil suit, a jury awarded Simpkins $3.5 million for pain and suffering, but the amount was reduced to $250,000 due to a state law that caps damages.

She says she’s being re-victimized and took the case to the Ohio Supreme Court.

“I just feel like they’re protecting the church,” she states. “When they had the accusations made against him previous, if they wouldn’t have let him start this church, it would never have happened. ”

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OHIO
Catholic Philly

BY TIM PUET
Catholic News Service

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNS) — The rector-president of the Pontifical College Josephinum is proposing changes in its admission process in an effort to verify the integrity of applications from those desiring to enter the seminary.

Msgr. Christopher Schreck announced the proposals publicly March 21. He had made the suggestions five days earlier in a memorandum to trustees and officials of the college and to bishops and vocations directors of the many dioceses across the nation who send students to the Josephinum, the only seminary outside of Italy with pontifical status.

The memorandum includes three proposals: creation of a national database for seminary applicants; hiring private investigators to review applications; and two in-person, pre-admission interviews of applicants by college admissions committee members and the college’s director of psychological evaluation and counseling.

The database was proposed several weeks ago by Msgr. Schreck to the executive director of the U.S, Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated life and Vocations. It would track all formal applications to U.S. dioceses, seminaries and religious orders and list the status of such applications as being either admitted, deferred, rejected or withdrawn.

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FRANCE
RFI

A French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests apologised to victims during a mass Wednesday, according to the website of his diocese.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin said he was “obliged to assume all the evil committed by some priests and personally apologise for the damage they have caused by sexually abusing children.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: The Melbourne International Comedy Festival kicked off last night, with some traumatic childhood experiences as the subject matter.

Our reporter Rachael Brown was curious about how you could turn this into comedy. She went along to a show about the royal commission into the church to find out.

(Sounds from Cardinal Sins comedy show).

FRANK HAMPSTER: Corporal punishment, he said “you can get a tap on each hand”. You could audibly hear David Ridsdale from the back of the court go, “what about six of the best?” You know?

(Audience laughs)

RACHAEL BROWN: Frank Hampster’s memories from the alter are being laid bare on stage

The former altar boy had never spoken about his sexual assault by a Ballarat priest in the ‘80s, until being called before the royal commission last year.

(Sounds from Cardinal Sins comedy show).

FRANK HAMPSTER (singing): I can’t recall that, that didn’t happen; can you repeat the question once more?

RACHAEL BROWN: How do you find comedy in child sex abuse?

FRANK HAMPSTER: Well comedy was my only means of defence, I was six years old when I was first exposed to, by a person that was a priest in Ballarat.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle Times

By Jessica Lee
Seattle Times staff reporter

Eight women who sued the Seattle Archdiocese alleging sexual abuse by former priest Michael Cody, a known pedophile, have reached a $9.1 million settlement with church officials, the archdiocese announced Wednesday night.

Cody, who died last year, served in various Catholic parishes in Western Washington during the 1960s and into the late 1970s and preyed on children for years, though church officials knew he was sick, according to documents from what’s known as Cody’s “secret file” in the archdiocese.

In a statement released Wednesday night, Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain said he hopes the multimillion-dollar settlement helps bring closure to the women and demonstrates the church’s commitment to address “the devastating impact of clergy sexual abuse, and to encourage victims to come forward.”

Of the eight women, Cody sexually abused six of them while he served at St. Charles Parish in Burlington, Skagit County, from 1968 to 1972. He abused the other two while he was assigned to Assumption Parish in Bellingham from 1972 to 1975, according to a statement from the women’s legal team.

“I deeply regret the abuse by Michael Cody against these victims and I hope this monetary settlement, and the counseling we have provided them, will bring healing and give them a measure of closure so they can move forward,” Sartain said.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on March 24, 2016

Abuse claims scheduled for month-long trial

Roughly seven decades ago, the Roman Catholic archbishop patted the heads of some boys as he passed them in the hallway. Among them was a St. John’s man who is set to stand up in court in less than two weeks in a case about whether the church had a role in operating the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage.

The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s, no longer represented by its longtime local lawyer, is scheduled to head to court April 4 to fight four test cases — representing about 60 claimants of physical and sexual abuse by some members of the Roman Catholic lay order, the Christian Brothers, dating back to the late 1940s, ’50s and mid-1960s.

The second defendant previously named was the New York-based Christian Brothers Institute Inc., but because the organization declared bankruptcy in 2011, that action was discontinued.

The Roman Catholic Church contends it was not involved in the operation of the orphanage.

The St. John’s man’s childhood memory of the archbishop visiting is of that one occasion. But to him, one of the four people testifying about their own alleged abuse at the hands of the Brothers, the role of the archdiocese was clear in the orphanage’s operation. He recalls there was a Roman Catholic parish priest in residence on the property and he held mass every morning and night.

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WASHINGTON
International Business Times

BY VISHAKHA SONAWANE @VISHAKHANS ON 03/24/16

The Seattle Archdiocese will pay $9.1 million to eight women who said they were sexually abused by a former priest as children, according to reports Wednesday. Michael Cody, who died last year, allegedly abused them between 1968 and 1974 at churches in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain issued a statement saying he regretted Cody’s actions.

“Our first priority is the protection of children and healing for past victims,” Sartain said in the statement, according to the Associated Press (AP). “It is my firm commitment to build on the good efforts of the past and continue to take steps that will truly help victims of clergy sexual abuse to heal. This $9 million settlement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to acknowledge and address the devastating impact of clergy sexual abuse, and to encourage victims to come forward.”

Cody was named in at least one other lawsuit. Last May, the archdiocese agreed to pay $1.2 million to a woman from Skagit County’s Sedro-Woolley city. She had alleged that Cody molested her in late 1960s and early 1970s. According to the evidence showed during a trial, in 1962 the Seattle archbishop had received a letter from a psychiatrist diagnosing Cody as a pedophile who had sexually abused young girls, the AP reported. Cody was then reportedly transferred from King County to Skagit County.

“The evidence regarding Father Cody is overwhelming, and I don’t think the archdiocese wants more bad publicity,” Michael T. Pfau, a Seattle attorney for the women, reportedly said after the settlement. “The direct involvement of former Archbishop Thomas Connelly in placing this pedophile in parishes with full knowledge of his danger to children is truly disturbing.”

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FRANCE
Yahoo! News

AFP
March 24, 2016

Lyon (AFP) – A French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests apologised to victims during a mass on Wednesday, according to the website of his diocese.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, quoting Pope Francis, said he was “obliged to assume all the evil committed by some priests and personally apologise for the damage they have caused by sexually abusing children.”

He said he apologised even though he was not in power in the diocese “when the abominable acts took place.”

Barbarin said he met Wednesday with priests, deacons and members of the community in the city of Lyon to discuss a case which even prompted the government to weigh in.

Former victims of a priest accused of sexually abusing them 25 years ago claim Barbarin did not report him or remove him from duty when he learned of his past in 2007.

Barbarin has since faced other accusations of failing to remove two other priests who had histories of sexual abuse.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., March 22, 2016

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

ALBUQUERQUE – After weeks of delays, attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup filed their proposed plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday.

The Gallup Diocese and other participating parties — insurers and Catholic entities — have agreed to contribute more than $21 million to fund the plan, much of which will go to compensate 57 individuals who filed clergy sex abuse claims. Catholic Mutual will also issue an unknown claims certificate for $1.8 million that will insure any abuse claims that may be filed in the future.

Possible additional claims money from an insurance liquidation case may further boost the plan’s total funding to nearly $24 million.

The diocese’s attorneys filed the plan and disclosure statement at 2 a.m. MST Monday, just hours before a hearing in front of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma. Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, had promised Thuma the plan would be on file before Monday’s hearing.

Missing from the proposed plan are any details of the non-monetary terms of the diocese’s settlement agreement with abuse claimants. Non-monetary provisions include commitments by the Diocese of Gallup that can range from public apologies to the public release of abusers’ personnel files.

Boswell, along with James Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors that represents abuse claimants, told Thuma the non-monetary terms were still being negotiated. Both said they hoped the document would be finalized by Friday.

Funding sources

The following is a list of the participating parties and their financial contributions to the plan of reorganization, beginning with the largest funding source.

Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America and Catholic Relief Insurance Company of America, collectively referred to as Catholic Mutual: $11,550,000. Catholic Mutual’s additional $1.8 million Unknown Claims Certificate will have a maximum term of eight years.

Diocese of Gallup: $3,020,000. The diocese sold a number of parcels of real property in two auctions in September. However, according to plan documents, the auction sale of 64 parcels of land that make up La Vega Estates, located near San Rafael, did not close. The loss of that $38,500 sale took a bite out of the diocese’s total auction profits of $160,660.

To raise significant money for its contribution, the Gallup Diocese will obtain a loan from the Catholic Order of Foresters, to be secured by its Gallup Catholic School and Sacred Heart Retreat property. That loan commitment is in the principal amount of at least $2.3 million.

St. John the Baptist Franciscan Province of Cincinnati: $1,850,000. Prior to the mid-1980s, this Franciscan province provided the majority of Franciscan friars to the Gallup Diocese, including some clergy sex abusers.

New Mexico Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association: $1,850,000. The association provides protection to the Gallup Diocese for insurance policies the diocese had with the now insolvent Home Insurance Company.

Catholic Peoples Foundation: $665,000. This nonprofit is a fundraising organization for the Diocese of Gallup.

St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School: $550,000. This Catholic school and charitable organization became embroiled in a property dispute with the diocese. In exchange for the $550,000 payment, the Gallup Diocese will quit claim the disputed property in Thoreau to St. Bonaventure.

Southwest Indian Foundation: $515,000. This diocesan nonprofit will purchase the Diocese of Gallup’s Catholic Indian Center property and then lease space back to the diocese. According to court documents, the diocese may possibly move all or part of its operations into the CIC property.

Parishes in the Gallup Diocese: $500,000. Local parishes are contributing money to the plan.

Diocese of Phoenix: $300,000. No explanation was provided regarding Phoenix’s participation.

Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Albuquerque: $300,000. This province has provided Franciscan friars to the diocese since the mid-1980s.

In addition, the diocese’s plan of reorganization may receive money from the Home Insurance Company Liquidation, subject to approval by the New Hampshire court overseeing the liquidation case.

The Diocese of Gallup is seeking approval for its proposed plan from clergy abuse claimants and U.S. Bankruptcy Court. A follow-up hearing has been scheduled for April 26.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims’ group discloses a “disturbing letter”
It shows church kept abuse report hidden
Support group blasts Mennonite officials for “secrecy”
SNAP: “Suspected crimes must be reported to police”

WHAT
Holding signs and photos, abuse victims and their supporters will

–disclose a letter showing that church officials hid suspected crimes for a year and a half,
–give a copy of the letter to police, and
–urge anyone who sees, suspects or suffers abusive crimes to tell secular officials, not church officials.

WHEN
Wednesday, March 23 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Harrisonburg Police Department headquarters, 101 N. Main Street, (corner of W. Elizabeth and N. Main across from the old Post Office), Harrisonburg, VA

WHO
Two members of a support group called SNAP*, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY
On Sunday, officials at Lindale Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg gave congregants a letter about Luke Hartman, a Mennonite church leader and former Eastern Mennonite University vice president who faces charges of soliciting prostitution.

[WHSV]

In the letter, church officials admit that “an abusive relationship . . .was brought to our attention in August 2014” involving a victim “who has been deeply traumatized by Hartman.” They claim they initiated “disciplinary measures” and have been “attempting to hold Luke accountable for his actions.”

Leaders of SNAP believe Lindale pastors and board members “had a civic and moral duty to call police immediately about this report” and “have no business trying to handle alleged crimes quietly and internally.” The group is urging law enforcement to investigate whether church officials broke any laws, especially “their obligation to report suspected violent crimes” to secular officials.

In January, when Hartman was arrested for soliciting prostitution, SNAP urged others who might have seen, suspected or suffered any misdeeds by him to come forward. The group has since heard from others who he hurt. Hartman was caught in a sting operation by Harrisonburg Police Department and Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office.

“We said weeks ago that we believe Eastern Mennonite University, Mennonite Church USA, and Virginia Mennonite Conference officials may have withheld information concerning Hartman’s possible criminal behavior,” said Barbra Graber of Harrisonburg. “Now, tragically, it appears our suspicions may be confirmed. We’re very sad that church superiors apparently gave him continued access to vulnerable students, staff and church members for more than a year.”

“We urge Mennonite church institutions and agencies to use every possible means to aggressively seek out and support victims, witnesses and whistleblowers in reporting to a trained law professional or independent agency what they suspect or know about violent misconduct of any Mennonite church worker, ordained or lay,” said David Clohessy, Executive Director of SNAP. “It’s not enough to prosecute Hartman. Those who conceal reported crimes – as well as those who commit them – must be investigated and, if possible, pursued.”

SNAP is also upset that the Lindale church officials’ letter to congregants made no mention at all of police and prosecutors. “They didn’t call law enforcement officials in 2014 or 2015 and even now, aren’t urging others to call law enforcement,” said Graber. “It’s is incredibly irresponsible, risky and arrogant for Lindale’s pastoral staff and board of elders to try to handle this ‘in house.’ A seminary degree does not train one to conduct criminal investigations.”

*Even though “Priests” is in its title, SNAP, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) is open to persons of faith or no faith who were sexually violated by anyone inside or outside a faith community. SNAP is the world’s oldest and largest support group for sexual abuse survivors and their loved ones. It was founded by victims of Catholic priests in 1988 and now has more than 21,000 members in over 79 countries. See the Oscar winning Best Picture, “Spotlight,” about SNAP’s role in helping to uncover the clergy abuse crisis in Boston.

CONTACT: Barbra Graber 540-214-8874, mennonite@SNAPnetwork.org, David Clohessy 314 645 5915 home, 314 566 9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org

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WALES
Anglican Communion News Service

[ACNS] The Church in Wales has joined with other Christian denominations in the country as well as expert and survivor organisations in a new forum to safeguard children and vulnerable adults and to ensure that all churches in Wales are safe places for them.

The Welsh Christian Safeguarding Forum brings together the safeguarding officers from churches throughout Wales and has been established to share and develop best practice and to give Christian organisations a stronger voice on safeguarding issues in Wales.

In addition to the churches’ safeguarding officers, the forum includes representatives from the group Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MASCAS), as well as the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS). A CCPAS Associate, Simon Plant, will chair the new forum.

“The Church in Wales is doing all it can to ensure churches are safe places for children and all vulnerable people and we welcome the Forum as a chance to strengthen our work and share good practice with other denominations – particularly in how we respond to survivors of abuse,” the Church in Wales’ head of safeguarding, Elaine Cloke, said, “All the safeguarding officers have shown enthusiasm and commitment to the Forum and we all hope it will give us a stronger voice to lobby the Welsh Government on those areas of safeguarding which are devolved – the quantity and complexity of which have increased rapidly over the past few years.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
360nobs

The pedophile priest was jailed for thirty-two months last year after he admitted to sexually abusing eighteen teenagers and young men over 15 years.

Peter Ball formerly served as the Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester when he perpetuated the acts. He also duped the congregation he was serving in after impersonating his identical twin brother.

Recent investigations reveal that in 1990’s when he served as a bishop in Cornwall, he might have led services as Michael Ball, a bishop in Cornwall in the 1990’s.

The 83 year-old traveled across the country conducting services under the guise of his identical twin brother Micheal.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

[A year after the arrival of Bishop Juan Barros to Osorno, one of the complainants in the case of priest Fernando Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz , again criticized the role of the Church during this period. Cruz said the church still does not listen to people although the church produced the problem. He added that the pope is a sadness because he doesn’t care what has happened in Osorno.]

A un año de la llegada del obispo Juan Barros a Osorno, uno de los querellantes del caso Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz, criticó nuevamente el rol de la Iglesia durante este período.

Cruz manifestó que “me parece tremendo que la Iglesia no escuche, que la Iglesia haya producido este problema y que tengan a un obispo impuesto, encubridor comprobado, liderando a una diócesis que no se lo merece”.

“El papa es una tristeza, porque francamente no le importa. Le dijo tonta, izquierdista o zurda a la gente de Osorno, jamás ha pedido perdón. Entonces en el fondo se ríen de nosotros”, añadió.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Catholic Archidiocese of Melbourne have alerted churches linked to paedophile priests to be cautious of potential arson attacks over Easter.

The warnings come after a fire at a Balwyn church earlier this month and three other church fires around the same time last year.

Shane Healy, spokesman of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne was urged by the Vicar General to issue a wide message to all churches liked to paedophile priests to be vigilant towards possible attacks.

More than half a dozen churches have been attacked by arsonists over the past 13 months, many of them linked to child-abusing priests.

The latest, St Bede’s in Balwyn North two weeks ago, was connected to paedophile Terrence Pidoto, who served as an assistant priest in the early 1970s and was jailed for seven years in 2007 for abusing four boys.

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PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Robert J. Kelly was ordained for the Altoona-Johnstown PA diocese in 1974. He assisted at parishes in State College, Johnstown, Geistown, Altoona, Bellwood, and Gallitzen, and was pastor in Lockhaven and Philipsburg. He spent several years at the North American College in Rome and, for a short time, was a prison chaplain. In 1993 a man reported to the diocese that Kelly sexually abused him from ages 12 to 14 during 1975-77, when Kelly was assigned to Our Lady of Victory in State College. Kelly’s accuser said the priest offered him alcohol, and that the abuse occurred at the parish, on drives to the mountains, and at a movie theater. Kelly was quietly sent by Bishop Adamec to treatment then given another parish assignment. He was also sent to a Charleston SC convent as chaplain in around 1993-94. Per the PA Attorney General’s March 2016 Grand Jury Report, Kelly also attempted sexual advances on a 14-year-old boy in 1978. The Grand Jury called “horrifying” the fact that Adamec returned Kelly to parish ministry. By 1994 Kelly was the diocese’s Director of the Society for the Propogation of the Faith and Holy Childhood Association and in 1999 he was named pastor of SS Peter and Paul in Philipsburg; he remained in both positions until his removal in February 2015 by Bishop Bartchak during a review of previous allegations.

Ordained: 1974

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

A Twin Cities priest has been removed from the ministry because of a child sex abuse case in Pennsylvania.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced Rev. Bradley Baldwin of the Church of St. Gerard in Brooklyn Park is on a leave of absence.

Baldwin hasn’t been charged in the Pennsylvania case, but his name does appear in documents of the investigation.

The church is working to clarify his role in supervising a friar who molested more than 100 kids.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Tuesday 22 March 2016

SURVIVORS of historical child abuse say they feel “betrayed” by the Scottish Government over plans to support victims of attacks dating back more than 50 years.

Campaigners met with education secretary Angela Constance on Monday to push for compensation for those abused earlier than 1964.

The Scottish Government plans to lift the three-year time bar which currently prevents survivors taking civil actions against their alleged abusers.

But the move would not apply to pre-1964 cases, meaning many older survivors would be unable to receive compensation or justice for what happened to them.

Following Monday’s meeting, the group In-Care Abuse Survivors (Incas) expressed disappointment at a Scottish Government offer to provide discretionary payments from a £13.5 million support fund, which is also funding a number of different initiatives.

Spokesman Alan Draper said the education secretary had “failed miserably” in her promise that pre-1964 survivors would be able to secure compensation equal to those able to take action through the courts.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith / Tuesday 22 March 2016

Education secretary Angela Constance has had another ill-tempered meeting with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, as the Scottish Government’s inquiry into historic abuse prepares to take another step forward.

The chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, Susan O’ Brien QC will today [Weds] launch her first formal call for evidence.

However the latest step in the inquiry, which will take four years and cost an unknown amount, takes place against an acrimonious backdrop of concerns from some abuse survivors about its scope.

Meanwhile, the unrelated legal issue of whether people can take civil action against the institutions or individuals who abused them is not part of the inquiry but is also causing tension.

Survivor group representatives met with Angela Constance on Monday, calling for the government to honour a commitment to seek an equable solution for any victim who was abused prior to 1964.

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SCOTLAND
BBC Scotland

By Reevel Alderson
BBC Scotland’s social affairs correspondent

The inquiry into historical allegations of child abuse in Scotland is to outline how it will take evidence.

Chaired by QC Susan O’Brien, it will take four years to investigate the extent of abuse of children in care, and identify any systemic failures.

But many survivors have continued to be critical of its terms of reference, which they have said prevents thousand of victims from giving evidence.

The Scottish government said the inquiry was the widest it had set up.

Although the inquiry is due to launch its formal call for evidence, it has already heard from a small number of seriously ill or very elderly survivors.

At the launch in Glasgow, it will invite other victims to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell – AAP on March 23, 2016

A “one size fits all” approach to cross-examining child sex abuse victims can make their evidence seem unreliable in criminal trials, an inquiry has been told.

The director of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, Terese Henning, told the sex abuse royal commission on Wednesday legal requirements of the rules of evidence could impose barriers for child witnesses, including those with disabilities, and mean they are stereotyped as unreliable.

Children can be worn down by cross-examination and might agree with questions when they don’t understand them, Ms Henning said.

“So the nature of the questioning may produce unreliable evidence from them when they are in fact reliable witnesses,” she said.

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NEW YORK
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Wednesday, March 23, 2016

RHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) – A longtime priest from the Hudson Valley has been removed from the clergy following an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse from decades ago.

The Archdiocese of New York says allegations of sexual abuse made last year against Peter Kihm have been found to be “credible” by both law enforcement and the Archdiocesan Review Board.

Kihm last served as a priest at the Good Shepherd Church in Rhinebeck. He was suspended and removed as priest there in January 2015.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Saranac Hale Spencer, The News Journal

March 22, 2016

Walter Robinson, who led the Boston Globe’s investigative team that broke the story about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, has been getting emails from new victims every week since the movie “Spotlight” came out in November.

He’s learned that movies can sometimes have more impact than the written word, Robinson said in a speech he gave at the University of Delaware’s Mitchell Hall on Tuesday night about the movie that dramatized the paper’s investigation.

That’s a humbling admission for someone who has worked in newspapers his whole life. Robinson, a tall, white-haired man who speaks with a thick New England accent, is 70 and is now an editor-at-large for the Globe.

The reaction to the initial stories was huge, he said, noting the end of the movie depicted what actually happened when the reporters came in to work and were inundated with phone calls from victims who wanted to tell their stories. The Globe heard from 300 victims and they interviewed every one of them.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Tuesday 22 March 2016

The name of a high-profile Melbourne Jesuit is being removed from a sports complex at the prestigious Xavier College after child abuse allegations.

Four former Xavier College students have made complaints about inappropriate touching during interviews with the late Father Patrick “Paddy” Stephenson, the college says.

The school believes the complaints could be based on misunderstandings but college rector Father Chris Middleton said historical abuse at the college meant it was appropriate to rename the Stephenson centre at the Kew campus as the Xavier sports centre.

The school does not believe the complaints against Stephenson have been substantiated but have not dismissed the allegations as wrong, he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Jesuits believe that, on the available evidence, there is room for genuine misunderstanding as to his intentions, as is explicitly acknowledged by one complainant.

“This being said, given that abuse has occurred at Xavier, and that many victims of abuse suffered further at the hands of institutions such as the church and the Jesuits by not being believed and/or responded to, we accept that it is appropriate to change the name of the Stephenson centre.”

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UNITED STATES
The Observer

Raymond Ramirez | Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Investigating theft and other irregularities in corporations often starts with an analytical device known as the fraud triangle. This method examines three classic elements of criminal activity: opportunity, pressure/motivation and rationalization. Corporations typically claim that opportunity is the element over which they have the most control. Accordingly, companies focus on limiting opportunities for crime with measures like heightened security.

Businesses often assume pressure and motivation are beyond their control and characterize financial pressures, such as high medical bills, as personal matters. Individual rationalizations may include a bonus that was expected but not received or payback for a poor work environment. In fact, the focus on aggressive short-term earnings targets may create the very pressure that could drive people to consider criminal options.

Companies that operate under realistic market conditions, emphasizing sustainable growth and employee well-being, reduce pressures that skew behavior towards crime. Competent and trusted companies apply lessons learned to detect illegal behaviors, shut them down in their early stages and implement additional controls and structural changes to limit further damage.

The pedophile priest scandals, as detailed in the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” investigation, and the recent grand jury report on the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, illustrate extreme examples of the fraud triangle run amok. In the Altoona-Johnstown cases, more than 50 priests and other Church employees molested hundreds of children over four decades in the central Pennsylvania diocese. In many cases, their superiors knew of the abuses but did not remove the priests or notify law enforcement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Maldon Standard

Adam Cornell, Senior Reporter

A MUSIC teacher who downloaded and distributed the most vile and explicit videos of children being sexually abused has avoided jail.

Church organist Peter Dollimore spent his public life performing at concerts, teaching the piano, including to children, and helping at art festivals in north Essex.

In private, former IT engineer Dollimore, 63, used his computer skills to download extreme pornographic movies of girls as young as 10 and share them in paedophile chat rooms.

Dollimore, of Church Road, West Mersea, admitted several counts of downloading images and one count of sharing images and movies and was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

Recorder Richard Christie QC said he could have jailed Dollimore but sending him on an internet sex offender treatment programme would be more effective.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WESA

By VIRGINIA ALVINO

The leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Monday the church is human and wants to apologize for any pain its leaders may have caused.

Bishop David Zubik held a special Service of Apology at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oakland open to anyone who may have experienced emotional or physical pain from the church.

90.5 WESA’s Virginia Alvino talked to Larkin Page-Jacobs about the service’s message and why some sexual abuse victims find it troubling.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer

Gina Passarella, The Legal Intelligencer
March 22, 2016

Monsignor William Lynn, whose conviction for endangering the welfare of children molested by other priests was vacated last year, attacked in court papers Tuesday the Philadelphia District Attorney’s appeal of the reversal as “breathtakingly dishonest.”

Lynn said in his answer in opposition to District Attorney R. Seth Williams’ petition for appeal to the state Supreme Court that the appeal hinged on two “inaccurate” and “unproven” allegations: that one of the abusive priests was diagnosed as a pedophile and that Lynn reassigned that priest as part of scheme of concealment. Lynn argued the record shows the priest in question was never diagnosed as a pedophile and that Lynn had no power to reassign the priest.

Lynn’s conviction was overturned in December in a nonprecedential opinion from the Superior Court that found the trial court abused its discretion by allowing evidence of abusive conduct of 21 priests Lynn had never been involved with. The Superior Court ordered a new trial and the District Attorney’s Office appealed. Lynn said in his filing Tuesday that the District Attorney’s Office was trying to overcome the Superior Court’s ruling on the evidence by painting the case as “high-profile” and based on emotion.

“The level of unprofessionalism is alarming and one can only conclude that petitioner’s efforts are not directed toward seeking a petition consistent with the Rules of Appellate Procedure, but to drive this court to a decision grounded in emotion,” Lynn said in his brief, filed by his attorney, Thomas Bergstrom of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Since learning one week ago that the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had indicted three former provincial ministers of the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (TOR), stemming from their supervision of a Friar in that community who had been accused of committing the sexual abuse of minors, the Archdiocese has been in consultation with the Province. Some of those discussions have focused on Rev. Bradley Baldwin, TOR, a member of that Order and pastor of the Church of Saint Gerard in Brooklyn Park.

Earlier today we were notified that Rev. Bradley Baldwin had accepted his Provincial Superior’s request that he take a leave of absence from ministry (see the following statement from Very Rev. Patrick Quinn, TOR, Minister Provincial) pending further clarification of his level of supervision concerning the Friar in question. While the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not charged Fr. Baldwin, his name appeared in the documents of the Grand Jury investigation as having played, in a previous assignment, some intermediary role in facilitating communication between Provincial leadership and the Friar in question. It seems to us that the parameters of that role are not clear from the documentation and need to be further clarified and I have asked for a preliminary investigation to be commenced.

Father Baldwin had served in parish ministry in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis from 1994 to 2000 and then again from 2010 to present. The Archdiocese has no record of any allegations of misconduct against him and I am unaware of anything in his file that would suggest that his ministry here has been anything less than exemplary.

Until the investigation is concluded, a temporary administrator will be appointed to cover administrative duties at Saint Gerard and to assist with finding priests to help with Masses and the sacramental needs of the parish.

Statement from Very Rev. Patrick Quinn, TOR, Minister Provincial

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Pamela Miller Star Tribune MARCH 22, 2016

A Franciscan priest who serves a Catholic church in Brooklyn Park has taken a leave pending an investigation in Pennsylvania of an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse of minors by a brother in his order.

The Rev. Bradley Baldwin, priest of the Church of St. Gerard, accepted a request Tuesday to take the leave from his order, the Franciscan Friars, according to a news release from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The leave will be in effect “pending further clarification of his level of supervision concerning” Brother Stephen Baker, who killed himself in 2013 after news reports that he sexually abused scores of boys in the 1980s, interim Archbishop Bernard Hebda wrote in a notice posted on the St. Gerard’s website.

It’s the second known Minnesota connection to the Baker case. Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged the Rev. Anthony Criscitelli, 61, most recently of the Church of St. Bridget in north Minneapolis, with failing to properly supervise Baker despite knowing of the allegations against him. Two other members of the order also were charged with the same counts.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

A feature film about priests who abuse children is being released on 25 March. Which happens to be Good Friday.

Geddit? The sacrifice of the innocents. A conspiracy of religious hierarchs. Hand-washing by the secular authorities. I’m sure I can think of some more analogies if you give me time, but that’s enough to be going on with. Enough, certainly, for the distributors to boast that the movie is ‘controversially slated to be released on Easter [sic] Good Friday’.

As publicity stunts go, this isn’t subtle. But the film is. The Club, directed by the Chilean Pablo Larraín, sets out to perplex us from the first frame until the last.

It’s one of the finest films I’ve seen for years: a masterpiece of ambiguity that dares to suggest that the abuse of children by priests, though always morally repugnant, is psychologically and socially complex. If it wasn’t, the Church would have found a way to extinguish this fire long ago. As it is, nothing seems to work.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Temima G. Shulman
Award winning and seasoned writer

The Center for Integrity Wisdom held its annual board meeting this week, by invitation only. It is a good bet that leading some of the sessions was the Center’s master spiritual teacher, Marc Gafni.

Gafni, 55, has created a following in post-modern spirituality, called the Unique Self, where he offers the wisdom of many faiths and philosophies in order for each person to access their unique self.

But he has also created a following of a different sort: Alleged sexual abuse victims by the tens, over three decades’ worth, from different ends of the globe, who want to see justice done. Gafni, also known as Mordechai Gafni, help found the California-based CIW, and continues to garner support for himself and the organization from the likes of John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, and media personality Arianna Huffington.

The alleged victims, who live in the US and Israel, seem to have two common denominators: They are female and have spoken up after the statute of limitations expired on their individual cases against Gafni. Some allege abuse when they were as young as 13. Their story reappears in the media every few years, usually following a story about a new enterprise of Gafni’s or a new alleged victim speaking out. Some stories seem to attest to his brilliance and charisma, and others to his ability to defy justice and continue life with a new alibi. And just as quickly as the stories appear, and garner an endless stream of responses, they die fast.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Patrick Lohmann | plohmann@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The 23-year-old woman who is accused of producing child pornography with an infant is an employee at a Syracuse elementary school.

School officials have declined to answer any questions about her employment or background.

Emily Oberst of Syracuse is accused of helping Jason Kopp, 40, of Liverpool, to sexually exploit a baby girl, according to federal prosecutors.

Oberst also allegedly sent explicit photos of the child to Kopp, including one labeled “4 John March 16”. John was the pseudonym of an investigator who authorities say caught Oberst and Kopp.

Oberst lists her employment on Facebook as being with an after-school program at All Saints Elementary School, and her mother, Janet, describes having Emily volunteer at the school from the age of 15 to 19, according to biographies on the school’s website.

School officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment Monday and asked a Syracuse.com reporter to leave the premises. Principal Rosalie Pollman said through an aide that she was “with students” all day Monday and could not comment. …

All Saints is a pre-kindergarten to sixth-grade independent school that opened in September 2006. It’s located in rented space in the former St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School, at 112 S. Wilbur Ave., near West Fayette Street.

The school was established after the Catholic Diocese closed St. Patrick’s School, and parents worked to establish the All Saints school. It offers a “Catholic curriculum” but cannot label itself a Catholic school without the blessing of a local bishop.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com

Syracuse, NY — The Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office is probing whether any students at All Saints Elementary School were physically abused, an official confirmed.

Their probe comes amid a federal child pornography case against school aide Emily Oberst, 23, who was fired Monday after being charged with sexually exploiting a 16-month-old girl.

Oberst, of Syracuse, is accused of helping Jason Kopp, 40, of Liverpool, sexually exploit the young girl for pornography.

A letter sent to All Saints parents Monday warned that students might also be victims.

“Unfortunately, this morning in a meeting with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, we learned that there may be additional victims of Miss Oberst’s criminal activity, including students at All Saints,” the school’s letter read. …

All Saints is housed in an old parochial school building at 112 Wilbur Ave., but is not sanctioned by the Syracuse Catholic Diocese.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Patrick Lohmann | plohmann@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The principal of All Saints Elementary said in a statement Tuesday that the FBI may be contacting parents of students regarding photos that could be connected with a federal investigation into a part-time aide at the school.

Principal Rosalie Pollman also said she is praying for the parents of the aide, Emily Oberst, “who are being told of other crimes their daughter has (allegedly) committed.”

Oberst, who was fired by the school, was arrested over the weekend for allegedly allowing a 40-year-old man, Jason Kopp, to exploit a 16-month-old girl. Oberst, 23, of Syracuse, and Kopp, of Liverpool, were charged this weekend with sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child pornography.

Pollman would not say anything further about what the photos were or what they might have depicted or what “other crimes” Oberst may have committed. She said she could not comment because of an ongoing investigation and stressed that she was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the elementary school.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Shocked. Sickened. Saddened.

That’s how Michael Collins and his wife felt when they heard a teacher’s aide at their son’s school, All Saints Elementary School, was accused of sexually exploiting a baby.

When they learned the FBI was investigating whether Emily Oberst had victimized students, their disgust turned to fear.

“You hurt for the girl, the victim. That’s where your heart goes,” Collins, of Westvale, said Tuesday. “And then you’re also angry because that person happened to work with your child very closely.”

Oberst, 23, of Syracuse, and Jason Kopp, 40, of Liverpool, were charged this weekend with sexually exploiting a baby girl and sharing photographs of the abuse on an online messaging app. The child pornography was shared with an undercover federal officer on Kik, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Oberst was fired after her arrest. She and Kopp are in the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Patrick Lohmann | plohmann@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, NY — Parents of students at All Saints Elementary School were told late Monday that their students may have been victims of “criminal activity” allegedly committed by an employee recently charged in a child pornography case.

The letter, which was obtained by Syracuse.com, said the FBI told staff Monday morning that “there may be additional victims of Miss (Emily) Oberst’s criminal activity, including students at All Saints” and that some parents may be contacted by the FBI. Oberst was also fired “effective immediately,” the letter said.

Oberst was charged over the weekend for allegedly allowing a 40-year-old man to sexually exploit a 16-month-old child. It was later learned she worked at the elementary school and began volunteering there beginning at age 15. Her mother is also a teacher at the school, according to the school’s website.

School officials declined to comment despite repeated requests Monday, and the letter was the first contact parents had after news of Oberst’s arrest became public on Saturday.

The letter said officials could not confirm the identities or the number of students who may be involved.

The full text of the letter is below.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

BY LAURA HAND TUESDAY, MARCH 22ND 2016

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Parents are anxiously waiting to hear if their children were targeted as victims, by a now-fired aide at All Saints School on Tipperary Hill. This, as the principal tells us she’s concerned about the future of the school, in light of the criminal case.

A school aide, 23 year old Emily Oberst, from Syracuse was arrested last week for trading pictures on the Kik phone app with 40 year old Jason Kopp, from Liverpool. The criminal complaint filed in Federal Court says Kopp also shared pictures with an officer of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which began the investigation. Both Oberst and Kopp are being held at Syracuse’s Justice Center with no bail.

The school’s board sent a notice to parents, that Oberst has been terminated, and also advised that the FBI is investigating whether there are additional victims, including students at All Saints.

An outreach worker from McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy spent time at the school on Tuesday. Maureen Foran-Mocete tells us the agency has lots of resources, including information, counseling and reading lists, both on-line and in person, to help in abuse cases. She says 90% of such cases involve people the victim knows, and will sometimes try to protect. She also offers strategies for parents, to talk to their children about what is going on.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

by Justine McDaniel, STAFF WRITER

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn have asked the state Supreme Court to reject prosecutors’ appeal of a court decision granting Lynn a new trial, calling the request “breathtakingly dishonest.”

In court documents filed Tuesday, lawyers for Lynn, who was granted a new trial in December after being convicted for his role in supervising pedophile Catholic priests, contend that there are no grounds for appeal under state rules.

A Superior Court panel overturned Lynn’s conviction and granted a new trial after finding that evidence about priests not involved in Lynn’s case swayed the jury.

In its petition, filed less than two weeks ago, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office argued that the jury needed to hear historical evidence of child-abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

But Lynn’s attorney, Thomas A. Bergstrom, argued that the case does not meet the general standards for appeals because the Superior Court’s decision was an unpublished opinion.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Times

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Attorneys for a Roman Catholic church official are asking the state Supreme Court to reject prosecutors’ appeal of a decision granting him a new trial.

Monsignor William Lynn’s attorneys on Tuesday called the request “breathtakingly dishonest,” saying there were no grounds for an appeal under state rules, The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1pHmvLC) reported.

Lynn was the first U.S. church official charged for keeping accused priests on the job. A Philadelphia jury found in 2012 that he endangered an altar boy by sending a known pedophile priest to the boy’s parish in the late 1990s. The priest was at the top of a list of known or suspected predators that Lynn prepared while he was secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a post he held from 1992 to 2004.

The Superior Court has twice thrown out the conviction after finding that Lynn, 65, was wrongly charged or did not get a fair trial.

The Philadelphia district attorney’s office argued in its appeal to the state’s highest court that jurors needed to hear historical evidence of child abuse in the archdiocese. But defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom accused prosecutors of using emotions and the case’s high profile to persuade the court to hear a “passion-based” appeal.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Statement by Judy Jones, SNAP associate Midwest director 636 433 2511, SNAPjudy@gmail.com

Columbus Catholic officials seem to be blaming seminarian Joel Wright for fooling them. This seems like a convenience dodge.

Catholic officials want to have their cake and eat it too. They claim they did everything right with Joel Wright. (“Due diligence was carried out,” they claim.) But they also claim they’re proposing possible changes in the future. It’s hard to square these two contradictory claims.

It’s also worth noting that school officials can’t even bring themselves to mentioned Joel Wright by name in their news release. That’s not encouraging.

All the policies, protocols, procedures and pledges aside, the simple fact is that for several reasons, the pressure on Catholic officials to attract and keep seminarians – even sexually troubled ones – is greater than ever and the “costs” or penalties of making risky choices are less than ever. So we strongly believe that at Catholic seminaries across the world, sexually troubled men like Wright will continue to be accepted, child sex crimes will continue to happen and cover ups of those crimes will happen too.

But what we know for sure is that Catholic officials – in Vermont, Ohio and Kentucky – should be doing aggressive outreach to find and help others who

–might be able to help prosecutors convict Wright and

–might have been hurt by Wright and are suffering in shame, silence and self blame.

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OHIO
NBC4i

WORTHINGTON, OH (WCMH)– Leaders at the Pontifical College Josephinum say they hope to have new admissions screening procedures in place in time for the 2016-2017 school year. The proposed changes come two months after a former Josephenium seminarian was arrested on federal charges that he was attempting to travel to Mexico to rape young girls.

At a morning news conference, Father John Allen, Vice President for Advancement at the Josephinum said the admissions policy changes, “will enable the Josephinum to add an important level of professional expertise and competence to the selection process and to the admission of future seminarians and ultimately with future priests.”

The proposals include:

-an additional independent background check to review references, records and social media activities of applicants

-the creation of a national database of applications to dioceses and seminaries

-adding a personal interview of all applicants by a member of the Josephinum admissions office and the seminary’s director of psychological services.

Allen said, “We’re taking the Josephinum admissions process to a higher level.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

It’s supposed to be a sober exchange of appeal briefs. But the battle now before the state Supreme Court over the fate of Msgr. William J. Lynn has turned into a brawl.

Lynn is the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, who was convicted in 2012 on one count of endangering the welfare of a child, namely Danny Gallagher, the “lying, scheming” former altar boy also known as “Billy Doe.”

In December, the state Superior Court, for the second time in three years, overturned Lynn’s conviction, and ordered a new trial. Lynn, serving a three to six year prison term, has remained in jail, pending an appeal by District Attorney Seth Williams to the state Supreme Court.

The first time the state Superior Court reversed Lynn’s sentence, in December 2013, the D.A. appealed to the state Supreme Court for a review. Meanwhile, Lynn got out jail on house arrest. In April 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled in the D.A.’s favor, and Lynn was sent back to jail, where he remains. So the D.A. hopes that lighting strikes twice.

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GEORGIA
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | MARCH 22, 2016

A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor in Georgia has voiced regret and sadness about his church’s handling decades ago of allegations of sexual abuse within a Boy Scout troop it sponsored.

A lawsuit filed March 17 in Fulton County State Court accuses First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Ga., of neglect leading to the rape in 1985 of a now 46-year-old man.

Robb Lawson, who says in his lawsuit he didn’t come to terms with his mental and emotional harm until last year, claims that church leaders knew about allegations of abuse by the congregation’s scoutmaster, a church member, in the early 1980s but did not report it to police or the Boy Scouts of America.

Church leaders removed the man as scoutmaster, but he continued to participate in troop activities, including the camping trip where Lawson says his abuse occurred. The former scoutmaster remained active in the church, serving as a deacon until the allegations about him became public just recently.

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NEW YORK
Daily Freeman

[with copy of a letter from the archdiocese]

By Ariél Zangla, azangla@freemanonline.com ArielAtFreeman on Twitter

RHINEBECK >> A Dutchess County parish priest has been removed from ministry permanently after decades-old sexual abuse allegations against him were found to have merit.

Law enforcement and the New York Archdiocesan Review Board examined the allegations against Rev. Peter Kihm and found them to be credible, Bishop Dominick Lagonegro wrote in a March 14 letter to parishioners of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rhinebeck. As a result of that review, he said, Kihm cannot return to ministry.

Kihm also requested, and has received, a “return to the lay state” by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Lagonegro wrote.

“This means that he will never again be able to serve as a priest here in this archdiocese or anywhere else in the world,” the bishop wrote.

Kihm was suspended on Jan. 25, 2015, as the parish priest at the Good Shepherd and St. Joseph churches in Northern Dutchess based on allegations that, approximately 30 years ago, he sexually abused an underage male. He was suspended by church officials pending an investigation by law-enforcement officials.

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OSTERRICH
Nachricten

[After the abuse cases in Kremsmünster, former students of the Austrian school have published results of a study on the situation in book form so it is available for research purposes.]

KREMSMÜNSTER. Nach den Missbrauchsfällen im Stift Kremsmünster und deren Aufarbeitung in einer Studie des Münchner Instituts IPP pochen ehemalige Schüler auf die Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse in Buchform, damit diese zu Forschungszwecken verfügbar ist

Das IPP, das eine vergleichbare Studie auch für die deutsche Abtei Ettal erstellt hat, strebt dies an, das Stift ist aber dagegen.

Nach dem Auffliegen der Affäre 2010 hatte das Stift das Münchner Institut mit einer Studie zur Aufarbeitung beauftragt. Das für das Kloster wenig schmeichelhafte Ergebnis wurde in einer Pressekonferenz präsentiert und auf der Homepage des Stiftes veröffentlicht. Mittlerweile ist das Dokument dort zwar noch abrufbar, man muss aber bewusst danach suchen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Missbrauchsopher Josephinium Redemptoristen

[Abuse victims of Aloisiuskolleg Bonn ask the media to be more courageous and do more research.]

Auf vielfachen Wunsch sammeln wir hier wichtige ältere Nachrichten, die wir unter “Aktuelles” bisher veröffentlicht haben.

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WALES
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuser

22 March

Following the successful meeting with Welsh stakeholders in Cardiff last month, the Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Hon. Dame Lowell Goddard was in Colwyn Bay today to meet with Welsh victim and survivor groups and begin the process of ensuring the Inquiry meets the needs of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in Wales. Hosted by the Amethyst North Wales Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), the meeting was also attended by Inquiry Panel member, Professor Sir Malcolm Evans, and Michael May from the Inquiry’s Victims and Survivors’ Consultative Panel (VSCP) as well as organisations supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse from across Wales.

During the course of the meeting, the Inquiry Chair updated stakeholders on the plans for the Inquiry’s office in Wales, including arrangements to support Welsh victims and survivors as they engage with the Inquiry. The meeting also discussed how the Inquiry can most effectively raise public awareness of its work in Wales.

Hon. Dame Lowell Goddard said,

“I would like to thank the Amethyst SARC North Wales for hosting our meeting today and also to pay thanks to all the other key stakeholders from across Wales for taking the time to contribute to this important dialogue with the Inquiry. The importance of these organisations, who work tirelessly to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse throughout Wales, cannot be underestimated.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

MARTIN BENTHAM

The judge heading the Government’s inquiry into historical child sex abuse today issued a new appeal to victims to come forward before a “milestone” first hearing into paedophile targeting of children’s homes in Lambeth.

Justice Lowell Goddard said that those who had suffered exploitation had been left with “permanent scars” but could now help uncover why “so many crimes went unreported and undetected” for years.

She added that the inquiry also wanted to give victims the chance to “share their experience with us” and to establish the scale of the abuse.

Justice Goddard’s comments came as she prepared to begin her inquiry into historical abuse in Lambeth with a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday.

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PENNSYLVANIA
StateCollege.com

Centre County Report’s Jaclyn Gross talks with a local man who claims a priest abused him as a teenager in Altoona. Bob Conway says the Rev. Raymond Waldruff was respected and admired, but began using overnight trips to abuse him.

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OHIO
WFMJ

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio –
The Diocese of Youngstown has announced that its parishes, schools and institutions will observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.

According to a news release from the diocese, communities are being encouraged to share child abuse and neglect prevention awareness strategies and activities and promote prevention.

The announcement comes just days after three Franciscan friars were charged in Pennsylvania with allowing a suspected sexual predator to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children.

Friars Robert D’Aversa, Anthony Criscitelli and Giles Schinelli are accused of assigning or allowing Brother Stephen Baker to remain at Bishop McCort High School, where he molested scores of students from 1992 to 2000.

Baker killed himself in 2013 when Ohio church officials announced settlements involving students molested there in the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By KIERAN TAPSELL
March 22, 2016

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has issued a statement about Spotlight, the film about the cover up of child sexual abuse in Boston.

The bishops agreed with Father Richard Leonard that Spotlight is “an occasion for holy, righteous anger and every adult Catholic should see it”.

I saw the film, and I was angry, not so much about the past but by what is happening right now. A cover up ordered by canon law in 1922 continues to this day.

In 1996, when Irish bishops wanted mandatory reporting to the police of all allegations of child sexual abuse, they were told they could not because it conflicted with canon law. In 1998 Cardinal Castrillón, the Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, told the bishops they should not put anything in the way of victims going to police, but bishops were not to do the reporting.

In 2002, he and Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, now in charge of reforming the Roman Curia, publicly stated bishops should be prepared to go to jail rather than report a paedophile priest to police.

In 2002 American bishops wanted mandatory reporting under canon law for all allegations, but the Vatican refused. It only agreed to a dispensation from the pontifical secret where civil laws required reporting. It was more concerned about bishops going to jail than the welfare of children.

That dispensation was extended to the whole church in 2010. But where there are no civil laws requiring reporting (as is the case in six Australian States and territories for most cases), the pontifical secret over these allegations still applies.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims “out” another predator priest
He was cited in new PA grand jury report
And he is the 14th accused child molesting SC cleric
Group urges Catholic bishop to “come clean & end slow torture”
Church officials refuse to do “real outreach,” support group says
SNAP warns: “Recently suspended cleric could be put back to work”

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that
–a predator priest recently suspended because of abuse allegations in Pennsylvania also worked in SC,
–he’s the 14 alleged predator priest to have worked in the state, and
–at least seven civil lawsuits are pending against predator priests in SC, including one filed last October.

The group will prod
–Charleston Catholic bishop to permanently post on parish websites the names of all predator priests who have worked or lived – or now work or live – in the diocese.
–“anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual misdeeds, crimes or cover ups” in the state to “call police, expose wrongdoing and protect others.”
When:

Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.

Where:
In Charleston, outside the Charleston Catholic diocese headquarters (“chancery”), 901 Orange Grove Road (corner of St Charles Ct.)

Who:
Two adults who were sexually abused as children and are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

Why:

Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania’s attorney general released a 150 page grand jury report detailing clergy sex crimes by 50+ clerics against hundreds of kids that were covered up for decades by Altoona area Catholic officials.

[PennLive]

On Friday, three of those officials were arraigned on charges of concealing child sex crimes in the Altoona area.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

[with video]

PITTSBURGH — Bishop David Zubik told a crowd of about 80 Monday night that the church messed up, choosing to publicly to apologize to those who were “harmed by the church in any way.”

The “Service of Apology” was held at 7 p.m. inside St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland. According to diocesan officials, the timing of the service had nothing to do with recent allegations against the Roman Catholic Church in nearby Johnstown and Altoona.

“I’m sorry for the church. I’m not expecting that’s going to make it easier for people, but I hope at least it’s going to help,” Zubik said. “When people say to me, ‘Do you feel you’ve done enough?’ Never. I think we need to work together from all sides.”

The Pittsburgh Diocese in 2007 settled with 32 people who claimed they were abused by as many as 17 priests. The total amount was $1.25 million.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will deliver a ruling on an application by a party for non-publication orders in relation to the Royal Commission’s Case Study 23: Knox Grammar School public hearing.

The non-publication orders have been sought by Mr Christopher Fotis, who gave evidence in Case Study 23 on 28 April 2015.

The public hearing commenced on 23 February 2015 and inquired into the response of Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, New South Wales to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at Knox Grammar School between 1970 and 2012.

For more information on Case Study 23 into Knox Grammar School please visit the Case Study 23 webpage.

What: Case Study 23: Knox Grammar School application ruling
Date: Wednesday 23 March 2016
Time: 4.30pm AEDT start
Location: Royal Commission Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney

The hearing will be streamed live via webcast on the Royal Commission’s website at www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

State Rep. Mark Rozzi has been pushing for years to change state laws in an effort to broaden the rights of victims of child sex abuse, to little effect.

Part of the problem may have been that the issue had been fading in the public consciousness.

The subject was making major headlines around 15 years ago, when a scandal erupted over sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and the mishandling of such cases by religious leaders, and then more recently with the Jerry Sandusky case involving Penn State. Since then the church has insisted it learned from its mistakes and that the days of protecting predator priests are long over, and changes were made to child abuse laws in response to the Sandusky situation.

But the issue is back at the forefront thanks to an investigation by the state attorney general’s office that alleged terrible corruption in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. Rozzi, himself a teenage victim of sexual abuse by a priest, is looking to use the news as impetus to win support for his effort.

A grand jury found that two bishops who led the diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests and other religious leaders over a 40-year period starting in the mid-1960s. The report went on to portray the church as holding such sway over law enforcement that it helped select a police chief. One diocesan official told the grand jury that the police and civil authorities would often defer to the church when priests were accused of abuse, the report said. Following the grand jury report, three ex-leaders of a Franciscan order were charged with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp

A new initiative launched by the Department for Education aims to tackle child abuse and neglect.

The initiative, called “Together We Can Tackle Child Abuse”, is being championed by local authorities and NHS trusts throughout the country.

One of the issues raised by the initiative is the failure of people to report suspected child abuse or neglect. It has been noted that, of those who suspect child abuse, one third does not act on their suspicions because they are worried about being wrong.

Together, we can tackle child abuse aims to encourage members of the public to report suspected abuse or neglect even when they are not certain it has taken place.

ABC – spotting signs of abuse and neglect

The initiative has highlighted that, in 2014/15, approximately 400,000 children in England were supported by local authorities after someone noticed they needed help.

Abuse of children can involve sexual acts, physical assaults or emotional harm. Neglect involves the maltreatment of a child by failing to care for them appropriately.

By using a simple acronym – ABC – the new DfE initiative provides the following guidance on how to spot the signs of abuse or neglect by reference to the effects on a child’s appearance, behaviour and communication:

* Appearance – such as frequent unexplained injuries, consistently poor hygiene, matted hair, unexplained gifts, or a parent regularly collecting children from school when drunk

* Behaviour – such as demanding or aggressive behaviour, frequent lateness or absence from school, avoiding their own family, misusing drugs or alcohol, or being constantly tired

* Communication – such as sexual or aggressive language, self-harming, becoming secretive and reluctant to share information or being overly obedient

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic World Report

March 22, 2016

Attitudes about how the Church is handling cases of clerical sex abuse are frequently rooted in a misunderstanding of rule of law and evidentiary standards.

Enza Ferreri

Last month Peter Saunders, the British man who founded and leads the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), was removed from the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, “apparently following a 15-0 vote of no confidence.”

The chorus of some mainstream media has been quick to describe this as a sign that the Vatican doesn’t intend to do enough against child sex abuse, or that Pope Francis is failing to do so. However, this attitude of utter condemnation of the Church is misplaced and based, in part, on a misunderstanding of rule of law and evidentiary standards.

I will start with some background on the role that Peter Saunders, NAPAC, and other activists like them have had in events in the UK.

Since 2012, Britain has been shaken by a flood of allegations of child sex abuse, the majority of which go back decades, against important figures in the public eye, both dead and alive. The police have investigated practically all claims, however improbable, and often in the total absence of evidence, launching one operation after another.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

March 21, 2016

DANIELLE LE MESSURIER
PerthNow

ANOTHER Swan Homes resident has received $80,000 from the Anglican Diocese of Perth in recognition of harm suffered during his 13 years at the orphanage.

The man was awarded the maximum compensation payment on March 2.

The 86-year-old, who asked not to be named, claimed he was subjected to regular “sexual, physical and emotional abuse” during his time at the Anglican Church-run orphanage in Middle Swan by former housemaster Leonard Gordon Darcey and another man who worked at the home.

The Sunday Times reported last year that another Swan Homes resident had received $80,000 in financial redress from the Anglican Church.

The Anglican Diocese of Perth this week declined to answer questions or provide any further comment regarding Swan Homes. One of the questions the church won’t answer is how many former Swan Homes residents have come forward alleging they were victims of abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE

A paedophile bishop is feared to have duped congregations across the country by conducting services while impersonating his identical twin brother.

Peter Ball, 83, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, was jailed for 32 months last year after he admitted sexually abusing 18 teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992.

The Old Bailey heard how Ball, of Langport, Somerset, hand-picked vulnerable victims to commit acts of ‘debasement’ in the name of religion, including praying naked at the altar and submitting to beatings.

An investigation has now been launched into claims he might have deceived church-goers by impersonating his identical twin Michael, who was a bishop in Cornwall during the 1990s.

The Diocese of Truro is looking into evidence that Ball conducted services in his brother’s place.An independent review is under way into the way the Church of England responded to the case.

The Right Reverend Tim Thornton said that there was no evidence that the Diocese gave Peter Ball permission to lead any services in Cornwall in the 1990s.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

SYRACUSE — One of the people arrested last week in a federal child pornography sting was a worker at Syracuse’s All Saints Elementary School.

Emily Oberst, 23, of Syracuse, was arrested last Friday by the FBI. Jason Kopp, 40, of Liverpool was also arrested. Federal agents accused the pair of sexually abusing a toddler and posting images and videos of the crime online. Oberst and Kopp are both being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.

The school says Oberst was terminated. The letter to parents goes on to say the school is cooperating with authorities but got stark news from the FBI Monday. “We learned that there may be additional victims of Miss Oberst’s criminal activity, including students at All Saints. At this time, we can neither confirm the identities nor the numbers of students who may be involved.” The letter also informs parents that they may be contacted by federal agents as the investigation continues.

The letter, signed by the All Saints Board, promises to keep parents informed as it gets new relevant information.

An undercover federal investigator out of the Metropolitan Police Department – Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force began communicating on the Kik app with a user later identified as Jason Kopp. A federal criminal complaint states, In an exchange of texts Kopp shared numerous images of an infant child “which depict the lewd and lascivious exhibition of her genitals.” Other images show Kopp “engaged in acts of sexual abuse of the child.” …

All Saints is an independent school with no affiliation with the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. The school’s website says it does “teach Catholic values and a Catholic curriculum.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Joel Adams, Reporter Argus_JoelA

A SOLICITOR specialising in child sexual abuse cases has criticised a group of Establishment figures for not treating her client with the respect she deserves.

Tracey Emmott represents a woman who was abused by wartime Bishop of Chichester George Bell in the 1940s and 50s, and who received compensation and an apology from the Church of England last year.

This weekend the self-titled George Bell Group criticised the Church’s handling of the case, and called upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to apologise for blackening Bishop Bell’s name over the case.

Ms Emmott said: “It is disappointing that my client’s account continues to be so relentlessly challenged in what appears to be nothing short of a campaign to discredit and invalidate her evidence which has already been considered by independent experts as part of her legal claim.

“My client is not being afforded the dignity and respect she deserves and the closure she has been seeking.”

The George Bell Group includes the bishop’s biographer, a London judge, the Dean of an Oxford college, Frank Field MP and several peers and churchmen.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Monday, March 21st, 2016

Attorneys in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed a reorganization plan Monday that contains cash contributions of $21 million from nine sources to settle claims filed by 57 alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse.

An attorney who represents abuse victims estimated Monday that payments would average about $350,000 per claimant, though amounts likely would vary depending on circumstances.

The settlement is subject to approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma of Albuquerque, and a voting process will allow claimants to approve or reject the plan.

Under the plan, insurers are on the hook for at least $13.4 million, or about 64 percent of the total settlement. The Diocese of Gallup would contribute $3 million and may have to sell its chancery offices in Gallup, subject to the terms of a loan agreement with a bank.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

By David Highfield

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A “Service of Apology” was held Monday evening by Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese Bishop David Zubik.

It was for people hurt by the church in any way, including those sexually abused by clergy.

Cameras were not allowed inside the service at Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland, but nearly 100 people gathered to hear what Bishop Zubik had to say.

“Some of the people said they’re coming because they’re angry that I closed a church building,” said Bishop Zubik. “Other people are angry because a priest didn’t treat them kindly in the sacrament of confession. Some people are coming because they’ve been abused by someone in the church.”

In fact, it was three weeks ago that a grand jury report alleged two bishops from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of children by more than 50 priests over decades.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY JASON CATO | Monday, March 21, 2016

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik stood Monday night at the pulpit inside St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland and begged for forgiveness of the sins of the Roman Catholic Church.

Lee Cabot sat in the front row to absorb the words he had waited to hear for most of his life. In the 1970s, a Bellevue priest wrongly interpreted church rules and punished his late mother after her husband abandoned the family, he said.

“Because of what he did, our whole family fell apart,” said Cabot, 47, of Oakland.

Cabot clutched a framed photograph of his mother, Marianne Liptak, who died in 2002.

“My mother never returned to the altar until the day she died,” Cabot said. “She died thinking she was a disgraced Catholic.”

Zubik hosted a special “Prayer Service for Apology” as part of the Jubilee Year of Mercy called upon by Pope Francis.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 22, 2016

Beau Donelly

The Catholic Church is bracing for possible arson attacks on Melbourne parishes linked to paedophile priests, 12 months after vandals torched three suburban churches.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has told its parishes to be vigilant following an attempted arson attack on St Bede’s Church in Balwyn North earlier this month. An intruder broke into the church and poured accelerant onto the altar, but is believed to have fled before lighting the fire because an alarm went off.

In an email to the 214 churches in the Melbourne Archdiocese, vicar-general Monsignor Greg Bennet warned of the risk of arson, saying the Balwyn church’s alarm system was all that foiled “what would have been another catastrophic fire”. It coincides with the one-year anniversary of three as-yet-unsolved fires at churches where paedophile priests worked.

The internal email said the arson squad was investigating the latest attack and that police had advised all churches be vigilant, “especially those where there has been a history of sexual abuse cases”.

Notorious paedophile priest Terrence Pidoto served as an assistant priest at the Balwyn parish in the early 1970s. He was jailed in 2007 after being found guilty of eleven child sex abuse charges including rape and indecent assault.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

MARCH 22, 2016

by Maria Panaritis, Staff Writer

The three veteran investigators were speechless.

For just a few months, they had waded into a probe of clergy sex abuse in central Pennsylvania. They didn’t yet know much. But they had heard about a man near Altoona named George Foster.

Foster, they were told, had long been “making noise” about eliminating abusive priests in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown – writing letters in the local papers, meeting with church leaders. Daniel Dye, the deputy attorney general leading the investigation, knew he was someone worth meeting.

But Dye and the two agents with him were not prepared for what they saw as Foster arrived at a Pittsburgh hotel to meet them for a cup of coffee in late 2014.

Foster came carting an armload of manila folders. Each was labeled. “Victim 1.” “Victim 2.” And so on. Others bore the names of priests. Inside were detailed accounts from victims and others.

Years’ worth.

“You kept files?” Dye asked incredulously.

“Oh, yeah,” he told them. “People have been coming to me for years.”

“Why didn’t you ever take these files to the police?” Dye asked him.

“Well,” Foster said, “some of what’s in here, I’m getting from the police.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

March 22, 2016

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun

IT’s no laughing matter, but a former altar boy has turned the “tragedy’’ of child sexual abuse into a comedy.

Born and bred in Ballarat, Frank Hampster was abused by a Catholic priest in the 1980s.

Until being summonsed to give evidence to the child abuse Royal Commission last year, he had never spoken publicly of his experiences.

Now he is drawing on them for his fourth Melbourne International Comedy Festival show called “Cardinal Sins”.

Hampster said he had witnessed first hand how abuse was covered up by senior priests.

“Some of the royal commission testimony was laughable, so I had to keep rewriting the show,” he said.

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FRANCE
The Week

Robert Zaretsky

A miracle did not occur in Lourdes last week.

Instead, on March 15, the French media descended on the pilgrimage site in southwestern France, which is hosting a conference of the country’s bishops. The journalists came to grill Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who, as bearer of the ancient title “primat des Gaules,” is France’s most prominent Catholic cleric. As the cardinal of Lyon, France’s second largest city, he runs a diocese rocked by a series of sexual abuse scandals. (The diocese of Lyons is also the oldest Catholic institution in France, stretching back to the Gallo-Roman period.) With the cicada-like clatter of clicking cameras, Barbarin declared he had “never, never, never” hid any act of pedophilia committed by his priests. Staring hard through his severe wire-rimmed glasses, Barbarin observed that none of these acts had happened under his watch. Besides, he noted, these crimes had passed the statute of limitations, so they could not be prosecuted.

“Dieu merci,” he added with a sigh.

Rarely have so few words cut so deeply into the hearts of so many. With what seemed greater concern over legal liabilities for the church than the emotional scars of the victims, Barbarin compounded his clergy’s sins of commission with a stunning sin of omission. The whole episode, since baptized the French “Spotlight,” may well have consequences as seismic for the French church as the Boston case had for its American counterpart.

The events in question stretch back 40 years. In 1971, a young and charismatic priest, Bernard Preynet, became leader of a troop of Catholic Boy Scouts near Lyons. During the 20 years he remained at this post, hundreds of adolescents passed through. La Parole Libérée (The Liberated Voice), an association formed by victims, charges that Preynet sexually abused as many as 60 youths. (The Tribune de Lyon offered a more conservative estimate, quoting an anonymous source, himself a victim, stating that Preynet “had abused 20 kids.”)

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch • Monday March 21, 2016

In the wake of the arrest of a former student, the leader a Roman Catholic seminary on the Far North Side has recommended a trio of admissions policy changes, including the creation of an applications database that would be available to seminaries nationwide.

The Pontifical College Josephinum announced the proposals publicly on Monday, about seven weeks after former Josephinum seminarian Joel A. Wright, 23, was arrested in San Diego on federal allegations that he planned to travel to Mexico to rape 1- to 3-year-old girls.

The proposal includes: 1) the creation of a national database of formal applications to seminaries, dioceses and religious orders; 2) reference, social media and records reviews of applicants by private investigators led by someone with high-level FBI experience; and, 3) in-person interviews of applicants by representatives of the Josephinum’s admissions committee and its director of psychological evaluation and counseling.

“We’re trying to be a leader in this area, even nationally,” said Monsignor Christopher Schreck, rector and president. “We’re also trying to do our utmost to close any loopholes in our admissions process. It’s already a rigorous process, but this makes it even more rigorous.”

The database would allow seminaries to review whether potential students had been rejected at other schools and why. Schreck said seminaries have been discussing such a project for several years, trying to work out details and legalities.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 21, 2016

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

It’s all well and good to promise “we’ll do better in the future.” Catholic officials, when facing abuse scandals, excel at pledging improvement. They’re usually very poor, however, at follow through.

It’s hard to believe that church officials in Columbus, Steubenville and Vermont were unaware that dozens of seminaries had rejected Joel Wright. And Catholic officials have been talking about better seminary screening for decades. So it’s hard to be enthusiastic about this latest promise.

Behavior in the present is more important that pledges in the future. And right now, officials at the Josephenum and in the Columbus diocese must use their websites, mailing lists and bully pulpits to find others with information or suspicions about Wright’s crimes and get them to call police and prosecutors. That will make the biggest difference in the short term.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

[A deacon of the Munster diocese was sentenced to 3.5 years is prisons for sexual abuse but neither the bishops nor the diocese were told about it.]

Pfarrer Gregor Wolters informierte seine Gemeinde in den Gottesdiensten in Nordkirchen, Südkirchen und Capelle, dass es sich bei dem wegen Missbrauch Verurteilten 75-Jährigen Nordkirchener um Diakon Manfred Z. handelt. „Ich habe telefonischen Kontakt mit Z. gehabt“, so der Pfarrer in den Gottesdiensten. Z. habe ihm bestätigt, dass es die Gerichtsverhandlung gegeben habe und er zu dreieinhalb Jahren Haft verurteilt worden sei.

„Er hat mir gesagt, er habe mich und die Diözese informieren wollen. Er hat es aber nicht getan.“ Die Diözese habe auch keinen Hinweis von der Staatsanwaltschaft erhalten. Gregor Wolters teilte der Gemeinde mit, er habe Z. mit sofortiger Wirkung von allen kirchlichen Funktionen suspendiert.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Jasmine Stole | Post News Staff

The Archdiocese of Agana issued a statement on March 18 following the issuance of new certificates of title from the Department of Land Management and church officials said the new certificates “once again” confirm the archbishop owns the Yona land under the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

The statement from the archdiocese contradicts what former Sen. Robert Klitzkie said about the new certificates of title. Klitzkie told the Post that the new titles, now with memorials that state the Declaration of Deed Restriction is in favor of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary as a nonprofit corporation, means that the property belongs to the seminary, not the archbishop. Klitzkie’s letter to Department of Land Management about the erroneous certificates of titles prompted the department to issue new certificates.

The Declaration of Deed Restriction states that the property shall be dedicated, to and for the use, of the seminary, a nonprofit corporation.

The archdiocese’s statement from March 18 said the four former certificates of title for the Yona property were canceled and the canceled certificates of title “did not include the Declaration of Deed Restriction.” However, the canceled titles did include the Declaration of Deed Restriction in the memorials section. The change in certificates is under the “in favor of” column. Department of Land Management changed the certificates in that respect and removed Archbishop Antony Apuron and replaced it with Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

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OHIO
NBC4i

[with copy of the proposals]

[with video]

By Olivia Fecteau
Published: March 21, 2016

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Pontifical College Josephinum announced proposals to change its admission process Monday, in response to the arrest of a former seminarian on charges he planned to rape children.

The changes were outlined Monday in a letter from Monsignor Christopher Schreck to the Board of Trustees, archbishops and bishops, members of the admissions committee and school officials. Schreck noted the discussion and proposed changes stemmed from the arrest of Joel Wright in late January.

Wright was a former seminary student who was arrested in San Diego after investigators said he planned to travel to Mexico to adopt a child for sex.

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