ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Steve Esack and Laurie Mason Schroeder
Of The Morning Call

Nationwide, grand juries were used to investigate abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests in just seven places. The Lehigh Valley was not one of them.

Instead, Valley prosecutors in 2002 asked the Allentown Diocese for its priest-abuse files after then-Bishop Edward Cullen announced he was removing a few priests from active duty. The diocese serves 270,000 Catholics in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Berks and Schuylkill counties.

In 2002, the diocese turned over to the district attorneys in the five-county area every file it had involving any abuse claim, spokesman Matt Kerr said. At that time, Kerr said, the diocese also promised to report to law enforcement every sex abuse claim, no matter how old.

After his review, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said in 2002 that eight abuse claims had occurred in Lehigh County but could not be prosecuted because of deaths or the cases were too old.

“I am satisfied that the Diocese of Allentown has fully cooperated with my request for information,” Martin said then. “I see no necessity to invoke the powers of an investigating grand jury. In my view, there is no need to seek by subpoena that which has already been provided voluntarily.”

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ROME
The Guardian

Ben Doherty
@bendohertycorro
Tuesday 1 March 2016

Cardinal George Pell knew a paedophile teacher was moved to a new school because he was allegedly abusing children but did not tell church authorities or the police because he presumed the teacher would receive “help” to stop him reoffending.

Brother Ted Dowlan, a member of the Christian Brothers order, was removed from St Patrick’s College in 1974 after he admitted abusing boys under his care. He went on to abuse children at at least another four schools over another 14 years. Dowlan has since been jailed twice for abusing children, in 1996 and again last year.

At the time of Dowlan’s offending in the 1970s, Pell was the episcopal vicar for education in the diocese of Ballarat – the bishop’s representative in all areas of education.

Pell told the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse on Wednesday he knew in 1974 that Dowlan was alleged to have sexually abused children but he did not seek information on the exact nature of Dowlan’s offending, nor did he tell the bishop of the diocese, or the police, of the offending.

“I would say that in light of my present understandings, I would concede I should have done more,” Pell told the commission.

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ROME
Mercury

CARDINAL Pell was accused of “designing” his evidence to deflect blame during the third day of testimony in which the “extraordinary world of crimes and cover ups” within the Catholic Church were exposed.

The Vatican treasurer told the Royal Commission he had been deceived on multiple occasions in different parts of the country over sex offending priests operating in country parishes.

Pell said he was never told the full extent of convicted pedophile Father Peter Searson’s activities in Doveton – a parish in his region as auxiliary bishop – where he was accused of pointing a gun at people, stabbing a bird with a screwdriver, tape recording confessions and forcing a child to kneel between his legs during confession.

The Cardinal claimed he had investigated the claims to the best of his ability but information was deliberately withheld by the Catholic Education Office and Archbishop Frank Little, who had been described as having a “blind spot” when it came to Searson.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

Barney Zwartz

Poor Cardinal Pell, always the victim of such appalling deception and lies by those he should have been able to trust.

If only he had known the truth about goings on in Ballarat and Doveton with abusive priests Gerald Ridsdale and Peter Searson, matters would have been so different.

That was the line Cardinal Pell ran consistently before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday, and he held it in the face of obvious incredulity by commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan and senior counsel Gail Furness, who frankly told him his evidence was implausible and designed to deflect blame from himself.

Cardinal Pell replied: “Counsel, I can only tell you the truth, the whole story of Searson is implausible and the cover-up is equally implausible. I can only tell you the way it was.”

This alleged conspiracy against Pell was the day’s new development. He has criticised former church leaders but this is the first we have heard of a long-standing pattern of deception.
Mind you, Pell never had a duty to do more in his view, because that duty always belonged to others. At most, he “might have pushed a bit harder”.

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ROME
Telegraph (UK)

An Australian inquiry on Wednesday heard of a gun-toting paedophile priest who made children kneel between his legs during confession as Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell admitted a time of “crimes and cover-ups” within the Catholic Church.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney heard evidence from Cardinal Pell, via videolink from Rome, for a third day, with the senior Australian official again facing intense questioning about what he knew.

The inquiry is currently focused on the town of Ballarat and the city of Melbourne in the state of Victoria, where Cardinal Pell grew up and worked, and how the church dealt with complaints, many dating back to the 1970s, against the Catholic clergy.

Gail Furness, the top lawyer leading questioning in the inquiry, centred attention on Wednesday on Doveton parish priest Peter Searson, who Cardinal Pell called “one of the most unpleasant” men he had ever met.

The church failed to act in the 1980s despite mounting evidence of his bizarre behaviour.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Louise Milligan

A victim of a paedophile priest says she believes Cardinal George Pell knew there was abuse going on but will never acknowledge it.

Julie Stewart was sexually abused by Peter Searson when he was a parish priest in Doveton in the mid-1980s.

“I will always believe he knew. Always,” Ms Stewart told 7.30.

“I believe [Pell] did his job well. He did his job by protecting the church’s assets and protecting the church’s name, but I don’t believe he protected the children.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

We at TheMediaReport.com are not the only ones angered that Hollywood awarded the factually challenged movie Spotlight its Best Picture prize at the Oscars Sunday night.

Veteran left-wing journalist JoAnn Wypijewski – who herself was in Boston during the spring of 2002 reporting on the Catholic sex abuse story – has just unleashed a stinging attack on the Boston Globe, the makers of Spotlight, the media, Church-suing contingency lawyers, and so-called “survivors” in a new piece in the left-wing blog, CounterPunch. This is truly a must-read piece:

“Oscar Hangover Special: Why ‘Spotlight’ Is a Terrible Film”
by JoAnn Wypijewski at CounterPunch

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PENNSYLVANIA
Wall Street Journal

KRIS MAHER

Updated March 1, 2016

Two Roman Catholic bishops helped cover up sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests and religious leaders at a central Pennsylvania diocese over four decades, according to a grand jury report made public Tuesday.

None of the alleged crimes can be prosecuted because either the accused abusers have died or the statute of limitations has run out, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who released the 147-page report. She said some victims were too traumatized to testify in court.

However, Ms. Kane said the investigation into the diocese, which covers eight counties in the middle of the state and includes Altoona and Johnstown, is active and that charges could be considered in the future.

“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe,” Ms. Kane said. “At the very least we must continue to shine a light on this long period of abuse and despicable conduct.”

The diocese released a statement saying that it is reviewing the report and that it will continue to cooperate with the investigation. It said its youth-protection policy requires that all allegations of abuse by clergy be reported to civil authorities.

“This is a painful and difficult time in our Diocesan Church,” said Bishop Mark L. Bartchak, current bishop of the diocese. “I deeply regret any harm that has come to children, and I urge the faithful to join me in praying for all victims of abuse.”

The diocese, which was established in 1901, contains 89 parishes, 74 active priests and 36 permanent deacons, according to its website. There are more than 90,000 Catholics living in the eight-county area, the attorney general’s office said.

The grand jury found that Bishop James Hogan and his successor, Bishop Joseph Adamec, covered up the alleged abuse, enabling it to continue for decades. Bishop Hogan died in 2005.

David Berardinelli, an attorney for Bishop Adamec, who retired in 2011, said in a statement that the bishop “deeply regrets any harm that has come to children who were victimized.”

A response filed by Bishop Adamec’s attorney called allegations that he tried to cover up abuse unfounded and said the grand jury didn’t review key evidence.

The bishop followed a process in which he confronted accused priests, met with alleged victims whenever possible, and relied on the advice of psychiatric professionals to decide whether to allow priests to remain in active ministry, Mr. Berardinelli wrote. From 1987 to 2002, nine of 14 priests accused of abuse in the diocese were suspended from public ministry or retired and were prohibited from public ministry. There were no future accusations against the other five priests, his lawyer wrote.

“The actual evidence demonstrates that Bishop Adamec consistently placed a high priority on ensuring the protection of children,” Mr. Berardinelli wrote.

Investigators who searched a diocese office last August found what Ms. Kane described as a secret archive in a safe, as well as boxes and filing cabinets full of confidential litigation files and other documents detailing allegations of sexual abuse by priests, including molestation, oral sex and the use of pornography and alcohol.

In one letter to Bishop Adamec in 1991, cited by the grand jury report, a man said he had been abused by a priest roughly 100 times in the 1970s after being brought to the priest’s bedroom when he was an altar boy. The priest was permitted to resign his active duties in 1992, and his actions were never reported to the police, the report said.

According to notes allegedly kept by Bishop Adamec and excerpted in the grand jury report, the priest admitted to the bishop that he had had sexual encounters with boys and felt guilty and considered killing himself. The priest died in 2000.

Bishop Adamec’s response to the grand jury report said that a psychiatric evaluation found that the priest, who was elderly and in ill health by 1992, was not a risk to children but that the bishop had him resign his ministry.

The grand jury found that the bishops didn’t typically remove accused priests from active ministry. Some priests were temporarily put on sick leave and then reassigned to new parishes. The grand jury concluded that the bishops kept matters quiet to shield themselves and the church from scandal.

In September, one priest testified before the grand jury that he might have accidentally fondled a 15-year-old boy’s genitals in 1979 when both were lying in a cot wearing T-shirts and underwear. The alleged victim had brought the matter to Bishop Adamec in 2002. At the time, the priest was sent for treatment for one month and then allowed to return to active ministry.

The priest, now 69, was suspended from his position last year at the insistence of the attorney general’s office, according to the grand jury report.

The report said Bishop Adamec created a chart listing levels of abuse and corresponding payouts to victims. The first level of abuse, “above clothing, genital fondling,” had a range of payment of $10,000 to $25,000. The fourth and highest level of abuse, “sodomy; intercourse,” had a range of payment of $50,000 to $175,000.

A footnote to the chart listed factors to consider within those ranges, such as number of occurrences, age of victim, use of alcohol or drugs and “other aggravating circumstances.”

The grand jury said diocese officials weren’t being generous to victims. “With these payouts came an onslaught of confidentiality agreements or waivers of liability releases,” the grand jury wrote. “They were buying silence and protection from public scrutiny.”

The investigation comes as Pope Francis has attempted to improve the church’s image and efforts to address the sexual abuse of children by clergy, which has been a global scandal.

The pope met with victims of abuse during his visit to Philadelphia last year, but his attempts to improve the church’s response have faced criticism and setbacks.

In 2014 Pope Francis established a commission made up of victims advocates, survivors and church officials to advise the Vatican. But last month an outspoken member of the commission and abuse survivor refused to leave the panel after other members demanded his departure.

Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
Daily Mail

By BELINDA GRANT GEARY and LUCY THACKRAY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Commentator Andrew Bolt – who previously referred to Cardinal George Pell as the ‘victim of a vicious witch hunt’ – appears to have changed his tune, slamming the church official for failing to protect vulnerable children who were abused at the hands of a notorious pedophile priest.

Mr Bolt, who was sent to Rome to cover the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, had previously called the coverage on Cardinal Pell ‘shameful, disgusting and frightening’.

But after the Cardinal described the prolific sexual abuse of children at a Victorian parish ‘a sad story’ that ‘wasn’t of much interest’ to him, Bolt proclaimed he had ‘stained his reputation forever’.
‘His fate was sealed. That quote will be hung around Pell’s neck forever. The priest who went by the book, not the heart,’ Bolt wrote in an article published in the Herald Sun on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The Drum

OPINION

By Cathy Humphreys

Victims of child sexual abuse have reason to feel disappointed by George Pell’s testimony so far at the Royal Commission, writes Cathy Humphreys.

“It was a sad story and not of much interest to me.”

There are moments in Cardinal George Pell’s testimony when you realise that he is telling the truth.

In the 1970s, Pell was an ambitious young priest who had returned to Australia, fresh from Oxford, wanting to be a man of power and influence in the church.

The lives of vulnerable young people and their families held little interest for him. Inconvenient truths about paedophile brothers and priests were best avoided by a man on the make.

This is not the sort of ‘truth’ that the victims of child sexual abuse in Ballarat at the hands of the priests and brothers who presided over churches, schools and residential children’s homes would be hoping for.

The truth about the things George Pell knew about the abusive brothers he lived and worked with would be high on their agenda. Thus far, they have been disappointed.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

TODAY co-host Karl Stefanovic has labelled the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse as “pathetic”, as Cardinal George Pell provides evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse from Rome.

Yesterday, Cardinal Pell told the commission he did not know about repeated complaints against the now-imprisoned pedophile Father Gerald Ridsdale because former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns did not tell him.

He has since today admitted “regret” over not informing a bishop after he heard “rumours” of child sex abuse in the church at the hands of notorious pedophile Edward Dolan.

“There were several other high ranking Catholics in the same area he was living in at the time, including the Bishop, who were all culpable collectively,” Stefanovic began, adding “they are all to blame”.

“There’s an argument that they were different times when families, police, churches – plural – and government were more inclined to cover up something too despicable to expose.

“There might have been some truth to that but it’s pathetic.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

Neil Mitchell says Cardinal George Pell is finished.

The 3AW Mornings host said the more the royal commission on sex abuse in the Catholic church went on, the angrier he got with how it had all been handled.

“George Pell should resign, quit, retire – I don’t care what you call it – just get out,” Neil Mitchell said on Wednesday.

“He should apologise sincerely, he should admit his failures and should meet personally with the survivors from Ballarat.

“And if Christ could wash the feet of his disciples, then George Pell should throw himself on the floor in front of these people and beg forgiveness – that would be the Christian thing to do.

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ROME
Reuters

ROME/SYDNEY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA AND JANE WARDELL

Australian victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic Church clergy on Tuesday called for a meeting with Pope Francis after watching a high-ranking Vatican official testify that senior clergy lied to him to cover up abuse in the 1970s.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s treasurer, has told the inquiry that the church made “enormous mistakes” and “catastrophic” choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on counselling of priests to solve the problem.

Given Pell’s high rank within the church, his testimony to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse over cases that occurred decades ago has taken on wider implications about the accountability of church leaders.

Pell’s failing memory to questions about what he knew of abuse by clergy and claims that he was deceived by superiors about individual cases in the 1970s has angered many of the 15 abuse victims and supporters who travelled to Rome to see him give evidence.

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ROME
The Guardian

Amanda Meade
Tuesday 1 March 2016

News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt, a staunch defender of Cardinal George Pell, has declared the Catholic cleric’s evidence at the royal commission on Tuesday “disastrous” and the case against him “very damning”.

In a dramatic reversal of his consistent defence of Pell, the Herald Sun commentator now says the Vatican’s finance chief was either lying or “dangerously indifferent” to the fact children were being raped.

On Tuesday afternoon Bolt stunned viewers when he told Sky News Australia that he had just witnessed Pell’s cross-examination in the hearing room in Rome and it was “terrible” and his image was forever damaged.

Under cross-examination by Gail Furness SC, counsel assisting the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Pell said he hadn’t asked about Gerald Ridsdale’s crimes: “It was a sad story and of not much interest to me. I had no reason to turn my mind to the evils Ridsdale had perpetrated.”

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ROME
The West Australian

Amanda Banks Legal Affairs Editor and AAP
March 2, 2016

Cardinal George Pell has described an “extraordinary world” of “crimes and cover ups” in which he was repeatedly deceived by fellow clergymen and the Catholic Education Office over the sex abuse of children.

Giving a third day of evidence to the royal commission into child abuse, Australia’s most prominent Catholic again rejected suggestions that his explanation for failing to take appropriate action in response to allegations was implausible.

He has also denied a suggestion by counsel assisting the inquiry, Gail Furness, that his evidence was designed to deflect blame away from himself.

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ROME
SBS

A group of child sex abuse survivors say they’ve given up on Cardinal George Pell after hearing his evidence to a royal commission and have appealed directly to the Pope to ensure children are protected.

The group, many of whom were abused as children by pedophile priests in the Catholic diocese of Ballarat in Victoria, has been in Rome to hear the cardinal give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission.

But on Wednesday they told journalists they had sent a letter seeking a meeting with Pope Francis and were no longer seeking a meeting with Cardinal Pell.

During a break in the hearing, in which the cardinal is giving evidence by videolink to the commission sitting in Sydney, abuse survivor Phil Nagle read out a letter his group had sent to the Pope.

The letter requested a meeting between the Pope and the Australian survivor group to discuss protecting children so the type of sex abuse children had suffered in the past was never repeated.

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UNITED STATES
Center for Constitutional Rights

The Oscar-winning film brought Church cover-ups of sexual violence to the big screen, now it’s time to put the spotlight on what Pope Francis must do to end the crisis.

February 29, 2016

At the end of Spotlight, a list of hundreds of cities in the U.S. and around the world in which major cases of clergy sexual violence have been uncovered fills up the screen. You can literally hear the audience gasping. What happened in Boston was far was from isolated, and although the film depicts events from 15 years ago, recent reports on continuing Vatican policies – like no mandatory reporting of clerical sexual violence to civil authorities for bishops and allowing convicted sexual abusers to continue to serve as priests – show that this story is far from over.

By some estimates, the number of victims of clergy sexual violence over the past three decades is in the hundreds of thousands and on the rise, as more survivors come forward and civil authorities begin investigations in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The Vatican’s own experts have said there are as many as 100,000 cases in the U.S. alone. All of these cases follow the same pattern of cover-up and protection of Church officials, a pattern that continues to this day.

Pope Francis has pledged “zero tolerance” for sexual violence in the Church and spoken about the need for accountability by bishops. So far, however, this rhetoric has not been matched by action. For instance, in 2014, recognizing the gravity of the situation, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee Against Torture issued a series of recommendations on what Pope Francis can and must do to end this epidemic of sexual violence, including:

(1) Immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution;

(2) Hand over files containing details of cases of sexual violence to civil authorities for investigation and prosecution of abusers as well as those who concealed their crimes and knowingly placed offenders in contact with children;

(3) Make reporting to civil authorities mandatory everywhere the Catholic Church operates;

(4) Develop comprehensive procedures for the early identification of child victims of sexual and other forms of abuse;

(5) Ensure accessible, confidential, child-friendly and effective reporting channels for children who are victims or witnesses of sexual abuse, and ensure child victims and witnesses of crimes are provided with unconditional psycho-social support for their rehabilitation and reintegration.

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UNITED STATES
The Investigative Fund

POSTED BY SARAH POSNER
MARCH 1, 2016

Nine additional plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit against disgraced evangelist Bill Gothard and the ministry he founded, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, charging that the organization’s board tolerated and covered up decades of sexual harassment and abuse.

In partnership with Talking Points Memo, the Investigative Fund published an investigation into the Chicago-area ministry last September, documenting decades of charges by women who said Gothard sexually harassed them, told them that rape was a woman’s fault if she dressed immodestly and failed to “cry out to God,” and subjected them to grueling and humiliating physical work at his training centers for little or no pay.

The investigation also detailed how the Duggar family, of 19 Kids and Counting fame, were longtime acolytes of Gothard, and used IBLP’s Advanced Training Institute to homeschool their children. The Learning Channel, which aired their reality television program, canceled the show last summer following the admission of the Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, that he sexually abused five girls, including four of his sisters, as a teenager.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Three women who claimed they were abused while staying at a children’s home in Belfast have settled High Court actions for £15,000 each.

Each of them separately sued the Sisters of Nazareth over their alleged treatment while in care decades ago.

But a judge was told that all three actions have now been resolved.

The plaintiffs are not being identified.

In court it was confirmed that payments are to be made to them, without any public admission of liability.

No further details of the cases were disclosed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Item

By John Finnerty CNHI Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — The attorney general wants to lift limits on when charges can be filed in cases of sex crimes committed against children, in light of revelations of abuse involving dozens of priests in western Pennsylvania over decades.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane called on lawmakers to abolish the statute of limitations while detailing allegations that two bishops in the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Altoona-Johnstown had concealed the abuse of children by 35 priests over four decades.

Kane said her office has no plans to charge anyone based on the findings by a special grand jury, in part because of statutes of limitations.

Some victims are unwilling to testify in court, and some accused priests are dead, she said.

Victims now have until the age 50 to report child sex abuse to prosecutors. Until age 30, victims may file civil lawsuits against their abusers and others who may be responsible for allowing the abuse to happen.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

Two Catholic bishops who led the Altoona-Johnstown diocese helped cover up the abuse of hundreds of children by dozens of priests and religious leaders over several decades, according to a grand jury report Tuesday.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Reuters

ROME/SYDNEY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA AND JANE WARDELL

Australian Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Vatican official to testify on systemic sexual abuse of children by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, on Tuesday said he never notified his superiors in the 1970s about rumors of abuse.

The Vatican’s treasurer told Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse that he had heard reports of sexual abuse by at least one priest who was moved to another parish, but assumed senior clergy were dealing with the problem.

“I would concede I should have done more,” Pell told the inquiry in Sydney as he gave evidence for a third day via videolink from a Rome hotel.

Given Pell’s high rank within the church, his testimony to the Australian inquiry into sexual abuse cases that occurred decades ago has taken on wider implications about the accountability of church leaders.

At one point during a testy exchange early in his evidence, Pell was asked about abuse by one priest who was later convicted of 138 offences against more than 50 children in Australia.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST 2016

ALTOONA, Pa. – A 147-page grand jury report shows the in-depth nature of the investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse at the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

With the reported abuse came reported payments to victims directly from a Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown bishop, according to the grand jury report.

“Behind closed doors, Bishop [Joseph] Adamec took steps that showed the widespread nature of the problem,” attorney general Kathleen Kane.

According to Kane, Bishop Adamec allegedly created a pay-out chart. The report describes this as “a guide used to direct the judgments of the diocese in the payment of claims in the purchase of silence”.

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ROME
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell says his predecessor as Melbourne archbishop did not act on child abuse when he should have.

Cardinal Pell said he was strongly critical of and deeply disturbed by what came out about the handling of complaints by Frank Little, who was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1974 to 1996.

‘Archbishop Little on some occasions did not act when he should have and certainly did not make appropriate information available to the personnel advisory board on some occasions,’ Cardinal Pell told the commission from Rome.

Cardinal George Pell agreed with Bishop Connors’ assessment that Bishop Little had a ‘blind spot’ when it came to handling complaints about sexual abuse by priests.

The bishop did not reveal there was a long list of complaints about one priest, when Cardinal Pell had sought advice when he was auxiliary bishop in the Melbourne archdiocese in the 1980s.

‘I have to say that I am strongly critical of it,’ he said of Archbishop Little’s handling of complaints about Sunbury parish priest Father Peter Searson.

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ROME
9 News

AAP

A group of child sex abuse survivors say they’ve given up on Cardinal George Pell after hearing his evidence to a royal commission and have appealed directly to the Pope to ensure children are protected.

The group, many of whom were abused as children by pedophile priests in the Catholic diocese of Ballarat in Victoria, has been in Rome to hear the cardinal give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission.

But on Tuesday night they told journalists they had sent a letter seeking a meeting with Pope Francis and were no longer seeking a meeting with Cardinal Pell.

He is being questioned over what he knew of pedophile priests in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses when he held senior church posts there in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

March 2, 2016

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Cardinal George Pell regrets not doing more to protect young boys from a paedophile Christian Brother working at a Catholic school in Ballarat in the 1970s, a royal commission has heard.

In the third day of his testimony, Cardinal Pell admitted he had heard about “problems” at St Patrick’s College from one or two students.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard the “problems” related to Brother Edward Dowlan​, who was later convicted of multiple sexual offences against boys between 1971 and 1986.

Cardinal Pell told the commission he spoke to the school chaplain about Dowlan but took no further action.

“In the light of my present understandings, I concede I should have done more . . . just ensured the matter was properly treated,” he said.

When asked by counsel assisting the royal commission Gail Furness SC, why didn’t make further investigations he replied: “One, I didn’t think of it and when I was told that (the Christian Brothers) were dealing with it, at that time I was quite content.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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

The Altoona abuse and cover up investigation is on-going. It’s key to remember that. Just because there are no criminal charges now doesn’t mean there won’t be any later.

We believe it’s the moral and civic duty of every Altoona area Catholic to actively seek out others who saw or suspected or suffered crimes by these 50 predator priests. We believe Altoona area church staff have the same duty. But we know that virtually none of them will take action, because they’re too timid, whether they’re a bookkeeper or a bishop. And since they won’t, it’s crucial that rank-and-file church members do this outreach.

We beg Catholics and citizens to read carefully the parts of the report that deal with how Catholic officials deal with abuse reports now. It’s worth reading this piece from PennLive.com:

The bishop controlled the Allegation Review Board.

Bishop Adamec created the Allegation Review Board to allegedly determine the credibility of an allegation of abuse.

However, the purpose of creating the board, the grand jury said, was to convince people that the days of a mysterious bishop deciding how to handle a scandalous and heinous report of child molestation were over.

“In reality, the bishop still exclusively makes the decision how or what to do with a report of child molestation,” the grand jury said. “Nothing has changed but the trappings of how a report is procedurally made.”

The grand jury said victims who believed they were reporting to a board of unbiased and neutral observers “would be sadly mistaken.”

Diocese ‘victim advocate’ looked out for the church, not the victims.

The grand jury concluded, upon interviews with victims and reviews of documents, that the diocese “victim advocate” is an advocate for the diocese against the interest of the victims. The victim advocate was identified as Sister Marilyn Welch.

“Where the advocate can shuffle a victim into the Allegation Review Board without the involvement of legal representation for a victim, she does so,” the grand jury reported.

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

CONNECTICUT
WTNH

By Macy Corica, WTNH.com Staff

SEYMOUR, Conn. (WTNH) — A Roman Catholic Priest has been arrested for allegedly embezzling money from his church.

On Monday, 50-year-old Father Honore Kombo of Weston turned himself in to Seymour police after learning of a warrant for his arrest. Kombo was a Pastor at the St. Augustine Church, located at 135 Washington Avenue in Seymour.

In April of 2015, police began investigating Kombo after representatives from the Hartford Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation told them of concerns that Kombo had stolen money left to the church by a deceased parishioner. Police say that parishioner had left the money through a series of monetary annuities. It was believed that four annuities had been left for St. Augustine parish, but detectives found that a fifth annuity had been left, but was never reported to church officials by Kombo.

Police say that Kombo had filed the necessary paperwork requesting the proceeds for the fifth annuity and that on May 6, 2013, Kombo received a check made payable to the St. Augustine Church for the large sum of money. According to police, Kombo then opened a bank account at a local bank, deposited the annuity proceeds into the account, then withdrew a large sum of it and deposited it into his personal bank account.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

SEYMOUR – A 50-year-old local Catholic priest is facing charges after police say he embezzled more than $20,000 from St. Augustine Church.

Police charged Honore Kombo, the former pastor of St. Augustine Church on Washington Avenue, with first-degree larceny after they say they were alerted to funds missing from the parish in April of 2015.

The investigation revealed that Kombo deposited an annuity left to the church by a deceased parishioner into a church account but then wrote a check to himself for a “large sum of money” and deposited it into a personal account in his name.

Police said that Kombo also opened a line of credit in October of 2013 under the church’s name and would deposit funds from the line of credit into his personal account.

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ROME
9 News

AAP

A gun-toting Melbourne priest’s behaviour in making children kneel between his legs during confession is “abhorrent”, Cardinal George Pell says.

The church failed to remove Doveton parish priest Peter Searson, whom Cardinal Pell described as a disconcerting man and a difficult customer, despite years of complaints.

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

CALIFORNIA
Fox 5

[with video]

BY MISHA DIBONO

SAN DIEGO – “Spotlight” won Hollywood’s highest honor – taking home the Oscar for Best Picture Sunday night. One of the most important players portrayed in the movie lives in San Diego.

The movie tells the true story of how Boston Globe investigative reporters exposed the sex abuse scandal involving priests and children within the Catholic Church.

“You’re fighting Goliath and all you have in your sling is words and truth and you sling it… but the Roman is Goliath – bigger – and is not going to go down easily,” Richard Sipe told FOX 5 Monday.

Sipe, a former Catholic priest who lives in La Jolla resident, has been collecting data on pedophile priests since the 60s.

“In the movie they use my words quoting me directly,” he said.

We only heard his character’s voice in the film by phone as he provides key statistical information to the team investigative reporters in 2001, as they expose the sex abuse scandal in Boston archdioceses. Sipes says there are thousands of these stories.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 1, 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)

New Jersey predator priest has passed away. We hope his death of brings some comfort to the courageous victims who came forward and reported his horrific crimes.

[NJ.com]

He is Fr. John M. Banko. His brave victims overcame their own pain to work with police and prosecutors to have him arrested and convicted. Because of their courage and their wisdom to work with secular authorities rather than church officials other children were spared abuse.

We hope Metuchen Catholic officials will announce his death in the diocesan newspaper, on the diocesan website and in all church bulletins, noting his crimes and conviction. We fear other Fr. Banko victims are still suffering in secrecy and shame and will find some small comfort knowing he cannot hurt anyone else.

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ROME
9 News

By Nick Alexander

George Pell has continued to flounder early on the third day of his testimony before a Royal Commission, following a potentially disastrous performance yesterday, which threatens to turn the cardinal into an international pariah.

A particularly damning headline on one Italian daily screamed “see no evil, hear no evil, stop no evil”, with reports locals are harbouring growing levels of resentment that Cardinal Pell has brought the shame and degradation of endemic clergy abuse in Australia to Rome.

In addition to hostility from the local press, Cardinal Pell was confronted yesterday by survivors of abuse who travelled to Rome to watch Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic face a relentless grilling by the Commission.

Today the Commission’s focus shifts to Cardinal Pell’s time as an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, an appointment then-Archbishop Sir Frank Little was less than happy with.

Taking up the position in 1987, a year before the church would draft a secret set of protocols for dealing with abuse allegations, Cardinal Pell had responsibility for the “southern region”, where similar claims about his alleged blind-eye to sexual abuse by priests have long fermented.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Atlantic

ADAM CHANDLER

On Tuesday, two days after a film about a massive Catholic sex-abuse scandal in Boston won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Pennsylvania’s attorney general released a grand jury report chronicling “staggering and sobering” accounts of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnston.

The report alleges that, dating back to the 1970s, “hundreds of children have fallen victim to child predators” in abuse cases that involved over 50 priests and religious leaders in the area:

As wolves disguised as the shepherds themselves—these men stole the innocence of children by sexually preying upon the most innocent and the most vulnerable of our society and of the Catholic faith.

But there at the heart of the report isn’t just the criminal behavior, but criminal callousness in the desire of high-level officials to “avoid public scandal” by keeping abuse quiet and even allowing known predators to remain in commission as members of the clergy.

The information uncovered by the report had previously been kept in files to which only top diocese leaders had access. The documents show that several priests were reprimanded, reassigned, or otherwise briefly sent off to treatment programs or vacations, only to return to serving their original communities or new ones. Others retired and a few were eventually kept from the ministry.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sys-Con

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., March 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — An attorney who represented many of the Penn State child sexual abuse victims says the new Pennsylvania grand jury report on widespread sexual abuse of children in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic diocese reveals the all-too-common pattern of a powerful institution enabling and empowering child predators at the root of the Penn State-Sandusky and other sex abuse scandals.

Andrew Shubin, a State College child sexual abuse attorney who represented multiple Sandusky Penn State sexual abuse victims, and whose work was recently featured in Happy Valley, a documentary detailing the Penn State abuse scandal, announced that his firm is investigating sexual abuse allegations against priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic diocese. Shubin said he will be working to ensure that predator priests and the indifferent church hierarchy that provided them with access to a stream of children, are held accountable in court for the catastrophic harm they inflicted.

“When the highest and most powerful officials in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese gave pedophile priests access to an unending stream of children, and the time, space and cover to groom and abuse them, they betrayed children, families and a community,” Shubin said. “We give schools, churches and coaches our children and trust and they give pedophiles the ammunition essential to abuse – indifference. How many children could have been saved had diocesan leaders cared more about kids than the church’s reputation?”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

ALTOONA — Victims interviewed during the investigation into allegations of child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown told investigators their abuse – which in some cases happened decades ago – continues to affect their lives today.

“They said they lost their faith,” said Daniel J. Dye, state Deputy Attorney General. “That is a profound thing to think about. A lot were from very devout Catholic homes and having a priest take interest in them was a status symbol.”

In some cases, Dye said, parents encouraged their children to spend time with the predator priest, not knowing that the priest was molesting their child.

“They found themselves offended on not only by the person they trusted most but the physical representative of God on Earth,” Dye said. “The way they described it to us is the violation was total. They were violated in spirit, mind and body.”

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Mother Jones

By Grace Wilson | Tue Mar. 1, 2016

After an exhaustive, two-year investigation, a statewide grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused by priests and other religious leaders serving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in western Pennsylvania over at least 40 years.

The grand jury issued a 147-page report, made public today, that details widespread alleged abuse involving at least 50 priests and religious leaders, and the findings include accounts of how Diocese superiors took action to conceal the accusations in order to protect the Church’s image.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane, who spoke at a news conference today in Altoona, a small city located two hours east of Pittsburgh. “These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.”

In April 2014, the Office of the Attorney General brought the matter to the State Investigating Grand Jury. None of the alleged criminal acts detailed in the report can be prosecuted at this point because many of the alleged abusers have died, the statute of limitations for these crimes has passed, and many of the victims are too “deeply traumatized” to testify in court, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

The news comes comes two days after the movie Spotlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film is about the Boston Globe’s 2001 investigation of the Catholic Church’s long history of sexual abuse, particularly in Boston parishes.

The investigation in Pennsylvania is ongoing, Kane said.

“We will continue to look at this matter and consider charges where appropriate, which is why it is so important for those with information to come forward,” she said. “At the very least we must continue to shine a light on this long period of abuse and despicable conduct.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Steve Marroni | smarroni@pennlive.com

When state Attorney General Kathleen Kane released a grand jury report Tuesday, detailing four decades of sexual abuse among clergy and church leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, the founder of the Pennsylvania-based Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse wondered why it was even news.

“This is what the Catholic church has been doing for decades,” said John Salveson, who has been an activist fighting child abuse since 1980. “I would say it’s unbelievable, but I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

Salveson said the news caused an outcry with every report and every case that made headlines over the years, from clergy abuse cases coming to light to the Jerry Sandusky case.

And every time, talk of the statute of limitations for civil cases and criminal prosecution came up with little or no change, he said.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take for Pennsylvania’s legislators to do something about this,” Salveson said. “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

But as of now, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference backs a task force recommendation made in 2012 that no changes should be made to the state’s current statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases, which their report says is adequate.

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ROME
7 News

Cardinal George Pell concedes he should have done more when he was told of rumours about a Christian Brother’s activity with children in the 1970s.

Cardinal Pell has said he heard vague and unspecific rumours about Brother Edward Dowlan from about two students and two priests, but was told by the school chaplain at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College that the Christian Brothers were dealing with it.

“I regret that I didn’t do more at that stage,” he told the child abuse royal commission.

Cardinal Pell said he did not take any further action to determine what the Christian Brothers did about Dowlan after speaking to the chaplain.

“No I didn’t, but I soon became aware that Dowlan was shifted,” he told the inquiry from Rome on the third day of his evidence.

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ROME
SBS

AAP

Cardinal George Pell has resumed giving his testimony to the child sex abuse commission sitting.

Watch the proceedings live by clicking here.

He arrived at the Hotel Quirinale in Rome earlier on Wednesday as plain-clothes state police officers kept journalists back.

Cardinal Pell is being questioned about what he knew of pedophile priests operating in Ballarat and Melbourne when he served there in the 1970s and 1980s.

On Tuesday, he told the commission he did not know about repeated complaints against the now-imprisoned pedophile Father Gerald Ridsdale because former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns did not tell him.

The former senior Australian Catholic, now the third-most powerful man in the Vatican, shocked abuse survivors who are in Rome to watch him give evidence via video link, when he said on Tuesday Ridsdale’s offences were “a sad story” but had not been of much interest to him when they were happening in the 1970s in regional Victoria.

“I had no reason to turn my mind to the evils that Ridsdale had perpetrated,” the cardinal said from Hotel Quirinale, where he is giving his evidence.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg released the following statement Tuesday after the release of a grand jury report that alleged two former Catholic bishops in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese covered up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children.

The grand jury’s report lists parishes in which the accused priests served. No York County parishes are listed.

The diocese’s statement:

“We are deeply saddened and shocked by what the Attorney General has released today. We ask for prayers for all of the victims.

The sexual abuse of minors is an appalling sin and a crime. That is why the Diocese of Harrisburg has made strong and aggressive steps to combat it.

The Diocese of Harrisburg maintains a zero tolerance policy regarding sexual abuse. Any priest or deacon, employee or volunteer, who has committed even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor, whenever it occurred, is permanently removed from ministry.

The Diocese of Harrisburg is ever vigilant to make sure that children are protected. That is why when a report of possible abuse surfaces in the Diocese of Harrisburg we promptly relay it to public authorities fully and transparently.

Our efforts to protect youth go beyond what is required by the State of Pennsylvania. Additionally we have passed yearly audits by an independent firm to be sure that we are complying with standards set forth by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Since 2004 over 31,000 employees and volunteers in the Diocese of Harrisburg have taken and passed an online course that instructs them in how to recognize child abuse and how to report it to the proper public authorities. Each of those individuals has also been screened with multiple background checks.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

BY IVEY DEJESUS & CHRISTIAN ALEXANDERSEN

ALTOONA – The abuse was rampant, horrific, complicit and concealed, and even at times dismissed by law enforcement officials.

Those are some of the highlights that emerged from a grand jury report that found more than 50 priests and religious leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown sexually molested hundreds of children over the course of four decades.

The findings of the two-year investigation, announced Tuesday in Blair County by Attorney General Kathleen Kane, provide a graphic account of the abuse of hundreds of boys and girls – the youngest of them 8 years old – dating to the 1950s.

Some of the most damning (and graphic) evidence included in the grand jury report:

The abuse was rampant.

More than 50 priests and religious leaders, including monsignors, were named and implicated among the reams of evidence culled from victim testimony and documents seized from the diocese.

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ROME
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Tuesday 1 March 2016

Child sexual abuse survivors in Rome to watch Pell’s evidence have called for a global campaign of tying ribbons to fences and letterboxes to show support for abuse victims.

The campaign, called Loud Fence, began in Ballarat, with survivors and their supporters tying thousands of colourful ribbons tied to the fences surrounding Catholic schools and churches in the town.

Following the last round of gruelling hearings in December, the ribbons began cropping up on fences and people have not stopped adding to them since in a show of support for the survivors.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reuters

HARRISBURG, PA. | BY DAVID DEKOK

Hundreds of children in western Pennsylvania were sexually assaulted by about 50 Roman Catholic priests over four decades while bishops covered up their actions, according to a state grand jury report released on Tuesday.

The report found that former Altoona-Johnstown Diocese Bishop James Hogan, who died in 2005, and his successor, Joseph Adamec, who retired in 2011, worked to cover pedophile priests’ tracks and that some local law enforcement agencies also avoided investigating abuse allegations, said state Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” Kane told reporters in unveiling the report, based on a two-year investigation. “These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.”

Revelations that some priests had habitually sexually abused children and that bishops had systematically covered up those crimes burst onto the world stage in 2002 when the Boston Globe reported widespread abuse in the Boston Archdiocese.

That report, which won a Pulitzer Prize and was the subject of last year’s Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight,” set off a global wave of investigations that found similar patterns at dioceses around the world. They led to hefty lawsuits and seriously undermined the church’s moral authority.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Tuesday, March 1, 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)

Another grand jury has found that Catholic officials respond deceitfully to child sex abuse reports. We’re saddened but not the least bit surprised. It proves what we’ve long maintained: that even now, under the guise of “reform,” bishops continue to deceive parishioners and the public about their on-going efforts to hide abuse.

[Post-Gazette]

[Attorney General]

We hope this investigation will prod similar ones across the US.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FINDING IN THIS REPORT: The diocesan review board “is a fact-finding (tool) for litigation, not as a victim service function” (p. 124).

“Nothing has changed but the trappings. . .” and “Victims who believe they’re reporting to an unbiased observers (on a church panel) would be sadly mistaken.”

In other words, a purported “reform” move by bishops – an internal “lay review board” – is actually a self-serving move. Ostensibly set up to help wounded victims, it actually helps church officials.

Catholics, citizens, police and prosecutors should be outraged over this.

Other grand juries, notably on Long Island and Philadelphia, have reached similar conclusions.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that the grand jury found that “as recently as 2005, the Altoona-Johnstown diocese was hiring private investigators to look for ways to undercut the credibility of an alleged abuser.”

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RECOMMENDATION IN THIS REPORT:

It recommends opening a civil window and abolishing the criminal statute of limitations, so that more victims of child sex crimes can expose and punish those who committed and concealed them and so that more crimes and cover ups can be stopped and deterred in the present and future.

This is a “no-brainer.” Pennsylvania lawmakers should stop being cowed or fooled by slick Catholic lobbyists. For the safety of children, legislators should pass these long-overdue, common sense reforms now.

Other noteworthy facts and findings:

— “the men of God were devils in disguise”

— “Offending priests knew they faced no risk of exposure because Bishop James Hogan and Bishop Joseph Adamec were cover ups” such crimes.

–Bishop Joseph Adamec pled the Fifth when questioned by the grand jury.

— More than 50 child molesting clerics operated in a relatively small diocese in which abuse “was rampant for decades.” (p. 130),

— They were “assisted by priests and bishops who covered up abuse rather than report it.”

— The diocese “sought to protect the image of the institution rather than the children.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 1

Statement by Ann Webb, former co-director of Boston SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (annhaganwebb@gmail.com)

It’s so tiresome watching Cardinal Sean O’Malley posture about clergy sex crime and cover ups

. The latest example: his comments today about Spotlight. By shrewdly using words like “historical” and “forgiveness,” he perpetuates the comforting but irresponsible myth that most of this is “in the past,” when he knows that’s just not true.

[Boston Pilot]

[ABC News]

Months ago, we urged O’Malley to tell all Catholic employees to go see “Spotlight.” As best we can tell, he ignored us. He’d obviously rather posture for the public in meaningless ways rather than advise his parishioners in helpful ways.

No one ever asks “Do teachers still molest kids?” Or day care workers. Or Scout leaders. We know child molesters always have and always will seek out those jobs. It’s the same with priests.

O’Malley knows that last month, Vatican officials lifted the suspension of a priest who pled guilty to molesting a girl last year. (Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul)

O’Malley knows that in January, two US bishops who’d resigned for hiding child sex crimes were quietly put back on the job in different states. (Bishop Robert Finn and Archbishop John Nienstedt)

O’Malley knows that seven year old girls and 12 year old boys don’t ride their bikes downtown to the prosecutors’ office to report current child sex crimes. There always has been and always will be decades of delay between when child sex crimes happen and when they’re reported. So years from now, we’ll hear from the kids being assaulted today by priests. It’s silly to assume otherwise.

O’Malley knows that last month, a high-ranking Catholic official told bishops in Rome they need not report child sex crimes to police.

O’Malley knows that no bishop on earth has been defrocked, demoted or disciplined for enabling child sex crimes.

Yet instead of aggressively prodding his colleagues to reform, and denouncing those who won’t, he insists on repeating platitudes that comfort adults (“Protecting children must be a priority in the Church”) instead of taking action that protects kids.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Craig Turpin | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

John Banko, a former Hunterdon County and Somerset County priest serving 41 years for sexually assaulting two altar boys, died Monday at the New Jersey Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge.

Matt Schuman, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, confirmed to mycentraljersey.com that Banko, 69, was pronounced dead at 9:29 a.m. Monday.

Banko is a former Catholic priest who was convicted in 2008 of sexually assaulting a young boy at St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Milford. He was previously convicted of assaulting another boy at the same church, and was also accused of assaulting boys at other churches dating back to the 1970s, it was previously reported by NJ Advance Media. Banko maintained his innocence throughout the trial and an appeal.

The victim testified when he was between the ages of 9 and 10 he was assaulted several times in the church bathroom and threatened by Banko to tell no one. The boy reported the abuse to his mother in 2005 after suffering depression for years.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
IOL (South Africa)

By: AFP

Sydney – Evidence is emerging that Australian Cardinal George Pell covered up the sexual abuse of children by priests on his watch, survivors told AFP on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a hearing into the top Vatican official’s culpability.

“We’re starting to see solid evidence that he did cover it up, even though he’ll still deny it,” said Anthony Foster, father to two girls who were abused, one of whom went on to commit suicide while the other ended up in full-time care.

Vatican finance chief Pell has been giving evidence from a hotel in Rome via video-link to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney, under the watchful gaze of abuse victims.

“We hear stories from victims, and what has happened as the Royal Commission has progressed, those stories have been confirmed with solid evidence,” said Foster, who travelled to Rome with his wife for the four-day hearings.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

March 1, 2016

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ALTOONA, Pa. ­ Hundreds of children were molested, raped and destined to lasting psychological trauma by at least 50 priests and others associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown across half a century, a state grand jury has found in denouncing coverups orchestrated by two bishops and enabled by the law enforcement officials they controlled.

The conspiracy amounted to “soul murder,” said the report by the 37th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released today nearly two years after the grand jury was impaneled.

At a press conference here this morning, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said that horrendous acts of abuse were committed by priests, and called it a ”day of reckoning.”

The report said no one could be charged for the crimes it detailed, either because they happened too long ago under the statute of limitations for such prosecutions, a time limit that the report recommends be extended, or because of witness trauma.

“These findings are both staggering and sobering,” said the report. “Over many years hundreds of children have fallen victim to child predators wrapped in the authority and integrity of an honorable faith. As wolves disguised as the shepherds themselves ­ these men stole the innocence of children by sexually preying upon the most innocent and vulnerable…. ”

The two previous bishops leading the diocese ­ James Hogan, who served from 1966 to 1986 and died in 2005, and Joseph Adamec, who served from 1987 to 2011 and is now retired ­ “took actions that further endangered children as they placed their desire to avoid public scandal over the wellbeing of innocent children,” the report said. “Priests were returned to ministry with full knowledge they were child predators.”

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown issued a statement responding to the report, noting that it had “cooperated fully with authorities throughout the investigation, and will continue to do so as part of our commitment to the safety of all children.”

“This is a painful and difficult time in our Diocesan Church,” said the Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, Bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. “I deeply regret any harm that has come to children, and I urge the faithful to join me in praying for all victims of abuse.”

The report includes extensive testimony from a key aide to Bishop Hogan, Monsignor Philip Saylor, who said a Blair County president judge, sheriff and other law-enforcement officers deferred to the diocese to let it handle investigations of abusive priests, rather than prosecuting them. And Monsignor Saylor said a mayor of Johnstown sent candidates for police and fire chief to him for interviews, and he would tell the mayor whom to pick. “That happened in Johnstown and Altoona,” he said.

The grand jury report quoted former Altoona Police Chief Peter Starr as crediting his own appointment to such arrangements and saying that the “politicians of Blair County were afraid of Monsignor Saylor” given his role as editor of the diocesan newspaper.

With such influence, “Hogan saw no obligation of faith or law to the children of his parishioners,” the grand jury report said.

The report added that even a diocesan review board, impaneled amid growing public outrage over sexual abuse by priests, often turned into a travesty, with investigations focusing not on the accused but on those reporting abuse by priests. In one case, the review board sought gynecological records of a survivor, the report said.

And in another case, a top diocesan official suggested to an abuse victim, himself now a priest, that he could be excommunicated for suing the church ­ before the official admitted he was reading from an expired canon in church law and that this couldn’t happen. But, the priest said, he felt he was being threatened with hell to intimidate him.

The report excoriated Bishop Adamec for the diocese’s 1992 statement regarding the dismissal of a lawsuit involving the Rev. Francis Luddy, whom the diocese knew molested, sodomized and performed oral sex on at least 10 children.

The diocese called the lawsuit “frivolous” even while Adamec knew “with certainty that Francis Luddy had admitted to molesting the very children for whom the bishop bore the most responsibility.”

The report added: “The grand jury notes that the chilling impact of such a victory lap on the victims of child abuse throughout the diocese is incalculable.”

The grand jury investigation began with a referral by the Cambria County district attorney’s office to the state Office of the Attorney General regarding alleged abuse at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown.

The grand jury probe expanded into a sweeping look at abuse dating as far back as the 1940s. A dramatic highlight of the investigation came in August 2015 when investigators executed a search warrant at diocesan offices in Altoona and seized 115,000 documents, many from filing cabinets and safes where the most sensitive church documents were kept.

Reports of many of the alleged abusers have appeared in various media over the past two decades, with the grand jury singling out extensive investigations by Johnstown’s Tribune-Democrat in 2002 and 2003.

Ms. Kane also cited “heroic” whistleblower George Foster, a layman who exposed Altoona-Johnstown priest abuse, during the press conference.

That was in the wake of Boston Globe investigations, recently dramatized in the Oscar-winning movie “Spotlight,” into the shocking levels of abuse and coverup in the Archdiocese of Boston. That investigation led to revelations of similar coverups worldwide and to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas mandating on June 14, 2002 the removal of any priest from ministry who committed even a single act of abuse.

Yet the ink was barely dry on that new policy when Bishop Adamec met with the victim of a Rev. Martin Cingle, who had groped the genitals of the then-15-year-old boy while sleeping next to the boy on a trip he had taken him on. Bishop Adamec then met with Father Cingle, who denied remembering such an event, then sent the priest for what the grand jury said was a travesty of a psychological review. With the review inconclusive, Adamec returned the priest to ministry, where he remained until Cingle admitted to the grand jury under threat of a perjury charge that he had molested the boy.

After that, Deputy Attorney General Daniel Dye wrote to current Bishop Bartchak, who agreed to his request to remove Father Cingle immediately from ministry.

And although the Dallas scandal mandated the creation of review boards, the grand jury report noted that as late as 2005, the Altoona-Johnstown diocese was hiring private investigators to look for ways to undercut the credibility of an alleged accuser.

Ms. Kane called for the abolition of statute of limitations on child sexual abuse for criminal and civil cases, one of the recommendations from the grand jury.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Steve Marroni | smarroni@pennlive.com

It’s difficult for a victim to come forward.

And while it might be the toughest thing in the world for someone to do, reporting the sexual abuse of clergy to the authorities can help prevent other young people from being victimized.

That’s part of the message state Attorney General Kathleen Kane relayed from a grand jury investigation into hundreds of cases of children being sexually abused and raped by more than 50 Roman Catholic priests and religious leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown over 40 years.

And that’s also what an attorney who represented a Jerry Sandusky victim, as well as other children in other clergy sexual abuse cases, had to say following Kane’s announcement on Tuesday in Blair County.

“The advice I would have is to come forward to help prevent this despicable behavior from victimizing other people who are younger or more vulnerable,” said attorney Michael Boni.

And David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is hoping this will encourage anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward, as well.

But from working with many victims over the years, both know this is no easy task.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Steve Marroni | smarroni@pennlive.com

As the state attorney general released a grand-jury report detailing four decades of sexual abuse at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, local church officials say they are “sad and shocked” and are asking for prayers for all of the victims.

“The sexual abuse of minors is an appalling sin and a crime,” Diocese of Harrisburg spokesman Joseph Aponick said Tuesday. “That is why the Diocese of Harrisburg has made strong and aggressive steps to combat it.”

And at the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, church officials are saying they cooperated fully with the investigation and will continue to do their part to protect children.

Hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of 40 years by priests or church leaders in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, a grand jury investigation has concluded.

“This is a painful and difficult time in our Diocesan Church,” Bishop Mark L. Bartchak said in a statement released Tuesday. “I deeply regret any harm that has come to children, and I urge the faithful to join me in praying for the victims of abuse.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane on Tuesday released a grand jury report containing information about many cases of children being sexually abused and raped by more than 50 Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown priests and religious leaders over 40 years.

The report calls for reforms, such as abolishing the statute of limitations for sexual offenses against minors and urging the state General Assembly to suspend the civil statute of limitations on sexual-abuse claims.

In the press release issued by the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, spokesman Tony DeGol said the diocese’s youth protection policy calls for mandatory reporting for all abuse allegations to civil authorities. It also requires criminal background checks and education for clergy, employees and volunteers who work with children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Christian Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com

ALTOONA — If you have information about sexual abuse by a priest or religious leader in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office wants to hear from you.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced Tuesday that a new hotline has been created for victims of the sexual abuse and rapes committed by leaders in the diocese. The hotline comes amid the release of a grand jury report documenting the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by diocese priests and religious leaders over 40 years.

Kane said the hotline — 888-538-8541 — will be staffed by attorney general agents or attorneys fluent in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese abuse case.

“We will be able to answer phones until about 9 p.m.,” Kane said. “We know people have jobs, we know that they have families now and we’re trying to accommodate [them at that time] for that reason.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

WRITTEN BY IVEY DEJESUS AND CHRISTIAN ALEXANDERSEN

ALTOONA – The abuse was rampant, horrific, complicit and concealed, and even at times dismissed by law enforcement officials.

Those are some of the highlights that emerged from a grand jury report that found more than 50 priests and religious leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown sexually molested hundreds of children over the course of four decades.

The findings of the two-year investigation, announced Tuesday in Blair County by Attorney General Kathleen Kane, provide a graphic account of the abuse of hundreds of boys and girls – the youngest of them eight years old – dating back to the 1950s.

Below are some of the most damning (and graphic) evidence included in the grand jury report:

The abuse was rampant.

More than 50 priests and religious leaders, including monsignors, were named and implicated among the reams of evidence culled from victim testimony and documents seized from the diocese.

Investigators found that priests molested children in church sacristies, rectories, basements and confessionals; schools, including St. Patrick’s in Newry, orphanages, including St. Mary’s in Cresson; boy’s locker rooms, retreat cabins, hospitals, including the Altoona Hospital; St. Francis Seminary; the children’s homes, cars.

One priest, William Rosensteel, would take the boys on trips to Canada and Pittsburgh. The priest would pick one boy to sleep in his bed and engage in “passionate deep throat tongue kisses” and fondle their genitals, according to the grand jury report.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane

SECTION VII
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

The Grand Jury finds the acts of the predator priests and their enabling Bishops detailed in this rep01i to be criminal. However, they cannot be prosecuted at this time.

The statute of limitations for many of the loathsome and criminal actions detailed in this report has expired. In some limited cases the unnamed victim or victims are too deeply traumatized to testify in a court of law.

There is no applicable legal provision which would apply to religious ministers or church officials to permit the extension of the statute of limitations. Many of the accused are dead; answerable now only to a higher authority.

Pennsylvania law has changed since many of these offenses occurred. Some penalties have increased, some charging periods extended. The Grand Jilly finds additional legislative action is required.

Abolish the statute of limitation for sexual offenses against minors.

The Grand Jury recognizes this recommendation is not new. Victin1 advocates and previous grand juries have recommended such action. However this Grand Jury again recognizes a terrible fact. Child predators will offend on children, consume their innocence and escape justice until there can be no temporal escape from their crimes.

This repo1i detailed an account of a 70-year-old victim who came forward to report the devastating trauma of their youth. The victims of child sexual abuse never escape their victimization; it is inequitable and unjust to allow their victimizers to escape accountability.

Open a window to allow child sexual abuse victims to have their civil actions heard.

The ·Grand Jury recommends that the Pennsylvania legislature suspend the civil statute of limitations on sexual abuse claims for a designated and fmite period of years.

This relief would allow adults who were victims of child sexual abuse to have their cases heard in a court oflaw. The statute oflimitations in effect leaves insufficient time to seek relief for crimes that are inherently undeneported or are delayed in reportin.

The Grand Jury took testimony and reviewed evidence which showed many of the child sexual abuse victims who sought relief from the Allegation Review Board alleged conduct which was beyond the civil statute oflimitations. The lives of child abuse victims are pe1manently altered by their assaults; they deserve to. be made whole.

Organizations which have a history of secrecy in regards to child abuse allegations will consider meaningful refo1m when their failures have financial cost.

Victims deserve the opportunity to seek a full and fair settlement, not as one Church official stated, “settle for what they can get.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Well. This is amazing news to have awakened to this morning. Even as His Eminence Cardinal George Pell was saying the following in Rome after his security guards had strongarmed Australian journalists,*

I can’t remember
I’m struggling to remember
I can’t clearly recall
I have no clear recollection of my knowing
It’s difficult to answer that absolutely
My memory is not infallible,

“Spotlight” was winning the coveted top-picture Oscar, and its producer Michael Sugar was telling the world,

This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican. Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.

Talk about prophetic juxtaposition! As if the Cardinal Pells of the church are precisely what Pope Francis needs to restore the faith from — as if they have so brutally and sinfully betrayed the faith that it can be restored only by removing such men from the center of the church, and building it anew on a sounder basis, one that, can we possibly dream it?, might include women at the center, and which would actively welcome survivors and what they have to tell us about their experience of the church.

Poor Cardinal Pell can’t remember. And yet remembering is front and center in the Christian tradition, since Jesus enjoined his followers to break bread and share cups of wine in memory of him. He enjoined his disciples quite precisely to pass memory on as a living and not a dead thing — not to forget; always to remember; to find him and the entire significance of his life in bread that’s broken and wine that’s poured out.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

ALTOONA, Pa. (WHTM) – A grand jury says priests assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown sexually abused hundreds of children for at least 40 years.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced the grand jury’s findings on Tuesday. She said the widespread abuse involved at least 50 priests and other religious leaders.

The grand jury’s 147-page report further alleges that two bishops concealed the abuse to protect the church’s image, allowing the crimes to continue for decades.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” Kane said at a news conference. “These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

ALTOONA, Pa. (CNS) — Hundreds of children were sexually abused over at least 40 years by priests and other religious leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, a statewide grand jury found.

At least 50 priests or religious leaders were involved in the abuse and diocesan leaders systematically concealed the abuse to protect the church’s image, according to a grand jury report released March 1 by Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.

The report identifies priests and other leaders by name and details incidents going back to the 1970s. Kane said that much of the evidence revealed in the report came from secret archives maintained by the diocese that was only available to the bishops who led the diocese over the decades.

Victims also testified to the grand jury, which was convened by Kane in early 2014 after local law enforcement officials and district attorneys of several counties approached her office with information about the abuse.

Kane said during a 75-minute press briefing that the investigation was continuing. She said that the actions of law enforcement also are part of the investigation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Your Erie

Altoona, PA

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane released a scathing grand jury presentment that outlines hundreds of incidents of abuse of children by Catholic priests in the Altoona and Johnstown area over the past 50 years.

That report outlines what was called a conspiracy by priests, two bishops and some members of law enforcement to hide the extent of the damage by at least 50 priests over 50 years. The allegations involve hundreds of children during that time.

Members of the grand jury admit that no charges can be brought in the case because of the time that has lapsed but the report called the abuse both “staggering and sobering.”

Attorney General Kane called the releasing of the report “a day of reckoning.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

By DAVE SUTOR | CNHI News Service

ALTOONA – At least 50 priests and religious leaders from the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese in western Pennsylvania sexually abused hundreds of children since the 1950s, a state grand jury report has concluded.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane released the 147-page report Tuesday at a news conference. She described the findings as “heinous crimes” that were “absolutely unconscionable.”

The grand jury investigated sexual abuse in the diocese for two years in response to complaints. It said the inquiry concluded the findings were “both staggering and sobering,” disclosing a “dark and disturbing history.”

The diocese covers eight counties and 89 parishes. They serve more than 94,000 Catholics in the region.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report comes 12 years after the Boston Globe disclosed widespread abuse by pedophile priests in the Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese. The scandal, which spread to many Catholic parishes in the U.S. and elsewhere, was portrayed in the recent popular movie “Spotlight,” a winner on Sunday of Academy Awards for best picture and best original screenplay.

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PENNSYLVANIA
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on a clergy abuse scandal in Pennsylvania (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

The bishop of a Roman Catholic diocese in central Pennsylvania says it’s a painful time for the church following revelations of 40 years of sexual abuse by diocesan priests and other religious leaders.

A grand jury report issued Tuesday claims two previous bishops in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children going back to the 1960s.

The current bishop, Mark Bartchak, issued a statement saying he deeply regrets “any harm that has come to children.”

He says the diocese will continue cooperating with authorities.

He did not comment specifically on the report’s findings. He says the diocese is reviewing it.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says one of the grand jury’s most significant findings was that a diocesan review board was not focused on helping victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
news.com.au (Australia)

TWO Roman Catholic bishops who led a Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period, according to a grand jury report issued Tuesday.

The report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was based partly on evidence from a secret diocesan archive uncovered through a search warrant executed last year, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe,” Ms Kane said in a statement.

No criminal charges are being filed because some abusers have died, the statute of limitations has expired and, in some cases, victims are too traumatised to testify, she said.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune

Christopher Palmeri
2016, Bloomberg

The newspaper drama “Spotlight” pulled off a surprise win over frontier saga “The Revenant” for best picture honors at the Academy Awards Sunday night. The bigger plot twist, though, may be that the film ever made it into theaters in the first place.

The back story of how the movie got done shows the perilous and often winding road films without obvious commercial appeal face and the crucial role independent financiers can play in keeping such projects going forward. “Spotlight” had the added challenge about covering a topic that could make audiences squeamish — the cover-up of a pedophilia scandal in the Catholic church.

“It wasn’t ever going to be a movie for the big studios,” said Jonathan King, an executive at Participant Media, which backed the film. “Major studios are interested in ‘Deadpool,'” he said, referring to the 21st Century Fox Inc. superhero film that has led the U.S. box office for the past three weekends. “That’s their business model.”

A critically acclaimed film like “Spotlight,” which had already won several honors before its victory on Oscar night, can produce returns for its investors. The movie. which cost $20 million to make, has taken in $61.8 million worldwide since its release in November, according to Box Office Mojo. Last year’s winner “Birdman” cost $18 million to make and ended up with $103 million in box office returns. Box office receipts must be split with theaters, and movie budgets don’t include expenses for marketing.

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VERMONT
Times-Argus

Editorial

The movies have been paying attention to the news business lately, and now the Best Picture Oscar has gone to “Spotlight,” which chronicles The Boston Globe’s successful efforts to report on widespread sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests and the pervasive cover-up by high officials of the church, including Cardinal Bernard Law.

It is one of the best newspaper movies in recent years, underscoring the importance of aggressive and thorough investigative reporting as a means of holding to account people in power who are guilty of crimes and other abuses. Journalists everywhere ought to enjoy a morale boost from the movie, but also by the success of the Globe in pursuing its series back in the early 2000s.

These are not easy days for the media. The Republican primary has become a noxious swamp, and yet it is the press’s job to report the lies, bigoted statements, scapegoating, mudslinging and playground provocations that have become the norm for Republican candidates. The media are tainted by association.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By: Boying Pimentel
@inquirerdotnet

The movie “Spotlight,” which just won this year’s Oscar for best picture, had a short run and did not get much attention in Manila, according to a friend.

That’s unfortunate.

“Spotlight” is a powerful, engrossing film that’s so relevant to Filipinos, on two levels.
The movie dramatizes how a team of Boston Globe reporters exposed the way the Catholic Church systematically covered up the way hundreds of priests abused children.

The investigative report had a global impact as the movie noted at the end. Before the final credits roll, the film lists the cities, towns and countries where priests were later exposed for abusing children. The Philippines is one of them.

This isn’t news.

When the Boston Globe broke the story in 2002, it quickly triggered investigations in other countries, including the Philippines. That year, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines acknowledged that hundreds of its priest may have been guilty of “sexual misconduct,” including child abuse, over the past 20 years.

The controversy just kept getting bigger.

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UNITED STATES
ABC News

By MICHAEL ROTHMAN
Mar 1, 2016

After “Spotlight” took home the Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday night, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, who currently serves as the Archbishop of Boston, addressed the impact he believes the film and its real-life investigation have had on the Catholic Church and the victims of abuse.

O’Malley called “Spotlight” an important film “for all impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse.”

He then addressed the real story behind the movie, the investigation by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team and the articles that were published, starting in 2002, that broke the story wide open and raised awareness about the abuse all over the world. In the film, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton and others portray the Spotlight team and show how the team was able to expose what Cardinal O’Malley admits were “crimes” against children.

“By providing in-depth reporting on the history of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the media led the Church to acknowledge the crimes and sins of its personnel and to begin to address its failings, the harm done to victims and their families and the needs of survivors,” the Cardinal said in a statement to ABC News. “In a democracy such as ours, journalism is essential to our way of life. The media’s role in revealing the sexual abuse crisis opened a door through which the Church has walked in responding to the needs of survivors.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Spotlight is an important film for all impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse. By providing in-depth reporting on the history of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the media led the Church to acknowledge the crimes and sins of its personnel and to begin to address its failings, the harm done to victims and their families and the needs of survivors. In a democracy such as ours, journalism is essential to our way of life. The media’s role in revealing the sexual abuse crisis opened a door through which the Church has walked in responding to the needs of survivors.

Protecting children and providing support for survivors and their families must be a priority in all aspects of the life of the Church.

We are committed to vigilant implementation of policies and procedures for preventing the recurrence of the tragedy of the abuse of children. These include comprehensive child safety education programs, mandatory background checks and safe environments training, mandatory reporting to and cooperating with civil authorities with regard to allegations of abuse, and caring for survivors and their families through the Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach. The Archdiocese consistently provides counselling and medical services for survivors and family members who seek our help and we remain steadfast in that commitment. We continue to seek the forgiveness of all who have been harmed by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse and pray that each day the Lord may guide us on the path toward healing and renewal.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

By Dialynn Dwyer @dia_dwyer
Boston.com Staff | 03.01.16

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley praised the media for its role in leading the church to acknowledge systemic sexual abuse by priests in a statement released Tuesday on the importance of the film Spotlight. The film, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday, chronicles the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by reporters for The Boston Globe that ultimately exposed the abuse crisis within the Roman Catholic Church.

The archbishop of Boston didn’t mention the paper by name or reference the film’s awards in the statement posted to the Archdiocese website:

Spotlight is an important film for all impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse. By providing in-depth reporting on the history of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the media led the Church to acknowledge the crimes and sins of its personnel and to begin to address its failings, the harm done to victims and their families and the needs of survivors. In a democracy such as ours, journalism is essential to our way of life. The media’s role in revealing the sexual abuse crisis opened a door through which the Church has walked in responding to the needs of survivors.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times

BY LORI FALCE
lfalce@centredaily.com

Forty years of abuse was brought to light Tuesday as Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane gave a news conference to announce the results of “major investigation” of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Kane released the results of the 37th statewide investigating grand jury, a report that showed a pattern of not just abuse but the cover-up of actions by more than 50 priests and other religious leaders.

Among those was the Rev. Martin Cingle, a former priest at Our Lady of Victory in State College, the Rev. Robert Kelly, last posted to Philipsburg’s Sts. Peter and Paul Parish and others.

“Today is not the day that I stand up here and announce that charges have been filed against individuals who have committed the worst sins against children … Today is not the day that the victims get to go into a courtroom into a public courtroom and tell the story … Today is not that day. Today is the day of reckoning though,” Kane said.

“Today is the day the Office of the Attorney General steps in and tells the stories the victims of abuse cannot tell themselves,” she said. “Today is the day we tell exactly what happened in Pennsylvania.”

The released grand jury information detailed a long list of priests and others committing acts from fondling to oral sex to anal rape on boys and girls, as well as other behavior like providing alcohol.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPSU

By MARY WILSON

A statewide grand jury has found that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown concealed the sexual abuse of hundreds of children at the hands of priests and religious leaders for decades, giving known child molesters the chance to prey on additional victims.

In a presentment released by the state attorney general’s office Tuesday, the grand jury indicated two former bishops, the late James Hogan and retired bishop Joseph Adamec, as being “at the forefront” of a cover-up of abuse allegations. However, the grand jury says the crimes discovered cannot be prosecuted due to a combination of factors: the alleged abusers have died, the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse crimes has expired, and victims are unable to testify.

The grand jury is calling for state lawmakers to scrub the statute of limitations on child sex abuse offenses and to suspend the statute of limitations for civil sexual abuse claims.

The Altoona-Johnstown diocese did not immediately have a comment in response to the grand jury’s findings.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Steve Esack
Call Harrisburg Bureau

Pennsylvania Catholic diocese covered up decades worth of child abuse, grand jury report finds.
Two bishops who ran a Catholic diocese in western Pennsylvania systematically covered up decades worth of child abuse committed by priests and other religious leaders they supervised, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday by the state attorney general’s office.

The statewide grand jury investigation, which started in 2014 with a referral from the Cambria County District Attorney’s office, discovered the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown kept a secret archive detailing hundreds of abuse claims against 50 priests and other religious leaders since the mid-1960s, the attorney general says.

The archive stretched from the mid-1960s to 2011 and included Bishop James Hogan’s notes on the abuse claims and letters and other documents sent to Bishop Joseph Adamec. Both bishops also intervened to stop law enforcement investigations over the years, the grand jury report found.

But no criminal charges can be filed against anyone, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said at a news conference, because the statute of limitations has run out, abusers have died and victims are fearful of testifying in open court.

The grand jury report, Kane said, recommends the state Legislature lift the statute of limitations on when child abuse claims can be filed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane is revealing details on a case she says goes back forty years involving priests sexually abusing children, and the church covering it up…

Kane called this a day of reckoning.

She says more than 50 priests in the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown committed what she calls horrendous acts on hundreds of children.

Kane also says the diocese leadership failed to protect children.

Officials allege bishops tried to cover up the sexual assaults that happened in camp sites, foster homes, orphanages even a cathedral.

We are following this story and will have much more on upcoming editions of Eyewitness News.

Attorney General Kane: Press Release- NOTE: Graphic Content

ALTOONA — A statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or religious leaders assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane’s office announced today.

The widespread abuse involved at least 50 priests or religious leaders. Evidence and testimony reviewed by the grand jury also revealed a troubling history of superiors within the Diocese taking action to conceal the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution’s image. The grand jury, in a 147-page report made public today, stressed this conduct endangered thousands of children and allowed proven child predators to abuse additional victims.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” said Kane, who addressed the media this morning at a news conference at the Blair County Convention Center. “These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Christian Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com

ALTOONA — A two-year grand jury investigation has revealed the depths reached by leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to cover up the rape and sexual abuse of hundreds of children.

Pa. Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced the findings of the grand jury investigation Tuesday in Altoona. The investigation found that dozens priests and religious leaders with the diocese sexually abused or raped hundreds of children.

The results of a state grand jury investigation released Tuesday found that hundreds of children were sexually abused and raped by diocese priests and religious leaders over the past 40 years.

While PennLive digs deeper into the 147-page grand jury report, here are some highlights:

* More than 50 priests and religious leaders within the diocese were involved in the rapes and sexual assaults.
* The earliest abuse case took place 40 years ago.
* The bishop kept a “secret archive” of files on abuse incidents.
* Diocese officials used their power and influence to keep incidents of abuse from being investigated.
* Diocese officials claim to have used their power to handpick public officials — including mayors and police chiefs.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Kathy McCabe GLOBE STAFF MARCH 01, 2016

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley praised the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” for showing the critical role investigative journalism played in exposing the clergy sex abuse crisis that shook the Roman Catholic church to its core.

“Spotlight is an important film for all impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse,” O’Malley said in a statement released Tuesday, two days after the movie about The Boston Globe’s groundbreaking coverage of the clergy sex abuse crisis won the Oscar for Best Picture. “By providing in-depth reporting on the history of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the media led the Church to acknowledge the crimes and sins of its personnel and to begin to address its failings, the harm done to victims and their families and the needs of survivors.”

O’Malley did not mention the Globe in his statement, nor did he acknowledge the film winning the top prize at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony in Hollywood.

He added, “In a democracy such as ours, journalism is essential to our way of life. The media’s role in revealing the sexual abuse crisis opened a door through which the Church has walked in responding to the needs of survivors.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

MARCH 1, 2016, BY DAVE BOHMAN

ALTOONA — A grand jury investigation found that hundreds of children were abused by priests in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnston, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday.

Some of the alleged abuse took place in parishes in Clinton and Centre Counties, the report from the attorney general said.

Thousands of pages of documents and hand-written reports were seized from the diocese during the investigation.

Kane is urging lawmakers to suspend the statute of limitations in order to prosecute some of the alleged crimes.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY BRAD BUMSTED AND DEBRA ERDLEY | Tuesday, March 1, 2016

ALTOONA – Hundreds of children were sexually abused over four decades by at least 50 priests or religious leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, according to a statewide investigative grand jury report released Tuesday morning.

Clergy leaders allowed the abuse to continue by concealing it to protect the institution’s image, the grand jury alleged.

But none of the priests or supervisors were charged by the attorney general’s office, which supervised the two-year investigation. They could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations for the crimes expired, some of the priests died and some victims are too “deeply traumatized” to testify, the attorney general’s office said.

“As wolves disguised as the shepherds themselves – these men stole the innocence of children by sexually preying upon the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society and of the Catholic faith,” the grand jury report said.

Decrying “a cover up perpetrated by clergy leaders” Attorney General Kathleen Kane said the investigation is ongoing. “This is by no means the end of our investigation. We will continue to look at this matter and consider charges where appropriate, which is why it is important for those with information to come forward.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Christian Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com

Allegations of rape, abuse and coverups have trickled out of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for decades.

On Tuesday, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that a statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of 40 years. At least 50 priests or religious leaders had been involved in sexual abuses, she said.

Evidence and testimony gathered by the grand jury revealed a history of diocese superiors taking action to conceal the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution’s image.

Bishop-Accountability.org collects news reports of priests and religious leaders that have been suspended from duty, named in a lawsuit or investigated on allegations of sexual abuse.

The nonprofit organization has a list of dozens of priests and religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown that have been named in media reports as being accused of sexually abusing children.

Here are 28 priests named on the website against whom claims or successful lawsuits were filed, according to media reports. The inclusion of the priests in the list below does not necessarily mean they were found guilty of criminal charges.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Metro

After a two year investigation, attorney general Kathleen Kane announced that she discovered caes of hundreds of young victims being abused by priests in the Altoona-Johsntown diocese — but cannot bring criminal charges against any of the alleged predators.

The conduct by priests that Kane’s office discovered was “monstrous,” she said at a Tuesday morning press conference, where Kane announced at a press conference that her office discovered church leadership labored to protect abusive priests from consequences for their actions for years.

Allegations range from anal rape of teenage boys inside the rectory at St. Agnes Church in Lock Haven to a 16-year-old girl in foster care being sexually abused by a priest — and then being blamed for seducing the priest.

“Hundreds of children have fallen victim to child predators wrapped in the authority and the faith of those that they served,” Kane said Tuesday. “This abuse lasted for four decades. Not only was it covered up, priests were moved around … to avoid further scandal.”

None of the allegations will lead to criminal charges, Kane said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Christian Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com

The legacy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown now will include countless stories of child sexual abuse, broken trust and millions of dollars paid for the sins of religious leaders.

The results of a state grand jury investigation released Tuesday found that hundreds of children were sexually abused and raped by diocese priests and religious leaders over the past 40 years. The widespread acts of abuse were perpetrated by more than 50 priests and religious leaders.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” said Pa. Attorney General Kathleen Kane on Tuesday in Blair County.

“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 43

MARCH 1, 2016, BY VALERIE WALTZ

ALTOONA, Pa. — A statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or religious leaders assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane’s office announced today.

The widespread abuse involved at least 50 priests or religious leaders. Evidence and testimony reviewed by the grand jury also revealed a troubling history of superiors within the Diocese taking action to conceal the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution’s image. The grand jury, in a 147-page report made public today, stressed this conduct endangered thousands of children and allowed proven child predators to abuse additional victims.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” said Kane, who addressed the media this morning at a news conference at the Blair County Convention Center.
“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

By Joe Mandak

Two Roman Catholic bishops who led a central Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period, according to a grand jury report issued Tuesday.

The 147-page report on sexual abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was based partly on evidence from a secret diocesan archive uncovered through a search warrant executed in August, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who announced the findings.

“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe,” Kane said in a statement. “Just as troubling is the cover-up perpetrated by clergy leaders that allowed this abuse to continue for decades.”

No criminal charges are being filed in the case because some abusers have died, the statute of limitations has expired and, in some cases, victims are too traumatized to testify, she said.

The report is especially critical of Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec. Hogan, who headed the diocese from 1966 to 1986, died in 2005. Adamec, who succeeded him, retired in 2011.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane

3/1/2016

Editor’s note : The following news release contains graphic content related to the sexual abuse of children.

ALTOONA — A statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or religious leaders assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane’s office announced today.

The widespread abuse involved at least 50 priests or religious leaders. Evidence and testimony reviewed by the grand jury also revealed a troubling history of superiors within the Diocese taking action to conceal the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution’s image. The grand jury, in a 147-page report made public today, stressed this conduct endangered thousands of children and allowed proven child predators to abuse additional victims.

“The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable,” said Kane, who addressed the media this morning at a news conference at the Blair County Convention Center. “These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.

“Just as troubling is the cover-up perpetrated by clergy leaders that allowed this abuse to continue for decades,” Kane added. “They failed in our society’s most important task of protecting our children.”

The grand jury’s findings followed two years of exhaustive investigation by the Office of Attorney General, which brought this matter to the grand jury in April 2014. While Attorney General Kane stressed the investigation is ongoing, none of the criminal acts detailed in the grand jury report can be prosecuted. This is due to the deaths of alleged abusers, deeply traumatized victims being unable to testify in a court of law and the statute of limitations for the crimes being exhausted.

As a result, the grand jury in its report made a series of recommendations, such as abolishing the statute of limitations for sexual offenses against minors and urging the state General Assembly to suspend the civil statute of limitations on sexual abuse claims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC News

By JOE MANDAK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALTOONA, Pa. — Mar 1, 2016

Two Roman Catholic bishops who led a central Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period, according to a grand jury report issued Tuesday.

The 147-page report on sexual abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was based partly on evidence from a secret diocesan archive uncovered through a search warrant executed in August, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who announced the findings.

“These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe,” Kane said in a statement. “Just as troubling is the cover-up perpetrated by clergy leaders that allowed this abuse to continue for decades.”

No criminal charges are being filed in the case because some abusers have died, the statute of limitations has expired and, in some cases, victims are too traumatized to testify, she said.

The report is especially critical of Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec. Hogan, who headed the diocese from 1966 to 1986, died in 2005. Adamec, who succeeded him, retired in 2011.

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ROME
Herald Sun

March 1, 2016

Andrew Bolt
Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell ­on Tuesday uttered words that will stain his reputation forever.

Referring to notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, Pell fatefully declared: “It’s a sad story and it wasn’t of much interest to me.”

Here is the question now for the royal commission into sex abuse of children: is the Vatican’s third-most powerful leader a liar when he says he never knew what Ridsdale, his colleague, was doing in Ballarat?

Or was he just dangerously indifferent to his responsibilities and to the warning signs that children were being raped?

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
The Australian

MARCH 1, 2016

Michael Bodey
Film editor/media journalist
Sydney

Columnist and broadcaster Andrew Bolt has secured an exclusive interview with Cardinal George Pell at the conclusion of his evidence to the Royal Commission into child abuse.

The columnist for News Corp Australia newspapers is in Rome covering the Cardinal’s evidence as a special contributor for the Sky News channel.

Bolt has secured a one-hour interview with the Cardinal to be broadcast live-to-air to Australia on Thursday morning, directly after his final day giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Catholic Church is understood to have agreed to the interview with Bolt, who has defended the Cardinal in his writings, even deriding his own paper, the Herald Sun’s exclusive reporting of Victoria Police investigations into the Cardinal.

But Bolt turned after the second day of evidence from Rome, when the Cardinal denied having knowledge of the activities of notorious paedophile priest Father Gerard Ridsdale and dismissing it as a “sad story” that “wasn’t of much interest to me”.

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ROME
Daily Mail

By LUCY THACKRAY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AAP

Sky News is being slammed for sending controversial commentator Andrew Bolt to report on the royal commission into sex abuse in Rome, as Bolt has previously referred to Cardinal George Pell as ‘the victim of a witch hunt.’

Social media users have voiced their shock after seeing the columnist reporting from Rome, where Cardinal George Pell is appearing before the Royal Commission into Insitutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Pell is being questioned about his knowledge of the abuse of children by members of the Roman Catholic church in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s.

Assuming the role of ‘Sky News contributor’, Bolt has spent much of his time on air defending Pell and speaking about ‘the enormous hate campaign’ against the cardinal.

Last month Bolt wrote a column for News Corp proclaiming: ‘Cardinal George Pell is the victim of one of the most vicious witch hunts to disgrace this country. It is shameful. Disgusting. Frightening.’

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONETHE AUSTRALIAN
MARCH 2, 2016

Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally and child abuse victim David Ridsdale say George Pell threw his former boss, retired Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns, under a bus in evidence yesterday.

If only someone could have done the same thing 40 years ago — preferably reporting Mulkearns to the papal nuncio (ambassador) in Canberra — dozens of innocent people’s lives would not have been wrecked by Gerald Ridsdale and other criminal priests who were answerable to Mulkearns.

The former bishop’s leadership, as Pell said yesterday, was a “gigantic’’ failure: “I would have to say that I can’t nominate another bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable. There might be some, but they don’t come to mind. His repeated refusal to act is absolutely extraordinary.’’

Pell did not emulate that pattern: when he became archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, he did not hesitate to suspend errant priests when warranted.

Yesterday, Pell agreed with commissioner Peter McClellan that those who had known of Ridsdale’s “dreadful story’’ but did nothing were culpable. Pell, however, insisted he was not privy to what the bishop knew and at the time had not heard rumours about Ridsdale.

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WISCONSIN
WHBY

In the 4:00 hour of the show today I am going to talk about something some might find controversial, but that’s exactly why I want people to hear the story.

I’ve eluded to it on the air in the past, but after the movie “Spotlight” won best picture at the Oscars it got me thinking about a couple of things.

1) I need to go see that movie now
2) I have a connection to that movie whether I want it or not. And now, I think I have an obligation to talk about it as well.

Just seeing his picture brings back a lot of memories, shoved somewhere deep in the back of my brain.

But events like learning about this movie remind me that those memories will always be there somewhere, as is the anger.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the sexual abuse of minors:

Most Americans are truly outraged over the sexual abuse of minors, but there are many who feign anger. Take Mark Ruffalo, star of “Spotlight”: he held a protest outside a Cathedral—almost no one showed up—before the Oscars. Upon receiving his award, the movie’s screenwriter, Josh Singer, took the occasion to lecture Pope Francis. He’s a little late: most of the homosexual abuse in the Church took place between 1965 and 1985. If these people were sincere, they would focus on all abusers, not just priests. For example, the following recent cases elicited no protests.

* In January, a Saint Paul, Minnesota man was sentenced to 270 days in jail for molesting two girls under the age of 15
* In January, a Schenectady, New York man who had previously raped a disabled woman was sentenced to six months in jail for abusing two girls: one was 7 and the other was 9
* In January, a rabbi from East Brunswick, New Jersey was convicted of indecent assault of a child under the age of 13; he was sentenced to 11-23 months

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A native of Lyons, France, Baud was ordained in 1932 for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in California. He spent the better part of three decades stationed in Nulato AK at St. Peter Claver’s Mission, later renamed Our Lady of the Snows. He was a teacher, artist and musician, and is said to have had “a special concern” for children and youth. In 1962, when the Diocese of Fairbanks was established, Baud was moved to Copper Valley School in Glenallen AK. He later served briefly in St. Mary’s, then as a hospital chaplain in Kodiak and Ketchikan, in the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Diocese of Juneau. He died in 1968. Baud’s name is included on the Fairbanks diocese’s list of “admitted, proven or credibly accused perpetrators of sexual abuse.” He is noted in February 2016 to have had one complaint against him.

Born: August 11, 1897
Ordained: June 20, 1932
Died: December 6, 1968

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whistleblowers

Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee – 862-368-2800

Catholic Whistleblowers, a national organization of lay men and women, religious sisters, priests, former religious brothers, and former priests which advocates for and supports victim/survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and other religious persons, was thrilled with the Academy of Motion Pictures’ selection of the movie “Spotlight” as Best Picture of 2016. We extend our congratulations to the producers, directors, cast, and crew of the movie for their excellent depiction of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston.

We also wish to thank the members of the Boston Globe “Spotlight” team and Boston Globe editor Marty Baron for their pursuit of the facts and evidence of sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Boston and the cover-up by Boston Archdiocesan leaders that eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law. As actor Stanley Tucci, who portrays Attorney Mitchell Garabedian in the movie, said so well, “It takes a village to abuse a child,” and Catholic Whistleblowers concurs wholeheartedly.

We, Catholic Whistleblowers, are particularly grateful to and affirming of the courageous victim/survivors who were part of the film and all victim/survivors. We are heartbroken that Patrick Mc Sorley, one of the early heroes of the Archdiocese of Boston scandal, and who is portrayed in the movie, is no longer with us to share in the fruits of his and many others’ labors. Fortunately, Phil Saviano is still with us and we celebrate with Phil his quarter-century of determined, relentless advocacy on behalf of all victim/survivors and principal role in the production of “Spotlight.” To victim survivors Joe Crowley, Jim Scanlan, and all other victim/survivors who were characterized or referenced in the movie – thank you for your contribution.

“Spotlight” dramatizes so beautifully for Catholics and the general public the deleterious effects of sexual abuse in a family, organization, church, institution, and society. It also demonstrates what happens when a family, organization, church, institution, or society covers up that sexual abuse. Nothing good comes from sexual abuse and its cover-up. Catholic Whistleblowers recommends openness, honesty, transparency, and just resolution in all cases of childhood sexual abuse.

Finally, Catholic Whistleblowers extends an open invitation to the members of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church; in particular, Pope Francis, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and head of the Papal Commission on Child and Youth Protection, and especially members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to dialogue with us regarding the scandal of childhood sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church so that, together, we may put an end to childhood sexual abuse, help heal victim/survivors, and restore all to life in Jesus Christ.

Signed by some members of the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee:

Rev. James E. Connell, J.C.D., Milwaukee, WI
Rev. Ronald D. Lemmert, Peekskill, NY
Rev. Patrick W. Collins, Ph.D., Douglas, MI
Mrs. Helen Rainforth, Lincoln, IL
Sr. Sally Butler, OP, Brooklyn, NY
Sr. Claire Smith, OSU, Bronx, NY
Sr. Maureen Paul Turlish, SNDdeN, New Castle, DE
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., West Orange, NJ
Rev. Bruce Teague, Sheffield, MA
Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, OP, J.C.D., Vienna, VA
Msgr. Kenneth E. Lasch, J.C.D., Pompton Plains, NJ

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

Recent cases of rabbinical and other leaders’ physical and mental exploitation of female believers sparked legislation initiated by Meretz MK.

Sharon Pulwer Mar 01, 2016

Israeli lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are moving forward with legislation that would outlaw sex between a religious or spiritual leader and one of his believers, comparing that situation to sexual relations between a therapist and a client, which is a criminal offense.

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee will soon discuss the bill, which was initiated by MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) and passed its preliminary reading in January. Legislators from Habayit Hayehudi, Kulanu, Yesh Atid, the Joint Arab List and Zionist Union all support the legislation, part of a broader effort to address the phenomenon of cults and the role of rabbinic leaders in the country.

According to the proposal, sexual relations would be deemed a criminal offense if they take place as part of a relationship in which “ongoing advice or guidance is passed on through face-to-face meetings,” and if the sex acts are carried out “during or right after a period in which guidance or advice is given, exploiting palpable emotional dependence that results from the advice or guidance.”

The legislative effort derives, among other things, from Israel Police and state prosecution efforts to indict cult leader Goel Ratzon, who lived in Tel Aviv and had multiple wives and dozens of children, for sexual offenses and enslavement. It took years of unsuccessful investigations before he was finally arrested, in 2010, and charged.

For its part, the state tried to create a legal precedent that determined that Ratzon held his wives in what was called “spiritual slavery.” The prosecution argued that he emotionally controlled 21 adult women with whom he had sex, taking away their freedom of choice and making them enslaved to him. The Tel Aviv District Court convicted Ratzon on rape and sexual offenses counts, but acquitted him of the enslavement charges, rejecting the prosecution’s broader interpretation of the offense.

Prosecutors have tried to equate such relations to sexual ties between psychologists or psychiatrists and their clients, as in the case involving Ofakim resident Shimon Amar. Amar was indicted last October for having sex with women and girls during personal consultations while posing as a rabbi.

Other cases, such as that of Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, head of the Orot Ha’ari yeshiva in Safed, involve rape resulting from fraudulent behavior – i.e., a situation in which the perpetrator uses deceit to obtain consensual sex. Sheinberg was charged last July for having sex with 12 women after “exploiting the fact that he is considered to be a righteous person with special powers, that they had unconditional faith in him, and that they saw what he said to be the words of a living god.”

“We’re talking about emotional dependence just like that existing between a therapist and a client,” says MK Rozin. “It’s the legislator’s place to determine that sexual relations through such dependence cannot be legal and needs to be outlawed as a crime.”

Attorney Liat Klein, legal adviser of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, which was a partner in formulating the bill, asserts that the number of instances in which such relations occurs is significant.

“Rabbis and people with spiritual powers create great dependence among those who turn to them, mostly at times of distress and crisis,” Klein explains. “It is extremely difficult for people to report such incidents, so it is important to encourage such complaints so that those same religious leaders who exploit their authority to hurt their believers will be punished and justice will be served.”

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian

Alicia Shepard

Most people don’t know a journalist. They only know journalists are rated at the bottom of trust polls along with used car salesmen. They only hear presidential candidates trashing reporters daily from the stump.

Spotlight, which just won the Oscar for best picture, allows viewers to peek behind the byline, authentically portraying the tediousness of strong investigative reporting, the fierce determination of reporters, the bravery of top editors and how persistence can bring about real change – as long as management has your back.

That’s why it’s a great thing for journalism that Spotlight won the Oscar for best picture. Highlighting the Boston Globe’s 2002 expose of the Catholic Church’s systemic cover up of priest molestation, Spotlight is this generation’s version of the 1976 movie All the President’s Men.

The win should do wonders for the news business, the public’s understanding of journalism and those of us who believe passionately in journalism’s mission to ultimately inform and do good.

“Mom, I feel like I finally get what you and Dad do now that I’ve seen Spotlight,” said my son, the offspring of two journalists. I’m not alone. Globe Spotlight reporter Sacha Pfeiffer told CNN, “Family members have said to some of us, ‘Oh, now I understand what you do.’”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish News

Brendan Hughes
01 March, 2016

THE PSNI is making inquiries about video footage of a Catholic priest apparently snorting cocaine in a room with Nazi memorabilia at his Co Down parochial house.

Fr Stephen Crossan can be seen sniffing a white substance through a bank note during a night of drinking at the house beside St Patrick’s Church, Banbridge.

The 37-year-old places a cigarette in an ashtray and seems to say “I shouldn’t” before snorting the powder off a plate, The Sun on Sunday reported.

In a statement yesterday, Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey said Fr Crossan has taken an “extended leave of absence”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Magazine

Kristen Lombardi of the Phoenix connected the dots in 2001. The Globe’s Spotlight Team debuted their series in 2002. Where’s the confusion?

By Kyle Clauss | Boston Daily | October 30, 2015

People forgo plenty of things in order to become journalists, chief among them sleep and independence from caffeine. What journos do fuss over, and with great fervor, is credit for their work. With the release of Spotlight, the star-studded early Oscar favorite chronicling the Boston Globe‘s award-winning investigation into sex abuse and subsequent coverups inside the Catholic Church, a 13-year-old debate over who deserves credit for breaking the story first has arisen again.

Kristen Lombardi, a BU alum, arrived at the Boston Phoenix in 2000 as a news and features reporter, following stints at the Brookline and Newton Tabs and the Phoenix’s sister publication in Worcester. In January 2001, Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, was named a defendant in a number of ongoing, under-the-radar cases involving pedophile priests, including one involving Father John Geoghan. Figuring the judge’s decision likely meant the victims had enough evidence to prove that knowledge of Geoghan’s abuse had stretched far enough up the Church hierarchy to implicate Cardinal Law, Phoenix editor Susan Ryan-Vollmar told Lombardi to start digging.

“[My editors] were convinced that the Globe or the Herald would do something with that,” Lombardi says. “But they didn’t. I did.”

She pored through court documents and spoke with victims, receiving ample pushback from the Church along the way. She looked at other sexual abuse cases involving Catholic priests across the country, and developed relationships with attorneys who specialized in such cases. Her first-ever investigative piece for the Phoenix, “Cardinal Sin,” ran in March 2001. The findings were damning, and the lede, a punch to the gut:

ASK MARK KEANE who orally raped him when he was a teenage boy, and he’ll answer: Father John Geoghan. Ask him who should bear the cross for this heinous act, and he’ll answer: Cardinal Bernard Law.

Law, Keane believes, had direct knowledge that Geoghan, who worked in the Archdiocese of Boston from 1962 to 1993, was molesting children. And Law, Keane alleges, didn’t just let the priest keep working; he allowed Geoghan to stay at parishes where he enjoyed daily contact with children — one of whom was Keane.

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CHICAGO (IL)
DNAinfo

By Joe Ward | March 1, 2016

CHICAGO — With its Oscar win Sunday, “Spotlight” not only honored the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the sex abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church but it also shined a light on a Chicago-based group that has been fighting for victims of priest abuse for decades.

The film shows how SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests) helped Globe reporters find victims and track down pedophile priests in Boston. While that was happening, SNAP leader Barbara Blaine was in Chicago trying to make it very clear that this issue went much further than Boston’s Irish Catholic enclave.

“This movie is vindication,” Blaine said Monday. “It says what we’ve been wanting to say for a long time.”

Before the film won Best Picture, “Spotlight” actor Mark Ruffalo joined the film’s writers and director to attend Blaine’s rally in Los Angeles. Their message? The film was a victory, but there must be more accountability in the Catholic Church’s handling of its sex abuse scandal.

Blaine, a River North resident, said her group is working to capitalize on the buzz surrounding “Spotlight,” which shows how reporters exposed pedophile priests who had abused hundreds of children in Boston.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will hold a press conference at the Blair County Convention Center on Tuesday.

Her office would not confirm the subject matter.

However, it is believed the department has been conducting a grand jury investigation into alleged cases of child molestation in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown.

Reports about the grand jury being convened surfaced shortly after molestation accusations were made against Brother Stephen Baker, a former athletic trainer at what was then called Bishop McCort High School.

“There is a Pennsylvania grand jury that has been hearing testimony,” said Richard Serbin, an Altoona lawyer who has represented some of Baker’s reported victims. “Of course, that testimony is not public.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Feb 29, 2016

Employees of the bankrupt Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are getting a new home on St. Paul’s East Side.

The staffers will be moving to 777 Forest Street, once the corporate headquarters of 3M. The archdiocese will lease space in the building, and it hopes to be moved in by early fall. Terms of the deal were not available.

The lease will be subject to approval by the federal judge overseeing the church’s bankruptcy reorganization. Most of the 120 employees of the archdiocese are now at the Hayden Center, not far from the St. Paul Cathedral. The Hayden Center is being sold to the Minnesota Historical Society for $4.5 million.

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MISSOURI
Raw Story

ARTURO GARCIA
01 MAR 2016

Samantha Bee put her money where her Thin Mints were on Monday as she offered support to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri against St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.

“You have underestimated our love of girl power — and our love of cookies,” Bee said to Carlson before revealing that the program bought a “sh*t-ton” of Girl Scout cookies to give to her audience. She also directed viewers to her website, which is encouraging them to “ruin an awful archbishop’s day” by either buying cookies or donating to the Girl Scouts directly.

Carlson drew Bee’s ire after he contacted local parishes and urged them to cut ties with the Scouts, saying they were “becoming increasingly incompatible with our Catholic values.”

Among the behaviors troubling Carlson, Bee noted, was the fact that the Scouts were working with Amnesty International.

“I guess trying to stop the beheading of political prisoners doesn’t count as ‘pro-life’ enough for him,” she quipped.

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UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

By Trey Bundy / February 29, 2016

Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders are fighting on multiple fronts to hide what they know about child sexual abusers in their religion.

Facing more than a dozen civil lawsuits in the United States and a government investigation in the United Kingdom, the Witnesses are continuing to withhold court-ordered documents from authorities. In England this month, the religious organization went to court for a fourth time attempting to block investigators from looking at their child abuse records.

It’s been just over a year since Reveal began publishing and broadcasting stories about Jehovah’s Witnesses covering up child sexual abuse. Since our first story aired, hundreds of Witnesses and ex-Witnesses have contacted us, mostly to share their stories.

We’re continuing to report on the issue, but in the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of nine major findings so far:

1. For more than 25 years, the global leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses has instructed elders to keep cases of child sexual abuse secret from law enforcement and members of their own congregations.

2. The Witnesses’ parent corporation, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, issued the directives in a series of confidential memos dating back to 1989. The child abuse memos were approved by the Watchtower’s governing body, a group of men who are the spiritual leaders of the religion, like the Pope in the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
Deseret News

Compiled by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News

“Spotlight” took home the top prize at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, earning “Best Picture” honors for its depiction of The Boston Globe reporting team who exposed years of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Catholic leaders joined journalists, moviegoers and advocates for sexual abuse victims in celebrating the win, sharing their gratitude for the reporters whose work resulted in a global call for the church to address the problem.

“The priestly abuse of children (and) cover up by bishops is one of the most heinous scandals in history. Thank God journalists discovered it,” tweeted Christopher Hale, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and leads the Diocese of Louisville, retweeted his November reflection on “Spotlight” in the wake of the Oscar win.

“We can only be healthy as a Church and as a society if we honestly confront the sexual abuse of children and rebuild relationships one at a time,” he wrote on his blog around the time of the film’s release.

“Spotlight” has had a similar impact on the Catholic community as the original reporting, leading sexual abuse survivors to step forward, talk about their experiences and, in some cases, join lawsuits against church leaders, The Boston Globe reported after Sunday’s ceremony.

“I’m happy and I’m proud of the filmmakers and the actors,” David O’Regan, the Boston-Worcester director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told the Globe.

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