ABUSE TRACKER

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New bishop should act on two accused clerics
Group says it’s willing to meet with new prelate
But only on one condition: “Take prevention steps 1st”
SNAP to Johnston: “That will be “a sign of good faith”
Victims want warnings about priests who now live elsewhere

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will

–challenge the new head of the Kansas City MO (KC) Catholic diocese to warn others about three accused clerics,
–offer to meet with him, but ONLY if he takes “tangible prevention steps first,” and
–warn KC citizens and Catholics against complacency just because Bishop Robert Finn is gone.

They will also try to hand deliver a letter outlining their concerns to the new bishop.

WHEN
Friday, Oct. 9, 2015 at 1:00 pm

WHERE
Outside the chancery, the KC MO Catholic archdiocesan headquarters 20 West 9th in downtown KC

WHO
Two-three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) including a S. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director.

WHY
1. At least two credibly accused priests who molested in Kansas City MO now live or work out-of-state, unsupervised, among unsuspecting families. SNAP wants the new head of the diocese, Bishop James Johnston, to warn others about them and disclose more information about the allegations against them.

This is the first time SNAP is reaching out to Johnston, who was promoted three weeks ago.

[KCTV]

This action is especially warranted, SNAP says, in light of Pope Francis’ recent promises that “abuse cannot be kept secret any longer,” “all responsible will be held accountable,” and that church officials will provide “careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected.”

The accused clerics are

–-Bishop Joseph Hart of Wyoming who, as a priest in KC, molested at least six boys. (They have sued and those suits have settled. The most recent one was filed in 2011.)

[BishopAccountability.org]

–Fr. Thomas Cronin of Nevada, who is involved with a homeless women’s shelter despite a civil lawsuit in KC (now settled) that charges him with sexually violating a young woman.

[BishopAccountability.org]

SNAP believes that Johnston should take immediate steps to alert police, prosecutors, parishioners, parents and the public about Cronin and Hart.

“These two predator priests could be assaulting kids and young people out west today,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “They could be visiting Kansas City, and hurting kids and young people, here this weekend. With real outreach by Bishop Johnston, Cronin and Hart might even be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, sparing others decades of devastating pain.”

2. In light of Francis’ pledges, SNAP is challenging Johnston to “avoid symbolism, gestures, apologies and promises,” and instead “take proven steps to safeguard the vulnerable.” If he does, the group may be willing to meet with him, “but not until he shows good faith by taking practical steps to protect the vulnerable.”

For more than a decade, SNAP leaders met with bishops, usually after repeatedly pressuring prelates to sit down with them. But over the past 13 years, the group has rarely met with Catholic officials, because SNAP has found such meetings to be “at best a waste of time and at worst a public relations maneuver by bishops to give parishioners and the public the misguided impression that reform is happening.”

“Catholic officials claim that Bishop Finn’s resignation is intended to bring healing to parishioners and victims,” said Michael Sandridge of SNAP. “But wounded adults can heal themselves, with or without action by bishops. Innocent kids and vulnerable adults, however, cannot protect themselves from predators without firm action by Johnston. That’s why prevention should be Johnston’s top priority.”

Johnston should put announcements in every parish bulletin and on every church website, begging those who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Cronin or Hart to step forward and call police, SNAP says.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former teacher at a Catholic school on the New South Wales north coast has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for sexually and physically abusing boys in his care.

Richard O’Connor was a dormitory master at the St John’s College in Woodlawn, just outside Lismore, during the 1980s.

An investigation into his activities began in April last year.

The 75-year-old pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges of physically and sexually assaulting 12 boys between the ages of 12 and 16 during the 1980s.

A district court judge today described his actions as a gross breach of trust.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

A senior Salvation Army officer punched a young boy in the head when the child told him he had been sexually abused, a royal commission in Adelaide has heard.

David Reece, now 62 years old, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse of the constant physical, emotional and sexual abuse he endured at the Box Hill Boys’ Home in Victoria home in the 1960s.

He said he tried on a few occasions to report the abuse to senior officers and they either punished him, disbelieved him or became violent.

“When I reported the abuse to Captain Swift he punched me in the head,” Mr Reece told the commission.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

A Salvation Army commander has apologised to victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse while in the care of the organisation last century.

Commissioner Floyd Tidd, Southern Territory Commander, was called to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held in Adelaide this week.

The commission is examining occurrences of violent child sex abuse at Salvation Army-run children’s homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Commissioner Tidd began by reading an apology to the survivors, their families and the Australian community.

“Since coming to Australia a little over two years ago, a large part of my time I’ve spent trying to understand how so many children came to be abused in our homes over so many years, and then working to ensure that no child will ever be abused again in the Salvation Army’s care,” he said.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY TIM DORNIN AAP OCTOBER 09, 2015

THE Salvation Army has pledged to review all compensation payments made to victims of sexual and physical abuse after apologising for the treatment of children taken into its care across three states.

FLOYD Tidd says the abuse that continued over many years constitutes the “darkest chapter” in the history of the Salvation Army and will forever be a source of shame.

He says he has been moved and distressed by stories from survivors detailed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“Each of you were blameless, all of you were just children. You had a right to feel safe,” he said during his evidence in Adelaide on Friday.

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.

OKLAHOMA
KFOR

OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City man has been arrested after allegedly claiming to have sexually abused up to 25 children at church.

Deputies with the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office arrested 26-year-old Robert Dean Painter after he allegedly admitted to sexually abusing up to 25 children at church and collecting child pornography.

The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children got a hold of the emails and forwarded the information to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The sheriff’s office was contacted and they immediately took him into custody.

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.

AUSTRALIA
9 News

A blogger who publically accused a teacher of sexually abusing him when they were both high school students said he feels “no guilt” after the Brisbane Grammar educator killed himself days after the claims were aired.

Greg Masters took his life yesterday, two days after political blogger Brendan Sheehan used his ‘It’s Not Normal Is It’ website to accuse Mr Masters of molesting him when he was a 14-year-old student at St Paul’s School at Bald Hills and Mr Masters was a 17-year-old student, the Courier Mail reports

Mr Sheehan called Mr Masters a “paedophilic predator who pretended to be my pal, but was really friend to no-one but the undertow, and took innocents like me in, and wouldn’t let go”.

Mr Sheehan said he was not driven by enmity and only decided to air his claims publicly after he first approached Mr Masters privately two years ago and received a response “laced with vitriol, malice and denial”.

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.

UNITED STATES
The Economist

BILL COSBY, the 78-year-old entertainer, has been accused of rape by dozens of women. On October 9th, he will give a deposition in a lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, now in her 50s, who says the comedian assaulted her at the Playboy mansion when she was fifteen years old. But this is only the second time Mr Cosby has faced civil litigation for as many as 40 episodes of alleged sexual abuse, and he has never been charged with a crime.

How has Mr Cosby largely managed to stay out of court? The alleged violations in question all occurred years ago, and many states’ statutes of limitations impose limits on how long a person may be held legally accountable for an illicit act. In Colorado and a few other states, there is a 10-year cap on prosecuting people for sexual assault. In Arkansas, the limit is six years; it is 20 years in Ohio. The patchwork grows more complex when considering whether the rape was first-degree, or second or third, and when adding the factor of age. In Oregon, the statute of limitations for rape and sexual abuse is six years, but in cases involving minors, it runs until the accuser turns 30 or within 12 years after the offence is reported to the police, whichever comes sooner. But there is no national norm for a statute of limitations for rape, as there is for the crime of murder.

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.

COLOMBIA
7 News

Bogota (AFP) – Colombia’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Catholic Church must compensate two victims of a priest convicted of sexual abuse of minors.

The court ruled on Thursday that the Church must pay $22,300 (64 million Colombian pesos) to the victims, now aged 15 and 16, as well as $13,200 to their parents, as well as $5,600 to each of their siblings.

The Diocese of Libano-Honda, in Colombia’s northern Tolima department, had filed a petition in 2011 against a ruling ordering them to compensate the victims of convicted priest Luis Enrique Padua.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

Bruce Unwin, Chief Reporter (Durham) / Thursday 8 October 2015

A FORMER senior clergyman in the North-East has denied charges of historic indecency relating to two male teenagers.

George Granville Gibson, a former Archdeacon of Auckland, in County Durham, is to stand trial in the New Year on eight counts arising from complaints made by the alleged victims, over incidents said to date from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The retired cleric, whose posts with the Church of England included heading several parishes across the region, before serving as Archdeacon of Auckland, one of the leading five posts with the Diocese of Durham, between 1993 and 2001.

More recently, he served as an acting pastor at St James the Great Church, in Darlington.

He is accused of sexually assaulting a male in his late teens on at least four occasions, in 1977 and 1978.

Further similar offences are said to have been committed on a boy aged under 16, between late 1979 and 1983.

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.

COLOMBIA
Metro News (Canada)

By: Libardo Cardona The Associated Press Published on Wed Oct 07 2015

BOGOTA — Colombia’s Supreme Court has ordered a Roman Catholic diocese to pay about $220,000 to the families of two children molested by a priest. It would be the first time the church has paid a financial penalty in Colombia for abuse committed by one of its priests.

The priest, Luis Enrique Duque, is serving time for abusing two boys, then aged 7 and 8, in 2007 in a town northwest of Bogota. The Supreme Court decision, announced Thursday, upholds a 2011 lower court ruling that found the diocese liable and ordered that the money be distributed among the boys, their siblings and their parents.

The church had appealed, arguing that the abuse was a violation of Duque’s pastoral mission.

The Supreme Court decision affirms that the church is liable because priest took advantage of his religious role to commit his crimes.

“The diocese must right the wrong that the institution, via one of its agents, inflicted on the defendants,” the court wrote.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

October 9, 2015

Jorge Branco

The man who accused a senior teacher at one of Queensland’s most exclusive private schools of historic child sex offences has told why he came forward after more than 30 years of silence.

Brenden Sheehan said the publicity around the child abuse royal commission, combined with the hope his words would encourage potential victims to come forward, prompted him to write a blog post accusing Brisbane Grammar School teacher Greg Masters of drugging him and sexually abusing him.

BGS issued a statement saying it had received no complaints about the teacher in his 21-year tenure and it is understood the teacher denied the allegations.

Mr Sheehan’s blog went live on Tuesday, the school became aware of it on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning Mr Masters was found dead in non-suspicious circumstances. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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.

INDIA
The New Indian Express

KOCHI: The police on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that they had issued a lookout notice against Fr Edwin Figarez, who allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl at the parsonage of Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara, on multiple occasions.

It was submitted that a potency test should be conducted on the accused as part of the investigation. The police made the submission opposing the anticipatory bail plea filed by Fr Edwin.

Director General of Prosecution T Asaf Ali submitted that the arrest of the accused and his interrogation were inevitable for collection of evidence. “The cruelty meted out by the accused towards the victim sends a very bad message to society,” it was submitted.

The case is that Fr Edwin raped the minor girl at the parsonage of the Church on various occasions, from January 2015 until March 28, 2015. Vadakkekkara SI T M Varghese, the investigating officer of the case, stated that Bishop of the Kottappuram Diocese had formed a committee to inquire into the allegation against the accused. The probe confirmed that the accused had committed the offence, and the church banned him from participating in the Holy Mass. A circular in this regard was issued on April 12.

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INDIA
Times of India

KOCHI: Two men were on Thursday arrested for facilitating the escape of Father Edwin Figarez, an accused in a child abuse case.

Both the arrested men are Edwin’s relatives, police said, while identifying them as Thrissur residents Silvesto Figarez (58), brother of the Puthenvelikkara church priest and Ben Gari Figarez (22).

Police have also confiscated the car in which the duo allegedly facilitated the escape of Edwin to Bengaluru, from where the priest fled the country to the UAE. Investigators said Ben drove the car with the priest on April 1, a day before Edwin flew out of the country.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By RICHARD KAY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Lit by the flickering light of a log fire, their faces glowed with sober mutual interest. The prince with the troubled soul and the priest with all the answers.

Staff at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales’s country home, had grown accustomed to these intimate exchanges when the Rt Rev Peter Ball, the now disgraced Bishop of Gloucester, came to offer solace and enlightenment to their boss.

Charles had long been an admirer of the charismatic and dedicated Anglican churchman, who slept on an old horsehair mattress on the floor of his own Gloucester residence and rose for prayer at 4.30am.

When the Prince’s marriage to Diana was unravelling, Ball’s advice was sought and the prince had written ‘personal letters’ to him. Later, the bishop encouraged him over his relationship with the former Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.

Indeed, so grateful were both Charles and Camilla for his guidance and his kindness that Ball was invited to their wedding at Windsor Castle in 2005.

Throughout these years, Charles’s support for the bishop was unwavering. ‘They would pray together in the Sanctuary,’ recalls one former aide.

The Sanctuary is a Harry Potter-esque temple built by Charles deep in a glade in Highgrove’s grounds to mark the Millennium, and where he retreats for quiet contemplation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Local

Reverend Charles Sowden has been ‘suspended’ from duties in the parish of Wyberton, it has been confirmed.

A Diocese of Lincoln spokesman confirmed an investigation was taking place into Mr Sowden.

The spokesman, however, denied to reveal the nature of the investigation or who was carrying it out.

They also confirmed the Bishop of Lincoln revealed Mr Sowden’s suspension to parishioners at St Leodegar’s Church on Sunday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Echo

A Lincolnshire parish priest has been suspended from duties in the parish of Wyberton, it has been confirmed.

The Reverend Charles Sowden has been ‘suspended’ from duties in the parish of Wyberton, the Diocese of Lincoln has confirmed.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Lincoln said: “We can confirm that the Rev Charles Sowden is currently suspended from duties in the parish. An investigation is ongoing.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John R. Ellement GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 08, 2015

A Chelmsford woman is suing two former officials in the Boston Archdiocese, alleging that she was sexually molested at a Haverhill parish by a now-defrocked priest because they failed to properly supervise him.

The lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has brought dozens of complaints against members of the clergy in recent years, many of whom once served in the Boston Archdiocese.

The new lawsuit alleges that the woman was victimized in 1999-2001 by Kelvin E. Iguabita when he was assigned to the All Saints Parish in Haverhill and she was between the ages of 5 and 6.

Iguabita is alleged to have repeatedly sexually molested and raped her.

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.

Milwaukee (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259; peterisely@yahoo.com

This evening at the Milwaukee Catholic cathedral and later at a downtown country club, Catholic lawyers, judges and lawmakers will be processing to the altar with Archbishop Jerome Listecki to celebrate and honor themselves at what is called an annual “Red Mass”. Apparently in the middle ages when every judge was a Catholic, they wore red robes, hence the name.

They will, of course, also be gathering around the bronze frieze of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland depicting himself as a protector of little children, who for over 25 years (detailed in some 60,000 pages of court ordered release church documents), was the principle architect of the cover up of thousands of child sex crimes, over 8,000 documented in reports according to records, by dozens and dozens of sex offending clerics.

How ironic is it that lawyers, judges and lawmakers are gathering, especially now, when 575 Milwaukee victim cases are still languishing in federal bankruptcy court for almost five years. Bankruptcy will soon be coming a close, but not closing with justice. Lawyers will be taking away the most obscene profits from victim cases in US history. Twice as much money will be pocketed by lawyers than will be providing restitution to all victims combined, over two-thirds of the “winnings”, with $19.5 million to church and bankruptcy lawyers (charging anywhere from $450 to $995 dollars a billable hour), $4.5 million for lawyers to lose a federal appeal to protect a likely fraudulent trust set up by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

This is hardly the time for Catholic lawyers to celebrate their boom year of profits at the expense of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy. Isn’t it more fitting that they pray today for repentance, lower their fees and return some of that money to survivors? And instead of feasting at a country club, how about serving and having supper with the poor at St. Benedict’s meal program, which is conveniently located across from the courthouse?

It’s not likely that the famous Gospel story of Jesus overturning the money tables in the temple, an action of defiance and resistance of capital that directly led to his death, will be the Gospel story proclaimed by Listecki, himself a lawyer, this evening. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Just like the testimony of survivors, the word of Jesus is hard to hear. His desire for justice pierces the legal mumbling and procedures of the law and lawyerly self-congratulations. Sometimes, that desire is betrayed for a buck, as with Judas. Other times, even the most ardent disciple, like Peter, whose name bears the chair which is placed at the center of the Catholic tradition, simply fall asleep when Jesus needs him awake.

In the Christian faith the word of Jesus survived his death in the event they name the resurrection, an event around which the early Christians staked their comfort, their social standing, and in some cases their very lives. They forged together a fighting community of solidarity with the forgotten, the outcast, the unwanted.

Today, one can only hope that the word of Jesus can still be heard tonight and open the hearts of lawyers and judges that they might realize that the word has been made present in the witness and testimony of Milwaukee survivors, in spite of a legal cadre that has so battered and battled them.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A senior Salvation Army official will appear before a royal commission after three days of evidence detailing the physical and sexual abuse suffered by boys at four homes run by the organisation in three states.

Commissioner Floyd Tidd will front the inquiry in Adelaide on Friday as it examines the Salvos’ response to allegations of abuse between 1940 and 1980.

The commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is examining the treatment of residents at the Eden Park home in Adelaide, the Box Hill and Bayswater homes in Melbourne and a home at Nedlands in Perth.

It has already heard from a string of witnesses who have told how they were beaten and sexually assaulted, some more than 200 times.

On Thursday, Ross Rogers told how he was threatened with a knife and had his nose broken by an army employee at Box Hill who sexually abused him at almost every opportunity over a four-year period from 1965.

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.

COLOMBIA
El Pais

[The Colombian Supreme Court in a landmark ruling has said the Catholic Church is patrimonially responsible for sexual abuse of two minors by a priest.]

La Corte Suprema de Justicia impuso la primera condena en contra de la Iglesia Católica colombiana por actos de pederastia realizados por sacerdotes en el país y la declaró patrimonialmente responsable.

En el fallo sin precedentes, la Sala Civil de la Corte declaró a la Iglesia Católica patrimonialmente responsable por el abuso sexual de un sacerdote a dos menores de edad, desplazados por la violencia, que estaban a su cuidado.

La Corte ratificó una condena que en 2011 el Tribunal Superior de Ibagué impuso a la Diócesis de Líbano-Honda a pagar 430 millones de pesos por el abuso sexual cometido por el sacerdote Luis Enrique Duque Valencia, quien fue condenado en 2009 a 18 años de prisión.

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MINNESOTA
Noaker Law Firm

Posted on October 8, 2015

By Attorney Patrick Noaker, October 8, 2015

Investigation by attorneys for a victim of sexual abuse by priest Fr. Michael G. Skoblik at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Silver Lake reveals evidence of widespread sexual abuse of parish children as nuns turned a blind eye. Recently, Patrick Noaker, an attorney for a man who was sexually abused as a boy by Fr. Michael G. Skoblik, filed court documents revealing additional information about sexual abuse by Skoblik. According to the Second Amended Complaint[1] filed in Brown County District Court, Fr. Skoblick sexually abused John Doe 116 beginning in 1968 when he was only 10 or 11 years old. The sexual abuse continued until 1973. According to the court documents, a portion of the sexual abuse occurred during school hours, while John Doe 116 was a student at St. Joseph’s School.

According to attorney Noaker, a witness confirms that while he was a student at St. Joseph in the late 1960’s, he noticed that a few of his fellow classmates were absent from class. When the witness asked the teacher/nun why, the teacher/nun told him that the boys were with Fr. Skoblik to talk about becoming priests. The witness learned later that Fr. Skoblik sexually abused the boys during those meetings.

In addition, Noaker discovered that, according to witnesses, Fr. Skoblik recruited parish boys who expressed an interest in becoming priests to serve as altar boys. Then, Fr. Skoblik sexually abused these boys while they were serving as altar boys. Much of the sexual abuse occurred while the altar servers were changing out of their vestments after mass. While in the sacristy, Fr. Skoblik isolated the boys and sexually assault them. Some of these boys were as young as 2nd grade. According to a witness, Fr. Skoblik’s sexually abusive behavior resulted in many of the parish boys refusing to serve as altar boys. Witnesses report that it was common knowledge at St. Joseph’s parish that Fr. Skoblik had sexual contact with parish boys.

One witness remembers an occasion when he was a student at St. Joseph School, his teacher/nun instructed the class to write notes to Fr. Skoblik. The nun/teacher then instructed the witness to take the notes to Fr. Skoblik in the rectory. The witness read the notes and learned that several of the notes were from students accusing Fr. Skoblik of improperly touching them. One of the notes contained a drawing of the lower portion of a body with an “X” drawn through it.

Despite this widespread knowledge of Fr. Skoblik’s sexual abuse of parish boys, law enforcement authorities were never contacted. According to James Jurek, the Silver Lake Police Chief during the 1960’s and 1970’s, even though he heard rumors of Fr. Skoblik abusing children in the 1990’s, there was never a report to the police about Fr. Skoblik.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Mike LaBella mlabella@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — The president of a nonprofit agency providing services to victims of sexual abuse was in Haverhill late Thursday morning to publicly announce details of a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman who, as a child, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former priest at All Saints Church.

Robert Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., stood on the sidewalk outside All Saints Church, 120 Bellevue Ave., next to a Methuen man who said he is building up the courage to publicly announce he was the victim of sexual abuse by a priest as well.

Hoatson said the lawsuit filed on behalf of the woman alleges Kelvin Iguabita, a former All Saints priest convicted in 2003 of raping a 15-year-old girl on the church property, also sexually assaulted another victim when she was 5 years old.

The suit, being brought against the Archdiocese of Boston, says Iguabita assaulted the younger girl from 1999 to 2001. The suit says the victim is now 21.

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ROME
VICE News

By Liz Fields

October 8, 2015

On the eve the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, for which Pope Francis is widely believed to be a top contender, the pontiff was recorded calling Chilean protesters “dumb” for rallying against the bishop of Osorno, Chile, who has been linked to one of the country’s most notorious clerical child molesters.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” Pope Francis told visitors to Vatican City in St. Peter’s Square, according to one translation by the New York Times. It “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.”

“Don’t be led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this,” he added.

The “leftists” are presumed to be socialist members of Chile’s Congress, who have signed a petition opposing Barros’s appointment as bishop.

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ROME
Telegraph (UK)

By Nick Squires, Rome 08 Oct 2015

Pope Francis has angered groups protesting against clerical sex abuse by calling them “dumb”, raising doubts about his commitment to tackling an issue that has shattered trust in the Catholic Church worldwide.

The Pope made the remarks during an audience in St Peter’s Square, directing them at a group of Catholics from the city of Osorno in Chile who have held protests against a local bishop accused of complicity in a sex abuse scandal.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb … It has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof,” the South American pontiff said.

“Don’t be led by the nose by the Leftists who orchestrated all of this.” He made the remarks in May but they have only just emerged.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

[with video]

Soli Salgado | Oct. 8, 2015

On Oct. 2, a Chilean news channel brought to light a May 6 recording of Pope Francis defending Bishop Juan Barros, who was recently assigned to Osorno, Chile, despite allegations that the new bishop covered up clergy sex abuse by a priest in the 1980s and 1990s.

Though evidence of the priest’s abuse was verified by Chile’s judicial court, statute of limitations allowed Fr. Fernando Karadima to dodge prosecution. When a separate Vatican investigation found the priest guilty of abuse, he was condemned in 2011 to a life of prayer and penance in a convent outside of Santiago.

“[The diocese] lost its independence once it let its head be filled with what politicians say, who are judging a bishop without any evidence, even after 20 years as bishop,” Francis said in the May 6 recording, before a group of Chilean Catholics in Rome who asked the pope to send a message to those in Osorno disappointed by the arrival of Barros. “Think with your heads and do not be led by the noses by the lefties who orchestrated this whole thing,” he said in Spanish, as translated by NCR.

Though Barros was never tried for covering up Karadima’s abuse, testimonial evidence has suggested Barros destroyed incriminating correspondence, while other victim testimonies claimed Barros was present during the sexual acts. Though Chilean courts uphold the testimonial evidence, Barros has denied the allegations and has never faced a canonical or civil case.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

[with video]

By Adam Taylor October 8

Few global figures have enjoyed a more positive public image recently than Pope Francis, the remarkably popular leader of the Catholic Church. But a newly released video that appears to show the pope calling critics of the church’s actions in Chile “dumb” has prompted fresh protests in the Latin American country – and could also harm the pontiff’s reputation internationally.

The video, aired by a Chilean TV channel last week, was initially filmed at the Vatican in May. According to Catholic news Web site Crux, the video shows Jaime Coiro, a former spokesman for the Chilean Bishops Conference, greeting Francis in St Peter’s Square.

In the video, Francis talks about criticism that the Catholic church in Chile was facing at the time. The appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the Osorno, Chile, diocese had drawn protests throughout the country due to accusations that Barros had helped cover up the sexual abuse of minors by his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and may have witnessed some of the abuse himself.

The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 and sentenced him to a “life of prayer and penitence.” While Barros spent more than 30 years working with Karadima, he has denied any cover-up, and the Vatican released a short statement offering a defense of the bishop’s appointment in March. The newly released video, however, shows Francis going much further – not only angrily defending Barros’s appointment, but seemingly insulting the intelligence of protesters.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Roman Catholic priest has been charged in connection with more than 3,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Clarke, 71, from East Sussex, but now living in Manchester, is due to appear before Brighton magistrates on 15 October.

He is charged with possessing an indecent image of a child, possession of prohibited images and making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

All charges relate to images taken off the internet, Sussex Police said.

Mr Clarke, of Redclyffe Road, Urmston, Greater Manchester, but formerly of Watchbell Road, Rye in East Sussex, was charged after an investigation by the paedophile on-line investigation team of Sussex Police.

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ITALY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME — Errant priests are dropping like flies in Italy these days. Last weekend, Polish Monsignor Krysztof Charamsa was relieved of his services to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith after a coming-out press conference here in which he nuzzled his boyfriend and announced a pending book deal for his tome outlining the Vatican’s “institutionalized homophobia.”

This week, it’s a 75-year-old parish priest in the northern city of Trento who justified pedophilia by victim-blaming, telling Italy’s La7 television channel that often it is needy children who cause weak priests to succumb to their urges.

“Unfortunately, there are children who seek affection because they don’t get it at home and then if they find some priest he can even give in. I understand this,” the Rev. Gino Flaim said. When the shocked TV reporter asked if he was saying it was the child victims’ fault, he said, “In many cases, yes.” Then he closed the interview by saying that while he somehow understood the cause of sexual violence against minors, he simply couldn’t wrap his head around the phenomenon of gay priests. “Homosexuality, I don’t know,” he said. “I think it’s a sickness.”

Flaim’s comments understandably enraged the Vatican, which is in the midst of a crucial summit of bishops that is meant to focus on the woes facing Catholic families—from birth control to Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics—but has been largely sidetracked by the issue of same-sex unions and how priests must minister to the LGBT community. Pope Francis has not escaped the mud-slinging, after first admitting to a meeting with gay-marriage opponent Kim Davis on his recent trip to the U.S., which his press machine followed up with the clarification of the meet-up as a “brief encounter” and an announcement that he also had a cordial audience with a longtime friend and his same-sex partner.

The trouble in Trento couldn’t come at a worse time as the Vatican tries to control its message in Rome. The elderly priest was stripped of his duties—but not his collar. On Thursday, Flaim told La Repubblica that he had no idea what he said that was so upsetting. “I said that I understood them, not that I condone them,” he said. “It’s very different.”

That may be, but support groups for victims of clerical sexual abuse say Flaim’s “preposterous and hurtful” comments reflect a commonly held sentiment among the clerical community. “Time and time again, for decades, we’ve seen priests and bishops make this claim,” David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests known as SNAP told The Daily Beast. “Hundreds of clerics have publicly blamed kids for their own victimization. And we suspect that thousands more privately hold these self-serving attitudes but are smart enough to hide their views.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Tom Gallagher reports yesterday evening for National Catholic Reporter about his attempts to gather more information about who initiated the “highly secret rendezvous” of Kim Davis with the pope, which included a Secret Service pick-up of Davis and her husband to bring them (her hair bundled in a head covering to disguise her) to the residence of the papal nuncio. As he writes,

It’s hard to believe that a seasoned Vatican diplomat such as Viganò would, on his own initiative and in complete isolation, invite Davis to meet Pope Francis without seeking counsel and support from others. But to whom did he turn for such counsel and support?

Two of Viganò’s fellow Catholic speakers at the traditional marriage event in April both deny any involvement in arranging the Davis-Pope Francis meeting.

I asked Lori’s executive director of communications, Sean Craine, by email if Lori had directly or indirectly initiated, advocated or facilitated the Davis meeting with Pope Francis at the nunciature during the pope’s visit to Washington, D.C.

Craine promptly responded by email: “No, he did not.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Gallagher | Oct. 7, 2015 NCR Today

Everyone loves a mystery! And do we have a mystery in figuring out who initiated and secured the meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the government official from Rowan County, Kentucky, whose attempts to impose her anti-marriage equality religious views on her community by not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of the law landed her — rightfully — in jail. Her illegal behavior under the guise of “religious liberty” made Davis the reigning queen of far right conservative groups.

As I noted yesterday, the law firm representing Davis, Liberty Counsel, was designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group for spreading false information. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists 728 hate groups, e.g., Neo-Nazi groups (142 groups) and active Ku Klux Clan groups (72 groups), in the United States and has created a U.S. map identifying each group and its location, which you can view here. You can read the center’s analysis of Liberty Counsel and its lawyer, Mat Staver, here.

Married lawyers Mat and Anita Staver run Liberty Counsel. In reviewing the organization’s 990 tax returns, it was a bit odd to read the disclosure about their relationship in the filing as “Anita Staver and Mat Staver have a family relationship.” For such a zealous pro-traditional marriage firm, it seems odd that they didn’t list themselves as “husband and wife.”

So for now, all we really know is that the Vatican’s representative to the U.S., papal nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò, is in the center of who might have approved Davis’ highly secret rendezvous with Pope Francis at the nuncio’s residence in Washington, D.C., that included a Secret Service pick-up and delivery of Davis and her husband, Joe.

But did Viganò act alone?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

This picture of Pope Francis apparently talking to retired Belgian cardinal Godfried Danneels at the Synod on the Family, which began this week, is circulating on Twitter and disturbing many Catholics. This is what you need to know:

1. Five years ago, Cardinal Danneels tried to cover up a revolting case of family sex abuse.

As the National Catholic Reporter revealed on August 30, 2010:

Audio recordings leaked to the Belgian media this weekend reveal Belgium’s Cardinal Godfried Danneels urging a sex abuse victim not to make public that his abuser was his uncle Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges, Belgium. The recordings show Danneels pressuring the young man not to force Vangheluwe to resign.

The transcript quoted by the newspaper is chilling:

Cardinal Danneels asks if the nephew wants Vangheluwe to resign and adds: ‘But that is his decision. I can mention it but that’s all. You expect me to do something that I cannot do. I don’t know what more to do. Or perhaps I have to find some other way to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.’

When the nephew stresses that the cardinal must speak to pope and that Vangeluwe must be sanctioned by the church, Cardinal Danneels responds ‘Yes but… You can also ask forgiveness and, well, you can also acknowledge your own guilt.’

Nephew: ‘Whose forgiveness do I have to seek? I am not the one to ask for forgiveness.’
Danneels: ‘He can do that. That’s correct.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

BY BEN MITCHELL

A Roman Catholic priest from Greater Manchester has been charged in connection with more than 3,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Clarke, now of Redclyffe Road, Urmston, but formerly of Watchbell Road, Rye, East Sussex, is due to appear on bail at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday October 15, charged with offences relating to indecent images of children.

The 71-year-old faces charges of possessing an indecent image of a child, possession of prohibited images, and three of making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The charges, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, follow an intelligence-led investigation by the Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) of Sussex Police.

“All the charges involve images allegedly taken from the internet. There is no evidence of contact offending and none of the images are of local children.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

[with video]

William D. Lindsey

Pascal Bonnefoy reports for New York Times yesterday on the video about which I appended a note to Brittie Perez’s great essay, which was shot by an Argentine tourist in St. Peter’s Square last May, and released Friday. As I noted, it shows Pope Francis blaming “leftists” for the uproar that ensued when he appointed Juan Barros bishop of Osorno, Chile, and stigmatizing the people of Osorno as dumb.

Bonnefoy writes,

Many watched in disbelief: There he was, Pope Francis, calling people in Osorno, a city in southern Chile, “dumb” for protesting against a bishop accused of being complicit in clerical sexual abuse.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” Pope Francis told a group of tourists on St. Peter’s Square, because it “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.”

“Don’t be led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this,” the pope said.

The video, filmed by an Argentine tourist in May, was obtained by a Chilean television station and broadcast Friday, quickly instilling doubts here about the pope’s commitment to protecting victims of sexual abuse.

Bonnefoy quotes Juan Carlos Claret, a spokesman for Osorno’s Lay Organization which has been spearheading protests against Barros because of his close ties to Father Fernando Karadima, a priest who has sexually abused minors (Karadima’s victims allege that Barros covered up and was complicit in Karadima’s abuse): Claret says,

It is the Church of Osorno that is demonstrating; we are not taking orders from political parties. We are now seeing the real face of Pope Francis, and we demand an explanation.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

This coming Friday, the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize will announce this year’s awardee and we implore the Nobel Committee NOT to vote for Pope Francis because he is all empty talk and he has done nothing – personally — for the good of children and mankind. Pope Francis is only a big-mouth who preaches and – plagiarises the hard works of others especially scientists of climate change who work their butts out in the field – and Pope Francis usurps the honor due to them. Last year, we praised the Nobel Committee for choosing a 17 year old girl Malala who is personally working out there in the field helping girls to have access and the right to education – at the risk of her personal life – and fighting threats against her personal life, against the Taliban and personal opponents. But Pope Francis suffer no such risks as Malala – and other more worthy awardees — because he is surrounded by ceremonial Swiss Guard Army and he is living in the lap of luxury of the Vatican Billions and within the fortress and comfort of the Vatican Palace that surpass the palaces of monarchs in Europe and in the world.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the pope’s reaction to those who seek to exploit the issue of priestly sexual abuse:

Last May, when Pope Francis visited Chile, he spoke to residents of Osorno about allegations that the local bishop, Juan Barros, was complicit in a crime of priestly sexual abuse. The bishop, who was installed in March, has come under fire for covering up the abuses of Father Fernando Karadima. The priest was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011; the following year a Chilean court dismissed claims against him because the statute of limitations had expired.

It should be noted that the bishop’s principal accuser, Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay man, was 15 when the alleged abuse occurred and it did not end until he was 23! Moreover, we know that a Vatican inquiry was sufficient for Pope Francis to take the bishop’s side. “The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” he said. He explained that it “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.” Then the pope got specific: “Don’t be led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this.”

Pope Francis could have admonished the crowd not to be manipulated by critics of the Church, or by those with an agenda. Instead, he identified “leftists.” Much the same could be said about those who have sought to exploit the homosexual scandal here at home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

OCTOBER 9, 2015

A royal commission has heard the Victorian government was first made aware of alle­gations that staff at a Salvation Army boys home had sexually abused children as far back as 1964, and no evidence was ever found to show the matter was properly ­investigated.

The Health Department’s ­director of reporting, Alan Hall, yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Res­ponses to Child Sexual Abuse that boys taken into the Box Hill and Bayswater homes had been let down, acknowledging the pain and suffering they had felt.

“We should have visited more, we should have been there much more for the times that you wanted someone to talk to,” Mr Hall said.

It was ­revealed this week that the South Australian government had known of abuse allegations at a Salvation Army-run home in the Adelaide Hills for more than 40 years until it closed in 1982.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Thursday, October 8

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

An Italian priest has been suspended because he admits that he can “understand” pedophilia because sometimes youngsters essentially bring abuse on themselves.

Father Gino Flaim basically says that, at least in some cases, kids “looking for” affection tempt pedophile priests and cause them to commit child sex crimes. That’s preposterous and hurtful.

Time and time again, for decades, we’ve seen priests and bishops make this claim. Hundreds of clerics have publicly blamed kids for their own victimization. And we suspect that thousands more privately hold these self-serving attitudes but are smart enough to hide their views.

It’s especially common to hear this victim-blaming in unguarded, unscripted moments and when clerics who commit or conceal violence against kids are facing possible punishment for their crimes.

We’re glad that the Vatican reacted to Fr. Flaim’s hurtful comments. But he’s less of an aberration than many assume. And wouldn’t it be refreshing to see Catholic officials promptly and harshly punish priests like this who say similarly harmful things in private, instead of acting only when irresponsible behavior and hurtful words emerge in public?

Finally, speaking of prompt and harsh punishment, it’s worth noting that days ago, Vatican officials immediately ousted a gay priest, Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa, but they rarely act so quick and decisive with predator priests. Most child molesting clerics are never defrocked. If they are, it almost always takes years – and dozens of victims or lawsuits or negative publicity – before it happens. Even now, it often takes weeks or months to even get a credibly accused child molesting cleric suspended from active ministry. But in controversies that do not involve sexual violence or cover ups, when high ranking Catholic officials feel embarrassed or offended, they manage to quickly discipline those they consider wrongdoers.

Sadly, we see little evidence that this is changing. Remember the “Bishop of Bling” controversy early in Francis’ pontificate. In this case too, public outrage prompted speedy Vatican discipline against this lavish-spending German prelate. But hundreds of bishops have been publicly exposed as having protected predators, endangered kids, deceiving parishioners, misleading police, destroying evidence, intimidating victims, threatening whistle-blowers, and discrediting witnesses and suffer no consequences, despite repeated promises by Francis and others that they will be.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Thu 08 Oct 2015
By Antony Bushfield

A Catholic priest has been charged in connection with more than 3,000 indecent images of children.

Fr Paul Clarke is accused of offences relating to indecent images of children whilst at St Anthony’s Church in Rye, East Sussex.

The 71-year-old, who now lives in Urmston, Greater Manchester, is due to appear on bail at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday October 15.

He faces charges of possessing an indecent image of a child, possession of prohibited images, and three of making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The charges, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, follow an intelligence-led investigation by the Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) of Sussex Police.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Lizzie Dearden Thursday 8 October 2015

A 71-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been charged with making 3,100 indecent images of children.

Father Paul Clarke, of Redclyffe Road in Urmston, but formerly of Rye in East Sussex, is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates Court today.

He has been charged with possessing an indecent image of a child, possessing prohibited images, and making a total of 3,100 indecent images of children.

Police searched his former residence at the presbytery of St Anthony of Padua church in Rye on 13 November last year, seizing computers and other alleged evidence.

The Rye News reported that Father Clarke resigned “suddenly” in February, having been at the church since 2009.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A priest has been charged over possessing and making indecent images of children.
Paul Clarke, 71, faces five charges involving images taken from the internet.

One alleges his possession of an indecent image of a child, another alleges his possession of prohibited images, and three allege his making a total of 3100 indecent images of children.

The priest, who now lives in Urmston in Manchester but formerly lived in East Sussex, is due to appear on bail at Brighton Magistrates Court on Thursday 15 October.

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UNITED STATES
PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) today released Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices. This bulletin represents the first collaborative effort by professionals from several major forensic interview training programs to summarize the current knowledge and application of best practices on gathering factual information from children regarding allegations of child maltreatment.

Most child abuse investigations begin with a forensic interview of the child. This bulletin provides guidance on topics such as interview timing and setting, question type, rapport-building between the interviewer and the victim, interview aids, and vicarious trauma and self-care. OJJDP commissioned this report as a resource for law enforcement, medical, court and other child protection professionals working in this field.

AUTHORS: Chris Newlin, Linda Cordisco Steele, Andra Chamberlin, Jennifer
Anderson, Julie Kenniston, Amy Russell, Heather Stewart, and Viola Vaughan-Eden

WHERE: www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248749.pdf

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Associate Investigators

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was established to consider the institutional failings that allowed child sexual abuse to happen in the past and to make recommendations to prevent it from happening in the future. The Inquiry is chaired by Hon. Lowell Goddard DNZM and a Panel has been appointed by the Home Secretary to conduct the Inquiry.

All institutions – state and non-state – fall within the remit of the Inquiry. The Inquiry will conduct a series of detailed investigations into the conduct of these institutions and many of these investigations will culminate in public hearings. The Inquiry therefore needs a pool of experienced investigators to conduct these investigations on behalf of the Panel, gathering the evidence required.

We are seeking both Lead Investigators and Investigative Officers to support the Panel in their investigations.

Successful candidates will be required to undergo a security vetting procedure, after which they will be added to a pool of investigators. Investigators may be allocated short-term fixed term appointments dependent on the business need, role and skills required.

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IRELAND
The Journal

MANY CHILDREN HAVE positive stories from St Joseph’s School For Deaf Boys in Cabra, Dublin, from its 150-year history.

It was the chance for many to learn Irish Sign Language, allowing them to communicate and express themselves comfortably.

Others learned trades and were able to leave school and earn a living.

The school became known worldwide for its high standards of education – but it also has a murky history starting from the middle of last century.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I first arrived,” Larry Coogan recalls from his largely positive time at school between 1953 and 1958. He went on to become a master tailor.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

A FORMER resident of a Salvation Army children’s home in Perth was beaten, humiliated and sexually abused, a royal commission has heard.

The 57-year-old cannot be identified, but has detailed her treatment at the Hollywood Children’s Village in Nedlands from 1969 to 1972.

She said she had trouble with bed-wetting as a child and as punishment a staff member would rub her face in the wet sheets.

“I was also forced to wear wet underpants on my head with the crotch part over my nose,” she told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday.

“All the bed-wetters were made to stand in the lounge room so everyone could see us.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Salvation Army has been urged to change its attitude and better recognise the horrific abuse suffered by children taken into its homes.

In a statement read to a royal commission in Adelaide, David Wright, who died recently, said the Salvos needed to acknowledge what happened to the ‘beautiful children’ who went into their homes.

‘They seem unprepared to turn their minds towards what happened, to what their employees were capable of,’ Mr Wright said in his statement read on Thursday.

Mr Wright spent two years at Box Hill Boy’s Home in Melbourne in the 1950s, arriving there when he was just nine years old.

His statement to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse detailed the emotional, physical and sexual abuse he suffered over that time.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

THE Victorian government says it failed boys taken into homes run by the Salvation Army, including those who were sexually and physically abused.

DEPARTMENT of Health and Human Services official Alan Hall has told a royal commission he wanted to acknowledge the pain and suffering felt by those boys abused during their time in the homes at Box Hill and Bayswater in Melbourne.

“I want it to be clear that the department had a clear responsibility for oversight of those homes and it clearly did not do enough,” Mr Hall told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide on Thursday.

“We should have visited more, we should have been there much more for the times that you wanted someone to talk to.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

AAP

A Salvation Army worker threatened a boy with a knife and broke his nose during four years of almost constant physical and sexual abuse at a boys’ home in Melbourne, an inquiry has heard.

Ross Rogers was just 11 when he was sent to the Box Hill home in 1965 and has detailed the horrific treatment he received at the hands of Willem Willemsen, which started within months of his arrival.

The odd-job man and medical officer took every opportunity he could to abuse the boy, often putting a hand over his mouth to stop him screaming.

“On more than one occasion he held a knife to my throat to threaten me,” Rogers told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Adelaide on Thursday.

On another occasion Willemsen became aggressive and hit Rogers with a plank of wood, breaking his nose.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Candice Marcus

Harrowing accounts of abuse and cruelty at children’s homes run by the Salvation Army have been heard as royal commission hearings in Adelaide go into a third day.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today heard stories of sexual violence committed against children at Box Hill and Bayswater boys’ homes in Melbourne.

Former resident Ross Rogers said he was frequently raped and sexually abused by senior Salvation Army officer Willem Willemsen in the 1950s.

He described being beaten and said on one occasion when he tried to resist the sexual abuse, Willemsen grabbed a nearby plank of wood and hit him across the face, breaking his nose.

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ALABAMA
WAAY

Rachel Keith rkeith@waaytv.com

According to court documents, a former Lauderdale County youth minister was sentenced to 2 years in prison for child molestation Wednesday.

As part of a plea agreement, 79-year-old Oliver Brazelle received a 10 year split sentence, but will only serve 2 years behind bars. His sentence will be reviewed by a judge after 2 years to determine if he will be released.

Brazelle was arrested and charged with sexual abuse in January. He was the youth and music minister at the Sheffield First United Methodist Church.

In August, Brazelle pled guilty to a lesser offense of child molestation and luring a child in order to perform or to propose sexual acts.

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ALABAMA
Times Daily

By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer

FLORENCE — The father of a 12-year-old who was sexually molested by Oliver Brazelle said he wanted the former Sheffield youth minister to understand the “devastation” Brazelle brought on his family and the community.

“You were respected, an ordained member of the clergy. You had the trust of those members. We considered you and your family our best friends,” the father said. “We had no clue of the devastation you did on our son.

“My son (who is now an adult) is a hero because he came forward, put himself on the line to stop a monster like you. May God have mercy on your soul, but not on your body and your life while you are alive on this earth.”

Brazelle, 81, the former music and youth minister of First United Methodist Church of Sheffield, was indicted in August 2014 on sodomy and sexual abuse charges involving a teenage boy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

CAMPAIGNERS yesterday called for church leaders, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to “hang their heads in shame” after the former Bishop of Lewes was poised to spend less than a month in prison for each of his victims.

The 32 month sentence handed down by a judge to Peter Ball was branded “a failure to do justice” as the 83-year-old is expected to serve half of that.

Ball was sentenced for two individual counts of indecent assaults, and one count of misconduct in a public office which encompassed acts of “debasement” perpetrated on sixteen young men who had come to his home seeking spiritual enlightenment.

After the sentencing a former Archbishop of Canterbury was forced to deny that his involvement in the case in the 1990s amounted to a “cover-up”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Sun Chronicle

BY BERA DUNAU SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

FOXBORO – The town’s efforts to widen the scope of state law designating who is considered to be a mandated reporter of child sexual abuse has taken the next step, thanks to state Rep. Jay Barrows.

And, it could have a big impact, he told selectmen this week.

Foxboro’s child sexual abuse committee asked Barrows, R-Mansfield, to run the home rule petition the committee has drafted for the town through the proper channels in state government last spring. Barrows took the petition to legal counsel for the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

“It’s a game changer, what was drafted,” Barrows said Tuesday.

He said that the house’s counsel has come back with some suggestions, and that he would like to meet with the child sexual abuse committee and town counsel to discuss how to go forward. Barrows will talk with the committee at its Oct. 15 meeting.

As currently written, the petition would define a mandated reporter to include any public or private school employee, any paid or unpaid person who works with children in any public or private facility, all employees of the Town of Foxboro and all volunteers who work with children in Foxboro, as well as any other person in an organization who has contact with children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 23

There are harsh accusations against a Somerset County Catholic Priest on Wednesday. We are learning about a sixty eight year old Priest that is now suspended because he is accused of sexual abuse. The Diocese confirms that Father Martin Cingle has been placed on a leave as they investigate allegations concerning sex abuse of a minor dating back to 2002. According to the Johnstown Catholic Diocese, Father Cingle is sixty eight years old and has been an Ordained Priest since 1973. He has served at about a dozen parishes throughout Central Pennsylvania. The most recent, All Saints Parish in Boswell and Saint Anne Parish in Davidsville. According to published reports Cingle is the twenty eighth Altoon Johnstown Diocese’s clergy member to be publicly accused of molesting children.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Thursday, October 8th, 2015

A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday declined to order a new sale of properties belonging to the Diocese of Gallup even though auctioneers made an “error in judgment” by turning away a newspaper reporter and a graduate student from what had been billed as a public auction last month in Albuquerque.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma said that ordering a new auction could harm victims of sexual abuse by priests by reducing the money available to settle the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

Auctions held last month in Albuquerque and Phoenix netted the diocese about $160,000 after fees were paid to real estate brokers handling the sales. As of June 30, legal and professional costs in the case had mounted to more than $2.6 million. Ordering a new auction “would cost money,” Thuma said at the end of a hearing in Albuquerque. “There is a risk that ordering a new auction would harm the creditors, who are abuse victims.”

Thuma scheduled the hearing last week after Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, a reporter for the Gallup Independent, and Meredith Edelman, a doctoral candidate, sent him letters saying they had been barred from a Sept. 19 auction in Albuquerque.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Greg Daly
October 8, 2015

The sole Irish member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has said she is “disappointed” with comments by Pope Francis recorded in a five-month-old video that was made public last week.

Abuse survivor Marie Collins was responding to a video in which the Pontiff was recorded speaking to the former spokesman for Chile’s bishops, who said the Chilean Church was “praying and suffering” for him.

The Pope promptly said the Church in Chile has “lost its head” over his controversial appointment of Bishop Juan Barros to head the Diocese of Osorno, urging him against being “led around by the nose by these leftists who are the ones who put this [opposition] together”.

Dr Barros’s appointment this March was widely opposed in Chile, with 51 of the country’s 120 parliamentarians having – along with over 30 clergy and 1,300 lay people from Osorno – written to Rome in protest. Despite a Vatican investigation into claims against him, he is widely regarded as a defender of his one-time mentor, Fr Fernando Karadima, a prominent priest who the Vatican in 2011 found guilty of abuse and sentenced to a life of “prayer and penance”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Mazoe Ford

A Catholic priest and part-time police chaplain from the New South Wales Northern Rivers region who faces child sexual abuse charges from the 1980s has been granted bail.

John Patrick Casey will be effectively under house arrest at a relative’s remote 40-acre property and can only leave the address if accompanied by one of three family members.

The priest is not allowed to have any contact with children under the age of 16, must surrender his passport, has to report daily to police and must not contact anyone connected with the crown case.

Casey’s family offered up a $400,000 surety as part of his bail application to the New South Wales Supreme Court.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Mike LaBella mlabella@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — A civil lawsuit says a former priest at All Saints Church convicted in 2000 of raping a 15-year-old girl also sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl a decade and a half ago.

The suit, being brought against the Archdiocese of Boston, says former priest Kelvin Iguabita assaulted the younger girl from 1999 to 2001. The suit says the victim is now 21.

Iguabita was sentenced to 12 to 14 years in prison in 2003 for raping the 15-year-old girl in the All Saints Church rectory. Iguabita was defrocked, or thrown out of the priesthood. He is now 45, has served his jail sentence and is free.

In the civil complaint involving the younger girl, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian said two priests from the Archdiocese failed to properly supervise Iguabita, which allowed him to become a threat to the younger girl. The complaint identifies those priests as the Rev. William Murphy,
currently bishop of Rockville Centre in Long Island, N.Y., who was the first assistant to Cardinal Bernard Law; and the Rev. Paul Miceli, currently dean of seminarians at the John XXIII Seminary in Weston and former secretary of ministerial personnel under Cardinal Law.

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BOSTON (MA)
Newsweek

BY ALEXANDER NAZARYAN 10/8/15

In the summer of 1982, a woman from Dorchester, Massachusetts, named Margaret Gallant wrote a letter to Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros, then archbishop of Boston. In the letter, Gallant said that seven of her nephews and grandnephews had been abused by a local priest, John J. Geoghan. “It embarrasses me that the church is so negligent,” she wrote. Medeiros did not appear especially concerned for the welfare of the children. “To be sure, we cannot accept sin, but we know well that we must love the sinner and pray for him,” the cardinal wrote back.

This is how it always went with Geoghan, whose proclivities were well known by the 1980s. Back in 1954, at the Cardinal O’Connell Seminary, he was singled out for his “very pronounced immaturity.” At his first priestly posting, at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Saugus, Massachusetts, he was known to wrestle with boys in his private chambers.

As Geoghan moved from parish to parish throughout his career, he continued to prey on boys, almost always from poor families where an overworked mother was happy to have a little help from the parish priest. His abuse would inevitably attract the attention of the archdiocese. The prelates would force him into psychiatric care at a church-controlled treatment center, after which he’d return to pastoral care. In three and a half decades of wearing the cassock, Geoghan sexually assaulted 130 children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By REBECCA ENGLISH ROYAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL

When the Duchess of Cornwall lost her father in June 2006, Bishop Ball was invited to deliver a homily at his funeral.

His inclusion at such a high-profile event – attended by Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry – was a clear indication of Ball’s status in royal circles.

Yet 13 years before the funeral, he had been forced to resign after being cautioned by police over a sexual assault on a teenage monk.

Ball was even renting a house from the Duchy of Cornwall – the private estate which funds the heir to the throne.

He had moved in shortly after his very public disgrace.

Sources close to the prince were last night were unable to confirm whether he had ever written a letter in support of Ball.

And they were keen to point out that even lawyers involved in the case are unable to give details.

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CHILE
The New York Times

By PASCALE BONNEFOY
OCT. 7, 2015

SANTIAGO, Chile — Many watched in disbelief: There he was, Pope Francis, calling people in Osorno, a city in southern Chile, “dumb” for protesting against a bishop accused of being complicit in clerical sexual abuse.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” Pope Francis told a group of tourists on St. Peter’s Square, because it “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.”

“Don’t be led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this,” the pope said.

The video, filmed by an Argentine tourist in May, was obtained by a Chilean television station and broadcast on Friday, quickly instilling doubts here about the pope’s commitment to protecting victims of sexual abuse.

Under a heavy rain, demonstrators with black balloons chanted again outside the San Mateo Cathedral in Osorno on Sunday as the bishop at the center of the controversy, Juan Barros, said mass.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

(AP) – A bankruptcy judge has ordered attorneys for a New Mexico diocese to explain why a property auction wasn’t made public.

The Gallup Independent reports that representatives of the Diocese of Gallup are scheduled to appear before U.S. bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma on Wednesday.

Thuma says the diocese may not have conducted a public auction, which is required by federal bankruptcy rules. He says he got complaints from a researcher and the Gallup Independent saying they were.

One of the letters is from the Gallup Independent.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

By Marielena Balouris | mbalouris@wtajtv.com
Published 10/07 2015

Boswell, Somerset County, Pa.

Another priest from the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese is in hot water for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.

No charges have been filed, but Father Martin Cingle has been suspended from the ministry while the Diocese investigates this most recent allegation.

The allegation is of sexual misconduct involving minors — and it dates back to 2002. The Diocese tells us that Martin has served at about a dozen parishes throughout the diocese — and currently is the pastor at All Saints parish in Boswell and Saint Anne parish in Davidsville, both in Somerset County. A letter was read to the parishes this past weekend informing them of this development, but the Diocese says Church business will continue while Martin is suspended.

Tony DeGol, who is the Secretary of Communications at the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, said, “Bishop Mark is planning at some point to schedule a time where he can go to the parishes and celebrate mass and speak with the people. In the meantime he is assuring them that the sacramental life of those parishes will continue.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By TOM KELLY and REBECCA ENGLISH FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Prince Charles was last night sensationally linked to Establishment support for a predatory bishop that led to a cover-up of his crimes.

The heir to the throne was forced to deny interfering in the legal process to help Peter Ball escape sex abuse charges as the 83-year-old was finally brought to justice yesterday over offences against boys dating back 40 years.

Charles’s dramatic intervention came after the Old Bailey was told a royal had written in support of the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester when he was first investigated.

The prince is understood to have been among MPs, cabinet ministers, public school headmasters and a former lord chief justice all said to have assisted Ball.

The astonishing claims emerged on the day Scotland Yard’s VIP abuse inquiry team faced fresh turmoil after being forced to apologise to Lord Brittan’s widow over its bungled probe into false rape allegations against him.

On Tuesday, the BBC’s Panorama cast grave doubt on the reliability of the inquiry’s key witnesses.

Ball was jailed for 32 months at the Old Bailey yesterday.

But in 1993 he was let off with a caution after admitting gross indecency against a boy of 17.

The royal who wrote to support him was not named in court, but Ball counted Charles as a ‘loyal friend’ and publicly thanked him for providing him with a Duchy of Cornwall home following his criminal caution.

Ball also read the homily at the funeral of the father of Camilla Parker Bowles in 2006.

A spokesman for Charles insisted: ‘The Prince of Wales made no intervention in the judicial process on behalf of Peter Ball.’

However he failed to deny there had been a letter in support of Ball.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Updated: Wednesday, October 7 2015

Lauren Hensley

ALTOONA, Pa.– Altoona-Johnstown Diocese confirms a Somerset County priest, Martin Cingle, has been suspended as they investigate allegations concerning sex abuse of a minor dating back to 2002.

According to the Diocese, Cingle has been an ordained priest since 1973. He has served at about a dozen parishes throughout central Pennsylvania.

Most recently father Cingle served as pastor at All Saints Parish in Boswell and Saint Anne Parish in Davidsville.

Church officials have not released any more information regarding the allegations, causing victim service agencies to call for action.

“We are so sorry that a child has been hurt and we hope that they find healing. We would beg anyone with knowledge of these crimes any information to contact law enforcement,” Barbara Doris with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said.

SNAP’s web site said it is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. They have a strong message for the bishop of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and are calling him to action.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Barbara Vitello

A prominent Elgin imam, already on bond on charges he sexually abused a 22-year-old employee of the Islamic school he founded, faces new charges accusing him of sexually abusing a former student when she was teen.

Mohammad Abdullah Saleem — founder and former director of the Institute of Islamic Education, a private school in Elgin for children in sixth through 12th grades — was ordered held on $1 million bail Wednesday afternoon on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Cook County Judge Joseph Cataldo ordered Saleem have no contact with this new accuser and no contact with anyone under age 18. Cataldo also ordered Saleem to surrender his passport.

Saleem’s new accuser says the cleric sexually abused her 15 to 20 times between 2001 and 2003, when she was between 14 and 16 years old and a student at the school, where he served as president and principal.

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ILLINOIS
Fox 32

ELGIN, Ill. (STMW) – A nationally renowned Islamic leader accused of sexually abusing a girl who attended his Elgin school was ordered held on a $1 million bond Wednesday.

Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 75, turned himself in to Elgin police Wednesday morning and was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor, according to Elgin police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The victim began attending the Institute of Islamic Education in August 2001 when she was 14, according to prosecutors. Saleem founded the school in 1989 as a full-time residential educational institution for students in 6-12.

About one month later, Saleem requested the girl visit him in his office once a week, prosecutors said. During the visits, Saleem would force the girl to sit on his lap, touch and fondle her in a sexual manner, and give her gifts, including a gold necklace and cash.

The abuse continued until September 2003, when the victim moved out of state to finish high school, prosecutors said. In December 2014 the victim disclosed details of the abuse to a witness, who contacted Elgin police, who were already investigating Saleem for similar crimes.

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ILLINOIS
WLS

ELGIN, Ill. (WLS) — The founder of a suburban Islamic school is accused of abusing a former student.

Abdullah Saleem, 76, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is accused of inappropriately touching the victim in his office at Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, Ill., on dozens of occasions from 2001 to 2003. The girl was 14 when the alleged abuse began, prosecutors said.

Police said they were notified of the abuse in 2014. He was held on a $1 million bond.

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ILLINOIS
San Francisco Chronicle

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago Islamic scholar already facing charges of sexually abusing an employee of the school he founded faces new allegations that he abused a former student.

Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, founder of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail Wednesday on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The Daily Herald in Arlington Heights reports (http://bit.ly/1NogIUv) Saleem’s new accuser claims the cleric sexually abused her 15 to 20 times between 2001 and 2003, when she was between 14 and 16 years old and a student at the school. Illinois law allows sexual abuse charges within 20 years of an accuser’s 18th birthday.

Saleem had been free on bond on the earlier charge.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

George Houde and Stacey Wescott
Chicago Tribune

The founder of an Islamic school in Elgin who is awaiting trial on sexual abuse charges now faces new allegations of abuse of a former student, police said.

Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 76, a prominent imam who founded the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, turned himself in Wednesday morning at the Elgin police station, where he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor, said Elgin police Lt. Rick Ciganek.

Saleem appeared in bond court Wednesday afternoon, where prosecutors said the new charges are based on allegations that Saleem abused the girl dozens of times between 2001 and 2003 when she was a student at the institute and Saleem was the school’s president and principal.

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney David Shin said Saleem is accused of forcing the girl to sit on his lap while he was aroused and touching her in a sexual manner. Prosecutors said the alleged abuse began about a month after the girl enrolled at the boarding school when she was 14, escalated over time and ended when the girl moved out of state.

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CONNECTICUT
Darien News

By Martin B. Cassidy
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

After two members of Encounter Church confided histories of sexual abuse last spring, Pastor Landon Reesor, a father of five, decided he wanted to do more to help victims of sexual abuse.

Reesor reached out to Heather P. Wright, executive director of the Greenwich Center for Hope and Renewal, about establishing a counseling program to help sex abuse victims recover. The center is a faith-based counseling center in north Greenwich and Wright is a licensed counselor.

“If two people come to me within such a short period of time and said sex abuse is part of their story I know it can’t just be them,” said Reesor, who founded the church 10 years ago.

Reesor said the more he researches the issue of sex abuse, the more he believes many victims are not seeking help that could improve their lives.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Reuters

BY JIM CHRISTIE

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee is a step closer to exiting its bitterly contested bankruptcy with court approval of its disclosure statement and a voting schedule on its plan to pay $21 million to settle sexual abuse claims.

Judge Susan Kelley of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Milwaukee gave her blessing on Monday to the disclosure statement and scheduled Nov. 3 as the voting deadline for creditors on the archdiocese’s reorganization plan. The judge will then hold a hearing on Nov. 9 to consider confirmation of the plan.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – OCTOBER 7, 2015

SEXUAL ABUSE OCCURRED AT ALL SAINTS PARISH, HAVERHILL, MA

Fr. Kelvin E. Iguabita, also known as Kelvin E. Iguabita-Rodriguez, a serial sexual abuser of children who served a long prison term, has been accused once again of sexual abuse of a minor child when she was approximately 5-6 years old at All Saints Catholic Parish in Haverhill, MA

Fr. William F. Murphy, currently the Bishop of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York, who was the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Boston at the time of the sexual abuse; and Rev. Paul E. Miceli, who was Secretary for Ministerial Personnel for the Archdiocese of Boston, at the time of the abuse, allegedly breached their fiduciary duty to properly hire, retain, direct and supervise Fr. Kelvin E. Iguabita at All Saints Parish, Haverhill, MA

What
A press conference alerting the media and general public of the filing of a civil complaint in Middlesex County against two priests of the Archdiocese of Boston; Fr. William F. Murphy, currently the Bishop of Rockville Centre, Long Island, NY, who was the number two man under Cardinal Bernard Law; and Fr. Paul E. Miceli, currently Dean of Seminarians at the John XXIII Seminary in Weston, MA and former Secretary of Ministerial Personnel under Cardinal Bernard Law

When
Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk outside All Saints Roman Catholic Church, 120 Bellevue Avenue, Haverhill, MA 01832

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that provides assistance to sexual abuse victims and their families

Why
From approximately 1999 when the plaintiff was approximately 5 years old to approximately 2001 when the plaintiff was approximately 6 years old, Fr. Kelvin E. Iguabita, a priest at All Saints Catholic Church in Haverhill, MA, repeatedly engaged in explicit sexual behavior and lewd and lascivious conduct with the minor child plaintiff. Fr. Kelvin E. Iguabita is a convicted felon, serial and dangerous sexual abuser of minor children and was allegedly improperly supervised by two priests of the Archdiocese of Boston; in particular, by Fr. William F. Murphy, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia under Cardinal Bernard Law and now Bishop of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York; and Fr. Paul E. Miceli, currently an administrator at the John XXIII Seminary in Weston, MA, who at the time of the sexual abuse of Fr. Iguabita was Secretary for Ministerial Personnel under Cardinal Bernard Law. Both priests allegedly were aware or should have been aware of Fr. Iguabita’s sexual abuse of children and allowed him access to minor children at All Saints Parish in Haverhill, MA.

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Prince Charles has denied using his influence to protect a bishop from a sex crimes prosecution in the 1990s during a concerted Establishment effort to defend the cleric’s reputation.

An unnamed member of the Royal Family sent a letter of support for Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester and one-time acquaintance of the Prince, as prosecutors considered putting him on trial for abusing aspiring priests, the Old Bailey was told.

Ball, 83, has finally been jailed for 32 months for abusing 18 young men over 15 years as his victims accused the criminal justice system of a cover-up to avoid a major Church scandal.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Kris Berggren | Oct. 7, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS The Synod of Bishops on the Family is expected to result in some changes in church teaching on the touchy topic of sexuality, says Massimo Faggioli, associate professor of theology and director of the Institute for Catholicism and Citizenship at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.

Faggioli predicts the synod may move the dial on allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to participate in Communion and on welcoming gay people and their families into the church more fully without going so far as to bless same-sex marriage. While he says not to expect any changes to the official teaching on contraception soon,* Faggioli says that Francis has already reinterpreted Humanae Vitae, so that the teaching is not a big problem for the pontificate. …

It’s important to remember that the American church is only a small percentage of the global church but can have outsized influence on the natural discourse.

One example of undue American influence, says Faggioli, is mistranslation of portions of last year’s interim synod report from Italian into English, such as where the original Italian verb said that the church should “welcome” but was changed into English as “provide for” gays.

“It’s not clear if you are in or out,” says Faggioli. “What surprised me is they thought they could get away with it. That was ridiculous.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Editorial

The trial and sentencing of Peter Ball, a retired bishop, for sex offences against 18 adolescent boys is an act of justice very long and shamefully delayed. The last of the offences for which he is being punished took place in 1992 and at the time he was merely cautioned. The most shocking aspect of the case is the widespread support he received from the old establishment.

His immediate superior, Eric Kemp, then the bishop of Chichester, wrote in his memoirs that: “The circumstances which led to [Ball’s] early resignation were the work of mischief-makers.”

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, letters and phone calls in favour of this abuser were sent to the police by MPs, JPs, public school headmasters, and an unnamed member of the royal family. Immediately after Ball first accepted a caution, he was lent a cottage that belonged to the Prince of Wales. It was on an estate where Ball lived undisturbed until the case against him was reopened as part of a more general investigation of the rottenness of the Chichester diocese under Kemp.

What were they thinking? In all this extraordinary collection of the great and the bad was there no one who thought that the victims deserved more consideration than the perpetrator of the abuse? One answer is that Ball was widely considered an exceptionally holy man; in fact much of his abuse took place in the context of supposedly spiritual disciplines such as naked cold showering. Excess of charisma and sexual appetite are often closely linked, especially in a religious context. Another may be the confusion which at the time surrounded homosexual attraction. The first of the offences for which Ball has been convicted took place only 10 years after gay sex between consenting adults was legalised and, given the age of the victims, would have been illegal even if they had consented. A misplaced sense of solidarity led some people of liberal inclinations to overlook crimes they should never have tolerated.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Daily Beast

Nico Hines

LONDON — An extraordinary elite-level cover-up that included a member of the royal family, Cabinet ministers and judges conspired to keep a pedophile bishop safe from prosecution and free to continue abusing boys.

Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes, was finally convicted Wednesday for decades of sexual crimes against boys and young men that date back into the 1970s.

The accusations first emerged in the early 1990s but detectives investigating the case were bombarded by calls of support for the bishop from Members of Parliament, former school headmasters, judges and a Lord.

Further support from the establishment arrived in the mail, with more than 2,000 letters including references from Cabinet ministers and one member of the Royal family.

The Royal concerned has not been named, but Ball has described Prince Charles as “a loyal friend.”

The future King of England had been at the ceremony when Ball was appointed Bishop of Gloucester, and he allowed him to retire to a wisteria-clad lodge on one of his estates when a first round of sex abuse allegations forced his resignation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daiy Mail

By HUGO GYE FOR MAILONLINE

A bishop who escaped prosecution for abusing young men when a host of Establishment figures – including a member of the Royal family – defended him is finally behind bars.

Peter Ball’s imprisonment comes as Prince Charles has denied that he is the unidentified Royal who intervened two decades ago to help out the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester.

Ball – who once described the heir to the throne as ‘a loyal friend’ – was arrested in 1992 after beating a 17-year-old novice monk and encouraging him to pray naked.

However, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to charge him after a number of VIPs including MPs, public school headmasters and the Lord Chief Justice phoned police to stand up for him.

Among 2,000 letters of support sent on behalf of Ball were some from cabinet ministers and one from a Royal, the Old Bailey heard.

When asked if the Royal was Prince Charles, a spokesman for Clarence House said: ‘The Prince of Wales made no intervention in the judicial process on behalf of Peter Ball.’

Ball, now 83, was today jailed for 32 months, two decades after he was let off with a caution for carrying out a string of sex attacks on vulnerable youths.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church of England

05 October 2015

The Archbishop of Canterbury has today commissioned an independent review of the way the Church of England responded to the case of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester.

During a hearing at the Central Criminal Court on September 8th of this year Bishop Peter Ball pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent assault and one charge of misconduct in public office following the work of Sussex police as part of Operation Dunhill.

Operation Dunhill began as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files. The approach to the police was a proactive step on the part of the national Church leading to a self-initiated referral via CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) to Sussex Police in 2012. This led to active co-working between the Church and Sussex Police on a complex enquiry with full information sharing.

Since Peter Ball’s guilty plea questions have been raised about the Church’s handling of this case. As a result the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has today commissioned an independent review of the way the Church responded.

The independent review will examine the Church of England’s cooperation with the police and other statutory agencies and the extent to which it shared information in a timely manner, identifying both good practice and shortcomings alike. It will also assess the extent to which the Church both properly assessed the possible risk that Bishop Ball might pose to others and responded adequately to concerns and representations submitted by survivors.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church of England

07 October 2015

“It is a matter of deep shame and regret that a Bishop in the Church of England has today been sentenced for a series of offences over 15 years against 18 young men known to him. There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over decades.

We apologise unreservedly to those survivors of Peter Ball’s abuse and pay tribute to their bravery in coming forward and also the long wait for justice that they have endured. We note that there are those whose cases remain on file for whom today will be a difficult day, not least in the light of the courage and persistence that they have demonstrated in pressing for the truth to be revealed. We also remember Neil Todd, whose bravery in 1992 enabled others to come forward but who took his own life before Peter Ball’s conviction or sentencing.

As the Police have noted Peter Ball systematically abused the trust of the victims, many of whom who were aspiring priests, whilst others were simply seeking to explore their spirituality. He also abused the trust placed in him by the Church and others, maintaining a campaign of innocence for decades until his final guilty plea only weeks ago. Since that plea was made processes in the Church have begun to initiate formal internal disciplinary procedures against Peter Ball.

Operation Dunhill began as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files. The approach to the police was a proactive step on the part of the national Church leading to a self-initiated referral via CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) to Sussex Police in 2012. This led to active co-working between Lambeth Palace, the Diocese of Chichester and Sussex Police on a complex enquiry with full information sharing. We pay tribute to those detectives whose work on this case over the past three years has led to this conviction and sentencing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

[with video]

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has denied being involved in covering up the sex crimes of a former Bishop.

Peter Ball was jailed for 32 months for a string of sex crimes against young aspiring priests.

The Church of England is also investigating claims that senior clerics helped cover-up the sex crimes after victims claimed that it prevented him from facing justice for decades.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

[with video]

In 1986 ITV screened a documentary about a bishop heralded as one of the most spiritual and loving figures in the Church of England.

His name was Peter Ball.

At the time it was viewed as a fascinating insight into the work of Bishop of Lewes, who was running a retreat for spiritually curious young people, some of them aspiring priests.

I watched it again today.

Nearly 30 years on, it has a chilling quality.

In the opening minute of the programme Peter Ball tells his spellbound young audience, who have signed up to “give a year to Christ”:

VERY FAR from that, as one victim knows only too well.

He wanted to be identified but cannot be because of a court order imposed at the Old Bailey today.

We will call him Peter.

He was a teenager worshipping at a church in Eastbourne when the abuse began.
It lasted over a number of years. It was highly manipulative now I look back. But it was deeply confusing for me as a public schoolboy taught in the 1970s to respect authority and not question things.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

A former Archbishop of Canterbury today denied presiding over a “cover-up” as one of his senior clergymen was jailed for sexually abusing aspiring priests – 22 years after it first came to light.

Lord Carey was head of the Church of England when it emerged that Peter Ball had misused his power over teenagers and young men who had come to his home in Litlington, East Sussex, through a Give A Year For Christ scheme.

While Bishop of Lewes, Ball had hand-picked 18 vulnerable victims to commit acts of “debasement” in the name of religion, such as praying naked at the altar and encouraging them to submit to beatings.

Despite a number of complaints, Ball, who went on to become Bishop of Gloucester, was never charged and even continued to work as a priest in Truro after he accepted a caution for gross indecency in 1993.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Brittie Perez (Brittmarie Janson Perez) has sent me another excellent essay that I’m delighted to publish today. Readers who have followed this blog will perhaps remember that I’ve previously published other pieces by Brittie — here and here. What follows is Brittie’s latest text, entitled Non Posso Piu:

The Italian phrase, Non posso piu, can be translated in any number of ways. Here it functions as “I can’t put up with it any longer.”

What is that “it” with which I can no longer put up?

The atitudes and behavior of the hierarchy who control the Catholic church.

My protest comprises non-attendance at the church which I attended here in Italy, built by my ancestors and now presided over by a well-meaning, innocent Italian priest. Assigned to the parish only a year ago, the priest presided over the splendid funeral given by the town to my late husband. To be assigned as the sole priest of this litte town had been a step up for him as, due to his lack of liturgical sophistication, the bishop of our diocese had kept close, allowed him to preside only over funerals, and bullied by his fellow priests. Though he will be astonished at my drastic action because he brings me Communion when I am ill, he is not as naive as most think. When I told him I was writing a piece on Kiko Arguello and the Neocathecumenals, he told me that, after attending a Neocathecumenal “mass” at the invitation of a fellow priest, he flatly told his host, “That is a sect.”

After seven decades of church going, what was the drop that finally caused my cup to overflow?

Like thousands of Catholics, my road out of the Church was well paved. In fact, I had taken that route in 1993 when the huge pedophilia scandal in New Mexico erupted leading to the resignation of Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez. However, I won’t go into all the causes of my dissaffection here. Just the fact that I have given this to Bill Lindsey for Bilgrimage should suffice. But as the devil is in the details, I must admit that Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis, with all the Machiavellic machinations it involved, opened wide the EXIT gate.

Paradoxically enough, the last drop was an article in the Italian magazine Jesus, published by the Catholic Paulist press in Rome. In the April 2015 issue, I found an article by Mauro Castagnaro on the case of Chilean Monsignor Juan de la Cruz Barros, appointed bishop of Osorno over the protests of the victims of the sexual abuse by Fernando Karadima, victims who accused Barros of having covered up for Karadima. Details of the case can be found in Jason Berry’s “Chilean cardinals close to pope stained by abuse cover-ups,” published by NCR on 29 April 2014.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 7

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Another Altoona priest has allegedly committed child sex crimes. He’s the 28th Altoona-Johnstown diocesan cleric to be publicly accused of molesting children.

[Daily American]

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. Martin Cingle will find the courage to step forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing. We especially appeal to current and former church employees to share what they may know or suspect about this priest with law enforcement.

Bishop Mark Bartchak should get out from behind his desk, ignore his lawyers, and personally visit each site where Fr. Cingle worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistle-blowers to call police and prosecutors.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Anglican Communion News Service

Posted on: October 7, 2015

[ACNS] The Church of England has spoken of its “deep shame and regret” this afternoon [Wednesday] after a former diocesan bishop was sentenced to 36 months in prison after admitting a series of abuse offences against 18 young men.

Peter Ball committed the abuse between 1977 and 1992 when he was Bishop of Lewes in the Diocese of Chichester.

In 1993, a year after being appointed Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball stood down from full time ministry after accepting a police caution for the sexual assault of a young man, named Neil Todd, who later committed suicide. A police caution in England and Wales is a non-judicial method of disposing of admitted criminal accusations and is usually reserved for first-time minor offences.

The renewed police investigation against Peter Ball was sparked by concerns raised by the Church of England following an in-house review of all clergy files by independent safeguarding professionals. Last month, after first arguing – unsuccessfully – that he was not fit to stand trial and that a bishop is not the holder of a “public office”, the 83-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault and misconduct in public office.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

Pope Francis’s three-week Synod on the Family began on Sunday. Most of the 279 ‘Synod Fathers’ are senior bishops, many of them cardinals. They have no authority to change any aspect of Catholic teaching or pastoral practice. They are discussing the ‘hot button’ issues of communion for the divorced and remarried and the spiritual care of gay Catholics — but, once the meeting is over, power will rest entirely in the hands of the Pope.

Conservative Catholics aren’t happy. Last year, at a preparatory ‘extraordinary’ synod, officials hand-picked by Francis announced in the middle of the proceedings that the Fathers favoured a more relaxed approach to gay relationships and second marriages. Senior cardinals exploded with rage, because most Fathers favoured no such thing. The liberal synod organisers — Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the synod, and Archbishop Bruno Forte, its ‘special secretary’ — were forced to drop their claims. The whole thing was a car crash and obviously their fault.

Yet Francis stuck by them. As a result, once again the synod working papers are stuffed with sociological waffle. Worse, Baldisseri and Forte are sitting on the commission that will draft the final report that goes to the Pope. This time round, however, the conservatives are alert to the dangers. On Monday morning they struck first. …

One decision really bothers them. Why did Francis ask Cardinal Godfried Danneels, a retired Belgian archbishop, to join the assembly? Danneels maintains that the church ‘has never opposed the fact that there should exist a sort of “marriage” between homosexuals’. No other cardinal holds this batty view.

But that’s not the problem. In 2010, a man confided in Danneels that he had been abused by a bishop, Roger Vangheluwe. The cardinal, who didn’t know he was being tape-recorded, told him to shut up until after the bishop retired.

The victim was Bishop Vangheluwe’s nephew. And now the cardinal who tried to cover up the abuse has been invited by the Pope to a synod on the family. Also, very unhelpfully, he has just written a book claiming credit for getting Bergoglio elected. ‘The Danneels thing is the most troubling aspect of the synod,’ says a respected Catholic writer. ‘If the scandal breaks properly, it could blow the whole thing apart.’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Gazette

AN elderly woman was sexually assaulted by a priest because she was the “perfect victim”, a court heard.

Roy Catchpole, 69, of Gainsborough, Milborne Port, is charged with three accounts of sexual assault and one of exposure.

His trial began on Tuesday at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The alleged offences took place between August 1, 2013 and June 29, 2014.

Catchpole, who appeared smartly dressed in grey suit jacket and yellow shirt, denies all charges.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Fern Russell explained how the victim, a retired lady who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was the “perfect victim” for Catchpole.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily American

By ERIC KIETA erick@dailyamerican.com

A priest who heads churches in Boswell and Davidsville has been placed on leave and is under investigation by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in 2002.

Diocese spokesman Tony DeGol confirmed Tuesday that the Rev. Martin Cingle, 68, is on leave from All Saints in Boswell and St. Anne in Davidsville. Cingle, however, has not been arrested or charged by police.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY ALANA FEARON

Ageing priests and a plummeting number of practising Catholics have left the Church facing an unprecedented crisis

Catholic churches may be shut down completely as a chronic lack of priests and falling attendance sees Masses cancelled.

The situation nationwide is already so critical that weekday services have been cancelled and Sunday Masses in many places are only held every second weekend.

Ageing priests, a lack of young seminarians and a plummeting number of practising Catholics have left the Church facing an unprecedented crisis.

The institution in America has dealt with the same turmoil by shutting churches and clustering whole parishes.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Fr. Luy Gonzaga Nguyen Hung Vi as bishop of Kontum (area 25,240, population 1,775,200, Catholics 300,649, priests 169, religious 477), Vietnam. The bishop-elect was born in Ha Noi, Vietnam, in 1952, and was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a licentiate in liturgy from the Institut Catholique of Paris, France, and has served as parish vicar of Binh Cang in Nha Trang, director of the minor seminary of Kontum in Ho Chi Minh City, and secretary of the episcopal office in Kontum. He is currently pastor of the parish of Phuong Nghia, Kontum. He succeeds Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Bishop Carmelo Cuttitta, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Palermo, Italy, as bishop of Ragusa (area 1,029, population 221,835, Catholics 213,252, priests 130, permanent deacons 8, religious 276), Italy. He succeeds Bishop Paolo Urso, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Fr. Peter Huynh Van Hai as bishop of Vinh Long (area 6,772, population 3,976,552, Catholics 199,404, priests 205, religious 775), Vietnam. The bishop-elect was born in 1954 in Ben Tre, Vietnam, and was ordained a priest in 1994. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Institut Catholique of Paris, France, and has served as head of vocations for the diocese of Vinh Long. He is currently lecturer in philosophy in the major seminaries of Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Phyllis Zagano | Oct. 7, 2015 Just Catholic

Early church fathers preferred asceticism but figured out that without marriage and children the church would not last long. They wrote that married households are the basis of Christian community.

Skip ahead several centuries and they are at it again. A room full of celibate men talking about marriage.

Oh, they’ve let a few other folks into the back rows: 17 married couples and some others. They even have three women religious (one each from Malta, Costa Rica, and the U.S.) representing the International Union of Superiors General.

The bottom line: it’s all-male, all the time, and 99.6% clerical. Of the 279 voting members of the Synod of Bishops on the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World, there is one brother — the superior general of the Little Brothers of Jesus, the lay group inspired by Charles de Foucauld to live simple lives among the people. There are nine other men religious — heads of Benedictine, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit and Redemptorist orders and others — and a reasonable number of the synod fathers are religious priests. But, aside from the religious men’s experiences of communal living, the voting members’ family life ended when they left Mom and Dad for the seminary, some at the age of 14.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Scotland

A former bishop who exploited aspiring priests for his own “selfish sexual motives” has been jailed for 32 months – 22 years after the abuse first surfaced.

A member of the Royal family was among a host of Establishment figures who supported the former bishop of Lewes when he avoided charges in 1993.

Last month, after a last ditch attempt to get his case thrown out failed, Peter Ball pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and two counts of indecent assault on young men in their teens.

The court heard how Ball had convinced some of his victims to strip naked to pray and even suggested they submit to beatings between 1977 and 1992.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[A priest named Wolf Dieter W. has been defrocked by Pope Francis. He was accused of abusing minors.]

Limburg/Würzburg/Rom.
Am 26. Juni entzog Papst Franziskus dem 75 Jahren alten Priester Wolfdieter W. alle Rechte und Pflichten, die mit dem Klerikerstand verbunden sind. Der 75-Jährige wurde somit aus dem Stand der Priester entlassen. Anlass für die Entscheidung des Papstes: sexueller Missbrauch von Minderjährigen.

Es war ein Fall aus dem Bistum Limburg, den der Papst handeln ließ. Er liegt lange zurück. Aber der 1940 in Grätz geborene Wolfdieter W. ist wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs schon mehrmals aufgefallen. 1985 gab es anonyme Hinweise in Miltenberg und eine Anzeige wegen möglicher Übergriffe auf Kinder. 1986 gab es ein Strafverfahren vor dem Amtsgericht Obernburg wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs. W. wurde zu einer Geldstrafe verurteilt und legte Berufung ein. Das Verfahren wurde 1987 gegen Geldauflage eingestellt. Noch 1986 trat W. seinen Dienst im Bistum Limburg an. Dort kam es ebenfalls zu Beschuldigungen wegen sexueller Belästigungen. Das Bistum versetzte den Pfarrer vom Westerwald nach Frankfurt in eine Klinik.

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ITALY
The Local

An Italian priest was immediately suspended from his church in the northern city of Trento on Tuesday after defending paedophilia during a live television interview, arguing that “children often seek affection”.

Father Gino Flaim, of the San Giuseppe and Pio X parish, said he “understands paedophilia” but wasn’t so sure about homosexuality.

When asked to explain his comments on the La7 show, L’aria che tira, he said:

“Because I’ve been to lots of schools and I know children. Unfortunately, there are children who seek affection because they don’t get it at home.”

He acknowledged that paedophilia is a sin, but that “like all sins, it has to be accepted”. He believes that homosexuality, on the other hand, is an “illness”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

The winner of the prize will be announced on Friday

Pope Francis is among the front runners for the Nobel Peace Prize which will be announced on Friday morning.

Pope Francis is not the only Catholic among the contenders because an Eritrean priest is also a front runner for the prestigous prize.

Fr Mussie Zerai set up a hotline for refugees from his country making the perilous journey to Europe so that they can call the priest when they face difficuly.

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ITALY
The Guardian (UK)

Associated Press in Rome
Wednesday 7 October 2015

The Catholic church in northern Italy’s Trento region has penalised a priest who said paedophilia in the church was caused by children seeking the affection of clergymen, but that homosexuality was an inexplicable sickness.

The Trento archdiocese said in a statement it had removed the Rev Gino Flaim from all pastoral work and forbidden him from preaching, after an interview was aired on the La7 private network on Tuesday evening.

In the comments, Flaim said he had worked in schools and understood children. “Unfortunately, there are children who seek out affection because they don’t get any at home. And it can be that maybe they find some priests. And I understand this,” he said.

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ITALY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

A 75-year-old Italian priest, Don Gino Flaim, has been suspended from his functions at the San Pio X church in Trent, northern Italy, after he made comments in which he appeared to “justify” paedophilia.

Speaking to Italian current affairs TV programme, “The Way The Wind Is Blowing”, Don Gino said: “I can understand paedophilia. Homosexuality, I don’t know, I think it’s a sickness. I have worked a lot with schools and I know children.

“Unfortunately, there are children who seek out affection because they do not receive it at home. And maybe if they come across some priest, well maybe he will yield (to temptation). I understand this … It doesn’t surprise me that these type of cases exist because the Church is a community of sinners”.

Don Gino’s words prompted an immediate series of protests from local politicians.
Archbishop of Trent, Luigi Bressan, intervened both to disassociate the archdiocese from Don Gino’s comments and to suspend him from his role of “pastoral collaborator”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Retired bishop Peter Ball – who has been jailed for 32 months after admitting abusing 18 young men across 20 years – was a sadistic sexual predator who groomed, controlled and abused his victims, one of whom ended up taking his own life.

Ball, 83, was part of the establishment of the Church of England, considered both powerful and deeply spiritual.

He abused most of his victims while he lived in East Sussex and was serving as Bishop of Lewes – but would go on to carry on the abuse as Bishop of Gloucester.

He admitted the abuse, which started in the 1970s and continued into the 80s and 90s, at the Old Bailey last month.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Wed 07 Oct 2015
By Aaron James

The former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester Peter Ball has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for abusing young men.

Rt Revd Paul Butler, the lead Bishop on safeguarding on behalf of the Church of England, said after sentencing: “It is a matter of deep shame and regret that a Bishop in the Church of England has today been sentenced for a series of offences over 15 years against 18 young men known to him. There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over decades.

“We apologise unreservedly to those survivors of Peter Ball’s abuse and pay tribute to their bravery in coming forward and also the long wait for justice that they have endured. We note that there are those whose cases remain on file for whom today will be a difficult day, not least in the light of the courage and persistence that they have demonstrated in pressing for the truth to be revealed.

“We also remember Neil Todd, whose bravery in 1992 enabled others to come forward but who took his own life before Peter Ball’s conviction or sentencing.

“As the Police have noted Peter Ball systematically abused the trust of the victims, many of whom who were aspiring priests, whilst others were simply seeking to explore their spirituality. He also abused the trust placed in him by the Church and others, maintaining a campaign of innocence for decades until his final guilty plea only weeks ago. Since that plea was made processes in the Church have begun to initiate formal internal disciplinary procedures against Peter Ball.

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