ABUSE TRACKER

NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Noah Cohen and Justin Zaremba | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on September 15, 2015

CLIFTON — A woman who alleged that a former Passaic Catholic high school vice principal repeatedly sexually abused nearly 40 years ago when she was a student there has received a “six-figure” settlement from the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese, her attorney said on Tuesday.

The woman’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said his client reached settlement with the diocese over her claims against Monsignor Ronald Tully. The woman alleged that Tully fondled her 20 times when she was a 16-year-old student at Pope Pius XII Regional High School in 1977, Garabedian said.

At least nine others have received about $2.1 million in settlements over claims of sexual abuse by Tully, The Record reported. Tully has denied the allegations against him.

According to the report, church officials removed Tully from his post at a Dover church in 2004 after they received word of criminal charges alleging he abused two Pope Pius students at his vacation home in 1979 in New York.

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NEBRASKA
Press & Dakotan

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A 62-year-old pastor accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl in an Omaha suburb has been sentenced to 180 days in jail.

Court records say Clifton Wells, of Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn), was sentenced on Monday in Sarpy County District Court. Wells had pleaded no contest and was convicted of a misdemeanor. Prosecutors lowered the charge from felony sexual assault of a child in exchange for Wells’ plea.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Lucy Battersby

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s process of assisting people sexually abused by its priests or members discouraged victims from contacting police, according to a study by the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The commission noted several problems with the Melbourne Response – a program set up by Cardinal George Pell in late 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne – in a report released on Monday.

The case study identified 12 systemic issues, including the role of the Catholic Church in determining its own redress, and the “relationship between those delivering or coordinating counselling and pyschological care and those making decisions about the abuse and compensation”.

In particular, the commission expressed concern that the church’s own law firm was instructing both the independent commissioner and the archdiocese about the same cases, noting “Corrs’ position as lawyers responsible for the Melbourne Response, as well as solicitors for the Archdiocese, raises a clear potential for conflict. It also raises difficulties with confidentiality.”

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MALTA
Independent

Church sex abuse victims seek to remove judge who is Radju Marija president from hearing case

Victims of clerical sex abuse have opened a constitutional challenge requesting that their case for compensation from the church not be heard by Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, who is also the president of the Catholic-run Radju Marija.

The eleven victims had initially filed an application requesting that Mr Justice J.R Micallef abstain from hearing the case, but the judge turned down this request, saying that there was not a valid enough reason at law why he should stop hearing the case.

Lawyer Franco Vassallo, one of the lawyers representing the victims, argued in court that Mr Justice Micallef is too close to the institution involved in the abuse.

One of the victims, Lawrence Grech, explained how the victims were brought up by an institution run by the church.

“They were our parents,” Mr Grech said.

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BOSTON (MA)
WGBH

It was January 2002 when the Boston Globe’s spotlight team broke the stunning news about widespread sexual abuse in the Catholic Church — dozens of priests accused of molesting children, and rather than confront the problem, the church instead moved those priests from parish to parish, hiding their pasts from unsuspecting new victims.

James Porter, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan were three priests who were said to have had as many as 100 victims each — victims whose parents complained to the Boston Archdiocese. At the time, Boston Cardinal Bernard Law admitted he knew John Geoghan had been accused of molesting children, saying:

“I was aware of the case. I was aware of the way the case was being handled. I was aware of the advice that was being given… and as I have indicated before — in retrospect — mistakes were made … I’ve acknowledged that the policy was flawed.”

And that flawed policy, whether from the Boston Archdiocese or from the highest reaches of the Vatican, cost the once beloved Cardinal his job, his dignity and the respect of a community he once loved. Now almost 13 years after his departure, that sordid story is about to hit the silver screen. “Spotlight,” the story of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning reporting on the church clergy sex abuse scandal, debuts this fall and is getting a lot of attention on the film festival scene right now.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Sean Kirst | skirst@syracuse.com
on September 15, 2015

At the beginning of the meeting, Dan Leonard was seated toward the back. He went Monday night to the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville, where two adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse by parish priests – Charlie Bailey and Kevin Braney – shared their stories with a crowded room of listeners.

Once the meeting began – as Leonard saw the pain in the expressions of the two men in front of the audience – he moved to an open seat in the third row, where Braney and Bailey could see Leonard’s face and hear his voice.

His presence was a message:

They are not alone.

At the meeting, Bailey and Braney expressed a central thought: They’re dismayed by the words of Bishop Robert Cunningham, the top official in the Diocese of Syracuse. During a 2011 deposition involving allegations of abuse against a local priest, Cunningham was asked if an abused child has committed a sin.

“The boy is culpable,” Cunningham responded. He went on to say it was impossible – without full knowledge of the situation – to ascertain whether the child encouraged the abuse or “went along (with it) in any way.”

John O’Brien of The Post-Standard reported on that deposition in Sunday’s Post-Standard. Cunningham responded with a letter to Central New York’s Catholic community stating he regretted choosing those words, and that he does not believe a child can be a party to his or her own abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Judge rules that each side will be allowed its own psychologist in Somerset priest’s sex trial

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Dueling psychologists will be allowed to testify in the government’s sex case against the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, a Somerset County priest charged with traveling to Honduras to molest boys in an orphanage.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson ruled today that Frank Dattilio, an Allentown psychologist, will be permitted to testify for the defense should the government call its own expert, Veronique Valliere, a Lehigh Valley psychologist.

Neither expert has interviewed the three main witnesses in the case, all young Honduran men who say Rev. Maurizio fondled them and took pictures of them naked between 2004 and 2009 during mission trips to the orphanage.

Both sides filed objections against the inclusion of each others’ experts, but the judge said both can testify.

Dr. Valliere is expected to discuss the general characteristics of victims of sex offenses, detailing how they often delay reporting sex abuse or don’t tell the entire story of what happened to them out of shame or fear.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Paul Peirce
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015

A Honduran man who told federal agents last year that he was sexually abused by a Somerset County priest while he lived at an orphanage recanted Tuesday during his testimony before a federal jury in Johnstown.

Prosecutors expected the alleged victim, who is now 24, to testify that he was given gifts in exchange for sex with the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 70, of Windber. who was a benefactor of the orphanage from 2004 to 2009.

Prosecutors have shown numerous photographs of the alleged victim during the trial, usually shirtless and holding gifts that he testified Maurizio gave him on visits to the mission.
While he was on the witness stand on the fourth day of the trial, the alleged victim changed his story and said the priest never touched him.

“I wanted to come to testify to tell the truth,” he said. When federal agents questioned him in November, “I was under so much pressure … I lied.”

“Father Joe never abused me. Father Joe was a gentleman,” he said.

On cross-examination, the man conceded that he did tell federal agents that Maurizio had anal sex with him and that the priest asked him to pose naked when he was 15 and 16 years old.

“I did tell agents that, but I felt confused,” the man said, speaking in Spanish with the assistance of a government interpreter, “I felt so much pressure. I felt confused. I made it all up, just to get out of there.”

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015

For more information: Claudia Vercellotti, Toledo SNAP leader (419) 345-9291cell Snaptoledo@aol.com; Claudiayv@gmail.com

David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com,

Victims ask justice to cancel speech
She’s going to college with a predatory professor
Abuse group warns “Her presence endorses recklessness”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is asking an Ohio Supreme Court justice to cancel her appearance at a college this week where an admitted abuser teaches.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Lanzinger protesting her upcoming speech at Adrian College, a Methodist school in Michigan. They’re worried about Thomas Hodgman, an Adrian music professor who admitted abusing three girls.

“If a college hired Bill Cosby, you wouldn’t speak there,” said Toledo SNAP leader, Claudia Vercellotti’s letter to Lanzinger. “But Cosby is an accused serial offender. This professor is an admitted serial offender.”

“A state Supreme Court justice should be very concerned about seeming to ignore or condone child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “We doubt Lanzinger knew about Hodgman when she accepted this invitation but we sure hope that, for the safety of students and the integrity of the court, she backs out immediately.”

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By VIVIAN YEE

SEPT. 15, 2015

Dan Ogrodowski stayed silent into middle age. He expected to go to the grave, he said, without speaking out about the Milwaukee priest who had raped him as a child.

But now, embittered by what he calls the Roman Catholic Church’s continued betrayal of abuse survivors, he is publicly describing his childhood torment for the first time, hoping that Pope Francis will prioritize the needs of victims and will hold priests and bishops accountable during his visit to the United States this month.

“Pope Francis said these beautiful words about reparations and weeping for us,” Mr. Ogrodowski said. “How could he watch us be pummeled for years?”

Francis is likely to meet privately with victims of abuse during his visit, as Pope Benedict XVI did during his 2008 trip to the United States, according to church officials. But Mr. Ogrodowski and many other survivors of abuse say the church has yet to live up to its promise of reconciliation. They want Francis to stop the church from spending millions of dollars to fight sex abuse lawsuits and keeping sealed the names of thousands of accused priests, as well as the outcomes of some disciplinary cases sent to the Vatican. …

To some advocates, however, the move was incomplete: Francis could have done much for transparency simply by confirming that the bishops were removed because of their negligence in abuse cases, they said.

He could also direct archdioceses to release the names of credibly accused American priests, at least 2,400 of whom have never been identified, said Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, a group that documents clerical sexual abuse.

“One obvious reform Francis could start would be to say to dioceses, ‘Transparency means really being honest about what happened in the past,’ ” Mr. McKiernan said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop James Vann Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, United States of America, as bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph (area 39,361, population 2,524,329, Catholics 130,500, priests 171, permanent deacons 62, religious 276), United States of America.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) – The following is a full and definitive list of the participants in the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held from 4 to 25 October 2015, on the theme, “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”.

A. LIST OF SYNOD FATHERS ACCORDING TO ROLE

I. PRESIDENT

Francis, Supreme Pontiff

II. SECRETARY GENERAL
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri

III. DELEGATE PRESIDENTS
Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, France
Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines
Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida, Brazil
Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, O.F.M., archbishop of Durban, South Africa

IV. RAPPORTEUR GENERAL
Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, president of the Episcopal Conference, Hungary, president of the Consilium Conferentiarum Episcoporum Europae (C.C.E.E.)

V. SPECIAL SECRETARY
Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy

VI. COMMISSION FOR INFORMATION

PRESIDENT
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Vatican City

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) – In view of the Pope’s upcoming apostolic trip to Cuba and the United States of America, the Central Church Statistics Office has published the statistics relating to the Catholic Church in the two countries, current as of 31 December 2013.

Cuba has a surface area of 110,861 km2 and a population of 11,192,000 inhabitants, of whom 6,775,000 are Catholics, equivalent to 60.5 per cent of the population. There are 11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 283 parishes and 2,094 pastoral centres. There are currently 17 bishops, 365 priests, 659 men and women religious, and 4,395 catechists. There are 85 seminarians. The Church has six centres for Catholic education, from pre-school to university level. With regard to charitable and social centres belonging to the Church or directed by ecclesiastics or religious, in Cuba there are 173 hospitals and clinics, one home for the elderly or disabled, two orphanages and nurseries, and three special centres for social education or re-education and institutions of other types.

The United States have a surface area of 9,372,616 km2 and a population of 316,253,000 inhabitants, of whom 71,796,000 are Catholics, representing 22.7 per cent of the population. There are 196 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 18,256 parishes and 2,183 pastoral centres. There are currently 457 bishops, 40,967 priests, 55,390 men and women religious, 381,892 catechists and 5,829 seminarians. The Church has 11,265 centres for Catholic education, from pre-school to university level. With regard to charitable and social centres belonging to the Church or directed by ecclesiastics or religious, in the United States there are 888 hospitals and clinics, two leper colonies, 1,152 homes for the elderly or disabled, 1,090 orphanages and nurseries, 981 family advisory centres and other centres for the protection of life, and 4,295 special centres for social education or re-education and institutions of other types.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 15

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

Newly named Kansas City Bishop James Johnston is no friend of kids or victims. His record on clergy sex crimes and cover ups is disappointing. Pope Francis has made another poor choice.

–Weeks ago, we urged Johnston to reach out to anyone who may have been hurt in Springfield by two predator priest, Fr. Michael Charland and Fr. Thomas Meyer, who’d recently been “outed” as predators in another state, but who had worked or spent time in the Springfield diocese.

(As best we can tell, Johnston ignored our request.)

[SNAP]

–Four years ago, we urged Johnston to reach out to anyone who may have been hurt in Springfield by Missouri’s most notorious serial predator priest, Fr. Thomas J. O’Brien, who faces more than two dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of molesting kids. Most of them have been settled. O’Brien has sometimes committed these crimes in concert with other clerics. He has been forbidden to present himself as a priest. And just last week, he was sued again.

(As best we can tell, Johnston ignored our request and did not reply to our letter.)

[SNAP]

–Johnston refused to remove a statue of a bishop who admitted molesting one boy.

[National Catholic Reporter]

–He publicly praised that bishop, making no mention of victims, when that prelate passed away.

Thirty bishops have posted pedophile priests’ names on their websites. This is, we believe, a bare minimum public safety step. Brooklyn Catholic officials refuse to do so, even though there are at least 53 Brooklyn priests who have been publicly accused of molesting kids. Equally troubling, Brooklyn Catholic officials put a lawyer in charge of responding to abuse reports, a maneuver which we consider a shrewd and unethical way to try to handle these cases quietly and prevent victims from seeking justice in court.

We hope that Johnston will quickly

– post predators’ names on his diocesan website and in parish bulletins,

– begin personally visiting each parish where a pedophile priest worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police

And we hope that KC victims, witnesses and whistleblowers will continue to seek help from independent sources – therapists, police, prosecutors, attorneys and support groups like ours – rather than blindly trust Catholic officials.

(NOTE: Springfield Missouri, the diocese where Johnston is now, was once headed by Bishop Bernard Law, later the disgraced head of the Boston archdiocese.)

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Alan Erwin
PUBLISHED
15/09/2015

Nuns at a Belfast care home beat children for slow learning in the classroom, the High Court has heard.

Michael McKee (65) is suing The Sisters of Nazareth over the physical abuse he allegedly suffered during his stay as an eight-year-old boy in 1958.

Lawyers for the congregation are defending the case by challenging the reliability of his account and questioning why he waited 50 years to take action.

According to records Mr McKee spent 73 days at the home after being admitted with his older brother. In evidence he claimed he was attacked on a daily basis. Although he couldn’t remember their names, he said two of the nuns were responsible for violence. He claimed he was beaten about the head, grabbed by the hair, pulled to the ground and hit round the legs.

Mr McKee told how he came from a mixed marriage, but was baptised as a Catholic after going into the home. He said he was fast-tracked for holy communion, only to suffer further ill-treatment at the hands of another nun.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

CHRIS BRENNAN AND JEREMY ROEBUCK, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, September 15, 2015

A New Jersey teenage boy allegedly inspired by ISIS has been arrested and charged with plotting an attack against Pope Francis during his visit to the United States, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

But Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said the case was being “blown way … out of proportion.”

“There is no indication that he had any ability to carry out anything,” Ramsey said. “There are no current threats. There’s nothing.”

Ramsey said the FBI gave him a heads up a while ago about an investigation into a potential threat against a “visiting dignitary.” The pope’s name was not mentioned in that briefing, he said.

ABC News first reported the arrest, citing an intelligence bulletin issued to law enforcement agencies from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The bulletin said the 15-year-old was inspired by ISIS and “sought to conduct a detailed homeland attack which included multiple attackers, firearms, and multiple explosives, targeting a foreign dignitary at a high-profile event.”

The bulletin also said he obtained explosives instructions.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER – A Worcester pastor and tax preparer convicted of filing false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service was sentenced to 2 years of probation Monday in federal court.

Nydia Elicier, 56, owner of Cox Elicier Tax, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman to 2 years of probation – the first 3 months of which she is restricted by location monitoring – and 100 hours of community service. She is also prohibited from working as a tax preparer. …

A pastor at Iglesia Pentecostal La Senda Antigua congregation, Ms. Elicier operated the tax business with her daughter, Jenniffer Cox Elicier, who pleaded guilty in January 2014.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Peter Steinfels September 11

Peter Steinfels is the author of “A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America” and a former religion correspondent for the New York Times.

When Pope Francis arrives in Washington this month, he’ll be greeted enthusiastically. Among American Catholics, the pope is remarkably popular — 87 percent have a favorable opinion of him — and he’s the U.S. church’s best chance of overcoming a bad case of spiritual anemia.

But excitement alone cannot heal one of the deepest rifts in Catholic life, not only among American Catholics but worldwide. It has to do with sexuality, although not the priest abuse scandals that have quite properly received attention in recent years. Nothing has divided the church more than its prohibition against contraception, even among married couples.

Approximately 80 percent of U.S. Catholics, including the thoroughly devout, disagree with that stance (support for changing the ruling is nearly as high around the world). And the vast majority ignore the teaching altogether — one study suggests that 68 percent of sexually active American Catholic women have used birth control, sterilization or IUDs.

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BOSTON (MA)
CBS Boston

Kim Tunnicliffe

BOSTON (CBS) — Boston’s archbishop will be accompanying Pope Francis on parts of his upcoming trips to Cuba and the United States.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley is currently in Rome for meetings, but the Boston Archdiocese confirms he’ll be heading to Cuba to join up with the pope for parts of his four-day trip to the communist island nation.

Boston College theology professor Thomas Groom says it’s a smart move for O’Malley to accompany the pope to Cuba because he’s been there countless times.

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INDIA
UCA News

ucanews.com reporter, Bhopal
India
September 15, 2015

Police in central India have arrested a Catholic priest, nun and lay worker accused of sexually abusing a young girl, an allegation Church officials say is just another instance of harassment they face in a state run by a pro-Hindu party.

Father Joseph Dhanaswami, principal of Jyoti Mission High School of Ambikapur diocese in Chhattisgarh state, along with hostel warden Samaritan Sister Christ Maria and a maid were arrested Sept. 11 following a complaint by the mother of a fourth grade student.

Kirtan Rathore, additional superintendent of police, told ucanews.com that the arrest was “based on an initial medical report that suggested injuries to the private parts of the girl.”

“We are investigating. The picture will be clear only after a detailed probe,” he said.

However, Church leaders denied the charge saying the three were arrested in a bid to tarnish the image of the Church and create mistrust among people.

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MISSOURI
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

Bishop James Johnston will take over the diocese in November.

He replaces Bishop Robert Finn, who resigned earlier this year after being convicted of not reporting suspected child abuse.

Johnston has led the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau since 2008.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

By Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer
chris.oberholtz@kctv5.com
By Brandon Richard, News Reporter

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
Pope Francis has appointed a new leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, permanently replacing a bishop convicted of failing to report child sex abuse.

The Vatican named Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. as the new bishop of diocese. Johnston has been been leader of the Springfield – Cape Girardeau Diocese since 2008. He will be installed in his new post on Nov. 4.

This comes five months after former Bishop Robert Finn resigned after he was found guilty in 2012 of failure to report suspected abuse and was sentenced to two years of probation. He is the highest-ranking church official in the United States to be convicted of not taking action in response to abuse allegations.

The temporary caretaker of the church, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, will introduce Johnston to the chancery staff at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 15, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO.
Bishop James V. Johnston, the newly named bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., comes to the job familiar with the grim realities of the sex abuse scandal, having served a bishop who resigned in 2002 after admitting that he abused teen age boys.

Johnston hails from Knoxville, Tenn., a diocese erected in 1988. Its first bishop was Anthony O’Connell, who served there from 1988 until 1998 when he was transferred to Palm Beach, Fla. It was in Palm Beach in 2002 that O’Connell revealed that he had molested teen-aged seminarians decades before when he served as rector of Hannibal, Mo., high school seminary.

O’Connell resigned in 2002 and was ordered to a life of private prayer in Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, S.C., where he died in 2012 at age 74.

Johnston was one of the first priests O’Connell ordained in Knoxville, and he served O’Connell as vicar of clergy and chancellor.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Sep. 15, 2015

Roma locuta est. In two separate announcements this morning, the Vatican announced that it had selected Bishop James Johnston, previously Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, to be the next Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and that both Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago and Bishop George Murry, SJ, of Youngstown, have been appointed as fathers to next month’s synod on the family. Sacred Heart of Mary Sr. Maureen Kelleher was also named as an auditor.

I do not know much about Bishop Johnston, but his bio has some interesting details. He has supported the Catholic Worker movement in his previous assignment. He worked to build Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri. Bishop Johnston also served on the USCCB Committee on Child Protection, so he will be familiar with, and presumably committed to, the pledges the bishops have made to the people of God but sometimes ignored regarding child protection. On the other hand, he over-reacted when Mercy hospital announced earlier this year that it was extending benefits to legally married same-sex couples. To be sure, that was before the Supreme Court ruling on the issue, but I still find his words a tad histrionic.

Whatever his past experiences, it is the future that must define his present circumstances. Bishop Johnston goes to a diocese that has been broken in almost every way a diocese can be broken. His predecessor Bishop Finn was divisive from the moment he arrived, and the divisions only seemed to get worse as he continued as that diocese’s bishop. He was sacked, ultimately, over his conviction for failing to report child sex abuse by a member of his clergy, the only U.S. bishop to be so convicted. Yet, he stayed on, apparently unaware that he, of all people, could not begin the healing process the diocese so desperately needed. To say that there was a breakdown in trust between bishop and people would be an understatement. Bishop Johnston is inheriting a mess. He is well advised to spend the first months of his tenure listening, listening and more listening.

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MISSOURI
Springfield News-Leader

Harrison Keegan, News-Leader September 15, 2015

Springfield-Cape Girardeau Bishop James Johnston has been named the new bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, according to a news release.

Pope Francis named Johnston to the new position on Tuesday. Johnston will replace Bishop Robert Finn who resigned from the Kansas City-St. Joseph position in April amid allegations that he mishandled a priest accused of sexual abuse.

Johnston was consecrated as bishop for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese in 2008 and he will remain in that position until Nov. 4, according to the release.

A Knoxville, Tennessee native, Johnston left a career in engineering in 1985 to pursue the priesthood, according to the release.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

BY ROBERT A. CRONKLETON
bcronkleton@kcstar.com

Pope Francis has appointed Springfield-Cape Girardeau Bishop James V. Johnston to be the seventh bishop for Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the Vatican’s press office announced Tuesday morning.

He succeeds Bishop Robert Finn, who resigned in April, nearly three years after being convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest.

A former engineer who became a priest in 1990, Johnston will continue to lead the Springfield-Cape Giradeau diocese until his Nov. 4 installation as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

During his Springfield tenure, Johnston helped establish Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri, encouraged candidates to become priests and supported the Catholic Worker movement.

He also spoke against the death penalty, same sex-marriage and a proposed Springfield anti-discrimination ordinance that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s list of protected classes.

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VATICAN CITY
New Europe

Pope Francis underlined that a convent that becomes a hotel after taking in refugees must lose its tax-exempt status.

The pope told Portuguese radio station Renascenza on Monday that “some congregations are saying: ‘No, now that the convent is empty we’ll turn it into hotel: we can receive (refugees) and that way we’ll get by and earn money’.” The Argentine clarified that if congregations want to turn into hotels the need to pay the taxes, “like everyone else.” The pope stressed in general that all congregations which run commercial activities must not hold the tax-exempt status. The popular pope underlined the need for the church institutions to “fight the temptation of the ‘God of money’, into which religious congregations often fall.”

In Italy, as in some other EU countries too, the issue of Church tax remains unresolved. The debt crisis in the third biggest Eurozone economy cause a heated debate regarding the tax-exempt status of the Italian church.

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ALABAMA
Times Daily

By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer

TUSCUMBIA — A former youth minister at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals is back in jail today after Colbert County Circuit Judge Hal Hughston revoked his bond.

Following a 90-minute hearing this morning, Hughston ordered Kyle Adcock, 31, to be held in the Colbert County Jail without bond until his trial in January.

Adcock was arrested in August 2014, accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who was a member of his youth group at the church.

At the time of his arrest, Adcock had moved to Frisco, Texas.

He was indicted in January on 12 counts of first-degree rape, nine counts of second-degree sodomy and eight counts of second-degree rape.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Tuesday, September 15, 2015
by Kurt Sansone

Two victims of clerical sex abuse told the court they could not understand how their compensation case against the Church was assigned to a judge involved with the institution that abused them.

Laurence Grech and Philip Cauchi are asking the constitutional court to stop Mr Justice Joseph R Micallef from presiding over a civil case for compensation they filed against the Church.

The victims are questioning Mr Justice Micallef’s impartiality given that he is president of Radju Marija, a religious radio station run by the Dominican Order.

Lawyer Franco Vassallo, appearing for the victims, submitted a newsletter belonging to the radio station, which reported on a talk given by the judge to the station’s members.

Fr Charles Fenech, the founder of Radju Marija – who stands charged with sex abuse of a woman in a separate criminal case – was then summoned to testify.

However, the Dominican priest failed to turn up and Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti fined him €150 for contempt of court and ordered that he be escorted under arrest for the next sitting.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Star Tribune

Associated Press SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pope Francis has appointed a bishop to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, permanently replacing a cleric who was convicted of failing to report a suspected child abuser.

The diocese announced on its website Tuesday that Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. will take over from Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who has been overseeing the diocese since Bishop Robert Finn resigned in April.

In 2012, Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected abuse and was sentenced to two years of probation, making him the highest-ranking church official in the U.S. to be convicted of not taking action in response to abuse allegations.

After the convictions, Finn faced pressure to resign, including local and national petition drives asking the pope to remove him. He ultimately left under canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office. He didn’t provide a specific reason for his resignation.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop for the diocese in the U.S. heartland that became an international symbol of church failings in the sexual abuse crisis, less than five months after the unusual resignation of its former leader.

Bishop James Johnston, until now the bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese in southern Missouri, has been appointed to replace resigned Bishop Robert Finn in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in the same state.

The move, made relatively quickly for the Vatican following Finn’s April 21 resignation, brings Johnston some 160 miles north to try and rebuild a diocese that was rocked for more than three years by a scandal that eventually saw Finn found guilty of a criminal misdemeanor for mishandling an abusive priest.

The appointment also comes exactly one week before Francis lands for his first visit to the United States, a possible signal that the pontiff was looking to bring to a close an incredibly difficult period for the diocese before his visit to the country.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Sep 15th, 2015

Pope Francis names Springfield – Cape Girardeau Bishop as 7th Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph

(Kansas City, MO) The Holy See Press Office this morning reported Pope Francis has appointed Springfield – Cape Girardeau Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. as 7th Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph. Bishop Johnston was Consecrated as Bishop for the Diocese of Springfield – Cape Girardeau on March 31, 2008. He will continue as Administrator of that diocese until his Installation as Bishop of Kansas City – St. Joseph on November 4.

Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Apostolic Administrator of Kansas City – St. Joseph, will introduce Bishop Johnston to Chancery staff at 10:00 a.m. this morning in the Catholic Center, 20 W. 9th St. in Kansas City. Press are invited and Bishop Johnston will answer questions following his presentation.

Bishop Johnston was born on October 16, 1959 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended Catholic elementary and secondary school and in 1982 earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Bishop Johnston left a career in engineering in 1985 in order to pursue a call to the priesthood. He attended St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, obtained his Master of Divinity Degree there in 1990 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Knoxville on June 9, 1990. He earned a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in 1996.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

[The Holy Father has appointed Bishop James Vann Johnston, until now bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese, Missouri, as new bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese which is also in Missouri.]

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha nominato Vescovo di Kansas City-Saint Joseph (U.S.A,) S.E. Mons. James Vann Johnston, finora Vescovo di Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

S.E. Mons. James Vann Johnston

S.E. Mons. James Vann Johnston è nato il 16 ottobre 1959 a Knoxville, Tennessee, nell’omonima diocesi. Dopo aver frequentato la “Saint Joseph School” e la “Knoxville Catholic High School”, ha conseguito il Baccellierato in Ingegneria elettronica presso la “University of Tennessee” a Knoxville (1982) e ha lavorato per alcuni anni come Ingegnere elettronico a Houston, Texas. Entrato in Seminario, ha svolto gli studi ecclesiastici presso il “Saint Meinrad Seminary” in Indiana (1985-1990). Successivamente ha ottenuto la Licenza in Diritto Canonico presso l’Università Cattolica d’America a Washington (1996).

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 15, 2015

VATICAN CITY The Vatican has officially released the full list of participants, auditors and collaborators for October’s hotly anticipated global meeting of Catholic bishops on family life.

Among the details: Pope Francis has personally appointed four extra U.S. bishops to take part in the proceedings, giving the American delegation a total of eight prelates able to vote.

Those eight from the U.S. will be part of 279 bishops, prelates and priests announced as voting participants, coming from countries and regions all over the world.

The new U.S. prelates appointed by Francis: New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and Youngstown, Ohio Bishop George Murry.

The four Americans will join four others already elected by the U.S. bishops’ conference: Louisville, Ky., Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo, and Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

September 15, 2015
By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

JOHNSTOWN – When Father Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. of Somerset County was arrested last year for allegedly sexually abusing Honduran children, the prosecution determined he had assets of more than a million dollars, which he didn’t report when requesting bail.

His failure to inform authorities of his worth – determined eventually to be more than $1.2 million by IRS agent Kevin Peprulak – not only cost him his freedom because bail was denied, but also resulted in three additional charges of money laundering.

As the priest’s trial entered its second week on Monday, Maurizio’s finances and his handling of funds that he used to aid an orphanage, ProNino in El Progreso, Honduras, became the focus of the trial. Peprulak said after Maurizio was charged with child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography, he began investigating Maurizio’s finances.

He determined that Maurizio, who was pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish in Central City, was taking money from a charity called Honduran Interfaith Ministries and transferring it to ProNino.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Rachel Baxendale
Reporter
Melbourne

Geelong Grammar School’s official guidelines on sexual assaults state they do not have to be reported to police, sparking a backlash from welfare experts.

Child sexual abuse experts yesterday condemned the exclusive school’s “Guidelines for a response to a claim of sexual assault”, which are published on the school’s website as part of its pastoral policies and were revised this year before the royal commission.

Under the heading “police involvement”, the guidelines stipulate: “If the assault has been by an adult, a report to police should be considered. It is not necessary to involve police if an incident is between students and the school and/or parents are taking appropriate action.”

The policy, written by school director of student welfare John Hendry in conjunction with the school’s chief medical officer, external experts and other members of the school community, also urges teachers to give alleged perpetrators the benefit of the doubt, until the facts are “shown to be clearly correct”, and warns that some allegations occur as a result of misunderstandings, while others are mischievous.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Paul Peirce
Monday, Sept. 14, 2015

An agent with the Internal Revenue Service told a federal jury in Johnstown Monday that he was asked to assist in the probe of a Somerset County Catholic priest who allegedly had sex with boys at a Honduran orphanage after investigators found he had personal assets of nearly $1 million.

Kevin Petrulak said Homeland Security agents contacted him about a year ago after they arrested the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 70, and confiscated computers and personal records from his parish, Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Central City in Somerset County, the rectory and the farmhouse he owns in Windber.

“I was told (Maurizio) had failed to report to the court about $1 million in personal assets (after his arrest). We ultimately found he actually had $1.2 million in personal assets,” Petrulak said.

“(Homeland Security) didn’t think (the amount) seemed within reason for a Catholic priest,” Petrulak told jurors.

Petrulak said the assets were in numerous bank accounts in Maurizio’s name, as well as several annuities and life insurance policies they seized after his Sept. 25 arrest.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

PATRICK BILLINGS
Mercury

NEARLY $100 million will be needed to compensate and care for Tasman­ian victims of child sex abuse perpetrated by the state’s institutions.

The royal commission into institutional pedophilia handed down its final report into a redress scheme ­yesterday.

It recommended a $4.01 billion ­national scheme for 60,000 victims.

The commission found compensation and continuing psychological care would cost both government and private institutions in Tasmania an estimated $96 million.

This was based on an average payout of $65,000 to the 1750 Tasmanian victims who have approached the commission, plus $10 million in continuing counselling costs.

Tasmania’s contribution to administering a national redress scheme would be an estimated $5 million.

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NEW YORK
TWC News

[with video]

By Elizabeth Jeneault

Dozens gathered Monday night to express outrage over a statement made in a 2011 deposition by the head of the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese in a priest sex abuse case. Our Elizabeth Jeneault introduces us to victims who spoke at the event and why they and others say it’s time for Bishop Robert Cunningham to step down.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. — Bishop Robert Cunningham stated, “the boy is culpable,” when asked in a 2011 deposition whether, in the eyes of the church, a child molested by a priest has committed a sin.

“Those words were chosen specifically and I think they were incredibly revealing and disgusting and harmful,” said Kevin Braney, a survivor.

Child abuse victims said they found out about the statement after talking with a variety of people who’ve come forward about their abuse.

“I’m thinking, my God, I was a 10-year-old boy,” said Charles Bailey Jr. “How could I have any culpability when a 40-year-old man is raping me?”

While Cunningham recently sent out a letter saying children are not responsible for their abuse and priests or others who abuse them is wrong, many aren’t convinced. That’s why for the safety of parishioners, many are arguing he should step down.

“Calling for someone’s public resignation is a tragic place for me to be in and the others who are here with me tonight,” said Braney. “As tragic as that it is, what’s more tragic is what’s happening to kids and to families.”

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

[with video]

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Catholic Bishop with ties to Western New York is clarifying comments he made in a 2011 deposition involving a sexual abuse case.

Bishop Robert Cunningham currently leads the Diocese of Syracuse and is a former pastor, Chancellor and Administrator in Buffalo.

Bishop Cunningham testified in a 2011 deposition as a part of a federal lawsuit against the Syracuse diocese, filled by a man who said he was sexually abused as a child by a Syracuse priest.

The report on Syracuse.Com states that in the deposition, Cunningham said that victims of child-molesting priests are partly to blame for their own abuse.

Following the report by Syracuse.Com, Cunningham wrote a letter saying that the victims of secual abuse are never at fault.

A national victims’ advocate group responded today by calling for New York Cardinal Tim Dolan to denounce Cunningham and his predecessor, Bishop James Moynihan, for blaming victims of pedophile priests.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A woman who was molested by a nun is teaming up with a priest convicted of sexual misconduct to create a resource hub for victims of sexual abuse.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (http://bit.ly/1Nz5vQW ) Susan Pavlak and Gil Gustafson are raising funds with hopes of buying the chancery building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The building has been assessed at $6 million and is on the market as part of the archdiocese bankruptcy proceedings.

They say the building would house the Gilead Project, an effort to prevent abuse and help victims and people of faith heal.

The local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is criticizing Gustafson’s involvement.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam made national headlines after the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests director David Clohessey referenced a recent post by local blogger Tim Rohr. The post referenced an incident in 2010 where Rohr alleges he was called into the chancery by the archdiocese legal counsel following the introduction of a bill by Senator BJ Cruz.

The bill proposed to lift the statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors.

“Why the archdiocese was concerned about it, I didn’t know at the time. So when I was given a letter to basically go to the media with to discredit SNAP and to discredit Senator Cruz’s bill, I asked, ‘Well, why are we doing this?'” The SNAP article was meant to illustrate the obstacles faced by victims.

You can find the full article at SNAP’s web site.

The Archdiocese of Agana declined comment.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Posted: Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Author: Xavier Smerdon

Charities, governments and churches will be expected to pay $4 billion to the victims of child sexual abuse under recommendations made by a Royal Commission.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its report on redress and civil litigation this week.

Among the 99 recommendations, the Commission has proposed a single $4 billion national redress scheme established by the Australian Government with a minimum payment of $10,000, a maximum of $200,000 with an anticipated average payment of $65,000.

The Commission has estimated there are likely to be some 60,000 eligible survivors and the scheme should be up and running by July 2017.

“We became aware early on that redress was a matter of priority to survivors of child sexual abuse,” Royal Commission CEO, Philip Reed, said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Samantha Donovan

The Catholic Church has welcomed the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a single national redress scheme be set up to compensate victims of institutional child sexual abuse.

The $4 billion scheme would offer compensation, counselling and psychological care and a response from the institution if requested.

The commission proposes the redress would be funded by the institutions where the abuse occurred.

CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, which is handling the church’s response to the royal commission, Francis Sullivan, said the redress scheme was something the church had been pushing for.

“The days of the Catholic Church investigating itself are over. This should be the case for all institutions,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Rachel Millard, Reporter

QUESTIONS still need to be answered about why a bishop was not prosecuted over sexual assault claims 22 years ago, one of his alleged victims has said.

Prosecutors have admitted their predecessors were “wrong” to caution Bishop Peter Ball in 1993, after his admission on Tuesday to 18 charges of historic sex abuse.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it did have sufficient evidence to prosecute in 1993 for one act of gross indecency, and that Ball had not made the admissions normally required for a caution.

Phil Johnson, who said Ball, who was then Bishop of Lewes, sexually assaulted him in the 1970s, said: “It is always positive when people admit their mistakes, but I think this is a very serious mistake that really warrants questions being asked about why it was not pursued when there was, as they say, substantial and reliable evidence.”

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CANADA
Catholic Culture

Euthanasia and the response to the sexual abuse of Native Americans in residential Catholic institutions during the 20th century are among the items on the agenda at the annual meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which began on September 14 at the Nav Canada Centre in Cornwall, Ontario.

“The recent Supreme Court decision to strike down the articles in the Criminal Code that prohibited active euthanasia and assisted suicide is for us a deep cause of worry and concern,” said Archbishop Paul-André Durocher of Gatineau, the president of the bishops’ conference.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on September 14, 2015

FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. — Two victims of child-molesting priests fought back tears tonight as they told their stories and called on the Catholic bishop of Syracuse to resign.

About 50 people listened to Kevin Braney and Charles Bailey retell the repeated abuse they suffered as children, and their call for Bishop Robert Cunningham to release the names of all priests against whom the diocese has found credible evidence of abuse.

Many people in the audience at the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville were there in response to a Syracuse.com story that revealed Cunningham’s deposition in 2011 when he said victims of priest sexual abuse were partly to blame.

“It brings me no joy to say that I believe Bishop Cunningham is not fit to lead,” Braney said. “It does not feel good. But I’m doing so with belief that children in our community are not safe because our leader is protecting pedophiles.”

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NEW YORK
WSYR

[with video]

Syracuse

Two men who say they were abused by priests in Central New York decades ago – want the Pope to help them shake up Catholic leadership in Syracuse.

Kevin Braney and Charles Bailey don’t believe survivors get enough local support. They’re hoping to give the Pope a petition during his upcoming visit, calling for the removal of Bishop Robert Cunningham.

The men organized a community meeting on Monday, where about 70 people listened as they shared their stories.

Bailey said when he came forward several years ago, he was told by the bishop at the time, James Moynihan, that he was the first person to make an allegation against a specific priest. But, Bailey insists several others said they were told the same thing separately about the same priest.

Often, cases of sex abuse by priests don’t lead to convictions because the statutes of limitation may have passed.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

BY BRETT HALL TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH 2015

The Roman Catholic bishop of Syracuse spent part of the weekend apologizing for comments he made in 2011 about clergy abuse victims.

In a sworn deposition, Bishop Robert Cunningham suggested molestation victims who were abused by priests are partly to blame for what happened to them.

The Syracuse diocese then issued a statement from the bishop saying his words gave the wrong impression and now some survivors of abuse are calling for Cunningham to step down from his post as leader of central New York’s Catholics.

In the 2011 deposition, Cunningham gave sworn testimony that said in part:

“Well, I mean, without knowing the circumstances completely, did the boy encourage, go along with (it) in any way?”

Later Cunningham said “I would not, obviously, what the priest did was wrong. You’re asking me if the young man had any culpability, and I can’t judge that,” said the bishop.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Catholic insider Tim Rohr says he was called to a meeting back in 2010 in which he was asked to read a statement that would discredit individuals who were trying to uncover sexual abuse within the Church.

Guam – The accusations continue for the Archdiocese of Agana. They are now being accused of covering up sexual abuse at the church and trying to discredit those who attempted to uncover it.

The allegations resurfaced today as a result of a press release issued by SNAP or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. In it, SNAP Director David Clohessy brings to light a meeting that took place back in 2010 in which Catholic insider Tim Rohr was allegedly asked to cover up sexual abuse allegations. We spoke with Rohr about this meeting.

“They called me. They gave me the statement to read. I just simply asked, ‘Well why are we doing this? What do we have to hide? Why don’t we just call their bluff and just say come in look we don’t have anything to hide?’ So it was at that point that I learned that there was something to hide because everybody stopped and kinda stared at each other at the meeting,” Rohr explains.

At the time, Rohr says he was unaware that there were allegations of sexual abuse within the Church. He says the members of the Church leadership had called upon him because at the time he was actively involved in defending the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese, Rohr says, specifically wanted Rohr to go after SNAP representative Joelle Casteix, who was visiting Guam in April 2010 to encourage victims to come forward; and Vice Speaker BJ Cruz, who back in 2010 was working on legislation to lift a statute of limitations on reporting sexual abuse at the church.

“They were asking me to go out there and try to discredit those guys that were trying to bring this to light,” Rohr says. …

UPDATE: The Archdiocese of Agana did not return our calls or messages for comment as of news time. They, did, however, respond via email later this evening. Chancellor Father Adrian Cristobal only stated that “The Archdiocese of Agana declines commenting on internet posts by Mr. Rohr.”

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Dear Diana,

I understand that you are saying that SNAP “investigated” Archbishop Apuron and he was found to be “okay.”

A few facts, Diana:

* First, SNAP doesn’t do investigations.
* Second, SNAP wasn’t on Guam (in 2010) to investigate anyone, but to provide a forum for victims of clerical sex abuse to come forward.
* Third, SNAP went away empty handed for two reasons: 1) Me, and 2) the victim(s) no longer live on Guam.

Diana, let me help you out. But first, thank you for the opportunity to let the whole world know more about Archbishop Apuron. You are good at that. (Are you sure you aren’t Adrian?)

A representative of SNAP (Joelle Casteix) came to Guam in 2010, probably at the invitation of someone connected to the support of two bills introduced by Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz. One bill would identify the Archbishop of Agana as a “mandated reporter” – meaning he could face criminal penalties if he did not report sex abuse, and a second bill which would lift the statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors for two years.

Diana, I know that’s a lot of heavy duty information for you to process, so go back and read it again. I understand how difficult it is for you to digest actual facts. So read it again. I’ll wait.

zzzzzz…

Okay, ready?

Good. We go on.

Senator Cruz had proposed both bills in retaliation to the Archbishop’s perceived attack on him after his backing of two same-sex union bills. Of course, as we both know, Apuron didn’t write a word of any statement about the bills, but his name was on them – one of which infamously inferred that homosexuals should be beheaded. Ouch! (Google it.)

At the time, I was the Archbishop’s lone public defender and was in the media almost daily doing battle with Senator Cruz. When Ms. Casteix showed up, I publicly hounded her. I was so sure that the Archbishop and the archdiocese had nothing to hide that I was willing to stick my neck out in the press almost daily. I should have noticed that NO ONE ELSE WAS!

Now, let me tell you what happened.

Are you listening, Diana?

In April of 2010, while Casteix was on-island, attempting to get victims to come forward, I was called to the chancery by the archbishop’s legal counsel. I walked into the chancery conference room and there were several important people seated at the table along with the legal counsel. I knew them all and can name them if need be.

I was given a letter by the legal counsel and asked to read it. It was a statement intended to discredit Casteix and get her to go away. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the archbishop’s people were very much afraid of what would happen if the statute of limitations were lifted and Casteix was able to get someone to talk.

I was asked to take the letter to the media.

After reading the letter I put it down and looked up at the others. I then asked a question that sent shock through the room:

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO HIDE? LET’S CALL HER BLUFF AND TELL HER TO INVESTIGATE.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 14

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

A once devout Guam Catholic insider says that an archbishop urged him to try to discredit an abuse victim. The revelation echoes similar and fresh controversies in New York and Chile in which bishops also “trash” abuse victims.

[Jungle Watch]

In a new post, prominent Guam blogger Tim Rohr reports that in 2010, he “was called to the chancery by (Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s) legal counsel,” met with “several important people,” and “was given a letter by the legal counsel and asked to take it to the media.” It was “intended to discredit (SNAP leader Joelle) Casteix and get her to go away.”

He refused and reportedly asked the group “What do we have to hide” about predator priests? Later, Rorh began siding with Casteix, other victims and concerned Catholics. He has since challenged and criticized the archbishop and his staff about clergy sex crimes and cover ups on the island.

Casteix, a volunteer and a mother, is the long-time western regional director of SNAP.

This is the third time in a week a Catholic prelate attacked or allegedly attacked abuse victims.

—In New York, in a recently-disclosed deposition, Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham said that a child sex abuse victim is “culpable.”

[Syracuse.com]

—In Chile, recently-disclosed emails show that one of Pope Francis’ top advisors “conspired to block a survivor from joining the Pope’s sex abuse advisory board, accusing him of lies,” according to the Christian Today. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz were both concerned that more details of abuse and cover up might emerge if victim Juan Carlos Cruz, who was assaulted by Fr. Fernando Karadima, were named to the papal panel.

[Christian Today]

We hope these revelation will prod others who saw, suspected or suffered sexual violence by church staff, in Guam and elsewhere, to come forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, and protect kids. Specifically, we hope they’ll call police and prosecutors and confide in sources that are independent, not church officials.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Updated: Monday, September 14 2015

By: Maria Miller

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Prosecutors say they have dozens of cancelled checks totaling thousands of dollars that a Central City priest wrote to himself to pay for trips overseas to abuse young boys.

During the third day of trial, the jury heard from a man who attended Father Joseph Maurizo’s church in the mid-1990s and started helping with his missions.

Richard Bossler testified he paid his own way for trips to Honduras where he eventually became a sponsorship coordinator. His main job: collecting money and gifts locally to bring overseas for the orphaned children.

Prosecutors also asked him about money, specifically dozens of checks, that he cosigned.

Checks he said Maurizio would write to himself from his charity or church to reimburse himself for trip expenses when he returned. $1,000 in cash or more each time.

But those checks, prosecutors said, were in addition to checks Maurizio would cash ahead of his trips for advance funds.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

The Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese acknowledged Monday that it settled yet another case of sexual abuse allegations against Monsignor Ronald J. Tully, this time involving a woman who accused the one-time Passaic Catholic high school administrator of repeatedly fondling her decades ago.

The diocese now has paid at least nine victims an estimated $2.1 million to settle cases of abuse against Tully, who has been barred from working as a priest since 2004. In the latest case, the first against Tully to involve a female victim, the accuser alleges that Tully fondled her 20 times in 1977 when she was a 16-year-old student at Pope Pius High School in Passaic. Tully was then the high school’s vice principal.

Mitchell Garabedien, the woman’s Boston-based attorney, said his client came to him several months ago after having a conversation about Tully with someone who gave her “the courage to come forward.” The woman, who still lives in New Jersey, hopes her actions will encourage other women to come forward, whether about Tully or other cases, Garabedian said.

Paterson Diocese attorney Ken Mullaney confirmed the settlement and said local church officials filed paperwork to Rome at least three years ago to defrock Tully, who will continue to receive a pension until that process, known as laicization, is completed. Mullaney said he has been “scratching my head” over why it has taken so long.

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ALABAMA
WAAY

Rachel Keith rkeith@waaytv.com

A former youth minister arrested on sex abuse charges last year in Colbert County is back behind bars for violating his bond conditions.

On Monday, Charles Adcock, 32, in Texas was ordered back to the Colbert County jail after his bond was revoked by Judge Harold Hughston.

Last week, the Colbert County’s District Attorney’s Office said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Adcock in Texas.

According to court documents, under Adcock’s bond conditions, he was not allowed to work in a capacity that allows him to be unsupervised around minors. Documents indicate Adcock took a job as a worship pastor at First Baptist Church in Bedford, Texas where he had unsuperivised contact with minors.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

UTV can exclusively reveal that a PSNI review claims Bernard Teggart, a 15-year-old murdered by the IRA in 1973, was ‘failed lamentably’ by St Patrick’s Training School in west Belfast.

Story by Damien Edgar @damien_utv & Sharon O’Neill @sharon_utv, Belfast

Bernard’s case was recently described as the ‘most horrific case’ to come before the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

In November 1973, Bernard and his brother Gerard were both abducted from the school by members of the IRA.

Despite being aged 15, the boys had a mental age of no more than eight.

The twins had a record of trouble with the police due to their mental health problems, which in turn brought them to the attention of the IRA.

On the day before Bernard’s murder, police files show that three IRA men came to the school and interrogated his brother Gerard in the woodwork room.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Nuns at a Belfast care home allegedly beat children for slow learning in the classroom, the High Court heard on Monday.

One former resident at Nazareth Lodge is also entitled to damages for punishments meted out after boys wet their beds, it was claimed.

Counsel for Michael McKee argued: “He was a happy boy when he went in and wasn’t a happy boy when he came out.”

Mr McKee, 65, is suing The Sisters of Nazareth over the physical abuse he was allegedly subjected to during his stay as an eight-year-old boy back in 1958.

Lawyers for the congregation are defending the case by challenging the reliability of his account and questioning why he waited half a century to take legal action.

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UNITED STATES
KUAC

[with audio]

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Later this week, Pope Francis heads across the Atlantic – first to Cuba and then on to the United States. Such enormous crowds are expected in this country that authorities are still calculating how to handle them. One group, though, has mixed feelings about this hugely popular pope – they are people who, as children, were sexually abused by their priests. Many feel the church still has not entirely faced up to the problem. Here’s NPR’s Tom Gjelten.

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: The abuse of children by people they think are good leaves deep emotional scars. Becky Ianni of Alexandria, Va., was sexually violated over and over when she was 9 years old by a priest who was a family friend, a man she believed was God’s representative on Earth, someone she saw every Sunday when her parents took her to church.

BECKY IANNI: He would be saying mass and he’d hold up the chalice and all’s I could think about – those hands hurt me and I’m an evil person. I was a dirty little girl. It wasn’t his fault. It was mine. And he told me, if I ever told on him, I’d go to hell.

GJELTEN: Ianni related her abuse experience last year in a session with the StoryCorps project. She said the thought that she was a bad person and that God didn’t like her was so traumatic that she literally buried the memory, until 40 years later, when she came across a picture of herself with the abusive priest. Slowly, all the old feelings of shame and guilt that she had as a 9-year-old girl returned.

IANNI: So I went to the church and asked them, I really needed reassurance that it wasn’t my fault and that I wasn’t going to hell. They didn’t give me any reassurances. They said, oh, you have a complicated case. We’ll have to see what we’re going to do. And so they didn’t tell me and I wrote them and I said I need – I need to know from a priest that I’m not going to hell. And they never answered.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Blade

by Michael K. Lavers

Emails leaked to a Chilean newspaper show two cardinals conspired to prevent a gay man from being named to a sex abuse commission that Pope Francis created.

El Mostrador on Sept. 9 published an email that Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago, wrote to his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, on June 28, 2014, that concludes Juan Carlos Cruz’s nomination to the commission “would be extremely serious for the Chilean (Roman Catholic) church.

Errázuriz — one of the eight cardinals who advises Francis on reforming the Curia that oversees the church — told Ezzati in a July 1, 2014, email that it “is clear” to the pope “that he (Cruz) should not be nominated.”

“It is already clear that this name will not be a member of the commission,” wrote Errázuriz in a July 3, 2014, email to Ezzati.

Cruz, who now lives in Philadelphia and is the head of global communications for DuPont Crop Protection in Delaware, is among the hundreds of people who Rev. Fernando Karadima sexually abused in his parish in El Bosque, a wealthy neighborhood in the Chilean capital, over more than three decades. …

Marie Collins, an Irish sexual abuse victim who is a founding member of the commission, last year nominated Cruz. Errázuriz in an April 21, 2013, email to Ezzati referred to Cruz as “the serpent” after they learned of his nomination.

“He is going to falsify the truth,” wrote Errázuriz. Cruz told the Washington Blade on Friday during a telephone interview from Philadelphia before boarding a flight to Chile that he did not know that Collins had nominated him to the commission until El Mostrador published the emails between Errázuriz and Ezzati.

“That’s how shrewd and sneaky that they are,” Cruz told the Blade.

El Mostrador also published emails between Ezzati and Errázuriz that show they identified cardinals who could help them prevent Cruz from speaking to a group of English-speaking bishops in Rome about sex abuse.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philebrity

With the Archdiocese of Philadelphia currently asking the parents of Catholic school students to sign a “Memorandum of Understanding” (declaring, among other things, that “In all questions that involve Catholic teaching, morals, and Church law, the final determination rests with the Archbishop”), Archibishop Chaput has been raising some eyebrows throughout the Delaware Valley of late. With the papal visit mere weeks away, The Inquirer has just run a fascinating op/ed piece from U.s. magistrate judge Timothy R. Rice that examines how Chaput’s actions may be impacting his faith in the region. From the article:

The local archbishop, Charles J. Chaput, rules with a fist clenched in a velvet glove. Cloaked as a man of God, his message is simple: Follow all rules or leave the Church; we have no need for dissent or diversity in our ranks.

Judging from some of his email replies to the faithful, he is less than kind about delivering the message. Lately, he has taken off his gloves and started delivering bare-fisted body blows. Some days it seems he is auditioning to be a modern-day Rocky Balboa in clerical garb, pounding away on a side of beef at a slaughterhouse at the Italian Market.

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VATICAN CITY
LifeSite News

ROME, September 14, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A growing number of high-ranking Vatican prelates are quietly expressing their dismay over Pope Francis’ recent and sudden Motu Proprio streamlining the process of declaring a marriage null, according to a new report.

On September 10, the German newspaper Die Zeit published an important report about a seven-page dossier that is now being privately circulated in the Vatican among Curial members who are opposing Pope Francis’s recent decision to liberalize the process of marriage annulments.

According to the Die Zeit author, Julius Müller-Meiningen, one high-ranking prelate said that with this new Motu Proprio, which makes the process of annulling a marriage much faster and much easier, “Pope Francis has let drop his mask.” “Many Monsignors,” says Müller-Meiningen, “who are officially working at variously central places of the Universal Church, are expressively distressed and very indignant.”

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CHILE
Terra

Líderes oficialistas de Chile no irán al tedeum por correos de cardenales

[The presidents of the governing parties of Chile will not attend the Te Deum for Independent Day on Sept. 18. There are concerns about content of leaked emails about two Chilean cardinals trying to block appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz, a sexual abuse victim, to a position on the pontifical sexual abuse commission.]

Los presidentes de los partidos oficialistas de Chile no asistirán al tedeum de Fiestas Patrias, el 18 de septiembre, por el contenido de unos correos filtrados de dos cardenales chilenos en los que buscan imposibilitar el nombramiento de una víctima de abuso sexual en un cargo en la Iglesia.

El anuncio se realizó hoy en medio de la polémica que se vive en el país por la publicación de los correos electrónicos de los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz para imposibilitar el nombramiento de Juan Carlos Cruz como parte de la Comisión Pontificia para la Protección de los Menores.

En los mensajes se oponían al nombramiento para esta comisión de Cruz, una de las víctimas del expárroco Fernando Karadima, condenado por abusos sexuales por El Vaticano.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor September 14, 2015

ROME — On the eve of a trip to the United States, Pope Francis has called himself a “son of immigrants” and confirmed the point by issuing a blunt warning to any religious orders in Europe that spurn his recent call to open their doors to refugees because they want to make money off their properties instead.

Go ahead, the pope said, but be ready to pay taxes just like everybody else.

“Some religious orders say ‘No, now that the convent is empty we are going to make a hotel and we can have guests, and support ourselves that way, or make money,’” the pontiff said.

“Well, if that is what you want to do, then pay taxes! A religious school is tax-exempt because it is religious, but if it is functioning as a hotel, then it should pay taxes just like its neighbor. Otherwise it is not fair business.”

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

First female childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Ronald J. Tully comes forward to report her abuse, is found credible by the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and is thereby validated. A financial settlement was reached

First female childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Ronald J. Tully was a student at Pope Pius XII Regional High School in Passaic, New Jersey, when she was repeatedly sexually abused in approximately 1977

Fr. Ronald J. Tully of the Diocese of Paterson, NJ, sexually abused both minor girls and boys during his time as a high school teacher/administrator at Pope Pius XII Regional High School in Passaic, New Jersey

What
A press conference announcing the first known settlement of a claim by a female childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Ronald J. Tully by the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey

When
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, 777 Valley Road, Clifton, New Jersey 07013

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

Why
“Jane Doe,” a former student of Pope Pius XII Regional High School in Passaic, New Jersey, has settled her claim of sexual abuse by Fr. Ronald J. Tully with the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, in the amount of six figures. “Jane Doe” was approximately 16 years of age in approximately 1977 when Fr. Ronald J. Tully, Vice Principal and Dean of Discipline at Pope Pius XII Regional High School, repeatedly sexually abused her. “Jane Doe” quit the school after her junior year and suffered serious injuries as a result of the sexual abuse by Fr. Ronald J. Tully, and she is attempting to heal from the injuries. “Jane Doe” repeatedly reported the sexual abuse of Fr. Ronald J. Tully to the Principal of the school who refused to prevent the sexual abuse from continuing. Therefore, “Jane Doe” continued to be sexually abused by Fr. Ronald J. Tully. By coming forward and reporting her sexual abuse, Jane Doe is helping many other females and males who have been sexually abused. The Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, recently found Jane Doe’s claim to be credible.

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

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ALABAMA
WAFF

Kaitlin Chappell
Posted: 09/14/2015

MUSCLE SHOALS, AL (WAFF) – A former Alabama youth minister is back behind bars after his bond was revoked, according to the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department.

Charles Kyle Adcock was arrested in Texas for rape and sodomy charges out of Alabama in August 2014.

The sheriff said Adcock turned himself in Monday morning for violating bond conditions and is being held in the Colbert County Jail. Among other conditions, Adcock was ordered not to work or be employed in any capacity that would allow him direct, unsupervised contact with minors. He is now accused of violating his bond conditions.

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OSTERRICH
kathweb

[Hans Zollner: Austria is exemplary regarding processing of abuse allegations.]

Leiter des Kinderschutzzentrums an der Päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana in Rom: Opfern und Betroffenen von Missbrauch zuzuhören ist wichtigste Maßnahme der Kirche
09.09.2015

Wien (KAP) Das von der katholischen Kirche in Österreich entwickelte Modell für die Aufarbeitung von sexuellem Missbrauch und Gewalt ist “hervorragend und hat exemplarischen Charakter”. Das unterstrich der Leiter des Kinderschutzzentrums an der Päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana in Rom, Pater Hans Zollner SJ, bei einem Fachgespräch am Dienstag in Wien. Der Jesuit würdigte die klare Vorgangsweise und das strukturierte Zusammenwirken der weisungsfreien diözesanen Ombudsstellen mit der “Unabhängigen Opferschutzkommission” (“Klasnic-Kommission”) und der kirchlichen “Stiftung Opferschutz”. Positiv sei der praktizierte Mix aus Zuhören, Therapie und finanzieller Hilfe. “Es ist zu wünschen, dass dieses Beispiel Schule macht, auch wenn es nicht eins zu eins in anderen Ländern umsetzbar ist”, so Zollner.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sunday Times

A former victim tells Oliver Thring how his friend committed suicide after abuse by Prince Charles’s church friend

Oliver Thring Published: 13 September 2015

Cliff James decided to speak out after his friend Neil Todd committed suicide. In 2012 Sussex police had reopened a historic investigation into Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester and the most senior Church of England figure to face claims of child abuse. Todd who, like James, had been abused by Ball as a teenager in the early 1990s, killed himself shortly after Ball was arrested.

“He never had closure,” says James, speaking publicly for the first time. “He never got over it. And he might have if only the church had investigated things properly at the time and not tried to cover everything up.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Daily Press

A victim has blasted an “establishment cover-up” after the Crown Prosecution Service admitted it should have charged a sex offending bishop 22 years ago.

The CPS said that it was wrong to merely caution predatory Peter Ball, a former bishop who has now admitted a string of sex offences, as it had enough evidence to prosecute him in 1993.

Victim Phil Johnson, who bravely waived his right to anonymity to speak out, blasted the failure to prosecute him sooner.

The former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, now 83, initially denied the offences but changed his plea at the last minute to admit offences against 18 teens and young men over a 25-year period.

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NEW YORK
The Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
14 SEP 2015

A Syracuse bishop objected to a news report that accurately quoted his remarks blaming victims of child-molesting priests for their own sex abuse.

Bishop Robert Cunningham testified in a 2011 deposition as part of a federal lawsuit filed by a man accusing a priest of sexually abusing him years earlier as a child, reported the Post-Standard.

The plaintiff’s attorney asked Cunningham, who heads the Syracuse diocese, whether a child molested by a priest has committed a sin in the eyes of the church.

“The boy is culpable,” Cunningham said during the Oct. 14, 2011, sworn deposition.

The bishop backed away from that statement later in the deposition but said he would need more information about the child’s behavior to determine his culpability.

“Well, I mean, without knowing the circumstances completely, did the boy encourage (or) go along with (it) in any way?” Cunningham said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 14 September 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Msgr. Angelo De Donatis as auxiliary of the diocese of Rome (area 849, population 2,885,272, Catholics 2,365,923, priests 4,834, permanent deacons 122, religious 27,524). The bishop-elect was born in Casarano, Italy in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He holds a licentiate in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and has served in a number of roles, including parish vicar in the parishes of San Saturnino and Santissima Annunziata a Grottaperfetta and officer of the General Secretariat of the Vicariate. He is currently archivist of the Secretariat of the College of Cardinals; director of the Clergy Office of the Vicariate of Rome and spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, pastor of San Marco Evangelista in Campidoglio, Rome, and assistant for the diocese of Rome at the National Association of Families of Clergy.

On Saturday 12 September the Holy Father appointed:

– Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit Patabendige Don, archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, as his special envoy to the National Eucharistic Congress of India, to be held in Mumbai from 12 to 15 November 2015.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 14 September 2015 (VIS) – This morning the eleventh meeting of the Holy Father with the Council of Cardinals began. The work of the “Council of Nine” will continue until Wednesday 16 September.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The process used by the Catholic Church in Melbourne to handle abuse claims discouraged victims from going to the police in some instances, the royal commission into child abuse has found.

In 1996 then archbishop George Pell introduced the Melbourne Response, as the church’s process to deal with people sexually abused by priests and others within the Archdiocese.

It allowed anyone making allegations of abuse to have what the church called an “independent commissioner” to investigate their claims and make findings.

Compensation from the scheme was originally capped at $50,000 before being lifted to $75,000, with the cap a subject of contention among victims and their advocates.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan QC provided advice to two victims, Paul Hersbach and Mr AFA, that discouraged them from going to police.

Mr Hersbach was groomed and abused by Father Victor Gabriel Rubeo — who also abused Mr Hersbach’s father and brother — the royal commission heard.

Mr AFA gave evidence he was sexually abused by Father Michael Glennon three times when he was about 15.

Mr Hersbach and Mr AFA went through the Melbourne Response, and were advised by Mr O’Callaghan in 2006 and 2011 respectively.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

14 SEPTEMBER 2015
BY STUART MACDONALD

A PARISH priest has been removed from his post after a complaint was made to church bosses that he harassed a former altar boy online.

Father Frank King was rebuked by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal over a series of messages he sent on Facebook to Tony Moore.

The 29-year-old yesterday told how he was stunned when King, 50, started bombarding him with messages asking to meet up.

The priest contacted him online and repeatedly asked him to go out for dinner or meet up at his house.

When Tony, a hairdresser, didn’t reply to the messages, the priest at St Aidan’s church in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, tried to call him several times.

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SCOTLAND
KaleidoScot

A Catholic priest has been suspended from his post after the church received a complaint that he harassed a former altar boy.

Father Frank King, 50, who has been serving as the parish priest at St Aidan’s Church in Wishaw, was reproached by the Bishop of Motherwell after Tony Moore, now 29, alleged he received a number of inappropriate messages via social media.

Moore claimed that Father King “bombarded” him with messages requesting him to go out for dinner or meet at his house. He also claimed that the priest had tried to phone him several times and that the messages were “inappropriate and provocative”.

Moore, who now works as a hairdresser, recently met with the Bishop to formally complain about Father King’s behaviour. During the meeting, the Bishop was shown evidence of the messages and has taken immediate action.

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SCOTLAND
Premier

Mon 14 Sep 2015
By Desmond Busteed

A Catholic priest in Scotland has reportedly been disciplined by his diocese after being accused of harassing a former altar boy on Facebook.

Hairdresser Tony Moore, 29, claims Father Frank King of St Aidan’s church in Wishaw, Lanarkshire bombarded Mr Moore with ‘inappropriate’ messages.

“When he first added me on Facebook I wasn’t really sure who he was,” said Tony Moore to the Herald Scotland.

“He sent me a couple of messages just asking how I was which I replied to just to be polite.

“But then I got a message from him asking me to come to his house to have a drink. I thought it was a bit strange and I didn’t reply.

“I found it really creepy and I couldn’t believe I was being pestered like this by a priest. I had given absolutely no indication that I was interested in meeting up with him.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/13/2015

A victim of sex abuse and a priest convicted of child molestation have formed an alliance with a noble goal: to create a hub of resources for victims of sexual abuse and those fighting to stop it.

The pair is raising funds and hope to buy the Chancery building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has an assessed value of about $6 million.

The building, in the shadow of the St. Paul Cathedral on Summit Avenue, is the administrative epicenter for the Roman Catholic archdiocese. The archdiocese placed the building on the market, along with other properties, as part of its bankruptcy process.

Susan Pavlak and Gil Gustafson envision a rebirth of the Chancery as a Christian-based center for “all those affected by sexual abuse.” The building would become home to the Gilead Project, which they describe as an effort to address the systemic change needed to help victims and people of faith heal from the sex abuse crisis, and also to prevent abuse.

The programming would include training for churches and clergy or child-protection professionals, research grants and development of publications.

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CALIFORNIA
Pokrov

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (9/13)- On the cusp of Pope Francis’ first-ever visit to the US, as parishioners leave mass, abuse victims handed out fliers to church goers. The leaflets list the names of 36 publicly accused child molesting child molesting Catholic clerics in the San Francisco Archdiocese, and urges Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to:

* disclose the names of other proven, admitted or credibly accused predators, and
* post all church predators’ names on his diocesan website and in church bulletins (like 30 US bishops have done).

The fliers also urge Catholic church members to

* question loved ones about these child molesting clerics (“Did any of these clerics ever hurt you?”) and
* prod anyone who has “seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes of cover ups to call law enforcement.”

For the safety of parishioners, SNAP wants Pope Francis to “defrock, demote or discipline” bishops who continue to “protect predators and endanger kids,” especially by keeping names of child molesting clerics secret.

For more than 25 years, SNAP has repeatedly urged bishops to “aggressively seek out and help” the thousands of victims “still trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.” But bishops refuse to do anything but the most minimal moves, the group contends.

So now, SNAP is prodding rank-and-file Catholics to take this step. Specifically, the organization is asking parishioners to circulate lists of publicly accused predator priests in their dioceses and ask loved ones if any of them were hurt by any of the priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 14, 2015

Eryk Bagshaw
Education Reporter

The Cranbrook school council has praised the testimony given by the school’s headmaster at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

On Monday the school’s board, lead by prominent businesspeople Helen Nugent and Roger Massy-Greene, emphatically re-affirmed their support of the headmaster, Nicholas Sampson.

“The headmaster continues to have the full support of the school council,” the board wrote in a letter to parents.

“Further, council commends the candid and reflective approach taken by the headmaster in providing his testimony to the Royal Commission.”

The endorsement came after Mr Sampson admitted that he paid a teacher at his former institution, Geelong Grammar, to retire early to avoid any formal complaints of child sex abuse being made against him.

After he suggested the teacher, Jonathan Harvey, retire in 2004, Mr Sampson wrote handwritten notes to him praising his “outstanding service” and for his “friendship and kindness towards my family”, before authorising a payment of $64,348 for the next year in which Harvey did not work.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

South Australian Attorney-General John Rau has labelled the child abuse royal commission a ‘Johnny-come-lately’ for recommending a national redress scheme when states are already tackling the issue.

Mr Rau says the value of a nationwide scheme is questionable given many states and territories, including SA, have established compensation programs for child abuse victims.

‘The royal commission are basically a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys poking their noise into space in which they can be all care and no responsibility because they don’t intend paying any of the bills,’ he told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

A national $4.3 billion redress scheme run by the federal government is the best option to provide justice for child abuse survivors, a royal commission says.

In a report published on Monday the child abuse royal commission made final recommendations for a national scheme, to cover compensation and ongoing support for more than 60,000 abuse victims.

Even though its preferred scheme – one administered by the federal government – was resolutely opposed by Canberra earlier in the year, the commission said on Monday it was the best way forward.

Under that scheme, which would be funded by the churches, schools, charities and other government and non-government institutions where children were abused, survivors would be entitled to payments between $10,000 and $200,000.

And if the institutions could not pay, federal and state governments should come up with the money, as funders of last resort so that all survivors were treated equally.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 14, 2015 –

Jane Lee, Rachel Browne

Up to 60,000 people sexually abused as children in institutions should have access to a $4 billion redress scheme as early as 2017, a royal commission has found.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has stood by its call for the federal government to establish a single national redress scheme.

Compensation would largely be funded by institutions where abuse occurred, including schools, religious groups and government organisations, with federal, state and territory governments paying for any shortfall.

The commission’s long-awaited report on redress and civil litigation on Monday estimated “last resort funding” would cost $613 million, about 15 per cent of the total cost of redress. It left it open to both levels of government to negotiate how much they would contribute to this.
It also recommended that states and territories pave the way for survivors to be able to sue institutions for child sexual abuse which care and supervise children including churches, schools and disability and health services from now on.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Sunday 13 September 2015

Society has failed to protect multiple generations of children from sexual abuse, and a single, national redress scheme is needed to ensure justice and fair compensation for survivors, the royal commission has recommended.

The Australian government should announce its willingness by the end of the year, the royal commission said.

The findings come in a final report on redress and civil litigation (pdf) by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, which took submissions from more than 250 organisations and individuals.

The commission is currently holding its 28th public hearing into a case study of an Australian institution in which devastating child sexual abuse occurred.

“Because of the nature and impact of the abuse they suffered, many victims of child sexual abuse have not had the opportunity to seek compensation for their injuries that many Australians generally can take for granted,” the report said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
PUBLISHED
14/09/2015

The head of the Catholic Church’s safeguarding watchdog has criticised the absence of a compassionate response to survivors of abuse in some religious orders.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Teresa Devlin, CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, said the provincials of some of the female religious orders had expressed regret and distress to her over the harshness of the regime that their orders oversaw.

“They all knew it was rough and dreadful, particularly in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, where kids were treated like objects, not children,” she said.

Ms Devlin also expressed concern over the low conviction rate of religious accused of child sexual abuse in the civil courts.

Following the publication of 43 safeguarding reviews last week, covering eight male orders and 35 female orders, Ms Devlin appealed to the church authorities to investigate alleged abusers.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

A CONTROVERSIAL scheme introduced by George Pell to deal with complaints of sexual abuse actually discouraged victims from going to police, the child abuse Royal Commission has found.

In a major blow for Melbourne’s Catholic Archdiocese, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today released its report into Cardinal Pell’s Melbourne Response.

As well as finding the scheme worked to stop victims taking complaints to authorities, the commission also hit out at the Vatican hierarchy saying it worked to obfuscate the removal of paedophiles in its ranks.

Introduced in 1996 by then Melbourne archbishop George Pell, the Melbourne Response was one of the Church’s first schemes to offer redress to victims of paedophile priests.

But in its report released today, the royal commission found compensation model’s independent commissioner discouraged victims from taking complaints to police.

“Advice about the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should have been left to the police” the commission said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

The Catholic Church’s much-criticised Melbourne Response is not independent, is overly legalistic and should leave it to the police to advise abuse victims about potential charges, an inquiry has found.

The child abuse royal commission has found the Melbourne Response scheme is not sufficiently independent of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, and its independent commissioners, Carelink counselling and compensation panel are not necessarily independent of each other.

They also share the same lawyers as the archdiocese, creating a potential for conflict and difficulties with maintaining confidentiality, it said.

“We consider that a scheme that is heavily dominated by lawyers and traditional legal process is unlikely to provide the most supportive environment for complainants,” its report released on Monday said.

It found an independent Melbourne Response commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan QC, discouraged two abuse victims from going to the police by providing advice about the process.

“Advice about the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should have been left to the police,” the commission said. “They were the body with all of the relevant information.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Campaigners calling for the re-instatement of a Cambuslang priest who was suspended over unfounded allegations of historic sexual abuse have delivered a 2037-signature petition to the Chancellor of the Diocese of Motherwell.

Representatives of the ‘Bring Back Father Paul Morton to St Bride’s Cambuslang’ campaign handed over the petition to Father Jim Grant almost a year after the priest was removed from his home and parish following the anonymous claims.

Father Morton was cleared on any wrongdoing early this year after being falsely accused in 2014.

Many worshippers at St Bride’s now want him reinstated and have criticised the Catholic Church for dragging their heels on the issue.

There was no public reaction from Joseph Toal, the Bishop of Motherwell, who ordered the priest’s suspension in the first place. When delivering the petition to the Chancellor, campaigners again highlighted their objections to the bishop’s silence.

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NEW YORK
Independent Journal

BY KATIE LAPOTIN

According to Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham, the priests involved in the various child molestation scandals throughout the Catholic church over the last few decades aren’t entirely to blame.

Instead, the Post-Standard reports, Bishop Cunningham says the victims share some of the guilt as well.

During a 2011 deposition as part of a federal lawsuit filed by a man who was allegedly abused by a priest within the Syracuse diocese, the Catholic leader was asked whether or not the church believes a child molested by a priest has committed a sin when he said:

“The boy is culpable.”

When asked to elaborate, he responded:

“Well, I mean, without knowing the circumstances completely, did the boy encourage, go along with in any way.”

The Bishop later acknowledged he couldn’t judge if a young man “had any culpability” when provided more background on the situation, but by that point the damage was done.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 14, 2015

Lucy Battersby

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s process of assisting people sexually abused by its priests or members discouraged victims from contacting police, according to a study by the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The commission noted several problems with the Melbourne Response – a program set up by Cardinal George Pell in late 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne – in a report released on Monday.

The case study identified 12 systemic issues, including the role of the Catholic Church in determining its own redress, and the “relationship between those delivering or coordinating counselling and pyschological care and those making decisions about the abuse and compensation”.

In particular, the commission expressed concern that the church’s own law firm was instructing both the independent commissioner and the archdiocese about the same cases, noting “Corrs’ position as lawyers responsible for the Melbourne Response, as well as solicitors for the Archdiocese, raises a clear potential for conflict. It also raises difficulties with confidentiality.”

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UNITED STATES
Daily News Service

by Matthew Hynds – Sep 14, 2015

A Roman Catholic priest is to be put on trial for abusing children in Honduras during missionary trips.

Joseph Maurizio Jr., from Pennsylvania, is accused of molesting three boys and possessing child pornography. He denies the charges.

Meanwhile, a Catholic archbishop Josef Wesolowski has been found dead in Vatican City before he could stand trial, also for the abuse of boys and the possession of child pornography. Had he lived, and been found guilty, he could have spent 35 years in prison.

In Aurora, Colorado, the Reverend John C. Holdren is facing historic sex abuse allegations relating to one child, and other potential victims are being urged to come forward.

This is just a selection of three cases, ongoing at the time of writing, on a typical day.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

14 September, 2015

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s report on redress and civil litigation was released today.

In the report, the Royal Commission recommends that ‘in order to provide redress under the most effective structure for ensuring justice for survivors, the Australian Government should establish a single national redress scheme’.

The Redress and civil litigation report contains 99 recommendations aimed at providing justice to victims of child sexual abuse in institutions.

“We became aware early on that redress was a matter of priority to survivors of child sexual abuse,” said Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed.

“Many people have been profoundly harmed by their abuse; their injuries are sometimes severe and can last a life time. Current and past systems have not provided justice for many,” he said.

The report contains recommendations in relation to the provision of effective redress for survivors through the establishment, funding and operation of a single national redress scheme and the provision of a direct personal responses to survivors by institutions.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Read The Report of Case Study No. 16 – The Melbourne Response (PDF 1.1MB).

14 September, 2015

The Royal Commission’s report of Case Study 16 – the Melbourne Response was released today. The Melbourne Response is the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s process for responding to those who have been sexually abused by priests, religious and lay persons within the Archdiocese of Melbourne. It was announced by the then Archbishop Pell in 1996.

The report of Case Study 16 follows a public hearing into the Melbourne Response held in August last year.

At the public hearing the Royal Commission heard evidence from a number of people with direct experience of the Melbourne Response including Christine and Anthony Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie were sexually abused at the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Oakleigh. The Fosters gave evidence of their experience with the Melbourne Response from 1997 and the approach taken by the Archdiocese to legal proceedings the Fosters instituted after becoming dissatisfied with the Melbourne Response.

The Royal Commission also heard evidence from Mr Hersbach and Mr AFA who went through the Melbourne Response in 2006 and 2011 respectively.

Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Hart gave evidence that the three components of the Melbourne Response – the Independent Commissioners, Carelink and the Compensation Panel – operate independently of the Archdiocese and each other.

The Royal Commissioners found that the Melbourne Response is not sufficiently independent of the Archdiocese of Melbourne in its operation and each element is not necessarily independent of the others.

The legal advisers to the Archdiocese also provided services to the Independent Commissioner, Carelink and the Compensation panel. Documents created as part of the Melbourne Response were held by the lawyers who acted for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The Commissioners state in the report that this raises a clear potential for conflict and difficulties with confidentiality.

The Commissioners are satisfied that Mr O’Callaghan QC, one of the Independent Commissioners of the Melbourne Response, provided advice about the police process to Mr Paul Hersbach and Mr AFA that discouraged them from going to the police.

The Commissioners expressed the view that advice on the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should be left to the police.

Cardinal Pell told the Royal Commission that while he was developing the Melbourne Response, he was aware that work was also being undertaken through the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the National Committee for Professional Standards to develop Towards Healing – a national response.

Cardinal Pell accepted that introducing the Melbourne Response when he did had the effect that Towards Healing, which was approved a few weeks later, was not a national response.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on September 13, 2015

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Roman Catholic bishop of Syracuse issued a public letter today clarifying a 2011 deposition in which he said child victims of priest sexual abuse were partly to blame.

Bishop Robert Cunningham sent the letter in response to a story on Syracuse.com and in The Post-Standard that cited his deposition in a federal lawsuit.

“Victims of abuse are never at fault!” Cunningham wrote.

“Depositions are difficult by their nature,” he wrote. “The line of questioning varied between the specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession.”

He said he was trying to explain that he didn’t know what went on in a person’s heart and mind.

“I tried my best to answer questions and I must admit gave responses that I wish were different,” he wrote. “It saddens me to read the article and to realize that my words gave the wrong impression to victims, their families and the people of the diocese that I believe the victims of abuse are at fault. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

In the deposition, Cunningham said,”the boy is culpable” and later referred to victims as accomplices.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Louis Wayne Ladenburger was ordained a Franciscan priest of the Province of Santa Barbara CA in 1963. He worked in parishes, high schools and retreat centers in dioceses including Stockton, Oakland and Sacramento CA, Phoenix AZ, Portland OR, El Paso TX (in NM), Spokane and Seattle WA, and Reno-Las Vegas NV. He earned a doctorate degree in divinity from the University of California at Berkeley and became a licensed marriage and family as well as chemical dependency therapist. Ladenburger was treated twice in the 1980s for what the Franciscans called “inappropriate professional behavior and relationships.” He was was allowed both times to return to ministry. In 1993 his order restricted Ladenburger’s ministry after they had him undergo another psychological evaluation due to “heightened concern and new awareness of abuse issues.” Ladenburger refused the restrictions and went on leave of absence. He asked for a dispensation of his vows and was laicized by the Vatican in March 1996. He was hired as a therapist in September 2006 by an Idaho school for high-risk teenage boys. In May 2007 he was fired after two boys accused him of sexual abuse, including fondling and oral sex. He admitted to abusing one of the boys. He was arrested in June and charged with three counts of sexual battery of a minor between the ages of 16 and 17. In a plea agreement in November 2007 Landenburger pleaded guilty to to one count of felony sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to up to 5 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 6 months.

Ordained: 1963
Laicized: 1996

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, Sept. 13

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

New York Cardinal Tim Dolan should harshly, publicly and immediately denounce two Syracuse bishops for blaming victims of pedophile priests for their victimization.

[Syracuse.com]

In a 2011 deposition, Bishop Robert Cunningham was asked a clear, simple question: “did the (abused) boy commit a sin?” He made a clear, simple reply: “The boy is culpable.”

Shame on him.

And his predecessor, Bishop James Moynihan, told abuse victim Charles Bailey ‘The age of reason is 7, so if you’re at least 7 you’re culpable for your actions.’

Shame on him too.

And shame on any and every Catholic official who ignores – and thus essentially endorses – these mean-spirited remarks.

Dolan, as the “metropolitan” bishop over all of New York, has a particular duty to speak up loudly and clearly here unless he wants to deepen the pain of thousands of abuse victims and deepen the victim-shaming and victim-blaming church culture that still persists.

These are inexcusable, irresponsible comments from powerful, smart men. They will deter others who were raped and sodomized from reporting criminals and protecting kids.

This warped, self-serving view – that a child is to blame for his or her victimization by a priest – stems from the exalted and ‘superior’ status clerics give themselves. Bishops think this way because they’ve been indoctrinated since childhood to believe that the ordained are ‘above’ the common folk.

Bishops often talk of “the dignity of every person.” But deep down, many of them are convinced that they really are better than the rest of us, which is why many of them almost compulsively blame others when clerics commit crimes.

We hope Syracuse Catholics will be so disgusted by these mean-spirited remarks that they stop donating to institutions that hide abuse and give instead to agencies that fight abuse.

We also hope that US bishops will harshly and publicly denounce him, so that hurtful comments like this are deterred. They’ve pledged (starting in 2002) that they will “fraternally correct” their colleagues who endanger kids, protect predators, conceal crimes and otherwise mishandle this continuing crisis. Now is the time for them do so.

And we hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Syracuse will find the courage to speak up, expose wrongdoers, protect kids, seek justice and start healing, by first seeking independent sources of help and NOT reporting to corrupt, self-serving Catholic officials.

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NEW YORK
WSYR

[with video]

[Child victims partly to blame in priest sex-abuse cases, Syracuse bishop testified – Syracuse.com]

Syracuse

Bishop Robert Cunningham is clarifying his views on victims who were abused as children by catholic priests.

The bishop released a long statement on Sunday, responding to an article on the front page of the Post-Standard with the headline: Bishop: Priests’ Victims Share Blame.

“Allow me to be clear: I in no way believe a child is responsible for being abused by any person,” Cunningham stated. “I also believe and have clearly stated that a priest who abuses a child is wrong as is any adult who takes advantage and harms a child.”

The defense comes in response to reporter John O’Brien’s review of a 2011 deposition, filed as part of a federal lawsuit accusing a priest in the Syracuse diocese of sexually abusing a man when he was a child.

Initially, it appears that the questioning was general, not in reference to a specific case.

Cunningham is quoted as saying “The boy is culpable”, in response to a question about whether the church feels a child has committed sin if they have been molested by a priest. He’s then quoted asking if the child did “go along with (it) in any way”.

“The plain and simple fact is that depositions are difficult by their very nature. The line of questioning varied between specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession,” Cunningham explained in his statement this weekend. “I was trying to explain that in general I do not know what is on the minds and hearts of individuals and failed to state clearly what I believe, particularly as it pertained to the case at hand.”

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Many of you have awakened this morning to read an article in the Syracuse Newspapers stating that I blame victims for being sexually abused. Allow me to be clear: I in no way believe a child is responsible for being abused by any person. I also believe and have clearly stated that a priest who abuses a child is wrong as is any adult who takes advantage and harms a child.

The article cites passages from a deposition in 2011. I tried my best to answer questions and I must admit gave responses that I wish were different. It saddens me to read the article and to realize that my words give the wrongful impression to victims, their families and the people of the diocese that I believe victims of abuse are at fault. There is nothing further from the truth. Victims of abuse are never at fault!

The plain and simple fact is that depositions are difficult by their very nature. The line of questioning varied between specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession. I was trying to explain that in general I do not know what is on the minds and hearts of individuals and failed to state clearly what I believe, particularly as it pertained to the case at hand. It is obvious that my choice of words should have been better. Bottom line is, I cannot go back and change my words but I can assure you that I did not believe the individual involved in the case was at fault. I clearly stated the priest was at fault. No child is responsible for being abused. A priest or any other adult who abuses a child is wrong.

Child sexual abuse in the Church is painful for all of us. It never should have a place in our Church. However, we have and are continuing to address this issue with fervor. We are committed to ensuring that child sexual abuse does not happen in the Catholic Church and that all children remain safe. Since 2002, we have established a Diocesan Review Board made up of professionals who bring their skill set to assist in determining credibility of old allegations. Our diocesan policy mandates that all clergy, religious, employees and those volunteers whose ministry puts them in the presence of children complete a criminal background check and child and youth protection training. We also have an Office of Victim Assistance which serves as the point of contact for those who feel they have been harmed and serves as a liaison to assist in providing support for spiritual and emotional healing. It bears repeating from my other letters that there is no member of the clergy serving in the diocese who has a credible allegation of child sexual abuse.

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ROME
The Independent (UK)

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst: Germany’s ‘Bishop of Bling’ in new scandal over penthouse flat in Rome

MICHAEL DAY Author Biography ROME Sunday 13 September 2015

Germany’s “Bishop of Bling”, who was removed from his post in Limburg by Pope Francis after spending extravagant amounts of church money on home improvements, including €350,000 (£257,000) on walk-in wardrobes, is now living the high life in Rome, it is claimed.

Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was summoned to the Vatican for a dressing down in October 2013, when it emerged he’d spent €31m on renovations.

A spokesman for the Holy See then announced that the high-spending clergyman would go on a “period of leave from the diocese”.

But earlier this year it emerged that the German Bishop had been given an impressive-sounding job in Rome as “delegate for catechesis” at the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

And according to a report this weekend in a local paper, The Italian Insider, Bishop Tebartz-van Elst is enjoying suitably luxurious accommodation to go with his new job – a 200sq m penthouse close to Rome’s most famous and celebrated central square, Piazza Navona.

The apartment, with a large terrace, is only yards away from the five-star Hotel Raphael, where the notoriously corrupt former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi commandeered an entire floor before fleeing the country in disgrace in 1994.

The Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Independent that he did not wish to comment on Bishop Tebartz-van Elst’s new accommodation. “I don’t know anything about this. It’s nothing to do with me and I don’t wish to comment on this gossip,” he said.

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CHILE
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 13 September 2015

The Catholic Church has been drawn into a new scandal after senior clerics conspired to block a survivor from joining the Pope’s sex abuse advisory board, accusing him of “lies”.

Emails between the Archbishop of Santiago and his predecessor, leaked to Chile’s top online newspaper El Mostrador, show how they blocked Juan Carlos Cruz from the Holy See’s advisory board, set up by the Pope last year to help create a climate of greater accountability.

Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz were both concerned that if details of the abuse emerged the Church would be damaged as a result. “I hope we can prevent lies from finding space between those who belong to the same church,” Cardinal Ezzati wrote to Cardinal Errazuri.

Cruz was one of many boys abused by Father Fernando Karadima, one of the Church’s most notorious paedophiles. Karadima, who ran a parish in Santiago for six decades, has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in penance and prayer for his depraved abuse of young boys.

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IRELAND/CHILE
Irish Times

Pamela Duncan, Elaine Edwards

Sun, Sep 13, 2015

Abuse survivor Marie Collins has described as “sickening” apparent attempts to block an abuse survivor’s nomination to the Pope’s child protection commission.

Ms Collins, who is a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, last year nominated Chilean abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, to become a member.

Last week leaked emails between two senior Chilean Church members – the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz – were published by Chilean newspaper El Mostrador.

The emails appear to show that the two men lobbied to block Mr Cruz’s nomination over fears it could damage the Chilean Church.

Cardinal Ezzati has since claimed that he was quoted out of context.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC Radio 4

It’s alleged there was a ‘backroom deal’ between the CPS, the police and Church of England to avoid a damaging trial of a senior Bishop for indecent assault and gross indecency in the 1990’s. This week Bishop Peter Ball plead guilty to a series of historic sex offences against 18 young men between the 1970s and 90s. William Crawley asks why the original charges were dropped and where it leaves the Church today.

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