ABUSE TRACKER

MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For Immediate release Thursday, September 10

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)

We are grateful for many things in the Jones County case involving a priest and a young boy.

We are grateful that the father of the young boy had the wisdom to call the police rather than contact church officials.

We are grateful that police immediately responded and arrested Father Jose Vazquez.

We are grateful that civil authorities will investigate further and attempt to bring other charges.

[WJTV]

We encourage anyone who has been harmed by Vazquez to come forward and begin to heal. We beg witnesses and whistleblowers to remember that charges are not a conviction. That church officials often hire high powered defense attorneys so that even if found guilty the priest will spend little time in jail and then once again pose a risk to children. So now more than ever it is imperative that anyone with information no matter how old or insignificant they feel it is to come forward and talk with civil authorities.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

Many of the high-profile movies at TIFF this year involve seekers of the truth, who want to get to the bottom of a story that can’t be told via a Facebook post or 140-character tweet.

By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Thu Sep 10 2015

My ink-stained heart is gladdened that one of the early talking points at TIFF 2015 is Spotlight, a film about journalists unmasking Roman Catholic Church corruption.

Tom McCarthy’s engrossing procedural on the Boston Globe’s 2002 pedophile priest exposé was the film I heard mentioned most often at a pre-TIFF party Wednesday night, the “Critical Drinking” bash hosted by the Toronto Film Critics Association and sponsored by the Star.

You’d expect journalists to be captivated by a film like Spotlight, but there were also many non-journos at the event who expressed great interest in seeing it. The cast includes Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and John Slattery, all in top form as they depict the real reporters and editors who doggedly unearthed a Boston Archdiocese coverup, one with global implications, of the widespread sexual abuse of minors by supposedly holy men.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

SIMON HOUPT
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Sep. 10, 2015

Talk about kicking folks when they’re down. For the past decade or so, reporters and their ever-suffering bosses have had to come to terms with the fact that most people don’t seem to want to pay for journalism. And now comes word that people don’t even want to pay for movies about journalism.

In an interview at the Venice Film Festival last weekend, where Spotlight, his thrilling new film about The Boston Globe’s 2001 investigation into the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal, had its world premiere prior to a bow at TIFF next Monday, director Tom McCarthy told the trade paper Variety that the film “kept falling apart,” as the producers tried to raise funds. “It was brutal,” he said. “It was dead three times.”

Through all the tumult of the Great Disruption that has laid waste to North America’s newsrooms, journalists have been able at least to draw some succour from movies that celebrated our life’s work, that made us out to be the heroes we are in our own minds: say, Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon; or last year’s well-received Rosewater, about the Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari. But, like newsrooms themselves, newsroom dramas rarely make money. If the genre dries up, how will we make ourselves feel better? Is there really that much Scotch in the world?

Spotlight is one of two American indie films about the news trade, both based on a true story, that are appearing at this year’s TIFF. The other, called simply Truth, is about television news rather than my ink-stained colleagues in the newspaper biz, and is therefore far more glamorous. Premiering Saturday afternoon, Truth stars Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes, the 60 Minutes producer who steered that program’s ill-fated 2004 report about George W. Bush’s questionable Vietnam War-era National Guard service. Robert Redford, who played Bob Woodward in the ur-journo-drama All the President’s Men, is Dan Rather, the veteran CBS Evening News anchor who retired in early 2005 amid a tsunami of criticism over the Bush report.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Posted on Sep 10, 2015

by Dave Sutor

Testimony began in a Central City priest’s sex abuse trial Thursday.

And, with a jury seated, attorneys in both sides of the case began trial by painting two far different images of the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr.

Prosecutors said Honduran orphans knew Maurizio as the “Money Man” – someone who used donations from home as power to satisfy his sexual urges.

But defense attorney Steven Passarello described Maurizio as a man who dedicated nearly 20 years to helping Honduras’ impoverished youth and expanding their campus-like charity before baseless accusations in the troubled country branded him a pedophile.

A jury of seven men and five women was selected Thursday morning to hear what could be weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including three young men allegedly abused by Maurizio as boys.

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Joseph F. Byrne was ordained for the Boston archdiocese in 1969. He assisted at parishes in Dorchester, Quincy and Weymouth MA until he was named pastor of a parish in Waltham in 1994. Among his many involvements were the Archdiocesan Office of Vocations, Project Rachel, and the Office of Spiritual Development. He was also a police and hospital chaplain in Quincy for 10 years. From 2002-2008 Byrne’s status was “unassigned.” He pleaded guilty in 2005 to embezzling more than $135,000 from his Waltham parish and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation. Despite being unassigned, Byrne reportedly moved to Falmouth MA in 2003 where he helped out as a fill-in at a parish. He also lived for a time in 2012-2013 at a parish in Arlington MA. In May 2012 Byrne was placed on leave after an allegation emerged that he sexually abused a child in the early 1970s. He was reinstated in May 2013 after the archdiocese found the allegation to be “unsubstantiated.” Byrne was again removed from active ministry in February 2014 when a second allegation was made that he had sexually abused a child, also in the early 1970s. He died June 18, 2014.

Born: 1943
Ordained: May 21, 1969
Died: June 18, 2014

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CHILE
El Mostrador

[Marie Collins of Ireland, member of the pontifical child abuse commission, verified she had sought appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz to the commission.]

Tenía 13 años, acababa de confirmarse y a la vulnerabilidad de la adolescencia, sumaba otro factor: estaba enferma y hospitalizada.

En ese contexto comenzó a recibir todas las tardes la visita de un sacerdote para acompañarla con lecturas católicas. Aunque no fueron solo esas lecturas la que la acompañaron de por vida, sino también los abusos de los que fue víctima. Quedaron registrados en su mente y en su cuerpo. Alimentaron su aislamiento y la sensación de sentirse sucia. “Este constante sentimiento de culpabilidad me llevó a una profunda depresión y a problemas de ansiedad suficientemente serios como para necesitar tratamiento médico cuando tenía 17 años. Después vinieron largas hospitalizaciones”, comentó a la prensa hace algunos años.

La irlandesa Marie Collins, uno de los íconos en el mundo que demuestran el daño de los abusos sexuales contra menores cometidos por sacerdotes, comenzó una batalla interminable para establecer que el problema no era ella, sino su agresor y la protección que le entregaron los superiores de la Iglesia a su victimario. “Lo mejor de mi vida comenzó hace quince años cuando mi agresor compareció ante la justicia. Durante esos años trabajé con mi diócesis y con la Iglesia Católica en Irlanda para mejorar la protección de los menores. Mi vida ya no está destrozada. Tiene sentido y valor”, señaló.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

Organización de Laicos y Laicas de Osorno dicen que hay un poder revestido de religión en la Iglesia Católica

[The organization of laity in Osorno in a statement have rejected the email exchange between Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and Francisco Javier Errazuiz. The email revealed that the cardinals are exercising power within the hierarchy and secondly they were serious about blocking appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz to the Pontifical Commission for the Prevention of Abuse.]

Por medio de un comunicado, la Organización de Laicos y Laicas de Osorno manifestó su rechazo al intercambio de correos electrónicos entre los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz.

“Los correos revelan dos noticias, a saber, por un lado la lógica poco cristiana de ejercer el poder dentro de la jerarquía eclesiástica, y por otro, la seria consideración del Vaticano para que Juan Carlos Cruz integre la Pontificia Comisión para la Prevención del Abuso”, dice la nota.

“Consideramos de gran magnitud que uno de los principales testigos de la reprochabilidad del obispo Juan Barros haya sido postulado a esta comisión. Es un reconocimiento a la verdad de sus dichos que impone una carga más al actual obispo de Osorno cuando intente desdecirlo. El hecho que los cardenales de la Iglesia Católica hayan realizado gestiones y confabulaciones exitosas en su contra, no hace sino presumir que su verdad era un peligro para muchos”, agregó.

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MISSOURI
The Rolla Daily News

By Summer Ballentine
Associated Press

Posted Sep. 10, 2015

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
A Missouri advocate who says he was sexually abused by a priest as a teenager said Thursday that he received $40,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City.

A spokesman for the diocese, Deacon Dan Joyce, confirmed Thursday that the diocese provided $40,000 to David Clohessy, who serves as the national director of an advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse. The diocese did not provide further details about the out-of-court settlement.

Joyce said that staff met with Clohessy earlier this year after he contacted them regarding his allegations of abuse by the Rev. John Whiteley.

Joyce said Bishop John Gaydos later wrote to Clohessy “to extend to him an apology for the abuse that he reported.” Joyce said the diocese last month gave Clohessy money to “help him with his needs for healing.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

Sex abuse inquiry: Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek apologises to sexual abuse victims

September 11, 2015

Henrietta Cook
Education Reporter at The Age

Geelong Grammar failed its students who suffered “traumatic and terrible” sexual abuse at the hands of teachers, its headmaster says.

Stephen Meek, who became headmaster in 2004, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he was “unreservedly” sorry and that the school had failed its duty of care.

Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek says he was told about a sexual assault allegation at the school on his first day in the job

Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek says he was told about a sexual assault allegation at the school on his first day in the job Photo: Eddie Jim

“As students they had every right to attend a school where they were looked after and where their safety and well-being were assured. This did not happen, the school failed in its duty of

The Geelong Grammar community has been rocked by shocking accounts of child sexual abuse that took place on all its campuses from the late 1950s until 2007. The public hearing, which has run for two weeks, has focused on the school’s response to five teachers who have all been convicted of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

11 September, 2015

The Royal Commission directions hearing in relation to Case Study 33 listed in Sydney at 10:00am AEST on Monday 14 September 2015 has been vacated and will no longer proceed.

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CHILE
Terra

Dos cardenales en ojo del huracán por nuevas filtraciones sobre conspiración

[Two Chilean cardinals are now in the eye of the storm after the release of a new exchange of emails that reveals efforts to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of sexual abuse by an influential Chilean priest, from appointment to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Emails published Wednesday by El Mostrador show that Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and Francisco Javier Errauriz apptempted to stop appointment of Cruz.]

Dos cardenales chilenos están hoy en el ojo del huracán tras la difusión de un nuevo intercambio de correos que revelan gestiones para impedir que una víctima de abusos sexuales por parte de un influyente expárroco chileno formara parte de la Comisión Pontificia para la Protección de los Menores.

Los correos electrónicos, publicados este miércoles por el medio digital El Mostrador, revelan la intercesión de los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz para imposibilitar el nombramiento de una de las víctimas del expárroco Fernando Karadima, condenado por abusos sexuales por El Vaticano, como miembro en una institución pontificia.

En uno de los correos, cuya autoría no ha sido desmentida por la Iglesia chilena, enviado a Errázuriz, Ezzati intentaba disuadir al cardenal de nombrar a Juan Carlos Cruz, víctima y denunciante de los abusos de Karadima, como miembro de la Comisión Pontificia.

“Espero que (el nombramiento) no sea así, sería demasiado grave para la Iglesia de Chile. Significaría, entre otras cosas, dar crédito y avalar a una construcción que el Sr. Cruz ha construido astutamente (…). Espero que pueda hacer luz con quienes tienen responsabilidades de este nombramiento”, dice el correo enviado el de 28 de junio de 2014.

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TEXAS
Watch Keep

Amy Smith

Earlier this week, FOX4 News in Dallas broke the story locally of a Baptist minister indicted on 29 counts of rape and sodomy of a child in Alabama who is now working at a church in the Dallas area. First Baptist Church Bedford hired Charles Kyle Adcock about 8 months ago as a music minister. Pastor Steve Knott apparently was aware of Adcock’s charges when he hired him. Church leaders spoke with Elizabeth Dinh of CBS11 yesterday saying that they spoke with Adcock and believe his story that he is not guilty. We know about this story now because concerned parents spoke out.

CBSDFW

“We think it’s incredibly irresponsible and reckless to have hired him in the first place,” says Amy Smith, who works with SNAP: Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Smith say she took to twitter to blast First Baptist’s pastor for hiring Adcock, and says she was immediately blocked from the church’s feed. Smith and another supporter staged a hastily arranged protest outside the church this afternoon. And although they were outnumbered by press, she insists it doesn’t take a crowd to warn parents.

“What we know about predators is they rarely have just one victim” says Smith, “and they’re very manipulative and often will find places like churches to have a position of trust. That word ‘minister’ signals to most churchgoers that he is safe.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 11, 2015

Adam Cooper

A former Geelong Grammar housemaster, who was also renowned among Australia’s arts community, has been jailed for seven-and-half-years for sexually abusing six boys in his care more than three decades ago.

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse continued its focus on the prestigious school in the Victorian County Court building on Friday, John Hamilton Buckley sat in another court room as judge Jane Patrick condemned his “disgraceful” and “predatory” offending.

Buckley sexually abused six boys aged between 10 and 13 between 1980 and 1983, when he was a teacher and housemaster at Geelong Grammar’s junior school Glamorgan in Toorak.

Among his victims were two brothers, another boy who was indecently assaulted while in the sick bay and another who was told to pretend Buckley was Bo Derek and to “make love” to him.
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Buckley used pornographic material, dinners outside the campus and a card game similar to strip poker to manipulate the boys before offending.

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MICHIGAN
The Arab American

DEARBORN HEIGHTS — An Orthodox bishop has been placed on leave after allegations of sexual misconduct.

Dearborn Heights Archbishop Nathaniel Popp announced on Tuesday that his auxiliary bishop the Right Rev Irineu Duvlea, is under investigation.

In a statement, Popp said Duvlea, 53, is presumed innocent but will remain on leave and be prohibited from working during the investigation. Duvlea served as the bishop of Dearborn Heights and auxiliary bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.
Popp did not disclose any information about potential victims and called the investigation highly confidential.

“No one should discuss the investigation with anyone,” Popp said in the announcement.
In a statement, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, commended Popp for making the investigation public.

However, Cappy Larson of SNAP Orthodox said the church should supply more information.

“Did the misconduct involve a parishioner?” Larson asked in the statement. “If so, was the victim a child, an adult, a male a female? How many victims have come forward? More complete disclosure can help to jog memories and reassure other survivors, producing additional testimony and evidence.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

By Timothy R. Rice

As I rounded Lombard Street the other day, heading west in Philadelphia, I was greeted by a lifesized, cardboard cutout of Pope Francis on a balcony at Second and Lombard Streets. His arms were outstretched and he was wearing a shirt with the word “Hope” on his chest. My first thought was: Does this poor soul know what he is in for in Philadelphia?

As our pope continues to preach tolerance, forgiveness, and humility, the Catholic Church in Philadelphia escalates its ground war against such crazy notions. 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.

On Tuesday, Rocky Chaput pronounced that all parents of Catholic school students must sign a loyalty pledge, acknowledging allegiance to Church doctrine and to him as their supreme moral authority. Parents, who often work two jobs to afford a Catholic education for their children, are being lectured that Catholic education is a privilege, not a right. If they don’t agree with every Church doctrine, they should head for public school. His edict comes only a few years after he shuttered dozens of Catholic schools, often without consulting parents, and after Catholic bishops have been targeted for concealing sexual abuse of children by clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

September 11, 2015

Eryk Bagshaw
Education Reporter

Parents and students at Sydney school Cranbrook fear that the career of their headmaster may be over after damaging revelations at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

On Thursday the school’s headmaster, Nicholas Sampson, admitted 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.
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The commission also heard that Mr Sampson allowed the teacher, Jonathan Harvey, to remain at the school teaching maths for a further six months after the allegations were raised and that he failed to report the matter to Victorian Police and the Victorian Institute of Teachers.

After he suggested Harvey retire, 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 an extra year in which he did not work.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

By Bob Allen

A speaker sidelined two years ago by a sexual abuse scandal at his former church is back at center stage for an upcoming conference featuring prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.

C.J. Mahaney, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Ky., joins Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and International Mission Board President David Platt as scheduled speakers at the biennial Together for the Gospel conference scheduled April 12-14 in Louisville, Ky.

Mahaney, who in 2006 along with Mohler and two others founded the confab popular among young Calvinists, sat out the last conference in 2014, saying he didn’t want publicity over a high-profile lawsuit alleging a cover-up of child abuse at his former church to subject the other founders to unfair criticism. Criticism nevertheless followed, after a photo taken at the gathering showed Mahaney seated alongside conference headliners on the front row.

Mahaney was one of numerous leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network he helped start in the 1980s, named in a class-action lawsuit for allegedly failing to report alleged sexual and physical abuse of children. The lawsuit was dismissed due to statute of limitations, but in 2014 a volunteer at Mahaney’s former church was convicted on criminal charges similar to acts alleged in the civil suit.

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ZAMBIA
Daily Mail

MUBANGA NONDO, Ndola

A MEDICAL doctor at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola has told Ndola principal resident magistrate Obbister Musukwa that her medical examinations on a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly defiled by her pastor were consistent with allegations of sexual abuse.

The doctor was testifying in a case in which Joseph Kaindu, 43, pastor of Faith Deeper Understanding Church, is alleged to have defiled a teenage member of his church.

Masengu Chilenge, 35, a medical doctor of Mukuba Flats, told Mr Musukwa that the victim’s hymen was torn, although there were no fresh lacerations on the genital area.

“The general condition of the victim when she was brought to the hospital on June 30 this year was stable, so I focused on the genital area. My findings were that there were no fresh wounds or lacerations, but what I saw were multiple bruises which had healed.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Sep. 10, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO.
Baskets of fresh white candles greeted visitors at St. Elizabeth Parish as they entered the dim and sparsely decorated church for an unusual evening service. A little more than 100 men and women scattered throughout the pews, some in small groups, some in couples, some quietly alone.

“I commend you for being here,” Fr. Greg Haskamp, the pastor at St. Elizabeth’s, told the solemn group. “I know the decision to attend was not an easy one.”

The event was the second in a series of healing services sponsored by the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., to reach out to survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy over many decades. St. Elizabeth’s is one of four parishes chosen for the services because of its history with clergy sex abuse. At least three priests — Fr. Thomas O’Brien and Fr. Thomas Reardon in the 1970s and ’80s and Fr. Michael Brewer in the 1990s — have been accused of sexually molesting boys in the parish, according to the website bishopaccountability.org.

The diocese began the program, Healing Our Parishes through Empathy (HOPE), in August, four months after Bishop Robert Finn resigned. The services are the first of their kind in the diocese, according to Carrie Cooper, director of the Department of Child and Youth Protection.

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BAHAMAS
Caribbean 360

NASSAU, Bahamas, Wednesday September 9, 2015 – Bahamian-born Rhonda Darville triumphed over sexual abuse and two abortions to become the founder and executive director of The Bahamas’ first pregnancy resource centre (PRC).

Darville, who grew up in Nassau and worshipped at an Anglican church, was molested by her brother and a priest at an early age, going on to travel a destructive path that led to abortion.

LifeNews.com reports that she underwent her first abortion at the age of 18, and later had a second, going on to attempt suicide on three occasions as a result of the emotional pain from the procedures.

According to LifeNews, she was one of the many women who attempt suicide after abortion, with statistics showing that post-abortive women are six times more likely to commit suicide than women who have given birth.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

September 10, 2015 12:02 pm | Author: berger

“For decades, the locker rooms at Chaminade College Preparatory School in our town were a place of terror for several students aged 11-18, who as adults have filed lawsuits against the school alleging widespread sexual abuse by its staff. Former students also say they were abused in Chaminade’s boarding school rooms and staff offices.” That’s the lede of a new Guardian piece about the church’s continuing abuse crisis. It quotes our town’s Christopher Wimmer, who says he was abused by Brother John Woulfe and Brother Louis Meinhardt at the school. It also quotes local victims’ barrister Nicole Gorovsky and Marianist head Fr. Martin Solma.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

By AMIE SCHAENZER (Patch Staff)
September 10, 2015

A lawsuit has been filed against a former Geneva priest who is accused of sexually abusing a boy when he was between the ages of 5 and 7 years old in the 1970s while he served at St. Rita’s of Cascia in Aurora, according to the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

The lawsuit claims John C. Holdren “manipulated the boy’s emotions” and groomed him to keep him from reporting the sex acts. Holdren is accused of having sex with the boy and inappropriately groping and fondling his genitals. The incidents occurred in 1972 and 1973. The alleged victim is a 49-year-old Maryland man who grew up in Aurora.

Holdren served as a priest at St. Peter in Geneva from 1981 to 1983. Holdren served at St. Rita’s until 1981 and also spent time with two other parishes in the Chicago area: He was with St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake for six years in the 1970s and retired in 1994 from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Johnsburg after serving for 10 years as a priest, according to the Kane County Chronicle.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clarion-Ledger

Jones County, Miss. – A priest is charged with sexual battery in Jones County after he confessed.

Father Jose Vazquez’s bond was set at $100,000, WJTV reported. Authorities said that the 36-year-old priest works in Stone County.

The victim’s father called the sheriff’s dept. on Sept. 9. and said there was inappropriate behavior between his 12-year-old son and Father Jose Vazquez. Vazquez was still at the scene when deputies arrived. He was taken into custody and confessed to multiple acts of sexual battery with the victim. He said one of the acts happened in Jones County and the other acts took place elsewhere.

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MISSISSIPPI
The Times-Picayune

By Kim Chatelain, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on September 10, 2015 at 3:35 PM, updated September 10, 2015 at 3:36 PM

A Catholic priest in south Mississippi was arrested Wednesday (Aug. 9), accused of sexual battery involving a 12-year-old boy, according to SunHerald.com. Rev. Jose Vazquez, pastor at St. Francis Xavier in Wiggins and at St. Lucy Mission in Lucedale, confessed to several sex acts with the boy and other incidents in different jurisdictions, the website reported, citing a press release from Jones County Sheriff’s Office.

At his initial court appearance Thursday, Vazquez was deemed a flight risk and his bond was set at $100,000, the website reported.

The Catholic Diocese of Biloxi issued a statement, saying it is saddened by the news and regrets “any actions or behavior by clergy or any other personnel who might betray the trust placed in us. Sexual misconduct with a minor on the part of any clergyman is reprehensible and will not be tolerated.

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MISSISSIPPI
Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi – Gulf Pine Catholic

Thursday, 10 September 2015

In response to the arrest and criminal charges filed against Father Jose Vazquez, the Diocese of Biloxi is issuing the following statement. “We wish to make it absolutely clear that the Diocese of Biloxi makes every effort to protect and to provide a safe environment for the children and young people entrusted to our care. We are saddened and deeply regret any actions or behavior by clergy or any other personnel who might betray the trust placed in us. Sexual misconduct with a minor on the part of any clergyman is reprehensible and will not be tolerated. We pledge our full cooperation with authorities on this matter. We also pledge our prayers and support to the victim and family going forward.”

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MISSISSIPPI
SunHerald

BY ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald@sunherald.comSeptember 10, 2015

Rev. Jose Vazquez, a priest in Wiggins, has been arrested in Jones County on a sexual battery charge involving a 12-year-old boy.

The Jones County Sheriff’s Office reported his arrest in a press release, saying Vazquez was at a family’s home in west Jones County on Wednesday when the boy’s father called to report inappropriate behavior between Vazquez and his son.

Vazquez, 36, is the pastor at St. Francis Xavier in Wiggins and at St. Lucy Mission in Lucedale.

Vazquez was still at the boy’s home when deputies arrived, and deputies interviewed the boy.

During Vazquez’ interview, he confessed to several sex acts with the boy, including the act in Jones County and incidents in other jurisdictions, the press release said.

Vazquez was deemed a flight risk at his initial court appearance Thursday and the judge imposed a $100,000 bond. …

The Catholic Diocese of Biloxi issued a statement saying it is saddened by the news and regrets “any actions or behavior by clergy or any other personnel who might betray the trust placed in us. Sexual misconduct with a minor on the part of any clergyman is reprehensible and will not be tolerated.

“We wish to make it absolutely clear that the Diocese of Biloxi makes every effort to protect and to provide a safe environment for the children and young people entrusted to our care.”

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

CHILE
El Mostrador

Diputado Ojeda (DC): “Si el obispo de Osorno Juan Barros oficia el Te Deum de Fiestas Patrias, no asistiré”

[The deputy of the Chilean Christian Democratic – Sergio Ojeda – said he would not attend the Te Deum on Independence Day in Osorno if the religious service is headed by Bishop Juan Barros. Barros is accused to being an accessory of abuse of minors committed by priest Fernando Karadima.]

El diputado de la Democracia Cristiana Segio Ojeda adelantó que no asistirá al Te Deum de Fiestas Patrias en Osorno si el oficio religioso es encabezado por el obispo Juan Barros, debido a los cuestionamietos que pesan sobre el prelado, a quien se acusa de ser uno de los encubridores de los abusos cometidos por el sacerdote Fernando Karadima.

Durante una actividad con motivo de la visita a Osorno de Juan Carlos Cruz, quien fue una de las víctimas del ex párroco de la iglesia de El Bosque, Ojeda dijo que “si el obispo de Osorno Juan Barros oficia el Te Deum de Fiestas Patrias, no asistiré”.

Lo anterior, subrayó, “por las graves acusaciones que se hace en su contra, que han originado el rechazo de gran parte del mundo cristiano y laico, con lo que reafirmo y reitero mi rechazo a Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno. Él es el culpable de la división de los católicos y la comunidad, la unidad se producirá sólo cuando él deje el cargo”.

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

ILLINOIS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John C. Holdren was ordained for the Rockford IL diocese in 1971. He assisted in parishes in Aurora, Crystal Lake and Geneva. He pastored a Johnsburg parish from 1983 until going on sick leave in 1994, after he was injured during what he told police was a home invasion. He is last indexed in the Official Catholic Directory in 2005, still as “Absent on Leave.” Holdren was accused in a lawsuit filed September 8, 2015 of sexually abusing a 7 to 9-year-old boy at an Aurora parish in the early 1970s. The abuse is said to have included fondling and sodomy. Holdren’s accuser said some of his friends have told him they were abused, too. Holdren denied abusing the boy.

Ordained: 1971

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Trial begins for former Johnstown pastor accused of traveling to Honduras to molest young boys

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After 2 ½ days, a jury has been seated in U.S. District Court in Johnstown to hear the case of a Catholic priest charged with traveling to Honduras to molest young boys under the guise of doing charity work.

Opening arguments are expected this afternoon in United States v. Joseph Maurizio, 70, formerly the pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Somerset County.

The Rev. Maurizio is accused of engaging in illicit sex in foreign places, possession of child porn and transferring money into and out of the country for unlawful purposes.

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

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 10

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)

Tomorrow, a brave clergy sex abuse victim will lead a walk across the entire state of New Jersey to highlight the state’s archaic, predator-friendly statutes of limitations.

[Walk to End SOL]

[Abolish SOL]

[BishopAccountability.org]

We commend Fred Marigliano for his courage and commitment. We hope his admirable effort will prod lawmakers to take decisive steps to better safeguard New Jersey’s children.

Don’t believe the hype, spin, threats and self-serving rhetoric of a couple of bishops on this issue. We, as a society, should protect children, not predators. We should deter deceit, not reward deceit.

Vulnerable kids need protection. Shrewd pedophiles and corrupt supervisors do not.

Reforming these civil statutes will help safeguard kids from predators in three key ways. First, it will help publicly expose child molesters, through the time-tested, proven, open justice system. Second, it will help publicly expose irresponsible supervisors who ignored or concealed child sex crimes. And third, it will help deter future recklessness, deceit and callousness by some employers, again, using the time-tested, proven, open justice system.

In the ideal world, every child molester would be locked up. But that isn’t happening and can’t. Many in law enforcement estimate that 80% of those who sexually assault kids are never convicted and imprisoned. That means there are hundreds of dangerous child predators in every state who are molesting kids today.

The sad and simple truth is that we don’t have and may never have adequate police, prosecutors and prisons to charge, convicted and jail these predators. So the next best approach is to publicly expose them, so parents, neighbors, relatives, co-workers and employers know of their crimes. That’s what civil statute of limitations can do.

Catholic bishops claim these reforms are anti-Catholic. That’s silly. Institutions that deliberately or recklessly put kids in harm’s way could face consequences for their irresponsible misdeeds – whether they are secular or religious, public or private. As a society, by eliminating or extending statues of limitations, we’re just saying that Baptist officials and government officials and for-profit day care centers all have to take children’s safety carefully.

We in SNAP believe there should be no statute of limitations on child rape. Any such statute just gives predators and their enablers the incentive, and the time, to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, fabricate alibis and escape overseas. No child rapist or his allies should get to exploit an arbitrary deadline, escape detection, and assault others.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
JTA

Rabbi Barry Freundel is serving a 6 1/2 year prison sentence for voyeurism for secretly filming 52 women in the shower room of the mikvah adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent Orthodox Washington synagogue he led for some 25 years. On Wednesday, he published this apology letter in the Washington Jewish Week:

No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough. There are simply no words available to sufficiently assuage the hurt that I caused among conversion candidates, congregants, students, family, friends, and rabbinic and academic colleagues. I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions.

On May 15th, as I sat in the courtroom listening to the victim impact statements, each felt like a blade entering my gut. The speakers expressed their feelings of rage, hurt, humiliation, vulnerability and violation. How could I have been so incredibly blind, so unaware of my own impact on others? I ask myself that question every day. Through therapy, I came to understand the psychological underpinnings of why I acted in this despicable way. But I have not yet fully grasped how I could have been so completely oblivious to the harm I was doing to others.

I shook the faith foundations of those who were approaching Judaism with determination and the trepidation of leaving their previous lives behind; I defiled a space that was supposed to be private, sacred and healing; and I caused people to feel unsafe, abused and objectified, I did this to people I genuinely cared about, people to whom I was close, and I shattered the worlds of those I loved most.

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

TEXAS
CBS DFW

[with video]

Robbie Owens

BEDFORD (CBSDFW) – A Bedford church minister awaiting trial on 29 counts of rape and sodomy involving a teenage girl in Alabama has resigned. That’s according to a man who only identified himself as “leader” with Bedford’s First Baptist Church. The church’s pastor has not returned multiple calls seeking comment; but, sources tell CBS that the church leadership was aware of the accusations facing now 32 year old Charles Kyle Adcock when he was hired.

“We think it’s incredibly irresponsible and reckless to have hired him in the first place,” says Amy Smith, who works with SNAP: Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Smith say she took to twitter to blast First Baptist’s pastor for hiring Adcock, and says she was immediately blocked from the church’s feed. Smith and another supporter staged a hastily arranged protest outside the church this afternoon. And although they were outnumbered by press, she insists it doesn’t take a crowd to warn parents.

“What we know about predators is they rarely have just one victim” says Smith, “and they’re very manipulative and often will find places like churches to have a position of trust. That word ‘minister’ signals to most churchgoers that he is safe.”

But, critics of the hire say Kyle is anything but. According to Alabama court documents, one of the terms of Adcock’s release was that he live with and be under the supervision of his parents in Grapevine.

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

ALABAMA/TEXAS
WAAY

Patrick Ary pary@waaytv.com

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

Colbert County’s district attorney said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Charles Kyle Adcock, 32, in Texas.

According to court documents, Adcock is not allowed to work in a capacity that allows him to be unsupervised around minors. Documents filed Thursday indicate Adcock took a job as a worship pastor at First Baptist Church in Bedford, Texas.

Adcock was brought back to Colbert County in September 2014 from Grapevine, Texas, and charged with more than two dozen counts of rape and sodomy. The alleged incidents took place at his Muscle Shoals home while he was a youth minister at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church.

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

ALABAMA/TEXAS
WAFF

Steffany Means
Posted: 09/10/2015

COLBERT COUNTY, AL (WAFF) – A warrant has been issued for a former Alabama youth minister facing sex charges in Colbert County.

Charles Kyle Adcock is listed as the worship leader at First Baptist Church in the Dallas suburb of Bedford, Texas.

According to investigators Adcock was accused of rape and sodomy when he was the youth minister at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals between 2010 and 2012.

Colbert County District Attorney’s office says a warrant has been issued for his arrest for violation of his bond conditions,

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

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

09/10/2015

Jennifer Haselbergerl

Since Tuesday, when MPR published its story about Gil Gustafson (a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis convicted of sexual abuse of a minor) and his efforts to purchase the Archdiocesan Chancery buildings, many people have written to ask me my thoughts about his efforts. My response is simple: Gil Gustafson doesn’t get it. In my opinion, Gustafson’s belief that he can somehow be an instrument of healing for victims of abuse is just one more lie that he, along with others who sexually abuse minors, tell in order to justify their behavior. On a fundamental level, it is this capacity for self-delusion that makes sex offenders so difficult to treat, it is why their risk of re-offending remains so high, and it is why no reputable therapist will ever speak of them as ‘cured’.

It is also why, in 2002, the Catholic Church opened the door for American dioceses to permanently remove men like Gustafson from the priesthood. Recognizing the risks associated with allowing them to remain as representatives of the church, the Holy Father opened a window whereby American bishops could submit old cases for resolution, regardless of when the abuse had occurred. Many American bishops devoted considerable resources, not to mention personal effort, towards taking advantage of this opportunity. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, of course, did not.

Instead, the Archdiocese chose to incorrectly characterize priests like Gustafson as ‘prayer and penance’ cases, a designation meant to be reserved for elderly priests whose advanced age or ill health made the judicial application of penalties impossible or ineffective. In exchange for being allowed to remain priests, those living a life of ‘prayer and penace’ agreed to live quietly, under strict diocesan supervision, and to avoid causing further harm or scandal to the community.

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

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Sept. 10, 2015

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held its 4000th private hearing in a jail in August as Britain followed Australia’s lead in tackling child sexual abuse.

The royal commission heard evidence on August 19 from a prisoner who had been sexually abused as a child.

In Britain, the head of its newly established Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse praised the ‘‘remarkable’’ response to the Australian commission.

In a speech to Australian church leaders on Thursday, Royal commissioner Justice Peter McClellan said he was pleased the British inquiry would closely follow successful Australian arrangements.

More than 1500 people were waiting for a private hearing and about 40 people a week requested a private hearing, Justice McClellan said.

The royal commission has received 16,361 allegations involving 3566 institutions since it was established in November 2012 following the Newcastle Herald’s Shine the Light campaign for a royal commission into historic child sexual abuse.

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

MARYLAND
Virtue Online

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
September 9, 2015

BALTIMORE, MD — Former Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook was grayer and looked 10 years older as she pleaded guilty in Baltimore City Circuit Court, Tuesday (Sept. 8), a ploy which would bring to an end the legal rollercoaster ride, which started on Dec. 27, 2014, when the intoxicated bishop hit bicyclist Thomas Palermo in North Baltimore bike lane and killed him. While in court, Cook admitted to vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving, texting while driving, as well as leaving the scene of an accident.

As a result of a carefully crafted plea bargain between the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office and Cook’s legal team, — headed by Towson, Maryland, criminal defense attorney David Irwin, — the defrocked bishop could be facing as much as 10 years behind bars for her crime, coupled with five years probation after she gets out.

The prosecution, handled by Assistant Baltimore City State’s Attorney Kurt Bjorklund, is asking for 20 years but will suspend half of it.

Associate Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Timothy Doory said he would sentence Cook on October 27. When the late October sentencing date rolls around, he indicated he would not sentence the former bishop to any more time than prosecutors are seeking. He does have the discretion to lessen her time behind bars.

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

KENYA
Daily Nation

By FAITH NYAMAI

The Anglican Church is investigating five more priests from Mt Kenya region over allegations of involvement in homosexuality.

The five, who are on suspension, are married with children and are said to be homosexuals without their wives’ knowledge, according to Mt Kenya West diocese Bishop Joseph Kagunda.

They are from Othaya, Karatina, Murang’a and Nyeri towns.

The church tribunal launched investigations into their behaviour mid this year. Bishop Kagunda also noted that some of them offer marriage counselling.

“The church is ashamed to be associated with them,” said the bishop.

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

KENYA
Daily Nation

By FAITH NYAMAI

The Anglican Church (ACK) of Kenya has asked one of its priests to step down for allegedly practising homosexuality.

The priest, who the church said had served in several parishes within Mt Kenya region, is accused of enticing four young men to engage in homosexuality.

The young men are said to have been spending nights with him in the vicars’ house.

The priest reportedly befriended and requested them to visit him at the church for spiritual guidance but would “seduce them and force them to engage in homosexuality.”

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

PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.

It took more than two days, but a jury has been chosen in the case against Rev. Joseph Maurizio.

The selection process began Wednesday, when the judge excused 45 potential jurors. Many of those men and women said they could not be impartial in the trial.

Maurizio is accused of making mission trips to Honduras where he paid to have sex with orphans.

The priest from Somerset County claims he is innocent. His attorneys say the charity Maurizio was working with became angry after the priest broke off ties and accused the group of fabricating these stories.

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

SCOTLAND
STV

A former priest at a Highland abbey has appeared in court on six charges of assaulting pupils to their injury.

Father Benedict Seed taught chemistry at Fort Augustus Abbey before the Loch Ness boarding school closed in 1999.

The 82-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court before Sheriff Margaret Neilson under his real name of Thomas Seed.

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

MISSISSIPPI
WJTV

By Donesha Aldridge

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) — A priest is arrested for sexual battery in Jones County after he confessed to the crime.

A judge set bond at $100,000 for 36-year-old Father Jose Vazquez. We’re told by authorities that Father Vazquez currently works in Stone County.

Sheriff’s Deputies went to the victim’s home on Sept. 9. after his father called authorities. The victim’s father said there was inappropriate behavior between his 12-year-old son and the priest.

When authorities arrived on the scene, Vazquez was still there. He was taken into custody and he confessed to multiple acts of sexual battery with the victim. He said one of the acts happened in Jones County and the other acts happened in other areas.

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

UNITED STATES
Pacific Standard

TOM JACOBS

During his upcoming visit to the United States, Pope Francis will attempt to instill some fresh energy into American Catholicism, which desperately needs his holiness’ help. According to a new Reuters analysis, the Catholic Church in the U.S. is dealing with deep financial problems, as well as shrinking congregations—52 million self-identified members this year, compared to 55 million in 2007.

While multiple factors underlie these trends, a recently published study suggests the clergy sex-abuse scandals of recent years have played a major and lasting role.

Economists Nicolas Bottan of the University of Illinois and Ricardo Perez-Truglia of Microsoft Research report there was “a significant decline in religious participation as a result of the scandals,” as well as a parallel decline in charitable donations.

“The indirect cost of the scandals through the decline in giving is an order of magnitude higher than the direct costs of the scandals to the Catholic churches, such as the cost of lawsuit settlements,” the pair write in their study, published in the Journal of Public Economics.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Paul Peirce
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015

A federal jury was seated Thursday morning in Johnstown to hear testimony in the trial of a suspended Somerset County Catholic priest accused of traveling to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 70, of Windber has been in jail since federal prosecutors charged him last fall with molesting a boy and possessing child pornography. An indictment in April added charges involving two other boys and alleged the priest illegally sent $8,000 to a charity to help facilitate the trips that ended in 2009.

The priest has denied the allegations.

The judge gave instructions to the jury of seven men and five women when court reconvened at 1 p.m. Thursday. They are expected to hear opening arguments in the afternoon.

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

TEXAS
CBS DFW

Elizabeth Dinh

BEDFORD (CBSDFW.COM) – Community members in Bedford are angry after learning that an employee at First Baptist Church of Bedford was recently indicted on sex abuse charges in Alabama.

Investigators arrested and indicted Kyle Adcock back in January on 20 counts of rape and nine counts of sodomy. Authorities believe that the incidents happened while Adcock worked at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church from 2010 to 2012. Police said that the female victim was 14 years old at the time.

Adcock has not been convicted, and has pleaded not guilty in court.

After he was released, the judge in Alabama ordered Adcock’s parents to supervise him, mandating that the suspect live with his parents at their home here in Grapevine.

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

GERMANY
National Catholic Reporter

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt | Sep. 10, 2015

German Jesuit Fr. Klaus Mertes, who first broke the story of the long-standing, systematic priestly sex abuse scandal in Germany in 2010, said in an interview with the German Internet portal katholisch.de, that the Vatican is not doing nearly enough to clear up sex abuse cases.

Mertes said he agrees with Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who testified to that fact in front of the Australian Royal Commission Aug. 23. Mertes also warned that this may cause credibility problems for the bishops at the coming Synod of Bishops on the family in October.

Robinson was not trying to reopen the subject of abuse and the way the Vatican handled it in his critical testimony before the royal commission, Mertes said. Robinson was deeply worried that the questions the church faced concerning priestly sexual abuse of children when it encountered the victims would once again meet with silence in Rome. This did not mean depreciating praiseworthy efforts like the foundation of the Child Protection Commission and the many different efforts being made to prevent abuse, Mertes said, but added, “They are simply not enough. The entire church is at stake.”

Mertes said he fully agreed with Robinson that Pope Francis had not yet shown the type of leadership needed to deal with child sexual abuse in the church and demanded that the Vatican make greater efforts to clear up sexual abuse cases by members of the clergy. Those responsible in the Vatican at the moment were “not credible” and their desire for clarification “doubtful,” he said.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

“Statutes of limitations exist to ensure a just verdict can be reached,” said Amy Hill, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the bishops’ political arm in the state.

“Over time witnesses’ memories fade, evidence is lost or never found, and in many instances perpetrators or witnesses may be deceased.” – Reuters.com

Hill’s argument doesn’t hold water because there is no Statute of Limitations for murder in Pennsylvania. All the evidence challenges she mentions would also apply to murder trials. There should not be a Statute of Limitations on Child Sex Abuse.

This is just a case of the Church trying to avoid fiscal and moral responsibility.

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

UNITED STATES
Al Jazeera

When Pope Francis makes his first visit to the U.S. this month, he will find that wounds from the U.S. Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal have not yet healed.

Those tensions are being played out in courtrooms and state legislatures, where the Church is using its legal and political clout to oppose bills that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse.

A statute of limitations forbids prosecutors or plaintiffs from taking legal action after a certain number of years.

The pontiff has vowed to root out “the scourge” of sex abuse from the Roman Catholic Church, and this year created a Vatican tribunal to judge clergy accused of such crimes.

But U.S. victims’ advocates contend the biggest obstacle they face in giving victims more time to report abuse remains the Church itself, and want the pope to change that stance.

The U.S. church has already been dealt a heavy financial blow by settlement payments and other costs totaling around $3 billion, which has forced it to sell off assets and cut costs.

“It is the bishops who have blocked any kind of meaningful reform,” said Marci Hamilton, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York who studies statutes of limitations.

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

AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Kieran Tapsell | Sep. 10, 2015

ANALYSIS
Dying of cancer, Bishop Emeritus Geoffrey Robinson appeared Aug. 24 before the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to testify to the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the church.

He painted a sad picture of a brave and lonely Sisyphus with his band of bishops in tow, pushing a boulder with a reasoned response to the crisis up the Vatican Hill, only to have it pushed back by popes and cardinals who had no idea about the issue and a blindness about the incapacity of canon law to deal with it.

“However great the faults of the Australian bishops have been over the last 30 years, it still remains true that the major obstacle to a better response from the church has been the Vatican,” Robinson told the commission. Most of the Roman Curia saw the problem as a “moral one: if a priest offends, he should repent; if he repents, he should be forgiven and restored to his position. … They basically saw the sin as a sexual one, and did not show great understanding of the abuse of power involved or the harm done to the victims.”

Robinson entered the seminary at 12-years-old, was ordained a priest, and became a canon lawyer and then auxiliary bishop of Sydney. In 1996, when revelations of clergy sexual abuse of children in Australia had reached a crescendo, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference appointed him to find a solution. In 2004, he resigned as auxiliary bishop of Sydney after concluding that the church’s response was still inadequate.

“I eventually came to the point where I felt that, with the thoughts that were running through my head, I could not continue to be a bishop of a church about which I had such profound reservations,” Robinson wrote in a 2008 book Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church. “I resigned my office as Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney and began to write this book, about the very foundations of power and sex within the church.”

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

SCOTLAND
BBC News

A former priest at Fort Augustus Abbey school has appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court on six charges of assaulting pupils to their injury.

Father Benedict Seed, 82, taught chemistry at the school on the banks of Loch Ness in the years leading up to its closure in 1999.

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

MISSISSIPPI
WDAM

By Eddie Robertson, Reporter

JONES COUNTY, MS (WDAM) –
This is a news release from the Jones County Sheriff’s Department

On Wednesday, Jones County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a residence in western Jones County on a complaint of sexual battery.

The father of a 12-year-old male victim reported inappropriate behavior between his son and a priest who previously worked in Jones County, Father Jose Vazquez, 36.

Vazquez is currently working in Stone County.

Vazquez was at the victim’s home at the time of the call and remained there as deputies arrived.

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

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sep. 10

Statement by Frank Meuers, Minnesota SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com)

We urge Catholics and citizens to donate to non-profits with proven records in preventing abuse and healing victims, not to the facility a convicted Minnesota predator priest and others are trying to set up.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

We fear that recent publicity about Fr. Gilbert Gustafson’s planned “healing center” will bring more donations to this effort. That would, in our view, be unfortunate.

Giving power and prestige to an admitted serial predator is reckless. But it will also likely encourage other predators to work harder to rehab their reputations and seek power and prestige. And we know that predators often use their power and prestige into befriend parents, groom kids and abuse again.

Just like an alcoholic shouldn’t seek a brewery job, a predator shouldn’t seek a position of power over others, especially already-vulnerable and still-wounded victims of childhood sexual abuse.

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

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Group blasts church staff
They hired accused child molester
SNAP: “Local victims & witnesses must speak up”
Group urges other ministers to “denounce recklessness”

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, abuse victims will

–blast the pastor of a Dallas area church for quietly hiring an accused child molester, and
–urge other local Baptist ministers to “publicly denounce” the pastor

They will also

–seek out others who saw, suspected or suffered misdeeds or crimes by the alleged predator, and
–prod current and former church members and staff to call law enforcement if they “saw, suspected or suffered” the accused molester’s crimes or his supervisors’ cover ups.

WHEN
Thursday, September 10 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the First Baptist Church Bedford (corner of Bedford Rd and Barr Dr) in Bedford, Texas

2045 Bedford Rd
Bedford, TX 76021

WHO
Two-three adults who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a whistleblower from another Texas Baptist church

WHY

SNAP members are upset that First Baptist Church of Bedford Pastor Steve Knott quietly hired a pastor who is charged with child rape and sodomy in Alabama.

Alabama court records show that First Baptist music minister Charles Kyle Adcock faces charges for 29 counts of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church between 2010 and 2012.

For the safety of congregants, SNAP wants 1) the church board to “harshly and public discipline Knott for acting so recklessly,” and 2) all church staff and members to “aggressively search for and help anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or cover ups” by Adcock (or other church staff) 3) prod victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call law enforcement in both states and help them investigate and convict Adcock “and anyone who might have enabled or hidden his crimes.”

If more victims, witnesses or whistleblowers step forward, SNAP says, Adcock may face more charges which “will increase the chances that he’ll be extradited, convicted and imprisoned and make everyone safer and deters similar crimes and cover ups in the future.”

SNAP also contends that, to “deter such recklessness and secrecy in the future,” other Baptist officials in the Dallas/Fort Worth area should publicly denounce pastor Steve Knott “for his irresponsible actions that put children in harm’s way.”

Some church members or staff who may have information or suspicions about Adcock and his hiring may have quit the church in frustration or fear, SNAP says. So the organization is appealing to ex-church-goers and ex-church employees and ask them to “share any anything they may know about this troubling situation” with law enforcement.

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

MISSOURI
The Raw Story

BETHANIA PALMA MARKUS
19 AUG 2015

A Missouri pastor at a church called “Passion for Truth Ministries” will serve prison time for lying to and defrauding elderly investors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Jim Staley, 40, was sentenced Wednesday to 7 years in prison and ordered to repay elderly investors $3.3 million. He pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and profited $570,000 in the scam of elderly people who trusted him because of his Christian faith and family values. Some of them were suffering from dementia.

Although he apologized, the daughter of a man who lost $155,000 in Staley’s scam said it wasn’t sincere and was staged for church members.

His victims were not members of his parish.

Despite being warned by the court that not accepting personal responsibility for his actions could earn him more prison time, Staley has said in sermons that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and blamed the economy.

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

UNITED STATES
The Guardian (UK)

Amanda Holpuch in New York
@holpuch
Thursday 10 September 2015

For decades, the locker rooms at Chaminade College Preparatory School in St Louis were a place of terror for several students aged 11 to 18, who as adults have filed lawsuits against the school alleging widespread sexual abuse by its staff. Former students also say they were abused in Chaminade’s boarding school rooms and staff offices.

Christopher Wimmer, who says he was abused by two staff members at Chaminade for seven years, reports anger issues and problems with authority and is unable to keep a job because bosses frustrate him, along with a host of other mental and physical issues. He describes himself as “one of the good ones”, however, having seen people escorted into child sex abuse survivor support groups, unable to speak and barely able to function.

“I always thought that because I hadn’t eaten a gun or jumped off a bridge that I had transcended,” Wimmer said.

The story is a familiar one across the US, where the culture of child sex abuse in Catholic organizations persists.

When Pope Francis arrives in the US for the first time later this month, his reputation as the beloved “people’s pope” will be clouded by the trauma endured by the thousands of people abused as children in the Catholic church.

Wimmer told the Guardian that he hopes Francis is as “wonderful” as his reputation suggests. “But as far as this issue goes, he hasn’t done anything to give me hope,” the 56-year-old said.

Using data from John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s 2011 report on sex abuse in the church, BishopAccountability.org estimates that there have been at least 17,200 victims in the US. The site warns that this is a conservative estimate.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Posted: Wednesday, September 9, 2015

By David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com

Attorneys will likely be able to deliver opening statements Thursday in a Central City priest’s sex abuse trial.

But both sides’ legal teams will begin the day weighing in on which of the 44 jury finalists should be seated in the 12-member jury panel – the final step in this week’s extended jury selection procedure.

Attorneys representing the U.S. Government and the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., still have a limited number of “strikes” they can use to eliminate individuals viewed as unfavorable to their respective sides. But that process should be completed Thursday morning, U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson told the court.

Jury selection extends into a third day after two days of questioning eliminated 67 of 111 potential jurors for extraordinary hardships or “cause,” such as bias or prejudice toward one side or the other.

Maurizio, 70, is accused of using his Honduran mission to lure street orphans, offering them candy for sex acts.

Prosecutors have described him as a habitual abuser who transferred money across national borders to fund his fetish for young boys.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

Sex abuse inquiry: Former Geelong Grammar principal admits teacher accused of child sex abuse was paid to retire early

September 10, 2015

Henrietta Cook
Education Reporter at The Age

A former Geelong Grammar principal has admitted he paid a teacher accused of child sex abuse to retire early, but insists it was not a “sweetheart deal”.

Nicholas Sampson, who has been the headmaster of Sydney’s elite Cranbrook School since 2012, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Abuse that he regretted writing a glowing letter to former teacher Jonathan Harvey, thanking him for his “exceptional service”.

Mr Harvey was jailed in 2007 for 10 months, with another 22 months suspended, after pleading guilty to abusing a former student between 1976 and 1978.

Mr Sampson, who was principal of Geelong Grammar from 2001 to 2004, said on Thursday he became aware of sexual abuse allegations involving Mr Harvey during his final month at the school.

In a tense discussion in Mr Sampson’s office, staff member BLW, who had attended the school as a child, revealed to the former Geelong Grammar principal that his brother had been sexually abused by Mr Harvey in the late ’70s.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

In about 20 minutes, using one website (BishopAccountability.org), we found ten proven, admitted or credibly accused predator priests who were “outed” elsewhere but worked in the Sacramento area. On 9/8/15, SNAP disclosed their names:

–Fr. Robert “Bob” Marsicek

According to his personnel files, his superiors repeatedly told him to stop hugging and touching children. In May 2012, Sacramento police launched an investigation of Marsicek after a woman reported that the priest had molested her two sons in the late 1980s and early 1990s while he was their parish pastor.

Fr. Marsicek’s direct supervisor is Fr. Joseph Rodrigues, who knew of the Sacramento investigation but kept Fr. Marsicek in ministry in Milwaukee. Almost a year later, Fr. Marsicek was put on leave after a parish school teacher reported that she observed him on several occasions inappropriately touching a little girl.

He also worked in Arizona and Alabama. He belongs to a religious order called the Salvatorians.

As of 2013, he was said to be living in a church facility in Milwaukee.

–Br. William C. Farrington

He worked at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose in the late 1960s. Fr. Farrington supervised students living on campus. School officials found accusations against him credible and publicly apologized to the accuser. They also reportedly sent letter to hundreds of former students about him.

In 2002, Fr. Farrington was removed from Loyola Marymount University after allegations from another student at Jesuit HS. He reportedly lives “under supervision” at Los Gatos Retreat Center in California. At least four other victims of his have come forward.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey September 9

A once-influential Orthodox rabbi who was sentenced to prison for videotaping dozens of women as they prepared for a ritual bath in a Washington synagogue, has issued an apology to the women, the first time he has spoken publicly since his arrest last fall.

In a letter published Wednesday, Barry Freundel wrote that he would have preferred to apologize individually to each of his victims, but he felt that it could cause further harm to some and would be unwelcome, so he issued a public apology, saying he “shattered the worlds of those I most loved.”

“No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough,” Freundel wrote in his Sept. 8 letter of apology, which was at the Washington Jewish Week’s Web site. “I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions.”

In May, Freundel who had pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping 52 women, was sentenced to 6 1 /2 years in prison. He had been arrested in October 2014 on charges that he videotaped nude women at Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown as the women prepared for the bath known as a mikvah, used as part of a purification ritual.

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UNITED STATES
CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—The rabbi who was sentenced to six and a half years in May for secretly videotaping naked women issues a public apology, calling his behavior “heinous” and “perverse”.

“No matter how many times I attempted to apologize, it will never be enough,” said Rabbi Barry Freundel in a personal apology posted on the Washington Jewish Week website.

“I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions.”

Freundel, who was a professor at both Towson and Georgetown universities, was arrested back in October 2014 of last year on charges of voyeurism.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

10 September, 2015

The Hon. Justice Peter McClellan AM, Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, will address the Safe as Churches? conference hosted by the National Council of Churches in Australia in Sydney today.

Justice McClellan’s speech is available here.

Justice McClellan also delivered an address at the Supreme Court Conference in Bowral on Friday 4 September. You can access a copy of this speech here.

For media inquiries about the Royal Commission or Justice McClellan’s speeches, contact the Royal Commission media unit on 02 8282 3966 or media@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council has called for the introduction of a new, consistent nation-wide criminal law requiring the reporting to the police of suspected child sexual abuse.

In its submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Issues Paper 8, called Police and Prosecution Responses, the Council recommends the new law should require anyone who has a reasonable belief that a sexual offence has been committed against a child to disclose what they know to the police.

The Submission said the only circumstance in which this would not be required is if the person has a reasonable excuse, such as where the person believes the allegations have already been reported under mandatory reporting laws.

Francis Sullivan CEO of the TJHC said nationally consistent police reporting legislation would enhance a nationally consistent, trauma informed approach to survivors of child sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

AN ALLEGED victim of former bishop Peter Ball says he has been “denied justice” now his case will not be heard in court – even as the clergyman finally admitted sexually abusing 18 young men.

Phil Johnson waived his anonymity to speak out after prosecutors accepted the former Lewes bishop’s guilty pleas on most counts, bu left Mr Johnson’s and another man’s allegations to lie on file.

The 49-year-old, from Eastbourne, who said he was indecently assaulted by Ball in 1978, which Ball denies, said: “I have been pursuing this for nearly 20 years and never has my experience been told in open court.

“Throughout the two decades since the original disclosures, none of the allegations has been tested or fully examined. At every turn there have been deals and cover-ups.”

On Tuesday, two decades of investigations and negotiations – including a phonecall from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the chief prosecutor behind the case were revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted at the Old Bailey.

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UNITED STATES
Reuters

BOSTON | BY SCOTT MALONE

Mark Rozzi says he was 13, a young altar boy, when a priest at his eastern Pennsylvania parish sexually assaulted him in a shower.

It took Rozzi, who says the priest spent a year grooming him with trips to McDonald’s and secretly shared beers, a quarter century to talk about the experience publicly. By then it was too late for any legal action.

Now a 44-year-old Pennsylvania state representative, Rozzi is a driving force behind one of about a dozen bills making their way through legislatures in states including New York and New Jersey that aim to give child sex assault victims more time to sue their attackers.

When Pope Francis makes his first visit to the United States this month, he will find that wounds from the U.S. Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal are still festering – and draining its finances – more than a decade after it burst onto the national stage.

The tensions are being played out in courtrooms and state legislatures, where the Church is using its legal and political clout to oppose bills that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse. A statute of limitations forbids prosecutors or plaintiffs from taking legal action after a certain number of years.

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CANADA
Waterloo Region Record

Editorial

In the 21 years since Vernon Leis died in a car crash, his reputation as a wise and caring Mennonite pastor has stood as the shining monument to his life.

Now, in the space of a few days, vague allegations of sexual and moral wrongdoing publicly brought against this local clergyman threaten to bring that monument crashing down.

To see this disturbing and distasteful spectacle playing itself out is to feel the pain that must be felt by the family of a man who was a beloved senior church official as well as a respected public figure in Waterloo Region before his death at the age of 60. It is also to question why so few words that could cause so much harm would be spoken against a dead man who cannot defend himself.

The Kitchener-based Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada says it was all about transparency when it tersely announced it had received “an allegation of sexual and ethical misconduct” against Leis that was “compelling and credible.” Pastors at three churches where Leis had served in Elmira, Kitchener and Tavistock repeated these accusations to congregants on Aug. 30.

To be fair to the Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada, it acted after interviewing the female complainant, and argued it had gone public with the accusations “to confront a hidden truth and bring it into the light for healing.” We have no doubt it is trying to do the right thing.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

September 10, 2015

Eryk Bagshaw
Education Reporter

The headmaster of the eastern suburbs private school Cranbrook has admitted 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.

Nicholas Sampson, who has been the headmaster of the Bellevue Hill school since 2012, also allowed maths teacher Jonathan Harvey to remain in his role at Geelong for a further six months after he was made aware of allegations of child sex abuse, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard on Thursday.

The evidence given at the commission has put Mr Sampson’s tenure at Cranbrook, an-all boys school that charges students $30,000 per year, under scrutiny.

A spokesman for the Anglican Church, which has two chairs on the Cranbrook school board, said that the church was disappointed at the evidence given by the headmaster.

“We do agree that his response at Geelong Grammar in 2004 was, as he told the commission, ‘just not good enough’.”

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MICHIGAN
WZZM

John Hogan, WZZM September 9, 2015

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) — A former Muskegon church leader accused of having sex with children lost his bid for a new trial following a Court of Appeals decision upholding his 2014 conviction, which resulted in a prison term of up to 35 years.

Carlton Lindberg Johnson, 78, a longtime leader at Faith Congregational Church of God in Christ, was convicted on three counts of criminal sexual conduct involving relatives, two of whom were under the age of 13.

Investigators said he sexually abused multiple girls dating back to 1957.

Johnson in June, 2014 was sentenced to between 17 and 35 years in prison. He’ll be 93 years old before he can be considered for release.

Johnson, who wore a clerical collar during his four-day trial, asked the Appeals Court to declare a mistrial, saying he was not afforded a fair and impartial jury.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Guy Stayner

Two former principals of Geelong Grammar have told the child abuse Royal Commission they regret their handling of abuse complaints at the school.

The headmaster of Sydney’s prestigious Cranbrook School, Nicholas Sampson, and John Lewis, who went on to be headmaster at the world-renowned Eton College in England, on Thursday fronted the commission over their time as principals at the school in Geelong.

Mr Sampson was headmaster at Geelong for three years from 2001 and authorised the payment of a year’s salary to teacher, Jonathan Harvey, after sex abuse allegations were made against him.

“I personally regret some of the things I did and I certainly wouldn’t do them again,” Mr Sampson told the Commission.

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TEXAS
Slate

By Beth Ethier

A church in Texas hired a youth minister from Alabama while he was out on bail for dozens of sex offenses allegedly committed against a child at his former job, Fox affiliate KDFW reports. Charles Kyle Adcock is currently employed as a music minister for the First Baptist Church of Bedford, Texas, where parents are reportedly upset about the background of the man giving their children music lessons:

Alabama court documents show [Adcock] has been charged with 29 counts of sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl between 2010 and 2012, when he was her youth minister.

He was working at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals at the time, a city about two hours northwest of Birmingham.

The pastor at the First Baptist Church of Bedford told a KDFW reporter that the church usually conducts background checks on employees (as David Edwards notes at RawStory, a rudimentary Google search would have turned up multiple stories about Adcock’s arrest). First Baptist’s pastor also repeatedly stressed that Adcock hasn’t yet been convicted on the charges, KDFW reported.

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CONNECTICUT
The Connecticut Law Tribune

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune
September 8, 2015

Michael Doe v. Shawn Pahl, et al.: A member of a church youth choir who was sexually abused by the choir’s director has been awarded $400,000 in damages by a judge.

Because he was a minor when the abuse occurred, the male plaintiff is known only as Michael Doe in court documents. The defendant, Shawn Pahl, was hired as a part-time organist and choir director more than a decade ago at St. John the Evangelist Church in New Britain.

Lawyers involved in the case did not respond to repeated messages for comment. But according to court documents, Doe was 12 years old when he first met Pahl. Doe liked music and expressed an interest in playing the organ and singing in the youth choir. The two developed a friendship and when Doe was confirmed in the Catholic church, he asked Pahl to be his confirmation sponsor. When Doe was confirmed, he was 14; Pahl was 33.

After the confirmation, the two went back to Pahl’s parent’s home for dinner. Later, the two discussed various topics, including homosexuality. Doe had suspected from the rainbow stickers on Pahl’s car that he was gay. Doe was excited to talk to someone about what he was going through with his own sexuality. He was not close with his mother and his father was not in his life. Pahl became a father figure.

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

MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Tyler Berg

A victim of sexual abuse and a former priest convicted of sexually abusing minors came together in an attempt to start a healing center.

The duo and others formed the Gilead Project to purchase the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis’ Chancery building across from the Cathedral of St. Paul. The nonprofit’s effort hasn’t come without criticism from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Susan Pavlak, the president of the project, said the location would serve as a memorial to victims, like herself, and help them with programs for healing.

“The wonderful thing we need to do is show people what the next horizon is in the sexual abuse crisis,” Pavlak said.

One of Pavlak’s partners, Gilbert Gustafson, was convicted of sexual abuse in 1983 when he was a priest.

“I don’t think the sky is falling,” Pavlak said. “I have worked with Gil Gustafson for a number of years.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Paul Peirce
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015

A federal jury is expected to be formally seated Thursday morning in Johnstown to hear testimony in the trial of a suspended Somerset County Catholic priest accused of traveling to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. of Windber has been jailed since federal prosecutors charged him last fall with molesting a boy and possessing child pornography. An indictment in April added charges involving two other boys and alleged the priest illegally sent $8,000 to a charity to help facilitate the trips that ended in 2009.

The 70-year-old Maurizio has denied the allegations. He continues to receive support from some members of Our Lady Queen of Angels, the Central City church he pastored before he was placed on leave.

While jury selection continued Wednesday, prosecutors won a legal battle to permit jurors to hear from a psychologist who treats sexually abused children and sex offenders.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Jurgen Balzan 10 September 2015

One of the alleged victims of the defrocked paedophile priest Dominic Camilleri told MaltaToday that the Gozo Bishop, Mario Grech, had been informed about the sexual abuse of children resident at Dar San Guzepp in Ghajnsielem, in 2006.

However, the alleged victim said that although an ad hoc commission appointed by Grech had concluded that the sexual abuse had taken place at the home, no action was taken against at least two other perpetrators and “the victims still await justice”.

Some 10 years ago, 42-year-old Noel Gauci had gone public about the abuse he suffered, however he told MaltaToday that he has little hope in seeing justice being done.

“Apart from Camilleri, at least two other priests were involved in the abuse and both of them are still in active pastoral duty,” Gauci told MaltaToday.

He explained that Camilleri – who was dismissed by the Vatican over several allegations of sexual abuse on minors – visited Dar San Guzepp frequently before 1990.

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UNITED STATES
Counter Punch

by DAVID CLOHESSY

When Pope Francis lands in the US this month, news reports will tout his latest pledge regarding the continuing abuse and cover up in the church: a first-ever tribunal that will reportedly consider cases of complicity by Catholic officials in child sex crimes by clerics.

But few if any news accounts will look at a more simple but equally crucial part of the crisis: how US church authorities are abiding by a much earlier pledge: to remove credibly accused predator priests from ministry.

This won’t be examined because it’s considered “old hat”. It’s become a widely accepted truism that since 2002, bishops in this country promptly oust clerics who are alleged abusers when the first report of wrongdoing surfaces.

This does happen, of course. But not nearly as often as it should. Today, 13 years after the “Dallas Charter” and its alleged “one strike and you’re out” provision, dozens of priests remain on the job across the US who should not be.

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TEXAS
The Daily Beast

Gideon Resnick

A Texas church is in the hot seat after hiring Kyle Adcock for their music ministry, despite the fact that he’s been charged with 29 counts of sexual abuse against a minor.

Kyle Adcock has been charged with 29 counts of sexual abuse of a minor and now he is gainfully employed at a Texas church.

Alabama court documents indicate that Adcock was charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl while serving as a youth minister between 2010 and 2012. He now works at the First Baptist Church of Bedford in Bedford, Texas, where congregants are understandably quite concerned about having teenagers take classes there where Adcock is a temporary employee in the music ministry.

According to Pastor Steve Knott, the church does background checks before hiring their staffers, but a Google search reveals many mugshots of Adcock and articles about his alleged offenses. When reached for comment by Fox 4 News, Pastor Knott pointed out that Adcock has not yet been convicted of a crime. A trial date for Knox is set for later this year.

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ALABAMA
AL.COM

By Crystal Bonvillian | cbonvillian@al.com

A former Muscle Shoals youth pastor facing 20 counts of rape and nine counts of sodomy in Alabama has been hired by a church in Texas, and congregants there are not pleased.

Charles Kyle Adcock, who was indicted in January on the charges involving an underage girl, is now an employee of First Baptist Church of Bedford in Bedford, Texas, according to Fox 4 News out of Dallas. Steve Knott, pastor of the church, told the news station that Adcock is a temporary employee in the church’s music ministry.

That temporary status does not stop congregants of the church from worrying.

“Kids trust ministers,” Julie Brooks, the parent of a teenager who takes classes at the church, told Fox 4. “And if they are approached by someone who works in the church, you would trust him. You would have no reason not to.”

The 32-year-old Adcock, who was arrested last August, was youth pastor Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals between 2010 and 2012, when the girl alleges he raped and sodomized her repeatedly. She was 14 years old when the alleged abuse began.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

“Walk to End SOL (Statute of Limitations)” on sexual abuse of minor children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults in the State of New Jersey to begin on 9/11/15

A 270 mile walk from Cape May to Mahwah, New Jersey will pass by the offices of NJ legislators in order to encourage the passing of legislation that will give sexual abuse victims their day in court

One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused in the USA before the age of 18, and New Jersey must face this epidemic with courage and strong legislation

What
A press conference to kick off the 270 mile walk from Cape May, NJ to Mahwah, NJ by sexual abuse victims and their supporters

When
Friday, September 11, 2015 at 9:00 am

Where
Cape May Point Lighthouse, 215 Lighthouse Avenue, Cape May Point, New Jersey 08212
609-884-5404

Who
Fred Marigliano, a victim/survivor of sexual abuse, from Green Brook, New Jersey, who will walk the entire State of New Jersey; members of victim/survivor and advocacy agencies, including Road to Recovery, Inc. of Livingston, NJ; SNAP ( the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests); and Male Survivor

Why
For the past several years, the New Jersey State legislature has been asked to consider eliminating the statute of limitations on sexual abuse claims. Most recently, efforts have been made to encourage the NJ Senate and Assembly to post bills that would ensure the rights of children and adults who are victim/survivors of sexual abuse. The research is clear: victim/survivors are not able to deal with the effects of sexual abuse until they are well into adulthood, but current New Jersey law insists that victim/survivors report their claims of sexual abuse by approximately their 21st birthdays. This is not realistic! Therefore, victim/survivor Fred Marigliano of Green Brook, New Jersey, and his supporters will walk 270 miles throughout New Jersey, passing by the offices of NJ legislators and asking them to “get with it” and end the restrictive statute of limitations laws in the State. Senator Joseph Vitale has heroically led the charge on behalf of victim/survivors, and his colleagues will be asked to join him in ending antiquated sexual abuse laws in the State of New Jersey.

Contact
Fred Marigliano, Green Brook, New Jersey – 732-421-0033

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Mikvah Peeping Tom Rabbi Barry Freundel Issues Public Apology To Victims – And Especially To Other Rabbis

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Mikvah voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel has issued a public apology months after pleading guilty to dozens of counts of voyeurism and months after he began serving a 6-1/2-year jail sentence.

“No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough. I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions,” Freundel wrote.

The apology was posted online by the Washington Jewish Week.

Freundel used hidden cameras to video-record more than 150 women while they were completely naked preparing to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) adjacent to his Modern Orthodox synagogue in the tony Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. He pleaded guilty to 52 of those incidents and the others were not charged because they fell outside the short statute of limitations.

“On May 15th, as I sat in the courtroom listening the victim impact statements, each felt like a blade entering my gut. The speakers expressed their feelings of rage, hurt, humiliation, vulnerability and violation. How could I have been so incredibly blind, so unaware of my impact on others? I ask myself that question every day. I became a rabbi precisely because I wanted to help people, as well as being drawn to the depth and the scholarship of Judaism, and I have tainted that miserably,” Freundel wrote.

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UNITED STATES
Haaretz

JTA

Barry Freundel, the disgraced Orthodox rabbi who went to jail for installing secret cameras in the mikvah ritual bath adjacent to his Washington synagogue, has issued a public apology.

“No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough,” Freundel wrote in his Sept. 8 letter of apology, which was posted Wednesday on the website of the Washington Jewish Week. “I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions.”

Freundel was arrested on charges of voyeurism on October 14, 2014, after members of his synagogue board alerted authorities to suspicions that he was secretly recording women undressing in the shower room of the mikvah adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent synagogue he led for some 25 years.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY ADELINA CAMPOS

Only 2.5% of sex abuse claims made against priests in Ireland since 1941 resulted in criminal convictions, it has emerged.

Newly-released reports by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog revealed 325 allegations were made against 141 priests or brothers in the past seven decades.

Of those, only eight ended with a conviction.

Teresa Devlin, chief executive of The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, said: “Overall there is considerable improvement in safeguarding practice evidenced in these reports”.

“The history is undeniable, that once again a significant number of children were abused in the care of religious institutions.”

The latest reviews cover eight male orders including the Jesuits, Rosminians, and Capuchins, as well as 35 female orders. The reports state the Jesuit Order failed to tell gardai about at least 22 claims of sex abuse in the past four decades.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Online

By Marshall Connolly, Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)

9/9/2015

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Working in Catholic media, one of the most frustrating things is reading secular coverage on quintessentially Catholic matters. While every subject is a Catholic subject, for Catholic is a universal worldview that encompasses literally everything, it’s annoying to see outsiders attempt to co-opt Catholic teaching to promote secular agendas.

The latest claim that a coup is brewing in the hierarchy of the Church is an example of muckraking. Several media outlets have run with comments from Cardinal Raymond Burke that he would “resist” liberal changes in the Church and that “One must be very attentive regarding the power of the pope.” The comments were given to a French news team a few months ago.

The pope’s power, Burke explained, “is not absolute. The pope does not have the power to change teaching [or] doctrine.”

Burke is of course, correct. And Burke might have an axe to grind since he was allegedly demoted by Pope Francis from the Vatican’s highest court. For the record, Pope Francis denied that he demoted Burke, saying instead that he needed him elsewhere.

The much-trumpeted rivalry between Pope Francis and Cardinal Burke is almost certainly contrived by the media. The two men can have differences of opinion, as any two parish priests might have, and they can have preferences and grievances even. These realities aren’t unique to the Church, they exist in every job and in every household. And just as every disagreement in a house doesn’t end in divorce, every grievance in the Vatican does not a schism make.

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CHILE
Arzobispado de Santiago

Respecto de la publicación del diario electrónico El Mostrador, el Arzobispado de Santiago declara que se trata de correos privados entre los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz, en los cuales intercambian opiniones frente al nombramiento de un futuro capellán de La Moneda, como también respecto de la posibilidad de que uno de los demandantes por el caso Karadima integrara una comisión pontificia para la protección de menores.

El discernimiento de quiénes podrían ocupar determinados servicios eclesiales, es parte de la responsabilidad de las autoridades de la Iglesia. Sobre el primer tema, es una atribución canónica el nombramiento del capellán por parte del Arzobispo de Santiago, y en el segundo caso, la decisión compete exclusivamente a la Santa Sede.

Así mismo, el Arzobispado de Santiago considera grave la publicación de correos privados en un medio de comunicación.

Finalmente, en los próximos días, el cardenal Arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, abordará estos temas en un diario de circulación nacional.

Dirección de Comunicaciones
Arzobispado de Santiago

Santiago, 9 de septiembre de 2015

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- The prosecutor of National District on Monday said the Justice Ministry analyzes how to secure damages for the several boys allegedly sexually abused by Pope Francis´ envoy Jozef Wesolowski, who died at the Vatican late August.

“We understand that the victims should be compensated,” Yeni Berenice Reynoso told reporters.

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ILLINOIS
Northwest Herald

By EMILY K. COLEMAN – ecoleman@shawmedia.com

ROCKFORD – A lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses a priest, formerly of churches in Crystal Lake and Johnsburg, of sexually abusing a 7- to 9-year-old child while assigned to an Aurora church.

The lawsuit names the Rev. John C. Holdren, who retired in 1994 from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Johnsburg where he spent 10 years as a priest. He also spent six years at St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake in the 1970s.

The Catholic Diocese of Rockford was notified of the lawsuit Tuesday, spokeswoman Penny Wiegert said, adding that the diocese didn’t have a comment as of Wednesday afternoon.

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CHILE
Radio Agricultura

[Archbishop of Santiago issues a public statement after publication of private emails.]

La filtración de la información fue considerada grave.

El arzobispado de Santiago emitió la tarde de este miércoles una declaración pública donde realizó una critica a la información que fue entregada por un medio electrónico y que tiene relación con la comunicación vía correo electrónico entre los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz.

A continuación la declaración pública:

Respecto de la publicación del diario electrónico El Mostrador, el Arzobispado de Santiago declara que se trata de correos privados entre los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz, en los cuales intercambian opiniones frente al nombramiento de un futuro capellán de La Moneda, como también respecto de la posibilidad de que uno de los demandantes por el caso Karadima integrara una comisión pontificia para la protección de menores.

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TEXAS
The Raw Story

DAVID EDWARDS
09 SEP 2015

Parents in North Texas want to know why a pastor with pending charges of child rape and sodomy in Alabama has been hired by the First Baptist Church of Bedford.

According to Alabama court documents obtained by KDFW, Kyle Adcock faces charges for 29 counts of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl while he was working at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church between 2010 and 2012.

Julie Brooks and Jennifer Fawks told KDFW that they were concerned after learning that Adcock had been hired as a music minister because their children take classes at First Baptist Church during the week.

“Kids trust ministers,” Brooks explained. “And so if they are approached by someone that works in the church, you would trust them. You would have no reason not to.”

First Baptist Church Pastor Steve Knott insisted to KDFW that the church usually performed background checks on employees, but said that Adcock was only working as a temporary employee in the music ministry. Knott also argued that Adcock had not yet been convicted of a crime.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

As a child, I was among the million Catholics lining the parkway for Pope John Paul’s visit in 1979. My father propped me up on a mailbox. The sea of people was a sight to behold – one huge Catholic family. That memory is marred by what I now know as an adult about our institutional Church. It had very little regard for that “family” in so many instances around the globe and here.

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the official itinerary for the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia on September 25 and 26th does not include clergy sex abuse. What topic could be more timely or appropriate to the World Meeting of Families? What is the short-term plan for the 1,446,508 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia whose trust has been betrayed by the institutional Church and whose children were put at risk in parishes and schools?

The Vatican Commission and Tribunal may be workable long-term solutions, but Pope Francis could give practical meaning to his pastoral message of love and mercy by offering triage here at ground zero.

Three Grand Jury Reports (2003, 2005 and 2011) revealed case after case of allegations of clergy sex abuse covered up by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia under three Cardinals (Krol, Bevilacqua and Rigali). Abuse and cover ups occurred in several other US dioceses and globally.

This isn’t a problem in the distant past. Our Archdiocesan children were potentially put at risk here as recently as 2013. Father John Paul was allowed to remain pastor of Our Lady of Calvary for over a year while under investigation. Eventually more than a dozen people came forward with allegations and he has since chosen voluntary laicization. The Statute of Limitations prevents further criminal or civil action. He is able to live anywhere he’d like without monitoring.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A priest convicted of child sexual abuse is part of a group that is raising money to buy the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis’ Chancery building.

The group, called the Gilead Project, is a collaborative venture of Susan Pavlak and Gil Gustafson. Gustafson was convicted of child sexual abuse as a priest and removed from public ministry in 2002.

The group says it hopes to turn the building into a place for healing for victims of sexual abuse.
According to the project’s website, Pavlak, Gustafson and allies are aiming to “transform the environment of Church and society regarding sexual abuse and abuse of power.”

“Susan and Gil have shared their experiences, strength and hope with various audiences including prisoners who have committed sexual offenses, Department of Corrections classes, denominational officials and seminarians,” the website statement said.

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UNITED STATES
Amazon

by Joelle Casteix

Protecting your child from sexual abuse can be as easy as opening a book.

Author Joelle Casteix has filled the need for an easy-to-read toolkit for parents when it comes to preventing childhood sexual abuse. When her own child was born, she was deluged with tomes that covered everything from breastfeeding to choosing the right college. But one book was noticeably absent. It’s the book that can help parents take action to prevent their child from becoming another statistic.

The Well-Armored Child gives parents the tools and strategies to understand how predators “groom” children, why many of our trusted institutions cover up abuse, and how to empower children without shame, fear, or inappropriate discussions of sex.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Lawyer

By: Mike Mosedale September 9, 2015 0

Priest convicted of abuse wants to buy Archdiocese HQ

MPR’s Madeleine Baran reports on a bizarre twist in the clergy abuse scandal/bankruptcy at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: a priest who was convicted of child sex abuse wants to buy the archdiocese’s 60,000 square foot chancery headquarters so he can turn it into “a healing center for abuse survivors.”

According to the story, the Rev. Gilbert Gustafson, who served six months in jail after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a boy in White Bear Lake in 1983, says he “feels called by God to minister to victims of abuse and that buying the chancery and converting it to a center that aids abuse victims is part of his ministry.”

“I get it. I’ve caused harm, and I engaged in behavior that is reprehensible, but I am not a monster,” Gustafson tells Baran. “It goes back to that line. I am not a monster. I have done monstrous things, but I am not a monster.”

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Overview Report of 8 Male religious congregations and 35 Female Religious Congregations ( published 9 September 2015).

43 Review Reports on Child Safeguarding Practice published today- 9 September 2015

43 Reports undertaken by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church are published, clear Progress Made as Audit Process Nears Conclusion

The 43 audit reports published today include 8 orders of male religious all of which received a full audit and 35 orders of female religious with small congregations, with limited or no ongoing contact with children which were reviewed under a tighter framework more appropriate to actual current status.

“Overall there is considerable improvement in safeguarding practice evidenced in these reports,” said Teresa Devlin, CEO, NBSCCCI (National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland). “The history is undeniable, that once again a significant number of children were abused in the care of Religious. What is strikingly different from the past in relation to the reports is a determination to respond pastorally, to report to the civil authorities promptly and to seek guidance in order to minimize risk to children.”

For the 8 male orders a total of 325 allegations have been made since 1941 against 141 priests, or brothers resulting in 8 criminal convictions up to date of each review, one of these allegations relates to abuse having taken place in 2003. All other instances of abuse occurred prior to 1996. …

Results for the 35 female orders were as follows:

* Good commitment to child safeguarding is evident.
* Recognition that previous care of children was often harsh.
* For those Congregations who have had allegations, these have been appropriately dealt with.
* A large number of female Congregations who had considerable ministry with children in the past, now have no such ministry.
* Congregations are declining in numbers and increasing in age profile
* Members who minister outside these congregation follow the policy and procedures of the diocese/service in which they work;
* There is a strong sense of commitment to working positively with the National Board in spite of the reduced relevance of their ministries from a child safeguarding perspective.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

Los correos secretos entre Ezzati y Errázuriz y el rol clave de Enrique Correa en las operaciones políticas de la Iglesia

[The secret mail between Ezzati and Errazuriz and Enrique Correa key role in the political operations of the church.]

por ALEJANDRA CARMONA 9 septiembre 2015

En diversos e-mails, a los que tuvo acceso El Mostrador de modo íntegro y que están fechados entre 2013 y 2014, tanto el arzobispo de Santiago como el cardenal que lo precedió en el cargo, dan cuenta de una estrecha relación con la que no solo evitaron, en conjunto, que Felipe Berríos fuera capellán de La Moneda –para lo cual pidieron que intercediera el conocido lobbista–, sino también que Juan Carlos Cruz, víctima de Karadima, no integrara la comisión que creó el Papa Francisco para la tutela de los menores.

El 12 de octubre de 2014, un nuevo escándalo de la Iglesia se hacía público. La prensa consignó así la información: la Arquidiócesis de Santiago había enviado una serie de antecedentes al Vaticano. Era un dossier de declaraciones de los sacerdotes Felipe Berríos, Mariano Puga y José Aldunate con críticas que la autoridad de la Iglesia chilena, Ricardo Ezzati, consideraba como contrarias al Magisterio.

La defensa de Ezzati fue inmediata. Al día siguiente de la publicación, el Arzobispado envió un comunicado público desmintiendo este hecho: “El arzobispo de Santiago, Cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, no ha efectuado ni acusación ni denuncia alguna a la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe de la Santa Sede, en contra de los sacerdotes mencionados. Lo que el Arzobispo sí ha hecho en este sentido, es responder a una solicitud de la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile, de enviar las distintas declaraciones que han hecho estos tres sacerdotes y que han aparecido en diversos medios de comunicación”, señalaba.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Simon Lauder

A long-serving principal of Geelong Grammar says he did not do anything about sexual abuse claims made against a staff member by a student because he did not believe he was entitled to investigate, a hearing has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today heard the story of a student who was abused by former Geelong Grammar house master, and now convicted paedophile, Jonathan Harvey.

Harvey was convicted in 2007 on 10 counts of gross indecency committed against another student of Geelong Grammar between May 1976 and May 1978.

The incidents raised in the hearing on Wednesday occurred in the mid 1980s while Harvey and the student were overseas and also involved abuse by other people.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

DAVID MARK: A former principal of Geelong Grammar School has told the Royal Commission he didn’t remove a teacher accused of child sexual abuse from the school.

John Lewis gave evidence that the parent who made the abuse complaint didn’t want his son embarrassed, so he followed his wishes.

Mr Lewis was the principal of Geelong Grammar from 1980 to 1994 and went on to be Prince William’s headmaster at Eton College near London.

Samantha Donovan is following the royal commission hearings in Melbourne and she joins me now.

So Sam who was this teacher and what was he accused of doing?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well the teacher, David, was Jonathan Harvey, and he’s given evidence to the royal commission this week. He was convicted and jailed in 2007 for 10 months for the sexual abuse of a Geelong Grammar student in the 1970s.

But, the commission’s heard that the school never reported to the police any concerns about Harvey that came from parents over the years, and there were quite a few. And he taught at the school or was house master at Geelong Grammar for the best part of three decades.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A former Geelong Grammar School headmaster failed to report any allegations of staff sexually abusing students because he decided himself they had no chance of being prosecuted.

John Lewis, later Princes William and Harry’s headmaster at England’s elite Eton College, believed it was the principal’s role to first determine the veracity of abuse allegations before involving police.

He did not investigate after a parent told him his son was sexually abused in the 1980s and “used in a degrading way” by a teacher on an overseas holiday, saying he was not authorised to do so.

“I did not take the view that boys in general or pupils in general were at daily or regular risk of being abused,” Mr Lewis told the child abuse royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Former principal of prestigious Geelong Grammar school describes the sexual abuse suffered by students as ‘modest’

By LIAM QUINN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A former principal at a prestigious school in Geelong, Victoria, has described sexual abuse suffered by some students as ‘comparatively modest’.

Ex-Geelong Grammar headmaster John Lewis made the comments during an appearance at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne.

‘It’s worse than nil, but you are – if I may say so – creating the impression that sexual abuse was rife. It is not, in my opinion, a fair description of the overall situation,’ Mr Lewis said.

‘Any such incident is very, very serious but the scale of the alleged incidents that had occurred was, in the scheme of things, comparatively modest.’

Mr Lewis – principal from 1980 to 1994 – also denied his school was an unsafe place for students by September 1991. Mr Lewis was also headmaster of Eton College from 1994 to 2002, and taught Princes William and Harry.

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CANADA
Waterloo Region Record

By Greg Mercer

KITCHENER — The Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada has accused a well-known church leader and local pastor of sexual and ethical misconduct, more than two decades after his death.

Vernon Leis, killed in a head-on collision near Baden in 1994, was a pastor at churches in Kitchener, Elmira and Tavistock, and was once a senior official in the Ontario-wide Mennonite church organization.

On Aug. 30, pastors at three local churches took the unusual step of naming Leis in a statement from church leadership that revealed the allegation against him in front of congregants gathered for Sunday worship.

The move came after someone came forward with an allegation that was “compelling and credible,” the church said. Normally, a church committee’s investigation would give the pastor a chance to respond, but in this case it felt the accuser’s story was believable enough on its own to take action.

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IRELAND
Yahoo! News

By Michael Sheils McNamee | TheJournal.ie

A new report has found that 325 allegations of abuse were made against 141 priests or brothers in Ireland since 1960.

This comes as part of an review of religious organisations in which 8 male orders and 35 female orders were examined.

Included in the inspection of the male orders were the Jesuits, Clistercians, Rosminians and Capuchins.

It was found that one of the allegations of abuse took place in 2003, while all of the other allegations dated back to 1995 or earlier.

These have resulted in a total of eight criminal prosecutions.

The review into the treatment of children has been carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

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IRELAND
RTE News

The latest reports by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, focusing on 43 religious congregations, reveal that 325 allegations were made against 141 priests or brothers in Ireland since 1941, resulting in eight criminal convictions.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) audit of eight male religious orders and 35 smaller orders of nuns indicates that the Jesuit Order failed to tell the gardaí about at least 22 allegations of child sexual abuse made against its members in the past 40 years.

But NBSCCC CEO Teresa Devlin has said the Order had confirmed with gardaÍ that the cases concerned did not meet the threshold for reporting.

A Jesuit spokesperson said these cases were suspicions and concerns for which there were no reasonable grounds and that the board states that every allegation requiring reporting has been reported.

However, Ms Devlin said there were delays of up to four years in reporting substantial allegations to the gardaí in the early 1990s.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah Mac Donald
PUBLISHED
09/09/2015

A significant number of children were abused in the care of religious orders according to the latest audits carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding in the Catholic Church.

The 43 reviews, which cover eight male orders and 35 female orders, show that a total of 325 allegations of sexual abuse were made since 1941 against 141 priests or brothers resulting in 8 criminal convictions.

“Overall there is considerable improvement in safeguarding practice evidenced in these reports,” Teresa Devlin, CEO of the NBSCCCI, said but she added that “The history is undeniable, that once again a significant number of children were abused in the care of Religious.”

However, she said that what is strikingly different among the orders today as opposed to the past is a determination to respond pastorally, to report to the civil authorities promptly and to seek guidance in order to minimise risk to children.

This latest series of reviews deals with orders such as the Jesuits, Rosminians and Capuchins.

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