ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Haaretz

By Rabbi Elianna Yolkut | May 14, 2015

My Washington D.C. community has been engaged in impassioned debates over how severe a punishment Rabbi Barry Freundel deserves for spying on women in the mikveh (Jewish ritual bath), since prosecutors recommended he be sent to prison for 17 years for 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism.

“Murderers and rapist don’t even get that much time,” one congregant insisted.

“Are you kidding me? He was a rabbi; he shamed people. It’s like murder,” another interjected.

Back and forth the arguments flew, growing louder as congregants contradicted and agreed with one another. Listening to the conversation, I wondered: What does Judaism teach us about those who exploit others: do we have a right to seek a severe punishment, or must we strive for leniency, in an effort to exhibit compassion?

Teshuvah (repentance) and forgiveness are central elements of Jewish thought. In the Talmud is the famous phrase, “Human beings should be pliant as a reed, not hard like the cedar,” in granting forgiveness (Taanit 20a). This phrase, and others, is often used to describe a victim’s responsibility to be soft and flexible in their ability to offer forgiveness. In Shabbat 133b we are taught, “Just as it is in the nature of God to be merciful to His creatures, so man in attempting to imitate the ways of God should be forgiving toward those who have injured them.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Alana Suskin | Religion News Service May 14

When I was in grad school on the path that would eventually lead me to become a rabbi, I took a class in the philosophy of Jewish law. The teacher was clear and interesting, if not terribly personable. When the semester ended and I wanted to learn more seriously about the body of Jewish text called Mishnah, I asked the professor if he would help.

He agreed but specified that our study had to take place over the phone. I thought it odd, but knew that philosophy departments are full of eccentric personalities, and I was grateful that he was willing to take the time. I didn’t think much of it, but now, I wonder if even back then Rabbi Barry Freundel was already fighting his demons.

The story of Rabbi Freundel is notorious: a nationally known figure, the rabbi of an important Orthodox congregation in Washington, who was disgraced after he secretly recorded women immersing in the mikvah ritual bath. It is a sad story, one that certainly reveals the truth of the Talmudic comment: “When anyone commits a transgression in secret, it is as though he thrust aside the feet of the Divine Presence.”

In the Washington area, where I live, there is shock over the Freundel scandal. I myself have struggled with what to tell people who ask me about how we should respond as a community. As a former student, I, too, was shocked.

But after much reflection, I think there are two primary responses: one personal, one communal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn filed two motions in state Superior Court today, seeking to argue an appeal for a new trial before the same panel of judges that previously overturned Lynn’s conviction.

On Dec. 26, 2013, state Superior Court Judges John T. Bender, Christine L. Donohue and John L. Musmanno issued an opinion that reversed Lynn’s June 22, 2012, conviction in Common Pleas Court for endangering the welfare of a child.

On April 27, 2015, the state Supreme Court entered an opinion reversing the Superior Court’s reversal.

In his motion seeking a new briefing before the Superior Court, Thomas A. Bergstrom, Lynn’s lawyer, noted that the state Supreme Court only addressed one narrow issue, namely whether Lynn was considered an “other person supervising the welfare of a child” under the state’s original 1972 child endangerment law.

The law states: “A parent, guardian or other person supervising the welfare of a child under 18 years of age commits an offense if he knowingly endangers the welfare of a child by violating a duty of care, protection or support.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Legal Intelligencer

Clergy Abuse Plaintiff Seeks Judgment Based on Lynn Conviction

P.J. D’Annunzio, The Legal Intelligencer
May 14, 2015

The plaintiff in a civil clergy sex-abuse case is asking the court for summary judgment against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Monsignor William Lynn based on the reinstatement of Lynn’s criminal conviction.

Billy Doe, who alleged that he was sexually abused by priests as a minor, claimed in court papers that Lynn, in his role as an archdiocese administrator, knowingly shuffled priests accused of misconduct from parish to parish across the state where they could come into contact with children. The plaintiff in the case is proceeding under the pseudonym “Billy Doe.”

The Supreme Court’s April reinstatement of Lynn’s criminal conviction of endangering the welfare of children means that the archdiocese and Lynn can be held civilly liable, Doe claimed.

Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said he had not yet had a chance to review Doe’s motion, but he would file a response sometime before the deadline in early June. He declined to comment further.

Doe’s lawyer, Slade McLaughin, and the archdiocese’s attorney, Nicholas Centrella of Conrad O’Brien, did not return calls seeking comment.

Lynn is the first Catholic Church administrative official convicted of endangering the welfare of children abused by other priests.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Meredith Rodriguez
Chicago Tribune

Dozens of gold chains, wedding bands and gold crosses used to adorn statues were illegally removed from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a Catholic church in Melrose Park, according to a suit filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The Catholic Bishop of Chicago filed a lawsuit against three people it alleges took the items from a church shrine before and during 2013. The three were members of the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, according to the suit.

The removed jewelry included roughly one dozen large 14-carat gold chains from 16 to 36 inches long, roughly five gold crosses on small chains as well as crowns, pins, precious jewels and broaches. Jewels were also taken from a safe deposit box at a bank, according to the suit. Removed gowns included two infant cream-colored dresses with matching capes, a 1940s-era cream-colored cape and wigs.

The value of the items is “not ascertainable,” but it is more than $100,000, according to the suit.

After written and oral demands were made to return the items, the Archdiocese of Chicago sent a letter last July and another one last month demanding that the items be returned, the suit said.

“Despite the demands for its return, the property has not been recovered and is being unlawfully retained,” according to the suit. “… The property has not been taken for any tax, assessment or fine levied by virtue of any law of this state against the property of the Archdiocese of Chicago, nor seized under any lawful execution or attachment, or held by virtue of any order of replevin against Plaintiff.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Local

SCITUATE (CBS) — A Norfolk Superior Court judge has ruled that the friends of St. Frances must end their decade-long vigil.

The judge said that parishioners occupying the closed Scituate church must leave by May 26. A counter claim that was filed by parishioners has been dismissed.

A group of parishioners has held vigil at the church for the last 10 years, after the Boston Archdiocese ordered it closed as part of its 2004 reconfiguration.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday May 14, 2015

A divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that children sexually assaulted at state institutions have 12 years — instead of two years — to sue state agencies for damages.

In a 4-3 decision, the court majority ruled that the 12-year statute of limitations for filing sexual-assault claims from age 18 overrides a law requiring lawsuits against the state to be filed within two years.

Those victimized by teachers, coaches, clergy, local juvenile-detention-center employees and others have until age 30 to sue their molesters and their private- or public-sector employers for damages.

But those molested by state employees in state institutions had only until age 20 to file lawsuits in the Court of Claims prior to today’s ruling.

The justices heard arguments a year ago that the differing deadlines — from the time victims become adults — shield state agencies from damage claims filed by victims who often need years to “process” the trauma they suffered.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Marnie Eisenstadt | meisenstadt@syracuse.com
on May 14, 2015

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Le Moyne College President Linda LeMura appeared on Fox News this morning to talk about how some on campus asked that Cardinal Timothy Dolan be uninvited as the college’s commencement speaker.

During the interview, LeMura said that the group represented a small percentage of the college community. She heard their concerns about Dolan’s actions regarding the priest sexual abuse scandal and suggested the students do more research about what happened.

“Many of our students, faculty and alumni are very pleased,” LeMura said. “He’ll be great.”

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A compensation court case filed by the victims of clerical abuse was today put off indefinitely until a separate case appealing a decision by a judge not to abstain from hearing the case is heard.

In a very short sitting today, Mr Justice Joseph Micallef upheld a request for the case to be postponed and put on hold pending a hearing of an appeal against the judge’s decision not to abstain from hearing the case.

Lawyers Patrick Valentino and Franco Vassallo said this would allow them to also file a request before the Constitutional Court.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

John Cordina

Proceedings on a compensation claim filed by 10 victims of sexual abuse at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera have been suspended after they filed a constitutional appeal in their bid to have the case assigned to a different judge.

Two former priests, Carmelo Pulis and Godwin Scerri, were jailed for six and five years respectively in August 2011 after they were found guilty of sexually abusing boys in their care. Mr Scerri was acquitted of violently raping a boy on a technicality: the incident did occur, but not in the location mentioned in the charge sheet.

A third defendant facing similar charges, Br Joseph Bonnet, died months before proceedings were concluded. The two priests were defrocked following their conviction, and while they appealed the case, the sentence was confirmed on appeal.

The 10 victims sought financial compensation, but meetings with the Malta Archdiocese put paid to the possibility of an out-of-court settlement. The Curia rejected legal responsibility for the sexual abuse carried by two of its priests, although it said it was willing to provide counselling to the victims.

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MICHIGAN
C and G Newspapers

By Terry Oparka
Published May 13, 2015

Author Gerald Posner has investigated some high-profile issues for the 12 books he’s written.

An attorney and former chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast, he’s written books about Motown, as well as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Posner said he has wanted to research Vatican finances since ’84, when he was doing pro bono work in Argentina researching Nazi Joseph Mengele — known as the “Angel of Death” for his torture of men, women and children at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II — for a lawsuit he brought on behalf of surviving twins from Auschwitz.

While in the Argentine federal police archives, Posner said, he came across files on a priest and a bishop who had helped Nazis after World War II.

He’s been working on his book, “God’s Bankers,” which he said is an in-depth examination of Vatican finances, since 2005.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

14 May 2015 by Sarah Mac Donald

Leaders of more than 20 international reform groups have written to Pope Francis criticising the trend towards “mega-parishes” as a response to the decline in priest numbers.

The letter is signed by 24 groups whose representatives attended last month’s reform conference in Limerick. It warns the Pope that bishops are responding to the priest shortage by creating “anonymous and unmanageable superstructures”.

In these new mega-parishes, personal contact between people and ministers is lost, says the letter, leaving the faithful “alienated, unsettled and insecure” as priests are increasingly focused on administration instead of caring for souls.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

Bill Grimes

SIGEL — Defending himself against his removal as pastor of four local Catholic parishes, the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand said he’s been judged guilty without a fair hearing, and that the actions of the Springfield Diocese “felt more like a witch trial than any real search for truth.”

The ousted priest’s comments were made this week in a letter addressed to “My dear brothers and sisters in Christ.” Although he did not return a message from a reporter seeking comment, DeGrand sent the letter to the Effingham Daily News. Its authenticity was verified by George Nuxoll, a former trustee at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Sigel.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki on May 2 removed DeGrand from his parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville, citing a Diocesan Review Board finding that allegations of sexual misconduct against DeGrand were “credible.” Those allegations stemmed from an alleged incident in 1980 while DeGrand was serving a parish in Jacksonville.

The priest has never been charged with a crime.

DeGrand had served the so-called “Four Parishes” for 16 years, and was removed despite what some members call his almost universal support.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/13/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Yesterday there was grim news coming from the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life. The 2015 Pew report, like its 2007 predecessor, suggests an upheaval in religious life in America with a decided trend towards the ‘nones’ (religiously unaffiliated individuals). Of Catholicism in particular, the Pew report states:

Nearly a third of all U.S. adults (31.7%) were raised Catholic, and most of them continue to identify as Catholics today. But nearly 13% of all Americans are former Catholics – people who no longer identify with the faith despite having been raised in the Catholic Church. By comparison, there are far fewer converts to Catholicism; 2% of all U.S. adults now identify as Catholics after having been raised in another religion or without a religion. This means that there are more than six former Catholics for every convert to Catholicism. No other religious group analyzed in the survey has experienced anything close to this ratio of losses to gains via religious switching.

Now, I have a certain ambivalence towards such research, mainly because I am aware of its margin of error and its potential misuse. For instance, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis consistently states that it is home to 825,000 Catholics, when in fact the actual Catholic population is significantly lower. The number 825,000 came about by multiplying the percentage of the population identifying as Catholic as articulated in the Pew studies (which in itself is based on a sample of 35,000) with the total population of the 12 county Archdiocesan territory as identified by census, and then adjusting that number upwards so that the Archdiocese appears to have a large enough population to require an auxiliary bishop or two, but not large enough to increase its required financial contribution to the USCCB. By way of contrast, any any attempts to quantify the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese using empirical data (such as attendance at Mass, membership rolls, numbers of baptisms, numbers of people who have formally defected from the faith, etc) never resulted in numbers above 450,000 to 550,000 Catholics. This inconsistency was repeatedly mentioned to Archbishop Nienstedt, but he was strongly in favor of using the higher, clearly incorrect number, and apparently continues to be so inclined.

At the same time, anyone who cares about the Catholic Church should be concerned about the trends identified in the Pew study. While I realize that there are some that believe, as Pope Benedict XVI did, that historical forces would combine to restructure the Catholic Church into a far smaller,
‘simpler and more spiritual’ entity, I am not of the opinion that this prophecy or its apparent fulfillment is something we should celebrate. I think this is especially true given the reasons articulated by many so-called ‘millennials’ (those under 30) for being disaffiliated. In an interview with MPR yesterday, Rachel Held Evans, a blogger and contributor to the Washington Post had this to say about the inability of traditional churches to appeal to her generation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

ADASS Israel Congregation’s former president Benjamin Koppel was quizzed in the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday about how closely the appointment of teacher Malka Leifer was vetted.

Leifer, a former senior teacher at the school – and allegedly the principal –fled to Israel in 2008 with the assistance of the Adass board, after allegations surfaced that she had sexually abused some of her students.

Leifer is under house arrest in Israel, with an application underway by Australian authorities to have her extradited to face criminal charges relating to her employment at Adass.

A lawsuit against Adass and Leifer, brought by one of her alleged victims, is in process.

The court heard that a subcommittee of the Adass congregation was tasked with finding a Jewish Studies teacher and that Israeli David Rosenbaum, who lived in Australia at the time, was asked to make inquiries about candidates.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Louise Milligan

Ten victims who were abused by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale have begun proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court against a former Bishop of Ballarat.

They accuse Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and the Diocese of Ballarat of negligence for allegedly failing to protect them and other victims, despite being aware of complaints against Ridsdale.

The lawyer representing the victims, Viv Waller, said the case was unprecedented because it bypassed the Catholic Church’s so-called Ellis defence – where the church cannot be sued because, technically, it does not exist as a legal entity.

“The Catholic Church itself has no continuing legal personality, so it’s not like a company,” Ms Waller told the ABC’s 7.30.

“So, unless the individuals responsible for the act or alleged mission are still alive, there’s no-one against which you can actually commence proceedings.”

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marcia A. Hamilton

There is good news and bad news for victims of child sex abuse who seek to enter the justice system in 2015. As a general matter across the United States, we are on the right track and headed in the right direction. But there is a great deal of work left to do.

The most remarkable leap forward: Georgia. Before May 5, 2015, the date when Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law the Hidden Predator Act (HPA), Georgia was among the five worst states in the country for child sex abuse victims’ access to justice. The statutes of limitations (“SOLs”) in the civil context shut down all claims by age 23 and on the criminal side, only opened the door for crimes after July 1, 2012. That meant civil suits and prosecutions for child sex abuse have been rare occurrences in Georgia.

That changes on July 1, 2015, when the HPA goes into effect. The HPA moves Georgia into one of the better states in the country. It creates a two-year window (during which defendants do not have the benefit of the statute of limitation as a defense) for the victim to sue the perpetrator. It also institutes a new discovery rule, which permits victims to sue perpetrators and/or institutions for abuse and cover ups. Victims will have two years from the date they understand that their current problems were caused by the childhood sexual abuse to go to court. While there are better SOL laws in the country, and most specifically, Delaware and Minnesota, which have eliminated civil and criminal SOLs for all defendants, and given victims a window, it still catapults Georgia ahead of the other four deplorable states on this issue, New York, Michigan, Alabama, and Mississippi.

A more predictable result: Utah. Utah also made some progress, though it is all against the perpetrator. As of March 2015, for all abuse into the future, civil claims will not be subject to an SOL against the perpetrator. The bill started out as one against perpetrator and institution. Yet, as expected, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ensured that the same civil extension could not be applied to institutions that employ pedophiles or that cover up for them. The same age 22 limit that was in place before remains, making Utah one of the most restrictive regimes for bringing institutions that harbor abusers to justice.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Megan Neil
May 14, 2015

Many victims who haven’t come forward decades after being abused by clergy and religious in Ballarat might be prompted to speak up when the abuse royal commission sits in the Victorian town, a victims’ advocate hopes.

Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault manager Shireen Gunn says she has no doubt there are more victims who could be empowered by the commission hearings starting next week, as occurred after Victoria’s child abuse inquiry.

“We believe that there’s others who haven’t come forward yet, that are still in the wings,” Ms Gunn told AAP.

“If out of this intensive focus on our area, if more are able to see others have told their story and that gives them a sense that they come forward, that will be really good.”

Some of the men – aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s – who sought help after the Victorian parliamentary inquiry were speaking about their abuse for the first time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

The vicar of a Sneinton church has been spared custody after he admitted possessing child porn of children as young as two.

Rev Andrew Waude had been working at St Cyprian’s Church, in Lancaster Road as part of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, when he was caught with 476 images and videos.

After pleading guilty at Nottingham Crown Court at an earlier hearing, he was sentenced to a three-year community order and supervision from probation and 250 hours of unpaid work on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

It’s the rollcall of names that decades on still haunts former St Alipius students: Ridsdale, Best, Dowlan, Fitzgerald, Farrell.

The school chaplain, principal and the entire teaching staff.

Five confirmed pedophiles, all at the Christian Brothers junior school in Ballarat East in the 1970s.

A St Alipius class photo from the time bears testament to the devastating toll their abuse wrought.
“Now a third of those are gone, they’re dead,” Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) manager Shireen Gunn said.

The unusually high level of suicides and premature deaths is the ongoing legacy of the abuse of children as young as five in the Ballarat diocese.

Peter Blenkiron, who was 11 when he was abused at the Brothers’ other school in Ballarat, St Patrick’s College, estimates there’s been 10 suicides in the regional Victorian city in the past year alone.

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UNITED STATES
National Review

by IAN TUTTLE May 13, 2015

This year’s inevitable commencement controversy is at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where students are circulating the following petition, via Change.org:

Le Moyne College has appointed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan as Commencement Speaker for the graduating class of 2015 and the graduates, along with staff and other students, do not approve of this choice.

Over the years, Cardinal Dolan has been involved with sexual abuse scandals dealing with clergy of the church, homophobic comments and does not represent the ideals we have come to know Le Moyne to represent. With the growing attention toward sexual assault on the Le Moyne campus, students have felt that keeping Cardinal Dolan as commencement speaker completely opposes what we have advocated against.

By signing this petition, you are playing a part in being the voice of Le Moyne. We have walked the halls of Le Moyne for the Black Lives that Matter, we have held vigils for the Muslim students gunned down in Chapel Hill and much more. We have always come together in hard times. Do not stop now. Stand strong, sign and keep it going.

The petition has garnered 662 signees, from a college of about 2,800 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. It seems worth noting, by the by, that Le Moyne is a Jesuit college. It touts its “Jesuit Tradition” on its website homepage. It shows pictures of students chatting with priests.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Sam Charles

The Archdiocese of Chicago is suing several members of a west suburban parish who, a new lawsuit alleges, took jewelry and other adornments from the church valued at more than $100,000.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court against three members of the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, based in Melrose Park.

The Archdiocese alleges that some time “prior to and during 2013,” dozens of gold rings, chains, crosses, crowns, broaches and several statue adornments were taken from the church by the three parishioners.

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UNITED KIGNDOM
The Times

Alice Hutton
May 14 2015

A father of two travelled to Italy to covertly film his confrontation with a priest whom he claimed had sexually abused him as a teenager at a Roman Catholic seminary in Britain.

Mark Murray went to Italy to track down Father Romano Nardo, after repeated attempts to have him extradited to Britain to face questioning failed.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Pew survey: Percentage of US Catholics drops and Catholicism is losing members faster than any denomination

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter May 12, 2015

For years, two truisms dominated coverage of the US Catholic Church: about one quarter of the population is Catholic and each year at Easter, Catholics entering the church offset those leaving it.

But new data suggests a new story.

A report released Tuesday by the Pew Forum finds that the total number of Catholics in the United States dropped by 3 million since 2007, now comprising about 20 percent – or one-fifth – of the total population.

And perhaps more troubling for the church, for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church. Taken a step further, Catholicism loses more members than it gains at a higher rate than any other denomination, with nearly 13 percent of all Americans describing themselves as “former Catholics.”

The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found that in 2014, the overall share of Christians in the United States dropped to an all-time low of just under 71 percent, down about 7 percentage points from 2007.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

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

An accused predator priest who has reportedly been permanently ousted from ministry is speaking out for the first time. And he’s ducking, dodging, deflecting and distracting.

[Journal Courier]

Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand claims he’s been mistreated by his boss, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, and a panel of Catholics. But, if Paprocki is to be believed, Fr. DeGrand deceived a therapist and refused to take a lie detector test, be evaluated by a psychiatrist, meet again with a church panel, and move to free housing in Springfield.

Fr. DeGrand gripes that his accuser has stepped forward years after the alleged crimes. But DeGrand isn’t stupid. He knows that precious few young boys or girls have the strength, maturity and courage to promptly call 911 right after they’ve been raped or sodomized by a trusted adult. Even fewer can do this when the perpetrator is a revered religious figure who purports to have the power to get a child or his loved ones into heaven by hearing confession.

Fr. DeGrand also knows that, given the church’s long-standing priest shortage, most Catholic officials feel pressured to err on the side of keeping sexually troubled clerics on the job. Often, church officials believe their accused colleagues over their alleged victims. So it’s significant when a bishop and his hand-picked Catholic panel concur that a cleric likely molested a child. We also strongly suspect that church insurers, defense lawyers and public relations experts agree with Paprocki and his panel that Fr. DeGrand is a threat. We also suspect there is other information in Fr. DeGrand’s personnel file about other known, admitted or alleged sexual misdeeds.

We again call on Paprocki to

–stop using parishioner donations to buy a lawyer for Fr. DeGrand
–put notices about Fr. DeGrand and the credible accusations against him on the diocesan website
–do the same with parish bulletins and websites across the diocese
–beg, in each notice, all victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police
–visit each church where Fr. DeGrand has worked, making the same plea in person,
–turn over, to law enforcement agencies in every county where he worked, his personnel file, and
–teach his flock how to respond appropriately when abuse reports against clerics surface

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah Mac Donald | May. 13, 2015

DUBLIN The leaders of 24 international reform groups who met in Limerick, Ireland, in April are urging Pope Francis to call for a halt to the church’s policy of clustering parishes into megaparishes as a response to the decline in priest numbers.

In an open letter, the 32 signatories — from groups such as Catholics for Renewal in Australia, A Call to Action in England, and the Society for Open Christianity for the 21st Century in Slovakia — tell Francis that the future of parish life is “massively threatened.”

Bishops seeking to address the priest shortage are “merging active and vibrant parishes into anonymous and unmanageable superstructures,” the letter said.

While merging seems to be “the formula of the hour,” the reform leaders warn that in these new megaparishes, personal contact between people and ministers is being lost as the sacraments are removed ever further from the everyday life of church citizens.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

A SOLICITOR, charged alongside a priest with perverting justice, is to argue to have the case thrown out of court.

Committal proceedings were scheduled to take place at Dungannon Magistrates Court, potentially sending the case against 54-year-old solicitor Patrick Mallon, and Father Joseph John Quinn (48) to the Crown Court for trial but that was adjourned again after Mallon’s solicitor Aidan Quinn revealed he would be launching an abuse of process application.

The PE was initially scheduled at the beginning of March. In court Mr Quinn told District Judge John Meehan the application would be “on two limbs” but did not expand on them, asking instead for two weeks to lodge skeleton arguments.

Dungannon based solicitor Mallon, from Upper Parklands, and Fr Quinn, from Ardmore Park in Coalisland, each face two charges of perverting the course of justice in that they allegedly attempted to pressurise or persuade witnesses to withdraw statements made to police between February 1 and 15

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ITALIA
La Repubblica

Mark Murray ha 59 anni e ha intrapreso un lungo viaggio dal Galles fino a Verona per incontrare padre Romano Nardo, il sacerdote che nel 1970 abusò sessualmente di lui nel seminario di Mirfield, in Inghilterra. Un faccia a faccia avvenuto all’interno della Casa dei padri Comboniani di Verona, dopo 45 anni di attesa senza mai un’ammissione di colpevolezza o delle scuse. “Mi hanno dato dei soldi come compensazione, ma non è una questione di soldi. Quei fatti hanno avuto un grande impatto sulla mia vita, per anni non ho voluto avere figli per paura di essere io stesso un pedofilo”, racconta Murray

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UNITED KINGDOM/ITALY
Telegraph

By Nick Squires, Rome 13 May 2015

A British father-of-two has confronted an Italian priest who allegedly sexually abused him when he was a teenager.

Mark Murray claims he was systematically abused by Father Romano Nardo at Mirfield, a Catholic seminary school in Yorkshire.

Mr Murray, 59, spent years trying to bring the alleged abuse, which took place in 1970, to the attention of the Vatican authorities.

He finally decided to turn up in person at a religious institution in Verona, northern Italy, where Father Nardo, now 73, lives.

He managed to confront the elderly priest, telling him: “You have had a massive, negative impact on my life and my family and my children. I tried many times to meet with you.”

Mr Murray covertly filmed the encounter with a tiny camera hidden inside a wristwatch, provided to him by La Repubblica, which published the footage online on Wednesday.

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NEW MEXICO
New Mexican

Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Russell Contreras
AP Writer

ALBUQUERQUE — A new lawsuit says the Vatican sent a New England priest accused of raping boys and stealing parish money to New Mexico for treatment and that he later abused a boy in that state numerous times.

The lawsuit recently filed in Albuquerque District Court says a religious order in Massachusetts wrote the Vatican seeking to fire Rev. John George Weisenborn. However, the Vatican instructed the diocese to send Weisenborn to New Mexico in 1964 where he was later hired as a full-time priest.

According to the lawsuit, Weisenborn abused as boy more than fifty times as a priest at St. Francis Xavier in Albuquerque beginning in 1968.

Court documents say Weisenborn also was detained three times in Washington D.C. for having sex with boys before coming to New Mexico.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

posted by Joelle Casteix on May 13, 2015

Last week, I learned that I have been selected as a 2015 Ambassador of Peace award winner by the Violence Prevention Coalition of Orange County. That’s some pretty cool news!

I was nominated by my cousin and friend Darcy Fehringer-Mask*, who won the award herself in 2008 for her work in diversity and anti-bias education, including bullying awareness and prevention. I was chosen for my work on behalf of victims of child sexual abuse, prevention and awareness education, and my efforts towards changing civil and criminal statutes of limitations for sex crimes against children.

Looking at the other winners, I’m in awesome company and am very humbled by the honor. The ceremony is a June 5 luncheon in Costa Mesa. Let me know if you want to come. I’ll save you a seat!

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790 ( davidgclohessy@gmail.com ) , Anne Barrett Doyle 781-439-5208 ( barrett.doyle@comcast.net )

Three groups: Finn should not ordain new priests
Bishop was convicted for not reporting child abuse images
Last month, three years late, prelate finally resigned
But Catholic officials are letting him ordain priests & deacons
Organizations say his “continued visibility hurts parishioners and victims”

Three groups concerned about clergy sex crimes and cover ups are urging a Catholic panel to stop a convicted bishop from ordaining priests and deacons in two ceremonies later this month.

Members of BishopAccountability.org, the National Survivor Advocacy Coalition (NSAC), and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are concerned about Bishop Robert Finn who resigned last month, three years after he was criminally convicted of failing to report suspected child sex crimes by a priest.

The organizations are writing the National Review Board, a group of lay Catholics charged with working with US bishops across on the sexual abuse of minors.

[National Review Board]

A fourth group, the Boston-based Voice of the Faithful, is expected to write the NRB today expressing the same concern. (Contact Donna Doucette, dbdoucette@votf.org )

They are asking that the group demand that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops ban Bishop Finn from presiding over the upcoming May 16 and May 23 ordination of priests and deacons. Finn was allowed to resign last month, after years of outcry from victims and Catholics over his conviction and his handling of the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case.

[New York Times]

“A convicted and disgraced bishop is the last person who should be ordaining a new priest,” the letter said. “What kind of message does it send when a man who could not pass the background check in his own diocese is the one ordaining new priests? Does his crime mean nothing? Do the children Ratigan abused mean nothing?”

The groups fear that if Finn has any public role, victims will be less likely to report abuse and that wrong-doers will feel like they can easily get a “free pass” for covering up abuse. They also worry about the feelings and morale of Kansas City Catholics, many of whom want healing and closure and are dismayed by Finn’s continued visibility in the church.

“There are dozens of less-objectionable bishops who are a short plane ride from Kansas City,” the letter continued. “Why can’t one of them officiate at the ordination? Why celebrate a man who deliberately put children in the path of a predator? Finn is not a leader, and allowing him to remain in a position of power is not healing for anyone.”

The groups also want reassurance that Finn will be assigned a life of “prayer and penance” and will not be allowed any public or powerful roles in the church in Kansas City, the US or the Vatican.

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CANADA/AUSTRALIA
Canadian Jewish News

Paul Lungen, Staff Reporter, Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Manny Waks comes from an Australian Chabad family that had to leave Chabad after Waks went public in 2011 with revelations of sexual abuse at Chabad’s Yeshivah College in Melbourne. Waks, who has served as vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also testified at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which included a close look at Yeshivah College. He was in Toronto last week to present Code of Silence, the film about his ordeal which aired at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. He spoke to The CJN’s Paul Lungen.

Tell us about Code of Silence.

Code of Silence is an award winning documentary commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Company and undertaken by Danny Ben-Moshe. It won Australia’s most prestigious award, the Walkley Award, in December last year.

I’m the main subject, as the victim of child sexual abuse in the Jewish community. I’m often described as a whistleblower focused not only the abuse itself and the subsequent cover up, but it also follows the ongoing intimidation that myself and my family experienced, particularly my parents. It follows their story as well, ultimately culminating in them having to leave Australia.

Where are they now?

They’re in Israel. They still spend half the time in Australia. My mom still owns a wig shop, and they still own the house, which is not an easy thing to sell, because it’s right across the road from the Yeshivah centre. It has 13 bedrooms—I’m one of 17 children, that’s why the 13 bedrooms – with six kosher kitchens. They typical clientele for such a house would be from the ultra-Orthodox community, where the relations between them and my parents, at the Yeshivah centre, has been problematic to say the least.

Tell us about the abuse you suffered.

I was 11-years-old. There were two pedophiles in my case. The first is [prominent in the Chabad community]. He abused me for the first time ever on Shavuot night, when it’s customary within the Orthodox community to remain awake all night to study the Torah. He abused me inside the Chabad Yeshivah Centre synagogue. Subsequently he abused me several more times in another synagogue where my family and I used to go every week. That lasted about six months. Subsequently, from the age of around 12 to the age of around 14 and a half, I was sexually abused repeatedly by David Cyprys, who’s currently sitting in jail for the crimes committed against me and many other boys at the Yeshivah Centre.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

[with video]

Ashley Troutman

MEDFORD, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — A Medford high school career counselor is on leave after allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Jenna Tarabelsi is on paid leave from her position as career counselor at Medford Vocational Technical High School after students complained about her, saying she allegedly had a relationship with at least one student.

“They had a relationship with this guidance counselor, they trusted her, to know that she’s doing this is despicable,” one parent said.

One of the incidents allegedly happened right in the school parking lot.

“Parents need to know that when allegations are made we take them seriously and we follow them up with appropriate protocols,” the Medford superintendent said.

But parents say they should’ve been told, one saying, “To know they’re keeping this kind of information from us is very troublesome and it’s very alarming to us parents.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Medford

By Alex Ruppenthal
aruppenthal@wickedlocal.com

Posted May. 12, 2015

MEDFORD
A career counselor at the Medford Vocational Technical High School is under state investigation following reports she had sexual relations with at least two, but possibly three or more male students.

Jenna Tarabelsi, 29, is under investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, said Jim Ricciardi, a Medford Police detective and resource officer at Medford High School.

“There’s not a whole lot for me to say right now,” Ricciardi said. “An allegation was made and it’s being investigated.”

Tarabelsi has not been charged or arrested with any crime as of May 12.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

[with video]

MEDFORD, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — The mother of one of the alleged victims of a guidance counselor who is being investigated for having sex with her students spoke out Monday about how she found out.

Jenna Tarabelsi is on paid leave from her position as career counselor at Medford Vocational Technical High School after students complained about her, saying she allegedly had a relationship with at least one student.

The mother says she is speaking out because she wants to let other alleged victims know they are not alone, and she says her son feels the same way.

A letter from the Department of Children and Families was stuck inside her front door three weeks ago. …

Since FOX25’s story ran Friday, several viewers contacted us saying Tarabelsi taught them at different schools.

The principal at Arlington Catholic High School confirmed Tarabelsi was a teacher here for the 2009-2010 school year.

“Her duties were split as a part time counselor for a group of freshman students and a theology teacher part time as well. No allegations were ever brought forth by any student or parent regarding Ms. Tarabelsi,” the principal said.

Former students and sources told FOX25 Tarabelsi also taught at Pope John High School in Everett. The Archdiocese of Boston said they do not comment on personnel matters.

“It’s none of the children’s fault and they step forward and be brave enough for her to be held accountable,” the Medford mother said. “I just want the schools to be safe.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis’ plan from Day One is now clear. His plan has been (1) to secure the pope’s tight control over Vatican finances with his own management team, (2) to distract from the Vatican’s sexual and financial scandals with (A) farcical Synods, (B) a “go slow and lightly” abuse commission, (C) empty platitudes about the poor, capitalism and climate change, and (D) media hyped but pointless papal trips, and (3) to firm up political alliances, especially with a powerful new US president, preferably Jeb Bush, who can be expected to fund and protect Vatican interests as his brother and father did so well.

Since the Final Synod in less than five months will likely expose the pope as an “all talk, no action” failed leader, the pope needs more diversions until the all important US elections in November of next year. The meaningless climate change encyclical will serve as a main interim diversion until then, even though it will likely absurdly avoid discussing the harm of the papal denial of women’s choices to regulate their own family’s size. Repealing the papal contraception ban is the one concrete step the pope has the power to take, but he won’t to protect his claim to infallibility by backing two earlier popes’ reckless contraception bans. And more Catholic babies mean more Catholic voters and donors. It is a good deal for Catholic prelates if Catholics continue to tolerate it. But see my Pope Facing Revolts In USA, Germany & Chile, and What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis? .

The climate encyclical will also allow the pope to dare to address the UN after two UN committees have, in effect, condemned the Vatican’s failure to curtail sufficiently the rape and other sexual abuse of children by priests protected by unaccountable bishops.

Popes for over 1,500 years until the mid-19th century have made deals directly with political leaders — popes exchanged their influence over docile and uneducated Catholics worldwide in exchange for money and protection from political leaders. The democratic revolutions, the spread of education and the rise of mass media have forced popes to change their approach.

Popes beginning in 1870 claimed the supernatural power of infallibility, reinforced by mind control of Catholics beginning at their First Confession at seven years old and by a claimed monopoly on the essential Eucharist and the clerics who exchanged it for weekly donations. The prior two popes solidified this 1870 power grab with a top down and self serving Canon Law system and a Catechism that subordinated the Gospel message to papal power politics.

Papal power has now become dependent on popes’ ability to deliver to national political leaders an expanding population of Catholic voters as directed by papal wizards and their subordinate prelates and other clerics. Bans on family planning had produced an increasing number of Catholic voters, often impoverished by excessive family size, who often swallowed the papal propaganda unaware mostly of what was really happening. Educational access and scandal revelations in a 24/7 media and internet age are rapidly undercutting the traditional papal power base. Pope Francis is running out of time as the wizard’s curtain is lifted almost daily.

What modern popes learned, and Pope Francis knows, is that the papal ability to draw out voters, especially dogmatic fundamentalists and select groups like US Latinos, is the key to popes’ getting governmental subsidies and protection from prosecutions and interference related to Church scandals. This pattern is currently playing out in the pope’s politically most important area, the USA .

Turnout, turnout, turnout of targeted voters is the key, as Sarah Posner shows here, Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Overthink the New Pew … . Posner points out, for example, that the percentage of white evangelicals who voted in the 2014 US midterm election outstripped their share of the population as a whole. Political organizing and turnout, she shows, matter far more than numbers. It was no coincidence Pope Francis and his US subordinates targeted these voters with anti-gay, anti-contraception/abortion and similar crusades, that continue with a view towards next year’s US presidential elections. Francis has enhanced these crusades now with a call for anti-radical Islam crusade, all parallel to the “low tax” right wing US Republican billionaire backers’ playbook. The pope. it appears, talks about the poor often, but usually works for the wealthy, no?

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail

Andrea Lannom, Legal affairs writer

West Virginia Supreme Court justices will decide whether victims will have to pay a more than $20,000 legal bill for what they argue is civil defense for a man convicted of sexually abusing them.

In this case, filed in circuit court in Berkeley County, minor victims accuse the church and other people related to the church of facilitating abuses by Christopher Michael Jensen, 23. Jensen’s father was a high priest and high councilor of the West Virginia Stake and his mother was president of the church’s relief society at the time.

The lawsuit alleged Jensen’s parents and other members knew about Jensen before he raped a 3-year-old and 4-year-old boy, discussing abuses of minors by Jensen at a meeting of the West Virginia Stake High Council.

The lawsuit alleged Jensen’s mother suggested church members hire him as a babysitter. Jensen was charged in 2012 when one of the children assaulted in 2007 brought the abuse to his parents. Jensen was convicted on those charges in 2013 and is currently serving a 35- to 75-year sentence on two counts of sex abuse by a guardian or person in a position of trust and one count of first-degree sexual assault at Mt. Olive Correctional Center.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Jewish Daily Forward

A prominent Boston rabbi was indicted for embezzlement and larceny for stealing money from his temple to pay off a man who was blackmailing the rabbi for his supposed affair with a teenage male.

Rabbi Barry Starr, who resigned a year ago from Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts, allegedly became entangled in the scheme when he answered his door wearing a women’s dress after soliciting a man online, the Boston Globe reported.

The indictment of Starr was unsealed on Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court.

Starr was not in the courtroom to hear the indictment and reportedly no longer lives in the Boston area. He will be summoned to the court for an arraignment, according to the newspaper.

Also on Tuesday in the same court, Nicholas Zemeitus, 30, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of larceny over $250, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and one count of extortion, the Boston Globe reported, citing the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.

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UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among both college graduates and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well as men. (Explore the data with our interactive database tool.)

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

The drop in the Christian share of the population has been driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics. Each of those large religious traditions has shrunk by approximately three percentage points since 2007. The evangelical Protestant share of the U.S. population also has dipped, but at a slower rate, falling by about one percentage point since 2007.2

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JAPAN
The Japan Times

The statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims could be changed to allow young victims to pursue their perpetrators into adulthood under a proposal being considered by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Currently a 20-year time limit exits for victims seeking compensation through civil litigation, with a seven-year statute of limitations in place for criminal complaints.

An LDP project team is considering whether the starting point under the Civil Code and Penal Code can be modified from when the criminal act took place to when the victim turns 20 years of age, officials said.

At its inaugural meeting last month, the team on the protection of women’s rights, headed by House of Representatives lawmaker Hiroshi Hase, heard from a woman who suffered sexual abuse by a family member during childhood.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, sexual abuse accounted for only 2.1 percent of all requests for advice filed with child consultation offices in Japan in fiscal 2013.

Toko Teramachi, a lawyer who is knowledgeable about the matter, said child victims usually do not understand the meaning of abuse until at least puberty.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY SARAH POSNER MAY 12, 2015

There are two big takeaways in the Pew Research Center’s new Religious Landscape Survey, its first since 2007: the decline in the number of Americans identifying as Christians (down eight percent in seven years, to 70.6 percent), and the rise in the number of Americans identifying as atheist, agnostic, and otherwise religiously unaffiliated (up six points in seven years, to 22.8 percent).

Greg Smith, Associate Director of Research at the Pew Research Center, called the pace of the continued growth of the religiously unaffiliated “really remarkable.” The number of Americans identifying with no religion grew by 19 million from 2007 to 2014, and now the religiously unaffiliated are “more numerous,” said Smith, than either mainline Protestants or Catholics.

Much of the rise of the “nones” is attributable to religious switching, mainly from Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. One-fifth of Americans raised Christian are now unaffiliated, said Smith. Here, he said, “Catholicism really stands out. Fully 13 percent of the US adult population qualifies as being formerly Catholic.” For every convert to Catholicism, he said, there are six former Catholics. “There is no other religious group analyzed in the survey that has experienced anything close to that kind of ratio of losses to gains via religious switching,” Smith said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Haaretz

By Uriel Heilman May 13, 2015

JTA – In addition to secretly recording women undressing for the mikveh ritual bath, Rabbi Barry Freundel engaged in sexual encounters with several women, according to prosecutors.

That’s one of several new details about the mikveh-peeping rabbi to emerge from two documents filed in D.C. Superior Court on May 8 — one each by the prosecution and defense — ahead of Freundel’s sentencing on Friday. The documents, which attempt to sway the judge’s sentencing, shed new light on Freundel’s behavior and offer some particulars about the rabbi’s life since his arrest on October 14, 2014 — including that he has resumed some rabbinic teaching.

Freundel pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism for installing secret cameras in the shower room of the mikveh adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue he led for some 25 years.

He used one to three cameras, hiding the devices in a digital clock radio, a tissue box holder and a small tabletop fan, and aiming them at the toilet and shower in the mikveh dressing room, according to the prosecution’s memo. In addition to the 52 women he filmed while they were completely naked between March 4, 2012 and Sept. 19, 2014, Freundel recorded an additional 100 women since April 2009 who were not part of the criminal complaint due to the statute of limitations.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on remarks made last night by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on the Pew Research Center survey of religion:

Here is what O’Reilly said last night: “The main reason Christianity is on the decline is poor leadership and corruption within the Catholic Church. The priest scandal devastated the Catholic landscape in America.”

O’Reilly is not a scholar, and has written nothing on this subject, so he may be forgiven for his misunderstandings. But one does not have to be a social scientist to know that Catholicism is not dispositive of Christianity: In fact, Protestants outnumber Catholics by more than 2-1.

More important, the decline in the mainline Protestant denominations has been going on for a half-century. They are the ones who have been devastated, not the Catholic Church. So blaming the priest scandal for the precipitous drop in the Protestant community is simply absurd. Also, as I pointed out yesterday, the Pew survey showed that Catholicism has the highest retention rate of any religion: 90 percent of those who identify as Catholics today were raised Catholic. Looks like “poor leadership and corruption” didn’t act as a catalyst to bolt.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The Vatican has published a new set of rules for its commission to protect children.

After meeting for the first time as a complete entity in February, the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors has published their formal statutes, effective for three years.

“The effective protection of minors and a commitment to ensure their human and spiritual development…are integral parts of the Gospel message that the Church and all members of the faithful are called to spread throughout the world,” the Pope said in his chirograph( for the commission. Dated March 22, 2014, the chirograph is the official Papal document which established the foundation of the commission. It was published May 8 along with the statutes.

The statutes were approved by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin April 21 by mandate of Pope Francis. They were published in the original Italian and in English.

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CANADA
London Free Press

By Jane Sims, The London Free Press
Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The charismatic, controversial preacher at a former London church has lost his final appeal of sexual assault convictions.

Royden Wood, 65, led the now-defunct Ambassador Church at King and Adelaide streets. Druing his tenure, there were allegations — and ultimately criminal convictions — related to his cult-like leadership style and questionable marriage counselling.

The Ontario Court of Appeal rejected his appeal of his convictions by a jury in November 2011 and the six-year sentence dealt to him in April 2012.

In a brief decision, the court agreed with Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid’s decision not to move the trial to another community and found the judge’s instructions to the jury were fair and balanced.

It dismissed Wood’s contention the verdicts were unreasonable, given the jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting three complainants, but acquitted him of charges involving two others.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel May 12, 2015

A federal judge has scheduled a Thursday hearing to gauge interest in trying to settle a contentious lawsuit over the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s now $66 million cemetery trust.

The trust is a key element in the archdiocese’s plan to emerge from its 4-year-old bankruptcy in that it would be tapped both to compensate clergy sex abuse victims and fund the church’s ongoing cemetery operations.

“There’s always interest in settling litigation,” said attorney Timothy Nixon, who represents Archbishop Jerome Listecki as the sole trustee of the trust. “However, we are just one part of a much larger picture.”

James Stang, who represents the creditors committee, declined to say how it would view an offer of mediation. But he did say that any talks on the cemetery trust would likely be a de facto mediation in the bankruptcy case overall.

“The cemetery trust is the main moving part at this point,” Stang said. “I can’t imagine the parties going into a room to talk about that and not talk about the entire Chapter 11 case.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

By Jordan Lebeau
Boston.com Staff | 05.12.15

A former Sharon rabbi is accused of siphoning temple money and requesting loans from congregates in order to pay off an extortionist, according to a Boston Globe report.

Rabbi Barry Starr, formerly of Temple Israel, was recently indicted on charges of embezzlement by a fiduciary and larceny over $250, according to the report. Authorities said Starr, who left the temple last year and now lives out of state, paid 30-year-old Nicholas Zemeitus $480,000 since 2011 in exchange for his silence on the subject of the rabbi’s alleged relationship with a younger male. No evidence of any such relationship has been uncovered, the Globe reports.

“This has been a beloved and respected rabbi for 28 years and to learn of this news, it’s heartbreaking,” Arnie Freedman, Temple Israel’s president, told the newspaper Tuesday.

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INDIANA
WTHR

[with video]

By Jennie Runevitch, WTHR reporter

GREENSBURG, Ind. – An Indiana minister has been arrested, accused of sodomy and sexual abuse against a child under 12 years of age.

Duncan Aker, Jr. is now the pastor at Greensburg Christian Church. But the sex charges stem from his last calling as a minister in Vanceburg, Kentucky.

In Greensburg, neighbors and church members expressed shock, disbelief and anger at the news. Many say 63-year-old Duncan Aker was more than a minister.

Debbie Powers and her mom live next door to Aker and his wife.

“He’s just a nice neighborhood man from the time he moved in the neighborhood,” Powers said. “He mowed lawns, helped with gardening and helped carry in groceries.”

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ILLINOIS
Journal Courier

May 13. 2015

By David C.L. Bauer dbauer@civitasmedia.com

JACKSONVILLE — A former Jacksonville priest is striking out at what he calls a witch hunt that led to his removal after a decades-old abuse allegation.

In a rare move, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki forced removal of the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand earlier this month. DeGrand was pastor of Catholic churches in Lillyville, Green Creek, Sigel and Neoga. He previously served parishes in Bluffs, Winchester and Jacksonville.

DeGrand was accused of sexually abusing a minor while at Our Saviour Catholic Church in 1980 — the year he was ordained into the priesthood. The accusation was not made until more than three decades later.

DeGrand’s removal was not directly related to the allegation but to his refusal to comply with Paprocki’s order that he move to a private home in Springfield while on administrative leave during the investigation of the allegation.

DeGrand remained relatively silent as the allegation was investigated following protocol established by the Vatican. But now, in a letter he has distributed to parishioners and to several newspapers, DeGrand said it would be an “understatement” to say he was disappointed with the treatment he received.

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IRELAND
CathNews New Zealand

Dublin archdiocese is banning photographs being taken during religious ceremonies, in order to protect children from potential abusers.

Each diocese in Ireland has been directed to have guidelines governing the filming and photography of children while they are on church grounds.

The move derives from standards issued by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCC) in 2008.

“It’s to avoid a situation whereby photos get into the wrong hands of potential abusers,” said Ger Kenny, spokesman for the NBSCCC.

“The risk issue is people will be taking pictures of kids who are not related to them, and for inappropriate reasons.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Whatever the outcome of today’s offer by Federal Judge Lynn Adelman to intervene in the four year old Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy to resolve the issue of former Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s $57 million dollar fraudulently constituted “cemetery trust”, it is yet another unmistakable sign that something has gone terribly wrong or is terribly broken with a court system that allows church lawyers to walk away with millions of dollars in billable hours, leave apparently uninvestigated and unreported dozens of never before identified alleged sex offenders, and keeps under wraps documents and details about how the now most powerful Catholic Prelate in the United States colluded with the Vatican to keep US courts from compensating victims of clergy sex crimes.

Maybe that is why lead church bankruptcy lawyer Frank LoCoco could so cynically and confidently stand up in open court last week to proclaim that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is more than prepared to spend all its remaining resources–not on healing victims of childhood sexual assault committed by priests and covered up by their senior management–but litigating until there is simply no money left for victims and their families.

“Let’s spend the money,” LoCoco said last Thursday in Judge Susan V Kelley’s courtroom, “Let’s litigate the cemetery trust [issue] completely. Candidly, at that point it becomes cheaper, more efficient and easier to us to litigate every abuse survivor claim. … [Do] they want us to start sending dozens and dozens of notices to every single abuse survivor and their family members and their doctors?” Notice the not so thinly veiled threat to victims’ privacy in the last sentence.

LoCoco, comically and clumsily, later tried to explain his comments by arguing that it was survivors and creditors who were “making” the archdiocese spend money on litigation. In other words: “It’s the victims fault that I am becoming rich.” Why would survivors or creditors possibly want money to go into LoCoco’s pockets and not into the hands of those harmed as children?

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, himself a lawyer, who has several times spoken of his special bond and sympathy for the law profession, has shown little or none for survivors of priest sex abuse. Maybe that is why, all the funds so far have pretty much gone to church lawyers and court costs, a total nearing $20 million, and none so far to a single victim. In fact, Listecki’s total offer to the nearly 600 victims that filed cases into court is $4 million dollars, or three times lower than for lawyers and others. And just to get this clear: victim attorneys are not part of these costs since they receive a contingency payment only when the cases are resolved.

But there are other costs. Over half the graduating class of LeMoyne College, a renowned Jesuit institution in Syracuse, have signed a petition asking that Cardinal Dolan not be allowed to deliver their commencement address specifically because of his involvement in covering up for abusive priests in Milwaukee, and that number of student signatories is rising. And, if you look at the stunning news video this last Palm Sunday, a day that once was standing room only at the Milwaukee Cathedral, you can see how much the church has really paid.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By DANIEL LIBON (Patch Staff)
May 12, 2015

A former rabbi at Temple Israel of Sharon will face a larceny charge.

Rabbi Barry Starr’s indictment was unsealed Tuesday and he will be arraigned on one count of larceny over $250. He was not present at Norfolk Superior Court and will be summoned according to the Boston Globe.

Also arraigned was Nicholas Zemeitus, 30, of Quincy on seven counts of larceny over $250, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and one count of extortion. The charges were announced by the Norfolk District Attorney’s office Monday.

Zemeitus is accused of threatening to make allegations of a sexual relation between Starr and a teenage boy public. Court records say Starr paid up to $480,000 for Zemeitus’ silence.

While no evidence of the described relationship has been discovered, Starr’s computer showed that he posted regularly on Craigslist in search for transexual escorts according to court documents.

Money for Zemeitus allegedly came from the rabbi’s discretionary fund and long-time members of the temple.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Sharon

By Chris Burrell
The Patriot Ledger

Posted May. 12, 2015

DEDHAM — A 30-year-old Quincy man pleaded innocent Tuesday afternoon in Norfolk Superior Court to charges that he extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a well-known rabbi in Sharon.

Nicholas Zemeitus, of Willard Street in Quincy, was arrested Monday days after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly blackmailing the rabbi.

Rabbi Barry Starr resigned last year as rabbi at Temple Israel of Sharon. He now faces charges of embezzlement and larceny from the synagogue and will be arraigned at a later date.

In court documents unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors said that Zemeitus was living in Milton in 2011 when he first threatened to expose Starr’s alleged sexual relationship with a teenage boy and demanded money to keep silent. Starr was instructed to leave his first payment to Zemeitus in a car parked at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, according to the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.

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NEW JERSEY
Tap into Morristown

By TAP INTO MORRISTOWN STAFF
May 12, 2015

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Dr. Jo-Renee Formicola is coming to the St. Mark Lutheran Church, on Sunday June 7 to speak about on Clerical Sexual Abuse: How the Crisis Changed US Catholic Church-State Relations. The program, presented by the Voice of the Faithful New Jersey will begin at 3:30 pm

Dr. Jo-Renee Formicola is a political science professor at Seton Hall University. Based on her recently published book of the same name, Dr. Formicola will speak on Clerical Sexual Abuse: How the Crisis Changed US Catholic Church-State Relations. Fr. Tom Ivory will preside at a liturgy following the talk.

Dr. Formicola’s specific field of expertise is Church-State relations, and during her tenure at Seton Hall University, she has published extensively on social and religious topics related to the relationship between the Catholic Church and the American government.

Since the appalling sexual abuse scandals were openly revealed in 2001, Catholic Church-State relations have changed dramatically. Whereas accusations of sexual abuse by clergy were routinely denied by the Church, civil law-enforcement authorities now hold clerics accountable under civil law. Dr. Formicola has examined the secret payoffs, cover-ups and the re-assignment of priests in order to expose the magnitude and pervasive extent of these crimes. The outrage and consequent demands for reform have cost the Church dearly in both credibility and the billions of dollars spent on attorneys’ fees and reparations to victims.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

As Pope Francis reveals his resistance to real reforms, twenty-three Catholic priest associations and reform groups from ten countries and four continents have sent an Open Letter to the Pope asking him for change. Meanwhile, the pope prepares for his final “fatherless and motherless” Family Synod of celibate bishops upcoming in less than five months. The Open Letter was initiated at an international meeting recently held in Limerick, Ireland of international reform groups. On this major meeting, see here,”Lay reform groups discuss equality of women, church …” and “What happened in Limerick should not stay in Limerick “. For the full text of the letter, see here,

[We Are Church]

Will Pope Francis respond meaningfully to the Letter? Probably not. Two key Cardinals, Vatican based George Pell, a member of the pope’s top management committee, and Peter Erdo of Budapest, Hungary, reportedly predicted in separate recent interviews that “nothing will change” at the Final Synod. What is especially ominous is the fact that the Hungarian cardinal has a key role in the Final Synod as its a de facto moderator in charge of helping to frame the discussions.

The steady unveiling of the reality of Pope Francis’ actual anti-reform approach was recently reviewed perceptively and effectively at the Huffington Post by Canadian writer, Dennis Earl here, Why Pope Francis Isn’t a Liberal Reformer. Earl observes, in pertinent part, “It’s been quite the honeymoon. Not too long after Pope Francis succeeded Benedict XVI in March 2013 to become the new head of the Vatican, reporters, pundits and even comedians began to sing his praises. Why, exactly? Because he said things like, “I’m a sinner” and “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” and “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!… Even the atheists. Everyone!” “. Earl adds: “But, as the old saying goes, talk is cheap. Pope Francis can present himself as a more compassionate pontiff all he wants. With over 40 years experience working within the stubbornly Conservative Catholic Church, the 78-year-old is no liberal. The reality is he is quite content maintaining the status quo.” Earl then in detail itemizes specifically how the pope has maintained the conservative, if not fundamentalist, status quo. Earl notes finally ” … And considering what happened to former Australian priest Greg Reynolds, the idea of this Pope embracing any kind of significant reform is truly laughable. So stop calling him [Pope Francis] “progressive” already.” Reynolds in May 2013 was defrocked as a priest and even excommunicated under Pope Francis after he advocated support for women’s ordination and same sex marriage. It appears the ex-bouncer pope wanted to send a strong signal to reformers right from the beginning of his papacy.

And President Barack Obama is making clear to US Catholic bishops and to local Jesuits at Georgetown that he will personally be focused on the pope’s rhetoric about helping the poor, see the video here, President Obama Remarks Poverty Georgetown and the New York Times report here, Obama Urges Liberals and Conservatives to Unite on Poverty .

On Pope Francis’ current trajectory, this seems clear enough. Contraception, abortion in all circumstances, and homosexual love would then remain “mortal sins”; women would remain second class Catholics; the Church would remain a clerical dictatorship; and children would continue at unsafe risks of priest sexual abuse, it appears, despite the pope’s carefully staged spin to the contrary. Unless Pope Francis convenes a full ecumenical council before retiring, which seems unlikely, Catholics will have to look to their democratically responsive national governments to press the Vatican to reform, see my “Two Years In, Pope Must Call Council As John XXIII Did“.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho May 12, 2015

The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christian has dropped significantly since 2007, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Mainline Protestants and Catholics have experienced the largest losses (-3.4 percent and -3.1 percent, respectively), Evangelicals the smallest (-.9 percent, just over the margin of error). While the dip in Christian affiliation has occurred across all age cohorts, the younger you are, the more likely you are not to identify with any religious tradition. While non-Christian faiths saw modest bumps in affiliation (+.5 percent for Muslims, +.3 for Hindus), no group grew more than the “nones,” who make up nearly 23 percent of the population–a gain of 6.7 percent since 2007. There are now more nones than Catholics.

Mainline Protestants have suffered the largest losses in absolute numbers–there are 5 million fewer today than there were in 2007. Like the Mainlines, Catholics are decreasing as a percentage of the population and in terms of raw numbers. Pew Research notes that Catholic losses may total no more than 1 million, accounting for margins of error. A number of studies over the past twenty-five years have come up with differing estimates of the size of the U.S. Catholic population over time. Some have found steadier numbers than Pew Research (until about 2010-2012). But one of those surveys did not interview as many young people as Pew did, and interviewed more Hispanics. The losses found by this Pew Research study–based on a sample size of 35,000–track closesly with the organization’s monthly polls.

The decline among Christians comes at a time when they are becoming more ethnically diverse. Since 2007, Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals all saw their ethnic and racial minority populations grow by about 5-6 percent. Today 41 percent of Catholic Americans are members of racial and ethnic minorities.

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UNITED STATES
Soundcloud

Many with pedophilia don’t actually want to act on their urges and try desperately to suppress them. Can pedophilia be treated and can convicted pedophiles ever be fully integrated back into society? Reporter Shaz Sajadi has the story.

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SCHWEIZ
News.ch

[Reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered. The abuse scandals have scratched the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church. The rigid positions in the sexual morality, gender equality and adherence to the celibacy translated to the mistrust.]

Bern – Die Missbrauchsskandale haben am Ruf der römisch-katholischen Kirche gekratzt. Auch die rigide Positionen in der Sexualmoral, der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter und das Festhalten am Zölibat setzten dem Vertrauen zu.

An diesen Fragen drohe die emotionale Verbundenheit mit der katholischen Kirche zu zerbrechen, heisst es in einer Studie des Schweizerischen Pastoralsoziologischen Instituts. Besser schneidet die reformierte Kirche ab. Ihr wird höchstens ein Mangel an Profil vorgeworfen.
Die Studie zeigt aber auch, dass viele Menschen die Kirche noch immer schätzen: Etwa für Taufen oder Hochzeiten. Auch das gesellschaftliche Engagement der Kirchen kommt gut an. Gute Noten erhielten auch die Mitarbeiter der Kirchen. Sie werden als motiviert und kompetent eingeschätzt.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Frum Follies

Yerachmiel Lopin

On Friday (5/15/15), Rabbi Bernard (Barry) Freundel will be sentenced for video recording 52 women while naked at a mikvah. The government is asking for a sentence of 4 months for each count for a total of 17 years in jail. This is one-third of the maximum sentence. The government sentencing memo eloquently captures the betrayal of trust and the emotional harm because mikvah is such a sensitive moment for converts and married orthodox women. It is a moment of sacredness and vulnerability. To be seen naked by one’s own rabbi, the government memo points out, is especially painful to orthodox women who adhere to a modesty code. It is way worse than being surreptitiously recorded in a gym locker room by a stranger.

Barry Freundel running photographers scrumOne of his victims is a woman who confided in Rabbi Freundel about being sexually abused. He counseled her to use the mikvah for healing purposes. Now she feels re-traumatized.

The government’s memo is well worth reading in its entirety.

Freundel’s memo, in contrast is pathetically self pitying. Of course he admits his guilt. But he has a funny way of understanding the gravity of his crimes. His memo dwells on his disgrace with nary a word about the impact of his crimes on his victims. The memo states:

Rabbi Freundel readily admits he has committed a serious crime [and] recognizes and regrets the negative impact his actions have had within the community. His conduct has brought shame upon Judaism, the synagogue he once served, his family, and himself. He has been publicly humiliated, forced to leave his office as a rabbi, and is now a convicted man. His fall, all of his own doing, has been very public and painful for the Jewish community, his family and of course, himself.

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ESPANA
20 Minutos

[The lawyer for Father Roman in the Romanones case said it is “disproportionate” for the court to request documentation from the church.]

El abogado del padre Román M.V.C., principal acusado en el llamado ‘caso Romanones’ sobre abusos sexuales presuntamente cometidos por sacerdotes de Granada, ha considerado “desproporcionada” la última petición del Juzgado de Instrucción 4 de Granada, que ha conminado al Arzobispado de Granada a remitirle toda la documentación de la que dispone sobre los supuestos implicados.

EUROPA PRESS. 12.05.2015 El abogado del padre Román M.V.C., principal acusado en el llamado ‘caso Romanones’ sobre abusos sexuales presuntamente cometidos por sacerdotes de Granada, ha considerado “desproporcionada” la última petición del Juzgado de Instrucción 4 de Granada, que ha conminado al Arzobispado de Granada a remitirle toda la documentación de la que dispone sobre los supuestos implicados. En declaraciones a Europa Press, el letrado Javier Muriel ha señalado además que esta última solicitud, realizada mediante una reciente providencia, demuestra que “hay una absoluta falta de pruebas”, si “la jurisdicción penal no es capaz por sí misma” de disponer de toda la información al respecto.

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ESPANA
El Pais

[Judge in the ‘case Romanones’ has for the eighth time requestion documentation from the Granada archbishop.]

ANTONIO JESÚS MORA CABALLERO Sevilla 12 MAY 2015

El juez que investiga los supuestos abusos sexuales a menores por parte de un grupo de sacerdotes de Granada ha reclamado por octava vez al arzobispo de la capital, Francisco Javier Martínez, “toda la documentación” que posea sobre los implicados en el llamado caso Romanones. De no hacerlo, el magistrado advierte al religioso de que podría incurrir en un delito de desobediencia a la autoridad judicial. El Arzobispado reafirmó este martes su compromiso de “colaboración”.

El magistrado Antonio Moreno da este ultimátum al arzobispo después de que, en la información remitida “se hayan omitido” las declaraciones que los curas realizaron a raíz del expediente eclesiástico abierto, “que dio lugar incluso a resoluciones de suspensión” de los acusados. La investigación judicial solo continúa para el padre Román (R. M. V. C.), considerado el cabecilla, después de que, en febrero, el juez declarara prescritos todos los delitos para el resto de los 11 imputados. Pero, tras el recurso del primer denunciante, quien trasladó por carta su caso al papa Francisco, la Audiencia de Granada deliberará en septiembre sobre la prescripción de los delitos.

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ESPANA
Religion Digital

[A judge has urged the Archbishop of Granada to provide “all the complete documentation” of the case of the Romanones. Archbishop Javier Martinez has failed in response to statements and written interrogatories. Judge Antonio Morena has given the archbishop an ultimatum and he has urged the prelate to give once and for all interviews conducted during the church investigation of the 10 priests and two lay people in the case of child abuse in Granada. If he fails to do so, the archbishop stands to incur the crime of disobedience to judicial authority after the request was made eight times.]

El Juez conmina al arzobispo de Granada a entregar “toda la documentación íntegra” del caso Romanones

Jesús Bastante, 11 de mayo de 2015

(Jesús Bastante).- El Juez del “caso Romanones”, Antonio Moreno, acaba de dar un ultimátum al arzobispo de Granada, Francisco Javier Martínez. En una breve y dura providencia, el Magistrado conmina al prelado a entregar, de una vez por todas, los interrogatorios a los doce investigados -diez sacerdotes y dos seglares- por el caso de abusos a menores en Granada. En caso de no hacerlo, Martínez podría incurrir en un delito de desobediencia a la autoridad judicial, después de que se le haya requerido, hasta en ocho ocasiones, la documentación que está obligado a entregar según las legislaciones civil y canónica.

En la resolución, el Juez constata “que en todo caso se ha omitido en las documentaciones sucesivas remitidas por el Arzobispado de Granada las declaraciones e interrogatorios escritos de los sacerdotes sobre los que se inició expediente eclesiástico”, y que “necesariamente deben de obrar de forma escrita a la luz de las disposiciones sobre procedimientos administrativos y eclesiásticos que dieron lugar incluso a resoluciones de suspensión de ese Arzobispado”.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

VATICAN CITY – (AP) — A senior Vatican cardinal predicted Saturday that there will be no change in the Catholic Church’s practice and teaching about marriage, divorce and the reception of Communion at an upcoming meeting of bishops on family issues.

Cardinal George Pell told a gathering of conservative, anti-abortion Catholic activists in town for an annual “March for Life” that he believed the October synod “will massively endorse the tradition” of the church.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Christianity faces sharp decline as Americans are becoming even less affiliated with religion

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey May 12

Christianity is on the decline in America, not just among younger generations or in certain regions of the country but across race, gender, education and geographic barriers. The percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years to about 71 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

“It’s remarkably widespread,” said Alan Cooperman, director of religion research for the Pew Research Center. “The country is becoming less religious as a whole, and it’s happening across the board.”

At the same time, the share of those who are not affiliated with a religion has jumped from 16 percent to about 23 percent in the same time period. The trend follows a pattern found earlier in the American Religious Identification Survey, which found that in 1990, 86 percent of American adults identified as Christians, compared with 76 percent in 2008.

Here are three key takeaways from Pew’s new survey.

1. Millennials are growing even less affiliated with religion as they get older

The older generation of millennials (those who were born from 1981 to 1989) are becoming even less affiliated with religion than they were about a decade ago, the survey suggests. In 2007, when the Pew Research Center did their last Religious Landscape Survey and these adults were just entering adulthood, 25 percent of them did not affiliate with a religion, but this grew to 34 percent in the latest survey.

The trends among the aging millennials is especially significant, said Greg Smith, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center. In 2010, 13 percent of baby boomers were religiously unaffiliated as they were entering retirement, the same percentage in 1972.

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MASSACHUSETTS
JTA

(JTA) — A 30-year-old man was indicted on charges of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a prominent Boston-area rabbi who was having an affair with a male teenager.

Nicholas Zemeitus, of suburban Boston, was arrested and charged on Monday, the Boston Globe reported. He had threatened to expose the affair unless he was paid by Rabbi Barry Starr,who resigned a year ago from Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Starr allegedly paid nearly half a million dollars — taken from synagogue funds and borrowed from his congregants — to hide his two-year affair with the 16-year-old. Much of the money came from the rabbi’s discretionary fund, including checks altered by the rabbi. Starr also borrowed thousands of dollars from an elderly congregant, a Holocaust survivor.

Zemeitus claimed to be the older brother of the teen, who was 18 when the affair ended.

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IRELAND
RTE News

An 82-year-old former school principal and priest has been charged with 12 counts of indecently assaulting three students over 30 years ago.

Donnacha MacCarthaigh, with an address at The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Western Road, Cork, was formally arrested at Gurranabraher Garda Station and brought before Cork District Court.

The court was told that when arrested, charged and cautioned, the former principal at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa in Carrignavar, Co Cork, said: “I did not touch anyone sexually and inappropriately.”

He faces 12 counts of indecently assaulting three pupils at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa on dates between September 1972 and June 1983.

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ITALIA
Corriere di Bologna

[RAVENNA – Giovanni Desio is no longer a priest. For the former pastor of Casalborsetti, the Ravenna coast, who is accused of having sex with some minors, the Holy See sent to the diocese of Ravenna the decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by which he resigned from the clerical state and at the same timehe was given a dispensation from celibacy.]

RAVENNA — Giovanni Desio non è più prete. Per l’ex parroco di Casalborsetti, sul litorale ravennate, imputato per avere fatto sesso con alcuni minorenni, la Santa Sede ha trasmesso alla Diocesi di Ravenna il decreto della congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede mediante il quale lo ha dimesso dallo stato clericale e contemporaneamente gli ha dato la dispensa dal celibato. Su disposizione della Santa Sede — si legge in una nota della archidiocesi ravennate — il provvedimento canonico è stato consegnato direttamente dall’arcivescovo Lorenzo Ghizzoni nelle mani dell’interessato qualche giorno fa. L’invito dell’arcivescovo ai sacerdoti e ai fedeli — ha concluso la nota — è di pregare perché i tempi della pena e della cura siano efficaci e portino davvero a un rinnovamento e a una guarigione profonda.

DECISIONE DEFINITIVA — Dal punto di vista tecnico, la decisione non è impugnabile e può essere scavalcata solo da atti di clemenza. Desio, 53 anni, nato a Milano ma residente a Saronno (Varese) era stato sospeso a divinis poco dopo essere stato arrestato dalla polizia nell’aprile dell’anno scorso. Il Pm Isabella Cavallari che coordinava le indagini della squadra Mobile, ha già chiesto per lui nove anni di carcere in abbreviato. La sentenza è attesa per venerdì.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

Dennis Earl
Canadian writer and blogger

It’s been quite the honeymoon. Not too long after Pope Francis succeeded Benedict XVI in March 2013 to become the new head of the Vatican, reporters, pundits and even comedians began to sing his praises. Why, exactly?

Because he said things like, “I’m a sinner” and “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” and “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!… Even the atheists. Everyone!”

But, as the old saying goes, talk is cheap. Pope Francis can present himself as a more compassionate pontiff all he wants. With over 40 years experience working within the stubbornly Conservative Catholic Church, the 78-year-old is no liberal. The reality is he is quite content maintaining the status quo.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

[list of priests who signed the petition]

Michael Sean Winters | May. 12, 2015 Distinctly Catholic

Archbishop Vigano: Call your office! Friday, my colleague Soli Salgado and I published a news item about a petition signed by more than 850 priests urging the Synod on the Family to “stand firm on the Church’s traditional understanding of marriage, human sexuality and pastoral practices.” The petition, organized by a group called “Credo Priests” mimics one a few weeks ago engineered by conservative clerics in the United Kingdom. I am dumbfounded by this crass political ploy to put pressure on the synod.

As that story relates, I tried to contact the three sitting bishops who signed it: Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, and Bishop David Kagan of Bismark, North Dakota. I did not reach out to the two retired bishops who also signed the document, Bishop Robert Finn, formerly of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri and Bishop Rene Gracida, formerly of Corpus Christi, Texas. Only Bishop Conley got back to me with a statement:

I signed the Statement of Belief to support American priests affirming fidelity to the doctrine of our faith regarding marriage and the family. The statement is intended to encourage the Synod Fathers as they proclaim freedom in Christ, through the grace of knowing and responding to the truth. This statement is signed by priests who love and support the Holy Father, in response to his universal invitation for dialogue in anticipation of the Synod. Like all Catholics, I pray for the Holy Father and the Synod Fathers, and I encourage all Catholics to learn from the good work of the Synod.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Desert Sun

[with video]

Reza Gostar, The Desert Sun

PALM SPRINGS – A lawsuit filed Friday against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church bishop and a missionary, claims a woman was repeatedly sexually abused when she was a teenager in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, and it was covered up.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Riverside County Superior Court in Palm Springs, contends that from July to November 1985, Jacqueline Tyler, then 13, was repeatedly abused by a missionary and that after a church bishop learned of the alleged abuse, her family was told to stay quiet and the bishop “made advance payment or partial payment of damages as an accommodation to plaintiff.”

It adds that as a result of the alleged abuse, Tyler gave birth to a son on June 30, 1986.

Tyler contends she was sexually abused at least once a week. And that after she became pregnant, the lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry “by physically abusing her body.”

the lawsuit claims that the missionary paid for her to go to New York, where he attempted to cause her to miscarry “by physically abusing her body.”

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CANADA
CBC News

By Jody Porter, CBC News

A sexual abuse survivor wants a new documentary about his abuser, Ralph Rowe, to be a step towards reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples in northern Ontario.

Joshua Frogg is one of an estimated 500 victims of the former Anglican priest who flew his own plane into remote First Nations in the 1970s and 80s. Rowe has been convicted of nearly 60 sex crimes.

Frogg’s own journey to healing from the abuse is chronicled in a new documentary, Survivors Rowe, that had a special screening at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay on Monday.

“People should be aware of why there is so much alcoholism, there’s so much drug use, there’s so much negative social impacts in our communities,” Frogg said. “It’s a result of issues that happened when we were children, issues of sexual abuse, issues of violence.”

A total of nearly 300 people in Thunder Bay saw the documentary, Survivors Rowe, at two separate screenings this week. It’s now off to Ottawa where some MPs will watch it. (Loud Roar Productions)

Frogg watched the film at a public showing in Thunder Bay on Saturday and joined the audience of about 100 people at the university on Monday.

“I thought it would get easier watching it, but it isn’t,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault is expecting public hearings into child sexual abuse will inspire more victims and survivors to come forward.

The support agency will be providing extra services during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearings, which have been scheduled to begin from May 19.

The centre’s manager, Shireen Gunn, is expecting more survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward as a result of the Commission’s visit.

“It has been a bit of a snowball effect of people coming forward and then hearing about others and feeling okay to come forward themselves,” she said.

Ms Gunn said while many survivors were looking forward to the chance to give evidence, the opportunity to speak out had made some victims feel anxious.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts
The Baltimore Sun

To replace the bishop accused of driving drunk and killing a bicyclist in Roland Park last year, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has chosen a retired bishop who has made her own recovery from alcoholism central to her ministry.

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton, head of the Maryland diocese, announced the Rt. Rev. Chilton R. Knudsen — a former bishop of Maine, and a widely respected author and counselor in the field of addiction recovery — as assistant bishop at the church’s annual convention Saturday in Ellicott City.

Knudsen, who has roots in Maryland, will be Sutton’s second-in-command until the diocese selects a long-term replacement for Cook, who resigned as bishop suffragan of Maryland on May 1.

Cook, 58, faces charges including manslaughter, homicide by a motor vehicle while impaired, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, drunken driving and texting while driving in the Dec. 27 death of Thomas Palermo. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return to court next month.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

A SENIOR educator at the Adass Israel School told the Supreme Court of Victoria today she “felt like I was sitting on a bomb” when she discovered that Malka Leifer, the school’s head of Jewish Studies, might be sexually molesting students.

Sharon Ann (Chana) Bromberg, a teacher and chaplain at the school, told the court she received a phone call in August 2007 from a friend urging her to inquire whether Leifer “may have crossed any boundaries” with her female students.

Bromberg said her personal feeling after that phone call was that somebody was prepared to “stoop so low to get” Leifer. But when she confronted Leifer with this a few days later, Leifer said she had discussed her conduct with rabbis and all was in order.

The caller phoned again around 11 days before Leifer’s hasty departure for Israel, saying there was substance to allegations of sexual abuse based on a former student (the claimant) talking to a counsellor in Israel.

The caller called a third time to give Bromberg a young woman’s name to support the seriousness of the allegations.”I felt like I was sitting on a bomb,” Bromberg said.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Ashley Prest

The result of Monday’s formal hearing regarding a sexual harassment complaint against Westminster United Church minister Robert Campbell is expected this week.

The hearing, commissioned by the United Church of Canada’s Winnipeg-based Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, was conducted by an independent committee from the Toronto Conference regional body.

It followed a formal investigation and 27-page report by an impartial investigator completed in January 2015. The report, obtained by the Free Press, upholds the complaint and concluded Campbell’s “actions and comments amount to sexual harassment and is behaviour of a sexual nature that is known or ought to be known to be unwanted or unwelcome.”

Rev. Shannon McCarthy, executive secretary of the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, told the Free Press in an email Monday “the United Church of Canada takes all complaints seriously and has a process whereby we discern appropriate disposition of these matters.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Business Journal

Staff
Kansas City Business Journal

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese racked up more than $3 million in legal bills for sexual abuse cases during the most recent fiscal year, The Kansas City Star reports.

A report from the Catholic diocese included legal costs for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That brings the total paid by the diocese on legal bills and settlements to $27 million in the past four years — not counting a $9.95 million settlement in October involving 32 victims, The Star reports.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Cardinal George Pell has indicated recently he expects that the upcoming Final Family Synod in less than five months will “massively endorse” the Catholic Church’s traditional teachings. Contraception, abortion and homosexual love would then remain “mortal sins”; women would remain second class Catholics; the Church would remain a clerical dictatorship; and children would continue at unsafe risks of priest sexual abuse, it appears, despite the pope’s carefully staged spin to the contrary. Unless Pope Francis convenes a full ecumenical council before retiring, which seems unlikely, Catholics will have to look to their democratically responsive national governments to press the Vatican to reform, see my “Two Years In, Pope Must Call Council As John XXIII Did“.

Elements of this dismal and disappointing forecast are echoed in well regarded veteran Vatican journalists’ recent reporting, including by Sandro Magister in “The Closed Door of Pope Francis” here,

[Chiesa]

and by Robert Mickens in “Merciless zealots in defense of life and truth“, here,

[National Catholic Reporter].

See also my pertinent remarks, “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?”.

Pope Francis, instead of making real and permanent reforms, will likely continue with his diversionary media distractions, like a gratuitous climate change encyclical, unnecessary foreign media junkets, and the like, while real issues are avoided. For example, it appears that Pope Francis’ solution for facilitating women’s exercise of their reproductive rights is more of the same as has recently been announced. The pope plans to send an army of globe-trotting priests — his “missionaries of mercy” — to absolve from eternal damnation women who have had abortions. Just what Catholic women need — another chance to share their intimate and stressful sexual histories in a dark confessional box with a celibate and strange guy who never changed a nappy, as Ireland’s former president, Mary McAleese, so well put it.

Of course, these priests may also have some linguistic and cultural challenges in the USA due to the local US priest shortage. Most likely, this “priest army” will consist mainly of “mercenary missionaries” bid for by US bishops in the Filipino, African and/or Indian “priest markets”, no? Is the pope for real here?

And as the pope allies himself increasingly with US Republicans and their “low tax” billionaire backers in next year’s US elections, the US political party that has prevented comprehensive US immigration reform, the pope also is offering a “fix” for some of the millions of undocumented US Latinos. Many of these desperate immigrants have “indigenous American” genes that led to their being discriminated against in Central and South American countries of their birth, and many of whom fled to the US to escape some of these residual and failed countries that had been dominated for centuries by the partnership of landed Hispanic descendants and a right wing Catholic hierarchy. The pope will give them a Hispanic saint, Fr. Junipero Serra, who in the 18th Century helped the rulers from Spain forcibly subjugate the indigenous Americans in California. Pope John Paul II beatified Fr. Serra a few weeks before George W.H. Bush’s was elected in 1988, and now Francis will canonize Fr. Serra this summer, apparently to enhance the presidential prospects of GWHB’s son, Jeb. Fr. Serra is almost a Bush Family patron saint, no? Again, is Pope Francis for real here as well? Please see my, A Mess: Mexico & Electing Bishops & Jeb Bush Too .

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By DANIEL LIBON (Patch Staff)

From the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office:

A Norfolk County Grand Jury on May 7, 2015 indicted Nicholas Zemeitus, age 30, of Willard Street, Quincy, formerly of Nancy Road, Milton, on extortion and other charges.

Investigation into the alleged extortion, which involved a Sharon resident, began roughly one year ago.

Zemeitus was arrested shortly after 3 p.m. today, May 11, 2015, on a Norfolk Superior Court indictment warrant at his Quincy place of business by Sharon Police working with the Quincy Police Department.

Zemeitus faces seven indictments of Larceny over $250; two indictments of Receiving Stolen Property valued over $250, a single indictment of Larceny under $250 and one indictment of Extortion.

These indictments are the result of an extensive Norfolk County Grand Jury investigation, investigation by the Sharon Police Department Detective Bureau and Det. Scott Leonard, and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit – Norfolk District Attorney’s Office.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Jewish Daily Forward

Paul Berger
May 11, 2015

A 30-year-old suburban Boston man has been indicted on theft and extortion charges in relation to the abrupt resignation last year of a leading Conservative rabbi over allegations of sex with a teenage boy.

Nicholas Zemeitus, of Quincy, Massachusetts, is charged with eight counts of larceny, two counts of receiving stolen property and one count of extortion, the Norfolk district attorney’s office said..

The charges appear to be the culmination of a yearlong investigation that began shortly before last May when Rabbi Barry Starr stepped down from his pulpit at Temple Israel, in Sharon, Massachusetts. Allegations soon surfaced that over the previous two years Starr, a 64-year-old father of two, paid an extortionist between $200,000 and $480,000 not to expose Starr’s sexual relationship with a teenager.

Starr allegedly borrowed $50,000 from a congregant of Temple Israel, a Holocaust survivor, to pay part of the extortion money.

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CANADA
The Province

By Keith Fraser, The Province May 11, 2015

Freelance journalist Laura Robinson is dropping her lawsuit against the public relations company that represents John Furlong, but is proceeding with her main allegation that the former Vancouver Olympic CEO defamed her, a court was told Monday.

During a brief appearance in court, Bryan Baynham, a lawyer for Robinson, said that the parties had agreed to discontinue the case against the company TwentyTen Group, which was named as a third party in the lawsuit.

Baynham told B.C. Supreme Court Master Douglas Baker that he and Furlong’s lawyer were “very anxious” to get the case against his client scheduled for June 15 under way and to have a trial judge appointed.

Robinson alleges that she was defamed by public comments Furlong made in the wake of a September 2012 story she wrote for the Georgia Straight newspaper alleging he had physically abused a number of students he taught more than 40 years ago.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

by Tom Lyden

(KMSP) –
A St. Paul church is standing by their pastor even though he has been recently investigated by the White Bear Lake Police Department for sexually abusing teenage boys more than three decades ago, even admitting to having a sexual relationship with one of the boys.

After hearing about the troubles in the Catholic church, Eric Forseth googled Rev. Don Horner’s name out of curiosity and found something unexpected. Horner was in a position of trust, as the lead pastor at Eastside Lutheran Church in St. Paul. Forseth wondered how that could happen, given what he said happened to him 36 years ago when he was just 15 years old. The man said Horner fondled him twice, once on a hayride and another time at a church sleepover at First Lutheran in White Bear Lake where Horner was a youth pastor and music director.

TIMELINE: Rev. Don Horner

Forseth called Bishop — now former Bishop — Peter Rogness of the St. Paul synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCA. The Bishop said Forseth should file a police report. After doing so, White Bear Lake police conducted an investigation, which turned up three victims.

Admits to abusing 1 teen boy

When the police department contacted Horner, he made a personal visit to the station. While he didn’t remember Forseth, he admitted to abusing another 15-year-old boy who was a member of the youth group at First Lutheran in White Bear Lake.

Horner molested him in the sauna, the church office, at church camp and weekly throughout high school. A sexual relationship developed that continued through college and for a few years later. Horner was married the entire time to his wife and had three children. That victim no longer lives in Minnesota, but told Fox 9 over the phone he doesn’t believe in all these years anyone has ever called police. He said Horner would always shower special attention on one particular boy, segregating them from the others. The man believes there are at least three other victims, but doesn’t believe they want to come forward.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Jody Porter, CBC News

Male survivors of Ralph Rowe, one of Canada’s most prolific pedophiles, met in Thunder Bay, Ont., this week to see a new documentary about the former Anglican priest and boy scout leader who caused them so much pain.

Survivors Rowe tells the story of three of the estimated 500 victims who fell under the spell of the charismatic priest who flew his own plane into remote First Nations in northwestern Ontario in the 1970s and ’80s.

Other survivors who saw the documentary on Saturday said the film, directed by Daniel Roher, and the discussion around it will help with their healing, but they continue to seek justice for Rowe’s crimes.

“It brought back some memories while I was watching the movie,” said George Aquila Williams, who went out for a cigarette to avoid being too overwhelmed at the screening. “Like one of those guys was talking about how he [Rowe] would come into the room, and ask the kid to come to his blanket and lie down with him. It really bothered me.”

Williams said he was seven years old when Rowe first began abusing him. He became ashamed of who he was, and by the age of 14, he was struggling with addiction. Williams went to prison several times before he confronted his past and pushed for charges against Rowe.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA

WASHINGTON (AP) – A lawyer for a once-prominent Orthodox rabbi who pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping scores of women in a changing room of a Jewish ritual bath says he shouldn’t go to prison.

Bernard Freundel’s lawyer wrote in a court document filed Friday ahead of his May 15 sentencing that putting him behind bars isn’t necessary and that he should instead do community service. Prosecutors have recommended that Freundel spend more than 17 years in prison.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

[prosecutors 25-page memo]

By Keith L. Alexander and Michelle Boorstein May 11

The attorney for Barry Freundel, the once-influential Orthodox rabbi who secretly videotaped dozens of nude women as they prepared for a ritual bath, has asked a D.C. Superior Court judge to spare his client any prison time and instead impose a sentence of community service.

The 12-page memo was filed after prosecutors Friday sent their own memo to the judge requesting that Freundel, 64, be sentenced to 17 years in prison.

In the defense memo, attorney Jeffrey Harris stressed that Freundel has lost his livelihood and asked Senior Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin to sentence Freundel to work with the community.

Alprin can either adopt or reject the sentences suggested by the prosecutors or the defense, or craft another punishment.

“He has already been punished in that he has lost his employment as a rabbi and is never likely to be so employed again,” Harris wrote. “He has been publicly humiliated and his prior reputation as a Judaic scholar, teacher and counselor have been destroyed.”

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ISRAEL
YNet

Moshe Heller
Published: 05.12.15

A rabbi was detained last week following complaints that he had installed a camera in a men’s mikveh (ritual bath) in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Sanhedria in northern Jerusalem.

The private mikveh on Avinoam Street had been deserted for several years after the neighborhood’s former rabbi, Yaakov Yeshaya Blau, banned the facility, claiming it was halachically unfit for immersion and purification.

But after the rabbi passed away two years ago, the neighborhood’s residents gradually began using the mikveh’s services again. Recently, rumors began circulating in Sanhedria that hidden cameras had been installed in the place, documenting the naked men during the ritual immersion.

After some of the men who visited the mikveh confirmed the suspicions, several complaints were filed with the police and investigators were dispatched to the facility. The rabbi was detained for questioning.

Shortly after the rabbi was released, ads were posted outside the ritual bath, warning visitors that the cameras are still being used.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS Washington

WASHINGTON — A lawyer for a once-prominent Orthodox rabbi who pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping scores of women in a changing room of a Jewish ritual bath says he shouldn’t go to prison.

Bernard Freundel’s lawyer wrote in a court document filed Friday ahead of his May 15 sentencing that putting him behind bars isn’t necessary and that he should instead do community service. Prosecutors have recommended that Freundel spend more than 17 years in prison.

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NEW YORK
Daily Caller

BLAKE NEFF
Contributor

Students at a Catholic university in New York are up in arms over their college’s choice of a Catholic cardinal commencement speaker.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, is scheduled to be the commencement speaker next Sunday at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. A petition drive, however, is seeking to have the school disinvite him, on the grounds that Dolan is “homophobic” and has been complicit in “sexual violence.”

“Over the years, Cardinal Dolan has been involved with sexual abuse scandals dealing with clergy of the church, homophobic comments and does not represent the ideals we have come to know Le Moyne to represent,” says the petition. “With the growing attention toward sexual assault on the Le Moyne campus, students have felt that keeping Cardinal Dolan as commencement speaker completely opposes what we have advocated against.”

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NEW MEXICO
KOAT

[with video]

By Mike Springer

SANTA FE, N.M. —The soon-to-be archbishop of Santa Fe said he won’t tolerate sex abuse involving Catholic priests.

Bishop John Wester said he knows what it’s like to be on the frontlines against sex abuse. He’s met with victims and said one of the church’s main jobs is to protect children.

“I have very vivid memories of that, and we made great progress then in our own diocese and I know exceeding here,” Wester said.

But those who represent abuse victims aren’t convinced. They believe Wester’s record leaves much to be desired when it comes to cracking down on the problem.

“When abuse cases surface, or when abuse victims talk to church officials, Bishop Wester does the absolute bare minimum,” said David Clohessy, with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Critics point to the case of Rev. Stephen Whelan. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Whelan was accused of abuse and sued.

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ARGENTINA
Notife

[Ilarraz victims again demanded that the process be accelerated.]

La defensa entregó como prueba una serie de cartas que Ilarraz envió a sus víctimas cuando estaba en el exterior.

Víctimas de los abusos del cura Justo José Ilarraz, volvieron a dirigirse públicamente a las autoridades que tienen a cargo la causa. En una carta enviada a ANÁLISIS DIGITAL, recalcaron la necesidad de acelerar el proceso y recordaron a la jueza Paola Firpo, quien dirige la instrucción, que “tiene en sus manos todos los elementos necesarios para procesar” al religioso. En el texto, se refirieron a una de las últimas medidas tomadas en la causa, a través de la cual la magistrada citó a tres víctimas para que reconozcan una serie de cartas -ofrecidas como prueba por la defensa-, que les había enviado el cura cuando se encontraba en el exterior.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/11/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Those of you who regularly read this blog may recall that this past Wednesday, May 6, was the rescheduled Clergy Study Day for priests and deacons of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The topics of the day were ‘Focusing on our Core Purpose as Church While Going Through Reorganization’ ( subtitled ‘Lessons Learned with the Archdiocese of Boston’), and ‘Revisioning the Next Chapter in the Life of our Archdiocese’.

Priests and deacons who would be in attendance were invited to submit questions in advance, and perhaps not surprisingly one question that came up was when and if the report by Green Espel into Archbishop Nienstedt’s personal conduct would be released to the public. To his credit, the Archbishop did respond to this question at the Study Day, although his answer raised more questions than it resolved.

I have heard from several sources that the Archbishop’s response to the question was to say that from the beginning he had removed himself from the investigation, entrusting it to the handling of his auxiliary, Bishop Piche. Therefore, according to Archbishop Nienstedt, it is out of his control as to whether the report is released or not- that question, like the investigation itself, is in the hands of Bishop Piche. Of course, as I have stated before, when I was interviewed by Greene Espel I was shown two documents- one from Nienstedt entrusting the investigation to Bishop Piche, and another from Piche entrusting the same to Father Daniel Griffith.

Regardless, the Archbishop’s response borders on the ridiculous. Are we truly to believe that he does not have the authority to release the report of an investigation which he himself authorized and which the Archdiocese which he governs paid for? If that is truly the case, who is running the show in Saint Paul?

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

Adass Israel school will not contest allegations of sexual abuse by its former principal, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard today.

Barrister Christopher Blanden SC, representing the school in a lawsuit by a former pupil, told Justice Jack Rush in court this morning that the school will argue that it is not liable for the conduct of Malka Leifer, an Israeli educator hired by Adass in 2000 until her quick departure from Australia in 2008 after accusations surfaced she had molested several students, including the plaintiff.

In testimony today, Adass’s current principal Israel Herszberg said Leifer was hired by the congregation in 2000.

He said a group including three rabbis decided to stand her down after the allegations arose in 2008 and she subsequently resigned.

He said the congregation board had no choice except to pay her and her family’s air fares and costs of her move back to Israel as these were stipulated in her contract.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Goucester Citizen

Former Bishop of Gloucester the Right Reverend Michael Perham can return to ministry in his retirement and bid a proper farewell to the city after a Church of England review into him was concluded.

Mr Perham stepped aside from his duties in Gloucester Diocese last July when an allegation of indecent assault was made against him from the 1980s. Police investigated and took no further action, at which point the Church of England launched its own review in accordance with its normal policy.

It has concluded that Mr Perham can take up Ministry with the church in his retirement.

Mr Perham said: “I am glad that the church process has concluded and that the outcome is clear and decisive.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gazette

Former Gloucester Bishop given clearance by church over allegations to take up ministry in retirement

by Stuart Rust, reporter covering Dursley, Cam, Sharpness, Slimbridge, Kingscote, Stone, Coaley, Berkeley, Uley, Woodford, North Nibley, Wotton-under-Edge, Kingswood, Stinchcombe and Cambridge

FORMER Bishop of Gloucester Rev Michael Perham has been cleared to take up ministry in his retirement following a church probe into a ceased police investigation.

In 2014 Mr Perham faced police investigation over allegations of indecent assault in the early 1980s.

In October last year it was announced that, following questioning by police, Mr Perham would face no further action over the allegations.

After the investigation the matter was reviewed by the Church of England. On Monday, May 11, news came from Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, that the former Bishop had been cleared to take up ministry in his retirement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The retired Bishop of Gloucester has been cleared for the ministry after an inquiry into alleged sex assaults.

The Right Reverend Michael Perham was questioned by police last year over two allegations of offences dating back three decades.

No action was taken and now the Church of England has ended its own internal inquiry.

“I am glad that the church process has concluded and that the outcome is clear and decisive,” said Bishop Perham.

“The Church has to be rigorous in its approach to safeguarding and, as I made absolutely clear from the start, its investigations had to be thorough to leave no doubt about its conclusions.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bath Chronicle

The retired Bishop of Gloucester Michael Perham will return to the ministry in his retirement following a review by Lambeth Palace.

The Right Reverend Michael Perham was questioned by police last year over two allegations of offences dating back to the 1980’s.

The Church of England had its own internal inquiry and now Bishop Perham will be allowed to return to ministry.

A spokesperson for Lambeth Palace said this morning: “Following a police investigation concerning Bishop Michael Perham last year, which resulted in no further action, the matter was reviewed by the Church of England in accordance with its national safeguarding policy. With the full co-operation of the Bishop an independent risk assessment has been satisfactorily completed and as a result Bishop Michael will be able to take up Ministry in retirement, and the postponed farewells for him in Gloucester can now take place.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor 11 May 2015

The former Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Michael Perham, has been given the green light to continue serving as a Church of England cleric after being cleared of indecent assault allegations.

Scotland Yard announced in October that the bishop would face no further action after inquiries into allegations involving a woman and a girl dating back to the early 1980s when he was a curate in London.

But he remained suspended from ministry pending an independent review and risk assessment ordered by the Church of England.

Bishop Perham was already set to retire at the time, and the Archdeacon of Hackney, the Venerable Rachel Treweek, had since been named as his successor. But services to mark Bishop Perham’s retirement were put on hold while the review took place.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, May 11

Statement by Bill McAlary, Grand Rapids director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 616-514-0654, bllmack1@gmail.com )

Michigan lawmakers are considering reforming the archaic criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes. We hope they do. But even more, we hope they reform the archaic civil statute of limitations.

[WOOD]

Civil statute of limitations reform enables victims to seek justice from both the predator and his/her employer. Criminal statute of limitations reform only deals with living predators. So it deters employers from acting callously, recklessly and secretively in child sex cases.

Civil statute of limitations reform enables the truth about corrupt institutions to be revealed.

Criminal child sex cases are tough to bring and win. Predators are smart, police are overworked, prosecutors are under-funded, predators are smart, evidence can be scarce and the burden of proof is very high.

Civil child sex cases are also tough to bring and win. But the burden of proof is lower. And victims can take action themselves, through civil suits, to expose those who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

So while we welcome efforts to reform Michigan’s predator-friendly criminal statute of limitations, we also urge lawmakers to reform Michigan’s predator-friendly civil statute of limitations too.

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 MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., April 18, 2015

Officials won’t talk properties, sales

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

GALLUP — Each day thousands of motorists on Interstate Highway 40 drive by the busy McDonald’s just off the interstate exit in Winslow, Ariz. Many stop by for a quick bite to eat but few likely know the property McDonald’s sits on is owned by a corporation in bankruptcy.

No, it’s not the McDonald’s corporation.

The Winslow property is owned by the Diocese of Gallup, now mired in bankruptcy court for 17 months, and it is just one of more than 270 parcels of land located on more than 190 properties in Arizona and New Mexico that the Gallup Diocese owns. That list includes a shopping center in Gallup, a large ranch in Northern Arizona, more than 60 subdivision lots outside of Grants, N.M., as well as houses, mobile home lots, vacant land and commercial property. And, of course, some church properties with actual churches on them.

But will the Diocese of Gallup part with any of these non-religious commercial, ranch or residential properties to help fund a plan of reorganization and fund settlements with the clergy sex abuse survivors who filed claims against the diocese in U.S. Bankruptcy Court?

Susan Boswell, the lead bankruptcy attorney for the Gallup Diocese, did not respond to questions submitted to her about the diocese’s plans for its extensive property holdings. James Stang, the counsel for the Unsecured Creditors Committee, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Courthouse notices

Under Chapter 11, Bishop James S. Wall promised the Gallup Diocese “will have the opportunity to present a plan of reorganization that provides for a fair and equitable way to compensate all those who suffered sexual abuse as children” by church workers in the diocese. He also promised to be “open and transparent” throughout the bankruptcy process and keep Catholics “informed as the process continues.” Early into the bankruptcy case, Boswell had indicated the Gallup Diocese would be appraising some property, particularly property not tied to the diocese’s religious mission.

But between the bishop’s Chapter 11 announcement in the fall of 2013 and the bankruptcy filing more than two months later, Boswell’s Quarles & Brady law firm filed notices in the county recorders’ offices in each Arizona and New Mexico county where the Gallup Diocese holds property titles. In Arizona that includes Apache, Coconino and Navajo counties. In New Mexico, that includes Catron, Cibola, Luna, McKinley, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, Socorro and Taos counties.

Citing the authority of Roman Catholic Church canon law in documents filed in secular courthouses, Quarles & Brady claimed much of the property the Gallup Diocese holds title to really belongs to local parishes and not the diocese. According to the notices, the diocese “holds and at all times has held only bare legal title as trustee” for the local parish — “notwithstanding the manner in which title” is held.

One of those properties in Arizona is the parcel of land in Winslow where the McDonald’s is located.

Relying on the real estate mantra of “location, location, location,” the Winslow property should be a gold mine. It’s within yards of Winslow’s central interstate highway exit, a thriving Safeway shopping center is across the street, and an always busy Wal-Mart is located on the opposite side of the highway.

However, it appears chancery officials in Gallup — not parish officials in Winslow — have made a number of poor business decisions through the years. According to a lease agreement signed in the 1980s, the late Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich signed an agreement with G.B. Investment Co., which owns the Bashas’ supermarket chain, allowing the company to lease the property for more than 50 years — until 2042. Then Hastrich and G.B. Investment Co. leased part of the property to the Kmart Corp., which later filed for bankruptcy. The Kmart building now sits empty on the south side of the property, and the McDonald’s is the only viable business on the large commercial lot.

Contrary to the Quales & Brady courthouse notice, documents filed with Navajo County indicate that Gallup’s Roman Catholic bishops, who supposedly only hold “bare legal title,” have made all the decisions and signed all the documents pertaining to the Winslow property.

Ranch and shopping center

The G-Bar Ranch, also known as the Barth Ranch, located outside of St. Johns, Ariz., is another church property diocesan attorneys have claimed the diocese is holding in trust for the Catholic church in St. Johns. Apache County records list the property owners, under the mailing address of the Gallup chancery, as the Roman Catholic Church Diocese of Gallup and Priests Retirement Fund.
Boswell did not respond to questions about whether church officials have considered trying to sell the sprawling ranch to the nearby Navajo Nation, the Pueblo of Zuni, or the Salt River Project’s Coronado Generating Station. In addition, Boswell did not provide answers about who benefits from the ranch’s revenue, which reportedly includes gravel mining and grazing fees.

Boswell also did not respond to questions about how much revenue, generated from a downtown Gallup shopping center, is divided between the Diocese of Gallup and the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The property, located on West Aztec Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets, features a Lowe’s grocery and liquor store, a Subway sandwich shop and several other businesses. If sold, the commercial property would presumably generate a considerable sum of money to help fund the diocese’s plan of reorganization.

The property does, however, have an historic connection to the Sacred Heart Cathedral as it was the building site of the previous cathedral.

Appraisal request

Inexplicably, according to the court record, the only property the Diocese of Gallup has asked for court approval to appraise is property that is closely tied to the diocese’s religious mission.

In January, diocesan attorneys asked to appraise three landmark church properties in Gallup – the bishop’s chancery office, the Sacred Heart Retreat Center, and Sacred Heart School, formerly known as Gallup Catholic School. It also asked to appraise property in Thoreau, some of which St. Bonaventure Indian School and Mission claims does not belong to the diocese. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma approved those appraisals.

Based on what has happened in other church bankruptcies, two of the Gallup Diocese’s nonprofit organizations, the Southwest Indian Foundation and the Catholic Peoples Foundation, are likely to “purchase” the Gallup property to help the diocese fund its reorganization. The conflict over the Thoreau property could possibly end up in litigation.

A status hearing in the bankruptcy case will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, at the U.S. Courthouse in Albuquerque. One of the subjects scheduled to be discussed will be the valuation and sales of property.

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 MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., April 20, 2015

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

ALBUQUERQUE — On the eve of a status conference in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday, the Diocese of Gallup’s own insurance company leveled stinging complaints about the diocese and its attorneys in a court document filed Friday.

The Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America and The Catholic Relief Insurance Company of America, collectively referred to as “Catholic Mutual,” filed the document, filled with nine pages of accusations that the Gallup Diocese has been uncooperative, and asked Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma to deny the diocese’s request to set mediation for claims settlement.

Instead, Victor R. Ortega, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, asked Thuma to order the parties to proceed to mediation “for the purpose of resolving information and coverage issues.”

Last fall, Susan Boswell, the lead bankruptcy attorney for the diocese, told Thuma that she expected mediation in the case to begin in late October or early November. With Catholic Mutual’s filing, it is apparent the Gallup Diocese and its own insurance company have been in conflict for several months. Catholic Mutual, which is a self-insurance fund of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and Canada, has been expected to contribute a sizeable amount of settlement money to the Gallup Diocese for survivors of clergy sex abuse.

Alleged roadblocks

According to Ortega, Catholic Mutual needs information from the Diocese of Gallup related to all submitted sex abuse claims and information relevant to the diocese’s “legitimate defenses” to such claims. That information, Ortega said, has not been forthcoming.

Referring to the diocese as the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Gallup, Ortega said, “Given that Catholic Mutual is the principal provider of liability protection, it would seem obvious that RCCDG would want to cooperate with Catholic Mutual and provide all necessary information to increase the chances of a successfully (sic) mediation. The exact opposite has happened.”

Ortega said the diocese has given 57 clergy sex abuse claims to Catholic Mutual, but the insurance company “has been able to obtain only the most rudimentary information on all but six or seven” of the claims.

In addition, “for reasons unknown to Catholic Mutual,” Ortega claimed the diocese “has placed every conceivable roadblock in the path of Catholic Mutual’s quest for the vital and necessary information.”

‘Utterly insufficient’

According to Ortega, of the 57 clergy sex abuse claims, “only 15 claims appear to allege that acts of sexual abuse took place within Catholic Mutual’s coverage periods.” Catholic Mutual provided coverage for sexual abuse on an “occurrence basis” from Dec. 1, 1977, to July 1, 1990, he said, and it provided coverage on a “claims-made basis” from 1990 to the present.

One startling statement in Catholic Mutual’s document is that one recently filed claim alleges an incident of sexual abuse just last summer in July 2014. Bishop James S. Wall has made no public announcement about such a recent allegation nor has he announced a law enforcement investigation into that allegation.

Ortega said the remaining 42 claims allege acts of sexual abuse in years preceding the issuance of the first Catholic Mutual coverage certificate on Dec. 1, 1977. At issue is Ortega’s assertion that the Diocese of Gallup “has provided Catholic Mutual with almost no information relative to the 57 tendered claims.”

“It is respectfully submitted that this information is utterly insufficient to enable Catholic Mutual to make a reasoned determination of settlement values and to make a final coverage determination,” he said.

Warburton brouhaha

Another area of conflict is a brouhaha regarding legal files of Robert Warburton, the New Mexico attorney who was the Gallup Diocese’s lead counsel in clergy sex abuse claims prior to the Chapter 11 filing. In January, Ortega said, the diocese revealed the existence of 10 transcripts of interviews with alleged clergy abuse survivors that were not in the insurance company’s files.

Catholic Mutual requested copies of the files and requested an interview with Warburton without the presence of lawyers, Ortega said, “since Mr. Warburton services had been entirely paid for by Catholic Mutual and were not pursuant to any reservation of rights.” The diocese “flatly refused” to allow Warburton to be interviewed under those circumstances, he added, but promised to provide the files.

According to Ortega, the diocese and Catholic Mutual have since been in conflict over details pertaining to the insurance company’s requests for the files and the interview. On Wednesday, Ortega said, the diocese produced Warburton’s files, but they “appear to be heavily redacted and unaccompanied by any redaction log.”

Ortega accused the diocese of producing the redacted files just days ago so those files cannot be reviewed before Monday’s status hearing. He also accused the diocese of “time stalling” tactics “to set a schedule for a claims settlement mediation in which Catholic Mutual will have insufficient information to make reasoned determinations” in mediation talks.

Attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup did not file a response Friday.

In addition to having to sort through this conflict during Monday’s status conference, Thuma is expected to hear about investigations into other insurance coverage, possible claims against other third parties, real property valuation and sales, and potential litigation.

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.