ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Catholic and Enjoying It!

June 6, 2014 by Mark Shea

…with this vile priest.

In March, the nonprofit group BishopAccountability.org, which specializes in tracking problem priests, announced on its website that not only was Urrutigoity active in the Catholic church in Paraguay, but he had been promoted to the position of vicar general, essentially the second most powerful post in the diocese of Ciudad del Este.

The new bishop of Scranton rushed to defend his diocese and distance it from Urrutigoity.

In a March 15 statement on the diocese website, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera wrote that the diocese had previously “reported its serious concerns about this cleric to appropriate church officials.”

“In every instance, Bishop Martino clearly expressed his reservations concerning Father Urrutigoity, who was identified as posing a serious threat to young people,” Bambera wrote.

Shortly afterward, Bambera announced he was taking his concerns to the Vatican. A diocese spokesman confirmed the bishop has contacted the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a sort of internal affairs for the Catholic Church, about Urrutigoity.

GlobalPost’s email to the Vatican press office requesting comment has not received a response.
Last week, Pope Francis announced he will meet with eight sexual abuse victims, several from Europe, at the Vatican as part of the church’s “zero tolerance” policy. Sexual abuse scandals around the world have dogged the church in the past two decades.

Clohessy, the director of SNAP, said a lack of action on Urrutigoity at this point would be reprehensible.

There’s no particular reason I can see that Francis should have heard of this guy till now. But if the sound and fury in the Spanish-speaking press are as loud as in English-speaking press, my guess is the story now has his attention. If ever one of those legendary “Vatican crackdowns” would be good, now’s the time. This creep should never have been allowed into a church in Paraguay, much less made vicar general. He should be arrested and his bishop should be chastised, publicly, for promoting him. What is wrong with these people?

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Richard Gazarik
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

A Somerset County priest whose home and church office was raided by federal agents was arrested Thursday on charges of child sexual exploitation, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Central City, remains in custody until he is faces a detention hearing in federal court in Pittsburgh on Monday, said ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls.

The Altoona-Johnstown Archdiocese suspended Maurizio indefinitely following the raid in early September. U.S. Attorney David Hickton said on Sept. 16 that the raid was part of an ongoing investigation of Maurzio.

Maurizio has traveled frequently to Central and Latin America to visit orphanages that he supports financially, according to tax records. He is charged with possessing child pornography and sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children aided by the orphanages.

For a decade between 1999 and 2009, Maurizio paid young boys for sex in exchange for candy and money, ICE charges. He photographed boys taking showers and performing sex acts, according to the complaint.

Maurizio operates the nonprofit Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries in Johnstown, which is linked to the Honduran Interfaith Ministries in Honduras, according to the organization’s website.

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RUSSIA/ISRAEL
ITAR-TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky suspected of paedophilia was detained in Israel on September 21 after Russia had changed the initial charges put forth for his extradition, his sister said on Thursday.

“My brother is no longer charged with the offences brought against him by the Russian investigators – a sexual assault, but with rape. This was a surprise for his lawyer in Israel,” Lyubov Grozovskaya told ITAR-TASS, citing her brother’s Israeli lawyer Haim Azencott.
She thinks that Gleb Grozovsky had been detained because of these new charges.

Upon his detention on September 21, Israeli police asked the district court to issue a warrant for his extradition.

On September 23, his detention was extended for ten days at his lawyer’s request to give him time to study the case files.

Russian media reported earlier on Thursday, citing informed sources, that the Israeli authorities had made an informal but principled decision to extradite Grozovsky and that the extradition procedures would begin shortly.

Grozovsky was arrested in Capernaum. “It was a very awkward situation. He was arrested while receiving guests from different places. Suddenly several policemen appeared and said he was under arrest,” his lawyer said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

September 25, 2014

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Federal agents have arrested a Catholic priest in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese on charges of engaging in illicit sex with minors in foreign countries and possession of child pornography, following an investigation into his travels to Honduras and elsewhere.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. appeared today in U.S. District Court in Johnstown for an initial appearance hearing before a magistrate, who ordered him detained pending a detention hearing Sept. 29.

Agents with U.S. attorney’s Crimes Against Children Task Force on Sept. 12 raided Our Lady Queen of Angels chapel and rectory and Rev. Maurizio’s farm in Windber and seized computers, thumb drives, tapes and other media items.

According to an affidavit by U.S. Homeland Security Agent Molly Rock, agents found child pornography on a hard drive seized from the church rectory.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 25, 2014 NCR Today

Last year a coalition of Catholic progressive and reform organization sponsored “The Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations,” a 15 city tour featuring Austrian Fr. Helmut Schüller , who gained international attention in 2011 for his “Call to Disobedience.”

This year the tour is back and the featured speaker is Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery, founder of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland. He has been a popular writer and speaker in Ireland and has publicly questioned official church teaching on celibacy for priests, contraception, homosexuality and women’s ordination.

For most of 2012, Flannery was forbidden to ministry as a priest as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reviewed his writing. In January 2013, he said that he was threatened with excommunication unless he made a clear and public statement — preapproved by the doctrinal congregation — fully supporting official church teaching.

According to tour organizers: “Fr. Tony will tour the U.S. this fall, from October 22 – November 18, 2014, visiting 18 cities and speaking with Catholic laity and leadership on topics of women in the Church, the future of ministry, the problem with infallibility, and the sexual teachings of the Catholic Church. ”

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UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Dawn Eden

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune comes a story on an event that the reporter calls “a first in Minnesota, and perhaps a first in the nation”: a visit by Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt to a support group for survivors of clergy sex abuse. Although the reporting is mostly solid, the article has a notable factual error that betrays a near-universal problem with mainstream-media stories on clergy abuse: an over-reliance on the authority of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

The lede aims for drama:

It was a first in Minnesota, and perhaps a first in the nation. A support group for survivors of clergy sex abuse hosting the man who represents the church they believe betrayed them — Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The ground rules for last weekend’s meeting quietly were laid in advance. No media allowed. No robes or collar on the archbishop. The survivors would be respectful.

Held in a suburban library conference room, the unlikely meeting allowed survivors to share their painful stories with Minnesota’s top Catholic leader and provided Nienstedt a rare and inside look at the impact of abuse.

“I really didn’t think he’d be there until he actually showed up,” said Shawn Plocher, a Minneapolis man who was abused as a child. “This is a group of hurting people who want some sense of healing or closure. … I’m hoping things are heading in the right direction.”
Next there are some good quotes from Nienstedt expressing how moved he was by the meeting. After that come the obligatory remarks from SNAP’s spokesman:

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he was unaware of any similar event elsewhere. Former Twin Cities Archbishop Harry Flynn met with Louisiana clergy abuse victims in a prayer group several times, he said. And SNAP met with some bishops at the 2002 U.S. Conference of Bishops meeting in Dallas that hammered out the church’s policies on clergy sexual abuse.

“In Dallas we heard, ‘This isn’t the last time you hear from us,’ ” said Clohessy. “Without exception, we heard nothing when we got home.”

If Clohessy is “unaware of any similar event elsewhere,” he would do well to look at the website of the Diocese of Arlington, Va., which has been hosting similar events for several years running. He could also read Catholic San Francisco’s September 2012 feature about how two auxiliary bishops of that diocese met with six victims to develop a policy for helping victims. That article quotes one of the survivors, Paul Fericano:

“For the first time, survivors and bishops sat down with one another to discuss and forge new policy that governed how a large Catholic diocese would better serve those who had been hurt by the church. That’s huge: Clergy abuse survivors and bishops working together to create better church policy. We did this with the resolve to do no harm and cause no suffering on either side.”

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VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

Pope Francis has sacked a conservative Paraguayan bishop for his role in covering up sex abuse of children at the hands of fellow Catholic priests.

Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement in Paraguay, has been dismissed by the Vatican for clashing with his fellow bishops and protecting a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Livieres is accused of promoting an Argentine priest, Reverend Carlos Urrutigoity, whose former superior in the United States said was a “serious threat to young people.”

The bishop was given the option of resigning but turned it down, giving Francis the “onerous” decision to remove him.

The incident marks the latest in a series of sex abuse scandals involving Vatican priests in recent years.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service
September 25

VATICAN CITY — In the latest sign of an uncompromising stance on sex abuse, Pope Francis has removed a bishop in Paraguay after a Vatican investigation into whether he had protected an Argentine priest who was accused of sex abuse in the U.S.

Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, from the diocese of Ciudad del Este, was accused of embezzlement and covering up complaints of sexual abuse in his diocese as Argentine priest the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity was promoted to deputy bishop.

Livieres Plano has been replaced by an “apostolic administrator,” Monsignor Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios, the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday (Sept. 25).

The Vatican said the pope had taken the “onerous decision” to replace the bishop for “serious pastoral reasons,” for the good of the church in Ciudad del Este and to promote unity among the bishops of Paraguay.

The pope called for reconciliation and urged “the clergy and the entire people of God of Ciudad del Este to accept the Holy See’s decision with the spirit of obedience, docility and an open heart, guided by faith,” the statement said. …

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the Chicago-based support network that represents 20,000 survivors of clerical sexual abuse worldwide, welcomed the bishop’s removal but stressed that more needed to be done to investigate Urrutigoity’s alleged abuse and others.

“We are encouraged, but must emphasize that one act involving one bishop does not, in any way, signal dramatic change,” said SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris.

“Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of Catholic officials — from pastors to prelates — have ignored or concealed clergy sex crimes and many are still ignoring and concealing clergy sex crimes.”

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

The Pope forcibly removed Paraguayan Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano on Thursday after he was summoned to Rome earlier this week but refused to resign.

Livieres is a reportedly a member of the ultra-conservative Opus Dei sect. Another Paraguayan bishop has been appointed as an interim replacement.

The Vatican said removal of Livieres had been a “painful decision taken for serious pastoral reasons” to restore unity in the diocese.

Accused of protecting ‘abuser’

Catholic investigators were sent to Paraguay earlier this year to probe a war of words between senior clerics who follow progressive thinking in the impoverished South American country.

Colleagues in Paraguay had publicly chastised Livieres for promoting an Argentine priest, Carlos Urrotigoity, who moved to Paraguay in 2004 after being removed from his parish in the US.

Urrotigoity had denied allegations of abusing boys while serving in the US state of Pennsylvania. The church reportedly settled that case in a civil law suit that never resulted in prosecution.
Promotion despite accusations

Urrotigoity rose to become number two in Livieres’ diocese and the official responsible for investigation allegations of sexual misbehavior by priests.

The Roman Catholic Church has in recent years faced a string of charges leveled by thousands of victims and even the United Nations that it protected serial sex offenders among the clergy. In July, Francis said sorry to survivors.

More recently, the Vatican claims that under Francis’ leadership it has acted to rid itself of behavior# which the pontiff has described as an “ugly crime.”

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY
Sept. 25, 2014

ROME— Pope Francis has removed a senior bishop in Paraguay in the wake of criticism that he promoted a priest accused of child abuse and established seminaries that the Vatican considered not adequately managed, creating strife with other bishops in the Latin American country.

The Vatican on Thursday removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano as head of the Ciudad del Este diocese for what the Holy See described in a statement as “serious pastoral concerns.”

The bishop has come under public criticism for his treatment of a priest who previously served in a diocese in Scranton, Pa. In an open letter published in March, church officials in Scranton said the priest posed “a serious threat to young people,” and said it had objected to Bishop Livieres’s decision to promote the prelate to a senior position in the Ciudad del Este diocese in Paraguay. The diocese said that its previous bishop had expressed its “serious concerns” about the priest to the Holy See’s nuncio to Paraguay as well as the nuncio to the U.S.

Rev. David Sánchez, a spokesman for the Ciudad del Este diocese, said the allegations are baseless. “The bishop conducted very thorough research [into the priest] and didn’t find anything improper,” he said.

The bishop had also established a seminary that a Vatican investigation found faults, which weren’t identified.

Rev. Ciro Benedettini, deputy head of the Vatican press office, said issues concerning the priest were part of the reason for his removal. However, the main motive, said Rev. Benedettini, was to end the infighting among Paraguayan bishops over the training of priests and the degree of autonomy the seminaries set up by Bishop Livieres had which allowed for a larger-than-normal ordination of priests.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Nadeau

The pontiff just ousted a Paraguayan bishop no one had connected to the Church’s sex scandals. But it’s not clear why, and the Church still needs to do more.

You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, head of the diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, whom Pope Francis ousted on Thursday for unspecified apparent offenses after a Vatican investigation into alleged sexual abuse in his diocese. Not even the support groups of those abused by priests had the bishop on their priority hit list.

The Vatican gave no clear reason for removing Livieres Plano from his post in their official announcement. “After a careful examination of the findings of the Apostolic Visitations made ​​to the Bishop, dioceses and seminaries of Ciudad del Este, by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Clergy, the Holy Father has proceeded with the replacement of Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano. He has appointed Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, Bishop of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, as Apostolic Administrator of the now vacant diocese.”

Support groups for victims say it is a good sign that the bishop was fired rather than being allowed to resign with dignity, but it would help if the Church were more transparent about just why the bishop got the boot. “Ousting a corrupt bishop beats accepting a corrupt bishop’s resignation,” Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “Still, it’s not healthy to leave everyone speculating about the real reasons why the bishop was ousted. Kids are safer when those who risk their safety are quickly, harshly, publicly and clearly punished. That hasn’t happened here.”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent September 25, 2014

ROME — Pope Francis has fired a bishop in Paraguay who sheltered a priest accused of sexual abuse of minors in the United States, though to what extent the abuse charges figured in the bishop’s ouster isn’t yet clear.

The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano as the bishop of the small diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, citing “serious pastoral reasons” and “the greater good of preserving the unity of the local church.”

Livieres Plano is associated with the abuse scandals because of his decision to welcome Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, a fellow Argentine, into his diocese in 2003 after he left the Scranton, Pennsylvania diocese facing abuse charges.

A statement on the Scranton diocese’s web site earlier this year identified Urrutigoity as a “serious threat to young people,” yet Livieres Plano, who maintains Urrutigoity’s innocence, made him vicar general of the diocese in Paraguay, in effect his second-in-command.

Urrutigoity was named in a highly publicized abuse lawsuit in Scranton in 2002. At the time, he and another priest, Eric Ensey, were suspended by then-Bishop James Timlin amid allegations they had sexually molested students at a local Catholic school. The diocese reportedly reached a $450,000 settlement in the case in 2006.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After a Vatican investigation, Pope Francis removed a Paraguayan bishop from his post as head of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este because of “serious pastoral reasons.”

Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, 69, was told to step down as head of the diocese effective Sept. 25. Bishop Ricardo Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espitiru Santo will temporarily administer the diocese.

A Vatican statement said the “onerous decision” to dismiss Bishop Livieres was made after a “careful examination” of the findings of a Vatican investigation conducted by the congregations for Bishops and for Clergy. An apostolic visitation to the diocese in July was led by Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril Castello, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The order for Bishop Livieres, a member of Opus Dei, to step down was based on “serious pastoral reasons” and motivated by “the greater good of the unity of the church in Ciudad del Este” and among Paraguay’s bishops, the Vatican statement said.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, September 25, 2014

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

For at least 14 years, Marquette Catholic officials have kept credible child sex abuse allegations against a priest hidden from parishioners and the public. We are outraged.

Last night, Loreene Zeno Koskey, the spokesperson for Bishop John Doerfler, admitted this.

At least several (and perhaps a dozen) of church officials kept silent about these serious and credible accusations for a dozen years despite a national abuse policy, adopted in 2002, that mandates “transparency and openness” in clergy sex cases.

Heads should roll. Bishop Doerfler should harshly, immediately and publicly fire or punish every single church employee who knew of or suspected abuse by Fr. James Menapace or the alleged “discipline” of Fr. Menapace in 2000 by Marquette’s then-Bishop James Garland (who is now retired).

(The bishop is at 906 227 9115, 800 562 9745, ext. 115, jdoerfler@diocaeseofmarquette.org)

We again call on Doerfler – as we did months ago to warn parents, parishioners and the public about a former Marquette priest, Fr. Benedict Van der Putten, who was defrocked due to credible child sex abuse allegations and now lives among unsuspecting families in Hawaii.

Doerfler should immediately post on the Marquette diocesan website the names, photos and whereabouts of every proven, admitted and credibly accused Catholic child molesting cleric who has ever worked or lived in the diocese. (Roughly 30 US bishops have done this. It’s the quickest way to protect kids), and use his bully pulpit and diocesan resources to aggressively seek out individuals who were hurt by the ten credibly accused predator priests in the diocese.

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VATIKAN
Der Tagesspiegel

von Paul Kreiner

Papst Franziskus setzt seinen harten Kurs gegen Pädophilie und deren Vertuschung in der katholischen Kirche fort. Einen Tag nach der “auf ausdrücklichen Willen des Papstes” erfolgten Verhaftung des früheren vatikanischen Botschafters in Santo Domingo, Jozef Wesolowski, teilte der Vatikan am Donnerstag die Entlassung eines belasteten Bischofs in Paraguay mit.

Fälle dieser Art wurden vom Vatikan bisher sehr diskret geregelt; vor allem neigte die Kirchenleitung dann zum Mauern, wenn Bischöfe in den Fokus von Medien gerieten.

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VATIKAN
Frankfurter Allgemeine

25.09.2014, von JÖRG BREMER, ROM

Papst Franziskus hat am Donnerstag in einem weiteren Schritt im Kampf gegen den Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen durch Priester mit sofortiger Wirkung den Bischof von Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, abgesetzt. Diese schwerwiegende Maßnahme sei aus „ernsten seelsorgerischen Gründen“ erfolgt, verlautete im Vatikan. Es gehe um die Einheit der Ortskirche.

Zu den Vorwürfen gegen Livieres machte der Vatikan aber keine Angaben. Dem Vernehmen nach soll der Bischof zumindest einen Priester, nämlich seinen früheren, mittlerweile zurückgetreten Generalvikar geschützt haben, indem er das Verfahren wegen Kindesmissbrauchs gegen ihn im Sand verlaufen ließ.

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VATIKAN
kath.net

Vatikan: Die schwerwiegende Maßnahme sei aus “ernsten seelsorgerischen Gründen” angeordnet worden und diene der Einheit der Ortskirche sowie unter den Bischöfen in Paraguay.

Vatikanstadt (kath.net/KAP) Papst Franziskus hat den Bischof von Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano (Foto), entpflichtet. Diese schwerwiegende Maßnahme sei aus “ernsten seelsorgerischen Gründen” angeordnet worden und diene der Einheit der Ortskirche sowie der Gemeinschaft unter den Bischöfen in Paraguay, teilte der Vatikan am Donnerstag mit. Konkrete Angaben zu den Vorwürfen gegen den Bischof machte er nicht. Die Absetzung eines Bischofs ist ein sehr ungewöhnlicher Vorgang.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014

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

Today’s Vatican’s announcement about the just-ousted Paraguay bishop “says nothing about the accused priest,” notes Grant Gallicho of Commonweal.

This is an important caution. The Paraguay bishop publicly called his archbishop gay and attacked Vatican officials on his website. And for all we know, the “apostolic visitation” may have turned up rampant financial misdeeds in his diocese.

So no one knows why the bishop has been removed. Maybe Francis wants to signal concern over abusive clerics. Or maybe not.

When Francis says “Who am I to judge?” most take him at his word and believe he genuinely wants us all to treat gays and lesbians more kindly.

So now, when he says the Ciudad del Este Bishop Ricardo Livieres Plano is being ousted “for the good of the unity of the church,” shouldn’t we take Francis at his word again? Shouldn’t we assume the bishop has been ousted because of the discord he creates among clerics, not because he imported and promoted a credibly accused abusive cleric?

[Vatican Information Service]

And shouldn’t we – for the sake of vulnerable kids, wounded victims and betrayed Catholics – err on the side of caution and not assume that suddenly the Vatican has and will take a harder line against bishops who endanger youngsters?

Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press writes this “marks the second time Francis has kicked out a conservative bishop for the sake of keeping peace among the faithful and unity among bishops.” (The other case: the “bling bishop” of Limburg, Germany “whose $43-million new residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful.”) So again, it’s not prudent or wise to assume the Pope is really trying to protect children. It’s safer and smarter to assume he’s trying to protect unity.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

By Nick Squires, Rome
25 Sep 2014
Pope Francis has sacked a bishop in South America who for years protected a priest accused of sexual misconduct.

The Pope, who has vowed to adopt a much tougher stance than his predecessors on priests accused of sexual abuse, forcibly removed Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as bishop of a diocese in Paraguay.

The bishop is accused of protecting an Argentine priest whose former superiors in the United States had described as a “serious threat to young people.”

The bishop’s removal was the result of an investigation instigated by the Vatican earlier this year.
He had refused to resign, leaving the Pope no option but to remove him in what the Vatican described in a statement as a “hard decision”.

The move came just two days after the Vatican placed under house arrest a disgraced Polish archbishop who is accused of sexually abusing young boys while posted to the Dominican Republic as the Holy See’s ambassador.

Jozef Wesolowski, who allegedly preyed on boys and paid them to perform sex acts, is expected to be put on trial by Vatican prosecutors within a few months.

Pope Francis has said that under his papacy there will be “zero tolerance” for priests or bishops who indulge in sexual abuse, especially against children.

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VATICAN CITY
Toronto Star

By: NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press, Published on Thu Sep 25 2014

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis on Thursday forcibly removed a conservative Paraguayan bishop who had promoted a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour and clashed with his fellow bishops on ideological grounds.

The removal of Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, marks the second time Francis has kicked out a conservative bishop for the sake of keeping peace among the faithful and unity among bishops. In March, he ousted the “bling bishop” of Limburg, Germany, whose $43-million new residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful.

Livieres was named bishop of Ciudad del Este in 2004 and immediately disturbed other more progressive bishops in Paraguay by opening his own seminary, following a more orthodox line than the main seminary in the capital, Asunción. Paraguay’s bishops are known for their progressive bent in a poor country where liberation theology found fertile ground.

Livieres also infuriated advocates for victims of sexual abuse by taking in and promoting an Argentine priest, the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, whose former superior in the United States had reported was a “serious threat to young people.”

Urrutigoity has denied allegations of impropriety, has never been charged and has not been accused of sexually abusing minors. In 2004, though, the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, settled a lawsuit against him, another priest and the diocese for $400,000. The suit had alleged the two men engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct, the GlobalPost has reported. …

Francis has made clear his disdain for traditionalist Catholics, finding them self-absorbed retrogrades who are out of touch with the church’s evangelizing mission today. His emphasis on a “church for the poor” is also something of a different focus than Opus Dei, which has a reputation of being an elitist movement that, while active in charity, attracts the wealthy and powerful.

The removal is a blow to Opus Dei, which on Saturday will be celebrating the beatification of its late superior in Madrid.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has sacked a Paraguayan bishop who has been accused of protecting a priest suspected of sexually abusing young parishioners.

The Vatican said that “the Holy Father has decided to replace Monsignor Rogelio Livieres Plano” as bishop of Ciudad del Este.

It is the second time in a week that Pope Francis has taken disciplinary action over clerical sex abuse scandals in Latin America.

He has promised “zero tolerance”.

Two days ago, the Pope ordered the arrest of a senior Vatican diplomat, Jozef Wesolowski, accused of the sexual abuse of children during a posting to the Dominican Republic.

‘Painful decision’

The Vatican statement only referred to the reasons behind the sacking of the Right Reverend Livieres Plano as a “painful decision taken for serious pastoral reasons”.

It also said that the move followed a Vatican investigation of the bishop, the diocese and its seminaries.

The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says that the Rt Rv Livieres Plano has been at the centre of a local dispute over the promotion of an Argentine priest accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

The Buenos Aires Herald reports …

Pope sacks Paraguayan bishop accused of protecting abuser priest

Pope Francis has dismissed a conservative Paraguayan bishop who was accused of protecting a priest suspected of sexually abusing young people in the United States, the Vatican said today.

The Argentinian-born pontiff has vowed zero tolerance against Roman Catholic clerics who sexually abuse minors after a series of scandals hit the Church in a number of countries around the world over many years. Last May, Francis called such abuse an “ugly crime” and likened it to “a Satanic mass”.

A statement said the pope had removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as head of the diocese of Ciudad del Este and named another bishop to run it as an administrator for the time being. …

This is huge. The priest in question, Fr. Urrutigoity, if reports about him are true, is one of the most dangerous men in the Church, and something seemed to be rotten indeed in Ciudad del Este.

I’m wondering if Opus Dei (itself a compromised organization) will have the chutzpah to try to spin this in Bishop Livieres’ favor. Will the right wing of the Church and the Rad Trads paint this as the persecution of a conservative bishop by a liberal pope? Will blowhard Bill Donohue, who is paid an obscene salary to lie about disgraced “conservative” heroes like Bishop Finn and Maciel, jump to Livieres’ defense? Or will people realize that this is not only the right move by Pope Francis, but a brave and bold one?

It’s sad that these days simply doing the right thing in the Church appears brave and bold. But until enablers and liars in the episcopacy are sacked, the Scandal will continue.

This much at least we know. Livieres himself will go on the attack, as he did after the Vatican suspended ordinations in his diocese. And the money and power behind Urrutigoity will rally to defend him or at least to hide him for the time being.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 25, 2014

Pope Francis has removed a bishop from his diocese in eastern Paraguay following an apostolic visitation that found he had shielded a priest from accusations of sexual abuse of minors.

Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, 69, has been removed from heading the Ciudad del Este diocese, a statement from the Vatican press office said Thursday.

“This was a difficult decision on the part of the Holy See, taken for serious pastoral reasons and for the greater good of the unity of the Church in Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay,” the Vatican statement said.

Pope Francis sent a cardinal and an archbishop to investigate in the diocese of Ciudad del Este in July. After the July 21-26 visit, the Vatican ordered that a priest, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who had been accused of sexual abuse in the United States, be removed from ministry and restrict the activities of Livieres Plano.

In 2002, Urrutigoity was accused of sexual abuse of minors in a highly publicized lawsuit in the diocese of Scranton, Pa. He and another priest, Eric Ensey, were suspended by then-Bishop James Timlin amid allegations that they had sexually molested students at St. Gregory’s Academy. The diocese reportedly reached a $400,000-plus settlement in the case in 2006.

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VATICAN CITY
Aljazeera

Pope Francis has dismissed a conservative bishop from a Paraguayan diocese, who had clashed with his fellow bishops and promoted a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Thursday’s removal of Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, outlines the deep ideological shift under way in the church under Francis, who has is openly acting against conservative bishops for the sake of keeping peace among the faithful and unity among bishops.

In March, Francis removed the so-called “bling bishop” of Limburg, Germany after his $43m new residence complex triggered contempt among the faithful, who also complained about his authoritarian, conservative style.

The Vatican said Francis took the “onerous” decision in Paraguay for the good of the church in Ciudad del Este and for the sake of unity among Paraguayan bishops.

Livieres was named bishop of Ciudad del Este in 2004 and immediately disturbed other more progressive bishops in Paraguay by opening his own seminary that follows a more orthodox line than the main seminary in the capital, Asuncion.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

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

For perhaps the first time ever, the Vatican has punished a bishop, Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of Paraguay, who protected and promoted a credibly accused sex offender cleric. The trouble is no one is sure that’s why Ciudad del Este’s bishop is being punished.

In a handful of cases, Vatican officials have accepted the resignation of bishops who endangered children, but only when a firestorm of public protest and pressure had raged for months or years.

But ousting a corrupt bishop beats accepting a corrupt bishop’s resignation. Still, it’s not healthy to leave everyone speculating about the real reasons why the bishop was ousted. Kids are safer when those who risk their safety are quickly, harshly, publicly and clearly punished. That hasn’t happened here.

In nearly every case, under nearly any pope and nearly any bishop, whistleblowing clerics get ostracized while complicit clerics get promoted. We’ve said for decades this must change. But no one should overreact to one apparent case in which a complicit cleric may have been disciplined because he put kids in harm’s way.

We are encouraged, but must emphasize that one act involving one bishop does not, in any way, signal dramatic change. Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of Catholic officials – from pastors to prelates – have ignored or concealed clergy sex crimes and many are still ignoring and concealing clergy sex crimes.

Now what?

First, Catholic officials in Paraguay, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota must aggressively seek out others who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity. Anyone with information about or suspicions about Fr. Urrutigoity must call law enforcement immediately.

Second, bishops should examine their recruitment efforts. Ciudad del Este’s bishop had attracted many seminarians. And many bishops brag on how many young men they recruited for the priesthood. But just putting bodies in seminaries, regardless of their emotional and psychological maturity, isn’t by itself a real sign of success, especially when it endangers children.

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VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

Pope Francis has dismissed a conservative Paraguayan bishop who was accused of protecting a priest suspected of sexually abusing young people in the United States, the Vatican said today.

The Argentinian-born pontiff has vowed zero tolerance against Roman Catholic clerics who sexually abuse minors after a series of scandals hit the Church in a number of countries around the world over many years. Last May, Francis called such abuse an “ugly crime” and likened it to “a Satanic mass”.

A statement said the pope had removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as head of the diocese of Ciudad del Este and named another bishop to run it as an administrator for the time being.

The pope’s sacking of the bishop came after a Vatican investigation of the bishop, the diocese and its seminaries, said the statement, which gave no details.

Vatican sources said the bishop had refused to resign following the investigation of the accusations and reports of irregularities in his diocese.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Domínguez revealed Wednesday that most of the evidence has been sent to the Vatican against its former envoy Jozef Wesolowski, who is under house arrest in the Holy See, charged with of paedophilia by the Church.

The official called fair and correct the former diplomat’s arrest, for the alleged sexual abuse of several boys when he was the Vatican’s Ambassador from 2008 until ousted last year.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

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

On the very day a new bishop was installed in the Fall River Diocese, another civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit was filed against the diocese. It stems from the crimes of a now-deceased predator priest who is among the most notorious and prolific child molesting clerics in US history.

He is Fr. James Porter who reportedly assaulted more than 100 kids.

What an inspiration it would be if Fall River’s new bishop started his tenure by personally going to every parish where Porter worked begging victims to step forward and get help. We doubt this will happen but it should. In the parable of the “Good shepherd,” Jesus urges us to abandon the flock and go out into the cold and dark to find and help one lost sheep. This is precisely what Fall River Bishop Edgar da Cunha should do right away. Could there possibly be anything more important for him to take immediately after taking over the reins of the diocese?

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

September 25, 2014
Grant Gallicho

This morning the Holy See press office announced that Pope Francis has removed Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano the bishop of the diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. According to the statement, the decision was made “for the greater good and unity” of the local church and episcopal communion. But the move follows a July investigation of the diocese, following complaints from local lay Catholics and clergy, including an archbishop, about Livieres’s style of governance, and his decision to bring on and then promote to vicar general an Argentine priest who has been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct—dating back to the late 1980s. (The Holy See’s announcement says nothing about the accused priest.)

After the initial investigation, but before the pope had studied the investigators’ report, the Vatican announced that the accused priest—Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity (whose story I’ve been covering over a series of posts)—had been removed from his position as vicar general. The Holy See also took the unusual step of forbidding Bishop Livieres from ordaining any more priests.

In response, Livieres posted a long defense brief on the website of his diocese. That document—itself a remarkable development (bishops don’t usually publicly refute Vatican sanctions)—claimed that Urrutigoity was wrongly accused, that he and Livieres were the victims of a smear campaign, and that Livieres invited Urrutigoity into the diocese on the recommendation of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now pope emeritus). The statement rebuked the archbishop of Asuncion—Livieres’s metropolitan—for “attacking” Urrutigoity, going so far as to allege that the archbishop himself was accused and “processed” for engaging in “homosexual activity.” In other words, Bishop Livieres was really feeling his oats.

He’s likely experiencing another sensation now.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 25 September 2014 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today published the following note regarding the succession of the bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Msgr. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano.

“Following a careful examination of the conclusions drawn following the apostolic visits carried out by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Clergy to the bishop, the diocese and the seminarians of Ciudad del Este, the Holy Father has decided to substitute Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano and has appointed Bishop Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Ciudad del Este.

“This was a difficult decision on the part of the Holy See, taken for serious pastoral reasons and for the greater good of the unity of the Church in Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay.

“The Holy Father, in the exercise of his ministry as the ‘perpetual and visible foundation of the unity of both the bishops and the multitude of the faithful’, asked the clergy and all the People of God of Ciudad del Este to accept the Holy See’s decision with a spirit of obedience and docility and without prejudice, guided by faith.

“On the other hand, the Church in Paraguay, guided by her pastors, is invited to embark on a serious process of reconciliation in order to overcome any form of sectarianism or discord, so as not to harm the countenance of the one Church, ‘born of the blood of His Son’ and so that Christ’s flock may not be deprived of the joy of the Gospel”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 25 September 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has proceeded with the replacement of Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, appointing Bishop Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo as apostolic administrator Sede Vacante.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

AFP

Pope Francis on Thursday sacked a Paraguayan bishop who had been accused of protecting a suspected paedophile priest.

In an official statement, the Vatican said the removal of Ciudad del Este bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano had been a “painful decision taken for serious pastoral reasons.”

The decision to fire the conservative bishop follows a visit to Paraguay by a Vatican delegatation charged with investigating a case that had led to a public war-of-words between the South American country’s senior clerics.

Livieres had been publicly attacked by his colleagues in Paraguay for promoting and defending an Argentinian priest who has been accused of sexual abuse.

“This grave decision of the Holy See was taken for serious pastoral reasons and was motivated by the greater good of unity in the church of Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay,” the Vatican statement said.

The Argentinian priest, Carlos Urrotigoity, had been named Livieres’s number two in the diocese, despite having been been accused of molesting minors while he was serving in a parish in Pennsylvania, in the United States.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

(Reuters) – Pope Francis has dismissed a conservative Paraguayan bishop who was accused of protecting a priest suspected of sexually abusing young people in the United States, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Argentinian-born pontiff has vowed zero tolerance against Roman Catholic clerics who sexually abuse minors after a series of scandals hit the Church in a number of countries around the world over many years. Last May, Francis called such abuse an “ugly crime” and likened it to “a Satanic mass”.

A statement said the pope had removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as head of the diocese of Ciudad del Este and named another bishop to run it as an administrator for the time being.

The pope’s sacking of the bishop came after a Vatican investigation of the bishop, the diocese and its seminaries, said the statement, which gave no details.

Vatican sources said the bishop had refused to resign following the investigation of the accusations and reports of irregularities in his diocese.

According to reports in Catholic media while the Vatican investigation was in progress, Livieres Plano had promoted a priest in his diocese who had been accused of sexual abuse while serving in the United States.

A U.S. bishop had told Paraguayan Church officials that the priest, an Argentinian national who had been promoted to a senior position in the Paraguayan diocese by Livieres Plano, was a “serious threat to young people”, according to the reports.

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VATICAN CITY
Asbury Park Press

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Thursday forcibly removed a conservative bishop from a Paraguayan diocese who had clashed with his fellow bishops and promoted a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The removal of Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, underscored the deep ideological shift under way in the church under Francis, who has been unafraid of acting against conservative bishops for the sake of keeping peace among the faithful and unity among bishops.

In March, Francis removed the so-called “bling bishop” of Limburg, Germany after his 31-million-euro ($43-million) new residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful, who also complained about his authoritarian, conservative style.

The Vatican said Francis took the “onerous” decision in Paraguay for the good of the church in Ciudad del Este and for the sake of unity among Paraguayan bishops.

Livieres was named bishop of Ciudad del Este in 2004 and immediately disturbed other more progressive bishops in Paraguay by opening his own seminary, following a more orthodox line than the main seminary in the capital, Asuncion. Paraguay’s bishops are known for their progressive bent in a poor country where liberation theology found fertile ground.

Livieres also infuriated advocates for victims of sexual abuse by taking in and promoting a tradition-minded Argentine priest, the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, whose former superior in the United States had reported was a “serious threat to young people.”

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PARAGUAY
ABC

[Nuncio Eliseo Ariotti said that Plano would not resign. Pope Francis then ordered his replacement and Bishop Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo was appointed administrator. Livieres Plano remains in Rome where he was meeting with various representatives of the Roman curia. The meetings were the final part of the process which began in July with the apostolic visit to Ciudad del Este. Ariotti will travel to Ciudad del Este with Valenzuela to “ensure the ecclesial and spiritual serentiy” of the church in the region as a sensitive time and to ensure that appropriate measures are taken for pastoral and administrative continuity. Ariotti said that Livieres Plano will retain the title of bishop but without any role in administering the diocese. Auditors sent from the Vatican have noticed there is no unity in the Paraguayan church so there must begin a serious process of reconciliation and overcoming of factional discord.]

El polémico obispo Rogelio Livieres Plano fue “sustituido” como cabeza de la Diócesis de Ciudad del Este tras intervención instruida por el papa Francisco, según comunicó hoy el nuncio apostólico Eliseo Ariotti.

Monseñor Ricardo Valenzuela Ríos, obispo de Villarrica, queda al frente de la Diócesis de Ciudad del Este en reemplazo de Rogelio Livieres Plano, anunció el nuncio apostólico Eliseo Ariotti. El religioso resaltó que Livieres Plano no quiso renunciar.

“El papa Francisco ha dispuesto la sustitución del obispo de Ciudad del Este, S.E. Mons. Rogelio Livieres Plano, y ha nombrado a S.E. Mons. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, obispo de Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, como administrador apostólico de la ‘sede vacante’”, manifiesta parte del comunicado oficial dado a conocer hoy por el Vaticano.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Gianluca Mezzofiore
September 25, 2014

Pope Francis has removed a Paraguay bishop who is alleged to have appointed as his vicar-general a priest accused of sex abuses on young men in the United States.

Monseñor Rogelio Livieres Plano of the Ciudad del Este diocese has been accused of promoting Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity as his number two despite previous damning accusations of sex abuses in the Pennsylvania diocese of Scranton.

Urrutigoity was identified by the Scranton diocese as a “serious threat to young people” after multiple seminarians in Minnesota and Pennsylvania accused him in 2002 of sexually assaulting them.

Allegations include claims that Urrutigoity routinely slept with and had sex with boys in his care calling it “spiritual guidance”; that he touched one young man’s genitals and asked another to insert anal suppositories in front of him.

Urrutigoity, who denies those charges and says he is a victim of a “smear campaign”, was transferred to a parish in the South American country by former Scranton bishop Joseph Martino.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Papal authorities have finally arrested one of their own on horrific sex abuse charges but critics wonder if the ex-archbishop is being protected from harsher civilian courts.

Jozef Wesolowski, the 66-year-old former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic was a familiar figure to the shoe-shine boys in Santo Domingo, according to countless criminal complaints that led to the warrant for his arrest for child sex abuse last year. The high-ranking prelate was said to stroll the areas where the boys worked for a few pesos, effectively shopping for innocent victims to perform sex acts including masturbation and fellatio on him. He did not look the part of a prominent archbishop. Instead, he traveled incognito in track pants and a baseball cap to hide his identity, according to a New York Times exposé.

Wesolowski was also a familiar figure at the Vatican in Rome. Not only was he known as one of the blessed Polish priests who Pope John Paul II ordained before he became pope. He was also a fugitive from secular law, having been swiftly rescued from criminal prosecution in Poland and Santo Domingo in 2013 to face a private canonical trial by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which ultimately ended with his defrocking.

The newly defrocked archbishop was allowed to stay in the confines of Vatican City (but was frequently spotted walking in Rome) while he appealed that decision, which was upheld this week when the Vatican’s promoter of justice indicted him on charges of child sex abuse. It is the first time a prelate has ever been known to be arrested inside Vatican City. Wesolowski is confined to house arrest in the walled city, awaiting trial in front of the Vatican tribunal. He will not be held in the Vatican’s jail like Pope Benedict’s butler Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted of stealing the pope’s private papers and leaking them to a journalist in 2012 for stealing papal documents.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Turn to 10

[with video]

FALL RIVER, Mass. –
With fanfare and ceremony, Edgar Moreira da Cunha entered the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Wednesday to be installed as the eighth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River.

“Twenty-one years ago, I was sitting in that hot seat,” said Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese, who presided over the installation.

O’Malley served as bishop of Fall River from 1992 to 2002.

O’Malley was among the respected clergy members on hand for the ceremony to welcome da Cunha, but to also say goodbye to retiring Bishop George Coleman. …

Demonstrators from Road to Recovery, an organization for clergy abuse victims, gathered across from the cathedral.

“Actually, I was abused in the diocese where this bishop was coming from,” said one man.

The protesters made the trip from New Jersey, where they are members of the bishop’s former diocese. They made claims of several incidents of sexual abuse under da Cunha’s watch.

“How a man like this could be appointed as a bishop, period, and now the head bishop of a diocese, is beyond me,” said Bob Hoatson of Road to Recovery.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Nota della Sala Stampa circa l’avvicendamento del Vescovo di Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), S.E. Mons. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano

Testo in lingua italiana

Traducción no oficial en lengua española

Testo in lingua italiana

Dopo l’accurato esame delle conclusioni delle Visite Apostoliche compiute al Vescovo, alla diocesi e ai Seminari di Ciudad del Este, da parte della Congregazione per i Vescovi e della Congregazione per il Clero, il Santo Padre ha provveduto all’avvicendamento di S.E. Mons. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano e ha nominato Amministratore Apostolico della medesima sede, ora vacante, S.E. Mons. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, Vescovo di Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

La gravosa decisione della Santa Sede, ponderata da serie ragioni pastorali, è ispirata al bene maggiore dell’unità della Chiesa di Ciudad del Este e alla comunione episcopale in Paraguay.

Il Santo Padre, nell’esercizio del suo ministero di “perpetuo e visibile fondamento dell’unità sia dei Vescovi sia della moltitudine dei fedeli” (L.G. 23), chiede al clero e a tutto il Popolo di Dio di Ciudad del Este di voler accogliere i provvedimenti della Santa Sede con spirito di obbedienza, docilità e animo disarmato, guidato dalla fede.

Inoltre, invita l’intera Chiesa Paraguaiana, guidata dai suoi Pastori, ad un serio processo di riconciliazione e superamento di qualsiasi faziosità e discordia, perché non sia ferito il volto dell’unica Chiesa “acquistata con il Sangue del suo proprio Figlio” e il “gregge di Cristo” non sia privato della gioia del Vangelo (cf. At 20, 28).

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News – September 25, 2014

The Holy See Press Office has announced that Pope Francis has replaced Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

The press office announced that the seat is now vacant and that the diocese’s apostolic administrator is Bishop Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

The Pope’s action follows an apostolic visitation and the suspension of priestly ordinations in the diocese.

This summer, the diocese published an aggressive defense of the leadership of Bishop Livieres, claiming that a priest who had been accused of abuse in the US was placed in ministry on the recommendation of then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Avvicendamento del Vescovo di Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) e nomina dell’Amministratore Apostolico sede vacante della medesima diocesi

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha provveduto all’avvicendamento del Vescovo di Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), S.E. Mons. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, ed ha nominato Amministratore Apostolico sede vacante della medesima diocesi S.E. Mons. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, Vescovo di Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, September 25 – Pope Francis has removed a bishop in Paraguay accused of embezzlement and covering up complaints of sexual abuse in his parish. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, from the diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, has been replaced by an “apostolic administrator,” Msgr. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios, the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday. The move follows the arrest on Tuesday of former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who the Vatican said faces six or seven years in jail if he is found guilty of sex abuse of children while he was the papal nuncio or ambassador in the Dominican Republic. Pope Francis has vowed to take a hard line with cases of child sex abuse. He is seeking to repair some of the damage done to the Catholic Church’s image by a long series of clergy paedophilia scandals in many parts of the world in recent years.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Gaceta

Lamento muchísimo la noticia. Aunque no discuto la jurisdicción del Papa. Monseñor Livieres ya no es obispo de Ciudad del Este. Por supuesto que lo acepto. También se veía venir el aviccendamento. Figura jurídica que desconocía.

¡Pobre Iglesia paraguaya!

Nota della Sala Stampa circa l’avvicendamento del Vescovo di Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), S.E. Mons. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano

Testo in lingua italiana
Traducción no oficial en lengua española

Dopo l’accurato esame delle conclusioni delle Visite Apostoliche compiute al Vescovo, alla diocesi e ai Seminari di Ciudad del Este, da parte della Congregazione per i Vescovi e della Congregazione per il Clero, il Santo Padre ha provveduto all’avvicendamento di S.E. Mons. Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano e ha nominato Amministratore Apostolico della medesima sede, ora vacante, S.E. Mons. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Ríos, Vescovo di Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Blitz Quotidiano

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO – “Ha coperto abusi sui minori”. Monsignor Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano è stato rimosso dalla diocesi Ciudad del Este in Paraguay da Papa Francesco la mattina del 25 settembre. Questa la nuova mossa del pontefice che ha dichiarato guerra alla pedofilia in Vaticano. Un colpo dopo l’altro quello che il Papa mette a segno: e dopo aver colpito “l’orco” che abusa, ora anche il complice dei molestatori deve temere la giustizia.

Dopo l’arresto del vescovo Josef Wosolowski e l’annuncio di altri due vescovi indagati, monsignor Plano è stato rimosso per aver “coperto gli abusi sessuali di preti della sua diocesi”.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Associated Press

September 25, 2014

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has removed a conservative bishop from a Paraguayan diocese after he clashed with his fellow bishops by opening his own seminary and promoting an Argentine priest accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The Vatican said Thursday that Francis took the “onerous” decision for the good of the church in Ciudad del Este and for the sake of the unity among bishops in Paraguay.

Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, has defended the establishment of his seminary, which follows a more orthodox line than the main one in Asuncion.

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FLORIDA
ABC 7

By Jim Spiewak, NBC2 Investigator

LEE COUNTY, FL –
The Diocese of Venice is backing away from claims about knowing nothing about a second child assaulted by Robert Little years before his conviction.

We found out the second child was the then 10-year-old nephew of Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott. We broke the story on Tuesday — a civil lawsuit was filed against the diocese by the family of the little boy who was molested.

The family claims the second child’s alleged assault by Robert Little was reported to the diocese, but the church did nothing about it. Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott says he personally spoke to the principal and pastor at St. Francis Xavier church in 2011, after his sister said Little assaulted her son.

The clarification statement from the Diocese of Venice given Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that a couple reported their son felt “uncomfortable” in the presence of Little.

Sheriff Scott says he also spoke to the leaders at St. Francis Xavier Church in 2011 over the alleged assault of his then 10-year-old nephew.

“The diocese, specifically St. Francis, was personally made and professional made aware by me and by the parents,” said Sheriff Scott.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Tipping Point

Fr. Tony Flannery is a native of Galway, and member of the Redemptorist Congregation for more than 50 years. He is the founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Ireland.

Fr.Tony has been ordered to remain silent and forbidden to minister as a priest because of his refusal to sign a document that violates his conscience: namely that women cannot be priests and that he accepts all Church stances on contraception, homosexuality, and refusal of the sacraments to people in second relationships. After a year during which he attempted to come to some accommodation with the Vatican without success, he has decided to take a public stance on the need for reform in the Church.

Fr. Tony will tour the U.S. this fall, from October 22 – November 18, 2014, visiting 18 cities and speaking with Catholic laity and leadership on topics of women in the Church, the future of ministry, the problem with infallibility, and the sexual teachings of the Catholic Church.

Wednesday, October 22, 7 PM: Washington, DC
Augustana Lutheran Church
2100 New Hampshire NW
Washington DC 20009
Contact: Katie Breslin 202.203.0931
kbreslin@catholicsforchoice.org

Thursday, October 23, 7 PM: Baltimore, MD
Faith Presbyterian Church
5400 Loch Raven Blvd.
Baltimore, MD 21239
Contact: Sr. Jeannine Gramick 301.864.3604
gramick@verizon.net
Contact: Frank DeBernardo 301.277.5674
director@newwaysministry.org

Friday, October 24, 7 PM: Philadelphia, PA
University of the Sciences
McNeil Science and Technology Building
723 S 43rd Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4495
Contact: Regina Bannan 215.545.9649
reginab317@gmail.com

Saturday, October 25, 2 PM NYC
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Contact: Francis Piderit 917.916.7575
pideritVOTF@piderit.com

Sunday, October 26, 3 PM West Warwick, RI
Emanuel Lutheran Church;
9 New London Ave.
West Warwick, RI 02893
Contact: Kathleen Pannozzi, kduffy6@yahoo.com

Tuesday, October 28, 7 PM Boston, MA
First Church of Dedham
670 High Street
Boston MA
Contact: Marianne Duddy-Burke 617.669.7810
execdir@dignityusa.org

Wednesday, October 29, 7 PM Syracuse, NY
May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society
3800 E. Genesee St.
Syracuse, NY
Contact: Meg Ksander 315.673.1401
ksander@allsaintssyracuse.org

Saturday, November 1, 7 PM Cleveland, OH
Independence Middle School
6111 Archwood
Independence OH 44131
Contact: Deb Rose-Milavec 513.673.1401
debrose@futurechurch.org

Monday, November 3, 1 PM Detroit, MI
IBEW Union Hall
1358 Abbott St.
Detroit MI 48226
Contact: Fr. Tom Lumpkin 313.963.4539
dayhouse@flash.net

Wednesday, November 5, 7 PM Minneapolis, MN
St. Frances Cabrini Church
1500 Franklin Ave S.E.,
Minneapolis, MN
Contact: Art Stoeberl 651.278.6630
stoeberl@bitstream.net

Saturday, November 8, Call to Action Conference, 8:30 AM & 2:15 PM Memphis, TN
www.cta-usa.org/conference
Contact: Ryan Hoffmann 703.531.9203
ryan@cta-usa.org

Monday, November 10, 7 PM Sarasota, FL
St. Andrews UCC
6908 Beneva Rd,
Sarasota, FL 34238
Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan 703.505.0044

Wednesday, November 12, 7:30 PM San Antonio, TX
Viva! Bookstore at Viva Galleria
8407 Broadway
San Antonio, TX
Contact: Deb Myers 210.585.6254
prosaemail@yahoo.com

Thursday, November 13, 7 PM St. Louis, MO
St. Stanislaus Kostka Church
1413 N. 20th St.
St. Louis, MO
Contact: Jenn Reyes Lay 314.7077313
can@catholicactionnetwork.org

Saturday, November 15, 6 PM Phoenix, AZ
Shadow Rock UCC Church
12861 N. 8th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85029
Contact: Dan Peitzmeyer 602.331.1998
Contact: M. J. Benton 480.948.2028

Sunday, November 16, 2 PM Sacramento, CA
St. Marks’ United Methodist Church
2391 St. Mark’s Way
Sacramento, CA
Contact: Caryl Callsen 209.295.2151

Tuesday, November 18, 7 PM Portland, OR
Central Lutheran Church
1829 NE 21st Ave
Portland, OR
Contact: Nancy Barrett-Dennehy 508.238.1942
ndbdpdx@comcast.net

Wednesday, November 19, 7 PM Seattle, WA
St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
1245 10th Ave E. Bloedel Hall
Seattle, WA
Contact: Pat and Julie Callahan 206.329.1234
revcall@aol.com

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

The royal commission into child sexual abuse in institutions will hold private session for Tiwi Islanders as part of its engagement with Aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal inmates in prisons across Australia are also being contacted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to make sure they can share their stories.

At a public hearing in Darwin the commission has heard confronting evidence of the brutalisation and sexual maltreatment of Aboriginal and mixed-race children in the Retta Dixon home from 1946 to 1980.

It has also heard evidence of Northern Territory failures to prosecute perpetrators of the abuse.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Tribuna

(Ciudad del Vaticano) El ex-nuncio apostólico Jozef Wesolowski, quien ya había sido excluido del estado clerical hace algunos meses por la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe por acusarsele de pederastia, fue arrestado esta tarde por la magistratura civil vaticana a petición del Papa Francisco.

El promotor de justicia del Tribunal de primera instancia del Estado de la Ciudad del Vaticano, informo en un comunicado del portavoz Federico Lombardi, quien convocó al ex-nuncio mons. Wesolowski, en contra del cual se había puesto en marcha una investigación penal. Al prelado (ya condenado en primera instancia por la Congregación de la Doctrina de la Fe a la reducción al estado laical al final de un proceso administrativo penal canónico) se le notificaron las imputaciones del procedimiento penal en su contra por graves hechos de abuso en daño de menores sucedidos en la República Dominicana.

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VATIKAN
Neue Zurcher Zeitung

Er soll in der Dominikanischen Republik sieben Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben: Der frühere Erzbischof Josef Wesolowski wird nun vor ein vatikanisches Strafgericht gestellt – der Papst will es so.

(dpa) Der Vatikan hat den ehemaligen päpstlichen Nuntius in der Dominikanischen Republik, Josef Wesolowski, nach schweren Missbrauchsvorwürfen unter Hausarrest gestellt. Der frühere polnische Erzbischof, der bereits im Juni aus dem Priesterstand entlassen worden war, soll wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs von sieben Kindern der Prozess gemacht werden, wie der Heilige Stuhl am Dienstagabend mitteilte. Wesolowski ist der erste hochrangige Kirchenvertreter, der sich in einem Strafverfahren wegen Missbrauchsvorwürfen vor einem vatikanischen Gericht verantworten muss.

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VATIKAN
Die Welt

Der Vatikan stellt erstmals einen ehemals ranghohen Amtsträger der katholischen Kirche wegen mutmaßlichen sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht. Dem früheren Botschafter in der Dominikanischen Republik und polnischen Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski werde der sexuelle Missbrauch Minderjähriger und der Besitz von Kinderpornographie vorgeworfen, sagte Vatikansprecher Federico Lombardi vor Journalisten. Das Verfahren wurde demnach auf den Wunsch von Papst Franziskus hin angestrengt.

Dem Vatikan zufolge wurde Wesolowski am Dienstag zu einer Voranhörung bestellt und am Mittwoch für die Dauer des Prozesses unter Hausarrest gestellt. Das Verfahren solle noch im laufenden Jahr, spätestens aber Anfang 2015 beginnen, sagte Lombardi. Die Anklage stütze sich auf Kirchendokumente sowie auf Beweise der Ermittlungsbehörden in der Dominikanischen Republik, wo Wesolowski seine Taten begangen haben soll. Ein geheim tagendes Kirchengericht hatte Wesolowski bereits im Juni aller Kirchenämter enthoben und zum Laien degradiert.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Dem früheren Päpstlichen Nuntius in der Dominikanischen Republik, Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski, werden sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und auch der Besitz von kinderpornografischem Material vorgeworfen. Das präzisierte Vatikansprecher Federico Lombardi am Mittwochabend in einem Pressestatement. Wesolowski, der nach einem Verfahren der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation aus dem Priesterstand entlassen worden ist, steht, wie am Dienstagabend bekannt wurde, im Vatikan unter Hausarrest. Er wird sich sich „wegen schweren Missbrauchs von Minderjährigen“ in erster Instanz vor dem Tribunal des Vatikanstaats verantworten müssen.

Lombardi erklärte, die Anklage stütze sich sowohl auf Akten des kanonischen Prozesses der Glaubenskongregation als auch auf Material, das die Dominikanische Republik dem Vatikan übermittelt habe. Wesolowski sei ein Pflichtverteidiger zur Verfügung gestellt worden, doch könne er sich auch einen Anwalt seiner Wahl nehmen. Derzeit führe der vatikanische Staatsanwalt noch Ermittlungen durch; dazu könnten auch Vernehmungen des früheren Vatikandiplomaten gehören. Anschließend könne der Prozess beginnen. Lombardi wörtlich: „Man kann davon ausgehen, dass es bis dahin noch einige Monate dauern wird.“ Er rechne mit einem Prozessbeginn im Frühjahr 2015.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, September 24 – Pope Francis said he wanted the Catholic Church to have “zero tolerance” with cases of child abuse after being elected to its helm last year. The arrest in the Vatican Tuesday of a former archbishop, Pole Jozef Wesolowski, on charges of allegedly abusing children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic has been interpreted as a sign that actions are backing up the pontiff’s words. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the arrest was conducted “in accordance with the Pope’s express will that such a grave and delicate case be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigor”. The arrest was the first inside the Vatican for alleged paedophilia. Wesolowski, who was recalled to Rome last year, was defrocked by a Vatican canon law tribunal in June after being found guilty of child abuse. This followed an investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Holy Inquisition, which handles sex-abuse cases. The 66-year-old was put under house arrest on Tuesday at a facility inside the Vatican, rather than taken to a cell, due to ill health, pending a criminal trial. He could face six or seven years in prison, Lombardi said Wednesday, adding that the former archbishop was also charged with possessing child pornography and that his trial will start late this year or early in 2015. The possible sentence would have been much longer, but Lombardi said that new stiffer Vatican laws on paedophilia that came into force in September 2013 could not be applied as the alleged crimes took place before.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Umberto Bacchi
September 25, 2014

Child pornography was found by Vatican detectives investigating a former archbishop arrested ahead of an unprecedented criminal trial for paedophilia at the Holy See.

Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi said that the additional charge of child porn possession has been filed against Jozef Wesolowski, a 66-year-old accused of sexually abusing underage boys while serving as Holy See envoy to the Dominican Republic.

Investigators are also probing whether the former clergyman committed abuses during his numerous previous posts around the world, Lombardi said.

Before arriving in Santo Domingo in in 2008, Wesolowski served as apostolic nuncio in Bolivia and Central Asia – covering Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and Uzbekistan – after holding less prominent roles in Southern African, Costa Rica, Japan , Switzerland, India and Denmark.

He was placed under house arrests in pre-trial detention at the Vatican earlier this week, to prevent him from tampering with evidence, Lombardi said.

The Polish native is currently serving the custodial measure in a small room in the basement of the Collegio dei Penitenzieri, a convent located in the same building hosting the Vatican’s court and gendarmerie in the famous Santa Marta square.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The former Nuncio to the Dominican Republic has been arrested: “the dossier is shocking”. Pope Francis – who compared child abuse to the sacrilege of black masses – is changing things around

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“In Argentina we call those who receive preferential treatment “spoilt children”, but “there will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse,” Francis said. And Francis is putting his money where his mouth is. On the return flight from the Holy Land to Rome last 26 May, he compared child abuse by priests to a “black mass”, a sacrilegious act. The scandalous arrest of the former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominical Republic, Józef Wesolowski, – who had already been condemned by the tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced to the lay state – is proof that Francis is turning his words into action. He has vowed that there will be no privileged treatment for the clerical “caste” and has now deprived a former archbishop of his freedom, where before the latter had enjoyed the protection of diplomatic immunity. Two years ago, another shocking arrest led to the imprisonment of Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, the poison pen letter writer at the centre of the Vatileaks scandal: the former Pope’s personal assistant who lives in very close quarters with the Pope would photocopy Benedict XVI’s correspondence. He was a layman. This time, however, it is a prelate, a high-ranking prelate in fact, who is in fault and his arrest marks a historical turning point: the Holy See’s institutions must accept responsibility and act with “the just and necessary rigour”, without granting special treatment to those who hold a Vatican passport and wear a red tunic. If he hadn’t left the country, Wesolowski would have been arrested in Santo Domingo. Bearing in mind how serious the charges and evidence against him are, the former Nuncio who used to lure children onto beaches could not continue to walk freely in the streets of Rome.

Pope Francis was apparently shocked when in recent months he read the dossier on the Wesolowski case. “A priest that does this betrays the body of the Lord, because these priests need to lead this boy, this girl, this young man, this young woman, to holiness. And this boy, this girl, they trust him. And this priest, instead of leading them to holiness, abuses them. This is very serious.”

Francis was profoundly affected by the stories told to him by six individuals from Germany, Ireland and Britain, who had fallen victim to paedophile priests. The Pope dedicated an entire morning to these victims last 7 July, meeting each of them face to face. One woman, who had been raped as a child said: “Yes, you reduce these priests to the lay state, you de-priest them. But who controls them once they’ve removed the tunic and left the Church?” These words must have been imprinted in Francis’ mind. After his canonical trial and dismissal from the clerical state, the former Polish archbishop was supposed to undergo a separate criminal trial in his “home” State, the Vatican City State, these words being imprinted in gold on the red front cover of his passport. Francis did not want this man to receive any special treatment.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Former Archbishop and Vatican Ambassador to Dominican Republic Józef Wesołowski Under “House Arrest” in Vatican

In the miscellany of news links I just posted, I did also intend to mention the story of the Vatican’s “house arrest” of former archbishop and Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic Józef Wesołowski, about whom I wrote back in August. As I noted then, the blockbuster report about this story that Laurie Goodstein published in the New York Times appeared to spur the Vatican to some action: it appeared to lead to a Vatican statement that Wesołowski, whom the Vatican had whisked away to Rome when his crimes against children first became known, was willing to extradite him to either the Dominican Republic or to Poland to face charges in either country. I cited theologian Mary Hunt, who thought that the Vatican’s quick statement about extradition following Goodstein’s article indicated that the article had some positive effect, though Hunt seriously doubted that the Vatican would permit Wesołowski to be extradited.

Now this morning, it’s being reported (e.g., by Josephine McKenna for Religion News Service) that Wesołowski has been placed under “house arrest” in the Vatican at the express direction of Pope Francis. McKenna notes that Wesołowski continues to face charges in both the Dominican Republic and Poland, and may eventually be extradited to face those charges. She also notes that a bishop from the Dominican Republic recently expressed his shock at seeing Wesołowski walking freely in the streets of Rome when the bishop made a visit to that city not long ago.

McKenna cites a statement of David Clohessy of SNAP yesterday, reacting to the news of Wesołowski’s “house arrest”:

We are grateful that this action has finally been taken, feel it should have happened months ago, and believe it’s better if secular authorities are able to jail and prosecute Wesolowski.

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ROME
RKK (Nederland)

Rome (van onze redactie) 24 september 2014 – De gisteren aangehouden ex-bisschop Jozef Wesolowski zal niet worden uitgeleverd aan justitie in Polen, het vaderland van de pedofiel. Dat meldt Radio Vaticana vandaag.

Wesolowski wordt ervan beschuldigd dat hij in de Dominicaanse Republiek, als pauselijk ambassadeur in dat land, betaalde seks had met jonge jongens. In het Caraïbische land kan hij niet worden vervolgd omdat hij er diplomatieke onschendbaarheid had.
Paus

Volgens de perschef van de Heilige Stoel was het de uitdrukkelijke wil van paus Franciscus dat Wesolowski in Vaticaanstad gevangen zou worden gezet en worden berecht volgens het burgerlijk strafrecht van het pauselijk stadstaatje. Wegens de slechte gezondheid van de Pool zit hij niet in een cel, maar is hij onder huisarrest geplaatst.

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MASSACHUSETTS
SouthCoast Today

By Auditi Guha
aguha@s-t.com
September 25, 2014

In a Minnesota lawsuit naming the Fall River Diocese as one of the defendants, a 51-year-old woman is charging that ex-priest James Porter sexually abused her when she was in the first and second grades.

Porter, a convicted pedophile who died in 2005, was at one time assigned to the Fall River Diocese and the suit — filed Tuesday by Linda Carroll in Polk County, Minnesota — charges that officials there had covered up for his actions as he was moved on to other assignments.

The suit was made public Wednesday in a news release from SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) on the same day Edgar Moreira da Cunha was installed as the eighth bishop of the Fall River Diocese.

In its release, SNAP also called on da Cunha to visit all the diocesan parishes where Porter worked. According to the lawsuit, in the 1960s he served at the former St. James Church in New Bedford and Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River, as well as St. Mary’s Church in North Attleboro.

“What an inspiration it would be if Fall River’s new bishop started his tenure by personally going to every parish where Porter worked begging victims to step forward and get help. We doubt this will happen but it should,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement

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VATICAN CITY
RIA Novosti (Russia)

MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – Sixty-six-year-old former archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who is suspected of sexually molesting boys while serving as the Holy See’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic, has been placed under house arrest in Vatican City, supposedly under the instructions of Pope Francis, Dominican Today reports.

During his five-year ambassadorship, Wesolowski allegedly paid street boys to perform sexual acts in front of him.

Catholic News Service reported that Wesolowski had been defrocked this June as the result of complaints from the Dominican church hierarchy going back to August 2013. At that time, he was sent back to the Vatican, but no formal charges were leveled against him until his defrocking. Now he faces a separate criminal court hearing in the tiny nation. …

Setting a precedent

Wesolowski’s is to be the first criminal case against a Holy See official for sexual abuse against minors. He will also be the highest ranking official to be investigated under the Vatican’s laws, which were revised last September. The new laws are more specific about instances of sexual crimes against children, and propose harsher penalties for violators.

Wesolowski may receive up to 12 years in prison if convicted. It is unclear whether he would serve out his sentence within the Vatican, or in an Italian prison.

An English-language Vatican spokesman told the Washington Post that this case will be “history in the making,” and that Vatican lawmakers will be “developing a procedure here.” Speaking of the broad church’s interest in the matter, he noted that “we’re all watching to see how this will happen.”

Prior to the update, carried out under Pope Francis, the Vatican had been using a modified version of Italy’s criminal code from 1889. Francis has spoken more forcefully about the subject than his predecessors, noting that the sexual abuse of children is an “ugly crime” which should have “zero tolerance”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A clergy abuse survivors group wants clarification on who has resigned from a panel set up to determine the future of two Hunter Catholic priests.

A Special Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse found Monsignor Allan Hart and Father William Burston to be unimpressive witnesses, prompting calls for them to resign.

A seven-member independent panel was set up by the Catholic diocese to determine their future, but two members have quit and only one has been replaced, delaying its final report.

Bob O’Toole from the Clergy Abuse Network says he has several concerns.

“We don’t know of the two resignations which ones went,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Manatt

Authors: Ileana M. Hernandez | Ivan L. Kallick | Jill S. Dodd

This article was previously published in BNA (September 2013).

A charity, fulfilling its charitable mission, is successful in raising money for a variety of worthy projects – rebuilding after a natural disaster, medical education and care, summer camp experiences for disadvantaged children, or financial support for senior centers. Everyone agrees that these are worthwhile charitable endeavors — except perhaps some might suggest, the United States Bankruptcy Courts.

This article examines how assets donated to charitable organizations may be treated if such organizations were ever to file a bankruptcy resulting from significant creditor claims. There is some, yet limited, legal authority determining what is ‘‘property of the estate’’ in a bankruptcy.

I. ‘‘Property of the Estate’’ in Recent Religious and Charitable Organization Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcy cases filed by Catholic dioceses and archdioceses have raised issues regarding the extent to which the assets of non-bankrupt Catholic entities should be available for payment of creditor claims. Recent bankruptcy cases arise where abuse victims make monetary claims for damages arising out of alleged improper or illegal conduct. The decisions from these bankruptcy cases may have far-reaching implications for charitable institutions that hold donated assets or participate in pooled investment accounts.

In each of these cases, focused on religious institutions and their charitable assets, the bankruptcy courts have been asked to determine whether certain assets held by the debtor are considered ‘‘property of the estate.’’ Courts have consistently held that the scope of the term ‘‘property of the estate’’ is very broad. Property of the estate does not include ‘‘any power that the debtor may exercise solely for the benefit of an entity other than the debtor,’’ 11 U.S.C. § 541(b)(1), or ‘‘[p]roperty in which the debtor holds, as of the commencement of the case, only legal title and not an equitable interest . . . .’’ 11 U.S.C. § 541(d). Similarly, the estate does not include property containing ‘‘[a] restriction on the transfer of a beneficial interest of the debtor in a trust that is enforceable under applicable nonbankruptcy law. . . .’’ 11 U.S.C. § 541(c)(2); see In re Cutter, 398 B.R. 6, 18-19 (9th Cir. BAP 2008). Although the Bankruptcy Code defines what is property of the estate, ‘‘[p]roperty interests are created and defined by state law.’’ Butner v. U.S., 440 U.S. 48, 55; 99 S. Ct. 914, 918 (1979); see also In re Mantle, 153 F.3d 1082, 1084 (9th Cir. 1998) (bankruptcy courts must look to state property law to determine whether property is to be included in bankruptcy estate).

A. Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

1. Structure of the Pooled Investment Account
In 2009, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Inc., which was the secular administrative arm of the Diocese of Wilmington, filed Chapter 11. Soon after, a committee of unsecured creditors (‘‘committee’’) was appointed and was composed of seven members, each of whom had filed a lawsuit against the debtor and other defendants asserting claims arising out of allegations of sexual abuse. In re Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Inc., 432 B.R. 135 (Bankr. D. Del. 2010).
For many years the debtor ran a pooled investment program that permitted multiple entities to share investment opportunities not otherwise available to them. As of December 2009, the diocese maintained a pooled investment account (‘‘PIA’’) of approximately $120 million. 432 B.R. at 142. The committee argued that all PIA funds were property of the debtor’s estate that should be available for distribution to all creditors. The committee filed a complaint naming the debtor and a host of non-debtors as defendants, which included parishes with funds held in the PIA the Catholic Diocese Foundation, and various educational and service institutions.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Taunton Gazette

By Herald News Editorial Board
Posted Aug. 27, 2014 @ 6:30 pm

There are not many cities of Fall River’s size that have their own bishop and cathedral. But Fall River is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese that serves most of southeastern Massachusetts. As such, we have been blessed to have a strong spiritual leader in our community.

For more than a decade, the Diocese of Fall River’s flock has been led by a shepherd who knows this city and region well. Since his appointment by Pope John Paul II in 2003, Bishop George W. Coleman has headed the diocese he previously served as a pastor, educator and vicar general.

Coleman has deep roots in the city and region, having been born in Fall River and raised in Somerset, as well as serving as a pastor in Fall River and on Cape Cod, and leading the Diocesan Department of Education.

Coleman took the reins of the diocese from a Catholic leader of extraordinary stature: Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the current archbishop of Boston, who was even rumored to be a front-runner for pope last year. Coleman led the diocese in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and afflicted significant pain to parishioners both in the Diocese of Fall River and worldwide.

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FLORIDA
JRN

[with video]

By Gabrielle Sarann. CREATED Sep 24, 2014

FORT MYERS, Fla. – On Tuesday, the Diocese of Venice said it never received a complaint from a family that a now-convicted sex offender had sexually assaulted their son three years ago. But today the Diocese is clarifying its statement. Now they’re admitting the family did speak up but not in a formal report.

From the outside, St. Francis Xavier Church in Fort Myers looks like a place of peace. But for Isabelle and Sisto Romano, it’s been anything but.

“Very hurtful, hurtful beyond words,” said Isabelle, who was baptized at the church and just left a teaching job there of 16 years. “I gave them my all. My life was there. My family’s life was there.”

She says they immediately notified the church in 2011 that their son had been sexually assaulted by Robert Little. At the time, a Eucharistic minister. Now a convicted child molester in a separate case.

“This is my son, they’re picking on a 14-year-old boy today that was 10 or 11-years-old back then,” added Sisto.

Yesterday, the Diocese of Venice denied the Romano’s claim saying it never received a complaint of an assault from them. But today, the church backpedaled. In a statement, it said the couple reported that their son “felt uncomfortable” in the presence of Little. But that although they were “… encouraged to make a formal report to the Diocese Victim Assistance Coordinator the couple declined to do so.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/24/2014

“In the Roman collar, he has a chance to meet kids.”

That was the conclusion in 1973 of a senior Catholic official from Massachusetts regarding the Rev. James R. Porter. The official, the Rev. Msgr. Hugh A. Gallagher, was writing in favor of Porter’s dismissal from the priesthood.

In fact, Porter had plenty of chances to meet children — in Oakdale, Bemidji, Minn., Massachusetts and other locations, becoming one of the most notorious priest pedophiles in the United States.

One of those children was in second grade when she and a brother were molested by Porter during his 1969-1970 assignment at St. Philip’s Catholic Church in Bemidji.

Linda Carroll, now 51, of Aitkin, on Wednesday became the first Minnesota woman to disclose her identity as a survivor of Porter, who was largely known to sexually abuse boys, according to her attorney, Jeff Anderson.

Anderson filed a lawsuit Tuesday on her behalf in Polk County, naming the Diocese of Crookston, Minn., the Servants of the Paraclete (which treated Porter for pedophilia) and the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., as defendants.

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MICHIGAN
8 and 10 News

By Brittany Wright, Reporter

A church community in disbelief as accusations come out about this retired upper peninsula priest sexually abusing young boys.

The Diocese of Marquette says three people have come forward saying Father James Menapace sexually abused them.

Father Menapace was a priest overseen by the Diocese of Marquette.

He has been removed from all public ministry.

“My first feeling was shock and disbelief. He just didn’t seem like that type of person,” said Bill Munsell, church member.

For more than 40 years Bill Munsell has known Father James Menapace, the retired priest accused of sexually abusing young boys.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | Sep 24, 2014

For Pope Benedict the first major test was Father Marcial Maciel. For Pope Francis it is the former papal nuncio (and former archbishop), Josef Wesolowski. Both Pontiffs passed the first test.

Father Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, was still riding high in Rome in 2005. Protected by influential patrons—most notably the Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano—he had successfully dodged several investigations, and the doors of the apostolic palace were open to him. But those doors quickly closed when Pope Benedict was elected, and within weeks a new, more aggressive inquiry was underway. The rest is history: Maciel was removed from power, removed from ministry, and died in disgrace.

Now under Pope Francis, the Wesolowski case has ratcheted up the intensity of the drive against corruption. Not merely an influential priest, Wesolowski was an archbishop, protected by diplomatic immunity. But notice the past tense: he had the dignity of an archbishop; he had diplomatic immunity. After a canonical trial stripped him of his clerical status, he had neither. Now, in a proceeding of the sort that Rome has not seen in generations, the former archbishop will be tried in a Vatican court as a common criminal.

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ILLINOIS
Desplaines Valley News

By Joe Boyle • Wed, Sep 24, 2014

Pastors on Chicago’s Southwest Side and southwest suburbs said they had a positive outlook after Pope Francis appointed Bishop Blase Cupich to replace Cardinal Francis George to lead the nation’s third largest diocese.

News began spreading Friday night that Cupich, 65, who has served as bishop of the Spokane, Wash., diocese for the past four years, would replace the ailing George, 77.

A news conference was held Saturday to officially introduce Cupich, who was born and raised in Omaha, Neb. George introduced Cupich, who he said “brings a deep faith, quick intelligence, personal commitment and varied pastoral experiences” to the church.

Cupich has been described as a moderate but he was quick to point out that “labels are hard for anybody to live up to.” …

George had to deal with major issues during his tenure, including the closing of many Catholic schools due to dwindling enrollment and the sexual abuse scandal.

“As far as abuse, Cardinal George was an architect of the zero tolerance policy,” said Furlan. “There are groups out there that no matter what we do, it is not enough.”

One of those groups would be the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which has questioned Cupich’s term in Spokane regarding abuse by priests. The group believes the bishop has not done enough to deal with the problem of sexual abuse among some priests.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Matt Sepic St. Paul, Minn. Sep 24, 2014

A Minnesota woman is speaking publicly about sexual abuse she says she suffered at the hands of one of the nation’s most notorious predator priests.

Linda Carroll said the Rev. James Porter assaulted her repeatedly in 1969 and 1970 when she was a second-grader at St. Philip’s school in Bemidji.

Carroll is suing the Diocese of Crookston, which employed Porter for a short time, claiming the diocese created a public nuisance. She said she hopes going public will encourage other victims to come forward. In her lawsuit, she’s known as Jane Doe 24.

“You have to put a name and a face to it, because otherwise people don’t get it,” Carroll said Wednesday during a news conference with St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson. “They see Jane Doe number 24 and it doesn’t really mean anything.”

In 1993, Porter pleaded guilty in Massachusetts to sexually assaulting 28 children. He died in prison in 2005. He was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 children during his 14 years as a priest.

In a statement, the Diocese of Crookston called Carroll’s nuisance claim “ill suited” to this case.

Carroll is also suing the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and the Servants of the Paraclete, a religious order that treats priests with sexual disorders.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Statement by Brenda Brunelle of Windsor , Canadian SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 519 903 7503 (cell), 519 800 3492 (SNAP line), windsor@snapnetwork.org )

A settlement has been reached with the Diocese of London regarding a now deceased predator priest. We are grateful to the brave victim who fought for justice despite delays and mean-spirited legal tactics and deceptive public relations tactics used by London Catholic Bishop Ronald Fabbro.

We hope the brave survivor finds some healing and peace from this settlement.

According to the London Free Press, London diocesan officials say “any damages Grenier suffered ‘arose from mental or physical conditions that existed prior to the assaults or were acquired by her after the assaults.’”

That’s appalling and incredibly callous. Imagine: a bishop is actually claiming – through his lawyers – that ANY harm that this brave woman has suffered stems from other sources and NONE stems from her repeated childhood assaults by a trusted Catholic priest.

It’s also deceptive for Bishop Fabbro to claim that, in the words of his lawyers, if a victim chooses to file a lawsuit, “we have to follow the legal process they adopted.” Victims sue when they’ve been repeatedly betrayed, not just by a priest but also by his supervisors. For a bishop to pretend to be powerless is both laughable and insulting.

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CONNECTICUT
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Sep 24, 2014

“Is there something in the drinking water up there? What the hell is wrong with the MEN representing the Hartford Archdiocese?…I come back to the same image, over and over again, how do these LAWYERS and CHURCH LEADERS stand upright?”

The occasion for this email outburst, from retired Philadelphia police captain Michael Skiendzielewski, was the — on the front page in the Hartford Courant – that the Archdiocese of Hartford is appealing a $1 million judgment in a priest molestation case on the grounds that the case unconstitutionally relies on Connecticut’s extension of its statute of limitation for sexual abuse.

The judgment came in 2012, after a trial in which a jury took just four hours to find the archdiocese negligent and reckless in its supervision of Ivan Ferguson, a priest who, testimony showed, admitted to the late Archbishop John F. Whealon that he abused two boys in a Simsbury rectory in 1979. After Ferguson received treatment for alcoholism, Wealon, at the priest’s request, reassigned him to a school for boys in Derby. There he and a friend repeatedly abused the victim and another boy between 1981 and 1983. Ferguson died in 2002.

In seeking to have the verdict overturned, the archdiocese’s lawyers argued before the state Supreme Court Monday that the victim’s lawsuit was filed unconstitutionally because the statute of limitation prevailing at the time of the abuse had expired. There’s no question that this is a legal mare’s nest.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

Originally from Wichita, Fr. Robert Larson spent his last eight years at St. John Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, a church-run center for child molesting clerics. His crimes attracted national attention, beginning with page one exposes in the Boston Globe. .

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. .The new Chicago Archbishop Blaise Cupich was a staffer for the late Cardinal Pio Laghi at the Washington papal nuncio’s office along with Cardinal Tim Dolan. Cupich and Cardinal Raymond Burke, former hometowner, were classmates in Rome before their ordinations in 1975.. .

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FLORIDA
Catholic League

[The letter to Pope Francis]
[Diocese response to the letter]

Dissident lay Catholics in Southwest Florida, along with some priests, have declared war on Bishop Frank Dewane. He is the Bishop of Venice and is by all accounts a loyal son of the Church. Which is why they are out to get him. The pattern is a familiar one—we’ve seen it played out across the nation, especially in the Midwest: Dewane is drawing the ire of Catholic malcontents, and ex-Catholics, because of his orthodoxy. His critics are largely drawn from the ranks of the elderly, and are overrepresented by ex-priests and ex-nuns.

Although the latest assault on Bishop Dewane is the most vicious, he first incurred the wrath of dissidents in 2010 when he temporarily removed a popular priest from ministry. Two years later, this same priest was found guilty of violating his “fiduciary responsibilities to the Parish, his priestly promise to celibacy, and his promise of obedience to his Ordinary.” He was laicized in October 2012.

In 2011, after a Catholic high school teacher was fired, he filed a lawsuit claiming he was terminated after he blew the whistle on a priest who allegedly asked sexual questions of students during Confession. The case was properly thrown out by a judge.

The current war on Bishop Dewane started in January when ten priests wrote a letter to the Apostolic Nuncio accusing the bishop of governing by “intimidation, the use of fear, shaming, bullying and other non-Christian behaviors.” The letter was made public in May when it was sent to the media.

Without knowing anything more, any neutral observer would conclude that the accusing priests are a disgrace. Why? Not only will they not come forward and let the accused know of their identity, they never sent Dewane a copy of their letter (he learned of it through the media). To make matters worse, these cowardly priests did not provide a scintilla of evidence: no specific examples of Dewane’s alleged “non-Christian” behavior were offered.

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CANADA
Blackburn News

By Matt Weverink on September 24, 2014

Kelly Grenier’s civil suit against disgraced and now dead priest Charles Sylvestre won’t be going to court after all.

Her lawyers were able to reach a settlement with the Diocese of London ahead of today’s planned court date. Personal Injury Lawyer Rob Talach, who was called in to help with the case, says the terms will be held confidential out of respect for both parties.

“I’m pretty confident there are still Sylvestre victims out there from the Pain Court region that maybe just aren’t at their stage in life to speak out,” says Talach. “The opportunity is always open to them to seek recourse on this despite his passing and of course the passing of time.”

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor September 24, 2014

In many ways, the case of ex-Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former Vatican diplomat accused of paying underage boys in the Dominican Republic for sexual acts, has become an inkblot test for broader impressions of where the Catholic Church stands on recovery from its child sexual abuse scandals.

For critics, it’s an object lesson in the Church’s inability, or unwillingness, to make “zero tolerance” stick.

The Polish envoy was recalled from the Dominican Republic in secret in August 2013, just days before an investigative reporter in the country broke the story of the charges. The Vatican initially gave shifting, even contradictory, statements as to the reason for the decision.

The 66-year-old cleric was allowed to move freely in Rome, with no restrictions. At one stage, a visiting bishop from the Dominican Republic saw him on a Roman street near the Vatican and tweeted out, “The silence of the Church has hurt the people of God.”

Because of his status as a diplomat, many people assumed that Wesolowski had been brought to Rome to evade civil prosecution in either the Dominican Republic or his native Poland.

To those sympathetic to the Church, Wesolowski is instead a symbol of a reformed system at work.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Doe 24 Complaint 9-23-14
James Porter File
James Porter Key Documents
James Porter Laicization File
James Porter Photo
James Porter Timeline
Original Porter Laicization Letter
Servants of Paraclete Documents
Transcribed Porter Laicization Letter

On September 24, 2014, a courageous sexual abuse survivor abused by James R. Porter in Bemidji, Minnesota, found her voice and spoke publicly. Porter, a serial child predator, is suspected of abusing over 100 children in multiple states including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, and New Mexico. James Porter’s file, including his laicization file, was released today as an ongoing effort for institutional transparency and accountability.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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

Despite a motion from a public defender, an admitted child molesting teacher will remain behind bars. We applaud this decision for several reasons.

Veteran Catholic teacher Richard Pryor was arrested for allegedly molesting students on out of state trips. Our hearts ache for these 11 boys and their families and we are grateful for their bravery.

We are glad Pryor will remain behind bars for several reasons.

First, keeping predators behind bars, ensure the safety of children, especially when that predator has multiple victims and has admitted the abuse.

Second, the public defenders motion claimed that since Pryor has strong community and families ties he should be released to his sister. The judge said it perfectly in noting that these ties are what allowed him to abuse in the first place, “The Court notes that the defendant’s long-time presence and standing in the community apparently enabled his method of committing the offenses charged.”

We applaud every person who has cooperated or is cooperating with this investigation.

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VERMONT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014

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

A faculty member at Norwich University in Vermont is accused of molesting a boy at a New York Catholic school. We urge college officials to suspend the professor immediately.

The accused is Norman E. Rioux, a former Spanish teacher at La Salle Institute in Troy in the Albany Catholic Diocese. According to the Albany Times Union, Rioux allegedly molested Michael Cioppa and “was hired at the school despite being convicted of federal charges in U.S. District Court for a check-cashing scheme that La Salle officials now say they did not know about.”

We applaud Cioppa for reporting the abuse he suffered. We applaud the La Salle Institute for disclosing Rioux’ name. But that’s not enough. School officials and Albany’s bishop must aggressively seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rioux’ crimes, so that he might be prosecuted, convicted and kept away from children. They must punish any employee who knew about or suspected Rioux’ crimes and stayed silent or concealed it.

Norwich University officials should do the same.

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FLORIDA
WTSP

[The letter to Pope Francis]

[Diocese response to the letter]

Isabel Mascareñas, WTSP September 23, 2014

Venice, Florida — The leader of the Catholic Church for the Diocese of Venice is being compared to a bully. Some priests say he rules with fear and intimidation. The diocese says the allegations are untrue and malicious. One Catholic group says it’s time for the pope to take action.

In 2007, Bishop Frank Dewane stepped in as leader of the Diocese of Venice overseeing 10 counties, 60 parishes and 250,000 parishioners.

Ellen McNally, a Catholic, says Dewane is not what she expected.

“He is to be leader, a shepherd, a gentle leader of the people. Bishop Dewane is not a gentle leader at all — he’s a commander,” says McNally.

The allegations against Bishop Dewane first surfaced in June. Ten priests from across the diocese wrote a letter to the pope’s representative in the U.S. The priests compared the bishop to a “bully” saying he rules using fear and intimidation and demoralizes priests. When the priests didn’t hear back, Call to Action stepped in.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

BY JASON MAGDER, THE GAZETTE SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

MONTREAL — The teenage girl members of Lev Tahor who fled their foster home in Toronto earlier this month could not have managed the stunt on their own, says an advocate for their family in Israel.

On Monday, The Gazette reported that the girls — age 15 and 17 — left their foster home on Sept. 12 and fled across the border to New York state. They were reunited with their father and have been staying in Borough Park, in Brooklyn, N.Y., at last report.

They had been living in foster care since March after they were apprehended in Trinidad and Tobago, fleeing Canada on their way to Guatemala. They were sent back to Canada, but their mother was already in Guatemala, so she couldn’t take custody of them. The sect’s lawyer, Guidy Mamann, said the father returned to Canada to reclaim them, but he was not granted custody.

George Berger — an advocate for the family of the girls in Israel — said he visited them in their foster family back in April. Berger, a Toronto resident, accompanied their grandmother when she visited them on her trip to Toronto from Israel. The family in Israel had wanted to adopt the girls and their six siblings.

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CANADA
George Berger’s Gripes and Gaffs

As you know, I have been following the Lev Tahor controversy with more than just keen interest. Lev Tahor has been aptly called a cult by many within and outside the Jewish community as a result of the allegations and evidence of child abuse, poor hygiene, forced marriages of 13 year

Lev Tahor has now completely fled Canada, and the country’s laws and courts, to establish what they want to call a paradise in Guatemala. No doubt they chose Guatemala in keeping with their questionable customs as the legal age for the marriage of girls is 13 years.

I have been advocating for the rights of these families which have suffered and continue to suffer the loss of their children, brothers and sisters to this cult. Earlier this year the exodus of members to Guatemala began. Two families fled in defiance of a court order that they remain in the Chatham area. Two minors, at the time, a 14 and a 16 year old girl were apprehended in Trinidad while en route to Guatemala, and returned to Canada. Once they were returned, they were ordered to be placed in foster care by Chatham-Kent Children’s Services (CKCS). Because suitable facilities were not available in or near Chatham, Toronto’s Jewish Family & Child Services (JF&CS) would oversee the day-to-day care of the two girls.

Since the cult first surfaced to attention, I have been involved “through thick and thin”. I hosted the grandmother and a family friend when they visited the girls in foster care. I negotiated visits with the girls for them, and arranged for them to spend the Sabbath together.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

For more info: David Clohessy ( 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com ) Mark Crawford ( 732 632 7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

“Where’s predator priest now?” victims ask
A dozen years later, Vatican finally defrocks him
But bishop told only a small group of parishioners
SNAP: “Public needs to know where offender is now”
Ex-spiritual advisor to former governor McGreevey is defrocked

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is writing Metuchen’s Catholic bishop urging him to reveal the whereabouts of a recently-defrocked abusive priest and explain why he only told some parishioners – and not the broader public – that the priest has been defrocked.

Fr. Michael Cashman was once the spiritual advisor to then-Governor James McGreevey. But in 2002, Cashman was accused of having molested a mother and her two teenage children – a daughter and son – over a period of several years. The church paid $145,000 to the victims along with another woman, who accused him of improper conduct.

Vatican officials defrocked Cashman earlier this year, but instead of holding a news conference or sending out a news release, Metuchen Bishop Paul Bootkoski (732 562 1990) only notified one parish and readers of a diocesan publication.

He told some priests it was up to them to make announcements in their churches about Cashman’s defrocking.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are asking Bootkoski to “tell the public where this dangerous predator is now and why you only notified a relatively small group of parishioners that he was formally and completely ousted from the priesthood.”

“If the bishop really wanted to protect kids, he would have shouted from the rooftops ‘It’s official. Cashman’s credibly accused. Keep your kids away from him,’” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “Instead, he basically protected a predator and the reputation of top Metuchen Catholic officials.”

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Olson

A woman who says she was abused by a Minnesota priest is expected to speak Wednesday about her experiences and why she’s coming forward.

Attorney Jeff Anderson will file an amended complaint on her behalf, naming as defendants the Diocese of Crookston; the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts; and the Servants of the Paraclete.
Anderson says the victim is the first Minnesota woman to speak publicly about her alleged abuse.

She claims she was abused by Father James R. Porter, a convicted child molester who was suspected of abusing more than 100 children in multiple states.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 September 2014 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., gave the following declaration yesterday afternoon:

“Today the promoter of Justice of the Vatican City State Court of First Instance summoned the ex-nuncio Jozef Wesolowski, in relation to whom a criminal investigation has been initiated. The former prelate – previously convicted in the first instance by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced to lay status following a canonical penal administrative trial – has been informed of the indictment of the proceedings against him for serious acts of abuse against minors carried out in the Dominican Republic. The seriousness of the allegations has prompted the investigating office to impose restrictive measures that, in view of the state of health of the accused, attested to by medical documentation, consists of house arrest with its related limitations, in a location within Vatican City State.

“The initiative taken by the Vatican legal authorities is consistent with the wish expressed by the Pope that such a serious and delicate case be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigour, with the full assumption of responsibility on the part of the institutions governed by the Holy See”.

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Media Advisory
September 23, 2014

Numerous documents to be released on Porter including his laicization file and Servants of the Paraclete documents

What: At a press conference Wednesday in St. Paul, attorney Jeff Anderson will:

• Announce the filing of an amended complaint on behalf of a woman, Doe 24, naming the Diocese of Crookston, the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and the Servants of the Paraclete, as defendants.

• Introduce Doe 24, the first Minnesota woman to speak publicly about sexual abuse by Father James R. Porter. Doe 24 will be present at the press conference and will speak to her experiences with Porter and why she’s coming forward.

• Release internal church documents on Porter, including Porter’s laicization file, as well as Servants of the Paraclete documents. Porter is a serial child predator, suspected of abusing over 100 children in multiple states including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, and New Mexico.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at 11:00AM CDT

WHERE: Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

Notes: Copies of the amended complaint, documents and a Porter timeline will be available on our website and the event will be live-streamed from our office. The live-stream link and documents will be available at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.964.3458

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

INDIGENOUS human rights campaigner Tom Calma was told of horrific allegations of sexual abuse at a Darwin missionary home that were not followed up, a royal commission has heard.

Some of the allegations concerned a “house parent” called Don Henderson. The commission has heard Mr Henderson adopted two children from the home and was later seen acting suspiciously around shops and schools in Darwin.

In surprise revelations yesterday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that Dr Calma was informed about some of the abuse in the 1970s while working for the NT government.

The alleged abuse occurred at Retta Dixon Home for children and women, run by Australian Indigenous Ministries (formerly Aboriginal Inland Mission) in Darwin’s Bagot Aboriginal Reserve between 1946 and 1980.

In the second day of hearings in Darwin, former RDH residents described being routinely beaten, chained and subjected to extraordinary punishments. One child was allegedly stabbed with a can opener, another was said to have had faeces rubbed in her face.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Indigenous

By Xavier La Canna

Updated September 24, 2014

Prominent human rights campaigner Tom Calma has denied he was told of child sexual abuse occurring at the Retta Dixon home in Darwin, in response to a claim made yesterday at an inquiry.

In a statement read out at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Dr Calma – a former ACT Australian of the Year – said:

“I have never visited the Retta Dixon home, either as part of my employment or informally. To the best of my recollection, I do not believe I have ever been directly informed of any allegations of abuse occurring at the Retta Dixon home in the 1960s or 1970s by any victims of the alleged abuse.”

Dr Calma was responding to claims made by a witness at the inquiry known only as AKV, who said victims told him of abuse they suffered but that their concerns were not followed up.

AKV said Dr Calma had come to Retta Dixon as a welfare worker from the NT government.

However, Dr Calma told the inquiry he had never worked as a welfare officer with the NT government.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Royal Commissioners investigating institutional responses to child sex abuse have toured the site of the Retta Dixon House.

The home for Aboriginal and mixed-race children, between 1946 and 1980, has been described as a house of horrors.

The three Royal Commissioners were shown the grounds, as well as cottage two, where house parent Don Henderson lived and allegedly carried out horrendous acts of child sexual abuse.

The commissioners also saw the chicken pen at the back of the block, where children said they were scared to be caught alone with Henderson.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A house parent at Retta Dixon House while sexual abuse of children was allegedly taking place said it wasn’t her ‘responsibility’ what was happening to children not in her care.

Meanwhile former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has provided a statement to the Royal Commission, denying allegations he knew of the abuse and did nothing.

Lola Wall told the Royal Commission in to Institutional Responses in to a Child Sexual Abuse in Darwin that she knew about the serious allegations of rape and sexual assault allegedly carried out by fellow house-parent Don Henderson.

But she didn’t think she had to speak out.

Mrs Wall did however, stop the children in her care, as well as her own three children from spending any time alone with Henderson.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Xavier La Canna
Updated 24 Sep 2014

A woman who gave evidence about abuse at a government-run home for Aboriginal children in Darwin says the alleged perpetrators should be forced to appear at a royal commission.

Sandra Kitching, 64, visited the site of the former Retta Dixon home on Wednesday, along with the commissioners presiding over the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Ms Kitching said she refused to visit parts of the site that still harboured “bad spirits”, but she wanted to pay her respects to those who died at Retta Dixon.

She said it was hard listening to some of the testimony given at the royal commission and she thought some of the alleged perpetrators were getting off too easily.

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NEW YORK
WPIX

[with video]

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014, BY AYANA HARRY

HAMPTONS BAY, Long Island (PIX11)– A Long Island priest is accused of molesting a 6-year-old girl, resulting in her contracting an STD.

Rev. Augusto Cortez, 50, a Catholic priest of the Vincentian congregation, is wanted by police for sexually assaulting a little girl from Long Island, according to police.

Her family, who will not be named in order to avoid identifying the young victim, is deeply distraught after their child’s alleged molester is someone they trusted and turned to for religious guidance.

“It’s the deepest pain that any mother can ever feel,” the victim’s mother said.

Cortez spent numerous holidays and outings with the family.

The mom says Cortez was an invited guest at a recent house party, but at one point she walked in to find her daughter and him alone. That’s how she discovered the alleged abuse.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

What: A demonstration and leafleting alerting Catholics of Fall River, MA and the general public of the actions and inactions of Bishop Edgar da Cunha regarding allegations of sexual abuse against Fr. Angelito Rosales, a Vocationist priest, formerly of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ and now stationed in the Philippines.

When: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM.

Where: On the public sidewalk outside the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, 327 Second Street, Fall River, MA.

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

Why: In approximately 2009, Bishop Edgar da Cunha, at the time an auxiliary Bishop of the Newark, NJ, Archdiocese, was directly informed by a distressed mother of two sons from Palisades Park, NJ, that Fr. Angelito Rosales, SDV, a priest of the Society of Divine Vocations (a religious order of priests and brothers of which Bishop Edgar da Cunha is a member), had sexually abused those two sons as children each on more than one occasion. Bishop Da Cunha was told by the mother that the two sons as children were sexually abused in the rectory of St. Nicholas Parish, Palisades Park, during the time that Bishop da Cunha was the Pastor of St. Nicholas Parish. One of the men reported that then Fr. Edgar da Cunha was at breakfast in the St. Nicholas rectory the morning after, as a boy, he spent the night in the rectory being plied with alcohol, sexually abused, and forced to sleep in the bedroom by Fr. Angelito Rosales. When Fr. Edgar da Cunha was Pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Newark, NJ, both sons spent more than one overnight with Fr. Angelito Rosales who was stationed at St. Michael’s Parish, and both boys were sexually abused by Fr. Rosales there. One son was sexually abused by Fr. Rosales in Florida as well. One morning at St. Michael’s Parish in Newark, NJ, after spending the night being sexually abused by Fr. Angelito Rosales, one of the sons was given $50.00 by Fr. Edgar da Cunha, Pastor, and told to leave the rectory. When the mother reported these rampant acts of sexual abuse in 2009 to Bishop da Cunha, who was a close friend of the family and dined at their home on many occasions, he ignored the mother and never spoke to her again. Bishop da Cunha knowingly allowed Fr. Angelito Rosales to leave the United States to work in a minor seminary in the Philippines with boys who are the same age as the sons he sexually abused in the United States. Demonstrators will demand that Pope Francis rescind the appointment of Bishop Edgar da Cunha as Bishop of Fall River, MA and fire him from ministry as a bishop and priest.

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

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald robincrimenews
September 5, 2014

GULFPORT — A public defender has filed a motion that lists eight reasons why a teacher accused in the molestation of children should be released to his sister’s custody pending court action.

Richard Pryor, suspected of molesting at least 11 boys he taught at Bayou View Junior High, has no criminal history and has been accused of no crimes in the past nine years, the document said.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court alleges he molested boys, mostly on out-of-state summer trips, over 32 years.

A probation officer has testified she does not consider Pryor a flight risk and said a pretrial risk assessment shows he is a minimal risk of flight and danger to others.

Personnel records of the Gulfport School District and the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi contain no negative comments about him.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

By ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald@sunherald.com Twitter: robincrimenews

GULFPORT — A federal judge has refused to revoke a detention order for a longtime Gulfport teacher accused of taking male students on out-of-state trips for sex.

Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. has upheld a pretrial judge’s detention order for Richard Pryor, 68.

Pryor faces charges he sexually assaulted boys he took on trips while he was a math teacher at Bayou View Junior High in Gulfport from 1999 through 2005. Most of the trips reportedly occurred during summer months, when Pryor took groups of boys on excursions to other states.

A public defender had asked Guirola to revoke a detention order filed by Magistrate Judge John Gargiulo.

Pryor wanted to be released to the custody of his sister, a retired Gulfport teacher.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
JRN

By Katie Crowther. CREATED Sep 23, 2014

MILWAUKEE – Another round of talks between the the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee and its creditors have ended with no agreement on how to compensate victims of clergy sex abuse. As a result, both sides must return to Federal Court.

“You never forget that moment, or the touch of that predator,” says Peter Isely, who was sexually abused by a priest when he was 13-years-old, at St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin.

Isely is now the Midwest chapter leader of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“I can tell you the nearly 600 known victims and survivors of that abuse here in Wisconsin have not been able to get on with their lives because of what happened to them at the hands of people they were taught to trust,” he says.

Now, those victims must wait longer for any type of compensation. A third round of mediation between the archdiocese and creditors failed Tuesday. Isely says with each failed attempt, hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims are losing hope that the church will do the right thing.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Wed, Sep 24, 2014

The Holy See has said the controversial former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, is now under investigation by Vatican City state prosecutors on charges of paedophile crime.

Archbishop Wesolowski, who was defrocked in June by a Vatican canon law court which found him guilty of child sex abuse, has been placed under house arrest in the Vatican.

If and when the 66-year-old former Nuncio is brought to trial, this will represent the first time that a senior Vatican official faces criminal charges of child sex abuse.

Commenting on this case last January, senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi indicated that, as a Vatican City state citizen, Archbishop Wesolowski would be tried in both a canon law court and subsequently in a Vatican City state court.

Last month, Fr Lombardi also pointed out that as an ex-nuncio, Archbishop Wesolowski no longer enjoyed diplomatic status, adding that he “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

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IRELAND
BBC News

By Sue Lloyd Roberts
BBC News, Ireland

An inquiry last year into Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, where for decades thousands of women were forced to work by nuns, found no evidence that workers were abused. But those who experienced life inside laundry walls angrily reject this, and are insisting that the nuns be held accountable.

“Oh my God! You know what? This brings back so much memories,” 65-year-old Elizabeth Coppin says as she pushes open the door to the Convent Church next to the Magdalene laundry where she was sent to work for the nuns when she was 14.

“We used to have to go to confession once a week,” she says, as we pass the confessional box. “The priest would sit in here and we would go in here to tell him our sins. But what sins did we have? We were working all the time. They were the sinners, not us. They were torturing us.”

For decades, Ireland ignored the stories told by the former Magdalene laundry workers. After all, weren’t people told by the priests that they were just fallen women, or the criminally insane, who deserved to be locked up for most of their adult lives and work, without pay, to atone for their sins?

Coppin had been abused by her stepfather and sent to an orphanage – one of a number of welfare institutions run by the church on behalf of the state. From there, still a child, she was passed into the network of Magdalene laundries and forced to work from eight to six every day except Sundays and bank holidays.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

September 23, 2014

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

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, in move that was planned to fail, is again lining the pockets of its lawyers instead of finding a reasonable and just way of compensating victims of childhood sexual assault by clergy. Today’s failed mediation between the archdiocese, creditors (including some 575 survivors) and the so called “cemetery trust” lawyers has resolved nothing (again) and cost Catholics a lot of billable hours. Not a single victim is nearer to the healing and restitution that Archbishop Listecki promised would result from the bankruptcy filing well over three years ago, now the longest church bankruptcy action in history, with no end in sight.

The so called mediation never should have occurred in the first place. It was yet another ersatz display by Archbishop Listecki designed to convince Catholics that he is “doing something”. Listecki, who is himself a lawyer, knew that nothing in the bankruptcy could be resolved until the Federal 7th Circuit Court renders a decision on the status of the controversial (and likely fraudulently constituted) $57 million dollar “Cemetery Trust” that former Archbishop Timothy Dolan created before the archdiocese filed for chapter 11.

Lawyers, of course, are very creative at billing. In the month of June alone, even with bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley putting a stay on all court action and before this last round of mediation, church lawyers billed for the month some $204,451 dollars. And it looks, according to court records, that one church lawyer who is a virtual ghost at court hearings billed over $54,000 dollars in June just for himself. Repeat the billable hours in the month of June for the three years plus since the archdiocese filed for chapter 11 and you arrive at Archbishop Listecki’s moral math where, indeed, money and not the gospel, is the message.

To put this all in context, the archdiocese has proposed $4 million dollars as some kind of restitution for 575 victims that filed cases in bankruptcy. Lawyers’ fees and court costs have now exceeded $14 million dollars. That’s more than a 4 to 1 difference in favor of the lawyers, an unambiguous message about who, exactly, the archdiocese cares about.

A decision in favor of victims by the 7th circuit could be a much needed “reset button” for the bankruptcy process, and bring the archdiocese back to the central issues that must be addressed: What is the status of the dozens of unnamed alleged offenders named in the sealed bankruptcy reports? Did Cardinal Dolan and other archdiocesan officials engage in fraudulent conduct in transferring and concealing tens of millions of dollars before filing for bankruptcy? What is the actual extent of archdiocesan assets, property and holdings so that a fair resolution of victim cases can finally move forward?

Catholics want whatever the archdiocese truly has available in resources to go towards compensating victims not lawyers. On that everyone, except Listecki and his fellow lawyers, agree.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 18,000 members worldwide. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Visit us at SNAPnetwork.org and SNAPwisconsin.com.

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VATIKANSTAAT
Zeit

Auf Wunsch von Papst Franziskus persönlich ist ein ehemals hoher Geistlicher festgenommen worden. Ihm wird der Missbrauch von Kindern vorgeworfen.

Der Vatikan hat einen wegen Kindesmissbrauchs angeklagten Ex-Erzbischof festnehmen lassen. Es habe Fluchtgefahr bestanden, weshalb Papst Franziskus persönlich anordnete, den ehemaligen Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski festzunehmen, sagte Vatikansprecher Pater Federico Lombardi laut mehreren übereinstimmenden Medienberichten.

Der 66-jährige Wesolowski wird beschuldigt, während seines Dienstes als päpstlicher Nuntius in der Dominikanischen Republik mehrfach Minderjährige sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Ein Junge sagte aus, für Sex von Wesolowski bezahlt worden zu sein. Zudem habe ein örtlicher TV-Sender Wesolowski gefilmt, wie er ein Kinderbordell in Santo Domingo betrat, schreibt Die Welt. Nachdem er im August 2013 vom Vatikan aus der Dominikanischen Republik abberufen worden war und ihm im Juni diesen Jahres die geistlichen Würden entzogen wurden, ist nun das Strafverfahren eröffnet worden.

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VATIKANSTAAT
Die Welt

Er soll für Sexspiele mit Minderjährigen bis zu 135 Dollar gezahlt haben. Jetzt ist der ehemalige Bischof Jozef Wesolowski im Vatikan verhaftet worden. Papst Franziskus setzt seine harte Linie durch.

Der ehemalige Bischof Jozef Wesolowski, 66, ist am Nachmittag im Vatikanstaat verhaftet worden. Wesolowski wird beschuldigt, regelmäßig Minderjährige sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Es ist das erste Mal, dass ein hoher Geistlicher mit dieser Anklage innerhalb der vatikanischen Mauern verhaftet wird.

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