ABUSE TRACKER

MASSACHUSETTS
SouthCoast Today

By Ariel Wittenberg
awittenberg@S-T.com
September 24, 2014

Victims of abuse by priests have released a statement criticizing Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha, who will be installed as bishop of the Fall River Diocese at St. Mary’s Cathedral today .

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said it is “highly skeptical” about how da Cunha will “protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.”

Da Cunha comes to Fall River from the Archdiocese of Newark, where he served as auxiliary bishop. SNAP Director David Clohessy called Newark a “dreadfully scandal-ridden archdiocese” and noted that da Cunha was second in command there.

John Kearns, spokesman for the Fall River Diocese, called the criticism of da Cunha “unfair because he was not the archbishop in Newark.

“He has said many times that he will address any accusation of abuse by clergy or anyone working under the diocese seriously and responsibly following the law,” Kearns said. “He has no interest in protecting or defending anyone who has abused children.”

Clohessy said he is not accusing da Cunha of being involved in any abuse or cover-up, but that da Cunha “was part of a leadership team” that was.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
SEPT. 23, 2014

The Vatican said on Tuesday that it had placed under house arrest and opened criminal proceedings against one of its former ambassadors, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who has been accused of sexually abusing boys he met on the street while serving in the Dominican Republic.

It is the first time the Vatican will hold a criminal trial on charges of child sexual abuse, and it comes as Pope Francis has been trying to set a new tone of rigorous attention in the long-running abuse scandal.

The case has received widespread attention in the Dominican Republic and in Mr. Wesolowski’s native Poland, and officials in both nations have sought to have him tried in their courts.

Mr. Wesolowski is being held “in a location within the Vatican City State,” according to a statement issued by the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. He added that Mr. Wesolowski had presented documentation attesting to a medical condition, and was confined to house arrest after a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.

The tiny Vatican city-state has no jail facility for holding prisoners on a long-term basis. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Mr. Wesolowski had been living in a convent. A bishop from the Dominican Republic said he had spotted the former ambassador strolling along a street in Rome in June.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

Vatican City’s First–Ever Arrest: Puts Ex-Dominican Ambassador Josef Wesolowski Under House Custody Over Pedophilia Charges

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | September 24, 2014

Vatican has done the unimaginable and impossible on Tuesday when it placed under house custody former Dominican Ambassador Josef Wesolowski over pedophilia charges. It was the

In a statement, the Vatican said Wesolowski was placed under house arrest pending a criminal trial. Pope Francis, according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, had personally instructed the case of Polish former archbishop be expedited.

Wesolowski was convicted of sex abuse by a church tribunal in June and defrocked pending further criminal proceedings.

It was “the result of the Pope’s express wish for a case this serious and sensitive to be dealt with without delay, with the necessary scrupulousness and full undertaking of responsibility on the part of the institutions which head up the Holy See,” Lombardi said.

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VATICAN CITY
Times of Malta

The Vatican has arrested a former archbishop accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic, the first-ever arrest inside the city state on charges of paedophilia.

Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June, has been placed under house awaiting a criminal trial, the Vatican said in a statement.

The 66-year-old Wesolowski is the most prominent church figure to be arrested since Paolo Gabriele, a former papal butler convicted in 2012 of stealing and leaking private papers of former Pope Benedict XVI.

Unlike Gabriele, Wesolowski has not been detained in the Vatican prison, a couple of rooms attached to a courthouse, but was granted house arrest in a Vatican apartment for medical reasons.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Aberdeen News

By Scott Waltman swaltman@aberdeennews.com

Bond was set at $15,000 Monday for a former Mobridge pastor who now lives in Denver and is charged in Walworth County with a felony count of sexual contact with a minor.

Timothy Thompson, 38, also waived his preliminary hearing, James Hare, Walworth County state’s attorney, said Tuesday. Thompson has not yet entered a plea. His next court appearance is set for 1 p.m. Oct. 14.

Thompson was a pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Mobridge from March 2008 through February 2013, when he moved to Colorado, Hare previously said. He said that, until Thompson’s arrest last month, he was an administrator at a parochial school in the Denver area.

The victim is now an adult, and the charge stems from an incident in 2008, according to court documents. Hare previously said a family member notified authorities, who then investigated and had Thompson arrested and extradited to Walworth County.

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CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 23, 2014

The press conference that introduced Bishop Blase Cupich to the Chicago archdiocese Saturday was broadcast live over Chicago airwaves and streamed live online.

Cupich, who will succeed Cardinal Francis George as archbishop of Chicago on Nov. 18, began a bit nervous but warmed up by the end of his 27-minute exchange with journalists.

Below are some of the highlights.

Cupich’s first comment was directed at the members of the media assembled for the press conference:

I want to say, first of all, thank you to all of you in the media for being here. I can imagine you treasure your time with your families on the weekends, so coming on Saturday is something you probably would avoid doing. I do appreciate your coming here today because your service allows me to be present to people throughout the archdiocese and allows me to communicate to them, so I welcome you and am very grateful.

He next addressed Latino Catholics of the archdiocese, speaking in Spanish for about two minutes. Then, in English, he said:

The Holy Father’s appointment of me to Chicago humbles but also encourages me. I am grateful to God for giving me this blessed opportunity to be his servant in this city and this great local church. As Pope Francis began his pastoral ministry in Rome by asking people to pray for him, so too, now, I bow my head in hopes that everyone in Chicago will pray for me in the days ahead.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Sean O’Sullivan, The News Journal September 23, 2014

Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday nominated Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Vaughn, 65, a Delaware native and son of the late Delaware Senator James T. Vaughn, was first named to the bench as a Kent County Superior Court judge in 1998.

If confirmed during a special session of the Senate next month, he will fill a vacancy left by Justice Carolyn Berger, who retired Sept. 1. …

In Dec. 2010, Vaughn presided over the civil case of John Vai against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington that ended with a jury awarding Vai $3 million in damages for sexual abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of a priest.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Robert Gavin

Albany

La Salle Institute officials are investigating allegations made by a former student who said he was repeatedly sexually abused by a teacher more than 20 years ago at the Catholic school in Troy.

On Tuesday, the school identified the teacher as Norman E. Rioux, a former Spanish teacher at the school.

Rioux, 82, 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.

Rioux, listed on the adjunct faculty of Norwich University in Vermont, could not be reached.

La Salle’s director of advancement, Karen Rappleyea, said the allegations made Monday by former student Michael Cioppa, now 39, were being reviewed.

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VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

The Vatican’s first criminal prosecution over the sexual abuse of children has seen an abusive former priest placed under house arrest.

The former Catholic Church ambassador, Josef Wesolowski, was recalled from his post as envoy to the Dominican Republic last year after local media accused him of pedophilia. In June, he was found guilty by a church disciplinary panel and deemed no longer fit to serve as a priest.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis had personally ordered swift action in his case.

Lombardi said the legal move was “the result of the pope’s express wish for a case this serious and sensitive to be dealt with without delay, with the necessary scrupulousness and full undertaking of responsibility on the part of the institutions which head up the Holy See.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Herald News

Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep. 23, 2014

I’ve heard that five buses full of friends and supporters of Fall River’s new Catholic bishop, Edgar M. da Cunha, will travel Wednesday to Fall River from da Cunha’s former diocese in Newark, N.J. to be on-hand for his installation Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.

The cathedral is expected to be packed for the 2 p.m. Mass, which will be televised on two national Catholic cable networks.

But not everyone around the cathedral is going to be celebrating for the new bishop.

Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., – a New Jersey-based nonprofit that advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse – will be distributing leaflets and demonstrating for what they say was da Cunah’s inaction regarding allegations of sexual abuse against a former priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, who is now reportedly in the Philippines.

According to a press release distributed Tuesday night, Road to Recovery “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.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Ruben Rosario
POSTED: 09/23/2014

The two men, the embattled archbishop and perhaps his harshest critic, briefly walked around Crocus Hill before settling on a bench near the Cathedral of St. Paul.

There were no lawyers. There were no handlers. It was just two men conversing on a bench.

Bob Schwiderski, who prefers to call himself a survivor, and not a victim, of clergy sexual abuse, did most of the talking at the Aug. 20 meeting. John Nienstedt, who heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, did most of the listening.

Schwiderski is a former altar boy from Hector, Minn. He was repeatedly molested in the early 1960s by a now long-deceased priest also suspected of victimizing others during his parish assignments in Hector, Green Valley and other locales decades ago. Schwiderski has over the years carved a niche as the state’s most outspoken crusader for survivors like himself.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Sep 23, 2014

Archbishop John Nienstedt has asked the music director of a parish in Victoria, Minn., to resign after learning that the man married his long-time male partner last weekend, according to a letter from the parish priest.

“Our beloved Director of Music, Jamie Moore, married his long-time partner Garrett this past weekend,” the Rev. Bob White, of St. Victoria Catholic Church, wrote in a letter to parishioners posted on the parish website this week. “Since Jamie’s marriage conflicts with official Church teaching, Archbishop Nienstedt asked for Jamie’s resignation.”

The letter said that Moore “has indicated that he intends to go along with the Archbishop’s request. Jamie will be sorely missed, and we wish him every happiness.”

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

In a written statement to MPR News, Nienstedt said he was “consulted about the employment matter and I responded by saying the teachings of the Church must be upheld, including the pastoral response of working with an employee whose actions are contrary to the Catholic faith.”

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UNITED STATES
Philly.com

POSTED: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

By Robin Washington

Growing up in a very Reform Jewish household, I was never completely comfortable at the prospect of being called to the pulpit for an honor at synagogue.

Until I attended Mass. Most every Sunday, for more than a year.

The reason wasn’t religious, but journalistic; as part of the Boston Herald’s “God Squad” a dozen years ago, covering the Catholic Church sexual-abuse scandal.

I was initially hesitant, not wanting to encroach on the sacred space of the then-archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, regardless of his misdeeds. But I soon became familiar with the liturgy, including parts that might yield news – such as when he failed to annunciate “the victims of clergy sexual abuse” among those for whom he offered intentions.

I established my own rhythm for the flow of the service, determining when appropriate to sit or stand (but never kneeling). One instance was comical: Law had just said something interesting before the Eucharistic Prayer and I hurriedly completed my notes while sitting, then jumped up. The press gallery, by that point used to following my lead, all rose with me.

And then there was the time when a TV reporter who shares my given name took the pew next to me. We were two Robins watching a cardinal.

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VATICAN CITY
The Local

A former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been placed under house arrest in the city state for what may be the first stage of criminal proceedings by the Holy See in a case of sexual abuse of children, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis had personally ordered swift action in the case of Polish former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was convicted of sex abuse by a Church tribunal in June and defrocked pending further criminal proceedings.

The 65-year-old had been living in a convent in Rome until the arrest, according to reports in the Italian media on Wednesday.

Lombardi said the legal move was “the result of the pope’s express wish for a case this serious and sensitive to be dealt with without delay, with the necessary scrupulousness and full undertaking of responsibility on the part of the institutions which head up the Holy See.”

If the case goes to trial, it will be the first for sex abuse within the tiny city state.

Wesolowski’s defrocking came six months after the UN children’s rights watchdog highlighted Wesolowski’s case as an example of the Vatican’s failure to take concrete actions to prove its commitment to stamp out the abuse of minors by priests.

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VATICAN CITY
RT

The Vatican has put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Josef Wesolowski, under house arrest ahead of a trial on pedophilia charges. It’s the first time in modern history a senior Vatican official has faced such a serious prosecution.

The Holy See, the Catholic Church jurisdiction in Rome, summoned the cleric last August, following reports that he allegedly sexually abused teenage boys in the Dominican Republic and paid them to masturbate in front of him.

For some time, Wesolowski lived freely in Rome, prompting victims of sexual abuse to voice concerns that he would escape justice, Reuters reported.

The government of the Dominican Republic started a criminal investigation, but did not press charges due to Wesolowski’s diplomatic immunity. Last month, though, a Santo Domingo court considered the possibility of charging him, as Vatican had defrocked him, thus canceling his immunity.

On Tuesday, the office of the Dominican Republic’s attorney general asked for more information from the Vatican on how it made the decision to put Wesolowski under house arrest and start a criminal trial against him before advancing further in the case, AP reported.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

24 September 2014 10:08 by Josef Pazderka, CNS

The Vatican has placed the laicised papal ambassador Jozef Wesolowski under house arrest as he awaits a criminal trial for sexually abusing young boys, Catholic News Service reports.

Holy See spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi released a statement on Tuesday regarding the case of the Polish former archbishop who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013. A Vatican prosecutor had summoned Wesolowski and informed him of the charges against him, Fr Lombardi said.

Because of the “gravity of the accusations” investigators decided to arrest the former ambassador, the spokesman said, but “in light of the medical condition of the accused, supported by medical documentation”, he was placed under house arrest in Vatican City. The Vatican announced in June that a canonical court had investigated Wesolowski on charges of sexual abuse in the Dominican Republic and concluded by dismissing him from the clerical state, depriving him of all rights and duties associated with being a priest except the obligation of celibacy. Wesolowski would face a criminal trial under the laws of Vatican City State, the Vatican said at the time.

Fr Lombardi said Vatican authorities had acted in accordance with the “will expressed by the Pope, that such a grave and delicate case might be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigour, with the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy See”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Natinal Secular Society

Posted: Wed, 24 Sep 2014

Pope’s former envoy under arrest over child abuse charges

Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the highest ranking Catholic to be investigated over child abuse, is now under house arrest at the Vatican pending a criminal trial following accusations of the sexual abuse of minors in the Dominican Republic (DR). It would be the first such trial, with the Pope keen to be seen to be treating child abuse with vigour.

Wesolowski was secretly recalled earlier this year from the DR where he was the Papal Nuncio following widely publicised accusations of him having sexually abused boys. He underwent a canonical, as opposed to criminal, trial at the Vatican which concluded he should be defrocked. Nevertheless the well-connected Wesolowski, ordained both as a priest and a bishop by St. John Paul II, was seen in June walking freely in a street in Rome. An international arrest warrant has reportedly been issued for a fellow Polish cleric thought to have been assisting him in the DR with the procurement of minors.

His case is a huge embarrassment to Vatican at the highest levels as a papal representative accused of having actively participated in child abuse.

The National Secular Society drew Wesolowski’s case to the attention of the Children’s and Torture Committees at the United Nations, who later raised it with the Holy See. A recent article in the New York Times featured graphic details of the accusations against Wesolowski, including of the boys being bribed, one even with medicine for his epilepsy. The evidence appeared uncharacteristically to unnerve the Vatican and appeared to prompt an almost immediate statement that diplomatic immunity was no longer claimed, so Wesolowski might also face trials elsewhere.

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A support group for victims of clergy sex abuse has been given the opportunity to heal through a meeting with the archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

About 25 people, including victims and family members, attended the gathering at a Wayzata library on Saturday. Archbishop John Nienstedt listened to the victims’ stories and gained perspective on the impact of abuse, the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1ofKav5 ) reported.

“I really didn’t think he’d be there until he actually showed up,” said 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.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Chris Johnston and agencies
The Guardian, Tuesday 23 September 2014

A former Vatican ambassador has been placed under house arrest and will face a criminal trial on child sex charges, the Holy See said on Tuesday night.

The action against Józef Wesołowski, 66, is the first time that the Vatican has charged a high-ranking official with paedophilia. If found guilty he could face up to 12 years in prison.

The Polish-born cleric was recalled from the Dominican Republic in August 2013 after the archbishop of Santo Domingo told Pope Francis about rumours that Wesołowski had sexually abused teenage boys in the Caribbean country. Prosecutors there say he allegedly paid boys as young as 13 to masturbate.

In June a Vatican tribunal found Wesołowski guilty of abuse and imposed its toughest penalty under church law: laicisation, or returning to life as a layman.

Being defrocked meant that he lost his diplomatic immunity and the Dominican Republic has opened an investigation into accusations that he paid boys to perform sexual acts.

The Vatican had been criticised for protecting Wesołowski from legal action by the Dominican authorities by recalling him last year.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WUWM

By MARGE PITROF

The two sides started talking Monday in Minnesota, in their second attempt to settle the bankruptcy case.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, stating that it did not have the money to pay all the claims against it. Hundreds of people had sued, claiming they were sexually assaulted as children, by clergy and other church employees.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, attorneys for the archdiocese and victims have been attempting to mediate a financial settlement, but the talks ended unsuccessfully Tuesday afternoon.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPVI

Three people will be charged in an attack on a gay couple in Center City Philadelphia.

The accused are Philip Williams, 24, Kevin Harrigan, 26, and Katherine Knott, 24, all of Bucks County, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

Arrest warrants have been approved for the three suspects. The suspects are expected to surrender at some point on Wednesday.

Each will be charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and criminal conspiracy.

However, as previously reported, the suspects cannot be charged with a hate crime under Pennsylvania law. Earlier Tuesday, gay rights supporters turned out in force in Harrisburg to push for a major change in Pennsylvania’s hate crime law. …

Also last week, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia released a statement acknowledging that several former students of the Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, many 2007 graduates, are suspected in the attack.

One of the persons of interest questioned was an assistant basketball coach at Archbishop Wood High School. He resigned because of his alleged involvement, but he is not one of the three involved in teh crime.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The mediation between the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee and its creditors — aimed at bringing an end to its nearly 4-year-old bankruptcy — has concluded with no agreement on how to compensate the church’s victims of childhood sexual abuse, the archdiocese said Tuesday.

The failure of the talks means the parties will return to federal court for a new round of what surely will be costly battles in a case where legal fees have already topped $13 million. It is the third time since 2010 that the church and abuse victims have emerged from mediation without an agreement.

The bankruptcy will hinge in large part now on a pending decision by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a related lawsuit over $60 million the archdiocese holds in a special trust for the maintenance of its cemeteries.

Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests voiced disappointment in the development.

“Survivors right now are really worn down. At this point, they’re struggling,” said Isely, one of the 575 men and women who filed claims in the bankruptcy alleging they were molested by clergy and others related to the church as children.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee says mediation in its bankruptcy case has ended without a deal with sexual abuse victims and others owed money.

A second round of talks started Monday in Minnesota. Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said in an email Tuesday afternoon that it had ended without an agreement.

Attorneys for the archdiocese, victims of clergy sexual abuse and others involved in the case started mediation earlier this month to try to end the long-running case.

A court order prevents Topczewski and others involved from discussing details of the process or why it failed.

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VATICAAN
RD (Nederland)

Jozef Wesolowski, de vroegere nuntius (ambassadeur) van het Vaticaan in de Dominicaanse Republiek, is dinsdag in Vaticaanstad gearresteerd. Dat heeft het Vaticaan bekendgemaakt. De Pool Wesolowski wordt ervan beschuldigd dat hij tegen betaling kinderen heeft misbruikt terwijl hij in het Carabische land diende. Hij werd in juni uit het priesterambt gezet.

De 66-jarige Wesolowski, die sinds 2000 de titel aartsbisschop had, staat nu onder huisarrest. Wanneer het proces tegen hem plaatsheeft, is nog niet duidelijk. Wesolowski was sinds 2008 nuntius in de Dominicaanse Republiek. Daarvoor vertegenwoordigde hij het Vaticaan in onder meer Bolivia, Kazachstan en Kirgizië.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News (Australia)

The Vatican has arrested a former archbishop accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic, the first-ever arrest inside the city state on charges of paedophilia.

Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June, was placed under house awaiting a criminal trial, the Vatican said in a statement.

Wesolowski was granted house arrest in a Vatican apartment for medical reasons, rather than detained in the Vatican prison, a couple of rooms attached to a courthouse.

The 66-year-old was the most prominent church figure to be arrested since Paolo Gabriele, a former papal butler convicted in 2012 of stealing and leaking private papers of former Pope Benedict XVI.

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TEXAS
KXAN

By Patrick Tolbert

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Williamson County teen convicted of super aggravated sexual assault of a child will not be granted a new trial. A judge denied Kelley’s motion that asked for a new trial Tuesday.

Judge Larry Gist of Beaumont, who was appointed by Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, issued the ruling and canceled a Sept. 29 hearing that was scheduled on the matter.

Gist writes that Kelley’s attorney’s motion for a new trial “does not show actual innocence of the defendant but only alleges facts that might show innocence. Again, there is now showing why such evidence was not produced at trial.”

Kelley was convicted of sexually assaulting a child at an in-home day care where he was living and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.

An outpouring of support that one police chief called “cult like” followed his sentencing. Several rallies were held outside the Williamson County jail where he was being held until he was transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Sep. 23, 2014 NCR Today

The mediation between the Milwaukee archdiocese and its creditors, most of them survivors of sexual abuse, ended Tuesday without a resolution.

The bankruptcy proceedings were placed on hold pending a decision by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals related to nearly $60 million that was transferred to a trust fund shortly before the bankruptcy action was filed nearly four years ago.

Archdiocesan officials said the money was always intended for the perpetual upkeep of nine cemeteries but survivors and others said it was done to shelter archdiocesan funds from claims filed in the bankruptcy.

The archdiocese confirmed that the mediation held over the course of four days this month had not resulted in an agreement.

“We will continue to evaluate the plan of reorganization to see if adjustments can be made addressing the concerns raised about the plan and we will rely upon the courts for decisions to keep the Chapter 11 proceeding moving forward,” Jerry Topszewski, a spokesman for the archdiocese, wrote in an email to NCR.

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VATICAN CITY
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation

The Vatican has placed its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, under house arrest on charges of sexually abusing children.

The former archbishop was defrocked in June after a Church tribunal found him guilty of abusing Dominican boys. He will now be tried by a criminal court, becoming the highest official to face abuse charges in the Vatican.

Wesolowski, who is originally from Poland, served as a papal envoy to the Dominican Republic for five years

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | September 23, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis had ordered the arrest of a former Polish archbishop accused of child sex abuse in the Dominican Republic because the case was “so serious,” the Vatican said Tuesday (Sept. 23).

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is pictured during a 2011 ceremony in Santo Domingo. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the archbishop guilty of sexual abuse of minors and has ordered that he be laicized.
Show caption

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is pictured during a 2011 ceremony in Santo Domingo. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the archbishop guilty of sexual abuse of minors and has ordered that he be laicized. RNS photo by Orlando Barria/CNS
This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

Jozef Wesolowski, who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal earlier this year, is under house arrest inside Vatican City due to the “express desire” of Pope Francis, the Vatican said in a statement.

“The seriousness of the allegations has prompted the official investigation to impose a restrictive measure that … consists of house arrest, with its related limitations, in a location within the Vatican City State,” the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Maria Khan
September 23, 2014

In the first-ever arrest of its kind inside the Vatican, a former archbishop accused of paying for sex with children, while he was serving as a Vatican ambassador in the Dominican Republic was arrested on Tuesday.

A statement issued by the Vatican said that Jozef Wesolowski has been placed under house arrest awaiting a criminal trial.

The arrest comes after Pope Francis insisted, “that such a grave and delicate case has to be handled without delay, with the just and necessary rigour.”

Wesolowski was earlier detained in the Vatican prison but later granted house arrest in a Vatican apartment for medical reasons.

Wesolowski, 66, was recalled to Rome last year and defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June after Dominican media pressed paedophilia charges on him while he was serving as a diplomat in Santo Domingo.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Examiner

The Vatican has put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic under house arrest after opening a criminal child sex trial against him.

It marks the first time a high-ranking Vatican official has faced criminal charges of sexually abusing youngsters.

Josef Wesolowski had already been defrocked in June after the Vatican’s canon law court found him guilty of abuse and imposed its toughest penalty under church law, laicisation – returning to life as a layman.

But today, the Vatican City State’s separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case and ordered him placed under house arrest.

A Vatican statement said Wesolwski presented medical documentation detailing health concerns that presumably prevented a more restrictive type of detention. The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks, but no long-term facilities.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Caracol Radio (Colombia)

El exnuncio apostólico en República Dominicana, Jozef Wesolowski, se encuentra bajo arresto domiciliario en la ciudad del Vaticano, informaron este martes fuentes oficiales.

Wesolowski ha sido acusado de abuso sexual de menores durante su misión en el país caribeño y ya había sido retirado de su labor como sacerdote por un tribunal vaticano a principios de este año.

El sacerdote polaco de 66 años huyó de República Dominicana cuando se inició una investigación por el pago a menores de edad para sostener relaciones sexuales.

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VATICAN CITY
The Christian Times

Sarah Adams
23 SEPTEMBER, 2014

The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been placed under house arrest as the church’s investigative arm follows up on reports of sexual abuse from June.

Former Archbishop and Vatican Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski was already defrocked from his religious authority back in June after the church found him guilty of abusing young boys in the country. He is now being investigated by the Vatican’s criminal court and has been placed on house arrest as the investigation carries out.

According to the Associated Press, Wesolowski reportedly presented medical documentation that proved he was not well enough to be under arrest at a Vatican facility, and therefore he was allowed o remain at home.

A spokesperson for the Vatican previously said that Pope Francis hopes “that such a grave and delicate case be handled without delay, with the just and necessary rigour.”

Francis has also said that such acts that exploit minors are comparable to a “satanic mass” in the church.

The pope has pledged a crackdown on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Earlier this year, a Vatican delegation met with the United Nations to outline ways the Holy See would seek to curb and end sexual exploitation in its religious organization.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Editor

(CNN) – The Vatican announced on Tuesday that it has placed a former ambassador under house arrest while he faces charges for “serious acts of abuse of minors” while he was the Pope’s official representative in the Dominican Republican.

Jozef Wesolowski, who was defrocked by the Vatican in June, is one of the highest-ranking church officials to be accused of abusing children during the Catholic Church’s widespread and costly sexual abuse scandal.

It is the first time a top Vatican ambassador has faced such charges and represents a major test for Pope Francis, who has been accused by some victims’ groups of downplaying the sexual abuse scandal.

Wesolowksi’s arrest, the Vatican said Tuesday, “is a result of the express desire of the Pope, so that a case so serious and delicate would be addressed without delay.”

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FLORIDA
JRN

By Andrew Murphy.

VENICE, Fla – Major developments out of Sarasota County, FOX 4 has learned the Diocese of Venice is being sued for $5 million over a case of sexual abuse.

The suit, which was filed Tuesday morning, involves former diocese volunteer Robert Little, who was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy last year.

Little worked at Saint Francis Xavier church in Fort Myers and lived in a church-owned property when the abuse happened.

He accepted a plea deal, and will serve just under a year in jail, followed by 10 years of probation.

4 In Your Corner reporter Gabrielle Sarann will have all the latest information in our newscasts tonight.

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FLORIDA
ABC 7

The Diocese of Venice is being sued for $5 million over a case of sexual abuse.

The suit filed Tuesday morning is related to former diocese volunteer Robert Little, 74, who was convicted of molesting a mentally disabled 13-year-old boy last year.

Little worked at St. Francis Xavier Church and lived in a church-owned property when the abuse happened.

The Diocese of Venice in Florida noted in a statement released Tuesday that: “The incident did not take place on the property of St. Francis Xavier Parish or that of the Diocese of Venice.”

The suit claims the church knew of Robert Little’s past abuse allegations and covered them up, which the Diocese of Venice in Florida denies.

“At no time either prior to or since the arrest of Mr. Robert Little did the Diocese of Venice or the Parish receive any complaint of an assault by Mr. Little as alleged in the complaint. This is despite a public request by the Diocese of Venice and the Parish for anyone to come forward to report incidents of abuse to law enforcement and the Department of Children and Families,” said the Diocese in its statement Tuesday.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

AFP

A former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been placed under house arrest in the first case of criminal proceedings by the Holy See over the sexual abuse of children, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis had personally ordered swift action in the case of Polish former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was convicted of sex abuse by a Church tribunal in June and defrocked pending further criminal proceedings.

Lombardi said the legal move was “the result of the pope’s express wish for a case this serious and sensitive to be dealt with without delay, with the necessary scrupulousness and full undertaking of responsibility on the part of the institutions which head up the Holy See.”

Italian news agency ANSA said Wesolowski was being held under house arrest in an apartment within the same building as the criminal court.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

The Rev. Augusto Cortez sought after being accused of molesting Hampton Bays girl, officials say

September 23, 2014

By ANDREW SMITH andrew.smith@newsday.com

Law enforcement officials are trying to find a Catholic priest — on probation for groping a Brooklyn girl — who disappeared after a Hampton Bays family accused him of molesting a 7-year-old girl.

The family, which had befriended the Rev. Augusto Cortez, 50, wants to know why he was allowed to act as a priest even though his order promised a Brooklyn court he wouldn’t after he was put on probation for molesting a 12-year-old girl there in 2008.

To the family’s horror, their decade-long relationship with Cortez ended in June when they say they found he had molested their 7-year-old daughter during a high school graduation party for their older daughter, and may have given the younger girl a sexually transmitted disease.

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VATICAN CITY
USA Today

Michael Winter, USA TODAY September 23, 2014

A defrocked Catholic archbishop accused of molesting boys in the Dominican Republic has been arrested and will be prosecuted for sexual abuse, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

Jozef Wesolowski, who served as archbishop in the Caribbean nation until being recalled in August 2013, will be under house arrest in Vatican City rather than be held in a small jail cell because of unspecified health issues, the Vatican said. He will be tried under the laws of the Vatican City State and, if convicted, could face time in an Italian prison.

In June, a church tribunal convicted the native of Poland of sex abuse and stripped him of his church powers and priestly duties. He is the first top papal representative to face the harshest sentence under church law, known as laicization.

The Vatican said it acted because of the “gravity of the accusations” and with the “will expressed by” Pope Francis that “such a grave and delicate case might be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigor, with the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

[with video]

A former Catholic archbishop has been arrested as part of a paedophile investigation.

Jozef Wesolowski is accused of paying for sex with children while serving as The Holy See’s ambassador in the Dominican Republic, according to a Vatican spokesman.

The arrest reflects the wishes of Pope Francis, who earlier this year compared child abuse to a “satanic mass”.

The pope requested “that such a grave and delicate case be handled without delay, with the just and necessary rigour,” according to the Vatican.

Wesolowski, a Polish national, is currently under house arrest inside the city state.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News – September 23, 2014

Vatican police have arrested Josef Wesolowski, the former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, who will now face criminal charges for sexual abuse.

Then-Archbishop Wesolowski was recalled from his post in the Dominican Republic in August 2013, after the Vatican was presented with evidence that he had molested young boys. In June of this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) found him guilty of sexual abuse and he was stripped of his clerical status. Shortly thereafter, the Vatican announced that Wesolowski would be liable to criminal prosecution, which would begin after a Vatican tribunal heard his appeal of the canonical sentence imposed by the CDF.

The case of the disgraced archbishop had been watched closely, as an indication of the rigor with which the Vatican under Pope Francis would prosecute a ranking prelate. That question was answered when, following his canonical appeal, the Vatican’s criminal tribunal opened a hearing on criminal charges and ordered his arrest.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican has placed a laicized papal ambassador under house arrest as he awaits a criminal trial for sexually abusing young boys.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement Sept. 23 regarding the case of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.

The Vatican announced in June that a canonical court had investigated Wesolowski on charges of sex abuse in the Dominican Republic and concluded by dismissing him from the clerical state, depriving him of all rights and duties associated with being a priest except the obligation of celibacy. Wesolowski would face a criminal trial under the laws of Vatican City State, the Vatican said at the time.

On Sept. 23, Father Lombardi said, a Vatican prosecutor summoned Wesolowski and informed him of the charges against him.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Associated Press
September 23, 2014

The Vatican put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic under house arrest Tuesday after opening a criminal trial against him, the first time a high-ranking Vatican official has ever faced criminal charges for sexually abusing youngsters.

Josef Wesolowski had already been defrocked in June after the Vatican’s canon law court found him guilty of abuse and imposed its toughest penalty under church law: laicization, or returning to life as a layman.

On Tuesday, the Vatican City State’s separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case and ordered him placed under house arrest.

A Vatican statement said Wesolwski presented medical documentation detailing health concerns that presumably prevented a more restrictive type of detention. The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks, but no long-term facilities. …

Read the Statement of the Director of the Holy See Press Office regarding the penal proceedings involving former nuncio Josef Wesolwoski:

Today, the Promoter of Justice of the Court of First Instance of the Vatican City State summoned the former nuncio J. Wesolowski, on whom he had conducted a criminal investigation. The prelate – already judged in the first instance by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced to the lay state at the end of canonical administrative penal process – was notified of the indictment of the criminal proceedings against him for serious acts of abuse of minors in the Dominican Republic.

The seriousness of the allegations has prompted the official investigation to impose a restrictive measure that, in light of the accused’s health condition, as evidenced by medical documentation, consists of house arrest, with its related limitations, in a location within the Vatican City State.

The initiative taken by the judicial departments of Vatican City State is a result of the express desire of the Pope, so that a case so serious and delicate would be addressed without delay, with just and necessary rigor, and with full assumption of responsibility on the part of the institutions that are governed by the Holy See.

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NEW YORK
News 12

Officials say a 6-year-old girl has been allegedly molested by a Catholic priest who is already on probation for a similar crime.

The girl says she was sexually abused more times than she can remember by 50-year-old Augusto Cortez.

The girl has also reportedly been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease.

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WATYKAN
Newsweek

Potwierdzają się ustalenia “Newsweeka”. Rzecznik Stolicy Apostolskiej ksiądz Federico Lombardi poinformował, że abp Wesołowski przebywa w areszcie domowym w Watykanie.

Abp Wesołowski w areszcie domowym

Rzecznik dodał, że postanowienie o areszcie domowym wydano biorąc pod uwagę stan zdrowia byłego watykańskiego dyplomaty. To zaś oznacza, że odstąpiono od umieszczenia go w celi za Spiżową Bramą.

Ksiądz Federico Lombardi poinformował, że we wtorek abp Wesołowski został wezwany przez promotora sprawiedliwości, czyli prokuratora w trybunale Państwa Watykańskiego, gdzie wszczęto postępowanie karne wobec niego.

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WATYKAN
Dziennik

Były arcybiskup Józef Wesołowski trafił do aresztu domowego – poinformował rzecznik stolicy apostolskiej Federico Lombardi. Były nuncjusz apostolski na Dominikanie jest podejrzewany o udział w aferze pedofilskiej w tym kraju.

Lombardi poinformował, że decyzja została podjęta przez organy sądowe Państwa Watykańskiego. Dodał, że wynika ona z wyraźnej woli papieża, aby w przypadku tak poważnych i delikatnych spraw, sąd watykański zajmował się nimi niezwłocznie. Rzecznik stolicy apostolskiej dodał, że Wesołowski trafił do aresztu domowego ze względu na stan zdrowia.

Nuncjusz Wesołowski miał dopuścić się nadużyć seksualnych wobec nieletnich na Dominkanie. Watykan podjął już wobec niego kroki wynikające z kodeksu kanonicznego. Stracił immunitet dyplomatyczny oraz został wykluczony z kapłaństwa.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
La Repubblica

ROMA – L’ex nunzio Jozef Wesolowski, 66 anni, sotto inchiesta per pedofilia, è stato arrestato oggi in Vaticano. L’arresto, reso noto dal Tg de La 7, è stato realizzato secondo le indicazioni di Papa Francesco, ha dichiarato padre Federico Lombardi: “L’iniziativa assunta dagli organi giudiziari dello Stato è conseguente alla volontà espressa del Papa, affinché un caso così grave e delicato venga affrontato senza ritardi, con il giusto e necessario rigore, con assunzione piena di responsabilità da parte delle istituzioni che fanno capo alla Santa Sede”.

Mons. Wesolowski, che ha già avuto una condanna canonica di primo grado che lo ha visto ridotto allo stato laicale dall’ex Sant’Uffizio per abusi sessuali su minori, è stato arrestato questo pomeriggio intorno alle 17.

Le accuse. Jozef Wesolowski, confermano fonti Oltretevere, è stato arrestato dagli agenti della Gendarmeria vaticana su ordine del promotore di giusitizia che lo accusa di reati di pedofilia quando era nunzio della Repubblica Dominicana tra il 2008 e il 2013. Wesolowski avrebbe adescato alcuni ragazzini su una spiaggia di Santo Domingo pagandoli per fare sesso. Un diacono, suo ex collaboratore, ha riferito di avergli procurato giovani per rapporti sessuali. Anche altri quattro testimoni hanno puntanto il dito contro il monsignore, indagato, oltre che Santo Domingo, anche in Polonia dove, in base ad accordi internazionali, Varsavia persegue i suoi cittadini anche per reati commessi all’estero.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Vatican claims “house arrest” for defrocked archbishop

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 23, 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 )

Vatican officials in Rome claim they have put an accused child molesting ex-archbishop on house arrest. We’re skeptical.

Josef Wesolowski faces allegations of child sexual abuse in the Dominican Republic. 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.

[Yahoo! News]

[La Repubblica]

Catholic officials – in Rome, Poland and the Dominican Repubic – should actively seek out others who were hurt by Wesolowski and help police and prosecutors convict Deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes, who procured boys for the then-archbishop, by making announcements about both clerics in parishes, urging those who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes to come forward, get help and call police.

We applaud the courage of the Dominican boys who were sexually violated by this now-defrocked archbishop who Vatican officials are still protecting from secular prosecution.

Pope Francis claims ”There are no privileges. . .for priests and bishops who have violated children.” While we are glad Wesolowski has allegedly been restricted, we are concerned it took so long for this to happen and doubt strongly that Catholic officials will enforce this move.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

El Vaticano colocó bajo arresto domiciliario al ex embajador en República Dominicana Josef Wesolowski, ante acusaciones de que el abusó de menores en el país caribeño, informó la Santa Sede el martes.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Gaceta

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO.- El ex nuncio apostólico en República Dominicana Jozef Wesolowski se encuentra bajo arresto domiciliario en la ciudad del Vaticano, informaron hoy fuentes oficiales.

Wesolowski fue acusado de abuso sexual de menores durante su misión en el país caribeño y ya había sido retirado de su labor como sacerdote por un tribunal vaticano a principios de este año.

Este es el primer arresto de un alto jerarca de la iglesia en el interior del Vaticano.

El sacerdote polaco de 66 años huyó de República Dominicana cuando se inició una investigación por el pago a menores de edad para sostener relaciones sexuales.

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VATICAN CITY
Dominican Today

Vatican City.- Former Vatican envoy Jozef Wesolowski, charged with sexually abusing boys in the Dominican Republic, has been placed under house arrest on Pope Francis’ instructions, for the “so serious and delicate” case to be addressed without delay.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi made the announcement in a statement Tuesday, which stressed that the measure comes after the defendant was notified of the list of offences of which he’s accused of in the criminal proceeding for the alleged “serious acts of abuse to minors in the Dominican Republic.”

Wesolowski, 66, is accused of abusing minors during his stay in the Dominican Republic, where he was the Vatican envoy.

Another similar case is that of the also Polish-born Catholic priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto), who’s under house arrest in his country on charges of abusing minors in his country, and in the Dominican Republic highland town of Juncalito.

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FLORIDA
WINK

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Diocese of Venice is facing a $5 million lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims the Diocese and St. Francis Xavier Church were aware a volunteer had molested a child in 2011 and 2013 but did nothing about it.

Robert Little was arrested back in January for the 2013 allegations.

He pled guilty to child molestation charges and will serve a year in jail and 10 years on sex offender probation.

The victim’s mother believes the church and Diocese should also be held responsible.

The victim’s attorney Adam Horowitz said, “We do take issue with the Catholic Church and Diocese of Venice because upon receiving the first complaint they should have taken action to prevent Little from having access to kids.”

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 23, 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 )

Child sexual abuse allegations against a Michigan priest have been deemed credible by church officials. We are glad they have come to this conclusion and hope they do more than just the bare minimum to ensure the safety of children.

We are also grateful to the brave victims who came forward and reported their abuse. Their actions will help protect other children.

Father James Menapace was reported to have sexually abused boys in the late 1990s in the Diocese of Marquette.

Often times church officials do the bare minimum after allegations are found credible. But church officials train, ordain, hire, and transfer priests; they have an obligation to prevent them from hurting more children even after they are suspended.

Bishop John F. Doerfler should immediately move Fr. Menapace to a remote and secure treatment facility so that he cannot harm any more children. He should tell parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public where Fr. Menapace is now. He should disclose when the abuse report was made. (We fear it’s taken weeks or months for Doerfler to act.) And he should disclose whether other accusations against Fr. Menapace have been made in the past.

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FLORIDA
News-Press

[with video]

Mary Wozniak, mwozniak@news-press.com August 19, 2014

The Diocese of Venice will pay six figures to settle a sex abuse case involving a now-defrocked priest and man who was abused at age 16, the man’s attorney announced Tuesday.

The accuser, now 37, came forward with his claim in 2008. In response, the priest, the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Fort Myers, held a 2009 news conference declaring his innocence and naming the victim.

A confidential document, leaked by a priest to the accuser’s father this year, details a subsequent 4.5-year investigation and 2013 diocesan trial in which Joseph was found guilty, and dismissed, said attorney Adam Horowitz. If not for the priest’s action, “it would never see the light of day,” he said.

His client knew none of this until his father received the document, Horowitz said in a news conference releasing the document and announcing the settlement. He declined to name a more specific settlement figure.

“This is a case in which the priest held a press conference to call his victim a liar,” Horowitz said. Instead, the diocesan trial found the accuser to be credible, he said.

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

The Vatican has said it has arrested a former archbishop who is accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

Jozef Wesolowski, originally from Poland, is under house arrest inside the city state, the Vatican said in a statement.

He was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal earlier this year and is awaiting trial on criminal charges.

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VATICAN CITY
Newser

By NICOLE WINFIELD | ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic under house arrest Tuesday after opening a criminal trial against him, the first time a high-ranking Vatican official has ever faced criminal charges for sexually abusing youngsters.

Josef Wesolowski had already been defrocked in June after the Vatican’s canon law court found him guilty of abuse and imposed its toughest penalty under church law: laicization, or returning to life as a layman.

On Tuesday, the Vatican City State’s separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case and ordered him placed under house arrest.

A Vatican statement said Wesolwski presented medical documentation detailing health concerns that presumably prevented a more restrictive type of detention. The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks, but no long-term facilities.

The Holy See recalled the Polish-born Wesolowski in August, 2013 after the archbishop of Santo Domingo told Pope Francis about rumors that Wesolowski had sexually abused teenage boys in the Caribbean country. Prosecutors there say he allegedly paid boys to masturbate.

Dominican authorities opened an investigation, but declined initially to press charges since the Vatican had said Wesolowski enjoyed diplomatic immunity. Polish prosecutors as well opened an investigation.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

(Reuters) – The Vatican said on Tuesday it had arrested a former archbishop who is accused of paying for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole, is under house arrest inside the city state, the Vatican said in a statement.

Wesolowski was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal earlier this year and is awaiting trial on criminal charges.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says it has put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic under house arrest following allegations he sexually abused young boys in the Caribbean country.

Josef Wesolowski has already been defrocked after the Vatican’s canon law court found him guilty in June and imposed its toughest penalty: laicization, or returning to life as a layman. On Tuesday, the Vatican’s separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case and ordered him placed under house arrest.

A Vatican statement said Wesolwski presented medical documentation detailing health concerns that prevented a more restrictive type of detention. The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Stephanie Yeagle | Sep. 23, 2014

Former altar boy Jon David Couzens filed a sexual abuse lawsuit in 2011 against the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, in which he alleges that the diocese “intentionally failed to supervise a priest who repeatedly abused Couzens three decades ago,” according to The Kansas City Star.

Couzens alleges that Msgr. Thomas J. O’Brien, now deceased, “sexually abused Couzens and three other youths in the early 1980s when they were altar boys at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Independence,” the Star reported.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind to go to trial before a jury in the Kansas City area. It will be held before Jackson County Circuit Judge Jim Kanatzar in Independence, Mo., and is expected to last 10 days. Jury selection starts Thursday with opening statements slated for the following Monday.

The diocese’s potential witness list includes eight priests and two nuns. Couzens’ witnesses include Bishop Robert Finn and seven other priests.

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MICHIGAN
Sault Ste. Marie Evening News

BRIMLEY — Officials of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette have deemed credible allegations of sexual abuse of male minors against Father James Menapace.

The reported incidents occurred in the late 1990s after Father Menapace had retired from active ministry.

After consultation with the Diocesan Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop John Doerfler determined that a public announcement of the allegations should be made.

Father Menapace has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The diocesan attorney has reported the allegations to the appropriate civil authorities.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD Radio

A former Grandville youth pastor could face 15 years in prison if convicted for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, officials said Tuesday.

Former pastor Jeremiah Behrens exploited his position at the Grandville Baptist Church to commit sexual acts on a teenager, officials revealed.

Behrens was arraigned following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior with a minor. He could face up to 15 years if convicted on charges of second- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Tunison | jtunison@mlive.com
on September 23, 2014

UPDATE: Grandville youth pastor allegedly touched teen parishioner’s breasts: court records

GRANDVILLE, MI — A former youth pastor at Grandville Baptist Church is accused of sexually assaulting a teen.

Jeremiah Levi Behrens, 34, is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Grandville police say the charges involve a teen victim, between 13 and 15 years old.

It’s not immediately clear if the victim is a church member, but detectives say the charges relate to his position of authority at the church, 4325 40th St. SW.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

GRANDVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Grandville youth pastor was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a teen girl.

Police say Jeremiah Behrens used his authority as a youth pastor at Grandville Baptist Church, 4325 40th Street SW, to have an inappropriate relationship with the teen girl, between the ages of 13 and 16.

According to court documents, the pastor inappropriately touched the teen who was part of the church youth program.

Behrens was arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct because of his position of authority and the teen’s age, according to court records. He posted bond and was released from custody.

Behrens could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 23, 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)

The Diocese of Venice is being sued for allegedly covering up child sexual abuse. We are grateful to the victim for having the courage to hold his perpetrator and those who covered it up accountable.

Robert Little was a church volunteer at St. Francis Xavier Church when he abused a 13 year old boy. And last year he was convicted for it.

According to the lawsuit, church officials were told about other allegations of abuse committed by Little, but covered it up. That irresponsible behavior led to other children being abused. We urge Bishop Frank Dewane to reach out to others who may have been hurt by Little.

We hope this lawsuit encourages other who were hurt to come forward, report what they know, and start healing.

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OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By John Caniglia, The Plain Dealer
on September 23, 2014

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A judge Tuesday ordered a former pastor at St. Helena Church on Cleveland’s West Side to begin paying back more than $280,000 in restitution to the church.

If the Rev. Andre Matthews doesn’t, he will remain in prison for another year, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle said.

The judge’s office scheduled a hearing Oct. 23 in which McMonagle will decide Matthews’ status. The former pastor has been in prison since Nov. 5, when McMonagle sentenced him to two years for fleecing the church and parishioners, a move that allowed Matthews to pay credit card bills and buy cars, as well as pay college tuition for his children.

Authorities said he stole $176,000 from the church and $106,000 from 89-year-old Aurelia Papp, who sat in her wheelchair in the back of McMonagle’s courtroom and watched the proceedings. She did not wish to comment after the hearing.

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FLORIDA
News-Press

Another sex abuse charge and $5 million lawsuit has been filed against the Diocese of Venice, this time involving a 13-year old boy who was abused in 2013 by a former Eucharistic Minister at St. Francis Xavier Church in Fort Myers.

The boy, who is now 14 years old and developmentally disabled, was abused several times by Robert Little, a former lay minister at the parish, according to the lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court Monday by Attorney Adam Horowitz.

Little pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of the boy in July 2014 and is now a registered sex offender in Florida, the lawsuit says.

“The reason we filed the lawsuit is that we became aware that there was a prior complaint against the same minister (Little),” Horowitz said. “Our investigation revealed the Diocese of Venice failed to take action.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 24, 2014

Joanne McCarthy

A blind Vietnamese orphan who was five when she came to Australia, 11 when she was sexually abused by a Catholic nun and 35 when she received $15,000 in compensation for her “personal trauma” has spoken out for the 10 per cent of people reporting female perpetrators to the child sexual abuse royal commission.

“I want people to know a small percentage of women are just as capable of abusing power as men are,” said Emma Pham, who was sexually abused by Dominican nun Sister Kay Fennell at the St Lucy’s School for the Visually Impaired at Wahroonga in 1979.

“She knew she could do what she did to me, so she did, and that’s the worst of it because I was so vulnerable, and so alone.”

Ms Pham came to Australia in 1972 from a Vietnamese orphanage after Catholic nuns organised a passport. Her guardian, a nun, enrolled her at St Lucy’s in 1973.

Another St Lucy’s student and a former Maitland-Newcastle diocese employee, Catherine Mahony, remembers Ms Pham’s vulnerability as the child with “nowhere to go for holidays and weekends, and no family”

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 23, 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 New York priest, who has been on probation since 2008 for child sex crimes, has struck again. He’s allegedly been caught abusing a six year old girl, who now has a sexually transmitted disease. Our hearts ache for this innocent girl who might never have been hurt had church officials acted responsibly.

Fr. Augusto Cortez, who is a member of the Vincentian religious order from Brooklyn, abused a 12 year old child in 2008. Vincentian officials should have immediately removed him to a remote and secure treatment facility so that he could not harm another child. Instead they allegedly wrote letters on Cortez’s behalf. It is deeply upsetting, although not surprising, that Cortex has abused another child, by exploiting the trust of an unsuspecting family.

According to news reports, after being arrested Cortez was released and has now disappeared.

We urge everyone to remain vigilant. Vincentian officials should immediately reach out to everyone who may have come in contact with Cortez and beg them to come forward and report what they know. They should use their websites, mailing lists, and bulletin boards to warn people about him.

Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas Dimarzio should do the same. The Vincentians work in his diocese with his permission. He is responsible for the safety and well being of his flock. He must aggressively try to find others with knowledge or suspicions about Cortez’ crimes.

We encourage anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered child sex crimes by Cortez, or any other church official, to immediately come forward, report what you know, and start healing.

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Tzedek-Tzedek

While many of us struggle with understanding why any adult would sexually abuse a child, we also struggle with understanding why any other adults would want to cover up such a heinous crime.

The cover-up phenomenon is pandemic.

To cite a few high profile examples over the past couple of years:

Jimmy Savile, UK pop culture hero and saintly charity worker – who reportedly raised UKP 30m for charity. His abuses of children only became public after his death. Hundreds of victims have since come forward to present their horrific experiences to a board of national enquiry. The abuses happened in the children’s hospitals where Saville volunteered, and even in his BBC changing rooms. Literally hundreds of victims have stepped forward since 2012; and it has become clear that hundreds more adults knew, including senior members of the BBC and staff at the children’s hospitals, and all who stood by doing nothing to protect these children from Savile for sixty years. …

The Catholic Church has become a by-word for sex abuse cover-up, due to repeating patterns of clergy who sexually abused children, and who were then protected by the Church hierarchy for decades. These scandals have rolled from Boston, USA, where the behaviour was first exposed in The Boston Globe in 2002, through dozens of other US locations, and then to Catholic communities throughout Europe, South America and Australia.

The Jewish community has also experienced increasing exposure of past child sex abuse cases, and the cover-up phenomena which have come to light parallels the behaviour in other cases, such as those above.

Many of these events have taken place in orthodox communities, which is a double-blow to the prestige and good names of these communities – the first is that these crimes existed in the most pious communities, and the second that the community leadership had often failed to side with the victims, rather denying, minimizing and covering-up the crimes.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Fall River

Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep. 21, 2014

FALL RIVER — Like many members of his new flock in southeastern Massachusetts, Bishop Edgar da Cunha immigrated to the United States, knowing very little English.

“It was a huge adjustment,” da Cunha said as he recalled the cold late February day he arrived in Newark, New Jersey, as a 24-year-old seminarian from Brazil.

“It was 95 degrees when I left, and I arrived in the New York airport, and it was 20 degrees. That was the first adjustment,” da Cunha said. “Then the language, the culture, going to seminary, so many adjustments, but thank God, he gave me the gift of being able to adjust.”

Da Cunha, 61, adjusted well enough to be ordained a Catholic priest, and eventually an auxiliary bishop, in the Archdiocese of Newark. On Wednesday, during a 2 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, da Cunha will be installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Fall River. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the metropolitan archbishop of Boston, will install da Cunha in the presence of Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano, the pope’s apostolic nuncio to the United States. Da Cunha is replacing Bishop George W. Coleman, who is retiring.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 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 )

Tomorrow, Fall River Catholics officially get a new bishop.

Because he comes from a dreadfully scandal-ridden archdiocese, we are highly skeptical about how he’ll protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. So we respectfully challenge Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha to break the unhealthy and growing silence and inaction among the Catholic hierarchy on the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis.

Despite repeated pledges to be “open and transparent” about predator priests, nearly the entire church hierarchy discloses virtually nothing about these crimes or cover ups unless forced to do so by public pressure or the actions victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors courts or journalists.

Da Cunha is from the Newark Archdiocese with 42 publicly identified predator priests and a long, shameful history of protecting child molesting clerics over innocent, vulnerable children. That history continues to the present day.

As best we can tell, da Cunha has shown no real courage or compassion in one of the worst archdioceses in the US for clergy sex abuse victims. We see no evidence that he has ever said or done a single thing to break with the self-serving and irresponsible actions of his Newark colleagues, who continue to put kids in harm’s way and maintain secrecy at all costs.

Last year, da Cunha announced a new policy letting Newark Catholic officials take secretive steps to reduce public attention on predator priests.

Catholic officials claimed that this is about being sensitive to victims. It’s not. Their use of the phrase “negative publicity” shows their true intent: it’s about keeping predator priests out of the news. Church officials know that every time a child molesting cleric is mentioned in public, other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers might step forward. Preventing such disclosures continues to be a top priority in the Catholic hierarchy, especially in Newark.

The list of clergy sex abuse and cover up cases in New Jersey that have been handled in a dreadful way is long. Perhaps the two worst are those involving Fr. Michael Fugee and Fr. Carmine Sita.

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NEW YORK
Saratogian

By Molly Eadie, meadie@troyrecord.com, @mollyeadie on Twitter
POSTED: 09/23/14

ALBANY >> A 39-year-old man Monday publicly announced he was sexually abused by a teacher at LaSalle Institute more than 20 years ago.

At a news conference in front of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany Pastoral Center, Michael Cioppa, of Latham, said his alleged abuser was fired for his actions, but has continued teaching, and is currently a college professor.

Cioppa said when he was 16, the then-principal of LaSalle sent him for private tutoring at this lay teacher’s home, but told him to keep the arrangement a secret.

He received a passing grade in exchange for sexual favors, Cioppa said, and came forward two years after graduation, when he found out his younger brother would have the same teacher.

Cioppa told his father, who informed a State Trooper who was also a deacon on the Catholic Church.

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MICHIGAN
ABC 10

Courtesy: Catholic Diocese of Marquette

MARQUETTE — Officials of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette have deemed credible allegations of sexual abuse of male minors against Father James Menapace.

The reported incidents occurred in the late 1990s after Father Menapace had retired from active ministry.

After consultation with the Diocesan Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop John Doerfler determined that a public announcement of the allegations should be made.

Father Menapace has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The diocesan attorney has reported the allegations to the appropriate civil authorities.

“To all victims of clergy sexual abuse, let me say that my heart is open to you. You are in my thoughts and prayers, and I am willing to journey with you to find Christ’s peace and healing,” Bishop Doerfler said.

To bring a complaint to the attention of the diocese, please call one of the Victim’s Assistance Coordinators, Stephen Lynott at 844-495-4330 or Diane Tryan at 844-694-4362. Both phone numbers are toll-free.

Those who wish to put their complaint in writing can direct their correspondence to: Victim’s Assistance Coordinator, c/o Catholic Social Services of the U.P., 1100 Ludington St., Suite 401, Escanaba, MI 49829. The letter should be marked “Personal and Confidential” and indicate whether a response is desired by phone or by letter.

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MICHIGAN
Upper Michigan Source

MARQUETTE — Sexual abuse allegations against a retired diocesan priest have been deemed credible.

The reported allegations of sexual abuse against male minors occurred in the late 1990s after Father Menapace had retired from active ministry.

Father Menapace has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the charter for the protection of children and young people.

As always the diocese encourages any of those who may have a complaint to report the incident to local civil authorities.

———————————

Official Press Release:

Officials of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette have deemed credible allegations of sexual abuse of male minors against Father James Menapace (pronounced MEN-uh-PAH-chee). The reported incidents occurred in the late 1990s after Father Menapace had retired from active ministry.

After consultation with the Diocesan Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop John Doerfler determined that a public announcement of the allegations should be made. Father Menapace has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The diocesan attorney has reported the allegations to the appropriate civil authorities.

Bishop Doerfler said, “To all victims of clergy sexual abuse, let me say that my heart is open to you. You are in my thoughts and prayers, and I am willing to journey with you to find Christ’s peace and healing.”

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MICHIGAN
Fox 11

MARQUETTE, Mich. – A retired priest who worked in Upper Michigan is suspected of sexually abusing boys.

The Catholic Diocese of Marquette says the allegations against Fr. James Menapace, which it has deemed credible, stem from incidents in the late 1990s after Menapace had retired from active ministry.

The diocese says it has reported the allegations to local authorities. It has also removed Menapace from public priestly ministry and prohibited him from presenting himself as a priest.

Menapace was ordained in 1963 and retired in 1996. He worked at parishes in Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, Brimley and Gulliver. Menapace also worked at Northern Michigan University and Lake Superior State College.

The diocese is asking any other victims to come forward and contact local authorities as well as one of the diocese’s victim’s assistance coordinators, Stephen Lynott at 1-844-495-4330 or Diane Tryan at 1-844-694-4362. Both numbers are toll-free.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
09/23/2014

Jury selection is to begin Thursday in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by a former altar boy.

If the case goes to trial without a settlement, it will be the first lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor by a priest to go before a jury in the Kansas City area.

The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by Jon David Couzens, alleges that the diocese intentionally failed to supervise a priest who repeatedly abused Couzens three decades ago.

Couzens alleges that Monsignor Thomas J. O’Brien sexually abused Couzens and three other youths in the early 1980s when they were altar boys at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Independence.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

September 23, 2014

John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor

Especially on the heels of rumors that Pope Francis is about to demote American Cardinal Raymond Burke to a ceremonial Vatican job, Saturday’s choice of Blase Cupich as the new Archbishop of Chicago cemented impressions in many quarters of a lurch to the left in Catholicism.

On Twitter, one disgruntled reaction termed this one-two punch the beginning of the “soft and fluffy Anglicanization” of the Catholic Church.

Burke is a hero to conservatives and an especially strong voice on pro-life issues, while Cupich is basically what the Europeans would call “center-left,” meaning a moderate whose own sympathies lie a bit more with the liberals. Taken together, these steps seem to paint a clear political picture.

Therein, however, lies the problem.

The impression of a recent turn to the left depends on keeping these two moves in focus – one of which is still unconfirmed, though Francis already took Burke off the Congregation for Bishops last December – and leaving a couple of other important pieces out of the picture.

For instance, there’s last Thursday’s appointment of Anthony Fisher as the new Archbishop of Sydney in Australia. A protégé of Cardinal George Pell, who today is overseeing Francis’ financial reform, Fisher is a Dominican theologian who would almost universally be seen as a conservative.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 20 September 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed the new members of the International Theological Commission and has renewed the mandate of a number of members from its previous five-year term. For the 2014-2019 term, the Commission will be composed of the following members:

– Fr. Serge Thomas Bonino, O.P., secretary general, France;
– Rev. Terwase Henry Akaabiam, Nigeria;
– Sister Prudence Allen, R.S.M., U.S.A.;
– Sister Alenka Arko, Loyola Community, Russian Federation – Slovenia;
– Msgr. Antonio Luiz Catelan Ferreira, Brazil;
– Msgr. Piero Coda, Italy;
– Rev. Lajos Dolhai, Hungary;
– P. Peter Dubovsky, S.J., Slovakia;
– Rev. Mario Angel Flores Ramos, Mexico;
– Rev. Carlos Maria Galli, Argentina;
– Rev. Krzysztof Gozdz, Poland;
– Rev. Gaby Alfred Hachem, Lebanon;
– Fr. Thomas Kollamparampil, C.M.I., India;
– Rev. Koffi Messan Laurent Kpogo, Togo;
– Rev. Oswaldo Martinez Mendoza, Colombia;
– Professor Moira Mary McQueen, Canada – Great Britain;
– Rev. Karl Heinz Menke, Germany;
– Rev.do John Junyang PARK, Corea;
– Fr. Bernard Pottier, S.J., Belgium;
– Rev. Javier Prades Lopez, Spain;
– Professor Tracey Rowland, Australia;
– Professor Hector Gustavo Sanchez Rojas, S.C.V., Peru;
– Professor Marianne Schlosser, Austria – Germany;
– Rev. Nicholaus Segeja M’Hela, Tanzania;
– Rev. Pierangelo Sequeri, Italy;
– Rev. Zeljko Tanjic, Croatia;
– Fr. Gerard Francisco P. Timoner III, O.P., Philippines;
– Fr. Gabino Uribarri Bilbao, S.J., Spain;
– Rev. Philippe Vallin, France;
– Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M.Cap., U.S.A.

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OKLAHOMA
McAlester News

Parker Perry | Staff writer

A McAlester pastor arrested Friday on a child pornography complaint has been removed from his position at the church.

Missionary Baptist Church released a statement Friday stating Larry Jones, 65, is no longer the leader of the church.

“In regards to the arrest of Pastor Larry Jones, the church held a special business meeting Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. and voted to remove him as pastor and a member of McAlester Missionary Baptist Church,” a statement reads.

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OKLAHOMA
Enid News

Parker Perry CNHI News Service

A pastor at a McAlester church was arrested Friday morning on an initial complaint of possessing child pornography.

Police said Larry Jones, 65, of McAlester, is the pastor at Missionary Baptist Church on Hereford Lane. Det. Sgt. Chris Morris said Jones was arrested after his wife found a letter written by him telling a story about a fantasy he had about three minors at the church.

“She was messing with the printer and it shot out a print. It was this story about three young girls,” Morris said.

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OKLAHOMA
Fox 23

[with video]

By Angela Hong

MCALESTER, Okla. — New details on a McAlester pastor arrested over the weekend on child pornography charges.

Larry Jones, 65, the pastor at Missionary Baptist Church, is now out of jail. FOX23 learned it was a story he wrote and not pictures or videos that put him in jail.

A McAlester police detective told FOX23 they believe Jones wrote a one-page story that was detailed and graphic and named girls from his church specifically.

The detective said it was the worst thing he’s ever read.

“It is shocking,” said Sgt. Chris Morris.

Morris had a difficult time repeating some of the details in the story.

“What it was, was a very graphic, detailed story about three young girls that went to his church,” said Morris.

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INDIA
Odisha Sun Times

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 23:

A priest was today ‘caught redhanded’ by people in the Ganapati Nagar slum under the Nayapalli police station area in Odisha’s capital city, while he was allegedly sexually assaulting a six-year old girl at a desolate spot inside the slum.

The mother of the victim along with fellow slum-dwellers lodged a complaint with the Nayapalli police station, who in turn transferred the case to the Mahila police station for further investigation.

According to reports, the incident happened at 10am when parents of the minor girl were not present in their house.

Madhab Chandra Panda, priest of a small temple in the slum, called the little girl to a lonely place and took liberties with her private parts. Groaning in pain, the girl cried aloud for help.

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MICHIGAN
WSBT

DETROIT (AP) — A Catholic priest is scheduled for trial next week in the theft of money from a fund set up to help poor people in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park.

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office says the Rev. Timothy Kane’s trial is scheduled Monday in Circuit Court.

The 58-year-old and an acquaintance, Dorreca Brewer, were charged in February with embezzlement. Brewer on Sept. 15 pleaded no contest to charges that she lied and embezzled. The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/1mI0SIe ) the 35-year-old is expected to avoid jail time.

Prosecutors say that the pair approved false applications for the Angel Fund and pocketed thousands of dollars over four years. The Angel Fund had been run by the Archdiocese of Detroit and granted more than $17 million to needy people since 2005.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

Pope Francis has named Australian theologian Tracey Rowland among the new female members of the International Theological Commission.

The Vatican announced her appointment this morning, along with those of Sister Prudence Allen RSM, Sister Alenka Arko, Dr Moira McQueen and Prof Marianne Schlosser.

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced earlier this month that the number of women serving on the commission would be increased. Until now, the commission had two female members, Sister Sara Butler and Prof Barbara Hallensleben.

Prof Tracey Rowland is Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne. Her books include Ratzinger’s Faith: the Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.

The International Theological Commission was created by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Its task is to help the Holy See, and primarily the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in examining major doctrinal questions.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — A little girl was allegedly sexually abused by a suspended Catholic priest who was a close family friend, and who had been charged with similar a crime in the past.

As CBS 2’s Lou Young reported exclusively Monday night, the 6-year-old, who has been diagnosed with a sexually-transmitted disease, said the abuse happened more times than she can remember. CBS 2 met her at her family’s home in Hampton Bays.

The girl identified her assailant as Augusto Cortez, 50, a suspended Catholic priest who should have been on everyone’s radar as a potential threat, Young reported.

Her mother told us how she found Cortez – a once trusted family friend and guest – at a backyard party on a couch with the child four months ago.

“Her face, it showed the fear, but what mostly really assured me was he walked away and he pulled up his zipper right away,” the girl’s mother said.

Cortez was picked up and questioned for several hours at Southampton police headquarters, and was released even though he is a sex offender on probation. After that, he since vanished, and CBS 2 is told the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office is actively looking for him.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A horrifying picture of sustained physical and sexual abuse suffered for decades by mixed-race and Aboriginal children at a home in Darwin is unfolding at a national inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is sitting in Darwin to examine the Retta Dixon Home, which from 1946 until 1980, housed children of mixed descent as well as some unmarried mothers.

The home was run by the Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM).

Monday’s evidence from a number of former residents told of immense cruelty by ‘house parents’ who oversaw cottages housing up to 12 children at a time.

One witness alleged a girl who failed to properly tidy a kitchen was woken by house mother, Judy Fergusson, and stabbed multiple times on her hands with a can opener until she bled.

Children up to the age of 12 who wet the bed would be undressed and paraded in nappies in front of the other children, she said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Dr Tom Calma was told of an abuse allegation at Retta Dixon House in Darwin, decades ago, the Child Sex Abuse Royal Commission has been told.

Witness AKV – going under a pseudonym, with a protected identity – said he spoke to Mr Calma when he was a welfare offices.

The witness, a 54-year-old Eastern Arrente man from Alice Springs said he was sexually assaulted twice, and we witnessed horrific abuse.

‘There were times my sister would be tied up to the clothesline,’ AKV said.

‘And have faeces rubbed in her face.

‘(House parent) Henderson would regularly grove me in a sexual way.

‘He really seemed to have a thing for dark-skinned boys … Henderson’s favourite place for abusing boys was in the chook pen.’

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Human rights campaigner Tom Calma was ‘helpless’ when told of sexual abuse allegations: inquiry

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Amos Aikman
Northern Correspondent
Darwin

PROMINENT indigenous human rights campaigner Tom Calma was told of horrific allegations of sexual abuse at a Darwin missionary home that were never followed up, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, sitting in Darwin, was told the alleged abuse was reported to Dr Calma in the 1970s, while he was working for the Northern Territory government.

The alleged abuse occurred at Retta Dixon Home for children and girls, which operated inside Darwin’s Bagot Aboriginal reserve between 1946 and 1980.

The allegations were made by a witness referred to only as AKV, who said he had informed Dr Calma of the abuse at the hands of “house parent” Don Henderson when he was about 10 years old. He said Dr Calma was working for the Northern Territory government “welfare mob” at the time.

AKV initially did not want to name the man “because he’s in such high standing in the commonwealth government and connection with the United Nations, I don’t want to shame his family”, but under questioning named him as Dr Calma.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

BY NEDA VANOVAC
September 23, 2014

Carers at a home for Aboriginal children knew and did nothing for years as their colleague sexually abused their charges, a royal commission has heard.

Former residents of the Retta Dixon home for mixed-race indigenous children in the Northern Territory said no authority could be trusted with allegations that house parent Donald Henderson had molested them.

A former house parent, identified only as AKR, said in a statement to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Darwin on Tuesday she was “absolutely devastated” when she heard the allegations against Mr Henderson, and reported him to home superintendent Mervyn Pattemore.

This led to a court case in 1976, but the inquiry heard that many children were too frightened to testify and Mr Henderson was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

DAVID MARK: Former residents of the Retta Dixon Children’s Home in Darwin have broken down on the stand while giving evidence to the child sexual abuse royal commission.

Retta Dixon Home was a home for mixed-race Indigenous children run from the 1940s to 1980 by a group of evangelical missionaries.

One witness today told the commission how the former race discrimination commissioner Tom Calma, was told a young boy was sexually abused in the 1970s, but that the allegations were not followed up.

The royal commission is investigating how the missionaries running the home, along with the NT Government and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, handled allegations of severe physical and sexual abuse.

And a warning, Will Ockenden’s story contains distressing details.

WILL OCKENDEN: It was a day packed with emotions, as witnesses at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse broke down in the witness box.

WITNESS: And the doors were locked. He sexually penetrated me. There was lots of blood. (Sobbing).

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Xavier La Canna
Updated 23 Sep 2014

Prominent human rights campaigner Tom Calma was told of sexual assaults against a young boy in the 1970s that were not followed up, a royal commission in Darwin has heard.

On the second day of hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Darwin, there was more graphic evidence of abuse at the Retta Dixon Home, which mainly housed Aboriginal children between 1946 and 1980.

A witness known only as AKV said he was repeatedly abused by a former house parent at the home, Donald Bruce Henderson, who in 1984 was convicted of sex crimes against two boys unrelated to his time at Retta Dixon.

AKV said Dr Calma was working as a welfare officer with the NT government about the time the abuse took place in the early 1970s.

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LOUISIANA
TheMediaReport

David Pierre

As we have reported many times before, one of the most under-reported elements of the entire Catholic Church abuse story is the prevalence of false claims against innocent priests and priests long ago deceased who are no longer around to defend themselves.

Journalists and public relations-types – being the pack animals that they are – never pursue the ultimate counter-narrative of wrongly accused priests.

Now, in a refreshing episode of honesty, Louis Aguirre, spokesman for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, a small diocese in Louisiana, has acknowledged that in recent years “there has not been a case that we deemed to be true” even though the diocese has paid out at least one financial settlement for a claim alleging abuse decades ago.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | September 22, 2014

VATICAN CITY ( RNS) Pope Francis has appointed a special commission to look at ways to make it easier for Roman Catholics to dissolve their marriages in the eyes of the church.

The goal of the 11-member commission announced Saturday (Sept. 20), is to reform the process, “with the objective of simplifying its procedure, making it more streamlined.”

The weekend announcement came as a bitter clash emerged among cardinals over the church’s approach to marriage, divorce and remarriage.

According to church law, Catholics can obtain annulments if they can show their marriage was not valid. But if they opt out of the annulment process, divorce in civil court and then remarry, the church may refuse them Communion.

Five cardinals are publishing a new book reinforcing the sanctity of marriage next week, only days before the world’s bishops gather in Rome for a conference on the subject. The synod will consider issues including divorce, cohabitation, domestic violence and gay unions.

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VIRGINIA
Inside Nova

A volunteer at Park Valley Church in Haymarket has been charged with sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old member of the congregation.

On Sept. 10, officials at the church at 4500 Waverly Farm Drive notified Prince William police of the incident. Police said the volunteer use a cell phone messaging application called KIK to send messages to a 15-year-old girl.

No physical contact was made between the volunteer and the girl.

Police obtained warrants charging Vincent Gunnar Bowes, 22, of Mills River, N.C., with attempted indecent liberties with a minor and use of a communication device to facilitate offenses involving a minor, said Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok.

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VIRGINIA
Washington Post

Va. church volunteer charged with sending sexually explicit messages to teenager

By Julie Zauzmer September 22

A church volunteer has been charged with sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old in Haymarket.

Police say that Vincent G. Bowes, 22, sent messages to the teenage girl in August using the smartphone messenger Kik. Staff at Park Valley Church, which the teenager attends, learned about the messages and alerted police.

Prince William County police spokesman Jonathan Perok initially said that Bowes was employed as a youth pastor at Park Valley Church when he sent the messages. But a church employee said Monday that Bowes was a college student volunteering at the church, not a member of the staff, and the police department amended its description of the incident Monday evening to refer to Bowes as a volunteer.

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

HAYMARKET, Va. (WUSA9) — A youth pastor at a Virginia church sent sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, Prince William County police said.

On August 20, a 16-year-old youth pastor at Park Valley Church located at 4500 Waverly Farm Drive used cell phone app KIK to send sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, police said.

No physical contact was made between the two, according to police. When church staff found out about what happened, they told police.

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INDIANA
WTHI

[with video]

By Chris Essex

VINCENNES, Ind. (WTHI) – A Vincennes man is behind bars for sexual misconduct with a minor.

On Friday Vincennes Police arrested 34-year-old Derrick “Duke” Hampsch.

Hampsch allegedly had improper sexual contact with a minor on multiple occasions, dating back to 2010 in Vincennes.

The investigation also revealed Hampsch allegedly committed sex acts with a minor outside of Vincennes while working as a youth program administrator.

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INDIANA
WISH

VINCENNES, Ind. (WTHI) – A Vincennes man was arrested for sexual misconduct with a minor on Friday.

Vincennes police arrested 34-year-old Derrick “Duke” Hampsch. Police say he had improper sexual contact with a minor on multiple occasions, dating back to 2010 in Vincennes.

The investigation also revealed Hampsch allegedly committed sex acts with a minor outside of Vincennes while working as a youth program administrator.

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INDIANA
WBIW

(VINCENNES) -A Vincennes youth pastor has been arrested on sexual misconduct with a minor charges.

34-year old Derrick “Duke” Hampsch, the former youth pastor at First Baptist Church, is accused of having improper sexual contact with a minor on multiple occasions dating back to 2010 in Vincennes.

He’s also accused of having committed sexual acts with a minor while outside of Vincennes city limits while working as a youth program administrator.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Mon, Sep 22, 2014

Traditionalists in Rome’s College of Cardinals have decided to get their revenge in first, so to speak, prior to the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops which begins in Rome on October 5th.
The five men concerned include heavy-hitters such as German cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and Irish American cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature. Both will be taking part in the Extraordinary Synod.

Involved too are Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, Italy, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, former president of the Vatican’s Committee for Historical Sciences, and Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, former president of the Vatican’s Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. All contributed essays to the book Remaining With Christ’s Truth, to be published on October 1st.
Pope Francis waves to a poster of the ethnic Albanian missionary Mother Teresa as he is driven through Tirana yesterday. Photograph: Hector Pustina/APCrowd of 200,000 in Albania hear pope speak of tolerance

Pope Francis: among those he married were people who had children out of wedlock, others who had divorced and others who had their marriages annulled Pope may change key rules on marriage

Another heavyweight, Irish Australian cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, will take part in the Extraordinary Synod too. He has written a foreword to another book to be published on October 1st, The Hope of the Family. It includes an extended interview with Cardinal Müller.

All make clear that when it comes to church teaching on marriage, including the ban on remarried divorced Catholics from receiving communion, they are not for turning – whatever the noises off from Santa Marta, where Pope Francis resides.

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