ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Get Religion

Terry Mattingly

So, Catholic GetReligion readers, is the Pope Francis glass half full today or half empty?

Well, some might say, that depends on whether the person answering is a liberal Catholic or from the conservative side of the church aisle. Is it really that simple? I don’t think so.

Consider the stunning news out of Chicago, with the announcement that Pope Francis has selected a bishop admired by the left (which in media reports makes him a “moderate”) to take the place of Cardinal Francis George, a hero of the doctrinal right. Is Catholic conservative Thomas Peters right when he claims, while discussing the moral theology of Bishop Blase Cupich:

Pope Francis’ choice of Bishop Cupich should actually pour cold water on liberal hopes of a leftward turn in the American episcopacy.

Yes, Bishop Cupich talks in a way that makes liberals feel comfortable, but the substance of what he says is almost always sound and orthodox. He told the New York Times “Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues”, but do liberals ever stop and realize that cuts both ways?

Peters goes on to note that Cupich has, while speaking with a consistently progressive tone, has acted (with the exception of his decision to discourage priests from praying outside Planned Parenthood facilities) in ways consistent with Catholic teachings – even when defending marriage. And religious liberty? Yes.

And speaking of the Catholic left, Religious News Service columnist David Gibson has perfectly stated the opinions of those who are dancing with joy after the news from Chicago. Here are the talking points on the other side, right down to the editorial blast claiming that efforts to defend church doctrines on sexuality consistently clash with efforts to promote teachings on social justice.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George introduced Archbishop-Elect Blase Cupich on Saturday. Cupich will succeed George, becoming the 9th archbishop at the Chicago Archdiocese.

“I was quite overwhelmed, very surprised. . . My breath was taken away,” Archbishop-Elect Cupich said of learning he’d been chose by Pope Francis. “I said, ‘I’ve never said no to the church. Yes, I’ll do it.'”

When asked how long it took for the appointment to set in, he said, “It’s still sinking.”

Chosen by Pope Francis, the Vatican made the official announcement earlier from Rome . Cupich will be installed as archbishop during a special Mass on November 18. Until then, George remains cardinal, though without administrative power.

This will be the first time in the history of the Chicago Archdiocese that a new leader is appointed while the former is still alive. George, 77, and Cupich, 65, have worked together in the past, and will get a chance to do that again.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: September 20, 2014

CHICAGO — The bishop chosen by Pope Francis to be the new head of the Archdiocese of Chicago said Saturday that people should not read too much into the decision about the Catholic Church’s future direction.

Bishop Blase (BLAHZ’) Cupich (SOO’-pihch), of Spokane, Washington, has been described as a moderate and has called for civility in the culture wars.

During a news conference in Chicago, Cupich was asked several times about whether he would shift direction as a successor to Cardinal Francis George, who is particularly admired in the church’s conservative wing.

He responded simply that he would be himself and it was up to others to decide whether that constituted a change.

Cupich also said it was wrong to think of his appointment as a strong signal from Pope Francis about the direction he wants to steer American church leaders.

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

UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor September 20, 2014

With the appointment of Blase Cupich today as the new Archbishop of Chicago, one can say that the Francis revolution in Catholicism has finally arrived in the United States.

Up to this point, one could have made the argument that the change triggered by Francis is largely a matter of a new tone and style in Rome, but one that had not yet reached down and begun to alter the culture of the church on these shores.

With the appointment of the 65-year-old Cupich, however, the American landscape has shifted.

This is the fourth appointment Francis has made to a major archdiocese since July, following earlier choices for Cologne, Germany; Madrid, Spain; and Sydney, Australia. Each pointed a direction for the church in those countries.

By now, the profile of a “Francis bishop” has come into focus: Ideologically, moderates rather than hardliners; pastorally, men who place special emphasis on concern for the poor and those at the margins; and personally, leaders who aren’t flashy personality types, with a reputation for being accessible and hands-on.

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

VATICAN CITY
news.va

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See Press Office on Saturday announced Pope Francis has decided to establish a Special Commission for the study of the reform of the matrimonial processes in canon law. The decision was made on August 2, 2014.

This Committee will be chaired by Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Roman Rota. The other members are: and will be composed of the following members: Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Bishop Dimitri Salachas, Apostolic Exarch of the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church; Msgrs. Maurice Monier, Leo Xavier Michael Arokiaraj and Alejandro W. Bunge, Prelate Auditors of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota; the Rev. Fr. Nikolaus Schöch, O.F.M., Substitute Promotor of Justice of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; Fr. Konštanc Miroslav Adam, O.P., Rector of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum); Fr. Jorge Horta Espinoza, O.F.M., Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical University Antoniamum; and Prof. Paolo Moneta, formerly professor of Canon Law at the University of Pisa.

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

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Jim McDermott | Sep 20 2014

While in my Jesuit training, I spent three years teaching high school at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. You’ve probably heard of Pine Ridge; the New York Times and Washington Post love to send reporters out for week-long jaunts after which they write about how sad and desperate it is out there. They’re not completely wrong, but they miss an awful lot.

When I started at Red Cloud, there was a great young Jesuit at the helm, Father Bill McKenney. He was from Michigan, he looked like Fred Flintstone (the kids at our school there actually called him that when he used to teach there) and he had endless energy and passion for the people there and our work. A great joy to live with.

Four months into my stay there, Bill died suddenly, age 38, of a massive coronary. No warning, no priors, just dropped dead.

And, if you can believe it, the same thing had happend three years earlier; Assistant Principal Brother Denny Ryan, a Jesuit from Omaha with a wicked sense of humor and an uncanny ability to connect with even the angriest of student, died of a sudden heart attack at age 38, just after Easter.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7

[live stream]

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will succeed Cardinal George as the next archbishop of Chicago.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

By NEIL STEINBERG September 20, 2014

When the Rev. Francis George, archbishop of Portland, Oregon, learned that Pope John Paul II had named him as the successor to Chicago’s much-beloved Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the unassuming priest asked in surprise, “Are you sure the Holy Father has considered all the options?”

He had.

The former Northwest Sider became Cardinal Francis George, the city’s sixth cardinal and the first priest born within the Chicago Archdiocese to be called upon to lead it, which he has done with seriousness and a firm hand. On Saturday, Pope Francis namedBishop Blase Cupich, of Spokane, Washington, as George’s successor, according to the Associated Press.

Considered conservative at the time of his appointment — he was named head of the Chicago Archdiocese in April 1997 and elevated to cardinal in January 1998 — George tried to set an accepting tone for the archdiocese’s 2.3 million Catholics.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

David Gibson | Sep. 20, 2014 NCR Today

The appointment of Bishop Blase Cupich, a prelate closely identified with the Catholic Church’s progressive wing, to succeed Cardinal Francis George could upend decades of conservative dominance of the American hierarchy.

Cupich, 65, will succeed Cardinal Francis George, a doctrinal and cultural conservative who has headed one of the American church’s pre-eminent dioceses since 1997. In that time he became a vocal leader among the bishops and earned a reputation as a feisty culture warrior in line with the Vatican of the late St. John Paul II and retired Pope Benedict XVI.

That track record won him fans on the Catholic right, but George was seen as out of step with Francis’ desire for more pastoral bishops who are less focused on picking fights over sex and more involved in promoting the church’s social justice teachings and sticking close to the poor.

Cupich, who will now be in line to get a cardinal’s red hat, would seem to fit that bill.

Named by Pope Benedict XVI to head the Diocese of Spokane in September 2010, Cupich (pronounced “SOUP-itch”) has steadily staked out positions that align him with Catholics who want the church to engage the world rather than rail against the forces of secularism.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY MICHAEL SNEED September 20, 2014

The pope’s pick . . .

The new leader of Chicago’s Roman Catholic flock, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, is being likened to the man who chose him.

“ln a pastoral sense, Cupich is like Pope Francis,” said Mark Rowlands, a former Roman Catholic seminarian from Columbus, Ohio, where Cupich had been president-rector of the Pontifical Josephinum College years ago.

“He is a humble man. Spiritual. Not pompous,” Rowlands said. “You never got the feeling you were watching a play about a guy getting dressed up in clerical frippery.

“He was approachable, a good listener . . . not an episcopal thinker who wore French cufflinks and thought himself a prince of the church . . . and certainly not into the trappings of office,” added Rowlands, who described the selection of Cupich as a “left-field choice.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya Brachear Pashman,
Tribune reporter

The appointment of Cardinal Francis George’s successor represents an unprecedented transition in the city’s Roman Catholic Church, where no other leader has lived long enough to meet the man taking his place.

George’s more than 17 years at the helm of the nation’s third-largest archdiocese ended Saturday with the Vatican’s announcement of Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., as archbishop of Chicago.

During George’s tenure, he shepherded the church through a recession, political battles over gay marriage and immigration, and a clergy sex abuse scandal.

George also emerged as the point man between the U.S. and Vatican on matters including the liturgy of the Mass, a zero-tolerance policy for clergy sexual abuse and the selection of two popes. In fact, throughout his tenure, he fended off occasional rumors that he would be called away from Chicago to serve in Rome. …

After his years in Rome, George moved back to the U.S. in 1987 to become the coordinator of the Circle of Fellows at the Cambridge Center for the Study of Faith and Culture in Massachusetts. The Catholic think tank was established by Cardinal Bernard Law, then archbishop of Boston, to study the relationship between the Catholic faith and American culture. Law would later become one of the principal promoters of George’s candidacy for archbishop of Chicago.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

[with video]

CHICAGO (WLS) — Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be the next archbishop of Chicago. The Vatican officially announced Saturday Cupich will succeed Cardinal George.

Chosen by Pope Francis, Cupich is now archbishop-elect in Chicago. He will be installed as archbishop during a special Mass on November 18. Until then, George remains cardinal, though without administrative power.

The Chicago Archdiocese scheduled a rare weekend announcement for Saturday morning. ABC7 will carry the announcement LIVE Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

This will be the first time in the history of the Chicago Archdiocese that a new leader is appointed while the former is still alive. All those before George died while serving.

George and Cupich have worked together in the past. Cupich is considered a moderate within the Catholic Church.

“I’ve been privileged to know the Cardinal upfront from the work I’ve that I’ve done from the Catholic Extension Society. He invited me some years ago to be a member of the board. So I could see that he is a man who cares deeply about the church and has the ability to care about the real needs of people,” Cupich said in an earlier interview with ABC7 Chicago.

Father John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame released a statement Saturday morning.

“Having first met Bishop Blase Cupich when I was an 18-year-old backpacker in Europe and he was a seminarian in Rome, I can say with confidence that, as Archbishop of Chicago, he will be a pastorally dedicated, theologically astute and visionary leader in line with Francis’s transformative Papacy. We thank Cardinal George for his dedicated service, and we welcome Bishop Cupich to the great Archdiocese of Chicago,” Father Jenkins wrote.

In June at the Vatican, Pope Francis will grant the new Chicago archbishop his pallium, which is the scarf symbolizing his pastoral authority.

Cupich called “White Thunder” while working in South Dakota

Cupich, 65, has been bishop of Spokane for the past four years. Born in Omaha, he speaks Spanish and was given the nickname “White Thunder” by Native Americans when he served in South Dakota. At one point, he led the U.S. bishops’ committee handling the sexual abuse crisis.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase J. Cupich to succeed Cardinal Francis E. George as the archbishop of Chicago.

The Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal George, in conformity with canon 401 of the Code of Canon Law. At the time of his nomination, Bishop Cupich was heading the Diocese of Spokane in Washington.

Bishop Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1949. He earned his bachelor’s in philosophy from the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1971. For the next four years, he was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha in 1975, later earning a licentiate (1979) and a doctorate (1987) in sacramental theology from the Catholic University of America.

Among his pastoral assignments, he served as vicar at Saint Margaret Mary Parish and taught at Paul VI High School in Omaha (1975-1978). Subsequently, he served as director of the archdiocese’s Liturgy Office (1978-1981) and worked at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. (1981-1987). He was pastor at Saint Mary Parish in Bellevue (1987-1989) before returning to the world of education as president and rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio (1989-1997). He then served as pastor at Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha for one year, before being named bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1998. In 2010, he was named bishop of Spokane.

The 65-year-old bishop is currently a member of various committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including the Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, the National Collections Committee and the Subcommittee on the Translation of Scripture Text.

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

UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

At Roman Noon, the report became reality: the Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal Francis George for reasons of age, naming Blase Cupich the Ninth Archbishop of Chicago.

As previously relayed, the archbishop-elect will be introduced at a 9.30am Central press conference at the Archbishop Quigley Center, now the Chancery of the nation’s third-largest diocese. Livestreams, etc. will follow here then.

Cupich’s installation in Holy Name Cathedral has been set for Tuesday, November 18th. On a wider level, meanwhile, the last 48 hours have now brought what could well end up being Francis’ two most consequential appointments of his entire pontificate in the English-speaking church.

* * *
As reaction goes, suffice it to say, the phone didn’t stop ringing from around 2pm yesterday ’til well past midnight. And while the Stateside bench’s centrist-progressive bloc was greatly cheered and the more conservative wing is deeply concerned, the one thing everyone had in common was being utterly stunned, both at the choice and its arrival on a timeline far quicker than anybody expected.

Putting one key question to rest, asked about Cupich’s proficiency in Spanish for a 2.3 million-member archdiocese now in range of a Hispanic majority, a longtime friend said “He doesn’t have it.” Here, it’s worth reminding that Chicago is home to what’s become American Catholicism’s largest annual event – the 36-hour Guadalupe feast at the shrine in suburban Des Plaines, which has drawn as many as 250,000 people over recent December 12ths.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
SEPT. 20, 2014

In his first major appointment in the United States, Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane to be the next archbishop of Chicago, replacing a combative conservative with a prelate whose pastoral approach to upholding church doctrine is more in keeping with the pope’s inclusive new tone.

Bishop Cupich, 65, will succeed Cardinal Francis George, 77, who is ill with cancer. Two years ago, at 75, Cardinal George offered his resignation, as is traditional at that age.

Francis’ choice of prelate for Chicago was highly anticipated as a sign of the direction he intends to set for the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Chicago is the nation’s third largest diocese, with 2.3 million members, and its archbishops have often taken leading roles in the American hierarchy.

Bishop Cupich has been chairman of the bishops’ committee responding to the sexual abuse crisis, and has at times been unusually forthright in criticizing the church’s record on abuse. He took over the Spokane diocese after it was sued by abuse victims and declared bankruptcy, and is still embroiled in a legal case over how the bankruptcy was handled.

He spoke out against a referendum on same-sex marriage in Washington state in 2012. But even before Francis became pope, Bishop Cupich and he sounded much alike. Bishop Cupich emphasized care for the poor and dispossessed, and on hot-button moral issues employed a tone that emphasized respect and dignity for gays and dialogue with those who disagreed with church teaching. “In stating our position,” Bishop Cupich wrote in a pastoral letter before the same-sex marriage vote, “the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility toward homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho

Updated.

Atlanta — Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will succeed Cardinal Francis George as archbishop of Chicago. His installation Mass will be held on November 18. The Associated Press broke the story Friday night, and was quickly followed by other outlets. Vatican Radio confirmed the appointment early Saturday morning. On Friday evening, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced it would hold a press conference on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Central. (A spokesperson for the archdiocese would not confirm the purpose of the event, and Cupich did not respond to a request for comment.) The AP cited an anonymous source, which supported rumors that began circulating Friday among several journalists who had gathered here this weekend for the Religion Newswriters Association conference.

The appointment of George’s successor was widely considered to be Pope Francis’s most significant decision for the church in the United States. If true, the decision to tap Cupich to lead Chicago–the third largest U.S. diocese–signals a major change for the American church.

In 1997, Pope John Paul II selected George to be the eighth archbishop of Chicago. He was the first Windy City native to serve as archbishop, and he followed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a leading liberal churchman beloved of his people. Before long, Chicago Catholics would learn just how different George was from his predecessor. Highly regarded for his intellect, George never shied away from taking sides in the culture wars, most recently as a vocal opponent of the Affordable Care Act over its abortion-funding mechanism and the contraception mandate.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Phoenix

Gerald Farinason
September 20, 2014

The Catholic Bishop of Spokane, Wash. will be installed as the new archbishop of Chicago, the Vatican confirmed at 5 a.m. Saturday morning. Most Rev. Blase Joseph Cupich (pronounced sooh-pitch), 65, will become the 14th ordinary, ninth archbishop of Chicago, and leader of 2.2

The choice is a surprise to most Catholics. He is a bishop, not a metropolitan archbishop. All those indicated as favorites for the job were archbishops. A long shot, Cupich’s name only appeared as a possibility in the last couple days.

Cardinal Francis George, 77, is retiring as he battles cancer—which he expects will take his life. All previous archbishops died in office.

Cupich is the first major U.S. appointment by Pope Francis. The decision was seen by church-watchers as indicative of the direction the pontiff hopes to shepherd America’s Catholics.

According to Religion News Service writer David Gibson, the appointment dashes the hopes of conservatives as Cupich comes from a progressive wing of the church.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Windy City Media Group

by Matt Simonette
2014-09-20

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will reportedly be the successor to Cardinal Francis George in leading the Archdiocese of Chicago.

An official announcement was expected for the morning of Sept. 20.

This is the first major appointment by Pope Francis, one that will be closely watched by Catholic insiders. Cupich purportedly shares the Pope’s stated commitment to fighting poverty and economic injustice, but nevertheless took stands, albeit measured ones, against the referendum that ultimately led to gay marriage in Washington State.

George has been taking a less-active role in the day-to-day affairs of the Archdiocese since early this year, when he announced that he was battling cancer. He submitted a letter of resignation in January of 2012, but that was a formality expected of all cardinals upon their turning age 75, and it was up to the discretion of the Pope whether to accept it or not.

Cupich has been in Spokane since 2010, and spent a great deal of time cleaning up a large-scale child abuse scandal in the Church there. Ultimately, the Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in the wake of that scandal.

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

VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Journalists often exaggerate conflict at the Vatican. But it’s no exaggeration to say that sharp battle lines are being drawn for the October Synod of Bishops, in particular on the issue of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

This week saw several leading cardinals and Vatican officials weigh in on the “No” side, with the imminent publication of two new books on the topic. Among them were two leading Roman Curia officials – German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Australian Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s new Secretariat for the Economy.

Specifically, they took issue with Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was selected by Pope Francis to address the world’s cardinals last February. Kasper proposed that the church find ways to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion, arguing that the Eucharist should be a spiritual “life raft” for those who need it most.

There are two ways of looking at these developments. For some, it’s part of the open and lively debate that Pope Francis desired when he chose the synod’s theme (the family) and called for a more merciful and pastoral approach on the issue of divorced Catholics.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In his most important decision to-date in the United States, Pope Francis has chosen Bishop Blase Cupich, a talented leader with vision, who is committed to the culture of encounter and to the poor, as the new archbishop of Chicago

GERARD O’CONNELL
ROME

Pope Francis has given a new direction to the American Church by appointing the bishop of Spokane, Blase Joseph Cupich, 65, as the ninth archbishop of Chicago.

The archbishop-elect is a highly-talented leader, a pastor with vision, together with long, varied and successful pastoral and administrative experience in two dioceses and a college. He is totally committed to the culture of encounter, does not engage in confrontation, has a zero-tolerance line on child abuse, and is deeply committed to the poor and marginalized.

He succeeds Cardinal Francis George who has governed the archdiocese – the third largest in the country with 2.3 million Catholics and the largest Catholic charities, health care and school systems – for the past 17 years. Earlier this year, the cardinal who is combatting cancer asked the Holy See to appoint his successor.

The Vatican confirmed the news of Bishop Cupich’s appointment at midday (Rome time) Saturday, seven hours ahead of the Chicago press conference called for the same purpose.

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic Vote

BY THOMAS PETERS

Pope Francis just issued his own ice bucket challenge to liberal Catholics, even if they don’t know it yet.

For months upon months, liberal Catholics have been salivating over Pope Francis choice to succeed Cardinal George. Back in February, I warned that liberal Catholics would try to make as much as they could of Pope Francis’s appointment to this critical American see.

Liberal writers like David Gibson are already publishing articles now claiming Bishop Blase Cupich’s appointment is “dashing conservative hopes”.

But you when you read Gibson’s article, you realize it’s mostly fluff. Liberals are trying so hard to spin this but it reminds me of cotton candy: sweet, but all air.

I’m going to make the argument that Pope Francis’ choice of Bishop Cupich should actually pour cold water on liberal hopes of a leftward turn in the American episcopacy.

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

UNITED STATES
Utah People’s Post

September 20, 2014 By David Jackson

Since Pope Francis was appointed the new Pope, the Catholic world has seen a massive change in Vatican politics. In one and a half years, the Argentinian Pope signaled a turn from the conservative political discourse of Pope Benedict XVI to a more socially progressive stance. Francis’s message was that the Catholic Church must focus on the social and economic inequalities. In such a short time, Francis became one of the most popular Popes in history, with poor people everywhere finding a new ally in him and the Catholic Church as politicians failed to raise up to their expectations.

The U.S. may soon by more influenced by Francis’ actions as well, as the new Pope plans to appoint a new Chicago Archbishop. Cardinal Francis George is now 77 years old and battles a recurring bladder cancer. The archidiocese will hold a press conference on Saturday morning. According to Associated Press, Blase Cupich of Spokane will soon be named the new Chicago Bishop. Cupich, 65, is widely known as a progressive member of the American Catholic Church, thus closer to Pope Francis’ views.

Cardinal George was more in line with the two former popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The present Chicago bishop, who was favored by the Catholic right wing, due to his strong cultural messages on sex politics, was appointed by Benedict XVI in 2010.

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

WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Catholic Bishop of Spokane Blase Cupich will be the next archbishop of Chicago, the Associated Press is reporting.

It’s a major step for the 65-year-old Cupich, who came to Spokane four years ago to rebuild a diocese struggling in the aftermath of bankruptcy.

Chicago has 2.2 million Catholics – making it the third-largest archdiocese in the country. The Spokane diocese has about 90,000 parishioners.

Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George, according to a person with knowledge of the selection, who spoke to the Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. George, 77, has been battling cancer. He was bishop of Yakima before being named to the Chicago post.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference for this morning. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese would not comment. Cupich did not return a phone message left Friday evening.

Cupich has taken bold steps since his arrival in Spokane, including filing a major malpractice lawsuit against the diocese’s own bankruptcy lawyers. That case is bound for trial in February. He is considered a tough leader related to the Catholic Church’s response to sex abuse scandal as an early advocate for zero tolerance. When he was installed as bishop in Spokane, he spoke of the need for the church to address the disgust and anger over the abuse scandal.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched as his first major appointment in the U.S., and the clearest indication yet of the direction he will steer American church leaders. Cupich is considered a pragmatist and a moderate leader who is not among U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who have taken a harder line on hot-button topics. Francis has called the church’s focus on abortion, marriage and contraception narrow and said it was driving people away.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 20, 2014 NCR Today

ROME The Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., as the new archbishop of Chicago, confirming Friday’s early reports of the appointment.

While the Vatican press release only states the basic facts of the appointment — for example, giving Cupich’s academic background and ecclesiastical history — selection of the new Midwestern archbishop may give clearer view into what the pontiff is looking for in selecting prelates.

Cupich, a 65-year-old Omaha, Neb., native who served as a pastor and director of worship for that diocese before being appointed bishop of Rapid City, S.D., and then Spokane, will replace Chicago Cardinal Francis George, who is 77 and has been fighting cancer.

Known for a certain moderate stance amongst the U.S. episcopate, Cupich sought to tamp down fears during the U.S. bishops’ fight against a federal mandate requiring coverage of contraceptive services in healthcare plans that Catholic ministries might shut down over the issue.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

[with video]

Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane as the next Archbishop of Chicago.

The Vatican released the announcement early Saturday morning.

Bishop Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1949.

He earned his bachelor’s in philosophy from the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1971.

For the next four years, he was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha in 1975, later earning a licentiate (1979) and a doctorate (1987) in sacramental theology from the Catholic University of America.

The Archdiocese of Chicago is scheduled to make the formal announcement about Francis Cardinal George’s successor at a Saturday morning news conference at the Archbishop Quigley Center in downtown Chicago.

The 9:30 a.m. press conference will air live on WGN-TV, CLTV and WGNTV.com.

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

VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

VATICAN CITY, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Pope Francis, in his first major appointment in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States, on Saturday named Bishop Blase Cupich as the new archbishop of Chicago.

Cupich, 65, who is seen as a moderate and is currently the bishop of Spokane, Washington, succeeds the more conservative Cardinal Francis George, 77, who is retiring.

Chicago, with more than 2.2 million parishioners, is the third-largest diocese in the United States by population and its archbishop has traditionally played a major role in the American Church hierarchy and in relations with national political leaders.

The city’s archbishops are traditionally elevated to the rank of cardinal, meaning Cupich would be able to enter a conclave to elect a pope after Francis’s death or resignation.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Cupich studied at Catholic universities in the United States and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Crux, a major U.S. Catholic website associated with the Boston Globe, said Cupich is “widely viewed as a moderate voice among Catholic bishops (and he) often eschews cultural battles in favour of dialogue and engagement”.

In this sense, he is in line with Francis’ call for compassion rather than condemnation or confrontation on issues such as abortion and same-sex couples.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Mary Ann Ahern

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington the next Chicago Archbishop, The Associated Press reported.

The announcment was made Saturday morning by the Chicago Archdiocese.

Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George, 77, who announced several months ago that he wanted to begin the process of finding his replacement after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

According to the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Cupich, 65, was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Omaha in 1975. He was named Bishop of the Rapid City, South Dakota Archdiocese in 1998 before taking over the Spokane position in 2010.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Sep 20, 2014 / 05:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has appointed Spokane, Wash. Bishop Blase Cupich as the new shepherd of the Archdiocese of Chicago, replacing retiring Cardinal Francis George.

The 65-year-old prelate was named Chicago’s new archbishop on Sept. 20.

He sits on numerous committees at the U.S. bishop’s conference including the Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Born in Omaha, Neb. In 1949, he was ordained a priest in 1975 and studied at the College of St. Thomas in Minnesota as well as the Pontifical College of North America in Rome. In 1998, he was named bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, and in 2010, he was named bishop of Spokane.

He will replace Cardinal George, who submitted his resignation two years ago, when he turned 75, as is required by Canon Law.

The 77-year-old cardinal has struggled with his health, facing cancer three times. After being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2006, he underwent a five-hour operation to remove his bladder, prostate gland and sections of his ureters, the tubes which connect the kidneys to the bladder. In August 2012, cancerous cells were discovered in his kidney and in a nodule that was removed from his liver. He underwent chemotherapy, and the cancer cells in his kidney became dormant.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS News

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be named the next archbishop of Chicago, The Associated Press has learned.

Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George, according to a person with knowledge of the selection, who spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. George, 77, has been battling cancer and has said he believes the disease will end his life.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference for Saturday morning. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese would not comment.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched as his first major appointment in the U.S., and the clearest indication yet of the direction he will steer American church leaders. Cupich is a moderate, and is not among U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who have taken a harder line on hot-button topics. Francis has called the church’s focus on abortion, marriage and contraception narrow and said it was driving people away.

An official from the Diocese of Spokane said he could not comment.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
USA Today

David Gibson, Religion News Service

Pope Francis on Saturday will name Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., a prelate closely identified with the Catholic Church’s progressive wing, to be the next archbishop of Chicago, according to news reports.

Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George, according to a person with knowledge of the selection, who spoke to the Associated Press Friday on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. George, 77, has been battling cancer and has said he believes the disease will end his life.

It is the pontiff’s most important U.S. appointment to date and one that could upend decades of conservative dominance of the American hierarchy.

George is a doctrinal and cultural conservative who has headed one of the American church’s pre-eminent dioceses since 1997. In that time he became a vocal leader among the bishops and earned a reputation as a feisty culture warrior in line with the Vatican of the late St. John Paul II and retired Pope Benedict XVI.

That track record won him fans on the Catholic right, but George was seen as out of step with Francis’ desire for more pastoral bishops who are less focused on picking fights over sex and more involved in promoting the church’s social justice teachings and sticking close to the poor.

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

UNITED STATES
ABC News

Sep 20, 2014, 5:04 AM ET
By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer

Bishop Blase Cupich, a moderate who has called for civility in the culture wars and has embraced Pope Francis’ focus on fighting poverty, will be named the next archbishop of Chicago, The Associated Press has learned.

Cupich of Spokane, Washington will succeed Cardinal Francis George, according to a person with knowledge of the selection, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference for Saturday morning. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese would not comment. George, 77, has been battling cancer and has said he believes the disease will end his life.

The pope’s choice for Chicago has been closely watched as his first major appointment in the U.S., and the clearest indication yet of the direction he will steer American church leaders. Cupich is a moderate and is not among U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who have taken a harder line on hot-button issues. Francis has called for a greater focus on mercy and compassion instead of divisive social issues.

The Archdiocese of Chicago serves 2.2 million parishioners and is the third-largest diocese in the country. Chicago archbishops are usually elevated to cardinal and are therefore eligible to vote for the next pope.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Alex Rose, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 09/19/14

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A former Parkside Sunday school teacher and youth basketball coach who pleaded guilty in June to possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility was sentenced to serve 6-23 months at the county prison in Concord Friday.

Steven Daniel Almond, 55, of the first block of West Forestview Road, will serve three months at the prison followed by three months of electronic home monitoring, under the sentence handed down by Judge Gregory Mallon. He will report to the prison Oct. 3 at 6 p.m.

Almond, who served as a deacon at the Middletown Presbyterian Church, turned himself over to authorities in June 2013 on two counts of disseminating photos or films of child sex acts, 25 counts of sexual abuse of children for possession of child pornography and 27 counts of criminal use of a communication facility.

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

COLORADO
Steamboat Today

By Matt Stensland

Steamboat Springs — A former Christian school teacher and pastor convicted of repeatedly molesting a boy was sentenced Friday at the Routt County Justice Center to 20 years to life.

Near the end of the sentencing hearing, Judge Shelley Hill told John Brothers Jr., 45, there were only two ways he could ever be released from prison.

“You need to find it in yourself to decide what you are going to do with the rest of your life,” Hill said.

She said Brothers could seek to win an appeal and have his conviction overturned at a new trial, or he could admit what he had done, get treatment and convince a parole board he should be released.

“I know that you continue to deny that these events happened,” Hill said. “I understand that, and I understand that you will be seeking relief in the appellate courts.”

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

MISSISSIPPI
WREG

[with video]

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014, BY MIKE SURIANI

ALCORN COUNTY, Miss. — The Grand Jury in Alcorn County, Missi., has indicted former pastor Timothy Nall for a second time on allegations stemming from a sexual battery case involving a young girl.

Nall, who is no longer the pastor of Farmington Baptist Church near Corinth, is accused of sexually abusing the young girl when the child was 6 and 7 years old.

The alleged abuse happened while Nall was still pastor at Farmington Baptist.

Nall’s trial in August ended in a mistrial after jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.

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

COLORADO
Courier & Press

Beth Smith
5:20 PM, Sep 19, 2014

A Colorado court on Friday sentenced a former Henderson youth minister to 20 years to life on sexual abuse charges.

John H. Brothers Jr., who also faces sexual abuse charges in Henderson, was convicted in Routt County, Colorado, in June on 16 counts of sexual assault on a child.

Routt County District Attorney Brett Barkey told The Gleaner Friday that prosecutors were disappointed in the sentence.

“Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Karzen argued for a total sentence of 80 years to life in prison,” Barkey said. “He noted that the evidence at trial demonstrated that Mr. Brothers was a serial child predator who relentlessly manipulated children to satisfy his sexual desires.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

CHICAGO (WLS) — Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be the next archbishop of Chicago. The Vatican officially announced Saturday Cupich will succeed Cardinal George.

Chosen by Pope Francis, Cupich is now archbishop-elect in Chicago. He will be installed as archbishop during a special Mass on November 18. Until then, George remains cardinal, though without administrative power.

The Chicago Archdiocese scheduled a rare weekend announcement for Saturday morning. ABC7 will carry the announcement LIVE Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

This will be the first time in the history of the Chicago Archdiocese that a new leader is appointed while the former is still alive. All those before George died while serving.

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

CONNECTICUT
The Connecticut Law Tribune

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune
September 19, 2014

After what seemed like a never-ending series of child sexual abuse scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church, lawmakers both nationally and in Connecticut sought ways to protect victims’ rights.

Initially in Connecticut, people claiming they were sexually abused as children or teens by anyone had to file lawsuits within two years of turning 18. In 1991, state lawmakers extended the statute of limitations to allow alleged victims to bring civil sexual abuse claims until they were 35. Then in 2002, after a rash of claims were made against clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, lawmakers again extended the age limit, giving potential plaintiffs until age 48 to file claims.

Since then, Connecticut plaintiffs lawyers have brought countless claims against priests and church officials, and have netted tens of millions of dollars in settlements and jury verdicts, damages that would not have been available if not for the extension of the statute of limitations. Now, in a case before the state Supreme Court that has captured the attention of trial lawyers, the Archdiocese of Hartford is trying to change the legal landscape.

Specifically, the church is challenging the constitutionality of the retroactive application of the state’s civil sexual abuse statute. Both the 1991 and 2002 statutory changes gave alleged victims who were too old to file suit under the previous law the right to bring claims under the amended one.

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

WASHINGTON
Fox Q13

SEATTLE — The Vatican will announce Saturday the appointment of Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane as the new archbishop of Chicago, one of the top Roman Catholic posts in the United States, it was reported Friday.

The National Catholic Reporter said Cupich, 65, will succeed Cardinal Francis George, 77, who has been archbishop of Chicago since May 1997 and who is now battling cancer.

Cupich has been bishop of Spokane since September 2003. He served as bishop of Rapid City, S.D., from 1998 to 2003, and before that he was a priest with the Omaha, Neb., archdiocese.

Chicago is the third most populous Catholic diocese in the U.S. and is historically one of the most important, the National Catholic Reporter said.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 19

Statement by Kate Bochte, SNAP leader, 630-768-1860, keight@sbcglobal.net

Victims worry about new head of Chicago Archdiocese

We hope that Chicago’s next Catholic Archbishop will do more to prevent future clergy sex crimes and cover-ups. But we’re not optimistic. Pope Francis, like his predecessors, keeps promoting bishops who have concealed or are concealing heinous sexual violence against kids. Cupich is another prelate like this.

Earlier today, the Spokesman Review reported that more than 200 victims have come forward in Spokane.

[SNAP]

Cupich acted irresponsibly by exploiting bankruptcy law to avoid embarrassing disclosures about the complicity of the Spokane church hierarchy in dreadful crimes against kids.

In a 2010 interview with a Washington newspaper, Cupich made some startling comments about the church’s child sex abuse and cover up crisis. Cupich’s remarks endanger kids, hurt victims and mislead Catholics by mischaracterizing and minimizing the horrific scandal.

In the interview, Cupich makes three stunning and patently ridiculous claims.

1) “Sexual abuse of children is not happening in the church today.”
2) “The scandal is that, 30 years ago, the world of psychology, criminal law and the church didn’t handle the situation well. Society didn’t handle the situation well.”
3) “Various institutions that work with kids that don’t have in place codes of conduct and training that we have in place.”

Let’s look at all three of these claims.

First, on the very day Cupich’s interview appeared, Illinois newspapers were reporting on the new guilty plea by a Chicago area predator priest, Fr. Alejandro Flores. He was ordained in 2009. He molested a boy in 2010. Ancient history? Hardly!

Even worse, the local bishop’s top staff knew this predator had problems even before he was ordained. According to one newspaper: “Prosecutors say Catholic officials had some warning signs about Flores” because he “was caught with gay porn on his computer” and “some of the images appeared to be those of young boys.”

So what did the Illinois bishop do? He warned no parishioners about this incident and went ahead and ordained Flores anyway.

The day before Cupich’s interview appeared in print, Fr. Joseph Fiala was arrested in Kansas for child sex crimes he allegedly committed in 2007 and 2008.

(And I write this within hours of reading that a California priest has been suspended from active duty because of allegations that he molested two brothers “within the last two years.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims News Conference re New Chicago Archbishop

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will
— respond to Pope Francis’ choice to head the Chicago archdiocese,
— make recommendations to him on what he should do first, and
– urge Chicago citizens and Catholics to remain vigilant and avoid complacency regarding the safety of kids.

WHEN
Saturday, Sept. 20 at 10:15 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Chicago archdiocesan headquarters, 835 N. Rush Street (at E. Chestnut St.) in downtown Chicago

WHO
Two-four adults who belong to a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Some were molested as kids; others are concerned Catholics.

WHY
The group will offer perspective on Chicago’s new archbishop and recommend some “first steps” he should take as he assumes his new office.

FYI – Lawyers who have dealt with Spokane clergy sex abuse and cover up cases include John Allison of Spokane, Michael Pfau (206.462.4334, mike@pcvalaw.com), Tim Kosnoff (425-837-9690, tim@kosnoff.com),Lee James (208-667-0683, ljames@jvwlaw.net), Blaine Tamaki (509) 248-8338, Erin Olson 503-546-3150, Lee James of Idaho and bankruptcy attorney Jim Stang310.2,77.6910 jstang@pszjlaw.com).

CONTACT
David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com, Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com, Kate Bochte 630 768 1860 (cell), keight@sbcglobal.net

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

UNITED STATES
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter September 19, 2014

When Archbishop Joseph Kurtz was elected president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2012, Spokane’s Bishop Blase Cupich said that the decision reflected the pope’s desire for pastoral leaders. “Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues,” he said.

With reports that Cupich (pronounced “SOUP-itch”), 65, has been tapped as Chicago’s next archbishop, many believe he embodies the pope’s vision for a bishop. Widely viewed as a moderate voice among Catholic bishops, he often eschews cultural battles in favor of dialogue and engagement.

As Catholic bishops fought the Obama Administration’s mandate that employers, including Catholic hospitals, schools, and nonprofits, offer insurance for contraception, Cupich offered a conciliatory approach, supporting the cause but calling for dialogue and compromise.

He lamented policies that gave government the power to “decide what it means for any church to be church and what defines the permissible exercise of religion,” but chastised those church leaders who threatened to shutter social services rather than comply with the mandate.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya Brachear Pashman,
Tribune reporter

George led flock through tough times

Reports that Cardinal Francis George’s successor will be announced this weekend could set the stage for the retirement for Chicago’s longtime archbishop and would mean an unprecedented transition in the city’s Roman Catholic Church, where no leader has lived long enough to meet the man taking his place.

George’s planned news conference for Saturday, during which reports from The Associated Press and National Catholic Reporter say that he will confirm he is being replaced by Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., would cap George’s more than 17 years at the helm of the nation’s third-largest archdiocese. During that time, he has shepherded the church through a recession, political battles over gay marriage and immigration, as well as a clergy sex abuse scandal.

He also has emerged as the point man between the U.S. and Vatican on matters including the liturgy of the Mass, a zero-tolerance policy for clergy sexual abuse and the selection of two popes. In fact, throughout his tenure, he has fended off occasional rumors that he would be called away from Chicago to serve in Rome.

“I hope to die in Chicago,” he said in a 2001 Tribune interview. “Much to the chagrin of a few folks.”

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

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale dell’arcidiocesi metropolitana di Chicago (U.S.A.), presentata dall’Em.mo Card. Francis E. George, O.M.I., in conformità al can. 401 § 1 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

Il Papa ha nominato Arcivescovo Metropolita di Chicago (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Blase J. Cupich, finora Vescovo di Spokane (U.S.A.).

S.E. Mons. Blase J. Cupich

S.E. Mons. Blase J. Cupich è nato a Omaha (Nebraska) il 19 marzo 1949. Dopo aver frequentato le consuete scuole primaria e secondaria, ha frequentato il “College of Saint Thomas” a Saint Paul (Minnesota), dove ha ottenuto il Baccalaureato in filosofia nel 1971. Dal 1971 al 1975 è stato alunno del Pontificio Collegio Americano del Nord a Roma ed ha studiato teologia presso la Pontificia Università Gregoriana. Più tardi ha ottenuto la Licenza (1979) e il Dottorato (1987) in Teologia Sacramentale presso l’Università Cattolica d’America a Washington, D.C. È stato ordinato sacerdote il 16 agosto 1975 per l’arcidiocesi di Omaha.

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

WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Catholic Bishop of Spokane Blase Cupich is being appointed the Archbishop of Chicago, the Associated Press is reporting tonight.

It’s a major step for the 65-year-old Cupich, who came to Spokane four years ago to rebuild a diocese struggling in the aftermath of bankruptcy.

He has taken bold steps since his arrival, including filing a major malpractice lawsuit against the diocese’s own bankruptcy lawyers. That case is bound for trial in February.

Cupich is considered a thought leader in regards to the Catholic church’s response to sex abuse scandal, an early advocate for zero tolerance.

His appointment to Chicago is the first major appointment in the United States by Pope Francis.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
East Oregonian

ATLANTA (AP) — Associated Press learns Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane will be the next Chicago archbishop.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Patrick T. Reardon | Sep. 19, 2014

Dear Archbishop-elect Cupich:

Eat at Burger King. By yourself. In street clothes.

If you want to get to know Chicago and those of us who live here, go to the Burger King on Lawrence Avenue, just west of Western Avenue. And, as you’re eating your Whopper, watch the Mexican-American family that is likely to be eating there.

The father is just off work, and you can see the weariness drip off of him. He’s got some menial job — in a factory, or as a bus boy, or perhaps in the kitchen at another Burger King. Those are jobs without much dignity in our American culture, but, with his family, he holds his head high, and his kids chatter with him with great love and respect.

Listen to the two gray-haired, gray-bearded Serbian guys. Unless you’re a polyglot, you’re not going to be able to guess what they’re saying, but you can tell they’ve got strong opinions.

Look at the elderly man in a tie, white shirt and dark suit. He always sits alone at one of those small tables along a wall and does a crossword puzzle.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

[with video]

(CBS) — The Associated Press has learned Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash. will be the next Chicago archbishop, replacing Francis Cardinal George, the news agency reported Friday.

A person with knowledge of the selection spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference Saturday, but will not comment.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched. It is his first major U.S. appointment and the clearest sign yet of the direction he hopes to steer American church leaders.

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

NEBRASKA
JRN

By Jennifer Griswold.

OMAHA, Neb. – Bishop Blase Cupich will be the next archbishop of Chicago according to the Associated Press.

He was installed as the Bishop of Spokane in 2010. According to the Spokane Diocese website, Cupich is from Omaha and was ordained here in 1975.

He will succeed Cardinal Francis George. The person giving the information spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference Saturday, but will not comment.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched. It is his first major U.S. appointment and the clearest sign yet of the direction he hopes to steer American church leaders.

Cupich is considered a moderate.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Whispers in the Loggia

After a sudden afternoon flurry of buzz, at 5pm Central the archdiocese of Chicago called a press conference for 9.30 tomorrow morning for an unspecified purpose.

Slated to be held at the Archbishop Quigley Center – the former high-school seminary turned headquarters of the 2.3 million-member local church – ops have begun to anticipate that the event will introduce the city’s ninth archbishop on the retirement of Cardinal Francis George, 77. Named to succeed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on 8 April 1997, George – widely hailed as the American hierarchy’s leading intellect for nearly two decades – recently entered an experimental treatment program amid a third round of the bladder cancer he’s battled over recent years.

The appointment to the US’ third-largest diocese – for almost a century, the nation’s largest local church – is likely to be the most significant choice for the Stateside bench Pope Francis makes during his entire pontificate. Accordingly, over recent weeks the Pope has reportedly phoned the American cardinals and other senior prelates to consult on his options for the choice facing him, even to the point of floating names he heard elsewhere past others. Given the timetable, it is unclear if the appointment has been processed through the Congregation for Bishops, which points to the surreal possibility that Francis circumvented the traditional final step to reserve the deliberations to himself.

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

WASHINGTON
Seattle PI

Posted on September 19, 2014 | By Joel Connelly

Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich has been tapped to succeed Cardinal Francis George as archbishop of Chicago in the most important ecclesiastical appointment facing Pope Francis, according to the Associated Press.

Cupich, 65, would succeed the cancer-stricken, 77-year-old George, a conservative disciplinarian in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy. A Saturday morning news conference is scheduled in Chicago.

Cupich will be heading his third diocese, having served as bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota — Lakota Indians gave him the nickname “White Thunder” — and since 2010 as bishop of the troubled Spokane diocese. In 2004, Spokane was one of the first American dioceses to file for bankruptcy due to lawsuits over sexual abuse by its clergy.

The authoritative website “Whispers in the Loggia” has described Cupich as “one of the most competent and effective (and, indeed tech savvy) members of the Stateside bench.” It described his role as “lead man” in dealing with fallout from the sex abuse scandal that hit America’s Catholic Church in the last decade.

But Cupich was a strong opponent of Washington’s marriage equality referendum in 2012. He will be going to Illinois, which recently legalized same-sex marriage.

In a 2012 letter to parishoners, called “Some Reflections on Referendum 74,” Cupich argued:

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

CHICAGO (IL)
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho September 19, 2014

Atlanta — Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will succeed Cardinal Francis George as archbishop of Chicago, according to an Associated Press report. Earlier this evening the Archdiocese of Chicago announced it would hold a press conference for tomorrow morning at 9:30 Central. A spokesperson for the archdiocese would not confirm the purpose of the event, and Cupich did not respond to a request for comment. The AP report cites one anonymous source, which confirms rumors that began circulating this evening among several journalists who have gathered here this weekend for the Religion Newswriters Association conference. It’s not clear whether these rumors stem from the same source.

The appointment of George’s successor was widely considered to be Pope Francis’s most significant decision for the church in the United States. If true, the decision to tap Cupich to lead Chicago–the third largest U.S. diocese–signals a major change for the American church.

In 1997, Pope John Paul II selected George to be the eighth archbishop of Chicago. He was the first Windy City native to serve as archbishop, and he followed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a leading liberal churchman beloved of his people. Before long, Chicago Catholics would learn just how different George was from his predecessor. Highly regarded for his intellect, George never shied away from taking sides in the culture wars, most recently as a vocal opponent of the Affordable Care Act over its abortion-funding mechanism and the contraception mandate.

By contrast, Cupich is widely considered a moderate who has not always been in step with his more conservative colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. For example, he has expressed skepticism about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops strategy of opposing Obamacare, and urged bishops to . And when the bishops were considering a draft of a statement on the economy, Cupich criticized it with vigor: “I don’t see that I would share this with anybody, or that it would make any difference.” He has expressed great enthusiasm for Pope Francis, praising the pontiff’s preferance for episcopal governance. He wrote:

Rather than limiting our consultation to those with financial and legal abilities, we also need to listen to those who work side by side with the poor each day, and who are on the frontlines in health care, education and other fields of ministry. We diminish our effectiveness when we do not call on these brothers and sisters to gain insight before making decisions in these areas. But, even more importantly, we pass up the chance to see how God is working through them and to more fully know God’s will.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
ABC News

Sep 19, 2014
By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be named the next archbishop of Chicago, The Associated Press has learned.

Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George, according to a person with knowledge of the selection, who spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. George, 77, has been battling cancer and has said he believes the disease will end his life.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference for Saturday morning. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese would not comment.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched as his first major appointment in the U.S., and the clearest indication yet of the direction he will steer American church leaders. Cupich is a moderate, and is not among U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who have taken a harder line on hot-button topics. Francis has called the church’s focus on abortion, marriage and contraception narrow and said it was driving people away.

An official from the Diocese of Spokane said he could not comment.

The Archdiocese of Chicago serves 2.2 million parishioners and is the third-largest diocese in the country. Chicago archbishops are usually elevated to cardinal and are therefore eligible to vote for the next pope.

The Chicago church has long been considered a flagship of American Catholicism, sparking lay movements of national influence and producing archbishops who shape national debate. Before George, the head of the archdiocese was Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a hero to Catholics who place equal importance on issues such as abortion and poverty.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7

Friday, September 19, 2014

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Associated Press has learned that Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, will be the next archbishop of Chicago.

A person with knowledge of the selection says Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a news conference Saturday, but will not comment.

Cupich is a moderate and is not among the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who take a culture warrior approach on hot-button topics. Francis says the church should emphasize mercy over divisive social issues.

Pope Francis’ choice for Chicago has been closely watched. It is his first major U.S. appointment and the clearest sign yet of the direction he hopes to steer American church leaders.

The Chicago Archdiocese will hold a rare press conference over the weekend. No details have been released, but the search for Cardinal George’s successor began earlier this year and was expected to take through the fall.

ABC7 will carry that announcement LIVE Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Cardinal George submitted a request for retirement quite some time ago, and the process to find a successor had begun in May 2014. At that time, the archdiocese said it could take until fall.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Sep. 19, 2014

The Vatican is to announced Saturday the appointment of Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane as the new archbishop of Chicago, NCR has learned. He will succeed Cardinal Francis George, who has been archbishop of Chicago since May 1997.

Cupich, 65, has been bishop of Spokane, Wash., since September 2003. He served as Bishop of Rapid City, S.D., from 1998 to 2003, and before that he was a priest with the Omaha, Nebr., archdiocese.

At 77, George is two years past the usual retirement age of bishops. He has also been battling cancer. In May, the archdiocese announced that the Vatican’s representative to the U.S. had begun the vetting process to find a replacement and suggested the announcement would be made this fall.

Chicago is the third most populous Catholic diocese in the U.S. and is historically one of the most important. Since the election of Pope Francis in 2013, church watchers have been saying the replacement for George would be the popes most important U.S. appointment because it would be interpreted as sign of the direction Francis wants the American church to take.

Patrick T. Reardon, a life-long Chicago Catholic and a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council in Chicago, told NCR in an interview that the greatest challenge facing the next archbishop of Chicago “is how to serve a modern American society that isn’t much interested and doesn’t want to listen to a religious and moral leader.”

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

AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)

19 September 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

A successor to Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis’ group of nine cardinal-advisers, has been announced to run the archdiocese of Sydney.

The Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, 54, takes over the reins after Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Pell to lead the newly created Secretariat for the Economy in Rome.

A Sydney native, Archbishop-elect Anthony has degrees in history and law and after ordination completed a PhD in bioethics at Oxford University and is Professor of Moral Theology and Bioethics at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family in Melbourne. He has also lectured at the Australian Catholic University.

Speaking of next month’s Synod for the Family in Rome, he said: “I think one of the things the Synod can – and I really hope will – do for us is help restore some confidence in the beauty of marriage. In the way it reveals to all of us very important things about the human person and human condition such as self-sacrifice, commitment and reconciliation … I think the world needs desperately to learn how to love again.”

As Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues, the archbishop-elect immediately committed the Church to “doing better” in its response to victims of sexual abuse by clergy, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

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

CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star

Tom Kisken
2:51 PM, Sep 19, 2014

A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses a former Santa Paula priest of molestation and alleges the Archdiocese of Los Angeles used Our Lady Of Guadalupe Church in Santa Paula as a dumping ground for clergy accused of sexual acts involving children.

The lawsuit also alleges the archdiocese and the Franciscan Friars conspired to hide the Rev. Robert Peguero Hernandez in Mexico, where he is still in ministry.

Contacted at the Holy Trinidad Parish in Zapotlanejo, Mexico, Hernandez said he was unaware of the lawsuit and denied the allegations.

“Absolutely nothing happened,” he said.

The lawsuit alleges Hernandez — also referred to as Roberto Peguero — was a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Saint Barbara Province assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe, where he lived from 1978 to 1992. The lawsuit is filed by two women — identified as Jane DM Doe and Jane LF Doe — who allege they were repeatedly molested by the priest as girls.

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

ILLINOIS
The Doings LaGrange

Jane Michaels
jmichaels@pioneerlocal.com | @janemichaels22

Conquering an Ironman Triathlon would leave most challengers exhilarated, but ready for a rest.

But LaGrange Park’s Ken Kaczmarz isn’t putting his feet up just yet. After successfully completing the Ford Ironman Sept. 7 in Madison, Wis., he has his sights set on finishing two more marathons by Nov. 2.

Kaczmarz also is extending his efforts to raise funds for World Vision’s Child Protection programs to combat child trafficking. He set a goal of $10,000 in June and exceeded it before the triathlon. With the generosity of more than 150 donors, he has raised $17,800, including $2,500 from an event Aug. 3 at Brixie’s in Brookfield. …

“One of the reasons I became involved was because as a kid, I was molested by a priest,” he said. “I was extremely active in the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests from 2002 to 2006.”

As one of the leaders of the group in Chicago for years, Kaczmarz said he later decided to channel his efforts in another direction.

“I had to get out of it. It was absorbing my life,” he said. “I’ve helped hundreds of survivors, so I saw what sexual abuse does and how it destroys lives.”

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

ILLINOIS
My Fox Chicago

JOLIET, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) –
The Diocese of Joliet is facing another lawsuit claiming a now-deceased Catholic priest from a west suburban parish sexually abused three boys more than 30 years ago.

The three alleged victims were between 6 and 11 when they were abused by the Rev. Leonardo Mateo starting in about 1980, according to the suit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court.

Mateo never faced criminal charges, and died in 2004, the Sun-Times previously reported. The Joliet Diocese deemed allegations of abuse against him credible, according to documents released in April.

The boys—two of whom are brothers—and their parents were parishioners at Immaculate Conception Parish at 134 Arthur St. in Elmhurst when Mateo started inviting the children out for ice cream and fast food, the suit said. He also would take the boys to swim at the YMCA in Elmhurst, where he allegedly molested them in the pool or locker room. …

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement about the lawsuit Friday morning.

“To local Catholics in every place Mateo worked, we plead: Ask your loved ones if they might have heard about or seen sexual misconduct by Mateo,” the statement read. “If so, urge them to call police right away. Even though Mateo is dead, it is possible his victims are still suffering in silence and self blame, and that church officials who concealed his crimes might still be prosecuted.”

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

MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) – A Merrimack College professor was arrested Friday for possession of child pornography. Gary S. Spring, 61, of Danvers, is the chairman of the college’s Civil Engineering Department.

According to the criminal complaint, Merrimack College, in North Andover, uncovered suspicious activity on one of the school’s loaner computers in June.

An internal investigation determined that the computer had been loaned out to Spring, and that Spring had been logged on when virus threat detection alerts were triggered. Further investigation determined that the computer was used to access child pornography.

Search warrants were executed at Spring’s office at Merrimack and his Danvers home. Spring was arrested after it was confirmed that he possessed child pornography.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
WHDH

Reported by Anthony Miller

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (WHDH) –
A Merrimack College civil engineering professor was arrested on Friday for possession of child pornography.

Gary Spring, 61, of Danvers was the chairman of the college’s civil engineering department and was the administrator of the residential summer camp for middle and high school students.

According to the U.S. Attorney, Merrimack uncovered suspicious activity associated with one of the college’s loaner computers back in June. An investigation revealed that the computer, which triggered virus threat detection alerts, was used to access child pornography and that Spring had signed out the computer around that time.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. —A college administrator has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Gary Spring, 61, of Danvers had his initial appearance in court Friday according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Spring is the administrator of Merrimack College’s residential summer camp for middle- and high school-aged students.

He also serves as the chairman of the civil engineering department.

According to the criminal complaint, college officials discovered suspicious activity associated with one of the college’s loaner computers that had been assigned to Spring.

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

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 19, 2014

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, CA, SNAP Western Regional Director, ( jcasteix@gmail.com, 949.322.7434 cell )

It is shocking and upsetting to learn that credibly accused child predator Roberto Peguero Hernandez is still living and working as a priest in Mexico. Not only has he been named as an abuser by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but he was allowed to escape the country when police in Santa Paula learned about the allegations.

And all along, Peguero Hernandez has been protected by the Franciscan Friars of Santa Barbara.

We fear that there may be hundreds of children in Jalisco who are in danger of abuse. We beg Guadalajara Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega to immediately remove Peguero Hernandez from ministry and send him back to the United States.

We also urge law enforcement to vigorously investigate these cases in the hopes of putting Peguero Hernandez behind bars and finding more victims in need of help and justice.

Finally, we salute the bravery of the victims in this case, who were abused when they were young, vulnerable children. Their fight for justice will keep children in Mexico and California safer from abuse.

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

NEW JERSEY
The Jewish Week

09/16/14
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher

David Cheifetz, describing himself as the name and face of countless nameless and faceless victims of sexual abuse as a child, told a hushed audience of about 200 people on Sunday night that “we [the Orthodox community] need to change our culture” from denial and avoidance to recognition of the dangers of molestation and “show support for victims and their families.”

Cheifetz was instrumental in organizing the evening’s program at his Orthodox synagogue (and this reporter’s), Rinat Yisrael, in Teaneck, N.J. Sponsored by Rinat and three other local Orthodox synagogues, the event sought to raise communal and parental awareness of the scope and nature of child sexual abuse and offer practical advice on how to deal with it.

Experts in the field say such efforts by Orthodox congregations to publicly acknowledge and address the problem are all too rare.

Rabbi Yosef Adler, spiritual leader of Rinat Yisrael, noted that sexual abuse is prohibited in the Torah, and he praised his congregants for initiating the program.

Cheifetz first went public a year and a half ago with an Opinion essay in The Jewish Week, headlined “Sharing The Secret That’s Haunted My Soul.” He told the story of being sexually abused more than 30 years ago as a 13-year-old camper at the hands of a rabbi at Camp Dora Golding, an Orthodox sleep-away camp for boys. When camp officials learned of what transpired they sent Cheifetz home, with no explanation to him or his parents, and took no direct action against the young rabbi, who went on to teach in boys’ yeshivas for decades.

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

NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Jewish Standard

Larry Yudelson • Local
Published: 19 September 2014

Does your synagogue have policies in place to protect children from sexual abuse? Do your children’s schools and camps?

Such policies, Dr. Shira Berkovits told a meeting in Teaneck on Sunday night, can make a difference to children’s safety.

Dr. Berkovits is a consultant for the Department of Synagogue Services at the Orthodox Union, and she is developing a guide to preventing child sexual abuse in synagogues. She was speaking at Teaneck’s Congregation Rinat Yisrael, as part of a panel on preventing child sexual abuse co-sponsored by three other Teaneck Orthodox congregations: Netivot Shalom, Keter Torah, and Lubavitch of Bergen County.

A written policy brought up in the hiring process “serves as a very good deterrent” to would-be molesters seeking to work for the organization, she said, because it would prod them to look for a less-aware organization. She said: “There’s an oft- cited belief molesters can’t control their urges. If that were the case they would molest when walking down the street, in the mall, on the bima. That doesn’t happen.” Instead, she said, they wait for the right opportunity, “when there are fewer chances of getting caught.”

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

NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Dozens Of Hasidic Kids Not Enrolled In School Because Rabbis Are Blocking Yeshiva Placements To Hurt Parents, Activist Alleges

There are allegedly at least 40 hasidic kids between the ages of six and 12 living in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn who don’t have a yeshiva to go to because rabbis are using yeshiva placement as a club to punish the kids’ families – sometimes allegedly because a family complained about child sexual abuse or reported abuse to police.

There are allegedly at least 40 hasidic kids between the ages of six and 12 living in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn who don’t have a yeshiva to go to because rabbis are using yeshiva placement as a club to punish the kids’ families.

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg told me tonight that he personally knows of 40 such kids and that there are likely many more.

According to what I’ve heard, the city knows this. (It may not know the exact numbers, but it knows it is happening.) And likely the state knows, as well. But they allegedly aren’t willing to cross the large hasidic bloc vote, and these kids are simply not being educated.

A parent I was told about enrolled her child in a public school after the yeshiva the child had previously attended would not take him back. The public school was shocked to see that an 8-year-old didn’t even know the letters of the alphabet because he hadn’t really been taught them in yeshiva. The child had no mental illness, no learning disabilities and doesn’t have ADHD. When the yeshivas realized how dangerous this situation could be for them, the child suddenly got a yeshiva placement.

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

NEW YORK
Arutz Sheva (Israel)

By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 9/18/2014

One thousand Orthodox Jews crowded into a Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY hall Monday evening for a noble purpose: to raise awareness of, and educate themselves about, child sexual abuse – an issue all too often avoided as taboo within some circles.

The highly charged event served as an opportunity to show support to victims of abuse, to educate the public about the dangers of abuse and to present the relaunch of Jewish Community Watch (JCW), a watchdog group monitoring abuse in the global Jewish community.

Survivors (JCW makes a point of rejecting the term “victim”), Rabbis, politicians, mental health professionals and others repeated a dual message: that the Orthodox Jewish community will no longer sweep abuse under the rug, and that survivors who step forward will be embraced. Campaigners lament that all too often victims of abuse are urged not to turn to the police but to allow rabbis to deal with the crimes “within the community” – but a growing number of leading rabbis and communal figures are publicly rejecting such an approach and calling on victims to report such crimes immediately to the relevant authorities. JCW’s work has certainly contributed towards that change in attitudes.

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Tompson as well as Deputy District Attorney Benny Forer, founder of Lamplighters Yeshiva, Yocheved Sidoff, marriage and family therapist Chaim Drizin and abuse survivor Meira Bookman also addressed the crowd.

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

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

By Dave Altimari

The Archdiocese of Hartford is seeking to have the state Supreme Court overturn a $1 million verdict in a priest sex abuse case while at the same time reversing a state law that extended the amount of time accusers can file a lawsuit against it.

In Feb. 2012 a jury in Waterbury awarded a former altar boy $1 million following a trial in which the victim, identified as Jacob Doe in court papers, testified that he and another friend were repeatedly molested and sexually assaulted by the Rev. Ivan Ferguson and a friend of the priest.

The diocese is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that verdict based on a variety of claims – including that the trial judge erred by not allowing an expert witnesses to testify for the church and by allowing testimony from a deposition of Ferguson to be heard by the jury.

But the most controversial argument is the claim that a state law last updated in 2002 that bumped the statute of limitations when a victim of sexual abuse could file lawsuit to 30 years is unconstitutional and should be stricken.

The court will hear arguments on Monday, but it will likely be months before a ruling is issued.

In 2002, the state legislature voted to extend the statute of limitation for civil cases on sex assault claims to 30 years from when a complainant reaches 18. It had previously been 17 years. The law was retroactive.

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

OREGON
Anthony Demarco and Kristian Roggendorf law offices

Pendleton, OR — A man in his mid-30s brought a lawsuit today in Federal District Court alleging sexual abuse by a Capuchin priest who had been accused of child abuse before being transferred to Hermiston, Oregon, and claiming an effort by church officials to silence the family, allowing the then-admitted pedophile cleric to escape the country to avoid criminal prosecution.

The complaint alleges that the victim was abused by Capuchin Franciscan priest Fr. Luis Jaramillo (har-a-ME-o), who was born and ordained in Colombia, South America. The abuse took place from 1988 to 1989 at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Hermiston, Oregon, located in the Diocese of Baker. At the time, the victim was between the ages of nine and ten. Before the Capuchins transferred him to Oregon, Fr. Jaramillo had been accused of abusing boys in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

According to personnel files obtained from the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Capuchin Franciscan Order, Capuchin officials sent the priest to remote Hermiston in 1987. Consistent with the Diocese of Baker’s practice at the time, Jaramillo, then known to be an accused child molester, was accepted by the Diocese of Baker to work at Our Lady of Angels Parish. Within a few weeks or months of his arrival, the lawsuit says, Jaramillo began abusing the victim and threatened to kill him if he resisted.

The boy eventually told his mother, who reported the abuse to Capuchin officials in 1989. The complaint states that a Capuchin supervisor immediately interviewed Father Jaramillo, who admitted to the abuse. Despite the priest’s admission, the provincial—or “chief executive” of the Capuchin order—allegedly told the boy’s mother that if she attempted to have Father Jaramillo prosecuted, it would be her son’s word against the priest, and she would cause her family and son to be shamed and scorned. The complaint states that he also told her that she would have to
“answer to her Maker” for any souls lost to God if she reported the abuse.

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

WASHINGTON
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: September 19, 2014

SPOKANE, Washington — A lawsuit filed by the Catholic Diocese of Spokane against the lawyers who led it through a 2004 bankruptcy related to sex abuse lawsuits is set for a February trial.

Bishop Blase Cupich (SU-pitch) quit using the legal team at the Paine Hamblen law firm after he arrived in 2010.

He has since pursued a malpractice complaint that accuses the firm of failing to use a strategy that could have saved the diocese millions of dollars and prevented a new round of priest sex-abuse claims.

The Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/1v0haeV) reported Friday that those claims reached 230 in the past year. However, more than 150 of the 230 people who filed future claims had their cases rejected by a former federal judge tasked with reviewing the claims and awarding payouts.

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

WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 19, 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 )

We are shocked to learn that more than 150 adults who say they were molested by Spokane diocese priests have “had their cases rejected by a former federal judge” over the past several months. And since the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy settled in 2004, a total of 230 people have filed such claims, according to a new story in the Spokesman-Review newspaper.

We applaud these brave men and women who are coming forward hoping to expose predators, protect kids, achieve justice and start healing.

And we again denounce selfish Spokane Catholic officials who exploited and are still exploiting secular bankruptcy laws to hide widespread clergy sex crimes and horrific cover ups of those crimes.

We reject the notion that somehow, more clergy sex abuse and cover up cases somehow “threaten Eastern Washington parishes.” Catholic officials desperately want to avoid embarrassing abuse and cover up trials at which their recent and often continuing complicity is publicly exposed. So they often make this claim that abuse victims coming forward may result in parish closures. That’s an obscene and unsupported claim that’s often intended to scare victims.

The Catholic hierarchy has massive wealth and many options to take loans if need be. Disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston borrowed $25 million from a Catholic men’s group to help settle clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. So no one should be fooled by claims that somehow any Catholic diocese may have to shutter churches because bishops have acted so recklessly, callously and deceitfully about the safety of kids. That claim is a self-serving ploy.

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

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 19, 2014

A very good friend of mine pointed me to a recent review of Eimear McBride’ novel A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING. The author of the review, Paige Reynolds, includes this very intuitive and honest description of some of the reasons why the sexual abuse of teens can be so damaging:

The novel thus showcases the genuine complexity of sexual abuse as experienced by someone in her teens. It acknowledges the fact that sexual abuse can feel good physically … if not psychologically or socially appropriate, that it is a perceived exercise of power … that it appears to give immediate access to the coveted world of adulthood, that the secrecy demanded by abuse becomes something that belongs to the victim and sutures him or her to the adult abuser, even as it enables more harmful abuse. The novel depicts the convoluted nature of sexual abuse, even as its distressing conclusion confirms that this abuse is fundamentally harmful and can have deadly consequences.

What the reviewer does not discuss, however, is that the glimpse into the “coveted world of adulthood,” the “secrecy,” and the “convoluted world” are keynotes of grooming – the way that a predator flatters and manipulates a child or teen into becoming a “compliant” victim. The adult does this by gaining the child’s implicit trust and love, blurring sexual boundaries, sexualizing behavior, and convincing the child or teen that a positive physical response (even though the child or teen is hurt, confused, shamed, isolated, or disassociating) means that the child or teen wants and needs the abusive behavior.

If a predator can use grooming to create a world that confusing and convoluted for an adult book reviewer, how can a child or teen stand a chance?

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 19, 2014

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

The attorney for DC is calling on city council member to eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes. We applaud this effort.

Archaic statutes of limitations on child sex crimes only protect dangerous predators who more often than not will hurt more than one child. To help prevent future crimes removing the statute of limitations (SOL) is necessary.

Kids are safest when predators are jailed. The biggest obstacle to that is a restrictive, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations.

Furthermore, most child molesters are never prosecuted. So the next best approach is to use the courts to warn parents and the public about them, and get them exposed, suspended, or fired so they will have less access to kids. That’s why removing the civil statutes of limitations is also important.

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

ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 19, 2014

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

The Catholic Diocese of Joliet is being sued for allegedly hiding the crimes of a now deceased predator priest. We applaud these brave victims for having the courage to hold church officials accountable.

According to the new lawsuit, Fr. Leonardo Mateo abused at least three boys while he was working at Immaculate Conception Parish in Elmhurst, IL. Mateo also faces allegations from when he was ordained in the Philippines and when he worked in Los Angeles.

We urge Catholic officials in Joliet, Los Angeles and the Philippines to immediately reach out to parishioners and beg anyone who saw, suspects or suffered Mateo’s crimes to come forward, expose wrongdoers and start healing.

To local Catholics in every place Mateo worked, we plead: Ask your loved ones if they might have heard about or seen sexual misconduct by Mateo. If so, urge them to call police right away. Even though Mateo is dead, it is possible his victims are still suffering in silence and self blame and that church officials who concealed his crimes might still be prosecuted.

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

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Sept. 19, 2014

STRIKE Force Georgiana was launched in October 2007 from Lake Macquarie local area police command.

In seven years 480 charges have been laid against 14 alleged offenders, and more than 350 witness statements have been obtained.

Five alleged offenders – three Catholic priests and two brothers – are currently before the courts.

Convicted priests include John Denham, John Houston and the late Tom Brennan, who was the first Australian Catholic priest charged with concealing a serious crime.

Lake Macquarie Commander, Superintendent Brett Greentree, praised the bravery of people who reported historic child sexual abuse to police, and said Strike Force Georgiana was an intensive and extremely involved investigation.

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

TEXAS
KXII

SHERMAN, Texas — An area church youth leader turned himself in to police after being accused of sexually assaulting a child.

Sherman police allege Robert Bradley Brooks, 28, was part of an ongoing investigation and is accused of having a sexual relationship with a female younger than 17.

Police say the girl reported it to the police back in December of last year and told them Brooks was her youth leader at church.

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

MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 19, 2014

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

A Michigan Catholic priest will take a leave of absence over a sexual encounter with an adult. If she is or was a parishioner, we are deeply concerned. In 17 states, such conduct is illegal.

Fr. Bill Langlois from St. Patrick’s/St. Anthony’s Parish in Grand Haven admits he became sexually involved with a woman.

A highly educated, allegedly celibate man who holds the revered title Catholic priest cannot ever have truly consensual sex with a congregant. Catholics have been raised since birth to believe priests are God’s representatives on earth, can forgive our sins, can turn wafers and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Priests always hold an exalted position, and when they have any sexual involvement with parishioners, it is always wrong and hurtful.

There is an inherent power imbalance between clergy and church members. It is much like a doctor-patient or therapist-client relationship, where any sexual contact is expressly forbidden. It’s the bishop’s duty to help congregants understand this.

We hope Bishop David Walkowiak will explain this to parishioners and take necessary precautions that no other people are hurt. We also hope he aggressively reaches out to the public and parishioners – not just in Grand Haven, but in other places where Fr. Langlois worked – and urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered exploitation by the priest to get help and speak up so that others might be safer and be healed.

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

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Sep 19, 2014

As the heartbreaking news of a football player abusing his son and calling it discipline surfaced this past week, I reached out to an individual who is undoubtedly qualified to speak on this grave subject. Dr. Thema Bryant- Davis is a well respected expert on issues related to trauma with a focus on women and minorities. Dr. Bryant- Davis has also been working with GRACE to develop a seminary curriculum on child protection.

I am grateful for her contribution of this powerful guest post on a subject that can no longer be ignored by any church. – Boz
_____________________________________________________________________________

Matthew 18: 10a Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones…

From its inception, the Black Church has been a voice for the love of Jesus that stands in opposition to injustice, inequality, and degradation. We have stood against multiple forms of oppression as we uplift the gospel. In essence, we have seen the way we treat each other as central and reflective of our faith. One of the areas, however, that far too many of our sanctuaries have met with silence is child abuse.

Our children, like all of God’s children, are precious and sacred. Despite this fact, in the United States, between four and seven children die every day as a result of child abuse which leads to over one thousand preventable child deaths annually. Approximately 70% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education. There are children in our pews that have been abused and there are members of our churches who are the abusers. While childhood physical abuse crosses all demographic categories, African American parents are more likely to endorse the use of severe physical punishment and African American children are disproportionately faced with the consequences of abuse including removal from the home.

The silence regarding the treatment of the “least of these” is disheartening, especially when Jesus taught that we should bring children to a deeper faith. On the contrary, child abuse not only dismantles children emotionally and physically, it can also scar them spiritually as they are left to wonder where is God and where is my faith community when I need them most.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Danny Wicentowski Thu., Sep. 18 2014

The divisive rise to power of former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke may soon end — not with a criminal conviction, as some have hoped, but with a demotion from Pope Francis.

A report from Vatican observer Sandro Magister appears to have broken open a rumor that’s been bouncing among Catholic insiders form awhile — namely, that Burke is about to go from Vatican power player to ceremonial figurehead. Magister describes Burke’s imminent demotion from his current spot on the church’s highest court to honorary head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as an “eminent decapitation.”

“He’s removed from all power,” says Frank Flinn, a retired adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University, describing the difference between the two positions. Flinn argues that this move isn’t the result of a simple clash of personalities between Burke and Pope Francis.

“It’s much more than just a style thing that’s going on here,” Flynn says. “It’s the direction of the church.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Strike Force Georgiana: investigations and convictions

By JOANNE McCARTHY Sept. 19, 2014

HE’S the man whose statement to Hunter police about being sexually abused by a Catholic priest launched Strike Force Georgiana in 2007, and ultimately led to a royal commission.

His name is John Parmeter, pictured above, and he wants people to know who he is as Strike Force Georgiana enters its eighth year investigating historic child sexual abuse cases.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold its 17th public hearing next week, with more than 16,000 calls about child sexual abuse so far, and another three years to go.

The priest, Peter Brock, pictured below, died last week. Today, Mr Parmeter reveals the ugly truth – what he calls the ‘‘dirty secrets’’ – about the Catholic Church’s elevation of Father Brock to a national role in 2010, despite knowing of his ‘‘sexual misconduct’’ with Mr Parmeter and his twin brother from when they were nine years old.

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

MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

John Croman, KARE
September 19, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A group of clergy abuse survivors Thursday filed a public nuisance lawsuit against St. John’s Abbey and the Diocese of St. Cloud, claiming those organizations aren’t doing enough to police priests who’ve been credibly accused of abuse.

Two of those plaintiffs, John and Al Vogel, became victims in the early 1970’s, and were part of a lawsuit that was settled in 2002. At the time their attorney, Jeff Anderson, and their father, Raymond, celebrated the settlement.

“It helps me a great deal, the factor, the safety for the children,” Raymond Vogel told KARE in 2002. Vogel, who has since died, worked at St. John’s Abbey for 40 years and knew the priests his son’s accused.

But 12 years later John and Al Vogel were once again standing before the camera in the St. Paul law offices of Attorney Jeff Anderson, saying St. John’s and the Diocese weren’t taking all the steps necessary to reign in credibly accused violators.

“The deceit continues. Promises continue to be broken,” John Vogel, who now lives in Texas, told reporters.”

Al said promises were made in the 2002 settlement weren’t being taken seriously the Abbey and the Diocese.

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

CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to leaflet mass-goers
They “out” a predator priest for the first time
He’s being sued but has never been publicly accused before
SNAP also warn parishioners about archbishop’s “recklessness”
Group hands out “fact sheet” about his “most egregious” cases

WHAT
As parishioners head into mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

–publicly expose, for the first time, a Hartford/New Haven area predator priest who’s being sued, and

–hand out a fact sheet about Hartford’s relatively new Catholic archbishop & his “dreadful” role “concealing clergy sex crimes.”

WHEN

Friday, Sept. 19 at 11:45 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of St. Joseph, 140 Farmington Avenue (corner of Sigourney St.) in Hartford CT

WHO
Three-four men and women who are abuse victims and members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including an Ohio woman who exposed clergy sex crimes and cover ups by Hartford’s relatively new archbishop when he headed the Toledo diocese for a decade (2003-2013).

WHY
An elderly, long time Hartford archdiocesan priest, who worked six towns in the New Haven/Hartford area, is being sued for reportedly molesting a child in the 1980s. He is Fr. Peter G. Mitchell, who sexually violated a boy in the priest’s car and priest’s home on Colony Road in New Haven. The civil suit has never been publicized before and Fr. Mitchell has never been publicly accused before. It is set to go to trial in November.

Fr. Mitchell is still alive, has apparently not been defrocked, and led a youth marching band called “The Emerald Cadets.”

He was ordained in 1951 and worked at parishes in Hartford, Derby, West Hartford, New Haven, Woodbridge, East Haven and (from 1998-2002) as a chaplain at St. Francis Hospital/Medical Center. The Official Catholic Directory lists him as “retired” in 2004.

Victims want Archbishop Leonard Blair, the archdiocese’s relatively new top official, to warn the public about Fr. Mitchell and use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to prod others who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by him to “come forward, get help, expose wrongdoers and protect kids and start healing.”

Prior to being promoted to Hartford, Archbishop Blair spent ten years as head of the Toledo diocese, where SNAP charges that he had a “terrible” record on clergy sex abuse and cover up cases there. The group will hand parishioners a “fact sheet” outlining some of the “most egregious” cases Blair oversaw while he was in Ohio. And a long time Toledo abuse advocate will detail her experiences exposing wrongdoing by Blair and his top aides.

Finally, SNAP will again urge Blair to post on his archdiocesan website the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of the 33 publicly accused child molesting clerics who are or have been in the Hartford Archdiocese. Roughly 30 US bishops (including Bridgeport’s) have done this. In SNAP’s view, this is “the bare minimum” Catholic officials should do.

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

CANADA
The Catholic Register

BY MICHAEL SWAN, THE CATHOLIC REGISTER
September 19, 2014

With a guilty verdict on child-sex charges against former missionary priest Eric Dejaeger, Bishop Tony Krotki hopes the people of Igloolik in the diocese of Churchill-Hudson Bay will be able to continue healing with support from the Church and away from the media spotlight of a lurid, wrenching trial.

Dejaeger, a former Belgian Oblate, was a priest in Igoloolik from 1978 to 1982. He pled guilty last December to eight of 70 charges but, despite the passage of more than 30 years, there was suf-ficient evidence to find Dejaeger guilty on a total of 24 counts.

The slow and winding path of the criminal justice system left Dejaeger’s victims reliving the darkest days of their childhoods over and over, Krotki told The Catholic Register in an email.
“They had to go through it with lawyers, then with police, then in court more than once. And at the end the media reminded them time and time again,” Krotki said. “It was devastating and agonizing.”

Krotki himself served as pastor in Igloolik, years after Dejaeger’s time, and became close to some families who brought charges against Dejaeger.

“Their lives are always on my mind. Their families are always in my thoughts. They are so present in my heart,” Krotki said. “I am still waiting for the moment to let them know how dear they are to me.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

19 September, 2014

Indigenous communities in the Top End are encouraged to learn more about the Royal Commission and share their story of child sexual abuse in an institution.

New community announcements in Yolngu Matha and Modern Tiwi are being aired on Northern Territory radio stations in Darwin and more than 40 remote locations from today. The announcements will air ahead of the Royal Commission’s first public hearing in Darwin commencing Monday 22 September.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the announcements were part of the Royal Commission’s commitment to effective communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around the country.

“The Royal Commission wants to ensure all survivors of child sexual abuse in an institution have the opportunity to share their story with the Royal Commission if they wish to,” Mr Reed said.

“These community announcements explain in Aboriginal languages that there is a public hearing in Darwin into the Retta Dixon Home starting next week. This is different to a private session where a survivor can come and tell their story to a Commissioner in private. Survivors of child sexual abuse in an institutional context who wish to share their story in a private session are invited to contact the Royal Commission.”

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

WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

John Stucke The Spokesman-Review

A multimillion-dollar lawsuit pitting the Catholic Diocese of Spokane against the lawyers entrusted to shepherd it through its 2004 bankruptcy is set for a February trial.

Bishop Blase Cupich quit using the legal team at the Paine Hamblen law firm after he arrived in 2010. He has since directed a malpractice complaint that accuses the firm – and specifically attorneys Shaun Cross and Greg Arpin – of failing to use a strategy that could have saved the diocese millions of dollars and prevented a new round of priest sex-abuse claims from continuing to threaten Eastern Washington parishes.

Those claims reached 230 in the past year, according to court documents, and bring urgency to the dispute.

That’s more than double the number of victims who came forward during the initial phase of the bankruptcy. More importantly, in terms of the malpractice suit, the number of so-called “future claims” vastly outstripped what the diocese’s lawyers made accommodations for in the original settlement.

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

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Friday 19 September 2014

A PRIEST has claimed a crisis in the Catholic church provoked him to release a controversial book that included allegations of a gay mafia in the priesthood.

Father Matthew Despard said the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien and a lack of leadership from senior church figures last year led to him publishing Priesthood In Crisis, a book he had written three years before.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned from the church in disgrace amid allegations of sexual misconduct from three priests and one former priest.

Father Despard, 49, was later ordered to leave his home at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, on the orders of the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, but he refused.

The civil hearing before Sheriff Joyce Powrie at Hamilton Sheriff Court had earlier heard Father William Nolan deny he targeted Father Despard after being offended by his book. Father Nolan, 60, replaced Father Despard at St John Ogilvie Church following the dispute with Church authorities.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Nick Malawskey | nmalawskey@pennlive.com
on September 18, 2014

A Harrisburg man – and former youth pastor – was arrested Thursday on 162 counts of possession of child pornography after law enforcement officials received a tip he was uploading child pornography to the Internet.

According to Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr., his office executed a search warrant Thursday morning at the home of Daniel Tipantiza, on Derry Street.

During the search Tipantiza admitted to officers he was uploading child pornography to the Internet, and was subsequently charged and placed in Dauphin County prison in lieu of $150,000 bail. Marsico’s office said several pieces of computer equipment were also seized from Tipantiza’s home and will be searched.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 43

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014, BY HOWARD SHEPPARD

HARRISBURG, Pa.,-(WPMT) On July 22, the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children received a CyberTipline report from Yahoo, Inc. that someone using their system uploaded 61 images of child pornography. That report was forwarded to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Criminal Investigation Division for an investigation.

This morning, Division detectives executed a search warrant this morning on the home of Daniel Tipantiza on Derry Street in Harrisburg.

Tipantiza was taken into custody at the scene. While being interviewed by detectives, he admitted to uploading the 61 images of child pornography to his Yahoo account. During their search detectives seized various computer items from the home. Additional searches of those computers will be made to see if he possessed additional images of child pornography.

Tapantiza is charged with 61 counts of Distribution of Child Pornography and 61 counts of Possession of Child Pornography.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

By Myles Snyder

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) –
A former youth pastor in Dauphin County has been arrested on 122 counts of child pornography.

Daniel Tipantiza, 40, of Harrisburg, was taken into custody Thursday after detectives from the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office executed a search warrant at his Derry Street home.

Tipantiza later admitted to uploading 61 images of child pornography to his Yahoo account, District Attorney Ed Marsico said.

He was arraigned on 61 counts of child pornography distribution and 61 counts of child pornography possession and committed to the Dauphin County Prison on $150,000 bail.

His computers will be searched for additional images.
Authorities said Tipantiza was a youth pastor at Valley Baptist Church in Middletown until this summer.

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: “All Friends Who Had Attended a Local Catholic High School Together”

David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement site:

According to multiple reports, the two men, 26 and 28-years old [i.e., two gay men who had their faces bashed in on September 11 in Philadelphia], were asked by members of the group, all friends who had attended a local Catholic high school together, if they were a couple. Not in a nice way.

Yet, as Badash also reports, according to multiple sources, members of the gay-bashing group are now claiming that they acted in self-defense — though reports by several eyewitnesses who saw what happened say that the two gay men were minding their own business when they were accosted by the group, who began to shout anti-gay slurs at them. And then the gay-bashing followed.

All friends who had attended a local Catholic high school together.

In fact, one of the participants in the crime, Fran McGlinn, has just been fired by Archbishop Wood Catholic high school, where he was a basketball coach, after his role in the gay-bashing came out. McGlinn is a graduate of Archbishop Wood Catholic high school, and as Jean Ann Esselink reports for The New Civil Rights Movement (see the link I’ve just provided), several more of those involved in this brutal gay-bashing are also graduates of this Catholic high school.

Can we please talk again about what it means for Catholic institutions that the Catholic church in the U.S. is moving backwards regarding full inclusion of gay people, while all other religious institutions move forwards? Can we talk some more about exactly why people keep reporting in one poll after another that they see the Catholic community as the religious community more hostile to gay folks than any other religious community in the U.S.?

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

KARLIS SALNA AAP SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

SURVIVORS of abuse at the hands of Catholic priests say they have little hope the church will change under the newly-appointed archbishop of Sydney.

BISHOP of Parramatta Anthony Fisher, 54, was appointed to his new role by Pope Francis on Thursday night.

Bishop Fisher has vowed to repair the relationship between the church and survivors of abuse, insisting there will be no more cover-ups and that victims will come first.

But abuse survivors on Friday slammed the appointment, citing “callous” comments Bishop Fisher made at the World Youth Day in 2008 when he said the parents of an abuse victim who had committed suicide were “dwelling angrily on old wounds”.

“Many survivors believe the only place where we will be first under Bishop Fisher is in media statements, mentioned dismissively with an insincere apology, and then ignored,” Nicky Davis, from the survivors network SNAP, said on Friday.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 19, 2014

Rick Feneley

The new archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has used his first news conference to express his shame and sorrow for child abuse by the clergy and the church’s abandonment of its victims.

To the survivors of abuse and to the church’s youth, Archbishop Fisher said: “To both of them I say, no excuses, no cover-ups. I am ashamed and I’m sorry for where we’ve failed you in the past. The church can do better and I’m determined to play my part as a leader in Sydney.”

Archbishop Fisher said he hoped the Catholic church would emerge as a “purified and humbler church”.

At the news conference in Parramatta, where he has led the Diocese since 2010, he said: “It’s been harrowing to listen to the stories of the survivors of abuse as I have done here as Bishop of Parramatta.”

On his first day in the job, Archbishop Fisher said he hoped to meet Muslim leaders on Friday afternoon to discuss the anti-terrorism raids in Sydney. He said faith leaders had to play a role in ensuring calm and harmony.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The newly appointed Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, the Reverend Anthony Fisher, has promised “there will be no excuses and no cover-ups” in the wake of the child sex abuse inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard the Catholic Church was actively involved in covering up sex offences against children over several decades.

Archbishop-elect Fisher has been the Bishop of Parramatta for the past four years, and takes over the role from Cardinal George Pell who has been appointed to a senior role at the Vatican.

He has promised that the Catholic Church will be fully accountable in the wake of the royal commission.

“I think the Catholic Church is going through a period of well-deserved public scrutiny and humiliation and certainly self examination, but I hope we’ll emerge from that purified, more humble, more compassionate and be spiritually regenerated,” Bishop Fisher said.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Fresno bee

BY NADIA PEARL
The Fresno Bee
September 18, 2014

A Visalia church volunteer was arraigned Monday in Tulare County Superior Court for alleged child molestation.

Two counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 and the special allegation of substantial sexual conduct were filed against Daniel Sisk, 34, District Attorney Tim Ward said.

If found guilty, Sisk could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in state prison.

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

AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

Bishop Anthony Fisher has been appointed as the new Archbishop of Sydney in an announcement by Pope Francis, Thursday.

The current Bishop of Parramatta will replace Cardinal George Pell, who was transferred to the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy earlier this year.

The Archbishop-elect committed to regaining the trust and confidence of the church and wider community amidst the ongoing investigation of sexual abuse of children within Australian institutions.

“The Catholic church in Australia is going through a period of public scrutiny and self-examination,” Bishop Fisher said.

“Victims of abuse and all young people must come first – no excuses, no cover-ups.”

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

UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor September 18, 2014

Back in February, I was sitting in a Rome restaurant with a member of the College of Cardinals the day after retired Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany had delivered an impassioned appeal to fellow members of the church’s most exclusive club for relaxing the church’s ban on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Communion.

Kasper had been tapped to speak to the cardinals by Pope Francis in advance of an Oct. 5-19 Synod of Bishops on the family. Francis certainly knew what Kasper was likely to say, since back in 1993 he had been one of three German bishops who tried to loosen the Communion ban, only to be slapped down by Pope John Paul II’s Vatican.

I asked the cardinal what he made of Kasper’s speech. He put a pained expressed on his face, paused as if to measure to his words, and then delivered the following verdict.

“That guy,” he said, “is off his rocker.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Parramatta Sun

By Vanessa Watson Sept. 19, 2014

The Archbishop-elect of Sydney Anthony Fisher has used his first address to call for harmony in the wake of the counter-terrorism raids.

The outgoing Bishop of Parramatta Anthony Fisher said we live in “troubled times” and called on “people of faith” to show calm, restraint and wisdom.

“Right now in Sydney we face some big issues about harmony,” Fr Fisher said. “That’s an issue right around the world at the moment.

“As a religious leader though I think people of faith have something very important to do and to say at the moment. [These are] troubled times in our world and even in our own city. We need to bring some calm and some restraint and some wisdom at this time.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Bishop Anthony Fisher calls for harmony in first address as archbishop of Sydney

CATHY MORRIS PARRAMATTA ADVERTISER SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

THE newly appointed Catholic Archbishop of Sydney wants Australians to set an example to the rest of the world by showing how different nationalities can live together in peace following the anti-terror raids yesterday.

Bishop of Parramatta Anthony Fisher, who grew up in Lakemba, said Australians were “living in troubled times” and the Catholic Church had a role to play in getting the message out.

He was speaking at a press conference in Parramatta this morning to announce his new appointment as Archbishop of Sydney taking over from Cardinal George Pell who has taken up a senior role overseeing reform of the Vatican’s finances in Rome.

“Right now we face in Sydney some big questions about harmony as a city about coexistence and peace and friendship, that’s an issue right around the world,” Bishop Fisher said.

“I hope here in Sydney we’re going to be able to give the world a good example.”

Bishop Fisher said he has asked to meet with Muslim leaders to discuss current events.

“I’d like to hear from them what they’re feeling at the moment and in what ways we can do and say some things together that will move us forward and a more peaceful, more harmonious community.”

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

UNITED STATES
The Aspen Times

Roger Marolt

Why should I defend the Catholic Church? It’s held its own for 2,000 years and will continue to do so. I don’t know nearly enough to do this justice, but I do love her. I guess that’s enough.

I’ll begin defending her with what I can’t defend. That is the sexual abuse of children, mostly boys, by a few rogue priests.

It is important to remember that it was men who used the church in order to carry out their heinous crimes. It happens in the Boy Scouts, in schools (even in Aspen), in youth sports, with babysitters, within the ranks of law enforcement, etc., etc. The church’s inexcusable part was its administration, again just people, turning a blind eye until the scandal was massively exposed. Look, I know the fear. I’ve felt the shame. It happened to a group of us kids in Aspen. Our story is in the archives. That’s where my anger rests. My joy is moving forward holding tight to The Rock.

Oh, and then there are all the wars she’s responsible for. You know, like the Crusades and the — uhm — OK, the Crusades. Again, a few bad people using her as an excuse.

I’ve had doubts about Catholic rules and regulations. But it’s not really fair to categorize them like that. Aside from his unbounded love for us, God’s greatest gift is our free will. In that context, everything within the church that resembles a rule is actually guidance away from things that will harm our relationship with him. How about this perspective: God has chosen all of us to be with him. It is we who turn our backs.

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

Jane Walsh @irishcentral September 19,2014

The documentary “This World: Ireland’s Lost Babies” unearths further truths about the 40,000 to 60,000 babies who were involuntarily given up for adoption, many to the United States, from Catholic mother and baby homes in Ireland, during the 1950s and 60s.

Presented by Martin Sixsmith the documentary alternates between Ireland and the US to tell the tales of the parents and children who were separated by the Catholic Church. Sixsmith is the journalist behind the tale of Philomena, which was later made in to a movie by Steve Coogan. His latest hour-long documentary examines the appalling treatment of the Irish women who became pregnant outside marriage and also the adopted children, who were farmed out to parents who had little vetting.

These babies were handed over to these unknown families. The children often chosen from a primitive mail order catalog and the Catholic Church often receiving a sizeable donation. They were selling babies by mail order to the people in the US.

A striking personal account from the documentary comes from Mary Monaghan, who was born in a mother and baby home in Ireland and sent to America by the nuns, adopted by a predatory pedophile. Now, aged 64 and living in Massachusetts, Monaghan told Sixsmith how she suffered years of sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder after being adopted by the family of William O’Brien, a violent pedophile. Eventually Monaghan was reunited with her mother Therese, who has since died.

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

OHIO
Beacon Journal

By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer

New allegations have surfaced against a former Catholic elementary schoolteacher in Akron who quietly was sent to prison this year for sex offenses against a 12-year-old student.

The accusations are contained in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland, St. Mary’s School in Akron and former music teacher Richard Rudman.
The family of the 12-year-old girl contend in their lawsuit that school officials turned a blind eye to Rudman’s actions in the classroom, including his taking the student and others out of class under the guise of “helping him” with special projects.

The suit also contends that Rudman “groomed, sexually abused, violated, molested and manipulated” the girl at school and away from the classroom. It also alleges he gave other girls gifts and money during school hours and also encouraged the children to contact him on Facebook.

There have been no allegations that Rudman molested other children.

The lawsuit, filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court, seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

A spokesman for the diocese issued a prepared statement Wednesday afternoon.

“The sexual abuse of a minor is a horrific act that no child should have to endure. That is why, for the Diocese of Cleveland and St. Mary Parish, the safety and welfare of the children in their care is a priority of the highest importance.

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