ABUSE TRACKER

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun
September 4, 2014

Three men who were sexually abused by a church youth-ministry leader years ago experienced a measure of justice Wednesday as they confronted their abuser in court, read emotion-charged statements about how his crimes have damaged their lives, and heard a judge sentence him to 16 years in prison.

Jediah Tanguay, 33; Benjamin Tanguay, 31; and Roger Robbins, 30, were minors in the 1990s when Raymond Fernandez, then a longtime youth leader at Greater Grace World Outreach Church in East Baltimore, has admitted he molested them.

Fernandez, 50, of Nottingham in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of child sexual abuse, one in relation to each victim. The Baltimore County state’s attorney dropped six counts in exchange for his plea.

His conviction came after Jediah Tanguay engaged Fernandez in a telephone conversation last year, an exchange in which Fernandez admitted the sexual abuse as a Baltimore County police detective listened in, tape recorder running.

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 4, 2014

Annette Blackwell

The national inquiry into child sexual abuse will be asked not to allow the federal government to run a victims’ redress scheme because it is likely to keep payouts artificially low.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) will meet in private with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne on Friday.

The meeting is part of a week of special roundtable discussions the commission is holding to discuss a redress scheme for abuse victims.

ALA spokesman Andrew Morrison SC said the alliance had no problem with a redress scheme, but “we do have major problems with it being controlled by the very bodies which are responsible for making the payments”.

“A large part of the offending bodies are government and constraints on government expenditure mean the government will impose very low caps as they have done on victims’ compensation,” told AAP on Thursday.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne Independent

By Kevin Kearney
kkearney@wayneindependent.com
Posted Sep. 3, 2014

LAKE TWP. – A 54-year-old suspect is accused of sexually abusing a boy for 10 years.

Norman Theodore Faux, of 1811 Lake Ariel Highway, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault and single counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and indecent assault.

Faux was arraigned before District Judge Bonnie Carney and placed in the Wayne County Correctional Facility on $150,000 bail.

The suspect is scheduled to appear in Central Court this morning at the Wayne County Courthouse.

The sex assaults began when the alleged victim was nine, state police said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

[with video]

A former minister in Wayne County is behind bars facing charges that he sexually abused a young boy for nearly a decade.

Norman Faux of Lake Ariel was arrested over the weekend.

He appeared in court Wednesday morning to face a judge on the allegations.

Faux requested a preliminary hearing on the allegations. That is expected to happen within the next several weeks.

State police arrested Faux after he allegedly sent a lewd text message to his victim. That alleged victim is now 19 years old and says he was abused so many times, he couldn’t count them all.

Faux is the former pastor at the Lake Ariel United Methodist Church.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY JIM LOCKWOOD AND BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
Published: September 4, 2014

HONESDALE — A former United Methodist Church minister charged with molesting a boy repeatedly over a 10-year period asked for a formal preliminary hearing during an appearance Wednesday in Wayne County Central Court.

Norman T. Faux, 54, of Lake Ariel, is accused of abusing the boy, now 19, from the time the boy was 9 years old until a few weeks ago.

Faux will now have a preliminary hearing scheduled before Magisterial District Judge Bonnie L. Carney. The time was not set.

State police in Honesdale charged Faux with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with someone less than 16 years old and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, three counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of indecent assault.

Faux was arraigned Saturday, was unable to post $150,000 bail and was jailed in Wayne County Correctional Facility. He asked for a reduction in bail during Wednesday’s proceeding, but was denied by Magisterial District Judge Ted Mikulak. Unable to post bail, he was sent back to prison.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Raw Story

By David Ferguson
Wednesday, September 3, 2014

A former Pennsylvania pastor is charged with serially molesting a boy for ten years, beginning when the victim was 9 years old.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reported that Norman T. Faux, 54, former pastor of Lake Ariel and Centenary United Methodist churches is in custody after a woman found a lewd text message from Faux to her boyfriend on the boyfriend’s phone.

The woman told her mother about the message, who in turn urged the now 19-year-old victim to report the long-term sexual abuse, which began in 2004 and continued until a few weeks ago.

On Friday, the victim gave testimony to officials at Wayne County Children and Youth Services, saying that when he was 11 years old, Faux would play him pornographic videos while the minister performed oral sex on him. These encounters happened more frequently than he could count, said the young man.

Faux is currently being held at the Wayne County Correctional Center and was unable to make the $150,000 bail. On Wednesday, he asked for a formal preliminary hearing and appeared in Wayne County Central Court.

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VIRGINIA
NV Daily

By Joe Beck

The former pastor of a church in Shenandoah County has been sentenced in Page County to six years in prison on child molestation charges.

Judge Bruce Albertson imposed the sentence on James Daley, 72, of Luray. Daley was also sentenced to five years probation. The sentence included a total of 18 years in prison, 12 of which were suspended.

Daley’s offenses — one count of aggravated sexual battery to a child less than 13 years old and five counts of indecent liberties with a child– carried a sentence that could have gone as high as 45 years.

Daley committed the crimes while he was pastor at Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Luray. He and his wife Margaret operated a day care center from their Luray home that was linked to James Daley’s offenses.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Huffington Post

Joe Anthony

It was publicized today that Cor Jesu Academy of St. Louis, Missouri, has fired two staff members, Olivia Reichert and Christina Gambaro, after they were discovered to be in a lesbian relationship.

They weren’t fired for lewd sex acts, for using their position as a pulpit to advocate, or for pursuing their students with nefarious purpose; rather, their relationship reportedly came to light after the school received a copy of a mortgage application signed by the couple.

So let’s get this straight: A Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Louis fires two teachers on the sole basis of their being in a homosexual relationship, saying that they’re not upholding their commitment to serve as Christian role models — the implication being, of course, that their community has higher standards for role models than two women in a loving marriage and teaching at a Catholic school… oh, and who happen to be lesbians.

And yet this takes place within a Catholic archdiocese where 115 (one hundred and fifteen!) Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse since 1983 — the vast majority against children. And this number doesn’t even include more recent accusations (here, here, and here).

And yet this takes place within a Catholic archdiocese where their “most holy” man, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, can’t seem to remember if raping children is even a crime.

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

DAN ARSENAULT CRIME REPORTER
Published September 3, 2014

A former Halifax priest who left Nova Scotia in the 1990s to work with Toronto’s homeless has died.

Rev. Robert Cashin, who would have turned 64 this Sunday, was found dead inside his apartment last weekend. He hadn’t been in contact with his family for three weeks and they summoned the police to check in on him.

“They believe it to be natural causes,” a cousin, Brenda Michalski of Dartmouth, said Wednesday. “He was a very kind, loving individual. He had a heart of gold.”

Cashin was ordained into the priesthood in 1979 and spent much of the next 20 years at Saint Mary’s Basilica and Saint Thomas Aquinas parish in Halifax. He also worked in the Mount Saint Vincent Motherhouse, Chezzetcook and Sheet Harbour, Michalski said.

In 1997, Cashin filed a lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court accusing Msgr. Albert O’Driscoll, the former rector at the basilica, of sexually assaulting him twice in 1979.

He’s believed to be the first priest in Canada to allege sexual abuse at the hands of fellow clergy.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Jenna Lohse

(ABC 6 News) — A Ramsey County District Court judge has ruled a civil trial involving child sex abuse and the catholic church in Minnesota can move forward.

We talked with an attorney representing the abuse victims who is calling this a historic decision. The judge denied a request from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to dismiss a public nuisance claim.

The claim involves accusations the church covered up child sex abuse. As we’ve reported, a lawsuit was filed last year against former priest Thomas Adamson of Rochester. In a sworn deposition Adamson admitted to sexually abusing at least 12 teens from the 1960’s to the mid 1980’s, including in Rochester. That prompted the release of an abuse summary of 13 priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.

We’re told today’s decision is unprecedented. “It’s the first time that a Catholic Diocese claim of public nuisance is going to move forward against the Catholic Diocese. What this means for the Diocese of Winona is that there’s now going to be a public trial that’s going to air the truth about what they did in the past, covering up and concealing priest sexual abusers in the diocese,” said Victim’s Attorney, Mike Finnegan.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Jay Kolls

Dr. Charles Reid, a law professor and Catholic Church expert at the University of St. Thomas, says pressure is mounting from within the Archdiocese for Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

This week, Fr. Patrick Kennedy called on Archbishop Nienstedt to step down after civil lawsuits were filed against the Winona Archdiocese for allegedly not reporting and then covering up allegations of child sexual abuse by priests.

Fr. Kennedy is the sixth priest within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to urge Archbishop Nienstedt to step down.

The Archbishop was not available for comment Wednesday, but a spokesperson says his position on resigning has not changed. Nienstedt has repeatedly said he has no intention of quitting as head of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson

MINNEAPOLIS — A Ramsey County judge has refused to halt legal action brought against the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis by a Twin Cities man who claims to have been sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest nearly 40 years ago.

The man — identified in court documents only as John Doe 1 — claims church authorities were negligent by assigning a priest known to have sexually abused boys in the past to ministerial positions where he would have ready access to children and failing to inform parishioners of the priest’s history. The suit further claims that church leaders created a “public nuisance” by failing to warn parishioners about the priest.

Judge John Van de North’s ruling means the case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona will be the first clerical sexual abuse case nationwide to use the public nuisance theory at trial, attorneys for the plaintiff said Wednesday. The public nuisance claim has already led to the unprecedented disclosure of tens of thousands of church documents and the names of dozens of accused priests.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances,” Van de North wrote in his order dated Tuesday. Harboring worrisome dogs, maintaining houses of prostitution, and swearing in public have been found to be public nuisances, the judge said.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Crux is the USA branch of Vatican.va. It’s the main tentacle of the Octopus Dei Beast PR Team in the Vatican. Unlike other newspapers on earth, it will have a unique Hollywood media hype in the movie-to-be-made ‘Spotlight’. Read our related article, ‘Spotlight’ movie is Opus Dei Beast PR stunt propaganda for the Vatican & publicity for Boston Globe Catholic website – to salvage Vatican Titanic http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/08/spotlight-on-boston-globe-is-opus-dei.html

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MINNESOTA
The Catholic Spirit

July 2, 2014

Father Joseph Gallatin has resigned as pastor of St. Peter in Mendota after a file review led Archbishop John Nienstedt to restrict his ministry.

Father Gallatin had been on a leave of absence since last December after his file was referred again to the Clergy Review Board because of a boundary violation involving a teenage male in 1998. At that time, the board reviewed the incident and concluded Father Gallatin required evaluation, therapy and monitoring. According to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he has actively participated in all requirements since that incident, and there have been no other allegations of inappropriate behavior with a minor against him.

Since late 2013, the archdiocese has been reviewing the files of all clergy who have served or are serving in its 12-county area. The Clergy Review Board was asked to revisit the 1998 allegation against Father Gallatin as part of the ongoing review.

In a June 22 statement posted at archspm.org, the archdiocese said that while the board examined the incident over the course of several months and determined that the act did not violate the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, it still recommended he remain in the monitoring program and work in ministry that doesn’t involve minors.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Business Journal

Alison Bauter
Reporter-
Milwaukee Business Journal

It’s like trying to steer a ship while your ankles are tied and you’ve got one hand behind your back.

That simile was Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s depiction of the financial straits an ongoing bankruptcy case creates for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Without delving into specifics, Listecki told a Milwaukee Press Club panel Wednesday that member contributions to individual parishes remain strong overall, and that last year’s annual fundraising appeal exceeded goals. But for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, “Yes, it does impact upon us. There is no doubt about it,” Listecki said.

“There’s vision that you’d like to establish, but you have to basically hold off,” he said. “You basically don’t know what an end-point of the bankruptcy will be. And because that’s realistic … you have to understand that you can’t make commitments to things that you won’t be able to fulfill.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jonathan Holmes

Did you know Fairfax and the ABC are involved in a concerted attack on religious freedom in general, and the Catholic Church in particular? You didn’t? Well, Senator George Brandis thinks you should.

Two weeks ago, the federal Attorney-General delivered a lecture on religious freedom to the Law School of the University of Notre Dame in Sydney. Freedom of religion is too often ignored, he complained, when human rights and freedoms are discussed and defended. He then launched into an extraordinary attack on Fairfax Media and the ABC. It is worth quoting at some length: “In fact, not only has religious freedom been neglected, it has actually been the subject of open attack from those who dominated much of our political discourse, particularly in the national broadcaster and the Fairfax media. Almost invariably, their targets have been the Christian churches, and in particular the Catholic Church, and people of Jewish faith.

“Indeed, so deaf have we become to attacks upon religious liberty, so accepting have we been of the open scorn with which their tenets, their liturgy, their customs, their clergy and their congregations have been derided, that the great Dyson Heydon, delivering the Acton Lecture in April of this year, was moved to describe anti-Catholicism in modern Australia as ‘the racism of the intellectuals’.”

Did Brandis offer his listeners a single example of this onslaught against religious freedom? Did he quote one program on the ABC, or one article in a Fairfax newspaper, that treated Catholic or Jewish tenets, liturgy and congregations with scorn? No, he did not. Not one. Which prompts me to wonder what the hell he was talking about.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

September 3, 2014

According to Reuters – A change in Germany’s capital gains tax has prompted an exodus from its Catholic and Protestant churches this year as thousands of registered members quit their parishes rather than pay the money. And pews are emptying fast. Read news article below with highlights. We urge the Germans to help Spain spearhead the abolition of the Vatican Concordats altogether because through them, the Vatican usurp billions of dollars from every country that signed it in the past. Read more — Abolition of Vatican Concordat in Dominican Republic and bring pedophile Papal Nuncio and other pedophile Polish priests to justice http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Diario

[Summary: A judge suspended the criminal proceeding against ex-nuncio Joseph Wesolowski, who is accused of sexually violating several children while he served as a diplomatic representative of the Vatican to the Dominican Republic.

Judge Kenya Romero stopped the hearing that was scheduled to analyze and assess the evidence presented by the public prosecutor against Wesolowski. The judge made the decision after Rodolfo Valentin, lawyer appointed by the state to represent the religious, submitted a preliminary issue to the court. Romero argued that if the judge knew th evidence presented by the prosecution without notifying Wesolowski, it would violate his rights.

Valentin said he does not know Wesolowski and the ex-nuncio has not asked him to represent him and Wesolowski was not notified of the hearing. The lawyer said he does not really represent the interests of Wesolowski but represently the interests of the due process.

The prosecution intended to present evidence and examine several witnesses and an 18-year-old alleged victim of the Polish cleric.]

Por: Panky Corcino/Corresponsal EDLP
PUBLICADO: SEP, 2, 2014

SANTO DOMINGO – Una juez de instrucción del Distrito Nacional suspendió el conocimiento del proceso penal contra el exnuncio Josef Wesolowski, imputado de violar sexualmente a varios niños mientras se desempeñó como representante diplomático del Vaticano en República Dominicana.

La jueza del séptimo juzgado de instrucción, Kenya Romero, detuvo la audiencia en la que tenía previsto analizar y valorar las pruebas aportadas por el Ministerio Público en contra de Wesolowski.

La magistrada tomó la decisión después de que Rodolfo Valentín, el abogado designado por el Estado para representar al religioso, presentara un incidente procesal al tribunal.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

[with video]

Grant Gallicho September 3, 2014

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has never shown much aptitude for speaking truthfully about the sexual-abuse scandal. Sit him in front of a TV camera or a Dictaphone and he’ll deliver any number of pronouncements long on confidence and short on accuracy. His greatest hit–that the scandal is really a gay problem–has never been true. But his B-sides are worth remembering too. Like that time he defended Deal Hudson (for this) by referring to the woman in question as “a drunk…he met in a bar,” when in fact she was a student of his at the time (a freshman, actually). Or that other time he commented on the Mark Foley case by observing that “most fifteen-year-old boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested.” Or pretty much every time he comments on the case of Shawn Ratigan.

You remember him. He’s the now-laicized Kansas City priest who’s doing time–an insanely long amount of time, if you ask me–for possessing and creating child pornography, crimes he admitted. The diocese learned that he had hundreds of troubling photos on his computer, including a series depicting a child whose diaper is slowly revealed to expose her genitals. Bishop Robert Finn didn’t call the police, so he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. And now the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is paying for his appallingly bad judgment.

For years, Donohue has been proclaiming Finn “an innocent man.” He’s able to say so because he draws his conclusion from a bunch of made up facts, most of which he was invited to repeat on the August 21 edition of EWTN’s The World Over. Have a look (go to 46:40).

Nearly none of that is true. Right off the bat, Donohue minimizes the crime by claiming “a technician” found “some crotch shots of girls fully clothed” on Ratigan’s computer. Not quite.

According to an independent report commissioned by the diocese, the computer contained hundreds of photos, most of which depicted the rear ends and crotches of very young girls wearing some sort of clothing, such as bathing suits. Some looked like they were taken under tables. But it also contained two series of photos that Donohue forgot to mention: one, referred to above, showing a girl as young as two wearing a diaper, which is slowly removed to expose her genitals. That series included six to eight photos, three of which displayed her nude from the waist down. Another set of about two dozen photos depicted a sleeping girl who appears to have been moved–that is, posed–from photo to photo.

Donohue falsely claims the diocese found just one nude photo, and that it was “non-sexual.” Then he says the diocese reported it to the police, failing to note that Finn was convicted for failing to report suspected child abuse (possessing child pornography counts as child abuse, according to civil and canon law). And then he floats the falsehood that “the authorities looked at it” and said it was not pornographic. Also not true. Not even close to true. …

Is that the kind of consistent, penetrating analysis Catholic League donors have come to expect? I hope they feel like they’re getting their money’s worth, because it’s quite a bit of money. In 2012, the Catholic League took in about $3.7 million, according to its tax filing. (More recent filings are not yet available.) The group’s net assets totaled nearly $32 million. The Catholic League pays Donohue about half a million dollars. Nice work if you can get it. The vice president only makes about two hundred grand–fifty thousand shy of the check Donohue cut to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2012 for “general support.”

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UNITED STATES
Mediaite

by Eddie Scarry September 3rd, 2014

In a news release Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights President Bill Donohue says the New York Times “erred” in a recent editorial about a child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church.

The editorial Donohue, a frequent news commentator, refers to was published Monday and related to Catholic Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66, who was accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Donminican Republic. It calls on Pope Francis to confront the Vatican’s “powerful bureaucracy” over the “pedophilia scandal” and others like it, so they can be brought to justice.

In Donohue’s statement, he says the Times should describe the nature of the sex as a “homosexual scandal” and not “pedophilia” because “the boys the archbishop abused were teenagers.”

How old, exactly, were the archbishop’s accusers? One of the prosecutors involved in the case told the Times they ranged from 12 to 17.

Sixty-something-year-old man touches 13-year-old boy. A homosexual 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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry: I hope the ship with children sinks on the way to Australia, nun said

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 03 SEPTEMBER 2014

The name of a child migrant was changed by nuns before he sailed to Australia in an effort to ensure he could not be traced, the public inquiry heard.

Seasick children vomited from the decks and cried as they traversed the waves, on their way to a new identity and life in a country they knew nothing about.

One nun said: “I hope that ship sinks on the way out there as punishment for misbehaving.”

The decision to change the name of one child was signed by a mother superior in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Catholic Council for Child Welfare, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry was told yesterday.

He was told not to change it back when he arrived in Australia following the month-long passage from Northern Ireland. A witness statement said he was never asked did he want to go.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 03 SEPTEMBER 2014

A child migrant who was transported to Australia from a Northern Ireland children’s home was allowed to believe he was an orphan for over four decades, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard.

Des McDaid, whose heartbreaking story as a child migrant was featured in the 2010 film Oranges and Sunshine, said he was 48 years old when he discovered that his mother was still alive.

After years of searching for information about her, mother and son have since been reunited.

“I had always wondered about my mother and her whereabouts, especially on my birthday. To the age of 48 I had no other reason to think that I wasn’t an orphan,” Mr McDaid told the inquiry yesterday via video-link.

He was the first child migrant to give evidence to the abuse inquiry which is currently investigating the child migrant programme that saw 131 children transported from Northern Ireland care institutions to Australia, many without their parents’ consent.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

By Annie Young Sept. 4, 2014

JOSEPH Conrad wrote, “A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”

Last week I read an obituary notice in The Age (August 30) concerning a much loved young man; Sam committed suicide as a result of suffering years of depression, periodic anxiety and panic attacks. His friends knew him as a bright, gregarious and funny guy.

His counsellor knew differently. He knew a young man who had been sexually abused by a locum priest at his Catholic primary school, a priest who then ordered Sam not to tell his parents or the school under threat of rejection and expulsion.

For years Sam carried memories of that abuse, the uncontrollable thoughts, helplessness and enduring pain. This triggered his depression.

Only this year Sam, with the support of his counsellor, told his loving family. Heartache does not end with the victim.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

A Ramsey County District Court judge ruled Wednesday that the case against the Diocese of Winona and Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis will head to court later this fall.

Judge John Van de North denied the request for dismissal of the public nuisance part of the case, finding that the diocese and archdiocese’s actions to allow priests accused of abuse to remain in service, as well as the decisions to withhold information about priests suspected of abuse, constituted a public nuisance.

“The Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors,” Van de North wrote in his ruling, referring to former diocese and archdiocese priests, respectively, accused of abuse.

Van de North ruled in July against a similar motion for dismissal. In that maneuver, lawyers from the archdiocese and diocese agreed that former priest Thomas Adamson abused the plaintiff at the center of the lawsuit, but argued that there weren’t sufficient legal grounds to present to a jury. The judge said he’ll let the man, identified only as Doe 1, to proceed with his negligence claims.

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
Houston Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who was sexually abused by a priest in 1976 can move forward with his claim that the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese created a public nuisance by failing to warn the public about a problem priest.

In a written order filed Tuesday, Ramsey County Judge John Van de North says a reasonable jury could find that the archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona permitted a situation that endangered public safety.

The case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 3.

Lawyers for the church argued this case doesn’t meet the criteria for a public nuisance claim, and they asked that it be dismissed.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: September 3, 2014

Judge denies church’s attempt to dismiss negligence and public nuisance claims filed by alleged clergy abuse victim.

A Ramsey District Court judge has ruled that a public nuisance claim against the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese can move forward — a claim that has triggered the unprecedented release of documents and files on clergy sex offenders over the past year.

Lawyers for victims of clergy abuse have long sought the paper trail surrounding their clients’ claims. Using a “nuisance claim” to help pry that open is a first for Minnesota.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances . . ,” wrote Judge John Van de North in a ruling Tuesday.

“The Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors.”

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
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/03/2014

A Ramsey County judge has ruled that a groundbreaking lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona can proceed with a controversial claim intact.

Judge John Van de North denied a motion by the two church organizations for summary judgment on a claim alleging they created a “public nuisance” by concealing information about Thomas Adamson, a former priest accused of child molestation.

“Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances,” such as harboring “worrisome dogs” and swearing in public, Van de North wrote in his order, referring to other case law.

Thomas Adamson worked in both the Twin Cities and the Winona diocese. He was known to church officials as a suspected child abuser, yet moved from parish to parish as his alleged crimes came to light.

Doe 1 is a Twin Cities man who sued the archdiocese, the diocese and Adamson in May 2013, alleging that the priest molested him while he was serving at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park in the late 1970s. Doe 1 also alleged that the church officials created a public nuisance by harboring Adamson.

The archdiocese and diocese sought to have the nuisance claim dismissed.

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
The Detroit News

FRANCIS X. DONNELLY THE DETROIT NEWS

Bad Axe— A new minister began last month. A school supply giveaway drew a robust response last week. New members are trickling in.

The Bad Axe Church of Christ, a long-struggling church in the Thumb, is gingerly recovering from a sex scandal that could have destroyed it last year.

In December, the pastor resigned after the Department of Homeland Security raided his home and allegedly discovered child pornography on his personalcomputer, according to a search warrant unsealed last month.

The indictment of Paul Rennix last month was another reminder that clergy sex abuse isn’t just a problem in the Catholic church. In June, the host of a Christian radio show was arrested in Grand Rapids and charged with having sex with a 12-year-old boy and photographing the encounter.

“When you have many denominations, this independent environment, and then this distortion of scripture, that’s an environment where abuse can flourish,” said Boz Tchividjian, a former prosecutor who helped start a Lynchburg, Va., group, GRACE, that investigates and educates churches about sex 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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Gloucestershire Echo

Questions about historic sex abuse allegations against the Bishop of Gloucester will not be allowed at a public meeting on appointing his successor.

On September 22, an open meeting will be held at Gloucester Cathedral where members of the public can have their say on what the next bishop should bring to the diocese.

Last month the current bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Perham, stepped back from his duties as it emerged he had been questioned by the Metropolitan Police in connection with allegations of indecent assault on a child aged under 18 years and indecent assault on a second female aged over 18 years in the early 1980s.

Bishop Michael, who has not been arrested, was due to retire in November anyway and the Bishop of Tewkesbury, the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, has taken over his duties until then.

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

Jerry Slevin has now received an email from Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter‘s editor, responding to Jerry’s request for information about why he recently found himself banned from commenting at the NCR website. In a posting today at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry publishes Coday’s email (which he received yesterday), along with his own email on August 13 asking for information about why he had been banned.

For those making comments at the NCR site, be forewarned: it appears you can be banned for not commenting regularly. Coday’s email informs Jerry that a decision he had made in the past to absent himself temporarily from commenting at the NCR site several times was part of the reason NCR tried to ban him. Though, as far as I recall, none of the guidelines for commenters at NCR‘s site informs commenters that the site has a publish-or-perish policy — comment regularly or court the possibility of being banned from the site — this hidden policy seems to be have helped determined the decision to ban Jerry Slevin from commenting at the NCR site.

That, and “several complaints” that Jerry is “aggressive” in his comment-making . . . .

As I said when I first reported Jerry’s recent banning from NCR, the comments policy at this site is not in the least transparent, and it’s exceptionally capricious. The email Jerry Slevin has received from Dennis Coday appears to me to bear out that judgment.

As I noted last year when comments I made about the U.S. bishops’ cozy ties to the Republican party and the economic elite that dominates that party were scrubbed from the NCR site — on the ostensible (and ludicrous) ground that my comments were unfair to Republicans! — the NCR system is set up to allow unidentified and undisclosed interest groups to pressure NCR to censor commenters to whom those groups object. The system positively invites pressure groups outside the NCR system to step in and seek for certain comments to be expunged from the NCR site, or to have certain “aggressive” commenters banned. The system positively invites a call or two from a well-placed hierarchical figure or board member whose goat a particular commenter has managed to get and, hey presto!, said commenter can be disappeared by the powers that be from the NCR site.

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
Jeff Anderson & Associates

September 3, 2014

JUDGE RULES PUBLIC NUISANCE CLAIM AGAINST THE ARCHDIOCESE, DIOCESE OF WINONA, CAN PROCEED TO TRIAL

(St. Paul, MN) – After hearing oral arguments from all parties on July 21, 2014, Ramsey County District Court Judge John Van de North issued an Order today denying the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona’s request to dismiss the public nuisance legal claim in the Doe 1 lawsuit.

The Court found, “Failing to disclose information about an accused priest is akin to, and conceivably more offensive and dangerous, than other acts that have been considered public nuisances . . . . [t]he Court need look no further than Fathers Adamson and Curtis Wehmeyer as unfortunate examples of the horrendous consequences that can flow from intentional and misguided efforts to protect pedophile priests at the expense of minors.” (Order Denying Summary Judgment Motions Regarding Plaintiff’s Negligence and Public Nuisance Claims, pp. 10-11.)

“This is a breakthrough in child protection efforts,” said one of Doe 1’s attorneys Jeff Anderson. “The courage of this survivor and decision of Judge Van de North allows us to continue our efforts to protect children in the future.”

The lawsuit was filed May 29, 2013 on behalf of a courageous sexual abuse survivor alleging the Archdiocese and Diocese of Winona were negligent in allowing former priest Thomas Adamson continued access to children despite knowing of Adamson’s past inappropriate behavior with young boys. “This is a historic decision in this survivor’s efforts to seek truth and transparency,” said Attorney Mike Finnegan, another of Doe 1’s attorneys.

The Court continued, “A reasonable jury could find that the [Archdiocese and Diocese] maintained or permitted a condition which unreasonably endangered the safety, health, morals, comfort or repose of any considerable number of members of the public.” (Order Denying Summary Judgment Motions Regarding Plaintiff’s Negligence and Public Nuisance Claims, pp. 11.)

Through this lawsuit, numerous documents and information on priests alleged to have sexually abused children have been released, along with sworn testimony from top Church officials including Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop Robert Carlson, Vicar General Kevin McDonough and former Vicar General Peter Laird.

· The Court’s Order Denying Summary Judgment is attached and can be found on our website at www.andersonadvocates.com under “News & Events.”

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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
World

Warren Cole Smith

Last week, former youth minister Robert “Bobby” Price went to jail for 16 months for molesting two boys. In addition to the prison sentence, he must register as a sex offender for the next 30 years. His life, his family, and the church he served have been wrecked, perhaps irreparably. What is even more tragic, the two young boys he abused will be scarred for life.

And I can’t shake the feeling that if I had done my job, none of this would have happened.

Rumors about Price had circulated for years. In the 1990s, his father, Bradley Price, was pastor of Northside Baptist Church, a large independent congregation in Charlotte, N.C., my hometown. I edited a small Christian newspaper back then, and one of my reporters and I investigated financial and other improprieties at the church.

On one memorable day, after we published our first story, someone from Northside Baptist Church called to warn me—with the threat of a lawsuit—not to publish any more stories about the church. I told him our reporting was fair and accurate. I also told him I had heard from credible people about sexual impropriety at the church. He would not confirm what I was hearing, but he would not deny it either. We ultimately published more stories that helped lead to the resignation of Bradley Price and the departure of most of his family members from that church.

But the Price family moved a few miles up Interstate 85 into a neighboring county and started another church, King’s Way Baptist Church. Some years later, Bradley Price had a heart attack and nearly died. When he recovered, he called to invite me out to his new church for a meeting. I was surprised to receive the invitation, but I was glad to say yes and spend a pleasant afternoon with a Bradley Price who professed to be a changed man, a man whose recent experiences had humbled him and resulted in better physical and spiritual health. He even thanked me for the stories I had published, saying they had put him on a new path that God was blessing.

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 ROB PARSONS
Merced Sun-Star
September 2, 2014

The investigation into the Rev. Robert E. Gamel centers on allegations the Los Banos Catholic priest on at least two occasions obtained nude photographs of a teenage parishioner from social media websites, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Merced Sun-Star.

Gamel, 64, has been under investigation since Aug. 14 when accusations surfaced involving the leader of St. Joseph’s Church in Los Banos and a teenage boy who attended the church. Gamel, who is commonly known in Los Banos as “Father Bob,” has not been arrested or formally accused of wrongdoing, police Cmdr. Jason Hedden said Tuesday.

Efforts to reach Gamel have been unsuccessful. Church officials said he has been transferred to a location where no children are present.

Los Banos police on Aug. 15 seized a laptop, computer tower, CDs and a brown box containing nearly 20 DVDs, many involving erotic-themed male muscle and bodybuilding films, according to a copy of a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Sun-Star.

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
Crux

By David Gibson
Religion News Service

The Vatican’s guardian of orthodoxy and the force behind Rome’s investigation of American nuns has renewed his criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, downplaying the group’s size and importance and arguing that the Vatican is trying to help them recover their religious identity so they don’t die out.

“Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don’t want to gobble up a woman a day!” Cardinal Gerhard Mueller told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, in the edition published on Monday (Sept. 1).

Mueller, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the newspaper that the sisters of the LCWR “do not represent all U.S. nuns, but just a group of North American nuns who form part of an association.”

He added: “We have received many letters of distress from other nuns belonging to the same congregations who are suffering a great deal because of the direction in which they” — members of the LCWR — “are steering their mission.”

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

Boston (Sept. 2, 2014) – Boston Globe Media Partners today launched a new website exploring news and issues of the Catholic Church, faith, spirituality and Catholic lifestyle, called Crux. The free, standalone site is at cruxnow.com.

Crux provides national and international news and analysis of the Catholic Church and the practice of Catholicism, with a focus on how news from the Vatican and the words and actions of Pope Francis affect Catholics worldwide. Its content will appeal to a broad swath of people: active Catholics who regularly follow religious news, “casual” Catholics who may not be regular Mass attendees, those who are simply interested in the dynamic and popular Pope Francis, and readers of all faiths who are eager to explore spirituality in general.

“Now is as good a time as I’ve ever seen to launch a site like this,” said Globe Editor Brian McGrory. “The pope is a champion of inclusiveness, openness and social justice, and he has reignited interest in the Catholic faith and faith in general.”

Teresa Hanafin, a 29-year veteran of the Globe, will be the editor of Crux.

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

Lemon Juice Wins Case Against Twitter, Name Of Hasid Who Outed Sex Abuse Victim In Weberman Case Will Now Likely Become Public

“Lemon Juice’s motion for pre-action disclosure as against Twitter is granted.Twitter is directed to disclose to Lemon Juice the basic subscriber information, records, internet protocol addresses and other similar information sufficient to identify the owner or operator of the Twitter account known as “LemonJuice@moseh718″ who logged or tweeted on the account during November 26 to December 10, 2012. Twitter is also directed to preserve the documents which contain this information. Twitter is also directed to preserve the photograph of the infant [i.e.,the legal term for minor, not literally an infant] victim that was posted to that account during November 26 to December 10, 2012. Twitter is further directed not to reproduce, share, or release the photograph of the infant victim unless and until it is directed to do so by further order of this court.”

Many people have alleged that the owner of that email and the Twitter account used to out the victim of Satmar hasid Nechemya Weberman is the driver and close aide of the one of the Satmar rebbes. And now it looks like we will find out of that assertion is true.

Weberman is serving a 50-year prison term fopr abusing the gril for four years, beginning when she was 12-years-old and continuing until she turned 16.

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
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

National Catholic Reporter (NCR) editor, Dennis Coday, evidently with NCR’s lawyers’ help (possibly on my prior advice), has finally replied to me today with a one paragraph “fait accompli”. This is after my four years of making thousands of NCR comments and writing two NCR columns. Coday told me “we” had reached an “impass”, even though he never discussed this either with me or with the general NCR blogging community that supports my right to comment, which of course he should have done. Does he think he is Cardinal Mueller or that I am Sister Elizabeth Johnson?

Coday’s approach here is a bit like “one hand clapping”. It had been almost three weeks since NCR banned me suddenly, without any prior notice or warning, subjecting me to needless and unnecessary grief and even reputation damage that could have been avoided or at least minimized by NCR’s sending Coday’s limp one paragraph three weeks ago.

See below our full e-mail exchanges and a link for more background.

Coday’s response, in effect, indicates that some unspecified persons or persons and/or unspecified editors and/or Coday, without any discussion with me, concluded:

1. Some of my NCR comments were too “aggressive”, without specifying which ones or in what way they were too aggressive;

2. I made too many comments when I commented;

3. I made too few comments when I took breaks from commenting;

4. I had earlier been suspended once for a brief period for unspecified reasons from commenting; and

5. I should take a hike and comment elsewhere, without even a chance to delete my present comments or adjust my future comments. “Father knows best”, it appears.

During this almost three week period of unnecessary delays, I have been subjected in NCR comments, without any opportunity to reply, to bloggers’ endless speculation as to the reasons for my being banned. Some of this speculation was personally offensive and insulting and most of it was inaccurate. That still troubles me. …

DENNIS CODAY’S BELATED E-MAIL REPLY ON SEPTEMBER 2:

Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 13:49:10 -0700
From: dcoday@ncronline.org
Subject: Re: I’m blocked? What’s up ??
To: Jerry Slevin

“Dear Jerry:
In August after receiving several complaints about the aggressiveness of your commenting on the website of NCR — including the tone of the comments and their frequency, after consulting with other NCR editors who monitor website comments and after reviewing similar complaints against you made earlier in the year, which resulted in your being barred for a short time from commenting as well as your decision to temporarily absent yourself fromNCR discussion boards a couple of times, it was my opinion that we had reached an impasse. You have repeatedly demonstrated that you have no intention of moderating your behavior in our comment forum to conform to our posted code of conduct. For this reason, I decided that you should be permanently barred from making comments on the NCR website. You have no shortage of other online forums where you can share your thoughts and ideas; I trust you will make full use of those.”
Dennis Coday
NCR editor

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
J-Wire

September 3, 2014 by J-Wire Staff

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has received a further two years to complete its work…a decision welcomed by Jewish advocacy group Tzedek.

CEO Manny Waks said: “Tzedek welcomes today’s announcement by the Australian Government to extend the Royal Commission by an additional two years, and to provide it with the necessary resources to adequately complete their important task.

We hope and expect that the Royal Commission will now have sufficient capacity to hold a public hearing into a Jewish community institution in Australia. Sadly there have been numerous Jewish institutions implicated in this ongoing scandal and the Royal Commission provides the opportunity to examine what precisely has transpired, which is critical for the sake of justice and accountability, and for the prevention of these cases from recurring. Due to the sheer volume of confirmed incidents of child sexual abuse at the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne – including allegations of cover-ups and intimidation of victims – it would seem appropriate that this institution is closely examined and ultimately held to full account for any misconduct.

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
Times-Tribune

BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, STAFF WRITER
Published: September 3, 2014

State police charged a former United Methodist Church minister with molesting a boy repeatedly over a 10-year period from the time the child was 9 years old to the present.

Norman T. Faux, 54, of 1811 Lake Ariel Highway, Lake Ariel, was discovered when the boy’s girlfriend checked his cellphone and found an obscene text message. In the message, Mr. Faux asked to perform oral sex on the victim, who is now 19.

The girlfriend told her mother, who contacted Wayne County Children and Youth Services. On Friday, the girl’s mother brought the victim in for an interview with caseworkers. He told them Mr. Faux began to assault him when he was 9 years old in 2004, and continued for a decade, most recently a few weeks ago.

When the boy was 11, he began watching pornographic videos as a distraction while Mr. Faux performed oral sex on him. The boy said it happened so many times he couldn’t say how often it occurred.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

02 SEPTEMBER 2014

A former child migrant from Northern Ireland to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse after arriving in a Catholic home there.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. He thought he was an orphan until meeting his mother decades later who begged for his forgiveness.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

He said: “The big thing I want you to remember is the helplessness.”

The Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns in Northern Ireland was responsible for the removal of 111 child migrants aged as young as five before and after the Second World War, some of whom faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival. Another 20 were sent by other institutions.

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UNITED STATES
Columbia Journalism Review

By David Uberti

The religion of journalism has always found believers in Boston. The same goes for Catholicism. No small wonder, then, why the flagship Boston Globe intends to practice the former creed to examine the latter, an ambitious attempt to attract readers outside of city limits.

On Tuesday, the Globe launched Crux, a standalone website dedicated entirely to Catholicism. It covers not only the church itself, but also topics such as politics, entertainment, travel, and spirituality — all of them through a Catholic lens. The newspaper has been recognized for its local religion reporting in the past. But Catholicism, of course, stretches far past the Archdiocese of Boston, holding potential for a Globe audience spanning, well, the globe.

“We have a pope who is somewhat of a rockstar in terms of the attention he’s getting,” editor Brian McGrory told CJR, referencing Pope Francis, who was elected in 2013. “We’re in this unique moment when there’s not just a thirst of information for the pope and Vatican, but also Catholicism around the world. There’s a need for an unbiased site steeped in good journalism to discuss these issues.”

Crux’s content falls outside the metered paywall protecting most Globe journalism. The single-subject site will instead rely on digital advertisements at a time when many newspapers move their online products in the opposite direction. McGrory said a new ad sales hire, steeped in the Catholic market, will be devoted to Crux. But others wonder whether the site will be able to attract the huge readership needed for sustainable revenue.

“Where’s the money coming from?” said Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University professor and Boston media analyst. He added that Crux could be well-positioned for a future print product. “We know what the story is from online advertising, and it’s not a pretty story.” …

While the site’s editor, Teresa Hanafin, will be based in Boston with a Web producer and two regular opinion writers, much of Crux’s original reporting will boast out-of-town datelines. Its Vatican reporter will be based in Rome and its national reporter is expected to move to Chicago by the end of the year, Hanafin said. John L. Allen Jr., a prominent religion reporter who will anchor Crux’s news coverage, is based in Denver.

“If all we were doing was covering the Vatican, put me to sleep now,” Hanafin said, offering examples of the broader scope that Crux readers should expect, such as a feature on Catholicism as practiced by a Native American community in North Dakota. “There’s so much more to Catholicism than what goes on in Rome.”

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

Moore Catholic High School, Staten Island, NY, hid sexual abuse of students and staff for years

Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York Archdiocese maintain silence about sexual abuse at Moore Catholic High School

Moore Catholic High School should be investigated by an independent authority concerning the sexual abuse allegations of students and staff and the secrecy allowing the sexual abuse of students and staff

What: A demonstration to alert the public and Catholic school parents, students and staff about numerous allegations of sexual abuse at a Catholic high school; namely, Moore Catholic High School, Staten Island, NY.

Where: On the public sidewalk outside Moore Catholic High School, 100 Merrill Street, Staten Island, New York, 10314

When: Wednesday, September 3, 2014 from 10:30 AM until 12:30 PM. Press conference at 11:00 AM.

Who: Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Dr. Robert M. Hoatson.

Why: Moore Catholic High School has been rocked by numerous allegations of sexual abuse of students and staff by members of the school administration, teachers, and coaches. Two former coaches and their athletic director, who is also the school’s chief operating officer, have been accused of sexually abusing students and at least one staff member during a nearly decade-long travesty of justice and morality involving sexual abuse in and outside the school and cover-ups of reported allegations. The public will be encouraged to demand a thorough, independent investigation of Moore Catholic High School so the children, faculty and staff of the school are safe. The New York Archdiocese, which operates the school, will be called upon to release all information it has regarding sexual abuse at Moore Catholic High School, and all sexual abuse victim/survivors at Moore Catholic High School and beyond will be encouraged to come forward to report sexual abuse and begin healing.

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

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue corrects the record:

An editorial in today’s New York Times cites the Vatican’s disciplinary action against its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, the now-defrocked Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. It invokes Pope Francis’ promise that “in the pedophilia scandal ‘there are no privileges.’”

The Times erred again by repeating the myth of a pedophilia scandal: 100 percent of the victimizers were male; 81 percent of the victims were male; and 78 percent were postpubescent. That would make it a homosexual scandal. Indeed, less than 5 percent of these cases involve pedophilia.

The boys the archbishop abused were teenagers, meaning that homosexuality, not pedophilia, was in play. The distinction is important.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor

Pope Francis is an undeniably attractive figure whose concern for people at society’s margins can be awesome to behold. As a result, it’s almost impossible sometimes not to go soft on the man.

To take a recent example: While in South Korea in mid-August, the pontiff made a point of visiting a group of severely disabled children at a health care center outside Seoul. He delighted in a dance they performed, then utterly disregarded his schedule to embrace each one by one. He laughed with them, wiped away their tears, and for a brief, shining moment, made them feel like the center of the universe.

Even cynical reporters watching the scene had a hard time not choking up, because Francis just feels so palpably like the real deal.

Yet precisely because there’s so much to like, Francis sometimes gets a free pass on the sort of legitimate questions any other leader would attract. In that regard he often seems the mirror opposite of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Because Benedict had a bad public image, he sometimes was blamed even for things that weren’t his fault. In contrast, Francis often is absolved even for choices for which he actually is responsible. ,,,

2. Sex abuse

Sex abuse is another front. An exception came with an Aug. 24 piece in The New York Times about former Polish Archbishop Joseph Wesolowski, a onetime papal envoy in the Dominican Republic accused of molesting minors. He was recalled in late 2013 and laicized, meaning kicked out of the priesthood, in June.

The Times asked whether bringing the former prelate to Rome was a way of evading civil prosecution, forcing the Vatican to clarify that because he’s been stripped of diplomatic status, he could stand trial in the Dominican Republic or any other jurisdiction that wants a shot at him.

Wesolowski, however, was not the only question mark.

The pope set up an anti-abuse commission last December to great fanfare, yet aside from organizing a meeting for the pontiff with abuse victims in June, it hasn’t done very much. At this stage, it’s not clear where it’s physically going to be housed, or whose jurisdiction it falls under.

Word in Rome is that an announcement about the commission might be coming this week. Still, it’s fair to ask why, if fighting child abuse is a priority, it’s taken this long for the pope’s chosen reform vehicle to get going.

Another shoe waiting to drop is accountability for bishops – not in cases such as Wesolowski’s, where the bishop himself is accused of abuse, but when bishops fail to apply the Church’s “zero tolerance” policy to other clergy under their supervision.

Francis acted with vigor when the infamous “bling bishop” in Limburg, Germany, was accused of over-spending. Why hasn’t he shown the same zeal in disciplining bishops who drop the ball on abuse charges?

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Charles A. Saalfeld was ordained a priest of the Jesuits’ Oregon Province June 13, 1946. He taught high school math, physics, and religion in Tacoma WA, Yakima WA and Fairbanks AK. Toward the end of his career he pastored a parish in Nulato AK. Saalfeld died in March 1978. According to the Fairbanks diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010, there has been one claim of sexual abuse against Saalfeld.

Ordained: June 13, 1946
Died: March 5, 1978

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

September 2, 2014 10:29 am | Author: berger

Today’s scheduled court appearance by Fr. Joseph Jiang, charged with molesting a kid at Cathedral parish, has been postponed until October.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Tablet (UK)

02 September 2014 by Jon Stibbs

Authorities in the Dominican Republic yesterday began an analysis of whether they had the legal jurisdiction to start a trial against their former papal nuncio, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66.

Wesolowski faces criminal charges of soliciting underage boys for sexual acts when he was the Vatican representative in the country between 2008 and 2013.

Official sources reported witnesses and victims of Wesolowski’s alleged crimes would be questioned in the proceedings to test the legal strength of the case, reported Radio Intereconomia today.

Last month, the Vatican stripped its former ambassador of diplomatic immunity, which paved the way for the Dominican Republic to begin extradition proceedings against Wesolowski.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Many National Catholic Reporter (NCR) bloggers are today imploring NCR’s editor, Dennis Coday, in comments like the following:

“Dennis, Can you comment on why Jerry Slevin has been apparently banned from posting in the NCR comments section? Thanks.” and

“I would also like to hear from Mr. Coday on this. I don’t think we want this website to be known for censorship of anyone’s views. We already have an institution that works that way.”

NCR has seemingly ducked these calls for transparency for over a week now. Will NCR now respond independently or will it follow the censorship lead of the Catholic Church hierarchy that NCR claims to be “independent” of?

Dennis Coday’s response, or lack thereof, may be fundamental to whether NCR is still an independent voice or just another captive echo chamber of the Catholic hierarchy and their wealthy right wing apologist supporters. It is ominous surely that NCR today has a column praising EWTN, the ultra-right wing Catholic media outlet.

NCR, of course, knows Catholics are good at accepting censorship, which is sadly the case, even for many NCR bloggers who purport to be progressive and prophetic.

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 KINGDOM
The New York Times

By KATRIN BENNHOLD
SEPT. 1, 2014

[The Rotherdam Report]

ROTHERHAM, England — It started on the bumper cars in the children’s arcade of the local shopping mall. Lucy was 12, and a group of teenage boys, handsome and flirtatious, treated her and her friends to free rides and ice cream after school.

Over time, older men were introduced to the girls, while the boys faded away. Soon they were getting rides in real cars, and were offered vodka and marijuana. One man in particular, a Pakistani twice her age and the leader of the group, flattered her and bought her drinks and even a mobile phone. Lucy liked him.

The rapes started gradually, once a week, then every day: by the war memorial in Clifton Park, in an alley near the bus station, in countless taxis and, once, in an apartment where she was locked naked in a room and had to service half a dozen men lined up outside.

She obliged. How could she not? They knew where she lived. “If you don’t come back, we will rape your mother and make you watch,” they would say.

At night, she would come home and hide her soiled clothes at the back of her closet. When she finally found the courage to tell her mother, just shy of her 14th birthday, two police officers came to collect the clothes as evidence, half a dozen bags of them.

But a few days later, they called to say the bags had been lost.

“All of them?” she remembers asking. A check was mailed, 140 pounds, or $232, for loss of property, and the family was discouraged from pressing charges. It was the girl’s word against that of the men. The case was closed.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A 70-year-old former child migrant from a Catholic-run home in Londonderry has said he was sexually abused after being shipped to Australia.

Des McDaid, who has waived his right to anonymity, was giving evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

He had travelled from St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca in Derry to the Clontarf orphanage in Perth, when he was eight.

He said there was a lot of brutality at the Clontarf home and a number of brothers sexually abused the boys.

He said he was sexually abused by older boys, members of the Christian Brothers religious order and a lay teacher.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A former child migrant to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse when he arrived in a Catholic home there.

The man, originally from Co Donegal, was housed at Termonbacca in Derry before being transported to Australia.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. Aged eight, he was not told where he was going when he was transferred on board the ship the New Australian.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Child migrant sexually abused in Australia after arriving at Catholic home, abuse inquiry hears

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 02 SEPTEMBER 2014

A former child migrant from Northern Ireland to Australia has told a public inquiry he was transferred with no idea where he was going and faced more sexual abuse when he arrived in a Catholic home there.

Des McDaid, 70, said he was targeted by older boys, a lay teacher and members of the Christian Brothers religious order which ran the Clontarf institution near Perth in Western Australia. Aged eight, he was not told where he was going when he was transferred on board the ship the New Australian.

He gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, which was established by ministers in Belfast.

He said: “The big thing I want you to remember is the helplessness.”

He said he was raped by an older boy at the Termonbacca boys home in Londonderry run by an order of nuns and the paedophilia continued in Australia.

Using a video link from Australia, he said: “I had a lot more of it over here, from the Christian Brothers etc.”

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 KINGDOM
Western Daily Press

The next stage in the process of appointing the future Bishop of Gloucester will take place on September 22 in the city.

Members of the public are invited to participate in an open public meeting and consultation which will be held at 7pm in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral to discuss what will happen next with the role.

The meeting will provide any member of the public with the opportunity to put forward their views and expectations of what they would like the future Bishop of Gloucester to bring to the diocese.

The meeting will be chaired by the Venerable Robert Springett, Archdeacon of Cheltenham and chair of the diocesan’s Vacancy in See Committee.

The Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and the Prime Minister’s Secretary for Appointments will be there to listen to the views put forward.

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CANADA
CBC News

The case of a former New Brunswick Roman Catholic priest, who is facing eight sex abuse charges involving boys dating back to the 1970s, has been adjourned for three months.

​Yvon Arsenault, 71, of Aldouane, was scheduled to have a preliminary inquiry in Moncton court on Tuesday.

But the matter was set over until Dec. 9 at the request of his defence lawyer, who wanted all of the alleged victims to be present.

Arsenault did not appear in court.

He is charged with three counts of indecent assault, four counts of gross indecency and one count of sexual assault involving four boys under the age of 18.

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WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Admitted serial predator priest gets “full honors”
SNAP: “Move re-victimizes the wounded & deters other victims”
Group also discloses names of 18 predator priests in archdiocese

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will:

–blast Seattle Catholic officials for burying an admitted serial predator priest with full honors,
–urge each of the 20 clerics involved to publicly apologize,
–prod Seattle’s archbishop to work to reform the church’s national abuse policy to prevent such “callous and hurtful” funerals in the future with other child molesting clerics.

The group will also disclose the names of 18 predator priests who have received little or no public attention in the Seattle area and urge church staff to “aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered their crimes.”

WHEN
Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 732 18th Ave. East in the Capitol Hill section of Seattle

WHO
Three or four adults who were abused as kids by clergy and belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (including a Seattle woman who once supervised the admitted predator and a Missouri man who is SNAP’s long time executive director)

WHY
1) An ex-Seattle archdiocesan priest who admitted molesting youngsters was buried last month with full priestly honors in a highly visible funeral led by 30 local clerics. He is David Peter Jaeger, who was defrocked because of allegations that he molested 8-10 children in the 1970s.

SNAP does not oppose church funerals for predator priests. But the group feels these should be low-key events; otherwise, they “rub salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of thousands who have been raped and sodomized by Catholic priests and re-victimized by callous and deceitful Catholic officials.” Such ceremonies also discourage and deter other victims from “speaking up, exposing predators and protecting kids,” SNAP says.

According to Jaegar’s website (www.davidpjaeger.com), Fr. John McGrann performed the funeral mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill. About 20 priests concelebrated, eight nuns were Eucharistic ministers and hundreds of mourners attended.

One priest has already apologized for the ceremony. On Aug. 2, in a two page, single-spaced letter to his flock at St. Joseph’s, pastor Fr. John D. Whitney said “I apologize for the confusion and hurt” caused by letting the funeral take place at his church in the way that it did.

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.

MEXICO
Proceso

MÉXICO, D.F. (proceso.com.mx).- El pastor de una iglesia cristiana fue consignado por su presunta responsabilidad en el homicidio de una adolescente de 14 años, con quien sostenía una relación amorosa, en Tijuana.

El crimen ocurrió el pasado lunes 25 en un camino vecinal a la altura del kilómetro 27 de la carretera libre Tijuana-Tecate. La víctima, identificada como Adriana, fue localizada al día siguiente en las inmediaciones de esa misma vía.

Autoridades de Baja California indicaron que José Baltazar Hernández Molina, de 31 años, quien es originario de Oaxaca, pasaba mucho tiempo con la menor a quien conoció hace dos años en una congregación cristiana en la colonia Maclovio Rojas de Tijuana.

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MEXICO
Irish Mirror

Sep 02, 2014 By Steve Robson

Jose Baltazar Hernandez Molina, 31, flew into a jealous rage and beat Adriana Sanchez Beltran before breaking her neck, police have said.

A perverted pastor killed his 12-year-old lover after she ended their two-year affair for a teenage boy, police have said.

Christian minister Jose Baltazar Hernandez Molina, 31, moved into the town of Maclovio Rojas, in the north-western Mexican state of Baja California, after being deported as an illegal alien from the United States.

He was able to become pastor of the local church and later seduced 12-year-old Adriana Sanchez Beltran, investigators say.

The pair had a two-year affair but the relationship ended when Adriana refused to let him move into her home and that she wanted to see someone her own age.

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

GERMANY
Reuters

BY TOM HENEGHAN
Fri Aug 29, 2014

(Reuters) – A change in Germany’s capital gains tax has prompted an exodus from its Catholic and Protestant churches this year as thousands of registered members quit their parishes rather than pay the money.

Dioceses in both churches have reported in recent weeks that the number of members deserting them has jumped compared to last year, often by 50 percent or more, as banks prepare to withdraw church tax at source for capital gains from January 1.

German tax authorities collect an 8 or 9 percent premium on churchgoers’ annual tax bills and channel it to the faiths to pay clergy salaries, charity services and other expenses. Members must officially leave the church to avoid paying this.

Under a simplified procedure starting next year, banks will withhold that premium from church members earning more than 801 euros ($1,055) in capital gains annually and pass it on to tax authorities for distribution to the churches.

Letters from banks announcing the new procedure this summer and asking clients for their religious affiliation — so they can earmark funds to the right churches — have worried many members. Churches have scrambled to explain the changes.

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
Detroit Free Press

Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Detroit has found a Mount Clemens priest was “negligent” when he didn’t promptly report a sexual assault on church property to police.

The archdioceses says an investigation by a panel of church law judges concluded Rev. Michael Cooney of St. Peter’s Catholic Church didn’t properly notify police in 2011. The panel says Cooney failed to take measures to protect a 14-year-old girl when he learned a 19-year-old usher had sexually abused her at a church event.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron says Cooney has apologized for not taking action. He says he’s requiring Cooney to make a retreat and write letters of apology to people involved.

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 West Australian

AMANDA BANKS The West Australian
September 2, 2014

Several dozen men who were abused as boys at four Christian Brothers’ homes in WA are having their compensation reviewed after the order opened the door to increasing payouts at a public hearing of a royal commission nearly four months ago.

The commitment by the Christian Brothers to revisit any settlements which were regarded as unjust has been highlighted in closing submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which were published last week.

In a separate statement released this afternoon, a spokesman for the Christian Brothers said the order had responded to several dozen individuals who had asked for their payouts to be re-examined and expected to address matters over the next two to three months.

Some individuals had also taken up an offer of ongoing psychological counselling in the wake of the public hearing.

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Why Did Leading US Haredi Rabbis Really Endorse Israeli Seminaries Formerly Run By Alleged Sex Abuser?

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

When the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Schechter, Rabbi Aharon Feldman and other members of Agudath Israel of America’s moeztzet, Council of Torah Sages, issued a letter last week endorsing as safe Pnimim and other seminaries once owned and run by Rabbi Elimelech Meisels as safe, some – including me – questioned how these rabbis could make this endorsement when all of the staff who allegedly enabled Meisels still worked at these seminaries. In fact, staff members who were allegedly told at the time of the alleged abuse by victims that Meisels had sexually abused them still work at all of these seminaries.

So how could these top haredi rabbis endorse them? Even if Meisels is truly no longer involved in the seminaries, these enablers are.

A source who is close to this case explained what allegedly happened.

Part 1:

1. An Israeli delegation of haredim, some linked to the Gerrer rebbe, came to America a few weeks ago to get these the American rabbis to sign the letter.

2. They provided no evidence that the seminaries are safe.

3. Instead, they claimed that if the rabbis did not sign the letter, American girls would stop enrolling in these seminaries and the seminaries would therefore be forced to shut down. And that, these Israeli haredim said, would cost many people their jobs and would be a disaster in this time of economic constraint in the haredi community there.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The Diocese of Gallup had racked up more than $600,000 in court-approved fees for attorneys and accountants by April 30, during the first six months of the diocese’s bankruptcy case, court records show.

The diocese last year became the nation’s ninth Roman Catholic diocese to file for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy in response to a growing number of lawsuits filed by alleged victims of clerical sex abuse.

A total of 56 people have filed claims alleging they were abused by priests in the diocese. Aug. 11 was the deadline set by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge David Thuma to file a claim.

Attorneys for both the diocese and the claimants are required to submit interim applications for payment every six months for Thuma’s review.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono

The Federal Government has agreed to an extension for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for a further two years.

The Governor-General will be asked to amend the current Letters Patent to enable the Royal Commission to deliver its final report by December 15 2017.

The Attorney-General Senator George Brandis says he met the Chair of the Royal Commission, Justice Peter McClellan AM, on two occasions since the beginning of this year, to discuss the future program and additional needs of the Commission.

“On both of those occasions, Justice McClellan was assured, given the importance of the work in which it was embarked, the Government would look favourably upon any request for an extension of the Royal Commission reporting date.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

[with video]

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been extended for another two years by the Abbott government.

The Attorney General George and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews have also announced an extra $125 million for the Commission.

It’s final report is now expected by December 15, 2017.

In a statement Senator Brandis said he had met with Chair Justice Peter McClellan AM twice since the start of the year to discuss the program’s future.

He is said to have assured them that the extension will be “sufficient” for the Commission to finish its work.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 2, 2014

Latika Bourke
National political reporter

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that was initiated by former prime minister Julia Gillard has been extended for another two years by the Coalition.

The royal commission requested an extra two years to complete its work in its interim report handed down in June: the government has agreed to the request and the reporting date is now set for December 15, 2017, which is after the next federal election.

Attorney-General George Brandis told the Senate on Tuesday the cost will now total half a billion dollars but said the “outlay was justified” because of the importance of the royal commission’s work.

“There is more to be learned, there is more that needs to be learned,” Senator Brandis told Parliament.

“The extension will give the commission the capacity to hear more stories from victims, conduct more public hearings and issue additional interim reports,” the Attorney-General said in a statement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
News Shopper

by Mark Chandler, deputy news editor

Five members of a Sydenham paedophile ring who systematically abused boys from a church in the 1970s and 1980s have finally been jailed.

Four young members of St Bartholomew’s Church, aged between eight and 16, met their abusers after being introduced by choirmaster Tony Brockhurst.

The group then preyed upon the boys, grooming them with small gifts and takeaway food to gain their trust before subjecting them to sickening abuse.

Many of the attacks took place in the victim’s own homes, with one boy plied with alcohol before he was sexually assaulted.

One of the victims finally found the courage to report the abuse to police in 2011 – four years after Brockhurst died.

An investigation was launched by the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) at Sidcup, leading to three more victims being identified. And police believe there may be others who have not yet come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News

ANNETTE BLACKWELL
September 2, 2014

Evidence from people who suffered grave sexual and physical abuse when they were sent as children to Australia will be handed over to the royal commission into child sex abuse by a Northern Ireland inquiry.

Over the next three weeks the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) being held in Banbridge, County Down will hear from 50 men and women who were part of a child migrant program which saw 130 children sent to Australia between 1922 and 1995.

Some will give evidence by video link from Australia while others have made statements. Officials from the HIA have been in Australia twice over the past year meeting with witnesses.

Sir Anthony Hart who heads up the HIA inquiry into institutions run by the Catholic Church and the state said evidence from Australian witnesses “would not be swept under the carpet.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Daniel Hurst, political correspondent, and Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Tuesday 2 September 2014

Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will be extended by two years at a cost of $126m.

The attorney general, George Brandis, said the government’s decision would alter the commission’s reporting date to 15 December 2017.

“I’m assured by the chairman of the royal commission, Justice [Peter] McClellan, that this will be sufficient to enable the royal commission to complete its work,” Brandis told the Senate on Tuesday.

“The extension of the royal commission will be at a cost of $125.8m. That is in addition to the $377m currently budgeted for, bringing the commonwealth’s total commitment to slightly above $500m.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source AAP 2 SEP 2014

The government’s decision to give an extra $126 million and a two-year extension to the royal commission into child sex abuse will allow more survivors to tell their stories, advocates say.

Attorney-General George Brandis on Tuesday announced the government would allocate the extra funds needed by the commission to complete its historic inquiry.

Senator Brandis also announced he had been asked to extend the commission’s reporting deadline to December 15, 2017.

In its interim report in June, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said it would need a two-year extension on its 2015 deadline and $104 million to finish its work.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Inside Baltimore

SECOND MURDER VICTIM, KILLED FOUR DAYS AFTER “SISTER CATHY,” HAD CLOSE TIES TO PARISH WHERE SEX ABUSE ALSO TOOK PLACE

“After his departure…in 1994 [from a Catholic rectory where he’d been serving as a Baltimore-area parish priest], guns were found in the residence.”

–Sean Caine, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, describing the results of a Church investigation into priestly sexual abuse at Archbishop Keough High School

By Tom Nugent

September 2014 – More than 44 years after Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik was brutally murdered while reportedly attempting to blow the whistle on widespread sexual abuse at her Catholic high school in Baltimore, there is startling new evidence to suggest that she was killed to prevent her from speaking out.

The same evidence sheds new light on the murder of a second victim – 20-year-old Joyce Malecki, whose body was found only a few days after the nun died from a blow to the head. Increasingly, investigators believe Malecki may also have been killed in an effort to keep Church-related sex abuse hidden from the public.

Obtained during a two-year investigation by this reporter, the new findings also include testimony indicating that one or more local police officers participated in the sex abuse . . . and that both the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and Baltimore-area police officials then orchestrated a cover-up of the two killings that has lasted for more than four decades.

The new evidence shows that the second murder victim had close ties to the same Catholic parish – St. Clements in Lansdowne, located only a few miles from Archbishop Keough High School in southwest Baltimore – where two Catholic priests who were later defrocked for rampant sexual abuse lived off and on during the period in which the nun was killed.

One of those later-defrocked priests was serving as the chaplain at Keough when the nun (a beloved English teacher and also the drama coach) was abducted and killed on the evening of November 7, 1969.

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MICHIGAN
The Macomb Daily

By Mitch Hotts, The Macomb Daily
POSTED: 09/01/14

A Mount Clemens priest was “negligent” when he failed to promptly report a sex assault on church property to the police, according to a report by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The archdiocese on Saturday published the findings of its investigation into the 2011 incident where the Rev. Michael Cooney of St. Peter Catholic Church did not vontact police when he learned a 19-year-old usher had sexually abused a 14-year-old female at a church event.

According to the report, a panel of three canonical, or church law, judges concluded Cooney was “negligent in performing his duties as pastor” at St. Peter “by failing to property report the suspected abuse of a minor in a timely manner” and failing to take measures to protect the teen.

Cooney did advise the girl’s family to report the incident to civil authorities, but he also had the responsibility to notify the authorities once he learned of the suspected abuse, the church panel concluded.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Voice of Russia

A hearing into the historic transportation of children from Northern Ireland to Australia opened today, with child rights groups calling for a nationwide inquiry into what campaigners have labeled “the largest child abuse scandal in Britain’s history.”

Around 50 former residents of institutions in Northern Ireland are set to give evidence in a series of hearings in Banbridge, County Down, about the child migration programme that ran from the 1920s until the 1970s.

Documentary evidence found that around 140 young children from Northern Ireland, who were in the care of voluntary institutions, religious charities or state bodies were sent to Australia as child migrants, with many allegedly sexually abused.

The hearings form the second part of the Inquiry into Historical Institutional Abuse in Northern Ireland.

The inquiry is set to hear evidence from children who were taken away without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Some mothers whose children became migrants to Australia were told they had died, a public inquiry in Northern Ireland has heard.

Youngsters themselves thought they were going on holiday, but never returned. When their mothers found out the truth they were overcome with guilt and never-ending mourning, an expert witness said.

Dr Margaret Humphreys works with the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

“Many child migrants did not realise they would not be coming back,” she said. “They thought it was a holiday, hardly preparation for a life the other side of the world, never to return again.”

The Nottinghamshire social worker established the Child Migrants Trust, a charity which helps reunite them with their families.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

The “disposal” of children by emigration to Australia produced substantial savings, according to a 1928 report by Northern Ireland’s Government.

Support for the migration schemes was broadly due to concern for the child and concern for the community and the religious and moral welfare of the young person, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry heard.

Removal also allayed the danger posed by remaining at an unsuitable home or in an institution.

Britain and Northern Ireland was over-populated whereas the colonies were under-populated.

Christine Smith QC, lawyer to the inquiry, said: “There was a need to build up the Empire and ensure the Empire was of white common British stock.”

Emigrants would have a chance to better themselves and make room in overcrowded workhouses and orphanages.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Children in institutions in Northern Ireland were exported to Australia like “baby convicts”, a witness has told a public inquiry into historical abuse.

The Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns was responsible for the removal of 111 child migrants aged as young as five before and after the Second World War, some of whom faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival. Another 20 were sent by other institutions.

In some cases parental consent was not sought, migrants were separated from siblings and some deprived of their real identities by withholding of birth certificates, a lawyer for the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry said.

Reasons for transport included boosting “Catholicisation” or other religious authority in the colonies, propping up the number of white inhabitants of the Empire or saving money and emptying overcrowded workhouses, the investigation heard.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Newstalk (New Zealand)

By: AAP, International News | Tuesday September 2 2014

Horrific details have been given to a public hearing in Northern Ireland about children in institutions who were exported to Australia before and after World War II.

Some were as young as five, and many suffered grave sexual and physical abuse in Australia.

A lawyer has told the inquiry in some cases parental consent was not sought, migrants were separated from siblings and some deprived of their real identities by the withholding of birth certificates.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Tara Mills
BBC News NI

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) began in January and so far almost 70 people have given evidence.

Thirty-four of those were children who lived in homes.

Some have told the BBC they are unhappy with the structure of the inquiry and feel that their vulnerability has not been appreciated when they have taken the stand.

Allison Diver, 44, went to live in Termonbacca children’s home in Londonderry when she was 10.

She said she suffered physical and sexual abuse during her time there, horrors that are still clear in her mind.

“Nights are the worst for me,” she said.

“Where other people would be sleeping, I’m walking the floors. You’re remembering every last detail – smells, bangs. It’s like someone plays a movie and then won’t let it stop and hides the remote control.”

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

From my archives of 9/20/12. First posted in the lead-up to Nechemya Weberman’s trial which concluded with a 103-year sentence.

She was a bad girl. Was it because she talked to boys, or she was dressing too fashionably, or she asked too many questions? That didn’t matter. She was bad and the vaad hatznius (modesty committee) of Williamsburg was willing to fix her, for a hefty fee, of course. The alternative was being stuck with a reputation as a nebbish (loser), an oiysvorf (outcast), and a shiksa (gentile). Once you acquired that reputation no decent family would let you marry their son.

Her family’s last hope was a “Torah therapist” who could change her into a good girl. She didn’t know what to expect. But she assumed he would counsel her with words of Torah. He would be a rabbi with a reputation for being zealous about torah and tznius (modesty). That of course meant he would scrupulously observe all the halachos (rules) and minhagim (customs) governing relations between men and women. She was only twelve, just a bat mitzvah, and thus liable for violating any of the halachos applying to a grown woman.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Neither has been publicly accused before
Both victims speak out for the first time
One got a $750,000 settlement last year
SNAP urges archdiocesan outreach now
Catholic officials admit 5 allegations vs. one cleric

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, two clergy sex abuse victims will speak publicly for the first time about their abuse at that hands of two Chicago predator priests who have never been publicly accused before. (One victim received a $750,000 secret settlement last year.)

Advocates for clergy sex abuse victims will also blast Catholic officials for their continued secrecy about clergy sex crimes and will urge two church institutions to

–be more open and transparent about child molesting clerics, and
–post the names of all credibly accused clerics on church websites.

The victims will also

— urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered abuse, no matter how long ago, to come forward &
– urge parishioners to ask their friends and family if they were ever hurt by these two priests.

WHEN
Thursday, July 31 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Chicago archdiocese headquarters,835 N. Rush St. (corner of Chestnut), Chicago, IL

WHO
Two clergy sex abuse victims (one local and one from out-of-state) who have never spoken publicly before and three- four other members of a self help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org).

WHY
1) In 2005, Gail Peloquin Howard reported to Chicago archdiocesan officials that in 1964, as a teenager, she sought guidance from her pastor at Ascension parish in Oak Park, Msgr. John D. Fitzgerald, who sexually attacked her during that meeting and later he offered to pay her for one year of therapy.

That same year (2005), church staffer Leah McCluskey (who has dealt with hundreds of victims) told Howard that her report was “credible” but refused to publicly acknowledge this or publicly admit that Msgr. Fitzgerald had been accused of abuse. The archdiocese has paid for Howard’s therapy.

Howard will provide five pages of correspondence between her and archdiocesan officials. She did not come forward until her mother, who worked for her perpetrator, passed away.

2) A Chicago man, who says he was abused by Fr. Donald J. O’Shaughnessy, has reached a $750,000 settlement with the priest’s superiors in the Jesuit religious order. The victim is releasing a copy of his two page settlement agreement with church officials and a detailed four page letter from an attorney confirming that five others reported to the archdiocese that they too were abused by Fr. O’Shaughnessy.

Fr. O’Shaughnessy molested the m from 1977-1979 when he was a sophomore at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Fr. O’Shaughnessy was the boy’s school advisor and pulled him out of class daily. Fr. O’Shaughnessy also spent time at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston Michigan (in the Detroit Archdiocese) and Brebeuf Prep. School in Indianapolis Indiana.

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
Christian Catholicism

September 1, 2014

Jerry Slevin

On Saturday past, I reported on my censorship by the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) here

[Christian Catholicism]

On Saturday, NCR posted a notice that new comments would be deferred until Tuesday for the US Labor Day Weekend. Notwithstanding that notice, NCR permitted comments to be posted until this morning (Monday) by all but me, except that yesterday around 3 pm, NCR closed comments on the one article that NCR bloggers were still using to complain about NCR’s censorship policy! Some bloggers earlier yesterday were still posting censorship complaints, until NCR blocked new comments to that article.

This morning (Monday) NCR had apparently blocked access to all NCR comments, at least when I tried to access them . If this applies to others as well, NCR bloggers cannot now EVEN READ their own or others’ prior comments, including the comments made last week by numerous bloggers objecting to NCR’s censorship approach.

Now (Monday afternoon) an NCR notice has been posted on BishopAccountability (just above my remarks here) saying no comments will be permitted on Labor Day Weekend, even though they had already been permitted for the first two days of this three day weekend. It appears NCR is trying to undercut my remarks, but is doing so in an amateurish and misleading way. This is very troubling, but just shows how NCR currently is operating.

Does NCR think it can just duck its censorship critics with gimmicks like this? Will this creeping censorship ever end? At least for today, I may not be alone in being “banned” from expressing my views at NCR. Will you be the next blogger to be banned by NCR?

While I can only guess at present as to NCR’s reasons for banning me, we have had a longstanding disagreement over calling for a US Presidential Commission to investigate institutional child sexual abuse.

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

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Tim Rohr

Many are probably wondering “What on Earth?” as the fight within the local Catholic Church spills into the streets and onto the pages of newspapers and nightly news. It’s a mess by anybody’s reckoning. And it’s time for an explanation.

The war is not new. It has been 20 years in the making. Twenty years ago, a certain Fr. Pius Sammut arrived on Guam to plant the Neocatechumenal Way — a particular approach to Christianity started in the 1960s in Spain. Fr. Pius found a warm welcome in Archbishop Apuron and together they set off to plant the Neo flag in Guam.

There are many different groups within the Church, but none have caused such division as the Neocatechumenal Way. The cause of this division is inherent in its structure. For whereas the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the central prayer and unifying act of all Catholics regardless of what group they may or may not belong to, the Neocatechumenal Way celebrates its own version of the Mass apart from the rest of the Church, and usually not even in a church.

It would be difficult to explain the different levels of authority they have or don’t have to do this. The bottom line is that regardless of those permissions or lack of them, the Neocatechumenal Way practices have led to the painful division that is now spilling into the street.

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

NCR Staff | Aug. 30, 2014 NCR Today

NCR headquarters is closed for the Labor Day holiday. To make the return next week easier on our staff, we have decided to turn off the comments system for the weekend. So write down what you want to say and come back Tuesday morning to share your thoughts on our stories, blogs and columns!

Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you all on Tuesday.

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
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: September 1, 2014

St. Olaf pastor said Rev. John Nienstedt lacks a bond with local Catholics

The Rev. Patrick Kennedy of St. Olaf Catholic Church has called for the resignation of Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, saying it would create a “collective sigh of relief” from Twin Cities Catholics.

In the Aug. 31 church newsletter, Kennedy wrote that he reached the conclusion after returning to Minneapolis recently following two years away. It was then that he realized “full effect” of the recent clergy sex abuse scandal on Catholics in the pews.

“There appears to be a pall over the Archdiocese that is affecting the ministry we are trying to be about,” wrote Kennedy, pastor at the downtown Minneapolis church.

“People are leaving our parishes. Some have stopped giving money. Others have stayed but carry a heavy heart …” he wrote.

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
Boston Globe

By James Carroll | GLOBE COLUMNIST SEPTEMBER 01, 2014

A MORAL contradiction casts a shadow on Roman Catholicism, and lately the shadow has lengthened. The church straddles two poles at once, and at times they pull in radically opposite directions. First, it is a community of believers seeking to embody the values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet through accidents of history, that community is organizationally centered on Vatican City — a 110-acre territory where the Holy See, the ancient seat of papal authority, is headquartered. The Vatican is a sovereign state. And like every state, alas, politically empowered Catholicism yields now and then to the amoral pressures of realpolitik.

This contradiction was laid bare recently when the Holy See, acting in secret, threw the protective cloak of diplomatic immunity over Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski — the papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic and an alleged serial abuser of minors. In a show of toughness, church officials defrocked Wesolowski and promised to try him according to the laws of Vatican City. In effect, though, church officials once again shielded a predator priest from civil jurisdiction. Victims and officials in the Dominican Republic were left to stew.

The Holy See might have boxed itself into handling the accused diplomat in that odd manner. Before the United Nations last winter, representatives of the Vatican had insisted that it was morally and legally responsible only for abuse perpetrated by Vatican citizens — and not for abuse by thousands of Catholic priests around the world. Both then and now, the Catholic hierarchy has been hiding behind the political prerogatives of a sovereign state, violating broader norms of ethical responsibility. Vatican statehood is part of the problem.

Catholics and others may think of the Vatican as institutionally essential to the church, as if willed by God. But it’s not. Today’s Vatican City is an after-image of the once vast papal states that were lost in 19th-century revolutions. In its present form, this headquarters of world Catholicism was created only in the 20th century. Under the 1929 Lateran Treaty, an agreement with the Mussolini government whose terms ultimately received international recognition, the Holy See began to function from the newly autonomous state of Vatican City.

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PORTUGAL
RTP

[Summary: A former pastor from Golega has been accused of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of minors. Antonio Julio Santos was arrested in mid-December by judicial police and the Santarem diocese opened a canonical process.]

01 Set, 2014

O antigo pároco da Golegã foi acusado da prática de dois crimes de abuso sexual de menores na forma agravada, confirmou hoje à Lusa o seu advogado.

Rui Rodrigues disse à Lusa que a acusação foi deduzida em meados de julho, não tendo havido da parte da defesa pedido de abertura de instrução.

António Júlio Santos foi detido em meados de dezembro último pela Polícia Judiciária por ser “presumível autor de dois crimes de abuso sexual de crianças cometidos na forma agravada”, tendo a Diocese de Santarém aberto um “processo canónico de averiguações a propósito de suspeitas” sobre o pároco.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano’s” monthly women’s insert interviews the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “We are not misogynists!” he says, revealing that the number of women in the Congregation will go from two to five or six, at the Pope’s request

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

The latest issue of the women’s insert published monthly by Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reveals the identity of the Pope’s next nomination; more women are going to be joining the international theological Congregation: the number will be rising from two to “five or six”. This is according to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller who was interviewed by historian Lucetta Scaraffia, a prestigious contributor of the newspaper headed by Gian Maria Vian.

The members of the theological commission that assists the Holy See, particularly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in examining crucial doctrinal questions are nominated for a five-year period and there are currently thirty of them, including two women: Barbara Hallensleben (professor of Dogmatic Theology and Ecumenism at the Faculty of Theology in Fribourg, Switzerland) from Germany and sister Sara Butler (professor of Dogmatic Theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake – Mundelein Seminary – in Chicago, US).

In the article published by the L’Osservatore Romano’s women’s insert, Scaraffia says the cardinal “also informed me that the new international theological Commission the Pope is about to make nominations for will include more women than previously: As far as I understood the number of women will go from two to five or six.” That would be a significant increase.

The interview took place in the cardinal’s apartment and the Vatican newspaper’s reporter was given an informal welcome. During their discussion, Müller underlined that the female presence in the Church needed to be recognized within its own specific context, it should not be an imitation of the male model. He stressed that the Church needs to be like a mother, not an institution, because an institution cannot love but a mother can.

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

1 September, 2014

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has today published two research reports by the Australian Institute of Criminology:

* History of child sexual abuse offences in Australia
* Brief review of contemporary sexual offence and child sexual abuse legislation in Australia

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the results of this research provide important reference material for the Royal Commission and other organisations carrying out work in this area.

“The first report outlines significant socio-political developments in respect of child sexual abuse which will assist the Royal Commission’s understanding of the way child sexual abuse legislation has developed in Australia. …

A summary of both reports is available below, the full reports can be read on the Royal Commission website

Key findings of reports

History of child sexual abuse offences in Australia

* The report provides an overview of the socio-political factors and events that have influenced the development of Australia’s child sexual abuse legislation from 1788-2013.

* The AIC concludes that during this period child sexual abuse has been marginalised, denied, ‘discovered’ and ‘rediscovered’.

* The report also provides an overview of the development of legislation during the period 1950-2013 in the nine Australian jurisdictions

* Key developments in relevant legislation during this period which are discussed in detail in the report include:

o the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting males

o the removal of gendered language from legislation to enable the law to deal with matters involving male victims, female offenders and same sex offences

o broadening the definition of sexual intercourse

o introduction of specific legislation relating to child pornography

o introduction of mandatory reporting laws

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source AAP 1 SEP 2014

The crime of child sexual abuse has been denied, marginalised and “discovered and rediscovered” at various stages throughout Australia’s history, a new report says.

The report, commissioned by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, found broader social awareness of child sexual abuse emerged in the 1960s because of the efforts of feminist groups.

Prior to women’s rights advocates challenging government responses to sexual violence, psychoanalysts and other theorists downplayed the significance of sexual abuse on children and officials downplayed its prevalence and impact.

Between the late 1800s and 1960s “child sexual abuse was denied or minimised by academics, psychoanalysts and the broader community as the fantasies of disturbed individuals or the result of sexually promiscuous or aggressive children,” the report said.

The report, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, found that the greatest period of reform in Australia’s child abuse laws occurred after the 1970s.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Published Monday, 01 September 2014

Public hearings on child migrants sent from Northern Ireland institutions to Australia have begun on Monday as the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry resumes.

The hearings will last for three weeks, during which evidence will be heard from 50 people who are now living in Australia.

They are all former residents of institutions in Northern Ireland and were sent to the country as part of a child migration programme.

The inquiry is being chaired by retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart.

In his opening remarks he said: “In their witness statements, many of those who will give evidence describe their experiences after they arrived in Australia in shocking terms, setting out in graphic detail their descriptions of the severe hardships, and grave sexual and physical violence, to which they say they were subjected as children in the institutions to which they were sent in Australia.”

The inquiry is limited to what happened to children in institutions in Northern Ireland and does not have the power to investigate what befell migrants in Australian institutions.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 1 September 2014

Northern Ireland’s orphanages and homes operated a policy of forcibly transporting children to Australia until the 1950s, a long-running inquiry into child abuse at these institutions will hear on Monday.

Sixty-six former residents have given evidence of how they were sent across the world without their consent between 1946 and 1956. Many of those who have come forward will give evidence via video link over what happened to them under the scheme.

The migration scheme to Australia will be examined at the historical institutional abuse inquiry held at Banbridge courthouse in County Down.

The public inquiry is the largest held into such institutions like orphanages anywhere in the UK. Thirteen Catholic and state-run institutions are under scrutiny.

The inquiry will be told that the transport of children from institutions in Northern Ireland mainly to similar homes in western Australia was part of UK government policy at the 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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

An Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland has started to hear evidence of the child migration scheme that selected over 100 children from institutions in the North and sent them to Australia.

It is the first time that a judicial inquiry will hear evidence of the practice operated by the UK authorities in the years immediately after World War II.

When the inquiry team went to Australia last year to begin gathering evidence about Northern Irish children who participated in this scheme, they interviewed a 75-year-old man.

He told them: “We were exported to Australia like little baby convicts. I found it hard to show affection to my children when they were young. I have a nightmare every night of my life. I relive my past and I am happy when daylight comes.”

The man has since died, but his full statement and the video evidence accounts of over 50 others will be heard in Banbridge over the next three weeks.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

[with video]

One hundred and thirty children from Northern Ireland, some as young as five, were sent to Australia as child migrants, an inquiry has heard.

The experiences of 50 of them will be heard by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) either by oral or written evidence.

It is examining the extent of child abuse in religious and state-run institutions in NI from 1922 to 1995.

A team from the inquiry has already made two trips to Australia.

HIA chairman Sir Anthony Hart said his staff had made the trip for two reasons – to enable those who lived there to have the same opportunity to describe their experiences as others, and to allow the HIA’s legal team to gather a considerable amount of information from their witness statements.

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 New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
SEPT. 1, 2014

Roman Catholics and much of the world have been closely watching for evidence that Pope Francis has the wherewithal to buck the resistance to reform from the Vatican’s powerful bureaucracy.

An encouraging sign emerged last week with the announcement that the Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic had been stripped of diplomatic immunity and could be tried there for his alleged soliciting of underage boys for sexual acts. The announcement reversed a devious and secret stratagem engineered by unidentified Vatican officials last year to recall the ambassador, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, before Dominican authorities could bring criminal charges of child abuse against him.

The Vatican’s use of immunity to shield the prelate from criminal prosecution outside the Vatican set off a furor, particularly in light of Pope Francis’s promise that in the pedophilia scandal “there are no privileges” for priests or prelates. That diplomatic immunity was suddenly reversed after an article in The Times by Laurie Goodstein detailing numerous cases of the archbishop’s alleged preying on impoverished Dominican shoeshine boys and others who said they were paid for sex. There are suggestions Pope Francis might have had a hand in the reversal; he previously stressed to a colleague that the Wesolowski case felt like “a dagger” in his heart.

The Vatican denied it had attempted a cover-up in recalling the archbishop, pointing out that he was later defrocked after church officials concluded he was indeed guilty of abusing children. Defrocking is hardly adequate punishment for criminal acts, however, and the Vatican maintains the former archbishop might still face criminal charges under its own laws. There are understandable concerns that this could be used to shield him from full justice in the places where he allegedly abused children. However it ends, the case will be followed as an indicator of Pope Francis’s commitment to true church reform.

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MISSISSIPPI
The Times-Picayune

By The Associated Press
on August 31

HERNANDO, Miss. — A Mississippi man has filed a complaint alleging that a male teacher at a church-run school sexually abused him in an attempt to change his sexual orientation from homosexuality.

Jeff White, 32, said he realized he had a duty to stand up against people who harmed him in the 1990s because such efforts still hurt others.

The Washington Blade reported that White told it in an interview that a teacher at Bethel Baptist School in Walls when he was a student there repeatedly forced him to have oral and anal sex for three years. White said the teacher scheduled an appointment each Wednesday for the sexual abuse to occur.

His parents enrolled him in the school when he was 14 and in the seventh grade.

“He would rape me because I was gay and because it would make me hate men and make me change,” White said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

Mon, Sep 1, 2014

The Northern Ireland inquiry into historical institutional abuse in the coming weeks will hear “shocking” evidence of alleged abuse against children who were transported to Australia, the inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart said today.

In the next three weeks the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry will hear, mostly by video-link, evidence from 50 individuals who are now resident in Australia and were former residents of institutions in Northern Ireland.

Sir Anthony Hart at Banbridge court house today recounted how the 50 men and women were part of a group of approximately 130 children who were sent to Australia as part of a child migration programme between 1922 and 1995.

The inquiry is investigating allegations of child abuse in institutions run by the Catholic Church and Northern Ireland state from 1922 to 1995. This includes allegations by those who were part of the migration scheme.

Sir Anthony Hart explained that the inquiry could not investigate any allegations of abuse in Australia that the witnesses will make in the coming weeks, as the inquiry’s term of reference relates solely to institutions in Northern Ireland. However, this information would not be “swept under the carpet” and the authorities in Australia would be notified of any allegations, he said.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 1 September 2014

Children as young as five were sent from Northern Ireland to Australian orphanages and other institutions where they were sexually and physically abused, the chairman of an inquiry into institutional child abuse has revealed.

Sir Anthony Hart, who is chairing the historical abuse inquiry, said witness evidence will show “in shocking terms” how children were subjected to “severe hardships, and grave sexual and physical evidence” when they arrived in the country.

The retired judge made his remarks during the latest session of the inquiry, held at Banbridge courthouse in County Down on Monday. This aspect of the largest public investigation into the abuse of children in state- and church-run homes is focusing on the treatment of 130 orphans and young people in care who were sent to Australia between 1946 and 1956.

Sixty-six former residents of these institutions have given evidence of how they were transported across the world without their consent. Many of those who have come forward will give evidence via video link over what happened to them under the scheme.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Yahoo! News

Press Association

Children from Northern Ireland who were sent to Australia shortly after the Second World War faced grave sexual and physical violence after arrival in institutions, witnesses have told a public inquiry.

Survivors have given graphic details of their ordeals while aged as young as five, according to the chairman of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry established by ministers in Belfast.

Approximately 130 young children in the care of religious voluntary institutions or state bodies became child migrants, most in the decade after the war.

The experiences of around 50 of them will be examined in person or via video- link and their statements furnished to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia.

Inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart said: “In their witness statements, many of those who will give evidence describe their experiences after they arrived in Australia in shocking terms, setting out in graphic detail their descriptions of the severe hardships, and grave sexual and physical violence, to which they say they were subjected as children in the institutions to which they were sent in Australia.”

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.

JAPAN
The Japan Times

When parents of students at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo received a letter earlier this year informing them of an allegation of sexual abuse against a former teacher and elementary school principal at the Catholic boys school, shock waves rippled through the tight-knit school community.

The letter, dated Jan. 31 and signed by the current headmaster, Saburo Kagei, says: “In recent days, it has come to the attention of the school administration that an allegation of sexual misconduct has been made against Brother Lawrence Lambert by a former student. The misconduct allegedly occurred in 1965 when Br. Lawrence was a teacher at the first St. Mary’s campus in Sengakuji.

“After the school administration learned of the situation, we notified the local Japanese police authority and the Archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Tokyo. Both agencies are conducting investigations with the school’s full cooperation. While the investigation is ongoing, Br. Lawrence Lambert is prohibited from having any contact with students, staff or parents at SMIS.”

The following day, the letter regarding Lambert, who was the elementary school principal for around three decades from 1982, went up on the St. Mary’s International School Labor Dispute website, a blog started by an aggrieved former employee, and the news of a sexual abuse allegation at one of Japan’s most prestigious international schools started to circulate around the school community.

Shortly after, the letter was also posted on Sylvia’s Site, a well-read blog dedicated to exposing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Canada and elsewhere. St. Mary’s is run by the Brothers of Christian Instruction, a Catholic order founded in France in the 19th century that has schools on every continent.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

01 SEPTEMBER 2014

A woman abused while resident at a children’s home in Northern Ireland was left suicidal after telling her story before a public inquiry.

Kate Walmsley, 58, was in an institution in Londonderry from 1964 to 1969, having been admitted as a young child. She recalled being targeted aged eight by a priest in a confessional box while under the care of the Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns.

The UK’s largest child abuse inquiry so far is to resume again next week. A retired High Court judge is chairing the probe and took harrowing evidence from Ms Walmsley earlier this year.

She said: “It was reliving a nightmare and then being told horrible things about yourself.

“I just thought that I had spoiled my chance, the only chance in my life to get some sort of healing and they have ruined it.

“I ended up being suicidal and thinking I have wasted that day, the special day.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

It’s fascinating to see, this morning, that the posting I made Friday reporting on how National Catholic Reporter has treated Jerry Slevin has had … 1002 reads (and counting)* in a mere two days — and on a holiday weekend at the end of summer at that, when many Americans are out of pocket due to Labor Day and people elsewhere are finishing summer vacations and not spending time online as a result.

It’s remarkable to have this report so widely read and so widely distributed on such a weekend. My stats counter for the posting reminds me that Abuse Tracker and the Catholica blog in Australia have both linked to it, and I’ve noticed it being tweeted by folks to whom I connect on Twitter, too.

I read the interest in this story as a good sign that there are many lay Catholics who are extremely tired of the shoddy way in which many of our Catholic leaders and Catholic institutions play political games to make so many of us voiceless — when many of us, certainly people like Jerry Slevin, have important things to say to the Catholic community, and deserve a hearing. The shoddiness with which NCR has dealt with Jerry Slevin, the lack of transparency about how it censors people making commetns at its blog sites: these mechanisms deserve attention if we really do want to buid a healthy, vibrant, authentically catholic Catholic 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.