ABUSE TRACKER

LOUISIANA
KATC

A 54-year old Shreveport pastor has been sentenced to over 7 years of imprisonment for engaging in sexual activities with minors.

Andrea Lewis, a Shreveport pastor was found guilty for engaging in sexual acts with girls under 18-years old. They were among members of the choir he formed, and of his congregation.

Lewis used his status as a pastor to coerce the girls. He then used choir trips and church related travel to cover up the sexual abuse, and threatened the girls not to tell anyone.

U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley says Lewis was found guilty for three counts of transporting minors across state lines to have sex. Evidence collected had proved that Lewis transported at least three minors to and from Texas to have sex with him.

“Unfortunately, this defendant took advantage of his position to abuse young girls in his care and left them with emotional and physical scars that may never heal,” Finley stated.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
Irish Examiner Reporter

A decision is likely early next year on an appeal by a Cork priest into a secret Church court’s decision to defrock him for the serial sexual abuse of minors and teenagers.

As part of the appeal, the priest, Dan Duane, aged 76, was invited to Rome by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to outline his objections to the diocese’s decision. He is not obliged to attend.

He was the subject of 11 complaints of abuse and three years ago, Cork Circuit Criminal Court directed that he be found not guilty of indecently assaulting a teenager.

The judge made the direction on the grounds of the 30-year delay in making the complaint.

A month later, Duane was found not guilty of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 31 years earlier.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – JULY 22, 2014

Mother of sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R., of the Franciscan Friars of Hollidaysburg, PA, to speak of harm done to victims and their families by continuing delays

What: A press conference announcing the disappointment and frustration of dozens of
sexual abuse victims, their family members, and their advocates toward the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, the Franciscan Friars of Hollidaysburg, PA, and the Diocese of Youngstown, OH because of their foot-dragging regarding the settlement of cases of sexual abuse by Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R.

When: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Where: On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Altoona-
Johnstown, PA, 927 S. Logan Boulevard, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648 – 814-695-5579.

Who: Barbara Aponte, mother of Luke Bradesku, an alleged Ohio victim of Br. Stephen Baker, T.O.R., who took his life after suffering from the effects of allegedly having been sexually abused as a high school student at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Warren, OH; and Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Why: Religious leaders, including the Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown, Mark L. Bartchak,
and attorneys representing the Franciscan Third Order Regular Friars of Hollidaysburg, PA; the Diocese of Youngstown, OH; and the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA have expressed hollow sentiments that they wish to settle in a timely fashion dozens of cases of sexual abuse by Br. Stephen Baker from Bishop Mc Cort High School, Johnstown, PA, the greater Altoona-Johnstown area, and the Youngstown, OH area. The victim/survivors have waited long enough. It is now time for settlements to occur. One mediation session in May, 2014, was cancelled as a result of foot-dragging, and Bishop Mark Bartchak has promised that cases would be settled in a timely fashion. Another summer has come and nearly gone, and victim/survivors continue to suffer. Barbara Aponte, mother of an alleged Br. Baker victim from Ohio, will speak about the devastating effects not only of the sexual abuse on families but of foot-dragging by church authorities. Because of these delays, victim/survivors are unable to reach closure and heal from the sexual abuse.

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

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ALABAMA
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Leaders of a Baptist association in Alabama investigated questions raised in recent media reports about a director of mission’s handling of alleged child sex abuse decades ago in 2009 and found no evidence of cover-up, according to a news story dated July 17 in the Alabama Baptist.

Recent news stories about the May 20 arrest of a former youth minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., included comments by one of the alleged victims claiming the pastor at the time, Mike McLemore, knew about the abuse but kept it quiet to protect the congregation’s image.

Mack Allen Davis, 73, minister of youth and recreation at Lakeside Baptist Church from 1977 until his retirement in 1999, faces 15 charges from three counties stemming from allegations by two men who stepped forward to claim that Davis molested them 30 years ago.

One of the men, Davis’ nephew, Andrew Guffey, 44, told the Birmingham News that McLemore, now director of missions for Birmingham Baptist Association, knew about the abuse by the late 1990s but did not report it to the police.

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TENNESSEE
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A former Tennessee Baptist youth minister avoided a maximum 20-year sentence for child pornography found on his cell phone during an investigation of his previous arrest on charges of statutory rape and sexual battery.

U.S. District Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice sentenced 38-year-old Joseph Todd Neill to three years and four months for a single charge of possessing child pornography July 21.

Neill, former youth director at North Fork Baptist Church in Shelbyville, Tenn., pleaded guilty Feb. 23 in a plea bargain that included up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the judge said in reviewing Neill’s record that the incident seemed to be isolated. Neill will receive credit for the five months he has already been in jail.

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MONTANA
Sun Herald

The Associated Press
July 22, 2014

HELENA, MONT. — The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday publicly reprimanded a judge who gave a lenient sentence to a rapist after suggesting the 14-year-old victim shared some of the responsibility for the crime.

District Judge G. Todd Baugh, of Billings, appeared before the court in Helena, where Chief Justice Mike McGrath read the prepared censure statement. A censure is a rarely used public declaration by the high court that a judge is guilty of misconduct.

“We have determined that, through your inappropriate comments, you have eroded public confidence in the judiciary and created an appearance of impropriety in violation of the Montana Code of Judicial Conduct,” McGrath said. The Supreme Court also suspended him for 31 days, effective in December.

Baugh stood at the podium to receive the reprimand, but he did not speak. McGrath did not read a sentence in the transcript of the censure that asked if Baugh had anything he wanted to say.

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

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

We are glad that Helena Judge Todd Baugh will be suspended in December for his inappropriate rape comments.

We encourage him to spend that month doing community service at a rape crisis center or similar agency so he will learn to be sensitive about horrific sex crimes.

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UNITED STATES
Addicting Info

Could Tom Petty be the counterbalance to Ted Nugent that many Americans have been looking for? It certainly seems that way considering the Heartbreaker blasted the Catholic Church and so-called “Christians” who aren’t acting very Christ-like in a recent interview with Billboard magazine.
The legendary rocker talked a great deal about religion during the interview, pondering why those of the Catholic faith still give money to the Church knowing that it’s being used to shield pedophile priests or cover up their crimes. “I’m fine with whatever religion you want to have,” Petty told the publication.

Petty then went on to criticize alleged Christians who thirst for war and defend killing people like conservative “Christians” do today.

Religion seems to me to be at the base of all wars. I’ve nothing against defending yourself, but I don’t think, spiritually speaking, that there’s any conception of God that should be telling you to be violent. It seems to me that no one’s got Christ more wrong than the Christians.

The Catholic Church has been rocked for decades by the massive pedophile priest scandal that has resulted in thousands of molested and abused children around the globe. The image of the Church has taken a major hit over the years because of it, but they still rake in the cash from Catholics who seem not to care that their money is helping the Church prevent victims from getting justice.

Meanwhile, Conservative “Christians” here in America are bloodthirsty. They support perpetual war, guns everywhere, and senseless violence. The current border crisis involving refugee children has revealed conservative “Christians” for what they really are as they hurl racial epithets and threaten violence against them in the most un-Christ-like manner. In addition, conservative “Christians” want to punish poor people severely by taking food stamps and health care away from them, which is something else that Jesus wouldn’t do.

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OKLAHOMA
The Raw Story

By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, July 22, 2014

A 19-year-old Oklahoma man accused of sexually abusing children while volunteering in Kenya is blaming his actions on “pseudo-tribal psychological voodoo.”

Matthew Durham was charged Friday in federal court with four counts of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct, reported The Oklahoman.

The Edmond man was accused of sexually abusing up to 10 children of both sexes, between the ages of 4 and 9 years old, while volunteering this spring at Upendo Children’s Home in Nairobi.

At least one of the victims is HIV-positive, authorities said.

Durham had previously volunteered three times at the children’s home, which was founded by a couple from Edmonds and provides neglected kids with housing, clothing, education and religious instruction.

He was accused of committing the sex acts on his fourth trip, from April 30 to June 17, when he asked to stay overnight at the children’s home.

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UNITED STATES
Watch Keep

A comparison of responses to allegations of child sex abuse- Prestonwood Baptist Church and Morrison Heights Baptist vs. Believers Church: image over child protection

AUBURN, AL (WTVM)
A longtime associate pastor at Believers Church in Auburn has been arrested on child sex abuse charges.

His arrest in May got him kicked out of the church where he had been for 30 years. Lee County Sheriff’s detectives say the two adult victims came forward in April to report they were abused in the early 1990’s.

Every Sunday, for nearly 30 years at Believers Church on Moore’s Mill Road, 53-year-old John Sluder, an associate pastor, would play guitar during services.

“People have shed tears because of what he appeared to be, a gentle old man. So yes, we were very shocked,” said attorney Ben Hand. …

Tears for the victims. Anger at the perpetrator. This is a refreshing response from a church who gets it. It’s not about them. It’s about the kids harmed by one of their own. But they don’t protect their own image and shun and silence these kids, now adults, who though it took a long time, bravely came forward to report the harm done to them. Kids will be safer now, and other possible victims of Sluder will know they are not alone and perhaps have the courage to come forward as well, begin to heal and protect others.

Prestonwood Baptist Church, where are the tears for the victims? Where is the anger at one of your own former ministers, John Langworthy, who confessed publicly to sexually abusing kids at your church? The only public anger we have seen from Prestonwood staff is at those who have dared to ask simple questions of the executive staff like why Langworthy wasn’t reported to police in 1989?

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

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

A Tennessee youth pastor has been sentenced to 3 years in jail on child pornography charges. We are glad he is going to jail but believe his sentence should have been much stricter.

Joseph Todd Neill was the youth pastor at North Fork Baptist Church prior to him being investigated on a statutory rape charge. Investigators later found violent and graphic child pornography at his home.

We urge North Fork Baptist church officials to immediately reach out to congregants and beg anyone who saw, suspects or suffered crimes by Neill to call police immediately.

We hope any victims suffering in silence and self blame will find the courage to speak up. Children are kept safe when those who know about or suffered crimes call police and share what they know.

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

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

A teenaged missionary from Oklahoma is accused of sexually abusing several young children from an African orphanage. Our hearts ache for the vulnerable children who, instead of receiving much needed aid, were sexually assaulted. We hope the children will now, more than ever, receive the care they need.

Matthew Durham has traveled several times to Kenya to work at a children’s home with an organization called Upendo. The allegations of abuse stem from his most recent trip, but we are concerned there are more victims who have been suffering in silence and self blame from previous trips. We urge Upendo to publically explain how one of their volunteer missionaries was able to sexual assault the children they were meant to help.

We suspect Durham was or is affiliated with a church in Oklahoma. Officials at that church must aggressively seek out others in their congregation who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by him.

Children sexually abused in developing countries face added hardships of limited access to recourse and rehabilitative services. Upendo should immediately provide the children with access to rehabilitative services and reach out to anyone else who might be suffering in silence and self blame.

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CHILE
Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, James Hamilton Sánchez and José Andrés Murillo Urrutia

Santiago, July 22, 2014 — As part of the civil lawsuit we filed against the Archdiocese of Santiago for its complicity, negligence and willful ignorance in the case of abuse by Fr. Fernando Karadima, we would like to report that the conversations initiated in March have stopped; thus, ending the conciliation stage.

On the one hand, we recognize and appreciate the efforts and willingness of lawyers hired by the Archdiocese and the priest chosen by both parties as a mediator, to find common ground, smooth roughness and reach a common story based on the facts established by Chilean criminal justice and the Vatican itself.

However, we were unable to reach the main three key points in our lawsuit: 1) the Archbishop and current head of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, would recognize their negligent liability in the abuse cases that happened to us and several others for more than 30 years; 2) for this reason, the Archbishop would publicly apologize; and, 3) that this damage would be compensated materially according to its severity.

Our effort and openness have continuously sought to establish these three points that are essential not only for our particular case, but for all cases of abuse involving the Catholic Church worldwide. We also believe that the Catholic Church, as a universal institution, has taken a significant step when Pope Francis apologized for the complicity, concealment and omissions of the hierarchy of the CatholicChurch, embodied by Bishops and Cardinals, in cases of sexual abuse.

His words, unlike the words of the Chilean hierarchy, are unambiguous: “I humbly apologize for the leaders of the Church who have not responded adequately to allegations of abuse by relatives and those who were victims of abuse. This brings still further suffering to those who have been abused and endangered other children who were at risk” (Vatican City, July 7, 2014) That recognition and apology should be translated, in the words of Francis himself, in the best abuse prevention policies and material reparation for victims.

However, in Chile these words did not find the expected repercussion. Apparently Cardinal Ezzati, along with his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz – who sits in the Pope’s Council of 8 “reformer” Cardinals — and most of their fellow bishops, interpretedthis step to a possible agreement as an opportunity to rewrite history and clean, instead of their conscience, their image.

We will not take part of this whitewash. We believe that victims of sexual abuse and abuse of conscience deserve justice. We also believe that many members of the Catholic Church at all levels, that are honest and committed men and women that pursue truth and justice, don’t deserve a hierarchy that does not represent them.

We continue to look for a respectful dialogue but in justice and truth. We will not accept a dialogue that benefits these Cardinals’ and Bishops’ self-image by trying to distort history and manipulate the conscience of survivors and the people of Chile.

Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew
James Hamilton Sánchez
José Andrés Murillo Urrutia

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Víctimas de Karadima rechazan acuerdo con Iglesia y acusan intento de lavado de imagen

Las víctimas de abusos sexuales del sacerdote Fernando Karadima rechazaron el acuerdo propuesto por el arzobispado de Santiago para poner fin a la demanda por 450 millones de pesos que interpusieron contra la iglesia.

El periodista Juan Carlos Cruz Chellew, el médico James Hamilton y el filósofo José Andrés Murillo, a través de un comunicado, anunciaron el cese del proceso de conciliación que se inició en marzo de este año.

“Aparentemente el Cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, junto con su antecesor, el Cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, y otros colaboradores eclesiásticos interpretaron esta etapa de posible acuerdo como una oportunidad para reescribir la historia y limpiar, en lugar de su conciencia, su imagen. No estamos disponibles para ello” dice la declaración. …

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TENNESSEE
Greenville Sun

Posted: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A one-time youth pastor from Shelbyville has been sentenced to three years and four months in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice could have leveled a 20-year sentence on 38-year-old Joseph Todd Neill on Monday for downloading “violent” and “sadistic” prepubescent child pornography on his home computer.

Shelbyville police were investigating Neill on charges of statutory rape and searched his home computer, finding 72 images of minors, 32 of whom were children. Images contained depictions of bondage and child rape and molestation of children ages 5 to 9 years old. Neill worked at North Fork Baptist Church.

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NORTH CAROLINA
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Tuesday, July 22, 2014

A North Carolina pastor shot himself to death over the weekend as deputies were trying to arrest him on child sex charges.

According to WCOC-TV, Michael Mullis, the former pastor of Near Calvary Baptist Church in Concord, knew that he was being investigated for indecent liberties with a child before Rowan County deputies showed up on Saturday to serve warrants on him.

The sheriff’s office said that when deputies arrived to arrest him, he went to the bathroom to put on his shoes, and shot himself with a pistol.

“I’m sure he knew because our investigators had talked to him about this incident,” Concord Police spokesperson Maj. Gary Hatley told WSOC. “Or attempted to talk to him anyway — he knows we were investigating.”

A timeline provided by the victim indicated that Mullis was still serving as pastor at Near Calvary Baptist during the years of sexual abuse. The abuse allegedly ended in 2004, and Mullis resigned from the church in 2011 after 20 years as pastor.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Jul. 22, 2014

VATICAN CITY
The Pentecostal bishop who used his iPhone to film a video of Pope Francis addressing other Pentecostals died Sunday after a motorcycle accident.

Bishop Tony Palmer, whom Pope Francis referred to as his friend, was riding the motorcycle when he crashed head-on with a car traveling in the wrong lane, according to Ian Findlay, principal of Embassy Bible College in Bath, England.

Palmer, a member of the independent Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, “was airlifted to [the] hospital and was in [the operating] theater for 10 hours, but the doctors could not save him,” Findlay told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview Monday.

The bishop served as the dean of the Bible college and was “a very dear friend,” Findlay said. “I’m praying the fruits of his ministry,” particularly his promotion of ecumenical cooperation, will continue.

Findlay said the bishop was in his early 50s and leaves behind a wife and two teenage children. As of Monday, funeral arrangements were pending.

Palmer, who was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in South Africa, was co-founder of The Ark Community, which describes itself as “an internet-based, interdenominational” Christian community. Previously he served as the director of the South Africa office of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a U.S.-based Pentecostal group offering mega-prayer meetings around the world.

Pope Francis’ iPhone video message, which Palmer filmed in January, was addressed to participants in a conference sponsored by Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

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OKLAHOMA
The Edmond Sun

Mark Schlachtenhaufen
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — A federal grand jury alleges a 19-year-old Edmond man staying at a children’s’ home in Kenya engaged in illicit sexual conduct with residents ages 4-9.

An Edmond couple originally from Kenya established Upendo Children’s Home, located in the Juja area of Nairobi, so impoverished children and orphans could have a place to go to school for free. U.S. churches send financial support and volunteers to the home.

Monday morning, the office of U.S. Attorney Sanford Coats announced that on Friday a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Matthew Lane Durham, 19, of Edmond, with traveling to Kenya to engage in illicit sexual conduct with underage children, both male and female, ages 4-9 from April to June.

Durham is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Defense counsel information was not available Monday.

An effort to gain comment from the founding couple was under way; they are not named in the complaint.

Federal law makes it a crime for any U.S. citizen to travel in foreign commerce and engage in any illicit sexual conduct with another person under the age of 18. Durham traveled to and from Kenya out of Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport, according to court records.

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OKLAHOMA
KSWO

EDMOND, Okla_An Oklahoma man faces several charges after allegedly sexually abusing young children on a mission trip to Kenya.

According to court records, 19-year old Matthew Lane Durham of Edmond volunteered at a children’s shelter in Kenya from April to June of 2014. While there, prosecutors say he sexually abused both male and female children ages four to ten years old. According to investigators the children first came forward with the claims, Durham later confessed.

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OKLAHOMA
NewsOK

by Matt Dinger Published: July 22, 2014

A 19-year-old Edmond man is accused of engaging in sex acts with children while volunteering in Kenya this spring.

Matthew Lane Durham was charged late Friday in Oklahoma City federal court with four counts of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Lane is accused of committing the acts with four to 10 children of both sexes, according to the probable cause affidavit. The children range in age from 4 to 9 years old.

At least one of the children is HIV positive, records show.

Durham volunteered at the Upendo Children’s Home in Nairobi. The home, which is funded through sponsorships and donations, provides neglected Kenyan children with food, housing, clothing, education and religious instruction. Durham has previously volunteered three times: June 2012, June 2013, and in December. He stayed with sponsor families during prior visits.

The sex acts are alleged to have been committed on the fourth trip, from April 30 to June 17, when Durham requested to stay overnight at the children’s home, the complaint states.

Durham’s attorney, Steven Jones, said, “The affidavit is shot through with inaccuracies.

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OKLAHOMA/KENYA
KTLA

JULY 21, 2014, BY CNN WIRE

An Edmond teenager faces a possible life in prison sentence after authorities say they learned about shocking crimes he allegedly committed on an African mission trip.

The suspect was volunteering at a Kenyan children’s home when he allegedly raped and molested a number of young children.

According to court records, 19-year-old Matthew Durham confessed to raping several young girls, forcing some boys to perform oral sex on him and even making other kids watch.

“This is a young man in our community that made choices to exploit children in an orphanage,” said United States Attorney Sanford Coats. “It’s a true tragedy all the way around.”

The 19-year-old suspect traveled overseas with a group called Upendo.

Upendo is an organization that assists neglected Kenyan kids by providing food, housing, clothes and religion.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Crucial court hearing is tomorrow
It involves embattled Catholic bishop
Judge may OK “ground-breaking” award
Arbitrator says 42 abuse victims to get $1.1 million
SNAP: “Top Catholic official broke his prevention contract”
Group encourages parishioners to attend court session on Wednesday

A Kansas City judge will hear arguments tomorrow about whether an unprecedented $1.1 million award to 42 clergy sex abuse victims should stand or be overturned.

Judge Bryan Round will hear lawyers for embattled KC Bishop Robert Finn claim that the sum should be tossed out because an arbitrator exceeded his authority during binding arbitration.

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging local parishioners to attend the 10 a.m. hearing Wednesday in Division 8 of the Jackson County court.

The group applauds the arbitrator’s award and agrees with the finding that Finn is guilty of “breach of contract.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have called the award “ground-breaking.”

“As best we can tell, there’s never been a case like this – anywhere in the U.S. – in which victims have successfully held a bishop responsible in court for breaking the promises he made during a settlement,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s director. “And the amount of this award is significant because it may will deter more Catholic officials from breaking the promises they make to victims.”

In 2008, 47 victims settled child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against Finn and his diocese. As part of that deal, they insisted that Finn commit to 19 non-economic child safety measures.

In October 2011, 44 of those victims formally charged that Finn broke many of those child safety measures, in part by keeping two credibly accused predator priests in ministry (Fr. James Tierney and Fr. Shawn Ratigan) and by not reporting suspicions and knowledge of child sex crimes promptly to law enforcement.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Jul 22, 2014

A Ramsey County judge decided Monday to allow a clergy abuse lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to go forward on claims of negligence.

However, Judge John Van de North said he needed more information before he decided whether a claim that the church created a public nuisance should also go forward to a jury.

Archdiocese attorney Tom Wieser said he’s hopeful that the judge will dismiss the public nuisance claim.

“The majority of courts that have ruled on that have ruled that there’s no legal basis for that claim to move forward,” Wieser said.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson says he’s pleased with the ruling, since it means the case is headed for a trial in September.

“And it’s very clear that the judge gets it,” Anderson said. “And it’s very clear that we’re going to get another opportunity every day for the rest of these days forward to get more information out there to protect kids.”

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MINNESOTA
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

New Minnesota NPR Report on Cover-up in St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese: “Nienstedt Chose Not to Reveal the Cover-Up. Instead, He Contributed to It”

Not to be missed: Madeleine Baran’s stellar four-part series “Betrayed by Silence” published today at the website of Minnesota NPR. Baran does an outstanding job of showing how deep-seated the cover-up of clerical crimes against children is in the Catholic archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, despite repeated assertions of one archbishop after another that the archdiocese was exemplary in its handling of cases of molestation of minors by priests. Here’s an excerpt from the final chapter of the four-part series, speaking of the arrival of John Nienstedt in 2007 as archbishop:

The new archbishop exuded self-control. At age 61, 6 feet tall, trim, with perfect posture, Nienstedt kept his black clerical outfit spotless and his short gray hair neatly trimmed. When he walked into a room, he expected everyone to stand.

Nienstedt told a reporter that he would work to establish trust with priests, restructure the chancery and reduce the archdiocese’s debt.

But the archbishop would soon encounter a situation more troubling than financial debt. He had walked into an archdiocese that was nearly three decades into a cover-up of clergy sexual abuse.
Nienstedt would later claim that he was “blindsided” in the fall of 2013 by an MPR News investigation that showed top church leaders had covered up abuse for decades.

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FLORIDA
News 13

By Joel Schipper, Reporter
Last Updated: Monday, July 21, 2014

SOUTH DAYTONA —
About 200 members of the Volusia County community, including parents, teachers and social workers, met Monday night to discuss how the community can grow together while moving forward after an elementary teacher was arrested and accused of making and distributing child porn.

Matthew Graziotti, 42, of Edgewater, was arrested July 14, after the FBI raided his home. They said they found thousands of porn images on his computer. They also found a folder labeled “personally known.” In one of the subfolders, the FBI said they found a picture of Graziotti abusing one of the victims.

Graziotti is a teacher at Warner Christian Academy and summer day camp counselor at White Chapel Church of God. He is currently on unpaid administrative leave.

But on Monday night, people focused on how they can move forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Chris McGillion and Damian Grace | 22 July 2014

‘Reckoning’ by Chris McGillionIt is widely assumed that rules are the solution to transgressions such as those being investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Rules without doubt are useful. They can be framed to aid compliance and deter wrongdoing. It is no argument against them to say that people will still offend, but if rules are more legal requirements than the expression of genuine morality, they will have limited effectiveness.

The most desirable form of social control is self-restraint — the work of morality. For a minority of people, morals do not have this effect, but pathologising normal conduct because we are fearful that deviants are impervious to morality and law is no way for free people to live. Indeed, moral counsel and tighter regulation are wasted because they do not work on the very people at whom they are directed. Instead, barriers are raised to protect children that distort normal responses and have their own abusive aspect.

When teachers in New South Wales, for instance, were forbidden to touch children, even to comfort them, because a few teachers had abused their office, it was the children who bore the consequences. The lesson teachers took from this regulation was that they were not sufficiently trusted to comfort distressed children. Because of an aberrant few, all teachers were regarded as suspect, and distressed children lost the comfort of a responsible adult.

This response was disproportionate and eventually came to be seen as such by the authorities.

Trust was nonetheless eroded not only by the actions of abusers but also by those seeking to protect children from abuse. Representing formal accountability as more reliable than personal trust actually destroys trust, first by making it very much a second best option when a system of checkable procedures is available, and then, as a consequence, suggesting trust is less safe than documented dealings.

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TRINITDAD AND TOBAGO
Newsday

By SEAN DOUGLAS Tuesday, July 22 2014

RAMPANT abuse, including of a sexual nature, at the St Michael’s Home for Boys in Diego Martin is not a recent phenomena and has been going on, at the very least, for the past 30 years, a former inmate told Newsday yesterday.

The ex-inmate, now a happily married, gainfully employed father in his mid-40s, who owns his own home and car, spoke on the basis of strict anonymity with Newsday yesterday. He said the so-called “startling” revelations coming to light about wanton abuse at the Home, are nothing new.

The ex-inmate said that when he was incarcerated at the Home in the early 1980s, an attractive woman who was among the staff at that time, would habitually choose specific inmates with whom she would have sexual relations — sometimes at the institution and sometimes elsewhere.

“Back when I was at that facility, everyone knew what was going on,” the man recalled. The woman would sometimes intimately touch and fondle her “boyfriends” while they were showering, he related.

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Guardian

Tuesday, July 22, 2014
ANNA-LISA PAUL

The teenager who came forward to report allegations of sexual and physical abuse and negligence at the St Michael’s School for Boys, Diego Martin, says he is willing to give the police a statement on the matter which is currently under investigation. The 19-year-old victim said he had remained silent before because he thought no one would believe him. But after a probe into the death at the school of Brandon Hargreaves, the teenager said he was ready to speak out. Referring to the teenager’s T&T Guardian interview, during which he confirmed the allegations in the report, chairman of the Child Protection Task Force Diana Mahabir-Wyatt said: “It sounds entirely believable. It is consistent with the findings of the investigative committee.”Commenting on that report, she said: “The report is accurate. We have known for years that things were wrong at the home. It’s horrible.” Asked to comment on the statement she made just after Hargreaves’ death that there was no need for further investigation, Mahabir-Wyatt said: “No outside investigation at that time was warranted because there was already an internal investigation going on. “The ministry had set up an investigative committee and it was not appropriate to appoint another investigative committee when that was going on.” There are now reports that Hargreaves was beaten to death by another boy at the home in a fight which was ignored by supervisors sitting nearby. But at the time Mahabir-Wyatt was also reported as saying: “Think back over Brandon and his mom. Accidents do happen and boys do battle each other and from the report Brandon was trying to kickbox somebody and fell backwards. “Well, I have seen my own son try to do that.

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UNITED STATES
The Amrican Conservative

By ROD DREHER • July 21, 2014

Minnesota Public Radio’s Madeleine Baran is doing an incredible job of reporting on the roots of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s current clerical sex abuse scandal. I was stunned to discover from her reporting that the present-day scandals there have their roots in the Diocese of Lafayette, La.

She got her hands on some unsealed court records and went down to south Louisiana to talk to people who knew former Minneapolis bishop Harry Flynn when he was made a bishop and sent to Lafayette to clean up the mess left behind by his predecessor, who allowed the convicted child molester Fr. Gilbert Gauthe stay in ministry, despite knowing that he was raping boys. Bishop Flynn came to town with an agenda to heal the Church. When he left town years later, his reputation as a caring bishop who went the extra mile to rebuild the diocese and to help the families of the abused boys carried him to Minneapolis. Later, after Boston broke big, he became the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point man on dealing with the sex abuse scandal. Who better than Harry Flynn, right?

Except, reports Baran, everything people thought they knew about Archbishop Flynn was a lie. Excerpts:

Another Catholic attorney who had represented victims, Anthony Fontana, was frustrated in his efforts to get the bishop’s attention. “There’s another problem you need to know about,” he told Flynn. A Lafayette priest named Gilbert Dutel had been accused of coercing young adult men into having sex.

Flynn offered a calm reply. He explained that Dutel was cured and that, regardless, he needed to keep him in ministry because of the priest shortage.

Fontana said that in a sworn affidavit that was part of the 1990s lawsuit. More:

The files do not support the claim that Flynn healed the diocese. They also contain no suggestion that Flynn called police about priests accused of sexually assaulting children. Hundreds of documents reveal that Flynn’s diocese used many of the same aggressive legal tactics that he would later employ in the Twin Cities.

Attorneys hired by the diocese argued that victims waited too long to come forward and that the public didn’t need to know the names of accused priests. The diocese fought efforts by victims to seek compensation from the church and focused on keeping the scandal as private as possible, which meant that fewer victims came forward to sue.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: July 22, 2014

Charges of church negligence in the handling of sexually abusive priests will be heard by a jury this fall.

The clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Twin Cities archdiocese will move to a jury trial, a Ramsey County district judge ruled Monday.

Attorneys for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona had asked the court for a summary judgment that would dismiss the case.

But Judge John Van de North said a jury trial would proceed, now set for Sept. 22.

“This case needs to be tried,” said Van de North. The alleged victim “deserves a day in court, at least on the negligence claims.”

The judge said he would take under advisement a separate claim that the church’s handling of sex abusers posed a public nuisance.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a man who claimed he was abused in the mid-1970s by the former Rev. Thomas Adamson. It contends that church officials here and in Winona put children and others at risk of abuse by failing to disclose information about Adamson and other abusive priests — and that the practice has continued to the present day.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Dan Buckley

‘Sworn to Silence’ a recollectuion of the clerical abuse of a boy, reflects on blame and shame in 1970s Ireland, says Dan Buckley

BLESS me, Father, for I have sinned.

Those are the words that the Catholic Church authorities in Ireland expected of a 14-year-old boy as his response to years of abuse by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

“I knew that the quizzing about confession was all about me and my fault,” says Brendan Boland, now 53, in Sworn To Silence, his memoir published today.

It was three years before he plucked up the courage to tell another priest. An inquiry was quickly called in which Brendan was subjected to a barrage of questions from three priests, among them Fr John Brady — later to become primate Cardinal Seán Brady.

Sworn To Silence details the highly intrusive and inappropriate questioning that the young lad was subjected to during the meeting.

“Then I was just terrified and scared. Today I am angry, furious,” Boland writes. “Even as I am recounting this, I want to smash my fist against the bloody wall beside me.”

Smyth was later uncovered as the most notorious child abuser in the Irish Catholic Church, carrying out more than 130 sexual assaults against 40 youngsters over 20 years. He later died in jail.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 07/21/2014

A Ramsey County judge ruled Monday that at least part of a sweeping priest sexual abuse lawsuit should go forward.

“Doe 1 deserves his day in court on this important case,” Judge John Van de North told attorneys for the plaintiff, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona.

Doe 1 is the pseudonym for a Twin Cities man who alleges he was sexually abused by then-priest Thomas Adamson between 1976 and 1977 while Adamson worked at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park.

Van de North ruled that the plaintiff’s claims of negligence by the diocese and archdiocese should be decided by the jury. Attorneys for the defendants had argued that the judge should dismiss those claims.

A larger question for the judge is whether the plaintiff can allege that church officials created a “public nuisance” by allowing offending priests to remain active and concealing information about their misconduct from the public.

Van de North said he would rule on that issue after the defendants present more electronically stored information the plaintiff has requested. That is expected to happen within two weeks.

“It’s very clear that the judge ‘gets it,’ and it’s very clear that the jury’s going to ‘get it,’ ” Anderson said of the judge’s decision Monday.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

Archdiocese of Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron announced just minutes ago he has removed Father John Wadeson from public ministry over community concerns that the priest faces sex abuse allegations in Los Angeles.

“In response to concerns in the community regarding Father John Wadeson serving in the Archdiocese of Agana, the archbishop has decided to remove Father Wadeson from active and public ministry at this time,” a statement from the archdiocese states.

“The Archdiocese of Agana has a policy regarding sexual misconduct and sexual harassment and takes these matters very seriously,” according to the statement.

Wadeson was accepted as a priest under the Archdiocese of Agana after the archdiocese in Los Angeles barred him from priestly duties there over two sex abuse allegations, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced over the weekend.

The network had urged Apuron “to immediately remove Father Wadeson from ministry and make public announcements about Father Wadeson at every parish where he has worked or celebrated Mass.”

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GUAM
KUAM

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam – The Archdiocese of Agana has issued the following statement regarding Father John Wadeson.

“In response to concerns in the community regarding Father John Wadeson serving in the Archdiocese of Agana, the Archbishop has decided to remove Father Wadeson from active and public ministry at this time. The Archdiocese of Agana has a policy regarding sexual misconduct and sexual harassment and takes these matters very seriously.”

The announcement follows the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) calling on Archbishop Anthony Apuron to have him removed.

According to a press release from SNAP, Father Wadeson was accused twice of child molestation and had been banned from the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The allegations however had not as of yet resulted in any convictions. “Although Fr. Wadeson has not been convicted of abuse, the fact that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has banned him from ministry is just cause for Apuron to remove the cleric immediately. We fear that Apuron is putting Guam’s children at direct risk and protecting a credibly accused predator instead of protecting his flock,” the SNAP press release stated.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

In response to concerns in the community regarding Father John Wadeson serving in the Archdiocese of Agana, the Archbishop has decided to remove Father Wadeson from active and public ministry at this time.

The Archdiocese of Agana has a policy regarding sexual misconduct and sexual harassment and takes these matters very seriously.

The Archdiocese of Agana, 562-0000.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with statement from the archdiocese]

VIDEO: Archdiocese Admits They Were Aware of Allegations of Sexual Abuse Against Father Wadeson

Written by Janela Buhain Carrera
Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Guam – After allegations surfaced last week that a priest with a record of sexual abuse was being protected by Archbishop Anthony Apuron, the Archdiocese of Agana today announced that they are removing Father John Howard Wadeson from active ministry.

But not before the Archdiocese confirmed that it knew about Father Wadeson’s tainted past.

Father John Howard Wadeson was incardinated on Guam by the archbishop in 2000. But the allegations of sexual abuse date back to the early 1990s, according to Archdiocese of Agana Chancellor, Father Adrian Cristobal. Local catholic observer Tim Rohr was the first to bring the issue to light on his blog. Last Wednesday, Rohr spoke to PNC about why he wanted to expose Father Wadeson’s past.

“He sent out a very hostile email and essentially fingered me for reporting on my blog what I had heard about the meeting,” said Rohr, who was talking about a blog post he wrote on the controversial closed door meeting religious leaders had with the Papal Nuncio last week.

“I truly believe he’s innocent until proven guilty, however, in the year 2000, Archbishop Apuron incardinated him, which means made him an official priest of this diocese, and according to my sources, without any background checks, without his advice from the presbyterial council,” he argued.

PNC contacted Father Adrian last Friday, who confirmed that Father Wadeson had a record in California. But he denied claims that Father Wadeson was being protected by the Archbishop. Father Adrian said the Archdiocese is aware of Father Wadeson’s past, but the allegations were just that: allegations.

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MINNESOTA
southernminn.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A man who says he was sexually abused by a priest around 1976 deserves his day in court, a judge decided Monday in a case that has forced top local church officials including Archbishop John Nienstedt to give sworn testimony and disclose lists of priests accused of sexual misconduct.

The plaintiff, identified only as Doe 1, says he was a 14-year-old altar boy at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park when Thomas Adamson molested him.

Lawyers from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona asked Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North to dismiss the lawsuit. They agreed that Adamson abused the plaintiff but argued that there weren’t sufficient legal grounds to present to a jury. But the judge said from the bench that he’ll let Doe 1 proceed with his negligence claims and decide later whether to allow him to assert a novel claim that the archdiocese created a “public nuisance” by failing to disclose its lists of accused priests.

“Generally speaking, this case needs to be tried,” Van de North said. “Doe 1 deserves his day in court, at least on the negligence claims, and I’m going to take a closer look at nuisance.”

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

Posted: Jul 22, 2014

video report by Tom Lyden

Pressure is building on Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign as the latest sexual abuse lawsuit brought against a priest makes its way through the legal system — and it’s raising an interesting question.

What’s unusual about the case against Father Thomas Adamson is that the victim’s attorneys are arguing that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is a public nuisance because it failed to protect children. That contention has given them pretty wide latitude in the discovery process — but a judge is still considering that rationale even as he allows the case to move forward to trial.

“Nuisance is the anchor that we have to expose the painful truth,” Jeff Anderson said.

Adamson chillingly has admitted to molesting more than 20 boys. On Monday, a Ramsey County judge decided that one victim, identified only as John Doe, deserves his day in court.

In 1975, Adamson came to St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park, Minn., from the Winona Diocese. By then, he had already molested boys and was in therapy, but the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis claims it was unaware of any of that until 1980.

“There are no documents to show that the archdiocese knew Adamson was a bad guy, to put it very bluntly,” Thomas Wieser, attorney for the archdiocese, told Fox 9 News.

Except maybe for Exhibit 23 — a 1984 letter from Bishop Watters of Winona to then-Archbishop Roach. In it, Watters writes, “I am very sorry Father Adamson’s many talents continue to be compromised because of his involvement with juvenile males.”

MORE: Exhibit 23 on Scribd

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PHILIPPINES
Sun.Star

By Ver F. Pacete
As I See It
Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I LOVE Pope Francis. He is firm in his stand not to tolerate clergy sex abuse. His words were crisp when he said that this is “the shame of the Church” (the church founded by Jesus Christ).

We should be aware that the Vatican has made a compromise on two international agreements prohibiting sexual abuse of children. These two treaties are “The Convention on the Rights of the Child” (ratified by the Vatican in September 1980) and the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography” (OP-CRS, ratified on October 2001).

Based on these, we can view the stand of the Church on pedophiles and on the victims (thousands of them) of sexual abuse. Was there concealment on the part of Vatican? Did Vatican acknowledge, rectify, or make amends on what happened? Was there a confirmation that there were children who were victims of Vatican’s agents and priests?

Why is Pope Francis seeking forgiveness? My idol Pope is asking forgiveness because Church leaders did not respond adequately to their reports. We do not generalize Church leaders. We have good cardinals, bishops and priests. Many of them are our personal friends and we salute them. They are the best breed of leaders in our Church. They are exempted in this storytelling.

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MINNESOTA
KMSP

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
If Pope Francis is serious about holding bishops accountable for sexual abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic Church, the New York Times editorial board says his first stop should be the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“When Pope Francis met earlier this month with victims of rape and sexual abuse by priests, he vowed to hold bishops accountable for covering up the scandal instead of confronting it,” the board wrote in a July 17 opinion. “A good place to start is with the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese, where calls are mounting for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt, a warrior against same-sex marriage who, it turns out, is facing accusations that he indulged in improper sexual conduct in the past with priests, seminarians and other men.”

In a 107-page deposition released last week, former canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger detailed several cases of the archdiocese allowing priests accused of sex offenses to remain in the ministry.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
Irish Examiner Reporter

Nearly a quarter of the babies born to Irish mothers and exported to the US for adoption were born at the Sean Ross Abbey, Co Tipperary, the convent at the centre of the film Philomena.

Adoption rights groups have suggested that the high rates could be for “geographic reasons”, as it was so close to Shannon airport.

Department of Foreign Affairs records show that, of the 1,962 babies sent abroad for adoption between 1950 and 1974, 1,911 went to the US and approximately 438 of these children came from Sean Ross Abbey.

The highest rate of US adoptions was from St Patrick’s Guild in Dublin, from where 515 were sent, while Sean Ross’ figures for the same period stand at 438.

It is believed that American parents paid religious orders from €1,000 to €10,000 for their babies.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Independent Tribune

Staff reports
ROCKWELL, N.C. — A Rockwell man allegedly shot himself Saturday while Rowan deputies were serving arrest warrants related to sex offenses in Concord.

Michael Reese Mullis, 63, of 145 James Drive, Rockwell, died at his home after he allegedly shot himself in the head in the bathroom with a .357 magnum pistol, according to information provided by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies say they went to Mullis’ home on Saturday to serve two arrest warrants issued by the Concord Police Department.

The warrants were for taking indecent liberties with a minor, Concord police said. The crimes were reported on July 10, 2012 but occurred years earlier when the victim was less than 16 years old.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WSOC

By Paige Hansen

CONCORD, N.C. —

A former concord pastor took his own life days after authorities took out warrants to arrest him on child sex charges.

Channel 9 learned Monday the former pastor shot himself in front of deputies this weekend.

Police said the former pastor appeared to have one victim and the two knew each other.

She came forward about the alleged abuse two years ago.

Now, investigators cannot do anything more with the case they’ve worked on for two years.

“The case is over,” said Maj. Gary Hatley with the Concord Police Department. “As far as for us, we’ll never get to serve the warrants.”

Those warrants were taken out last week and Rowan County deputies tried to serve them Saturday to arrest Michael Mullis on two counts of indecent liberties with a child.

Channel 9 learned Mullis’ death was a suicide. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said when deputies arrived, Mullis asked to put on shoes, then made his way to the bathroom where a deputy saw Mullis with a pistol in hand when he shot and killed himself.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

First Minister Peter Robinson had said on Friday that the inquiry’s work could be suspended if the Executive failed to agree on budget adjustments.

He said the June Monitoring Round is yet to be signed off due to ongoing disagreement over welfare reform.

Prior to the funding being secured, victims expressed their anger at Stormont on Monday in response to the First Minister’s comments.

Margaret McGuckin, from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA), said that while they were given some reassurance that the inquiry would be funded, the initial comments were “inhuman and abusive”.

“We let them know that we’re very very angry, it’s living through this nightmare. It was very unkind, it was untimely, it was uncalled for,” she said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jul. 21, 2014 NCR Today

Step aside, Mary Jane.

Tom Petty is dancing with the Catholic church in his next album “Hypnotic Eye.”

In new song titled “Playing Dumb,” famed rocker Petty and his band the Heartbreakers — who together have produced classics such as “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” “Free Fallin’” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” — address their outrage with the church’s decade-long abuse scandal.

“For every confession that wasn’t on the level/For every man of God that lives with hidden devils,” Petty sings at one point.

“Playing Dumb” does not appear among the album’s 11 main tracks, but is included as a bonus song on Blu-Ray and vinyl editions.

In an interview with Billboard magazine, Petty said he did not intend to attack Catholics or religion in general. But the abuse scandal, however, has left him seeing it difficult for people to maintain their faith.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

By Antonia Blumberg
Posted: 07/21/2014

Rocker Tom Petty has taken on a weighty and controversial topic in the bonus track to his new album, “Hypnotic Eye,” and it’s not bound to win him any friends at the Vatican.

The song — “Playing Dumb” — addresses the victims of the Catholic Church’s sex abuses over the last several decades and will appear as a bonus track on the new album’s vinyl release.

In an interview with Billboard preceding the album’s release, Petty said:

“I’m fine with whatever religion you want to have… [But] if I was in a club, and I found out that there had been generations of people abusing children, and then that club was covering that up, I would quit the club. And I wouldn’t give them any more money.”

Billboard quoted several lines from the song that illustrate a sense of distrust toward the church: “For every confession that wasn’t on the level/For every man of God that lives with hidden devils.”

Although “Playing Dumb” may be one of the first songs explicitly written about the Catholic Church’s sex abuses, Petty isn’t the first mainstream artist to publicly condemn the church its response to the allegations. In 1992 singer Sinéad O’Connor unexpectedly ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on the set of Saturday Night Live to protest sex abuse in the church.

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OHIO
National Catholic Reporter

Nicholas Sciarappa | Jul. 21, 2014

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests donated $1,000 to a Catholic Worker house that shelters homeless women after the Cincinnati archdiocese retracted its funding because a woman priest led a prayer service at the shelter.

The archdiocese had promised Lydia’s House, which offers shelter to homeless women and their children, $1,000 toward the purchase of a new washer and dryer. A number of community organizations support the house, which can hold up to four women and six children, and the archdiocese was an irregular donor.

“We spent the money in June with the promise that it would be reimbursed at the start of the new fiscal year July 1, and we submitted the receipt on July 5,” said Mary Ellen Mitchell, one of the founders of Lydia’s House. “We found out Wednesday, July 16, of this week that [the archdiocese] wouldn’t do the reimbursement.”

The archdiocese withdrew the donation after learning that Debra Meyers would hold a July 20 prayer service at the house. Meyers is a Roman Catholic Woman Priest, but the house’s monthly newsletter, which contained information about the prayer service, did not identify her as such.

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UNITED STATES
Billboard

By Fred Schruers | July 21, 2014

n a new track — and a blunt conversation — Petty won’t back down when asked about a religious scandal

During his hard-fought, ascendant career, Tom Petty has often been labeled as intense. The artist wouldn’t disagree — and a corrosive new track called “Playing Dumb” won’t change anyone’s mind. Though the song didn’t make the new album — it was hard to sequence with the rest of the tracks, says Petty — it will be included as a bonus cut on the accompanying vinyl release.

Petty hitches back in his seat when “Playing Dumb” comes up. In the lyrics, he proposes lighting a candle “For every confession that wasn’t on the level/For every man of God that lives with hidden devils.”

The song mourns the victims of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy, and takes aim at the controversial financial settlements the church eventually made. This is not a love song.

When asked about “Playing Dumb,” Petty arches an eyebrow at the digital recorder before him. “Catholics, don’t write me,” he says. “I’m fine with whatever religion you want to have, but it can’t tell anybody it’s OK to kill people, and it can’t abuse children systematically for God knows how many years.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV

(KMOV) – The hearing in the case of Joseph Jiang scheduled for Monday morning, was delayed and the prosecutor said the trial is set to start September 2, 2014.

The Reverend Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang is charged with two counts of first degree statutory sodomy involving a boy younger than 14 at the St. Louis Cathedral School.

His lawyer has said Jiang denies the allegations.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis suspended Jiang from duties pending the case.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 21, 2014

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

A new, credibly accused predatory Twin Cities Catholic cleric, Monsignor Jerome Boxleitner, is exposed in today’s alarming four-part Minnesota Public Radio series. We hope that every current or former parishioner who spent any time around Boxleitner will ask their children and loved ones if they were hurt by the priest. (MPR reports that “Boxleitner stayed in ministry and remained a prominent Twin Cities leader until his death in 2013.”)

A second credibly accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Gilbert Dutel, has also been publicly exposed for the first time as a predator by MPR. He’s still working in a parish today.

Minnesotans owe it to themselves to read the four-part series. Here are a few disturbing “high lights”

–“When they encountered a fellow priest abusing a child, most priests looked the other way.”

–“No reporter cited independent sources for the claim that the archdiocese was a pioneer in confronting clergy sexual abuse. Those assurances came from church leaders, church-paid psychologists and the church’s lawyers.”

–“At St. Joseph of the Lakes parish in Lino Lakes, a string of accused priests served for 20 years. One offender served as the pastor and supervised two associate priests, both of whom were also accused of child sexual abuse. After all three men left, another abuser arrived. On and on it went.”

–“Some parishes were served for decades by a series of priests now known to have been accused of child sexual abuse.” St. John the Baptist in New Brighton, for example, had in succession:

Fr. Thomas Stitts, who was later accused of abusing dozens of boys,

Fr. Gerald Grieman, now under criminal investigation for alleged child sexual abuse, and

Fr. Michael Keating who is accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

With every new revelation about heinous crimes and continuing cover ups, the tepid actions by Twin Cities law enforcement officials becomes more and more disgusting and untenable. Still, those who saw, suspected, and suffered clergy sex crimes should continue speaking up. It’s the only real chance of prodding secular officials to act responsibly and protect kids.

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

Institutional abuse campaigners say they have been “reassured” by the First Minister Peter Robinson that money will be available for the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

It follows Mr Robinson’s warning that HIA funding was under threat due to a dispute over Stormont finances.

On Monday, campaigners met Mr Robinson at Stormont to raise their concerns.

The inquiry is examining allegations of abuse in NI care homes between 1922 and 1995.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme after the meeting, abuse campaigner Margaret McGuckian said she was happy with the outcome.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 21, 2014

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

Archbishop Robert Carlson keeps playing “good cop” in the Fr. Joseph Jiang case while letting (or perhaps encouraging) a few misguided parishioners play “bad cop” by publicly professing the priest’s alleged innocence despite two accusers, two criminal indictments and a pending civil abuse and cover up lawsuit.

This is immoral and cruel.

Today, five or six Fr. Jiang backers publicly rallied around Fr. Jiang, picketing the courthouse claiming the priest didn’t sexually assault either of the youngsters he’s accused of sexually assaulting. Carlson is tolerating – or maybe prodding – them to do so. And that scares others who were hurt and keeps them silence. And it discourages others who saw or suspected abuse into giving up and doing nothing.

As adults, we can either make it harder or easier for kids and teens to report molesters. The moral choice is to make it easier. Carlson is making it harder.

Carlson knows how to respond when allegations of clergy sex crimes surface. But when his close pal Fr. Joseph Jiang was arrested on a second set of criminal child sex charges in April, Carlson chose to publicly cast doubt on and violate the privacy of the second alleged victim’s family. Shame on him and on every person on his staff who played a role in this callous, self-serving statement.

Carlson himself publicly cast doubt on this courageous family when, weeks ago, he issued a statement claiming that the second victim’s family supposedly didn’t mention child sex abuse until recently.

[St. Louis archdiocese]

Everyone knows that the overwhelming majority of child sex abuse victims can’t understand and disclose their trauma until decades later. So delays in reporting child sex crimes are not unusual or relevant at all.

But by mentioning the alleged delay, Carlson is deliberately casting doubt on the victim’s family.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

‘A jigsaw puzzle that must be looked at in its entirety’

Pamela Duncan

Mon, Jul 21, 2014

When TD Anne Ferris took to her feet in the Dáil chamber last week it was to speak on a deeply personal matter. The 59-year-old revealed that, up until a fortnight ago, she had “never laid eyes” on her sister: the two women were adopted from different mother-and-baby homes, grew up in different families and ended up living in different countries.

In a poignant address Ms Ferris said that, when they met they “looked like sisters but we didn’t talk like sisters”.

“Where other sisters in our age group have shared experiences and a shared family history, we have just had a very long, long gap in our lives . . . We look very alike but so far that’s the only aspect of our lives that we share.”

Jigsaw puzzle

Ms Ferris went on to describe mother-and-baby homes, adoption practices, the Magdalene laundries, the county homes, private homes, religious organisations and the State as part of a “very large jigsaw puzzle that must be looked at in its entirety”.

Some pieces have already fallen into place due to the work of historian Catherine Corless, whose research into 796 child deaths in the home in Tuam, Galway sparked national controversy and led to the Government establishing an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes.

Since then, The Irish Times has published figures on a number of deaths recorded in contemporaneous local government and public reports and returns filed by the homes with the Department of Health. A further 222 deaths have been documented in the Protestant-run Bethany Home.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Pamela Duncan

Mon, Jul 21, 2014

A group representing people housed in mother-and-baby homes has warned that it will bring a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture if the terms of a forthcoming inquiry are not inclusive.

Paul Redmond of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors said the terms of reference of the Government’s commission of investigation into mother-and-baby homes must be comprehensive.

“My hope for the terms of reference is that they will be as full and inclusive as possible and that the entire issue of how society treated unmarried mothers before and after the birth of their children should be looked at,” he said.

He said this should include all women and children housed in State-supported mother-and-baby homes, those run by religious orders, county homes, Protestant-run homes, private homes including the Regina Coeli hostels, institutions such as Stamullen, Co Meath and St Patrick’s Infant Hospital in Temple Hill, Blackrock and other associated institutions as well as adoption practices.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Jul 21, 2014

Jennifer Haselberger’s affidavit ought to be sounding alarms throughout the length and breadth of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. What the former chancellor of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minnesota has done is to call into question the efficacy of the procedures the American church has put into place to assure the faithful and society at large that it is successfully dealing with the sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The 109-page document is the first insider’s account of the handling of reports of clergy abuse by diocesan officials in the years following passage of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, initially approved at the bishops’ June, 2002 meeting in Dallas. No doubt, there are facts asserted by Haselbeger that might not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. As she herself notes on a number of occasions, her recollection is at odds with what others have sworn to.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to dismiss her portrait of an archdiocesan culture bent on working around the Charter, on keeping information from the civil authorities to the extent possible—all the while putting up a show of caring deeply for the victims. Anyone who doubts this portrait should listen to the hour-long documentary on Minnesota Public Radio, which integrates what Haselberger has to say with statements of a wide range of church leaders, victims and their families, and legal experts.

Where the buck stops in Minnesota is with Archbishop John Nienstedt, who inherited a corrupt regime and perpetuated it. Nienstedt, who is himself being investigated for sexual misconduct, has provided more than ample evidence that he is unworthy of serving in his present position.

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LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 21, 2014

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

Recently uncovered files show that an accused predator priest is still on the job in Louisiana and former Lafayette Bishop Harry Flynn covered it up. We urge the current bishop to take immediate action and suspend this cleric immediately.

When then-bishop Flynn was asked about Fr. Gilbert Dutel, Flynn said “he’s cured.” Despite multiple allegations of sexual abuse of young men and a child, Fr. Dutel was kept in ministry. Church records show no information was ever given to the police or made public regarding the allegations.

Everyone knows that child molesters are rarely “cured.” They often continue abusing until they are publicly exposed and kept away from children.

Fr. Dutel is currently the pastor of St. Edmond church and has worked at elementary and high schools. http://www.st-

We are deeply concerned about this information. Recently released depositions and documents show a long history of cover-ups by Flynn, both in Lafayette and the Twin Cities. We are worried about how many other current or former priests have credible allegations of abuse, but were allowed to keep working near children.

We urge Bishop Michael Jarrell to immediately oust Fr. Dutel and use his vast resources to beg anyone who saw, suspects or suffered crimes by Dutel to come forward, call police and start healing.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Political pressure to have allegations of a paedophile ring at the Kincora Boys’ Home included in a Westminster inquiry is increasing.

First Minister Peter Robinson has added his voice to calls for the terms of reference of the UK’s Child Abuse Inquiry to include claims of paedophilia at the east Belfast home during the 1970s and 80s.

Mr Robinson has also made public a letter from Sir Anthony Hart – the chair of the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) – stating his belief that “there may be benefits to the UK-wide inquiry examining the relevant allegations into Kincora Boys’ Home”.

The former High Court judge said the HIA does “not have sufficient powers” in its present form to investigate allegations relating to the activity of the Army or MI5 – but added that the HIA could continue to run alongside the Westminster probe.

Mr Robinson said: “I want to see a full investigation into the terrible abuses which occurred in Kincora. Having received this communication from Sir Anthony, it is clear that the proper route to fully investigate the abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home is to have it included in our United Kingdom’s Child Abuse Inquiry.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Kincora probe has to access secret files, says former Army officer Colin Wallace

BY COLIN FRANCIS – 21 JULY 2014

Former Army officer and whistleblower Colin Wallace has called for any new investigation of the Kincora Boys’ Home to have access to information from intelligence agencies.

Mr Wallace tried to draw attention to sexual abuse at the east Belfast home in the 1970s.

He said if the home was included in the UK-wide investigation into institutional abuse, then the terms of any inquiry into what happened must be widened.

In 1981 three senior care staff at the home were jailed for abusing 11 boys.

It has also been claimed that people of the “highest profile” were connected – taken to mean senior politicians.

Mr Wallace received intelligence in 1973 to say that boys were being abused, but claims some of his superiors refused to pass on the information.

“I know that some officers from the security services in Northern Ireland did know and actually reprimanded intelligence officers from raising the matter and also told them they were to desist from any further investigation,” he said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Full story of Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast yet to be told, says child sex abuse victim

BY ADRIAN RUTHERFORD – 16 JULY 2014

A UK-wide inquiry into child sex abuse will lack credibility unless it examines allegations surrounding Kincora Boys’ Home, it has been claimed.

Pressure is mounting for the notorious east Belfast home to be included in the Government’s review, with one victim saying the full story around Kincora has yet to emerge.

Clint Massey, who waived his right to anonymity to speak about how he was abused, said: “I strongly believe there’s a lot more to come out.”

Amnesty’s Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan also warned that any inquiry must examine Kincora.

William McGrath was one of three staff members jailed in 1981 for abusing boys at Kincora
“For an inquiry to take place into child sexual abuse and potential cover-ups by the establishment and not include Kincora would mean that that inquiry lacks credibility,” he said.

Supporting the calls, East Belfast DUP MLA Robin Newton said the perpetrators behind Kincora’s grim past must be held accountable.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former Army officer has said any new investigation of the Kincora Boys’ Home must have access to information from intelligence agencies.

Colin Wallace tried to draw attention to sexual abuse at the east Belfast home in the 1970s.

He said if the home is included in a UK-wide investigation into abuse, then the terms of any inquiry into what happened must be widened.

In 1981, three senior care staff at the home were jailed for abusing 11 boys.

It has been claimed that people of the “highest profile” were connected.

Mr Wallace received intelligence in 1973 to say that boys were being abused, but claims some of his superiors refused to pass on the information.

“I know that some officers from the security services in Northern Ireland did know and actually reprimanded intelligence officers from raising the matter and also told them they were to desist from any further investigation,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Sequence programme.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY CIARAN BARNES – 21 JULY 2014

A firebrand preacher who was a good friend of Rev Ian Paisley has been linked to the abuse of children at Kincora.

Pastor Willie Mullan took his own life in December 1980, less than a year after police started an investigation into the paedophile ring operating at the east Belfast care home for boys.

Sources say the 79-year-old, who was also struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife, shot himself with his legally held weapon after learning he could be arrested.

Mullan, who was never charged, had close links to William McGrath — the sinister Orange Order leader who used his role as housemaster at Kincora to sexually assault dozens of boys.

He was also friendly with Joss Cardwell, an Ulster Unionist councillor who preyed on kids at the home and who died by suicide in 1983 after being |questioned by the RUC.

“There were strong rumours at the time about Willie Mullan’s involvement in Kincora, particularly as he
killed himself not long after the police investigation began,” said a religious source.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY CLODAGH SHEEHY – 21 JULY 2014 12:00 AM

A DUNDALK man abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth and sworn to secrecy by the Church, has revealed he was offered €10,000 by its lawyers.

Brendan Boland was one of two boys who had to sign an oath of secrecy in 1975 when they gave evidence about their abuse by Smyth to a church inquiry.

Norbertine priest Smyth continued to abuse children and is believed to have raped and sexually assaulted more than 100 children over five decades up to the 1990s.

In his memoir “Sworn to Silence”, Boland says Cardinal Sean Brady, who was a 36-year-old canon lawyer and teacher in 1975, countersigned the oath of secrecy the Dundalk man was required to make about Smyth.

He says in 2011 Church lawyers offered him €10,000 to settle his High Court case for damages. The amount was to include legal costs for 14 years litigation.

Boland subsequently settled the case for €100,000 plus costs the following year.

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MISSOURI
KMOV

Posted on July 21, 2014

(KMOV) – The next hearing in the case of Joseph Jiang is scheduled for Monday morning.

The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Division 16 Carnahan Courthouse.

The Reverend Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang is charged with two counts of first degree statutory sodomy involving a boy younger than 14 at the St. Louis Cathedral School.

His lawyer has said Jiang denies the allegations.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 21, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy (314-566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

Presbyterian minister sues Presbyterian church
He reports being abused as a kid by mid-MO minister
Convicted for child porn, the accused is also a murder suspect
And he cut off a man’s genitals in a botched sex change operation

A former Presbyterian minister who is a suspect in a missing person case, who pled guilty to sex crimes and who admitted severing a man’s genitals in an illegal gender reassignment surgery is now being sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a boy who grew up to be a Presbyterian minister.

Rev. Kris Schondelmeyer has filed a civil lawsuit against the now-imprisoned Jack Wayne Rogers, formerly of Fulton, Missouri. Schondelmeyer says Rogers sexually violated him at a nationally sponsored youth conference in Maryland in 2000. At the time, Rogers was a Presbyterian Lay Pastor for the Missouri Union Presbytery serving at Bellflower Presbyterian Church.

Rogers is now behind bars in Florida for child pornography and other sexual crimes. He has been publicly named as a suspect in the disappearance of a northwest Missouri boy who went missing months after Rogers allegedly assaulted Schondelmeyer. According to the Associated Press, “authorities believe Rogers bragged in an online chat room that he abducted, raped and murdered a man (and) said police would never find the body because of how he disposed of it.”

However, Rogers has never been charged in connection with the man’s disappearance. He did, however, plead guilty a decade ago to first-degree assault and practicing medicine without a license after cutting off “a man’s genitals in a makeshift gender reassignment surgery in a hotel room,” the Associated Press reported.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Bucks County Courier Times

By JOSEPH TEVINGTON

Like many local newspapers, the Courier Times relies on large news organizations for national and international news. In the area of religious news, those organizations have a small pool of writers who may or who may not be well-equipped for their specialized work.

With marriage being a hot news topic, large news organizations were quick to pick up on the Vatican’s June 26 release of a working paper, “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Age of Evangelism.” It is a preparatory document for an upcoming international meeting of bishops exploring “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” We can undoubtedly expect to be seeing that document and the bishops’ meeting discussed on the pages of the Courier Times.

Where the document has already received coverage, much focus has been on how the Church might supposedly change its teaching to accommodate adults who disagree:

* “The Vatican conceded that most Catholics reject its teachings on sex and contraception as intrusive and irrelevant and officials pledged not to ‘close our eyes to anything’ when it opens a two-year debate on some of the thorniest issues facing the Church.”

* “The bishops will discuss the paper in October and could make recommendations on changes to Church teachings, on which the pope would decide.”

* “Called an instrumentum laboris, or ‘working paper,’ the document sets the table for a summit of Catholic bishops from around the world in Rome Oct. 5-19, summoned by Pope Francis to discuss the family. It should be great theater, since there’s almost no hot-button issue that isn’t germane. The text is designed to synthesize the input the Vatican has received, including responses to a questionnaire requested by Francis to seek the views of the Church’s grass roots. In early reporting, much was made of the document’s acknowledgment that many Catholics do not follow church teaching on contraception. That’s hardly a thunderclap, however, since it’s been blindingly obvious for decades.”

Whether one agrees with what the Catholic Church teaches, it strikes me that anyone seeking information would want, and be entitled to, accurate reporting. Whether it is intentional or not, the reports from the AP, Reuters and Boston Globe seem misleading.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

July 21, 2014

· EDITOR’S NOTE ·

A week ago, MPR News broadcast a radio documentary as part of its investigation of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The story showed how church leaders over decades protected many priests accused of sexually abusing children and it revealed a pattern of choices supported by a culture that put the needs of the church ahead of the needs of its people.

Today’s four-chapter story builds on the radio documentary to present a closer look. Both reports relied on dozens of interviews, hundreds of thousands of never-before-published documents, and the account of a whistleblower with unprecedented access to the church’s secrets. Many source citations are listed below.

MPR News published its first investigative report in September 2013. The fallout was immediate. The vicar general resigned within days. Police launched criminal investigations. Catholics held protests, the archbishop suspended his public appearances and an important fundraising campaign eventually was canceled.

The scandal grew as MPR News reported more revelations: that the archdiocese had kept accused priests in ministry, failed to call police, ignored Vatican rules, and given special payments to priests who had admitted privately to abusing children. Since the radio documentary aired last week, calls for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt have increased among Twin Cities Catholics and the story has gained more national attention.

— Chris Worthington, MPR News managing director

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

How three archbishops hid the truth – radio documentary

By Madeleine Baran · July 21, 2014

· CHAPTER ONE OF FOUR ·

Lafayette, La. — The Diocese of Lafayette stretches from the city south to Vermilion Bay, whose waters lead to the Gulf of Mexico. Down among the bayous and sugar cane fields of southern Louisiana, Catholicism runs deep.

Many of the 300,000 Catholics who live here trace their history back to the late 1700s, when their French ancestors fled Canada to escape British rule. In this humid, undeveloped land, they discovered waters filled with shrimp, oysters and crawfish, and they built churches on patches of dry ground.

For generations, they believed the priest served as the living face of Jesus Christ. He forgave their sins, baptized the young and anointed the sick. In his purity, he gave the faithful a glimpse of what heaven would be like.

No one had ever heard of a priest raping a child.

So when the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe arrived in the 1970s and showed an interest in young boys, no one paid much attention.

The priest took boys on camping trips and invited them for sleepovers in the rectory. He claimed to hold practices for altar boys every day at 6 a.m. and encouraged parents to let their boys spend the night.

His sexual appetite was uncontrollable. He put bars on the windows of a rectory. He kept a gun by the side of his bed, and when children refused to submit he threatened to use it. At night, he raped the boys, forced them to perform sex acts on each other, and took photographs on his Polaroid camera.

It went on this way for more than a decade. Gauthe remained in ministry even when his bishop learned that he had abused one boy and licked the faces of two others. After the second complaint, the bishop transferred Gauthe to a small church in the isolated town of Henry, La. On Sundays, the priest stood at the altar and surveyed his victims.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

By Madeleine Baran · July 21, 2014

· CHAPTER TWO OF FOUR ·

In the fall of 1984, with reporters and top church officials focused on the clergy abuse crisis in Lafayette, a lawyer in Minnesota received a phone call that would lead to the church’s next major scandal.

Jeff Anderson, then 37, had created a name for himself in the Twin Cities as a combative, ambitious trial lawyer who represented underdogs and outcasts. Tanned and trim at 5 feet 5 inches, often dressed in a three-piece suit, he projected a confidence and intensity that captivated jurors.

Anderson idolized Clarence Darrow, the famous crusading attorney who took on powerful institutions, and he decided to go to law school after reading a Darrow biography called “Attorney for the Damned.” He barely graduated. “I couldn’t really engage in the study of the past, which law requires you to do, because I was more interested in shaping the future,” he recalled.

One day, Anderson got a call from a colleague about a married couple who claimed their son had been abused by a Catholic priest. He didn’t want the case but thought Anderson might.

He was right. Anderson met John and Janet Riedle, who explained that their son Gregory had been sexually abused by a priest named Thomas Adamson. They said they’d met with Chancellor Robert Carlson, but he refused to remove Adamson from his parish.

Then the couple showed him a check for about $1,500 they’d received after going to the archdiocese. “Should we cash it?” they asked.

“Go ahead,” Anderson said. “But we also need to call the police, and I need to look into this.”

Anderson wasn’t sure where to start. He’d never heard of a priest raping a child, and a search of court records for lawsuits came up empty. He looked up the full name of the local Catholic Church and wrote it down: the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Then he prepared a lawsuit and walked it over to the chancery. The next day, he got a call from a church lawyer. As he recalled later, the lawyer asked, “What do you want?”

“OK,” the lawyer said. “We’re removing him today. What else do you want?”

“I want to know who’s in charge,” Anderson said.

“Archbishop John Roach,” the lawyer said.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

By Madeleine Baran · July 21, 2014

· CHAPTER THREE OF FOUR ·

On Jan. 6, 2002, the Boston Globe published a story that would lead to the worst scandal in the history of the U.S. Catholic Church. It showed that Cardinal Bernard Law kept the Rev. John Geoghan in ministry for years despite allegations of child sexual abuse. Geoghan was accused of abusing more than 100 children.

Although similar cover-ups had been reported in Louisiana and Minnesota years earlier, the Boston scandal was different — it happened in one of the wealthiest cities on the East Coast with an aggressive media and one of the most powerful archdioceses in the world.

Nearly every day, the Boston Globe published more disturbing revelations. Newspapers reported similar cover-ups in other dioceses. Donations dried up, parishioners began to leave the church, and hundreds of lawsuits hit dioceses across the country as victims came forward. It got so bad that some Catholics speculated that Satan had created the crisis to destroy the church. The faith of the nation’s 65 million Catholics and the wealth and reputation of the church were at risk. Soon the clamor reached the Vatican.

Faced with the worst scandal yet, bishops panicked. Familiar strategies — expressing regret, vowing to help victims, blaming the media — no longer worked. They decided they needed a national response led by a bishop with credibility.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

By Madeleine Baran · July 21, 2014

· CHAPTER FOUR OF FOUR ·

Bishop John Nienstedt was driving near Marshall, Minn., on April 2, 2007, when his phone rang with a call from the Vatican Embassy.

Cell phone reception was spotty, and it took nearly an hour to understand that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed him as the new archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He would take over in May 2008 when Archbishop Harry Flynn retired.

In the Twin Cities, reaction was mixed. Catholics had grown accustomed to the less doctrinaire approach of Flynn and his predecessor, Archbishop John Roach.

Nienstedt had built a reputation as the conservative bishop of New Ulm, Minn. He criticized parishioners who missed weekly Mass, spoke of Satan’s efforts to drive men away from the priesthood and warned that “homosexual inclination is a result of some psychological trauma” that occurs before the age of 3.

He saw himself as fighting for the souls of the faithful. “Believing in sin has become countercultural,” he wrote in 2005. “Oh, the reality of crime, violence, road rage, sexual promiscuity, infidelity and deceit are all around us.”

The new archbishop exuded self-control. At age 61, 6 feet tall, trim, with perfect posture, Nienstedt kept his black clerical outfit spotless and his short gray hair neatly trimmed. When he walked into a room, he expected everyone to stand.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Sat, Jul 19, 2014

It was possibly a watershed moment in Holy See media relations. The scene was the Sala Stampa of the Holy See some 10 days ago. Australian Cardinal George Pell was presenting the New Economic Framework for the Holy See, a document which outlines proposed major reforms not only to IOR (the Vatican bank) and to APSA (the Vatican City treasury), but also to all the various Vatican-run media. Halfway through the press conference, a reporter from Milan newspaper Corriere Della Sera asked a question. She wanted to know why, among the six new lay members of the board of IOR, there was no Italian representative. For a brief moment, almost the entire press room started to laugh.

So, what do you want to do? Put the foxes in charge of the chickens again? Has not the recent traumatic history of IOR been besmirched by the nonchalant ease with which, thanks to a bit of blind eye and to a bit of maladministration, Italian high finance (Banco Ambrosiano, Enimont) and sometimes even organised crime used IOR for their own money-laundering purposes.

Cardinal Pell, of course, was much too polite to acknowledge any such thoughts but, rather, he assured us that there will soon be Italian bankers on the IOR board. The point, though, is there for all to see. One aspect of Pope Francis’s reform drive, but by no means the only aspect, involves changes in the all-too Italian ways of much of the Roman curia, which at times can still seem modelled on the court of a 16th-century Tuscan city republic.

Pope’s annoyance Recently, Italian media reported the Pope’s alleged annoyance at the fact that the former secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was having major reconstruction work done on a 700 sq m flat inside the Vatican. Francis, of course, continues to live in 70 sq m in the relatively modest surrounds of the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence, rather than in the Apostolic Palace. When questioned about his apartment, Cardinal Bertone pointed out that (a) the Pope was not annoyed about it, (b) it was 300 sq m, not 700, and (c) that all the reconstruction work was being done at his own expense. Curiously, in the middle of these polemics, the papal Twitter issued a tweet which read: “A sober lifestyle is good for us and enables us to share more fully with those in need.”

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UNITED STATES
New Oxford Review

By Jay Dunlap

Jay Dunlap served as communications director in North America for the Legion of Christ and its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi, from 1998 to 2006 and as a communications consultant from 2006 to 2010. He is currently President of Madonna School & Workshop, the Archdiocese of Omaha’s outreach to children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This April Popes John XXIII and John Paul II were canonized together. This moment of great rejoicing in the Church arose under a shadow, due in large part to two high-profile television documentaries that detail how the Church responded — or failed to respond — to the criminal actions of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legion of Christ. A PBS Frontline investigation titled Secrets of the Vatican, and a documentary on Irish television titled The Legion, both dwell on the fact that three Popes — John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II — failed to take action when informed of Fr. Maciel’s sexual abuse, drug addiction, and misuse of funds.

There is a good explanation for why these three Popes did not move against Maciel. The explanation does not excuse inaction, nor does it abrogate responsibility at various levels of the Vatican for having enabled Maciel’s corruption and deception. But such an explanation answers the question raised about these three Popes: Why didn’t they act?

I served as communications director for the Legion of Christ in North America from 1998 to 2006. My responsibilities included media relations and helping the Legion in crisis management. Published reports of allegations against Fr. Maciel kept me and my colleagues busy for long stretches of time. And a central part of the Legion’s response, I am convinced, explains why the three Popes ignored the allegations: “The charges had already been thoroughly examined and found baseless.” Or so we were led to believe, and so we told others.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan
Published 21/07/2014

The number of people who are putting their names on an adoption contact register to retrace a birth mother or child has soared in the wake of publicity generated by the film ‘Philomena’ and the Tuam babies controversy.

The register is open to a birth mother or adopted child to put their name on it saying they would be interested in meeting or getting medical information.

The register is operated by the Adoption Authority of Ireland since 2005 and it has arranged 700 matches after the parent and child put their names down seeking contact.

Kieran Gildea, acting registrar of the Adoption Authority, said the rise was mainly due to the film ‘Philomena’ which told the story of Philomena Lee who was sent to the convent of Roscrea after falling pregnant.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
Published 21/07/2014

REVELATIONS concerning Cardinal Sean Brady’s involvement in a 1975 canonical inquiry into Fr Brendan Smyth’s abuse of Brendan Boland have sparked fresh calls for the Catholic Church’s most senior churchman to stand down.

Marie Kane, who was one of six survivors who met Pope Francis two weeks ago in the Vatican, has threatened to write again to the Pope if Dr Brady does not offer his resignation.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Ms Kane said Mr Boland’s book “confirms the conversation I had with Pope Francis and the issues I raised” regarding “cover-ups and secrecy in the Irish church”.

“This is a book Pope Francis really needs to read,” she said as she called on Dr Brady to make a statement.

However, the Catholic Communications Office in Maynooth declined to comment on the book’s contents.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Post

By Niall O Sullivan on July 21, 2014

ONLY 67 Magdalene Laundry survivors based in Britain have come forward for compensation despite claims that the “vast majority” of abuse survivors are based here.

Figures released last month show that £10.2m has been paid out in compensation to 357 Magdalene Laundry survivors. Of those survivors, just 67 – or one-in-five – are British-based, accounting for £1.7m in compensation.

Campaign groups in Britain believe that that figure should be nearer 500 given the number of survivors they claim are based here.

Last year Sally Mulready, of the Irish Women Survivors Support Network (IWSSN), told The Irish Post that the “vast majority” of the 10,000 Magdalene women left Ireland for new lives in Britain.

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CANADA/UNITED STATES
CBC News

By Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News Posted: Jul 21, 2014

Last year, Ethan Edwards, a man in his mid-50s, confided his deepest secret to a close friend: that he was a pedophile.

“He’s happy to keep my secret,” Edwards wrote in an online chat with CBC News, too fearful of vigilantes to give out his phone number. But he says his friend now feels infected by his secret.

Edwards, a pseudonym, only realized he was attracted to young girls a few years ago. He says he’s never acted on it.

Now, he’s devoting his energy to helping others ensure they, too, never victimize a child.

Edwards, who says he is from Pennsylvania and is the father of three daughters, co-founded a online support group called Virtuous Pedophiles.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

John Spain
Published 21/07/2014

A MAN who survived horrific sex abuse at the hands of paedophile Brendan Smyth has told how priests sought to saddle him with “blame and shame” in a meeting attended by Sean Brady, now the most powerful cleric in Ireland.

Brendan Boland (53) was an 11-year-old altar boy when the notorious priest began to abuse him in the 1970s.

In March 1975, he told three priests, including the cardinal – who was then Fr John Brady – of the abuse in the hope that it would prevent further cases. But Smyth went on to abuse dozens more victims.

Now details have emerged of the highly intrusive and inappropriate line of questioning that the 14-year-old was subjected to during a meeting where he was alone in the room with the priests.

Questions included whether he had done these things before with another boy or man, whether the abuse by Smyth had led him to masturbate alone and why he had taken so long to go to Confession.

Terrified

Transcripts of the secret church inquiry are revealed in Mr Boland’s new book ‘Sworn to Silence’, published today by O’Brien Press.

“I knew that the quizzing about Confession was all about me and my fault.

“Then I was just terrified and scared. Today I am angry, furious. Even as I am recounting this, I want to smash my fist against the bloody wall beside me,” he says.

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UNITED STATES
Another Voice

In October 2014, there will be an “Extraordinary Synod on the Family,” a big Roman Catholic gathering of bishops to consider important issues of Catholic belief and practice.

In preparation for that October gathering, the Vatican sent out questionnaires; and now the results have been processed and a Vatican “working document,” called an instrumentum laboris has been written.

The questionnaire results show that large numbers of Catholics around the globe neither accept nor follow official Roman Catholic teaching on: birth control, sterilization, in vitro fertilization, homosexuality and homosexual unions, cohabitation before or without marriage, and recognizing the legitimacy of marriages for the divorced and remarried.

Some open-minded Catholics, encouraged by the apparently open-minded and friendly behavior of Pope Francis, are expecting big changes in October. That may occur; but the instrumentum laboris seems to reiterate the same old teaching, in a rather judgmental manner. It stresses that many Catholics do not accept church teaching because they have been distorted by the individualistic, relativistic, and secularistic cultures in which people live today. To summarize: Catholic people do disagree with official church teaching: but the people are misguided and wrong. Food for though.

In a recent article in The Tablet (July 12, 2014), Charles Curran, formerly of the Catholic University of America and currently Professor of Human Values at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, sees two current problems in official Roman Catholic ethical statements: (1) natural law as an outdated approach to ethical decision-making and (2) the papalization of moral truth.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

The Associated Press July 20, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS – Lawyers for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis return to court Monday to ask a judge to dismiss a clergy sex abuse lawsuit that’s already forced painful revelations about how top church officials handled allegations of misconduct by priests.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson filed the lawsuit last year for a man identified as Doe 1 who alleges he was molested by the Rev. Thomas Adamson while Adamson was working at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park around 1976.

But the case has taken on a much greater significance. Anderson offered a novel legal theory that the archdiocese created a “public nuisance,” and has used it to take court-ordered depositions from Archbishop John Nienstedt and other top church leaders — and to make them public.

Here are five things to know about the case and the issues to be discussed Monday:

1.THE LEGAL ISSUES

The archdiocese is asking Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North to dismiss the lawsuit. It says no evidence has emerged to back up Doe 1’s claim that church officials were negligent in assigning Adamson to St. Thomas Aquinas. The archdiocese also argues that the public nuisance claim doesn’t stand up. Van de North wrote in a December ruling that the claim is “a bit of a stretch” and a “particularly close call.” But he let the case go forward, giving Anderson his opening to depose Nienstedt.

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FLORIDA
News-Journal

By Frank Fernandez
frank.fernandez@news-jrnl.com
Published: Sunday, July 20, 2014

Experts say child porn suspect Matthew Graziotti’s multiple contacts with children fit a classic pattern seen among pedophiles.

“Classic, classic, predator behavior of using every means possible to gain access to kids and access to and authority over kids,” said David Clohessy with the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests.

Graziotti, 43, was arrested by the FBI last week after a search of his Edgewater home revealed thousands of images of child pornography on his computer, authorities said. He faces federal charges of production, distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography, and is being held without bail at the Seminole County jail.

Graziotti has a preliminary hearing set for 10 a.m. Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. Smith at the federal courthouse in Orlando.

Graziotti had worked at Warner Christian Academy, a private school in South Daytona, for about nine years, teaching fifth- to eighth-grade classes and was director of the school’s summer day camp.

He was an adult volunteer leader in scouting, according to the Boy Scouts of America. A website listed him with Cub Scout Pack 425 in Edgewater. Graziotti also volunteered to help supervise children at the Edgewater Alliance Church.

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IRELAND
Gladys Ganiel

Marie Keenan: Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church – Book Review, Part 3: The Irish Model of “Perfect Celibate Clerical Masculinity”

by Gladys Ganiel on July 19, 2014

Today I continue a series reviewing some key insights from Marie Keenan’s important book, Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power, and Organizational Culture (Oxford University Press, 2012).

I don’t think that the book has received as much attention as it should have, so I am focusing on four key areas, which I think deserve greater public debate:

1. The Dangers of Individualizing the Abuse Problem

2. Why the Catholic Church’s Response to Abuse should not be considered a “Cover-up”
3. The Irish Model for “Doing” Priesthood of “Perfect Celibate Clerical Masculinity” and its Consequences
4. The Complexity of the Abuse Problem and How it can be Addressed

Today, in part three, I focus on:

The Irish Model for “Doing” Priesthood of “Perfect Celibate Clerical Masculinity” and its Consequences

One of the unique, and valuable, aspects of Keenan’s research is that it involved in-depth interviews with clerics who had abused, providing insights not only into how the men described their decisions to abuse – but their experience of being priests prior to, during, and after the times they abused.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

Published on Monday, July 21, 2014
By Jasmine Stole – jasmine@mvguam.com – Variety News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — An independent network of survivors of institutional sexual abuse released a statement on Friday announcing their disappointment with Guam Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron for allowing a priest accused of molestation to work under the Hagåtña archdiocese.

SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Fr. John Howard Wadeson was accused twice of molesting children in Los Angeles, California.

According to www.bishop-accountability.org Wadeson was accused of molestation by two individuals between the years 1973 and 1977. A report from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles dated Feb. 17, 2004 details the same information about Wadeson.

SNAP’s statement did not indicate when Wadeson began working for the local archdiocese, but the island’s Roman Catholic newspaper published a photo of Wadeson with Apuron and three others, celebrating the archbishop’s 30th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination in Hawaii. The photo was published in February of this year.

The 2013 Agana Archdiocesan directory lists Wadeson as one of four incardinated priests away from the archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
robbobradio

Media Advisory
For Immediate Release

A well-known St.Paul priest is calling for Archbishop John Nienstedt to step down.

In an interview Friday on ROBBOB RADIO (www.robbobradio.com), Fr. Stephen O’Gara says the recent public release of Jennifer Haselberger’s testimony was the tipping point for him.

(Audio Files Attached)

Fr. O’Gara recently retired as pastor of Assumption church in St. Paul but is still an active priest in the Archdiocese. He and other priests have previously suggested the need for change, but this is the first time a priest in the Archdiocese has publicly called for Archbishop Nienstedt to specifically resign. (An O’Gara homily last year criticizing the Archbishop ended up on YouTube, and Fr. Bill Deziel, pastor at St. Peter in North St. Paul, last year called for a “do-over” with regard to Archdiocese leadership.)

The entire interview can be heard on the Audio Archive page @ www.robbobradio.com.

About ROBBOB Radio
Based in St. Paul, Robbob Radio @ www.robbobradio.com is a unique mix of rock music (new and old) and short talk segments.

Contact:
Rob Hahn
651-659-9220

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AFGHANISTAN
The New York Times

By ROD NORDLAND
JULY 19, 2014

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — It was bad enough that the alleged rape took place in the sanctity of a mosque, and that the accused man was a mullah who invoked the familiar defense that it had been consensual sex.

But the victim was only 10 years old. And there was more: The authorities said her family members openly planned to carry out an “honor killing” in the case — against the young girl. The mullah offered to marry his victim instead.

This past week, the awful matter became even worse. On Tuesday, local policemen removed the girl from the shelter that had given her refuge and returned her to her family, despite complaints from women’s activists that she was likely to be killed.

The case has broader repercussions. The head of the Women for Afghan Women shelter here where the girl took refuge, Dr. Hassina Sarwari, was at one point driven into hiding by death threats from the girl’s family and other mullahs, who sought to play down the crime by arguing the girl was much older than 10. One militia commander sent Dr. Sarwari threatening texts and an ultimatum to return the girl to her family. The doctor said she now wanted to flee Afghanistan.

The head of the women’s affairs office in Kunduz, Nederah Geyah, who actively campaigned to have the young girl protected from her family and the mullah prosecuted, resigned on May 21 and moved to another part of the country.

The case itself would just be an aberrant atrocity, except that the resulting support for the mullah, and for the girl’s family and its honor killing plans, have become emblematic of a broader failure to help Afghan women who have been victims of violence.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, July 20

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

Could there possibly be a more hideous case than this one? The family of a ten year old, forty pound rape victim wants to kill her. Why? Because she was brutally attacked by an Afghan mullah in a mosque, allegedly bringing her relatives “shame.”

And speaking of shame – real shame – the mullah, Mohammad Amin, absurdly claims it was “consensual sex.”

[New York Times]

An advocate for the girl says that prosecutors and some religious figures are siding with the accused rapist and are ignoring the girl’s plight. We call on every single religious official in Afghanistan to denounce this crime and defend this girl.

The New York Times story about this horror ends with this chilling sentence: “Those caring for the girl (at a shelter) said she had been terribly homesick and wanted to return to her family, but no one had the heart to tell her they had been conspiring to kill her.”

“Heart-breaking” is a word that can easily be over-used. But it’s inadequate in this case. We desperately hope the international community – not just women’s groups or victims’ groups – rise up in outrage, help this suffering young victim, and take real steps now to better safeguard Afghan girls from such horror.

And we hope that those who are helping to save this girl – Dr. Hassina Sarwari, Manizha Naderi, and Nederah Geyah – are soon publicly praised and thoroughly protected themselves. They inspire us with their extraordinary courage and compassion.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Statement from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) responding to the establishment of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and the appointment of Yvonne Murphy

The ACP welcomes the establishment of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. It is important that it be carried out competently, justly and in strict accordance with guidelines to be laid down by the government, which should reflect natural and constitutional justice.

The ACP notes the appointment of Judge Yvonne Murphy who chaired the Murphy Commission into abuse in Dublin diocese.

It is also important to note that, in view of a report commissioned by the ACP into procedural fairness in that investigation, Fergal Sweeney, an Irish barrister who worked for many years as a judge in Hong Kong, concluded that the Murphy Report contained significant deficiencies in terms of respecting the demands of natural and constitutional justice.

Last October, the ACP published Fergal Sweeney’s findings. His conclusions are on pages 37-39 of his document, which is on I this web-site.

The final point is as follows:

4.14 However, from the legal perspective it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that insofar as the Catholic clerics who were called to testify were concerned, the practices and procedures of the Murphy Commission fell far short of meeting the concerns of the Law Reform Commission
and, more importantly, of natural and Constitutional justice.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
L’ Espresso

Appartamenti, ville, vigneti, uliveti, boschi. I risultati di mesi di ricerche catastali sui patrimoni personali di oltre cento alti prelati: una collezione di fortune private (regolarmente dichiarate al fisco), alla faccia dell’umiltà e alla modestia di Papa Francesco

DI PAOLO BIONDANI

Beati i poveri, perché di essi è il regno dei cieli, insegnava Gesù di Nazareth nel Discorso della Montagna. Dopo duemila anni di predicazioni nel nome di Cristo, però, sulla terra continuano a passarsela meglio i ricchi. Non solo i laici, agnostici o miscredenti. Anche tra i cattolici più devoti c’è chi ostenta patrimoni invidiabili. E perfino tra gli alti prelati di Santa Romana Chiesa ora spunta una specie di club dei milionari: cardinali e vescovi che sono proprietari di grandi fortune private. Palazzi, appartamenti, monolocali, fabbricati rurali, capannoni, cantine, fattorie, agrumeti, uliveti, frutteti, boschi e pascoli sterminati.

Si tratta di ricchezze assolutamente lecite, spesso frutto di lasciti testamentari o eredità familiari, che non si possono in alcun modo accostare alle fortune illegali accumulate da quelle pecore nere che, ieri come oggi, non sono mai mancate neppure nelle greggi cattoliche. Dopo l’avvento di Papa Bergoglio, il pontefice che ha scelto di ispirarsi già dal nome a San Francesco d’Assisi e che non perde occasione per richiamarsi alla «Chiesa dei poveri», ammonire che «San Pietro non aveva il conto in banca», scagliarsi contro «il peccato della corruzione» e «certi preti untuosi, sontuosi e presuntuosi» che sfoggiano «macchine di lusso», però, anche in Vaticano c’è chi comincia a chiedersi quante ricchezze personali possiedano i prelati più potenti. Chi riuscirà a passare dall’evangelica cruna dell’ago?

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
L’ Espresso

Il pontefice ha fatto sapere che i depositi depennati sono 1660. Ma in realtà quelli sotto osservazione alla luce delle normative anti riciclaggio sarebbero molti di più

DI ORAZIO LA ROCCA

E’ praticamente conclusa la complessa operazione di pulizia dei conti accreditati presso la Ior (Istituto per le Opere di religione) – la banca vaticana – ma sul numero di clienti depennati la confusione regna sovrana. Quanti sono? Ben 1600 come ha detto il Papa? Oppure un migliaio, stando alle notizie dell’Aif, l’Autorità di informazione finanziaria vaticana? O nelle casse della Santa Sede c’è un problema molto più pesante? Le indiscrizioni di stampa sul report finale di Promontory Financial Group, l’agenzia americana incaricata di controllare i depositi alla luce delle normative antiriciclaggio, parlano di 4825 depositi “sotto osservazione”, pari a un quarto di quelli censiti.

È quasi un giallo. Da una parte Francesco nei giorni scorsi non ha avuto problemi a dire che «allo Ior sono stati chiusi 1600 conti di persone che non avevano diritto a servirsi della banca vaticana». Dall’altra, i vertici dell’Istituto – presieduto dal tedesco Ernst von Freyberg – non fanno cifre. E, pur definendo «finita» l’analisi da parte della Promontory Financial Group, su quanto detto dal Papa si chiudono in difesa. «Non parliamo di numeri, ma di metodo eseguito e siamo in grado di sostenere che la situazione è ormai tutta chiara e sotto controllo», afferma Max Hoenberg, funzionario dello Ior delegato alle relazioni esterne, che ammette solo che «la Promontory ha esaminato 18.900 clienti, il numero degli utenti nel 2013». È tra questi 18.900 clienti che «sono state trovate situazioni non chiare segnalate all’Aif. Per quanto riguarda la cosiddetta chiusura dei conti è un altro discorso. Lo scorso luglio il consiglio di Sovrintendenza ha definito in modo più stretto l’utenza che dovrebbe essere servita dall’Istituto – dipendenti vaticani, congregazioni, religiosi, pensionati della Santa Sede – su chi non entra in queste categorie abbiamo avviato, sotto tutela dell’Aif, un processo di cancellazione. Ma questi controlli, voluti dal presidente Von Freyberg, sono quotidiani e dureranno per sempre».

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VATICAN CITY
L’Espresso

Real estate, stock, gold and currency assets worth at least $ 10 billion. From APSA to IOR, an overview of all the businesses within the Pope’s holdings

DI EMILIANO FITTIPALDI

If money is the dung of the devil, the Vatican seems to observe the proverb “pecunia non olet”: Over the centuries, priests, bishops and cardinals piled up bullions and gold coins, banknotes of any currency and immense real estate assets. While it is almost impossible to quantify accurately a wealth that has taken on biblical proportions, L’Espresso managed to read a significant amount of top-secret documents, and can now, for the first time, shed light on a big part of God’s treasure.

Sifting through a secret report by Cosea, the reference Commission set up to assess the organization of the economic structure of the Vatican, one learns, for example, that “the many Vatican institutions manage proprietary assets and assets belonging to third parties worth a declared value of € 9-10 billion, 8 to 9 billion of which are invested in securities, and one in real estate. From the audit of the balance sheet APSA (the organization that manages the Apostolic estate) never disclosed, and of some confidential notes undersigned by the new president of IOR, Jean Baptist de Franssu, we derived that a bulk of the treasure is kept hidden by APSA itself, as unlike IOR, it has never released any information about its holdings.

The treasure hunt kicks off at Place Vendôme, in the very center of Paris. Just a few yards away from the Ritz Hotel, in rue de Rome, a French subsidiary of APSA holds some of the most prestigious properties in the area. Sopridex SA had many famous tenants (like François Mitterrand), and has currently assets recorded on its balance sheet topping € 46.8 million. Its staff includes “a director, three employees, cleaning staff,” and as many as “16 porters”.

APSA controls itself other ten Swiss companies (among which mysterious Diversa SA, Immobiliere Sur Collonge and l’Immobiliere Florimont), which, together with Profima SA, manage property and land in the Swiss confederation and all over Europe. Their assets sum up to € 18 million. “Bear in mind that historically APSA undervalues its assets in the balance sheet for tax purposes,” said a qualified source within the financial organization headquartered in Palazzo Apostolico. “Moreover, those are non consolidated Swiss companies, and could therefore hold assets for much higher amounts than those they report.”

If on the one hand, it is no secret that Profima was incorporated in Lausanne in 1926, and that it served Pope Pius XI after he decided to hide abroad part of the “compensation” paid out to the Catholic Church following the signing of the Lateran Treaty with the fascist regime, on the other, its holding company Diversa is virtually unknown. Incorporated in Lugano in August 1942, its chair is currently Gilles Crettol. The Swiss lawyer runs the Pope’s businesses on the Northern side of the Alps: his name pops in almost all of the other Swiss companies of the Pope’s estate.

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VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

By John L. Allen Jr. | GLOBE COLUMNIST JULY 19, 2014

During the Clinton administration, American politics developed a new bit of argot: “FOB,” meaning “friend of Bill,” an intimate of the president who enjoyed access to the corridors of power and perhaps helped shape his agenda.

Today Catholicism has its own emerging “FOB” class, in this case standing for “friend of Bergoglio.” The reference is to those with personal ties to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known to the world as Pope Francis, who could be positioned to influence his papacy.

The degree to which those friends have the pope’s ear makes the Vatican’s official chain of command less revealing these days about who’s driving the train in the Catholic Church than, say, the pontiff’s Facebook account. (That is, it would be if Francis were actually on Facebook.)

The latest FOB to pop up is Giovanni Traettino, leader of the Protestant “Evangelical Church of Reconciliation.” The Vatican announced this week that Francis will travel July 28 to the southern Italian city of Caserta to see Traettino, who became friends with Bergoglio a decade ago while serving in Argentina.

In Caserta, Francis will join Evangelicals and Catholics for prayer at Traettino’s church. Though not unprecedented, it will mark one of just a handful of occasions when a pope has ventured into a Protestant church to pray.

The trip is part of a recent pattern of outreach from Francis to the Evangelical and Pentecostal worlds, in each case driven by people he knows.

In January, Francis sent a video message to a conference led by American Pentecostal Kenneth Copeland in which the pope offered a “spiritual hug.” That prompted a group of Evangelicals and Pentecostals to visit Rome, an event capped off when the pontiff and televangelist James Robison high-fived over the need for Christians to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

“God has begun the miracle of unity,” Francis said in his video, quoting Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni that “God never begins a miracle he does not finish well.”

As it turns out, the video was a byproduct of a FOB. An Anglican Evangelical and charismatic named Bishop Tony Palmer, who had become friends with Bergoglio in Argentina, visited him in Rome earlier in January, and told him about Copeland’s gathering, prompting Francis to volunteer to send greetings.

As for Traettino, he got to know Bergoglio through an Argentine movement called “Renewed Communion of Evangelicals and Catholics in the Spirit.” In 2006, Bergoglio took part in a prayer service sponsored by the movement that drew 7,000 people to Luna Park in Buenos Aires, a venue ordinarily used for boxing matches.

At one stage, Bergoglio knelt and allowed himself to be prayed over by some 20 Protestant clergy.

That act led disgruntled traditionalist Catholics to declare the see of Buenos Aires “vacant” on the grounds that it was occupied by a heretic, but the future pope was undaunted.

Francis’ tendency to set policy through friendships is clear across a range of issues.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

John Waters
Published 20/07/2014

Some people talk about Pope Francis — some in admiration, some not — as though he is not a Catholic at all, but a liberal interloper determined to dismantle some of the key moral teachings of the church. A disconsolate conservative rump regards him as a dangerous showman, indifferent to the consequences of unwarranted loose talking, prepared to sell out on the truth for an easy popularity.

More than a few in the church are confused, but remain loyal and obedient because the pope is given to them by the Holy Spirit. There are others who see him as the pontiff with the cunning plan, the purveyor of a constructive ambiguity designed to throw the enemies of the church off guard.

Within a few weeks of his election, he started saying things that appeared to throw open the Church’s position on hot-button issues like homosexuality, abortion, women priests and clerical celibacy. These statements, together with what is interpreted as a left-leaning position on economics, have turned Pope Francis into the darling of the liberal media and the new white hope of ‘progressive’ Catholics.

Pope Francis, who insists that he is ‘a son of the Church’, attracts vast crowds whenever he appears, and is described as ‘a breath of fresh air’ even by agnostic journalists who hitherto had nothing but ill to say of the Vatican and all belonging to it. Already, by all accounts, there’s a steady flow of lapsed Catholics back to the pews and the sacraments.

It’s interesting that, invariably, this pope’s most talked-about observations have occurred in off-the-cuff comments or interviews, rather than formal speeches or prepared statements in the manner of his predecessors. For the most part, he has limited himself to interviews with Italian periodicals, which is a little odd for the leader of a global church. (Pope Francis speaks very little English, but is fluent in both Italian and Spanish.) In several of the most headline-grabbing interviews, his interlocutor was the same Italian journalist, Eugenio Scalfari, the 90-year-old co-founder of the leading socialist

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Gerry O’Sullivan
Published 19/07/2014

A Mexican psychologist, a British peer and an Irishman walk into the Vatican. That line might just read like there’s a jokey punchline coming (there’s not), but the Vatican’s latest attempt to reform its communications involves such an international line-up, and the Vatican is very serious.

The international flavour of the committee announced last week to propose – though not to implement – media reforms in the Vatican reflects Pope Francis’ determination to bring in outsiders to help the ongoing reform process. Most notable is the committee’s chairperson, Lord Patten, a former governor of Hong Kong and former chairman of the BBC Trust.

The Holy See said the new committee would propose reforms and publish a report and plan within 12 months. The other members of the committee are from USA, Germany, France, Mexico, and Singapore.

Representing the Vatican on the committee is Mons. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, who will act as secretary of the committee. Vatican Radio, the Secretariat of State, and its internet service and newspaper will also be represented.

Mons. Tighe is a Dublin priest, an academic who ran Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s public affairs office and a close friend and confidante of the Archbishop. He worked at the Vatican many years ago and is seen as the Archbishop’s eyes and ears in Rome. Although he had no formal qualifications in communications, he was appointed to the Rome post in late 2007. His academic training helped him quickly establish himself in the number two post at the social communications ‘ministry’ of the Vatican, which liaises with Catholic universities worldwide.

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UNITED STATES
The Anxious Bench

July 20, 2014 By Philip Jenkins

Jason Berry is a journalist who works on Catholic issues and clergy sexual abuse. He has recently published an article on abuse issues, in which he attacks my work. He is quite at liberty to make such a criticism, but he cannot do so on the basis of an outrageous mis-representation of what I actually said.

Berry says this:

In 1996, Philip Jenkins… argued in Pedophiles and Priests that the earlier coverage of clergy abuse was a “putative” crisis, one “constructed” by the media and church critics. In 2002, a Boston Globe investigation of such cases ignited a chain reaction in many newsrooms about a deeply rooted culture of churchmen concealing abusers that the Vatican ignored. The “putative crisis” resembled a construction of its author.

What he suggests, then, is that (a) I had claimed that the reported instances of clergy abuse were invented or made up, and that (b) my argument was demolished by the post-2002 media exposés of the scale and severity of clergy abuse. Both statements are flat wrong. Did Berry actually read my book?

Already in the early 1990s, long before the Boston Globe exposés, stories of clergy sexual abuse were becoming very widespread in the US and Canada, usually in a Catholic context. The issue was thus becoming defined as a major social problem. In my book Pedophiles and Priests, I analyzed how the problem was being constructed, a term I defined at considerable length, but not, evidently, in a way that Berry chooses to understand. Contrary to what he implies, “constructed” is NOT synonymous with “invented.”

The term “construction” is a commonplace of social science, and is in fact the primary means of approaching and analyzing social problems. To speak of a problem being constructed makes no necessary statement about the scale of its objective reality, and it certainly does not mean that the issue at question is bogus or mythical. For a social scientist, all social problems are constructed.

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CALIFORNIA
Visalia Delta-Times

The following was published Julyy 9, 2014, in The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield (Mass.).

It’s impossible to justify the Catholic Church’s decision to cover up the allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members that exploded like a July 4 firecracker several years ago.

Sexual abuse in any form is a heinous act and has long-lasting repercussions for the victims. Church officials did not handle the scandal or its fallout well, and the higher-up officials have never held some of the perpetrators responsible.

Given that history and those circumstances, Pope Francis deserves credit for trying to deal with the situation in his own unorthodox way. Not only did he meet with six of the victims, he begged for their forgiveness and vowed to hold bishops accountable for their handling of pedophile priests.

Do the pope’s actions change what happened? No. In his remarks, the pope made no mention of the countless victims or their families around the world, or whether bishops and other prelates involved in the cover-up would be fired or demoted. But it is a start.

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IOWA
KCCI

DES MOINES, Iowa —The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that the sexual exploitation convictions of a former Pella pastor will stand.

The Des Moines Register reports that the ruling Friday reverses a previous decision by the Iowa Court of Appeals that found Patrick Edouard deserved a new trial.

Edouard was charged after four women complained in 2011 that he had repeatedly coerced them into sexual relationships while counseling them. He quit his clergy job but fought the charges. Jurors acquitted him of sexual abuse charges, but found him guilty of four sexual exploitation counts.

Edouard argued that he did not have a formal counseling relationship with the women.

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Guardian

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2014
Shaliza Hassanali

Principal of the St Michael’s School for Boys’ Kelvin Nancoo claims that more than four years ago allegations of rampant “abuse, incompetency and mismanagement” were reported to the authorities at the home, but it was swept under the carpet. Nancoo said when the report was made and nothing was done, he tendered his resignation as a member of the Anglican board after eight years of service.

At that time, Calvin Bess was head of the Anglican Diocese of T&T. Anglican Bishop Clyde Berkley is now head of the Diocese. The chairman of the board of management of the St Michael’s home is Deacon Eric Thompson. Alison Salandy is manager of the home. Nancoo said what pushed him to resign from the board was when a member “told me nothing will change and nobody is going to remove those responsible…”

Everything was unearthed on Tuesday when Attorney General Anand Ramlogan revealed that he had asked the Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to launch a criminal investigation into the operations of the home after he read from a report into the death of inmate Brandon Hargreaves, who was found dead at the home in April 2014. Hargreaves’ report showed sexual abuse of inmates by supervisors and violents fights among inmates.

“I told them years ago that it would come back to haunt them. And it has,” Nancoo said. “If there is a tribunal and they want me to speak, then I will. I have expressed my disgust on many occasions to those in authority, but it was pushed under the carpet.” Yesterday, after being told of reports reaching the Sunday Guardian that files at the home were being destroyed as an investigation was launched, Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenn Hackett said he would dispatch a team to deal with the issue.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

JOHN SPAIN
Published 20/07/2014

Transcripts of the secret church inquiry into the abuse of Dundalk boy Brendan Boland by the notorious child molester Fr Brendan Smyth will be published for the first time this week.

The explicit transcripts of the inquiry, in which Cardinal Sean Brady (then Fr. John Brady) took part, are contained in the new book by Brendan Boland, who was an 11-year-old altar boy when he was abused by Brendan Smyth in the 1970s.

The memoir, Sworn to Silence, is published tomorrow on Monday and gives details of the intense abuse carried out by Smyth.

Two years after the abuse began, Brendan Boland plucked up the courage to tell another priest what was happening.

A secret church inquiry was arranged, and he was questioned in isolation by a group of priests including Fr Brady.

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INDIANA
Lafayette Journal & Courier

Steven Porter, sporter@jconline.com July 18, 2014

Former pastor Robert Lyzenga, who admitted in May to hiding two video cameras inside a women’s restroom at the Lafayette church he shepherded, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison followed by three years of probation.

Lyzenga, 58, pleaded guilty to allegations he surreptitiously recorded five women and five girls over the course of several months in 2011 and 2012.

A parishioner discovered the cameras, which were disguised as air fresheners in the women’s bathroom just off the sanctuary at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church.

Investigators downloaded video footage from the devices and located files on Lyzenga’s computers. They determined that the pastor had not only viewed the videos but also edited some of the footage, according to a sentencing summary released by Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington.

Video of a 16-year-old girl had been edited to include “slow-motion replays showing her exposed pubic area,” the document states.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
L’ Espresso

[Summary: The treasure of the Vatican is worth at least 10 billion.Real estate, stocks, gold, hard currency to a value greater than ten billion Euros. “L’Espresso” in the current issue tomorrow presents the first comprehensive analysis of the investment of the Holy See throughout Europe, written by Emiliano Fittipaldi thanks to confidential documents and internal budgets. Sifting through a secret affair of Cosea, the dissolved Commission representative on the organization of the economic structure pontifical it turns out, for example, that “the various Vatican institutions manage their assets and those of third parties in a declared value of € 9000000000-10000000000 , of which 8000000000-9000000000 in securities, and one of the real estate.

” The heart of the investments is administered APSA. That controls the Sopridex Sa, owner of luxury real estate in the center of Paris with the famous tenants as François Mitterrand and today has assets recorded in the financial statements that arrive at 46.8 million euro. But APSA are headed even ten Swiss companies (including the mysterious Different You know, Immobiliere Sur Collonge and Immobiliere Florimont) which, together with Profima Sa, manage property and land in the Swiss confederation and a half in Europe. All together are worth 18 million .

In addition, the Vatican owns real estate companies in England (the British Grolux Investments Ltd, founded in 1933, currently manages assets in London to the tune of € 38.8 million to € including luxury stores in New Bond Street) and, of course, in Italy : In addition to the endless treasure chest of Propaganda Fide (renamed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has a fortune estimated, net of the housing crisis, about 7 billion ), the company also controls Sirea and Leonine, which in the financial statements are worth more than 16 million.]

DI EMILIANO FITTIPALDI

Immobili, azioni, oro, valute pregiate per un valore superiore a dieci miliardi di euro. “L’Espresso” nel numero in edicola domani presenta la prima analisi completa degli investimenti della Santa Sede in tutta Europa, radiografata da Emiliano Fittipaldi grazie a documenti riservati e bilanci interni.

Spulciando una relazione segreta della Cosea, la dissolta Commissione referente sull’organizzazione della struttura economica pontificia si scopre, per esempio, che «le varie istituzioni vaticane gestiscono i propri asset e quelli di terzi a un valore dichiarato di 9-10 miliardi di euro, di cui 8-9 miliardi in titoli, e uno di immobiliare». Il cuore degli investimenti è amministrato dall’Apsa. Che controlla la Sopridex Sa, proprietaria di immobili di lusso nel centro di Parigi con inquilini famosi come François Mitterrand e oggi ha attività iscritte a bilancio che arrivano a 46,8 milioni di euro. Ma all’Apsa fanno capo anche dieci società svizzere (tra cui la misteriosa Diversa Sa, l’Immobiliere Sur Collonge e l’Immobiliere Florimont) che, insieme alla Profima Sa, gestiscono proprietà e terreni nella confederazione elvetica e in mezza Europa. Tutte insieme valgono 18 milioni.

Inoltre il Vaticano possiede società immobiliari anche in Inghilterra (la British Grolux Investments Ltd, fondata nel 1933, gestisce oggi a Londra attività per la bellezza di 38,8 milioni di euro inclusi negozi di lusso in New Bond Street) e, ovviamente, in Italia: oltre allo sterminato forziere di Propaganda Fide (ribattezzata Congregazione per l’evangelizzazione dei popoli, ha un patrimonio stimato, al netto della crisi immobiliare, di circa 7 miliardi), controlla pure le società Sirea e Leonina, che a bilancio valgono oltre 16 milioni.

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