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and Views of the Sexual Abuse Crisis 2003–2005 Sample of Entries from Abuse Tracker Sunday, January 12, 2003 Priest's charity charges immigrants millions TEXAS The Dallas Morning News By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News One in an occasional series A Catholic priest's ministry to poor people has charged them millions
for help while spending large sums on real estate, cars and other purchases
that benefit him and his associates, a Dallas Morning News investigation
shows. The priest then set up Casita Maria, or Little House of Mary, a tax-exempt corporation that has counseled thousands of undocumented immigrants. But it also has loaned money to some board members, even though state law forbids such a practice. It charged no interest and allowed the borrowing, in one case, to exceed a director's annual salary as Casita's No. 2 staff member. Posted by Kathy Shaw 7:02:31 PM Kelly Scott An international support and advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims
will announce today that it plans to start Minnesota's second chapter
in St. Cloud. The network, known as SNAP, scheduled a news conference today in Minneapolis about the fliers and St. Cloud expansion. The state's only chapter is based in the Twin Cities, Wegs said. It meets twice monthly and has about 35 members. Some of those are from St. Cloud, Wegs said. Posted by Kathy Shaw 6:53:01 PM A
Heavenly Call to Serve Nai Her sank to his knees before Bishop John T. Steinbock, and the leader
of the Valley's Roman Catholic Church gently placed his hands on the Hmong
man's head. The bishop's laying on of hands signified the passing of God's authority to an ordinary man who feels a heavenly call to serve his church. Her, a maintenance supervisor at a Fresno school, and 21 other men were ordained Saturday as deacons. ... The service unfolded, however, against the backdrop of a national church struggling to recover from a sex scandal caused by priests sexually abusing children and bishops covering up the abuse. Ed Harmon, director of the Fresno diocese's deacon program, fingerprinted all 22 deacons and submitted the prints to law enforcement agencies for background checks. None of the men were found to have criminal records, Harmon said, which didn't surprise him. Posted by Kathy Shaw 6:49:47 PM Pope
in 'prayerful solidarity' with U.S. church over sex abuse crisis VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Greeting some 380 U.S. bishops, priests and seminarians, Pope John Paul II said he was in "prayerful solidarity" with U.S. Catholics as they struggle to deal with the scandal of the clerical sex abuse crisis. The pope met at the Vatican Jan. 10 with more than 200 alumni of the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, and with staff members as well as priests and seminarians currently studying at the college. Posted by Kathy Shaw 6:04:11 PM Many
U.S. Catholic Bishops Set to Retire By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer A record number of America's Roman Catholic bishops will be eligible for retirement in 2003, starting a gradual shift in leadership as the U.S. church seeks to recover from the clerical molestation crisis. By December, 32 of the 283 bishops active in the United States will be 75 -- the church's retirement age -- or older. It is the largest number of U.S. bishops eligible to resign in one year since Pope Paul VI set a retirement age in 1966, according to Catholic News Service. The potential retirees include 16 bishops who lead their own dioceses. There is also one cardinal -- Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia -- who will turn 80 in June. The remainder are either auxiliary bishops or prelates for Eastern-rite churches and the military. Under church law, a bishop submits his resignation to the Vatican at age 75 but cannot step down until the pope gives his approval. Pope John Paul II has increasingly allowed elderly prelates to keep working. Of 17 bishops who turned 75 last year, only a handful retired. Posted by Kathy Shaw 5:17:23 PM Papers
show priests' struggle over accusations By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press, 1/12/2003 11:11 ''A horsewhipping would have been more preferrable (sic),'' he wrote in July 2000. ''I have lost everything.'' Foley insisted on his innocence, blamed Law for his situation and blasted the archdiocese's ''zero tolerance'' policy, which removes priests from ministry after a single allegation that's deemed credible, saying it ''equals zero justice.'' Foley's letters were among reams of priest personnel records released by the Boston Archdiocese in the past month. Some files told of criminal priests who admitted a range of terrible acts they initially denied. But others told of priests suspended after one sex abuse accusation they vigorously disputed but had little power to fight. Posted by Kathy Shaw 4:59:34 PM
Fr. Charles Dahlby Posted by Kathy Shaw 3:13:32 PM Sex
abuse tab thus far in the millions By Allison Hantschel Sexual misconduct by its priests cost the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet
more than $2.6 million in the past 20 years, the diocese announced Friday.
"Most of these settlements were in response to lawsuits filed against priests, though some settlements were made without litigation," Imesch wrote. "We are committed to help in the healing of victim/survivors, but we are also aware of the need to exercise responsible stewardship over diocesan funds." The diocese has faced at least 10 lawsuits in the past two decades and settled nearly all of them. Imesch said money used to pay priests' victims came from diocesan investments and real estate sales, not from money raised through the annual appeal. Posted by Kathy Shaw 11:41:29 AM Police:
Priest knew rights By MEGAN CLAIR NEW BRITAIN -- Members of Polish Brothers Help, the group raising funds for the defense of visiting Polish priest the Rev. Roman Kramek have voiced concerns about the priest’s confession to sexually assaulting a 17-year-old Sacred Heart Church parishioner made following his Christmas Eve arrest. Kramek, 40, is held on $500,000 bond and charged with second-degree sexual assault for allegedly forcing himself on a girl he was counseling for a previous rape. According to court documents, Kramek admitted to the sexual act, saying it was a form of therapy. It is that admission that members of Polish Brothers Help are questioning. Members questioned the police department’s ability to properly interrogate the Polish-speaking priest. Following an organizing meeting last week, group members told The Herald they want information about the New Britain Police Department’s policy for questioning non-English speaking suspects. Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:38:59 AM Abuse in 'nearly
all' US dioceses - report January 12, 2003 (11:01) The paedophilia scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church
in revent years has touched virtually every US diocese. An extensive survey conducted by the newspaper tallied 4,268 people who have claimed publicly or in lawsuits to have been abused by priests. Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:20:41 AM How
the Study of Sexual Abuse by Priests Was Conducted By JOSH BARBANEL As the scandal of sexual abuse by priests roiled the Roman Catholic Church and the country, the true dimension of the problem remained elusive. Was it a crisis that was overblown by lawyers and the news media, as some church defenders say? Or was it a growing malignancy deep in the culture of the church? To begin to address these questions, The Times created a database listing the names and stories of all known priests publicly accused of the sexual abuse of minors in America over more than 50 years. Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:06:50 AM In
an Era of Change, a Persistent Crisis Timeline 1962-1965 The Second Vatican Council brings a reinterpretation of the modern church. 1967-1977 Hundreds of priests in the United States leave the priesthood annually. At the height in 1970, 675 leave. 1968 The pope issues the encylical Humanae Vitae, reasserting the ban on birth control. Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:04:02 AM Trail
of Pain in Church Crisis Leads to Nearly Every Diocese By LAURIE GOODSTEIN The sexual abuse crisis that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church in the last 12 months has now spread to nearly every American diocese and involves more than 1,200 priests, most of whose careers straddle a sharp divide in church history and seminary training. These priests are known to have abused more than 4,000 minors over the last six decades, according to an extensive New York Times survey of documented cases of sexual abuse by priests through Dec. 31, 2002. The survey, the most complete compilation of data on the problem available, contains the names and histories of 1,205 accused priests. It counted 4,268 people who have claimed publicly or in lawsuits to have been abused by priests, though experts say there are surely many more who have remained silent. The survey provides a statistical framework for viewing the sexual abuse crisis against the modern history of the American Catholic Church. It found, for example, that most priests accused of abuse were ordained between the mid-1950's and the 1970's, a period of upheaval in the church, when men trained in the traditional authoritarian seminary system were sent out to serve in a rapidly changing church and social culture. Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:01:27 AM Church
Request to Drop Suits Draws Fire By ROBERT O'NEILL BOSTON -- A lawyer for alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse criticized a motion by the Boston Archdiocese to dismiss hundreds of lawsuits filed against the church. Roderick MacLeish, who represents hundreds of alleged victims, blasted the archdiocese's arguments that civil law does not apply to how religious organizations supervise their personnel. "Their position is that they have no accountability to anyone," MacLeish said Friday. The archdiocese has said the legal move was necessary to satisfy its insurance carriers in hopes at least a portion of any settlement costs, estimated at millions of dollars, will be covered. Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:51:42 AM Diocese
to discuss record handling By J.M. HIRSCH As criticism mounts about how the Roman Catholic Church has maintained and destroyed documents, the Diocese of Manchester is preparing to talk about how it handles record keeping. Tomorrow, church officials will respond to recent questions about the destruction of church documents, Patrick McGee, spokesman for the diocese, said yesterday. He also said that though the diocese has no formal policy governing records now, officials are working on one, and they hope to have it completed this year. He said tomorrow’s discussion will detail some of that work. Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:44:42 AM Church's
crimes must be punished Letters to the Editor 1/12/2003 AUL SHANNON seems to think that by bleating about an inquisition and alluding to a witchhunt that he can turn attention away from the Catholic Church's crimes (''Judging priests in a more just way,'' letter, Jan. 9). Shannon seems to forget that the church knew that these priests had assaulted children and did nothing to stop them.
Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:34:59 AM Many
nuns sexually abused, study finds By Betsy Taylor, Associated Press, 1/12/2003 T. LOUIS - Authors of a study that estimated about 40 percent of US Catholic nuns had experienced some form of sexual trauma say they have been overwhelmed with calls from victims and requests for more information since the findings were reported in a newspaper. The 1996 survey had appeared only in two religious journals, Review for Religious and Review of Religious Research, before the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote about it on its front page last week. Researchers at Saint Louis University said their findings weren't widely publicized at the request of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a Catholic religious women's organization. Several orders of nuns helped to fund the the nationwide study of about 1,100 nuns. Leadership director Sister Carole Shinnick wrote in an opinion-editorial piece that the conference discouraged publicity because it feared the results would be sensationalized, not as ''some cover-up.'' The piece has not been published but was issued as a statement. Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:32:18 AM A
cardinal's coverup The story of William O'Connell shows where the church's troubles really started By James O'Toole, 1/12/2003 BY NOW, THE STORY is all too familiar. A powerful cardinal cuts a wide swath in a predominantly Catholic city. Public officials defer to him, and anything he says on any topic makes news simply because he is the one who says it. He owes his position not to the support of the local Catholic community, but to powerful patrons in Rome, carefully cultivated over many years. The Vatican is his only real constituency. He is largely friendless among his own priests. He is equally remote from ordinary parishioners, most of whom respect but never grow to love him. And even as he wields considerable power, he also takes care to conceal a disturbing secret. Once the full story is revealed, his historical reputation is diminished. That may sound like the story of Cardinal Bernard Law, recently resigned as archbishop of Boston. But in fact it is a summary of the life of one of his predecessors, Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, who served from 1907 to 1944. Though he was originally from Lowell and had served in parishes in Boston and Medford, O'Connell was very much an outsider when he emerged as the surprise choice to lead local Catholics. The priests of the archdiocese actively wanted someone else for the job, but O'Connell used his connections in the Vatican to win the office for himself in the first such overt demonstration of personal ambition in American Catholic history. In the age of James Michael Curley and John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, O'Connell became a dominant figure in the region, unafraid to flex his political and social muscles on a broad array of concerns. Legislators and newspaper reporters learned to ask what "Number One" (as he was often called) or "Lake Street" (the location of his office and residence) thought of any important matter of public policy. In 1935, he single-handedly scuttled a bill to establish a state lottery, and in 1942 he marshaled his forces to defeat a referendum liberalizing Massachusetts' birth control laws. Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:29:36 AM Former priest tries to reconcile sexuality, beliefs By K.C. MYERS He spent decades in a seminary, trying to serve God and his community of fellow believers. "The good shepherds never tell their sheep they are destined to become his dinner nor that they are commodities destined to make the shepherd rich. "For the greatest part of my life, I sought to become the perfect sheep, submitting myself to sheering, to branding and to following the flock, convinced that therein lay my safety, my fulfillment and my identify." Thus Chauvette, 60, who is gay, begins his autobiography. Leaving the church in 1997, he now runs a collectibles shop in the Whaler's Wharf mall. Posted by Kathy Shaw 8:26:12 AM
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