IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Catherine Hornby in Rome

Wednesday February 08 2012

Church guidelines on how to root out paedophile priests and protect children need to be backed up by penalties for bishops who fail to implement them, Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins told a Vatican symposium on clerical abuse yesterday.

She said rules without sanctions were too easily ignored and cases were often swept under the carpet, allowing paedophiles to carry on molesting children.

The symposium is aimed at compelling bishops to create tough policies to protect children and root out paedophiles from the priesthood.

“I would hope that internally there could be some ecclesiastical penalty for a bishop who may not follow the guidelines,” the 65-year-old campaigner said at the gathering in Rome. “You obviously have civil law as well, but I am talking more on the church side.”

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ROME
Zenit

By Ann Schneible

ROME, FEB. 7, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Today’s session of the international symposium Toward Healing and Renewal focused largely on the psychological and pastoral aspects of the sex abuse crisis in the Church.

The opening presentation, which was delivered by Marie Collins, a victim of child sex abuse, and Sheila Hollins, a professor of psychiatry, was largely directed toward understanding the sex abuse crisis from the victim’s perspective. In a press conference following the speech, both speakers answered questions regarding some of the issues discussed.

“It was difficult for me,” admitted Collins, when asked about her decision to share her story, “but I felt that it was very important that the leadership of the Church — we have so many bishops from around the world here — that they hear a victim’s experience, and I felt for that reason that I should do it, and I’m very glad I did and I think the response was very good. There was actually one African bishop who spoke after the presentation and he felt that — beforehand he had not really given the issue a great deal of importance, but having heard us both speak, he had changed his mind and felt that this was something he really had to give a lot more attention to. So, I think it was important that what we both said was heard.”

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ROME
Catholic News Agency

By David Kerr

Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2012 / 06:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the Catholic Church’s leading experts on clerical abuse says he welcomes a significant drop in the number of cases being reported in the United States – but won’t rest until that figure reaches zero.

“The instance of new allegations have dropped precipitously, it’s a marked drop, which is great news, although we’re not going to stop till we’ve stopped it completely,” Monsignor Steve Rossetti, associate professor at the Catholic University of America, told CNA Feb 7.

Monsignor Rossetti was in Rome to address an international symposium on the issue of clerical abuse at the Jesuit-run Gregorian University. The Feb. 6 – 9 gathering has brought together representatives from over 140 bishops’ conferences and 30 religious orders worldwide.

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ROME
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service, Updated: Tuesday, February 7

VATICAN CITY — Bishops and religious leaders on Tuesday (Feb. 7) held an unprecedented service of repentance in Rome, seeking atonement for lapses in church management that led to the abuse of thousands of children by predatory priests.

“We implore forgiveness for those who have abused in various ways,” Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, said during the rite at the Church of St. Ignatius.

“This evil is within us and severely tarnishes our testimony,” he admitted, and said church leaders have at times “become an instrument of evil” toward those they were charged to protect.

The ceremony was organized as part of a Vatican-sponsored conference at Rome’s Gregorian University to help bishops meet a May deadline to craft voluntary “guidelines” to improve the church’s handling of abuse cases.

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CANADA
CBC News

A retired Ontario priest and convicted sex offender has been charged with indecently assaulting two Saskatoon boys more than 50 years ago.

William Hodgson Marshall, 89, is currently in custody in Kingston, Ont., after being sentenced last June to two years in prison for sexual assaults against boys dating back to the 1950s.

Marshall was a priest, basketball coach and mathematics teacher at St. Paul’s High School in Saskatoon between 1958 and 1961. The all-boys school, which was on the 400 block of 22nd St. E. downtown, closed in 1967.

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ROME
Catholic News Agency

By David Kerr

Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2012 / 05:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Irish woman who was abused by a priest in her youth told an international symposium on clerical abuse that Pope Benedict is a model of how to listen to victims.

“Listening to victims is one of the most important things, and it was something that was maybe not done enough, and the Pope is giving an example as to how it should be done,” Marie Collins said Feb. 7.

Collins, 65, was abused while a patient in a Dublin children’s hospital. She told journalists at the “Towards Healing and Renewal” symposium at the Pontifical Gregorian University that she was particularly impressed by the Pope’s numerous meetings with victims during his apostolic visits abroad.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By ANDY NEWMAN

In 2002, at the height of the outcry over the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests, the Archbishop of New York, Edward M. Egan, issued a letter to be read at Mass. In it, he offered an apology about the church’s handling of sex-abuse cases in New York and in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was previously posted.

“It is clear that today we have a much better understanding of this problem,” he wrote. “If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.”

Now, 10 years later and in retirement, Cardinal Egan has taken back his apology.

In an interview in the February issue of Connecticut magazine, a surprisingly frank Cardinal Egan said of the apology, “I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

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ROME
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

THE HOLY See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has had to deal with more than 4,000 cases of sexual abuse of minors in the past decade, according to its prefect, US Cardinal William Levada.

He was speaking at a symposium in Rome, “Towards Healing and Renewal”, which opened yesterday and was addressed by Irish clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins.

Cardinal Levada told the symposium, being held over three days in the Pontifical Gregorian University, that the number of cases of sexual abuse of minors reported to the CDF in the past decade had revealed, on the one hand, the inadequacy of “an exclusively canonical response to this tragedy and, on the other, the necessity of a truly multifaceted response …”

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MISSOURI
KMOX

ST. LOUIS–(KMOX)–The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is accusing Chaminade of taking too long to get the word out about two brothers recently accused of sexual misconduct in the 1970s.

The Marianist Order, which runs Chaminade, has sent out a letter to some 1600 alumni about allegations of abuse involving Brother John Woulfe and Louis Meinhardt — both of whom are now dead.

SNAP’s David Clohessy claims these allegations were well known for some time.

“We’ve talked to at least half a dozen men who told us that Father Meinhardt molested them,” Clohessy said, “And most of them told us that they reported it to Chaminade officials.”

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MISSOURI
KSDK

Written by
Brandie Piper

By Mike Rush

St. Louis (KSDK) – We have new information tonight involving allegations of sex abuse dating back to the 1970s at Chaminade College Preparatory.

The head of the Marianists says the same graduate who came to him a few months ago, had reached out in years past, and he says there were other accusations of abuse by others against the two former teachers in question.

Father Martin Solma says the complaints came in about these men at least eight or nine years ago. While he says they may not have been handled correctly then, the father, who’s been at the helm for less than two years, says he’ll do the right thing now.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

MILWAUKEE — A support group for victims of priest abuse is speaking out against plans to ask for the dismissal of several claims against local clergymen.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, held a news conference Tuesday.

The group said more than 550 victims came forward to file claims of sex abuse over the last nine months.

Now, there are reports that the attorneys for the archdiocese plan to ask a judge to dismiss 95 percent of those claims during a hearing Thursday.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 07, 2012 NCR Today

ROME — In a first of its kind for Rome, the Vatican’s top official for bishops tonight led a liturgy of penance to ask forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children by priests, and for church leaders who covered up that abuse.

The service included an Irish victim of clerical abuse, who, in an apparent reference both to abusers and their protectors, asked God to “forgive them.”

Held tonight at Rome’s Church of St. Igantius, the liturgy was presided over by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who serves as Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. His participation was seen as significant, because it implicitly acknowledged that the church’s shortcomings are not limited to priests who committed abuse, but also include bishops who failed to act.

The service was part of a four-day Vatican summit on the sexual abuse crisis titled “Towards Healing and Renewal.” The event brings together roughly 100 bishops and religious superiors from around the world, ahead of a May deadline for bishops’ conferences to submit their policies on fighting abuse for Vatican review.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

The following statement was read by Fr. Jim Connell, Vice Chancellor of the Milwaukee Archdiocese and victim advocate in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse at SNAP’s press conference discussing the recent court filing by the archdiocese of Milwaukee which seeks to dismiss 95% of the claims filed by victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has gone to great efforts to invite into the bankruptcy process the victims / survivors of sexual abuse “by any clergy member, teacher, deacon, employee, volunteer, or other person connected with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee”, as was stated on the public postings about filing a claim before the February 1, 2012 “bar date”. But neither the public postings nor the Abuse Survivor Proof of Claim form stated any eligibility restrictions, such as statute of limitations, prior settlement agreements, or factors of archdiocesan employment. Rather, both the public postings and the proof of claim form invited participation in a way that acknowledged financial awareness, while also providing a gesture that pursues truth, justice and healing. For many people, hope was found in the midst of a financial maneuver.

It could be, therefore, that survivors of sexual abuse interpreted the process as one in which the Catholic Church was wanting do what is right and good, even if not required by law. The gesture by the Archdiocese could have been seen to mean that the Church was willing to remedy abuse cases even if beyond the statue of limitations (truly, it’s difficult for some survivors to speak up promptly), or even if there was a prior settlement (maybe it wasn’t really fair), or even if the abuse was by a religious order priest (after all, they can’t serve in the Archdiocese without the permission – faculty – of the Archbishop). Indeed, the bankruptcy claims process seemed inviting, not restrictive.

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MISSOURI
Patch

By Gregg Palermo

Outspoken advocates for victims of child sex abuse continued to pressure the religious order in charge of Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, one day after the order released a statement announing that it found allegations of sexual abuse by two now-deceased teachers there as credible.

Representatives with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, held a Tuesday morning press conference in front of the Central West End Provincial Headquarters for the Marianist order.

“It’s a belated and begrudging, and very, very partial bare-minimum outreach effort that Marianists did obviously because they were prodded into doing so,” said SNAP’s David Clohessy. Clohessy has suggested that a letter which went out to Chaminade students who attended the school at the time the two men who were identified by the Marianist order should have gone out to all Marianist schools and all Catholic schools in the St. Louis area. He also said victims should have been encouraged to contact law enforcement.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Canadian Business

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A group representing victims of clergy abuse is asking the Milwaukee Catholic archdiocese to withdraw motions to dismiss some of the nearly 570 restitution claims in its bankruptcy case.

The archdiocese has filed motions in three cases asking they be dismissed because they were either filed beyond the statute of limitations, involved someone who was not an archdiocese employee or involved a victim who already received a settlement. A hearing is set for Thursday.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests estimates the archdiocese’s arguments could ultimately get 95 percent of the cases dismissed. They claim the archdiocese misled victims because it never mentioned eligibility restrictions.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

4:29 pm, February 7, 2012, by Chip Brewster

MILWAUKEE — More than 550 reports of child sex crimes have been filed against the Milwaukee Archdiocese since early 2011. But now, the Archdiocese wants roughly 520 of those claims thrown out.

“While we were bound under the bankruptcy rules to cast a wide net for potential claimants, it is the court that determines which individual claims are eligible for financial compensation,” said Julie Wolf, Archdiocese spokesperson.

The Archdiocese is not arguing against the validity of the reports themselves. They church contends claims beyond the statute of limitations or which have already received settlements should not be considered.

Officials also believe alleged abuse at the hands of priests or church officials not actually employed by the diocese itself should be dismissed.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

The testimony of Marie Collins, from Ireland, who was abused for 50 years by a hospital chaplain. Psychiatrists say “If no one believes her, she will never heal”

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The second day of the international Symposium on the prevention of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy entitled “Towards Healing and Renewal” and organised by the Pontifical Gregorian University, concluded with a penitential vigil in the church of Saint Ignatius.

The one hundred plus bishops and 30 superiors representing religious orders who took part in the conference, will participate in the “penitential vigil” , during which seven representatives of different church groups will ask God and victims for forgiveness, for the sins committed and their failure to punish and prevent these offences.

During the liturgy, a “meaningful, clear and explicit” text will be read out, said Fr. Hans Zollner, President of the Symposium’s organizing committee. A victim will then ask God for the strength to forgive.

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: February 7, 2012

ROME — At an international conference backed by the Vatican to discuss the prevention of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy, a psychologist said Tuesday that the church should listen to victims rather than focus their attention on priests accused of wrongdoing.

The psychologist, Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, an advocate for the prevention of child abuse, said about 95 percent of allegations were well founded.

“Child molesters must know that they have no safe sanctuary in our church,” he said in prepared remarks.

Monsignor Rossetti said he believed that church leaders — usually called on to deal with their own priests — should not handle such cases by themselves, but should consult legal and criminal experts to conduct investigations and advise bishops. All too often, offending priests have manipulated and lied to their superiors, he said. …

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org , said the conference was intended to “change the subject and look like progress.”

“The Vatican is afraid, and it has reason to be,” he said, in light of recent charges against the church, including a complaint filed against the Vatican with the International Criminal Court.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:31 p.m. EST, February 7, 2012
WATERBURY—
A psychiatric expert called to testify Tuesday in Superior Court by the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford disputed an earlier diagnosis that an adolescent victim of sexual abuse by a priest would likely suffer from mental health problems for the rest of his life.

Dr. J. Alexander Bodkin testified that the most significant mental disorder suffered by the victim — depression — was not the result of the sexual abuse he experienced in the early 1980s, but is the result of stress caused 26 years later by litigation associated with the abuse.

The victim, a former altar boy identified in legal papers as Jacob Doe, claims in a lawsuit against the church that he was sexually abused by a priest from 1981 to 1983 and that the church allowed the abuse to take place because it knew the priest had molested other boys two years earlier.

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ROME
Press TV (Iran)

The Roman Catholic Church is holding its first summit in Rome aimed at discussing ways to confront a rise in the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The Vatican’s previous stance towards the issue had been one in support of the priests involved in the abuse cases.

Mounting pressure on the Roman Church has led it to focus on protecting the victims.

”Healing for victims must be of paramount concern in the Christian community, and it must go hand in hand with a profound renewal of the church at every level,” Pope Benedict XVI said.

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ROME
Voice of America

Roman Catholic leaders are being told the time has come to eliminate church sanctioned safe-havens for clergy accused of sexually abusing children.

Psychologists and a victim of a pedophile priest spoke Tuesday at a closed-door, church sponsored symposium calling on the Catholic Church to listen to victims instead of its own priests.

Monsignor Stephen Rossetti told the conference the church could prevent many of concerns related to child sexual abuse cases if it would adopt a victim-first approach. He said that one change would tell pedophile priests, “they have no safe refuge in your society.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 07, 2012

We are clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

We are here today about two child predators – Brother Louis Meinhardt and Brother John Woulfe. Woulfe has been publicly exposed before. Meinhardt has not. Both are Marianists.

The Marianists run three St. Louis area Catholic schools: Chaminade College Prep, St. John Vianney High School, and St. Mary’s High School. Some Marianists also worked at McBride High School years ago.

Brother Meinhardt is the seventh local Marianists who has been publicly accused of sexual abuse. The others are: Fr. William Christensen, Fr. Robert R. Osborne, Brother William Mueller, Fr. Daniel A. Triulzi, Brother Tony Pistone and Brother Woulfe.

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

DARIO THUBURN, Agence France Presse February 8, 2012

VATICAN CITY – Catholic leaders asked God for forgiveness for the crimes of paedophile priests at a church service on Tuesday after an Irish victim said the Vatican should be held accountable for destroying lives.

The heads of seven religious orders intoned penitential prayers in a church in Rome on the sidelines of a first-ever Vatican summit to look at ways of rooting out child abuse from the Church after thousands of scandals.

“We have sinned. We did not know how to listen to the pain of so many innocent ones,” one of the bishops taking part in the service said.

“We are aware that our acts of reparation can never erase the unjust things we have done or soothe the searing wound of our consciousness,” he said.

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ROME
Local 10

(CNN) –
An Irish woman who detailed her own harrowing experience of child sexual abuse at the hands of a priest spoke out during a Vatican symposium on Tuesday, telling church officials that an apology was not enough.

“Those fingers that would abuse my body the night before were the next morning holding and offering me the sacred host,” Marie Collins told an audience at Gregorian University in Rome. “The hands that held the camera to photograph my exposed body, in the light of day were holding a prayer book when he came to hear my confession.”

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MISSOURI
St. Joseph Post

The chairman of a Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese review board dealing with sex abuse allegations will resign.

Jim Caccamo’s resignation date was announced as February 22nd, however, he has stated he will remain on the board until a replacement is found.

He heads the Independent Review Board that has seen a priest charged with child pornography charges and Bishop Robert Finn’s indictment for allegedly failing to report suspected child abuse.

The board assesses child sexual abuse allegations and makes recommendations to the bishop on how they should be handled.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Network for Church Monitoring

The first time Declan had any dealings with Companies House – the government body charged with registering all companies in the UK, including non-profits – he was told that Network of those Abused by Church was an “offensive company name” (see blog of 17 January 2011 Companies House refuses to register NAC: “Offensive company name”). We have since assumed that the high profile US organisation Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) would be told by Companies House to change their name if they want the company incorporated in the UK.

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MARYLAND
Washington Examiner

The former pastor of a Montgomery County church pleaded to charges that he sexually abused a young girl, prosecutors said.

Seventy-four-year-old Joe Ivey pleaded Tuesday to second-degree sex offense with a 10-year-old girl.

Frederick County prosecutors said Ivey, who resigned as senior pastor of the Barnesville Baptist Church after he arrest in September, had sexual contact with the girl from 2009 to December 2010. She was 10 and 11 years old at the time.

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CANADA
Global Saskatoon

David Giles, Global Saskatoon : Tuesday, February 07, 2012

A former Saskatoon priest and teacher has been charged after two separate incidents decades ago.

William Hodgson Marshall, 89, is facing two counts of indecent assault that are alleged to have occurred between January 1, 1959 and December 31, 1960.

The two victims, now 66, were 14-years-old at the time of the alleged assaults.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 02/7/2012

SASKATOON – An 89-year-old Catholic priest and former teacher is facing sex-related charges dating back more than 50 years.

Police in Saskatoon say two separate encounters allegedly occurred in 1959 and 1960 and involved two 14-year-old teenagers.

The accused was a priest and teacher at the high school the teens attended.

William Hodgson Marshall is charged with two counts of indecent assault.

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CANADA
The Star-Phoenix

William Hodgson Marshall, a former priest and teacher at an all-boys Catholic institution in downtown Saskatoon more than five decades ago, is facing multiple charges in connection with incidents involving teen boys in 1959 and 1960.

Marshall, 89, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault. He is curently in custody in Kingston, Ont., serving a sentence after being convicted last year of sexually assaulting 16 boys and one girl over a span of three decades while working in Ontario. The Ontario Crown is arranging for Marshall to make a court appearance in Ontario to face the charges.

In July 2011, Saskatoon police received two separate reports alleging assaults took place between Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1959 and Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1960. The alleged victims, now 66 years old, were 14 at the time. Marshall was a priest and teacher at St. Paul’s High School, located then in the 400 block of 22nd Street East.

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CANADA
Walkerton Herald-Times

February 7, 2012
Lindsey Kuglin

A former Walkerton clergyman is facing a number of sex-related charges.

A priest at St. Thomas Anglican Church from 1976-1981, Rev. George Ferris’ is facing charges of sexual assault, gross indecency, and sexual exploitation for offences that allegedly took place between 1981-1989.

The alleged offences took place in Brant County, which is south of Kitchener.

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ROME
Rome Reports

[with video]

February 6, 2012. (Romereports.com) The pope has written to conference participants on how to deal with cases of sexual abuse and asked them to put first the needs of abuse victims.

It’s the key point of the conference “Towards Healing and Renewal”, organized by the Gregorian University in Rome, and actively supported by the Vatican.

The audience will include bishops from 110 episcopal conferences and more than 30 superiors of religious orders. The goal is to teach them how to help victims of abuse and explain what to do with priests and religious who commit these crimes.

Hans Zollner
President, Congress “Towards Healing and Renewal”
“You have all come to give a clear signal of the will and the duty of the Church to firmly change the way to behave when faced against evil, sin and the crime of sexual abuse within the Church and in society.”

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DALLAS (TX)
Watch Keep

Sgt. Byron Fassett in the Dallas police department child exploitation unit is ready to take your call if you were abused by John Langworthy during his time in Dallas while on staff at Prestonwood Baptist Church in the mid to late 1980s or if you have information about these crimes. Langworthy was fired in the summer of 1989 by Prestonwood for the known sexual abuse of several boys. The staff heard directly from victims but failed to report the abuse to the police as required by mandatory reporting laws enacted in TX in 1971. Please call Byron at 214-671-4200. I have spoken with Byron. If you need to leave him a message, please do. He will call you back.

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DALLAS (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 07, 2012

We applaud Cameron Greer for courageously reporting the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of his pastor. We are grateful he’s taking legal action to protect others and we are impressed by the courage he’s showing by discussing his experiences publicly. Abuse and cover up happen over and over again because many church members can’t summon the strength to speak out and because many church officials can’t summon the courage to disclosed crimes. Greer should be commended for acting responsibly to expose wrongdoing and safeguard others.

We hope Methodist officials – in Dallas and in Wichita (where Pastor Gordon also worked) will use their resources to seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered this clergyman’s’ crimes. We hope anyone with information or suspicions of misdeeds will contact law enforcement immediately. When victims, witnesses and whistleblowers speak up, there’s at least a chance for healing, justice and prevention. When they stay silent, however, nothing changes and kids remain at risk.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 07, 2012

Yesterday, SD lawmakers refused to support a bill that would have made kids safer from child sexual predators. Shame on them.

South Dakota remains the only state in the union to have gone backwards in terms of child safety in the last decade.

Besides jail, two things keep kids safe from child predators – publicly exposing predators and deterring others from concealing their crimes. There’s no better way to do this than by reforming archaic, arbitrary, predator-friendly laws like the statute of limitations.

Victims of these horrific crimes need time to understand, cope with and report these horrific crimes. They are often trapped in cycles of guilt, depression, substance abuse and other destructive behaviors. When they finally muster the courage to step forward, they find that the statute has run and the predator is free to prey

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By David Kerr

Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2012 / 11:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI called upon bishops to respond in a “Christ-like” manner to clerical abuse as part of a “profound renewal” of the Church.

His Feb. 6 comments marked the opening of an international symposium in Rome to discuss the issue. The Pope’s wishes were expressed in a communiqué from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.

“He (the Pope) asks the Lord that, through your deliberations, many bishops and religious superiors throughout the world may be helped to respond in a truly Christ-like manner to the tragedy of child abuse,” the statement said.

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NEVADA
Reno Gazette-Journal

LAS VEGAS — A former Las Vegas-area pastor who was nabbed in Mexico after he disappeared with child sex assault charges pending in Nevada is due to face a judge in Henderson.

Court records show that 55-year-old Otis Holland was scheduled for a felony appearance today in Henderson Justice Court.

The former United Faith Church pastor was arrested Jan. 25, in Tijuana, Mexico.

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ROME
Reuters

By Catherine Hornby

ROME | Tue Feb 7, 2012

(Reuters) – An Irish victim of clerical abuse said Tuesday that Catholic Church guidelines on how to root out pedophile priests and protect children needed to be backed up by penalties for bishops who fail to implement them.

Speaking at a major conference in Rome on the sex abuse crisis, Marie Collins said rules without sanctions were too easily ignored and cases were often swept under the carpet, allowing pedophiles to carry on molesting children.

“I would hope that internally there could be some ecclesiastical penalty for a bishop who may not follow the guidelines,” the 65-year-old campaigner for abuse survivors told reporters during the conference.

“You obviously have civil law as well, but I am talking more on the church side.”

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

One of America’s leading experts on the Catholic abuse crisis effectively told church leaders from different parts of the world today that if they think sexual abuse is not a problem in their neighborhood, they’re kidding themselves.

“Church leaders around the world began by saying, ‘This is only an American problem’,” Monsignor Stephen Rossetti told a Vatican symposium this morning. “Then, as more cases surfaced in other countries, they said, ‘This is an English speaking problem.’ Then, as the circle of abuse cases widened, they expanded it to: ‘This is a Western problem.’ The boundaries were pushed back farther and farther.”

“Each time, church leaders said, in effect, ‘It doesn’t happen here’,” Rossetti said.

Rossetti, former director of the St. Luke’s Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, which treats abuser priests, has written widely on the crisis. He said that in reality, all the available data, based on studies by secular experts, concur that child abuse occurs at the same high rates across the various continents.

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ROME
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

The urgent need to change the culture within the Church to ensure zero tolerance of all sexual abuse: that was the starkly clear message that emerged from the Tuesday morning session of the conference on ‘Healing and Renewal’, going on behind closed doors at Rome’s Gregorian University. Bishops or their representatives from over a hundred countries are attending the four day meeting which also includes a penitential liturgy and the launch of a German based centre for child protection to provide resources for church leaders across the globe. Philippa Hitchen reports…

Sometimes shock tactics are needed to shake people out of denial, complacency or the refusal to confront a particularly painful problem. That’s what participants at this conference got on Tuesday as they heard a middle aged Irish victim of abuse describe in detail how her experience led to decades of despair, depression and deep loss of trust in the Church. As a 13 year old girl, Marie Collins was abused by a hospital chaplain, who was then protected by his archbishop and went on to abuse and rape other children over a period of 30 years. Though she was sickened by his actions, Marie says she herself felt guilty and was unable to tell anyone about what he was doing. The fact that he was a priest simply added to the confusion in her young mind: “those fingers that would abuse my body the night before were the next morning offering me the sacred host” she told the conference, adding that “my abusers’ assertion that he was and priest and could do no wrong rang true with me”.

Speaking alongside Marie at that morning session was psychiatry professor Sheila Hollins, who recently accompanied British cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor on his visitation to hear victims of sexual abuse in the Irish diocese of Armagh. She spoke of the devastating psychological damage suffered by victims who feel dirty, ashamed, unable to enjoy normal relationships and often go on to either abuse others or seek refuge in alcohol or drug abuse. Those mental health problems are simply made worse if their story is then not believed or played down, as many bishops in the past have done. Both women stressed the vital importance of listening to survivors stories and providing them with ongoing psychiatric and spiritual support

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CONNECTICUT
The Associated Press

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan is facing criticism from representatives of clergy sexual abuse victims for a recent interview in which he said he regretted apologizing for the priest abuse scandal in 2002 when he was bishop of Bridgeport.

In the interview with Connecticut Magazine, Egan says “I don’t think we did anything wrong” in handling abuse cases. He says he was not obligated to report abuse claims and maintained he inherited the cases from his predecessor and did not have any cases on his watch.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

Bishop Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Illinois, is the chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People. He’s attending the four-day “Towards Healing and Renewal” symposium as the official delegate of the U.S. bishops, and this morning he sat down with an exclusive interview with NCR.

The following is a transcript of the interview.

* * *
This morning you heard an Irish victim, Marie Collins, describe how her experiences of not being taken seriously led to what she called a “final death of respect” for church authorities. Can you understand that reaction?

Oh, I can certainly understand that reaction. I’ve not been a victim, so I can’t place myself in her position, but anybody who has been hurt and then not listened to is going to experience further hurt.

Are you confident that someone who comes forward today will be received differently?

I would certainly hope that their experience today would be fundamentally different. Sometimes, though, the level of pain and anger is such that it creates a wall that makes dialogue difficult. That’s nobody’s fault, it’s just a reality. Those of us who are charged with listening to and respecting victims have to find a way to get around that wall. It’s a pastoral obligation.

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MISSOURI
Fox 2

Vera Culley
Web Producer

8:29 a.m. CST, February 7, 2012
CENTRAL WEST END (KTVI – FOX2now.com)—
A news conference is planned for Tuesday morning after several Chaminade graduates claim they were verbally and sexually abused at the College prep school. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is holding the news conference at 11 a.m. in the Central West End.

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KENYA
allAfrica

Daily Nation

By Muthende Nduucu, 7 February 2012

Opinion

For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way, you have caused many to tumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of the law.

The words above were spoken thousands of years back by prophet Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament, lamenting about priests’ behaviour towards the law. Now, as then, Malachi’s words ring true if recent controversies around the Church are anything to go by.

For instance, a case is headed to the International Criminal Court in the Hague seeking to “take action and prosecute the Pope for direct and superior responsibility for the crimes against humanity of rape and other sexual violence committed around the world.”

A group calling itself The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which is headed by lawyer Pam Spees, says the Pope and three high-ranking Vatican officials, all Cardinals, are “responsible for rape and other sexual violence, and for the physical torture of victims around the world both through command responsibility and direct cover-up of crimes”.

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ITALIA
IVG

Savona. Dopo la notizia dell’accordo per chiudere con un patteggiamento (ad un anno di reclusione) la vicenda giudiziaria che vede coinvolto il sacerdote Don Nello Giraudo per l’accusa di pedofilia, la Rete L’Abuso chiede la sospensione della nomina a Cardinale per Domenico Calcagno e il Processo Canonico per i 4 Vescovi savonesi.

I fatti per i quali, se ci sarà anche il via libera del gip del tribunale di Savona, il prete savonese dovrebbe patteggiare risalgono al 2005 quando avrebbe molestato un giovane scout. Un episodio, che a differenza degli altri (risalenti a decine di anni fa) per i quali Don Nello è stato denunciato, non è andato in prescrizione.

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ROME
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Psychologists told bishops from around the world Tuesday that priests who rape and molest children usually lie when confronted with an accusation, and that the church should listen to victims since they usually tell the truth and need to be believed in order to heal.

The messages were delivered at a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse that is aimed at compelling bishops to create tough policies to protect children and root out pedophiles from the priesthood.

Survivors of clerical abuse have long said that when they summoned the courage to denounce their abuser to church leaders, bishops often dismissed their accusation and instead accepted the word of their priests, whom bishops consider their brothers and sons in the priesthood.

That pattern led to decades in which bishops shuffled pedophiles from parish to parish, while victims were left to feel like they were to blame for the abuse.

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MISSOURI
KSDK

[with video]

Written by
Brandie Piper

St. Louis County (KSDK) – There are allegations of sexual abuse surrounding two former teachers of Chaminade College Preparatory in St. Louis County.

A graduate of the Marianist-sponsored school came forward a few months ago.

He claims he was sexually abused by Brother Louis Mainhardt and Brother John Woulfe in the 1970s. Both brothers have passed away.

More than 16,000 letters went out last month to Chaminade alums asking any more victims to come forward.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry Telegraph

A ROMAN Catholic priest who used his “revered” status to wage an 18-year campaign of abuse against vulnerable boys is facing a lengthy jail term after being convicted of 21 sexual offences.

Alexander Bede Walsh, who targeted eight victims in Coventry, Staffordshire and Warwickshire between 1975 and 1993, was found guilty of two serious sexual offences and 19 counts of indecent assault by a jury at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former Roman Catholic priest from Staffordshire has been warned he faces a long prison sentence after being convicted of 21 counts of child abuse.

Alexander Bede Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, carried out the abuse while working at children’s homes and churches between the 1970s and 1990s.

Walsh was convicted two serious sexual offences and 19 counts of indecent assault at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Sentencing was adjourned but Walsh, 58, was warned to expect a long sentence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The first victim of a former Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing boys over 20 years says he pities him and hopes he gets help.

Alexander Bede Walsh, 58, abused eight youngsters in Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Coventry from 1975 to 1994. He denied 27 offences.

Michael Clifford, from Birmingham, said he was abused by Walsh as a young boy on one occasion in the mid-70s at the Catholic-run Father Hudson’s home in Coleshill, Warwickshire.

He has waived his anonymity to talk about his encounter with Walsh, which took place in a toilet and washroom area.

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ROME
RTE News

Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins has addressed a symposium in Rome on the crisis over clerical sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

Speaking to over 100 bishops and 40 religious superiors, Mrs Collins spoke in graphic terms of the abuse she suffered as a 13-year-old in a hospital at the hands of a paedophile priest, and the subsequent cover up.

She was the opening speaker at a four-day symposium on child sexual abuse in the church, which has been seen as the most robust response by the Vatican to date on getting to grips with the crisis which has swept the church.

Alongside leading psychologist Baroness Sheila Hollins, Mrs Collins spoke in detail about the abuse and the frustrations, depression and despair she suffered in later life both as a result of the original trauma and the refusal by the Irish hierarchy to take her complaints seriously.

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VATICAN CITY
The Province (Canada)

VATICAN CITY – Shunned by the Catholic Church for decades after being violated by a priest when she was just 13 years old, Irish victim Marie Collins described her traumatic experience at a Vatican summit.

“I had just turned 13 and was at my most vulnerable, a sick child in hospital, when a priest sexually assaulted me,” Collins said on Tuesday.

She had just been confirmed a Catholic when the young priest – a couple of years out of the seminary but “already a skilled child molester” – began visiting her in the evenings while she lay in a hospital bed in Dublin.

“When he began to sexually interfere with me, pretending at first, he was being playful, I was shocked and resisted, telling him to stop. He did not stop,” she said in front of the conference of bishops and cardinals.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY MARLON A. WALKER • mwalker@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8104

Several Chaminade College Preparatory graduates have come forward alleging that they were subjected to verbal and sexual abuse by two Marianists more than three decades ago, a leader of the Marianists said Monday.

The Rev. Martin Solma, provincial for the U.S. Marianists, said a male graduate came forward several months ago saying he had been sexually abused by the Revs. Louis Meinhardt and John Woulfe while at the school in the 1970s.

Meinhardt, who worked at the school from 1958 to 1982, died in 1990. Woulfe left the order in 1977 after nine years at the school. He died in 2005.

At the victim’s request, letters were mailed to 1,600 former students who had graduated while the men worked at the school.

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MISSOURI
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 07, 2012

ST. LOUIS — Several graduates of a St. Louis County college prep school are alleging they were abused by two teachers decades ago.

The students say they suffered verbal and sexual abuse in the 1970s at Chaminade College Preparatory School, which is sponsored by the Marianists.

The Rev. Martin Solma, provincial for the U.S. Marianists, said Monday that a male graduate made the first allegations several months ago against the Revs. Louis Meinhardt and John Woulfe. Both men died years ago.

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GEORGIA
WSB

By Mike Petchenik

ROSWELL, Ga. —

Roswell police are investigating if lacerations on a 4-year-old girl’s chest are linked to a religious ritual or child abuse.

Last week, the director of Children’s First Learning on Elkins Road called police after finding the cuts on the child, a police report said.

The girl’s parents told police that the cuts were part of a religious ritual.

Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik went to the girl’s apartment off Greenhouse Drive and talked to a woman who said she actually witnessed the ritual that she contends is part of the Santeria religion.

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MISSOURI
Patch

By Gregg Palermo

Just over two weeks after reaching out to more than 1600 students who attended Chaminade College Preparatory School about allegations of sexual abuse at the school, the order which runs the Creve Coeur school announced Monday that it believed those allegations to be credible.

In a statement, Reverend Martin Solma, a Marianist Provincial, said he met recently with a former Chaminade student from the 1970s to discuss the allegations. That man also asked that the order contact students who attended the school at the same time as the two fomer teachers, both of whom are now deceased. Solma’s statement said 15 alums reported “experiencing or witnessing abusive behavior, sexual as well as other abusive behavors.”

One of those accused died in 1990, the other left the Marianist order in 1977 and has also died, according to the statement.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Two days after the publication of the communiqué that rejected the accusations made by the Nuncio to the USA, the Vatican’s daily broadsheet describes the meeting that took place in the White House

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

Anyone flicking through the pages of last Saturday’s issue of L’Osservatore Romano will have seen the published contents of a communiqué signed by two cardinals and two bishops – the new and former administration of the Vatican Governorate – in which the accusations of corruption contained in the letters sent by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to the Pope and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, were rejected as groundless. The letters had been discussed on the Italian television programme Gli Intoccabili (“The Untouchables”) broadcast on LA7. Two days later, at the earliest possible opportunity (L’Osservatore Romano comes out on Saturday afternoon and is dated Sunday, so the following issue comes out on Monday afternoon), the Vatican’s daily broadsheet published an article that could be read as an attempt to stress, in a non explicit way, that the communiqué has not changed anything and that the Nuncio to the United States still has the trust of his superiors.

The text in question is the brief summary customarily written at the beginning of the mission of the new papal representative to the United States. Texts such as this are usually sent to the Vatican newspaper by the Secretary of State who writes them. It can take several days, after the Letters of Credence are presented, for said texts to be published. Viganò, the former Secretary General of the Governorate, had met with bishops and America’s political leadership as the Pope’s representative, on 16 November 2011. The article mentions that the following day, the Episcopate’s plenary assembly took place in Baltimore and that Viganò “had wanted to give the letter of recommendation given o him by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the Archbishop of New York and President of the American Episcopal Conference, Mgr. Timothy Dolan.”

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ROME
Vatican Insider

Interview with the Auxiliary bishop of Papantla (Mexico) attending the symposium against paedophilia at the Gregorian University

Andrés Beltramo Álvarez

Healthy and responsible seminarists, this has to be the objective of anyone forming future Catholic priests. This in not only for the good of the Church, but a preventive measure against the calamity that is paedophilia together with other psychological deviations that may affect some clerics. Jorge Patrón Wong, expert of priestly education is sure of this. But can such goal be reached? He explained to the Vatican Insider how it could be done.

The Auxiliary bishop of Papantla (Mexico) has been elected as one of the speakers in the Symposium “Towards healing and renovation”, which will take place at the Pontifical Gregorian University from the 6th to the 9th of February. This is a symposium for the representatives of the Episcopal Conferences and the Father-Superiors of religious orders worldwide. The meet has one main aim, to help put in place national schemes to fight paedophilia within the clergy.

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TEXAS
NewsWest 9

by Anayeli Ruiz
NewsWest 9
ANDREWS- An Andrews priest is under the microscope and it all revolves around financial irregularities. The problems came to light after an audit was done in the parish.

Father Joey Faylona was the Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Andrews but now he’s under the microscope. The parish was in the process of changing pastors and they did a financial audit for the parish.

This allows the outgoing pastor to review his overall performance in the parish during his tenure and gives the incoming pastor an in-depth look at the pastoral and financial state of the parish to which he is being assigned.

The audit by the Diocese turned up some financial irregularities. That’s according to a letter that was sent to NewsWest 9 by the Bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo. The diocese found unauthorized financial advances in parish funds for personal expenses.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Barry Duggan and Craig Hughes

Tuesday February 07 2012

CHARLIE Bird has said RTE has been enormously damaged by the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ documentary which defamed a Galway priest.

Addressing journalism students at the University of Limerick, the long-serving RTE reporter said the documentary had been a huge jolt for everybody working at the state broadcaster.

Last year, in a programme entitled ‘Mission to Prey’, RTE falsely stated that Fr Kevin Reynolds had raped a Kenyan woman and fathered a child by her while working as a missionary.

Subsequently, the state broadcaster agreed to settle a High Court action taken by Fr Reynolds.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

PETER COLLINS

07 Feb, 2012

A NETWORK of Catholic priests not afraid to challenge Vatican edicts will hold their national convention in Warrnambool in July.

More than 160 members of the National Council of Priests of Australia will come from across the country for a week of brainstorming and socialising in the heartland of Irish Catholic heritage.

Discussion topics are likely to include marriage, abuse scandals and a controversial new liturgy being introduced through parishes.

The membership includes prominent Melbourne media identity Fr Bob Maguire and a former Anglican who is now a married Catholic priest.

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CHILE
Terra

CURICÓ.- El cierre de la investigación judicial en contra del sacerdote Francisco Cartes solicitó la defensa del religioso acusado de cometer abusos sexuales en contra de un acólito de 16 años, en Curicó.

Los abogados de Cartes sostienen que las diligencias encargadas ya están agotadas y que ninguno de los antecedentes allegados al proceso acreditan que el cura abusó del menor. Asimismo, sostienen que existen denuncias en contra de la supuesta víctima por hostigamiento, amenazas y daños a testigos claves de la investigación.

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VATICAN CITY
Sky News (Australia)

The Pope has called for a major renewal of the Catholic Church as the Vatican began a summit on preventing child abuse.

‘Healing for victims must be of paramount concern in the Christian community, and it must go hand in hand with a profound renewal of the church at every level,’ the Pope was quoted as saying in a Vatican statement.

In a message to participants at the conference, the Pope also called for ‘a vigorous culture of effective safeguarding and victim support’ and said every effort should be made to help children’s human and spiritual growth.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Jeanette DeForge, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – A Hampden Superior Court judge declined to order protesters of Mater Dolorosa Church to leave the Holyoke building, saying the separation of church and state denies him that authority.

While protesters celebrated the decision – even though three of their own counterclaims were denied – officials for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said they are considering an appeal.

Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty II said there was a flaw in the argument of the diocese that said the case is a simple question of building ownership.

“The law of trespass necessarily requires an examination of whether the alleged trespasser possesses a right of entry,” Moriarty wrote in his explanation, saying that decision is a matter of canon law.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

A River Forest man who took in dozens of foster children and formerly headed Chicago Catholic Publications was ordered held in lieu of a $50 million cash bond Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting two girls.

Robert L. Gaskill, 63, molested the minors over a period between 1996 to 2009, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Gaskill, who was arrested at his home Thursday, has operated a foster care service with his wife in their three-story frame home, as well as a foster care support system called Tapestry Chicago, officials said.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

After promising “all” victims restitution in federal court Achdiocese will ask judge at Thursday hearing to throw out 95% of the 550 plus victim claims filed

Whether or not a claimant was raped or sexually assaulted by a cleric “does not matter”, according to Archdiocese

If church lawyers are successful dozens of newly identified offenders, depositions of top church officials, and tens of thousands of pages of abuse documents will likely remain secret

Sex abuse crisis will “deepen” and remain “totally unresolved” in Archdiocese, leaving children at risk, victims and advocates say

WHAT
Survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, joined by Fr. James Connell, current Vice Chancellor of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, will hold a sidewalk press conference discussing the newest strategy being employed by church lawyers to block the examination and release of yet more evidence and documentation concerning the widespread and systematic abuse of children. Much of that evidence is now contained in the over 550 plus direct reports of child sex crimes now filed with the federal bankruptcy judge in Milwaukee.

On Thursday, at the instruction of Archbishop Jerome Listecki—who was ordered by the court to urge victims to come forward as a condition of filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy 9 months ago—church lawyers will ask the court to dismiss 95% of the victim claims, all of which contain names of offenders, details of thousands of sex crimes, and the names of church officials and others to whom the abuse was likely reported.

The group will also release a letter, emailed this morning to Archbishop Listecki by Connell, on behalf of victims, urging the archbishop to explain why he is instructing his attorneys to embark on this reported plan of action.

Connell and other priests joined with victims in December in making a public appeal to victims of clergy sexual abuse and asking them to come forward before the bankruptcy bar date. The appeal, in the form of a full page advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, provided victim/survivors with resources in the community designed to assist them in filing a confidential claim with the court.

WHEN
Tuesday, February 7th, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse located at 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee.

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UNITED STATES
The Hill

By Karen Finney – 02/06/12

As the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals involving children and clergy in the United States, Germany, Latin America, Ireland and the Netherlands unfolded a few years ago, the church found itself in the midst of a crisis much of its own making. It wasn’t just the horror of the crimes; it was the lengths to which the leadership of the Catholic Church conspired to keep them hidden. I, like many Catholics, struggled with a deep sense of dissolution as we watched the leadership put protecting the institution ahead of its mission to keep children safe and ministering to the needs of those who were raped and put in harm’s way.

Responding to public outcry, the church reacted as most institutions do, labeling legitimate criticism as attacks and shielding high-level authorities. Many American Catholics were left feeling their church was out of touch.

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ROME
Zenit

By Ann Schneible

ROME, FEB. 3, 2012 (Zenit.org).- This Monday through Thursday, the Gregorian University will host the international symposium “Towards Healing and Renewal,” on the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. One of the greatest hopes is that the symposium will act as a catalyst for developing a culture of listening and healing within the Church.

At a press conference today, some of the speakers discussed the main themes of the conference, and the primary concerns to be addressed.

Marie Collins, a victim of clerical abuse who will give her testimony to the symposium in the coming days, spoke regarding the progress that she hopes Church leaders will make in the protection of children and the pastoral care of victims.

“There is still a huge anger among survivors at the Church and at the Church leadership,” she said. “And as we know, there are many, many reasons for this anger. Despite apologies for the actions of the abusers, there have been few apologies for the protection given to them by their superiors.”

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ROME
Zenit

By H. Sergio Mora

ROME, FEB. 6, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The symposium on clergy sex abuse, under way through Thursday at the Pontifical Gregorian University, is just a step on the path of the Church’s response, says the director of the Vatican press office.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi spoke with ZENIT on Friday, following the press conference to present the symposium, which began today.

ZENIT: What has changed since the 2011 circular letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?

Father Lombardi: Many episcopal conferences have established commissions to prepare the guidelines requested by the circular letter. And the symposium [at the Gregorian] is being held in this phase in which the episcopal conferences, having received the circular, are working to put into practice all that was requested, that is to say, the formulation of their directives.

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ROME
Zenit

By Ann Schneible

ROME, FEB. 6, 2012 (Zenit.org).- “There is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.” These words, delivered by Blessed John Paul II in his 2002 address to American cardinals, remind priests and religious that it is a travesty to violate the trust of those in their care, especially when such a violation destroys the life of a child.

Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cited these words by the former Pontiff during his speech to members of the international symposium “Toward Healing and Renewal,” which officially commenced today.

In his presentation, “The Sexual Abuse of Minors: A Multi-faceted Response to the Challenge,” the cardinal briefly outlined the CDF’s role in addressing the abuse cases, with regard to the pastoral care of victims, protection of the young, and in the proper formation of clergy.

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VATICAN CITY
Zenit

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is reminding the participants at a symposium on clergy sexual abuse that healing for victims is of paramount importance, and it must go hand in hand with the Church’s own renewal.

The Pope said this in a message signed by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and sent to the rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, which is hosting a symposium titled “Towards Healing and Renewal.” The symposium began today and runs through Thursday, and aims to aid bishops and religious superiors.

The message said the Holy Father is praying for “this important initiative,” and that he “asks the Lord that, through [the participants’] deliberations, many bishops and religious superiors throughout the world may be helped to respond in a truly Christ-like manner to the tragedy of child abuse.”

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VATICAN CITY
Zenit

By Kathleen Naab

ROME, FEB. 6, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The presidency of the governing body for Vatican City State is rejecting charges of corruption found in letters credited to Archbishop Carlo Viganò and leaked to the press.

A declaration released by the Presidency of the Governorate of Vatican City State was published Saturday by the Vatican Information Service. The declaration bears the signatures of Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, retired president of the Governorate; Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, current president; Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, secretary-general, and Bishop Giorgio Corbellini, former vice secretary-general.

Archbishop Viganò was named the apostolic nuncio to the United States last October, following the sudden death in July of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who previously held that post.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Prosecutors in the endangerment and child sex-abuse trial of three current and former priests scored a major legal victory on Monday, when a judge ruled that they could tell jurors how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled years of abuse allegations against nearly two dozen other priests.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said jurors could hear the evidence because it could show that Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former high-ranking archdiocesan official, recommended parish posts for two priests in the 1990s despite knowing or suspecting they might molest boys.

Lynn made those recommendations, the judge said, after reviewing the church’s secret personnel files and learning about claims or suspicions against other priests.

“It will be up to the jury to decide that there were no lessons to be gleaned from those earlier cases,” she said.

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ROME
Zenit

“The Journey ‘Towards Healing and Renewal’ Is One That the Entire Church Must Make Together”

ROME, FEB. 6, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a statement from Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, delivered today to a symposium on clergy sex abuse. The symposium is under way this week at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

* * *

The Sexual Abuse of Minors: A Multi-faceted Response to the Challenge
by Cardinal William Levada
Pontifical Gregorian University

February 6, 2012

“Toward Healing and Renewal” is the title given to this Symposium for Catholic Bishops and Religious Superiors on the Sexual Abuse of Minors. For leaders in the Church for whom this Symposium has been planned, the question is both delicate and urgent. Just two years ago, in his reflections on the “Year for Priests” at the annual Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict XVI spoke in direct and lengthy terms about priests who “twist the sacrament [of Holy Orders] into its antithesis, and under the mantle of the sacred profoundly wound human persons in their childhood, damaging them for a whole lifetime.” I chose this phrase to begin my remarks this evening because I think it important not to lose sight of the gravity of these crimes as we deal with the multiple aspects the Church’s response.

As I begin my presentation, I want to offer a word of gratitude to the Pontifical Gregorian University for this initiative. Even those of us who have been dealing with this issue for decades recognize that we are still learning, and need to help each other find the best ways to help victims, protect children, and form the priests of today and tomorrow to be aware of this scourge and to eliminate it from the priesthood. I hope that this Symposium will make a significant contribution toward these goals. I thank in particular Fr. Francois-Xavier Dumortier, S.J., the Rector of the University, and Fr. Hans Zollner, S.J., and his team for organizing these days together.

As the Symposium program indicates, the title of my presentation is “The Sexual Abuse of Minors: A Multi-faceted Response to the Challenge.” For reasons I will indicate, I have chosen as my vehicle to give shape to this response some comments about the “Circular Letter” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [hereafter CDF], sent last year to all the Episcopal Conferences of the world, to assist them in developing guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by clerics. To put this Letter into context, I will refer to the important motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, promulgated by Blessed Pope John Paul IIon 30 April 2001. This papal document clarified and updated the list of canonical crimes that had traditionally been dealt with by the CDF (classic examples would be crimes against the faith, that is, heresy, apostasy and schism; but also most serious crimes, or graviora delicta, against the sacraments, such as profaning the Eucharist or violating the seal of Confession). These included crimes connected with solicitation in Confession, and Pope John Paul explicitly included among these grave crimes the sexual abuse of minors by clerics. The motu proprio thus required all cases involving sexual abuse of minors by clergy to be reported to the Congregation, for its guidance and coordination of an equitable response on the part of Church authorities.

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ROME
RTE News

Hundreds of bishops, religious superiors, child psychologists and abuse victims have gathered in Rome for a symposium on the Catholic Church’s handling of clerical child abuse.

A key gathering of hundreds of bishops, religious superiors, child psychologists and abuse victims is under way in Rome.

Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins was due to open the symposium with a presentation, regarded by many as unprecedented, on her experience of clerical child abuse and the subsequent cover-up.

The meeting, called “A Symposium for Catholic Bishops and Religious Superiors on Sexual Abuse of Minors”, is seen as the Catholic Church’s most robust response to date to the wave of clerical paedophile scandals.

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ROME
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Nick Pisa

A senior Vatican cardinal has revealed how more than 4,000 cases of sex abuse by priests on children have been investigated during the last ten years.

The shock figure was announced by American cardinal Joseph William Levada as he opened a conference on the wide scale phenomenon which has rocked the Roman Catholic church with cases reported all over the world.

Cardinal Levada, who is head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the figure as a ‘dramatic increase’ and came in the face of global indignation at the scale of the problem and which has forced Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for previous cases during papal visits as he meets victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Express-Times

By Tom Shortell | The Express-Times

A Northampton County judge sentenced Santos Rosado to five to 19 years in state prison today for sexually assaulting a girl for 13 years, saying the former Bethlehem pastor’s actions showed he was no man of God.

Rosado, 46, formerly of the 500 block of Wyandotte Street, pleaded guilty in September to sexually assaulting a girl from the time she was 12 until she was in her 20s.

He pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and two counts of felony statutory sexual assault. He also agreed to give up the parental rights to a child he fathered with the girl when she was 18.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EASTON, Pa. — A former eastern Pennsylvania pastor has been sentenced to 5 1/3 to 19 years in state prison for sexually abusing a girl for more than a decade.

Forty-six-year-old Santos Rosado pleaded guilty in Northampton County in September to charges of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and two counts of felony statutory sexual assault.

Prosecutors said Rosado met the girl’s family while a pastor in Bethlehem. They said the abuse began when she was 12, and he tried to force her to have an abortion after getting her pregnant.

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DALLAS (TX)
WFAA

[with video]

by DEBBIE DENMON

DALLAS — A popular Dallas pastor is under fire — accused in a lawsuit of coercing young men into “engaging in sexual acts and relationships for his own personal sexual gratification.”

Pastor Tyrone Gordon announced his resignation last month amid complaints, and we now know what one man is complaining about, after he filed a lawsuit last Friday.

Cameron Greer, 26, said he was working in the media department of St. Luke United Methodist Church when, he alleges, Gordon touched him inappropriately between Sunday services, as Greer was changing out microphones.

“As he was going to his office where he goes to change, he rubbed his private parts against my buttock,” Greer said. “At first, I thought it was my fault — like I got in his way. But then he did it again and looked back at me to see my expression, and then I knew it was no accident.”

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WISCONSIN
LaCrosse Tribune

By ANNE JUNGEN ajungen@lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Criminal charges filed Monday accuse a former minister and truck driver of molesting a boy in 2008.

The boy said he was 13 when 64-year-old Michael Delaney of Tomah assaulted him in his semi-truck, according to the complaint filed in Monroe County Circuit Court. Eventually the assaults escalated to forced oral sex, the teen said.

Delaney threatened to tell people the teen was gay if he spoke out about the abuse. He also forced the teen to watch pornographic movies, according to the complaint.

The victim came forward in November. Police arrested Delaney on Jan. 27.

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

Former pastor of Barnesville, Md., Baptist church makes plea deal on child sex abuse charge

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, February 7

FREDERICK, Md. — The former pastor of a Montgomery County Baptist church is striking a plea deal in Frederick on charges he sexually abused a pre-teenage girl.

A Frederick County prosecutor say 74-year-old Joe Ivey of Walkersville will enter into the plea agreement Tuesday morning in Frederick County Circuit Court.

Assistant State’s Attorney Tammy Leach says the deal will result in a conviction for second-degree sex offense. She says the state will recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison with all but four years suspended.

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VERMONT
Claims Journal

The Roman Catholic diocese of Vermont says it could be put out of business, and constitutional protections of religious freedom could be violated by a priest-abuse lawsuit.

The Burlington Free Press cites papers filed by the diocese in U.S. District Court in Burlington. They say paying more big damage awards to victims of long-ago priest sexual abuse could bring those results.

The diocese asks Judge William Sessions III to throw out a lawsuit filed in 2010 by a man alleging that as an altar boy he was molested in Rutland by a priest in 1974.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
The Daily Republic

By VERONICA ZARAGOVIA
Associated Press

A House committee on Monday rejected a bill that would have eliminated the time limit for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits against perpetrators or institutions, despite emotional testimony from victims during a two hour hearing.

Several cried loudly by the elevator after members of the House Judiciary Committee voted to kill the bill 9-4.

A number were American Indian and said they were abused by Catholic clergy at churches or boarding schools.

“I went through a lot of suffering when I was 7-10 years old,” said Isadore Zephier, a member of the Sioux Tribe who asked committee members to picture what happened to him. “Imagine yourself sodomized or performing oral sex on a priest for three, four years constantly.”

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ROME
euronews

[with video]

Pope Benedict has called for a profound renewal of the Catholic Church, at the start of an unprecedented summit in Rome designed to combat the sexual abuse of children by priests.

Help for victims, he said, should be top priority as at least one cardinal defended his handling of abuse cases.

The summit aims to produce guidelines to help the church crack down on paedophile clergy and help the authorities tackle crime.

“I think this is a challenge that will always be with us. The more important thing is to act on prevention, especially with information that can empower leaders and communities to respond to any danger, or any mishap in an adequate way,” said the Vatican’s ‘justice promoter’, Monsignor Charles Scicluna.

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MISSOURI
Examiner

Sugar Creek, MO —

A Sugar Creek priest, who had been placed on administrative leave during an investigation into a complaint against him, has been cleared to return to parish work, according to a release from the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The Rev. Matthew Bartulica was given permission to resume duties at St. Cyril Parish in Sugar Creek effective Feb. 4.

St. Cyril parishioners were told in a letter on Jan. 22 that Bartulica had been put on administrative leave – under the diocese’s new rules – because of an undisclosed complaint brought to the ombudsman now acting as an independent public liaison to field and investigate any reports of suspicious or inappropriate behavior.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY NATALIE POMPILIO
Philadelphia Daily News
pompiln@phillynews.com 215-854-2595

THE JURY can hear how Monsignor William Lynn and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia responded to more than 20 claims of priests sexually abusing children when it considers criminal charges against Lynn and two others next month, a Common Pleas judge ruled yesterday.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina ruled that jurors needed to have a complete history “to evaluate properly the totality of the circumstances and to be able to make appropriate inferences from that evidence.”

The judge’s ruling was a win for prosecutors. Lynn’s defense attorneys had argued that the other cases should not be allowed because they would unfairly influence the jury.

Lynn, 61, faces conspiracy and child-endangerment charges for allegedly concealing the actions of two priests accused of abusing boys in the 1990s. Lynn was secretary of the clergy from 1992 to 2004.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry Telegraph

By Martin Bagot
Feb 7 2012

A PRIEST who worked in Coventry and Warwickshire has been found guilty of 18 charges of indecent assault.

After a 10-day trial Alexander Bede Walsh, 58, was found guilty of the charges plus another serious sexual offence at Stoke Crown Court late yesterday.

It took around six hours to find him guilty of the 19 charges.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

An Irish victim of sexual abuse bluntly told a Vatican summit this morning that her experience of being ignored, and her suffering minimized, by church leaders caused “the final death of any respect” she once felt for ecclesial authority.

Marie Collins said there must be “acknowledgement and accountability for the harm and destruction that has been done to the life of victims and their families” before she and other victims can regain trust in the leadership of the Catholic church.

Collins made the remarks at a four-day summit on the sexual abuse crisis titled “Towards Healing and Renewal” being held at the Jesuit-run Gregorian University.

Collins said she was abused at the age of thirteen, just after her confirmation, by a chaplain in a hospital where she was recovering from an illness. As a deeply faithful Catholic at the time, she said, the experience was deeply traumatic.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

CATHOLIC priest Alexander Bede Walsh has been convicted of sexually abusing seven boys.

The 58-year-old, pictured right, was found guilty of 18 charges of indecent assault and one serious sexual offence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday.

A jury acquitted him of three counts of indecent assault and one of indecency with a child.

The jury was today continuing its deliberations on the four remaining charges.

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ROME
Times LIVE (South Africa)

Irish anti-abuse campaigner Marie Collins told Catholic leaders at a Vatican summit that the Church has to be held accountable for destroying the lives of victims of paedophile priests.

“Apologising for the actions of the abusive priests is not enough,” Collins told bishops and cardinals from around the world gathered at the Vatican’s Gregorian University for an unprecedented conference on child abuse.

“There must be acknowledgement and accountability for the harm and destruction that has been done to the life of victims and their families by the often deliberate cover up and mishandling of cases by their superiors.”

Collins recounted in horrifying detail her abuse by a Dublin priest when she was 13. “Those fingers that would abuse my body the night before were the next morning holding and offering me the sacred host,” said the 64-year-old.

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Jamie Lewis

February 7, 2012

A former Roman Catholic clergyman from Staffordshire has been convicted of 19 charges of abusing boys as young as seven.

Alexander Bede Walsh, 58, from Abbots Bromley, was found guilty at Stoke crown court of sexually abusing seven boys aged between seven and 16 while working as a priest.

The jury heard that the incidents happened between 1975 and 1993 whilst he was working as a priest in Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Coventry.

Walsh denied a total of 27 counts of sexual assault on young boys. He told the court he had never abused or inappropriately touched any of the victims.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq News

A team of five RCMP members continues to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in Igloolik against disgraced priest Father Eric Dejaeger, Crown prosecutor said in court in Iqaluit Feb. 6.

This means the RCMP’s investigation investigation into Dejaeger won’t be finished until a May 7 court appearance by Dejaeger in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit, where the Crown is expected to file a formal indictment.

Dejaeger currently faces up to 39 criminal charges, most alleging the sexual molestation of children.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Daniel Tepfer

Published 06:10 p.m., Monday, February 6, 2012
BRIDGEPORT — Former New York Cardinal Edward Egan, who was at the center of the priest abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport when he was bishop here, has drawn criticism from a national victims’ group and a local law firm that represented victims with an interview he recently gave.

In the recent edition of Connecticut Magazine, Egan said that while bishop here he did nothing wrong regarding abuse allegation against priests in the diocese and in fact never had a case of alleged abuse while he was bishop.

In the interview Egan also said he believes there is no legal requirement to report abuse cases in Connecticut and expressed regret for the apology he made regarding the priest scandal here.

“First of all, I should have never said that,” Egan told the magazine regarding his 2002 statement of regret. “I did say if we did anything wrong, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: February 6, 2012

ROME — Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church began a four-day symposium on Monday about the prevention of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy, an unprecedented assembly described by the Vatican as a response to a painful issue that has wracked the Church and estranged many faithful.

“We are still learning,” Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Vatican office that deals with allegations of clerical abuse, told the 200 delegates during his keynote speech. “We need to help each other find the best ways to help victims, protect children,” he said, and to educate priests “to be aware of this scourge and to eliminate it from the priesthood.”

More than 100 bishops and 30 religious superiors, as well as Catholic university rectors and victims were participating in the symposium, titled “Towards Healing and Renewal.”

Participants planned to discuss how the Church can better listen to victims, cultivate a consistent response to cases of pedophilia and thwart future cases of abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service, Updated: Monday, February 6

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s doctrinal chief on Monday (Feb. 6) told Catholic bishops from all over the world that they have a duty to “cooperate” with civil law on cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors.

Cardinal William J. Levada, a former archbishop of San Francisco who now heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with jurisdiction over abuse cases, stopped short, however, of requiring bishops to report abuse cases to prosecutors or police.

Speaking to a Vatican-sponsored conference on the church’s response to the scandal at Rome’s Gregorian University, Levada admitted that the church’s relations with civil authorities “may be different from one nation to another,” but stressed that this must not affect the basic principle of cooperation.

He also urged bishops to be “more proactive” in their response to the crisis, rather than wait for the scandal to erupt in the media.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors overseeing a child sex-abuse case involving three Roman Catholic priests can reference molestation claims against more than 20 other clergymen to try to establish a pattern of how such allegations were handled, a judge ruled Monday.

The ruling allows an “overwhelming amount of evidence” into the case, defense lawyer William Brennan said in court, even though the judge excluded accusations against several other priests that prosecutors had sought to introduce.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said the evidence is necessary for jurors to understand the totality of the circumstances and to draw accurate inferences in the upcoming trial against Monsignor William Lynn.

“The trial court is not required to sanitize the trial to eliminate all unpleasant facts from the jury’s consideration, where those facts … form part of the history and natural development of the events and offenses for which the defendant is charged,” Sarmina said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call

5:19 p.m. EST, February 6, 2012

The same crime, a different victim.

The same phrases of piety, the same acts of immorality.

Disgraced Bethlehem pastor Santos A. Rosado was sentenced Monday to up to 19 years in state prison for systematically sexually abusing a girl for years starting when she was 12.

It marked the second child molestation case Rosado faced judgment for, and, like the first, his family cast him in court as a victim and not a perpetrator. They called him a man of God who has won forgiveness.

A Northampton County prosecutor called him a danger to society for his sexual proclivities. “This is the way he advises. This is his pastoral calling, so to speak,” said Assistant District Attorney Patricia Broscius.

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WISCONSIN
News 8000

SPARTA, Wis. — A former pastor and over-the-road trucker from Tomah appears in court on accusations he sexually abused a teenager for several years.

64-year-old Michael Delaney appeared in court Monday on felony sexual assault of a child and child enticement charges.

According to court documents, the male teen told investigators Delaney allegedly touched his genitals and engaged in sexual acts.

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