UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Piece by piece, the evidence mounts of a high-level paedophile ring in the 1970s and 80s involving figures from what used to be called the establishment: MPs, diplomats, officials and senior police officers. On Tuesday, the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced that it was to supervise an inquiry into the Metropolitan police’s failure to continue inquiries into child abuse because they involved public figures. Later that day, BBC Newsnight alleged that an extensive investigation conducted by the Met in 1981 secured video evidence of sex parties involving the Liberal MP Cyril Smith and a senior figure from the security services abusing teenage boys from care homes. But – according to the Newsnight report – the Met’s investigation was abruptly halted by an unknown senior officer who threatened to prosecute under the Official Secrets Act any officer who revealed what they had found.

If this charge is substantiated, it marks another new low in the wretched history of the failure to protect victims of abuse. But this would be abuse of a different and even darker kind, for it would amount to a grotesque misappropriation of state power. The Official Secrets Act has only one purpose: to protect the security of the state. It is the weapon of last resort, to be employed only in extremes. It is almost beyond belief that it could have been used to stifle an investigation into a crime as terrible as the sexual abuse of children by adults.

There is a second point. Whatever was threatened more than 30 years ago cannot be prayed in aid now. Officers are reportedly telling MPs that they are still worried that they might be prosecuted under the Act. At a session before the cross-party home affairs committee on Tuesday afternoon, the home secretary, Theresa May, agreed to demands that there should be a guarantee of immunity for any officer who gave evidence. Although ultimately it is a matter for the attorney general and the new chair of the child sexual abuse inquiry, the New Zealand judge Justice Lowell Goddard, a precedent has already been set in the inquiry into the Belfast boys home, Kincora, the subject of a separate inquiry. But it is very hard to understand how the threat of prosecution could have power over any officer with evidence of such a crime. Are they really claiming that the state, after all that we have learned over the past few years, is still so wilfully blind to the nature of child abuse that it might threaten official secrets prosecutions in order to stifle the truth?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

NIGEL MORRIS HELEN CARTER Tuesday 17 March 2015

Police and intelligence officers with information about paedophile rings should be protected from prosecution if they appear before the official inquiry into historic sex abuse, Theresa May has said.

The Home Secretary backed immunity for witnesses following claims that officers investigating the activities of the late Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith were threatened with court action under the Official Secrets Act.

Scotland Yard is being investigated over allegations it covered up child sex abuse because of the involvement of MPs and police officers.

A former detective has claimed that the politician escaped prosecution because other Establishment paedophiles feared he would reveal their identities in court and said he was ordered to drop his investigation into Smith.

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UNITED STATES/CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 16, 2015

Statement by Melanie Sakoda of Moraga CA, Orthodox Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 925-708-6175, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com )

The synod of bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) will be meeting in Syosset, New York, from Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, March 20, 2015.

[Orthodox Church in America]

Members of an abuse survivors’ group are once again urging Orthodox Church in America officials to defrock a high ranking clergyman who was found guilty of molesting a child.

[SNAP]

[SNAP]

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say that the denomination has publicly acknowledged that their sex abuse policy requires that clergy who have been convicted of child sexual abuse be laicized by the synod of bishops.

[Orthodox Church in America]

Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, who for many years was the OCA’s highest ranking clergyman in Canada, was convicted in January of 2014 for sexually violating an 11 year old altar boy in Winnipeg. The archbishop was sentenced to 8 months in jail the following July, but appealed both the conviction and the sentence. However, his conviction and his sentence were recently upheld by the appellate court.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay

New South Wales Police have charged Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson with concealing child sexual abuse. This is related to the offences committed by Jim Fletcher, the Hunter region paedophile priest, who worked with Wilson in the ‘70s.

According to NSW Police, the investigation is a part of its operation “Strike Force Lantle”. It said that the operation, launched in 2010, there were serious allegations against clergy “formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church” of serious child abuse offences. Police have accused 64-year-old Wilson of concealing a serious offence. According to police, Wilson failed to report a case of child sex abuse allegedly committed by Fletcher.

Wilson is scheduled to appear the Newcastle Local Court on Apr. 30. He issued a statement announcing that he was taking leave from his position as he had been notified of the charges against him. The former Bishop of Wollongong was known as a “healing bishop” there because of the way he had handled child-abuse controversies.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Politics Home

Theresa May has come under fire for refusing to declare the salary of the chairwoman of the inquiry in to historic child sex abuse in England and Wales.

Chair of the Home Select Committee Keith Vaz asked the Home Secretary repeatedly to clarify what Justice Lowell Goddard’s salary would be ahead of the inquiry.

Theresa May responded: “I am not in a position to tell you that in this meeting Mr Chairman.

“That information will be made available in due course.”

Mr Vaz pressed for an answer from the Home Secretary: “You’re telling us that you’re not going to tell the Select Committee how much Judge Goddard is being paid?”

Following a further rebuttal, Mr Vaz said: “I feel very let down by you Home Secretary.

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MASSACHUSETTS
TheMediaReport

David Pierre

In a way it was inevitable: After years of media hysteria over the issue of sex abuse in the Catholic Church, Church officials have now decided on a policy of “shoot first, ask questions later” when it comes to even the scantest allegations of impropriety.

In January of this year, in an astonishing act of injustice, Boston’s Cardinal Seán O’Malley forced the resignation of three individuals from a Catholic school in Revere, despite the fact that no one broke any law or did anything wrong.

If it were not clear already, it should be clear now: “Zero tolerance” has now fully morphed into paranoia and cruelty.

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AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priets

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Statement by Nicky Davis, Leader, SNAP Australia, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( nicky@nickydavis.com.au, 0422 538 440 )

Survivors’ long wait for any senior church official to be held responsible for covering up widespread and systemic child sex crimes is finally over.

[BBC News]

At last those who enable and coverup the sexual exploitation of defenseless children are no longer a protected species. We hope this charge is the first of many.

For too long, survivors have seen those responsible for enforcing laws against covering up child sex crimes ignore evidence and fail to investigate case after case.

Most institutional child sexual violence involves senior officials refusing to act, not reporting to police, and allowing predators continued access to their favourite prey.

In NSW this is, and has long been, against the law.

But it is almost never investigated, and there have been no convictions.

Now, thanks to dedicated officers like Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox risking his career to demand action, and courageous survivors, soon no-one in Australia will be above the law.

This one criminal charge will protect more Australian children than decades of empty promises and expensive PR by church officials.

However given the Vatican’s track record of providing a safe haven for child sex predators and those who coverup their crimes, it might be advisable to require Archbishop Wilson to surrender his passport.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 17

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

We’re grateful that a judge has found an ex-Greek Orthodox priest guilty of sexual abuse. Now the focus shifts to his church former colleagues and supervisors.

[WGME]

These church officials have a moral and civic duty to aggressively reach out now to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Adam Metropoulos or cover ups by his ex-colleagues or superiors. All too often, church officials recruit, educate, ordain, hire, and train clergy, giving them vast authority over and access to vulnerable families and kids. When one of those clerics is caught abusing, church officials immediately distance themselves from him or her and do little or nothing to help law enforcement charge or convict them.

Metropoulos will soon be sentenced. That sentence should be based on as much information as possible. And getting more information about his crimes is possible if only his ex-colleagues and supervisors take immediate steps to find others he may have hurt. They should use church bulletins, parish websites, and pulpit announcements to beg anyone with suspicions or information about Metropoulos to step forward immediately.

We applaud the courage of every victim, witness or whistleblower who helped police and prosecutors convict Metropoulos. We hope Greek Orthodox church officials and members will show similar courage and do everything possible to find and help others who may have been assaulted by this ex-priest.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted March 17, 2015,
.
BANGOR, Maine — A Maine superior court justice on Tuesday found the former priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church guilty on four counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, of Bangor took the stand Tuesday and denied sexually assaulting an altar server in 2006 and 2007 when the boy was 15.

He told Superior Court Justice Ann Murray on the second day of his jury-waived trial that he never had sex with the now 23-year-old. Metropoulos admitted that he touched the victim’s genitals over his pajamas once.

The grown altar server, who now lives in Vermont, testified Monday that Metropoulos repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he was 15. The man is not being identified by the Bangor Daily News because is the victim of a sex crime.

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MAINE
WCSH

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) – A former Greek Orthodox priest from Bangor has been convicted of four counts of sexually abusing a child.

A judge delivered the verdict Tuesday against 52-year-old Adam Metropoulos. He will be sentenced in a few weeks.

Metropoulos had already pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

The trial began Monday with testimony from a former altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church. The man, now 23 years old, said he had been sexually assaulted by Metropoulos when he slept at the priest’s home as a teenager. The man said he often pretended to be asleep during the assaults.

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MAINE
WABI

MAR 17, 20152:

JOHN KRINJAK

A former priest from Bangor has been found guilty on all counts in the child sex trial against him.

On Monday 52-year-old Adam Metropoulos pleaded guilty to child pornography and violation of privacy charges.

Tuesday afternoon Justice Ann Murray found Metropoulos guilty on the four remaining counts relating to sexual abuse of a minor.

Earlier Tuesday Metropoulos took the stand in his own defense.

Metropoulos was the priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church until his arrest in September.

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MAINE
WGME

March 17, 2015

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A former Greek Orthodox priest charged with sexual abuse of a child has been convicted on all four counts.

A judge delivered the verdict Tuesday against 52-year-old Adam Metropoulos. Sentencing will be in a couple of weeks. Metropoulos had already pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

The trial began Monday with testimony from a former altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church who said he had been sexually assaulted by Metropoulos when slept at the priest’s home as a teenager.

The man, now 23, says he often pretended to be asleep during the assaults.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Two documentaries by Sam Katz’s Emmy-winning production company will capture Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia – and the months of behind-the-scenes preparation leading up to it.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Monday that it is commissioning Katz’s History Making Productions to create two documentaries. The first will feature the lead-up to Francis’ visit and the World Meeting of Families, an international Catholic conference being held in Philadelphia from Sept. 22 to 25. The second will focus on Francis’ two-day stay that Saturday and Sunday.

The goal is to have the documentaries available for purchase on DVD and digitally in time for the holidays, Katz said. Proceeds will go to the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015, a nonprofit created to plan the international gathering and the papal visit.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis for two years has mainly continued the quarter century old priest child abuse cover-up policy of his two predecessors, it appears. The policy includes keeping secret Vatican records relating to the cover-up, including some records most recently requested futilely by Australia’s Royal Commission. The papal cover-up policy has completely failed.

Now an Australian Archbishop has become the world’s most senior Catholic leader criminally charged with concealing child abuse.The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been charged with concealing child sexual abuse by Fr, James Fletcher, who died in prison while serving time for raping an altar boy. If found guilty, the archbishop could serve up to two years in jail. It is uncertain at present whether Wilson’s criminal proceedings will involve any secret Vatican records.

Pope Francis needs to ask whether more criminal charges against bishops, and even cardinals, will soon follow. He needs to revisit his “go slow” approach to curtailing priest child abusers and to holding complicit bishops accountable only to secretive Vatican proceedings. Even one of the pope’s two showpiece abuse survivor commission members, the UK’s Peter Saunders, has now even bravely and boldly offered to take over personally the Vatican child protection efforts, presumably after Saunders has gotten to see up close the “go slow” commission’s selective and inadequate efforts.

Francis needs a real “gamechanger”. He needs to call for an ecumenical council, as Pope John XXIII did over a half century ago. and make the subject of bishop accountability a top priority item for the new council.

Given the escalating governmental investigations, in Australia (including of Archbishop Wilson and Cardinal Pell), in the UK ( including of Cardinal O’Brien), in Minneapolis (including of Archbishop Niensted and his former vicar, the brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff), in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (USA) (including of Archbishop Wesolowski), and in many other countries, Pope Francis, in his self declared short remaining papacy, will need all the trust he can generate now by giving the full truth, without spin, to Catholics. A full airing at a council can help build that trust.

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FLORIDA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on another questionable accusation against a priest:

I do not know Father Leo Riley but I trust him when he says he is innocent of charges recently made against him: the Floridian priest, who is assigned to a parish in East Naples, is being accused of sexually abusing someone when he worked in an Iowan parish. Why might I be inclined to believe him and not his accuser?

First, the accusation extends back 30 years. If someone were violated, why would it take three decades to come forward? Not for a moment do I believe the much-discredited notion of “repressed memory.” The psychological evidence conclusively shows that the more serious the experience the less likely it is for the victim to “forget” it, even temporarily.

Second, Father Riley has never had an accusation made against him, until now. Abusers typically have a track record—they tend not to be one-time offenders. This priest is 58, so if he were a predator, in all likelihood we would at least know of charges against him that were dismissed. There aren’t any.

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CONNECTICUT
The Kansas City Star

BY DAVE COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/17/2015

HARTFORD, CONN.
A suspended Roman Catholic priest who authorities say dealt pounds of methamphetamine and bought a sex shop to possibly launder his drug money is asking a federal judge for leniency when he is sentenced next week.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin’s public defender filed a sentencing request in federal court in Hartford on Monday. It cited Wallin’s three decades of charitable service as well as more than 80 letters of support, including one from the late Cardinal Edward Egan.

The 63-year-old Wallin pleaded guilty in 2013 to a methamphetamine conspiracy charge and agreed to a possible prison sentence of 10 to 11 years. Sentencing is scheduled for March 24.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article15017579.html#storylink=cpy

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CONNECTICUT
News 12

[with video]

BRIDGEPORT – The lawyer for a suspended Catholic priest who allegedly ran a meth ring is asking the judge for leniency when he is sentenced next week.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin pleaded guilty in 2013 to a conspiracy charge and agreed to a possible prison sentence of 10 to 11 years.

Wallin is now asking for four years in prison and 500 hours of community service.

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UNITED STATES
eMissourian

Reviewed by Bill Schwab

Irish author John Boyne’s insightful novel, “A History of Loneliness” is an insightful novel about a dark side of his country’s recent church history, the revelation that pedophile priests have been passed from parish to parish by a hierarchy unwilling to expose the scandals. Boyne describes this tragedy by creating a gripping narrative with a sharp, flowing dialogue.

Father Odran Yates, an honorable Irish priest, has served as the chaplain of a boy’s school for nearly 30 years. He has never abused a student, but early in the novel his former seminary roommate is found guilty of multiple abuses, jailed and put on the sexual offender list for life.

As the scandal emerges, Yates sees trust in the church collapsing around him and observes the scandal’s damaging consequences in the young lives of parishioners. Yates himself becomes a suspect and is treated as a pariah by people who previously respected him. He grows reluctant to appear in public for fear of insults and disapproving stares. Then, Yates himself is arrested for taking the hand of a young boy in a department store in order to help the child find his mother. Despite the charge against him being dropped, he grieves that he can no longer even talk to a child without getting strange looks nor can he have a meeting with the altar boys without a parent present.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

For five days I have anguished about a perverse rabbinical court ruling. It twists facts and tangles logic; it betrays honest witnesses and rewards those who lied. It does all this to protect institutions and jobs.

If Abraham had been pleading to this rabbinical court, he would have dispensed with appeals to a just G-d. He wouldn’t have concerned himself with the number of righteous people. He wouldn’t have settled with just bringing out his nephew Lot and Lot’s family. Instead he would have declared: “Surely a just rabbinical court would not let 150 people lose their jobs, not when they are supporting men who learn Torah in kollel, not when they come from prominent families.”

‘Sire, Sodom and Gomorrah are requesting Federal disaster relief aid.’Abraham would not have even settled for demoting just those who allowed Sodomy to happen on their watch. Abraham would have pleaded, “But surely a just rabbinical court realizes that if we admit this much, everyone else will be tainted. No! You must declare that you believe all who claimed ‘my hands did not shed this blood or even knew about it.’”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Frum Follies

The enlarged joint beis din issued a ruling on the Meisels seminaries which was posted on the Daas Torah blog on 3/11/15 with the misleading title, “Joint Beis Din – Israeli and Chicago – issues psak regarding former Meisels seminaries that all is well and that no one needed to be fired!”

I ask my readers to forgive me for taking six days to respond. But a travesty of this magnitude deserves a full fledged report and rejoinder, not just a nasty swipe.

Further below is a full translation of the entire document posted on Daas Torah. But, first some observations and cautions.

Eidensohn’s claims notwithstanding, the ruling criticizes some staff and did some fancy footwork to exonerate others. Mrs. Hindy Ullman was a tough one to exonerate because the Beis Din received evidence she was directly told of an abused student and she dismissed it out of hand characterizing the student as not credible.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By NICK BIELBY March 17, 2015

Catholic church abuse victims say a criminal charge against the Archbishop of Adelaide for allegedly failing to report crimes against children in the Hunter shows the church is not above the law.

A former Maitland priest, Archbishop Philip Wilson has become the most senior Catholic clergyman to be charged with concealing the sexual abuse of children.

Police attached to Strike Force Lantle charged the 64-year-old with concealing a serious offence yesterday.

He is accused of failing to report the abuse of defrocked priest James Fletcher when both men were working in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in the 1970s.

Vacy man Peter Gogarty, who was one of Fletcher’s victims between 1972 and 1978, said he had always believed other ­members of the clergy knew about Fletcher’s actions.

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SCOTLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Mar. 17, 2015

Pope Francis has in hand a report on the allegations regarding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, who stood down in 2013 after admitting sexual misconduct, The Tablet is reporting.

In February 2013 as O’Brien was preparing to leave for Rome and the conclave that would elect Pope Francis, a number of priests and one former priest went public with allegations of sexual misconduct by O’Brien, much of it stretching back for years the men’s seminary days. O’Brien did not attend the conclave and resigned shortly before it was convened.

Last year, Francis sent Charles Scicluna, then an auxiliary bishop in Malta and now an archbishop there, to investigate the allegations against O’Brien. That is the report that Francis has, and according to one of the men whom Scicluna interviewed, it’s “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the Pope’s desk.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

According to a former officer, police were told to hand over all their evidence, as Nick Hopkins reports

An undercover police operation that gathered evidence of child abuse by Cyril Smith and other public figures was scrapped shortly after the MP was arrested, BBC Newsnight has been told.

The Liberal MP, who died in 2010, was held during a 1980s probe into alleged sex parties with teenage boys in south London, a source told the programme.

The source said Smith was released from a police station within hours.

The Met is looking into the handling of historical child sex abuse cases.

The force would not comment on the details of the allegations about Smith put to them by Newsnight.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WJLA

WASHINGTON (WJLA) – A Metropolitan Police officer who also serves as pastor of a D.C. church was arrested Monday night for allegedly sexually abusing a teen girl.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old girl and parishioner of God-A Second Chance Ministry in Southeast Washington reported to D.C. police that 45-year-old Darrell Best, of Upper Marlboro, Md., had sexually abused her on three different occasions dating back to December 2014 while he was off duty.

A warrant was issued for Best on Sunday on a charge of First Degree Sex Abuse of a Minor. He was arrested in Largo, Md. on Monday.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Julie Zauzmer March 17

A D.C. police officer who was also a pastor was charged Monday with sexually abusing a teenager who attended the church that he led.

Darrell Best, 45, of Upper Marlboro was arrested in Largo at about 9 p.m. Monday, two days after the teen came forward to report the abuse, according to a D.C. police press release. Best was charged with first-degree sex abuse of a minor.

The police statement said that the victim, who is 16, told police that Best was her pastor at God-A Second Chance Ministry Church and that he abused her three times, starting in December. Police obtained a warrant for Best’s arrest the next day.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS DC

WASHINGTON (WNEW) — A D.C. police officer and pastor has been arrested and charged with first degree sex abuse of a minor.

Investigators say a 16-year-old girl reported that she was a victim of 45-year-old Darrell Best of Upper Marlboro three times starting in December.

The girl attends the church where Best preaches, God-A Second Chance Ministry Church in Southeast.

Best was arrested in Largo Monday evening.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
New York Daily News

BY TOBIAS SALINGER NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, March 17, 2015

A Washington, D.C., cop and preacher is accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl from his church on three occasions in the past four months.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Darrell Best, 45, on Monday night, two days after a 16-year-old God-A Second Chance Ministry Church congregant came forward as an alleged victim, police announced late Monday night.

“She felt intimidated to the point that she couldn’t resist,” a man claiming to be the girl’s father told WTTG-TV.

Another church member, an 18-year-old woman, has said that Best prepositioned her, WTTG reported.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been charged with concealing child sexual abuse by a priest in the 1970s.

He denies failing to report abuse carried out by Jim Fletcher, who died in prison in 2006 while serving time for raping an altar boy.

If found guilty the archbishop could serve up to two years in jail.

The charge came amid a nationwide investigation into paedophilia in institutions.

Archbishop Wilson, 64, said he would be taking leave from his position and added he would fight the charge.

“I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system,” he said in a statement, adding that he was also committed to dealing with the issue of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

LIKE all citizens charged with a crime, the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, 64, is innocent unless he is found guilty. He was charged yesterday with concealing child sex abuse by another priest in the 1970s. Appropriately, the Archbishop has taken indefinite leave. He has promised to “vigorously defend my innocence” against the charge of concealing a serious indictable offence. If convicted, he could face two years’ jail.

The decision by NSW Police to charge the Archbishop, first revealed by The Australian online yesterday, is a further sign that after years of inaction, bungling and cover-ups, the wheels of justice are turning for victims of sex abuse in Australia. Case by case, testimony by testimony, the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have dug deep to uncover the ugly truth.

For 20 years, the moral authority of Christian and other churches has been torn asunder by revelations of abuse by priests and others in privileged positions of trust, and by the cover-ups of church authorities. The problem also extends far beyond churches, of course, to schools, state orphanages, sports clubs and foster homes. Many cases, sadly, occur within families.

Archbishop Wilson’s predicament will not help the church’s credibility. He is understood to be the most senior Catholic official worldwide to face such a charge, although several bishops have been accused of similar conduct. The Archbishop is vice-president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, a body he previously led as president for six years. Before his promotion to Adelaide in 2001 he was bishop of Wollongong and, earlier, vicar-general of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. It was a problematic diocese for decades and a dangerous place for vulnerable children. Numerous cases of abuse by priests have emerged. In August 2012, another former vicar-general, Tom Brennan, became the first Australian Catholic priest charged with concealing child abuse committed by another. Brennan died before he faced trial.

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NEDERLAND
de Stentor

[An Australian pedophile was apprehended in the Philippines through action by police in the Netherlands.]

DEN HAAG (ANP) – Een gewelddadige Australische pedofiel is in de Filipijnen gearresteerd na onderzoek door de Nederlandse politie.

Een 10-arig meisje is waarschijnlijk omgekomen door het misbruik en de mishandelingen door de man. Dat heeft de politie donderdag bekendgemaakt.

Zeker 8 minderjarige meisjes zijn slachtoffer geworden. Het lichaam van het 10-jarige meisje is opgegraven uit de vloer van een voormalige woning van de Australiër.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[Troubled Children of God. Victims talk about their abuse.]

Von Matthias Drobinski

Es sind diese Zeichnungen ins Schwarz und Weiß, die im Zuschauer die Beklemmung wachsen lassen. Sebastian Bellwinkel und Birgit Wärnke haben auf die üblichen Betroffenen-Interviews verzichtet, bei denen Opfer ihr Gesicht nicht zeigen wollen und deshalb im Halbdunkel reden, mit verpixelten Gesichtern, als seien sie die Täter. Sie haben die Geschichten aus den Interviews und den Gerichtsprotokollen zu kleinen, düsteren Comics verdichtet. E

in großer mächtiger Mann mit Priesterkragen und spiegelnden Brillengläsern verborgen, beugt sich über ein schockstarres Kind mit angstgeweiteten Augen, eine Hand tastet sich vor. Und man ahnt, warum die Opfer sexueller Gewalt oft ein Leben lang nicht von der Tat loskommen, erst recht nicht, wenn der Täter Gott auf seiner Seite zu haben scheint.

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AUSTRALIEN
Spiegel

Adelaide – Gegen den katholischen Erzbischof von Adelaide sind Ermittlungen wegen der Deckung von Kindesmissbrauch eingeleitet worden. Die Polizei des australischen Bundesstaats New South Wales hat ein offizielles Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Philip Wilson eröffnet.

Dem 64-Jährigen wird vorgeworfen, in den Siebzigern einen Missbrauchsfall nicht gemeldet zu haben, der mutmaßlich von dem inzwischen verstorbenen Priester Jim Fletcher begangen wurde. Fletcher, bekannte Pädophiler, arbeitete damals zusammen mit Wilson in einer Diözese bei Newcastle.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP

WASHINGTON — A Metropolitan Police Department officer and pastor has been arrested for sex abuse of a minor.

Darrell Best, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland was arrested and charged on Monday, March 16.

On Saturday a 16-year-old girl reported to the Metropolitan Police Department that on three occasions, beginning in December 2014, she was a victim of Best who also acts as pastor of God of a Second Chance Ministry Church in Southeast D.C.

Best was arrested in Largo, Maryland after an investigation.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Mar. 16, 2015

MILWAUKEE A retired Milwaukee priest, who is also a certified public account, is asking that the FBI to investigate why $7.8 million was spent by the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Cemetery Trust Fund over a four-year period during which the cemeteries operations generated net profits each year.

The priest, Fr. James Connell, told NCR that he contacted the archdiocese with his questions before sending his letter to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley who is handling the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by the archdiocese more than four years ago.

Connell, also a former vice chancellor for the archdiocese, said that archdiocesan spokesman Jerry Topczewski responded to his email saying that the funds were used solely as they were intended “but he gave me no explanation for where I was wrong or what I missed in their statements.”

“I have not seen the letter, but I’m not sure what standing Father [Connell] has with Judge Kelley,” Topczewski told NCR. “Nonetheless, the archdiocese’s financial statements, expenditures, etc., have been available to the creditors’ committee for more than 4 years and their accountants, BRG, have certainly scrutinized them.

“Regarding any money received from the cemetery perpetual care trust, those monies are used solely for the purpose for which they were intended – the perpetual care of archdiocesan cemeteries.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Salvation Army has been found to have failed to protect children from sexual and brutal physical abuse in four homes in NSW and Queensland for almost two decades.

And the Christian charity consistently moved officers alleged to have brutalised boys between the homes in Indooroopilly and Riverview in Queensland and Bexley and Gill in NSW, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has found.

The findings by commission were handed down by the federal government on Tuesday.

They chronicle a list of brutalities at the homes which closed down between 1977 and 1983. Among the 36 findings by the commission is that sexual abuse of the boys in the four homes was often accompanied by physical violence or the threat of physical violence and many boys were sexually abused by other boys.

In most cases, boys in the four homes who reported sexual abuse to the manager or other officer were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken, the commission found.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The Salvation Army failed to protect boys in its care from sexual abuse and punished many who reported assaults, according to a damning royal commission report published on Tuesday.

The report found that The Salvation Army received more than 100 claims of child sexual abuse concerning boys’ homes, but in most cases those who reported were disbelieved, told they were liars, punished or ignored.

“In most cases, the boys who reported the abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard evidence about horrific abuse in four boys’ homes in NSW and Queensland between the 1950s and the 1970s.

The homes were Indooroopilly and Riverview in Queensland and Gill and Bexley in New South Wales.

Commissioners found that The Salvation Army’s policies and procedures did not provide enough oversight of managers who, in some cases, were involved in the abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Tuesday 17 March 2015

The Salvation Army failed to protect young boys from sexual, physical and psychological abuse by officers and employees in four of its homes over decades, the royal commission has found.

The findings in a report released on Tuesday follow public hearings into abuse at four Salvation Army boys’ homes in NSW and Queensland from 1956 until their closure. Documentary evidence from the homes at Indooroopilly, Gill, Riverview and Bexley suggested the abuse stretched back to the 1940s.

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse examined how the Salvation Army responded to allegations and evidence it received of child abuse – sexual and otherwise – by officers and staff, including five named Salvation Army officers, and other resident boys.

The Salvation Army had earlier revealed that 115 of 157 complaints received by January 2014 related to sexual abuse of former residents of these four boys’ homes.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

ROYAL COMMISSION REPORT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AT SALVATION ARMY BOYS’ HOMES.

HOMES

Indooroopilly, Queensland
Riverview, Queensland
Bexley, NSW
Gill, NSW

They were run from the 1950s until they were closed between 1977 and 1983.

WHO WAS THERE?

Boys who were wards of the state because of family abuse or neglect or who were sent by their parents who could not look after them.

Boys were also placed there by courts if they were deemed uncontrollable.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HOMES?

Evidence to the Royal Commission in June 2014 provided “graphic and shocking accounts” of how boys were treated.

All of the homes were run in a highly regimented and authoritarian way with brutal sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Salvation Army officers, the commission said.

MAIN FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION

The Salvation Army did not protect boys from sexual and physical abuse by officers at the homes.
Most boys who reported abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.

Brigadier Leslie Reddie and Colonel Gordon Peterson did not act on allegations of abuse at Indooroopilly.

Senior members of the Salvation Army wanted to reinstate a Captain X17 who was convicted of two charges of indecent assault.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Salvation Army promoted officers accused of child sexual abuse in four boys’ homes in NSW and Queensland and moved them on to run other homes.

In a report handed down on Tuesday, the child sex abuse royal commission said there were systemic failures in the army’s conduct when it ran Indooroopilly and Riverview in Queensland and Bexley and Gill in NSW between 1956 and the early 80s.

Among failures were not reporting up the line in the army, failing to tell police and not keeping records on officers against whom serious allegations were made.

The commission’s 101-page report chronicles sexual and physical brutalities at the homes which closed between 1977 and 1983.

“In all four homes public, regular and excessive physical punishment occurred … Punishment was brutal at times, the commission said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Antonette Collins

The Salvation Army did not protect young boys from being abused while in its care from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found.

Last year the commission heard harrowing details and accounts from victims of child sexual abuse that occurred in four boys’ homes run by the Salvation Army in NSW and Queensland.

In a report released on Tuesday, the commission found that the boys who reported abuse were punished, disbelieved and accused of lying.

“Former residents told us of brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Salvation Army officers, at times accompanied by extreme physical punishment,” the report said.

The commissioners also found the Salvation Army’s policies and procedures did not enable the prevention or detection of child abuse, and that it failed to provide appropriately trained staff to ensure child safety.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News

Sydney (AFP) – The Salvation Army failed to protect children from brutal sexual and physical abuse in four of its Australian homes, and instead punished them for complaining, a national inquiry ruled Tuesday.

A Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Australia began hearing evidence last year into shocking allegations of abuse at four Salvation Army homes for children, between 1965 and 1977.

It heard of children being sodomised with a garden hose, locked in outdoor cages and savagely beaten by Salvation Army majors. One boy was kicked unconscious when he refused to have sex with an officer, waking up to find the man raping him.

In another case, a boy was dangled head first into a well, while another was tied to a tree with a chain attached to a metal collar. Another was forced to crawl around a sports oval naked holding a chicken in the air while others stood by laughing.

“The commissioners found that the Salvation Army did not protect the boys from sexual abuse in each of the four homes by officers or employees of The Salvation Army,” the report said.

“The commissioners also found that the Salvation Army received more than 100 claims of child sexual abuse concerning boys’ homes and in most cases, the boys who reported the abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.”

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AUSTRALIA
New York Daily News

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Tuesday, March 17, 2015

CANBERRA, Australia — A Roman Catholic archbishop in Australia was charged Tuesday with covering up for a pedophile priest during the 1970s.

Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson said he was disappointed that New South Wales state police had decided to charge him with concealing a serious child sexual abuse offence. Wilson said he would fight the charge, which carries a potential two-year prison sentence.

The charge alleges the 64-year-old failed to report child sex abuse carried out by priest James Fletcher during the 1970s when they both served in the town of Maitland, north of Sydney.

Fletcher died in prison aged 65 in 2006, a year into an almost eight-year sentence for raping an altar boy between 1989 and 1991.

“The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child,” Wilson said in a statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Archbishop Philip Wilson becomes world’s most senior Catholic charged with concealing child abuse

March 17, 2015

JOANNE McCARTHY

FORMER Hunter priest Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has become the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world to be charged with concealing a child sex abuse allegation against another priest on what a Hunter paedophile priest victim has described as “a Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll never forget”.

The Adelaide archbishop was charged on Tuesday with one count of concealing a child sex allegation made against the late Hunter priest Jim Fletcher in the 1970s, nearly nine months after the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry recommended the charge.

He is one of only a handful of Catholic clergymen in the world to be charged with concealing a child sex allegation against another priest, and only the third in Australia after the late Toronto priest Tom Brennan became the first to face such a charge in 2012.

Archbishop Wilson, the vice-president of the Australian Bishops Conference, denied the allegation in a statement on Tuesday and said he would vigorously defend the matter.

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MAINE
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: March 17, 2015

BANGOR, Maine — The trial of a former Greek Orthodox priest charged with sexual abuse of a child has started in Bangor.

The trial of 52-year-old Adam Metropoulos began Monday in Penobscot County Superior Court with testimony from a former altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church who said he had been sexually assaulted by Metropoulos when slept at the priest’s home as a teenager. The man, now 23, says he often pretended to be asleep during the assaults.

Metropoulos has already pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

Metropoulos’ attorney, Marvin Glazier, says his client denies any sexual contact with a minor.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington

By Matthew Stabley

A D.C. police officer was arrested Monday evening and charged with first-degree sex abuse of a minor, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

A 16-year-old girl reported to police Saturday 45-year-old Darrell Best of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, sexually abused her three times begining in December. He was off-duty during the incidents, police said.

Best is the pastor of the victim’s church, God-A Second Chance Ministry Church located on Southern Avenue SE, police said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Fox DC

[with video]

By Marina Marraco, FOX 5 Reporter

WASHINGTON –
A D.C. police officer has been arrested and is now facing a charge of first degree sex abuse of a minor.

Alleged victims of 45-year-old D.C. police veteran, Darrell Best, spoke exclusively with FOX 5 Monday night. They say Best is also their pastor and lured a 16-year-old girl and a now 18-year-old woman to perform sexual acts.

A man who did not want to be identified said his 16-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by Best.

“I asked this man did you put your hands on my daughter? Did you penetrate my daughter? Did you have sex with my daughter? He did not deny. I’m expecting him to say no, no… he didn’t,” the man told FOX 5’s Marina Marraco.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

NIGEL HUNT ANALYSIS THE ADVERTISER MARCH 17, 2015

THE foul stench of child sexual abuse by the clergy has already cost one archbishop his job in South Australia.

In 2004, Anglican Archbishop Ian George resigned in the aftermath of a report that criticised the handling of such allegations under his stewardship.

Although there was absolutely no suggestion he had broken any church rules or laws of the state, he carried the can and bore the brunt of an avalanche of public criticism towards the church, which started at the top with then-premier Mike Rann and flowed through to his own parishioners.

In the end, he had no choice but to put his hands up. Unlike his predecessors, he didn’t retire with respect and dignity, but ended his career in a sad, bitter fashion, unhappy at being the scapegoat for those who had tarnished his church.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Late paedophile priest James Patrick Fletcher’s crime continue to hurt Catholic Church

ANDREW DOWDELL THE ADVERTISER MARCH 17, 2015

PAEDOPHILE priest James Patrick Fletcher died in prison in 2006 — but the ghosts of his depraved crimes continue to haunt the Catholic Church.

Fletcher, known to his trusting congregation as Father Jim, was finally outed as a depraved and calculating paedophile when he was jailed for molesting an altar boy in the early 1990s.

The disgraced priest died while serving his sentence, but revelations in the past decade have shown his offending stretched back to at least the 1970s.

Fletcher’s housemate at the Maitland-Newcastle diocese was a young priest by the name of Philip Wilson — now the Archbishop of Adelaide.

Archbishop Wilson’s alleged involvement in turning a blind eye to or covering up Fletcher’s heinous crimes was the subject of a special inquiry and on Tuesday resulted in a criminal charge.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Sam McKeith and Megan Neil
March 17, 2015

The Catholic archbishop of Adelaide will fight an allegation he concealed child sexual abuse by a priest, a charge a victims’ group says is unlikely to be the last faced by a senior church official.

Philip Wilson is believed to be the most senior Catholic official in the world to face charges of this nature.

NSW police allege Wilson concealed a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the state’s Hunter region.

The abuse was allegedly committed during the 1970s by another priest, when both men worked in the Maitland Diocese, near Newcastle.

Wilson said he was disappointed police had decided to charge him and would vigorously defend his innocence.

“The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson could face two years jail over charges of concealing sex abuse

CATHOLIC Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson has been charged with concealing child sex abuse in the Hunter region in NSW.

Police will allege the archbishop, who was born in Cessnock, failed to report child sex abuse allegedly committed by paedophile priest Jim Fletcher when both men were working in the Maitland diocese near Newcastle in the 1970s, the Australian reports.

Fletcher died in 2006 after being jailed for raping a 13-year-old boy between 1989 and 1991.

Last year, a Special Commission of Inquiry found he “had an extensive history of perpetrating child sexual abuse in the diocese, exclusively abusing young males, particularly altar boys”.

Archbishop Wilson’s alleged offence carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

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MAINE
WCSH

[with video]

Katharine Bavoso, WLBZ

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — The indefinitely suspended Greek Orthodox priest from Bangor who was arrested in September pleaded guilty Monday to child pornography charges and to secretly videotaping a woman showering in his bathroom.

However, Adam Metropoulos pleaded not guilty to other sexual assault charges. Police allege that he sexually abused two boys who stayed at his home.

Metropoulos faced one of his alleged sexual abuse victims Monday as the former 15-year-old altar boy, now 23, took the stand and described what he said happened between him and the former priest.

According to the witness, Metropoulos began sexually abusing him at age 15 when the alleged victim would sleep at the priest’s house. The man said that the abuse went on for a year.

In court Monday the judge asked Metropoulos if he had been pressured into pleading guilty to two of the six counts he is facing. Metropoulos said this is “just the situation he’s in.”

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Australia, Philip Wilson, has now been charged with allegedly concealing child sex abuse by another priest during the 1970s, the Herald Sun reported.

The case has striking similarities to the coverups allegedly instituted by Chabad in both Sydney and Melbourne, and could foreshadow criminal charges that may be brought against top Chabad rabbinic and lay leaders in both cities.

Wilson, 64, allegedly failed to report child sex abuse allegedly committed by his friend, Father Jim Fletcher, when both men were priests near Newcastle in New South Wales.

Fletcher was later convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy between 1989 and 1991 and was sentenced to prison. He died nine years ago.

But last year, a government Special Commission of Inquiry reportedly found Fletcher “had an extensive history of perpetrating child sexual abuse in the diocese, exclusively abusing young males, particularly altar boys”.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

BY SAM MCKEITH AND MEGAN NEIL AAP MARCH 17, 2015

THE Catholic archbishop of Adelaide will fight an allegation he concealed child sexual abuse by a priest, a charge a victims’ group says is unlikely to be the last faced by a senior church official.

PHILIP Wilson is believed to be the most senior Catholic official in the world to face charges of this nature.

NSW police allege Wilson concealed a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the state’s Hunter region.

The abuse was allegedly committed during the 1970s by another priest, when both men worked in the Maitland Diocese, near Newcastle.

Wilson said he was disappointed police had decided to charge him and would vigorously defend his innocence. …

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) spokesman Mark Fabbro said it was positive to see the police move against such a senior church official.

“Survivors had been wondering why it had taken so long for a senior prelate to be brought to justice,” Mr Fabbro told AAP.

“There is evidence also implicating other individuals who have obviously from the evidence not reported crimes to the police and not pursued the perpetrators to ensure that they were accountable to the Australian public.

“It appears from the evidence that we’ve gained that the senior prelates in the Catholic Church persisted in the movement of … criminals away from police authorities.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

[statement from Archbishop Wilson]

The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson says he’s disappointed that NSW police have decided to charge him with concealing child sex abuse.

‘‘The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child,’’ he said in a statement on Tuesday. From the time this was first brought to my attention last year, I have completely denied the allegation.’’

The archbishop said he intended to ‘‘vigorously defend my innocence’’ and had retained Ian Tenby SC to represent him in the judicial system.

He said he was unable to make any further comment.‘‘But I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to dealing proactively with the issue of child sexual abuse and the implementation of best-practice child protection measures which I have pioneered since becoming a bishop.’’

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AUSTRALIA
IOL (South Africa)

Sydney –

The Catholic Archbishop of the South Australian city of Adelaide was charged on Tuesday with concealing child sex abuse, broadcaster ABC reported.

The charge relates to a paedophile priest that Archbishop Philip Wilson worked with in New South Wales in the 1970s, the report said citing police.

A police statement said the 64-year-old would appear in court on April 30, “charged after allegedly concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse,” but did not name the suspect.

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AUSTRALIA
Malay Mail

SYDNEY, March 17 — The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide was today charged with concealing child sex abuse and has taken leave from his high-level Australian position to fight the allegation.

Philip Wilson was charged by New South Wales police in relation to an offence allegedly committed during the 1970s by known-paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, now dead, when both men worked at a diocese near Newcastle, north of Sydney.

Local media said the 64-year-old is thought to be the most senior Catholic official in the world to face charges of this nature, and if sentenced could face up to two years behind bars.

The charge is the work of Strike Force Lantle, which since 2010 has investigated claims of child abuse concealment by former and current clergy attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Strike Force Lantle set up in 2010 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse cover up in Catholic Church

STRIKE Force Lantle was established five years ago and, until Tuesday, had drawn criticism for failing to deliver tangible results.

The strike force was set up in 2010 to investigate allegations that the Catholic Church had covered up sexual abuse committed by notorious former Hunter Valley priest Denis McAlinden.

McAlinden was charged with child sex offences in Western Australia in 1992 and was later acquitted, before the church allegedly took steps to remove him from Australia with a one-way plane ticket.

In 2011, victims’ groups branded the strike force a “disgrace”, alleging police had failed to properly investigate the McAlinden complaints.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 17 March 2015

A CATHOLIC priest who made allegations of sexual abuse against a fellow cleric has failed in his last ditch attempt to reverse a decision by the Vatican effectively sacking him.

Father Patrick Lawson has been told by the church’s highest court that it was upholding a decision dismissing him as a parish priest in Ayrshire, citing ill-health as preventing him doing the job.

The ruling, by the Signatura in Rome, added that Father Lawson’s “ministry has been rendered substantially ineffectual to a large body of parishioners”.

But one fellow priest said “all fingers pointed” to the priest speaking out against Father Paul Moore in the 1990s, as the root cause of his dismissal. Moore later admitted to his bishop he abused boys

The Galston priest, who once described the church as a mafia seeking to destroy him, had been issued with a decree to remove him back in mid-2013, with his then bishop raising concerns about his physical and psychological health.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

[the report]

17 March, 2015

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the ‘Report of Case Study No. 5: The response of The Salvation Army to child sexual abuse at its boys homes in New South Wales and Queensland’.

The four boys’ homes in this case study were run by the ‘Eastern Territory’ of The Salvation Army and provided homes for boys who were wards of the State. The homes included Indooroopilly and Riverview in Queensland and Gill and Bexley in New South Wales.

The Royal Commission heard evidence from 14 men who as boys were residents at one of the four boys’ homes operated by The Salvation Army.

The Commissioners found that The Salvation Army did not protect the boys from sexual abuse in each of the four homes by officers or employees of The Salvation Army.

The Commissioners also found that The Salvation Army received more than 100 claims of child sexual abuse concerning boys’ homes and in most cases, the boys who reported the abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.

The public hearing also examined the actions of government agencies in Queensland and New South Wales: the relevant children’s welfare departments and police forces. The Commissioners found that from at least 1973, senior officers of the Queensland Department of Children’s Services were aware of frequent sexual activity between many of the boys at Riverview Boys’ Home, including occasions of rape.

In New South Wales, staff from the Department of Child Welfare regularly reported on the homes but rarely recorded allegations of child sexual abuse. The Commissioners concluded that abuse went unreported for several reasons, including limited interaction between visiting staff and boys, and that issues were not generally referred to the police.

In relation to the response of The Salvation Army at the time, the Commissioners concluded that The Salvation Army’s policies and procedures were inadequate to oversee managers who were, in some cases, involved in abuse.

The Commissioners found that between 1965 and 1977, The Salvation Army’s policies and procedures did not enable the prevention or detection of child sexual abuse and The Salvation Army failed to provide appropriately trained staff to ensure an environment suitable for the care and safety of children.

The public hearing looked at whether the regular transfer of officers between the four homes allowed for sexual abuse to continue. The Commissioners concluded that the senior officers responsible for transfer decisions were often, but not always, unaware of allegations rather than deliberately trying to protect offenders.

The case study highlighted various systemic issues including the training and supervision of staff, mechanisms for handling complaints of child sexual abuse, reporting of child sexual abuse to authorities and record keeping in non-government institutions.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY March 17, 2015

FORMER Hunter priest and Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson has become the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world to be charged with concealing the alleged child sex offences of another priest.

Hunter police have today charged the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference vice president with failing to report child sex allegations against the late Hunter priest Jim Fletcher.

The charge relates to when both men worked in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the 1970s.

Archbishop Wilson is expected to strongly defend the charge.

The Adelaide Archbishop is one of a handful of Catholic clergymen in the world to be charged with concealing or failing to report alleged offences by another clergyman.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide

Media Release – Tuesday March 17, 2015

“I am disappointed to have been notified by the NSW Police that it has decided to file a charge in respect of this matter.

The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child.

From the time this was first brought to my attention last year, I have completely denied the allegation. I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system and I have retained Senior Counsel, Mr Ian Temby AO, who will represent me in respect of it.

I am unable to make any further comment at this stage, but I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to dealing proactively with the issue of child sexual abuse and the implementation of best-practice child protection measures which I have pioneered since becoming a bishop.

My efforts in this regard have been widely acknowledged, including as a result of evidence I gave to hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in NSW and SA.

I would again like to express my deep sorrow for the devastating impact of clerical sex abuse on victims and their families, and I give an assurance that despite this charge, I will continue to do what I can to protect the children in our care in the Archdiocese of Adelaide.

I intend to take some leave to consult with a wide range of people in response to the information I have received today.”

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AUSTRALIA
Business Insider

The Archbishop of Adelaide charged with concealing child sex abuse during his time in Maitland 40 years ago

PETER TERLATO

The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been charged with concealing child sex abuse allegedly committed by another priest in the 1970s.

Police allege the archbishop failed to report child sex abuse, allegedly committed by priest Jim Fletcher, when both men were a part of the Maitland Diocese, near Newcastle in New South Wales.

Fletcher, a convicted pedophile, died in 2006 after he was jailed for the rape of a teenage boy in the late 1980s. A NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Maitland Catholic Diocese revealed the priest “had an extensive history of perpetrating child sexual abuse in the diocese, exclusively abusing young males, particularly altar boys”.

The charges stem out of recommendations from the Special Commission of Inquiry and a five-year investigation by NSW police Strike Force Lantle, into allegations of concealment in the region.

The 64-year-old, who was born in the Hunter in Cessnock, is due to face Newcastle Court on April 30.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 17, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

THE Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has immediately taken indefinite leave to fight charges that he concealed child sex abuse allegedly committed by another priest during the 1970s.

As revealed exclusively by The Australian today, NSW Police issued Archbishop Wilson, the vice-president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, with a future court attendance notice to face a single charge of concealing a serious indictable offence.

He is understood to be the most senior Catholic official worldwide to face court over a criminal allegation of this type and could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

In a statement this afternoon, Archbishop Wilson says he’s disappointed that NSW police have decided to charge him. “The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Tuesday 17 March 2015

The archbishop of Adelaide has been charged by police over his alleged concealment of the sexual abuse of children by a priest in the 1970s.

On Tuesday New South Wales police charged Philip Wilson, 64, of concealing a serious offence, and issued a court attendance notice.

It is alleged Wilson covered up knowledge of alleged abuse by priest Jim Fletcher in the 70s, the Australian reported.

The report said Wilson is believed to be the highest-ranking Catholic official in the world to face criminal charges of this type. He faces up to two years’ jail.

Wilson, who is the vice president of the Australian Catholic bishops conference, and Fletcher, who died in 2006, were both employed in the Maitland diocese at the time of the abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Sun Daily

Posted on 17 March 2015

SYDNEY: Catholic Archbishop of the South Australian city of Adelaide was charged Tuesday with concealing child sex abuse, broadcaster ABC reported.

The charge relates to a paedophile priest that Archbishop Philip Wilson worked with in New South Wales in the 1970s, the report said citing police.

A police statement said the 64-year-old would appear in court on April 30, “charged after allegedly concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse,” but did not name the suspect.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Man charged with concealing a serious offence – Strike Force Lantle

Tuesday, 17 March 2015 12:36:39 PM

A man has been charged after allegedly concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the Hunter region.

Strike Force Lantle was initiated in 2010 to investigate allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church.

Police will allege a 64-year-old man, of South Australia, concealed a serious offence.

Today (Tuesday 17 March 2015), a future court attendance notice was served for conceal serious offence. The man is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday 30 April 2015.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson has been charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

The charges relate to Hunter region paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, who worked with the Archbishop in NSW in the 1970s.

Wilson announced in a statement he would take leave from his position after being notified of the charges filed against him by NSW Police.

NSW Police said its operation, Strike Force Lantle, launched in 2010, investigated allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy “formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church”.

They alleged that Wilson, 64, concealed a serious offence.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

03/16/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

My ‘google alerts’ surfaced an interesting reference to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis yesterday, or at least to one of its former employees. The Star Tribune’s ‘Business People’ noted that Rita Beatty, formerly the Communications Manager for the Archdiocese, has taken a position as a senior account representative at Himle, Rapp and Co.

I don’t think that Rita’s new position is a result of budget cuts in the Archdiocese or even the previously announced layoffs. From what I have seen, the budget for the Office of Communications has remained steady or even increased in the face of the severe budget deficit and bankruptcy filing. Moreover, Rita’s departure would impact more than just communications. She was the original staff person charged with bringing some sense to the Office of Child and Young Protection, and she all but ran the Aim Higher Foundation from her cubicle in the ‘garden level’ (meaning basement) of the Chancery.

However, what I find most notable about her job change is that she is the third senior communications staff member to depart since this crisis began in September of 2013. The first to depart was Sarah Mealey, who was the Director of Communications for the Archdiocese from April 2012 until March 2014. Publicly, it was stated that Sarah’s departure was to allow her to spend more time with her family, but privately I was told that she was felt that as the crisis unfolded the ‘lawyers’ were making all of the communications decisions. For my part, I always thought it significant that her resignation was announced less than a month after MPR published a series of emails from July of 2012 demonstrating that key staff, her included, were aware that abusive priests remained in ministry even as they assured the public that ‘no priests credibly accused of misconduct are currently in ministry in this Archdiocese’.

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MISSOURI
CBS St. Louis

Kevin Killeen (@KMOXKilleen)
March 16, 2015

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The man charged with setting fire to playground equipment in Shrewsbury was preparing to become a Catholic priest in the undergraduate program at Kenrick Seminary in Shrewsbury.

William C. Holmes, 23, of the 300 block of Hoener Street in Waterloo, is accused of setting fires that ruined playground equipment and a picnic table at Brinkop Park in Shrewsbury on March 8.

He is charged with two counts of knowingly burning, a Class-D felony, and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

. . .Rumor has it that William C. Holmes, the Waterloo man who admitted setting fire to playground equipment in Brinktop Park in Shrewsbury park, is studying for the priesthood at Kenrick Seminary. The Belleville Catholic diocesan website lists a William Holmes as being in his fourth year of study. (The P-D reports he’s “a college student at a local university.”. . .

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PHILIPPINES
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Juan L. Mercado
@inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer
5:56 AM | Tuesday, March 17th, 2015

“By now, one thing is clear,” writes John Allen in Boston Globe. Faced with attempts to hobble reforms, through the character assassination of his reformers, Pope Francis did not blink.

The latest case swirls around Australian Cardinal George Pell, whom Francis put in charge of straightening up the Vatican’s finances over a year ago.

Pell is a former Australian Rules Football brawler. Despite criticism against Pell, Francis issued early this month statutes for his operation. “To some extent at least, they amount to a vindication for Pell,” Allen writes.

Francis signed the statutes on Feb. 22, but these actually took effect on March 1.

Predictably, some Italian columnists dubbed it a defeat for Pell’s ambition to create a body virtually with unlimited powers over the administration of all Vatican assets.

Francis approved a legal framework for all three new financial oversight bodies that he launched last year. These are: the 15-member Council for the Economy, which sets policy; Pell’s secretariat, which implements it; and a new independent auditor general, charged with keeping everyone “on the straight and narrow.”

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 16, 2015

ROME — After a direct request from Pope Francis reportedly sparked the opening of a sex abuse investigation against an Italian priest, a survivors’ group in the United States has complained that the pontiff’s actions do not constitute “real reform.”

The story of the letter and subsequent investigation was first reported in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which identified the victim only as a 39-year-old male with the pseudonym “Diego” from the southern Italian city of Naples.

According to the newspaper account, Diego claimed to have been abused by the Rev. Silverio Mura, a religion teacher in his school, from the age of 11 until he was 17.

The reports say that after psychological treatment, in 2010 Diego decided to take the allegations to the police. Because of a statute of limitations, however, no investigation was ever opened. …

On Monday, however, the leading activist group for clerical abuse survivors in the United States played down the significance of the pope’s action.

“Two phone calls do not constitute real reform,” read a statement from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. “We endanger children and help predators if we let two phone calls diminish pressure for substantive change.”

The reference was to a separate case in Granada, Spain, where Pope Francis called an abuse victim who had written him to encourage the victim to make a report, setting an investigation into motion.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted March 16, 2015
.
BANGOR, Maine — A former altar server at St. George Greek Orthodox Church testified Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center that then-priest Adam Metropoulos, 52, of Bangor sexually assaulted him repeatedly at the church rectory in 2006 and 2007.

The man, who is now 23 and lives in Vermont, is not being identified by the Bangor Daily News because he might be the victim of a sex crime.

He told Superior Court Justice Ann Murray that he was an altar server from age 10 until he was 19 at the church on Sanford Street in Bangor. Because his family lived in Hancock County, he often spent the night at the rectory located on Fourteenth Street in Bangor. He said the assaults most often took place during Lent because there are additional services in the Orthodox church.

The Vermont man said that he would sleep in a spare bedroom or on a futon in the living room. Metropoulos often slept in bed with him, sometimes, a second boy slept with them as well, he testified.

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GEORGIA
Florida Times-Union

ATLANTA |Adults would get two years to sue people they accuse of sexually abusing them as children even if the statute of limitations had already expired under a law pending in the Georgia Senate.

House Bill 17, the Hidden Predator Act, was one of the flurry of bills approved Friday ahead of a deadline for passing bills out the House or Senate.

The proposal from Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, was significantly changed in the House Judiciary Committee, but according to the author, it still provides new access to the courts for those who claim to be victims.

“It’s not like we’re doing something unusual nationally because it’s a movement,” said Spencer, who noted that other states have either recently enacted similar laws or are considering doing so.

If approved by the Senate and signed into law by the governor, the bill would give victims a pair of additional opportunities to sue their alleged attackers after age 23 and the expiration of the statute of limitations.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

The district attorney has until May 10 to decide, after two mistrials, whether to retry Father Andrew McCormick a third time for the alleged attempted rape of an altar boy.

On his twitter account, Rufus Seth Williams, our crusading district attorney, was remarkably low-key about the case. He briefly noted Father Andy’s latest mistrial before deleting the tweet and moving on to more important things.

Such as the D.A.’s call-in on the WIP morning show where he joked about subpoenaing Eagles Coach Chip Kelly to find out “where all these deals will lead us.” And the D.A.’s comparison of himself to Rambo in the D.A.’s running feud with state Attorney General Kathleen Kane over whether to prosecute local pols caught in a sting operation. [“I find myself like John J. Rambo. They drew first blood not me.”]

Meanwhile, the “friends of Father Andy” have launched a petition drive online to “demand an end to the persecution of Father Andrew McCormick by the District Attorney of Philadelphia.” Maybe Father Andy’s friends are on to something. Like those tired Rocky and Rambo franchises it might be time to end the priest abuse trials in Philadelphia before we waste any more taxpayer money or have to suffer through any further embarrassments.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Duncan Barry
Monday, 16 March 2015

A woman who had filed a criminal complaint against an archpriest for allegedly injuring her slightly and against a vice-archpriest who allegedly insulted her, today withdrew her criminal complaints against the two on the condition that the priests in question stay away from her. This took place after the priests asked for the case to be withdrawn.

The archpriest had been accused of slightly injuring the woman after he allegedly punched her in church. The archpriest had also been charged with breaching the peace. The incident was reported by The Malta Independent.

The vice-archpriest of the same community, who witnessed the incident, had also been charged with insulting the woman with the utterance: “itilqu lill-Arċipriet, m’hawnx qassis li ma tisfrattaħx u ma tistax tara qassis…” (Leave the archpriest alone, you cannot set eyes on a single priest without leading him astray).

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

With two years as pope under his belt, Pope Francis should be in a position now to answer, as a self proclaimed servant of the People of God, some key questions on the minds of some Catholics in the 99%. “Friendly” and “opportunistic” journalists, some apparently seeking to preserve their special access to Vatican sources, have failed predictably to pose many of these questions directly.

So here goes. Hopefully, Pope Francis will respond to some or all of them openly and fully. If he chooses not to answer them, the questions will linger to undermine trust in the pope and his otherwise promising message. Given the escalating governmental investigations, in the UK (including of Cardinal O’Brien), Australia (including of Cardinal Pell), Minneapolis (USA) (including of Archbishop Niensted and his former vicar, the brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff), in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (of Archbishop Wesolowski), and in many other countries, Pope Francis, in his self declared short remaining papacy, will need all the trust he can generate now by giving the full truth, without spin, to Catholics.

1. Why did you, Pope Francis, call for a two step, carefully staged and secretive Synod, instead of an open and more promising ecumenical council, like Good Pope John did within two months of his papal election? As you know, only a full council after a thorough deliberation can infallibly adopt much needed and permanent structural reforms and overdue and updated definitive teachings on sexual morality that cannot then be changed readily by future popes.

2. Why and how did you select the Synods’ limited agenda that omits pressing issues like (a) holding bishops accountable to the Catholic 99 % for protecting predatory child abusing priests, and (b) adding urgently needed married and women priests?

3. Why are women and married couples excluded as full participants at Synods on family matters? Pope John’s birth control commission, for example, as a half century old precedent, had them as full participants on similar issues.

4. Why (a) have you stacked your new financial commissions with clerical majorities and wealthy male lay members that all serve at the pope’s pleasure, and (b) why have you failed so far to select, to review the Vatican’s assets and operations, an outside independent audit firm whose audit report you would now commit to make public fully and promptly?

5. Why have you appointed a cardinal, George Pell, to oversee Vatican financial administration, given that he left his country, Australia, seemingly in disgrace after spending a fortune to defeat an abuse survivor’s valid and much smaller claim? Good financial administration requires both experience and integrity. Staffing for finance differs from fielding a rugby or football team.

6. Why have you failed to rebuke publicly by name so many clerical subordinates for child abuse cover-up missteps, like Cardinals Law, Mahony, O’Brien, Rigali, Egan, George, Danneels, Brady, et al. and Bishops and other clerics, like Vangelhuwe, Mueller (Norway), Finn, Nienstedt, George Ratzinger ( Regensburg choirmaster), et al. ?

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
March 16, 2015

This past week, the Diocese of New Ulm disclosed 4 names of accused priests. The new names are really not new. They are names that they should have known earlier and that they should have disclosed. I found it interesting to look at the names that are not on their list.

– We know that the diocese, headed by Bishop John Nienstedt in 2004, had identified 12 priests accused of sexual misconduct with children in a report to U.S. Catholic Bishops. These are the lists of the credibly accused that the other Diocese in the state have disclosed.

Diocese of Winona Release Their List of 14 Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Release Their List of 34 Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

The Diocese of St Cloud Release Their List of 33 Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

St. John’s Abbey Release Their List of 18 Monks and Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

The Diocese of Duluth Release Their List of 17 Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

The Diocese of Crookston Release Their List of 6 Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

New Ulm has not released their list.

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CHILE
U.S. News

By EVA VERGARA, Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Juan Carlos Cruz recalls that he and another teen boy would lie down on the priest’s bed, one resting his head at the man’s shoulder, another sitting near his feet. The priest would kiss the boys and grope them, he said, all while the Rev. Juan Barros watched.

“Barros was there, and he saw it all,” Cruz, now a 51-year-old journalist, told The Associated Press.

Barros has been tapped by Pope Francis to become bishop of a southern Chilean diocese this month, provoking an unprecedented outcry by abuse victims and Catholic faithful who contend he covered up sexual abuse committed by his mentor and superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, in the 1980s and ’90s. A Vatican investigation found Karadima guilty in 2011 and sentenced the now 84-year-old priest to a cloistered life of “penitence and prayer” for what is Chile’s highest-profile case of abuse by a priest.

Barros has declined to comment publicly on allegations against him. Now bishop for Chile’s armed forces, he has said he learned of Karadima’s abuse through a 2010 news report he saw on television, according to court records.

While not directly accused of abuse, Barros is said by at least three victims to have witnessed the sexual molestation at the Sacred Heart of Jesus church, part of the El Bosque parish that serves an affluent neighborhood of Santiago.

That history has parishioners, clergy and lawmakers in this predominantly Catholic country protesting the pope’s decision to appoint Barros, 58, to become spiritual leader over the diocese in Osorno, about 580 miles (930 kilometers) south of Santiago.

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MINNESOTA
KDUZ

Area churches under the Diocese of New Ulm have received letters telling them about claims of past sexual abuses in the churches.

The diocese released a statement saying the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm has been named in 12 notices of claim alleging sexual misconduct involving a minor by four priests in the diocese. Only one of the four priests, Father Dennis Becker, is living and he is retired.

All of the priests named in the claims have served parishes in Gibbon, Springfield, Lamberton, Hutchinson, Lafayette, Montevideo, Redwood Falls and Glencoe.

A notice of claim is not a lawsuit but rather a notice stating the time, place and circumstances of the alleged abuse.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We’re concerned about abuse by nuns because a disproportionately high number of accused child molesting nuns have worked and lived in Louisville. Abuse by women has gotten little attention and victims of women often get little compassion and considerable misunderstanding.

Nuns also change their names more often than priests so could more easily get access to more kids even after being publicly accused.

In very cursory Internet research, we found that the last nun on this list has been sent elsewhere and is teaching immigrants, a very vulnerable group.

This list

1) Sr. Joseph Anthony

Named in 7/04 suit by one woman alleging abuse by Msgr. Herman J. Lammers and 5 nuns at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage or at local schools. Woman alleges that one of her abusers was Sister Joseph Anthony at the orphanage. Order has confirmed that nun by this name worked at the orphanage in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sister Joseph Anthony left the order in 1972.

2) Sr. Arthur

One woman filed suit 2004 alleging abuse by Msgr. Herman J. Lammers and 5 nuns at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage or at local schools. Woman alleges that one of her abusers was Sister Arthur at Holy Spirit School. Order says that it did not have members working at Holy Spirit School.

3) Sr. Charles

Nun. One woman filed suit 7/04 alleging abuse by Msgr. Herman J. Lammers and 5 nuns at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage or at local schools. Woman alleges that one of her abusers was Sister Charles at the orphanage. Order has confirmed that nun by this name worked at the orphanage in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sister Charles is deceased.

4) Sr. James Patrick Cronin

Named in 8/04 civil suit by woman said she was abused by Cronin, two other nuns, and Fr. Lammers at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage. Order confirmed that Cronin was at the orphanage between 1958-1961. Died.

5) Sr. Madeline de Paul Galatine

Sued 2004. Accused of abuse of 2 girls at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage. Deceased.

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

The police watchdog is investigating alleged corruption in the Metropolitan Police, including claims it covered up child sex offences due to the involvement of police officers and MPs.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 14 referrals relating to child sex offences from the 1970s to the 2000s.

It said the claims were of “high-level corruption of the most serious nature”.

The Met said it had voluntarily referred the allegations.

Sarah Green, deputy chairwoman of the IPCC, said: “These allegations are of historic, high-level corruption of the most serious nature.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

16 March 2015 by Brian Morton

The Church in Scotland has responded to media reports suggesting that the Church is “sitting on” a report on allegations regarding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh who stood down in 2013 after admitting sexual misconduct.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh said that Pope Francis had “tried his very best to handle the case of Cardinal O’Brien with great justice and compassion” and was now considering the report. “We hope and trust that he will reach a decision that is fair and just to everybody involved,” the spokesman said.

Following public accusations by a number of priests and one former priest, and following the cardinal’s resignation, the Pope appointed Bishop – now Archbishop – Scicluna, to speak to all those involved and report back to the Vatican.

One of the men who have accused Cardinal O’Brien of inappropriate sexual conduct said that despite Archbishop Scicluna’s report being “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the Pope’s desk, the Church was moving with “glacial” speed when it came to making public its findings.

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UTAH
Aljazeera America

by Joanna Walters March 16, 2015

This is the first of a two-part series on the FLDS. The second part will be published on March 17.

HILDALE, Utah — “I finally heard about this thing called Facebook, like, a year ago. I had no idea what it was,” says 22-year-old Brigham Johnson, rubbing his neat beard nervously.

He’s embarrassed it took him so long to stumble upon the social-media site. But when he finally did, it was life changing.

“I sneaked a look on a computer, even though that was forbidden, and I found some old friends who’d got out. I was, like, ‘Wow, they’ve been living here in town all this time.’ That’s when I knew I could leave,” he says.

So he packed a bag one midnight in May 2013 and told his brother he was leaving. Then he walked out on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the outlaw religion he was born into in a remote town on the Utah-Arizona border.

A secretive group who broke with Mormonism in order to practice polygamy, the FLDS became notorious for child abuse under its repressive leader, the pedophile “prophet” Warren Jeffs. Now serving life in state prison in Palestine, Texas, for aggravated sexual assault of minors, Jeffs continues to exert astonishing power over his flock from behind bars.

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IRELAND
U.S. Catholic

When Bishop Diarmuid Martin was asked by Pope John Paul II in 2003 to leave his post at the Vatican and return to Dublin to eventually become its archbishop, the pope also lobbed this question at him: “How is it that secularization came to Ireland so quickly?” Martin has said that his unvarnished answer to that question would have been, “Your Holiness is wrong,” although of course he didn’t say that exactly. But he did tell the pope that secularization had been on the Irish radar for many years, even if few had realized it.

Martin is currently the Vice Chair of the Irish Bishops’ Conference; during his years in Rome he served as Secretary for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and as the Permanent Observer of the Holy See in Geneva and at the United Nations. He has been a steadfast advocate for victims of clerical sexual abuse.

How would you describe the state of Catholicism in Ireland today?

I believe the roots of Irish secularization have been there a long, long time, and they weren’t recognized in time. There are people who don’t recognize them still.

I think there’s a feeling that everything is all right—Mass attendance may be down, but people are really still Catholic. That may have been the case a few years ago, but I think more and more young people are losing familiarity with what faith is all about. They’re finding a way of life in which faith doesn’t really seem to hit them.

Just look at statistics today: Slightly over 60 percent of people in Ireland get married in church. Those that get married in civil marriages—it doesn’t mean that they necessarily do this as an ideological thing. They don’t walk in with a banner saying, “We’re coming here because we don’t like the church.” There may be other reasons. …

What can be done to rebuild the confidence of the young in the church?

A lot of people didn’t quite understand how much the sex abuse scandal affected young people. People have said to me, “The young people, they’re not really interested in that.” They were, though. They were quite upset about it, actually. Their confidence in the institution was seriously affected.

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UNITED KINGDOM
GlobalPost

Corinne Purtill
March 16, 2015

LONDON, UK — Try to forget it.

That’s what Jon Bird’s mother told him in 1963 when he ran home at age 4 weeping and in pain, after a stranger pulled him into the woods and raped him.

He heard the same thing six years later, he said, when a boarding school head teacher was fired — but not criminally charged — for sexually assaulting Bird and other students.

Denial, forgetting and covering up were for years the British response to allegations that children were being sexually abused in institutions that were supposed to care for them. Now those walls are coming down.

The UK is poised to launch a major national investigation into allegations that government officials knowingly covered up evidence of sexual abuse of children over decades, even when those crimes were perpetrated by people in the highest echelons of public life and in institutions specifically tasked with children’s care.

“This could be — it probably will be — the biggest inquiry this country’s ever seen,” inquiry spokesman David Jervis told GlobalPost Friday.

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ITALY
Washington Post

By Anthony Faiola March 15

NAPLES, Italy — Diego was the shy one in Father Silverio Mura’s class; a 13-year-old, olive-skinned and handsome, who spent his free time indoors watching cartoons. He walked to school alone in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, stopping first to pray to a statue of the Virgin Mary in the rose garden in front of his apartment building.

“She was my protector,” he said.

But nothing and no one, Diego charged, protected him from Mura — the religion teacher who invited the then-teenage boy to the priest’s small apartment on Brothers Grimm Street after class one day in 1989. There, Diego, now 39, said Mura cajoled him into a kiss. A few days later, he was asked to return, suffering the first of what he described as hundreds of incidences of sexual abuse that turned a quiet boy who wanted to be a pilot into a deeply troubled adult.

After he finally came forward in 2009, Diego’s case languished. The local diocese even transferred Mura in 2012 to a school where the priest had regular access to children as young as 14. That’s when Diego, who is still Catholic, made what would become a decisive move — he wrote directly to Pope Francis.

His case is one of several in which Francis has personally intervened to aid alleged abuse victims in what the Vatican calls yet another push for change by a pope known for leading by example. The pope, according to the Vatican, escalated Diego’s case, prompting an official church investigation that could ultimately lead to Mura’s defrocking. Given the length of such legal processes in the church, it could take a year or more to establish his guilt or innocence. ….

Francis, like Benedict before him, victims’ groups say, has failed to act decisively against bishops charged with hiding abuse in their diocese, and he has embraced solutions they see as little more than window dressing. They cite alarming instances, for example, in which local dioceses have left abusive priests in ministry. The activist group BishopAccountability.org, for instance, recently drafted a letter to senior church officials profiling a number of accused clerics in the Philippines who, they say, still enjoy easy access to children. Symbolism alone, critics insist, will not get the job done.

“Getting involved in one or two cases is a PR strategy, not a solution,” said David Clohessy, president of the U.S. group SNAP (the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests).

Yet for those few affected by the pope’s involvement, it can feel like nothing short of a miracle.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A national approach to the protection of up to 50,000 children in care would not have the full support of all states and territories, a royal commission has heard.

The second week of a hearing into out-of-home care across Australia was told on Monday that some jurisdictions thought the time and money involved in changing laws and information technology systems were not worth it because it might “not improve client outcomes”.

The commission was told that mandatory reporting obligations for suspected child sexual abuse were applied differently across the country – with some jurisdictions excluding kinship carers.

There are also great variations in reporting practices with some carers required to tell the relevant departments while others must go straight to the police.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

03/15/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Has anyone else noticed that the website and twitter account (@NienstedtResign) formerly maintained/operated by the anonymous informant ‘Nienstedt: Resign’ has been taken down and/or the account closed?

If anyone has any information about this I would be eager to hear it. Of course, I have a hard time believing that Archbishop Nienstedt would take this type of step to silence one of his critics.

Oh wait…I forgot about this, and this, and, well, this.

AMDG baby, as the Jesuits would say.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Paul Grimaldi

Journal Staff Writer

Posted Mar. 15, 2015

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — One of the pastoral properties held in Rhode Island by a controversial religious order could soon become an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center run by a new health-care company.

Pennsylvania-based Recovery Centers of America has an agreement to pay approximately $5 million for a 35.5-acre property off Route 1 that once housed the Immaculate Conception Academy, according to a company representative.

The company plans to convert the former boarding school into an addiction-treatment center with about 100 beds, said Matthew F. Callahan, the company’s Rhode Island lawyer. The facility would offer both in-patient and outpatient services.

It does not plan to subdivide the property.

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ALASKA
Daily Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: March 14, 2015

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A former Fairbanks priest will serve at least 10 years in federal prison on a child pornography offense under a plea agreement.

Clint Landry pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor in a signed agreement filed Wednesday, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1ChbWBI) reported.

Landry was a priest at Sacred Heart Cathedral until May. That’s when the plea agreement said a diocese custodian at Landry’s church-provided home saw an open email on Landry’s computer with a sexually explicit photo of a teenage girl.

The FBI searched Landry’s computer after the custodian contacted her supervisor.

Investigators found other child pornography on his computer and a chat transcript from a few days before in which Landry paid $55 in anticipation of seeing a video from a Yahoo account that claimed to be a 16-year-old boy in the Philippines. During the summer of 2013, he contacted seven Yahoo accounts for the purpose of seeing child pornography, according to the plea agreement.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Tagesschau

[What does the Catholic Church to educate the child abuse cases in their own ranks? A year ago the bishops have a group of researchers the task of bringing light into the darkness. Results: earliest 2017.]

Was tut die katholische Kirche, um die Kindesmissbrauchsfälle in den eigenen Reihen aufzuklären? Vor einem Jahr haben die Bischöfe eine Gruppe von Forschern damit beauftragt, Licht ins Dunkel zu bringen. Ergebnisse: frühestens 2017.

Von Anja Würzberg, Redaktion Religion und Gesellschaft, NDR

Matthias Katsch sieht nicht aus wie ein Mann, der sich leicht erschüttern lässt. Doch es gibt etwas in seiner Vergangenheit, das ihn zutiefst belastet: Als 14-Jähriger wurde er am renommierten Canisius-Kolleg von einem Pater sexuell missbraucht. Das Canisius-Kolleg gehört zum angesehenen Jesuiten-Orden. Ein Internat mit Schule, das Kindern Geborgenheit und Bildung vermitteln will. Für den damaligen Schüler Katsch und einige seiner Mitschüler wurde es zu einem gefährlichen Ort.

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CHILE
Conferencia Episcopal de Child

La Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile ha entregado este sábado 14 de marzo la siguiente declaración:

“La Nunciatura Apostólica renueva su confianza y apoyo a S.E. Mons. Juan Barros Madrid, Obispo electo de la Diócesis de Osorno.

La Nunciatura Apostólica invita, por tanto, a toda la Iglesia en Chile y, en manera particular, a la Comunidad diocesana de Osorno a prepararse, mediante la oración y las obras de bien, al inicio del gobierno pastoral de S.E. Mons. Barros Madrid, reavivando un espíritu de fe como también de comunión con el Sucesor de Pedro y con el nuevo Pastor.

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CHILE
La Tercera

[The Apostolic Nunciature in Chile yesterday expressed support for Juan Barros Madrid, named by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the diocese in the city of Osorno, last January 10. The apostolic nuncio, Ivo Scapolo said yesterday through a statement posted on the Episcopal Conference of Chile (Cech) that “the Apostolic Nunciature renews its confidence and support for SE Mons. Juan Barros Madrid, elected Bishop of the Diocese of Osorno”.]

por María José Jarpa – 15/03/2015

La Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile manifestó ayer su respaldo a Juan Barros Madrid, nombrado por el Papa Francisco como el nuevo obispo de la diócesis de la ciudad de Osorno, el pasado 10 de enero.

El nuncio apostólico, Ivo Scapolo, señaló ayer a través de un comunicado publicado en la Conferencia Episcopal de Chile (Cech) que “la Nunciatura Apostólica renueva su confianza y apoyo a S.E. Mons. Juan Barros Madrid, Obispo electo de la Diócesis de Osorno”.

Además, en el documento se “invita a toda la Iglesia en Chile y, en manera particular, a la comunidad diocesana de Osorno a prepararse, mediante la oración y las obras de bien, al inicio del gobierno pastoral de monseñor Barros”.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

1. Pope Francis surely, and sadly for Catholics, is not up to the example of “Good Pope John”. Francis practices “clever clericalism” that, under cover of platitudes about caring for the “poor sheep”, seems almost always to put protecting cardinals and clerics (and their plutocratic donors) ahead of the Gospel message and the poor and defenseless. At the same time, the pope “jesuitically” feeds, to a gullible and opportunistic media, popular “pious platitudes” to write about, without much original thought or effort being required on their part.

2. n contrast, Pope John XXIII wisely and courageously called, within barely two months of becoming pope, for an ecumenical council that effected some permanent reforms. He quietly backed squarely, without much spin, the large majority of bishops who wanted consequential reforms that only an ecumenical council could (and still can) permanently adopt. He did this until 81 years old as he battled both cancer and entrenched Vatican bureaucrats.

3. Francis could have followed, and could still follow, Good Pope John’s wise and courageous example. Instead, Francis has so far mostly protected the hierarchy, no matter what they did and do.

4. Of course, so far Francis has also salvaged the Vatican Bank’s profitable operations, as he protected Vatican cardinals from prosecutors investigating financial crimes. And he has also tightened his and future popes’ absolute control over Vatican finances — that seems mostly to be about it in terms of significant actual results after two years under Pope Francis.

5. Predictably, Francis has now, it appears, made a firm decision to stand behind his indefensible decision to assign a bishop in Chile, linked to one of the country’s most notorious clerical sex abusers, as the new leader of a local diocese.

6. Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, previously Chile’s military chaplain and likely in that position well known to Francis’ evidently strong ally and former Chilean Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Angleo Sodano, seemingly a long time supporter of Chilean military dictator Pinochet. Barros had been appointed in mid-January as the new bishop of the small Osorno diocese.

7. Barros is one of at least four bishops mentored by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a longtime prominent Chilean cleric. In 2011, the Vatican sentenced Karadima to a life of “penitence and prayer” after finding him guilty of pedophilia and abuse of his ecclesiastical position.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

[The Catholic Church continues to support Pastor J.]

Claudia Adams

“Weiteres trauriges Schauspiel

Sie schreiben, dass Dechant Hans Peter Kippels die Entfernung wie folgt begründet: ‘Ein Gebetshaus könne nicht dauerhaft für Demonstrationszwecke genutzt werden. Dies gelte für alle Beteiligten. Auch die Blumen, Kerze und Plakate, mit denen Gläubige vor der Kirche den entpflichteten Pfarrer J. unterstützen, seien nicht mehr vorhanden.

Es enstpricht nicht der Wahrheit, dass auch die Solidaritätsbekundungen mit Pfarrer W.J. entfernt wurden. An der Eingangstür befand sich auch Tage später noch ein großes Schild mit der Aufschrift: ‘Solidarität für Pfarrer W.J.’ und dem Konterfei des Pfarrers. Das Schild befand sich bereits bei meinem letzten Besuch in der Kirche am 22. Februar dort. Solidarität mit den Opfern ist in der Kirche also verboten, aber der Täter prangt weiterhin am Eingang.

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SERBIEN
kath.net

[According to Serbian media report, the highest governing body of the Serbian Orthodox Church has dismissed right-wing nationalist Bishop Filaret against his will. There are a number of issues but he has been accused of sexual abuse.]

Laut serbischen Medienberichten beschloss das oberste Leitungsgremium der serbisch-orthodoxen Kirche, , den rechtsnationalistischen Bischof Filaret (Micovic) gegen seinen Willen abzuberufen. Eine offizielle Erklärung der Kirche gab es zunächst nicht

Belgrad (kath.net/KNA) Die serbisch-orthodoxe Kirche hat den durch mehrere Skandale belasteten Bischof von Mileseva im Südwesten des Landes abgesetzt. Laut serbischen Medienberichten vom späten Donnerstagabend beschloss das oberste Leitungsgremium, der von Patriarch Irinej I. geleitete Heilige Synod in Belgrad, den rechtsnationalistischen Bischof Filaret (Micovic) gegen seinen Willen abzuberufen. Eine offizielle Erklärung der Kirche gab es zunächst nicht.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

[The priest sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing pupils at Kremsmunster in Austria must begin his incarceration within three days.]

KREMSMÜNSTER. Jener rechtskräftig wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs an Zöglingen des Stiftes Kremsmünster zu zwölf Jahren Haft verurteilte Ex-Pater muss binnen drei Tagen seine Haft antreten.

Der Mann war laut Gutachten nur bedingt haftfähig. Dass er ins Gefängnis muss, hat nun die Vollzugsdirektion entschieden, berichtete das Neue Volksblatt (Samstag-Ausgabe).

Der ehemalige Geistliche werde in einer Justizanstalt mit angeschlossener Sonderkrankenanstalt untergebracht, so sein Anwalt Oliver Plöckinger. Bei welcher es sich dabei handle, sei noch ungewiss. Fest steht, dass der 81-Jährige vorerst in Wels einsitzen wird. Laut Verteidiger besteht keine Möglichkeit, die Entscheidung der Vollzugsdirektion zu bekämpfen.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

Bob Redig

While Pope Francis is on the right track, moving from pomp and arrogance to simplicity and humility, he has two major problems to deal with.

While some concepts can be dismissed as a theological construct, as Pope Benedict did with “limbo,” others require the consent of the whole Catholic Church.

Papal infallibility and irreformability are, as Bishop Robinson of Australia says, a prison that the Vatican has built around itself stone by stone. By definition only one entity can claim that perfection. The institutional church is not God. Truth may be absolute but human interpretation and understanding of it is imperfect and must adapt and grow.

Only when all Catholics are included in the discernment process can we humans begin to approach the truth. If not, egregious mistakes will be (and have been) made, too numerous to list, but among them the claiming of papal infallibility and irreformability.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Express

THERESA MAY must leave no stone unturned in her probe into allegations of child sex abuse that runs through every level of society “like a stick of rock”.

Sun, March 15, 2015

Appalling cases have already been uncovered in Rochdale, Rotherham, Derby, Bristol and Oxfordshire. The Home Secretary yesterday warned there is worse to come.

Days after she named a new panel to head the inquiry into abuse in England and Wales, she warned the trail would lead “into our schools, hospitals, churches, youth clubs and other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became places of the most appalling abuse”.

For too long complaints were trivialised, dismissed or swept under the carpet. Ms May’s comments this weekend show her commitment to champion this issue on behalf of the victims and survivors, who have had the courage to speak out to save the next generation of children.

Although it had a difficult beginning, the Home Secretary now has confidence in the inquiry to get to the truth. However it is important that it does not take too long.

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