UNITED KINGDOM
Care Appointments

Written by The Press Association

Home Secretary Theresa May will decide by the end of the month whether the inquiry into historic child sex abuse involving a Westminster paedophile ring will investigate allegations from before the 1970s.

Mrs May dissolved the original panel after two chairs were forced to stand down over their links to Establishment figures from the 1970s and 80s, appointing a new chair and re-examining the terms of reference.

A change in the terms of reference could include widening the scope to include allegations made before the 1970s.

Once the terms are finalised, along with the number of members that will sit on the panel, the inquiry will be placed on a statutory basis.

Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said this would take place before the end of March.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Thursday 12 March 2015

Four new panel members, including the author of a report into sexual exploitation in Rotherham, have been appointed to the reformed independent inquiry into child abuse, the home secretary has announced.

After months of controversy about the make-up and power of the inquiry Theresa May confirmed on Thursday it was to be placed on a statutory footing “to compel witnesses to determine whether state and non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to children”.

The home secretary revealed she has listened to demands from the survivors that the period of time covered by the inquiry be extended. May said there would be no cutoff point for investigations and added that the no individual or institution should be able to fall through the gaps because of “geographical boundaries”.

She said information would be shared between the inquiry in England and Wales, a forthcoming inquiry being set up in Scotland, the Hart Inquiry in Northern Ireland and the Jersey independent care inquiry; all of which will have joint protocols.

May said the inquiry would have the full cooperation of the government and access to all relevant information.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A new four-person panel has been named by the home secretary, as the inquiry into child sex abuse in England and Wales officially starts work.

The panel members are Drusilla Sharpling, Professor Alexis Jay, Ivor Frank and Malcolm Evans.

They will serve alongside the New Zealand judge, Lowell Goddard, who is heading the inquiry.

New terms of reference have been agreed, these include removing any cut off dates.

Theresa May said the inquiry would also reflect the importance of survivors, who will be able to appear as witnesses.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Press Association

A new four person panel, including Professor Alexis Jay, has been revealed by Home Secretary Theresa May for the reformed statutory inquiry into child sex abuse.

Mrs May said Drusilla Sharpling, Ivor Frank and Malcolm Evans will also serve alongside Justice Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand judge.

New terms of reference for the inquiry have also been agreed, included a removal of any cut off date for claims which can be investigated by the probe.

In a written statement to MPs, Mrs May said: “Survivors have been instrumental in the setting up of this statutory inquiry. Both Justice Goddard and I are clear that they must also have a strong voice in the work of the inquiry as it now moves forward.

“Justice Goddard will be writing to survivors and their representatives shortly to set out her intention to create a survivors and victims’ consultative panel and to seek their views on how this will work and who should be on it.

“This panel will have a specific role and function within the i nquiry.”

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 12

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

We’re worried about Lexington’s new bishop and how he’ll deal with clergy sex abuse cases.

In a 2008 interview, Rev. John Stowe made three troubling comments about the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis

[BishopAccountability.org]

First, Stowe said that in the past, it was a practice to move offending priests to some other parish after some kind of counseling or treatment. But that no longer happens.

Second, “We know much more now than we did in the 1960s,” he said. His implication is that a lack of knowledge by the church hierarchy was a major reason why 6,300 US priests have sexually assaulted at least 100,000 children. That’s a deceitful claim.

Bishops are smart, well-educated men with many resources and smart consultants. They knew – and know – exactly what they’re doing when they quietly pay off victims and move predator priests. It was – and is – a lack of decency and courage that causes this crisis, not a lack of information.

For ages, bishops have known that child sex abuse is illegal and hurtful. Yet time and time again, they put their reputations, careers and comfort ahead of kids’ safety, and refuse to call police the minute child sex crimes are known or suspected. And sadly, this is still happening in the church today.

Third, he acknowledged that there were abusive priests in the past. Again, we stress that in a rigid, ancient, secretive, all-male monarchy, centuries of recklessness and callousness with clergy sex crimes and cover ups can’t be radically reversed in a few short years. So there still ARE abusive priests and bishops are STILL hiding them, moving them, and minimizing and concealing their crimes. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

Stowe has spent time in the Toledo diocese (31 publicly accused predator priests) and the El Paso diocese (14 publicly accused predator priests). He knows the first steps he should take in Lexington. He should:

1) Post predator priests’ names on his diocesan website, for the safety of kids and the healing of victims, and

2) Clearly and repeatedly beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police and seek therapy.

We hope he has the courage to take these simple steps toward prevention and recovery. We are not optimistic.

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IOWA
KCCI

DUBUQUE, Iowa —The Archdiocese of Dubuque is investigating a sexual abuse claim against a former Iowa pastor 30 years after the alleged abuse occurred.

The Telegraph Herald reports that the claim, made last year against a former Dubuque pastor, alleges the man sexually abused a minor in 1985. Efforts by The Telegraph Herald to reach the man for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Director of communications John Robbins says the accuser’s attorney brought the allegation to the Dubuque County Attorney’s Office. He says criminal investigation isn’t expected because of the statute of limitations.

The former pastor, now working at a Florida parish, has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

March 12, 2015 by J-Wire News Service

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has established a Task Force on Child Protection that will focus on the welfare of children in communal institutional settings.

The taskforce is headed by University of NSW Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass, who chairs the Board’s Social Justice Committee and contains eminent members of our community who specialise in the area of child protection.

The task force will develop and roll-out on-going seminars and workshops, the first of which will begin in June this year, that will focus on child safety policies and practices, the prevention of child abuse, procedures to protect children against abuse within Jewish institutional and community settings and the mandatory obligation to report to police.

“We will be contacting every Jewish communal institution –religious and lay– in NSW to invite them to be part of this critically important initiative” NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President Jeremy Spinak said. “We can’t simply say, ‘well the Royal Commission’s over, there’s nothing left to do. The solemn comments made following the commission hearings will count for naught if we don’t follow-up with serious, meaningful grass-roots change. That’s what the task force is seeking to do.”

Professor Cass said that due to the importance of the subject matter she expects strong communal participation in the initiative. “The key principle of the taskforce is that the foremost and overriding concern of all our educational and other community institutions and individuals associated with them is the physical, emotional and psychological protection of every child who comes within their system,” she said. “The rights of our children to that protection must be accorded priority in all our processes and actions.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Valley Breeze

By MELANIE THIBEAULT, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

SMITHFIELD – Now that they’ve been approved for a special use permit from the town’s zoning board, officials from the Legion of Christ will transition the facilities at 60 Austin Ave. from Mater Ecclesiae College to a boarding school for 6th- through 9th-grade girls called Overbrook Academy.

The school, which will be located on 44 acres in Greenville, is set to open in the fall.

The permit was approved by Zoning Board of Review members at their Feb. 25 meeting and will allow the Legion to run the boarding school in a planned development district.

Zoning board Chairman George McKinnon told The Valley Breeze & Observer that officials from the Legion of Christ did not mention making any changes to the facilities.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

[with list of committee chairs]

Philadelphia, PA (March 11, 2015) – The World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 today announced the establishment of a comprehensive committee structure in advance of the World Meeting of Families Congress and historic visit of Pope Francis in September 2015. There will be 15 committees advising on myriad planning issues including liturgical development, combatting hunger and homelessness, and visitor experience among others.

Each committee will have a Chair/Co-Chairs as well as Vice Chairs who will work together with the members of their respective committees. Meetings are set to begin in earnest in early April, approximately six months prior to the global event. Several notable committees, such as security and transportation, are being headed by regional authorities and governmental agencies. Senior leadership from the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 will represent the organization to those bodies. The World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 will closely coordinate with the City of Philadelphia on communications.

“In preparing for the World Meeting of Families, we have been blessed with wonderful support from the entire community. Of special note is the willingness of business, civic, and cultural leaders to become engaged,” said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. “Whether Catholic or of another faith tradition, they have responded equally with open hearts, great enthusiasm and strong commitment. I’m deeply grateful to those who have accepted the invitation to serve on the committees being announced today and I’m confident that we will create a beautiful and memorable week for our families here in the Philadelphia region – and for families from around the world.”

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Spokane (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Thomas Anthony Daly, finora Vescovo Ausiliare di San Jose in California.

S.E. Mons. Thomas Anthony Daly

S.E. Mons. Thomas Anthony Daly è nato a San Francisco, California, il 30 aprile 1960, nell’omonima arcidiocesi. Ha ottenuto il “B.A.” presso l’”University of San Francisco” a San Francisco (1982). Ha compiuto gli studi ecclesiastici presso il “Saint Patrick Seminary” a Menlo Park. Successivamente, ha ottenuto il “Masters” in Pedagogia presso il “Boston College”, Massachusetts (1996).

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha nominato Vescovo di Lexington (U.S.A.) il Rev.do P. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., finora Vicario Provinciale della Provincia Francescana Conventuale “Our Lady of Consolation” e Rettore della “Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation” in Carey (Ohio).

Rev.do P. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv.

Il Rev.do P. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., è nato il 15 aprile 1966 ad Amherst (Ohio). Dopo aver frequentato la “Lorain Catholic High School” ha ottenuto il Baccalaureato in Filosofia e in Storia presso la “Saint Louis University” (1990). Poi, ha ottenuto il “Masters in Divinity” e la Licenza in Storia della Chiesa presso la “Jesuit School of Theology” a Berkeley (California).

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Susan Edelman
March 12, 2015

An 11-year-old girl was bullied and sexually assaulted by male students at a Catholic school in Manhattan, according to a new lawsuit.

The suit filed, against the Archdiocese of New York and St. Gregory School on the Upper West Side, claims that the principal, Donna Gabella, did not do enough to prevent the constant abuse doled out by the students.

The anonymous plaintiff is seeking $5 million in damages.

St. Gregory School is a Catholic school for children in pre-kindergarten through grade 8.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

By Joel Mathis | March 12, 2015

Security for the visit of Pope Francis’ September visit to Philadelphia will be led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, KYW reports.

Bob Ciaruffoli, president of the World Meeting of Families Philadelphia organization, says the federal government has declared the visit by Pope Francis and activities leading up to his arrival a “national security special event.”

“Multiple governmental agencies are extremely involved in the process,” he tells KYW Newsradio, “every step of the process. They’re working closely. There’s multiple committees set up where all the various agencies from the different governmental entities are involved in.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA0
Philadelphia Inquirer

DAVID O’REILLY, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, March 12, 2015, 1:08 AM
POSTED: Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 12:

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and local organizers of the World Meeting of Families announced Monday the creation of 15 committees to coordinate the international gathering in September, which will feature a visit to Philadelphia by Pope Francis.

The committees will develop programming and coordinate efforts on such topics as music, “visitor experience,” liturgies, youth events, parish preparation, and papal events.

Sponsored by the Vatican and hosted by the archdiocese, the six-day gathering will feature a four-day congress of lectures and workshops at the Convention Center.

The archdiocese expects about 10,000 to 15,000 visitors from around the world to attend the congress, which begins Sept. 22.

Francis is due to arrive Sept. 26 and appear at a festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Church and city officials estimate the gathering will draw one million people.

Francis will also celebrate Mass on Sept. 27 at an altar on the Parkway. Officials expect as many as two million people to attend.

Security and some logistical planning for the papal visit are being prepared by city, state, and federal protection agencies in conjunction with World Meeting of Families Philadelphia 2015, a nonprofit created by the archdiocese to raise funds and coordinate planning. It announced the chairs of its special committees would be:

Eustace Mita, CEO of Achristavest, for development and fund-raising.

Karen Dougherty Buchholz, senior vice president of Comcast Corp., and Josephine Mandeville, president of the Connelly Foundation, cochairs for for papal events.

Steve Fera, senior vice president of Independence Blue Cross, for government outreach.

Tod J. MacKenzie, senior vice president for corporate communications at Aramark Corp., for communications.

Meryl Levitz, CEO of Visit Philadelphia, and Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, cochairs for “Go Philadelphia.”

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KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader

BY JIM WARREN
jwarren@herald-leader.com
March 12, 2015

Pope Francis appointed an Ohio native as the new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Lexington early Thursday, according to a diocese press release.

The time and date for Rev. John Stowe’s ordination and installation as the third bishop of Lexington will be announced later, the diocese said. Stowe will be coming to Lexington from Carey, Ohio, where he is pastor and rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation.

The Lexington diocese has been vacant since Bishop Ronald W. Gainer was named Bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., last year. Rev. Robert H. Nieberding has been the diocesan administrator in the interim.

Stowe was born April 15, 1966, in Lorain, Ohio, and attended grade school at a school staffed by Conventual Franciscans. He joined the formation program for the Conventual Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation at St. Bonaventure Friary in St. Louis, after he attended community college for a year.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday appointed two new bishops for the United States, for the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Lexington.

Bishop Thomas Daly will be the new bishop of Spokane, in the US state of Washington. He has since 2011 served as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of San Jose, which is located in California. He was born in nearby San Francisco on April 20, 1960, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1987.

Bishop-elect John Stowe, OFM Conv., will be the new bishop of Lexington, in the US state of Kentucky. Since 2010, he has served as Vicar Provincial of the Conventual Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation. He was also serving as the rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio. He previously served as Chancellor, Moderator of the Curia and Vicar General of the Diocese of El Paso in Texas.

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KENTUCKY
WKYT

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Pope Francis appointed Conventual Franciscan Father John Stowe as the Third Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington.

The Lexington diocese was left vacant when the pope appointed Bishop Ronald W. Gainer, Second Bishop of Lexington, as the Bishop of Harrisburg, PA.

Father John Stowe was born April 15, 1966, in Lorain, OH. Bishop-elect Stowe earned a Masters of Divinity and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in the field of Church History from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. In December, 2002, Bishop-elect Stowe was invited to serve the Diocese of El Paso as Moderator of the Curia and Vicar General. He later also served as Chancellor of the diocese.

Pope St. John Paul II established the Diocese of Lexington from portions of the Archdiocese of Louisville, one of the oldest dioceses in the nation, and the Diocese of Covington, KY, in March, 1988. Bishop-emeritus J. Kendrick Williams retired in 2002, and was succeeded by Bishop Ronald W. Gainer, who guided the diocese from 2003 to 2014, when Bishop Gainer was named the Bishop of Harrisburg, PA.

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KENTUCKY/OHIO
Tolodo Blade

BY TK BARGER
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

CAREY, Ohio —The Rev. John Stowe, a priest in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, who has served in Carey since 2010 as the rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, has been named the bishop of Lexington by Pope Francis.

Bishop-Elect Stowe is in Lexington, Ky., today for the public announcement.

Bishop Daniel Thomas of the Diocese of Toledo, which includes Carey, called the appointment “a reflection of our Holy Father’s confidence in Father Stowe, his deep love for Our Lord and His Church, and his faithful and dedicated priestly ministry throughout the years. The Diocese of Toledo, and particularly the faithful of Our Lady of Consolation Parish, have been blessed by Bishop-Elect Stowe’s presence and pastoral care. I know that he will serve the good people of the Diocese of Lexington as a faithful shepherd. I ask that all priests, deacons, religious and laity of the Diocese of Toledo join me in extending congratulations and prayerful best wishes as he prepares to accept this assignment.”

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UTAH
Deseret News

By Katie McKellar, Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, March 11 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature passed a bill Wednesday that eliminates the statute of limitations for lawsuits against perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

Deondra Brown, co-founder of the nonprofit Foundation for Survivors of Abuse, watched from the Senate gallery as lawmakers engaged in a final debate before voting to pass HB277 and sending it to Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature.

“On behalf of victims across the state of Utah, we’re excited to know that we can kind of breathe, take our time in healing, and come forward and tackle that big legal case when and if we are every ready,” Brown said.

Brown has followed the progress of HB277 and testified in favor of the bill at committee meetings throughout the legislative process. Three Brown sisters, members of the 5 Browns piano quintet, were molested by their father, Keith Brown, as children. The sisters sought criminal charges in 2010 against their father, who had also been their professional manager.

Keith Brown was sentenced in March 2011 to 10 years to life for sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony, and one to 15 years each on two counts of sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. The crimes occurred when the girls were 13 years old or younger.

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SCOTLAND
The Edinburgh Reporter

Survivors of historical abuse in care or in institutions in Scotland are being asked to help shape the recently announced Inquiry into historical abuse at events in Edinburgh in the coming weeks.

Additional meetings in Edinburgh and Glasgow are being arranged by the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and will give more people the opportunity to have a say in the remit of the Inquiry and what skills they would want in a chairperson or panel, as well as considering other commitments the Scottish Government has made to support survivors of abuse.

Education Secretary Angela Constance pledged that survivors of abuse would have the chance to feed into the process before the scope of the inquiry and the appointments of a chair or panel were confirmed when she announced there would be a statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in institutional care.

Places for the engagement sessions – taking place in Edinburgh on March 17th and in Glasgow on March 19th – need to be reserved in advance and the meeting by visiting the website or calling the number below. These meetings will not be open to the public. Meetings have already been held in Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Posted: Thursday, March 12, 2015

Charities, churches and Governments will have a chance to outline their positions on compensation to victims of child sexual abuse at an upcoming Royal Commission hearing.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has announced that it will hold a public hearing into possible redress schemes for abuse survivors.

The hearing will enable institutions and Governments to formally respond to a consultation paper released in January this year which claimed that victims could receive up to $4.378 billion in compensation.

CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, which is coordinating the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Royal Commission, Francis Sullivan, said the hearing will be one of the significant milestones in the work of the Royal Commission.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 11, 2015

TRENTON —A Lakewood rabbi accused of arranging forced divorces orchestrated the beating of a Brooklyn and demanded $50,000 for his work, a convicted Jewish religious leader said on Wednesday.

In the ongoing federal conspiracy trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein, David Wax detailed the roles of three of the four men accused of resorting to violence in exchange for large sums of cash to extract divorces from unwilling husbands.

Wax, the founder of a charitable organization that funneled millions of dollars to Israel, directly linked Epstein and two of the three other men on trial with him to the 2010 attack on Yisrael Bryskman, an Israeli national who was living in Brooklyn to avoid giving his wife a divorce according to Orthodox Jewish custom.

On the witness stand for the entire day on Wednesday, Wax said he and Epstein had phone discussions about forcing Bryskman to agree to the divorce -known as a get – at Wax’s Lakewood home.

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KENTUCKY
WPSD

By Robert Bradfield
By Justin Jones

PADUCAH, Ky – During his first court appearance Wednesday morning, 44-year-old Michael Parsons kept quiet. He’s charged with two counts of rape and 22 counts of electronic solicitation of a minor for sex.

“Very explicit sexual acts that were recorded and sent to the victim,” McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden said of Parsons alleged behavior.

Sheriff Hayden said Parsons told detectives everything Tuesday night – including admitting to sending pornographic images of himself starting in 2013 to a then 16 year-old girl he met while he was youth pastor at Milburn Chapel in West Paducah.

“In the course of this investigation this far, (we) have already recovered in excess of 22 videos and photos,” Sheriff Hayden said.

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OHIO
WLWT

[with video]

CINCINNATI —Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga preached his message to the Queen City Wednesday night.

“It is necessary for the new Pope to change some things,” Rodriguez said before a packed sanctuary at the Athenaeum of Ohio at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary of the West.

The Cardinal’s sermon wrapped up a five day visit to Cincinnati.

Outside, a much smaller crowd of traditional Catholics with Novus Ordo Watch led a peaceful protest of his visit.

Mario Derksen, a spokesperson for the group, said Rodriguez was not a true Cardinal and Pope Francis was a false Pope.

“We acknowledge Pius XII as the last legitimate Pope. It was after him that the Second Vatican Council was called and has really brought havoc on the faith of thousands, no millions, of Catholics,” Derksen said.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Jolene Toves

It has been months since the Concerned Catholics of Guam organization has requested answers from Archbishop Anthony Apuron, and according to CCOG vice president Dave Sablan, all their letters and requests for meetings have gone unanswered. “We have been wanting to know truly how he handled the transfer of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary to this new corporation that was established or to the seminary corporation that was established,” he explained.

While the archbishop has maintained that he is still in control of the seminary, the CCOG believes otherwise. “We seriously doubt that he has any control as the archbishop of Agana, and so we are looking to the courts now for some remedy,” Sablan added. He says the CCOG is now in discussion with their attorneys on their strategy they will take through the courts, noting, “Basically get back that seminary building and land to be under the archbishop of Agana sole, which is where it should be and that’s what we are looking at right now.”

As far as their other letters seeking financial accountability and transparency with regard to how the annual Archdiocesan Appeal is going to be used and how it has been used in the past Sablan says that there has been no response despite a freedom of information request. He told KUAM News, “It is supposed to go to taking care of our seminarians local seminarians who want to become diocesan priests we suspect that he is using that money actually to form these priests from off-island at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.

“It seems to me that he is not really interested in responding to any of our requests in light of the fact that we need to know how he is spending this money and how he is managing it with regards to the affairs of the archdiocese and the various parishes.”

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CANADA
CBC News

A high-profile Calgary imam accused of sexually assaulting two women before he was granted refugee protection in Canada says he is innocent and wants to face the charges in the U.S.

Abdi Hersy defended himself Tuesday night after a CBC News investigation revealed there is an active arrest warrant for him in the United States.

The 46-year-old imam is accused of fondling two patients when he worked as a respiratory therapist in the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, Minn., in 2006.

He is facing six charges of criminal sexual conduct and criminal abuse.

In front of a large crowd of supporters at the Abu Bakr mosque, Hersy said he is innocent and stated his side of the story.

“I want to clear my name, clearly, I want to clear my name,” he said.

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TEXAS
Lake Cities Sun

Ashley O’Bannon-McClain aobannon@starlocalmedia.com

Posted on Mar 11, 2015
by Ashley O’Bannon-McClain

A former Corinth pastor that was charged in May of 2013 entered a plea bargain on Wednesday. Jeffrey Dale Williams, who was accused of attempted sexual performance of a minor, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of injury to a child. The charge was part of a plea bargain that offered the amendment to Williams’ indictment, five years probation and 200 hours of community service.

In the initial arrest which took place on May 1, 2013, Williams was accused of attempted sexual performance of a minor after the Corinth police department obtained at least five different recordings of Williams trying to persuade a girl to remove her clothing.

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IOWA
KCRG

[Announcement in the parish bulletin at Church of the Resurrection – page 2]

DUBUQUE (AP) — The Archdiocese of Dubuque is investigating a sexual abuse claim against a former Iowa pastor 30 years after the alleged abuse occurred.

The Telegraph Herald reports that the claim, made last year against a former Dubuque pastor, alleges the man sexually abused a minor in 1985. Efforts by The Telegraph Herald to reach the man, identified as Leo P. Riley, for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Director of communications John Robbins says the accuser’s attorney brought the allegation to the Dubuque County Attorney’s Office. He says criminal investigation isn’t expected because of the statute of limitations.

The former pastor, now working at a Florida parish, has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

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IOWA
TH Online

Posted: Wednesday, March 11, 2015

By Ben Jacobson ben.jacobson@thmedia.com

The Archdiocese of Dubuque is investigating a claim of sexual abuse allegedly committed by a Church of the Resurrection associate pastor 30 years ago.

A claim was made last year against the Rev. Leo Riley, who served as a Resurrection associate pastor in 1985 and 1986. According to a March 1 church bulletin, the alleged abuse occurred in 1985 while Riley was working in Dubuque.

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TEXAS
Denton Record-Chronicle

By Megan Gray-Hatfield / Staff Writer mgray@dentonrc.com
Published: 12 March 2015

Jeffrey Dale Williams, the former pastor of The Church of Corinth, was sentenced Wednesday in a Denton County courtroom to five years deferred probation and fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to causing injury to a child.

He pleaded guilty after a plea agreement reduced the original charge of solicitation of a minor, stemming from an incident two years ago.

Williams heard his sentence from 211th District Court Judge Brody Shanklin.

Lauri Frohbieter, chief of the Child Abuse Unit of the Denton County District Attorney’s Office, presented the case, where the original indictment was amended for the plea.

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CALIFORNIA
Chico News & Review

By Meredith J. Graham
meredithg@newsreview.com

This article was published on 03.12.15.

Donny Pauling made a name for himself in Chico more than a decade ago by producing pornography. Then he abruptly left the industry, claiming he’d found God. In the past three months, however, he’s been charged with 13 felonies and one misdemeanor of sexual abuse involving underage girls in Shasta and Sutter counties. And the investigation isn’t even close to being over.

Pauling’s story is nothing if not unique. The son of a pastor, he rebelled against his father and the church at a young age. In his mid-20s, he bought a video camera and set up a porn studio in downtown Chico (above where Beach Hut Deli now sits). He made a lot of money, and it was relatively easy. In an interview with the CN&R in 2007, he said, “The society we live in glamorizes porn. A lot of kids grow up thinking it’s cool to be in porn. So it wasn’t tough for me [to find models].”

After about seven years of running his own website, as well as supplying content for others under the pseudonym Donovan Philips, Pauling had an epiphany. To be fair, a few events led up to it. First, his fiancée left him. Then he started taking to heart phone calls and emails from women he’d photographed, pleading for him to take their photos off the Internet. One threatened suicide if he didn’t; several told him of ruined relationships with their families because of him.

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

BY ANDY FURILLOAFURILLO@SACBEE.COM

Fired after reporting a sexual hazing scandal in his program, a high school football coach won $900,000 in damages Wednesday when a jury found that the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento wrongfully fired and retaliated against him and ultimately defamed him.

The number could get a lot bigger for Christopher Cerbone today when the Sacramento Superior Court jury resumes its deliberations in the punitive damages phase of the trial. His lawyers suggested a figure of $4.5 million for their client.

“I was blown away that instead of taking responsibility for protecting the children, the Diocese chose to fire the person who uncovered and reported the abuse,” Cerbone said in a statement released by his attorneys, David A. Lowe of San Francisco and Tyler F. Clark of Encino. “The jury recognized that what the Diocese did was wrong and saw the truth. I am grateful for the verdict.”

Defense attorney Tom Johnson suggested that the diocese may appeal the verdict rendered in Judge David W. Abbott’s courtroom.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The jury in the trial of a 48-year-old garda accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions has retired to consider its verdict.

Detective Garda Catherine McGowan, who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of forgery on 15 January 2009 at Bray Garda Station.

She has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between 21 and 22 June 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, dated 14 January 2009, directing that there be no prosecution in a clerical child abuse case.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

JULIE SHAW, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER SHAWJ@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-2592
POSTED: Thursday, March 12, 2015

AFTER A JURY reported that it was hopelessly deadlocked, a judge declared a mistrial yesterday in the retrial of a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 in the rectory at St. John Cantius Parish in Bridesburg.

It marks the second time that Common Pleas Judge Gwendolyn Bright has declared a mistrial in the case of the Rev. Andrew McCormick. Exactly a year ago, on March 12, 2014, a different jury was deadlocked after 4 1/2 days of deliberations.

Bright said the District Attorney’s Office has 30 days to decide whether to try McCormick a third time. She scheduled an April 10 status hearing to see if another retrial would take place.

McCormick, 58, dressed in his black priestly garb and white clerical collar, appeared relieved as he left the courtroom hallway with his supporters, including two nuns.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Before he went to trial for a second time, Father Andrew McCormick had a big decision to make.

The district attorney, according to sources, was offering a pretty sweet deal: if Father Andy would plead guilty to the charges, he would have been put on probation for five years but not have to serve any jail time. He would, however, have to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.

Father Andy was facing long odds. He was a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy 18 years ago. If convicted on five sex charges, the 59-year-old priest was looking at a jail term of 25 to 50 years, meaning he was going to die in jail.

Father Andy, according to sources, turned down the deal, saying he was innocent and that his fate was in God’s hands. So the priest took a big gamble and elected to go to trial a second time. No wonder Father Andy and his supporters, which included a couple of nuns in full habits, were often seen in the hallway outside Courtroom 1102 in a prayer circle saying the rosary.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, March 11, 2015

For the second time in 12 months, a Philadelphia jury was unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy almost 18 years ago in a Bridesburg parish.

The Common Pleas Court jury of 10 women and 2 men hearing the trial of Rev. Andrew McCormick, 58, announced Wednesday that it was hung. The mistrial came one day shy of a year since the last mistrial.

McCormick’s face reddened as he heard the jury foreman respond “no verdict” to each of the five counts against him: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, child endangerment, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault of a minor under 13.

But afterward, the priest of 33 years seemed upbeat, wishing court staff a happy Easter as he signed a subpoena to appear at an April 10 hearing. That is the date when the District Attorney’s Office must decide if it will try McCormick a third time.

Until then, Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright refused to lift the gag order barring Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp and defense attorney Trevan Borum and the principals and witnesses from speaking to reporters.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 11, 2015

PHILADELPHIA — The retrial of a suspended Philadelphia priest accused of having molested a young boy almost two decades ago has once again ended in a hung jury.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1AgAfv2 ) reports that jurors were unable to reach agreement Wednesday on the charges against The Rev. Andrew McCormick.

McCormick was accused of having assaulted an 11-year-old altar boy in a Bridesburg rectory bedroom in 1997. The now-27-year-old victim alleges that the abuse later led him to attempt suicide. McCormick has denied the allegations.

Jurors began deliberating Friday and said they were deadlocked Tuesday, but tried to reach agreement again Wednesday without success.

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KENTUCKY
WPSD

By Robert Bradfield

MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY –
A McCracken County youth pastor charged with raping a teenager was in court on Wednesday.

McCracken County deputies arrested 44-year-old Michael Parsons Tuesday.

Parsons is a youth pastor at Milburn Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

He has 24 total charges, including two counts of third degree rape.

Deputies say the minister began a relationship with the girl in the spring of 2013 when she was 16.

It allegedly continued through 2014.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Mar. 11, 2015

One of the primary priests that triggered the now more-than-yearlong clergy sex abuse scandal in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese has been laicized.

The archdiocese announced Wednesday afternoon that the Vatican has removed Curtis Wehmeyer from the clerical state. The decision bars him from presenting himself as a priest or exercising priestly ministry. In addition, he cannot teach or hold a leadership role in any Catholic institution.

Wehmeyer is currently serving a five-year prison sentence. In November 2012, he pleaded guilty to 20 felony charges for the sexual abuse of two minors and possession of child pornography; he was sentenced the following February. He was charged in November in Wisconsin of second degree sexual assault of a teenage boy in relation to a summer 2011 camping trip.

In a statement, Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt said that Wehmeyer has been notified of the decision, as have all the archdiocese’s priests and parishes.

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MINNESOTA
Lillie News

By: Patrick Larkin

Following a clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the East Side’s Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, the priest in question, Curtis Wehmeyer, has been officially been removed from the clergy.

According to a statement from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis issued Wednesday, March 11, the Vatican has defrocked Wehmeyer.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said that “the effect of this decision is that Wehmeyer has been permanently and definitively barred from presenting himself as a priest or exercising priestly ministry.”

In February 2013, Wehmeyer was convicted in Ramsey County of 20 felony charges for sexually abusing two boys and for possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison and is incarcerated at the state correctional facility in Lino Lakes.

Additionally, the 50-year-old Wehmeyer was charged last November in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, with second-degree sexual assault for an alleged incident that occurred in 2011.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: March 11, 2015

The Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, a St. Paul priest convicted in 2013 of sexually abusing two boys at his church, has been permanently removed from the priesthood by the Vatican.

The decision bars Wehmeyer from presenting himself as a priest or “exercising priestly ministry,” according to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, which made the announcement Wednesday. It also bars him from teaching or taking a leadership role in any Catholic institution, the archdiocese said.

Wehmeyer is currently serving a five-year prison term in connection with the sexual abuse of two brothers in a camper parked outside Blessed Sacrament Church in St. Paul, where he lived and worked as the parish pastor. He was also charged with possession of child pornography. The boys were age 12 and 14 at the time.

The priest had a history of attempted sexual encounters with young men, including approaching young men for sex at a local bookstore, but parishioners at Blessed Sacrament were not notified.

In November 2014, Wehmeyer faced additional charges — second-degree sexual assault of a teenage boy while on a camping trip to a Wisconsin state park.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 03/11/2015

Curtis Wehmeyer, a priest convicted of molesting two boys, has been defrocked, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Wednesday.

Wehmeyer, 50, is serving a five-year prison term for molesting two brothers from the Parish of the Blessed Sacrament on St. Paul’s East Side while he was pastor there in 2010. He also was convicted of possessing child pornography.

Wehmeyer was charged in November in Chippewa County, Wis., with sex assault for alleged sexual contact with a teenage boy who passed out after drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in 2011. No plea has been entered in that case, according to online court records.

The Twin Cities archdiocese requested that Wehmeyer be defrocked.

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced the Vatican’s decision in a statement, saying Wehmeyer is now “permanently and definitively barred from presenting himself as a priest or exercising priestly ministry.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — A small group stood outside the Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain Wednesday advocating for sex abuse victims amid allegations that the home’s former finance director abused a child there decades ago.

FOX25 spoke exclusively with the attorney for the accuser, who claimed the school’s former CFO George Forte, Jr. sexually abused him at the Italian Home for Children over a period of three years.

“My client got to know George Forte, was groomed by George Forte, given gifts – things like that,” said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer known for his previous cases involving sexual abuse and the Catholic Church.

Garabedian spoke exclusively to FOX25, saying that his client was just 6 years old when he went to the Italian Home in the early 1980s. He was an orphan with a troubled past. The home confirms Forte worked there from 1980 until November of 2014 when he resigned, which is about the time the alleged victim came forward.

The Italian Home declined to interview, but sent a statement that read in part: “The allegation was brought to the organization’s attention in 2014, and we immediately hired outside counsel to oversee an investigation. This investigation found no evidence to support the allegation.”

FOX25 went to Forte’s North Attleboro home and called him, but got no response. We also learned his involvement with children goes beyond the Italian Home. He volunteered with local boy scout troops in 2013. His scouting days are now over.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

Pope Francis has removed from the priesthood a former St. Paul priest who pleaded guilty in Minnesota to molesting two boys.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese announced the Vatican’s action against Curtis Wehmeyer on Wednesday.

Nienstedt says Wehmeyer has been made aware of the pope’s decision, and that all priests and parishes in the archdiocese have been notified.

Wehmeyer is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing the boys and possessing child pornography. He served as pastor at the Parish of the Blessed Sacrament on St. Paul’s east side.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – For the second time in two years, a mistrial has been declared in the sexual assault trial of a suspended Philadelphia priest. He was accused of abusing a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997, in the rectory of a parish in the Bridesburg section.

After about 20 hours of deliberations over three days, Judge Gwendolyn Bright declared a mistrial, after the jury foreman, for the second time in two days, told her jurors were “unable to reach unanimous verdicts on any of the charges” against Father Andrew McCormick.

That, after the judge asked whether she could clarify points of law, or if a read back of testimony would aid jurors in their deliberations. The foreman replied “no,” there was “no probability of reaching a unanimous verdict.”

The judge thanked them for their service and excused jurors.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

March 11, 2015

In a blow to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a Chicago appeals court has ruled that the Milwaukee archdiocese (where Dolan went after leaving St. Louis) can’t claim “freedom of religion” and put $57 million in a cemetery trust fund so it’s off limits in settlement talks with the 575 alleged victims that have come forward in recent years. Writing to Vatican officials several years ago, Dolan said, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” But he claims he wanted to protect the cemetery’s future, not stiff-arm the victims.
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MINNESOTA
KTTC

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Pope Francis has removed from the priesthood a former St. Paul priest who pleaded guilty in Minnesota to molesting two boys.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese announced the Vatican’s action against Curtis Wehmeyer (WAY’-my-ur) on Wednesday.

Nienstedt says Wehmeyer has been made aware of the pope’s decision, and that all priests and parishes in the archdiocese have been notified.

Wehmeyer is serving a five-year prison term for sexually abusing the boys and possessing child pornography. He served as pastor at the Parish of the Blessed Sacrament on St. Paul’s east side.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 11

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

Father Curtis Wehmeyer has apparently been defrocked by the Vatican. The recklessness and callousness shown by Twin Cities Catholic officials in this case is among the most egregious that we’ve seen in the past decade.

This move is a decades-late drop in the bucket. When church officials defrock predator priests, it’s less about safeguarding kids. It’s more about church damage control. Still, we are grateful that Wehmeyer has been ousted from the priesthood. Without that Roman collar and the respect that accompanies it, he will find it a bit harder to win the trust of parents, gain access to kids, and sexually assault them after he is released from prison.

It’s crucial to remember that basically no Catholic supervisors have been punished, worldwide, for enabling and hiding horrific clergy sex crimes. The Pope must start defrocking clerics who cover up sex crimes (like Nienstedt), not just clerics who commit them (like Wehmeyer). Until that happens, little will change.

So why the alleged increase in defrocked pedophile priests in recent years? It’s likely because more victims across the globe are gaining the strength and courage to come forward and are reporting to (and pressuring) church officials because archaic, predator-friendly secular laws prevent most victims from seeking justice in court. And it’s likely because more bishops are convincing Vatican officials that defrocking predators is a smart public relations and legal defense strategy. Cutting all ties with the most egregious serial sex offender clerics helps convince Catholics that progress is being made.

Catholic officials pretend that once a child molesting cleric is defrocked, their duty is over. It’s not. Bishops’ duty to protect others from these dangerous men does not end when they are defrocked. Nor does their duty to seek out more victims end when predator priests are defrocked.

It’s irresponsible for Catholic officials to recruit, educate, ordain, train, transfer and protect predator priests, then defrock them when they’re caught and the heat gets too intense. Catholic officials should help make sure child molesting clerics are criminally prosecuted. If that can’t happen, then Catholic officials should house them in remote, secure treatment centers. And Catholic officials should lobby for, not against, reforming outdated, secular laws that enable many who commit and conceal child sex crimes to escape punishment.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 11

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

Soon a cleric accused of child sex crimes will go on trial, and it’s never too late for those who saw, suspected or suffered his wrongdoing to step forward. We hope more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers will find the courage to call law enforcement about Adam Metropoulos of Bangor.

[WABI]

All too often, when one family summons the strength to call police about a predator, others with helpful information stay silent, assuming that prosecutors will prevail and the criminal will be convicted. That’s irresponsible. It’s the duty of every adult to do what he or she can to safeguard kids. And it’s the duty of every citizen to share what they know or suspect about child sex crimes to law enforcement.

We beg anyone who has knowledge or suspicions about Metropoulos to get off the sidelines, show some spine, grab the phone and call police or prosecutors now.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 11

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org )

A noted Vatican observer and blogger, Rocco Palmo, says that tomorrow the Vatican will name a new Catholic bishop for the Lexington Diocese.

We call on him to immediately take practical steps to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose and punish those who commit and conceal clergy sex crimes and misdeeds. Specifically, we hope he will permanently and prominently post, on diocesan and parish websites, the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric who lives or works (or has lived or worked) in the diocese in any capacity.

Roughly 30 US bishops have done this. It’s a bare minimum public safety step. It should have happened long ago in Lexington. We hope it will happen soon.

Bishop Ronald Gainer, Lexington’s last prelate, has a dismal record on children’s safety.

[SNAP]

But Lexington citizens and Catholics should not assume the new bishop will be better. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects kids.

No matter who fills this slot, we urge anyone who sees, suspects or suffers clergy sex crimes or cover ups in eastern Kentucky to call the independent, experienced professionals sin law enforcement, not the self-serving amateurs in church offices.

According to BishopAccountability.org, an independent, Boston-based archive group, there are seven publicly accused Lexington diocese predator priests: Fr. William J. Fedders, Fr. Stephen Gallenstein, Fr. John B. Modica, Edward Francis Murray, Fr. Leonard B. Nienaber, Fr. William G. Poole, and Fr. Carl C. Schaffer. We suspect there are at least a dozen more whose crimes remain hidden.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Peter Cox Mar 11, 2015

A former St. Paul priest — now serving a five-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two boys —

Curtis Wehmeyer, 50, was sentenced in 2012 for abusing a 12-year-old and 14-year-old boy and possessing child pornography while serving at St. Paul’s Church of the Blessed Sacrament. In November 2014, he was charged with second-degree sexual assault in Wisconsin.

In a written statement Wednesday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Pope Francis dismissed Wehmeyer, who has been “permanently and definitively barred from presenting himself as a

Wehmeyer served in several St. Paul area churches from 2001 to 2011

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted March 11, 2015

BANGOR, Maine — The jury-waived trial of a former Greek Orthodox priest on sex charges will be held next week at the Penobscot Judicial Center.

Adam Metropoulos, 52, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual abuse of a minor, one count each of possession of sexually explicit materials and violation of privacy.

His trial before a judge is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Monday and conclude Tuesday. A judge has not been assigned to hear the case, according to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office.

Metropoulos remained Wednesday at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post bail of $50,000 cash or $100,000 surety.

The former pastor at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor was arrested Sept. 15 for allegedly possessing child pornography and for surreptitiously photographing a woman taking a shower in his bathroom.

A subsequent investigation led the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office to seek charges alleging the sexual abuse of a minor.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Wednesday, March 11, 2015

For the second time in 12 months, a Philadelphia jury was unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy almost 18 years ago in a Bridesburg parish.

The Common Pleas Court jury of 10 women and 2 men hearing the trial of Rev. Andrew McCormick, 58, announced Wednesday that it was hung. The mistrial came one day shy of a year since the last mistrial.

McCormick’s face reddened as he heard the jury foreman respond “no verdict” to each of the five counts against him: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, child endangerment, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault of a minor under 13.

But afterward, the priest of 33 years seemed upbeat, wishing court staff a happy Easter as he signed a subpoena to appear at an April 10 hearing. That is the date when the District Attorney’s Office must decide if it will try McCormick a third time.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Think Progress

BY IAN MILLHISER POSTED ON MARCH 11, 2015

The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee sought to insulate $55 million of its funds from lawsuits brought by victims of priestly sex abuse, according to a letter penned by then-Archbishop of Milwaukee Timothy Dolan, so it transferred those funds into a separate trust set up to care for the archdiocese’s cemeteries and mausoleums. Once the sexual abuse victims sought those funds in a bankruptcy proceeding, however, the archdiocese claimed that it had a religious liberty right not to use that money to compensate victims of abuse.

Though a federal district judge agreed with the archdiocese that its religious freedom includes this right not to compensate victims in 2013, a bipartisan panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed that decision on Monday. The Seventh Circuit noted that “the issue of whether the Archdiocese actually made a fraudulent, preferential or avoidable transfer is not before us,” so it remains to be seen whether the abuse victims will be compensated out of the $55 million worth of funds. Nevertheless, the Seventh Circuit’s decision means that the archdiocese will not be able to hide behind claims of religious liberty in order to avoid liability for the actions of its clergy — or, at least, it means as much so long as it is not reversed on appeal.

At least 45 Milwaukee priests face allegations of sexual abuse, including one priest who was accused of molesting close to 200 deaf boys. The cemetery trust was created after the archdiocese agreed to a $17 million settlement involving ten victims who alleged that they were abused by priests in California, but the $55 million worth of funds were not transferred to that trust until after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision which allowed other lawsuits by alleged victims of priestly abuse to move forward. Dolan, who is now a cardinal and the Archbishop of New York, wrote to the Vatican regarding the $55 million in funds that “[b]y transferring these assets to the Trust, I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.”

The archdiocese declared bankruptcy in 2011, in part due to the financial burden of the lawsuits brought by alleged abuse victims.

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MAINE
WABI

MAR 11, 20151

The jury-waived trial of a priest accused of sex crimes against children will start on Monday in Bangor…

52-year-old Adam Metropoulos is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, possession of sexually explicit materials and violation of privacy.

He was suspended from his duties at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church after his arrest in September.

Police say a woman staying at his home told them Metropoulos used a hidden camera to record her in the shower.

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ITALY
The Local

Negotiations are underway between the Holy See and the Italian government to share financial information, paving the way to put an end to secrecy at the Vatican bank, the pontiff’s secretary of state said on Wednesday.

Following rumours that top Vatican and Italian officials were discussing a deal, Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Wednesday confirmed “negotiations are underway” between the two states.

The Holy See is working towards “a process of better transparency and of better collaboration with Italy in the fiscal spheres,” Parolin told journalists.

“We hope that we can soon arrive at a conclusion that I think could be beneficial for everyone,” the secretary of state added.

Parolin would not be moved on precisely when a deal would likely be reached, although said the two governments were “working at a good pace”.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

[with document]

03/11/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Per notice today from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the Holy Father has approved the dismissal of Curtis Wehmeyer from the clerical state. This decision comes more than two years after Wehmeyer pleaded guilty to multiple charges of criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography in Ramsey County District Court. Additional charges have also been filed in Wisconsin.

It is unclear why it took so long for a decision to be reached in this matter. Per the Archdiocesan statement, Wehmeyer remains incarcerated.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

I have been informed by the Holy See that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has dismissed Curtis Wehmeyer from the clerical state. The effect of this decision is that Wehmeyer has been permanently and definitively barred from presenting himself as a priest or exercising priestly ministry. He is also prohibited from exercising a teaching or leadership role in any Catholic institution. This decision is the final resolution of Wehmeyer’s status as a priest.

In February 2013, Wehmeyer was convicted in Ramsey County of 20 felony charges for sexual abuse of two minors and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison. On November 7, 2014, Wehmeyer was also charged in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, with second degree sexual assault regarding an incident that occurred in the summer of 2011. Wehmeyer remains incarcerated.

Wehmeyer has been made aware of the decision, and all priests and parishes of the Archdiocese have been notified.

I am deeply saddened and have been profoundly affected by the stories I continue to hear from victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse. My focus, and the focus of the Archdiocese, is to do all we can to keep children safe while offering resources for help and healing.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

The former Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis priest was served with laicization paperwork today to formally remove him from the priesthood

(St. Paul, MN) – Today’s announcement of Curtis Wehmeyer’s removal from the clerical state by the Vatican is met with a mixed view from sexual abuse survivors and their advocates. While it is comforting to know a child molester is behind bars and will never be placed in a position of trust as a cleric again, questions still remain.

• Why haven’t more offenders been removed by the Vatican?

• Why haven’t more clerics been prosecuted given the volume of information that has been provided to prosecutors by reason of the Child Victims Act, including tens of thousands of pages of files, depositions, and testimony taken under oath in the civil cases?

Answers to these questions are needed by the many survivors who have courageously come forward and the survivors who continue to live in silence and shame and were harmed by these offenders.

Curtis Wehmeyer is currently serving a five-year prison term for the sexual abuse of two boys in Minnesota and for possession of child pornography. In November 2014, Wehmeyer was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a teenage boy he abused while on a camping trip to Brunet Island State Park in Wisconsin.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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DEUTSCHLAND
Chronik

[We are of the opinion that a suspended sentence is not a punishment.]

Wir sind der Meinung, dass eine Strafe auf Bewährung keine Strafe ist. Dieses Strafmaß bestärkt Täter nach dem Motto: “Wenn man erwischt wird muss man halt aufhören”. Alle Erzieher und Leitenden, die Kinder und Jugendliche betreuen, brauchen ein klares Signal, dass Übergriffe unter keinen Umständen toleriert werden.

Die Auflage einer Therapie für Pater G. ist sicher sinnvoll. Einige von uns befinden sich auch heute noch in Therapie, obwohl die Vorfälle bereits Jahrzehnte zurückliegen. Wer ist hier mehr bestraft?

Zehn Jahre hat Pater G. die Klostergemeinschaft angelogen und seit fünf Jahren die Betroffenen genarrt. Junge Männer, die in dem Alter sich nicht mit Missbrauch, sondern mit Beziehungen beschäftigen sollten. Als wir so alt waren dachten wir auch, wir hätten keinen Schaden geommen.

Der Prozess zeigt auch, dass die Aufdeckung sexueller Straftaten sehr schwierig ist. Die Täter binden die Kinder emotional, die betroffenen Kinder erzählen nichts, die Verantwortlichen in der Einrichtung können nur wenige verdächtige Anzeichen wahrnehmen. Es ist viel Zivilcourage notwendig einen Täter aufzuspüren und aufgrund meist weniger Verdachtsmomente aus einer Einrichtung zu entfernen.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 11

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

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org )

Last year, a St. Louis judge ordered the Catholic archdiocese to turn over to a victim’s lawyer church abuse and cover up records over a 20 year span.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Now, a different judge in a different case involving a different predator is ordering Archbishop Robert Carlson to turn over more records.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Thanks to the ruling last year, we know local Catholic officials received at least 240 complaints against 115 church employees. We suspect these numbers are artificially low. Still, they are sobering.

(An independent website called BishopAccountability.org, started by Boston area Catholics, lists names of 54 publicly accused St. Louis archdiocesan predator priests. This figure is also very low, we believe.)

We applaud this ruling. But we’re sad that it’s necessary and worried it may not really make kids safer because the information is likely to be deceptive and incomplete and remain hidden from public view.

It would be so refreshing to see Archbishop Carlson voluntarily disclose information about predators and enablers, instead of repeatedly being forced to do so by persistent victims and smart judges.

Every single step towards more openness about those who commit and conceal child sex crimes is positive. We’re grateful that the brave, wounded family in this lawsuit is making progress towards justice and that more judges realize that the on-going secrecy about child sex crimes by church officials is dangerous.

Finally, we applaud the brave mom and dad who are pursing this case on behalf of their son who committed suicide after having been sexually assaulted by Fr. Bryan Kuchar. (In 2003, Kuchar was convicted of molesting a South County boy. He’s since been defrocked.)

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OHIO
WCPO

Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga: Pope Francis’ closest friend, top advisor speaks in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI – If the Dos Equis man is the “most interesting man in the world,” Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga might be No. 2.

The man they call the “Vice-Pope” – because he’s a close friend and top advisor to Pope Francis – plays the sax, flies helicopters and has armed guards 24-7 to protect him against drug cartels he opposes in his homeland of Honduras.

“He is a very fascinating person,” said Rev. Benedict O’Cinnsealaigh, president and rector of the Athenaeum and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, who arranged the Cardinal’s visit here this week.

Cardinal Rodriquez will address “The Vision of Pope Francis for the Church” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Athenaeum, 6616 Beechmont Ave., in Mount Washington. The event is free and open to the public as part of the LeBlond Lecture series. You can watch online at www.athenaeum.edu.

Chairman of the newly established Council of Cardinals, Cardinal Rodriquez will also speak at a news conference at 1:30 p.m. at the Athenaeum.

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KENTUCKY
KFVS

Written by Christi Reynard

MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY (KFVS) –
A McCracken County youth pastor has been charged with rape, accused of inappropriate sexual relations with one of the youth students at the church.

McCracken County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Michael E. Parsons, 44, of Kevil, Ky. on March 10 shortly after opening their investigation. Deputies say he confessed.

Investigators say Parsons is a youth minister at Milburn Chapel, and that his relationship with the girl began in the spring of 2013 and continued through 2014.

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KENTUCKY
Lex 18

Deputies have arrested a McCracken County youth pastor accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenager.

Deputies say they opened an investigation after receiving a tip that Michael E. Parsons, 44, of Kevil, had engaged in a sexual relationship with one of the youth at Milburn Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Investigators say the girl was 16 years old when the relationship began in 2013. Deputies say it continued through 2014. Investigators say Parsons had sex with the girl during youth group meetings and when he took her home. They say there were additional sexual encounters at Parson’s home.

Deputies also say Parsons exchanged explicit photos and videos with the teen via text message.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[The priest accusted of abusing minors at Ettal monastery has been sentenced to a suspended one year and ten months on probation but agreed to compensation.]

Im Missbrauchs-Prozess von Ettal ist der angeklagte Pater zu einer Bewährungsstrafe von einem Jahr und zehn Monaten verurteilt worden. Der Angeklagte hatte sich am Vormittag auch zu einer finanziellen Entschädigung bereit erklärt.

Mit dem Urteil blieb das Gericht, wie erwartet, am unteren Ende des zuvor zwischen den Beteiligten ausgehandelten Rahmens, wenn auch nicht ganz. Die Absprache hatte dem Angeklagten eine Strafe zwischen einem Jahr und neun Monaten und zwei Jahren in Aussicht gestellt. Nun lautet das Urteil also ein Jahr und zehn Monate, ausgesetzt zur Bewährung.

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ILLINOIS
Alton Daily News

[with audio]

By Will Stevenson – Illinois Radio Network

Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki Tuesday defended the handling of sex abuse cases involving church personnel, and said that a news conference held last week by two groups critical of the diocese caught him off guard. Paprocki also said that the Litchfield phone number assigned to six priests withdrawn from their Chicago parishes that appeared in an Official Catholic Directory in the 1990s was apparently a data-entry or computer-generated error. He said the priests were never assigned to the Springfield diocese nor were they ever licensed by the bishop for the ministry in this diocese.

He criticized the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) for its approach to what it considered a potential danger, saying he wasn’t contacted before the group’s news conference to explain the phone number.

“There was no advance notice of this press conference,” he said. “They did not ask for an explanation beforehand or at all.”

David Clohessy, director of SNAP, said the diocese wasn’t contacted beforehand because “typically and unfortunately, Bishop Paprocki previously has ignored our letters and wouldn’t respond to our requests.”

“What works is making direct, public appeals to victims,” Clohessy said.

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ARIZONA
AlterNet

By Tom Boggioni / Raw Story March 9, 2015

The University of Arizona has opened up an investigation into an on-campus church after former members and staffers have come forward accusing the church of being a cult, according to Arizona Daily Star.

Faith Christian Church, which rose out of the ashes of former Tucson chapter of Maranatha Christian Church, has been operating on the UA campus since its founding in 1990.

In an investigation led by the Star, former members and staffers accused the church of hitting infants with cardboard tubes to encourage submission, using financial coercion to hold onto members, compelling alienation from parents, and public shaming of members, including shunning former members who leave the church or question its leadership.

Former members claim they suffer from panic attacks, depression, anxiety, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after escaping the clutches of the church.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Reporter

A child abuse survivor has criticised the Government’s decision to lock the personal witness statements victims gave to state investigations away for 75 years as “very extreme” and “odd”.

Andrew Madden made the remarks after the Cabinet confirmed it is to withhold the evidence for privacy and legal advice reasons.

The decision not to make the files publicly available is based on recommendations in the Ryan report. It was put forward yesterday by Jan O’ Sullivan, the education minister, and will see the files withheld for almost twice as long as State papers are normally kept.

The Labour TD is now due to draft legislation based on the decision to keep the records private for 75 years, although she has stressed she is open to making some of the information more readily available if reasons are given.

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

The former CFO of a home for at-risk youth in Boston is under investigation for alleged sexual abuse.
Officials at “Italian Home of Children” in Jamaica Plain tell necn that though the allegations are 30-year-old, they are taking the allegations very seriously.

They were notified about the allegation last year and hired a counsel to investigate the claims.

Officials have issued a statement, saying in part, “This investigation found no evidence to support the allegation. Italian Home for Children is wholly devoted to the safety and well-being of the children in our care, and does not condone any behavior at odds with our all-important mission.”

In a news release, “Road to Recovery Inc.,” a non-profit organization that offers compassionate counseling and referral services to survivors of clergy sexual abuse, identifies that former CFO is George Forte.

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MISSOURI
KFVS

[with video]

Written by Kadee Brosseau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) –
It’s a law put in place mainly to prevent groups like Westboro Baptist Church from protesting at things like military funerals, but now the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has challenged the ruling and won, calling the law unconstitutional.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that the House of Worship Protection Act, which bans anyone for intentionally disturbing the order or solemnity of a house of worship through profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior, is a violation of the First Amendment.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1B05GJc ) reports that the Missouri court ruled Monday against the state law after the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a lawsuit challenging the law in 2012.

The law put in place in 2012 stopped protests those of the Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals these from happening around churches. It was a move Brother David Migliorino, principal at Notre Dame High School, said helped ensure respect inside and outside a church.

“There is a time and a place to protest and disrupting someone’s worship service is not the time or the place,” Migliorino said.

However, the measure didn’t only stop Westboro. The law banned anyone from intentionally disturbing the order or solemnity of a house of worship through profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

03/10/15
Hella Winston
Special Correspondent

Four years after his life was turned upside down by charges he committed extortion and bribery, chasidic sex abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner is fighting back against those he thinks wronged him in the press. Late last year he sued The Jewish Daily Forward for defamation. And last week he filed papers initiating a defamation action against Alan and Nathan Dershowitz, the high-profile lawyers who represented, Baruch Lebovits, who Kellner alleges sexually abused his son.

Kellner, who brought allegations of his son’s abuse by Lebovits to the police in 2008, worked closely with law enforcement to bring forward additional Lebovits victims. Lebovits was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 10 ½ to 32 years in prison. A year later, in 2011, Kellner was arrested.

In 2012, Lebovits’ conviction was vacated on appeal because of a prosecution error, and a new trial was ordered. Lebovits ultimately pleaded guilty in May of 2014, avoiding a second trial. (He was sentenced to two years but because of time served and what’s called “good time” credits, he ended up serving only a few months.) For his appeal and subsequently, Alan and Nathan Dershowitz were part of Lebovits’ defense team.

The case against Kellner — which included allegations that he paid one man to falsely testify in a grand jury that he was abused by Lebovits and also sent emissaries to attempt to extort the Lebovits family for hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for a promise he could persuade the witnesses against him to drop their charges — was based virtually exclusively on evidence brought directly to the former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ Rackets Division by members of the Lebovits family, their supporters and paid agents. Kellner’s attorneys and others have argued that the charges against Kellner were fabricated in order to get Lebovits out of jail and undermine the district attorney’s ability to retry him.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
WGEM

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A judge says the St. Louis archdiocese must turn over internal records on sexual abuse allegations spanning two decades as part of a civil lawsuit.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1b1godn ) reports a Florissant man’s parents are suing the archdiocese, claiming his 2009 suicide was the result of sexual and emotional abuse by priest Bryan Kuchar.

Defense lawyers say the documents won’t be made public and only will be used in the trial. They will cover 20 years of any allegations prior to the man’s suspected abuse.

A message seeking comment was left with the archdiocese Wednesday.

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BELGIE
Kind en Gezin

9 maart 2015

De commissie Welzijn, Volksgezondheid en Gezin in het Vlaams Parlement hield drie hoorzittingen over de problematiek ‘gedwongen adopties’. In navolging daarvan keurde het parlement een resolutie over gedwongen adoptie unaniem goed. Daarin werd onder meer gevraagd dat slachtoffers van deze praktijken bij 1712 terecht zouden kunnen met hun hulpvraag.

Op deze vraag wordt nu ingegaan. Vanaf 9 maart 2015 kunnen slachtoffers van een gedwongen adoptie naar 1712 bellen om hun verhaal te doen.

De medewerkers van de hulplijn zullen luisteren naar de slachtoffers en kunnen hen toeleiden tot de nodige hulp. Dit kan gaan over psychologische ondersteuning of begeleiding maar ook over concrete hulp bij een zoekvraag. De ondersteuning is dus niet alleen bedoeld voor geboorteouders die onder dwang afstand deden van hun kind maar ook voor geadopteerden die (vermoeden dat ze) onder dwang werden afgestaan.

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BELGIE
Weliswaar

Op een overlegvergadering tussen de bisschoppenconferentie en de vzw Mater Matuta werd dinsdagnamiddag beslist dat alle dossiers over mogelijk gedwongen adopties verzameld worden bij Kind en Gezin.

Dat vertelden Tommy Scholtes, de woordvoerder van de Bisschoppenconferentie en Marleen Adriaens, voorzitter van Mater Matuta na afloop van de vergadering. Het Belang van Limburg bracht vorige week het verhaal van wanpraktijken in het Lommelse tehuis Tamar. Daar zouden in de jaren 70 honderden vrouwen door kloosterzusters gedwongen zijn tot adoptie. Volgens de krant werden de kinderen voor grof geld aan adoptieouders verkocht. “Het gaat niet enkel om de kerk”, verduidelijkt Marleen Adriaens. “Dit gebeurde vermoedelijk ook bij andere van de 84 adoptiediensten in Vlaanderen, waarvan er veel door leken werden geleid.” Toch geven de bisschoppen alle informatie uit handen om alle schijn van partijdigheid te vermijden.

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BELGIE
De Redactie

[Members of the Mater Matuta association have launched an appeal to all survivors of forced relinquishment and adoption to call the helpline 1712 if they have questions or want advice.]

Leden van de vzw Mater Matuta hebben in het justitiepaleis van Antwerpen een oproep gelanceerd aan alle overlevers van gedwongen afstand en adoptie om de hulplijn 1712 te bellen als ze vragen hebben of advies willen. De hulplijn is sinds gisteren ook voor hen bedoeld en dus niet alleen voor wie vragen heeft over geweld, misbruik of kindermishandeling.

Ella, Monica, Heidi en Ritje droegen in het justitiepaleis witte maskers, die ze een voor een afzetten om hun verhaal te doen. Alle vier zijn het overlevers van gedwongen afstand en adoptie die lotgenoten willen overtuigen om uit de anonimiteit te treden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[A verdict is expected today in the case of the priest accused to abuse at Ettal monastery.]

Im Missbrauchs-Prozess gegen einen Benediktiner und früheren Internatslehrer in Kloster Ettal werden heute die Plädoyers und das Urteil erwartet. Nach dem Geständnis des Paters rechnen Beobachter mit einem Deal.

Am Vormittag werden Staatsanwaltschaft und Verteidigung ihre Plädoyers halten, anschließend soll das Urteil fallen.

Im Laufe des Prozesses hatte der Pater ein umfassendes Geständnis abgelegt. Er gab zu, zwei Schüler sexuell missbraucht und es bei zwei weiteren versucht zu haben. Dem Angeklagten wurde daraufhin eine Gefängnisstrafe von nicht mehr als zwei Jahren in Aussicht gestellt, die für vier Jahre zur Bewährung ausgesetzt werden könne. Der Pater erklärte sich mit der Auflage einer ambulanten Sexualtherapie einverstanden. Am ersten Prozesstag hatte er noch alle Vorwürfe abgestritten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Das Erste

[The Catholic Church and the abuse scandal.]

Gut fünf Jahre ist es her, dass Missbrauchsfälle in großem Umfang in der katholischen Kirche bekannt wurden. Die Kirche hat seit dem “Aufklärung und Transparenz” versprochen. Sie wolle den Opfern gerecht werden und den Kindesmissbrauch rückhaltlos aufklären. Aber tut sie das wirklich? Hält sie ihr Versprechen? Die Dokumentation “Das Schweigen der Männer” (Montag, 16. März, um 23.30 Uhr im Ersten) hat mit Missbrauchsopfern, Bischöfen und Wissenschaftlern gesprochen.

Matthias Katsch war Mitte der 70er Schüler am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg, unter der Obhut katholischer Patres vom angesehenen Jesuitenorden. Er war 14 Jahre alt, als er von einem Pater missbraucht wurde. Für die ARD-Dokumentation besucht er seine ehemalige Schule. “Wir haben den ganzen Tag hier drinnen verbracht,” erinnert sich Katsch, “er hat mich mit verschiedenen Gegenständen und auch mit der bloßen Hand geschlagen. Ich musste mich ausziehen, hab mich über so eine Bank da gebeugt. Das war der finsterste Ort für mich.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Despite declining membership: The revenue of the Catholic Church 2014 once again skipped the five-billion mark. The Protestant church reached a record.]

Trotz Mitgliederschwunds: Die Einnahmen der katholischen Kirche haben 2014 abermals die Fünf-Milliarden-Grenze übersprungen. Auch die evangelische Kirche verzeichnete einen Rekord. Das hat zwei Gründe.

Die katholische und die evangelische Kirche in Deutschland haben im vergangenen Jahr einen neuen Rekord bei den Kirchensteuereinnahmen erzielt. Das gaben die Pressestellen der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz in Bonn und der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) in Hannover am Dienstag bekannt.

Demnach übersprangen die Einnahmen bei der katholischen Kirche 2014 mit rund 5,68 Milliarden Euro zum dritten Mal in Folge die Fünf-Milliarden-Grenze. Gegenüber 2013 bedeutet das ein Plus von 4,24 Prozent. Die EKD verzeichnete erstmals Einnahmen von mehr als 5 Milliarden Euro, was einem Plus von 4,8 Prozent gegenüber dem Vorjahr entspricht. Experten begründeten das Rekordergebnis mit der guten Konjunktur und der hohen Zahl von Katholiken und Protestanten in regulären Arbeitsverhältnissen.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 10, 2015

TRENTON —A Brooklyn man testifying Tuesday in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of orchestrating forced divorces said he was ambushed and beaten until he agreed to divorce his wife.

The daylong testimony of Yisrael Meir Bryskman in federal court in Trenton did not connect Rabbi Mendel Epstein or his three codefendants to the 2010 attack but it set the stage for prosecutors’ main witness who could provide more potentially damning evidence in the trial.

Bryskman, a 40-year-old Israeli national who fled his state to avoid warrants for his arrest for refusing to grant a divorce, described for jurors how he was beaten over several hours at the Lakewood home of David Wax, a man he thought was going to give him a job.

Wax, who is scheduled to testify on Wednesday, is the prosecution’ main witness linking Epstein, his son and two other rabbis to the beatings.

But defense attorneys contend that Wax, who faces life in prison for Bryskman’s kidnapping, concocted the allegations against Epstein, his son David “Ari” Epstein and rabbis Binyamin Stimler and Jay Goldstein to receive a reduced sentence.

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Brendan Kirby | bkirby@al.com
on March 10, 2015

Lawyers seeking to hold Baldwin County District Attorney Hallie Dixon in contempt failed to follow proper procedure regarding a subpoena, the prosecutor said Tuesday.

Attorneys representing a former St. Pius X Catholic School student accusing administrators of allowing her to be bullied are seeking a court order sanctioning Dixon for failing to appear at a deposition on Friday. They wanted to ask her questions about allegations her office reviewed involving the pastor of St. Pius. The pastor, the Rev. Johnny Savoie, oversees the school principal.

Dixon said on Tuesday that the subpoena was invalid because rules governing civil cases require plaintiffs to file a notice of their intent to question a non-party and then give other lawyers in the case 15 days to object.

“The lawyers who filed that motion and gave those comments need to read the Rules of Civil Procedure and educate themselves about what the Rules of Civil Procedure are,” she said. ‘Their motion not only does not have any merit, it’s exactly against what the Rules of Civil Procedure are.”

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NEW YORK
The Economist

SUNDAY services at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York featured a portrait at the altar of Edward Cardinal Egan, who died on March 5th. After the funeral today his body will be interred in a crypt at the cathedral. The ceremonies in tribute to his life and work have been fairly subdued. This is perhaps apt. Cardinal Egan, who presided over New York’s archdiocese from 2000 to 2009, may have had an imposing presence and a powerful baritone voice, but he kept a low profile. He was rarely in front of a camera. He hardly ever gave interviews. Indeed he was an enigmatic figure for many New Yorkers and a polarising leader among Catholics. He was not universally loved by his flock.

Cardinal Egan arrived in New York in 2000 with an impossible task: to fill the shoes of John Cardinal O’Connor, his beloved predecessor. New York’s cardinals tend to be a charismatic bunch, but Cardinal O’Connor was uniquely powerful. As the unofficial head of the Catholic Church in America, he was courted by presidents. He was not afraid to take on politicians, even well-known Catholics. He threatened to excommunicate Geraldine Ferraro, a vice-presidential nominee, and Mario Cuomo, a former governor, for their pro-choice stance in the abortion debate. Presidents attended his funeral and thousands of ordinary New Yorkers queued to view his remains. He was dubbed the patron saint of the working poor. But while witty and gregarious, Cardinal O’Connor was a poor administrator. He could not balance a budget to save his life. …

His response to the sexual-abuse scandal in 2002 also won few fans among the clergy or the faithful. Connecticut newspapers, including the Hartford Courant, reported that when he was bishop of Bridgeport he knowingly transferred priests accused of paedophilia to different parishes and postings. He denied this, saying he actually sent accused priests to a well-respected psychiatric institution for evaluation. He claimed that priests were permitted to return to pastoral duty only when the institution recommended it—despite evidence of known offenders working within the church. He eventually said in a letter read from pulpits that “if in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.” For many in the church, and especially the victims of sexual abuse, this apology seemed insincere. To prevent another abuse scandal, the US Conference of Bishops in 2002 set up a review board of laypeople to serve as a watchdog for the church in America. The cardinal reportedly took issue with this body, however, as he did not believe lay people should have oversight over a bishop.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By: Peter Gelzinis

To hear Rev. Mark Scott speak about his “Clergy Deployment Plan,” you might think he drafted the whole thing over the weekend, as a response to the rogue clergy­man, Shaun O. Harrison, who allegedly shot a young drug dealer execution-style — an English High student he was supposed to be “mentoring.”

Truth is, Mark Scott, of the Ella J. Baker House in Dorchester, has been working for more than a year on his idea to have ministers create a partnership with police, social workers, probation officers and street workers.

It’s a back-to-the-future idea — back to the days of the so-called Boston Miracle and operations dubbed “Nightlight” and “Homefront,” when teams of ministers, cops, probation officers and school police quite literally made sure that the kids they were tracking were at home, if not in bed.

The father of probation in Dorchester District Court, William J. “Billy” Stewart, one of the architects of the Boston Miracle, was once asked what happened to the Miracle and the TenPoint-Coalition of black clergy.

“It’s quite simple actually,” Billy replied. “One TenPoint Coalition turned into 10 one points.”

In other words, success bred egos determined to do their own thing. And two decades later we have an anti-gang preacher in the arraignment dock accused of attempted murder and facing a slew of drug and weapons charges.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Allegations of sexual abuse against children by some church leaders have triggered strong condemnation from at least two clergymen, who have urged victims to report the perpetrators to the police.

The Reverend Dr Clinton Chisholm, lecturer at the Jamaica Theological Seminary, described the allegations as appalling, arguing that he lacked sympathy for anyone who violated the innocence of a child sexually.

“Apart from going to the police, which would be the primary resort, a report should be made to the leadership of the local church where the person is a pastor, so that they are aware of the misdeed that has been done,” Chisholm said.

According to the theologian, people are scared of saying things about pastors who wield a lot of power over their congregation. He said people can be intimidated into thinking that if you speak against clerics, judgment would befall you. However, he argued that there should be no fear of judgment from God when a wrong has been perpetrated against a child and the matter is reported to the authorities.

“They intimidate people’s minds by saying, ‘Touch not the Lord’s anointed,’ as if in their badness they should still be regarded as anointed. It is really abominable,” Chisholm added.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 11 March 2015

Four weeks after giving evidence before a royal commission, victims of child sexual abuse within the Orthodox Jewish Yeshivah centres in Melbourne say they are frustrated by a lack of action by senior centre staff.

In an open letter directed to Yeshivah management in Melbourne and published on Wednesday, 11 abuse victims said they were dismayed by a lack of resignations following the hearings, during which it was revealed senior staff knew about the abuse, but did nothing.

Last month, the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse held public hearings at Melbourne’s county court to examine the way the Yeshivah centres, which run schools, religious activities and youth groups in Sydney and Melbourne, responded to child sex abuse in their community.

“It is astounding and a further indictment on the Yeshivah Centre that no genuine public action has been taken to date by your institution in response to the royal commission public hearing,” the letter said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain, MA employed an alleged sexual abuser of children, George P. Forte, Jr. despite knowing about charges of sexual abuse of at least one minor child who alleges he was sexually abused from approximately 1980-1983. According to corporate records, George P. Forte, Jr. became Chief Financial Officer of the Italian Home for Children

Italian Home for Children was run by the Archdiocese of Boston until 1981 when at least one minor child was sexually abused there by George P. Forte, Jr.

Archdiocese of Boston and Italian Home for Children have covered up sexual abuse of children by George P. Forte, Jr., and refuse to help as least one sexual abuse victim of the Italian Home for Children heal

What
A demonstration and press conference alerting the neighborhood surrounding the Italian Home for Children, especially parents of minor children, and the general public that the Italian Home for Children and Archdiocese of Boston covered up at least one case of sexual abuse of minor children by George P. Forte, Jr.

When
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 from 11:00 am until 12:30 pm

Where
On the public sidewalk outside the Italian Home for Children, 1125 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-3495 – 617-524-3116

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; supporters, and friends

Why
Until 1981, the Archdiocese of Boston administered the Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain, MA. A minor child was sexually abused by an employee, George P. Forte, Jr., during that time, but the Archdiocese of Boston refuses to take responsibility for the healing and recovery of that minor child, now an adult. The Archdiocese of Boston has told that man to take a hike. Demonstrators will call on the Archdiocese of Boston and the Italian Home for Children to follow the lead of Pope Francis and take responsibility for the sexual abuse of at least one minor child who has courageously reported sexual abuse by George P. Forte, Jr.

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

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

[with video]

JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — The former Chief Financial Officer of a home for troubled youth is under scrutiny amidst allegations of sexual abuse.

Tuesday, FOX25 spoke exclusively with the attorney for the accuser, who claimed George Forte, Jr. sexually abused him at the Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain over a period of three years.

“My client got to know George Forte, was groomed by George Forte, given gifts – things like that,” said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer known for his previous cases involving sexual abuse and the Catholic Church.

Garabedian said his client was 6 years old when he first came to the Italian Home for Children, an orphan with a troubled past.

“My client was lonely. He didn’t have any parents in his life, he didn’t have any love. He looked to George Forte for that,” Garabedian said.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville News

Lyn Riddle, lnriddle@greenvillenews.com March 10, 2015

Bob Jones University President Steve Pettit said Tuesday that the weeks since school leaders were criticized for the way they counseled victims of sexual abuse have not been easy on anyone.

“It has been particularly difficult on a few,” he told students during a chapel service in which he spent 16 minutes responding to a yearlong investigation by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment.

He did not name those he was talking about, but the two most harshly criticized by the GRACE report were Bob Jones III, the chancellor and grandson of the founder, and Jim Berg, who handled most of the counseling during almost 30 years as dean of students.

GRACE found that students who reported abuse were blamed for bringing it on themselves and that proper authorities had not been notified. The organization said Jones, as the president from 1971 until 2005, and Berg, who stepped down as dean in 2010, were primarily responsible.

The report recommended that Jones be disciplined and that Berg be banned from both counseling and teaching counseling and that the school no longer use or sell his books or DVDs.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

READ IT: Statement from Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

READ IT: Statement from SNAP – Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests

Federal Appeals Court Entire Decision on Archdiocese Cemetery Trust

Appeals Court Decision on Archdiocese’s Cemetery Trust

MARCH 10, 2015, BY MIKE LOWE

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — A federal appeals court has issued a ruling that puts nearly $60 million back in play. It’s cash that could be paid to victims in the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal. It is a blow to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy case and it could have wide-ranging effects.

With the clergy sex abuse scandal creeping closer to church coffers, then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan set aside millions in a cemetery trust fund. He then fought to protect that money from abuse lawsuits in bankruptcy court.

“What this did is delay, by years, the place we already should have been at the beginning,” Peter Isley, Midwest Director of SNAP – the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests said.

The timeline looks like this:

* 2007: Archdiocese of Milwaukee creates the trust.
* 2008: The Vatican approves the transfer of $57 million.
* 2009: Timothy Dolan becomes the Archbishop of New York. He is now Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
* 2011: Archdiocese of Milwaukee files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
* 2013: A bankruptcy judge rules against the diocese. Six months later, federal appeals Judge Rudolph Randa said the church could protect the money, but now the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed that decision — making the money fair game.
* July 2013: Archbishop Jerome Listecki defends the trust fund.

FOX6’s Mike Lowe: “You know, the accusation is that he was trying to shield assets from lawsuits.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Archdiocese of St. Louis ordered to produce 20 years of documents on sexual abuse

By Lilly Fowler

A judge has ordered the Archdiocese of St. Louis to produce two decades worth of internal documents on sexual abuse allegations.

Thomas J. Prebil is only the second judge to attempt to compel the archdiocese to hand over such an extensive number of records.

The order, released earlier this week, is part of a civil lawsuit filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court involving the parents of a man from Florissant who sued the archdiocese over the suicide of their son.

The parents argue their son’s suicide in 2009 was the result of sexual and emotional abuse by Bryan Kuchar, a Roman Catholic priest at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in Shrewsbury.

The documents are needed in order to show that the archdiocese had a pattern of reassigning problem priests, plaintiff lawyers argue.

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ITALY
Press TV (Iran)

Max Civili
Press TV, Rome

Two kids who were victims of sexual abuse by a priest, are among four civil plaintiffs who have joined proceedings against Father Giovanni Desio, a clergyman of 53 years of age.

The former parish priest of a village in the Emilia Romagna region, was arrested in April last year. He is facing charges of having sex with four minors under his care.

A children’s protection association and the local diocese have also been admitted among the civil plaintiffs after a pre-trial hearing held in the city of Ravenna early this week.

Recently the church has come under increasing attack for not doing enough to prevent sexual abuse by clergymen. In February victims of sexually abusive priests from across the Americas joined forces issuing a letter addressed to Pope Francis saying that “words are not enough” and urging the Argentine pontiff to allow civilian justice to punish pedophiles and those who covered up their crimes.
Last week over a thousand lay faithful from Chile asked Pope Francis to rescind the appointment of a bishop accused of covering up a prominent priest sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors.

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ILLINOIS
WICS

Bishop Thomas Paprocki is responding to calls from snap for greater transparency from the Springfield diocese about two predator priests the group alleges spent time here decades ago and six others who had Litchfield phone numbers dating back to the 1990s. The allegations came down from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

“They did have contact with this diocese, yes. But Father Martinez as I mentioned served only very briefly as a hospital chaplain and that was before any known allegations about him,” said Paprocki. “And Father Fitzgerald was here before he was a priest.”

The diocese did release some of its findings, showing some of the 265 priests with the same Litchfield number. Paprocki said it belonged to the private home of another priest, who had no allegations against him, calling it a computer error.

“We did say repeatedly last week, there might be some innocent explanation for why these six Chicago priests had a 217 area code,” said David Clohessy, a SNAP spokesman. “I hope they didn’t spend even a day in the Springfield diocese if that in fact is true.”

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Vatican has removed the controversial Venus Restored (1936) by Surrealist artist Man Ray from the website of its Pontifical Council for Culture. The image, a plaster cast of a nude torso – with no head or face, no arms and no legs – tightly bound with rope, was intended to draw attention to its annual plenary assembly on Women’s Culture: Equality and Difference. It succeeded more than expected.

The assembly took place last month, between February 4th and 7th.

The image provoked international outrage from Catholic women’s groups in particular, who saw it as reflecting what Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests says is “the Vatican’s patriarchal, dysfunctional view that holds women in spiritual bondage”.
s women’s bodies and souls and reflects a deep misogyny in need of healing and transformation.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Old boys of Knox Grammar, like me, will always be marked by how close we came to the abuse there

Adam Brereton
@adambrereton
Tuesday 10 March 2015

The abuse at Knox Grammar is not ancient history. Not for me. Craig Treloar, Adrian Nisbett and Barrie Stewart were all teachers at the school when I started school there, in year five, in 1999. It wasn’t until 2009 that they were arrested after decades of child abuse, three years after I graduated.

We all remember those teachers and now, with the royal commission, we remember the students, too. To see their faces contort in the witness box is a reminder that being an “Old Knox Grammarian” – whether or not you paid the old boys’ association’s membership fee – is to be forever marked by a closeness to abuse. As the inquiry into Knox started to gear up, I sent a text to my Mum: “Just so it’s clear, I was never abused.” Having to send that message depleted the last of my goodwill about my schooldays.

We never really owned our experiences at Knox, anyway, I’ve come to feel. Our academic success belonged to the outstanding teachers, whose brilliance we still feel bound to pay tribute to, even as we wonder just how much they knew. Knox’s famous musicals manufactured Hugh Jackman, as far as the school is concerned. The hundreds-strong cadet unit – to which my mother and stepfather, both serving Australian Defence Force members, gave their time and expertise – was rightly a source of pride for Knox, but was often seen merely as a component of the school’s leadership program. The school celebrated its foresight in having kept it alive after Gough Whitlam ceased funding military training for students. Whitlam was himself a former student (see, Knox produces leaders!) but the school rarely mentions how little time he spent there.

In an analogue of the school’s Uniting Church faith, it was if the student could achieve nothing of virtue without the irresistible grace of the institution. Similarly, the student body was shot through with a sense of predestination – the recurring names in the yearbooks, decade after decade, and the smiles in the old boys’ publications – that is hard to understand from the outside. My family was part of that. I would regularly appear in the sons and grandsons of old boys photos, although it always seemed to me an accident, rather than fate that sent me there; I started at Knox a few years after my father’s death, when my mother remarried and we moved to Sydney.

The central question the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has been driving at is the right one: whether the legendary former headmaster of the school, Ian Paterson, who led the place from 1969 until 1998, put the school’s reputation ahead of the wellbeing of abused students. The correct question, posed wrongly, because Knox Grammar during Paterson’s tenure was an extension of the man’s ego. The school’s reputation was not something external that could be defended or prioritised.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 10

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

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki blasted our group and the news media today, twice deceptively using the phrase “rumors and gossip” and accusing journalists of reporting “without question” allegedly “false and defamatory claims.” (We’ve just now gotten a copy of his statement.)

Again, he’s being disingenuous.

Paprocki knows that our information came directly from the Official Catholic Directory. Not the Official SNAP Directory. Not the “Make It Up Yourself” Directory. The Official Catholic Directory. Maybe he should complain to the publishers of the Official Catholic Directory about “rumors and gossip” and “false and defamatory claims.”

Paprocki also knows that media outlets don’t report “rumors and gossip” and that mistakes, even by the Official Catholic Directory, are not “defamatory.”

He’s trying, again, to deflect attention away from his irresponsible refusal to

—be more honest about the 12 publicly accused predator priests who have been in his diocese,

—post their names on his diocesan website and in his parish bulletins, and

—aggressively reach out to anyone who may have been hurt in the Springfield area by Fr. Frank R. Martinez or Fr. J. Vincent Fitzgerald.

With these two clerics, Paprocki splits hairs. Accusations against one of them happened before he was in Springfield, he says. Accusations against the other happened after he left Springfield, he says. But who cares?

The simple fact is that both priests were in this area, both are credibly accused predators, and Paprocki’s responsible for the well-being of his flock. It doesn’t matter at all in which hemisphere or decade they committed their crimes. What matters is that in this diocese, there may be a woman who gets drunk every night or a man who is suicidal. And the cause of their pain may well be Fr. Martinez or Fr. Fitzgerald or one of the other ten publicly accused Springfield area predator priests (who were raised here and ordained here and worked here and mostly molested here).

Paprocki could reach out to these wounded victims. Instead, he attacks our support group and local journalists. He should be ashamed of himself.

Finally, he goes on at length about the procedures and policies of the diocese, neglecting to mention that these are all national church requirements. It’s as if he pretends the income tax he pays is a voluntary donation to the government. The weak, small, grudging and belated steps being taken in Springfield, and other dioceses, are public relations and legal defense maneuvers forced on recalcitrant bishops by decades of horrific scandal, criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits, scathing editorials and outraged parishioners.

Bishop Paprocki, stop being thin-skinned. Start being warm-hearted. Take off your lawyer hat. Put on your shepherd’s hat. Quit being whiny. Start being compassionate. Use your skills, smarts and vast diocesan resources to seek out and help that one struggling, traumatized man or woman who was assaulted years ago by a pedophile priest, and be the bishop you were meant to be.

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MISSOURI
TheMediaReport

David Pierre

In a recent article sparse on reason and logic, Lilly Fowler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch promotes the novel idea that the Catholic Church is now somehow responsible for hunting down and shadowing every past employee accused of abuse, and then constantly publicizing their whereabouts, no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.

There is no doubt that former priest Gary P. Wolken committed disgraceful crimes and was a shame to the priesthood. Yet it was Church officials who first discovered the abuse and immediately reported it to the police. Police arrested and charged Wolken, and after Wolken pleaded guilty to his crime and went to jail, the Church expelled him from the priesthood.

No good deed goes unpunished

Yet Fowler completely fails to report that it was Church officials who put a quick stop to Wolken’s crimes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

After announcing it was at an impasse, a Philadelphia jury agreed to resume deliberations Wednesday in the trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, the Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy almost two decades ago in Bridesburg.

The Common Pleas Court jury was almost through its second full day of deliberations Tuesday when it told Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright it was deadlocked. Bright then instructed the jury to keep trying; about 90 minutes later the jurors said they wished to return the next day.

This is McCormick’s second trial on the charges. Last year, another Common Pleas Court jury hung after 29 hours of deliberations. McCormick, 58, is accused of luring the boy in 1997 to his bedroom in the rectory of St. John Cantius Church, undressing him, and attempting to force him to perform oral sex

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Lancaster Online

Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2015

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jurors in the retrial of a suspended Philadelphia priest accused of having molested a young boy almost two decades ago have reported an impasse but agreed to resume deliberations in the case Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1FHGpYP ) reported that the jurors in their second full day of deliberations Tuesday were told to keep trying to reach a verdict. They said about an hour and a half later that they wished to return the next day.

The Rev. Andrew McCormick is accused of having assaulted an altar boy in a rectory bedroom in 1997. The 27-year-old victim alleges that the abuse started when he was 11 and later led him to attempt suicide. McCormick has denied the allegations.

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CALIFORNIA
Inland News Today

CORONA – (INT) – The Corona Police Department was contacted by multiple male adults who stated that they had been victims of sexual abuse as juveniles.

Detectives began an investigation into the allegations and on Monday, arrested Shawn Edward Shaffer, 54 years old of Corona, for multiple counts of sexual molestation on a juvenile under 16 years of age.

Police said that Shaffer may have been conducting youth bible studies in his home in Corona and that he frequents local skateboard parks.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS LA

CORONA (CBSLA.com) — A Bible study teacher is in custody Tuesday on multiple counts of sexual molestation on a juvenile under 16, police said.

Shawn Edward Shaffer, 54, of Corona, was arrested Monday and is being held in the Robert Presley Detention Center on $3 million bail, Corona police officials said.

Several men had reported to Corona police investigators Friday they were victims of sexual abuse as juveniles in the city of Corona.

Shaffer may have been conducting youth Bible studies in his home in Corona, and that he frequents local skate parks, Corona police said.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Mar. 10, 2015

MILWAUKEE In a decision that could have far-reaching implications, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Milwaukee archdiocese can’t rely on the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as protections against claims in its bankruptcy case.

The key question in the Milwaukee case of whether approximately $55 million placed in a trust for the care of cemeteries can be used to pay off the archdiocese’s debts in bankruptcy was not answered in the decision. Mounting legal fees — now at least $16 million but possibly as high as $20 million — raise the question of whether much will be available to pay debts and compensate those who claim to have been sexually abused.

The appellate court decision issued late Monday is not a final decision. The court also found that U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, who ruled in the archdiocese’s favor, should have stepped aside because of a conflict of interest. A new judge will have to be appointed to decide the issue of the trust fund based on the appellate findings that the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act do not apply.

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