NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

Email Stephanie

A former Rotorua pastor who was extradited from the United States to face child sex abuse charges has been jailed for more than 12 years.

James Leland Watkins, 65 was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday to 12 years and three months’ imprisonment after previously admitting 27 charges of sexual abuse against two victims, including six counts of rape.

The offending happened in Rotorua between 2000 and 2006, and the majority of the charges were representative, meaning the offending happened more than once.

His sentence carries a minimum non-parole period of five years and six months.

Watkins was extradited from the United States to face the charges. An American-born New Zealand citizen, he had returned to live in his country of birth in 2006.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

March 4 2015

By Shain Germaner

Johannesburg – Four people, including a church pastor, accused of conducting a satanic ritual during which a 9-year-old boy was allegedly raped have been released on bail. This was after the State’s case was deemed too weak.

Meanwhile, leaders at the church where the incident allegedly took place have broken their silence over the incident.

The child’s grandmother, grandfather, uncle and the 54-year-old pastor were arrested last month after an investigation by the SAPS Occult Related Crimes Unit.

Police suspect the pastor and relatives of the child brought the then 7-year-old to the Full Gospel Church of God in Witfield, Boksburg, sometime in 2013.

The pastor, grandparents and uncle, clad in red robes and chanting, then allegedly forced the boy to fondle their genitals before the uncle raped the child, the State claimed.

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MONTANA
Fox Montana

By Ashley Sanchez

MISSOULA –
A bankruptcy court in Idaho gets the final say in two multi-million dollar settlements involving hundreds of sexual abuse victims and the Catholic Diocese of Helena.

On Tuesday a bankruptcy judge in Coeur d’Alene will be asked to approve two separate sexual abuse settlements, totaling more than $19 million.

Decades after they came forward with their stories hundreds of sexual assault victims are ready to be compensated for the physical and emotional pain they endured so many years ago.

“All parties want is to have this adjudicated quickly. We hope the court approve plan so all the victims are compensated as soon as possible,” said Vito de la Cruz with Tamaki Law.

On behalf of the victims, on Wednesday Tamaki Law will ask a judge to approve two settlements.

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MONTANA
KFBB

[with video]

Updated: Mar 03, 2015

By Amanda Roley, Reporter

HELENA –
Tomorrow the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena will ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to proceed with a $15-million plan, which will be used to pay over 300 victims of alleged sexual abuse committed by its clergy.

The hearing comes just four years after lawsuits were filed against the Diocese for the alleged abuse that happened between 1940 and 1960.

One of the two lawsuits filed in 2011 claims that 362 children were sexually abused by clergy members at the Diocese of Helena, many of those children are now between the ages of 30 and 60.

The $15 million settlement to compensate the victims was reached last year, after the Diocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. So, the settlement must be approved tomorrow in bankruptcy court in Coure d’Alene, Idaho.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times LIVE

The grandparents of a nine-year-old boy, his uncle, and a pastor were granted bail after a suspected satanic ritual that led to the boy’s alleged rape and molestation, according to a media report.

The two grandparents, the 29-year-old uncle, and the 54-year-old pastor were granted bail of R4000 each in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Sharlotte Sithole said the medical report from 2013, when the boy was seven years-old, had no indications of sexual abuse or penetration.

On Monday, investigating officer Lt-Col Hendrik de Jager described the boy’s ordeal and said interviews revealed that over a period, possibly several years, the child was allegedly raped and molested multiple times by the group.

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WISCONSIN
NBC 15

[with video]

Those who lived in the area at the time will remember it well. Father Alfred Kunz was a well-known priest and his death shocked many. Now all these years later, investigators are still not giving up.

Seventeen years ago Tuesday, Father Alfred Kunz recorded his final radio broadcast. The next morning, March 4, 1998, Father Kunz was found dead, brutally murdered, inside St. Michael Catholic Church. The murder remains unsolved.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney tells us, “It’s still a priority for this organization to resolve that homicide.”

Mahoney says a number of detectives keep up to speed on the case and follow new leads that still occasionally come in. Matt Abbott, a Chicago-based writer specializing in Catholic issues, has written extensively on the case for more than 14 years. He spoke to us over the phone.

Abbott explains, “There have been various conspiracy theories that have been put forth.”

Ranging from the involvement of a satanic cult, to the involvement of fellow clergy. Abbott believes the most plausible theory: “Souring, I guess, of a relationship between Father Kunz and one of his teachers.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

by Sonya McLean

The supervisor of a garda accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions has denied telling the garda that if she “admitted wrongdoing” she would be “looked after”.

Wicklow Detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009, at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and June 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14, 2009.

The investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of the case — which involved a priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl — was prompted by the publication of the Murphy Report which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area. The priest in Gda McGowan’s case was mentioned in the report.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Judgment was reserved on Tuesday in an historical abuse inquiry chairman’s bid to overturn a ruling that he unfairly denied legal representation to an alleged victim.

Sir Anthony Hart is appealing a High Court verdict that a bar had effectively been erected against the woman who claims she was molested by a “very high-profile figure”.

Senior judges hearing the challenge have been told alleged victims are now increasingly refusing to sign witness statements unless they secure legal funding.

The woman at the centre of the case is due to give evidence at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) hearings in Banbridge, Co Down which are investigating child abuse in Northern Ireland residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

It’s a real dog of a case but the district attorney seems intent on retrying it.

On June 22, 2012, in the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Father James J. Brennan, a jury deadlocked 11-1 on whether to convict Father Brennan of attempted rape.

The same jury convicted Msgr. William J. Lynn on one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The historic conviction of the monsignor became the show pony for D.A. Seth Williams, as Lynn became the first Catholic administrator in the country to go to jail for the sexual sins of the clergy. Meanwhile, the dog in the D.A.’s dog and pony show — the Father Brennan case — had to disappear for a few years.

Yesterday in Courtroom 1102 of Common Pleas Court, Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright brought back the Father Brennan case by setting a retrial date of Jan. 4, 2016. None of the lawyers involved in the case are talking publicly in the event that the judge may elect to restore an former gag order. But with all the delays and credibility problems with the D.A.’s star witness in the Father Brennan case, you have to wonder whether the retrial will ever really happen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MARCH 3, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

The Federal authorities have announced new evidence of more crimes committed by Father Mark Haynes. The new evidence includes destroying a laptop (which was evidence) and, far worse, the sexual abuse of at least three children. The abuse accusations fall outside the statute of limitations (SOL). Therefore, charges can not be pressed. This is another example of why PA needs to catch up with all the other states who have abolished the SOL for child sex abuse and have enacted a retroactive window for past victims to come forward. Reform legislation is pending but being blocked by Judiciary chairman, Rep. Ron Marsico. Visit the Protect PA Kids Facebook page to find out more and how you can contact him.

Click here to read: “New Accusations Surface Against Chester County Priest Charged With Explicit Exchanges With Minors,” Tony Hanson, CBS Philly, March 3, 2015

It turns out the Archdiocese had a very good reason to remove Father Kolenkiewicz – child porn. Perhaps he accidentally downloaded a dozen of those images while in a feeding frenzy of adult porn (over 12,000 images in 2005 alone and more in 2011). Who knows? What we do know is that maybe the priesthood isn’t for him.

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UTAH
Herald

By Jackson Hadley Capital West News

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah House of Representatives has moved a pair of bills forward in an effort to better protect children from child sexual abuse.

HB277, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, would eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases. HB345, sponsored by Rep. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, would ban anyone convicted of a felony involving child abuse from receiving or renewing a license to teach children in school.

Both bills passed unanimously Monday and will now go to the Senate for consideration.

Emotions ran high as legislators addressed the bills, as victims of abuse looked on from the gallery and representatives shared how abuse has affected them personally.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel March 3, 2015

The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy could decide as early as Wednesday whether to throw out 10 claims of men and women who allege they were sexually assaulted by priests or others representing the church.

The archdiocese has not disputed that the 10 were abused. However, it argues it is not required by law to compensate them for a number of legal reasons, including the lapse in the statute of limitations.

Attorneys for the survivors reject those arguments.

“This is just the latest attempt by the archdiocese to hide behind the passage of time instead of treating survivors fairly,” said Michael Finnegan, whose firm represents six of the victims whose claims will be heard Wednesday, and most of the bankruptcy’s 570-plus sex-abuse claimants.

Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said the church has been clear from the beginning that it would not pay claims ineligible under the law.

“It’s not fair to the people who should be compensated to include those who shouldn’t,” he said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A couple of former altar boys duked it out in court today.

Testifying for the prosecution in the Father Andy sex abuse case was Adam Visconto, 28.

He’s a special education administrative assistant who says that 15 years ago Father Andy creeped him out by attempting to lure Visconto and another altar boy down to the church basement for a secret rendezvous.

Visconto claimed that he and another altar boy, Steve Dozier, were so afraid that they ran to the parish school at St. John Cantius for safety. Visconto said that after he and Dozier told Visconto’s mother and a teacher what happened, the women advised the two altar boys to run home to Adam’s house and lock the door.

But the defense put their first witness on the stand today — Steve Dozier. He’s a former altar boy who’s now a Pennsylvania State Trooper. And Trooper Dozier told the jury today that Visconto’s story about running away to hide from Father Andy never happened.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By Michael P. Rellahan, mrellahan@dailylocal.com, @ChescoCourtNews on Twitter
POSTED: 03/03/15

PHILADELPHIA >> The U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked a federal judge to hold a former Ss. Simon and Jude parish priest without bail pending his trial on child pornography charges, saying it had uncovered additional information about him that suggested a previously unknown danger.

In a motion filed Tuesday for the pre-trial detention of Mark Haynes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella wrote that investigators had interviewed three people who came forward to say that Haynes had sexually abused them when he was their parish priest and they were minors.

Haynes, 55, now of Egg Harbor, N.J., is alleged to have molested the children, whose identities or the places they lived were not provided, “with acts of sexual touching, masturbation, and forced oral sex,” according to Rotella’s motion. In one instance, Haynes is alleged to have taken confession from one young girl, who told him that she had engaged in oral sex with a teenage boy. Haynes then had the girl perform that same act on him, the motion states.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour and agencies
@bkjabour
Tuesday 3 March 2015

The former headmaster of Knox Grammar school has admitted deliberately impeding a police investigation into paedophile teachers working at the school.

Ian Paterson was approached by Inspector Elizabeth Cullen from the child protection enforcement agency about complaints of child sex abuse at the school in 1996. Paterson told Cullen he was not aware of any complaints, which he has admitted was a lie.

He made the admission in his second day of evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse.

He also directed Cullen to files he knew would contain no information. It was not until 2009 that teachers from Knox were charged with child sex abuse offences which dated back to the 1980s.

In reply to counsel advising the royal commission, David Lloyd, Paterson agreed he knew this would impede the investigation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

CHRIS PALMER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Bucks County priest was placed on administrative leave last month after it was discovered that a trove of pornographic images he had downloaded in 2005 included up to a dozen photos of minors, the Archdiocese said in a statement Tuesday.

The Rev. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz, 47, most recently of St. Bede the Venerable Parish, in Holland, had been disciplined in both 2005 and 2011 for downloading pornography, said Archdiocese spokesman Ken Gavin.

But recently, Gavin said, after learning that Kolenkiewicz had returned to active ministry, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office – which had investigated the previous cases but declined to press charges – told the Archdiocese that among the 12,000 images Kolenkiewicz downloaded in 2005, up to 12 may have depicted juveniles.

The Archdiocese had announced in February that Kolenkiewicz had been placed on leave but did not specify why.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Federal authorities say there is new evidence of additional crimes by a Chester County priest, already charged with engaging in sexually explicit communications with minors. Those crimes include trying to destroy evidence in that case and, more troubling, sexually abusing at least three children during his 30 years in the priesthood.

But a federal judge has ruled that Father Mark Haynes is not a danger to the community and has ordered him released on bail. Prosecutors are appealing that order.

Federal prosecutor Michelle Rotella says Haynes, most recently assigned to Ss. Simon and Jude parish, in West Chester, posed as a teenage girl and engaged in sexually explicit communications with more than two dozen minor girls.

In addition, Rotella has told the court, there is new evidence that Haynes lied and tried to destroy a laptop computer, which is now missing. More disturbing, since news of his arrest, she says, “There were people that came forward to say they had been sexually abused by him many, many years ago, for a period of years.”

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

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 )

These more than 500 brave victims and their dedicated attorneys have done the very best with an awful situation brought on by the Catholic hierarchy’s immense clout, expensive lawyering and obsessive secrecy. We hope the new settlement brings them sorely-needed healing.

[KTVQ]

The real bankruptcy of Montana Catholic officials is moral, not legal or financial. Every last priest, nun, seminarian and parish employee in the Helena diocese should be ashamed that their bishop exploited and hid behind legal technicalities so the horrific cover ups of horrific crimes remain covered up and so that parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public learn as little as possible about clerics who committed and concealed heinous crimes against children.

Catholic diocesan bankruptcies are always selfish, shrewd and secretive schemes designed to protect the reputations and careers of church bureaucrats.

Bishops claim they seek bankruptcy protect so that they can purportedly “treat every victim fairly.” That’s baloney. If Catholic officials wanted to do that, they long ago would have set up a national or international fund so that kids assaulted in any state or nation would get help, regardless of that jurisdiction’s statute of limitations or that diocese’s insurance coverage.

Bishops pretend to be “on their own” when it works for them and part of the global church when that works for them. Legally and morally, they try to have their cake and eat it too. And that’s incredibly disingenuous and hurtful.

Not a single one of the dozens or hundreds of complicit Catholic officials, who ignored or hid these thousands of crimes, will ever be exposed or face justice. That’s a tragedy. And that’s why the cover ups of clergy sex crimes continue to this day, because those who cover up escape consequences, win promotions and thus have no incentive to act more responsibly when they learn of or suspect a predator priest is hurting a child.

No amount of money can restore the shattered faith, violated trust and stolen childhoods of these 500+ survivors.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

03 March 2015 by James Roberts

Pope Francis on Tuesday issued a motu proprio that formally accords Australian Cardinal George Pell oversight of the Vatican’s financial activities, and sets up a new and powerful office of auditor-general.

Today’s decree consolidates the financial reforms Francis initiated a year ago when he established the Secretariat for the Economy under Cardinal Pell and the Council for the Economy under German Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

As head of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal Pell has the power to issue executive decrees to all Vatican departments regarding their procedures, ensuring that their operations are carried out “efficiently” and “in compliance with the approved budgets”, the decree states.

The norms of the motu proprio state that Pell will oversee the creation of a centralised budget for the whole of the Vatican, showing income and expenditure for each curial office.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

The supervisor of a garda accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions has denied he told her if she “admitted wrongdoing” she would be “looked after”.

Wicklow Det Garda Catherine McGowan (48), based at Bray Garda station, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of forgery on January 15th, 2009, at Bray Garda station, and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda station and at Harcourt Street Garda station between June 21st and 22nd, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14th, 2009.

Insp Michael Moore was was asked to determine if the letter genuineDPP letter a bad-quality photocopy, forensic expert tells court

The investigation of Garda McGowan’s handling of the case was prompted by publication of the Murphy report, which investigated clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin area. The priest in Garda McGowan’s case was one of the clerics mentioned in the report.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — New rules governing the guidance, oversight and control of Vatican financial and administrative activities include the power to levy sanctions and take “civil or criminal action” in cases of “damage to assets,” as well as providing protection for whistleblowers raising red flags about “anomalous activity.”

The provisions were detailed in separate statutes for the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy and a “general auditor’s office,” which will be staffed by three lay experts.

The Vatican published the new statutes in Italian on its web site March 3; they went into effect March 1. Pope Francis approved the statutes “ad experimentum” (on a trial basis) for an unspecified period of time.

The establishment of the council and secretariat were announced in February 2014. Officials said it took a full year to develop the statutes because they had to be reviewed by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. A key issue reportedly was to ensure adequate checks and balances.

The statutes officially define the nature, role, responsibilities and organizational structure of each of the three bodies; outline channels of command and accountability; designate English and Italian as the new offices’ working languages; and emphasize the need to keep data and documents confidential.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

Statement by Mark Crawford, SNAP Director for New Jersey ( 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

We’re grateful that an already-convicted North Bergen pastor/exorcist now faces new charges.

[The Jersey Journal]

Most child molesters are never charged. When they are, they’re usually charged with a fraction of their crimes. Because the horror they inflict is so severe, and so likely to be repeated, it’s crucial that predators are charged with as much wrongdoing as possible, even if they’re already convicted or imprisoned. The safest way to protect kids is to do everything legally possible to keep predators and kids apart for as long as possible.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Gregorio Martinez – of cover ups by his church colleagues or superiors – will come forward, get help, protect others, call police and expose those who commit and conceal these heinous crimes against children.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

by Alessandro Speciale
March 3, 2015

(Bloomberg) — Pope Francis consolidated his overhaul of the Vatican’s financial system by publishing the statutes of three new economic bodies created to help increase transparency and modernize the centuries-old institution.

The statues of the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent Auditor General, all created in the past few years, were published on the Vatican website. Jointly, the bodies promote modern management principles and oversee Vatican offices that have operated independently in the past.

A more transparent and accountable handling of the Church’s affairs has been a key priority for the pope since his election in 2013. The first non-European pontiff in almost 1,300 years, who vowed to make the church “poor, and for the poor,” Francis is trying to restore the image of the Church’s finances following several scandals.

The Council for the Economy “follows international best practices in public administration, with the aim of an ethical and efficient financial and administrative management,” according to one of the three legal texts published on the Vatican website.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

BY PHILIP PULLELLA
VATICAN CITY Tue Mar 3, 2015

(Reuters) – Pope Francis approved detailed new plans to reform Vatican finances on Tuesday, giving the Australian cardinal leading the changes sweeping powers to monitor Vatican departments and ensure budgets conform to international accounting standards.

The statutes had been keenly awaited for signs of how much power would fall to Cardinal George Pell – an outsider Francis brought in to oversee often muddled finances and who, according to Italian media, is viewed skeptically by detractors in the Vatican bureaucracy who feel he has amassed too much power.

The changes were one of the clearest indications to date that Francis is committed to the mandate given him by cardinals who elected him in 2013 to clean up after a series of financial scandals.

The most important of three new norms is one that governs the Secretariat for the Economy, which Pell has headed since it was set up last year. The norms give Pell wide powers, including the monitoring of other Vatican departments, ensuring their budgets conform to international accounting standards and are reviewed by external auditors.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 4, 2015

Peter FitzSimons
Columnist

Over his time as headmaster of Knox, Dr Ian Paterson’s authority was as unimpeachable as his seeming integrity, a man whose piercing eyes were so powerful, so pervasive, he was known as “Snake”. A glare from him could turn an errant boy, including this one, into a pillar of salt at a distance of 100 metres on a dark day.

Yesterday, when he appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse to give evidence as to his role in systemic abuse and its coverups at the school, all was different.

This time the piercing eyes belonged to former Knox students in the public gallery, victims of pedophilia, wanting an answer to how he, of all people, could have presided over it. And instead of glaring back upon us, this time his eyes looked stunned, bewildered, that it really could have come to this.

At least he started well, saying, “I am deeply and profoundly sorry.”

But then when counsel assisting, David Lloyd, took him through the lowlights of his actions, we were all shown that a “sorry” was never going to be enough.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washingtonian

By Benjamin Freed

Barry Freundel, the former rabbi at Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue who pleaded guilty last month to secretly taping nude women who were preparing to enter a ritual Jewish bath, is finally vacating the congregation-owned house he was supposed to leave months ago, but not before committing one more shonda: his moving van is double-parking his neighbors and blocking traffic.

The house, on O Street, Northwest, is owned by a family trust connected to Kesher Israel, which fired Freundel last year following his arrest on multiple voyeurism charges. His wife left the residence last fall, while Kesher gave Freundel until January 1 to get out. The rabbi stayed over the synagogue’s orders, and only after his February 17 hearing, when he admitted to 52 misdemeanor counts, did his lawyers say he would finally move out.

According to a neighbor who happened to be walking by, Freundel had reserved a parking spot for his movers last Friday, but wound up delaying his exit. And it appears Freundel did not even bother to clear his steps and sidewalk following Sunday’s ice storm. The movers arrived Tuesday morning to nearly an inch of ice. “They were like, ‘WTF?’” the neighbor says. Eventually, one of the movers grabbed a metal pole from the truck and started thwacking the ice away to clear a path.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor March 3, 2015

By now, one thing ought to be abundantly clear about Pope Francis: Faced with attempts to hobble his reform efforts through character assassination of his reformers, this pope just doesn’t blink.

The latest case in point is Australian Cardinal George Pell, put in charge of leading an historic clean-up of Vatican finances one year ago. The hard-charging former Australian Rules Football brawler has more than his fair share of critics, but on Tuesday Pope Francis issued a set of statutes for his operation which, to some extent at least, amount to a vindication.

(The statutes were released Tuesday, but were signed by the pope on Feb. 22 and actually took effect March 1.)

Early reaction to the decision has been mixed, with some Italian commentators seeing it as a defeat for Pell’s ambition to create a “super-dicastery,” meaning a Vatican department with virtually unlimited powers over both administration and vigilance of all Vatican assets.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on March 03, 2015 a

New sex crime charges have been filed against the North Bergen pastor/exorcist convicted last week of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2012.

Gregorio Martinez, 47, was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact, child abuse and endangering the welfare of the child for kissing the boy on the lips and groping his genitals.

Last week Hudson County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Debbie Simon said the new complaint against Martinez was signed Feb. 13 and charges him with one count of criminal sexual contact and two counts of attempted sexual assault in connection with two separate incidents.

The new charges involve an adult male victim, with the first alleged attempted sexual assault occurring in October 2013, said Simon, who heads the prosecutor’s office’s Special Victims Unit. She said Martinez remains free on a $250,000 cash or bond bail.

Attempted sexual assault is a second degree crime carrying a possible sentence of five to 10 years in prison. Criminal sexual contact is a third degree crime carrying a possible three to five years sentence upon conviction.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis has a golden opportunity. Pope Francis made a huge mistake in betting on Cardinal Pell — a failed moral leader in Australia, seemingly with an insatiable ego and an incurable inability to be a team player. He has demonstrated his incompetence both in financial and moral matters.

Francis needs to replace him promptly — with a top female financial executive. This would show that Francis will do more than “trash talk” about his ineffective Vatican bureaucracy — he will act decisively as well. It will also show he is serious about women’s roles at least in the Catholic Church’s upper management. It is not necessary to be “ontologically changed” to read a financial statement correctly — something Pell seems unable to do, intellectually or ontologically!

For more on Pell’s “mortal sins”, please see below and also “Can the Pope trust Cardinal Pell?” here,

[Global Pulse]

and “Rules Are for Schmucks: How to Succeed in Rome” here,

[The Humanist]

If Francis is not up to taking this bold step, he should at least replace Pell with Australian Bishop William Morris, who moved resolutely against a Catholic schoolteacher that serially abused students and against the school administrators that failed to discipline him. Bishop Morris put the interests of students and their parents first. He sacked the incompetent staff and he set about putting in place procedures to put right the errors that had been made.

Result: Ex-Pope Benedict XVI , with help likely from Cardinal Bertone and surely from from his ambitious henchman, Philly’s culture warrior, Archbishop Chaput, removed Morris as a bishop in May 2011, allegedly because of doctrinal and governance problems in the diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazetta del Sud

Rome, March 3 – The statutes of the Council and Secretariat for the Economy, two bodies established by Pope Francis in February 2014 to oversee Vatican finances, came into force on March 1, the Holy See said Tuesday. The two documents are published on the Vatican website, along with the statute of the Office of the Auditor General, which also entered into force on the same day. The 15-member Council for the Economy is mandated to offer “guidance on economic management and [supervise] the structures and the administrative and financial activities of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, of the Institutions connected to the Holy See, and of Vatican City State” according to the motu proprio document that established it.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 3, 2015

ROME — Pope Francis decided the future of his financial reform on Tuesday, issuing a new legal framework for three key oversight bodies that largely confirm the authority of the man he put in charge of his clean-up operation, controversial Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The decision came in the form of a new legal framework approved by the pontiff for the Vatican’s three financial oversight bodies that he created in 2014: The Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent auditor general.

Despite mounting calls from some quarters of the Vatican to rein in Pell, such measures are largely missing from the new statutes, which were signed by Pope Francis on Feb. 22 and became effective March 1.

The only major concession is that while the Secretariat for the Economy has been confirmed as responsible for procurement and personnel, it will not administer Vatican real estate. That function, which had been assigned to Pell’s department last year, will be returned to another Vatican department.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

Phew! I was worried that the smear campaign against Cardinal George Pell mounted by the pigs at the Vatican trough would persuade Pope Francis to water down Pell’s plan to impose proper accounting procedures on the Curia. But today Francis published the legal framework for the reform and – well, I can’t improve on the reporting of the Vatican correspondent of Crux website, Inés San Martín:

Pope Francis decided the future of his financial reform on Tuesday, issuing a new legal framework for three key oversight bodies that largely confirm the authority of the man he put in charge of his clean-up operation, controversial Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The decision came in the form of a new legal framework approved by the pontiff for the Vatican’s three financial oversight bodies that he created in 2014: The Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and an independent auditor general.

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VATICAN CITY
Global Pulse

Robert Mickens, Rome
February 27, 2015

Vatican City

The first stems from when he was Archbishop of Sydney where, as an Australian commission recently concluded, he bullied victims of clergy sex abuse. It was part of an unambiguous strategy to deter them and others from suing the Church.

The second is connected to his current Vatican position as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy where directors of the pension fund for papal employees “corrected” him for making erroneous claims about the solvency of their operation. It was a part of his increasingly blatant efforts to tighten his control over all financial matters at the Vatican.

For many people in Australia and in Rome these incidents have re-surfaced lingering questions about Cardinal Pell’s commitment to genuine transparency, accountability and credibility, foundational values that are becoming ever more scrutinized in the unfolding pontificate of Pope Francis.

The two controversies have also sounded new alarm bells in the ears of the Pope’s closest allies who are already well aware that, except in the area of financial management, the Australian cardinal is not an enthusiastic supporter of the change of tone and direction that Francis has tried to bring to the Vatican and the worldwide Church.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 3

Statement by Bill McAlary of Grand Rapids, Michigan Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 616-514-0654, bllmack1@gmail.com )

A new bill has been introduced into the Michigan legislature that will protect more kids from child molesters by reforming the state’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations. We wholeheartedly endorse this long-overdue measure that will make families safer from predators.

We applaud Rep. Holly Hughes in Muskegon for her concern for kids, victims and crime prevention. We hope every Michigan lawmaker backs House Bill 4231 so that more adults who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids will be exposed, punished and stopped.

The vast majority of child sex offenders go undetected. That’s one reason why one in four girls and one in eight boys are molested.

One reason for such widespread trauma is because short, rigid statutes of limitations prevent victims from using the courts to publicly expose those who commit child sex crimes and deter those who conceal child sex crimes. These legal deadlines reward wrongdoers who successfully intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and sometimes even flee overseas.

When lawmakers extend or eliminate these deadlines, criminals know they can no longer just “run out the clock” and evade justice.

Adults can either make it harder or easier to catch child molesters. This law would make it easier. We beg Michigan lawmakers to vote for kids and against predators by passing this legislation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Tuesday 3 March 2015

A new single national point of contact for whistleblowers trying to expose child abuse, and to spot patterns of failure across the country, is to be set up in the wake of the Rotherham scandal, the home secretary has announced.

The measure, along with a specialist national taskforce to help local authorities struggling to tackle this issue, is part of the package to be announced at the Downing Street summit on child sexual abuse.

Theresa May said it was clear that the huge scale of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham was only the tip of the iceberg and that a national response was required to the series of failures exposed by the inquiries conducted by both Prof Alexis Jay and Louise Casey.

“We need to address the culture of inaction and denial that led to victims being dismissed and ignored,” said the home secretary, as she published the official report responding to the Rotherham scandal.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 3 March 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has approved the statutes of the new economic entities of the Holy See: the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy and the General Auditor’s Office. The three statutes, signed 22 February 2015, feast of the Chair of St. Peter, were approved “ad experimentum” and entered into force on 1 March 2015, prior to their publication in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

The statutes may be consulted on the Vatican website: www.vatican.va

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 3, 2015

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed an auxiliary bishop known for his focus on addressing poverty and stressing the role of mercy in church teaching as the new bishop of San Diego.

Robert McElroy, a San Francisco native who had served as a prelate in his hometown since 2010, is expected to be installed in his new role soon. He succeeds late San Diego Bishop Cirilo Flores, who died last year from cancer after less than a year as head of the diocese.

A prelate who has garnered attention both for his writings and his pastoral approach, McElroy in January said Francis is moving the church away from an ecclesiastical vision of “smaller but purer” to a church that embraces the wounded and frail.

Speaking in a presentation to Dominican women religious in San Rafael, Calif., the new bishop said the church has in the past focused too much on telling people how to live rightly instead of welcoming them and supporting them in their struggles.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

Rome, Italy, Mar 3, 2015 / 05:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis has appointed San Francisco’s native auxiliary bishop, Robert W. McElroy, as the new head of the archdiocese of San Diego.

McElroy will succeed Bishop Cirilo Flores, who passed away from cancer in September just one year after assuming the position.

Born in San Francisco in 1954, Bishop McElroy, 61, grew up in San Mateo County and resided with his family in Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Daly City and Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame.

After receiving a master’s of divinity degree from St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in 1979, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John R. Quinn in St. Mary’s Cathedral April 12, 1980.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha nominato Vescovo di San Diego (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Robert W. McElroy, finora Vescovo titolare di Gemelle di Bizacena ed Ausiliare di San Francisco.

S.E. Mons. Robert Walter McElroy

S.E. Mons. Robert Walter McElroy è nato a San Francisco, California, nell’arcidiocesi omonima, il 5 febbraio 1954. Dopo aver frequentato il Saint Joseph Minor Seminary, ha ottenuto il Baccalaureato in Storia presso la Harvard University a Cambridge, Massachusetts (1975) e il Masters in Storia presso la Stanford University a Palo Alto, California (1976).

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchen Site

[The Munster diocese commissioned a study to find out why people are leaving the church.]

Bistum. Deutlicher konnten die Worte von Bischof Felix Genn kaum sein: “Die Entwicklungen schmerzen mich, und sie müssen uns alle alarmieren.” Oder: “Wenn mich diese Entwicklungen kalt ließen, würde ich meine Aufgabe als Bischof nicht verantwortlich genug wahrnehmen.” Oder: “Wir befinden uns in einer Abwärtsbewegung.”

Nach einem explosionsartigen Anstieg der Kirchenaustrittszahlen 2013 – um 78 Prozent im Vergleich zum Vorjahr auf 10.112 – hatte das Bistum Münster im Juli 2014 eine Studie in Auftrag gegeben, um verlässlichere Informationen über die Ursachen zu erhalten. Die Marketing-Experten Professor Dr. Heribert Meffert aus Münster und Professor Dr. Peter Kenning befragten mit ihren Teams dazu 1.000 Katholikinnen und Katholiken im Bistum Münster repräsentativ.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbruecker Zeitung

[A former priest of the Trier diocese has joined the monastic community at Admont and is under investigation for sexual abuse.]

Von Dietmar Klostermann, 03.03.2015

Gegen einen ehemaligen Priester aus dem Bistum Trier, der 2009 ins Benediktinerkloster Admont/Österreich gewechselt ist, laufen Ermittlungen wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs an zwei Jungen. Wie der Sprecher der Staatsanwaltschaft Leoben/Steiermark Walter Plöbst der SZ sagte, werden die beiden jungen Männer, die zum mutmaßlichen Tatzeitpunkt mindestens 16 Jahre alt gewesen seien, derzeit vernommen. Dem Pater würden „geschlechtliche Handlungen mit über 16-Jährigen“ zur Last gelegt, sagte Plöbst. So wie es aussehe, liege kein Missbrauch eines Autoritätsverhältnisses vor. Der Pater sei ein Freund der betroffenen Familie gewesen. „In dieser Situation ist es passiert“, erklärte der Staatsanwalt. Der Benediktiner habe dabei weder als Seelsorger noch als Autoritätsperson gehandelt. Plöbst rechnet mit einem Abschluss der Ermittlungen in den nächsten vier bis sechs Wochen. Die Mutter der Jungen hatte den Mönch angezeigt.

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VEREINIGTE STAATEN
Gloria TV

USA. Die Bischöfe der USA und ihre Rechtsschutz-Versicherungen lassen Priester, die des sexuellen Missbrauchs beschuldigt werden, völlig alleine, auch wenn sie nachweislich unschuldig sind. Das schreiben David Shaneyfelt und Joseph Maher in der “Homiletic and Pastoral Review”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
News Locker

Katholisch

[The trauma in the house is still noticeable, says Father Tobias Zimmermann. The rector of Berlin’s Canisius College knows that the renowned Jesuit High School has the stigma of the past sexual abuse. But the school has prepared a comprehensive approach to prevention, to prevent such cases.]

Das Trauma ist im Haus noch spürbar”, sagt Pater Tobias Zimmermann. Der Rektor des Berliner Canisius-Kollegs weiß, dass das renommierte Jesuitengymnasium auch mit dem Stigma “Missbrauch” leben muss. Es hat ein umfassendes Präventionskonzept erarbeitet, um solche Fälle zu verhindern.

Zimmermanns Vorgänger Klaus Mertes hatte die sexuellen Übergriffe mehrerer Patres, die bis in die 80er Jahre geschahen, vor fünf Jahren öffentlich eingeräumt. Damit löste er eine Welle weiterer Enthüllungen in kirchlichen Einrichtungen, aber auch an der reformorientierten “Odenwaldschule” und anderen Einrichtungen aus. Sexueller Missbrauch ist seither ein Dauerthema in Politik und Gesellschaft.

Im Alltag der rund 800 Kinder und Jugendlichen am Canisius-Kolleg ist das allerdings nicht so. “Da war doch so ein Medien-Hype”, erinnert sich eine 16-jährige Schülerin eher belustigt. Fünf Jahre sind lange her für einen Teenager, der sich mit Notenstress und Beziehungsknatsch herumschlägt. Für die Canisius-Pädagogen hat die Zeit dagegen nicht gereicht, um einen Verhaltenskodex für haupt- und ehrenamtliche Mitarbeiter zu beschließen.

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UTAH
KSL

Marjorie Cortex

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah House of Representatives unanimously passed HB277 Monday, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for lawsuits against perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

The bill, as amended by the House, applies only to perpetrators of child sex abuse as individuals.

Deondra Brown, co-founder of the nonprofit Foundation for Survivors of Abuse, was among a handful of supporters who sat with lawmakers as members of the House debated and voted on the bill. Other backers filled part of the House gallery.

The bill passed 74-0.

“It was so exciting for any of us who are victims to be able to see such support,” Brown said. “Today’s passage is another victory for victims across the state of Utah, so it’s an exciting day.”

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MONTANA
KTVQ

By Dennis Bragg – MTN News

COEUR D’ALENE –
A federal bankruptcy judge could resolve a pair of multimillion dollar cases this week that would settle legal claims over decades old sex abuse cases involving church-run schools in Montana.

The settlement agreements are aimed at resolving the suits filed on behalf of victims against the Catholic Diocese of Helena and the Ursuline Nuns of the Western Province, based out of California.

The suit filed against the Diocese involves 362 victims, with another 232 victims named in the suit against the nuns. The victims claim the abuse happened while they were attending Catholic-operated schools in St. Ignatius and other Western Montana communities.

The Diocese settlement is valued at $15 million, while the settlement total with the Uruline Nuns amounts to $4.45 million.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 3 March 2015)

When Broken Rites launched its national telephone hotline in September 1993, our first callers included former inmates of a Catholic orphanage (St Joseph’s Home, at Neerkol, near Rockhampton, Queensland). Some of these callers said they were sexually assaulted by Father Reg Durham, who was the “chaplain” at this orphanage from 1965 to 1997. We referred these callers to an appropriate unit of the Queensland Police, and this resulted in Father Reg Durham being jailed in 1999 for child sex crimes. In 2015, Australia’s national child-abuse Royal Commission is holding a public hearing in Rockhampton into child-abuse at this orphanage.

Meanwhile, as well as referring these victims to the police, Broken Rites also advised the victims about other ways of obtaining justice. As a result, the matter was raised in the Queensland Parliament in September 1996. Parliament was told about the physical and emotional abuse committed by nuns and sexual abuse committed by priests at the Neerkol orphanage from the 1940s to the 1970s. Rockhampton’s Bishop Brian Heenan immediately circulated a letter in his parishes, refuting the allegations of abuse as “scurrilous” and “scandalous”.

The allegations against Durham were investigated by Rockhampton detectives. In February 1997, Father Reginald Basil Durham was charged with counts of rape and 41 of indecent dealing, involving two girls and a boy, between 1960 and 1967. When Durham’s first committal hearing began in June 1997, some unpleasant secrets surfaced about sexual and physical abuse at Neerkol. One man, who was aged 59 in 1997, said that children who ran away from the orphanage were captured, stripped naked and flogged in front of the entire assembly.

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VATICAN CITY
Sydney Morning Herald

March 3, 2015

Paola Totaro

London: When Pope Francis gives the stamp of approval for his much anticipated reforms of the Vatican’s finances, it will also dramatically reshape the roll call of power behind the tiny city’s ancient walls.

Expected any day, the Pope’s decree will change the way the Vatican does business – and cement or unhinge the ascendant star of his “czar finanziario”, former Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.

The restructure of the Holy See’s financial activities began last April when the Pope anointed 73-year-old Pell to head a powerful new ministry known as the Secretariat for Economy and charged him with improving financial transparency and accountability in the historically shadowy Roman Curia.

During the past fortnight however, mounting internal tensions over the shape of his proposed reforms have erupted into the public domain with the publication of two devastating exposes in Italian current affairs magazine L’Espresso.

The first, titled “Peccati Cardinali” (“Cardinal Sins”) outlined in forensic detail his attempt to seize and centralise control of Vatican investments and the multimillion-dollar asset and property portfolio, including hospitals, into his bailiwick.

Fellow cardinals were reported to have mounted a “counter-attack to the Australian’s blitz”, seeking an audience with Pope Francis who blocked the transfer of property to Pell’s secretariat.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Mar 2, 2015 / 09:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Statutes of the Vatican Council for Economy, Secretariat for the Economy, and General Auditor went into effect March 1, having been signed Feb. 22 by Msgr. Bryan Wells, assessor of the Secretariat of State.

The text of the statutes have not been released by the Holy See Press Office, but can be seen in the Vatican’s Courtyard of San Damaso, where they are displayed.

The statutes of the Secretariat for the Economy stressed over which Vatican bodies the Secretariat exercises its functions of financial control and oversight, and clarified its relations with the Council of the Economy.

The statutes of the Council for the Economy clarify functions and competences of the Council. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, one of the members of the Council for the Economy, told CNA Feb. 13, “the Council for the Economy will be mostly entrusted with providing financial policies that the Secretariat for Economy will then foster.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson gave a glowing reference to a religious teacher with prior child-sex convictions who resigned after being seen masturbating outside another school.

Dr Paterson, headmaster at the prestigious Sydney boys school from 1969 to 1998, has told a royal commission hearing that the reference he gave religious teacher Chris Fotis was ‘grossly inappropriate’.

Fotis, a Knox old boy, had been hired without any reference check.

He left the school in 1989 and at that stage Dr Paterson was aware of a string of complaints against him.

One was that he was suspected of donning a balaclava, hiding under a dormitory bed and groping a 14-year-old boy.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson has been grilled over his handling of a former teacher who watched hard-core pornography with male students.

Dr Paterson appeared at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse today, telling the commission he should have known about the abuse of boys in his care over a 30 year period between the 1970s and 1990s.

The commission heard evidence that former teacher Craig Treloar exposed students to images of bestiality and pedophilia, and was accused of asking boys to perform sexual acts of him, Fairfax Media reports.

Dr Paterson said he made a “silly mistake” when he failed to ask Treloar what type of material he showed, how many boys were involved, whether he had propositioned the boys or if it had happened before.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former headmaster of Sydney’s Knox Grammar School, Ian Paterson, “didn’t think” to alert police when a man wearing a balaclava allegedly indecently assaulted a student in his bed in 1988, an inquiry has heard.

At Sydney hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, Dr Paterson rejected counsel assisting David Lloyd’s description of the incident as “very grave” and said he would reserve that term for rape.

Dr Paterson said he suspected former teacher Christopher Fotis was behind the attack on the sleeping student but had no proof.

An arrest warrant is outstanding for Mr Fotis for failing to appear at the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 3, 2015

Rachel Browne and Melanie Kembrey

The former headmaster of Knox Grammar School Dr Ian Paterson dismissed a claim that former teacher Craig Treloar watched pornography with a student as just a “silly mistake”, a royal commission has heard.

He also told one boy who reported abuse at the hands of teacher Damien Vance to “go away and think about what he’d said.”

Another former student who was threatening the school with legal action over claims he had been molested by music teacher Barrie Stewart was ignored, the commission heard.

The long-serving former headmaster took the stand for the first time at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and spent most of the day giving evidence, following a heart felt apology to victims.

In evidence, he said he did not realise that it was a crime for a teacher to grope and sexually proposition a student nor was he aware of his legal obligation to report abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

After an abject apology to Knox Grammar sexual abuse victims, the former headmaster of the elite Sydney boys school has defended his decision not to report the assaults to authorities.

Ian Paterson, head of the Wahroonga based school from 1969 to 1998 faced intense questioning on Tuesday at a royal commission hearing into the school, where five former teachers have been convicted of indecent assault on boys and three others stand accused.

The crimes all happened during Dr Paterson’s tenure and they were never reported to police.

‘I am deeply and profoundly sorry,’ Dr Paterson told the child abuse inquiry in Sydney.

‘I should have known and I should have stopped the events that led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for these boys in my care and their families.’

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘His nickname at school was the Snake’: Former students of Knox Grammar reveal what they thought of headmaster Ian Paterson… who famous old boy Peter FitzSimons said acted like ‘the King’

By DANIEL PIOTROWSKI FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

He ruled the prestigious Sydney school Knox Grammar with an iron fist and students nicknamed him The Snake because of it.

But a former Knox pupil told Daily Mail Australia one-time headmaster Dr Ian Paterson lived up to that reputation by ‘slithering away’ while providing evidence at the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse on Tuesday.

Dr Paterson, the school’s headmaster from 1969 to 1998, began the proceedings by reading out a statement apologising to students for what had occurred, accepting responsibility for ‘all that occurs during my headmastership’.

Further remarks provoked a loud groan from former students, relatives and support personnel watching on when he described an alleged sexual assault victim as a ‘drama boy who liked to exaggerate stories’ .

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

Royal commission: former Knox headmaster Ian Paterson’s testimony raises more questions than answers

After six days of damning claims that Dr Ian Paterson actively covered up evidence of child sexual abuse during his time as headmaster of Knox Grammar School, the time had come for him to explain the inexplicable.

Why did he fail to inform the police when he learned that teachers at his school were, at best, behaving inappropriately with students? Why did he allow one teacher, Craig Treloar, to continue working at the school after being caught watching hard core pornography with students? Why did he allow suspect teachers to “resign” with glowing references which allowed them to go on to work at other schools?

These are questions the 81-year-old former headmaster grappled with in the stand before a hearing room packed with old boys, their families and supporters at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

As is the case with many who give evidence at this royal commission, Dr Paterson issued a sincere apology before undergoing questioning by counsel assisting David Lloyd.

“As headmaster I am responsible for all that occurs during my headmastership,” he began.

“There were matters that I knew about and other matters that I did not. However, without doubt I should have known and I should have stopped the events which led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for those boys in my care and their families.”

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph (UK)

Sydney school head apologises for ‘abject failure’ over decades of sexual abuse

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney 03 Mar 2015

A headmaster of one of Australia’s most exclusive boys’ schools has admitted he should have known about decades of sexual abuse that occurred under his watch, describing his failure to report an accused paedophile teacher as a “silly mistake”.

Following a week of graphic testimony about a culture of paedophilia and cover-ups involving at least eight teachers at Knox Grammar in Sydney, Dr Ian Paterson, the headmaster from 1969 to the 1998, finally took the stand at a royal commission into sexual abuse of children.

He proceeded to shock the public gallery when he said he did not immediately take a student’s claims of sexual abuse seriously because the fifteen-year-old was a “drama boy… who could build up situations”.

Asked about the student’s claim that he was molested, Mr Paterson said: “I was not aware that it was a crime.”

The shocking revelations about Knox have dominated headlines for days and prompted parents of current students to tie ribbons to the school’s wrought iron gates this week as a tribute to the numerous victims.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

March 3 2015

By Shain Germaner

Johannesburg – A suspected satanic ritual at a Boksburg church is at the centre of a case in which a 9-year-old boy was allegedly raped and molested by his grandparents, uncle and pastor.

The case was originally not pursued in 2013, when the boy was younger.

However, the SAPS’s Occult-Related Crime Unit was later brought in to investigate, culminating in the arrest of all four alleged abusers last month.

On Monday, the two grandparents, a 29-year-old uncle and a 54-year-old pastor appeared in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court for a formal bail application.

During proceedings, the investigating officer described the boy’s terrifying ordeal.

Lieutenant-Colonel Hendrik de Jager said interviews with the child had revealed that over a period – possibly of several years – the group had allegedly raped and molested the boy multiple times.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JENNIFER BROOKS , Star Tribune Updated: March 2, 2015

Barnard to return to Minnesota on sex-crime charges. Woman was arrested, released.

A Minnesota cult leader accused of raping girls and young women was found hiding out in Brazil with a woman who had been a member of his congregation since she was in her teens.

Victor Arden Barnard, one of the most-wanted fugitives in the country, was arrested over the weekend, along with a woman whom Brazilian media identified as 33-year-old Maria Cristina Cajazeiras Liberato, a Brazilian-born member of his River Road Fellowship.

U.S. and Brazilian law enforcement agencies are working to return Barnard to Minnesota, where he faces 59 counts of sexual assault on young women in the secretive religious community he founded in Pine County. He stands accused of separating young girls from their families and sexually exploiting them for years on end, while assuring them that the abuse was God’s will.

Barnard was arrested Friday in the beach resort community of Pipa. According to local news reports, Liberato had spent months or years shuttling Barnard between hideouts in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox Philly

Offered-up to a cult leader by her own parents when she was just a child a local woman who escaped that nightmare is talking to FOX 29. The Camden County woman is also ready to talk in court against the very man who she says raped her and many others.

As FOX 29’s Jeff Cole reports that self-proclaimed pastor was on the U.S. Marshals Most Wanted List and they tracked him to a beach in Brazil just days ago. Victor Barnard sits in a jail in Brazil awaiting his return to the United States. When he hits U.S. soil, he’ll face dozen of counts of child molestation.

“I started to cry immediately. I felt like I was going to faint,” Lindsay Tornambe said.

The news nearly floored 28-year-old Lindsay Tornambe. Living in Harleysville, Pa. as a young girl, she moved to Minnesota with her parents to become followers of Barnard’s church–River Road Fellowship. She says the 53-year-old cult leader convinced her parents and others to give their first-born females to the church.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Destiny

The arrest of four people, including a pastor, for rape and molestation of a nine-year-old boy in an apparent satanic ritual has rocked a Boksburg community

The grandparents of a nine-year-old boy, his uncle, and a pastor are expected to again appear in court on Tuesday for a suspected satanic ritual that led to the boy’s alleged rape and molestation, The Star reported on Tuesday.

The two grandparents, the 29-year-old uncle, and the 54-year-old pastor appeared in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Monday for a formal bail application.

During the proceedings Investigating Officer Hendrik de Jager described the boy’s ordeal and said interviews revealed that over a period, possibly several years, the child was allegedly raped and molested multiple times by the group.

On one occasion the uncle and grandparents allegedly took the child to their place of worship, the Full Gospel Church of God in Witfield, Boksburg, where the pastor was based.

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SOUTH AFRICA
iAfrica

Article By: Megan Ellis
Tue, 03 Mar 2015

A Boksburg pastor appeared in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Monday for allegedly taking part in the rape and molestation of a nine-year-old boy during a satanic ritual.

The pastor is accused of taking part in the rape along with the boy’s grandparents and uncle.

The case was initially not pursued in 2013, but the SAPS Occult-Related Crime Unit was brought in to investigate and the four were arrested last month.

The rape and molestation of the boy had allegedly taken place multiple times, possibly over a number of years.

A satanic ritual allegedly took place at the Gospel Church of God in Witfield, where they four adults are said to have dressed in masks and red robes, praying in strange tongues while standing in a circle, The Star reported.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — A former Glace Bay pastor will learn his sentence later this month after a Supreme Court justice reserved decision on Monday.

Harrington gets redemption on 17, and 1st PGA Tour win in 6 years at Honda

After hearing sentencing arguments from prosecutor Christa MacKinnon and defence lawyer Nash Brogan, Justice Robin Gogan adjourned sentencing until March 12.

Robert Stewart Lawther, 62, of Reserve Street, was convicted in December on a single count of sexual interference involving a girl under the age of 15. A Supreme Court jury returned a not guilty verdict on two other similar counts involving two other female complainants.

MacKinnon has recommended a two-year jail sentence followed by a one-year period of probation. She is also seeking a DNA order, an order to register as a sex offender for 20 years and an order to prohibit Lawther from visiting places where children are likely to gather, including pools, parks and playgrounds.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Warren Reporter
on March 02, 2015

Talking with children about personal safety and prevention of abuse is not always easy, but it is absolutely necessary.

Professionals in the field of Child Abuse Prevention agree that children, who have discussed with adults what they could do in potentially dangerous situations, are safer than children who have never been given any prevention strategies.

“For most parents and many teachers, talking with a child about potentially abusive situations is a difficult proposition,” said Carole Ciurczak, coordinator of the Warren County Child Assault Prevention project at Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen.

“Unfortunately, the increased violence in schools, on the internet, and in society in general also increases the need for children to learn how to deal with a variety of situations about which a generation prior may not have had to worry. The good news is that there are ways to talk to children that will not increase their fear but actually will help them feel safer and more confident. CAP’s motto is, “All children deserve to be safe, strong and free” and parents can teach this to their children.”

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INDIA
New Indian Express

KOCHI:The nun who was expelled from her congregation after she reportedly resisted sexual abuse by a priest and registered complaint against him is planning to intensify her agitation. Sr Anita, who has found shelter in the Janseva Sisubhavan, Aluva, is all set to launch an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Sisters of St Agata Convent at Thottakkattukara.

Sr Anita, a native of Kannur district, became a nun at the Sisters of St Agata on January 15, 2007. She was entrusted with the job of teacher at the Providence Convent HS, Pachore, Madhya Pradesh. According to her, the congregation authorities turned hostile towards her after she complained about an alleged attempt of sexual harassment by a priest in 2011.

She was transferred to the Mother House, Italy, in May 2012. She allegedly faced physical and mental harassment in Italy also.

“There were days when they refused to give me food. After a series of torture, I was thrown out of the convent on February 19. When I sought shelter in another convent, with the help of another nun, the congregation authorities bought air ticket to Kochi and asked me to leave Italy. When I reached the convent at Thottakkattukara, I was denied entry. My luggage was thrown out and I was asked to leave the convent . “It was the local people who took me to the Janaseva Sisubhavan,’’ Sr Anita said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Amanda Meade
Monday 2 March 2015

The Australian Jewish News has denied sacking a senior journalist who helped the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse by supplying a damaging text message from a senior rabbi.

Adam Kamien was made redundant after nine years on the paper – including a stint as acting editor – after a text message he passed on to the commission resulted in the resignation of Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant.

Kluwgant, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, stepped down last month after the commission heard that he had called the father of three sons who were sexually abused a “lunatic” in a text message.

The text message, sent to the editor of the Australian Jewish News, Zeddy Lawrence, read: “Zephaniah is killing us. He is a lunatic on the fringe, guilty of neglect of his own children. Where was he when all this was happening?” …

Last week the paper told staff Kamien had been made redundant after a restructure.

Contacted by Guardian Australia, Kamien declined to comment as he had signed a confidentiality agreement.

But Zephaniah’s son Manny, the only Jewish victim of child abuse to be named at the commission, believes Kamien was sacked for leaking the text message.

“I am very disappointed with the AJN’s decision,” Waks told Guardian Australia from Paris where he is living. “I understand their dilemma as a media outlet in terms of protecting their sources but in the context of the royal commission, it was a moral imperative for them to do the right thing.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Royal commission into sex abuse: Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson ‘did not realise groping was a crime’

March 3, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The former headmaster of Knox Grammar School Ian Paterson did not realise that it was a crime for a teacher to grope and sexually proposition a student, a royal commission has heard.

Dr Paterson, who ran the school for almost three decades, also admitted he did not regularly conduct background checks on teachers employed at the elite boys school, nor was he aware of child protection laws introduced in the 1980s.

Appearing before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Dr Paterson admitted he was an “abject failure”.

Under cross examination by counsel assisting David Lloyd, Dr Paterson also admitted he provided glowing references to teachers whom he knew or suspected had inappropriate dealings with students.

Dr Paterson told the commission that a student complained to him in 1989 that teacher Damien Vance had groped him and propositioned him while they were smoking under the Knox chapel.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour
@bkjabour
Monday 2 March 2015

A former Knox Grammar school headmaster did not believe a student who complained a teacher inappropriately touched him because he was a “drama boy”, an inquiry has heard.

Ian Paterson, who was headmaster at the prestigious Sydney school for more than three decades at a time when there were multiple allegations of child sex abuse, took the stand at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Tuesday.

He began his evidence with a statement apologising to the victims of child sex abuse at the school but when questioned by counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, he said he did not know about the sex abuse at the time and was aware of only one complaint.

The inquiry heard that a student came to Paterson in the late 1980s to complain a teacher, Damian Vance, had touched him inappropriately and asked him to engage in mutual masturbation. Paterson told the boy to go to the library and “think about what he was alleging”, he told the inquiry.

“He was a drama boy,” Paterson said as explanation for why he did not immediately believe the boy.

Paterson said he eventually believed him and counselled Vance but said he did not report it to police. “I was not aware it was a crime,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

THE former long-serving headmaster of Knox Grammar, Ian Paterson, has issued a sweeping apology for failing to protect students from child sexual abuse by teachers over three decades.

But Dr Paterson, in his early testimony to an inquiry this morning, said he was unaware of any such incidents before one involving a teacher in 1989.

This contradicted evidence of other witnesses including a former policeman who was general duties manager, Stuart Pearson, who said he had in the mid to late 1980s reported sexual abuse by two other teachers, and a suspicion about a third.

Under cross-examination, Dr Paterson said that when he had been told by one 15-year-old student that the teacher had touched him in an inappropriate fashion on the bottom while the two smoked under the chapel, and made a sexual advance on him, he had told the boy to go to the library and think about what he had said.

“The boy was a drama boy … who could build up situations,” Dr Paterson said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

THE PLAYERS

Five Knox teachers were convicted of multiple sex charges and one is wanted by police. These seven people are the key figures in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sex Abuse.

CONVICTED: Adrian John Nisbett

Popular English teacher who worked at the school from 1971-2004. Arrested over sexual offences in 2009 and given a suspended sentence. Current principal John Weeks told the royal commission in February 2015 he believed former head master Ian Paterson was covering for Nisbett, pictured above, and wanted to sack him when he became headmaster. Nisbett was allowed to resign. Unable to be summonsed, he now lives in South Africa and is working for a cheetah conservation reserve in Namibia.

CONVICTED: Damien Vance

English and French teacher who was asked to leave the school two years after indecently assaulting a student. Royal commission told Vance, pictured above, received a glowing reference from the school praising his teaching skills, despite having indecently assaulted one student and physically assaulted two others. Arrested in 2009, convicted and released on a good behaviour bond. Told the commission he had previously hit two boys at the school, in 1985 and 1986. Now a cleaner in Melbourne.

CONVICTED: Roger James

Science teacher between 1974-77. Resigned to take up a teaching position in New Zealand. Arrested for sex offences in 2009, convicted and given a suspended sentence. A 14-year-old victim told the royal commission in March 2015 he did not complain about the abuse at the time because of the culture of cover-up at the school. Boys who did speak up were “victimised and ostracised,” he said. “They were seen as weak and they became everybody’s bitch.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

[with video]

THE man accused of covering up child sexual abuse at Knox Grammar over three decades has admitted to ignoring a student’s claim he had been abused by a teacher and described his as “a drama boy” who was known to “exaggerate stories”.

Ian Paterson ran Knox Grammar school from 1969 to 1988, and is accused of failing to inform police about incidents of abuse.

He today confronted the claims amid new explosive accusations he engaged in abuse at the school himself, as he gives evidence at the Royal Commission into Institution Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In giving evidence, Dr Paterson admitted a 15-year-old student had complained to him about a teacher, Damien Vance, touching him inappropriately in 1987, and the then headmaster told him to think about the allegations.

“The boy was a drama boy,” he told the Sydney hearing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 43

[with video]

Democratic State Representative Mark Rozzi was sexually abused by his priest when he was a child. “He was somebody that I could trust and he thought it was in his best interest to teach me about sex,” said Rozzi. He was thirteen when it first happened and told no one for more than two decades. “For victims of sexual abuse this is not something that we want to discuss. We’re embarrassed, a lot of us we blame ourselves. Is this my fault? What did I do,” said Rozzi.

Currently in Pennsylvania, a victim of sexual abuse can’t file a civil claim against an abuser after the victim has turned thirty. Rozzi wants to increase that cutoff to age fifty. He points out it takes years for some victims to report their abuse. “This is about finding the healing and the recovery for the victims. We can’t change the past, but we can make it right,” said Rozzi.

Rozzi was also joined by Democratic State Representative Louise Williams Bishop. She introduced a separate bill that would remove the statue of limitations completely for victims of child sexual abuse. Meaning they could file a civil suit or the police could file criminal charges regardless of how much time has passed.

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UTAH
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 2

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 applaud Utah legislators who have passed a bill that will protect more kids from child molesters by reforming the state’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations. We wholeheartedly endorse this long-overdue measure that will make families safer from predators. And we hope the Utah senate passes it quickly.

[Fox 13]

This measure will help ensure that more adults who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids will be exposed, punished and stopped.

The vast majority of child sex offenders go undetected. That’s one reason why one in four girls and one in eight boys are molested.

One reason for such widespread trauma is because short, rigid statutes of limitations prevent victims from using the courts to publicly expose those who commit child sex crimes and deter those who conceal child sex crimes. These legal deadlines reward wrongdoers who successfully intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and sometimes even flee overseas.

When lawmakers extend or eliminate these deadlines, criminals know they can no longer just “run out the clock” and evade justice.

Police and prosecutors are overworked and underfunded. Some victims find it hard to trust law enforcement. And the standard to win a criminal case is very tough.

So for those three reasons, reforming the civil statute makes good sense. Kids are safest when predators are jailed. But when that can’t happen, the next best option is to expose predators in civil courts. Utah lawmakers are smart to realize this and adjust their state law accordingly.

Adults can either make it harder or easier to catch child molesters. This law would make it easier. We beg Utah senators to vote for kids and against predators by passing this legislation.

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CALIFORNIA
Whispers in the Loggia

March 2, 2015

It’s being called the “Cupich appointment of the West,” and not without reason – resolving the highest-profile vacancy on the current US docket, at Roman Noon tomorrow the Pope is slated to name Bishop Robert McElroy, the 61 year-old auxiliary of San Francisco known as one of the Stateside bench’s most outspoken progressives, as the sixth bishop of San Diego and its 1 million Catholics in the nation’s seventh-largest city.

As reports of the appointment circulated for several days, three Whispers ops appraised of the move confirmed the news. Coming just shy of six months since the premature death of Bishop Cirilo Flores after a brief struggle with cancer, as reports here at the time indicated, the succession was indeed fast-tracked given both the relative freshness of the consultations leading up to Flores’ own selection in early 2012 and the diocese’s still-unsettled state from its 2007 bankruptcy amid a torrent of sex-abuse lawsuits, which was settled for $197 million.

While the projections of timeline panned out, the choice of a relatively junior auxiliary – even one hailed as among the “leading intellectual and pastoral lights” of the bench’s rising generation – is a significant surprise. That’s anything but to say, however, that McElroy isn’t ready for prime time – a Harvard undergrad with doctorates from both Stanford (in political science) and the Gregorian (moral theology), the San Diego pick served as vicar-general to his mentor, the retired San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn, before 14 years as a pastor during the tenure of then-Archbishop William Levada.

Beyond his assisting role until now in “The City,” the bishop is notably a member of the influential Administrative Committee of the USCCB – the 30-prelate group that is the body’s ultimate authority outside of the plenary session – as the regional delegate for the sprawling turf comprising California, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii (i.e. the area covered by the Golden State’s twin provinces).

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Alleged abuse victims are refusing to sign statements to a major inquiry into historical offences at care homes unless they secure legal funding, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Concerns were expressed at the apparent increase in the number of potential witnesses said to be holding off.

Sir Anthony Hart, chairman of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, is challenging a High Court verdict that he unfairly denied legal representation to a victim.

The woman at the centre of the case claims she was abused by a “very high-profile figure”.

She is due to give evidence at HIA hearings in Banbridge, Co Down, which are investigating child abuse in Northern Ireland residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 2

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

We’re disappointed that California’s highest court has struck down laws limiting where child sex offenders can live and we urge lawmakers to quickly adopt other measures that help protect kids from predators.

[Los Angeles Times]

New York’s highest court reached a similar conclusion recently:

[ABC News]

For at least decades, child sex abuse have been rampant. Relatively speaking, laws that restrict convicted child molesters are relatively recent. So at best, it’s likely premature to reach firm conclusions on whether or not these laws work.

We challenge those who oppose these restrictions on predators’ whereabouts: Before you try to block further restrictions, come up with a better plan.

One in four girls and one in eight boys is molested. So clearly, what our society is doing now to stop predators and protect kids is failing.

Advocates of relaxing or repealing virtually any child sex abuse law, therefore, have a moral duty to devise some other means of safeguarding kids first.

Those who just nay-say and nit-pick child safety laws endanger kids. Those who ambitiously and creatively try new approaches to child safety protect kids. That’s where our energies should be concentrated – trying harder, thinking smarter and pushing the legal envelop to devise and adopt new approaches to preventing horrific child sex crimes and cover ups.

Finally, convicted child predators aren’t the real threat to kids. The real threat to kids are the vast majority of child molesters who are never caught, convicted or exposed. That’s where our society’s focus should be – on making sure that they are at least publicly exposed.

So the single most effective step legislators could take to protect kids would be to rescind California’s predator-friendly statute of limitations, enabling anyone who was abused at any time by any predator to use the civil courts to warn parents and the public about those who commit and conceal child molesters. This is a cheap, quick and effective way to expose dangerous predators and prevent cover ups and repeat offenses.

We believe reforming California’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations is crucial. Most California men and women who were raped, sodomized and fondled by child molesters now cannot take legal action against the predators who hurt them nor against the employers who ignored or hid these awful crimes.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

By Myles Snyder
Published: March 2, 2015

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A group of Pennsylvania lawmakers has introduced legislation to increase the amount of time in which victims of child sexual abuse can seek justice in the courts.

Senate Bill 582 and a companion measure, House Bill 661, would raise the age from 30 to 50 years for adult victims of child sex abuse to seek civil action.

Another proposal, House Bill 655, would entirely remove the statute of limitations on civil and criminal complaints.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com
on March 02, 2015

Pennsylvania lawmakers spent a lot of time and effort in the last legislative session working to prevent future cases like the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State.

In many ways, the state is still adjusting to those changes.

But advocates rallied at the Capitol Monday for one more change they say is needed to deliver justice to those who’ve already been abused: extending the time frames that former victims have to seek civil damages against their abusers.

Current state law bars a victim of childhood sexual abuse from bringing a civil case against a perpetrator after the victim turns 30.

It’s not long enough, advocates say, for many childhood victims to come to terms with what happened to them. As a result, it has the effect of sheltering too many perpetrators from accountability for their actions.

“It’s high time that we accept that delayed reporting (of sexual abuse by victims) is the norm,” said Kristen Houser, vice president of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

“We have recently seen glaring examples of this in the Boy Scouts, in religious institutions, in schools and most recently with the allegations against Bill Cosby. It’s time for us to stop asking why… and finally change our laws so they are based in reality.”

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UTAH
Fox 13

MARCH 2, 2015, BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — In a unanimous vote, the state House has passed a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits in cases of child sex abuse.

The House voted Monday on HB277 after emotional statements from Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan.

“Every day 22-year-olds are losing the right to make the perpetrator bear the cost of their actions,” he told his colleagues on the House floor.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THE man who ran Knox Grammar School for 30 years is expected to be asked on Tuesday what he told students about a balaclava-wearing intruder who molested a 14-year-old boy.

IAN Paterson’s appearance at a royal commission hearing into the elite Sydney boys’ school has been delayed since Friday as more witnesses come forward.

Much of the inquiry, which is now in its second week, has concerned an incident in late 1988 when an intruder wearing a Knox tracksuit and a balaclava hid under a boy’s bed and tried to molest him in the early hours of the morning.

Stuart Pearson, the former general duties master at the school and a former policeman said a few days after the incident Dr Paterson told the boys police had arrested an “Asian man” for the break-in.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse can find no record that police were ever contacted and on Monday a former student told the commission he recalled Dr Paterson saying the intruder was an “old boy” with mental problems.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Purple ribbons tied to the gates of Knox Grammar to honour sexual abuse victims were taken down by a security guard unaware of their significance, and have now been replaced, the school says.

Many in the school community expressed their anger that the purple ribbons, tied by Knox parents to the wrought iron gates on Monday to show support for the victims of sexual abuse at the school, were taken down.

A statement from the school said: “A number of Knox Grammar parents have tied ribbons to the school gate in honour of the brave men who came forward as survivors of sexual abuse at Knox. The school supports this initiative.

“Unfortunately, during the night they were removed by a security guard who was unaware of their significance. The ribbons have now been reattached to the gate.”

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 03, 2015

PURPLE ribbons tied to the gates of Knox Grammar in support of victims who suffered abuse there have been removed.

Yesterday a group of parents from the exclusive north shore school posted photos of the ribbons to the Twitter account @concernedknox.

The group claims to be: “appalled at the lack of accountability of successive headmasters at Knox who allowed known sex offenders to remain on staff and put our children at risk”.

Last night however, the group reported the ribbons had been removed.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah MacDonald Catholic News Service | Mar. 2, 2015

ATHLONE, IRELAND The Catholic church is “no longer a safe haven for child abusers,” said a top priest psychologist who advises the U.S. bishops on child sexual abuse.

Msgr. Stephen Rossetti told hundreds of Irish delegates to the first national conference on safeguarding children that the Catholic church in the United States spent $43 million on child abuse prevention and education just last year.

The priest told Catholic News Service following his keynote address that secular organizations and other churches in the United States were now coming to the Catholic church to learn from its policies.

More than 5.2 million adults and children have gone through the safe environment training in the United States, and more than 3 million priests, lay employees and volunteers have gone through background checks.

He highlighted that in the United States, child abuse rates are dropping throughout society and the church.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Feb. 28, 2015

Kiran says audit will clear him of wrongdoing

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — It’s been nearly five months since the Rev. Ravi Kiran abruptly left his assignment at St. Anthony Mission in the Pueblo of Zuni, and officials with the Diocese of Gallup still have not publicly answered questions about Kiran or his financial administration of the mission. Kiran, however, has spoken out in an effort to clear his name. In a series of five emails over the last several weeks, Kiran has claimed he has been cleared of any wrongdoing, and he has made the startling claim that the small mission church had $3.3 million in investments when he left the Diocese of Gallup in October.

Investment accounts

So how did a small Native American mission with just about 125 parishioners in the pews, about the same number of children in its PreK-8 school, and just a few hundred dollars in the weekly collection plate amass $3.3 million in investments?

Kiran did not say, but according to his emailed statements, it appears the little Zuni mission may have healthier finances than the Gallup Diocese, which had to borrow money in order to file for bankruptcy.

According to Kiran, when he arrived at St. Anthony’s in July 2012, the mission had $3.9 million or $4.1 million in investment accounts.

Franciscan friars, who ran St. Anthony’s for about 90 years before the Gallup Diocese took over the mission, reportedly built up a large investment portfolio. In addition, the mission reportedly has a development office that solicits financial donations from across the country. Diocesan officials, however, have repeatedly failed to answer any questions about the mission’s finances. “There were about 16 accounts all over Gallup, Albuquerque and Zuni,” Kiran wrote. “Several steps were taken to minimize the operational cost and the whole operation was simplified with 4 accounts.”

During his two years in Zuni, Kiran said he spent nearly $2 million for a “complete face lift” of the mission campus. When he left in October, Kiran said, the mission still had $3.3 million in investments.

Kiran provided the information in response to a series of media questions that had been emailed to him. Although he avoided many specific questions, Kiran defended his record and reputation.

Mission renovations

“When I took over Saint Anthony Indian Mission, the place was a dump, it was falling apart. Saint Anthony is a very historical mission and I could not see the place falling away,” Kiran said. “Now after restoration and renovations the place is beautiful and will serve another generation of Zuni community,” he added.

Kiran defended his renovations of the mission, which have been controversial among some parishioners, saying he “spent money to improve the facility to assure the safety of the children and to restore the legacy of Saint Anthony Indian Mission.”

Neither Kiran nor diocesan officials have answered whether Bishop Wall approved all of the renovations, which is required under the diocesan financial policy.

Officials have also declined to explain who purchased Kiran’s personal Mercedes-Benz and where the vehicle is now. Kiran, however, provided the names and phone number of the couple who gave him the vehicle.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Carmen Pacheco-Smith confirmed that she and her husband, Kevin, purchased the Mercedes-Benz as a gift for Kiran after he served as their priest at Holy Trinity Parish in Flora Vista. Pacheco-Smith, who said she and her husband did not pay for insurance on the Mercedes-Benz, added they had purchased other vehicles in the past for another priest and a couple of Catholic sisters.

Pacheco-Smith said the Diocese of Gallup kept the vehicle until about a month ago. At that time, she said, the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, the diocesan chancellor and vicar general, told them they could pick it up.

Conflicting statements

According to Kiran, he has been cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing by two diocesan audits. Kiran said the first audit was completed in early December, and the second audit, which he said was requested by diocesan attorneys, was completed Jan. 10. “May be the chancery will be making a statement and publishing the audit results,” Kiran said in an email dated Jan. 15, adding that Finnegan could confirm his story.

Attempts to confirm Kiran’s claims with diocesan officials have been unsuccessful. Repeated questions to Suzanne Hammons, the Diocese of Gallup’s spokeswoman, have been met with promises to provide a summary of the audit sometime in the future. Hammons has continued to assert that the investigation into Kiran and the mission’s finances is ongoing.

As to the first audit, Kiran cited a statement Finnegan made to Zuni parishioners on Dec. 7, 2014, in which Finnegan said Kiran had been cleared of wrongdoing. And in fact, Finnegan did indeed make that statement, according to parishioners.

However, later that same week, Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, and Hammons both contradicted Finnegan and asserted the diocese’s investigation was continuing.

Personal choice

Kiran said he left the diocese in October after Bishop James S. Wall met with him and informed him the diocese was doing an independent audit of the mission’s finances.

“He told me to go back to the parish. I came home and after two days I made a personal choice and decision to be away from the parish,” Kiran wrote. “I thought may be I should leave the parish so that the investigation and audit will be fair and just,” he added.

After returning to India, Kiran said he informed the bishop about his departure. Kiran did not address the fact that Catholic priests cannot simply leave their ministry assignments without permission of their local bishop, but he did say he served the Gallup Diocese longer than his contracted five years.

“I served in the diocese with integrity and honor,” Kiran said in a January email. “I gave myself to the fullest of my ability at every place I served.”

In his emails, Kiran repeatedly stated the diocese has cleared him of wrongdoing, and expressed frustration that the media has not been informed of that by diocesan officials.

“I fulfilled my obligations,” Kiran added in an email Thursday. “Wherever I was assigned I worked with dedication and commitment. Leaving the Zuni mission was my personal choice.”

Reporter’s Note: This online news story has been edited slightly from its original published version to correct a first reference error.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 02, 2015

TRENTON — A Brooklyn man testifying in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of ordering beatings to force divorce agreements told jurors on Monday that he and his roommate were victims of one of those attacks.

The testimony offered in the seventh day of the federal conspiracy trial of rabbi Mendel Epstein, did not directly link the religious leader to participating in the Aug. 22, 2011, attack, but it did potentially connect his son, who is also charged in the indictment, to the attacks that federal prosecutors say were orchestrated to force Orthodox Jewish men into giving their wives divorces.

However, Menachem Teitelbaum indirectly linked the rabbi to the incident when he said he heard one of his attackers mention the words “Epstein” and “father.”

Testifying to a jury of eight men and eight women before U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton, Teitelbaum said he had been asleep in his Brooklyn basement apartment for nearly an hour after returning from his job at a local grocery store when he was awakened by a man who punched him in the face.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

NEW YORK – Shaken by revelations that senior rabbis were complicit in covering up sexual abuse and intimidating the families of victims, high ranking members of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) have split off to form a new rabbinic body, the Australian Jewish News reported.

While the rabbis have worked to distance themselves from their disgraced colleagues, the AJN itself has come under fire for terminating a reporter who leaked information that led to the resignation of ORA Rabbi Meir Kluwgant.

As rabbis and community members testified before a government commission investigating institutional responses to child molestation last month, Kluwgant reportedly sent a text message to AJN editor Zeddy Lawrence in which he called the father of an abuse victim “a lunatic on the fringe” who was out to destroy the ultra-Orthodox community.

Zephaniah Waks testified that three of his children, including prominent victim’s advocate Manny Waks, had been abused while in yeshiva.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Werbe Post

[A group wants solidarity with victims of the pastor.]

Erftstadt-Liblar (zi). Eine Gruppe “Solidarität mit den Opfern des Pfarrers” hat für die öffentlichen Solidaritätsaktionen – es gab unter anderem einen Schweigemarsch und eine Unterschriftenaktion – kein Verständnis. Die Gruppe besteht nach eigenen Angaben hauptsächlich aus Anwohnern der Stadt und Menschen, die selbst Opfer sexueller Übergriffe wurden.

“Bei aller Nachsicht über den Schock einer Kirchengemeinde, die ihren langjährigen und anerkannten Pfarrer verloren hat und nun vor den Trümmern einer bisher äußerst erfolgreichen Gemeindearbeit steht – hier wird der mutmaßliche Täter geschützt”, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme, die 28 Personen unterzeichnet haben. Mitglieder der Gruppe haben in der von Pfarrer Jansen betreuten Kirche St. Barbara in Liblar Blumen und Gedenkkarten als Zeichen des Mitgefühls und der Solidarität für die mutmaßlichen Opfer niedergelegt.

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AUSTRALIA
The Humanist

BY LUIS GRANADOS • 26 FEBRUARY 2015

You can get jaded reading too much news, especially too much religion news. Muslims murdering innocents in creative new ways … Jews kicking more non-Jews out of their Palestinian homes … Evangelicals squashing the teaching of basic science … the umpteen millionth manifestation of the Catholic sex abuse saga. Enough already!

Sometimes, though, an item is astonishing enough to command attention amid the squalor. Such is the case with the report of Australia’s “Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse” released earlier this month. This document is not the work of some quick-buck plaintiff’s lawyer or on-the-make journalist. It is a comprehensive, thoughtful investigation of how the response to these abuses unfolded, authored by the most respectable people in the land. The evil it reveals, at the highest levels, is hard to believe.

John Ellis was an Australian altar boy who was routinely assaulted by Father Aidan Duggan, starting at the age of thirteen and continuing for many years afterward. The psychological impact on Ellis was devastating, as it has been for many other victims—he could maintain neither a family nor a job because of his alternating depression and fits of uncontrollable anger.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* A Maltese journalist, seemingly seeking to endear himself to the new Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna, conveniently cites the Boston Globe’s John Allen, observing: “One of journalism’s most prolific of Vatican insiders and the leading American authority on the Holy See, John L. Allen, has dubbed Malta’s new archbishop a Catholic “hero” for his role in successful prosecutions of clerical sex abusers.

* The Maltese journalist continues his cite of Allen: “For years serving by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Scicluna, 55, spent 10 years handling accusations of clerical sex abuse, gaining a reputation for treating victims with compassion and respect, and for insisting church officials respond to allegations clearly … His leadership on the church’s effort to recover from its child sexual abuse scandals, especially his role in the prosecution of the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, have made him a hero to reformers everywhere. His appointment will thus be taken not only as an important moment for Malta, but also a sign that good guys don’t always finish last!” . (emphasis mine)

* Of course, John Allen has made a nice living, it appears, increasingly as the US “spinmeister of choice” for the Vatican and its wealthy allies. But can Allen be taken seriously here in his “over the top praise” of Scicluna, who perhaps more than any other Vatican bureaucrat facilitated the Vatican’s evident priest abuse cover-up strategy for years. Scicluna’s rewards for this troubling behavior were promotions to senior episcopal positions from all indications.

* Sadly, in a gathering of “moral midgets” that the Vatican’s priest child abuse cover-up team seems to represent, even a short guy like Scicluna may seem a giant. But let’s be honest, please.

* Scicluna’s latest promotion appears to be just more of the same decades’ old cover up strategy. Pope Francis, a reportedly very hands on manager, apparently selected recently the members of his advisory sex abuse commission to deal, slowly it seems, with his biggest challenge, the scandal of sexual predatory priests and their unaccountable bishop accomplices.

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CHILE
La Tercera

[The film El Bosque will be released in April. Starring Luis Gnecco and Benjamin Vicuna, it is based on the allegations of abuse against Chilean priest Fernando Karadima.]

por P. Reyes – 02/03/2015

La esperada película El Bosque de Karadima lanzó su trailer oficial. El film, del cineasta Matías Lira, difundió un adelanto de dos minutos y medio, que muestra las tensiones entre el párroco y uno de los abusados.

La cinta, protagonizada por Luis Gnecco y Benjamín Vicuña, se basa en hechos reales: las denuncias de abusos en contra del sacerdote chileno Fernando Karadima y en cómo el párroco y líder de la Iglesia más poderosa de la clase alta chilena -considerado “un santo en vida” entre los años 80 y 2000- comete abusos sostenidos contra Thomas, un adolescente en busca de su vocación. Tras la situación, decidirá hablar y enfrentar las redes de poder que protegen al cura.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

March 2, 2015 11:41 am | Author: berger
Carol Kuhnert, a local Catholic whose brother Fr. Norman H. Christian was a pedophile priest, has penned a new book, “No Longer on Pedestals.” In 2003. Christian was a arrested on sexual abuse charges and faced at least eight allegations. Still, then Archbishop Raymond Burke let Christian be buried as a “priest in good standing ” in 2004. Kuhnert’s book details how she had moved from blind trust of Catholic figures to actively supporting victims of child molesting clerics.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

Bikram Choudhury’s Sexual Assault Lawsuits

By ERNESTO LONDOÑO

I succumbed to the spell of Bikram yoga during a cold winter in Washington. At the time, I was feeling depressed, lethargic and a bit chunky. During a routine physical, my doctor had discovered that my testosterone level was abnormally low for someone my age, while my blood pressure was high.

I had glanced at the sign outside a yoga studio near Dupont Circle countless times, but one afternoon, at the height of my malaise, its motto seemed to scream at me: “Change Your Body & Change Your Life.”

I knew nothing about Bikram Choudhury, the eccentric Los Angeles-based yoga mogul who has made a fortune marketing his guided series of 26 postures, or about the growing allegations by women who say he sexually assaulted them during teacher training workshops. I just knew I needed a jolt.

After walking up a narrow set of stairs and looking into the mesmerizingly placid eyes of the studio owner, I signed up for a $20 weekly trial of the 90-minute practice, which is held in studios set to 105 degrees with 40 percent humidity.

For the uninitiated, Bikram yoga can feel downright torturous. At first, I found the heat suffocating, the poses impossibly difficult to master and the instructors somewhat kooky.

Act with “English bulldog determination!” they commanded. Hold poses with “Bengal tiger strength!” After my first 90 minutes of misery, I staggered away from the puddle of sweat I left in the studio, took a cold shower and was rewarded with an electrifying high. I began taking classes almost daily and became evangelical about the workout.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Carolan

Mon, Mar 2, 2015

A priest is seeking permission to bring High Court proceedings aimed at halting his trial on charges of indecently assaulting 14 boys at a secondary school in Munster.

The charges relate to alleged offences between 1969 and 1990 and the priest contends his right to a fair trial has been prejudiced due to a “fatal deficit” of disclosure, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan was told.

Margery Farrelly SC, for the priest, said that deficit arose from the refusal of the Irish Examiner newspaper to disclose documents on foot of which it had published a number of stories concerning the alleged offences.

Following a request from lawyers for the priest, gardaí had asked the newspaper to disclose any documents in its possession related to the stories published.

The stories included interviews with some former pupils of the school, some of whom might be complainants in these proceedings and whose identities were protected via the use of pseudonym, she said.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, March 1

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

Three women have been “repeatedly manhandled for three years by a leering, oversexed co-worker” while three Catholic priests did little or nothing to stop the assaults, according to court papers and the NY Post.

[New York Post]

Shame on Franciscan Friars John McVean, John Felice and Tom Walters, who allegedly ignored and tolerated intolerable assaults on underlings by Gyasi Bramos-Hantman at St. Francis Friends of the Poor in Manhattan.

It’s very hard to expose wrongdoing in Catholic institutions. They’re often oppressive work places, because the church is a rigid, secretive, largely-male monarchy that exploits ‘religious freedom’ laws to shield itself from scrutiny and keep employees largely powerless. They’re often hard to sue, because Catholic officials spend liberally on top-notch, aggressive defense lawyers who use scorched-earth legal tactics to discredit and attack victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.

So we applaud employees Donna Graves and Ann O’Leary and Maria Colon for their incredible courage, especially because these clerics allegedly “ruled with an iron fist and fostered a culture of intimidation.”

Those who see, suspect and suffer clergy sex crimes, misdeeds and cover ups must somehow find the strength these women have found and speak up. Only when church staff and members summon the bravery to expose wrongdoing will Catholic institutions become more safe and healthy.

We call on New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to show leadership and publicly denounce these Franciscans and beg others who have knowledge of or suspicions about their irresponsible actions and inaction to step forward, get help, prevent assaults, deter cover ups and start healing.

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NEW YORK
ABC News

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Feb 23, 2015

By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press

A decision by New York’s highest court striking down dozens of local laws that set boundaries on where convicted sex offenders may live has rekindled a debate over whether such laws really work to protect children.

New York’s Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last week that only the state has the power to tell offenders where they can and cannot reside, and generally only while they are on parole or supervised release. The ruling effectively struck down more than 130 local laws across the state, many of which went further than state law by imposing such restrictions on offenders for the rest of their lives.

Some lawmakers and advocates reacted by seeking to strengthen the state law, which currently bars more serious sex offenders on parole or supervised release from being within 1,000 feet any school grounds in a parked car or public areas adjacent to schools.

“We are very concerned,” said Laura Ahearn, executive director of a Long Island group called Parents for Megan’s Law. “Because certain registrants are no less dangerous the day after they complete their supervision.”

But several experts argue such residency restrictions may not provide the protection for children the laws envision.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 2

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

We’re disappointed a New York court has struck down laws limiting where child sex offenders can live and we urge lawmakers to quickly adopt other measures that help protect kids from predators.

[ABC News]

For at least decades, child sex abuse has been rampant. Relatively speaking, laws that restrict convicted child molesters are relatively recent. So at best, it’s likely premature to reach firm conclusions on whether or not these laws work.

We challenge those who oppose these restrictions on predators’ whereabouts: Before you try to block further restrictions, come up with a better plan.

One in four girls and one in eight boys is molested. So clearly, what our society is doing now to stop predators and protect kids is failing.

Advocates of relaxing or repealing virtually any child sex abuse law, therefore, have a moral duty to devise some other means of safeguarding kids first.

Those who just nay-say and nit-pick child safety laws endanger kids. Those who ambitiously and creatively try new approaches to child safety protect kids. That’s where our energies should be concentrated – trying harder, thinking smarter and pushing the legal envelop to devise and adopt new approaches to preventing horrific child sex crimes and cover ups.

Finally, convicted child predators aren’t the real threat to kids. The real threat to kids are the vast majority of child molesters who are never caught, convicted or exposed. That’s where our society’s focus should be – on making sure that they are at least publicly exposed.

So the single most effective step legislators could take to protect kids would be to pass Assemblywoman Marge Markey’s bill setting up a civil “window” enabling anyone who was abused at any time by any predator – for a short time – to use the civil courts to warn parents and the public about those who commit and conceal child molesters. This is a cheap, quick and effective way to expose dangerous predators.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

2 March 2015 By Amy De-Keyzer

A priest has been jailed more than 30 years after sexually abusing a boy under 16 at a children’s home.

Father Anthony McSweeney was found guilty of indecent assault of a boy, between January 1979 and July 1981, and three counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo photographs of children on or before January 15 2013.

Southwark Crown Court heard the incident was committed during his time working at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hanworth.

The 68-year-old, of Crawley in Sussex, was convicted as part of Operation Fernbridge, part of the wider Operation Fairbank which was launched in 2012 to investigate allegations of child abuse at the home in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Knox Grammar general duties manager ‘put his job on the line’ to investigate ‘protected’ paedophile teacher

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 02, 2015

THE former headmaster of Knox Grammer, Dr Ian Paterson, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a startling development at the child sex abuse royal commission.

His police report, tendered to the commission, reveals that in 2009, a student from the exclusive girls’ school Roseville College claimed he had assaulted her while she was backstage after a performance at Knox Grammar.

The former student, Lucy Perry, told police that it was 1989 when she was 15.

According to the police statement, she said that she did not want to proceed with charges but had come forward to back up reports made by former Knox students which were being investigated by Strike Force Arika and led to five former Knox teachers being charged with sexual abuse.

“Perry stated that Paterson patted her on the bottom a few times and slid his hand underneath and toucher her in the genital area,” the police report stated.

“Perry said that it only lasted a few seconds and that she stepped forward to remove his hand.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A key witness at a hearing into Knox Grammar has denied he’s trying to shift the blame for poor record keeping onto the former headmaster Ian Paterson.

Stuart Pearson, the former general duties master at the elite north shore Sydney boys’ school, reiterated his allegation Dr Paterson had lied when he said he had reported to police that an intruder wearing a balaclava had sexually assaulted a boy in 1988.

Solicitor Jim Harrowell, representing Dr Paterson cross-examined Mr Pearson, a former policeman, for more than an hour.

In a terse exchange he asked Mr Pearson if when he was a policeman he had a problem with record keeping and complained about the need to keep a lot of documents.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The chief executive of a women’s health charity says she was indecently assaulted by a former Knox Grammar School headmaster.

Lucy Perry has told a royal commission hearing into the elite Sydney north shore boy’s school that Ian Paterson groped her in 1989 when she was part of musical being produced by her school Roseville and Knox Grammar.

Ms Perry who is chief executive of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia), said the assault happened in full view of students at the Knox school hall, and the boys who saw it “roared with approval”.

She reported the assault to NSW police in 2009 when numerous allegations about widespread sexual abuse at the school were coming out.

Ms Perry said at one of the rehearsals she was backstage talking to some of the boys at a production of Guys and Dolls when Dr Paterson pointed to her and one of the boys and said “you and you out”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Monday 2 March 2015

A senior church figure who was on the council of Sydney’s Knox Grammar has denied giving advice that school records should be destroyed.

James Mein, who was moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia and on the council of the Sydney school, said neither he nor any solicitor he knew advised the school to destroy records.

He was giving evidence at a royal commission into sexual abuse on Monday

Counsel assisting the commission David Lloyd said on Monday it was not his intention to recommend finding against Mein in relation to the records.

Lloyd said Dwane Feehley, whose email contained an allegation that a solicitor assisted by Mein was advising Knox to destroy records, was overseas and could not be compelled to appear.

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