AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 24 February 2015)

According to police, a senior Catholic priest from western Sydney, Father Richard Cattell, committed sexual crimes against multiple boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, in the early 1990s, the Catholic Church promoted this criminal priest to become the Vicar-General of his diocese, supervising dozens of parishes in western Sydney on behalf of the bishop. In 1994, Cattell was jailed regarding one of his victims (from the 1970s). In February 2015 (aged 74) he was jailed again regarding another of his victims (from the 1980s). The February 2015 victim (Broken Rites will call him “Zachary”) submitted a written impact statement to the judge, outlining how the church provided Cattell with easy access to vulnerable children, causing long-term damage to the victim’s later life. This impact statement is included in this Broken Rites article.

Broken Rites has ascertained that Father Richard St John Cattell was ordained on 18 July 1964 for the Sydney archdiocese. He was in the same graduating group as another New South Wales priest, Vincent Kiss, of the Wagga Wagga diocese. (Vincent Kiss was eventually jailed for sexual crimes against children.)

Cattell worked in various parishes (Broken Rites has compiled a list of these) until one victim managed to get Cattell convicted in court in 1994. Since 1994, various Cattell victims have contacted Broken Rites which has advised these victims to have a private chat with NSW Police detectives These victims are from several parishes (and various years) and they do not know each other. In 2014, the New South Wales Office of Public Prosecutors selected one of these victims (“Zachary”) as the case most suitable for laying charges in court.

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ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch News

Jerzy Shedlock
February 23, 2015

The headmaster of an academy for troubled youth in Kodiak has been placed on a leave of absence following public allegations of abuse, the Eastern Orthodox diocese that runs the academy announced on its website.

The allegations center on the Rev. Paisius DeLucia, who’s accused of physical, verbal and psychological abuse of students at St. Innocent’s Academy.

The victims are so far unsatisfied with the investigation. The bishop looking into the accusations has also been accused of revictimizing three former students by inviting them for interviews at the school, according to the website Academy Abuse, which features posts by more than a dozen former students who claim they were abused by DeLucia in their time at the school.

St. Innocent’s is an alternative school for “at-risk” youths on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. The majority of its students aren’t from Alaska.

Sgt. Eric T. Olsen with the Alaska State Troopers in Kodiak previously said troopers there are also aware of the allegations and there is an ongoing investigation. DeLucia has not been charged with any crime.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 24, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

Following his appearance the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Souther Synagogue’s Rabbi Yosef Feldman is no longer providing a hechsher for Sydney caterer Amaze in Taste.

South Head Synagogue’s Rabbi Benzion Milecki, Jewish Learning Centre’s Rabbi David Blackman and Kehillat Masada’s Rabbi Gad Krebsare now currently providing a new interim hechsher for AIT.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman has provided the interim hechsher to AIT for the past year but has decided in the interests of the community he would agree to an alternative hechsher solution for AIT following the bad publicity he received resulting from his evidence at the Commission.

A spokesperson for AIT said: “To ensure that the community would have no disruption of service he did not do so until a suitable alternative was found.

The new alternative became available after the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of New South Wales (COSNSW) asked Rabbis Milecki, Blackman and Krebsare to provide the interim hechsher pending the outcome of the recommendations made under the Kashrut Commission of Inquiry Report (KCI).”

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UNITED STATES
Dallas Weekly

By Jazelle Hunt NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Simone Oliver had always been called, as they say in the religious community. She was active in the Baptist church throughout her youth, playing piano for the youth choir and even ghostwriting sermons for several pastors as a teen. She loved Scripture, loved preaching, and loved God. For her, church was heaven-on-earth.

But it was also hell. At 15 years old, Oliver’s then-pastor called her into his church office, grabbed her, put his tongue in her mouth, and fondled her until she broke away. It was the third time in her life she had been sexually assaulted, already a rape survivor at 12 years old at the hands of her sister’s first husband, and again at 13 by a family friend staying in her home.

Still, her faith did not waver. In fact, it grew stronger as Oliver transitioned from being a public school teacher to a minister.

In the mid-2000s, she took on an associate pastor’s role at a non-denominational church in New Jersey. The founding pastor tried to court her for years until she finally acquiesced and the two began a secret relationship. However, a year later, he decided to marry someone else. Still, the affair continued.

“I couldn’t get out. It was almost like sinking into an abyss,” she remembered. “I had gone to someone in the church to let them know this was going on. And they pretty much turned on me.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By LILLIAN RADULOVA FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

A prestigious Sydney school erected memorial gates for a teacher who was known to be a ‘notorious molester’ with the inscription ‘he touched us all’, an inquiry has been told.

Former Knox Grammar School student Scott Ashton, 44, told a royal commission hearing investigating how the Uniting Church and the private school responded to child abuse allegations, that he was left deeply confused by the tribute to the late Bruce Barrett.

Mr Ashton called the art teacher a ‘notorious molester’ while giving evidence to the commission on Tuesday, as he revealed the abuse he had personally suffered at Barrett’s hands in the Wahroonga school’s classrooms on Sydney’s North Shore.

In his statement, read out by close friend Gretel Pinniger who is also known as the high profile Sydney dominatrix Madame Lash, Mr Ashton said Barrett would chase and tickle his students.

He told the inquiry that Barrett would occasionally wear a red tie, announcing ‘watch out boys, it’s a red tie day’ to signify someone would be canned that day.

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GEORGIA
Courthouse News Service

By IULIA FILIP

SAVANNAH, Ga. (CN) – A pastor sexually battered a woman in his home while counseling her after the death of her father, the alleged victim claims in court.

Kadijah Davis sued Nathaniel Small, Jr., Barbara Small, and Greater Friendship Baptist Church, in Chatham County State Court.

The plaintiff, who lives in Savannah, claims Nathaniel Small sexually battered her in the home he shares with his wife Barbara.

As pastor of Greater Friendship Baptist Church, Small offered counseling services to church members and others, according to the complaint.

After Small conducted the funeral service for plaintiff’s father in January 2013, he offered to provide “bereavement or grief counseling” to plaintiff, who was not a member of his church, she claims in the lawsuit.

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OHIO
10TV

[with video]

By Glenn McEntyre
Monday February 23, 2015

Caledonia, Ohio – A church pastor and former substitute teacher is charged with sexually abusing a teenager. 32-year-old Corby Blanton is charged with five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Investigators in Morrow County say it happened between 2008 and 2012, starting when the boy was 14-years-old.

Corby Blanton was in Morrow County Court Friday facing charges of sexually abusing a minor. Two days later, he was at Memorial United Methodist in Caledonia, leading service as if nothing were wrong.

“We hadn’t had church the Sunday before (because of weather), and he’d been sick the week before that, so he’d been out of the pulpit for two weeks,” said church member Andy Kazee. “And (he) expressed his joy in being back in front of us, and shared a wonderful message.”

Andy Kazee was among the congregation just learning Monday of the accusations.

“I needed to sit down it was such a surprise,” he said.

Blanton serves as Pastor at Memorial United Methodist in Caledonia, and is a Youth Pastor at First United Methodist in Shelby. He has also served as a substitute school teacher for Cardington Lincoln Local Schools.

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OHIO
Mansfield News Journal

CALEDONIA – A pastor at Memorial United Methodist Church who had served as a substitute teacher has been charged with sexually abusing a teenager between 2008 and 2012.

Investigators allege Corby Blanton, 32, has been charged with five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, according to 10TV.com.

Blanton had been serving as a substitute teacher for Cardington-Lincoln Local Schools when he met a then-14-year-old student.

According to 10TV.com, investigators say Blanton began tutoring the boy outside of school without the district’s knowledge when the alleged sexual abuse began.

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TEXAS
Click2Houston

[with video]

Author: John Brannen, Web Editor, Click2Houston.com
Andy Cerota, Anchor/Reporter, acerota@kprc.com

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas –
A lawsuit has been filed against a Houston area pastor accused of molesting and sexually assaulting at least six young girls.

The girls claim they ere as young as 9 years old when Radhames Severino repeatedly molested them up until they were 16 years old.

“They are visibly shaken, emotional, still scared and clearly confused. This was a church they were a major part of,” said attorney Derek Hollingsworth.

Radhames Severino is accused of targeting girls in his church from 2002 to 2012. Radhames Severino’s then-wife and co-pastor Rufino Medina Severino is also named in the lawsuit.

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TEXAS
Fox Houston

By Katie McCall, Reporter

HOUSTON (FOX 26) – A Spanish language pentecostal church, “Ministerios del Instituto Biblico Elohim,” cancelled all services on Monday after our news cameras showed up.

The former Pastor, Radhames Severino, is accused in a civil lawsuit of molesting 6 girls, repeatedly, between 2002 and 2013.

They are also suing the church, and his wife Rufina Medina Severino.

The girls say they told her what her husband was doing to them, and that she did nothing.

Their attorney, Derek Hollingsworth said of the Pastor’s wife: “she would say things like just don’t be alone with him or just don’t go in his office.”

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BOTSWANA
The Voice

DANIEL CHIDA

Hardly three months after his messy divorce, charismatic prophet, T.P Elias of Gates Of Heaven Networks Church has been hit by another sex scandal.

The flamboyant young preacher with a strong following of at least 6000 congregants hit the news headlines last year when his then estranged wife, Olerato Elias, accused him of sexual misconduct with nubile women in the church.

In March last year, Olerato, 24 and her husband got embroiled in a public fight over missing condoms and morning after pills that she suspected her husband had used on three sexy “Prayer Warriors” that he had accommodate while she was away.

She accused him of running their home like a playboy mansion where young girls frolicked in the pretext of learning how to pray and he filed for divorce.

Six months later they were no longer husband and wife.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Nic Rigby
BBC News

A second man has been arrested in connection with an inquiry into alleged child abuse at a Catholic boys’ home in Bedfordshire.

The 72-year-old man from Bedford was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting four children at St Francis Boy’s Home, Shefford.

A man, 79, of Mundford, Norfolk, has been re-arrested on suspicion of six sexual and 14 physical assaults.

The two men have been released on police bail until April.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Comet

24 February 2015 James Scott

Two men have been arrested and a further two people interviewed in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged child abuse at St Francis Boys’ Home in Shefford during the 1960s and 1970s.

A 72-year-old man from Bedford was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting four children, while a 79-year-old man from Norfolk was arrested on suspicion of six sexual and 14 physical assaults on children at the home.

Both men have been bailed until April.

A 68-year-old man was voluntarily interviewed under caution for sexual assault – enquiries are ongoing.

And a 78-year-old woman from Shefford was interviewed under caution for sexual assault, but she has been released with no further action.

So far detectives have spoken to more than 80 alleged victims during the course of the investigation.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Conor Gallagher
PUBLISHED 24/02/2015

A detective has gone on trial accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the investigation of a priest accused of sexual abuse.

Detective Garda Catherine McGowan has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station where she is based.

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

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

In his opening speech to the jury, prosecuting counsel Alex Owens SC said that Gda McGowan had forged the letter to “hoodwink” gardaí who were reviewing whether she had acted properly in investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a priest of a teenage girl.

The investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of the case 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 one of the clerics mentioned in the report.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY CONOR GALLAGHER – 24 FEBRUARY 2015

A WICKLOW detective has gone on trial accused of forging a letter from the DPP in relation to the investigation of a priest accused of sexual abuse.

Det Gda Catherine McGowan (48), based in Bray, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two of using a false instrument there and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

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

In his opening speech at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, prosecuting counsel Alex Owens said Gda McGowan had forged the letter to “hoodwink” gardai who were reviewing whether she had acted properly in investigating allegations of abuse of a teenage girl by a priest.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conor Gallagher

A detective has gone on trial accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the investigation of a priest accused of sexual abuse.

Detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty 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 on June 21-22, 2011.

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

In his opening speech to the jury, Alex Owens, prosecuting, said Gda McGowan forged the letter to “hoodwink” gardaí who were reviewing whether she had acted properly in investigating allegations of the sexual abuse of a teenage girl.

The investigation of Gda McGowan’s handling of the case 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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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Lilly Fowler

One of the first St. Louis area priests to plead guilty to sexual abuse since the crisis shook the Roman Catholic Church more than a decade ago is now a free man.

On Monday morning, after 12 years in prison, Gary P. Wolken, 49, walked out of the Western Missouri Correctional Center in the small town of Cameron.

That has some in the community worried.

Advocates for victims of sexual abuse say the Archdiocese of St. Louis could and should do more to protect the public from priests who have admitted to sexually abusing children, even after they are no longer allowed to function as pastors or have served time in prison.

“We believe it’s disingenuous and dangerous for bishops to recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, supervise, transfer and shield predator priests, but then defrock them when their crimes hit the headlines and do nothing else to protect the vulnerable from them,” said David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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UNITED KINGDOM
EDP 24

Press Association
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Catholic priest from Norwich broke down in tears yesterday at his sex abuse trial as he recalled his pornography collection.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, denied molesting three teenage boys at Grafton Close children’s home in Hounslow, west London, between 1979 and 1981.

But he admitted being shown a child sex porn film by his close friend, the care home manager John Stingemore, 72 – who was found dead weeks before the beginning of his trial.

McSweeney did not tell the authorities as it “did not occur” to him.

He also confessed to going to Amsterdam’s notorious red light district with Stingemore, where he bought gay porn.

The once part-time chaplain at Norwich City FC was leading the congregation at St George’s Church in north Norwich when the claims against him emerged.

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NEW JERSEY
The Guardian (UK)

Associated Press in Trenton, New Jersey
Monday 23 February 2015

Prosecutors on Monday played recordings made by undercover agents who met a New Jersey rabbi who is on trial for allegedly using brutal tactics to force unwilling Jewish husbands to divorce their wives.

Rabbi Mendel Epstein is seen on grainy video speaking with two undercover agents who are posing as a brother and sister. They wanted to get the woman a divorce from her unwilling husband.

Epstein is heard saying it would cost at least $60,000 to get the “tough guys” to carry out the operation. He also discusses tactics to force the husband’s hand, including kidnapping him and using cattle prods and karate.

Epstein faces charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping with his son and two other Orthodox rabbis. His attorney does not dispute the acts were committed but says they do not rise to the level of federal kidnapping charges.

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NEW JERSEY
ABC News

TRENTON, N.J. — Feb 23, 2015
By SEAN CARLIN Associated Press

On grainy video, filmed from across a desk at his Lakewood home, a New Jersey rabbi told undercover FBI agents that his team of “tough guys” would jump Jewish husbands who wouldn’t divorce their wives by throwing hoods over their heads and handcuffing them.

“He’s going to be jumped, handcuffed and hooded,” Rabbi Mendel Epstein is heard telling the agents posing as a brother and sister seeking a divorce from her unwilling husband. “That takes 30 to 60 seconds. For 80 percent of the guys, it’s over right there.”

Prosecutors played the video in federal court Monday, the third day of Epstein’s trial on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.

His son and two other rabbis also are on trial in connection with a staged kidnapping in 2013 and three other forced divorces. His attorney, Robert Stahl, says some crimes were committed but don’t amount to “federal kidnapping.” He says Epstein was good at advocating for women and convincing husbands to grant divorces, a practice known as “a get.”

The female undercover agent who recorded the videos took the stand Monday for the second day; the defense is expected to question her Tuesday.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Posted on Feb 23, 2015

Many questions remain as to why Bishop McCort Catholic High School hired Artrell Hawkins Jr. as its new football head coach on Wednesday and then rescinded the offer a few days later.

On Sunday, the school’s principal, Thomas Fleming, issued a statement in which he said, “Upon review and consultation of school protocol, Bishop McCort has unfortunately had to rescind its selection of Mr. Artrell Hawkins Jr. to serve as Bishop McCort’s new head football coach.”

Fleming further said in the statement that protocols were in place for hirings and, “Unfortunately, this process was not appropriately followed in this circumstance.”

Fleming, Hawkins, a 1994 Bishop McCort graduate and former National Football League player, and Mark Pasquerilla, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, did not respond Monday to messages left, requesting interviews.

Being a private school, Bishop McCort does not need to be as open with its decisions as a public school might need to be, said Paula Knudsen, the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association’s director of government affairs/legislative counsel.

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CANADA
The Canadian Jewish News

Josh Bornstein, Special to The CJN, Monday, February 23, 2015

In the last several weeks, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse in Australia has examined the response of the ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva Center in Melbourne and its counterpart in Sydney to cases of child sexual abuse. The commission has specifically attempted to investigate how the extensive offending by convicted pedophiles David Kramer, Daniel Hayman and David Cyprys in the 1980s and 1990s were dealt with by the rabbis and leaders of the yeshiva.

The commission has heard testimony from a number of victims of child sexual abuse within the organization. With one exception, all victims have chosen to remain anonymous.

The proceedings underline why Manny Waks, the founder of Tzedek, an Australian-based support and advocacy group for Jewish victims of child sexual abuse, was the first and only victim of child sexual abuse in the Australian Jewish community to go public. Waks displayed enormous courage then and continues to do so now. He and his family have paid a terrible price for seeking to ensure there is accountability for perpetrators and those who have tried to shield them.

The persecution and abuse directed at Waks and his family by some within the yeshiva community continued during the royal commission hearings.

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FLORIDA
Sun-Sentinel

By Sergio Carmona
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Child sexual abuse survivors, rabbis and mental health professionals all repeated this duel message as they recently addressed a crowd of 400 Orthodox Jews at Aventura Chabad — “The Orthodox Jewish community will no longer sweep abuse under the rug and survivors who step forward will be embraced.”

The event was organized by Jewish Community Watch, an organization based in New York committed to raising awareness and preventing child sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. The organization wanted to further its goal of educating parents, preventing child sexual abuse, assisting survivors and breaking the silence and shame that surrounds CSA in the Orthodox Jewish community at the event, which was emceed by reporter Rosh Lowe. The event included survivors of abuse who bravely broke their silence and shared their story publicly.

During the event Rabbi Elchonon Tauber, a rabbinical judge from Los Angeles, insisted to the crowd that someone who knows of abuse and doesn’t report it to the police is in violation of Jewish law. He also urged the audience to view child sex abuse as they would any other crime.

“If you saw someone poisoning the food in a Cheder (religious elementary school), you wouldn’t ask your rabbi his opinion on whether or not they should be reported. You would go straight to the police. Do the same thing with abuse! If you know of an individual who is harming children, go directly to the police,” Tauber urged the audience.

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UNITED STATES
City of Angels

Kay Ebeling

If anyone wants to save content from CofA Blog do it now, as Blogger is going to “block” it on March 23 for being “sexually explicit” and to that I say a big f— you, you want sexually explicit, look what these priests did to all of our lives. Thanks, Fundamentalists who are taking over and ruining everything. http://cityofangels12.blogspot.com

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Jaime Baker

JOHNSTOWN, PA – Bishop McCort Catholic High School issued the following statement regarding the status of its head football coach search.

Tom Fleming, Principal of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, said: “Upon review and consultation of school protocol, Bishop McCort has unfortunately had to rescind its selection of Mr. Artrell Hawkins, Jr. to serve as Bishop McCort’s new head football coach. Coaching successions go through a formal process, such as those protocols recently followed in the hiring of both Coach Murphy and Coach Davitch. Unfortunately this process was not appropriately followed in this circumstance. We spoke with Mr. Hawkins and we sincerely appreciate his understanding in this unfortunate situation.”

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SCOTLAND
Falkirk Herald

by Chris McCall
c.mccall@falkirkherald.co.uk
Published on the 23 February 2015

The number of Roman Catholic churches and priests serving the Falkirk district could be reduced amid falling congregation numbers.

The Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh, which covers most of central Scotland, with the exception of Glasgow and Lanarkshire, plans to reduce the number of parishes it administers from more than 100 to 30.

The reforms were revealed in a letter from Archbishop Leo Cushley to the deans of the archdiocese, asking them to begin discussion on how best to organise resources at a local level.

A spokesman for the church told The Falkirk Herald that plans were at an early stage and no final decisions had been made.

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MINNESOTA
Noaker Law Firm

Upcoming Bankruptcy Court Dates:

February 24, 2015 – Meeting of Creditors

Where: United States Courthouse, Room 1017, 300 South 4th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415

What: A meeting of creditors is where a representative from the Archdiocese is questioned under oath by the trustee and by creditors. Creditors are welcome to attend, but are not required to do so.

01-27-2015 – Notice of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case, Meeting of Creditors

Recent Court Filings:

Archdiocese Chapter 11 Petition (1)

01-26-2015 – Notice of Appearance – Noaker

01-27-2015 – Notice of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case, Meeting of C

02-17-2015 – Periodic Reporting Regarding Value, Operations and Profitability

02-19-2015 – Appointment of Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Chapter 11 Case

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UNITED KINGDOM
Pink News

A Catholic priest who is accused of molesting three boys had a large collection of gay porn, a court has heard.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, denies molesting three teenage boys between 1979 and 1981 at Grafton Close Children’s Home.

According to the BBC, the priest admitted to Southwark Crown Court that he bought gay porn in Amsterdam’s Red Light District alongside care home manager John Stingemore.

He kept the porn collection secret until he was discovered by his parish’s cleaner at St Peter’s in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

McSweeney said he was “ashamed” of his habit, and became emotional during his testimony.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

23 FEBRUARY 2015

A Catholic priest broke down in tears today at his sex abuse trial as he recalled his gay and S&M pornography collection.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, denied molesting three teenage boys at Grafton Close children’s home in Hounslow, west London, between 1979 and 1981.

But he admitted being shown a child sex porn film by his close friend, the care home manager John Stingemore, 72 – who was found dead weeks before the beginning of his trial.

McSweeney did not tell the authorities as it “did not occur” to him.

He also confessed to going to Amsterdam’s notorious red light district with Stingemore, where he bought gay porn.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Idaho Statesman

BY JOE MANDAK
Associated Press
February 23, 2015

PITTSBURGH — Retired NFL player Artrell Hawkins Jr.’s alma mater has rescinded its decision to hire him as football coach.

Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown announced Wednesday that the school had hired Hawkins, a 1994 graduate, to replace a coach who resigned the day before. But Sunday night, the school’s public relations spokesman, Matthew Beynon, issued a statement from Principal Tom Fleming rescinding the hiring.

“Coaching successions go through a formal process. … Unfortunately, this process was not appropriately followed in this circumstance,” the statement said. “We spoke with Mr. Hawkins and we sincerely appreciate his understanding in this unfortunate situation.”

Beynon did not immediately respond to questions about how the school’s hiring process and unspecified “protocols” also referenced in the principal’s statement were not followed.

But The Associated Press has learned that Hawkins was arrested on a domestic violence charge last year at his home near Cincinnati, though he was later found not guilty.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Bethany Mandel

Not unsurprisingly, given that I’m a victim, I’ve read almost everything printed about the Barry Freundel case since it first broke back in October. I have made myself available for interviews not because I want to be known as the woman whose rabbi taped her naked, but because I think it’s important for reporters to understand the nuances of Orthodox Judaism, of conversion, of the community in Washington D.C.

Stories like these are “bad news for the Jews,” and it’s important to for the Jewish community to be clear that things like this happen not because of inherent issues with Judaism, but due to the flaws of some human beings who practice it.

It was with extreme frustration that I read Jay Michaelson’s latest column in this very paper on the case. Michaelson seems to believe that prominent members in the Kesher community should have seen Freundel’s recently exposed flaws more clearly.

He asks, “How can some of our community’s leading (if self-appointed) cultural sages lionize and valorize someone who, in fact, they didn’t really know that well?”

Juxtapose this question with a statement from Michaelson’s last column on Freundel (in which he blamed “burnout” for Freundel’s transgressions) “Those of us who knew, or thought we knew, Rabbi Barry Freundel — recently arrested for spying on women in the mikveh, with a mountain of evidence suggesting his guilt — are still in shock. As much as I disagreed with many of his halachic positions, I always thought he was one of the good rabbis, the ethical ones.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

KNOX Grammar let pedophile teachers continue at the school for years after clear indications they had sexually assaulted students, shown them pornographic videos and engaged in other inappropriate conduct, an inquiry has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that across more than three decades of abuse involving five teachers, school authorities did not report a single incident to police.

Yesterday marked the start of a two-week inquiry into abuse between 1970 and 2003 at the prestigious private day and boarding school in Sydney that operates under the auspices of the Uniting Church.

The inquiry heard from former students who said their lives had, in the words of one, been “trashed” by predator teachers Barrie Stewart, Adrian Nisbett, Craig Treloar, Roger James and Damien Vance.

The former students claimed the abuse would have been known to the headmaster for most of the period, Ian Paterson.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle, staff

The elderly father of a former Knox Grammar student has told an inquiry into alleged sexual abuse at the school that his adult son died as a result of trauma inflicted by paedophile teacher Barrie Stewart.

Dr John Rentoul, 80, a former assistant principal at the elite boys’ school in Sydney’s north, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he worked with three of the five former Knox teachers who were later convicted of abusing students over a 33-year period.

Dr Rentoul said his son, David, found his abuser’s criminal trial difficult and that he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

Stewart received a suspended sentence on charges including indecent and sexual assault.

The inquiry has been told that of the five Knox teachers convicted of offences against boys as young as six at the school only one, Craig Treloar, received a jail sentence – four and a half years.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Local Guardian

by Laura Proto, Chief reporter – Richmond and Twickenham

A Catholic priest said he was “desperately ashamed” he did not tell anyone the manager of a Richmond Council-run children’s home tried to show him child pornography, a court heard.

Father Tony McSweeney, 68, is currently on trial accused of indecent assaults on young boys in the 1970s and 1980s and possessing indecent images of children.

Mr McSweeney was a friend of jointly charged John Stingemore, the manager of Grafton Close children’s home, who died last month before he could face trial.

It was alleged Mr McSweeney watched boys in the shower at the children’s home, sexually assaulted a second boy on a number of occasions and sexually assaulted a third boy at Mr Stingmore’s home in Bexhill.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Bad news at the Oscars this weekend for the pope. Best picture went to the movie starring “superhero”, Michael Keaton, whose “Spotlight” movie covering the Boston Globe’s powerful 2003 expose of infamous Cardinal Law’s priest child abuse cover-up is nearing its global release. Law is still an honored guest at Vatican events. Papal apologists, like David Pierre, have apparently even already begun their desperate attack on the Globe’s prior management, which will only increase the movie’s ticket sales. Instead of receiving an Oscar this weekend, the pope received a box of Bach CDs and an ominous and untimely visit from the world’s most powerful woman.

Will this daughter of a Lutheran minister, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, tip the scales on the pope’s “retreat agenda” this week, as a religiously divided Germany paradoxically prepares to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of Luther’s “revolt” in less than two years?

The pope had been preparing, before Merkel arrived, for a week long Lenten retreat with his Vatican officials. This was to be a “spiritual break” after an intense period that began with the pope’s public Christmas blast at his administrative team, continued with his Philippine trip, and ended with unusual secretive meetings with all of his cardinals. Did he and his likely successor, Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, really want to or even need to spend so much time now with Merkel and her entourage of 15 German officials?

Of course, the Pope and Parolin did have to listen if Merkel insisted on it. Germany is the largest single “guaranteed source” of Catholic Church financial support, with over $7 billion in annual direct governmental subsides. When Angela talks, the pope better listen, no?

The talks reportedly (in the words of the polite diplomatic script mutually agreed likely by Merkel and the pope) focused on international crises, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine, women’s rights and equality, children’s health issues in developing countries, etc.

Women’s rights. childrens’s health …,? The pope talked to a woman about women and family issues? Almost unprecedented, no? Are these terms “code words” for issues like changing the ban on the Pill and for holding bishops accountable for protecting priest child abusers? Merkel may have trouble pushing Putin,Russia’s president, but she pays many of the pope’s bills. As Greece is learning, she surely knows how to apply her economic power. She also recently met in Washington with President Obama so likely knows where he stands on reining in this popular, but internationally meddlesome, pope, no?

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ALASKA
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., Canada and Australia

In response to the allegations and complaints against Archpriest Paisius DeLucia, Rector of St. Innocent’s Academy, Kodiak, Alaska, filed at the Diocesan Chancery by a number of individuals, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph has called the Diocesan Spiritual Court to convene on March 19-21, 2015.

An investigation by the Diocese is presently in progress and is being led by His Grace Bishop Daniil of Dragovitsa, the Metropolitan Vicar. Last week His Grace visited St. Innocent’s Academy in Kodiak and interviewed witnesses. On Feb 27-28, His Grace will meet with other witnesses in Syracuse, NY and on March 6-8 he will be visiting Indianapolis. All parties who are interested in giving their testimony may contact the Rectors of Holy Transfiguration Church, Syracuse and Joy of All Who Sorrow Church in Indianapolis for the schedule of meetings.

During the period of the investigation and until a decision of the Spiritual Court has been made, Archpriest Paisius DeLucia will be on leave of absence from St. Innocent’s Academy.

The Diocese has deep concern for all those people affected in any way. The prayers of all the faithful are requested for all involved in this weighty and sensitive matter.

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ALASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 23, 2015

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

An Orthodox priest who has been accused of the physical, mental, and spiritual abuse of students at a school in Kodiak has been placed on a leave of absence.

[Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese]

On Saturday, February 21, the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia announced on its website that Archpriest Paisius DeLucia was on leave pending the outcome of a spiritual court. The court is scheduled to convene on March 19-21 of this year. Bishop Daniil Trendofilow Nikolov is currently investigating the complaints.

[SNAP]

A victims’ group does not believe that a leave of absence is adequate and wants the diocese to do more.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, believes that a suspension is the appropriate response in the face of such serious allegations.

[Pokrov]

(Page 1)

“If the diocesan policy calls for a suspension upon receipt of a written complaint, then Father Paisius should have been suspended months ago, not placed on a leave of absence this weekend,” fumed Melanie Jula Sakoda of SNAP. “Doesn’t Metropolitan Joseph realize that unless this man is suspended, there is nothing to prevent him from continuing with the same pattern of abuse?”

[Academy Abuse]

The victims’ group also thinks that more needs to be said about the leave of absence. Cappy Larson, also of SNAP, pondered, “Where will Father Paisius be during this leave, and who will be in charge of the school? Current students can’t possibly feel safe to make an outcry if their abuser is still nearby, or if the person in charge has been a witness to past abuses and done nothing.”

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OKLAHOMA
KFOR

[with video]

FEBRUARY 21, 2015, BY M.DELATORRE

OSAGE COUNTY, Okla. (KOKI)– U.S. Marshals Service arrested Donald Carter at an airport in Florida as he returned from Colombia.

Donald Carter’s ex-wife says it’s hard to look at old pictures. She was in love with her husband, who, she says, was a well-respected pastor for six years.

“I don’t want him to touch any other… young girls.”

Carter’s ex-wife didn’t want to be identified, but she says multiple women approached her shortly after she granted him the split. She says the alleged victims confided in her at different times, telling her he had raped them when they were children.

“It’s unbelievable that it happened. And it’s so wrong.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 23, 2015

Marissa Calligeros

The investigation into sexual abuse at St Patrick’s College in Sale has broadened with at least one other victim contacting police.

Detectives from the child-exploitation Sano Taskforce encouraged victims to contact police after revealing they were investigating claims of sexual abuse at the former boarding school in the 1970s and 1980s.

Several men have alleged they were sexually abused while boarding at the Catholic school, south-east of Melbourne, between the ages of 11 and 15.

Police arrested an 87-year-old Sale man in relation to the investigation last Thursday, but he was released from custody pending further inquiries.

Fairfax Media can reveal another victim has since contacted the taskforce alleging he was molested at the school when he was about 12 or 13 years old.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour
@bkjabour
Sunday 22 February 2015 23.07 EST

One of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools, Knox Grammar School, ignored and covered up sexual abuse of students for more than 30 years, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

Knox formally apologised on the first day of the hearing after allegations of sexual abuse of multiple young boys and teenagers were heard, including that they were fondled, masturbated and asked to perform oral sex on at least one teacher. Key documents regarding the abuse and kept by different headmasters have disappeared over the years with Knox unable to provide an explanation.

The school is also accused of not once reporting allegations of child abuse to New South Wales police despite numerous complaints.

After the allegations were detailed in the opening address of the hearing, counsel representing Knox Grammar School, Geoffrey Watson, offered an apology, the first one of the witnesses said he had heard.

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Transformation

SUSAN RAKOCZY 23 February 2015

Sexual abuse, the refusal to ordain women and some high-profile popes: most people would probably cite these things about the Catholic Church—often seen by secular society as a bulwark of conservative religion, especially because of its teachings on sexuality.

But Catholic teachings on social and economic issues are a very important dimension of the Church’s life and have their own long history. Beginning in 1891 with the first social encyclical—Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (“Of New Things”)—and continuing to Pope Francis’s forthcoming encyclical on ecology, the Catholic Church has developed a significant body of teachings on peace and social justice. These insights have often been in advance of what secular society has been willing to listen to and act on.

However, it’s also true that these insights are sometimes called the Church’s ‘best kept secret’ because there’s such a gap between teaching and practice—between what people hear in the pew in Sunday homilies and the application of these principles to the daily lives of Catholics. Why does this gap exist, and what can be done to close it?

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 23, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Widespread child sexual abuse at the prestigious private boys school Knox Grammar was covered up for decades because the school was more concerned about its reputation than the welfare of students, a royal commission has been told.

On the first day of the public hearing into how the school dealt with sexual abuse allegations,fresh claims were made against three former staff members. A further five former staff members have already been convicted of multiple sexual offences against students.

Former assistant headmaster John Rentoul wept as he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about the discovery his son, David, was molested by Knox music teacher Barrie Stewart in the late 1970s.

Mr Stewart, along with other teachers, continued to work at the school despite numerous claims about inappropriate behaviour with students.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Teachers at one of Australia’s most prestigious schools ‘forced students to watch sickening paedophile porn films’

By FRANK COLETTA FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AAP

Claims that a teacher at one of Australia’s most prestigious schools forced students to watch paedophile pornography, have surfaced at a royal commission into child sex abuse.

Two teachers, who were convicted of sexually assaulting boys at the prestigious Knox Grammar School in Sydney, have been called to give evidence at the national hearing.

And there would be evidence of abuse by a further three teachers who were never charged, it was revealed.

The royal commission into child sexual abuse will hear from Craig Treloar, who was sentenced to four and a half years in jail, with two years non-parole, in 2009 for indecent assault.

It will also hear from Damien Vance, who was convicted of one act of indecency on a boy under 16 and released on a good behaviour bond.

In his opening statement on Monday, counsel for the commission David Lloyd said five teachers at Knox in Wahroonga on Sydney’s north shore were convicted of sex offences against students.

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UNITED STATES
Express Tribune

By Ahson Saeed Hasan

For years we’ve made fun of the Catholic priests fondling with young ones. Their ghastly and heinous acts of insensitivity disgust our spirits and we all abhor such practices. I once stopped by and spoke to John Wojnowski, himself a victim, on Massachusetts Avenue, Washington DC, who has been protesting for years, trying to bring the world’s attention to the abusive ways of the clergy.

He told me his appalling story of how a priest abused him during his childhood and how difficult it was for him to get over the traumatic event, something that scarred him psychologically for his entire life.

Fast forward to now, the year 2015, we have a 75-year-old Muslim cleric, Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, running the Institute of Islamic Education (IIE) in the small mid-Western town of Elgin, just outside of Chicago. He was arrested on February 17 on charges of felony and criminal sexual abuse but was let go on a $250,000 bail. Saleem obviously denies the charges.

Saleem, Indian by origin, belongs to a generation of immigrants who came to the US back in the 70s and 80s and settled here based on their religious skills. He established the IIE in 1989 and that was actually the time he started to hobnob with young females at the institute, students as well as employees. What one learns from those who are aware of such incidents is that the cleric got away scot-free because the community came to his rescue and mediated a settlement whenever he behaved erratically.

Saleem is a habitual offender. So far, along with the 23-year-old girl who came out of the shadows and reported her abuse by the mullah, there are at least three more women who claim to have been sexually molested by him. It is expected that more people will come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell
February 23, 2015

The autocratic style of a headmaster nicknamed “Snake” by boarders at Knox Grammar School made it possible for teachers to take advantage of and prey on students, an inquiry has heard.

A man using the pseudonym ARY said the governance style of Ian Paterson, headmaster at Knox for 30 years, made students fearful of reporting sex abuse by teachers.

ARY boarded at the school from Year 7 in 1974 and was there for four years. He was indecently assaulted by science teacher Roger James when he was 14.

James was convicted and given a suspended sentence.

ARY and other former students told the sex abuse royal commission on Monday there was a culture of cover-up at the prestigious Wahroonga school.

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AUSTRALIA
Gippsland Times

SANO Taskforce detectives arrested an 87-year-old Sale man on Thursday following an investigation into historical sexual assault allegations at St Patrick’s College in Sale.

The man was interviewed and released pending further enquiries.

Investigators have received what they say are a number of complaints from former male students who attended the Catholic school during the 1970s and 1980s, when St Patrick’s operated as a boarding school.

The male students were aged between 11 and 15 at the time of the alleged incidents.

Detectives would like to speak to victims or witnesses who have information relating to sexual abuse at the college during the 1970s and 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Gippsland Times

GIPPSLAND’S new Catholic bishop will assume his role at what is a tough time for the church in the region.

More than 1200 Catholics will flock to celebrate the ordination of Bishop-elect Pat O’Regan on Thursday, who looks forward to getting back to basics with his Christian message.

“I’d like to make the Christian message believable and credible, because we’ve taken a few body blows recently,” Fr O’Regan said.

“Because some bad things have happened, I’d like to get back to the basics of Christianity and that’s the love of God, love of neighbour.

“It’s not just about being in a holy huddle in a church; it’s being a part of the world.”

Fr O’Regan has arrived in the region at a time when allegations of sexual abuse against students at St Patrick’s Catholic College in the 1970s and 1980s now Catholic College Sale are being investigated by police.

Fr O’Regan said the church was praying for those affected and would co-operate with all inquiries.

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UNITED STATES
Canonical Consultation

02/22/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

For those of you who are looking for the registration information for the webinars, the information is as follows.

The Rights of the Faithful in the Catholic Parish

An interactive seminar for Catholics wanting to understand more about their role in the Catholic parish. Topics will include the rights of parishioners in regard to strategic planning, processes for challenging planning decisions, financial governance of the parish, and other topics as requested.

Wednesday, February 25 at 7pm, or Thursday, March 12 at 7pm.
Please register for the date and time that works best for you.
https://attendee.gototraining.com/rt/7638419793056098305

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.

Brought to you by GoToTraining (R)
Online Training Made Easy TM
Citrix Online | 7414 Hollister Avenue | Goleta, CA 93117

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February 23, 2015

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Eight teachers at the prestigious Knox Grammar School abused young students over a 30-year period and yet the school did not notify police, a royal commission has heard.

Day one of a public hearing into the school contained fresh allegations against three staff. Five other staff members have already been convicted over sexual offences involving students.

The commission will also hear evidence that a number of files of students who made complaints of abuse may have been deliberately destroyed.

In his opening address to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, counsel assisting the commission David Lloyd said the school did not report allegations to the police for decades.

“The abuse was perpetrated by these teachers between approximately 1970 and the year 2003,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Elite Sydney boys’ school Knox Grammar has apologised for failing to protect its students from sexual abuse by teachers.

The Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking into complaints of inappropriate conduct by teachers at the school between 1970 and 2003.

Five former teachers have been convicted on a range of charges including sexual and indecent assault.

Geoffrey Watson SC, acting for Knox Grammar, told the hearing the Uniting Church-run school in Sydney’s north failed to protect students.

“The school humbly and sincerely apologises for its failure,” he said.

“It apologises to all of those students who are damaged by these events.

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AUSTRALIA
Haaretz

A senior Chabad rabbi was delisted as an emissary from the New York-based organization as the fallout continues from Australia’s Royal Commission into the child sex abuse scandal.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, the former director of Sydney’s Yeshivah Center, which houses the headquarters of Chabad there, was dismissed last week after his controversial comments to the Royal Commission, including his suggestion that pedophiles who had not committed sex crimes for two decades should be treated with leniency.

Feldman, a son of Chabad’s chief rabbi in Sydney, sparked a storm of protest among Orthodox rabbis and mainstream Jewish leaders. He consequently resigned his post as director of the Yeshiva Center on February 11.

His dismissal came as Rabbi Avrohom Glick, who had resigned from all posts at Yeshivah College in Melbourne, where he was principal during the time of the abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, also tendered his resignation from the spiritual committee of the Yeshivah Center.

Victims were furious that he had clung to this post, which he had described as “his calling” during the hearings at the Royal Commission.

The resignations come in the wake of the two-week hearing into the child sex abuse scandals at Chabad headquarters in Sydney and Melbourne.

A third rabbi, Shlomo Kluwgant, resigned as president of the Organization of Rabbis of Australasia, after it was revealed at the hearing he had sent a text message describing Zephaniah Waks, one of the whistleblowers, as a “lunatic” who was “killing us.” His son, Manny Waks, the only Jewish victim in Australia to go public, is still demanding more resignations.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Abuse at the north shore presbyterian school, which one student described as a ‘paedophile ring’ went on for 33 years, the Royal Commission heard today.

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH FEBRUARY 23, 2015

STUDENTS at the prestigious Knox Grammar School were given alcohol and cigarettes before a number of house masters showed them sickening pornographic videos depicting paedophiles and bestiality, it has been revealed at the child sex abuse royal commission.

One former student, who was in a sexual relationship with a resident housemaster for three years, described the school as “a paedophile ring”.

One teacher, who allegedly wore a balaclava while sneaking under a boy’s bed one night to abuse him, will be among the witnesses giving evidence.

The abuse at the north shore presbyterian school went on for 33 years from 1970 to 2003 but the school has been accused of covering it up and destroying internal reports, including files of students who made complaints, which went missing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Ean Higgins
Reporter
Sydney

KNOX Grammar School did not inform police of a single incident of child sexual abuse perpetrated by five teachers over period of 33 years, a royal commission has heard.

Council assisting the commission, David Lloyd, said in the opening of the inquiry into Knox, an elite Sydney private boy’s school associated with the Uniting Church, that the five convicted teachers had collectively abused a number of boys, and among the penalties issued was a jail term.

“There will be particular emphasis during this public hearing on the question of what information was known by the employees of Knox and members of the Knox Council about the abuse by the teachers, and when that information was known,” Mr Lloyd told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney.

He outlined a litany of episodes of sexual abuse by the teachers, in graphic terms.

The abuse included teachers touching and fondling students’ genitals, discussion of oral sex, and taking photos of boys during sexual acts.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Two teachers who were convicted of sexually assaulting boys at the prestigious Knox Grammar School in Sydney will give evidence at a national hearing.

The royal commission into child sexual abuse will hear from Craig Treloar, who was sentenced to four and a half years in jail, with two years non-parole, in 2009 for indecent assault.

It will also hear from Damien Vance, who was convicted of one act of indecency on a boy under 16 and released on a good behaviour bond.

In his opening statement on Monday, counsel for the commission David Lloyd said five teachers at Knox in Wahroonga on Sydney’s north shore were convicted of sex offences against students.

There would be evidence of abuse by a further three teachers who were never charged, he said.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

David Pierre

***TheMediaReport.com SPECIAL REPORT*** Who Am I To Judge? In 1992, Boston Globe Touted Therapy Treatments for Sex Offenders, Then Excoriated the Church Years Later For Actually Using Them

When the Boston Globe excoriated the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002 for relying on therapists to treat abusive priests from the 1950s to the 1990s, the paper somehow apparently forgot that in 1992 the Globe itself was enthusiastically trumpeting the psychological treatment of sex offenders as “highly effective” and “dramatic.”

In a front-page article on June 18, 1992, the Globe opened:

“A new generation of treatment programs for sex offenders is proving highly effective, dramatically reducing the percentage of cases in which offenders repeat sex crimes, research shows.

“Recidivism rates declined from 9 percent for untreated offenders to 5 percent for those who underwent the new treatment in one study, and from 38 percent to 6 percent in another.

“While there is no complete ‘cure’ for sex offenders, the new findings indicate that many of them can learn to manage their aberrant sexual impulses without committing new crimes. The promising new treatments focus on helping these offenders control the complex cauldron of social inadequacies, distorted thinking, and deviant sex fantasies that prompt them to rape women, molest children or exhibit themselves in public.”

By this very article the Globe confirms that the Church’s then-practice of sending abusive priests off to treatment was not just some diabolical attempt to deflect responsibility and cover-up wrongdoing, but a genuine attempt to treat aberrant priests that was being widely promoted by secular experts in the field.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse said on Thursday that there would be a wide ranging public hearing into how the exclusive Sydney private school had responded to inappropriate conduct by teachers towards students from 1970 to 2012.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the hearings will include the experience of sexual abuse of former students at the school, the regulatory system governing the school’s response to allegations of child sexual abuse by its employees and the response of the Uniting Church and the school to concerns about inappropriate conduct. The Royal Commission will also investigate the systems, policies and procedures in place at the school since 1970, by which sexual abuse concerns were raised and responded to.

Former students as well as the school will give evidence from Feb. 23 about how the abuse could have gone unnoticed for such a long period. One of the cases of abuse was overlooked for over 20 years. The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing before the case study into Knox Grammar. The public hearing will be held at the Yeshivah Colleges in Melbourne and in Bondi, in Sydney’s east. While the Royal Commission’s investigation is expected to end up in criminal proceedings, Knox Grammar has admitted that it never dismissed its responsibility.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kolnische Rundschau

[Cardinal Rainer Woelki has defended the actions of the Archdiocese of Cologne in the case of abuse allegations against priest Winfried Jansen. He said the archdiocese checked everything carefully.]

Kardinal Rainer Woelki hat das Vorgehen des Erzbistums Köln im Fall der Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den Erftstädter Geistlichen verteidigt. Dem „Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger“ sagte Woelki, das Bistum habe alles sorgfältig geprüft.

KÖLN –
Im Fall des wegen Missbrauchsvorwürfen vom Dienst beurlaubten Pfarrers Winfried Jansen hat Kardinal Rainer Woelki das Vorgehen des Erzbistums Köln gegen den Erftstädter Geistlichen verteidigt. „Wir haben sehr sorgfältig und in Ruhe geprüft“, sagte der Erzbischof dem „Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger“. Woelki verwies darauf, dass sich nach dem Bekanntwerden erster Vorwürfe Anfang Februar inzwischen weitere Betroffene gemeldet hätten und Jansen mittlerweile einsehe, „dass er sich ihnen gegenüber damals – ich formuliere das in aller Zurückhaltung – nicht korrekt verhalten hat“.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

Jonathan Romain Become a fan
Rabbi and writer

What has been happening in Sydney and Melbourne is doubly shocking. First, there have been revelations over a rabbi who abused children at a yeshivah, Jewish learning seminary over many years, which was then followed by a cover-up when allegations surfaced.

Second, it is a wake-up call to Jewish communities in the UK to be vigilant about a problem from which, until now, we thought we were immune. It was all too easy to think that paedophile ministers were rife in the Church of England and the Catholics, but not really an issue for us.

Almost as disturbing as the crimes are the cover-up by others in the hierarchy, across all faiths, who certainly regard the offender with disapproval but are motivated by fear that if one person is exposed, then that will tarnish the rest of the group – be it the church, synagogue or mosque. In fact, the opposite is true: colluding with a perpetrator is what really tarnishes the group at large, while it also denies justice to the victim, which should have been the prime concern.

What causes such warped responses? Is it the naivety of hoping they could handle the problem and so there was no need to bring in outside authorities; or is it the nervousness of thinking that if one crack was exposed in the faith-group, then the entire edifice would collapse; or is it the hubris of reckoning that on balance the faith-group do more good than evil and so should be excused any failings; or is it that they felt under attack already, battling so many secular enemies, that they could not afford to show any weak spots, especially clerical failings?

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 22, 2015

I am currently reading SPLIT: A CHILD, A PRIEST AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH by my friend Mary Dispenza.

Abuse memoirs are usually a tough read, but Mary discusses her life with grace and respect—very similar to the way she lives her life.

While I am not done with the book, something struck me at the very beginning of her narrative. From the book (emphasis mine):

Not more than a week passed before I got to the circle of other women at Therapy and Renewal Associates (TARA) for the Archdiocese of Seattle—and there I spun some more, listening for the first time to stories of other women within the Catholic Church who had been abused by priests. Many of their stories were like mine, except I was the only woman who had been abused as a child.

I was floored.

I don’t have an answer or an analysis. Just questions.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An inquiry into child sexual abuse at one of Australia’s most exclusive schools for boys opens in Sydney on Monday.

The public hearing will examine the response of the Uniting Church and Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, NSW between 1970 and 2012 to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at the school.

The expensive private school, whose old boys include judges, politicians such as the late Gough Whitlam and actors Hugh Jackman and Hugo Weaving, faced adverse publicity in 2009 when four teachers pleaded guilty to abusing students.

The royal commission will look closely the school’s regulatory system as it emerged in the 2009 proceedings that some teachers were allowed to teach for decades after complaints.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Nagpur Today

Hindus are urging His Holiness Pope Francis to discipline a Northern Ireland Catholic priest who reportedly linked yoga to Satan.

Father Reverend Roland Colhoun, a priest at Waterside Parish of Roman Catholic Diocese of Derry in Northern Ireland, as reported by Derry Journal, “warned parishioners against taking part in yoga” while saying mass in Drumsurn recently. “Yoga is certainly a risk. There’s the spiritual health risk”, Journal quoted him.

UK’s The Independent quoted him as saying “Yoga leads to Satan” and that he fears it could lead to “The Kingdom of Darkness”. “It’s a slippery slope from yoga to Satan”, RT channel said quoting him.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

An elderly rabbi wanted in Israel on sexual abuse charges is to appeal to the Supreme Court against his extradition, news agency ANP says on Friday. Last week, a lower court ruled Eliezer Berland (77) could be sent back to Israel to stand trial.

He was arrested at Schiphol airport in September 2014, The claims against the rabbi first emerged in 2012 and since then he has managed to keep out of Israel’s hands, spending time in the US, Switzerland, Morocco, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The extradition hearing was delayed at the end of last year after Berland’s lawyer said most of the offences he has been charged with relate to events which occurred in parts of Israel beyond the borders recognised by the Netherlands.

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NETHERLANDS
NL Times

by Hanna Daych

Alleged “sex pest” Rabbi Eliezer Berland is appealing to the Netherlands Supreme Court in an effort to avoid his imminent extradition to Israel, his lawyer Louis de Leon told ANP on Friday.

The 77-year-old is facing several criminal charges, among them rape and enslavement. He is wanted in Israel where the religious leader is accused of participating in the crimes.

The court in Haarlem ruled last week that Berland should be extradited at the behest of the Public Prosecutor (OM). However, the Rabbi’s extradition could also potentially be blocked by Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten.

Opstelten has not publicly commented on the matter.

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AUSTRALIA
Times of Israel

A senior Chabad rabbi is delisted as an emissary from the New York-based organization as the fallout continues from Australia’s Royal Commission into the child sex abuse scandal.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, a former director of Sydney’s Yeshivah Center, which houses the headquarters of Chabad there, was delisted last week after his controversial comments to the Royal Commission, including his suggestion that pedophiles who had not committed sex crimes for two decades should be treated with leniency.

Feldman, a son of Chabad’s chief rabbi in Sydney, sparked a storm of protest by Orthodox rabbis and mainstream Jewish leaders.

His delisting came as Rabbi Avrohom Glick, who had resigned from all posts at Yeshivah College in Melbourne, where he was principal during the time of the abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, also tendered his resignation from the spiritual committee of the Yeshivah Center.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

(St. Paul, MN) – Correction by Jeff Anderson & Associates, P.A. concerning Father Marvin Klaers.

Information was reported in the Cannon Falls Beacon which is inaccurate regarding the number of people we know about who have accused Father Klaers. Our office represents one survivor who has provided a notice of claim to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis concerning an allegation of sexual abuse as a minor. We represent no other survivors of abuse by Fr. Klaers. We also have not received telephone calls regarding sexual abuse of minors by Fr. Klaers.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office/651.927.7872 Cell/612.817.8665
Mike Finnegan: Office/651.927.7872 Cell/612.205-5531

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is getting away from the Vatican for a few days and taking his advisers along, to work, as he put it, on “correcting the many defects we all have.”

Francis told tens of thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that later Sunday he and top aides were starting a spiritual renewal retreat. Until Friday morning, they will spend time listening to reflections, meditating and praying in Ariccia, a Rome suburb.

He didn’t list the “defects.” But in the nearly two years since becoming pontiff, Francis has put Vatican prelates on guard against careerism, arrogance, hypocrisy, corruption and being too judgmental instead of merciful.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 22, 2015 by J-Wire News Service

The New Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia is hitting the road with interim president Sydney-based Rabbi Selwyn Franklin preparing for visits to Melbourne and Perth.

Rabbi Franklin has announced that all positions in NORA are vacant following the resignation of former president Rabbi Meir Kluwgant in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

A Membership committee under Rabbi Franklin’s chairmanship would be constituted to formalize criteria for membership in NORA. Chaverim are invited to apply for membership in NORA.

To effect the establishment of NORA which replaces the now defunct ORA [Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, a steering committee has been created consisting of Rabbis Selwyn Franklin [Sydney], Chaim Ingram [Sydney] , Paul Lewin [Sydney], Daniel Rabin [Melbourne] and Marcus Solomon [Perth]. The name NORA itself is a temporary measure and the new organisation will be renamed by its incoming executive.

Invitations have been extended to a limited number of other Rabbis to become members of the steering committee.

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

After Massive Chabad Child Sex Abuse Scandal, Can Chabad Really Change For The Better? Many Members Of The Australian Orthodox Community Don’t Think It Can

Can Chabad leadership really change its ways? That is the question that troubles many people now. “They need to be more consultative with other rabbis, lay leaders and women,” Rabbi Kennard, principal at Burwood’s Mt Scopus Memorial College, told Fairfax Media this week. He said the controversial rabbinical council gave Chabad-affiliated rabbis disproportionate influence. But an unnamed Chabad community member whined that it “wasn’t fair” the entire Chabad community was being blamed for the mistakes of a few – even though much of that Chabad community participated in the harassment and shunning of abuse victims and advocates and did nothing whatsoever to support the victims or punish their rabbis who enabled the child sex abuse.

The Age reports:

…one Orthodox Melbourne rabbi said he and his colleagues were “tainted by failure”. Rabbi Ian Goodhardt, of Blake Street’s modern Orthodox synagogue in Caulfield, told congregation members some rabbis “were growing increasingly disillusioned with the conduct of their colleagues” and the lack of credible rabbinic leadership.

Tensions among rabbis are clearly mounting, following a two-week hearing that examined how yeshivah centres in Melbourne and Sydney, which belong to the worldwide ultra-Orthodox Chabad stream of Judaism, handled horrific cases of abuse in their midst.

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ZIMBABWE
New Zimbabwe

by Maynard Manyowa

THERE is, arguably, no contemporary figure that has unified opinion, and attracted universal condemnation like Robert Martin Gumbura the leader of extremist Christian fellowship, End Time Message.

About a year ago Robert Gumbura was arrested and hauled before the courts, accused of raping two women married to the same man. The circumstances were that, the women’s husband who lives in South Africa had sent money for them through the church leader, and when they went to collect it, he insisted on seeing them separately. He subsequently raped them.

Gumbura quickly adopted the title of the ‘Rapist Pastor’. This was just the start of his problems. The beleaguered clergyman would soon make more headlines, as one woman after the other began to approach the police with reports of alleged rape at his hands.

At one point the women who were accusing him of forcibly tapping the cupcake reached a staggering 40. In fact, the number of women who have claimed rape, including those who have not pressed charges has since been reported to be over a 100. Wow!

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

A tough week for Pope Francis, no? First, Francis’ initial Secretary of State, disgraced Cardinal Bertone, tried to lay his luxurious apartment on the approval of the pope. Then the Bishop of Bling arrived at the Vatican, while the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne “found” almost $4 billion at home and Cardinal Pell “found” almost $1.5 billion in some Vatican “cookie jar”, it seems.

Then respected Jesuit political scientist and Vatican expert, Tom Reese, bravely declared that Francis and his Council of Cardinals do not know what they are doing on hierarchical management reforms, assuming they were trying to be serious and not just stalling. And now a “mere woman”, the most powerful of the world’s “Adam’s Ribs” ( a favored Francis term), and 14 of her advisers, showed up today (2/21/15) likely to press the pope on his misguided international political meddling, it appears. This, as the pope seems to be almost publicly calling for a new crusade against the Middle East terror group, ISIS (the Islamic State).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the middle of her Ukraine, Greek, internal Muslim and other major crises, had an unusually long talk privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The talks reportedly (in polite diplomatic jargon) focused on international crises, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine, women’s rights and equality, world health issues in developing countries, etc.

Merkel told journalists that the conflict in eastern Ukraine was at the center of discussion. Francis had given Merkel’s nemesis, Russian President Putin, a big prestige boost some months ago, shortly before the Ukraine invasion, with a well publicized, gratuitous and unwise Vatican welcome.

Of course, the $7 billion annual German governmental subsidies to Catholic Church bishops, and the continued stonewalling of German (and Vatican) Catholic Church officials on holding bishops accountable for child abuse scandals, could never have been far below the surface, no? Germany has a large Catholic population. Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran minister, is also head of the Christian Democratic Union, which has a strong Catholic component. By contrast, less than 1% of Russians are Catholic and Russia does not generally subsidize the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII made his subsidy deal in 1933 with Hitler, not Stalin.

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HAWII
Maui News

February 21, 2015 – Harry Eagar

GOD’S BANKERS: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican, by Gerald Posner. 732 pages, illustrated. Simon & Schuster, $32

“God’s Bankers,” though lengthy is only a history of Vatican money and power in modern times, starting with Napoleon’s conquest of Rome.

The Vatican didn’t even have a bank until about 1930, when it needed one to manage an indemnity it collected from the Fascist government. In fact, until well into the 20th century, Roman Catholic doctrine condemned the charging of interest for loans, and the Vatican didn’t produce even pro forma budgets until after the Great War.

Which is not to say that great amounts of money didn’t flow through the Vatican, but they were managed like a the policy bets at a corner candy store. And I mean that in every sense.

Pius XI selected a skilled, prudent, unscrupulous layman, Bernardino Nogara, to manage the windfall, and he generated excellent returns, helped by using Vatican intelligence for insider trading and aided by a side business in helping Italians cheat on their taxes.

When war came, the Vatican Bank (formally the Institute for Works of Religion) did even better by helping the Nazis and Fascists rob and murder Jews and other non-Catholics. Gerald Posner’s heavily-annotated volume is more about power than money, and his chapters 7 and 8 are the best short summation I know for the actions and inactions of Pope Pius XII and most of the Curia in furthering the Holocaust. (The professional Roman Catholic defenders will squeal at this review — and are already squealing at Posner — but there is no longer any real controversy about the Church’s pro-Nazi role.)

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — A Muskegon County man accused of sexually assaulting boys three decades ago has pleaded guilty to a separate marijuana charge.

Monday, Randall Doctor pleaded guilty as charged without a plea agreement to manufacturing marijuana and felony firearms. Sentencing is set for April 17.

Two victims allege Doctor, now 60, sexually assaulted several boys in the 1970s and 1980s when he was the leader of the Cadets program at the Fifth Reformed Church. He has not been charged because the alleged abuse happened when Michigan had a statue of limitations on first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a child.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

February 21, 2015

McKendree University President James M. Dennis is drawing criticism from SNAP for allowing our town’s Fr. Maurice Nutt to speak on campus. For those with short memories, in 2001, Nutt resigned as city police commissioner after being sued for allegedly sexually harassing three officers offering them to view adult and child porn with one of them. The former “St. Rock” pastor now heads Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans. (Nutt has a doctorate in preaching but not in spelling on his website. The word “university” is misspelled.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

As Pope Francis approaches his second papal anniversary, he has finally shown his plan. He has shown at least enough to indicate why his plan will fail. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Francis poses with soccer stars endlessly and “globetrots” aimlessly, while the Vatican sinks.

A prominent and informed Jesuit has already, in effect, declared that the Pope, and the Council of Cardinals the pope picked and leads, do not know what they are doing !!!

Indeed, Pope Francis’ latest desperate distraction, to try to salvage his doomed plan, appears to be to drum up support for a new “Christian crusade” against the ISIS terrorists. Unfortunately for the dangerous plans of the pope and his likely latest US culture warrior, Jeb Bush, ISIS’ days as a serious Western threat appear to be already numbered, even without a new crusade. ISIS should be well contained by the time Hillary Clinton defeats Jeb and his brother’s old war prone foreign policy team in next year’s US presidential elections — bad news for the Vatican and its billionaire donors, as discussed here, “The cracks in Islamic State’s business plan are starting to show” at,

[Reuters]

Catholics will now need to stop wishful thinking. They need to press their governments to clean up the Vatican promptly. Catholic Church leaders, we now know for sure, will never do so unless compelled to do so by outside democratic forces.

The pope’s plan has been fairly simple: Protect at all costs Church leaders and wealth, not by making Church leaders accountable and law abiding, but mainly by shoring up alliances with major world political and financial players. The plan sought:

* To protect cardinals and bishops from governmental investigators and criminal prosecutors
* To protect Church leaders’ assets from excessive corruption and from lawyers for priest sex abuse survivors
* To protect unaccountable bishops’ local monopolies over their dioceses and the local Catholic faithful
* To protect bishops’ key salesmen — their captive celibate priests who collect top Church leaders’ money and who depend on bishops’ to survive
* To create an illusion, through public imagery and misleading promises, that the Vatican is changing its immoral ways, as well as its warped teachings that are designed mainly to preserve and protect the Church leaders’ power and wealth.

The pope’s plan has failed already. Child abuse and financial scandal revelations keep generating more bad press and intrusive investigations faster than the pope’s spinners can find more babies for him to kiss.

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UNITED STATES
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Leading voices around the world try to push the Catholic Church further toward justice.

The Vatican’s protection of bishops complicit in recycling clergy sex abusers is a front-burner issue for Alberto Athié, one of Mexico’s most respected public figures.

Last July, when Pope Francis met with abuse survivors in Rome, Athié posted an open letter asking the pope to dismiss Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera for his defense over many years of the long-accused pedophile and founder of the Legion of Christ religious order Father Marcial Maciel.

Athié’s manifesto, signed by 128 abuse survivors, lawyers and supportive groups, called for reforms in the way church leadership handles abuse cases — and the loophole that gives bishops full discretion and has kept Pope Francis from making significant progress in his efforts to create a “zero tolerance” policy.

“They know that such behavior existed within the institution, and the [internal] mechanism is precisely what prolonged the abuse,” Athié told GroundTruth in an email this week. “The damage caused by bishops, cardinals and the Holy See for years of protecting abusers must be confronted.”

Athié argues that Rivera bears responsibility beyond the Maciel case, which stained the tenures of Pope John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict.

“Cardinal Norberto Rivera,” Athié recently told a prominent journalist, Carmen Aristegui, “has systematically hidden pederasts and more so, deceived the victims.” …

Father Bruce Teague of the Springfield, Mass. diocese, was abused as a boy by a pastor in Dorchester. After dealing with his trauma over many years he forged ties with other survivors, speaking out against bishops. As a priest, he stood at the grave of his perpetrator, offering forgiveness.

Teague is prominent in the small society of church whistleblowers.

“A priest would get up in the morning, go down and say Mass, molest a child, come up and have breakfast. How could that be? I still can’t understand it at all, but that’s what happened, over and over again.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Saturday, Feb. 21

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

On Monday, Gary P. Wolken, a serial child predator and defrocked Catholic priest, will walk free from a prison in Bonne Terre Missouri. In his 40s, he’s charismatic, charming, well-educated and well-spoken, so he’ll have plenty of chances to molest again.

That’s why we urge St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson to do a bit more, for once, about a predator priest. We urge him to:

–start this weekend personally visiting every parish where Wolken worked,
–beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police,
–make this plea in church bulletins and websites (including the archdiocesan website),
–use the archdiocesan newspaper to also prod people with information and suspicions about Wolken to call law enforcement, and
–hold a news conference to warn parents, parishioners and the public about Wolken, stressing that he might face more charges – and be kept away from more kids – if everyone who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes speaks up.

We ask Carlson to do this kind of outreach for one simple reason: it’s effective. Pleas to victims to “speak up” help bring forward others who are suffering in silence, shame and self-blame. They help police and prosecutors pursue predators. And they’re what Carlson should do to restore faith in the Catholic hierarchy and safeguard the Catholic flock.

(We believe it’s disingenuous and dangerous for bishops to recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, supervise, transfer and shield predator priests, but then defrock them when their crimes hit the headlines and do nothing else to protect the vulnerable from them.)

Wolken “admitted exposing himself to a boy, inappropriately touching him, and having oral sex with him over a three-year period, beginning when the child was 5,” according to the Associated Press. The crimes took place in Ballwin as Wolken baby-sat him from August 1997 to July 2000.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

This Wednesday evening, February 25, 2015 from 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM, the Hofstra University (900 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11550 on Long Island) Irish Studies Program will present the one-person, award-winning play, “Magdalen,” at the Spiegel Theater, South Campus, California Avenue (with parking adjacent to the theater building). Admission is free but space is limited.

Written and performed by Erin Layton, “Magdalen” is inspired by the true stories of the women and girls who passed through as unpaid, slave laborers in one of Ireland’s many Magdalen Laundries in the mid-twentieth century.

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NEDERLAND
Breda Vandaag

Freek de Swart18 februari 2015

BREDA – Onlangs kwam pater Jan van D. weer in het nieuws dankzij een uitzending van Brandpunt. De pater wordt als sinds de jaren 70 beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik. Niet alleen in België, maar ook in Brazilië waar hij een weeshuis runt. De pater is lid van de congregatie Priesters van het Heilig hart van Jezus dat bestuurd wordt vanuit Breda. Deze erkent dat er veel verhalen de ronde gaan over Jan, maar weigert hem te laten vallen. “Een ouder die zijn kind verkeerd ziet gaan, laat toch ook pas op het laatste moment los?”

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ITALIA
Ravenna and Dintorni

[He was parish priest in the seaside town from 2001 to 2014 then the arrest. Now under house arrest in a rehabilitation center in Umbria. He admitted the relationship with the children entrusted by their families. The survey started from Facebook.]

È stato parroco nella località costierà dal 2001 al 2014 poi l’arresto. Oggi ai domiciliari in una struttura riabilitativa in Umbria. Ha ammesso i rapporti con i ragazzi affidati dalle famiglie. L’indagine partita da Facebook

A metà marzo le porte del tribunale di Ravenna si apriranno per don Giovanni Desio, il 53enne originario di Milano e parroco di Casalborsetti per tredici anni fino allo scorso aprile quando venne arrestato dalla polizia: davanti al giudice per l’udienza preliminare comincerà il processo con l’accusa di violenza sessuale su quattro minorenni. Il prete ha ammesso di aver avuto rapporti con loro, ragazzi che frequentavano la parrocchia anche provenendo da altre zone di Italia in occasione di periodi di vacanza con le famiglie sul litorale.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican Pension Fund says there is no risk of a possible “default” as analysts suggested on the basis of some interviews held with finance super-minister Pell

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

“We feel safe as far as pensions are concerned.” These were the words used by the Holy See spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi to sum up a detailed statement issued by the Vatican Pensions Fund, which claims there is no risk of a possible “default” as suggested by analysts on the basis of some (misinterpreted) interviews given by the Vatican’s super-minister of finance, Cardinal George Pell, who told the Catholic Herald: “Apart from the pension fund, which needs to be strengthened for the demands on it in 15 or 20 years, the Holy See is paying its way, while possessing substantial assets and investments.”

In its statement the Fund revealed that “since for some months, and amplified by press reports, alarming data has been circulating regarding the situation of the Vatican Pensions Fund and on the sustainability of honouring the commitments undertaken towards present and future subscribers, the Managing Board of the Fund and the College of Auditors consider it opportune to officially communicate the actuarial situation, assets and income of the aforementioned Fund, as it appears in the actuarial Technical Financial Statements drawn up by the actuary and the Financial Statements regularly approved by the Secretary of State.”

“With regard to the actuarial aspect,” the statement reads, “there is a substantial balance between available resources and commitments to current and future employees, due also to interventions (approved by the Secretary of State following proposals by the Managing Board) both in terms of contributions (increase of rates throughout the years up to the current rate of 26% on the total of taxable income) and in relation to performance (increase of two years of working life, raising the age of retirement to 67 for laypersons and 72 for clergy and persons religious. The working Statements also show, throughout the years, the solidity of the assets and financial structure of the Fund itself. The funding ratio of the Pensions Fund is 95%.”

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VATICAN CITY
The StarPhoenix

BY NICOLE WINFIELD, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FEBRUARY 21, 2015

The Vatican’s pension fund insisted Friday that it’s in decent financial health, issuing its first public accounting to try to dispel what it called “alarmist information” about a shortfall circulating in the media.

The Vatican’s financial czar, Cardinal George Pell, has raised concern about the fund’s long-term health in recent newspaper interviews, saying it is sufficiently funded for the next 10 to 15 years but needs to be strengthened for future generations.

In a statement, the fund managers said they had taken many steps already to address future commitments, including raising the retirement age and pension contributions, and that the fund was expected to top 500 million euros ($712 million) by the end of 2015 after having started out with the equivalent of five million euros ($7.12 million) in 1993.

Pell was tasked last year by Pope Francis to put the Vatican’s finances in order after years of mismanagement, waste and scandal. But questions have swirled about the scope of his power amid resistance from the Vatican legal office to his proposals for sweeping oversight.

He also raised eyebrows by boasting in an essay that he had “discovered” hundreds of millions of euros that didn’t appear on the Vatican’s balance sheets.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

FEBRUARY 21, 2015

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Newark is playing down the significance of removing “archbishop” from the annual fundraising appeal. An archdiocesan spokesman told The Record the appeal is “not so much identified with one individual.” Well, it is. And that was the problem.

Archbishop John Myers will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 next year. He will retire well. Very well. Into a more than 7,000-square-foot mansion in Hunterdon County. The existing 4,500-square-foot home wasn’t big enough for the archbishop, so the archdiocese is spending $500,000 to expand it. The lavish retirement digs have not sat well with parishioners. Last year’s appeal, despite an improved economy, took in $200,000 less than the year before.

Despite calls by many to sell the home, Myers has not. His stance is in direct conflict with the one taken by Pope Francis, who has shunned the lavish trappings of the papacy, choosing to live in simple accommodations. Francis has rebuked bishops who live like kings and princes. The pope has placed a coadjutor archbishop in Newark, Bernard Hebda, who is expected to succeed Myers after the archbishop retires.

The archdiocese has long said Hebda’s presence in Newark has nothing to do with Myers’ poor handling of a priest who violated an agreement made with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to stay away from minors; that Myers just asked Rome for help and got it. But Hebda is a sign that the doings in Newark were not going unnoticed by the Vatican. Rebranding the annual appeal may help fundraising, but it is unlikely that donors are unaware who the archbishop of Newark is regardless of whether the word “archbishop” is on the appeal literature.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Information Nigeria

A priest who went on the run after sexually assaulting a woman has been jailed for eight months.

Father Hilary Ogom Nwadei, 58, pleaded guilty to handling the woman’s bosoms and exposing himself while staying at St Mary’s Priory in Leyland.

Nwadei, from the Diocese of Issele-Uku, Delta State, Nigeria, began staying at the Priory in September 2013 while he studied a doctorate in law at the University of Central Lancashire, and also preached to the congregation.

During that time he complained of loneliness and befriended his victim who he regularly confided in and often hugged during these exchanges.

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ALABAMA
Lagniappe

By: JASON JOHNSON

Lawyers for St. Pius X Catholic School said the year-old sexual misconduct allegations stirred up recently have “opened up a can of worms” and are ultimately unrelated to the four bullying lawsuits that led to them being made more public.

Mark Redditt, one of the school’s attorneys, made those statements during a hearing in Judge Ben Brooks’ courtroom this morning, resulting in a 101-day extension that will allow the plaintiffs to conduct additional depositions.

Rev. Johnny Savoie, a pastor at St. Pius X Catholic School, was accused of sexual misconduct in early 2014, though no charges were ever filed.

Mobile’s Archdiocese made headlines earlier this week after court documents showed its attorneys made a significant attempt in another St. Pius case to prevent the depositions of several individuals thought to have knowledge of an alleged case of sexual misconduct between the school’s pastor, Johnny S. Savoie, and a 16-year-old boy.

The plaintiffs have attempted to confirm whether St. Pius officials or their attorneys reached out to law enforcement when the allegations of seuxal misconduct first surfaced.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – With about seven months to go before Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, the Archdiocese confirmed its fundraising is on track to its $45 million goal.

They say that to date, $30 million dollars in cash and in-kind donations have been pledged in anticipation of the Papal visit in late September.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says the current pledges put the fundraising effort at 67 percent toward the estimated budget and fundraising goal.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput says, “Wonderful generosity and great enthusiasm for the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis have defined our initial fundraising efforts. From those supporting this event, we have often heard about the fundamental importance of the family in strengthening our communities at-large, and regardless of faith, all have expressed a desire to support the institution of the family, which is the cornerstone of our society. There is also great excitement about the visit by Pope Francis and how his presence in Philadelphia next September will bring people of all faiths together in conversation, service and ultimately, love.”

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MINNESOTA
Cannon Falls Beacon

[(St. Paul, MN) – Correction by Jeff Anderson & Associates, P.A. concerning Father Marvin Klaers.

Information was reported in the Cannon Falls Beacon which is inaccurate regarding the number of people we know about who have accused Father Klaers. Our office represents one survivor who has provided a notice of claim to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis concerning an allegation of sexual abuse as a minor. We represent no other survivors of abuse by Fr. Klaers. We also have not received telephone calls regarding sexual abuse of minors by Fr. Klaers.]

by Mike Dalton

Fr. Marvin Klaers, who served Catholic parishes in Hampton, Miesville and New Trier, was among 17 men named on a new list of alleged abusers released recently.

Klaers was ordained in 1950, and served as an associate pastor in New Ulm and Shakopee before coming to St. Mathias in Hampton in 1965. He spent time in St. Paul before serving St. Joseph in Miesville and St. Mary’s in New Trier from 1975 until his retirement in October, 2002. He continued to serve area parishes following his retirement.

A letter distributed at St. Joseph Sunday to parishioners stated that there is an allegation of abuse from 35 to 37 years ago against Klaers, who was serving St. Mary’s in New Trier at the time. However, an attorney at Jeff Anderson and Associates said there are currently two claims against Klaers, and several phone calls claiming sexual abuse of minors by Klaers have recently been received.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A former priest convicted of child sexual abuse has been formally dismissed from the Catholic Church by the Pope.

In a statement Bishop Noel Treanor said that James Donaghy is not permitted to function as a priest under any circumstance, in public or private.

Donaghy stepped down from his duties in March 2004.

He was originally from Lady Wallace Drive in Lisburn, and served as a priest in the west Belfast parish of Corpus Christi in Ballymurphy.

He was convicted of a string of sex abuse charges following two trials in 2011 and 2013 and is serving a 10 year jail sentence.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on February 20, 2015

Archbishop John Myers is clinging to his office despite the passionate opposition he inspired by his lavish spending of church funds on his retirement home.

This year, though, the diocese is apparently feeling some shame, and has removed his name from the annual fund-raising drive. It’s no longer the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal; it’s been renamed Sharing God’s Blessing Appeal.

From a strictly business standpoint, this makes great sense. Last year 22,000 parishioners signed a petition objecting to Myers money grab, and many of them protested by refusing to donate.

Who can blame them? Myers’ thirst for luxury can only be described as bizarre. His retirement home had five bedrooms, a three-car garage, and elevator and a large swimming pool.

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NEW JERSEY
Press-Telegram

By Sean Carlin, Associated Press
POSTED: 02/19/15

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A co-defendant told undercover FBI agents looking for a divorce that a fellow rabbi on trial for allegedly torturing men into granting divorces was a “hired hand.”

Mendel Epstein is accused of using a kidnap team to force Jewish men to divorce their wives. His attorney, Robert Stahl, disputes the charges and says Epstein is a “champion of women’s rights.”

On Thursday, prosecutors played recordings made by FBI agents posing as a brother and sister trying to obtain a divorce from the sister’s husband.

The other rabbi is heard saying that Epstein could be a “hired hand” to help them. Epstein speaks with the agents later that day and agrees to meet them.

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NEW JERSEY
The Journal News

TRENTON, N.J. – When two undercover agents called posing as a brother and sister looking to obtain a divorce from the sister’s unwilling husband, a Monsey rabbi told them that New Jersey Rabbi Mendel Epstein was a “hired hand” who could be “very helpful” to them.

Epstein “is a hired hand,” Rabbi Martin “Mordechai” Wolmark is heard telling the agents in 2013. “Mendel Epstein’s not a bad guy, he’s a good guy. … He’ll be very helpful.”

Prosecutors played those recordings on Thursday, the second day of trial for Epstein and his three co-defendants: son David Epstein, Jay Goldstein and Binyamin Stimler.

Mendel Epstein is accused of employing a kidnap team to force unwilling Jewish husbands to divorce their wives. The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping stemming from a staged kidnapping in 2013 and three other forced divorces.

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NEW JERSEY
New York Daily News

BY REUVEN BLAU NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Prodfather was referred to as a “special” rabbi who worked as a “hired hand” to help Jewish women obtain their religious divorces, a recording revealed Thursday.

The remark was made during a conversation between Rabbi Martin Wolmark, 56, and an undercover agent posing as a Jewish woman in desperate need of help to convince her husband to give her a religious divorce called a get.

Wolmark told her the woman the potential beatdown procedure could be “very costly” and that she needed the assistance of Rabbi Mendel Epstein. The woman was charged $60,000, according to prosecutors.

“You need special rabbis who are going to take this thing and see it through to the end,” Wolmark, 56, said in the call played in federal court in New Jersey.

“It’s a process,” he added, noting a Jewish court would first have to authorize the group of rabbis to take action.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Lakewood Rabbi Mendel Epstein is known for helping Orthodox Jewish couples through divorces, but federal prosecutors say he, his son and two other rabbis went too far.

Mendel Epstein is accused of employing a kidnap team to force unwilling Jewish husbands to divorce their wives. The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping stemming from a staged kidnapping in 2013 and three other forced divorces.

When two undercover agents called posing as a brother and sister looking to obtain a divorce from the sister’s unwilling husband, a New York rabbi told them that Mendel Epstein was a “hired hand” who could be “very helpful” to them.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jewish Daily Forward

(Reuters) — An undercover FBI agent testified on Thursday in a case involving three Orthodox Jewish rabbis in New Jersey accused of kidnapping and beating husbands to force them to grant divorces under Jewish law to their wives.

Special Agent Jessica Weisman, who went by the name Rachel Marconi during the operation, said she weaved a complicated back story designed to provide a plausible excuse to the rabbis to explain why she knew no one from the close-knit Orthodox community in Lakewood, New Jersey.

She told them of a husband in Argentina and provided them with fake wedding photos and counterfeit marriage contracts.

The three rabbis – Mendel Epstein, Binyamin Stimler and Jay Goldstein – and Epstein’s son David are accused of kidnapping or trying to kidnap men and torturing them with beatings and stun guns until they agreed to divorce their wives. Prosecutors say the events took place between 2009 and 2013.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Jay Michaelson
Published February 20, 2015

Now that Rabbi Barry Freundel has pleaded guilty to peeping at 52 women while they went to the mikveh — prosecutors say he spied on 100 more women, but outside the statute of limitations — we finally can take off the qualifiers and accept that he is guilty. And that means we can begin some much-needed, and largely absent, soul-searching.

One hopes that it is only the delay in legally establishing

Freundel’s guilt that has caused some of his most ardent supporters (prior to the scandal) to remain so uncharacteristically silent.

There are, I think, two categories of such people: those with institutional positions, and those who considered Freundel their teacher and friend.

Among those in the former category are the Orthodox rabbinic umbrella organization the Rabbinical Council of America, and those in leadership positions at Kesher Israel. Here, the discourse is like that of other scandals: who knew what, when; what could have been done differently; what policies are being changed.

Because these are familiar dynamics, and because others have written about them already, they are of secondary interest to me. Soon after the allegations surfaced, the RCA provided a (hopefully exhaustive) account of complaints it had received about Freundel. If that account is complete, it doesn’t amount to much.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Pilot

This week I have been in Rome for meetings leading up to the Consistory for the creation of new cardinals tomorrow, Valentine’s Day. As I mentioned in my last post, from last Friday to Sunday we held our first plenary session of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission now consists of 17 members from nations all over the world. They all are very competent, dedicated, and passionate people. It was a very productive meeting and there were a number of different ideas set forth by the group. I am so pleased to have this larger and more diverse group, which I know is going to enrich our work. I was very pleased with the spirit of the different commission members and very grateful for their commitment. On Sunday (2/8), the commission members celebrated Mass together at the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians within the Vatican. It is the church of the Ethiopian Catholics (the same rite as the Ethiopians and Eritreans who gather every Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston) and is just behind the Pontifical Ethiopian College. The church has been used by the Ethiopians for about the past 500 years, though the history of the building itself goes back nearly 1,500 years.

Various meetings in Rome

Thursday (2/12), along with many of the new cardinals, I was invited for dinner at the British Embassy to the Holy See. There were a number of different bishops there from nations in the British Commonwealth as well as the representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Following our meetings of the commission, we entered into several days of meetings of the group of cardinals advising the Holy Father on reform of the Roman Curia. As always, the Holy Father was with us throughout our meetings, except for Wednesday during the General Audience. We are still working on several recommendations for the reform of the Curia, as well as on a number of other issues that the Holy Father has brought before us.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

Oklahoma City Archbishop removes secretly married priest from church leadership

By CARLA HINTON The Oklahoman

OKLAHOMA CITY – A beloved Roman Catholic priest who secretly married has been removed from his post as administrator of a prominent downtown church, The Oklahoman has learned.

Friday, Diane Clay, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley removed the Rev. Dan Letourneau as administrator of St. Joseph Old Cathedral, 307 NW 4, for a personal matter that does not involve any illegal activity.

In a statement to The Oklahoman, Coakley said he learned about Letourneau’s marriage after removing him from his post.

“After I removed Father Dan Letourneau from his assignment at St. Joseph Old Cathedral on Tuesday, it came to my attention that he had recently entered into a civil marriage,” Coakley said.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff
Posted Feb. 20, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge ordered a Freeport man accused of defaming a former Catholic priest to pay his opponents’ legal fees as punishment for defying a court order.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock on Friday found Paul Kendrick in contempt of court for releasing confidential information gathered in the discovery process of a lawsuit against him.

As punishment, Woodcock ordered Kendrick to pay for the work the opposing attorneys did in reaction to that release of confidential information. But the judge stopped short of granting the plaintiffs a default judgment in the case, a sanction sought by the plaintiffs and one that would have effectively found Kendrick guilty of the greater defamation claim before ever reaching trial.

Former Catholic brother Michael Geilenfeld and a nonprofit in which he’s involved are suing Kendrick for defamation — Kendrick publicly accused the former priest of sexually abusing children — as Geilenfeld faces potential criminal sex abuse charges in Haiti.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

About the celebrated Mennonite theologian (and serial sexual abuser of women* who were his students or had sought his pastoral counseling), Mennonite pastor and poet Hillary Kobernick thinks we’re asking the wrong question. As she notes, even after the history of Yoder’s predatory activities over many years is becoming clear, Kobernick continues to encounter people asking how we can use his work and honor him as an advocate for peace — sanitizing the story of the life from which this work proceeds, as it were.

Kobernick reports that she recently met a student who told her he was drawn to Anabaptist Mennonite Theological Seminary, where Yoder once taught, by Yoder’s legacy. The student asked Kobernick how we can continue to use Yoder’s work, then suggested his own answer to that question:

Yoder was brilliant. He’s such an articulate thinker and he lays such an important foundation for Mennonites. I think we can still redeem his work and use it to represent our church.

Kobernick’s powerful reply:

I asked him if he was, as he seemed to be, a straight white male with no history of sexual abuse. He said he was. Then I got angry, and with less grace than I wished I had. “That is not your question,” I said. “You do not get to decide how we use Yoder’s scholarship. You don’t get to answer anything. Your job, right now, is to sit down and listen to the women who were abused. Women who are in their 60’s and 70’s now who have spent 40 years keeping their mouths shut. They took the brunt of the pain. They suffered for us, among us, so we could maintain our rosy-eyed ignorance about the man himself. Why don’t you bring this question to them, and let them answer it in their own good time? It might take years, but it’s not your job to answer.”

As she concludes, what’s at stake in this discussion isn’t really the question of John Howard Yoder per se. What’s at stake is recognizing that an entire sorry system of men who control things, dispose of other human beings as human garbage, allocate power so that they themselves predictably have it and no one else does, stands behind a Yoder and his predatory behavior. That system is called patriarchy, and as Kobernick notes, it’s “about men in power who think they are untouchable and so they can touch whatever they want.”

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GERMANY
Idaho Statesman

LIMBURG, GERMANY — The diocese of Limburg in western Germany announced Friday that it would open the controversial $34 million residence of former bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst for public events.

The controversial complex of buildings that make up the lavish bishop’s palace would be “demystified and demythologized” by the move, the diocese said Friday in a statement.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst, dubbed the “bling bishop” for his extravagant lifestyle, was reprimanded by Pope Francis and removed from his position before being given a new role in the Vatican.

Tebartz-van Elst had drawn heavy criticism from many quarters for the multimillion dollar renovation of the palace that came to light in a report commissioned by the German Catholic Church.

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CALIFORNIA
Huffington Post

By Carol Kuruvilla

Posted: 02/20/2015

Catholic students in San Francisco are speaking out against their archbishop — and they chose one of the holiest days on the church’s calendar to do so.

On Ash Wednesday, hundreds of students and parents, some with ashes still streaked across their foreheads, gathered outside Saint Mary’s Cathedral to protest morality clauses for Catholic school teachers promoted by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, ABC News’ local affiliate reported.

Hannah Regan, a 14-year-old student at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, was one of the many who sang and recited prayers outside the church. She’s been in the city’s Catholic school system for about 10 years and loves the community she’s grown up with. But on Wednesday, she came out with a challenge, holding up a sign that read, “Teach Love, Teach Justice, Teach Acceptance.”

The hashtag #TeachAcceptance has become a rallying cry, she said.

“The message we’re trying to get across is that we support all of our teachers, no matter their gender, sexuality, religion or race,” Hannah told The Huffington Post via a phone call. “The majority of students are very concerned about our teachers and all we want to do is show our love and support.”

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