UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Phyllis Zagano | Feb. 11, 2015 Just Catholic

You don’t have to speak Italian to understand the Vatican’s recent “Women’s Cultures” events, but it could help. (It was all in Italian.)

The Pontifical Council for Culture touted its meetings as analyses of the status of the world’s 3.5 billion women. (About 43 million of them speak Italian.)

The council’s offensive Christmas-week infomercial was supposed to crowdsource a video for its opening event, which did flash a few (unreadable) submissions toward its end. The avant garde production in Teatro Argentina, a Roman opera house, included a jazz trio, professionally produced videos and scripted declamations. (All in Italian.)

What are we to make of all this? The Pontifical Council for Culture seems to be the Vatican’s faculty of arts and letters. Like all Vatican councils and congregations, it is predominantly male. It includes 13 cardinals, 14 bishops and four “men of culture.” It has 35 consultors, including seven women. Its 16-person staff has male professionals and four female secretaries. It is headed by four clerics: a prefect, a delegate, a secretary and an undersecretary. Such is the crowd that set out to advise the pope on women. (In Italian.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The new head of an inquiry into historical child sex abuse has said she is willing to discuss the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the inquiry.

On Wednesday, Justice Lowell Goddard told the Home Affairs Select Committee she would raise it with the Home Secretary Theresa May if she felt it was appropriate.

Ms May has already said the inquiry will be confined to England and Wales.

But there have been a number of calls for Kincora Boys’ Home to be included.

Three senior care staff at the east Belfast children’s home were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys in their care.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 11 February 2015

A senior orthodox Jewish rabbi who was forced to resign as director of a religious centre over remarks about child sex abuse victims says he has been made a “sacrificial lamb”.

On Wednesday Rabbi Yosef Feldman resigned from his position at the Sydney Yeshivah Centre, which runs schools, youth camps and prayer services, because of the backlash after comments he made to the royal commission into institutional responses into child sex abuse.

Giving evidence, he said perpetrators of child sex abuse should be granted leniency if they had stopped offending and had repented to God; massaging a child inappropriately was not a criminal act; it was not necessary to report to the police an alleged sex offender who was about to leave the country.

He also told the commission that despite holding a senior position within a school, he did not know about mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) Church leaders have been arriving in Rome from around the world for a two day meeting of the College of Cardinals which precedes the public consistory taking place on Saturday and Sunday.

During the closed door meeting in the Synod Hall, which opens on Thursday morning, the Church leaders will be discussing proposed reforms of the Curia that the Group of 9 cardinals has been working on earlier this week. They are expected to include some decentralisation of governance from Rome to local bishops conferences, as well as greater transparency and closer cooperation among all the different parts of the Roman Curia.

British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has been a vocal supporter of such changes which, he says, were at the heart of discussions prior to the conclave that elected Pope Francis nearly two years ago. Philippa Hitchen caught up with him ahead of the meeting to find out more about his expectations for this encounter….

The retired archbishop of Westminster says that many cardinals have been vocal about the need for reform, especially in the days before the conclave when they were speaking about the need to tackle challenges facing the Church, here in Rome and elsewhere.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Catholic News Service posted Thursday, 12 Feb 2015

Proposals for changes to structure of the Curia emerging at the Vatican

High-level discussions are continuing on how exactly to reform the Roman Curia, but the idea of consolidating several offices into two large groups — one with family, laity and life, and the other with justice and peace, migrants and charity — seems to be taking form, the Vatican spokesman has said.

Briefing reporters yesterday, the third day of meetings of Pope Francis’s international Council of Cardinals, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, insisted “there is not and has never been” a draft document of a constitution providing a new list of all Curia offices and their responsibilities.

But there does seem to be a “concrete” and “more developed” proposal to put the pontifical councils for laity and for the family, along with the Academy for Life into one office and the pontifical councils for justice and peace, Cor Unum (charity) and migrants and travelers into another, he said.

“It does not seem to me that there are many other concrete ideas” that are ready for discussion by the entire College of Cardinals, Fr Lombardi said.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 12, 2015

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis begin a rare meeting with some 150 Catholic cardinals to discuss reform of the Vatican bureaucracy by calling on them to speak boldly and to keep in mind the “supreme law,” which he called the “salvation of souls.”

Opening what is known as a consistory, a closed-door meeting of the world’s cardinals at the Vatican, the pope also called on the prelates to help him in building “more effective collaboration” amongst church offices “in that absolute transparency that builds authentic synodality and collegiality.”

Speaking of the reform process that he has undertaken over the past 18 months with a select group of nine cardinals, Francis said reform of the Vatican bureaucracy “is not an end in itself.”

Reform of the bureaucracy, said the pontiff, is “but a means to give a strong Christian witness; to promote a more effective evangelization; to promote a more fruitful ecumenical spirit; to encourage a more constructive dialogue with all.”

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VATICAN CITY
CTV

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, February 12, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Thursday urged his cardinals to co-operate in reforming the outdated and dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy, saying the overhaul will help him govern the Catholic Church better and spread the faith more effectively.

Francis summoned cardinals from around the world to hear proposals for revamping the central government of the 1.2-billion-strong church. The proposals include merging offices and reducing waste.

Opening the meetings, Francis said the aim was to encourage greater harmony and collaboration in “absolute transparency,” to help the church spread the faith and reach out to others.

“Certainly, reaching that goal won’t be easy. It needs time, determination and above all the collaboration of everyone,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

BY PHILIP PULLELLA
VATICAN CITY Thu Feb 12, 2015

(Reuters) – Pope Francis, starting two days of closed-door meetings with the world’s Roman Catholic cardinals, on Thursday called for greater efficiency and transparency in the Church’s troubled central administration, the Curia.

Francis was elected in 2013 with a mandate from the cardinals who chose him to reform the Curia, and has made plain his determination to bring the Church’s hierarchy closer to its 1.2 billion members.

In brief, public comments before the meetings started, he said Church administrators should strive for “greater harmony in work of the various departments and offices, in order to realize a more efficient collaboration based on absolute transparency”.

The Italian-dominated Curia’s power struggles and leaks were widely held responsible for Benedict XVI’s decision two years ago to become the first pope in six centuries to resign.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A senior Australian rabbi doesn’t think any of his peers these days would fail to tell police about reports of child sex abuse.

Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick has told a royal commission into child sexual abuse he never felt there was a religious, or Jewish community, barrier to reporting sex abuse cases to authorities.

His fellow rabbis today would agree with this view, but this was not always the case, he said.

‘I cannot think of a rabbi, that I know of, that would not agree with this policy of reporting any such things to police and acting correctly and properly with the victims of abuse,’ Rabbi Gutnick told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

THE RABBI who presided over Melbourne’s Yeshivah College as principal at a time when staff were abusing children says his responsibility to ensure students’ safety existed “in theory” but was never spelt out.

Rabbi Abraham Glick joined Yeshivah College — part of Melbourne’s Orthodox Chabad community — as a teacher in 1970, becoming head of Jewish studies from 1974 and principal from 1988 to 2007.

He was involved in a decision to send teacher and rabbi David Kramer to Israel in 1992 when an abuse allegation was made, and also served as principal while Yeshivah worker David Cyprys was abusing boys in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Rabbi Glick today told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he only knew “in principle, in theory” that as principal he had a responsibility to be aware of issues that might put children at risk of abuse.

“It was never spelt out as such,” he said.

“I suppose at some level one could argue that yes, as principal that was my responsibility. If one understands the way Yeshivah actually operated it’s not so clear,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

A former principal of Yeshivah College in Melbourne has reluctantly admitted that covering up abuse at the Yeshivah centre was a “big mistake”, but he denies knowing about it.

Former teacher and principal Rabbi Abraham Glick worked closely with the head rabbi of the Yeshivah Community Rabbi Dovid Groner in the 1980s.

At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Rabbi Glick was read a list of extensive offending by convicted paedophile David Cyrprys between 1983 to 1992.

Counsel assisting the commission, Maria Gerace challenged Rabbi Glick’s statement that children did not tell their parents what Cyrprys was doing.

Ms Gerace said a parent of a victim told Rabbi Groner of the abuse in 1984 and Cyrprys went on to abuse three other children, before another parent reported abuse in 1986.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A rabbi who was principal of a Melbourne Jewish college when some students were sexually abused admits mistakes were made in the handling of abuse cases.

But responsibility for this fell to another senior figure at Yeshivah College, the now deceased Rabbi Dovid Groner, says Rabbi Abraham Glick, who was principal from 1986 to 2007.

Rabbi Glick told the royal commission into child sex abuse that Rabbi Groner never told him about such cases, because he handled them in ‘strict confidence’.

‘I’m prepared to say that if he were alive today, I believe he would agree that that was a mistake. A big mistake,’ Rabbi Glick told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday.

The commission was told David Cyprys – a locksmith and martial arts instructor at the school – abused several children in the early 1980s, and that Rabbi Groner was aware of this in 1984.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thursday 12 February 2015

The former principal of an Orthodox Jewish school said he does not remember removing the scholarship of a student who reported to him that he had been sexually abused.

Rabbi Abraham Glick said he could not even remember the interstate student, identified only to the public as AVR, as having ever attended the school within the Yeshivah religious centre in Melbourne.

Glick appeared before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse on Thursday after AVR gave evidence on Monday.

AVR told the commission that in 1990 he was repeatedly raped by a security guard at the Yeshivah centre and college in Melbourne, David Cyprys, who in 2013 was convicted and jailed for his crimes.

But when he and his mother reported the abuse to Glick, AVR said his scholarship was stripped from him and he was sent home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Rabbi Abraham Glick resigns from Yeshivah College after fronting royal commission on child abuse

February 12, 2015

Jane Lee

After fronting the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Abuse on Thursday, Rabbi Abraham Glick, the former principal of Melbourne’s Yeshivah College over the period of David Cyprys’ and David Kramer’s sexual abuse of students, has resigned his current role of teacher, writes Jane Lee.

The former principal of Yeshivah College from the period that sex offenders David Cyprys and David Kramer were abusing students has resigned as a teacher at the school.

Rabbi Abraham Glick was the principal of Melbourne’s Yeshivah College between 1986 and 2007.

Asked at the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Abuse on Thursday whether he thought resigning from any remaining positions at the Yeshivah Centre and Yeshivah College “would assist the victims to move on from the wrongs of the past”, he announced that, after much “soul searching”, he had decided to resign as a teacher.

“I resigned because I felt that [will help meet the] needs of the victims that would want me to resign.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 12, 2015

A FORMER Yeshivah College principal was told about child sex crimes being perpetrated by staff as early as 1991 but failed to act, it has been alleged.

While the school was under the leadership of Rabbi Abraham Glick, at least 10 students were molested by staff at the school between 1988 and 2007 by teacher David Kramer and security guard David Cyprys.

Before the royal commission into child sex abuse, Rabbi Glick yesterday admitted the school covered up allegations, but denied any responsibility.

Cyprys had been allowed to continue working at the school despite pleading guilty to indecent assault in 1992. Kramer was moved to the US after complaints were made by parents in the early 1990s. Cyprys is in jail and Kramer has just been released from prison.

Rabbi Glick said that because of the way the school operated, his responsibility to be aware of such issues was “never spelt out”.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WVVA

PRINCETON, W.Va. (AP) – A former church youth volunteer in Bluefield is facing new charges of sexual abuse involving children.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph (http://bit.ly/1E25Ymt ) reports that an indictment has been returned against 56-year-old Timothy Probert.

Probert was arrested in December 2013 on three dozen counts of child sexual abuse-related charges. Sgt. M.D. Clemons of the West Virginia State Police say 12 new charges stem from another victim coming forward and additional charges being added in other cases.

Clemons said the charges involve nine young teenagers.

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AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)

11 February 2015 by Liz Dodd, Mark Brolly

The Church systematically failed abuse survivors in Australia, the royal commission has found.

In reports released today the commission strongly criticised the Church’s adherence to the Towards Healing protocol, the Australian bishops’ guidelines on handling abuse allegations.

In a number of cases it found that the Church did not act in accordance with these principles. In one instance it imposed an obligation of silence on a victim and in another it failed to provide assistance and spiritual direction.

It also said that the Sydney archdiocese and Cardinal George Pell deliberately fought the claims of one victim, John Ellis, to dissuade others from taking legal action.

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MINNESOTA
Hastings Star Gazette

Posted on Feb 11, 2015

A former priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New Trier was among 17 men named on a new list of alleged abusers released by a law firm based in the Twin Cities.

Rev. Marvin Klaers, who served at St. Mary’s from 1975 until 2002, was named on the list and has been accused of sexual abuse or misconduct with minors, according to the office of Twin Cities attorney Jeff Anderson. Anderson’s office said in a press release that the clergy whose “names were released have been identified in notice of claims submitted to the Archdiocese and its insurance carriers.”

In the press release, Anderson said: “Making this information known is another step towards transparency and is a testament to the courage of survivors.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

11 February 2015 By Jack Blanchard

Child sex crime in Britain is a huge international scandal, the new head of the Government’s abuse inquiry warned.

Justice Lowell Goddard, from New Zealand, told MPs: “There has been worldwide interest in this. I can’t say there has been anything like it that I can recollect in New Zealand.”

She was making her first appearance in Parliament after being appointed to head the inquiry into historic child abuse.

The previous two chiefs were forced to quit over ties to the British establishment.

Justice Goddard said she had no links to people relevant to the inquiry.

She flew to Britain on Monday to meet survivors’ groups before the hearing at the Commons home affairs committee.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 12, 2015 by admin

The Commission has extended its times of operation to accommodate all those scheduled to give evidence and the first to do so today was Melbourne’s Elwood Synagogue’s Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick.

Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick told the Commission that he had grown up with jailed offender David Cyprys’s father and that David Cyprys, now serving an 8-year sentence had served on the Board of the Elwood Shule. He resigned at the time of being charged.

Rabbi Gutnick told the Commission about the cultural differences between his modern orthodoxy congregation and the ultra-orthodox Yeshivah kehilah. He said: “There is a greater emphasis on strictness of performing the various Jewish rituals in the Chabad community that there may be in the ordinary orthodox community. They both keep the same laws but our congregation will have people who are not that observant.” He agreed with Maria Gerace, the Counsel assisting the Commission that the Yeshivah community was more “insular”.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

02/11/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

But I don’t think they meant to…

Earlier today, the Communications department of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis issued a statement regarding the disclosure of 4 additional names and histories of men ‘who have substantiated claims against them of sexually abusing a minor while they were assigned as priests, or, in the case of one, before he was a priest’. (the law firm of Jeff Anderson and Associates released 17 names today).

I would assume that most of us are rather tired by now of these oh-look-what-we-just-discovered disclosures, but today’s is particularly noteworthy because of who is included: Raimond Rose, FSC.

The news that Brother Rose has been credibly accused is not new. In 2010 a lawsuit was filed alleging that he had abused twenty-one minor victims at seven different schools, including De La Salle in Minneapolis. What is new is that the Archdiocese has mistakenly identified him as a member of the clergy, subject to the restrictions of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People/Essential Norms, and capable of being ‘removed from ministry’.

Brother Raimond Rose is a member of the Brothers of Christian Schools- an institute of lay men dedicated exclusively to the mission of education. They are not priests (and probably would be offended to be mistook for one)! Brother Rose did not abuse while a priest, nor did he abuse ‘before he was a priest’. He was never in formation to become a priest. That is simply not what Christian Brothers do.

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INDIA
News 4

Updated: Wednesday, February 11 2015

By JOSIE GARCIA News 4 San Antonio

BHOPAL, INDIA – A temple priest is accused of sexually assaulting a woman he was supposed to perform an exorcism on.

Nishatpura police said Santosh Kumar Kaushik told the 34-year-old woman that she was possessed by an evil spirit and needed to have an exorcism.

On February 6, he allegedly went to her home and told her husband to leave while the ritual was performed.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Rev. Jeff Hood
Baptist Pastor, Theologian and Activist

A few days ago, Pope Francis endorsed spanking. Believing that one can spank children and leave them with dignity, Pope Francis even called such a means of punishment, “beautiful.” Unless there are records or evidence of the Pope spanking children that are not his own, I don’t think that the Pope has much direct knowledge with this subject. In an age of serial and often unreported abuse of children in the Christian world, I can think of few more ignorant statements than for the Pope to give his blessing to the abuse of children. Some might argue that the language of abuse is too strong. I would argue that abuse always begins with the violent exercising of power over someone who is powerless and this is what the Pope has just endorsed.

I grew up in a Christian context where spanking was normal and often turned into abuse. There was nothing beautiful to me about being hit. I cannot imagine being hit in a way that was not demeaning or abusive. I remember the sting. I remember the lines. I remember the blood. I remember the bruises. I remember the pain. I remember being told that God endorsed and commanded what was happening to me. I remember despising any God that would be for the abuse of children. I almost left God altogether. I could not believe in a God that promoted the hitting and abuse of the innocent. Thankfully, I lived long enough to find out that God has nothing to do with the promotion of violence toward children.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Sun-Times

Emily McFarlan Miller

Two years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI announced before a gathering of cardinals he would step down as pope at the end of the month.

Seated on a gold throne, wrapped in a red, fur-lined cape, Benedict sounded tired as he noted his “advanced age” and deteriorating strength, as well as “rapid changes” in a world “shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith.”

“For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals,” he said in Latin.

A cameraman put his hand to his mouth.

A cardinal began to sob.

And then there was silence, according to an eyewitness account published last year in the Catholic Herald.

It was the first time a pope voluntarily had left the papacy in nearly 600 years.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com

The names of 17 more Roman Catholic clergy accused of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were released Wednesday by attorneys representing people who say they were victims.

Though some names have surfaced in discussions of abuse, none has been formally accused of sexually abusing children until now.

Attorney Jeff Anderson’s firm said a notice of claim has been filed with the archdiocese for each named clergy member. A claim is not a lawsuit, but a precursor to one. But because the archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy protection, no new lawsuits can be filed and the claims will be filed with U.S. Bankruptcy court as part of the chancery’s reorganization.

The 17 new names bring to 55 the number of clergy against whom Anderson’s firm has filed lawsuits or claims.

“The more information that gets out about the abuse here, the better our kids are protected,” said attorney Mike Finnegan, who works at the Anderson firm. “Also, having the names out there allows others who were abused by these people to know they are not alone and that they can come forward and get help now.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Feb 11, 2015

The St. Paul Cathedral Regina McCombs / MPR News file
The Twin Cities archdiocese and a St. Paul law firm released more names Wednesday of priests they said had been accused of sexually abusing children, but neither provided information on the allegations.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released four names and the law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates released 17 names. At least five of the men had already been identified publicly as alleged child abusers in lawsuits and media reports. MPR News is not naming most of the priests because of a lack of public information about the claims.

Also on Wednesday, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said his office had declined to file criminal charges against two clergy members for alleged sex abuse because of insufficient evidence.

Facing huge financial losses because of abuse claims, the archdiocese filed in January for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The judge overseeing the process has ordered the church, insurers and victims into mediation to establish a fair system for determining compensation.

In a written statement about the disclosure of names, Archbishop John Nienstedt said the four men named Wednesday by the archdiocese “have substantiated claims against them of sexually abusing a minor while they were assigned as priests or, in the case of one, before he was a priest.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An attorney has released the names of 17 clergy members accused of sexual abuse or misconduct with a minor in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis.

St. Paul lawyer Jeff Anderson said Wednesday the clergy were identified in notice of claims submitted to the archdiocese and its insurance carriers.

On the archdiocese’s website, Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens says the archdiocese hopes the posting will encourage those abused by priests to come forward to not only file claims but also for help in healing.

Cozzens notes that in most cases, the alleged conduct in the notice of claims happened decades ago.
Meanwhile, the archdiocese disclosed on its website the names of four men who have substantiated claims against them while they were priests or, in one case, before they became a priest.

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VATICAN CITY
DFW Catholic

Vatican City, Feb 11, 2015 / 01:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The secretary of the Council of Cardinals will present tomorrow at the consistory a proposal for curial reform based on the pivotal notion of charity, according to a source who has seen the latest draft of the proposal.

The nine-member Council of Cardinals met Feb. 9-11 with Pope Francis at the Vatican’s St. Martha house, continuing their discussion on the reform of the Roman Curia. The meeting precedes a Feb. 12-13 consistory also discussing the reform, and a Feb. 14-15 consistory for the creation of new cardinals.

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, who serves as coordinator of the Council of Cardinals, will report Thursday in front of the some 150 cardinals and cardinals-designate who are taking part in the consistory.

A source who has seen one of the latest updates of Bishop Semeraro’s draft told CNA Feb. 11 that “charity has now become pivotal in the new Congregation for Charity, Justice and Peace.”

The new congregation will include the Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace, Migrants, Cor Unum and Pastoral Health Care, and the first option was that of putting everything under the umbrella of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

PAUL GALLAGHER Author Biography Wednesday 11 February 2015

Several former panel members on the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry are refusing to return to their roles, having become worn down by the growing infighting between rival groups of campaigners, The Independent can reveal.

Graham Wilmer, Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans are said to be so fed up with splits among campaigners – and Home Secretary Theresa May’s decision to scrap the original eight-person panel after selecting New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard as the new chair – that they have told colleagues they will not bother reapplying for their roles.

Mr Wilmer, founder of The Lantern Project charity in Merseyside, and himself a former victim of sex abuse, said he would not be reapplying because he had been “led to understand that the new panel will not include any survivors”. He described his time since the Government’s inquiry began last year as “a five month nightmare” because of continuous infighting.

Ms Hearn, who spent more than 40 years working in children’s services, has faced calls to quit because of her previous employment at the National Children’s Bureau, where a leading member of the Paedophile Information Exchange, Peter Righton, worked as a consultant between 1972 and 1974.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 11

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

We’re sad that a youth minister has apparently molested another child. Now that victims are cooperating and law enforcement is taking action, it’s crucial that West Virginia Presbyterian officials work harder to find other who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Timothy Probert.

[Bluefield Daily Telegraph]

We especially call on Westminster Presbyterian Pastor Jonathan Rockness to more aggressively seek out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers and get them to call police and prosecutors. We’re glad Rockness apparently called police initially. But he and his staff and his flock can and should do more. They should issue a public call to anyone who may have information or suspicions about Probert to step forward. And they should make calls and send letters to former congregants who may have left the church because of Probert.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 12, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

Day 8 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing being held in Melbourne saw Nechama Bendet complete her evidence and former Chair Don Wolf give his.
General Manager of the the complex which makes up the Chabad Institutions of Australia, Yeshiva-Beth Rivka Colleges and Chabad Properties Inc Nechama Bendet told the Commission that advice was sought from a QC as to whether victims could be approached.

A key issue raised in the Commission was a meeting held by the Board of Management with the The Executive Council of Australian Jewry on the 4th of December, 2012 following the rejection of an offer to meet by The Jewish Community Council of Victoria. It was made clear that the Yeshiva was not affiliated with the ECAJ. The Commission heard that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to “deal with” or “respond to” the press and the allegations of child sexual abuse that was surfacing and had surfaced in the past”.

Bendet said it was a general meeting to see what the Yeshiva College was doing in regard to child sexual abuse matters. She said that “they wanted to know what processes and procedures we had in place”. Bendet agreed that she was aware that the ECAJ had “done a lot of work in the are of child sexual abuse”.

Don Wolf, former Chair of the committee of Management (COM) Yeshiva Centre, Melbourne gave his evidence today.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 9 February 2015)

A retired senior Catholic priest from western Sydney, Father Richard Cattell, is scheduled to appear in Sydney’s Penrith District Court on 20 February 2015 for sentencing on child-sex charges. The offences were committed against an altar boy in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, Father Richard Cattell was appointed as the Vicar-General of Sydney’s Parramatta diocese, helping to administer this diocese for Bishop Bede Heather.

Father Cattell retired from parish work in the mid-1990s. He later lived privately at Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast and, recently, on the Gold Coast in Queensland. On 28 February 2014, New South Wales detectives travelled to Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales side of the Queensland border, and interviewed Richard Cattell at Tweed Heads police station about one former altar boy who has alleged that he was sexually abused while Cattell was based at parishes in western Sydney in the 1980s.

Richard St John Cattell was summoned to Tweed Heads Local Court on 24 March 2014, to enable the matter to be officially filed in New South Wales.

Police alleged that, at the time of the offences, Father Cattell was based at a parish called “Our Lady of the Rosary” in a suburb called St Marys [situated 45 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, near Penrith]. According to a church website, Reverend Richard Cattell was the parish priest in charge of Our Lady of the Rosary parish 1982 from to 1994.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Olson

Two separate lists of names were released Wednesday of clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse or misconduct.

The names were put out by both the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and an attorney representing abuse clients.

The Archdiocese disclosed the names and assignment histories of four men who have substantiated claims against them of sexually abusing a minor while they were assigned as priests or, in the case of one, before he was a priest. All of those incidents happened between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s, according to the Archdiocese.

Those names were: Michael Bik, James Robert Murphy, James Namie and Raimond Rose.

Additionally, Attorney Jeff Anderson released 17 names of priests, brothers and lay people who have also been accused of abuse or misconduct. Lawyer Jeff Anderson says all of the clergy have been identified in Notice of Claims submitted to the Archdiocese and its insurance carriers. A Notice of Claim lets the receiving party know that there may be a potential lawsuit.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found that Cardinal George Pell and the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese repeatedly failed in their dealings with Sydney abuse victim John Ellis.

The criticism comes in a new Royal Commission Report, Report of Case Study 8: Mr John Ellis’s experience of the Towards Healing process and civil litigation.

The Report found that Cardinal Pell “did not act fairly from a Christian point of view in the conduct of the litigation against Mr Ellis”.

The Commission examined the treatment of John Ellis, a Sydney lawyer and former altar boy who was abused by Father Aidan Duggan between 1974 and 1979.

The report said Ellis spent more than a decade seeking compensation but lost the case on a technicality in 2007 when the Court of Appeal ruled the Catholic Church was not an entity that could be sued.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 11

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

When it comes to clergy sex crimes and cover ups, John Choi has been no ‘profile in courage.’ So we’re saddened but not surprised by news that he won’t prosecute two predator priests.

[Star Tribune]

The phrase “where there’s a will, there’s a way” comes to mind. And the case of Al Capone comes to mind. Energetic prosecutors finally nailed him on income tax evasion.

Had Choi convened a grand jury, as we urged, who knows if the outcome here would have been different? Or had he more aggressively begged victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward? Or if subpoenas had been issued on Catholic officials?

What now? We can only hope that more brave victims, witnesses and whistleblowers will step forward and do all they can to expose clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes. We also hope police and prosecutors will get more creative and aggressive about pursuing these heinous crimes and cover ups. And we hope that lawmakers will do all they can to remedy this tragic and dangerous situations through hearings and legislation that will make it easier for the victims of child sex crimes to expose the perpetrators and enablers of those crimes. Finally, we hope more victims will turn to and use the civil court system to get the truth about this horrific crisis brought into the public view.

What we know for sure is that giving up, keeping silent and suffering alone won’t help. No matter how hopeless it may seem, kids need us to stay strong and speak up.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Rev. Stephen M. Gemme, the former pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Northboro, was placed on probation and ordered to make restitution Wednesday after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $240,000 from the church and its school to fuel a gambling addiction.

“Your Honor, I’m deeply ashamed and sorry for the harm I’ve caused,” the 45-year-old Rev. Gemme told Judge Janet Kenton-Walker before pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to two counts of larceny of more than $250 by a single scheme.

As recommended by Assistant District Attorney John A. O’Leary and the priest’s lawyer, Carol S. Wheeler, Judge Kenton-Walker placed Rev. Gemme on probation for five years. As a condition of probation, Rev. Gemme was ordered to comply with a restitution agreement he entered into with the Diocese of Worcester and its insurer, the Catholic Mutual Group, calling for the immediate repayment of $50,000 and the eventual return of the balance of the nearly $240,00 he stole.

Mr. O’Leary said Rev. Gemme had agreed to pledge real estate and make cash payments to ensure that full restitution would be made. The bulk of the $50,000 paid Wednesday, $35,000, was to go to Catholic Mutual Group and the remaining $15,000 to the diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 11, 2015

VATICAN CITY
The cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the church’s central bureaucracy have yet to create a single comprehensive draft of a new structure of governance, the Vatican spokesman said Wednesday.

Addressing the work of the Council of Cardinals during a briefing, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said several times that many working documents had been discussed in the group, but no draft was ready.

“There is not a draft,” the spokesman said at one point. “There was not a draft of the [new] constitution.”

Lombardi was speaking Wednesday toward the end of a three-day meeting of the cardinals’ group, which is composed of nine prelates and has been advising the pope on how to reform the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Roman Curia.

The meeting of the council is a part of an unusually busy week at the Vatican, as discussions on reform of the Curia are to continue Thursday and Friday during a rare meeting in Rome of all the church’s cardinals. On Saturday, Pope Francis will officially name 20 new cardinals in a formal ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Doug Donovan
The Baltimore Sun

A high-ranking official of the national Episcopal Church is calling on the organization to “repent for our role” in the death of bicyclist Thomas Palermo, by examining “systemic denial” about alcohol and drug abuse, and reforming the process for electing bishops.

Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, a leader in the national church’s governing body, said last year’s election of Heather Elizabeth Cook as Maryland’s bishop suffragan — despite a 2010 drunk driving conviction — is the latest example of why many in the organization believe the process is flawed.

Cook, 58, was indicted this month in Baltimore on 13 charges in the death of Palermo, a 41-year-old married father of two. She is accused of hitting Palermo on Dec. 27 with her car as she was texting and driving drunk along Roland Avenue. The charges include automobile manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident.

In 2010 Cook was charged in Caroline County for driving under the influence, and given probation before judgment, which would allow her to clear her criminal record by completing her probation.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By SAMANTHA PERRY, Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A former church youth volunteer and child mentor has been indicted on 50 charges related to alleged sexual abuse of children.

An indictment was returned against Timothy Probert, 56, of Mercer County, Tuesday, Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ash said.

Probert was arrested in December 2013 on 38 counts of child sexual abuse related charges. The 12 new charges stem from another victim coming forward and additional charges being added in other cases, Sgt. M.D. Clemons, with the Crimes Against Children Unit of the West Virginia State Police, said.

The charges in the indictment include 27 counts of sexual abuse by a custodian, 17 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of third-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of delivery of a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Clemons said the controlled substance charge stems from Probert allegedly providing alcohol and controlled substances to one of the victims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

Stuart Cumming | 12th Feb 2015

A ROYAL Commission has found Toowoomba Catholic primary school principal Terence Hayes failed to report serious child sex abuse allegations against one of his staff members to police.

Pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes was in 2010 sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to 44 child sexual abuse offences against 13 girls who were then aged between eight and 10 years.

Byrnes was the girls’ teacher at the time of the offences.

He was also one of the school’s two student protection contacts.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse investigated the response of Mr Hayes, his fellow school staff members and Toowoomba Catholic Education officers to allegations against Byrnes of child sexual abuse made by parents and students in 2007.

In findings published yesterday, it said the principal did not comply with procedures in the school’s student protection kit when he failed to report to police allegations made during a telephone conversation on September 3, 2007, and a meeting on September 6, 2007.

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GEORGIA
The Raw Story

SCOTT KAUFMAN
11 FEB 2015

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Emanuel County School System in Swainsboro, Georgia after a teacher insisted that the children of atheists participate in daily prayers.

According to the lawsuit, teacher Kaytrene Bright and Cel Thompson forced the children of anonymous plaintiffs Jane and John Doe to join their classmates in prayer or leave the classroom.

“Encouraging the Doe children to pray, or isolating and punishing the Doe children for electing not to pray, violates the deeply and sincerely held moral convictions of the Doe children and therefore their First Amendment rights,” the complaint reads.

Before lunch, the teacher of Jamie Doe would ask the class to bow their heads, fold their hands, and say, “God our Father, we give thanks, for our many blessings. Amen.”

Jessie Doe’s teacher, Kaytrene Bright, would ask students to say, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Thank you for our daily prayer. Amen.”

When John and Jane Doe learned of this, they contacted Swainsboro Primary School Principal Valorie Watkins, who told them that it they didn’t want their children to pray, their only recourse would be to have their children leave the classroom while the other children offered thanks to God.

Once this policy was initiated, Jamie told her parents that she began being teased by other students. Jesse said that his teacher, Kaytrene Bright, “used her mean voice” when she sent Jesse into the hallway, and pressured Jesse to pray.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new list with the names of 17 names of priests accused of sexual misconduct while serving with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was released Wednesday by an attorney who represents many of the alleged victims.

The office of attorney Jeff Anderson says the identified priests have all been identified in notice of claims submitted to the Archdiocese and its insurance carriers.

It is KARE 11’s policy to only publish the names of those who have been named in criminal or civil litigation or those who are deceased. Among those on Wednesday’s list who meet that criteria are:

Joseph Baglio
John Jerome Boxleitner
Patrick William Coates
Leonard Cowley
Alphonsus Ferguson, S.S.C
James Namie
Jerome Plourde, O.S.C
Noel Shaughnessy, O.F.M
Ladislaus Sledz
Joseph Warnemunde
Harold Whittet
Karl M. Whittman
Vincent Worzalla

“Making this information known is another step towards transparency and is a testament to the courage of survivors,” said Anderson in a written statement.

For the complete list of names released by Anderson’s office, go to www.andersonadvocates.com.

The Archdiocese itself released a list of four priests with “substantiated claims” against them. Of those four, two names meet KARE 11’s criteria. They are:

James Namie
Raimond Rose

“All of the reported incidents of abuse related to these four men occurred between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt in a released statement. “One of the men is deceased, and the others have been permanently removed from ministry; they have been out of ministry for a decade or more. Two of the four men are from religious orders. I am profoundly saddened by the effect clergy sexual abuse continues to have on victims/survivors, their families and the community.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Dave Aeikens

Ramsey County will not prosecute two separate cases of alleged priest abuse, County Attorney John Choi said Wednesday.

Investigations into alleged abuse from 1992-94 at St. John The Baptist Church in New Brighton and Saint Casimir’s Church in St. Paul did not produce enough evidence for charges, Choi said.

The investigation looked into the conduct of two priests.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: February 11, 2015

Two other cases remain open as part of “phase 2.”

The Ramsey County attorney’s office announced Wednesday that it has declined to file charges in two cases of alleged clergy sex abuse.

The cases involve alleged abuse from 1992 to 1994 at Saint John the Baptist Church in New Brighton, and alleged abuse from 1979 to 1984 at Saint Casimir’s Church in St. Paul.

“As we have said from the very beginning, the facts will lead the way; we can only do what the law allows; and we will do what justice requires,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement released Wednesday.

This brings to nine the number of cases of alleged clergy abuse that will not be pursued by Choi’s office.

In the New Brighton case, the alleged victim e-mailed the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2006 alleging abuse, according to a memo released by the county attorney’s office. The archdiocese reported the incident to New Brighton police that September.

The archdiocese told police they would e-mail the alleged victim, who was living abroad at the time, and ask the alleged victim to contact police. The case was closed in October 2006 when police did not hear from the alleged victim, the memo said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Westminster child abuse inquiry could last for FOUR years, New Zealand judge warns as she faces her ‘biggest challenge’

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

The inquiry into Establishment child abuse could take up to four years to complete, its new chairman has revealed.

Lowell Goddard, a High Court judge in New Zealand, said leading the probe was the ‘biggest challenge’ she has ever faced as she set out plans to start in April.

The inquiry has already lost two potential heads, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf, who stood aside amid concerns over their establishment links.

Home Secretary Theresa May was forced to scour the globe to find a chairman for the inquiry, after fears leading figures in the UK would be seen as too close to the Establishment.

Giving evidence to MPs, Judge Goddard, the third chair-designate of the Statutory Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, told the Home Affairs Select Committee she was reluctant to set a timescale for the inquiry as this stage.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

The child sex abuse inquiry could begin as soon as early April and will have a “truth and reconciliation” role similar to the commission set up in the wake of post-apartheid South Africa, MPs have heard.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand high court judge appointed as the new chairman of the inquiry, said she would allow survivors of sexual abuse “to be heard”.

Justice Goddard, who has been a high court judge for 18 years, also insisted that she was not part of the establishment in her native country.

“We don’t have such a thing in my country,” she told the Commons’ home affairs select committee.
“I did have to seek clarification on exactly what it meant.

“Do I have any links with any institution or any person related to the subject matter of the inquiry? No, I don’t.”

She added that apart from an investigative role the inquiry would also offer victims of child sex abuse the chance to seek “truth and reconciliation”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday 11 February 2015

The New Zealand high court judge who is to chair the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse has said she has no links to the establishment, telling MPs: “We don’t have such a thing in my country.”

Justice Lowell Goddard, who arrived in Britain on Monday, said she hoped to have the troubled inquiry “up and running” by early April and would aim to revisit past wrongs, clarify what happened and ensure children were protected from sexual abuse.

She also said she intended for the inquiry, which she has been told could take three to four years, to have a “truth and reconciliation” element to it, which would allow survivors to speak about their experiences in private if necessary, as well as an investigative function.

Goddard is the third chair of the inquiry nominated by the home secretary, Theresa May, since it was first announced last July in the wake of the high-profile historic sexual abuse cases, including that of the late Jimmy Savile.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

The new chair of the Child Abuse Inquiry has insisted she has no links to the British Establishment.

New Zealand judge Justice Lowell Goddard revealed that, since arriving in the UK, she had to check what British people meant by the term “establishment”.

She told MPs during her first public engagement since being appointed: “We don’t have such a thing in my country.

“Do I have any links into any institution or person relevant to the subject matter? … No, I don’t,” she said.

The two women previously appointed by Home Secretary Theresa May both had to step down after their links to powerful people who may have been part of the investigations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The New Zealand judge who’s been drafted in to oversee Britain’s inquiry into historical child sex abuse says her whole career has been building towards this moment.

Lowell Goddard was grilled by MPs during a pre-appointment hearing at Westminster on Wednesday (Thursday morning NZ time).

She was asked to head the inquiry – which will examine allegations including that politicians committed and covered up abuse – after two previous chairs were forced to resign over establishment links.

‘My whole career path to date, and my experience I believe, has brought me to this point and I felt that I should make the commitment to undertake the inquiry for that reason,’ Justice Goddard told the Home Affairs Committee.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

Adam Davies | 12th Feb 2015

A NEW report has been critical of how the Catholic Church treated a former Lismore sexual abuse victim who said she was so petrified her secret would be revealed she got her attacker to oversee her first marriage during the 80s.

She said it was just easier at the time to keep up a facade she was simply friends with the Lismore Diocese priest.

Jennifer Ingham, 53, gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2013 that Father Paul Rex Brown had sexually abused her between 1978 and 1982.

The report, released on Wednesday, examined how the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing process responded to four people, including Mrs Ingham, who suffered sexual abuse from priests and have experienced adverse impacts.

The report was highly critical of how the church treated Mrs Ingham’s journey as an insurance matter instead of providing pastoral care, which was one of the main functions of the process.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

February 12, 2015

Senior Australian rabbis are expected to testify before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The inquiry is examining the response of Jewish colleges in Melbourne and Sydney to cases of sexual abuse of students, by men attached to the colleges, in the 1980s and ’90s.

Rabbi Abraham Glick, a former principal of Yeshivah College in Melbourne, and Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick, the president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, are due to give testimony on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Simon Santow

A senior Sydney Rabbi has accused Jewish community leaders of defaming him and misrepresenting his views, after being heavily criticised over his recent evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman provoked controversy when he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he would be “asking for more leniency” for reformed or inactive paedophiles.

He also offended many people when he lashed out at the media, saying publicity about child sexual abuse “encourages even people who may not be real victims or may want to be considered heroes” to go to the police.

A host of senior Jewish leaders then took aim at Rabbi Feldman, with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies calling his views “repugnant” and declaring him to be “unfit to hold any position of authority or leadership in the Jewish community”.

Now Rabbi Feldman has told the ABC’s AM program he believed “everyone has been carried away by the hype without really knowing the facts”.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Cardinal George Pell failed to act like a Christian, report into child sex abuse finds

CARDINAL George Pell failed to act in a Christian way when he agreed to vigorously deny a man’s claims of sexual abuse as a child in order to discourage other victims from taking legal action, a report has found.

John Ellis was sexually ­abused by Father Aidan ­Duggan in the Sydney parish of Bass Hill in the 1970s.

Mr Ellis failed in his attempt to sue the Archdiocese of Sydney’s trust when a court ruled it could not be held liable.

This ruling cemented the precedent known as the Ellis defence, which has been a roadblock to litigation for other abuse victims.

Mr Ellis’ case was examined at the recent royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, which yesterday released its findings on the way the Catholic Church dealt with a number of victims.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

I’ve seen this week described as “crucial” for Pope Francis and his plans for Vatican reform, a “turning point” in his pontificate, a make-or-break moment for the Francis “revolution.”

But so far, there have been no dramatic announcements and no final decisions, just a series of progress reports from an array of councils and commissions that seem to meet a few times a year.

This doesn’t mean important things aren’t happening. But they are happening at a slower pace than many would have foreseen two years ago.

Pope Francis came out of the gate fast. Elected with a mandate to reform the Roman Curia and streamline Vatican structures, he quickly named a council of eight cardinals (now nine), established financial watchdog agencies and let it be known that his reforms would be deep, not superficial. Later he set up a child protection commission, another commission to revamp Vatican communications and brought in outside consultants to make recommendations on best practices.

But Francis soon came face to face with an inconvenient reality: The Vatican operates in its own time zone, a dimension where you can check your watch and calendar at the door, and where change is always in slow-motion.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Several women complained to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council on Culture about using the sculpture “Venus Restored” (see previous blog article for a picture) as cover artwork for its working document on women’s culture. One of my friends received the following response today signed by Cardinal Ravasi, the Council’s head.

I have received your objection to the use of “Venus Restored” by the artist Man Ray on the Pontifical Council for Culture’s website to illustrate the working document of the Plenary Assembly on “Women’s Cultures: equality and difference”. While registering your complaint, we have chosen not to remove the image, as we believe it speaks clearly for one of the central points of our document: many women, alas, are still struggling for freedom (bound with rope), their voices and intellect often unheard (headless), their actions unappreciated (limbless).
Gianfranco Ravasi

First, I appreciate that Cardinal Ravasi at least responded to my friend, though he has not yet responded to my complaint. But let’s look at his response for a moment.

He defends using the artwork saying it speaks clearly to the issue of women’s voices and intellect often being unheard… kind of like the intelligent women’s voices being ignored by him on this very topic…

In two simple sentences Cardinal Ravasi encapsulates the hierarchy’s historical role in binding women, ignoring their voices and under-appreciating them. We objected but our voices were unappreciated and ignored in favor of being bound to his decision. Richer irony there never was than him dismissing intelligent women’s concerns as unfounded at the same time he envisions himself as some sort of knight in shining armor advocating for greater appreciation of women’s intellectual contributions.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As fresh economic reforms begin to take hold throughout the Vatican, the Council for the Economy has faced some resistance from larger offices that had been used to having greater autonomy, said a cardinal member of the council.

A fairly smooth rollout of more effective and transparent budgeting procedures and accountability throughout the Vatican met with “a hiccup” when some of the larger entities “did not want to come on board” and were more “resistant” to mandated changes, said Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, South Africa.

He said one such office was the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which oversees the church’s missionary activities. The 400-year-old congregation had its own budget, managed its own investments independent of the Vatican’s main investment program and has its own office complex, located in downtown Rome a mile away from Vatican City.

“But it’s the very big ones we need (to comply) so the little ones have a good example” to follow, he told Catholic News Service Feb. 10 in between meetings in Rome.

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ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 11

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

A just “outed” predator priest who reportedly molested at least one child in Minnesota is now living in Phoenix, according to Catholic officials.

[St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese]

We strongly urge Phoenix Catholic officials to aggressively warn parents, police, prosecutors and the public about John Robert Murphy. We urge Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmstead to use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to reach out to anyone in Arizona who may have seen, suspected or suffered Murphy’s crimes.

It’s possible he molested a child just last night. And it’s possible that he could be prosecuted, convicted and kept away from kids.

Murphy has allegedly been “permanently removed from ministry.” But that doesn’t absolve Catholic officials from helping to protect others from him. Bishops recruited, ordained, hired, trained, supervised and shielded predators like Murphy. So they have an obligation to safeguard vulnerable kids from him even now.

We hope anyone with information or suspicions about Murphy will call police, expose wrongdoers, protect others, and deter cover ups. Silence and inaction only helps those who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Jennie Olson

The names of 17 clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse or misconduct with a minor in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis were released Wednesday.

It’s the first times the names have been made public. Attorney Jeff Anderson says all of the clergy have been identified in notice of claims submitted to the Archdiocese and its insurance carriers.
The list of names includes:

Joseph Baglio
John Jerome Boxleitner
Patrick William Coates
Leonard Cowley
Alphonsus Ferguson, S.S.C.
Thomas Gardner, O.F.M.
Jerry Grieman
Marvin Klaers
James Namie
Jerome Plourde, o.s.c.
Noel Shaughnessy, O.F.M.
Ladislaus Sledz
Emil Twardochleb, O.M.I.
Joseph Warnemunde
Harold Whittet
Karl M. Wittman
Vincent Worzalla

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

AHEAD of the announcement that Rabbi Yossi Feldman would be stepping down from his roles at Yeshiva in Sydney, the principal of Melbourne’s largest Jewish school Rabbi James Kennard called for resignations among the leadership of Melbourne Yeshivah.

Revealing that he himself quit the Rabbinical Council of Victoria over its failure to call for Yeshivah leaders to be held to account in 2011, he wrote on Facebook, “While anyone who held a position of leadership in the Yeshivah community in the period when these terrible mistakes were made remains in such a position today, the community is not able to say that it has learnt and it has changed.

“The resignations that are required need not be an acceptance of personal responsibility, but an acknowledgement that if abuse, or a failure to deal properly with abusers, took place on an individual’s ‘watch’ then it is honourable and right for such an individual to step down.”

While not naming any individuals, his call would include Rabbi Avrohom Glick who holds a senior position within the Yeshivah community. Rabbi Glick was principal of Yeshivah in Melbourne when according to the testimony of victims and their families allegations of child sexual abuse were brought to the attention of rabbis, but not reported to police, in the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

THE Rabbinical Council of NSW (RCNSW) has stated that it made a mistake when it allowed Rabbi Yossi Feldman to remain president when, in 2011, some of his views regarding child sexual abuse allegations were made public by The AJN.

The AJN called on Rabbi Feldman to step down as president of the RCNSW when it published leaked emails, in which Rabbi Feldman put forward a view that a victim should go to a rabbi, not the police.

Rabbi Feldman stepped aside as president for several weeks but was then reinstated as president until the 2012 annual general meeting.

This week at the Royal Commission it was revealed that in 2011 Rabbi Feldman urged fellow rabbis not to call on victims to go the police because it would hurt his “friend”, and now convicted child sexual abuser, David Cyprys, argued that too much media attention would lead “fake victims” to come forward, labelled victim Manny Waks a “phony attention seeker” and put forward a view that a victim of child sexual abuse doesn’t know if the perpetrator will reoffend and therefore must go to a rabbi, and not the police.

“The RCNSW views with distress and dismay the increasingly sordid revelations that are emerging from the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Melbourne and Sydney,” the RCNSW executive said in a statement this week.

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AUSTRALIA
IOL

February 11 2015

REUTERS

Sydney –

The director of an ultra-orthodox yeshiva in Sydney resigned on Wednesday after his comments on paedophiles and apparent tolerance of historical child sex abuse caused an outcry.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman last week said not all sex abuse cases warranted police intervention and that courts could offer leniency to paedophiles who now no longer offend, in comments to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

He apologised on Wednesday to the Jewish community and the wider Australian community and said he would step down, The Australian Jewish News reported.

His testimony came as the national inquiry honed in on instances of sexual assault on children at yeshiva-run schools and other Jewish institutes in Australia.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis is facing a critical test that will show whether he is a trustworthy leader or just another hierarchical hypocrite. Is Francis for the 99.99% Catholic faithful or for the 0.01% Catholic hierarchy?

The pope must fire forthwith his top money man, Cardinal George Pell, who exited Australia last year in a real hurry. We now know why! Australia’s Royal Commission has just found after two years of investigation that Pell fought a legal claim by an abuse victim, John Ellis, to discourage others from attempting the same. Pell spent, in effect, more than $1,000,000 fighting Ellis despite him asking for just a tenth of that amount in settlement, and put him through “distressing and unnecessary cross-examination” and threatened him with legal costs. Pell is not fit to manage Church money in a Christian manner.

The Royal Commission’s report also confirmed that the Australian Catholic Church, in which Pell had been the top leader for years, repeatedly failed in its dealings with victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of priests.A copy of the full report can be found here.

Pope Francis is losing all credibility on his promises to curtail the priest abuse scandal and to hold bishops like Pell accountable. The pope is relying, instead, on an almost farcical sex abuse commission. The pope’s commission is being exposed steadily to be no more than a classic political stall tactic in the form of an extremely unfocused, open ended, conflicted, inefficient and understaffed “study commission”, that is being orchestrated apparently by disgraced Boston Cardinal Bernard Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver. Please see, “NY Times Pulls Punches As SNAP Jabs Pope & US Pols On Abuse Ploys“, here,

[Christian Catholicism]

Catholics cannot be expected to donate to and support, and many will no longer donate to and support, the pope if he continues to leave Pell in charge of handling the Church’s finances. It is that simple, really. The pope can surely find a competent financial executive, female or male, to replace Pell and the pope needs to do so pronto.

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BELGIE
Trouw

[A Flemish priest who has been repeatedly accused of sexual abuse for many years has been in charge of an orphanage in Brazil. The Dutch congregation to which John D. belongs to is aware of the allegations, but has so far hardly intervened.]

Een Vlaamse pater die meermaals beschuldigd is van seksueel misbruik leidt in Brazilië al jaren een weeshuis. De Nederlandse congregatie waartoe Jan van D. behoort is op de hoogte van de beschuldigingen, maar heeft dusver nauwelijks ingegrepen.

Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van het televisieprogramma Brandpunt, dat vanavond een reportage aan hem wijdt. Trouw heeft die uitzending alvast kunnen bekijken. De eerste beschuldigingen tegen Van D. stammen uit de jaren ’70, toen hij nog werkte in parochies in Antwerpen. Halverwege de jaren ’70 werd hij overgeplaatst naar een ander stadsdistrict, om even later uitgezonden te worden naar Brazilië.

Toen ‘pater Jan’ België verliet, gingen daar al volop geruchten over zijn uitspattingen. In Brandpunt claimen enkele mannen dat ze bij hem op schoot moesten zitten en tijdens een kerkelijk kamp in de tent moesten komen liggen. “Hij zat altijd in mijn broek”, vertelt een van hen. “Hij wilde altijd maar tongzoenen.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The judge leading the inquiry into historical child sex abuse in England and Wales has said she has no links to any person or institution which it might scrutinise.

Justice Lowell Goddard there was not such a thing as an “establishment” in her country, New Zealand.

Claims of paedophiles in Westminster in the 1980s sparked the inquiry.

Two women previously appointed to chair it have quit because of connections to people who held positions of authority.

Judge Goddard promised complete independence when she appeared before MPs on the Home Affairs Committee for a pre-appointment hearing, having been chosen by Home Secretary Theresa May to lead the inquiry.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Today, we are disclosing the names and assignment histories of four men who have substantiated claims against them of sexually abusing a minor while they were assigned as priests or, in the case of one, before he was a priest. A substantiated claim is one for which sufficient evidence exists to establish reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged abuse occurred. These names are being disclosed as part of our continual review of clergy files and our ongoing relationship with Jeff Anderson and Associates, announced as part of a settlement last October.

All of the reported incidents of abuse related to these four men occurred between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s. One of the men is deceased, and the others have been permanently removed from ministry; they have been out of ministry for a decade or more. Two of the four men are from religious orders. I am profoundly saddened by the effect clergy sexual abuse continues to have on victims/survivors, their families and the community.

You may find clergy disclosure information linked on the archdiocesan website and at SafeCatholicSPM.org. We have also published this disclosure information in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Spirit. In addition, we alerted pastors at parishes where these men were previously assigned, so that pastors can communicate directly with their parishioners regarding the disclosures.

DISCLOSED NAMES

Michael Bik
James Robert Murphy
James Namie
Raimond Rose

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

17 Names of Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse or Misconduct with Minors Publicly Released For the First Time Today

The names have been submitted in notice of claims to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

(St. Paul, MN) – The names of 17 clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse or misconduct with a minor in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis were released for the first time today. All clergy whose names were released have been identified in notice of claims submitted to the Archdiocese and its insurance carriers. A complete list of all clergy named in the notice of claims is available at www.andersonadvocates.com.

The names released today have never been made public before. The list of names includes the following clergy:

Joseph Baglio
John Jerome Boxleitner
Patrick William Coates
Leonard Cowley
Alphonsus Ferguson, S.S.C.
Thomas Gardner, O.F.M.
Jerry Grieman
Marvin Klaers
James Namie
Jerome Plourde, o.s.c.
Noel Shaughnessy, O.F.M.
Ladislaus Sledz
Emil Twardochleb, O.M.I.
Joseph Warnemunde
Harold Whittet
Karl M. Wittman
Vincent Worzalla

“Making this information known is another step towards transparency and is a testament to the courage of survivors.” – Attorney Jeff Anderson

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.318.2650 Cell/612.205.5531
Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.318.2650 Cell/612.817.8665

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Feb 11, 2015 / 06:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi told journalists Tuesday that rumors circulating about a possible assassination attempt on Pope Francis during his visit to the Philippines are unfounded.

“In the last few days there’s been talk of this hypothesis of an assassination attempt during the trip to the Philippines. Cardinal (Luis Antonio) Tagle, who has his good sources, said the information is unreliable,” the spokesman said Feb. 11.

Philippine media have reported that a man affiliated with Al-Qaeda had planned to place a bomb to be detonated along the route of the papal convoy, but police had gotten wind of the plan and altered the route.

Due to Cardinal Tagle’s closeness to the situation in the Philippines as Archbishop of Manila, Fr. Lombardi agreed that the rumors are “unfounded.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) On the final day of the meeting of the Council of Cardinals – the so-called “C-9” group of Cardinals appointed by Pope Francis as his special advisors – the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, held a press conference explaining the Cardinals’ work of the past few days.

The C-9 group of Cardinals was established by Pope Francis especially to advise the Holy Father on the reform of the Roman Curia. Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga is expected to offer a report on the group’s work to the entire College of Cardinals, who are in Rome for a Consistory set to take place this Saturday, 14 February. The secretary of the C-9, Bishop Marcello Semeraro, is also expected to address the Cardinals. The reports of the two presenters were the focus of discussions during several sessions of the meeting of the C-9.

The Council of Cardinals also heard reports on the newly-established Secretariat for the Economy and the Council for the Economy, with a view to the finalization of the statutes for the two new bodies.

Father Lombardi said Cardinal Seán O’Malley is expected to address the Council of Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon, updating them on the work of the Commission for the Protection of Minors. The Commission concluded its first plenary session on Saturday 7 February.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

That line, from the Wizard of Oz, leapt to mind when I read about Pope Francis’ recent endorsement of corporal punishment.

Or to be more accurate, that’s the line that I thought of after reading a Vatican spokesman’s defense of Francis’ remark.

“Who has not disciplined their child or been disciplined by parents when we are growing up?” Fr. Thomas Rosica, of the Vatican press office told Associated Press in an email. “Simply watch Pope Francis when he is with children and let the images and gestures speak for themselves!”

[RT]

Whoa!

Pay attention to “images and gestures,” we’re told. Ignore the substance or content, we’re told. If it looks or seems good, then it really is good, we’re told.

We in SNAP are always harping “Words don’t protect kids. Only actions protect kids.” But maybe we should revise our mantra. Maybe we should say “Words, images and gestures don’t protect kids. Only actions protect kids.”

Twice in recent years, Vatican officials dramatically beefed up their ‘image boosting’ operation. First, they hired a former veteran Fox reporter Greg Burke. Then they brought in a highly respected outside public relations firm.

And since then, these PR professionals have done a stunningly effective job at improving the reputations and image of the church hierarchy.

But from time to time, there’s still a clear flub in the Vatican image efforts.

And those flubs tend to be illuminating.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry has heard the Public Prosecution Service decided there was no case against a nun accused of physical abuse at a Belfast care home.

The nun cared for more than 100 children at Nazareth Lodge. Five made complaints.

One complainant described her as elderly and using a walking stick at the time.

The inquiry heard she was in her 30s and never used a stick.

The nun was giving evidence at the inquiry in Banbridge, County Down.

She also said she was told about a single incident linked to paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth, at the home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Natasha Robinson
Senior Writer
Sydney

THE child abuse royal commission has slammed former Sydney archbishop George Pell, finding that he placed the church’s financial interests above his obligation to a victim of childhood sexual abuse as part of an aggressive legal strategy to protect the assets of the Sydney archdiocese.

The royal commission reported yesterday on three case studies, ­including that of solicitor John Ellis, who it found was denied justice and compassion by the Archdiocese of Sydney, which vigorously defended his compensation claim despite its own asses­sor’s conclusion he was telling the truth.

Mr Ellis was sexually assaulted by Father Aidan Duggan for five years between 1974 and 1979, when he was an altar boy. The abuse began when Mr Ellis was 13 years old. When he finally disclosed the abuse and, in 2002, took part in the church’s Towards Healingprocess, set up to offer pastoral care and reparation to victims, the church fundamentally failed to comply with the principles of its own policy.

Cardinal Pell initially dismissed Mr Ellis’s complaint, saying: “I do not see that there is anything the archdiocese can do.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 11 February 2015

The management committee of an Orthodox Jewish religious centre never considered issuing a direct formal apology to child sex abuse victims under its care, or providing those victims with compensation, a royal commission has heard.

Don Wolf, who was the chairman of the Yeshivah centre in Melbourne until last year, also acknowledged that when victims asked for help because they were being victimised by the Orthodox community, management did nothing to help them.

Children were sexually abused predominantly throughout the 80s and early 90s by staff members of the Yeshivah centre, which runs schools, youth camps and synagogues, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard.

When questioned about what drove the inaction of management towards victims, Wolf said the management team was inexperienced.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

One of the country’s leading clerics has said it is appalling that some religious orders delayed bringing in the most up-to-date child protection rules.

As watchdogs exposed seven congregations for lax efforts to prevent abuse, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he was seriously concerned by audits carried out last autumn.

Only two religious orders inspected by the Catholic Church’s own reviewers demonstrated good compliance with rules to safeguard youngsters.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) warned seven congregations have considerable work to do on the issue and praised two – the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts and the Dominican Sisters.

Archbishop Martin said some of the delays in reporting allegations were appalling and that failures cast a shadow over the credibility of the entire church’s safeguarding efforts.

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SWITZERLAND
The Local

A catholic priest in a traditional Swiss village under fire for blessing a lesbian couple has defended his actions and rejected calls from the church hierarchy for his resignation.

Wendelin Bucheli, a priest in the church of Bürglen in the canton of Uri, blessed the two lesbians back in October 2014.

But after the priest’s actions became known, the Bishop of Chur, Vitus Huonder, called on him to step down, indicating that his actions contravened Catholic doctrine.

A spokesman for the bishop said the priest’s behaviour had caused controversy internationally and upset many believers, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reported.

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GERMANY
Buenos Aires Herald

BERLIN — A Chilean film showing defrocked priests protected by the Catholic Church and a Guatemalan film about the hard lives of Mayan coffee-farmers are making waves at the Berlin film festival.

Chilean director Pablo Larraín made The Club after he realized some paedophile priests had collaborated with the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet or were ordinary criminals, and had never paid for their misdeeds.

“The Catholic Church for decades really has been spiriting away those priests, hiding them, shielding them from the public sphere,” he told a news conference on Monday to loud applause.
“That’s how we came up with this ‘club’, the idea of a club of lost priests.”

The film focuses on four priests living in a fishing village whose cozy lifestyle is shattered by the arrival of a priest trailed by a tramp who proclaims from the street that the cleric had forced him to have sex with him.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Reporter

Wicklow TD and Labour parliamentary vice-chair Anne Ferris’s party future was under threat since her decision two weeks ago — based on heartbreaking personal experience — to rebel against the Government’s redress scheme for women held in mother and baby homes.

The move, and her clear call for Labour leaders to allow a free vote on Clare Daly’s bill on fatal foetal abnormalities last night, made it almost inevitable that Ms Ferris would lose the party whip and be expelled from the parliamentary Labour party.

Ms Ferris, 60, is Labour’s only elected representative in Wicklow after last May’s local election left support decimated, making her crucial to the party’s strategy in the county.

She entered the Dáil at the first attempt after the 2011 general election and is currently the Oireachtas justice committee’s vice-chair.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah Mac Donald
PUBLISHED 11/02/2015

Religious congregations’ failure to implement child safeguards, and their mishandling of abuse allegations, point to the need for greater accountability in the Catholic Church, according to a senior Bishop.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin lashed out at religious orders, saying it was “appalling” to read about their delays in fully implementing long- established church guidelines.

His criticism followed the National Board’s (NBSCCCI) revelation that opportunities to safeguard children were missed – and known abusers were allowed to remain in ministry into the 1990s.

The latest tranches of safeguarding audits covering 16 religious congregations also reveal that in some cases, congregations didn’t start to improve practices until 2009 and didn’t fully implement the Irish Church’s safeguarding standards and guidelines until 2013.
in his diocese to verify their commitment to “scrupulously” applying child safeguarding norms.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

February 11, 2015

On January 14, 2015, the Concerned Catholics of Guam issued a formal request to Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron to quitclaim the property of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary back to the Archdiocese of Agana. Click here to view and download the request.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – The Concerned Catholics of Guam has reached out to Archbishop Anthony Apuron through a letter requesting that he file a quitclaim for the property which the Redemptoris Mater Seminary sits. The Redemptoris Mater Seminary was the subject of controversy in the Catholic community as a deed of restriction essentially transferred the property over to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation raising concerns that the archdiocese no longer controlled the asset.

CCOG vice president Dave Sablan said, “So there is an alleged violation of canon law here number one; number two if he does have control of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation then it would not be a problem for him to quitclaim which means I want to move that property back to the Archdiocese of Agana’s asset inventory he should be able to do that by signing a piece of paper and filing it with Land Management.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Just 72 of the almost 500 Magdalene survivors who have accepted redress will get the maximum amount of €100,000.

Responding to a series of parliamentary questions, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said 94 applications for redress have been refused, as the women were not in one of the 12 specified institutions.

Under Justice John Quirke’s redress scheme, Magdalene survivors are to receive cash payments ranging between €11,500 (if their duration of stay was three months or less) to €100,000 (for duration of stay of 10 years or more).

Ms Fitzgerald declined to say how many applicants received lesser amounts than they applied for, due to inaccurate and/or missing records.

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UNITED KINGDOM/NEW ZEALAND
3 News

The New Zealand High Court judge appointed to head Britain’s long-delayed inquiry into child sex abuse is to be grilled by MPs at Westminster.

Justice Lowell Goddard was named as inquiry chairwoman by Home Secretary Theresa May last week.

She is the third individual proposed to take charge of the inquiry, after Baroness Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf both stood aside amid concerns over their establishment links.

Justice Goddard, who oversaw an inquiry into failures in the policing of child abuse in New Zealand, is due to be questioned by the UK parliament’s home affairs select committee in a hearing from 2pm on Wednesday (1am Thursday NZ time).

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

NEWS 4, INVESTIGATES. RIGHT NOW, THE 13TH CIRCUIT SOLICITOR IS LOOKING OVER THE 300-PAGE GRACE REPORT, LOOKING AT POSSIBLE CRIMINAL CHARGES. GABRIELLE: THE QUESTION IS, DID BOB JONES UNIVERSITY OVERLOOK SEXUAL ABUSE DISCLOSURES, AND DID THE UNIVERSITY REALLY PROTECT ITS STUDENTS?

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FLORIDA
First Coast News

[with video]

Anne Schindler, First Coast News February 10, 2015

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — The Oscar nominated movie “Philomena” was the first time most people learned about the dark side of Ireland’s convents, and the forced adoptions that occurred in some. But it wasn’t news to Catherine Deasy.

She was one of tens of thousands of children born in so called mother-baby homes in Ireland. Run by the Catholic Church, and called “Magdalene Laundries” for the work the women provided, they served as refuge for girls in trouble – unmarried and pregnant. But while they provided a place to live, the tradeoff was cruel.

“My mother was locked up for 40 years in hard labor as punishment for being pregnant and not married,” says Deasey. “They were all enslaved there.”

Some 10,000 women passed through the laundries between 1922 and 1996. Most were forced to cut their hair, and work in total silence. They weren’t paid and many endured physical or sexual abuse. Worst of all, they were forced to give up any claim to their children.

The laundries have since become a source of national shame, earning a formal apology from the Irish prime minister and compensation for survivors. But it was decades before Deasey learned about them. Her mother was a farm girl named Johanna Sheehy, sent to work in a Catholic laundry after falling in love with and getting pregnant by the farm owner’s son. Deemed unfit for society, and without resources, Sheehy remained there until she was well into her 70s.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

A victim reacts to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse report into the Catholic Church response, including Towards Healing

Wednesday 11 February 2015

I take this opportunity to thank the royal commission for exposing the true nature of my Towards Healing process. Towards Healing was introduced in 1996 by the bishops and religious institutes of the Catholic Church of Australia under the appearance of bringing healing to those affected by clergy sexual abuse. I entered this program in 1999 having already achieved a conviction against my perpetrator the previous year. The royal commission has shown that the Catholic Church of the archdiocese of Brisbane departed substantially from the undertakings they gave in their Towards Healing document. It is now public knowledge that the Catholic Church invited me into a situation which brought me more pain and suffering.

I am extremely grateful to the royal commission for upholding the finding on “justice and compassion” in my case. The Catholic Church in its protocol, Towards Healing, gave the community an undertaking that victims would be treated with justice and compassion. The church also asked that they be judged on the way that they adhered to their documented principles and procedures. Despite that, “the church parties said that no accepted or objective meaning of either ‘justice’ or ‘compassion’ was proposed or established and it was necessary to establish, ‘by evidence’, what is meant by and required by ‘justice ‘and ‘compassion’ before any adverse finding could be made that there was a failure to meet those standards.”1

The royal commission did not accept this argument. In their report the royal commission stated: “Towards Healing commits to the Catholic Church in Australia, and its various formations, to a ‘just and compassionate’ response to victims of child sexual abuse. It is the ordinary way in which readers of that public commitment will understand it that matters. That is the standard to which the formations of the Catholic Church in Australia and its personnel are accountable.”2

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Wednesday 11 February 2015

Cardinal George Pell and the Sydney archdiocese fought a legal claim by an abuse victim, John Ellis, to discourage others from attempting the same, the royal commission has found. It also confirmed the Catholic church repeatedly failed in its dealings with victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

In reports released on Wednesday the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse examined the Catholic church’s widely condemned Towards Healing program in dealing with four people, and the handling of complaints by Ellis. All matters had been examined in public hearings over the past two years,

The church spent more than $1m fighting Ellis despite him asking for just a tenth of that amount in settlement, and put him through “distressing and unnecessary cross-examination” and threatened him with legal costs.

“The archdiocese [of Sydney] wrongly concluded that it had never accepted that Father Duggan had abused Mr Ellis,” the report found.

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IOWA
The Daily Iowan

BY MARCUS BROWN | FEBRUARY 11, 2015

In a definitive step toward long overdue action by the Catholic Church, the commission advising Pope Francis is looking into the possibility of sanctioning bishops involved in the perpetuation of indecent behavior in the church.

The 17-member commission led by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’ Malley met to discuss issues of “accountability” when it came to sexual abuse that extends beyond the proprietor to include those members of the clergy with proximity to said issues. The commission is making a point to hold members of the church accountable for their actions, given that as of now, bishops can only be dismissed by the pope, according to church law.

I applaud the pope for addressing this issue and at least giving the appearance of making tangible steps toward solving the issue in the larger context of the ramifications for church members indirectly involved in sexual misconduct. Discussing matters of culpability should and must include not only the individual perpetrator but also any other involved party. The larger culture of sexual misconduct must be addressed rather than placing all efforts on slamming down on individual cases.

When an institution as large as the Catholic Church gives the impression to the public that it is complicit or at the very least looking the other way, it creates an atmosphere of mistrust and apprehension. This atmosphere will increase the doubt cast on the institution’s ability to maintain expected levels of transparency and responsibility. Building trust needs to be the church’s primary concern because without it, any progress made will be marred by connotations of hypocrisy and suspicion. Once trust has returned, efforts made by the Catholic Church to combat this issue will be taken at full face value.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

A Baylor study finds that college women who are sexual assault victims can find healing in religious groups where strong theological beliefs and social networking are encouraged. Baptist chaplains at Mars Hill Univeristy and the University of Virginia agree.

By Jeff Brumley

Theological beliefs and belonging to religious organizations can help college women overcome the emotional damage caused by sexual abuse, a recently published Baylor University study has found.

The authors of the study say involvement in faith communities can restore the trust women lose after becoming victims of sex crimes.

“It’s not just about attendance, but about being embedded in a religious social network and about that being a part of your identity,” researcher Jeffrey Tamburello, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Baylor, said in a university report about the study. “This might help to mitigate some of the negative effects of being victimized.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Cardinal George Pell failed to act in a Christian way when he agreed to vigorously deny a man’s claims of sexual abuse as a child in order to discourage other victims from taking legal action, a report has found.

John Ellis was sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan in the Sydney parish of Bass Hill in the 1970s.

Mr Ellis failed in his attempt to sue the Archdiocese of Sydney’s trust when a court ruled it could not be held liable.

This ruling cemented the precedent known as the Ellis defence, which has been a roadblock to litigation for other abuse victims.

Mr Ellis’s case was examined at the recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which released its findings on Wednesday on the way the Catholic Church dealt with a number of victims.

The commission found the Archdiocese of Sydney was wrong in concluding Father Duggan did not abuse Mr Ellis, and that Cardinal Pell accepted legal advice to vigorously defend the claim so as to deter other victims from suing the church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Lucy Carter and staff

Cardinal George Pell and the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese repeatedly failed in their dealings with abuse victim John Ellis, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found.

Early last year, the commission examined the treatment of Mr Ellis, a Sydney lawyer and former altar boy who, as a teenager, was abused by Father Aidan Duggan between 1974 and 1979.

Mr Ellis later spent more than a decade seeking compensation but lost the case on a technicality in 2007 when the Court of Appeal ruled the Catholic Church was not an entity that could be sued.

He had asked for $100,000 after he first came forward with a complaint through the church’s Towards Healing pastoral and redress scheme in 2002, but was offered $30,000, a sum Cardinal Pell later described as “grotesque”.

The commission heard that the church spent more than $1 million over 12 years fighting Mr Ellis’s claim, denying in court that the abuse had happened and threatening him with court costs for several years.

The Archdiocese failed to conduct the litigation with Mr Ellis in a manner that adequately took account of his pastoral and other needs as a victim of sexual abuse.

Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Sydney at the time of Mr Ellis’s legal battle and later apologised to him, admitting the church failed in its moral and pastoral responsibilities and, “from a Christian point of view”, did not act fairly.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 11, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The Catholic Church vigorously fought a legal claim from a sexual abuse victim to discourage other potential claimants from mounting their own litigations, according to a report released by a royal commission on Wednesday.

A report into how the Catholic Church dealt with John Ellis’s complaint of horrific abuse at the hands of a priest found serious flaws in the church’s response.

It found that former Sydney archbishop Cardinal George Pell’s edict to church lawyers to not accept that Mr Ellis had been abused by Father Aidan Duggan was based on incorrect information.

“The archdiocese [of Sydney] wrongly concluded that it had never accepted that Father Duggan had abused Mr Ellis,” the report says.

“This conclusion allowed Cardinal Pell to instruct the archdiocese’s lawyers to maintain the non-admission of Mr Ellis’s abuse. The archdiocese accepted the advice of its lawyers to vigorously defend Mr Ellis’s claim.

“One reason Cardinal Pell decided to accept this advice was to encourage other prospective plaintiffs not to litigate claims of child sexual abuse against the church.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

[the full report]

11 February, 2015

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published two reports; ‘Report of Case Study 4: The experiences of four survivors with the Towards Healing process’ and ‘Report of Case Study 8: Mr John Ellis’s experience of the Towards Healing process and civil litigation’.

The Towards Healing protocol is a set of principles and procedures established by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes. It contains principles and procedures for handling complaints of sexual abuse by a priest, religious or other Catholic Church personnel. It was introduced in 1997 and revised in 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2010.

Report of Case Study 4
This report examines how the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing protocol responded to four people who were sexually abused by priests or religious, and have experienced significant and continuing adverse impacts from the abuse.

Mrs Joan Isaacs was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, Father Francis Edward Derriman from 1967 to 1968. Mrs Isaacs started the Towards Healing process after Father Derriman had been convicted of two counts of indecent dealing against her.

After Mrs Isaacs’ settlement sum was agreed on she was required to sign a deed of release which included clauses that prevented her from disclosing the terms of the settlement and required her not to make ‘disparaging remarks or comments’ about the Church Authority. The Commissioners found that these clauses effectively imposed on Mrs Isaacs an obligation of silence about the circumstances that led to her complaint, which was inconsistent with Towards Healing principles.

Mrs Jennifer Ingham gave evidence that she was sexually abused by Father Paul Rex Brown between 1978 and 1982.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP
February 11, 2015

A Queensland principal failed to appropriately deal with a pedophile teacher who sexually abused 13 schoolgirls, a report has found.

Terence Hayes didn’t report two allegations of sexual abuse against teacher Gerard Byrnes in 2007, despite having clear instructions to do so in the Catholic school’s child protection kit.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse report said the steps the Toowoomba principal took to monitor Byrnes “were inadequate and inappropriate”.

Despite the allegations against him, Mr Hayes allowed Byrnes to continue in his role as child protection officer for more than six months.

Byrnes retired from the position in June 2008, but Mr Hayes also allowed him to be re-hired as a relief teacher at the same school in July 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 11, 2015 by Ari Heber

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues its investigation we should be aware that the incidents it is investigating represent only a very small percentage of child sexual abuse incidents in Australia.

This is not a pleasant topic but one that has to be discussed so we can provide a safe and protected environment for our children.

I am one of the facilitators of a men’s support group MARS (Men Affected by Rape and Sexual abuse) www.marsaustralia.com.au. I also run Queensland Jewish Community Services Inc. I have worked with about 150 men in groups over the last 10 years and separately to the group have had around 60 members of the Jewish Community male and female disclose to me their childhood abuse.

Statistics show that approximately 25% of females and 17 – 20% of males are sexually abused by the time they are eighteen. These numbers appear to be consistent around the world across national, religious and ethnic boundaries. All communities are affected, without exception, with very similar levels of prevalence. No community can afford to be smug or complacent.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Tuesday 10 February 2015

After deeply offending child sex abuse victims and members of the Jewish community during his evidence before a royal commission, a senior rabbi, Yosef Feldman, has resigned as director of an Orthodox religious centre.

The Yeshivah Centre, which runs schools, youth camps and synagogues, issued a statement on Wednesday to say it had accepted Feldman’s resignation.

Last week Feldman told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse that he “didn’t have a clue” that one of his staff members massaging the genitals of a young student might be a criminal matter, and that he was ignorant of mandatory reporting laws around child sex abuse.

On Monday he told the commission that paedophiles who had not abused children for many years and repented should be granted leniency and should not necessarily be reported to police.

His comments saw one child sex abuse victim, Manny Waks, walk out of the hearing before Melbourne’s county court, and prompted the executive council of Australian Jewry and other groups to call for Feldman’s resignation.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 11, 2015

CONTROVERSIAL rabbi Yosef Feldman has stood down from the board of the Yeshiva Centre after sparking widespread criticism with his views on child sexual abuse.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, Rabbi Feldman admitted he was unfamiliar with child abuse laws and called for leniency for reformed paedophiles.

Today he resigned from his post as director on the board of management of The Yeshiva Centre.

“I apologise to anyone in the Rabbinate, the Jewish community and the wider Australian community who may have been embarrassed or ashamed by my views, words, understandings, recordings or emails about child sexual abuse or any other matter,” he said.

“I have dedicated my life to doing whatever I can to protect and assist all people in need including those who have suffered from any form of abuse, especially children, and it pains me greatly that words that I have expressed have upset victims and their families.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A RABBI condemned by Jewish leaders for his comments regarding child sex abuse “hype” and the need for pedophiles to receive greater leniency has resigned from the board of Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, a rabbinical director at the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi and son of the ultra-orthodox Chabad movement’s spiritual head in NSW, also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know it was illegal for a man to

touch a child’s genitals when he had to deal with an abuse complaint in 2002.

His evidence to the royal commission provoked a firestorm in the Jewish community, with the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Australia yesterday adding its voice to those calling for Rabbi Feldman to end his pastoral and community involvement.

Today the Yeshiva Centre said Rabbi Feldman had resigned his position as a director on its Board of Management, including his administrative responsibilities.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 11, 2015

Jane Lee

A senior Orthodox rabbi has resigned from the board of the Yeshiva Centre in Sydney amid revelations he did not know that touching a child’s genitals could be criminal.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman this week appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to give evidence on the centre’s response to child abuse allegations against its employees, where he has said that Jews who know of abuse allegations should report them to their rabbi before going to the police.

Rabbi Feldman, previously also the administrative director of the centre’s rabbinical college, resigned from the centre’s board of management on Wednesday.

“I apologise to anyone in the rabbinate, the Jewish community and the wider Australian community who may have been embarrassed or ashamed by my views, words, understandings, recordings or emails about child sexual abuse or any other matter,” he told Jewish news service J-Wire.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The rabbi who told a child abuse royal commission there should be more leniency for repentant pedophiles has resigned from an organisation that runs Jewish schools.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman has issued an apology for comments during the Melbourne hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He’s resigned as a director of The Yeshiva Centre, including his administrative responsibilities.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The director of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Yeshiva centre in Sydney has resigned after last week telling a royal commission hearing he did not know it was a crime for an adult to touch a child’s genitals.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman’s evidence at a Melbourne hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was widely criticised by Australia’s broader Jewish community.

In a statement, Rabbi Feldman apologised for the comments he made to the royal commission and said he would step down from all responsibilities as the director on the board of management at Yeshiva.

“I apologise to anyone in the Rabbinate, the Jewish community and the wider Australian community who may have been embarrassed or ashamed by my views, words, understandings, recordings or emails about child sexual abuse or any other matter,” he said.

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