UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

SARAH VINE: Sex abuse in Rotherham and why we British women of ALL faiths must make a stand against the bigots who betray Islam

Feminism, it is now often argued, is an idea that has had its day. In Britain, where women are equal in the eyes of the law, and where girls outperform boys in education, emancipation no longer feels like the fight of our lives.

But this week I realised that we need feminism perhaps more than ever before. We need to empower women, listen to young girls — and challenge the appalling behaviour of certain men whose belief systems would seem to legitimise the idea that women are forever second-class citizens.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the shocking case of the sexual exploitation of an estimated 1,400 girls and young women by overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistani men in Rotherham.

Because if their behaviour tells us anything about the culture of certain Muslim men, it tells us how they value females. Which is to say, not very highly. Or not, at least, by the standards of modern Britain.

I am not saying, let me stress, that every Muslim man is a misogynist. Indeed there are countless numbers who are hard-working exemplary citizens, model husbands and fathers, who love their wives and daughters as more than equals.

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COLORADO
CBS Denver

[with video]

GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4)- A pastor who pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust has been sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Gerald Clark’s victims include three young women who knew him through the church they attended with their families. The abuse happened over a period of seven years and date back as far as 2005 and as recently as April 2012.

Clark originally faced 10 counts, but those were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea in December 2012 to one count that covers all three felony counts of victims under the age of 18.

At the sentencing on Friday, the judge said it was a disturbing case even troubling his own faith as he went over the details, not only because it involved sexual abuse but also spiritual abuse.

The first young woman to come forward told police that Clark was a father figure and mentor to her. She said the sexual abuse occurred approximately 30 to 50 times between 2009 and 2012 when she was 13 to 16 years old.

Clark met that alleged victim and her family at Victory Church. They then followed Clark to Jericho Ministries International that Clark ran out of his Westminster home.

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NEW YORK
WBFO

By SARA ALI

Efforts are being made to repeal New York State’s statue of limitations in response to claims recently brought forward by two victims of child sexual abuse.

Last month, Vanessa DeRosa and Tino Flores asked for a papal investigation into the Buffalo Diocese’s response to their claims, which they claim was inadequate.

State Sen. Marc Panepinto is co-sponsoring bills to eliminate the 10-year timeframe victims have to bring forth claims. Panepinto, on Friday, talked about what that would mean for the two victims.

“It would allow both of them, who did not bring forth their abuse within ten years of the event happening, the ability to get the medical treatment they need, the compensation they deserve for the abuse, and to help put their lives back together again,” said Panepinto.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

BY PATRICK ANDERSON
panderson@providencejournal.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court Friday denied a woman’s latest bid to block the disgraced Legion of Christ from receiving $30 million from her late aunt’s estate.

Upholding a 2012 Superior Court decision, the justices ruled that Mary Lou Dauray, the niece of Gabrielle D. Mee of North Smithfield, did not have standing to challenge the will.

Dauray had argued that the Legion, a religious order whose founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was discovered to have molested young seminarians, used fraud and coercion to convince her aunt to bequeath her family’s entire fortune.

In a ruling for the court, Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg wrote that because Dauray did not stand to benefit if her aunt’s will was invalidated, she did not have standing to sue.

According to Dauray’s attorney, the Legion of Christ has already received roughly $30 million from the Mee estate and stands to receive another $30 million over the next three decades.

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TEXAS
News 4 San Antonio

Updated: Friday, February 6 2015

By LAUREN LEA News 4 San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO — The El Paso Archdiocese has settled a lawsuit with two alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a now-deceased priest.

Attorneys say Father Alfonso Madrid, a Jesuit Catholic priest, sexually assaulted two boys decades ago in El Paso, but he may have victimized a child in San Antonio too.

The lawsuit against the El Paso Archdiocese uncovered an allegation of abuse at a San Antonio church, which was reported in 1968 to Madrid’s superiors.

“It was reported to him that Father Madrid had taken a nine-year-old boy from the bingo hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe there in San Antonio and taken him to the rectory where he sexually abused that little boy,” explained attorney Hal Browne.

The lawsuit alleges the Jesuits knew about the San Antonio abuse allegation when Madrid was transferred back to El Paso, and no investigation occurred at the time. He served at Our Lady of Guadalupe from 1966 to 1970, and Browne believes there could be other victims.

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CHICAGO (IL)/WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

By Lisa Black
Chicago Tribune

A high-ranking Greek Orthodox bishop in Chicago was warned by a prosecutor against “potential efforts to intimidate witnesses” in a case involving a priest accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a Milwaukee church.

The warning came after another priest in Milwaukee told authorities that Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, the No. 2-ranking official in the Greek Orthodox faith in the Midwest, threatened in emails to remove him from his post if the church did not withdraw a theft complaint against the priest’s predecessor.

“We have received some extremely distressing news regarding potential efforts to intimidate witnesses,” a Milwaukee prosecutor wrote to an attorney for the Chicago church leadership last April, according to court documents. “… I believe that Bishop Demetrios needs to retain independent representation as quickly as practical.”

The emails were exchanged between the bishop and the Rev. Angelo Artemas of Annunciation Church in Milwaukee as prosecutors there were investigating theft claims against a former Annunciation priest, the Rev. James Dokos.

The emails indicated the bishop sought a meeting with Annunciation leaders to talk about the case against Dokos, who has since been charged with improperly spending money from a trust fund intended to benefit the church.

Members of Annunciation had taken their concerns about the trust fund to Milwaukee authorities after officials with the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago determined in an internal investigation that Dokos did nothing wrong.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Is Pope Francis so shrewd that he is personally trying to undercut belief in papal infallibility, the key to the modern post-1870 “supreme papacy”, by his unpredictable, inconsistent and even seemingly contradictory statements and actions — the latest arising out of a recent address described below to top officials of the Italian interior (police) ministry ?

Pope Francis “zigs and zags” often: Don’t breed like rabbits, just don’t use the Pill. Help the poor, but honor, like he seems to do, the crony capitalist billionaires who help keep them poor. Protect children, but don’t report priest child abuse to the police unless legally obligated to do so. Slap your kids, but do so respectfully. Be nice to abuse survivors, but go bankrupt to avoid compensating them justly. Don’t judge gay folks, just ostracize them from Church institutions. Is Francis shrewd, or just opportunistic, or even duplicitous and hypocritical? What do you think?

Meanwhile, Francis’ fellow Jesuit, Fr. Hans Zollner, a key member of the pope’s sex abuse commission, seems to be reading from a different script, in his recent and almost embarrassing promotional interview on Vatican Radio. entitled “Child protection at top of Pope Francis’ priority list“, here,

[Vatican Radio]

Even usually sympathetic journalists seem now to be second guessing Pope Francis. Please see, for example, David Gibson’s “Vatican sex abuse commission meets amid new hopes, old concerns’“, here,

[National Catholic Reporter]

and see also former New York Times’ reporter, Ken Briggs’ “Pete Rose, Meet Junipero Serra“, here,

[National Catholic Reporter]

It may be that Pope Francis just wants to appeal to different Church donation sources, for example, divorced and remarried Germans, with their substantial governmental tax subsidy, and right wing US Republican plutocrats who seem to think they need more of the anti-gay marriage, as well as US Latino, voters to elect a “low tax/low regulation” presidential ticket in 2016, like Jeb Bush/Ted Cruz in all likelihood. Please see Betty Clermont’s relevant, comprehensive and well documented, “Catholic Right Still Tied to Big-Money Republicans“, here.

[Church and State]

Pope Francis is halfway through his four year term. He can be expected to retire at the end of of 2016 — after he helps (with his media missives on Cuba, Oscar Romero, Junipero Serra, Our Lady of Guadalupe, anti-contraception, anti-gay marriage, etc.) get out the US Latino vote for the JebBush/Ted Cruz ticket in the US presidential elections. By then, as an 80 year old with one lung, he will likely be replaced by Cardinal Parolin, whom Francis is evidently grooming as his successor, to be expected for one of of powerful Cardinal Sodano’s top proteges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

The Australian Jewish community has just witnessed one of its darkest weeks.

I have covered child abuse in the Jewish community for several years but even I didn’t understand the extent of the cover-ups, the lies, the ignorance and ridiculous actions of Rabbis in our community.

It’s time for us, as a community, to wake up and smell the roses.

* There are dozens of victims of child abuse in our community.
* Victims considered suicide, became addicted to drugs and some will never recover.
* Many victims have never, and probably will never, come forward.
* Victims came forward to Rabbis in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1980s.
* Sometime, Rabbis did nothing.
* Sometime, Rabbis tried to “fix” child sexual abusers.
* And every time, Rabbis didn’t tell the police.

And in Sydney, which has been the focus of most of this week it was worse:

* One rabbi thought a victim was joking when he came forward.
* Another rabbi placed a young girl in the home of convicted child sexual abuser Daniel ‘Gug’ Hayman and then told her she was lying when she claimed she was sexually assaulted.
* At one time an entire group of victims came forward to a rabbi, and was ignored.
* Yeshiva spiritual leader Rabbi Pinchus Feldman did not tell police they knew alleged child sexual abusers were planing to leave the country because Rabbi Feldman “did not know there was any such obligation”.
* Rabbi Pinchus Feldman now accepts that his right-hand-man, Rabbi Baruch Lesches, knew of abuse allegations, but didn’t tell him.
* The head of Yeshiva’s Rabbinic School, Rabbi Yossi Feldman, did not know it was a crime for a teacher to touch the genitals of a child in 2002.
* Rabbi Yossi Feldman, at the age of 33, didn’t understand mandatory reporting laws when he was the director of a company that had a school.
* As recently as 2011 Rabbi Yossi Feldman said you “must” go to rabbis to report abuse instead of the police.
* As recently as 2011 Rabbi Yossi Feldman urged the rabbis not to call on victims to go the police because it would hurt his “friend”, and now convicted child sexual abuser, David Cyprys.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Thursday, February 5, 2015

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

The appellate court today announced that it has denied the appeal of convicted child molester Archbishop Seraphim Storheim. Storheim was for many years the highest ranking Orthodox Church in America (OCA) official in Canada. We are extremely grateful for this decision

[Winnipeg Free Press]

We hope that the two men who courageously testified about what they had suffered at Storheim’s hands will again feel vindicated. Without their bravery, the conviction would not have been possible and kids would still be at risk.

Now that Storheim has had his conviction affirmed, we hope that the OCA will finally act to remove him from the ranks of clergy. We also hope that the Archdiocese of Canada will examine its records to insure that the archbishop did not use his position to shield other predators or to discipline whistle blowers.

Finally, we recognize that pedophiles usually have many victims. We beg anyone who suffered, saw, or suspected Storheim’s crimes to report to the professionals in law enforcement and help protect kids.

The archbishop worked in the following locations:

5/30/1980-1/31/1981: Supply priest in Valamo Monastery, Finland
1/1981-10/1982: Missionary priest, Alberta, Canada
10/1982-12/15/1983: Missionary priest, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America
12/15/1983-12/1/1984: Missionary priest in London, Ontario, Canada
12/1/1984-6/13/1987: Rector of Holy Trinity Sobor, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
6/13/1987-6/29/1990: Bishop of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
10/28/1990-3/21/2014: Ruling hierarch of the Archdiocese of Canada with his seat in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

02/06/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Pastors of more than 100 parishes in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received this letter via email today. Interested parties, take note.

Judge Arthur J. Boylan (ret.)
Mediation Arbitration
310 S. Fourth Ave. Suite 5010
Minneapolis, MN 55415
C: 612-387-5655
mediatoraspm@gmail.com

February 6, 2015 RE:
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Bankruptcy

Dear Fathers: As you know, the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case on January 16, 2015. Judge Robert J. Kressel, the bankruptcy judge handling the case, has appointed me as Mediator to assist the Archdiocese and its creditors in formulating a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization to resolve the bankruptcy case.

The mediation process is underway and moving rapidly. Participants include the plaintiffs, the Archdiocese and its insurers, and a group of 60 or so parishes (both with notices of claims and without). It is apparent that all the parishes of the Archdiocese have a strong interest in the ultimate resolution of the Archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, and I am concerned that there are a number of parishes that are not yet participating in the process and do not have representation. The Parish Group that is currently participating in the mediation process is being represented by bankruptcy attorney Mary Jo Jensen-Carter of Buckley & Jensen and insurance coverage attorney Margo Brownell of Maslon, LLP.

Whether you elect to join this group or retain separate counsel, I encourage all of you to seek legal counsel to protect the interests of your parish. If you wish to join the existing group, you may contact Mary Jo Jensen-Carter at 651-486-7475 or maryjo@buckleyandjensen.com for more information. I expect this mediation proceeding to move forward quickly, so I would urge you to obtain representation as soon as possible. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at MediatorASPM@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
s/ Arthur J. Boylan
Judge Arthur J. Boylan

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TEXAS
KCEN

CORYELL COUNTY — A youth pastor with Coryell Community Church is in jail on multiple charges including sexual assault of a child.

Wil Jackson, 32, was booked into the Coryell County Jail late Thursday night. He’s also charged with Indecency with a Child.

According to the church website, Jackson started serving in student ministry in 2004. He’s been married since 2002 and has two children.

Coryell County Sheriff says the Jackson bonded out of jail on Friday afternoon.

No additional details about the charges against Jackson have been released.

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TEXAS
Killeen Daily Herald

Chris McGuinness | Herald staff writer

CORYELL COUNTY — A Gatesville youth minister is facing felony charges of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.

Jail records indicated Evan William Jackson, 32, was arrested Thursday on the two felony charges. He bonded out of Coryell County Jail on $45,000 bond Friday afternoon.
DR Horton Eurotech Car Care

Jackson is a youth minister at the Coryell Community Church in Gatesville. Jackson is a father of two and his wife also works for the church, according to a biography on the church’s wesbite.

Jackson began working at the church in 2004. On Friday, Coryell County District Attorney Dusty Boyd told local media outlets the incident that got Jackson arrested happened at least 10 years ago, and did not involve any children at the church.

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TEXAS
KWTX

By: Paul J. Gately and Ethan Hutchins

GATESVILLE (February 6, 2015) An affidavit released Friday afternoon details the allegations against a youth pastor at a Gatesville church who’s charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child.

Evan William Jackson, 32, was released from the Coryell County Jail Friday after posting bonds totaling $45,000.

The incidents from which the charges stem date back more than a decade and did not involve any children at the Coryell Community Church, Coryell County District Attorney Dustin Boyd said.

The victim, who’s now 26, but who was 14 at the time of the alleged incidents, told an investigator that Jackson first fondled her sometime around January 2003, the affidavit said.

“She said Jackson abused her on a weekly and sometimes bi-weekly basis for about two years,” the investigator said in the affidavit.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Freunde wählten einen Pfarrer zum Patenonkel ihres Sohnes. Der kümmerte sich scheinbar rührend um sein Ziehkind. Jetzt wurde er wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilt.

Ein katholischer Priester ist wegen Kindesmissbrauchs in Krefeld zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Das Landgericht sprach den 56-Jährigen am Freitag wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs, Kindesmissbrauchs und Missbrauchs von Schutzbefohlenen schuldig. Das Gericht sah 25 Taten als erwiesen an.

Der Geistliche habe sein Patenkind und dessen jüngeren Bruder missbraucht. Dabei sei er einer Strategie gefolgt, sagte der Vorsitzende Richter: “Er wollte sich die jungen Menschen als seine Partner heranziehen.” Das Gericht ging mit seinem Urteil noch über den Strafantrag der Staatsanwältin hinaus, die fünfeinhalb Jahre beantragt hatte.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

A Catholic priest has been given prison time for his misconduct with minors in Germany. He previously faced similar charges while working abroad in South Africa.

Georg K.,* a 56-year-old former Catholic priest from Krefeld in western Germany, was sentenced to six years in jail on Friday after being found guilty on charges of sexual abuse of minors.

Presiding judge Herbert Luczak accused the defendant of having selfishly sought out two young boys as sexual partners and keeping the consequences of their actions hidden from the victims. The six-year sentence is even more time than was originally sought by the prosecution.

Georg K. was charged with abusing two brothers, aged between 11 and 15, from 2001 to 2007. He had already been suspended by the diocese of Aachen. Similar charges have been leveled against him in South Africa, where he lived and preached after 2007.

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UNITED STATES
Church and State

By Betty Clermont | 16 January 2015
Daily Kos

The last time anyone counted, “about one-in-five religious advocacy organizations in Washington D.C. have a Roman Catholic perspective,” the biggest spender being the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at $26.67 million. Unfortunately, the report didn’t list the organizations it considered to have a “Roman Catholic perspective.” Because they’re not based in Washington D.C., the 195 dioceses, Catholic Foundations and the state level Catholic Conferences who lobby on behalf of the local bishops, and the approximately 40,000 other organizations controlled by the bishops throughout the U.S., were not included. Unlike Evangelicals, all the above speak with a unified voice on anti-equality for women and gays. Additionally, no other religion has a global financial network capable of accepting and moving “dark money” thanks to exemptions in requirements to file financial statements and to pay taxes.

Based in Connecticut and not Washington D.C., the Knights of Columbus “have invested millions” in anti-women and anti-gay causes.

The Knights have contributed so much to the bishops’ political agenda that “nearly 90 archbishops and bishops – including 11 cardinals” showed up at their last annual meeting, including the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson has had three private meetings with Pope Francis and the pontiff met with the Knights’ board of directors shortly after his election.

There are many organizations which don’t declare themselves “Catholic” but are allied with the USCCB agenda. They include right-wing think tanks such as the Acton Institute and the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC). The Acton Institute is primarily funded by groups like ExxonMobil, the Scaife foundations and the Koch brothers. Its president, Fr. Robert A. Sirico has met with Pope Francis as has George Weigel, head of the EPPC.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 11

By Dan Noyes
Thursday, February 05, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Archbishop Riordan High School (ARHS), a prestigious, all-male Catholic prep school run by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is facing a scandal involving sexually-graphic pictures and a racy video of a student. Tuition is $16,820, but boarding students pay $47,500.

Over the last 18 months, at least five teachers have complained to the archdiocese about the principal showing pictures of naked women and other images not appropriate for a school environment. And some of those teachers say have faced retaliation because they took a stand.

Vittorio Anastasio graduated from Riordan, coached the wrestling team for years, worked as guidance counselor and became principal in 2013. Several teachers are now accusing the 48-year-old of conduct that is not proper for a school setting.

Teacher 1: “And he showed me an inappropriate picture of a frontal of a naked woman.”
Noyes: “From top to bottom?”
Teacher 1: “Yes.”
Noyes: “You could see everything?”
Teacher 1: “Yes.”

Our sister station in San Francisco spoke with three Riordan High teachers on camera. They don’t want to show their faces out of concern for their careers. Their stories echo what other faculty and staff have said– that Anastasio, on more than 20 occasions, used a phone or iPad to show pictures of naked women, including some sexually-explicit photos, and one picture of the principal meeting porn star Ron Jeremy.

Noyes: “How does it come up?”
Teacher 2: “‘Let me show you this. Look at this. What do you think about this one?’ That’s how it comes up. Casually, like it’s no big deal.”

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UNITED STATES
Flicks and Bits

Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber & More Highlighted In The First ‘Spotlight’ Image

The above first image has arrived online from writer-director Tom McCarthy’s (The Station Agent) much buzzed about drama ‘Spotlight,’ which is about the Boston Globe investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. From left to right: Michael Keaton as Walter “Robby” Robinson, Spotlight Team editor; Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, Boston Globe editor; Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe reporter; Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, Boston Globe reporter; John Slattery as Ben Bradlee, Jr., Boston Globe deputy managing editor; Brian d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll, Boston Globe reporter.

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WISCONSIN
Urban Milwaukee

By Michael Zahn – Feb 6th, 2015

Father James Dokos Jr., accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a trust fund, offered an unusual defense: that he was protected by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion — an argument made by his trio of lawyers, including high-profile attorney Frank Gimbel.

Sorry, said Circuit Judge M. Joseph Donald in a ruling yesterday: “The United States Supreme Court has previously observed that no person may ‘under the cloak of religion . . . commit frauds upon the public.’” So Asst. District Atty. David Feiss can go ahead and prosecute the priest.

Dokos Jr. had served since 1990 and until recently at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa. The building is easily the best-known Greek Orthodox structure in this area, and one of the best-known Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings in the state. Two longtime parish members, the late Ervin and Margaret Franczak, had established a trust totaling more than $1.2 million which was intended for the mortgage and maintenance of the parish’s James W. Pihos Cultural Center, next to the church at 9400 W. Congress St.

But the complaint against Dokos says that from August 2008 through October 2012, he spent more than $110,000 — writing checks outside the terms of the trust, as Fox 6 has reported.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) –

A State Senator is speaking out on behalf of adults who say they were victims of sexual assault years or even decades ago.

Marc Panepinto (D-Buffalo) says New York is one of the worst states in the country to help survivors of childhood sexual assault. He stood side by side with two victims on Friday morning, calling for a repeal of the statute of limitations for sexual abuse against minors.

Under current law, adults in New York that have been sexually abused must make a claim by the age of 23.

Victims say that in some cases, that is not enough time. Advocates say there may be too much trauma, fear and repressed memories for the victim to feel he or she can come forward.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Ken Briggs | Feb. 6, 2015 NCR Today

Junipero Serra and Pete Rose have become fellow brinksmen on a still shaky threshold of glory.
Serra is back in the running for sainthood after being tarnished by earlier outcries against his treatment of Native Americans. Rose, as most of the world knows, was banned from baseball for gambling on games while manager of the Reds, but this week a new major league commissioner opened the door for him to gain eligibility for baseball’s canonization into the Hall of Fame.

The stains on both of their backgrounds testify to the impossibility of matching the ideals we concoct to imagine the existence of superior beings who lack ordinary perfidy.

Serra’s record of alleged human rights violations were played down or obscured by the Vatican even as John Paul II announced that he would beatify the founder of a string of missions in Southern California in a grand public ceremony during his visit to the U.S. in 1987. Due to the indignation that then arose from historians and descendants of Serra’s victims, however, the celebration was canceled. John Paul quietly did the deed the next year but for decades Serra’s cause was placed out of sight presumably until the storm blew over and it was prudent again to elevate him. Pope Francis says he plans to follow through during his American tour later this year, installing Serra in the sainthood class of ’15. A new round of protests has begun, fueled further by appeals to Francis’ oft-stated advocacy for the poor and marginalized, but it would seem likely that the Vatican has anticipated the push-back and intends to install Serra despite the claims of injustice.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 07, 2015

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A RABBI who knew an accused child abuser might flee the country says he did not know at the time that it was illegal for an adult to touch a child’s genitals.

Yosef Feldman, the rabbinical administrator of Bondi’s orthodox Yeshiva centre, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that the prospect of criminal charges did not cross his mind when he spoke to the alleged abuser the day after a young boy’s mother notified Yeshiva College of her son’s allegation in 2002.

Rabbi Feldman said at the time he believed the allegation only ­related to the man, a rabbinical student and teacher’s aide known as AVL, lying down with the boy and massaging him.

“I didn’t know it could have been a crime,” Rabbi Feldman said. “I didn’t see that as necessarily being sexual … (but) it could potentially be something which is highly inappropriate. I don’t know what the criminal code is and what’s a crime and what’s not a crime. A lot of things could be a crime (when) I don’t think it is.”

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VATICAN CITY
Radio Vatican

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) Child protection experts from five continents began talks in the Vatican on Friday at the first full meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The 17 member Commission was established by Pope Francis in 2014 and includes a range of professional men and women, together with survivors who were sexually abused by priests during their childhoods.

One of the founding members is German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, head of the Institute of Psychology at Rome’s Gregorian University and director of its Centre for the Protection of Minors. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the huge challenges facing the Commission and about the difficulties of tackling the broader issues of abuse of power within the Church today..

Fr Hans says the Pope has already started the process of looking into the abuse of power in different sectors so he has “put his finger in a wound that has been there for many years” and which reappears over the centuries in the Church….

As Catholics and Christians, Fr Hans says, we have a special responsibility to live authentically what we profess, adding that “it’s one of the major driving forces behind all the reform process that is going on, including the issue of looking at sexual abuse and its roots in the Church”….

Asked about the work of the Pontifical Commission, Fr Hans says it’ll be interesting to meet with members from the five continents, bringing a “language and a world of experience which is different from each other”. Fr Hans notes there are issues that need to be addressed urgently in parts of Africa, such as the abuse of power and the abuse of women, including women religious, by priests. It’s also important, he says, to find the right language to speak about these problems because in some Asian cultures there is so much denial that “sex abuse is an absolute taboo and cannot even be mentioned by the media”.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

05 February 2015 by Hannah Roberts in Rome

A landmark conference on women at the Vatican this week accepted that there is a major discrepancy between the status of women in Western culture and their role in the Church.

“In modernity, where work is the main way to avoid poverty and exclusion, women want to work, have a career and recognition of this commitment in terms of status and money equal to men. They want space in the public sphere equal to that given to men … not as secondary citizens,” the outline document for the plenary assembly at the Pontifical Council for Culture on “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference” said.

The paper went on to acknowledge “women who, perhaps with great difficulty, have reached places of prestige within society, but have no corresponding decisional role nor responsibility within ecclesial communities”.

In a pointed contrast between past and present the working document, produced by 15 women advising president of the Pontifical Council for Culture Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, asserted: “Women no longer spend their afternoons reciting the Rosary or taking part in religious devotions; they often work, sometimes as top managers engaged as much as, if not more than, their male counterparts, and frequently they also have to care for their families.”

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 6

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 )

The latest church abuse panel, meeting now in Rome, is to “come up with best practices for dioceses and religious orders to implement” (AP) and “propose ways for the church to improve its norms and procedures.” (Catholic News Service).

But if my house is filthy, I don’t need to learn “best cleaning practices.” I just need to start sweeping out the dirt.

That’s what Pope Francis must do. But that’s what he hasn’t done and won’t do. The dirt is just too widespread.

It’s a lack of decisive action, not a lack of ‘norms,’ that keeps predators in parishes and abuse cover ups covered up. No plethora of procedures can or will force bishops to be honest about child molesting clerics and responsible about innocent childrens safety.

Since royalty are never demoted or disciplined in a monarchy, clearer or “better” or more procedures do nothing but create the image of reform. So we have few hopes for this panel. Whatever it recommends will be adopted and then ignored because this pope, like his predecessors, lacks the spine to fire corrupt men like Archbishop John Neinstedt or Bishop Robert Finn.

Or Philippine Bishop Arturo Mandin Bastes who right now is keeping a known abuser, Fr. Arwyn N. Diesta, in ministry. (Fr. Diesta worked in the Los Angeles archdiocese in the 1980s and abused a young teen seminarian there. Three times Sorsogon diocesan officials were warned about Fr. Diesta – twice by Cardinal Roger Mahony and once by the Vatican. Yet Bishop Bastes puts youngsters in harm’s way today by keeping Fr. Diesta on the job.)

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | February 6, 2015

VATICAN CITY (RNS) When Marie Collins first joined a new Vatican commission to fight sex abuse set up by Pope Francis, she had high hopes for quick action despite a wariness of church promises made in the decades since she was raped by a priest as a girl in Ireland.

Francis had been shaking up the church in remarkable ways almost since the moment of his election nearly two years ago, and last May he finally set his reformist sights on the clergy sexual abuse scandal: he named Collin and seven others —mainly lay people and experts — to an unprecedented commission tasked with giving him recommendations for changes.

In December, he doubled the commission’s membership, adding including another prominent abuse victim.

Yet it’s only now, as the full commission begins a critical three-day Vatican meeting on Friday (Feb. 6), that Collins thinks advocates have a chance to really shake things up – though there are still no guarantees.

“I find it very frustrating how slowly the church moves, as a lay person coming in from the outside,” Collins, 68, said in an interview on the eve of the meeting, which runs through Sunday.

“It’s a shock to the system really how slowly they move,” she said. “I would definitely like to see things moving more quickly. But you have to try and achieve what you can achieve. All we can do is get in there and try and move as fast as we can. But I personally do have a great frustration with the speed of the church.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 6

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 )

There’s an encouraging aspect of the horrific Troy fake kidnapping case that’s worth noting: the system worked.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Within 48 hours of hearing this poor boy’s traumatic account, school officials, police and prosecutors leaped into action, arresting and charging four adults for this awful crime.

The boy spoke up. School staff believed him. They called police. Police investigated. Prosecutors charged. Wrongdoers were exposed. And a victim was validated and protected.

Time and time again, we hear about the cases where the system does not work. Kids can’t disclose horror. If they do, then the adults don’t listen. Or the adults disbelieve them. Or the adults do nothing. Or the adults say “Just let it go.” Or the adults try to “handle” the crimes quietly or internally. Or law enforcement moves slowly.

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TEXAS
Baptist News

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist church in Texas has been sued for $1 million by an unidentified woman who claims lack of oversight enabled a former youth minister and his younger brother to sexually abuse her as a teenager.

A lawsuit filed Feb. 3 in Dallas County District Court alleges negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and vicarious liability by Arapaho Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas.

Joshua Earls, the former student pastor at the church affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention, pleaded guilty in federal court to child pornography charges in 2013. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

His younger brother, Jordan “Jordy” Earls, was not officially employed by the church but helped his brother with music and as a youth-group volunteer. The lawsuit claims the brothers, who shared an apartment, groomed several girls in the youth group, and with the plaintiff it escalated to weekly sexual abuse by Jordy Earls during her sophomore and junior years in high school.

The lawsuit says the brothers departed abruptly in 2013, telling youth they were “called” to other ministry assignments in South Carolina. The truth, however, was that the family of another girl told police that Josh Earls had molested their minor daughter at a pool party in 2012.

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COLORADO
CBS Denver

[with video]

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – Gerald Clark, a Westminster pastor, will be sentenced on Friday for his sexual abuse crimes against multiple victims.

One of the victims told police that he was like a father figure to her. But that trust ended when she said he began sexually abusing her. She told police it happened 30 – 50 times, between 2009 and 2012, when she was 13 – 16 years old.

Clark had been a pastor and was associated with Victory Church as well as Jerico Ministries International, which he ran out of his home.

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MONTANA
Indian County Today Media Network

Stephanie Woodard
2/6/15

Suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse. A plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Helena (Montana) and the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province ticked off the long-term effects of the sexual, physical and emotional abuse by nuns and priests that he and other plaintiffs suffered as children. “The memories keep coming back,” said the plaintiff, who asked to be referred to as John Doe. “It’s daily. You withdraw.” The problems have devastated individuals and entire communities, he said.

A proposed settlement in the lawsuit has just been accepted by all sides. The 362 plaintiffs are mostly Native Americans, who were abused from the 1930s through the 1970s. The defendants are the Diocese, which oversaw western Montana and will pay the plaintiffs copy5 million via bankruptcy reorganization and insurance proceeds, and the Ursulines, who ran a boarding and day school in St. Ignatius, Montana, where much of the abuse took place. The Ursulines will pay $4.45 million, largely from sale of assets, according to Tamaki Law Offices, one of the firms representing the plaintiffs.

Court documents say nuns, priests and lay employees also raped, sodomized, fondled and beat children at other western Montana schools and parishes. The Ursulines ran their school with the help of Jesuits, who are also named as abusers.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis is halfway through his four year term. He can be expected to retire at the end of of 2016 — after he helps (with his Cuba, Oscar Romero, Junipero Serra, Our Lady of Guadalupe, anti-contraception, anti-gay marriage, etc., media missiles) get out the Latino vote for the JebBush/Ted Cruz ticket in the US presidential elections. By then, as an 80 year old with one lung, he will likely be replaced by Cardinal Parolin, whom Francis is evidently grooming as his successor, to be expected for one of of powerful Cardinal Sodano’s top proteges.

A two-day Cardinals’ meeting in Rome, before Pope Francis installs 20 new Cardinals on Feb. 14, will now fine tune the Catholic Church’s top down central bureaucracy to assure a smooth transition to an even tighter papal control under a younger pope. Church leaders under Francis have evidently decided to work together in mutual self interest to stonewall outside government efforts to subject the Vatican and Cardinals to their laws protecting children. How long can such a short sighted strategy succeed? Not long, as I discuss below.

Francis so far appears to have met the main goals of the frightened Cardinals who elected him two years ago. He has kept all of them out of jail and most of their bishops out of bankruptcy courts, despite several serious scandals. He has also stemmed the theft of Vatican wealth and gotten financial regulators to back off somewhat. None of these outcomes appeared inevitable when the failed Pope Benedict suddenly quit under pressure two years ago. The ex-Pope, a misguided manager, left his successor a massive legal and financial mess in the Church’s “house of cards”, as Francis quaintly put it. Francis has navigated this so far by skillfully employing media management and by pursuing dangerous geo-politics, ranging from endearing himself to major leaders of China and Russia, Saudi Arabia and US Republicans, to dictators in Cuba and even to the disgraceful “leader for life” Mugabe in Africa, see “Zimbabwean leader among faithful marking Pope Paul VI′s beatification“, here,

[Star Africa]

Francis has, disappointingly but not surprisingly, “charged” the wishful thinking and docile “Catholic 99.99%” a very high price to save the 0.01 % Church leadership. Among other charges, (1) children remain at serious risk of sexual predator priests due to continued Vatican stonewalling on child abuse, as Peter Saunders, the leader of UK abuse survivors recently added to Francis’ new sex abuse commission, has just boldly reminded Francis, see”Pope Francis told to hand priests over to police as new Vatican child abuse commission starts work“, here,

[Telegraph]

(2) many women are still denied access to effective contraception options and all women remain perpetual subordinates as “Adam’s ribs”, and (3) major Vatican financial liabilities still remain, as is even more evident now with the release of Jesuit educated and former Wall Street lawyer, Gerald Posner’s explosive and comprehensive book, “God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican” , (see at [Amazon] link).

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VATICAN CITY
RT

Pope Francis gave parents the go ahead to smack children – if their dignity is preserved. His remarks during his weekly general audience in Rome have provoked social media outcry with many accusing the Argentinian pontiff of supporting violence. …

“It is disappointing that anyone with that sort of influence would make such a comment,” the coordinator of the Global Alliance to End Corporal Punishment of Children, Peter Newell, said.

According to the founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, Peter Saunders, the pope’s remarks were misplaced.

“I think that is a very misguided thing to have said and I’m surprised he said it, although he does come up with some howlers sometimes,” Saunders, who was abused for over five years by two Catholic priests as a child in London, told the Telegraph.

In December, Saunders was appointed by Pope Francis to his new Vatican commission on protecting children from abusive priests.

“It is a most unhelpful remark to have made and I will tell him that,” he added.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! Lifestyle

By Alison Coldridge

He was hailed a modern Pope after actively encouraging women to breastfeed during his church services, but Pope Francis has revealed that his views on disciplining children remains dated.

The head of the Catholic Church used one of his recent services to reassure parents that smacking their children is OK when they’ve been naughty.

In one of his weekly general audience, this time dedicated to the role of fathers in the family, the Pope regaled a story of a dad smacking his child – and approved of the approach the father in took.

“One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say ‘I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face so as to not humiliate them.’ How beautiful!’ said Pope Francis. …

Peter Saunders, the founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, told The Telegraph, “It is disappointing that anyone with that sort of influence would make such a comment.” Saunders added that Pope Francis’ comments were “very misguided.”

But Vatican officials have been quick to stress that the Pope was advising on “helping someone to grow and mature.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Christian Brother who pleaded guilty to more than 50 child sex abuse charges will be sentenced at the end of the month.

The man, now known as Ted Bales, faces charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

He appeared in the Melbourne County Court on Friday.

The 65-year-old has also served time for child sex abuse under a different name, Edward Vernon Dowlan.

He had been stationed with the Christian Brothers at Ballarat and Warrnambool.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

February 6, 2015 by J-Wire Staff

The Rabbinical Administrator of Yeshiva Gedolah,Bondi, Rabbi Yosef Feldman, present at a July 2002 meeting with name protected AVL and his father, Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, admitted that AVL, a student at the Yeshiva accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour, was a relative by marriage.

Yeshiva Gedolah is a tertiary education centre for young men training to become rabbis. AVL returned home to New York very soon after his meeting with the two rabbis.

At the meeting, AVL was told he would not be ordained. When AVL asked what would happen if he left Australia, Rabbi Pinchus told him words to the effect that it was not their decision what AVL wanted to do with his life. However if AVL left Australia, he would not be ordained.

During a separate conversation to the meeting, AVL told Rabbi Yosef that he lay down with the child and had just been massaging him. Rabbi Yosef didn’t think in legal terms about what might be a crime and should be reported to police.

“From a Jewish law perspective, this was highly improper” said Rabbi Yosef.

However, he didn’t see the lying down and massaging a child as necessarily being sexual.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Feb 6, 2015

Well, maybe not exactly secret. But in the letter he sent yesterday to the heads of bishops conferences and religious orders around the world, Francis made it clear to insiders, in a way most outsiders won’t grasp, that Rome has changed how it looks at the cover-up of child sexual abuse. The letter, sent at the request of the commission on the protection of minors Francis established last March, includes the following key paragraph:

Families need to know that the Church is making every effort to protect their children. They should also know that they have every right to turn to the Church with full confidence, for it is a safe and secure home. Consequently, priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors.

“The desire to avoid scandal” is not just one concern among many. It is the key reason given in document after internal diocesan document explaining why a priest credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor is being quietly shuffled off to another parish, another diocese, another country — anything other than reported to the civil authorities and the faithful.

And that’s because “scandal” means more ecclesiastically than it does in common parlance. Aquinas defines it as an unrighteous word or deed that occasions the ruin of another, the idea being that sinful activity, if known to others, begets more sin. For that reason, Canon Law (1352) mandates the suspension of punishment “either in whole or in part to the extent that the offender cannot observe it without the danger of grave scandal or loss of good name.”

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CALIFORNIA
KGO

By Dan Noyes

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Archbishop Riordan High School (ARHS), a prestigious, all-male Catholic prep school run by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is facing a scandal involving sexually-graphic pictures and a racy video of a student. Tuition is $16,820, but boarding students pay $47,500.

Over the last 18 months, at least five teachers have complained to the archdiocese about the principal showing pictures of naked women and other images not appropriate for a school environment. And some of those teachers tell Dan Noyes they have faced retaliation because they took a stand.

Vittorio Anastasio graduated from Riordan, coached the wrestling team for years, worked as guidance counselor and became principal in 2013. The I-Team spoke with several teachers now accusing the 48-year-old of conduct that is not proper for a school setting.

Teacher 1: “And he showed me an inappropriate picture of a frontal of a naked woman.”
Noyes: “From top to bottom?”
Teacher 1: “Yes.”
Noyes: “You could see everything?”
Teacher 1: “Yes.”

The I-Team spoke with three Riordan High teachers on camera. They don’t want to show their faces out of concern for their careers. Their stories echo what Noyes heard from other faculty and staff — that Anastasio, on more than 20 occasions, used a phone or iPad to show pictures of naked women, including some sexually-explicit photos, and one picture of the principal meeting porn star Ron Jeremy.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

[court document]

By Lisa Black
Chicago Tribune

A judge on Thursday rejected the argument made by a Glenview priest that a felony theft case against him should be dropped because it violated religious freedom laws.

The Rev. James Dokos, 62, of Chicago, is accused of improperly spending more than $100,000 in trust fund money that authorities contend was to benefit Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee, where Dokos was a priest for years.

“Determining whether or not the defendant embezzled money does not require this court to appoint religious ministers, decide tenets of faith (or) interpret church doctrine,” Milwaukee Circuit Judge M. Joseph Donald wrote in his ruling, issued Thursday. “Neither (Dokos) nor the hierarchical church is more capable of determining whether or not he unlawfully retained money to which he was not entitled.”

Dokos did not appear at the hearing; he was excused after submitting a note from a doctor saying he’d had a recent cardiac procedure, according to court records.

The priest has been on unpaid leave from his most recent position as pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview since the formal charge was filed last July. Dokos moved from the Milwaukee to the Glenview parish in 2012.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Dorset Echo

by Press Association 2014

The long-delayed inquiry into historic child sex abuse is to be reconstituted under a new chair with tough new powers to compel witnesses to attend and provide evidence.

Home Secretary Theresa May named New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard to head the inquiry, which lost its first two chairs after questions were raised over their links with establishment figures.

Justice Goddard promised to hold a “robust and independent inquiry” which would hold to account those responsible for failing abused children.

Announcing her appointment to the House of Commons, Mrs May said that Justice Goddard had been selected after a search that involved more than 150 candidates, “due diligence” on potential conflicts of interest and consultation with victim groups.

The existing panel is being dissolved, with members able to reapply for positions, Mrs May told MPs. The terms of reference are also being revisited, potentially meaning that investigations could go back beyond 1970, though Mrs May indicated they were unlikely to be extended – as some have demanded – beyond England and Wales.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thursday 5 February 2015

The former director of an Orthodox Jewish school “didn’t have a clue” that one of his staff members massaging the genitals of a young student might be a criminal matter, the royal commission has heard.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman said when he found out a teacher’s aide at the Sydney Yeshivah’s Gedolah college had been accused of sexually abusing a child in 2002, his ignorance of secular law meant he didn’t view it as a criminal offence.

Feldman said he was not aware of laws around mandatory reporting of child abuse, and he did not feel he needed training because “sex abuse is not common”.

“My role in general is to look at things from a Jewish law perspective,” Feldman told the royal commision into institutional responses into child sex abuse on Friday. “I’m not in the business of thinking of how society would deal with issues.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thursday 5 February 2015

A senior religious figure within New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, Rabbi Boruch Lesches, has been asked to appear before Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses into child sex abuse.

Lesches had been contacted and asked to provide a statement or appear via video link but was yet to respond, counsel assisting Maria Gerace told the commission at Melbourne’s county court on Friday.

Lesches was a former senior figure and rabbi within Sydney’s Yeshivah community, and currently heads the Lubavitch community in Monsey, New York.

Child abuse victims told the commission this week that Lesches had dismissed their abuse allegations when they gained the courage to tell him what they had suffered within Yeshivah centres and their schools in the late 80s and early 90s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 6, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

The head of a Sydney rabbinical college says he was not aware that inappropriately touching a child could be criminal when one of his students left Australia amid accusations of child sexual abuse.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman, whose father, Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, is the head of Sydney’s orthodox Chabad community, also told the royal commission into child sexual abuse on Friday that he believed:

* Child sexual abuse was “not common” and did not affect more than 30 per cent of society
* Understanding the nature of abuse and responding to abuse allegations were largely a matter of “common sense”.
* Since he and his father failed to prevent his student, known as AVL, from leaving Australia, he said he had not undertaken formal training in child sexual abuse
* Rabbis, he said, should be trained in how to deal with child sexual abuse. But the rabbinical curriculum now only mentions abuse as it relates to Jewish law

Rabbi Feldman was the administrative director of the rabbinical college at orthodox Jewish institution Yeshiva in Sydney in 2002, when a parent complained that a man – known as AVL – had massaged their child while lying beside them.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jean Edwards

A former director of an Orthodox Jewish school says he did not know it was a crime for an adult to touch a child’s genitals, the royal commission into child abuse has heard.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman was questioned about the way he dealt with abuse claims against a rabbinical student known as AVL at the Yeshivah Gedolah in Sydney in 2002.

Counsel assisting the Commission Maria Gerace asked: “did you understand that it was against the law for an adult to touch the genitals of another child?”

“I didn’t know that as a fact,” Rabbi Feldman answered.

The Commission heard AVL admitted lying down and massaging the child.

The rabbi said he “didn’t have a clue” that could be a criminal matter.

“My role in general is to look at things from a Jewish perspective, from a religious perspective,” Rabbi Feldman said.

“I’m not in the business of thinking about how society would deal with issues.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A senior rabbi feared his friend would be charged and jailed if a rabbinical organisation encouraged sexual abuse victims to come forward.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman wrote to a senior judge of Jewish court, Sydney Beth Din, in 2011 to object to a statement it was going to release about child sex abuse, fearing it would have implications for his friend, David Cyprys.

Cyprys was convicted and jailed for eight years in 2013 for abusing nine boys at Yeshivah Melbourne.

Rabbi Feldman told a royal commission on Friday he didn’t know when he wrote to the Beth Din whether allegations against Cyprys were true or not.

The commission is holding public hearings in Melbourne into the response of Jewish community leaders at Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi to reports of child sex abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Rabbi Yosef Feldman tells royal commission he didn’t know it’s illegal for adults to touch children’s genitals

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 06, 2015

A HIGH-profile Jewish leader says he didn’t know it was illegal for adults to touch the genitals of children.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Rabbi Yosef Feldman said he was unfamiliar with child abuse laws.

He said even while director of the Yeshivah Gedola Rabbinical College he didn’t bother familiarising himself with the laws.

“Obviously I knew I had certain obligations. I didn’t know what they were. I relied on my father,” he said.

Rabbi Feldman’s father, Pinchus Feldman, has been Sydney’s top Rabbi since 1968.

Counsel assisting the commission Maria Gerace asked directly: “Did you understand that it was against the law for an adult to touch the genitals of another child?”

“I didn’t know that as a fact,” he said.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

BUFFALO, N.Y. – (AP) — A New York state senator says the state should repeal the statute of limitations for sexual abuse against minors.

Sen. Marc Panepinto says New York has one of the shortest windows in the country for pursuing complaints through the courts and he’s proposing legislation to change that.

He’s set to appear at a news conference in Buffalo Friday with a man and woman who recently sent a letter to Pope Francis asking for an investigation into the way the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo handled their complaints of sex abuse against church employees.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

Pope Francis told to hand priests over to police as new Vatican child abuse commission starts work

Nick Squires By Nick Squires, Rome 06 Feb 2015

Pope Francis should immediately hand over to the police all the Vatican documents on Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children and “cast out the vipers” who are still being protected by the Church, a British survivor of clerical abuse said.

The Catholic Church needs to end decades of obfuscation and cover-ups by fully cooperating with civil authorities around the world instead of protecting abusive priests, moving them from parish to parish or subjecting them only to canon law, said Peter Saunders.

Peter Saunders, who was sexually abused as a child in London by two Catholic priests and the headmaster of his Catholic primary school, was appointed by the Pope to a new Vatican commission on child protection, which will hold its first full meeting on Friday in Rome.

“The Pope should release all the documents the Vatican has on abusive priests,” he said in an interview shortly after arriving in Rome for the meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

“The Holy Father is a supreme monarch and bishops around the world are answerable to him. “If he says they must give up the documents, they can’t argue with that. It’s one of the things I will be saying to the commission – unless they throw me out.

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INDIANA
Washington Times Herald

By Mike Grant Times Herald

Police have arrested a Washington man accusing him of sexually abusing a boy over a six-year period. Washington Police charged Armando Bruno-Morales, 55, with three counts of child molesting on Sunday. Officers say they began an investigation into the abuse after being contacted by the family and after interviewing Bruno arrested him.

In a probable cause affidavit filed in Daviess Superior Court, Washington City Police Detective Daniel Christie says that the victim claimed the sexual abuse began in 2008 when he was 8 years old. The victim claimed Bruno had been a pastor at a church the family attended and lived with them briefly and later stayed as an occasional overnight guest. It was during that time that police say the molestation began.

Officers say Bruno had been serving as a pastor at an Hispanic Church on W. Main Street while the alleged abuse took place.

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CONNECTICUT
Greenwich Time

In suspending a priest for allegedly abusing a child 30 years ago, the Bridgeport Diocese has put into action its pledge of zero tolerance and transparency.

These are exceptional circumstances. The statute of limitations for child sexual abuse expired decades ago, so police will not pursue criminal charges. Bishop Frank Caggiano posted a letter on the diocese website Wednesday afternoon that there was “credible evidence” that Stephen DeLuca committed a single act of child abuse more than 30 years ago.

That designation was not made by Caggiano alone, but by the Diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board. The matter might have been dealt with quietly, given that DeLuca retired in June, but Caggiano underscored that the diocese is committed to total transparency in the handling of such cases. This means it was prominently announced on the website, and will be addressed during Masses at all of the churches where DeLuca served, which include St. Catherine of Siena in Riverside, where he was a priest in residence, and at St. Agnes in Cos Cob, where he was pastor from 1984 to 2006. He was also well known in Greenwich for his work with the sick and elderly at Nathaniel Witherell nursing home and Greenwich Hospital, where he served as chaplain until a few months ago. He also served as president of Greenwich Catholic School’s board of directors, as treasurer for the Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy and as a staff member at the former St. Mary’s High School in Greenwich. A diocese spokesman said the alleged incident did not occur in Greenwich.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By MARK RUSSELL, THE AGE Feb. 6, 2015

A victim preyed on by a Christian brother who was part of a notorious pedophile ring involving the clergy in the Victorian town of Ballarat claimed George Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, ignored his pleas to stop the abuse, a court has heard.

Crown prosecutor Brett Sonnet told the County Court on Friday that the victim of pedophile brother Ted Dowlan, 65, alleged he was at a local Ballarat swimming pool in 1973 when he approached Dr Pell to try to discuss the abuse.

The victim claimed he told Dr Pell, who is now head of the Vatican’s finances, something had to be done to stop Dowlan abusing young boys at St Patrick’s College.

Dr Pell allegedly replied: “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Dr Pell has consistently denied knowing children were being abused in Ballarat during the time he was there.

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CANADA
Sun News

QMI AGENCY

WINNIPEG – A former archbishop has been denied an appeal of his sexual assault conviction and sentence and is now headed to jail.

Kenneth (Seraphim) Storheim was found guilty Jan. 24, 2014, of one count of sexually molesting a young boy — and cleared of a charge he molested the boy’s twin — in incidents from nearly 30 years ago.

A Court of Appeal ruling issued Thursday by Justice William J. Burnett dismissed a motion for the court to hear fresh evidence, as well as motions to appeal Storheim’s conviction and sentence.

Storheim was previously sentenced to eight months in prison but was out on bail pending the results of the appeal.

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CANADA
CTV

Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, February 5, 2015

WINNIPEG — A former archbishop who sexually assaulted an altar boy in the 1980s has lost his appeal and is starting his eight-month sentence behind bars.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal said Thursday it agrees with the conviction of Seraphim Storheim and the sentence a lower court imposed. The high court said it wasn’t convinced trial Judge Christopher Mainella — who now sits on the Court of Appeal — made a mistake when he decided Storheim’s evidence wasn’t believable.

“It cannot be said that the trial judge applied a different level of scrutiny to the evidence of the accused,” the judges wrote. “A review of the decision reveals that the trial judge … did not hold the accused’s evidence to a higher standard than that of the Crown witnesses.”

Earlier this year a judge convicted Seraphim Storheim of sexually assaulting an altar boy who lived with him in 1985.

The judges also ruled the sentence fit the crime.

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CONNECTICUT
Greenwich Time

Robert Marchant
Updated 8:16 pm, Thursday, February 5, 2015

Shock and surprise were the responses to the announcement that a priest with longtime roots in the community had been suspended over an alleged incident of sexual misconduct with a youngster that recently came to light.

The Rev. Stephen DeLuca was removed from clerical duties this week by the Bridgeport Diocese, which includes Greenwich. He had been serving as priest in residence at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Riverside. At that church, he filled in for other priests when they were travelling or otherwise unable to conduct services, and he took on occasional clerical duties following his recent retirement at the age of 75. He was also the former pastor of St. Agnes Church on Stanwich Road from 1984 to 2006.

Roseann Benedict, who attends services at St. Catherine’s, said of the recent disclosure, “It’s shocking to me.”

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TEXAS
WFAA

GARLAND — A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against a Garland church after members of its youth group came forward and said they were sexually abused or assaulted by two church employees.

The lawsuit was filed against the Arapaho Road Baptist Church by a lawyer for one of the victims, Tahira Khan Merritt.

Carolyn Alvey, a spokeswoman with the church, said they became aware of the suit early Thursday, but said the church hadn’t been served papers as of 4 p.m.

“From the moment we learned of these allegations, we have been transparent and open about the situation with our staff, congregation, students, investigators and the community,” Alvey wrote in a statement. “This is the only way healing can truly happen. We ask the community to join us in prayer for all those involved.”

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MARYLAND
Episcopal News Service

By Mary Frances Schjonberg | February 5, 2015

[Episcopal News Service] A Baltimore grand jury has indicted Episcopal Diocese of Maryland Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook on 13 counts for allegedly causing the Dec. 27 car-bicycle accident that killed Thomas Palermo.

Five of the charges listed in the indictment handed down Feb. 4 by a Baltimore City grand jury come in addition to those Cook has faced since being charged Jan. 9 with four criminal offenses and four traffic violations.

The new charges include driving while under the influence of alcohol per se (a “per se” DUI charge involves drivers whose blood alcohol limit is above the .08% legal limit and can be charged with drunk driving even if their ability to drive does not appear to be impaired), driving under the impairment of alcohol, texting while driving, reckless driving and negligent driving.

The original criminal charges included manslaughter by vehicle, criminal negligent manslaughter by vehicle, homicide by driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol per se and homicide by driving a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts
The Baltimore Sun

The head of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland sought Thursday to clarify what he knew about Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook’s drinking, and when he knew it.

Cook, who became the No. 2 leader in the diocese last September despite an arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2010, is accused in the December death of local cyclist Thomas Palermo.

She was indicted this week on charges including automobile manslaughter, driving under the influence and texting while driving during an accident resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton, the head of the diocese, said Thursday that he and others involved in the vetting process for Cook were aware of Cook’s 2010 arrest, but “we were not, in fact, aware that Heather was dealing with an ongoing addiction.”

“As a result,” Sutton said in a statement released by the diocese, “all of us viewed her 2010 DUI as a one-time incident, something that Heather herself would refer to during ‘meet-and-greet’ events as a difficult time in her life.”

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CANADA
Winnipeg Sun

A former archbishop has been denied an appeal of his sexual assault conviction and sentence.

Kenneth (Seraphim) Storheim was found guilty Jan. 24, 2014 of one count of sexually molesting a young boy — and cleared of a charge he molested the boy’s twin — in incidents from nearly 30 years ago.

A Court of Appeal ruling issued Thursday by Justice William J. Burnett dismissed a motion for the court to hear fresh evidence, as well as motions to appeal Storheim’s conviction and sentence.

Storheim was sentenced to eight months in prison, but was out on bail pending the results of the appeal.

At trial, court heard testimony the sexual assault occurred in 1985 when the then pre-teen victim was living with Storheim in Winnipeg and serving as an altar boy. The victim testified Storheim walked naked in the home and would lie on the floor with his hand on his penis.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

A disgraced former archbishop at the centre of a sexual assault trial began serving his sentence, turning himself in after the Manitoba Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal this morning.

Seraphim Storheim was to spend at least several hours at the Remand Centre before being transferred to Headlingley Correctional Centre to begin serving an eight month sentence, his lawyer said.

“We lost. The appeals were all dismissed. The fresh evidence motion was dismissed; the conviction appeal was dismissed and the leave to appeal sentence was refused. So basically he began serving his sentence this morning,” Storheim’s lawyer Jeff Gindin said today by phone.

Storheim was convicted of sexual assault in January 2014 and sentenced to eight months in jail for an assault dating back almost 30 years. He spent just over week a behind bars before being freed on bail in July 2014 pending his appeal.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 5, 2015 NCR Today

VATICAN CITY
A two-day meeting in Rome next week of the world’s Catholic cardinals will focus mainly on discussing reform of the church’s central bureaucracy, the Vatican spokesman said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters briefly on a number of topics, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi also said there was no other theme for the meeting, called by Pope Francis for Feb. 12-13.

The meeting, known as a consistory, is expected to see hundreds of the church prelates gather in Rome before Francis formally names 20 new cardinals in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica Feb. 14.

The pontiff has embarked on a program of reforming the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Roman Curia. He has been soliciting advice for the reform from a group of nine prelates he has appointed to a special group called the Council of Cardinals.

That group, which includes Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, is to meet at the Vatican Feb. 9-11, just before the full cardinals’ meeting.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Gaby Hinsliff

For well over a decade, hundreds of vulnerable children were sexually exploited and abused by men from whom they should have been protected, not just in secret but sometimes in plain sight. What happened in Rotherham was a terrible, extraordinary thing. But what is so unsettling about Louise Casey’s report on the aftermath of the scandal, published this week, is that this was made possible by the most ordinary of things.

It’s trite and misleading to portray Labour-led Rotherham as a bunch of loony lefties hamstrung by political correctness, terrified of going after mainly Asian abusers in case it looked racist. As Casey makes clear, some witnesses did describe pressure not to say that most of the perpetrators were Asian men, or to raise a perceived link with local taxi drivers, many of Pakistani origin. But others expressed openly racist views. Politicians’ attitudes towards women were so bullying and chauvinistic that one officer said the very idea of the council being too PC was laughable. The report paints a portrait of people who, far from being overly sensitive to others’ feelings, aren’t nearly sensitive enough; who even now are deep in denial about the damage done.

Several councillors nitpicked at the estimate of 1,400 victims, as if things would be fine had it been fewer

One officer complained that Alexis Jay, whose damning inquiry first exposed the scale of grooming for abuse in Rotherham, had got their job title wrong – as if this mattered in the larger scheme of things, or somehow disproved accounts of girls being raped with broken bottles. Several councillors nitpicked at Jay’s estimate of 1,400 victims, as if things would be fine had it been a few hundred less. Others grumbled about the story being exposed by the “Murdoch press”. The wrong people were complaining, apparently. You wonder if some aren’t even now privately dismissing Casey because she works for that bloody Tory, Eric Pickles.

Yet unexpectedly, what leaps out from the report isn’t the influence of politics with a big P so much as office politics: all the surprisingly humdrum, niggling things about status and hierarchy and process that determine who counts in an organisation and who is heard.

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UNITED STATES
America

Gerard O’Connell | Feb 5 2015

In a new and important initiative aimed at protecting minors from sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, eliminating all such abuse and assisting the victims of past abuse, Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Presidents of the Bishops Conferences and the Superiors of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life asking for their “close and complete cooperation” with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that he set up in March 2014.

“Families need to know that the Church is making every effort to protect their children”, the Pope said in his letter dated February 2 – the full text of which is published below. “Everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused,” he stated. He repeated yet again that “there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors.”

He explained in the letter that this Commission “can be a new, important and effective means for helping me to encourage and advance the commitment of the Church at every level – Episcopal Conferences, Dioceses, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and others – to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, and to respond to their needs with fairness and mercy.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Press Association 04 Feb 2015

Four more files relating to historical child sex abuse have been unearthed in the Whitehall archives, the Cabinet Office has disclosed.

The documents were discovered in a special archive – known colloquially in Whitehall as the ”cabinet secretaries’ files” – containing ”sensitive, historic papers”.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the files would now be made available to the newly reconstituted inquiry in to historical child sex abuse as well as to the Metropolitan Police and other relevant government departments.

The disclosure comes after it emerged last month that the Cabinet Office was holding a secret dossier from the 1980s relating to the paedophile activities of the late diplomat Sir Peter Hayman.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

A FORMER housemaster at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire has been jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing pupils.

David Lowe, 61, took advantage of boys as they slept in their dormitory beds and during singing lessons, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

Lowe invited the youngsters to his flat and “spanked” them when they had broken school rules. He also crept into the vulnerable pupils’ dormitory and touched them intimately while carrying out night-time checks, his trial was told.

Many of his victims studied at the £16,000-a-year choir Westminster Cathedral Choir School, while others were abused at the Benedictine monk-run Ampleforth College.

The attacks, which took place between 1978 and 1984, were carried out on boys aged eight to 13.

The court heard that some of the victims came forward after reports of Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into historic sexual abuse in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chronicle Live

5 February 2015 By Jonathan Walker

A long-awaited inquiry into historic claims of child abuse is likely to look at claims of widespread abuse at children’s homes in the North, the Home Secretary has said.

It follows assertions that an earlier inquiry into hundreds of allegations dating back to the 1960s, called Operation Rose, was a “whitewash”.

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that a wide-ranging inquiry into historic child sex abuse is to be reconstituted under a new chair, New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard, with tough new powers to compel witnesses to attend and provide evidence.

It means the investigation can finally get underway, following a series of delays since it was originally set up last July.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Mary E. Hunt

It may be Women’s Week at the Vatican, but you have to look carefully at the skirts to find many women. However well-intentioned Vatican officials may be, they embody Murphy’s Law when it comes to women: everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Maybe if women were more than bit players, things might improve.

The Pontifical Council for Culture in Rome, presided over by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and made up of cardinals and bishops who are all men, are discussing “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference” from February 4-7, 2015 in mostly closed-door sessions. There are enough contradictions in that sentence to end my analysis right here.

I persist, if only to encourage others to trust their intuitions about such dubious endeavors and to think about women when they sing the praises of Pope Francis. Women make up slightly more than half of the Catholic population, and many more than half of its active members. Only by ignoring women can Francis fans herald his achievements.

Only by setting aside the all-male priesthood, bracketing any mention of kyriarchal decision-making structures, and passing over outmoded notions of gender can one honestly say that Francis, who captains the ship, is any better than his immediate predecessors when it comes to half of the church.

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 5, 2015

A boarding school. Naked dance parties. Child pornography. Molestation. An arrest. A suicide. Allegations. Lawsuits.

A cover-up.

Total institutional ethical failure.

When I first heard about the scandal at Minnesota’s Shattuck-St. Mary’s (I’ll refer to it from now on as SSM), I had a hard time wrapping my arms around the extent of the criminal behavior. And let’s face it, I am not a novice when it comes to these cases. It takes a lot to shock me.

SSM, a grade 6-12 Episcopal boarding and day school located about 50 miles from Minneapolis, also reminds me of a school a little closer to home—one that suffered its own huge institutional failure when it came to child sex abuse and cover-up.

There is so much to discuss, that I have decided to write a series of posts about SSM and what happened. I am also going to try and tackle some of the questions we are all asking. Things like:

* Why is the headmaster who covered up abuse still working at the school? How common is this?

Why did school administrators allow a teacher with child pornography on a school computer to quietly resign … with a nice, fat check?

* Why didn’t the school do anything earlier—like when they discovered that the teacher was complicit in allowing and observing “Naked Dance Parties” and was rumored to be giving make students lessons on “penis enlargement”?

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Nancy Pelosi

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released the following statement after Speaker Boehner announced His Holiness Pope Francis has accepted an invitation to address a Joint Meeting of Congress on September 24, during his visit to the United States:

“We are honored and overjoyed that Pope Francis, the first pontiff born in the Americas, has accepted our invitation to address a Joint Meeting of Congress during his upcoming visit to the United States.

“Pope Francis has renewed the faith of Catholics worldwide and inspired a new generation of people, regardless of their religious affiliation, to be instruments of peace. In the spirit of the namesake of San Francisco, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis’ universal message of love and compassion speaks to millions around the world.

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TEXAS
Tahira Khan Merritt

TAHIRA KHAN MERRITT
Professional Limited Liability Company
Attorneys and Counselors
________________________
8499 Greenville Avenue
Suite 206
Dallas, Texas 75231
214-503-7300 – telephone
214-53-7301 – facsimile
www.tkmlawfirm.com

Date: February 5, 2015

Re: Cause No. DC-15-01325, Jane Doe 103 vs. Arapaho Road Baptist Church of Garland, Texas filed in Dallas County District Court.

A lawsuit was filed on February 3rd, 2015 against the Arapaho Road Baptist Church(“ARBC”) located at 2256 Arapaho Road, Garland, Texas. The Church is affiliated with the Dallas Baptist Association, The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Plaintiff, now a young adult, identified only as Jane Doe 103, brought this suit for damages resulting from the sexual abuse she suffered as a child by Jordan Keith Earls (“Jordy Earls”), employed by Arapaho Road Baptist Church as a music minister. His brother, Joshua Douglas Earls(“Josh Earls”), was the church’s youth minister.

The victim is represented by Dallas attorney Tahira Khan Merritt, whose civil law practice for over 20 years has been dedicated exclusively to representing victims of sexual abuse and assault. “All the young women who have come forward to confront the Earl brothers and to speak out are truly brave. It takes great courage to have gone through the criminal process, which has taken about two years. My hope is that Arapaho Road Baptist Church will disclose the truth about what they knew of the risks these perpetrators posed and their misconduct and when they knew. This victim deserves the truth.”

The lawsuit alleges that Jordy Earls and Josh Earls ingratiated themselves with the parents of the Church’s youth group and began grooming minor girls, Doe 103 among them, who participated in Youth Group and Youth Choir. Doe 103 was only an 8th grader when she first met the Earls brothers. The first incident of sexual abuse and assault occurred after Sunday school in the youth building on the church premises. The sexual assaults, abuse and exploitation continued weekly, sometimes more than once a week, during the 10th and 11th grade. Her parents, serving as Sunday school teachers, were long-time members of the church.

In 2013, both Josh Earls and Jordan Earls left Arapaho Road Baptist Church, telling the children they had been “called” to other assignments in South Carolina.

However, in early 2013, the family of one of the other girls from the Youth Group at ARBC notified law enforcement that Josh Earls had sexually molested their minor daughter at a pool party in 2012. After a police investigation, Josh Earls was extradited back to Dallas and arrested on Federal charges of making pornographic images and videos involving multiple underage girls from ARBC. At the same time, local police were also investigating Jordy Earls. As part of their investigation, law enforcement contacted Doe 103 and her parents. Consequently, Jordy was also extradited from South Carolina and returned to Dallas where he soon faced similar Federal charges of child pornography and also state charges specifically for the sexual abuse of Doe 103 and of other girls as well.

The lawsuit alleges negligence and gross negligence against the Church. Doe 103 claims the church knew should have known of the pedophilic propensities of both Earl brother. They had solicited several girls to send them nude pictures.

Emboldened, they sent nude pictures of themselves to the girls in violation of state and federal laws. Both Josh and Jordy Earls subsequently pleaded guilty to federal charges of making child pornography.

In February 2014, Josh was sentenced to 12 years in Federal Prison and lifetime registration as a sexual offender. Like his brother, Jordy also pleaded guilty to child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for February 18,2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

See related news stories:
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/former-garland-youth-minister-chargedwith-
producing-child-porn.html/
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20130429-preaching-brothers-h
eld-on-sex-charges-involving-garland-teens-they-met-through-church.ece
Please direct any questions you may have to Ms. Merritt at 214-537-3789

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Charlotte Observer

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
Posted: Thursday, Feb. 05, 2015

WASHINGTON Pope Francis will address a joint meeting of the House and Senate on Sept. 24, becoming the first pontiff to do so, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.

“We’re humbled that the Holy Father has accepted our invitation and certainly look forward to receiving his message on behalf of the American people,” Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters.

Boehner is Catholic and extended the invitation for the pope to speak to lawmakers.

During his planned trip next fall, Francis is also expected to visit the White House as well as speak at the United Nations in New York and participate in a massive Catholic rally for families in Philadelphia.

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NEW YORK
Long Island Exchange

SENATOR MARC PANEPINTO CALLS FOR REPEAL OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR SEXUAL OFFENSES AGAINST MINORS

(Long Island, NY) On FRIDAY, February 6th at 10:30 a.m., Senator Marc Panepinto will stand alongside childhood sexual abuse victims, Vanessa DeRosa and Tino Flores, and call for the repeal of New York’s controversial statute-of-limitations for sexual offenses against minors. This criminal procedure law currently supports one of the shortest windows in the country for pursuing sexual-abuse complaints through the courts.

Senator Panepinto has co-sponsored two senate bills, S.850 and S.63, which eliminate these archaic laws and bring much needed reform to our legal system. He will discuss the impact of these bills and his role on the Senate Codes Committee – which has repeatedly failed to bring this legislation to the Senate floor – during Friday’s press conference.

WHO: Senator Marc Panepinto; Vanessa DeRosa; Tino Flores; Managing Partner Diane Tiveron and several attorneys from HoganWillig.

WHAT: Senator Panepinto will call for the repeal of New York’s controversial and antiquated statute-of-limitations for sexual offenses against minors.

WHERE: Walter J. Mahoney State Office Building, Hearing Room 4 – 65 Court Street, Buffalo, NY 14202

WHEN: FRIDAY, February 6th at 10:30 a.m.

Senator Panepinto represents the 60th Senate District, which includes parts of the City of Buffalo as well as communities in both the Northtowns and the Southtowns of Western New York.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Pope’s visit to the US Capitol is part of a trip that will include stops in Philadelphia, New York and Washington

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

“It is my great privilege to announce that His Holiness Pope Francis will visit the United States Capitol on Thursday, September 24, 2015. On that day, he will become the first leader of the Holy See to address a joint meeting of Congress. It will be a historic visit, and we are truly grateful that Pope Francis has accepted our invitation,” House of Representatives Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Thursday.

“In a time of global upheaval, the Holy Father’s message of compassion and human dignity has moved people of all faiths and backgrounds. His teachings, prayers, and very example bring us back to the blessings of simple things and our obligations to one another. We look forward to warmly welcoming Pope Francis to our Capitol and hearing his address on behalf of the American people.”

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 5

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 )

For the safety of children, Tampa’s Catholic bishop must take action about a soon-to-be-freed predator priest.

[Tampa Bay Times]

Bishop Robert Lynch should visit every parish where Fr. Robert Schaeufele ever worked, imploring anyone with information or suspicions about the predator priest to call law enforcement.

Fr. Schaeufele is set to be freed from prison in about a week. Of the 20 publicly accused Tampa/St. Petersburg predator priests, Fr. Schaeufele is among the most prolific. He faces at least two dozen accusers.

Lynch’s predecessors and colleagues recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained, transferred and shielded Fr. Schaeufele, repeatedly giving him access to hundreds of kids. So Lynch can’t wash his hands now and pretend to have no responsibility for or power over this child molester or this troubling situation.

Lynch can and should use pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites to beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Schaeufele’s crimes to call police. He should send mailings to former church members and staff who may have spent time around Fr. Schaeufele, urging them to do the same. He should get out from behind his desk, shove his public relations staff aside, and personally hold a news conference pleading with parishioners and the public to step forward if they might, in any way, be able to help police and prosecutors file more charges against this dangerous man.

In short, Lynch should stop acting like a cold-hearted CEO and start acting like a compassionate shepherd.

Our hearts ache for Chris McCafferty and every single person who was hurt by Fr. Schaeufele. Our hearts also ache for every single child sex abuse victim in Florida who never saw their perpetrators jailed or exposed because of the state’s archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

By Barbara Heins (Patch Staff)

The former pastor of St. Agnes Church has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Bridgeport amid a “credible” allegation of child abuse, according to a statement from Bishop Frank J. Caggiano.

The Rev. Stephen J. DeLuca, who retired as pastor in 2006 and has since been a priest in residence at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Riverside and a chaplain at Greenwich Hospital, has been placed “on administrative leave and has removed his faculties to exercise any and all forms of public ministry as a priest. The decision was made after the Diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board ruled that there is credible evidence of an incident of child abuse on the part of Fr. Deluca more than 30 years ago,” Caggiano wrote in a Jan. 31 letter posted on the diocesan website.

According to Caggiano, the diocese “did not learn of this allegation until recently, well after Father DeLuca retired on June 30, 2014. In accordance with both state reporting mandates and the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, we notified both the police and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) immediately. Given the information available and the significant time which had passed, neither the police nor DCF took further action.”

The diocese hired an independent investigator who determined the allegation was credible, Caggiano wrote.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

A tale of two cities, London and Vatican City: two different approaches to investigating official cover-ups of child sexual abuse — the UK’s is serious; the Vatican’s is window dressing so far. The latest tale takes place over just a few days, yet shows the essential contrast between the UK’s parliamentary democracy and the Vatican’s absolute monarchy. London’s investigative approach is clearly designed to be expeditious, independent and transparent; the Vatican’s approach is clearly designed to be unending, controlled and secretive. London’s sex abuse commission is seeking to find out who did what when; the Vatican’s sex abuse commission is designed to find “best practices”, including some education and training programs. If the pope is serious, he needs to add to his commission some experienced, independent and proven members, like Fr. Thomas Doyle, Illinois Justice Anne Burke and former Irish President, Mary McAleese? Is Francis trying to avoid the truth? It seems he is.

It has been a tough week for Pope Francis with: (1) the UK investigation announcement, (2) the much and justifiably ridiculed all male “Pontifical Council on Women” with its launch in a night club atmosphere at Teatro Argentina in Rome, and (3) the release of Jesuit educated and former Wall Street lawyer, Gerald Posner’s explosive book, “God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican” , (see at Amazon link [Amazon]). Posner, who was generally stonewalled by the Vatican leadership under both the ex-Pope and Francis, covers everything from unspeakable misdeeds involving Holocaust victims’ assets, to Vatican facilitation of bribery of Italian political leaders, to Pope Francis’ recent efforts to stop the financial bleeding.

Please see, for more. my related remarks, “Will UK Probe of Teresa May Compel Ex-Pope Benedict To Testify?‏‏‏” , here,

[Christian Catholicism]

and “Vatican To Women: YES on Unwanted Babies – NO on Tummy Tucks “, here,

[Christian Catholicism]

Will Hillary Clinton, a Yale lawyer who worked on the Watergate Commission that transparently and independently investigated US President Nixon’s criminal cover-up conspiracy, be next to call for a national investigation commission in the USA? President Obama seems to lack the fortitude to do so. Australia’s Julia Gillard and UK’s Teresa May called for serious commissions. Is this a “women thing” only? Why is Michelle Obama, a Harvard lawyer, so silent here? As US whistle blowers and SNAP justifiably take their bows, why are they not blowing their whistles at President Obama’s inexcusable inaction?

Australia has shown that a well funded national commission is the best way to curtail institutional child sex abuse and also to get justice for abuse survivors. The whistle blowers’ and SNAP’s failure to press Obama more to set up a presidential commission is puzzling at best. Please see prominent Australian abuse advocate, Aletha Blayse’s persuasive case for a US presidential investigation commission like Australia already has, here,”Child Abuse, War, and the Need for a National Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse”, here,

[Christian Catholicism]

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Wall Street Journal

By SIOBHAN HUGHES
Feb. 5, 2015

WASHINGTON— Pope Francis will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 24, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) announced on Thursday, an appearance that will be the first ever by a papal head.

“In a time of global upheaval, the Holy Father’s message of compassion and human dignity has moved people of all faiths and backgrounds,” Mr. Boehner said in a written statement. “His teachings, prayers, and very example bring us back to the blessings of simple things and our obligations to one another. We look forward to warmly welcoming Pope Francis to our Capitol and hearing his address on behalf of the American people.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

Pope Francis will make history this fall, becoming the first pope to address a joint session of Congress, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Thursday.

The pope is expected to speak to lawmakers in the House chamber on Sept. 24.

“We’re humbled that the Holy Father has accepted our invitation and certainly are going to look forward to receiving his message on behalf of the American people,” Boehner said at a news conference.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday that Pope Francis will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Sept. 24, marking the first time a pope has delivered such a speech.

The pope is expected to visit Washington, New York and Philadelphia during his trip to the United States. After the trip was announced last year, Boehner said that he had invited the head of the Roman Catholic Church to speak to lawmakers.

“On Sept. 24 His Holiness Pope Francis will visit us here at the United States Capitol. That day, His Holiness will be the first pope in our history to address a joint session of Congress,” Boehner told reporters during his weekly press conference.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS News

Pope Francis will address a joint session in Congress on Sept. 24 during his visit to the United States, House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday. He will be the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so.

“We are humbled that the Holy Father has accepted our invitation,” Boehner said during his weekly press conference. In a follow up statement, he said, “In a time of global upheaval, the Holy Father’s message of compassion and human dignity has moved people of all faiths and backgrounds. His teachings, prayers, and very example bring us back to the blessings of simple things and our obligations to one another. We look forward to warmly welcoming Pope Francis to our Capitol and hearing his address on behalf of the American people.”

Boehner actually sent the open invitation to the Pope to address Congress last March and released a statement saying that a joint address would offer “an excellent opportunity for the American people as well as the nations of the world to hear his message in full.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Speaker of the House John Boehner

February 5, 2015|Speaker Boehner’s Press Office

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today made the following announcement:

“It is my great privilege to announce that His Holiness Pope Francis will visit the United States Capitol on Thursday, September 24, 2015. On that day, he will become the first leader of the Holy See to address a joint meeting of Congress. It will be a historic visit, and we are truly grateful that Pope Francis has accepted our invitation.

“In a time of global upheaval, the Holy Father’s message of compassion and human dignity has moved people of all faiths and backgrounds. His teachings, prayers, and very example bring us back to the blessings of simple things and our obligations to one another. We look forward to warmly welcoming Pope Francis to our Capitol and hearing his address on behalf of the American people.”

NOTE: Details regarding media credentialing and logistics for the joint meeting will be released at a later date.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Feb 5, 2015 / 05:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has sent a letter to religious superiors and presidents of episcopal conferences, asking for their full cooperation in ending the sexual abuse of minors, and making the Church a safe haven.

“Everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused,” the Pope said in his Feb. 2 letter.

Addressed to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences and Superiors of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the letter was a plea asking for their complete cooperation with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

First announced in December 2013, the commission was officially established by Pope Francis last March in order to explore various proposals and initiatives geared toward the improvement of norms and procedures for protecting children and vulnerable adults.

The commission, the Pope said, is “a new, important and effective means” of ensuring the protection at every level of the Church, including episcopal conferences, dioceses, institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life among others.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Reuters

Por Philip Pullella

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (Reuters) – El Papa Francisco ordenó el jueves a los obispos católicos de todo el mundo que cooperen ampliamente con una comisión que él estableció para proteger a los niños del abuso sexual por parte de clérigos y que le otorguen una máxima prioridad al tema si salieran a la luz nuevos escándalos.

El Pontífice envió la carta a los obispos y directores de instituciones religiosas un día antes de que la comisión, que él estableció el año pasado, celebre su primera reunión completa.

En la carta, el Papa dice: “Se debe continuar haciendo todo lo posible para erradicar de la Iglesia el flagelo del abuso sexual de menores y adultos vulnerables, y abrir un camino de reconciliación y curación para quien ha sufrido abusos”.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Nacion (Argentina)

Por Elisabetta Piqué | LA NACION

ROMA.- En una carta a los presidentes de las Conferencias Episcopales y los Superiores de los Institutos de Vida Consagrada y las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica de todo el mundo, que el Vaticano difundió hoy, el papa Francisco llamó a todos a comprometerse para “erradicar de la Iglesia el flagelo del abuso sexual de menores y abrir un camino de reconciliación y curación para quien ha sufrido abusos”.

“No hay absolutamente lugar en el ministerio para los que abusan de los menores”, reafirmó el pontífice, al pedir a los obispos y religiosos de todo el mundo que colaboren con la comisión para la tutela de menores que creó en diciembre de 2013 -formada por expertos de todo el mundo y también por víctimas-, que se reunirá en Roma este fin de semana.

Confirmando una vez más la política de “tolerancia cero” puesta en marcha por su predecesor, en su epístola Francisco recordó que puso en marcha la comisión para la tutela de menores para “ofrecer propuestas e iniciativas orientadas a mejorar las normas y los procedimientos para la protección de todos los menores y adultos vulnerables, y he llamado a formar parte de dicha Comisión a personas altamente cualificadas y notorias por sus esfuerzos en este campo”.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 5

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

The head of an Episcopal school in Faribault should be fired. So too should any other school board or staff who helped conceal the crimes of a now-convicted teacher.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Let’s be charitable. Let’s assume that lawyers for Shattuck-St. Mary’s school were right. Let’s assume that school president Nick Stoneman had no legal duty to report the pornography on Lynn Seibel’s computer.

Obviously, Stoneman should have called police anyway. But he refused. So more kids were likely hurt.

We’re glad Seibel in now prison. We hope that someday Stoneman will be too. Morally, there’s little difference between those who commit and those who conceal child sex crimes.

And we’re both sad and worried that Minnesota and Rhode Island kids were put in harm’s way by callous, selfish Episcopal school staffers.

Court documents paint a disturbing picture of how Episcopal officials shielded Lynn Seibel.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that Stoneman “agreed to pay a teacher who had child pornography on his work computer $12,500 as part of a confidential separation agreement in 2003,” “didn’t report the illegal images to police,” and “agreed to pay for temporary health insurance for the teacher, provide free tuition for his son and keep the reason for the resignation secret.”

After leaving Minnesota, Seibel’s resume says he worked at the Community College of Rhode Island (starting in 2010), founded the Lancaster Actors Studio in Providence (2009), directed acting at the International Talent Showcase in Providence (from 2005-2009), was an acting instructor at the Rhode Island Modeling Agency in East Providence (from 2005-2009) and was in marketing and sales at Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence (2005-2008). http://www.lynnseibel.com/media/LynnSeibelProfessionalResume.pdf

That’s a lot of time to be around – and potentially assault – a lot of kids. And if Seibel hurt even one, the blame falls squarely on every single board and staff member at Shattuck-St. Mary’s who knew of or suspected his crimes but selfishly kept silent.

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RHODE ISLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 5

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 man now in prison for child sex crimes was quietly ousted by a Minnesota Episcopal school before he moved to Rhode Island where he taught seven year olds. We’re both sad and worried that Rhode Island kids were put in harm’s way by callous, selfish Episcopal school staffers.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Depositions and court records paint a disturbing picture of how Episcopal officials shielded Lynn Seibel.

Minnesota Public Radio reports “The head of Shattuck-St. Mary’s School agreed to pay a teacher who had child pornography on his work computer $12,500 as part of a confidential separation agreement in 2003. The agreement came two years after an internal investigation was unable to substantiate claims that the teacher had sexually abused students.

The school official, who didn’t report the illegal images to police, also agreed to pay for temporary health insurance for the teacher, provide free tuition for his son and keep the reason for the resignation secret.”

Seibel’s resume says he worked at the Community College of Rhode Island (starting in 2010), founded the Lancaster Actors Studio in Providence (2009), directed acting at the International Talent Showcase in Providence (from 2005-2009), was an acting instructor at the Rhode Island Modeling Agency in East Providence (from 2005-2009) and was in marketing and sales at Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence (2005-2008).

This is another example of how church officials often make secret payments to proven, admitted or credibly accused sex offenders to make or help them quietly “go away” without warning parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors or the public about these dangerous men and women.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) Making the Church a safer place for children will be at the top of the agenda in the Vatican this weekend as the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors holds its first full plenary meeting. Last December Pope Francis named nine new members from different continents to the Commission, which was set up a year earlier and is headed by U.S. Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

The plenary meeting, from February 6th to 8th, will watched closely by survivors of abuse to see how far the Commission can move in implementing new safeguarding measures and in making child protection a priority for the Church in countries right across the globe.

Among the new appointees to the Commission is Peter Saunders, chief executive of NAPAC, the UK’s National Association for People Abused in Childhood. He sat down with Philippa Hitchen to talk about his work with abuse survivors and about his own journey of healing, including a meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican last July….

Saunders says he founded NAPAC nearly 20 years ago as he couldn’t find any support for himself as a survivor of abuse and initially thought he was the only one it had happened to….

He says when he first disclosed the sexual abuse he’d suffered it made everyone feel incredibly uncomfortable and at that time people just wanted to sweep it under the carpet. Now, he says, it’s finally being swept out again and survivors are at last being given a voice…..

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

Protecting children from abuse is more important than protecting the Church from scandal, Pope tells bishops

05 February 2015 by Liz Dodd

Pope Francis has ordered the world’s bishops to co-operate fully with the Vatican’s new abuse commission which has been tasked with improving child protection procedures.

In a letter released this morning ahead of the commission’s first meeting, the Pope said that safeguarding children was the Church’s top priority, and was more important than preserving its reputation or avoiding scandal.

Diocesan bishops and major superiors are responsible for the safety of children and vulnerable adults in their parishes and institutions, he added, and said that parents must be assured that their children are protected.

“Families should also know that they have every right to turn to the Church with full confidence, for it is a safe and secure home. Consequently, priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors,” he said in the letter, which is addressed to the presidents of bishops’ conferences and superiors of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho February 5, 2015

Today the Holy See released Pope Francis’s February 2 letter to the world’s bishops conferences and religious communities asking for their “complete cooperation” with the sexual-abuse commission he established last March. The commission’s job, the pope explains, “to improve the norms and procedures for protecting children and vulnerable adults,” which–everyone knows–haven’t been working out so well.

In his letter Pope Francis related his own experience meeting with abuse victims. “I was deeply moved by their witness to the depth of their sufferings and the strength of their faith,” he wrote. “This experience reaffirmed my conviction that everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused.” Pastors and those in charge of religious communities, the pope wrote, “should be available” to meet with victims and their loved ones. “Such meetings are valuable opportunities for listening to those have greatly suffered and for asking their forgiveness.”

Because families must feel confident that the church is doing all its can to protect the vulnerable from predator priests, Francis continued, “priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal.” To that end, the pope urges local bishops conferences to “fully implement” the sensible 2011 letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recommending a series of abuse-response procedures. Francis also recommends that dioceses periodically review their policies–and make sure they are being followed.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

ROME, Italy — Pope Francis wrote to Catholic bishops around the world Thursday, ordering them to cooperate with investigations into sex abuse and telling them: “Families need to know that the Church is making every effort to protect their children.”

The open letter, published on the Vatican website, came a day before the first full meeting of the Church’s own commission to examine investigate and prevent such scandals.

Families “should also know that they have every right to turn to the Church with full confidence, for it is a safe and secure home,” the pontiff wrote. “Consequently, priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors.”

One of the members of the commission, Marie Collins of Ireland, herself a victim of sexual abuse, told Reuters that commission members had asked the pope to write a letter to thwart any resistance from bishops to its work.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

Pope Francis has said it is fine for parents to smack their children as punishment for misbehaving.

The Pope said parents should punish their children, ‘do the right thing, and then move on,’ as he acted out the movement of smacking a child on the bottom.

The pontiff made the remarks in front of a large crowd during his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday.

Addressing the crowd, Pope Francis recalled a conversation he had had with a father who had admitted to him that he would sometimes hit his children as punishment.

‘One time, I heard a father say, “At times I have to hit my children a bit, but never in the face so as not to humiliate them”.,’ the Pope said according to the Telegraph.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Government inquiry into historic child sex abuse will now probe Rotherham Asian sex gang scandal as well as claims of Westminster cover-ups

The systematic and unfettered sexual abuse of 1,400 young girls in Rotherham is to be investigated alongside the alleged Westminster VIP paedophile ring, the new chair of the historical child abuse inquiry said today.

New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard, who was appointed by Theresa May yesterday, said lessons must be learned from the 16-year scandal that has engulfed Rotherham.

Yesterday a criminal investigation was launched after a damning report found Rotherham Council is ‘not fit for purpose’ and still ‘in denial’ about girls as young as 11 being left to be abused by mainly Asian men between 1997 and 2013.

The fear of being branded racist turned the issue of child grooming by Pakistani men into a taboo subject which paralysed the council and police into inaction, according to the report.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Conversation

Bernard Gallagher
Reader in Social Work and Applied Social Sciences at University of Huddersfield

The home secretary, Theresa May, has announced a series of major developments in the beleaguered and faltering historical child abuse inquiry – the investigation into claims that political figures, and others from a range of institutional backgrounds, sexually abused children and had their crimes covered up.

This inquiry has been beset with problems ever since it was set up in July 2014. Two successive heads of the inquiry, Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf, stood down following concerns over their suitability; there have been criticisms over the inquiry’s powers and remit, as well as claims of bullying involving panel members.

Central to May’s announcement is the appointment of a new inquiry head, Justice Lowell Goddard, a judge of the High Court of New Zealand.

The appointment of Justice Goddard seems an astute, if not inspired, decision. She led an inquiry into police handling of child abuse in New Zealand; was chairperson of the country’s Independent Police Conduct Authority; contributed to setting up the HELP Clinic, for sexual abuse victims; and was an independent expert to the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.

Last but not least, she is presumably quite far removed from the UK political and legal establishment and consequently brings with her a neutrality that the inquiry desperately needs.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Lora Moftah

The Roman Catholic Church is making every effort to protect children, Pope Francis said Thursday as he ordered bishops around the world to cooperate with a new commission created to prevent child sexual abuse by clerics. The pontiff assured parents that protecting children was the church’s priority in a letter addressed to bishops and religious institutions, Reuters reported.

“Families need to know that the church is making every effort to protect their children … priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors,” the pope said in the letter.

Francis’ warning came before a meeting of a commission established by the pontiff to reform the church’s approach to handling child sex-abuse cases by clerics, an issue that has severely harmed the church’s reputation in countries around the world, as Agence France-Presse reported. The commission is headed by American Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley. Also serving on it are both clerics and laypeople, including past victims of clerical sexual abuse, such as Marie Collins of Ireland.

Collins responded to the pope’s letter Thursday, saying commission members had specifically requested Francis’ public support before their meeting in Rome Friday to forestall resistance by bishops. “Bishops’ conferences have various views on abuse, as we know,” she told Reuters. “You must pre-empt that. If the commission wants cooperation … then I think a letter from the Holy Father indicating that they [the bishops] should cooperate certainly lends the backing necessary to our work.”

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Feb 5, 2015

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

Pope Francis is urging bishops and religious superiors to cooperate with his sex abuse commission, seeking to give the committee a boost as it prepares to meet for the first time with its full membership.

In a letter released Thursday, Francis said the commission is an important new way to encourage the church’s commitment to taking “whatever steps are necessary” to ensure children are protected.

“Priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors,” Francis wrote.

The commission has been slow getting off the ground: Announced in December 2013, it saw its final members added in December 2014 and still has no statutes. But members have divided themselves into working groups focusing on areas such as reaching out to abuse survivors, holding bishops accountable and keeping pedophiles out of the priesthood, and will meet for the first time as a group starting Friday.

Francis formed the commission after initially facing criticism that he had largely ignored the clerical sex abuse scandal that had so tarnished the papacies of his two predecessors. The aim is to come up with best practices for dioceses and religious orders to implement.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 5

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 )

Again, a pope “talks the talk” on abuse while refusing to take even one real step toward “walking the walk.”

Today, Pope Francis told his staff not to conceal clergy sex crimes. Sadly, this will have no impact whatsoever.

History, psychology and common sense all confirm what every parent knows: People emulate action, not words.

Ironically, some credit the pontiff’s namesake, Saint Francis, with the sage adage “Always remember to preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” This is precisely what the pope steadfastly refuses to do on abuse and cover up. He’ll talk. But he won’t act.

He believes church officials shouldn’t live like kings. So he’ll sack the “bishop of bling” in a heartbeat while ignoring – and sometimes promoting – prelates who endanger kids, protect predators, and deceive parishioners about abuse.

The most decisive pope in memory who is quickly and dramatically changing church finances, governance and morale remains stunningly unwilling to deal in any meaningful way with the church’s greatest on-going crisis.

Thirteen years ago, Pope John Paul II said: “There is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young.” Today, Pope Francis said almost exactly the same words. (“. . .there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors.”)

Like their words, the actions of both men – with wounded victims, predatory priests and complicit bishops – are remarkably similar: few, tepid, belated and ineffective. Francis talks about abuse and cover up more, and says even nicer things. But he acts almost the same as his predecessors did.

Some praise Francis for ousting a Paraguay bishop who promoted a credibly accused predator priest. But Vatican officials insist the prelate was sacked for other reasons, not for endangering kids.

Some praise Francis for addressing a Polish archbishop’s child sex crimes. But in our view, he’s doing what virtually every Catholic official does – trying to minimize damage and maintain secrecy by dealing with clergy sex crimes “in house” rather than in the secular criminal courts.

Some praise Francis for appointing yet another church abuse panel. But in our view, that’s the last thing the church needs.

It’s devastating to read Francis say “Priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal.” That’s what has driven and still drives the actions of the church hierarchy in abuse cases: fear of hurting their own reputations and clerical careers. And until the Pope defrocks, demotes, disciplines, or at least denounces dozens of bad bishops, this will continu e.

The Associated Press is correct in reporting that “The (new abuse) commission has been slow getting off the ground.” It’s two years in to the Francis papacy and the group is holding its first full meeting this week and its last members were appointed six weeks ago.

But regardless of timing, unless these panel members show unprecedented courage, only more and better words – and more public relations and eventual betrayal – will results from their talks.

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CANADA
CBC News

In Igloolik, some of the victims of former priest Eric Dejaeger were relieved to hear his sentence, while others say it does not go far enough.

Dejaeger was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in prison for 32 sex crimes. The crimes were committed three decades ago in Igloolik, mostly against children.

William Qamukaq, a community justice outreach worker in the community, says victims’ feelings are mixed.​

“Some of them may feel that the sentence was too light, some of them may have felt it was too short, but of course it’s a relief for them to know how many years he has.”

After charges were laid in Igloolik in 1995, Dejaeger fled to his native Belgium.

Lieve Halsberghe, a human rights activist in Belgium, campaigned to have Dejaeger returned to Canada to face the charges.

“Five years ago we never thought this was possible. I was afraid I would hurt people in Canada, in Nunavut especially, by stirring up this old story,” she said.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

Pope Francis has urged bishops and religious superiors to cooperate with his sex abuse commission.

The Pope is seeking to give the committee a boost as it meets for the first time on Friday with its full membership.

In a letter, Francis said the commission is an important new way to encourage the church’s commitment to taking “whatever steps are necessary” to ensure children are protected.

He wrote: “Priority must not be given to any other kind of concern, whatever its nature, such as the desire to avoid scandal, since there is absolutely no place in ministry for those who abuse minors.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 5 February 2015 (VIS) – Pope Francis has written a letter to the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences and the superiors of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, in which he calls for collaboration with the Commission for the Protection of Minors, instituted in March 2014. The following is the full text of the letter, signed in the Vatican on 2 February, feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

“Last March I established the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which had first been announced in December 2013, for the purpose of offering proposals and initiatives meant to improve the norms and procedures for protecting children and vulnerable adults. I then appointed to the Commission a number of highly qualified persons well-known for their work in this field.

At my meeting in July with persons who had suffered sexual abuse by priests, I was deeply moved by their witness to the depth of their sufferings and the strength of their faith. This experience reaffirmed my conviction that everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused.

For this reason, last December I added new members to the Commission, in order to represent the Particular Churches throughout the world. In just a few days, all the members will meet in Rome for the first time.

In light of the above, I believe that the Commission can be a new, important and effective means for helping me to encourage and advance the commitment of the Church at every level – Episcopal Conferences, Dioceses, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and others – to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, and to respond to their needs with fairness and mercy.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Feb 5, 2015

The head of Shattuck-St. Mary’s School agreed to pay a teacher who had child pornography on his work computer $12,500 as part of a confidential separation agreement in 2003, according to recently released police reports and court documents. The agreement came two years after an internal investigation was unable to substantiate claims that the teacher had sexually abused students.

The school official, who didn’t report the illegal images to police, also agreed to pay for temporary health insurance for the teacher, provide free tuition for his son and keep the reason for the resignation secret.

Nine years later, the teacher, Lynn Seibel, was criminally charged for possessing child pornography and sexually abusing six students at the Faribault boarding school from 1999 to 2003. He later pleaded guilty to several counts.

The documents show how Shattuck-St. Mary’s Head of School Nick Stoneman, who is now the school’s president worked with the school’s lawyer to approve a resignation letter in which Seibel said he wanted to pursue an acting career in Minneapolis.

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ROME
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Thu, Feb 5, 2015

It is not often that a Vatican Pontifical Council opts to kick off its annual plenary session in a downtown Rome theatre with a nice little nightclub “combo” purring away corner-stage. Yet that was happened yesterday afternoon at the Teatro Argentina in Rome when the Pontifical Council for Culture kicked off its much-discussed four-day plenary session on the theme, Women’s Culture: Equality and Difference.

This is a Vatican “happening” intended to focus on topics such as gender identity, inequality, female poverty and violence against women. However, its working document has already caused a major stir by suggesting that abuse of non-medico therapeutic plastic surgery is, essentially, “a burqa made of flesh”.

That statement hardly seemed consistent with the fact that the Italian actor used to promote the event, Nancy Brilli, is a glamorous lady who not only lives with a plastic surgeon but who has also had non-medical plastic surgery. In the end, the promotional film made with Brilli was removed from the Vatican website, following complaints predominantly from the “anglophonic” world and in particular the US.

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