ILLINOIS
Suburban Life

ROUND LAKE – Police were notified by the U.S. Department of Children and Family Services on Dec. 3 that a young man had been exploited several years ago, in connection with a local church volunteer mentor, according to a news release from the Round Lake Police Department.

Following an investigation, detectives discovered that the young man had been sexually abused as a child and there could be additional victims. Roberto Almeida, 41, of 1296 W Oriole Ct., Round Lake, has been identified as the suspect. He faces four felony charges including predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child. His bond is set at $1 million, the release stated.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

January 22, 2015

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

Child sexual abuse at the exclusive Sydney private school, Knox Grammar, will be publicly investigated by the Royal Commission next month.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse announced on Thursday that it would conduct a wide ranging public hearing into how the school, located in Wahroonga on Sydney’s upper north shore, had responded to inappropriate conduct by teachers towards students between 1970 to 2012.

This would include:

* The experience of sexual abuse of former students at Knox Grammar;
* The response of the school and the Uniting Church to concerns about inappropriate conduct, including investigations and subsequent and criminal proceedings;
* The systems, policies and procedures in place at Knox by which sexual abuse concerns were raised and responded to since 1970; and
* The regulatory system governing Knox’s response to allegations of child sexual abuse by its employees.

Knox Grammar has been the scene of multiple instances of child sexual abuse, particularly in the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Thursday 22 January 2015

The child sex abuse royal commission will publicly examine more than four decades of allegations and acts of child sexual abuse by teachers at prestigious Sydney private school Knox Grammar.

Commencing on 23 February, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will hold a public hearing into what actions were taken by the school and the Uniting Church when it was made aware of allegations of “inappropriate conduct” by employees between the years 1970 and 2012.

The hearing will examine:
• The sexual abuse of former students;
• The response of the school and the Uniting Church in Australia to concerns raised about the abuse, including investigations and subsequent and criminal proceedings;
• The systems, policies and procedures in place at the school regarding raising and responding to concerns;
• The regulatory system governing Knox’s response, as a non-government school in New South

“Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 9 February 2015,” said the commission.

In 2010 a former boarding master was jailed for sexually abusing four students aged 12 and 14 in the 1980s, and for possessing child pornography. The district court heard that Craig Treloar remained at the school for 20 years after he was allegedly reported for showing students porn videos, the ABC reported.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Vatican Radio

‘The consequences and implications of the sex abuse crisis within the Roman Catholic Church’: that’s the title of an international conference taking place in the northern English city of Durham this week. The three day meeting, which opened on Wednesday, has been organised by Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies and its Project for Spirituality, Theology and Health, with the support of the Jesuits, Benedictines, Marists and St Patrick’s national seminary in Maynooth, Ireland. Philippa Hitchen is the only journalist attending the closed door meeting which brings together a wide range of professionals and interested individuals. Please find the text and audio of her first impressions of the conference, below…

The sexual abuse of children, as everyone knows, is not just a problem for priests and religious. In fact, far more kids are abused by family members than by any other authority figure. But what is it specifically about Catholic culture that enabled and protected abusers, allowing them to act with impunity, often for many years, leaving a trail of victims in their wake?

That’s the question at the heart of this conference, taking place in a former seminary, Ushaw College, where generations of boys and young men in the north of England were trained for the priesthhood.

It’s a timely encounter in light of the first full session of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that’ll be taking place in Rome at the beginning of next month. Three of the original Commission members are here in Durham, including Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins, together with a newly appointed member, Peter Saunders, who was also abused as a child and has gone on to found an association for others struggling to deal with the lifelong damage such experiences inflict.

Alongside them are theologians and vocations directors, paedicatricans and psychologists, lawyers and teachers, all with expertise in the wider cultural issues surrounding the sex abuse crisis.

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

[with video]

Dave McKinley, WGRZ

ALBION, NY – Disturbing and emotional testimony marked the Orleans County Court trial of a minister accused of sexually abusing young children.

Orleans County District Attorney Joseph Cardone began his opening statement by telling jurors they would hear a case about “despair dysfunction and destruction”.

He was speaking about the accounts of the three alleged victims for which the Rev. Roy Harriger, 71, now stands trial.

All three of Harriger’s accusers are his grandchildren.

Two of them, now young adults, struggled to maintain their composure while on the stand at the mere mention of his name.

They tearfully testified that the abuse occurred when they were between the ages of 5 and 8, when their grandfather babysat them in the parsonage of a Lyndonville church where he once served as pastor.

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OREGON
Statesman Journal

Alexa Armstrong, Statesman Journal January 21, 2015

BROOKS – Residents of this tiny town just north of Salem expressed shock and dismay today after the Marion County Sheriff’s Office announced that a Brooks Assembly of God youth pastor had been arrested on sex abuse charges.

Youth pastor Peter Bass, 36, of Brooks, was being held in the Marion County jail on 15 counts each of first-degree sodomy and second-degree sex abuse.

“He would come in three or more times a week,” said Sue Collins, a cashier at True Value Hardware in Brooks. She described Bass as a regular customer.

“The church has an account here, and he would come in for home projects,” Collins said, adding that his arrest came as a shock.

“I never would have expected to hear something like this about him.”

Deputies arrested Bass about 10 a.m., said Sgt. Chris Baldridge, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. Baldridge released few other details about the arrest, such as where it took place or when the alleged sex abuse occurred.

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KENTUCKY
WAVE

By Gary Popp
News and Tribune

LOUISVILLE, KY (News and Tribune) – The former pastor of a New Albany church was sentenced Wednesday in a Louisville court to 15 years in prison for the sodomy of a child.

Isrom Johnson, 35, Louisville, was a pastor at Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church along Linden Avenue at the time of his arrest in December 2012.

According to court records, Johnson committed three offenses of, “sodomy in the second degree by engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 14 years of age.”

He was taken into custody by the Louisville Metro Police Department after he was indicted by a Jefferson County Grand Jury.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

John Enger Bemidji, Minn. Jan 21, 2015

A northern Minnesota pastor faces 16 counts of felony criminal sexual conduct.

Scott Morey was charged Friday in Clearwater County court, accused of engaging in sexual conduct with three young boys.

County Attorney Richard Mollin said the abuse cited in the criminal complaint began in 2009, when the youngest victim was 9 years old. Morey used money, phones and other devices to bribe his victims, according to the complaint.

The five years of alleged abuse came to light in late 2014 when an older brother of one of the victims noticed suggestive text messages from Morey on his brother’s phone and alerted law enforcement.

Morey is the pastor of three Lutheran congregations in Polk and Mahnomen counties. Morey, 42, lives with his wife and children in Shevlin, a town 20 miles west of Bemidji.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Commission to ensure individuals working within church institutions do not pose risk to children

Therese Bonnici

A commission for the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, set up by the church, will seek to ensure that adults working within church instructions do not a pose a risk to the children they work with.

The commission is also responsible for investigating cases of social abuse and assisting the police in their investigations. Any member of the clergy or other individuals working within church institutions may be suspended temporarily or permanently if they pose a risk to the people they work with. Even in cases where there is not enough evidence, the individual in question may be suspended, if there is a doubt that he or she poses a threat. It is ultimately the superiors who decide whether one is suspended or not, however the advice of the commission will be taken into consideration.

The commission, set to start functioning next month, will be taking over the Church’s Response Team and will inherit five cases – three involving a minor and two involving an adult. Two of the cases have already been made public. The board holds the legal obligation to report any allegation of sexual abuse to the civil authorities. Some cases need also be forwarded to the Vatican – but this depends on the role held by the individual alleged to have committed the crime.

Education workshops and discussions will be held with members of the church working with children or vulnerable adults. Those still to be recruited within church institutions – including church schools – will undergo a strong scrutinising process. Church institutions are also obliged to review the sexual offender’s list every so often.

The police document, launched this morning states that in cases when a pastoral functionary engages in sexual contact in a pastoral relationship, such behavior is considered to be always abusive, whether with or without consent. Pastoral functionaries are expected to behave in an exemplary way, even in their social life outside such pastoral activities. When social relationships become sexualized, even with consent, they are considered inappropriate, unacceptable and scandalous.

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CANADA
Global News

IQALUIT, Nunavut – A defrocked priest who abused a long series of Inuit children is expected today to address the court that is about to sentence him.

Eric Dejaeger, convicted on 32 counts of child sexual abuse, is scheduled to take his second turn on the witness stand in Iqaluit as Justice Robert Kilpatrick considers the length of his prison sentence.

The Crown has asked for 25 years, which would be reduced to 17 once credit for time already served is subtracted.

But Dejaeger’s lawyer said 12 years, of which no more than four would be spent behind bars, would be more along the lines or previous judgments.

Defence counsel Malcolm Kempt says his 67-year-old client is being treated for cancer, suffers from heart problems and fears dying in prison.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

By BART JONES

A Long Island woman Wednesday charged that a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused her when she was eight years old, though the Diocese of Rockville Centre called it “an unfortunate publicity stunt.”

Attorneys for the 20-year-old woman, whom Newsday is not naming due to the nature of the charges, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Nassau County alleging that she was abused…

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MASSACHUSETTS
South Coast Today

By Steve Urbon
surbon@s-t.com
Posted Jan. 21, 2015 @ 2:29 pm

FAIRHAVEN — A town resident is one of two men who have filed sexual abuse lawsuits in Bristol Superior Court against priests within the Diocese of Fall River, alleging they failed for years to properly supervise and protect children from a predatory priest, identified as the late James R. Nickel.

The Fairhaven plaintiff, in his 40s, is maintaining anonymity. He charges that he was abused during the 1980s at St. Mary’s parish in Fairhaven, where Nickel was assigned for several years by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, based on Adams Street.

The second plaintiff, Brian Blackmore, now in his mid-50s, living in Orlando, Florida and unrelated to the first, once lived on Cape Cod, where he alleges the abuse took place at the Holy Trinity Church in West Harwich.

Two of the order’s priests still living in Fairhaven were accused of inadequate supervision: Gabriel Healey and William Heffron.

Also accused are two as yet unnamed priests, along with former Fall River Bishop Daniel Cronin, who now lives in Connecticut.

The suits, filed on New Year’s Eve by prominent abuse victims attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, seek undisclosed damages.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A 20-year-old Long Island woman is filing a civil lawsuit, alleging she suffered sexual abuse as a young parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Greenlawn at the hands of the Rev. Gregory Yachyshyn.

Father Yachyshyn is now a pastor at St. Jude’s in Mastic Beach, 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera reported.

“As a child, I was sexually abused by Father Greg. With counseling and support of my family, I now know I did nothing wrong,” the woman’s attorney Michael Rex said, reading from his client’s statement.

Rex said the alleged abuse took place around the woman’s first communion when she was 8 years old.

As WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported, the woman filed the lawsuit because she said she wants the priest no longer to lead a parish and for no other child to become a victim.

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NEW YORK
News 12

She claims that when she was 8-year-old, in the weeks prior to receiving her first Holy Communion, she was sexually abused by Father Greg Yacyshyn inside St. Francis of Assisi Church.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2015 / 05:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a petition from a Louisiana Catholic diocese that fears a civil lawsuit could force a priest to violate the seal of confession or go to jail.

The Diocese of Baton Rouge and diocesan priest Father Jeff Bayhi were disappointed by the decision, which the diocese said has “significant ramifications for religious freedom in Louisiana and beyond.”

“The diocese and Fr. Bayhi will continue their efforts to protect the guarantees of religious freedom set forth in our state and federal constitutions, and are confident that those efforts will, in due course, be successful,” the diocese said in a Jan. 20 statement.

The diocese and the priest are considering “a number of options” for other constitutional challenges in the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand the Louisiana Supreme Court’s May 2014 ruling that a court hearing is necessary to determine whether state law protects a priest’s conversation during confession with a minor about an alleged sexual abuser in the parish.

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ALASKA
Pokrov

UNDER INVESTIGATION: Troopers probe allegations of multiple physical abuse at St. Innocent’s Academy

Author: Roni Toldanes
Date Published: 01/21/2015
Publication: Kodiak Daily Mirror

State troopers are investigating allegations of “deeply disturbing” physical abuses at the St. Innocent’s Academy on Mission Road, officials say.

Except for its rusty school bus, the St. Innocent’s Academy does not have big signs. The academy is housed in a nondescript building, right, on Mission Road. At least 12 former students claim to have witnessed or personally experienced physical abuse at the academy through the years.

Except for its rusty school bus, the St. Innocent’s Academy does not have big signs. The academy is housed in a nondescript building, right, on Mission Road. At least 12 former students claim to have witnessed or personally experienced physical abuse at the academy through the years.

The Alaska State Troopers has launched an investigation into allegations of physical abuse that a dozen former students allege to have taken place through the years at the St. Innocent’s Academy in Kodiak, officials said Tuesday.

Sgt. Eric Olsen, Alaska State Troopers’ Kodiak post supervisor, said the state’s police agency “has been made aware of the allegations” and troopers are currently investigating.

“We are actively investigating the case and asking that any person with knowledge of the case to contact the state troopers,” Olsen said.

Two teachers, in interviews with the Kodiak Daily Mirror, said they’ve filed separate formal complaints with the state troopers, alleging physical abuses at the academy.

On Thursday, Jan. 15, the academy issued a statement through its secretary, Anna Spencer:

“We take these allegations very seriously,” the statement said. “Because of the potential far-reaching consequences, which may affect not only the future of the Academy, but potential students as well, and our relationship to the community with which we have so long enjoyed a warm and welcoming relationship, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.”

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OHIO
WLWT

[with video]

CINCINNATI (WLWT & AP) —A Hamilton County priest convicted of taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex in 1991 is challenging his conviction and sentence in a federal court.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati heard arguments Wednesday on Robert Poandl’s appeal.

He was convicted in 2013 of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Prosecutors said the suburban Cincinnati priest took the boy to Spencer, W.Va., on Aug. 3, 1991, and raped him there.

“He is a convicted criminal of child sex. He needs to stay in jail for the entire sentence. He’s not safe to be around children and the victims deserve justice,” Judy Jones, Assistant Midwest Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Poandl argues there is no evidence he took the boy anywhere that day and that jurors were allowed to convict him on speculation that he transported him another day.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Doggedly determined reporters following Toto’s example at last peeled back on Monday (1/19/15) the Papal Wizard’s curtain. They got the pope unexpectedly to digress about contraception “pills” and even Catholic “rabbits”, as discussed below. Please see also the superb analysis, “The Catholic church’s complicity in {former Manila street child} Glyzelle Palomar’s suffering“,
by Yale educated and prophetic theologian, Jamie Manson, here:

* [National Catholic Reporter]

* and the insightful discussion, “Pope Francis, Breeding Bunnies and Ideological Colonization“, by a leading expert on Catholics and contraception, Patricia Miller, here:

* [Religion Dispatches]

* Pope Francis evidently is gearing up for this summer’s papal push into US presidential politics and likely against family planning advocate, Hillary Clinton. He was untypically revealing about his current plans in responses to questions in his press conference on the flight back from the Philippines. He earlier had been more circumspect publicly after frightened cardinals, who worried about criminal prosecutions and financial bankruptcy, made him pope two years ago , as I recently discussed here Pope, M.L. King & a Dream About Street Children

* President Obama’s likely successor after next year’s US election, Hillary Clinton, has a long history of standing up to the Vatican, especially on the “pill” and contraception, as I recently discussed here Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 ? Francis made it inevitable, with his “Catholics are not Rabbits” spin, that family planning will be a top issue in the upcoming US presidential elections. Francis and his subordinate US bishops are already following the latest mistaken right wing Republican line that “contraception” equals “abortion”.

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OREGON
KOIN

BROOKS, Ore. (KOIN 6) — A youth pastor in Brooks, an unincorporated community north of Salem, has been arrested over claims of sexual abuse, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a release Wednesday.

Peter Bass, a 36-year-old man who’s served as the youth pastor for Brooks Assembly of God, was taken into police custody Wednesday morning. He’s awaiting arraignment on 30 sodomy and sex abuse charges.

Bass was fired from his position with the church following his arrest, the sheriff’s office said. No alleged victim of Bass’ have ties to the church, MCSO said.

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OREGON
KGW

Max Barr, KGW.com Staff January 21, 2015

BROOKS, Ore. – Detectives on Wednesday arrested a Marion County youth pastor on sex abuse charges.

Peter Bass, 36, faces 15 counts of second degree sex abuse and 15 counts of first degree sodomy. Bass lives in the unincorporated community of Brooks.

Bass was a youth pastor at the Brooks Assembly of God. He is no longer with the church.

“Currently the Sheriff’s Office has not identified any victims associated to Mr. Bass’s position at the church,” said Sgt. Chris Baldridge with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

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OREGON
KATU

BROOKS, Ore. – Marion County detectives arrested a 36-year-old youth pastor on Wednesday, accusing him of sex abuse.

Peter Bass was fired from the Brooks Assembly of God due to the investigation into his actions, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies said so far they’ve found that none of Bass’ alleged victims was related to his position at the church.

Bass faces 15 counts of first-degree sodomy and 15 counts of second-degree abuse, the sheriff’s office said.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rob Davis | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on January 21, 2015

A Marion County youth pastor was arrested and charged with sex abuse Wednesday morning, authorities said.

Peter Bass, 36, of Brooks was taken to Marion County Jail and charged with 15 counts of first-degree sodomy and 15 counts of second-degree sex abuse, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. Detectives arrested him at 10 a.m.

Bass was fired from his job as a youth pastor at the Brooks Assembly of God as a result of the investigation, police said. The sheriff’s office said it hadn’t identified any victims associated with Bass’ position at the church north of Salem.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

SA Police officer tells Father John Fleming’s defamation trial she felt claims against him went nowhere without a confession from him

A POLICE officer investigating unsubstantiated sex claims made against Father John Fleming agreed the case “was not going anywhere” without an admission or confession, a court has heard.

In the Supreme Court today, SA Police Brevet Sergeant Melissa Worden agreed she told Fr Fleming, during a formal 2009 interview, she felt there would be “no action” against him.

Andrew Harris, QC, for the Sunday Mail — which is being sued, by Fr Fleming, for defamation — asked Br Sgt Worden how she had approached the interview.

“When you went into this investigation, absent a confession from Fr Fleming, did you believe that it was unlikely that this matter would go further?” he asked.

“At the time you were asking (him) questions, you had a belief that, absent an admission, that it probably wasn’t going anywhere further.

“Was that your belief, that it probably wouldn’t go anywhere?”

Br Sgt Worden replied: “Yes.”

Fr Fleming’s case centres on a series of 2008 Sunday Mail articles reporting allegations he was inappropriately sexually involved with two women known as “Jane” and “Jenny”, and a man known as “Richard”.

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LOUISIANA
Bayou Buzz

A Baton Rouge trial judge will be allowed to determine whether a teenager’s communications with her Catholic priest about alleged sexual abuse by an older parishioner were actually confessions or if the priest had a duty to report the allegations.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to intervene in the case, which has pitted state laws meant to protect children against the age-old secrecy surrounding religious confessions.

State District Judge Mike Caldwell, who sits on the 19th Judicial District Court, has said the priest would not be legally compelled to break the seal of confession by testifying about what the young woman told him.

The Diocese of Baton Rouge, however, has argued that if the girl testified about the confessions, the priest would have to either accept her version of events or break the seal and face automatic excommunication.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Jan 21, 2015 By Dan Thompson

A university lecturer has unearthed a previously top-secret file held at the National Archives which could contain allegations of ‘unnatural sexual’ behaviour by establishment figures in the 1980s.

Dr Chris Murphy, from Salford University, stumbled upon the potentially ‘extremely significant’ file by chance – weeks after a Home Office review into historic child abuse allegations failed to find any documents relevant to its investigation.

Dr Murphy, who is a lecturer in Intelligence Studies, was working on a research project about Government secrecy in the National Archives, in Kew, south West London, when he uncovered a file called: “PREM19/588 – SECURITY. Allegations against former public [word missing] of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects 1980 Oct 27 – 1981 Mar 20.”

The “PREM” category of files covers documents and correspondence that passed through the prime minister’s office.

He described how he did a ‘double-take’ when he saw the classified file – before wondering about the implications of the title.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

A 20-year-old Long Island woman is suing a Roman Catholic priest, his Diocese and the parish he worked for over alleged sexual abuse she suffered when she was 8 years old.

The lawsuit also alleges the Diocese of Rockville Centre failed to alert families to known allegations of sexual abuse against dozens of its priests over the years and allowed many of them, including the plaintiff’s alleged abuser, the Rev. Gregory Yacyshyn, to continue working in positions with access to children.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family, regularly celebrated Mass and participated in church-related activities, and therefore, “came to admire, trust, revere, and respect” Yacyshyn, who allegedly used his position of authority to abuse her around 2003. His attorney denied the accusations Wednesday.

Yacyshyn was reassigned to St. Patrick’s of Bay Shore, within the same Diocese, shortly after the alleged abuse and before the plaintiff’s parents were aware of it, the lawsuit says. Once the girl’s parents learned of the allegations, they told law enforcement and the Diocese, who allowed Yacyshyn to “remain as a priest of the Diocese in good standing with access to children,” according to the lawsuit.

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CANADA
CBC News

A lawyer for former priest Eric Dejaeger says the Crown’s suggestion of a 25-year sentence for his sex crimes is “excessive” and “heavy-handed.”

Dejaeger, 67, was convicted last year on 32 counts of child sexual abuse dating back to his time as a priest in Igloolik, Nunavut, between 1978 and 1982.

In an Iqaluit courtroom Wednesday, Dejaeger’s lawyer Malcolm Kempt argued for a sentence of 12 years, with a two for one credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial. That would leave Dejaeger with four years left to serve.

Kempt said comparing Dejaeger’s crimes to the horrific and depraved acts of worst-case sex offenders was unfair to his client. He argued far worse sex offenders have received lighter sentences than what the Crown is asking for.

He said Dejaeger has serious health issues and dying in custody is a “very real fear” for the 67-year-old.

Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss had asked for a sentence of 25 years for Dejaeger’s crimes, minus the time the former Oblate priest has already served.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Jan. 21, 2015 Grace on the Margins

For years, I have written in the pages of NCR about the Philippines. (See here and here.) The country, I believe, epitomizes the need for all Catholics to continue the fight against the Roman Catholic church’s ban on contraception.

The pope’s visit to the Philippines last week seems to have finally raised awareness of the issue.

It wasn’t the media or the theologians who brought this crisis to the world’s attention, but rather, a 12-year-old girl named Glyzelle Palomar.

A former street kid, Glyzelle gave voice to the estimated 1.2 million homeless Filipino children who every day forage in the trash for food and sleep on cardboard boxes in slums.

“There are many children neglected by their own parents,” she told Pope Francis. “There are also many who became victims and many terrible things happened to them, like drugs or prostitution. Why is God allowing such things to happen, even if it is not the fault of the children? And why are there only very few people helping us?”

Some reports said Glyzelle’s sobs were so deep, she was unable to finish her statement to the pope. Francis, visibly pained by her words, embraced the girl and then offered a 40-minute excursus on the nature of suffering and the transformative power of tears.

The scene might have been more moving if the church were not complicit in this young girl’s suffering.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday 21 January 2015

The troubled official inquiry into child sex abuse has come a step closer to its early demise with its legal counsel, the leading human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson QC, being summoned by MPs to clarify his call for the removal of one of its members.

The move by Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, comes a day after the panel member, Sharon Evans, a child abuse survivor, said Emmerson had “bullied and intimidated” her.

Emmerson reacted to her allegations, made during a committee evidence session on Tuesday, by pointing out her complaints had already been investigated by the Home Office and dismissed as unfounded. He also claimed that Evans, as a member of the inquiry, had repeatedly disclosed confidential information and made a number of factually misleading public statements.

His defence was supported by a statement signed by the remaining seven panel members expressing full confidence in Emmerson’s integrity and rejecting any suggestions that they had been intimidated.

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UNITED KINGDOM
RT

The senior barrister in charge of advising an historic sex abuse inquiry has asked for one of the panel members to be removed. This follows accusations he had bullied her and attempted to influence members of the panel.

Ben Emmerson QC protested against Sharon Evan’s position on the panel after she told its members that he had “overstepped the mark.”

Evans is one of only two abuse survivors to sit on the panel, which had a turbulent beginning after the two selected chairwomen, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, both stepped down.

Evans reportedly told MPs currently investigating internal failures in the committee that Emmerson had tried to exercise control over her during questioning, and influence her in such a way as to stop her giving “honest” answers to questions.

She told the Home Affairs Select Committee that she felt “bullied,” She also said she “felt intimidated by an adviser to the panel.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Ben Emmerson QC: The human rights lawyer who was expected to lead child abuse inquiry is accused of ‘bullying’ and ‘intimidation’

PAUL GALLAGHER Wednesday 21 January 2015

Highly respected and admired for his work on Human Rights law, Ben Emmerson QC seemed like the perfect stand-in to steer the Government’s historical sex abuse inquiry when it was left without a chair for a second time after the resignations of Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf.

Many of his learned friends’ eyebrows were therefore raised this week when he was accused of having “bullied and intimidated” panel member and abuse victim Sharon Evans.

Ms Evans told MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday that she had made a complaint about Mr Emmerson to her MP “about the fact that I felt he was overstepping his mark, in terms of that advice and rewriting of letters [from panel members to Home Secretary Theresa May], because I feel the independence of the panel is important.”

Suddenly the spotlight is shining on the legal counsel who, in the words of the committee chair Keith Vaz, has been left “running the show”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By David Barrett, and Tom Whitehead
21 Jan 2015

The troubled inquiry into child sex abuse has suspended its work until Theresa May, the Home Secretary, makes a firm decision on its future.

The independent panel has said it will not hold any further meetings with victims until either a chairman is appointed or a decision is taken whether to replace it.

The move has plunged the inquiry in to further chaos and delays and comes just a day after evidence emerged of tension and infighting within the panel.

On Tuesday, one expert on the panel claimed she was being “bullied and intimidated” by the counsel to the inquiry.

But the rest of the panel distanced themselves from the claims.

However, it is understood the dispute was the final straw and members have now decided to suspend all work until clarity over its future is given.

A statement on the inquiry website said: “The panel has made the difficult choice to delay all scheduled listening meetings until after the Home Secretary has made her decision on the future of the panel and has announced who will be appointed as Chair.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 01/21/2015

Days into the bankruptcy proceedings for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a federal bankruptcy judge has ordered the parties to mediation.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Kressel said at a hearing Tuesday that he wanted to get things moving and to avoid high costs.

“The history, other than with one notable exception, is these cases — and by these I mean diocesan cases — end up in a settlement,” Kressel said. “… I’m hopeful and confident that’s going to happen here — but the question becomes: is that three or four years from now, with $17 million in fees, or is it six months from now with a fraction of that? I assume that’s a goal we all share.”

The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, calling it the best option to address all claims of sexual abuse at once, “fairly and with finality.”

Church officials had said they were considering bankruptcy in the wake of news of a $9.1 million operating deficit for fiscal year 2014 and expectations of more lawsuits over alleged clergy sexual abuse — more than two-dozen have already been filed and the church has received notice of at least 100 more claims.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 21

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 )

An Iowa man has been deemed too dangerous to be a Catholic priest and has been formally expelled by the Vatican. But no one seems to know where he is. Des Moines’ bishop must do more to protect children from him and warm others about him.

Last summer, Fr. Howard Fitzgerald was suspended – from two parishes and Simpson College – for child sex abuse allegations. Now Catholic officials in Rome have permanently removed him from the priesthood.

Bishop Richard Pates should now hold a news conference to warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald can’t work as a Catholic priest. But that doesn’t “cure” him of pedophilia. It’s Pates’ duty to do all he can to also protect the safety of non-Catholic kids.

The only decent move would be to warn as many people as possible about Fitzgerald’s crimes. But if for some inexplicable reason Pates can’t bring himself to do that, he should tell the public more about Fitzgerald’s crimes. Because that’s where Fitzgerald is now: among the public, not in a Catholic parish.

It’s irresponsible for bishops to recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, transfer and protect predators like Fitzgerald and then – when they’re finally exposed – cut them loose on society with little or no warning.

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Peggy Wright
January 21, 2015

Instead of forgiving and forgetting, a Catholic priest who was charged with threatening to kill a fellow cleric in Florham Park has filed a defamation lawsuit against his accuser and the Vocationist Fathers, the religious order to which he belongs.

The Rev. Frank P. Hreno, 51, and now living in Whippany, was accepted earlier this month into Morris County’s Pre-Trial Intervention program to resolve a charge of threatening to kill the Rev. Emeka Okwuosa, 37, on April 18 at the Florham Park-based Vocationist Fathers Retreat and Conference Center.

Hreno made no admissions of criminal wrongdoing to be admitted into PTI. If he successfully completes one year of probation supervision and counseling by another priest, the terroristic threat charge will be dismissed and he will not have a criminal record.

Hreno’s lawsuit, made public Wednesday in Superior Court, Morristown, accuses Okwuosa of defamation by allegedly making up a false story that Hreno threatened him and chased him and stabbed him in the arm with a 4-foot crucifix. Hreno only was criminally charged with terroristic threats. Though Okwuosa alleged he was attacked with a cross, authorities did not charge Hreno with that offense.

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IOWA
Houston Chronicle

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pope Francis has defrocked an Iowa priest who was accused of abusing a minor years ago.

Howard Fitzgerald, who worked at parishes in central and western Iowa over the last 35 years, received notice of the pope’s decision Monday.

Fitzgerald had been placed on indefinite leave in June from his most recent position serving at two Indianola parishes and Simpson College.

A Des Moines Archdiocese review committee found credible evidence that Fitzgerald sexually abused a minor in a “decades-old incident.”

At the victim’s request, church officials have not released information about when and where the abuse occurred.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Bethany Mandel is a victim of Rabbi (sic) Barry Freundel who secretly videotaped her in a state of undress while she was undergoing conversion at the mikveh (ritual bath) under his control. She has now announced that she will not join any lawsuits by other woman who were also videotaped by Freundel.

I always respect the decision of a victim to move on. But that is not how she explains her decision. Even though she is a member the Rabbinical Council of America’s (RCA) committee reviewing conversion practices she declares they are blameless. This makes me wonder if the implicit price of her inclusion was granting the organization absolution for negligent oversight of Freundel and instead focusing on protections in the future. I agree that the future is more important than the past. However, forcing accountability for the past can stimulate future vigilance.

Bethany Mandel also insists that a lawsuit against Freundel himself will victimize his wife and children. She writes:

Unfortunately Barry Freundel’s finances do not exist in a vacuum. He is a member of a family with a wife and three grown children, who are also victims, if not the biggest victims of this entire situation. I have no idea if they are now or will be an intact family in the future, nor is it any of my or anyone else’s business. If they do stay together as a family unit the entire family needs to rebuild their lives. If the family does not stay together, those victims, above all others, deserve to take him to the cleaners first.

Freundel victimized his family. But they are not the ones who were spied on while naked. They are not the ones whose sacred moments were grist for Freundel’s voyeurism.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Jerry Slevin on how the pope’s “disingenuous” remarks on contraception undercut many Catholics’ confidence in his intellectual integrity:

What I infer from Francis’ almost disingenuous remarks on contraception is this. He seems to be saying Catholics can use contraceptives but please do not make him expressly say that Popes Paul VI and Pius XI were wrong on banning birth control. If he were to say that he will, in effect, be saying popes are not infallible. Francis’ slick approach here not only undercuts the “dogma” of infallibility, it also undercuts many Catholics’ confidence in Pope Francis’ intellectual integrity.

Few Catholics will be fooled by Pope Francis, but many are already disappointed at this “three card monte” approach to a very important issue for hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide. It is not some papal political game for them.

The Catholic church has paid and continues to pay an enormous — an almost unbelievable — price for the decision of its top leaders for some years now to hinge everything in the church on the maintenance of an historically conditioned, entirely mutable clerical system (of which the understanding of an infallible papacy is one component), as if the church exists entirely to serve that system and not be served by it. Many of us had hoped for better from the current pope.

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NEW YORK
Time Warner Cable News

ALBION, N.Y. — Opening statements were heard Wednesday morning in Orleans County Court in the sexual abuse case involving a former Niagara County Pastor.

There was some emotional testimony Wednesday from two of the alleged victims in the case against Roy Harriger. Both of them gave an account to jurors of what they said happened to them while growing up as children in Lydonville. At the time of the alleged acts, the children were under the age of 10.

Harriger is accused of sexually abusing three young victims between January 2000 and December 2002. He’s charged with sexual conduct against a child and incest.

Harriger was serving as a pastor at Wesleyan Church in Lyndonville at the time. The incidents were reported to have taken place at his home.

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NEW YORK
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Diocese of Rockville Centre Sued for Hiding Sexual Offenders and Creating a Dangerous Public Nuisance

Identities and Locations of Credibly Accused Sexually Abusive Clerics Sought Alleged Perpetrator Still Allowed to Minister in New York

Complaint – KM v. Diocese of Rockville Centre 1-21-2015
Suffolk County Supreme Court Special Grand Jury Report
Fr. Gregory Yacyshyn Assignments
Fr. Gregory Yacyshyn Photo
Statement of Plaintiff
Plaintiff Photo

What: At a press conference Wednesday, January 21, 2015 on Long Island, attorneys Jeff Anderson and J. Michael Reck of Jeff Anderson & Associates will:

Announce the filing of a complaint on behalf of a 20 year-old woman naming the Diocese of Rockville Centre, St. Francis Assisi Parish and Father Gregory Yacyshyn as defendants. Yacyshyn is alleged to have abused the woman when she was a young child and parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi in Greenlawn, New York. He remains in ministry at St. Jude in Mastic Beach, NY.

Discuss the public nuisance claim alleged in the lawsuit for the Diocese’s failure to implement proper child protection safety measures and for their continued refusal to release the identities and internal church documents on known offenders in spite of previous Grand Jury investigations.

Encourage other sexual abuse survivors to come forward and demand the diocese remove Father Yacyshyn and release the identities and names of known clerical offenders.

Photos and written statement from the survivor will be provided.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 1:30PM EST

WHERE: Long Island Marriott
101 James Doolittle Blvd.
Long Island University Room
Uniondale, NY 11553

Notes: Complaint – KM v. Diocese of Rockville Centre 1-21-2015
Copies of the complaint will be available at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.318.2650
Mike Reck: Cell: 714.742.6593 Office: 646.649.4960

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VATICAN CITY
CatholicPhilly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis named the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor of clerical sex abuse cases to head his new doctrinal team dealing with appeals filed by clergy accused of abuse.

Pope Francis named Auxiliary Bishop Charles J. Scicluna, 55, of Malta to head his new doctrinal team dealing with appeals filed by clergy accused of abuse. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Auxiliary Bishop Charles J. Scicluna, 55, of Malta was appointed president of the new board of review within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Vatican announced his appointment as well as the names of the board’s eight other members Jan. 21.

Before being named an auxiliary bishop in Malta in 2012, Bishop Scicluna spent 10 years as promoter of justice at the doctrinal congregation, handling accusations of clerical sex abuse. He said the church must respond to allegations clearly and not react with “inertia, a culture of silence or repression.”

Since being named to Malta, he has continued to troubleshoot for the Vatican. In 2014, he traveled to Geneva to testify before the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, and in April he traveled to Scotland to collect testimony in a case against Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the former archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who resigned in 2013 after admitting to sexual misconduct.

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UNITED STATES
Splash

February 3rd, 2015

The reporting for God’s Bankers began in 2005. It took Posner to long forgotten archives in Europe and South America to uncover a story that the Vatican preferred not be written. The end result is classic investigative reporting about the inner workings of money and power inside the world’s largest religion.

“It is not about faith, belief in God, or questions about the existence of a higher power,” explains Posner. “Instead, it is about how money, accumulating and fighting over it, has been a dominant theme inside the church.”

“A dogged reporter exhaustively pursues the nefarious enrichment of the Vatican, from the Borgias to Pope Francis….A meticulous work that cracks wide open the Vatican’s legendary, enabling secrecy.” – KIRKUS

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OHIO
WLWT

CINCINNATI (AP) —A Hamilton County priest convicted of taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex in 1991 is challenging his conviction and sentence in a federal court.

A priest charged with taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex more than two decades ago was found guilty on Friday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is hearing arguments Wednesday on Robert Poandl’s appeal.

He was convicted in 2013 of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Prosecutors said the suburban Cincinnati priest took the boy to Spencer, W.Va., on Aug. 3, 1991, and raped him there.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 21

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

Like virtually every other Catholic official, Francis pretends that internal tinkering with church policies will really help prevent abuse. It won’t.

Like virtually every other Catholic official, Francis treats this scandal as an internal matter. It’s not.

And defrocking pedophile priests often protects church assets and bishops’ reputations more than it protects children. (And only a very small percentage of predator priests are ever defrocked.)

Prevention on the front end, not punishment on the back end, should be the priority. First, let’s make sure clerics who commit and conceal abuse are wearing prison uniforms; then let’s address whether they should wear Roman collars.

While making meaningful change in church finances, governance and morale, Francis insist on making nearly meaningless gestures in the abuse and cover up crisis. He refuses to take the single most effective step possible: defrock, demote, discipline or even harshly denounce bishops who conceal child sex crimes. And he refuses to order bishops to

–post predators’ names on their websites,

–give police and prosecutors records about predators, and

–lobby for (not against) better secular child safety laws.

Church panels, procedures, protocols and panels make for great public impression. They provide the patina of progress. But they’re almost always public relations.

We should not confuse motion with reform. We hurt children if we let ineffective moves be portrayed as real change.

Tens of thousands of church officials didn’t hide crimes by tens of thousands of priests against hundreds of thousands of kids because there weren’t enough church panels, procedures, protocols and panels on abuse. Making or tweaking the already plentiful but usually ignored church abuse policies isn’t the answer.

The answer lies largely in external reforms: helping police, prosecutors and lawmakers do their jobs and pursue those who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes in the church.

Sadly Francis, who shows such courage in many other ways, lacks the courage to break from the timid, self-serving and destructive decades-old patterns of recklessness, callousness and secrecy regarding child molesting clerics and their corrupt, concealing bishops.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 21

Statement by Judy Jones of St. Louis, Assistant Midwest Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 636 433 2511, 314 974 5003, SNAPjudy@gmail.com )

The latest legal moved by a convicted pedophile priest shows why every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes must speak up.

Fr. Robert Poandl wants his child sex abuse conviction overturned on technicalities. We hope he fails. And we hope that donations from parishioners are not funding his increasingly expensive legal maneuvers to duck responsibility for his heinous crimes.

There is absolutely no reason why this serial child predator should be given any special treatment. It is public information that he sexually abused at least 3 boys, so he needs to be kept behind bars and away from innocent children.

[Cincinnati.com]

It’s possible he may prevail. (Often, predator priests get top-notch lawyers and exploit loopholes and walk free.) So it’s crucial that others who may have knowledge of or suspicions about Fr. Poandl find the courage to come forward and contact police, no matter how long ago it happened. Your silence only hurts. By speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

JIM BELL

To meet the need for retribution, denunciation and general deterrence, child-molester ex-priest Eric Dejaeger should get a 25-year jail sentence, Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss said Jan. 21 in a sentencing submission held at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

“In virtually every community he was in, he sexually assaulted somebody,” Curliss told Justice Robert Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick found Dejaeger guilty this past September on 24 counts, mostly sex crimes against Inuit children committed in Igloolik between 1976 and 1982.

He also heard guilty pleas from Dejaeger on eight other charges, some of which involved police complaint first made in the early 1990s.

After two days of harrowing victim impact statements from Inuit adults who Dejaeger sexually abused and assaulted as children, Kilpatrick began hearing sentencing submissions from lawyers.

Curliss said there Dejaeger’s case presents numerous aggravating factors and no mitigating factors.

And that means that — within the constraints posed by case law and sentencing principles set out in the Criminal Code — the court should impose the highest possible sentence, Curliss said.

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CANADA
CBC News

Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss is asking for a sentence of 25 years for Eric Dejaeger’s crimes, minus the time the former Oblate priest has already served.

In an Iqaluit courtroom Wednesday morning, Curliss said Dejaeger sexually assaulted kids in “virtually every community he was in” and “discredited his calling…and victimized those he should have protected.”

Dejaeger, 67, was convicted last year on 32 counts of child sexual abuse dating back to his time as a priest in Igloolik, Nunavut, between 1978 and 1982.

Curliss listed each of Dejaeger’s 32 offences and asked for consecutive sentences, ranging from 9 months to 8 years, for each. While his proposed sentence added up to 79.5 years, Curliss told the court that by applying the principle of totality, “a combined sentence should not be unduly long or harsh.” He said a sentence of 25 years would be appropriate.

Dejaeger has been in jail since January 2011. His time served to date adds up to 4 years. With a credit of two days for every day served, that would mean Curliss is asking for another 17 years in jail.

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ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO
AZ Journal

Jan. 21, 2015

By Linda Kor

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup has released the names of 31 priests church officials say have sexually abused their parishioners. The diocese, which serves 55,000 square miles in Arizona and New Mexico, including tribal lands, posted the names on its website last month.

A story published in The Tribune-News in 2011 reported on the admission by the diocese that a now deceased priest who had served in both Winslow and Holbrook had been a known pedophile within the church. Clement Hageman served as a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Holbrook from 1942 until 1953 and at the Madre de Dios Parish in Winslow from 1965 until 1975. That admission by the diocese allowed individuals who suffered abuse by Hageman to come forward to begin healing and to pursue legal options.

Last month the diocese released the names of 30 more priests who served in the diocese who have been identified as having credible allegations of sexual misconduct made against them. Although many of those priests are now deceased, the diocese has not indicated the status of those who are still living. Of the clergy included on that list, nine served in Holbrook, 14 in Winslow and one in Snowflake.

Those priests who were assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Holbrook include Clement Hageman, who was assigned from 1942-1952, and is now deceased; William Allison, assigned in 1958, now deceased; David Enrique Viramontes, assigned from 1960 to 1961, now deceased; Samuel Wilson, assigned in 1961, now deceased; James Burns, assigned in 1964, now deceased; Douglas McNeil, assigned from 1969-1971 and again from 1973-1974; John Boland, assigned in 1975; Joseph Coutu, assigned from 1981-1983; and Jose Rodriquez, assigned from 1990-1992. …

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), knows the struggle that victims go through as old memories surface and emphasized the importance of reaching out to others. “I am begging every single person who suspects they observed or experienced abuse to come forward. Contact the police and help protect others who may become victims,” said Clohessy.

He explained the importance of reporting the crime, not only to law enforcement first, but also to an independent source. “These crimes were committed and concealed because it was not in the best interest of the church to expose them until now. You cannot tell me that over the past years in Arizona that with hundreds and hundreds of church employees no one, not a priest to a janitor, saw that abuse was taking place. It is counterintuitive to go to the diocese first,” stated Clohessy.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Zoe Mintz

Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former sex crimes prosecutor, has been appointed to lead the panel that will hear appeals by priests who have been accused of abusing minors, the Holy See announced Wednesday. The decision was made by Pope Francis two months after he announced the creation of a judicial body that will handle sexual abuse crimes.

Scicluna, an auxiliary bishop in Malta, was the church’s lead prosecutor for sex crimes between 2002 and 2012. He was appointed to the position a year after Pope Benedict XVI (then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) passed legislation requiring all bishops to send abuse allegations to his office before taking any action. Ratzinger intervened in this process after he realized bishops were moving accused priests from parish to parish to avoid prosecution, the Associated Press reported.

While Scicluna rarely spoke publicly about his role, he was regarded as a hard-liner against clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups.

“Scicluna did a remarkable job,” Juan Vaca, a former priest, told the AP in 2012. He was the first abuse victim Scicluna interviewed during the delayed investigation of the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the late founder of the Legion of Christ religious order who abused boys, maintained relationships with two women and fathered six children, two of whom he abused. In the years after Maciel’s condemnation, “[Scicluna] continued to prosecute other similar cases with the same integrity,” Vaca said. …

Still, even with Scicluna’s latest appointment, victims’ groups say more needs to be done to punish abusive priests.

“We should not confuse motion with reform,” Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement Wednesday. “Like virtually every other Catholic official, Francis pretends that internal tinkering with church policies will really help prevent abuse. It won’t.”

The group, which is the largest self-help organization for victims of clergy sexual abuse, urges the Catholic Church to defrock, demote and publicly discipline abusive priests and bishops who conceal sex crimes.

Since Francis was elected in March 2013, he has remained relatively silent on the topic. He began making statements last May when he met with sex abuse victims and called the allegations an “ugly crime” akin to performing “a satanic Mass.” A month later, Polish Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was defrocked after a Vatican tribunal found him guilty of sexually abusing minors. During a homily given in July, Francis called for “zero tolerance” of sex abuse by clergy and met with six more victims.

“Church panels, procedures, protocols and panels make for great public impression. They provide the patina of progress,” Dorris said referring to the panel the pope established in November that will advise the Vatican on child protection policies. They will meet for the first time at the Vatican on Feb. 6-8. “But they’re almost always public relations.”

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Dov Linzer
Published January 21, 2015

Recent events have forced us as a community to take a hard look at the practice of having female converts immerse themselves in a mikveh before a rabbinical court of three men. In the wake of news that a Washington rabbi, Barry Freundel, allegedly spied on women as they were engaging in this ritual, others have described their own troubling and, at times, traumatic experiences at the mikveh.

It is the moment to ask some fundamental questions about how we treat converts. Some are questions of Jewish Law, such as whether it still makes sense for women to immerse themselves in the presence of a beit din, or rabbinical court. But there are other bigger issues to consider about how this ritual is conducted.

During the conversion process, the prospective converts are judged in regard to their sincerity and whether they have satisfied the criteria that a beit din has laid out. All this is necessary, but it is also disempowering, particularly when this difficult stage continues for a protracted period of time. What’s more, this can be an invitation for exploitation and abuse. It is our obligation to fix this situation.

One response to the concern of abuse has been the appointment of an ombudsman to oversee conversions done under an organization’s aegis, and to whom a potential convert can turn to when troubling circumstances arise. This is a good technical fix, but it misses the point that more fundamental changes are needed.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By JOE MOZINGO, MATT HAMILTON AND JEFF GOTTLIEB

He wandered beyond the edge of Christendom into a rugged land of “infidels” he sought to convert.

When Father Junipero Serra and his cavalcade arrived at la bahia de San Diego in 1769, between 225,000 and 310,000 natives inhabited the territory that would become the state of California. The string of missions he and his Franciscan order established would become an origin story for the state, a folkloric tale of vineyards and benevolent friars, taught to students from Modoc to San Ysidro.

Reality was much harsher. The Spanish flogged natives who disobeyed, banned their beliefs and customs, captured those who tried to escape. In the end, they converted less than a quarter of the population, while their livestock and disease destroyed native food supplies and decimated villages. …

Some say there is nothing wrong with highlighting the dark side of Serra’s legacy.

“During the Spanish colonial and the Mexican period we lost 90% of the Indians in California,” said Ron Andrade, director of Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission. “Serra was no saint to us.”

Others such as Ruben Mendoza, coordinator of California mission archaeology at Cal State Monterey Bay, say the canonization is long overdue.

“I’ve always felt the canonization process was stymied through misinformation and politicization, and laying blame and onus on one individual who was actually in constant conflict with governors and military commanders in New Spain over how they were treating Indians,” Mendoza said.

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IRELAND
Laois Nationalist

The Dáil has started the process of formally establishing the inquiry into mother-and-baby homes.

The motion once passed by the Oireachtas will allow the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to sign an order for the Commission of Investigation to get underway.

It is expected to take three years to complete as it will be looking at mother-and-baby homes from the foundation of the State in 1922, all the way to 1998.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

January 21, 2015
WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has named Father Daniel E. Garcia, a priest of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, auxiliary bishop of Austin. Father Garcia, 54, is currently the vicar general of the diocese and moderator of the curia.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, January 21, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Daniel Elias Garcia was born in Cameron, Texas, in 1960. He earned an associate of arts degree from the Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas (1982) and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (1984) and a master of divinity (1988) from St. Mary’s Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 28, 1988.

Following ordination, his pastoral assignments included parochial vicar of St. Catherine of Sienna Parish (1988-1990), Cristo Rey Church (1990-1991) and St. Louis Parish (1991-1992), all in Austin; parochial vicar of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Humble, Texas (1992-1995); and pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin (1995-2014).

His responsibilities for the Diocese of Austin have included master of ceremonies for the bishop, member of the vocation team, vocation director, member of the diocesan liturgical committee, member of the diaconal advisory committee and chair of the pastoral practices committee of the presbyteral council. He served as dean of the Austin North Deanery, a member of the interim presbyteral council and presbyteral council, and a member of the college of consultors.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 21 January 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– the following members of the College for the review of appeals to the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, instituted by the Rescriptum ex Audientia SS.mi of 3 November 2014:

President: Bishop Charles J. Scicluna, auxiliary of Malta;

Members: Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education; Cardinal Attilio Nicora, president emeritus of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA) and the Financial Information Authority (AIF); Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See; Archbishop Jose Luis Mollaghan, emeritus of Rosario, Argentina; and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts;

Supplementary members: Cardinal Julian Herranz, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Bishop Giorgio Corbellini, president of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See and of the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia.

-Rev. Fr. Daniel Elias Garcia as auxiliary of Austin (area 57,424, population 2,902,992, Catholics 536,183, priests 218, permanent deacons 207, religious 201), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Cameron, Texas, U.S.A. in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1988. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a Master of Divinity from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, and a Master’s degree in liturgical studies from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish priest of the “St. Vincent de Paul” parish in Austin and dean of the “Austin North Deanery”. He is currently a member of the presbyteral council, diocesan consultor, member of the Priests’ Personnel Board, and vicar general and moderator of the Curia.

– confirmed the appointment by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin of Dr. Tommaso Di Ruzza as director of the Financial Information Authority (AIF). Dr. Di Ruzza is currently “ad interim” deputy director of the same institution.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

21 January 2015 by Liz Dodd

Pope Francis has appointed the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor, Bishop Charles Scicluna, as the head of a new body to handle appeals by priests accused of abuse.

The seven-member body, which Pope Francis created in November, will work under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and will judge cases involving the sexual abuse of minors and abuses involving the Sacrament of Confession.

Other members include Cardinals Zenon Grocholewski, Attilio Nicora, Francesco Coccopalmerio and Giuseppe Versaldi; and Archbishop José Luis Mollaghan and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru.

Bishop Sciclua, currently apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Malta, served as Promoter of Justice at the CDF under Pope Benedict XVI. The Maltese bishop has been credited with instituting major reforms within the CDF to better report and deal with abuse allegations.

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OHIO
Fox 8

[with video]

JANUARY 20, 2015, BY JACK SHEA

FOX 8 I-Team reporter Jack Shea has learned that a well-known Cleveland rabbi was arrested out of state on allegations that he sexually abused a minor.

Rabbi Frederick Karp is the spiritual living director at the Menorah Park Center for Senior Living in Beachwood, and president of the Association of Jewish Chaplains. He is the focus of a criminal investigation in Maryland.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/20/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

This was posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis earlier today:

Rev. Paul Moudry has resigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Margaret Mary in Golden Valley. Rev. Moudry has been on a voluntary leave of absence from priestly ministry since November 2013. Over the past year, Rev. Moudry has cooperated with the Archdiocese and the Ministerial Standards Board in a comprehensive review of prior misconduct (with adults in non-illegal activities) from many years ago.

Archbishop John Nienstedt accepted Rev. Moudry’s offer to resign as pastor of Saint Margaret Mary. Rev. Moudry will continue his voluntary leave of absence and has participated in making appropriate disclosure to his parishioners and trustees.

No additional information has been provided. When Father Moudry’s leave was announced in November of 2013 it was stated that he would not engage in any public ministry while on leave. It is unclear whether this agreement remains in place, and it is also unclear how the Archdiocese will provide for his ongoing support.

The other priest who took voluntary leave at the same time as Father Moudry, Father David Barrett, was returned to ministry in 2014 after a very strange and limited disclosure to his parish. I am not sure to which parishioners and trustees Father Moudry has made disclosures given that the announcement states he has resigned his pastorate.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites Australia researcher (article updated 20 January 2015)

A former Catholic priest of the Sydney archdiocese, Father Robert Flaherty, now aged 71, has pleaded guilty regarding sexual offences against two children dating back to the 1970s.

In 2013, Flaherty was charged regarding three boys. Court documents stated that the alleged victims, who were boys aged between 11 and 15, lived in parishes in which Father Flaherty worked in western Sydney. The offences were alleged to have occurred between 1971 and 1982 in western Sydney or during visits to a holiday house in the Shoalhaven area, south of Sydney.

The three alleged victims, now in their 50s, were each members of Father Flaherty’s former parishes at Blacktown, St Marys and Richmond (all to the west of Sydney).

In 2014, Flaherty appeared in Parramatta District Court (with Judge Colesax). He pleaded guilty regarding two of the boys (one incident per boy) and he will be sentenced regarding these two on a later date.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Marist Brother Leslie Garfield Saker, 74, whose religious name in the Marist order is Brother Luke Saker, was charged by police in a Sydney court on 20 January 2015 with sexual offences allegedly committed against a 16-year-old schoolboy in 1974. The boy was a student at a Catholic school in Auburn in Sydney’s west.

The Saker case had its first mention on 20 January 2015 with a magistrate in Sydney’s Burwood Local Court. This was a brief administrative procedure for the charges to be officially filed in court. On display in the Burwood court-house on that day was a list of 192 cases which were scheduled for a court mention that day (in several court-rooms), and Leslie Garfield Saker was included on the list.

Brother Saker has not yet been required to indicate how he will plead in answer to the charges.

The Saker case will come up again in the Burwood court in late February 2015 for a further mention to consider the subsequent steps in the judicial process. The main proceedings would be held on a later date.

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OHIO
Cincinnati.com

CINCINNATI — An Ohio priest convicted of taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex in 1991 is challenging his conviction and sentence in a federal court in Southwest Ohio.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is hearing arguments Wednesday on Robert Poandl’s (POHN’-duhl) appeal. He was convicted in 2013 of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Prosecutors said the suburban Cincinnati priest took the boy to Spencer, W.Va., on Aug. 3, 1991, and raped him there.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News

Published January 21, 2015

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican’s long-time sex abuse prosecutor has been named to head up a new Vatican board to hear appeals by priests accused of molesting minors.

Bishop Charles Scicluna, currently an auxiliary bishop in his native Malta, will head the panel, which also includes some of the Vatican’s most senior and seasoned canon lawyers.

Pope Francis in November announced the creation of the panel to speed up the Vatican’s review of appeals of priests sanctioned for abuse. In recent years, the Vatican has been receiving on average 400-500 accusations a year, significantly increasing the caseload of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Tim Diacono 21 January 2015

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Charles Scicluna as the President of a college within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Scicluna has been serving as Apostolic Administrator since the resignation of Archbishop Paul Cremona. It as yet unknown whether this recent appointment means that Scicluna will not be able to become Malta’s next Archbishop.

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

MALTA
Malta Independent

The Vatican today announced that Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna has been appointed to head a Vatican college within the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith to examine appeals to the ordinary session of the Congregation.

The members of the College of which Bishop Scicluna is the President are made up of four cardinals and two bishops with a cardinal and a bishop as substitutes.

Bishop Scicluna was named Apostolic Administrator after the resignation of Mgr Paul Cremona from the post of Archbishop, and he was seen among the favourites to be named as head of the Maltese archdiocese.

Contacted by The Malta Independent, Mgr Scicluna said that the role he has been given in Rome is compatible with any role that he holds or may hold in Malta, including possibly that of Archbishop.

He said that the appointment given means that he will need to fly to Rome once a month to lead the college and it will not impinge on his duties here.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Nomina dei Membri del Collegio per l’esame dei ricorsi alla Sessione Ordinaria presso la Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede

Con il Rescriptum ex Audientia SS.mi del 3 Novembre 2014, prot. N.62.411, il Santo Padre ha istituito presso la Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede uno speciale Collegio per l’esame dei ricorsi alla Sessione Ordinaria del medesimo Dicastero.

Detto Collegio risulta composto dai seguenti Membri:

Presidente:

S.E. Mons. Charles J. Scicluna, Vescovo tit. di San Leone, Ausiliare di Malta.

Membri:

Em.mo Card. Zenon Grocholewski, Prefetto della Congregazione per l’Educazione Cattolica;

Em.mo Card. Attilio Nicora, Legato Pontificio per le Basiliche di San Francesco e di Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, Presidente emerito dell’Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica e dell’Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria;

Em.mo Card. Francesco Coccopalmerio, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio per i Testi Legislativi;

Em.mo Card. Giuseppe Versaldi, Presidente della Prefettura degli Affari Economici della Santa Sede;

S.E. Mons. José Luis Mollaghan, Arcivescovo emerito di Rosario;

S.E. Mons. Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, Vescovo tit. di Civitate, Segretario del Pontificio Consiglio per i Testi Legislativi.

Membri supplenti:

Em.mo Card. Julián Herranz, Presidente emerito del Pontificio Consiglio per i Testi Legislativi;

S.E. Mons. Giorgio Corbellini, Vescovo tit. di Abula, Presidente dell’Ufficio del Lavoro della Sede Apostolica e della Commissione Disciplinare della Curia Romana.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News – January 21, 2015

Pope Francis has named the members of a new body of cardinals and bishops who, under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), will judge cases involving the sexual abuse of minors and serious abuses associated with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Pope created the seven-member body in November but did not name members at that time.

Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former top abuse prosecutor, has been named president of the body. He continues in his duties as an auxiliary bishop in his native Malta.

Other members are Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Cardinal Attilio Nicora, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Archbishop José Luis Mollaghan, and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru. Archbishop Mollaghan is an Argentine bishop emeritus; the other members serve on the body concurrent with their other responsibilities.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

[Five years after the discovery of the abuse scandal in the German Catholic Church several of the 27 dioceses have accounted for their education and prevention work.]

Teile der Katholischen Kirche legen ihre Berichte zur Aufklärungs- und Präventionsarbeit vor. Neben der Aufarbeitung der Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch ist auch die Prävention ein wichtiges Thema.

Fünf Jahre nach Aufdeckung des Missbrauchsskandals in der katholischen Kirche Deutschlands haben mehrere der 27 Bistümer ihre Aufklärungs- und Präventionsarbeit bilanziert. „Wir können unter dieses Thema keinen Schlussstrich ziehen“, sagte der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bischofskonferenz, Stephan Ackermann, bei der Vorlage der Zahlen für sein Bistum Trier, zu dem 1,4 Millionen Katholiken gehören.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[A chronology of abuse in the Catholic church.]

Vor fünf Jahren wurde der Skandal um sexuellen Missbrauch und körperlicher Gewalt in der römisch-katholischen Kirche in Deutschland bekannt. Eine Chronologie von erschütternden Fällen, die zum Teil erst nach Jahrzehnten bekannt wurden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
HPD

[The Berling archdiocese yesterday presented an interim report regarding suspected cases of sexual abuse. The archdiocese received 31 reports of sexual abuse of minors.]

Von Frank Nicolai

20. JAN 2015

BERLIN. (hpd) Gestern hat das katholische Erzbistum Berlin einen Zwischenbericht zu Verdachtsfällen sexuellen Missbrauchs vorgelegt. Danach gab es 31 Anzeigen wegen sexuellem Missbrauch an Minderjährigen im Erzbistum Berlin.

Der gestern veröffentlichte “Zwischenbericht Verdachtsfälle sexuellen Missbrauchs an Minderjährigen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen durch Kleriker, Ordensangehörige oder andere Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im kirchlichen Dienst” führt auf, dass bis zum 31. Dezember 2014 im Erzbistum Berlin insgesamt 31 Kleriker, darunter vom Erzbischof beauftragte Ordensangehörige sowie Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im kirchlichen Dienst, des sexuellen Missbrauchs an Minderjährigen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen beschuldigt wurden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BRF

[Diocese of Trier: 67 priests accused of sexual abuse]

Die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle im Bistum Trier kommt voran. Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann sagte, für die katholische Kirche seien die letzten fünf Jahre ein schmerzhafter Lernprozess gewesen. Man habe im Bistum Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs dazu aufgefordert, sich zu melden. 114 Menschen hätten sich daraufhin gemeldet, 67 Priester seien des sexuellen Missbrauchs beschuldigt worden. 83 der Opfer bekamen jeweils bis zu 5.000 Euro Entschädigung, in Härtefällen auch mehr.

Die beschuldigten Priester waren teils schon gestorben, gegen andere wurden kircheninterne Verfahren eröffnet. Bei den meisten Beschuldigten habe sich der Missbrauchsverdacht bestätigt, so Ackermann. Sie wurden entweder aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen oder dürfen nicht mehr als Pfarrer arbeiten. Derzeit wird im Bistum Trier noch gegen neun Priester intern ermittelt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[Interview with Georg Auer, who was abused as a student with the Regensberg cathedral choir. He is still waiting for an acknowledgment of his suffering on part of the church.]

Von Wolfgang Wittl, Regensburg

Trotz aller seelischen Belastung, die er mit sich herumträgt: Seinen Humor hat Georg Auer offenbar nicht verloren. Im Januar 2013 ist der frühere Domspatz aus der Kirche ausgetreten, am vergangenen Samstag hat er vom katholischen Kirchensteueramt Regensburg einen Brief erhalten. Darin wird er aufgefordert, eine Steuerschuld von 7,27 Euro zu begleichen. “Ist dieses Schreiben gar der ,erneute Versuch’ des Bistums, mit mir wieder in Kontakt zu kommen?”, fragt Auer.

Der 63-Jährige ist einer der drei Männer, die in der ARD-Dokumentation “Sünden an den Sängerknaben” schilderten, wie sie als Schüler der Domspatzen missbraucht worden seien und bis heute, Jahrzehnte später, auf eine Anerkennung ihres Leids seitens der Kirche warteten. Das Bistum Regensburg reagierte auf den Beitrag mit einer Erklärung, man wolle Auers Fall neu aufrollen. Der vom Bistum beauftragte Rechtsanwalt habe in dem ARD-Film neue, vom Opfer erhobene Vorwürfe entdeckt, die der Diözese so nicht bekannt gewesen seien. Der Anwalt habe deshalb empfohlen, das Gespräch mit Auer zu suchen. Zu den weiteren beiden mutmaßlichen Opfern gab es keine Stellungnahme.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Christa Brown

“True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hello to all of you!

It’s been a long time since I visited my blog, but today is Martin Luther King Day and I found myself reconnecting with a column I wrote for MLK day in 2013. It was previously picked up and published by the Associated Baptist Press — now known as Baptist News Global — which by the way is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. I think this may just be the best job I ever managed to do in succinctly summarizing the complex issues at work in the problem of Baptist clergy sex abuse and denominational complicity. An excerpt:

“In countless stories of Baptist clergy sex abuse, we have seen the sad truth of King’s words made manifest. Even with childhood histories of horrific abuse – of having been molested, raped and sodomized by Baptist preachers – countless such victims have said that the worst of their experience came when they tried to tell about the abuse within the faith community.

That was when they faced ‘the silence of the many.’

That was when the relational fabric of community, and often even of family, was torn asunder.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Adoption campaigners have again expressed concerns that tens of thousands of people could be excluded from the mother and baby home inquiry.

Ahead of a Dáil debate on the terms of reference for the inquiry today, the Adoption Rights Alliance expressed fears that the investigation will be limited to only the practices and procedures of institutions, adoption agencies and individuals with a direct connection to a mother and baby home.

The group said that if the scope of the inquiry was not widened, tens of thousands of mothers who gave birth in State and private maternity homes but suffered the same fate of forced and illegal adoptions as those born in mother and baby homes would be excluded.

Under terms of reference, the inquiry will investigate how unmarried mothers and their babies were treated between 1922 and 1998 at 14 State-linked religious institutions.

The three-year inquiry — which has a €23.5m budget and may cost millions more in redress — will examine mother and baby homes, county homes, vaccine trials on children, and illegal adoptions where babies were trafficked abroad.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

A Catholic religious order of priests and brothers, known as the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, and the Diocese of Fall River, MA, enabled the sexual abuse of at least two minor boys from Massachusetts by one of its members, Fr. James R. Nickel, SS.CC., in Fairhaven, MA, and West Harwich, MA, respectively

Two men have filed lawsuits in Superior Court, Bristol County, MA, alleging sexual abuse by Fr. James Nickel, SS.CC., and alleging negligent supervision by leaders of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts; Bishop Daniel Cronin, retired bishop of Fall River, MA; and others

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting the media, parishioners, and the general public of the filing of two Superior Court lawsuits in Massachusetts against former Bishop Daniel Cronin of the Diocese of Fall River and leaders/supervisors of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts religious order (copies of the lawsuits will be provided)

When
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 from 11:00 am until 12:30 pm

Where
On the public sidewalk outside the headquarters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts religious order, 77 Adams Street, Fairhaven, MA (near St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Parish run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts)

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

Why
Two men have come forward to report that they had been sexually abused by Fr. James R. Nickel, a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts religious order, when they were minor boys in Fairhaven, MA, and West Harwich, MA, respectively. The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts religious order administers at least two parishes in Fairhaven, MA (St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s), and were in charge at one time of Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich, MA, on Cape Cod. Fr. James R. Nickel, SS.CC. worked within the geographic boundaries of the Diocese of Fall River with the permission of Bishop Daniel Cronin at the time of the sexual abuse of the children. One plaintiff as a minor was sexually abused by Fr. James R. Nickel from approximately 1972-1974 when he was approximately 13-14 years of age at Holy Trinity Parish in West Harwich, MA. Another plaintiff as a minor was sexually abused from approximately 1983-1986 when he was approximately 12-14 years of age at St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven, MA. Both boys suffered serious injuries from the sexual abuse. Demonstrators will call on the Diocese of Fall River and the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts to help these men heal and give them the resources they need to recover.

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Tom Symonds
Home affairs correspondent, BBC News

The inquiry into historical child abuse is likely to be the longest and most complex ever.

But right from the start there have been arguments about who should take on the task of delving into Britain’s darkest secrets, and how they should go about it.

When on 7 July 2014, Theresa May announced there would be a public inquiry into child abuse, she may have been excused for thinking an important item had been ticked off the governmental to-do list.

She had little alternative.

Since the Jimmy Savile scandal it has been clear that many men and women abused as children are no longer prepared to endure the silence that has hung over this issue for decades.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Westminster child abuse inquiry to hear Margaret Thatcher was presented ‘allegations of unnatural sexual proclivities’

ADAM WITHNALL Wednesday 21 January 2015

A UK academic has uncovered a file which he claims could contain allegations of “unnatural” sexual activities against public figures at the height of the Westminster child abuse scandal.

Dr Chris Murphy, a security and intelligence lecturer at the University of Salford, found the classified document while searching the National Archives in Kew.

While its contents have not been made public, Dr Murphy said he was immediately alerted by the title showing it had been taken to the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

The title read: “PREM19/588 – SECURITY. Allegations against former public [word missing] of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects 1980 Oct 27 – 1981 Mar 20.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: FRED ZIMMERMAN Updated: January 20, 2015

Actions were needed, but goodwill missions will be constrained and employers will face uncertainties about their liabilities.

Well, our archdiocese is bankrupt. Possibly deserved, but still a sad event. None of us can tolerate sexual impropriety. But bankruptcy means that missions will be constrained; parishes in poorer areas will have less support; schools will be reduced in number, and good, well-meaning and conscientious dedicated people will be affected.

Minnesota’s Child Victims Act, which removes the civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse allegations, was passed by the Legislature in 2013. No doubt there was widespread concern about the matter of sexual abuse, as there should be. However, some of us do wonder if the Legislature fully comprehended what would happen when the act was passed. Other institutions and members of the business community might well wonder if the curtailment of the statute of limitations might be extended to other arenas.

The cases involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are old. The 64 accused priests and brothers were born an average of 81 years ago. Of these, 79.7 percent were removed from ministry an average of 20 years ago. Forty-seven percent of the accused have died. Settlements were made or attempted with the people affected — a process perhaps delayed and made complicated by the threatened and filed lawsuits. Settlements are needed, of course, and many were offered and accepted.

In this modern age, few of us are able to go through life without some exposure to sexual impropriety that makes us sick. These cases involve a wide spectrum of vocations and personalities. Despicable as they are, the cases are not simple. I have dealt with several in my years in industry and during my several decades as a corporate director. The cases take time and are often confusing. The arduous task of finding the exact facts is neither quick nor simple. People have to be interviewed — and qualified. Qualified and willing witnesses able to provide credible evidence must be found, and their statements must be verified. Unfortunately, what is ultimately proven is not always immediately proven.

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OREGON
Argus Observer

PAYETTE — A former youth pastor has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery.
Forest Rueben Gibson, 34, was a youth pastor in Canyon County when a teenage girl there made allegations against him. While investigating her claims, Canyon County Sheriff’s Detective Shawn Becker heard from a second victim in Payette County.

Gibson met the second girl at church camp, according to information from Barbara “Bobbi” Richart, chief deputy prosecuting attorney in Payette County. Gibson pleaded guilty to sexual battery against that girl — who, because she is a minor, is not being named — in District Court Jan. 9.

The battery took place on or about Feb. 23 through April 8, 2014, according to court documents. Gibson was arrested April 28.

At his sentencing, the first victim addressed the court and Gibson, Richart said. The girls said that because of his position with the church, she had trusted him.

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MISSOURI
Lake News Online

Posted Jan. 20, 2015

Morgan County

A trial setting for a California, Mo. man charged with multiple felonies related to alleged sexual relations with two underage girls has been rescheduled.

Travis Smith was formerly a pastor at a church in Stover.

He is facing charges of forcible sodomy, forcible rape, sexual abuse, statutory sodomy and three counts of second degree statutory rape in Moniteau County, stemming from alleged incidents in 1998, 1999 and 2005.

Judge Kenneth Hayden will now preside over the trial setting hearing on March 13, 2015 instead of the original date of Jan. 16, 2015 after Moniteau County Prosecuting Attorney Shayne Healea made a motion to appoint a special prosecutor to the case.

Healea is facing his own troubles after being indicted Nov. 21 on charges related to an alleged drunk driving accident in Columbia in October.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Crystal Dey
Forum News Service
POSTED: 01/20/2015

BAGLEY, Minn. — A Lutheran pastor in Clearwater County is charged with 16 counts of felony criminal sexual conduct for acts that allegedly occurred between 2009 and 2014 with juvenile boys.

Scott Morey, 42, of Shevlin appeared in Clearwater County District Court in Bagley in far northwestern Minnesota on Friday facing eight first-degree, three second-degree, two third-degree and three fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.

Morey had been a pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Winger, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bejou and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in McIntosh. The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Wohlrabe, bishop with Northwestern Minnesota Synod ELCA in Moorhead, said Morey resigned as pastor at the churches Dec. 12.

Morey remains on the ELCA clergy roster, but has been asked to cease functioning as a pastor pending the outcome of the court proceedings in Clearwater County.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – The trial against a local pastor accused of sexual abuse and incest resumes Wednesday.

A jury was seated Tuesday in the case against 70-year-old Roy Harriger, who is accused of abusing two of his children back in 2000 and 2001.

Harriger is charged with course of sexual conduct, sodomy and incest.

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NEW YORK
WIVB

[with video]

By Mark Belcher, News 4 Digital Producer
Published: January 21, 2015

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A jury has been selected in a trial over a local pastor accused of sexual abuse.

The jury was selected Tuesday, and the trial will proceed Wednesday for Rev. Roy Harriger, a pastor charged with three counts of coercive criminal sexual conduct against a child, one count of first degree incest, two counts of incest and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Fifteen people across three states came out saying the 70-year-old molested them as children, and Harriger was arrested.

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OREGON
Bend Bulletin

By Claire Withycombe / The Bulletin / @kcwithycombe
Published Jan 21, 2015

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Beth Bagley, after hearing arguments from attorneys, postponed a decision Tuesday on whether to modify release conditions for a Gresham pastor accused of sexually abusing two children in Deschutes County between 2002 and 2004.

Bagley is scheduled to make a decision after hearing further arguments Thursday.

Appearing via video from the Deschutes County jail, 42-year-old James Worley wept as his lawyer, Richard Cohen, argued to reduce the $1 million bail set by Deschutes County Circuit Judge Walter “Randy” Miller on Jan. 7. Members of the Powell Valley Church, where Worley is a general pastor, filled the courtroom, holding hands and bibles.

Cohen argued Worley had been cooperating with authorities since the allegations of abuse were disclosed by a female in July 2012. He was arrested on a warrant by Gresham Police on Dec. 17, Cohen said.

“It’s been known for a long time,” said Cohen. He said Worley, per a court ruling, has maintained no contact with one of the alleged victims, a female who is now an adult.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY HEIDI KINCHEN| HKINCHEN@THEADVOCATE.COM
Jan. 20, 2015

A Baton Rouge trial judge will be allowed to determine whether a teenager’s communications with her Catholic priest about alleged sexual abuse by an older parishioner were actually confessions or if the priest had a duty to report the allegations.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to intervene in the case, which has pitted state laws meant to protect children against the age-old secrecy surrounding religious confessions.

State District Judge Mike Caldwell, who sits on the 19th Judicial District Court, has said the priest would not be legally compelled to break the seal of confession by testifying about what the young woman told him. The Diocese of Baton Rouge, however, has argued that if the girl testified about the confessions, the priest would have to either accept her version of events or break the seal and face automatic excommunication.

The case involves a woman who claims that in 2008, when she was 14, she told her pastor she was sexually abused by a now-deceased church parishioner. The woman, Rebecca Mayeux, has said the Rev. Jeff Bayhi, of Our Lady of the Assumption in Clinton, responded by telling her it was her problem and she should “sweep it under the floor and get rid of it.”

In 2009, Mayeux’s parents sued Bayhi, the Baton Rouge diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, and George Charlet Jr., the man who allegedly abused her. They argued in the lawsuit that the priest neglected his duty under state law to report the alleged abuse to authorities.

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LOUISIANA
WAFB

[with video]

By Tyana Daquano

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) –

A decision made Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court could threaten the sanctity of confessions told to Catholic priests, so says the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. They are involved in a sexual abuse case, filed by a Baton Rouge family.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to get involved in the case, the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge released a statement that said in part, that they are “disappointed the court denied our request … to intervene in this case, which has significant ramifications for religious freedom in Louisiana and beyond.”

The lawsuit, filed by the parents of a then 14-year-old girl, alleges their daughter was molested by an older parishioner, George Charlet, Jr., now deceased. Attorney’s say three times in confession, the girl told her priest, Father Jeff Bayhi, that Charlet touched her and made inappropriate comments.

“This is kissing and touching and fondling,” their attorney, Brian Abels said in July of last year. “The very last time our client thought she was going to be raped.”

Abels, says his client should be able to to tell what they say is an important part of her story in court.

He says because the priest did not report the alleged abuse, he and the church are liable.

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CANADA
CBC News

Jan 21, 2015

Crown and defence lawyers are expected to make their arguments in Iqaluit this morning in the sentencing hearing of Eric Dejaeger.

Dejaeger, a 67-year-old former Oblate priest, was convicted last year on 32 counts of child sexual abuse dating back to his time as a priest in Igloolik, Nunavut, between 1978 and 1982.

On Monday and Tuesday, 18 of his victims described to the court how those events affected them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Some said they have either lost or found faith in the process. One woman quoted the Bible, saying the former priest did not know God. Another said he won’t baptize his daughter. He, like most of the others who made statements, said they turned instead to drugs and alcohol to “numb the pain and shame.”

They and their families wept and wailed even as court was adjourned for the day.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

JIM BELL

The pedophile ex-priest Eric Dejaeger “did not know God,” an Igloolik sexual abuse victim declared Jan. 20 in a victim impact statement that quoted from St. Paul the Apostle’s instructions on how to live a good life.

Dejaeger, who appears before the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit this week for a sentencing hearing, is guilty on 32 counts, most of them sex crimes against Inuit girls and boys committed between 1976 and 1982 in Igloolik.

The woman, who Dejaeger molested at the Roman Catholic mission in Igloolik when she was aged between five and seven, gave the first of six victim impact statements read in court on the afternoon of Jan. 20.

She quoted verses from St. Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians that suggest Dejeager will face the vengeance of God in the afterlife.

“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified,” the woman said

“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Jan 20, 2015

The federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has ordered all parties into mediation.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel expressed concern about the length and cost of other church bankruptcies. He is starting off this case with mediation to encourage a relatively quick and inexpensive settlement.

Archdiocese officials said they were pleased by the mediation order, as was attorney Jeffrey Anderson, an attorney who represents sex abuse victims. He said judges typically order mediation only later in a bankruptcy, after legal bills mount.

“Here he ordered it right away, which means all those administrative costs and bankruptcy lawyers’ attorneys’ fees don’t have to be expended,” Anderson said.

Mediation could take weeks or months and may or may not work.

So far, insurers have disputed archdiocese insurance claims that would help fund compensation for abuse victims.

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UNITED STATES
Canonical Consultation

01/20/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Today, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari in the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Baton Rouge v. Mayeux. This means that our nation’s highest court will not consider the issue of whether the courts can determine what constitutes a ‘confession per se’ or whether such courts must ‘respect the church’s own view that such communications are confessional and absolutely protected from disclosure by the priest on penalty of automatic excommunication’. For the full summary of the issue, please see the SCOTUSblog.

This question is only one aspect of an otherwise highly contentious case which touches on the very nature of the sacramental seal (canon 983, 1). Canon law holds that the seal of confession is inviolable, and imposes ‘severe’ punishment upon a priest who directly or indirectly reveals the privileged communication. As such, the Diocese of Baton Rouge is arguing that a priest cannot be compelled to testify about the contents of a confession.

In general, I think Catholics support this understanding of the nature of the sacramental seal. However, what makes this case interesting is that the privilege is being claimed, by the priest and the diocese, not for the benefit of the penitent but for the benefit of said priest and diocese, who are being sued for negligence. For, it is alleged that a minor penitent, Rebecca Mayeux, confessed to her priest, Father George Bayhi, that a fellow parishioner, an adult, had molested her. According to nola.com, the molestation was alleged to have occurred in 2008, when both Rebecca and her alleged abuser were members of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Clinton. The Mayeux family alleges that on three separate dates in July 2008, Rebecca told Father Bayhi that the adult parishioner had inappropriately touched her, kissed her and told her “he wanted to make love to her.” Bayhi did not report the abuse to civil authorities or take other measures to prevent further abuse from occurring because, he argues, the communications occurred during the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Generally, priests are exempt from mandatory reporting laws when the information is received in the act of sacramental confession. What makes this case interesting is that the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in May that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws if the person who makes the confession waives confidentiality. In other word, the Louisiana Supreme Court found that confidentially in such contexts is intended to protect the person who made the confessions, not the person who receives them.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

[with video]

Reg Chapman

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Last week, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced it was filing for bankruptcy amid lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by priests.

Tuesday, they were in court to hash out some of the details. Archbishop John Nienstedt said bankruptcy is best for the victims and the church.

All parties involved are happy they’ve been ordered to mediation by Federal Judge Robert Kressel. They said they feel mediation without confrontation is what’s best for a speedy resolution in Federal bankruptcy court.

“An extremely positive day for the faithful,” Attorney Charles Rogers said.

Attorneys for the Archdiocese are satisfied that the church will continue to operate as it has in the past while bankruptcy procedures continue. Judge Kressel allowed the church to continue to pay critical salaries, benefits and such to make sure it continues with its core mission.

Kressel’s decision for mediation for all parties involved also sat well with attorney’s for abuse survivors.

“It’s a really good day and he really ordered a positive way to get something good done for these survivors and the operation of the archdiocese to continue,” Attorney Jeff Anderson said.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens

Rev. Paul Moudry has resigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Margaret Mary in Golden Valley. Rev. Moudry has been on a voluntary leave of absence from priestly ministry since November 2013. Over the past year, Rev. Moudry has cooperated with the Archdiocese and the Ministerial Standards Board in a comprehensive review of prior misconduct (with adults in non-illegal activities) from many years ago.

Archbishop John Nienstedt accepted Rev. Moudry’s offer to resign as pastor of Saint Margaret Mary. Rev. Moudry will continue his voluntary leave of absence and has participated in making appropriate disclosure to his parishioners and trustees.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

The Rev. Paul Moudry has resigned as pastor of the Church of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Tuesday.

Moudry has been on a voluntary leave of absence from ministry since November 2013 while officials investigated a “prior misconduct which occurred many years ago” with adults in non-illegal activities.

In a statement, the archdiocese said Archbishop John Nienstedt accepted Moudry’s offer to resign as pastor of St. Margaret Mary.

Moudry will continue his voluntary leave of absence, the archdiocese added, noting that Moudry has cooperated in the misconduct inquiry and made “appropriate” disclosure to parishioners and trustees.

An attorney for Moudry last fall acknowledged “two anonymous claims of misconduct” in an October 2013 letter to MPR News.

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MINNESOTA
Fairfield Citizen

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A bankruptcy court judge has ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to try to reach a settlement with attorneys for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 protection last week, saying reorganization is the best way to put victims first while continuing the church’s mission.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (http://strib.mn/181I6W1 ) that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel ordered the case into mediation on Tuesday. He said it would be the most efficient way to settle the bankruptcy.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan will oversee the mediation, where the archdiocese will try to settle with its insurers and victims.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release

January 20, 2015

(St. Paul, MN) – At a hearing today, United States Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Kressel ordered survivors, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and the insurance companies, over objections from the insurance companies, to mediation for resolution of all current and future claims. The mediation was ordered before Judge Arthur Boylan, a respected and former federal magistrate, now a professional mediator who was instrumental in settling the NFL dispute.

“We are delightful we have the opportunity to get to the negotiation table early before huge attorney’s fees deplete the Archdiocese’s assets and there will be ample funds for survivors with full participation from the Archdiocese and the insurance companies involved,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. “Judge Kressel’s order creates the opportunity to ensure a fair and speedy resolution of all current and future claims under the Child Victims Act.”

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

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KENYA
Commonweal

Lisa Fullam January 19, 2015

On Jan 14, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement reiterating their opposition to a WHO/UNICEF sponsored mass vaccination effort aimed at reducing maternal and neonatal tetanus. Their claim is that the vaccine is laced with Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and will result in permanent infertility in vaccinated women. They also state that the same was done in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Philippines, also under WHO sponsorship. Their fears were triggered by reports of a group called the Kenyan Catholic Doctors association, who boldly stated:

This proved right our worst fears; that this WHO/UNICEF campaign is not about eradicating neonatal tetanus but is a well-coordinated, forceful, population control, mass sterilization exercise using a proven fertility regulating vaccine.

Well, let’s unpack this.

Maternal and neonatal tetanus is most common among women who deliver their babies in unsterile conditions and/or with poorly trained assistants. While more than 90% of Kenyan women receive prenatal health care, fewer than half deliver their babies in a hospital. In 2013, Kenya abolished hospital fees for delivery in an effort to address the nation’s rising maternal death rate. At least at first, this initiative didn’t seem to have much impact.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune
Updated: January 20, 2015 – 4:43 PM

Archdiocese and victims’ attorneys will work toward settlement.

The bankruptcy filing of the Archdiocese of St. Paul -Minneapolis was ordered out of the courtroom and into the conference room Tuesday, when a bankruptcy judge ordered the case to mediation.

The archdiocese, its insurance companies, and attorneys for abuse victims will attempt to reach a mediated settlement under an order from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel.

Kressel said it was the most efficient, cost-effective way to settle the bankruptcy. He named Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan to oversee the mediation.

“If he can settle an NFL strike he can settle most anything,” said Kressel, referring to Boylan’s mediation of the 2011 labor dispute between the National Football League and its players.

The archdiocese and victims’ attorneys praised the decision.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 20,

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 new civil lawsuit charges that Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy is keeping a priest on the job in a parish despite a credible report that the priest sexually assaulted a girl.

[Jeff Anderson & Associates]

Father Gregory Yacyshyn now works at St. Jude in Mastic Beach on Long Island. He was apparently never suspended after a young woman told top Catholic officials that Fr. Yacyshyn had sexually violated her. That’s a violation of local and national church abuse policies and repeated pledges by bishops to put the safety of kids first and promptly suspend accused predator priests while investigations are done.

The alleged crimes happened at St. Francis Assisi Parish in Greenlawn. Bishop Murphy, it should be noted, was a long-time close aide and advisor to Boston’s disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law.

Bishop Murphy’s public relations staff will no doubt claim that they were allegedly unable to “substantiate” the girl’s report. Catholic officials say this often. But if they would honor their policies about being “transparent” in clergy sex cases and publicly disclose allegations against priests, many more such charges would be deemed “substantiated.”

In other words, bishops like Murphy want to have their cake and eat it too: be secretive about abuse reports, and then tell accusers “we can’t corroborate your allegation.”

We hope every single person who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Fr. Yacyshyn – or cover ups by Bishop Murphy – will find the courage to call police, expose wrongdoers, deter deceit, protect kids and start healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

A MEMBER of the independent panel into child sexual abuse has told MPs she has been “bullied” by the barrister conducting the embattled inquiry.

Home Secretary Theresa May set up the inquiry to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

Panel member Sharon Evans, a child abuse survivor and chief executive of the Dot Com Children’s Foundation, which helps prevent children from becoming victims of violence or abuse, told the Home Affairs Select Committee she felt “bullied” by counsel to the inquiry Ben Emmerson QC.

Ms Evans said Mr Emmerson was “overstepping the mark” with his advice, including demands she re-write letters sent to the Home Secretary and agreed he was “running the show”.

Chair of the committee Keith Vaz asked Ms Evans about reported concerns she had over alleged threats made by Mr Emmerson in respect of evidence she would give to the Committee.

Ms Evans said: “I do feel concerned, very concerned, yes.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis and Sandra Laville
Tuesday 20 January 2015

The chaos behind the scenes of the official inquiry into child abuse has been laid bare with accusations of bullying and silencing members as the investigation has struggled to get off the ground.

One panel member, Sharon Evans, an abuse survivor and chief executive of the Dot Com children’s charity, told MPs that the inquiry’s counsel, Ben Emmerson QC, had effectively taken it over in the absence of an appointed chairman, and been guilty of making threats and intimidating panel members.

She made the accusations to the Commons home affairs select committee as the home secretary, Theresa May, considers whether to disband the independent panel and replace it with a fresh statutory inquiry.

The inquiry set up in July in the wake of the Savile, Rotherham and other child sex abuse scandals still has no chairman after the home secretary’s first two nominees were both forced to step down because of their connections to the establishment.

Evans was giving MPs an update on the progress of the inquiry along with other inquiry members, Drussilla Sharpling, Prof Jenny Pearce and an adviser, Prof Alexis Jay who wrote the report revealing that there were 1,400 child sex abuse victims over 16 years in the Rotherham area.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Tom Whitehead 20 Jan 2015

The troubled inquiry in to child sexual abuse was thrown in to fresh controversy last night after an expert on it claimed she was being “bullied and intimidated”.

Sharon Evans, a child abuse survivor, accused the inquiry’s lawyer of “overstepping the mark” including claims he had put pressure on how she should give evidence to a parliamentary committee.

It is the latest blow for the inquiry set up by Home Secretary Theresa May, to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

It has already been hit by the resignations of both Baroness Butler-Sloss and then Dame Fiona Woolf as the chairman after each became entangled in allegations of conflict of interest.

Mrs Evans, chief executive of the Dotcom Children’s Foundation, which helps prevent children from becoming victims of violence or abuse, told the Home Affairs Select Committee she felt “bullied and intimidated” by counsel to the inquiry Ben Emmerson QC.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Tuesday 20 January 2015

A lawyer representing victims of child abuse has called for a swift decision by Theresa May on the future of the independent panel set up to investigate institutional abuse amid concerns that evidence is being lost or destroyed.

Alison Millar, from Leigh Day, who represents around 50 survivors of child abuse, spoke as members of the independent panel appointed to carry out an inquiry into institutional failings to protect children, were due to give evidence to the home affairs select committee on Tuesday.

The independent inquiry announced by the home secretary was set up seven months ago but its future is uncertain.

Two chairs have been forced to resign over their connections with establishment figures, and no new chair has been appointed. There have been complaints from victims about the lack of transparency in the appointment of the panel of experts, and criticism over the actions of two members for what is claimed were inappropriate communications with victims.

May is considering three options to reconstitute the independent inquiry as a statutory investigation, after complaints from some survivors about the lack of transparency over their appointment. Only one of these options involves keeping the same panel in place. Sources close to the inquiry said it was anticipated that the panel would be disbanded in the near future.

Millar said the panel had lost the confidence of many victims and a decision on selecting a new panel had to be made very soon.

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