FLORIDA
Florida Times-Union

By Matt Sedensky Wed, Jan 7, 2015

WEST PALM BEACH — A Catholic priest from India was jailed after asking a 14-year-old boy to help him delete dozens of images of child pornography from his phone, authorities said.

When questioned by police, the Rev. Jose Palimattom said he had been reprimanded by his superiors in India for his involvement with a boy, authorities said. When he came to the U.S., the pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach told him he was not allowed to have contact with minors without another adult present, and was restricted from using Facebook, according to a police report.

Palimattom was in jail Tuesday on an obscenity charge.

The Diocese of Palm Beach said it had done a thorough background screening on Palimattom, but that no prior conduct was revealed.

“This allegation is being taken very seriously,” the diocese said in a statement.

Dianne Laubert, a spokeswoman for the diocese, provided no immediate clarification as to why the priest claimed restrictions were placed on him. She said she was not aware of a lawyer being hired on Palimattom’s behalf, and there was no mention of one in initial court filings.

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NEW YORK
WPIX

JANUARY 6, 2015, BY ANDREA CAVALLIER

THE BRONX (PIX11) — A priest and junior varisity basketball coach at a prestigious Bronx high school has admitted to sexually abusing minors, according to school officials.

A letter was sent home Jan. 5 to inform parents that Father Robert Harrison had been fired after his confession.

According to a statement released by the president of Cardinal Hayes High School, Harrison confessed to sexually abusing minors in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Harrison was initially being questioned about his alleged mishandling of finances when he made the admission shortly before Christmas break.

It is not clear if the alleged victims were students at Cardinal Hayes, an all-boys Catholic high school in the Concourse Village section of the Bronx. It has an enrollment of about 940 students, according to the school’s website.

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UNITED STATES
Bizpac Review

Rabbi rallies Jewish people to support Alan Dershowitz through rape allegations: ‘He deserves our solidarity’

The sex trade scandal involving Britain’s Prince Andrew is hurting the reputations of several famous figures including prominent attorney and defender of Israel, Alan Dershowitz, with allegations that he engaged in sexual acts with a minor.

In the lawsuit brought by a woman against financier Jeffrey Epstein, Dershowitz is named with others such as the aforementioned prince, former president Bill Clinton, and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

The woman, who was a minor at the time, alleges that Dershowitz engaged in sexual activity with her on multiple occasions, according to the Washington Post.

But Dershowitz has at least one staunch defender, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

The Rabbi wrote on op-ed in the New York Observer where he said he believes the attorney and called on the Jewish community to stand firm behind Dershowitz even though no one knows if the allegations against him are factual yet.

“There is no way any of us can know if any of this is true. But I believe Mr. Dershowitz, and not just because he denies it,” he said. “Rather, it would seem that if any of this happened the woman in question would seek criminal charges against Mr. Dershowitz, or at the very least civil damages.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mondaq

Last Updated: 6 January 2015
Article by Judith Martin and Mary Coyles
Clyde & Co

Amidst wider claims of failings within Westminster and the Criminal Justice system, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, states that the new wider panel inquiry into historic child abuse will examine churches, the BBC and political parties.

The government is now facing increasing pressure about the viability of the inquiry in its current form. There is pressure for the inquiry to be disbanded and replaced with a more powerful body. Inevitably if this occurs there will be further delays and it remains to be seen what format the inquiry will ultimately take. The inquiry has previously faced controversy having already come under pressure and scrutiny with criticisms about potential conflicts of interest and that it is not fit for purpose. Fiona Wolfe, Lord Mayor of London, resigned in October amidst concerns and issues with her past links to Lord Brittan followed by the resignation of Baroness Butler-Sloss in July, owing to her late brother’s role as Attorney General during one of the relevant periods. It is fair to say that whoever is finally appointed as the Chair of the inquiry will have a challenging task ahead.

Despite the current challenges and controversy the Home Secretary appears to remain steadfast in her commitment to the inquiry and has confirmed the government’s willingness to consider, if necessary, an upgrade to a full public inquiry. She has also suggested the possibility of granting the inquiry statutory status at some point in the future. The Home Secretary reiterates that the “confidence of survivors is paramount.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY STAFF REPORTER – 07 JANUARY 2015

The oldest witness to appear before the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has recounted how he endured savage daily beatings with a leather strap from a nun in Nazareth Lodge – and how he was sexually abused by other boys at the Belfast home.

Speaking from his wheelchair, the 89-year old man shared harrowing memories of bed-wetting, physical and sexual abuse while in the care of the religious organisation his mother had trusted to look after him.

He told the inquiry session that his punishment for wetting his bed was to be stripped naked, placed in a freezing bath and be doused with buckets of water; he would then have to kneel, still naked, in front of one of the nuns, while she beat him with a leather strap.

Entering Nazareth Lodge in 1929 at the age of three, after his father had abandoned his family, from then on he only saw his mother for an hour each summer.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

An 89-year-old man has described how he was sexually abused by teenage boys and beaten by nuns at Nazareth Lodge home in Belfast.

He is the oldest witness to appear before the Historical Institutional Abuse in Banbridge, County Down.

The man, who appeared in a wheelchair, said he was just three years old when he arrived at the home.

He talked about being attacked. But he also said that as an adult he had a good life and was “free as a bird”.

The man said his father had abandoned the family and his mother left him at the home. She wanted to get an education in the hope that her family would have a better life, he said.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Sharp Drop in Religious Affiliation in Northeastern U.S. Due to Catholic Abuse Crisis and Bishops Shielding Child Molesters

This is a Catholic birdcage dropping in that it addresses Catholic issues: as Fred Clark points out at his Slacktivist site today, yesterday at his Spiritual Polticis site, Mark Silk looked at the story of religious decline in the northeastern U.S. Mark notes that Rod Dreher recently asked for help in understanding why there’s such precipitous decline in religious affiliation of late in that region of the country.

Here’s Mark’s sharp analysis: noting that the American Religious Identification Survey 2008 report and PRRI’s American Religion Atlas show a decline in religious affiliation from 84 percent to 64 percent in the Northeast in the period 1990-2013, Mark observes,

The answer has everything to do with Roman Catholicism, the region’s largest religious tradition. From 1990 to 2013, the proportion of self-identified Catholics in the Northeast shrank dramatically, from 43 percent to 31 percent. By contrast, the Catholic proportion of the population in the rest of the country has declined by only four points, from 26 percent to 22 percent.

Much of the regional disparity has to do with the church’s Latinization. Latino immigration has been disproportionately into the West and the South, increasing the percentage of Catholics in each region. But this does not explain the difference between the Northeast and the Midwest, where the Catholic proportion of the population has declined by just six points (27 percent to 21 percent), despite having fewer Latino immigrants.

To be sure, shrinking Northeastern Catholicism does not account for the entire decline in Northeastern Christianity. The proportion of non-Catholic Christians in the Northeast shrank by 17 percent between 1990 and 2013, from 41 percent to 34 percent. That, however, is equivalent to the shrinkage of non-Catholics in the Midwest (16 percent) and well below the West (26 percent) and the South (29 percent). In other words, to the extent that the Northeast has de-christianized relative to the rest of the country, it has to do with Catholics — and specifically, with white Catholics.

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OREGON
KMTR

GRESHAM, Ore. – An evangelical pastor and former police officer is facing more than 30 charges of sex crimes involving two children, one boy and one girl.

James Daniel Worley, 42, has been a senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Gresham since 2012, according to the church’s website.

The indictment filed Dec. 16 in Deschutes County charges Worley with 37 counts, including two counts of rape, 20 counts of sexual abuse, 11 counts of sodomy, one count of attempted sodomy and three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

In the latter three counts, the documents state Worley “did unlawfully and knowingly induce (the victims) … to engage in sexually explicit conduct for a person to observe.”

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MISSOURI
Christian Today

Published 07 January 2015 | Diana Lyn Lopez-Mitjavile

Travis R. Smith, a Baptist preacher charged with felony child sex abuse, got a new court date. Instead of having to appear in court during the first week of January at the Moniteau County Court, the accused is scheduled to appear on Jan. 16.

The 44-year-old Smith was arrested in 2012 for child sexual abuse cases that allegedly occurred in 1998, 1999 and 2005. The charges included forcible rape, statutory rape and sexual abuse. The 2005 charge included alleged acts involving sodomy.

This would not be the first time the preacher has faced a judge in court for child molestation charges. He was acquitted back in 2011 for another sex abuse charge involving a minor.

Smith was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol back in October 2014 following an intensive investigation by one division that worked with drug and crime control. The state police had the accused transferred over to the Moniteau County Sheriff’s Department.

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OREGON
KTVZ

BEND, Ore. –
A 42-year-old Gresham pastor and fired Tillamook police officer was arrested late last month and brought to the Deschutes County Jail on Tuesday, where he was booked on 37 rape and abuse charges involving crimes with two children 10 to 12 years ago.

James Daniel Worley, senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Gresham, was arrested Dec. 30 in Multnomah County following a Dec. 16 grand jury indictment. He was transported Tuesday to the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, one day before an initial court appearance scheduled Wednesday afternoon. He was being held on $500,000 bail.

The charges include 20 counts of first-degree sex abuse, two counts of first-degree rape, 11 counts of first-degree sodomy, one count of attempted sodomy and three counts of using a child in sexually explicit conduct, jail records show. The charges involve two children who under the ages of 14 and 12 and allege crimes in Deschutes County between Sept. 1, 2002 and June 30, 2004.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Education Minister Peter Collier has revealed that one small school in Perth is using corporal punishment against students, which is still allowed in a loophole in the legislation.

The Western Australian government is now seeking to change the legislation to ban the cane and other physical discipline methods at all schools in the state.

Caning was banned in WA public schools but did not include private schools. …

Nollamara Christian Academy’s Pastor Roger Monasmith said the school uses a small paddle “like a ping-pong bat” as a form of discipline.

Pastor Monasmith told PerthNow in 2011 that corporal punishment was never used in anger and the students would have disobeyed school rules and God by fighting, swearing, being disrespectful to teachers or failing to complete their work for several days in a row.

“We always give them a warning before we use it and we’ll give them one swat (on the behind) and then the next time if they do the same thing, they get two swats,” he said.

“We try to help these kids as much as we can because there are two things that are very important for kids to learn responsibility and accountability.”

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

WEDNESDAY, 07 JAN 2015
BY JASMINE STOLE | VARIETY NEWS STAFF

CONCERNED Catholics of Guam confirmed that the group will be meeting with visiting Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, Archbishop Martin Krebs and Rev. Tadeusz Nowak while the three Catholic church officials are on island for the week.

Concerned Catholics Vice President Dave Sablan said while the time and date for a meeting have yet to be finalized, the group is ready to present their petition and report to Hon, Krebs and Nowak.

“We will address issues of the clergy and how they are treated, the two seminaries … alleged mismanagement of the assets of the archdiocese … and the division in the parishes between those who follow the Neocatechemunal Way and those that don’t,” Sablan said.

Ultimately, the group is calling for unity, harmony and consistent teachings in the parishes on Guam. Sablan said that instead of unity, harmony and consistency, “there is a division with different Mass services for the regular parishioners and those who are in the Neocatechemunal Way group.”

Within the Catholic community, there is a divide that has caused disagreements among family members, Sablan said. “Some family members are at odds with each other as to which is the correct way to worship God,” he said. Neocatechumenal Way teachings differ from the traditional practices to the dismay of some local Catholics who want to continue their faith the same way they were brought up, he said.

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NEW YORK
Watershed Post

By Julia Reischel
1/6/15

For four years, the name of a priest found responsible for sexually abusing minors has adorned the front of his parish’s community center in the Delaware County village of Margaretville. Even after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany removed Robert H. Purcell from the ministry and forbade him from using the title “Reverend,” the imposing metal letters that spelled out “Very Rev. Robert H. Purcell” remained set in stone.

Until Sunday, Jan. 4, six months after Purcell’s death, when church officials announced the sign would be removed. Steven Scarmozzino, Sacred Heart’s current priest, made the announcement at Mass on Sunday morning at the Sacred Heart Parish in Margaretville. By the end of the day, the letters were pried off, leaving only a rusty shadow on a blank stone behind.

Church officials did not give a specific reason for the sign’s removal, and have not linked it directly with Purcell’s stained legacy.

Six years, two sex abuse scandals

The small Sacred Heart Parish, which says on its website that it has 300 registered members, has endured back-to-back sex abuse scandals involving its priests.

In 2010, another priest, James McDevitt, pled guilty in Middletown Town Court to two counts of forcible touching for spanking the bare bottoms of six area boys while he was a priest in Margaretville in 2008 and 2009.

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FLORIDA
Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos and Lehrman

January 6, 2015

by Adam Horowitz

Rev. Jose Palimattom, a 47-year old Catholic priest assigned to Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach, was arrested today for having child pornography on his cell phone and showing the images to a minor. According to police, the priest asked a 14-year old boy from his parish to help him delete pictures from his cell phone. In so doing, the boy discovered dozens of image of nude pre-pubescent boys on the priest’s cell phone with tags such as “little boys” and told his father about what he found. The boy’s father then called the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

Rev. Palimattom is a priest of the Franciscan Province of St. Thomas the Apostle in India who came to the Diocese of Palm Beach from India in late 2014 for a two-year assignment. Under church rules, Rev. Palimattom is under the supervision of Diocese of Palm Beach’s Bishop Gerald Barbarito. Rev. Palimattom lived and worked at Holy Names Catholic Church, located at 345 South Military Trail in West Palm Beach.

Upon being questioned by police, Rev. Palimattom admitted to law enforcement that he viewed child pornography to satisfy his curiosity. He also admitted to having previously gotten into trouble with his religious superior in India for being “involved with a minor male”, but that incident was never reported to law enforcement. The head pastor at Holy Name Catholic Church also told law enforcement that the Diocese of Palm Beach previously directed Palimattom not to have contact with minors without another adult present and that Palimattom was restricted from using Facebook.

According to sexual abuse attorney Adam Horowitz: “If the Diocese of Palm Beach had concerns about Rev. Palimattom’s interactions with minors, they should have immediately removed him from the ministry under their own rules and warned parishioners that he was dangerous. There is no place in the priesthood for people who collect and view child pornography.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

An 89-year-old man – the oldest person to come forward to speak to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry – has described how he was beaten every day by a nun and constantly sexually abused by older boys in Nazareth Lodge in Belfast.

Helped to the witness box in his wheelchair, the 89-year-old man told the inquiry he had been sent to Nazareth Lodge in 1929 when he was just three years old.

He described a life of fear and abuse, telling the panel that because he wet the bed every morning he would be placed in an ice cold bath and had buckets of water thrown over him.

He would then be forced to kneel naked outside the office of a particular nun, belonging to the Sisters of Nazareth, and when she came out of her office she would force him to lie on the tiled floor and beat him with a leather strap.

“It was so sore,” he said, “it made me cry.”

The 89-year-old recalled how he was sexually abused by the older boys at night in the bathroom and he would cry in bed every night because of the abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

by Donal Hickey

New historical allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the Kerry diocese have been received since a report on clerical abuse in the diocese was published just over a year ago.

The new cases relate to the 1960s, 70s and 90s, but none concern priests who are currently in active ministry in the scattered diocese of 130,000 Catholics, which also includes parts of north and west Cork.

Three new allegations of abuse have been made against two deceased priests in the diocese. Also, two third-party allegations were made against two priests, one now deceased and one a priest from another diocese.

In addition, an unspecified number of allegations were made against two priests — one deceased and one who is not active in ministry — who retired to Kerry from other dioceses.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY Denis Slattery

A support group for victims of sexual abuse blasted a Bronx school and the Catholic church for waiting to inform the public about a pedophile priest who came forward weeks ago.

Officials from Cardinal Hayes High School informed parents Monday that Father Robert Harrison, a Franciscan priest who had been at the school since 1989, admitted to sexually abusing minors in the 1970s and 1980s and was fired on Dec. 22.

“We suspect obviously selfish reasons for the two irresponsible weeks of secrecy,” said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivor Network of Those Abused by Priests. “We suspect Catholic officials didn’t want to risk hurting holiday donations.”

Harrison taught religion and coached JV basketball during his 26 years at the Grand Concourse school for boys.

“(T)hus far, it does not appear that any of the abuse involved students from Cardinal Hayes,” the school’s president, Father Joseph Tierney, said in a letter to parents on Monday.

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CHILE
CHV

[The Chamber of Deputies voted to remove Chilean citizenship from Irish priest John O’Reilly. The vote was intended to show that Chile does not accept sexual abuse of minors. O’Reilly was recently sentenced to four years probation for abuse of a minor while he was spiritual adviser at Colegio Cumbres.]

En una iniciativa aprobada por 96 votos a favor, cinco abstenciones y sólo uno en contra de Ignacio Urrutia , la cámara de diputados optó por retirar la nacionalidad que le fue concedida al sacerdote irlandés John O’Reilly el año 2008 por ser parte de los “extranjeros ilustres”, los que destacan por haber hecho un aporte al progreso del país.

Los parlamentarios señalaron que con la resolución buscan demostrar que en Chile no se aceptará el abuso sexual contra menores.

Cabe recordar que O’Reilly fue condenado a cuatro años de libertad vigilada por el abuso de una menor de edad mientras era asesor espiritual del colegio Cumbres, pasando a integrar una lista de pedófilos que no pueden ejercer en áreas educativas.

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Brian Rogers | January 6, 2015

A former pastor at a southwest Harris County church was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for sexual contact with an 8-year-old girl.

Romulo Jimenez, 69, was charged in 2013 with continuous sexual abuse of a child after the girl told authorities Jimenez inappropriately touched her at Centro Christiano Vida Nueva at 8811 Synott when Jimenez was a pastor.

The girl told investigators Jimenez took her into his office at the church, laid her on the desk, rubbed her legs, lowered her pants and underwear and kissed her, according to court records.

On another occasion, she told investigators, Jimenez made her sit on his lap in his parked car in the church parking lot while he kissed her.

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CANADA
CBC News

Father Ronald Leger is facing three sexual assault charges and one charge of sexual interference.

Two of the sexual assault charges date back to the 1980s.

The remaining two charges go back to 2002.

The 76-year-old priest used to head up Holy Family Parish on Archibald Street and founded Teen Stop Jeunesse.

The Archdiocese of St. Boniface said it has been cooperating with Winnipeg police since it learned about the investigation in February of 2014.

In an emailed statement, the Archdiocese expressed “deep sorrow to the victims who have come forward as well as to their families and the entire parish community of Holy Family who have been affected by the alleged actions by their former pastor.”

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AUSTRALIA
PJ Media

Lest you think the Pope is a closet Lefty:

An Australian priest who supports the ordination of women has been excommunicated by Pope Francis.

In the first such excommunication since the new pontiff took office Fr Greg Reynolds was dismissed in a letter from the Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart, which stated that “the decision by Pope Francis to dismiss Fr Reynolds from the clerical state and to declare his automatic excommunication has been made because of his public teaching on the ordination of women contrary to the teaching of the Church and his public celebration of the Eucharist when he did not hold faculties to act publicly as a priest.”

Archbishop Hart also told other priests in the archdiocese by letter that Fr Reynolds’s excommunication was “because of his public teaching on the ordination of women”, which are grounds for automatic excommunication. Fr Reynolds is also a supporter of same-sex marriage and has attended rallies in favour of changing the definition of marriage. He has even reportedly presided at same-sex ceremonies.

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By SEAN WHALEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY — An attorney representing the Green Bay, Wis., Catholic Diocese argued before the Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday that the religious organization should not have to pay $500,000 to a Las Vegas man who said a priest groped him at age 13.

Peter Mazzeo, a Las Vegas attorney representing the diocese, told the court in oral arguments that the victim, identified in court documents as John Doe 119, did not file his legal action in time. The incident dated back to 1984 but the lawsuit was not filed until 2008. The victim attempted suicide in 1991.

Mazzeo also argued that the Nevada court system did not have jurisdiction in the case because the Green Bay diocese did not have any authority or control over the priest, John Patrick Feeney.

He also argued the diocese was not liable for the actions of Feeney.

The court, which will issue a written decision later, gave no indication of how it will rule.

A Las Vegas jury in 2012 awarded the victim the $500,000, $200,000 for past pain and suffering and $300,000 in future medical expenses.

But after a month-long trial before former Clark County District Judge Valorie Vega, the jury found the Green Bay Diocese did not commit fraud and did not award punitive damages.

The diocese appealed the verdict.

Attorney Michael Finnegan, representing the victim, said the Green Bay Diocese was responsible for Feeney’s actions even outside the diocese.

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NEW YORK
News One

Jan 6, 2015 By Ruth Manuel-Logan

Father Robert Harrison (pictured left), who has taught for 26 years and coached basketball for 20 years at the renowned Cardinal Hayes High School (pictured) located in the Bronx, N.Y., has reportedly admitted to sexually abusing minors throughout the ’70s and ’80s, sending shock waves throughout the community, according to NBC 4.

Father Joseph P. Tierney, the president of the academic institution, sent home a letter to parents on Monday revealing how the highly regarded and popular priest had openly admitted to his deviant behavior during an investigation of his personal finances.

“As of now, we have not received any allegations from victims/survivors, and based upon information that we have received from Father Harrison thus far, it does not appear that any of the abuse involved students from Cardinal Hayes,” said Tierney.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

THE understanding most people have of online sexual abuse of children is like the activity itself – distant, intangible, even other worldly.

Hearing from a father who learned that his 13-year-old son had been groomed online then sexually assaulted by the perpetrators brought it dramatically into the present. The crime may be remote, but the victims are most certainly real.

Speaking at the launch of a pilot project aimed at improving support for children who have suffered sexual abuse online and their families, the dad revealed how he and his wife had noticed a change in their son’s behaviour. But it was only after his lengthy use of a laptop upstairs one evening, followed by his mum overhearing a telephone conversation in which he was arranging to meet someone, that the full truth emerged. …

Marie Collins, the survivor after whom the Foundation is named, was abused and photographed at the age of 13. She endured 30 years of depression, anxiety, panic attacks and numerous admissions to hospital before she found the right help to recover.

Today she says: “The photography had a much greater impact in terms of damage to me psychologically than the physical abuse. When you know there’s a photograph out there of your abuse it’s not a question of telling anyone about it but being terrified of anyone finding out or people thinking you’re complicit. I can only imagine how much worse it is for young people who are groomed into providing photographs online. You have to come to terms with the fact that those pictures are out there and you will never have control over what happens to them.”

Marie, who was appointed this year by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, says it is vital that victims and their families get prompt and appropriate help. “There must be a coordinated response and cohesive treatment that forms a shell of support and protection around the victim and their family, because if the family don’t understand what’s going on they can’t help the child.

“Getting help early can save their lives.”

For more information, visit www.mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Luke Broadwater
The Baltimore Sun

The Episcopal bishop who struck and killed a bicyclist with her car before leaving the scene told a colleague shortly afterward that she was “in shock,” the church said Tuesday.

Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook, 58, the Maryland church’s second-ranking official, called another church official, the Rev. Scott Slater, about 20 minutes after the Dec. 27 crash that killed Thomas Palermo, 41, who was riding his bike in northern Baltimore.

“She said she thought she had hit a bicyclist and was in shock,” according to statement released by The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

The national Episcopal Church is investigating the matter — a quasi-judicial process that could lead to the church stripping Cook of all authority. Baltimore police are still investigating the death and have released only scant details. Cook has not been charged. The church has placed her on paid administrative leave.

“Currently, we are following the disciplinary processes of the church, and we are providing pastoral care,” said Neva Rae Fox, a national spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church. “We hold Bishop Cook, the Diocese of Maryland and the Palermo family in our prayers.”

Fox said the details of the church investigation would “remain confidential.”

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Relative to the legal observations in the previous post, I want to point out the language in the first “WHEREAS” in the Decree of Designation.

Archbishop Apuron predicates his whole Decree on RMS being the “major seminary of the Archdiocese of Agana.”

A “major seminary” is defined as a “Roman Catholic seminary giving usually the entire six years of senior college and theological training required for major orders.”

It is quite obvious from its “product” (presbyters), even if it will not publish its credentials, courses, or list of faculty, that RMS is NOT a place where one goes to get “the entire six years of senior college and theological training.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

A prayer walk scheduled for this afternoon, a prayer vigil on Friday and a third public prayer gathering, also on Friday, are being organized as part of a grassroots effort to send messages to a visiting delegation of Vatican representatives.

One of the organizers, Dwayne Santos, said the prayer walk will give island residents who can’t secure an appointment with the Vatican representatives a way to call attention to concerns that have divided the local Catholic community.

Participants of the prayer walk, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today, will meet across from St. Anthony’s Church in Tamuning and proceed to the Carmelite Monastery several blocks away.

The Vatican delegation is expected to hold private meetings with certain members of the local church community in the monastery compound.

“Anyone can join the walk even if they just want to be there to pray,” Santos said.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

“She said she thought she had hit a bicyclist and was in shock,” priest says of Bishop Cook’s reaction to fatal crash

Fern Shen and Mark Reutter January 6, 2015

BUCKEYSTOWN, MD. – At a closed-door meeting today at a retreat center, officials of the Maryland Episcopal Diocese gave rank-and-file clergy an account of some of the events that followed Suffragan Bishop Heather Cook’s fatal car crash with bicyclist Tom Palermo.

According to a statement released after the meeting, Cook, the diocese’s No. 2 official, remains on administrative leave, “receiving pay and benefits in accordance with standard denominational practice.”

The release did not disclose any of her statements to police following the December 27 crash, or whether there was any evidence of intoxication or other impairment by the bishop, or whether she underwent a breathalyzer test, or why she left the scene of the accident for 20 minutes or longer and then returned.

(Cook was arrested in 2010 on DUI and drug possession charges while serving in the Diocese of Easton on the Eastern Shore.)

Compassion and Disappointment

Diocesan Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton opened the meeting with a prayer from First Corinthians and then turned the 2½-hour session over to a facilitator from Loyola University.

The overwhelming sentiment of the meeting was compassion for the Palermo family, which includes a wife and two young children, a church spokesman said.

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NEVADA
KTVN

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Nevada Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Tuesday on an appeal by Catholic church officials of a $500,000 jury award to a man who says he was molested as a 13-year-old by a priest who had moved from Wisconsin to Las Vegas.

A lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay argued the case shouldn’t be in Nevada, that it should’ve been thrown out before trial, and that the diocese shouldn’t have been held responsible in 2012 for the priests’ actions in 1984.

The priest, John Feeney, was convicted in Wisconsin in 2004 of molesting two boys, defrocked and imprisoned. The Green Bay Diocese paid a $700,000 civil judgment in that case.

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FLORIDA
TBO

The Associated Press
Published: January 6, 2015

WEST PALM BEACH — A Catholic priest has been arrested after authorities say he asked a teen to help him remove child pornography from his cellphone.

The Rev. Jose Palimattom of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach is being jailed on an obscenity charge.

According to a police report, the priest showed a 14-year-old parishioner his phone, with about 40 images of nude pre-teen boys, asking for help in deleting the pictures.

Palimattom is from India. Detectives say the 47-year-old priest told them he had been reprimanded by his superiors there for involvement with a minor.

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 6

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

A Catholic priest has been arrested on charges of showing pornography to a boy. Now, Palm Beach’s bishop – and other Catholic employees – must step up and help police by aggressively seeking out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.

[CBS 12]

This weekend, Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito should go to every parish where Fr. Jose Palimattom worked. He should emphatically beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by the priest to call law enforcement. He should put notices about the priest in every parish bulletin and church website.

Barbarito must also explain to his flock why

—the priest was put at Holy Name Catholic Church in West Palm Beach even though he “also got in trouble in India for being involved with an underage boy while working there” and why that incident “was not reported to law enforcement.”

—it was the child’s father – not Catholic officials – who alerted authorities.

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OREGON
The Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
06 JAN 2015

A former cop-turned-evangelical pastor was arrested last week on dozens of sex crime charges.

James Worley, senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Oregon, was arrested Dec. 30 on 37 counts – including two counts of rape, 20 counts of sexual abuse, 11 counts of sodomy, one count of attempted sodomy and three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

An indictment filed Dec. 16 showed the alleged abuse took place between 2002 and 2004, when the victims were under the ages of 12 and 14 years old, reported KATU-TV.

Prosecutors said they don’t believe Worley was a pastor at the time of the abuse, although they believe there are additional victims.

Worley was fired from the Tillamook, Oregon, Police Department in 2007 for ongoing misconduct – including unethical citation writing, destroying marijuana evidence in the field, excessive Internet use while on duty, creating sexually explicit advertisements, and making unwanted sexual advances to a woman at a 911 dispatch center.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

Jon DeBellis
Of the Catholic Sentinel

The safety and protection of children in the Archdiocese of Portland is forever on the mind of Cathy Shannon, director of the Child Protection Office for the archdiocese. That’s her job.

But, says Shannon, children also are kept safe because of the work of the people and staff in parishes, a lay-run review board and national support from other diocesan offices.

“Children are safer because of the efforts of a great many people,” says Shannon. “And we intend on keeping it that way.”

Since 1995, employee background checks have been a requirement in hiring procedures for those working with children and since 2002, a background check for volunteers working with minors has been required.

In keeping in compliance with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children, the background checks are just part of the equation. Also required for volunteers and staff is training using the safe environment and protection program named “Called to Protect,” by Praesidium, Inc. For adults, this program teaches about the warning signs of possible sexual abuse or boundary violations with minors, and how to respond to those warning signs. Once this training is completed, those working with children four or more times per year are also required to complete an annual online course called Armatus.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis has shown by some of his recent actions that he is a first rate tactician, but seemingly also a second rate strategist. He is maximizing his papal power, for example, by using his bully pulpit at a Christmas party to shame and weaken opposing Vatican officials and by using his appointment power to dilute traditional Italian control of the College of Cardinals and of Vatican finances. Good tactics, for sure. But these good tactics are futile when used in pursuit of Francis’ short sighted and flawed strategy, especially with respect to children and women.

* A recent analysis cited below, for example, indicates that Cardinal Law’s well publicized Boston abuse scandal contributed to a one-third decline in Catholics in the surrounding area in barely two decades, almost double the decline among Catholics elsewhere in the USA generally. As USA Catholics learn more of the abuse details, for example, in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, et al., more leave the Catholic Church, including many women especially who also reject in good conscience the pope’s continuing and unnecessary ban on contraception. This trend is even accelerating in diverse countries worldwide.

* Later this year a major new Hollywood film, “Spotlight”, starring Michael Keaton, will further publicize worldwide the lurid details of Cardinal Law’s scandals and the Boston Globes’s uncovering of much of it. Pope Francis’ apparent strategy for curtailing Cardinal Law’s and similar scandals has up until now mainly been to appoint Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer to be the key staffer of the pope’s “go slow” anti-abuse commission. And Cardinal Law still shows up as an honored guest recently at the pope’s Christmas party and then with Francis’ no.2 man, Cardinal Parolin, at a Rome seminary event. This is poor strategy, no matter how it is spun, no? Good tactics is pursuit of a flawed strategy are ultimately futile.

* The overarching Vatican “framework” at present, based on current Vatican assumptions, appears to be mainly that (A) Jesus endorsed popes as supreme papal monarchs, (B) who are accountable only to God, (C) who uniquely interpret infallibly matters of “faith and morals”, including New Testament moral themes, and (D) who appoint as unaccountable bishops superior men, exclusively, (E) to implement and enforce unchangeable dogmas and practices mandated by popes. The Vatican currently, in effect, through ceaseless indoctrination seeks to require a billion plus Catholics to operate within this framework as well. This framework does not stand up well to close scholarly scrutiny or current reality.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

By Kate Jacobson
Sun Sentinel

A West Palm Beach priest was arrested for obscenity after he was accused of showing child pornography to a teen boy from his parish.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies said the Rev. Jose Palimattom, who is doing a two-year residency at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach, showed a 14-year-old boy child pornography on his cell phone after Mass on Sunday.

According to an arrest report, Palimattom asked the boy to help him delete files off his phone. The two met after the service and the boy found about 40 pornographic images of young boys between the ages of 10 and 18 on Palimattom’s phone.

He gave the phone back to Palimattom and immediately told a friend, who told him to tell another staff member at the church. The boy’s father called deputies after the family returned home from Mass.

According to the report, later that night, Palimattom sent the boy a Facebook message that said, “Goodnight, sweet dreams.”

Holy Name Catholic Church directed all questions to the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach County.

According to the diocese, Palimattom, a visiting priest from India, has only been at the church since December.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

MUHLENBERG TWP., Pa. – A Berks County lawmaker who has shared his story of being sexually abused as a child will host a seminar in hopes of preventing others from becoming victims.

Pa. Rep. Mark Rozzi will host the free event on Jan. 22 from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Muhlenberg Middle School, 400 Sharp Ave.

Offered by Darkness to Light and the Berks County YMCA, the training session will feature a combination of survivor stories, expert advice and practical guidance, Rozzi said.

“I am proud to partner with Darkness to Light to open the conversation on this tragic topic. As difficult as it is to discuss, we have to bring it to the forefront to better protect children from abuse and to help those who have been abused,” Rozzi explained. “Prevention education is essential to breaking the cycle of abuse.”

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FLORIDA
WPBF

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —A Catholic priest is facing criminal charges of possession of pornography and distributing it to a minor, according to a report.

Reverend Jose Palimattom, OFM, 48, a priest visiting from India, was arrested Monday by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies.

Palimattom was serving at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in West Palm Beach.

According to an arrest report, Palimattom had asked the victim for help in deleting some items off of his cellphone.

While attempting to remove the items, 40 thumbnails appeared which included child pornographic images and words including “little boys,” and “young boys 10-18 yoa,” the report by deputies said.

In returning home, the victim’s father was told of the incident and he immediately called PBSO.

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NEW YORK
WABC

BRONX, N.Y. (WABC) — School officials informed parents Monday that a priest at Cardinal Hayes High School has admitted to abuse and has been fired.

Father Robert Harrison, a Franciscan priest who has been at the school since 1989, was investigated for mishandling money, according to school officials. He admitted to borrowing, and in some cases skimming, money from different places and people then using it to pay off a minor he sexually abused decades ago.

Harrison went on to admit, according to the Archdiocese, that he abused 10 minors in the 1970s and 80s in Manhattan, the Bronx and Milwaukee. There is no word on how much money was allegedly misused.

The case is now under investigation by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. There is no indication that students at Hayes were abused by him.

A letter was sent Monday to students and parents alerting them to Harrison’s admission of sexual abuse. It said that Harrison was fired when the details came to light Dec. 22, and was removed from public ministry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Newsweek

BY AMELIA SMITH 1/6/15

Groups representing the victims of child abuse have said that they want a younger figure, who has experience in investigating serious organised crime to head the inquiry looking into abuse by high-profile figures, including politicians, and an alleged cover up by the police.

According to Peter Saunders, CEO of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), the inquiry should be led with someone with experience of organised crime: “That is essential because that is what is at the heart of this inquiry. I don’t know very many survivors that would be experienced in leading such an investigation.”

He continued: “But it also needs to be assisted and informed by survivors. We are dealing with delicate individuals and so we need to tread very carefully and robustly. If we are going to have a real investigation it has to be done properly.”

His comments come after an angry reaction to remarks made by Baroness Butler-Sloss, who was forced to stand down from leading the inquiry in July, made on BBC Radio 4 last week, in which she said that victims shouldn’t think they could lead the inquiry.

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

A West Palm Beach priest was arrested Monday after allegedly showing child pornography to a 14-year-old boy.

Jose Palimatton admitted to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy that he asked the boy to remove the pornographic images from his cell phone and knew the minor’s age but “considered [the victim] to be mature and viewed him as an adult,” according to an arrest report.

Palimatton, 47, is facing a charge of distributing obscene material to a minor. Palimatton is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Palimatton allegedly had approximately 40 pornographic images on his phone of nude pre-teen boys.

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MARYLAND
WJZ

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Episcopal Churches of Maryland spoke to the Diocesan clergy Tuesday about the fatal accident that took the life of a Maryland father.

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is guided throughout this tragic situation by three core values: accountability, compassion and the rule of law. As we all process and come to understand this tragedy, these values will be our focus.

The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, diocesan bishop of Maryland, invited the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland clergy to a closed meeting to give them information about what we know of the tragic accident, including police and church disciplinary investigations. This meeting allowed clergy to express their feelings, ask questions, and get information to share with their congregations.

The clergy met to learn more about the fatal accident which involved one of their bishops Heather Cook, who fatally struck 41-year-old Tom Palermo with her car while he was biking along Roland Avenue. Cook initially left the scene but then returned.

The Rev. Scott Slater has been speaking to Cook since the accident as she called him after “she thought she had hit a bicyclist and was in shock.”

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MARYLAND
Episcopal Diocese of Maryland

Posted on January 6, 2015

Baltimore, MD – The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is guided throughout this tragic situation by three core values: accountability, compassion and the rule of law. As we all process and come to understand this tragedy, these values will be our focus.

The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, diocesan bishop of Maryland, invited the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland clergy to a closed meeting to give them information about what we know of the tragic accident, including police and church disciplinary investigations. This meeting allowed clergy to express their feelings, ask questions, and get information to share with their congregations.

The following is a summary of information shared with clergy at the Jan. 6 meeting at the Claggett Center, Buckeystown, MD.

A report on events the day of the accident, Dec. 27, in which Thomas Palermo, 41, was killed while riding his bike in northern Baltimore, was given by the Rev. Scott Slater, chief assistant to Diocesan Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton to more than 100 clergy.

At 2:59 p.m. Slater received a call from Heather Cook. She said she thought she had hit a bicyclist and was in shock. When Slater arrived at the accident scene around 3:10 p.m. police crime scene tape was surrounding Cook’s car and she was sitting in a patrol car. He immediately identified himself to an officer, provided his identification and business card. He told the officer that Cook had called him minutes before.

During the course of the afternoon Slater called Bishop Sutton and informed him of what he knew; gave a detective his statement regarding his and Cook’s phone conversation; and contacted Jeff Ayres, diocesan chancellor (attorney), and informed him of the incident. He did not speak to Cook at that time.

At 5:27 p.m. that evening Slater received a call from the Baltimore City Police Department asking him to come pick Cook up.

Once at her apartment, he went in for a few minutes and talked with Cook and a friend of Cook’s who had just gotten there to check on her dog and to make sure she wasn’t alone. Slater focused his conversation pastorally on her, as a child of God. They prayed together and he went home.

On Monday evening Slater was asked to return to the police station to give a recorded statement. He answered every question as thoroughly and completely as he could recall, including details of his and Cook’s conversation during the car ride to her apartment.

Out of respect for the ongoing police investigation, for the Palermo family, and for Cook, Slater did not share details of his conversation with Cook in the meeting with clergy today. Slater and other staff members are cooperating fully with the police investigation and the Title IV investigation begun last week by the Presiding Bishop’s office. We cannot disclose details of that investigation either, as they are constrained by church disciplinary procedures under canon law.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

BALTIMORE —The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland held a closed meeting with clergy Tuesday to discuss a fatal bicycle crash in Baltimore involving one of its bishops.

The meeting of more than 100 clergy members follows the Dec. 27 fatal crash in the 5700 block of Roland Avenue in north Baltimore in which bicyclist Thomas Palermo, 41, was killed. A memorial now stands at the location where Palermo was hit. Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook, 58, was identified as the driver who left the scene but came back a short time later. She has not been charged.

The Rev. Scott Slater, chief assistant to Diocesan Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton, shared a report on events from the Dec. 27 crash, according to a diocesan statement. Slater said Cooke called him around 2:59 p.m. on the day of the crash and told him that she thought she hit a bicyclist and was in shock.

Slater said he arrived at the scene of the crash around 3:10 p.m. and he told officers that Cook had called him. Slater said he gave police a statement about Cook’s phone call and he contacted Sutton and the diocesan attorney. He said he did not speak with Cook at the scene.

Slater said he received a call from police around 5:27 p.m. to pick up Cook. Once at her apartment, he spoke with her briefly.

Slater said police asked him on the following Monday to give a recorded statement. Details of the statement were not shared at the meeting, according to a diocesan statement.

Cook remains on administrative leave with pay from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. Disciplinary proceedings are underway regarding Cook’s actions.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

[with video]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A 48-year-old priest serving a two-year contract with a West Palm Beach church is facing serious accusations.

Father Jose Palimattom, who is visiting from India, is accused of exposing a minor to pornography.

Earlier this week the priest, whose address is listed as Holy Name Catholic Church, asked the alleged victim to help him remove items off of his cellphone, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The minor found roughly 40 pornographic images of nude preteen boys but told the priest he was unable to delete them, the report states. He then reported the incident to the church’s music director.

On his way home from church with his mother he told her about the incident and she told his father who contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

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NEW YORK
News 12

[with video]

THE BRONX – A priest and coach from a prestigious Bronx school has admitted to sexually abusing minors.

According to a statement released by the president of Cardinal Hayes High School, Father Robert Harrison confessed just before Christmas break, saying the abuse took place outside of the borough during the 1970s and 80s.

The school says that based on the information Harrison shared, it does not appear that any abuse involved its students; however, the New York Times is reporting that there are victims in the Bronx

The Archdiocese of New York and the school took swift action, saying in a statement, “He was immediately relieved of his responsibilities here at Hayes, and the matter was referred to the District Attorneys for the Bronx, Manhattan and Milwaukee, WI where Fr. Harrison said the abuse took place. He was removed from his ability to serve as priest or engage in any type of ministry.”

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NEVADA/WISCONSIN
Chippewa Herald

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments Tuesday on an appeal by Catholic church officials of a $500,000 jury award to a man who says he was molested as a 13-year-old by a priest who’d been transferred from Wisconsin to Las Vegas.

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay argues it can’t be sued in Nevada, that the case should’ve been thrown out before trial, and that the diocese shouldn’t have been held responsible in 2012 for the priests’ actions in 1984.

The priest, John Feeney, was conviction in Wisconsin in 2004, defrocked and sent to prison for molesting two boys. The Green Bay Diocese paid a $700,000 civil judgment in that case.

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FLORIDA
CBS 12

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A West Palm Beach Catholic priest is under arrest – accused of showing child porn to a 14-year-old boy. Police say 47-year-old Jose Palimattom was working as a priest and living on the grounds of Holy Name Catholic Church in West Palm Beach.

Police say he admitted to showing the teen, church member underage porn. Palimattom was in court Tuesday morning. Police say the church’s pastor found out what happened, but it was the child’s father who alerted authorities.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

[Pastor George K., a 56-year-old priest, originally from Willich, must answer to the Krefelt district court a charge of sexual abuse of a minor. He is alleged among other thing to have abused his godson more than 20 times.]

Willich. Ein 56 Jahre alter, aus Willich stammender, Geistlicher muss sich ab Freitag vor dem Krefelder Landgericht wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs verantworten. Unter anderem soll er sein Patenkind mehr als 20 mal missbraucht haben. Auch Alkohol und Drogen soll er den Kindern verabreicht haben. Von Marc Schütz

Schon die Zusammenfassung der Anklageschrift gegen den aus Willich stammenden Pfarrer Georg K. lässt den Atem stocken. Die Vorwürfe sind massiv, gehen über bloße Berührungen der Kinder deutlich hinaus – auch von der Verwendung von Sexspielzeug und pornografischen Bildern ist die Rede. Von kommendem Freitag an werden vor der 2. Großen Strafkammer des Landgerichts Krefeld vermutlich weitere Details bekannt werden. Dann beginnt der Prozess gegen den Geistlichen, der auch in Tönisvorst, Kempen und Nettetal als Geistlicher arbeitete.

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MINNESOTA
YouTube

Video presentation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
RT

Ten years ago, if you talked about an elite network of child abusers, operating among the highest levels of government, media, police, and even the royal family, you likely would have been called a ‘nut job’ or a ‘conspiracy theorist’.

Fast forward to the present day however, and allegations of pedophilia and abuse of the most horrific kind, including even reports of murder seem to be surfacing continually, almost daily at times, so much so that the issue has been forced squarely back on the table. Questions and allegations which have lingered for decades, are now being taken seriously, and most importantly so by Scotland Yard.

While no one has been officially charged as part of the wider investigations, police are now looking into numerous allegations of historic child abuse, which allegedly involve powerful and influential individuals, and which date back many decades.

While acknowledged predators like the late Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith MP, never faced justice in their lifetime, there seems a real possibility that enough new evidence is coming to light which might mean some of those involved, and whom may still be alive, could at last end up in court facing trial.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 6, 2015

ROME
The Vatican’s secretary of state said Pope Francis’ decision to appoint new cardinals from diverse parts of the world reflects the pope’s desire to have “an opening of heart and mind in every place.”

The decision to appoint 20 cardinals from 18 different countries — with several from places that have never before had a cardinal — was “not a sign of any less appreciation of any church” where there have previously been cardinals, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Tuesday.

“I would like to stress this,” Parolin continued. “I think that we have to change a little bit our minds or our interpretations about this thing, looking at the Holy Father and the criteria he is using as an opening of heart and mind in every place, especially the places that traditionally did not receive any attention.”

Parolin spoke Tuesday morning in brief remarks to reporters during a blessing ceremony for a new addition to the Pontifical North American College, a seminary in Rome owned by the U.S. bishops’ conference that trains and forms many priests from dioceses across the United States, Canada and Australia.

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UNITED STATES
Our Stories Untold

by RACHEL WALTNER GOOSSEN on Jan 5, 2015

Note from the Editor: This piece is cross-posted from The Mennonite, which excerpted it from a longer article, “’Defanging the Beast’: Mennonite Responses to John Howard Yoder’s Sexual Abuse,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 89 (January), based on newly available documents and interviews with 29 individuals. Readers interested in Goossen’s work in its entirety, including documentation for women’s accounts of their experiences as well as Mennonite institutional responses, may order a hard copy of the issue from The Mennonite Quarterly Review. The MQR issue is also available as an e-book through MennoMedia.org, Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble.

During the mid-1970s, the renowned Christian ethicist and theologian John Howard Yoder embarked on an experiment in sexuality, devising his own guidelines and selecting his own subjects, whom he called “sisters.”

Following a three-year term as president of Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary, he developed “the notion of a distinction between two dimensions of sexuality, the familiar and the genital.”

Yoder speculated that people plagued either by inhibitions about sexual intercourse or by promiscuity would have difficulty attaining what he termed “the freedom of the gospel,” which he linked to Jesus’ encounters with women.

In a series of essays that he circulated on the seminary campus and beyond, Yoder speculated about Jesus’ sexuality as a model for his disciples, for the men who followed in his path.

Nearly two decades later, in 1992, a denominational task force established by leaders in Yoder’s congregation, Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., confronted him with 13 charges of sexual abuse.

“These charges indicate a long pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior between you and a number of women,” the task force told Yoder, who had been ordained while serving as the seminary’s president. “The settings for this conduct were in many places: conferences, classrooms, retreats, homes, apartments, offices, parking lots. We believe the stories we have heard, and recognize that they represent deep pain for the women. … The stories represent … a violation of the trust placed in you as a church leader.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Fox Carolina

By Casey Vaughn

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –
Greenville police said a local church videographer admitted to inappropriately touching two girls, ages 4 and 6.

Police said they were contacted by the girls’ father on Jan. 1 who claimed 23-year-old Gilbert Broyles had molested the victims at Greenville Presbyterian Church on Pendleton Street.

According to arrest warrants, Broyles touched the girls on several occasions between Nov. 10 and Dec. 31. Police said when they talked to Broyles about the accusations, he admitted to the incidents happening at the church.

He was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor first degree and two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor second degree.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville News

Anna Lee, zlee@greenvillenews.com

January 5, 2015

A church videographer is in jail facing multiple charges of molesting young girls inside the audio video room of Greenville Presbyterian, authorities said.

Gilbert Evan Broyles, 23, of 1607 Whitehall Road, Anderson, was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor – third degree and criminal sexual conduct with a minor – first degree, according to arrest warrants.

Warrants allege that Broyles inappropriately touched two victims ages 4 and 6 multiple times while at Greenville Presbyterian Church, 711 Pendleton Street.

Warrants allege the incidents happened over the course of several weeks and that the girls were touched underneath their clothing.

Greenville police spokesman Johnathan Bragg said the father of the victims reported the incidents Thursday, telling investigators that his daughters had been molested at the church they attend.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

[with video]

GREENVILLE, S.C. —A church videographer repeatedly molested two young girls in the audio-visual
The molestation, alleged to have happened at Greenville Presbyterian Church on Pendleton Street, was reported to police on Jan. 1.

The girls, ages 4 and 6, said they were repeatedly molested by church videographer, 23-year-old Gilbert Broyles, in November and December.

Arrest warrants say Broyles admitted to church leaders that he either touched the girls underneath their clothing or got them remove items of clothing and touched them in “their private areas.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
The Raw Story

[with video]

TRAVIS GETTYS
06 JAN 2015

A church videographer is accused of repeatedly molesting two girls at their South Carolina church.

Gilbert Broyles admitted to church leaders that he molested the girls, ages 4 and 6, in November and December in the audio-visual room at Greenville Presbyterian Church, police said.

The 23-year-old Broyles was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

He remains held without bail.

Police launched their investigation Thursday after one of the girls’ father reported the alleged abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Alan Holdren and Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Jan 6, 2015 / 05:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Although it’s still not official, the Vatican’s Secretary of State confirmed today that Pope Francis will most likely visit Washington D.C. and New York during his visit to the United States.

“I think the Pope will go to United Nations, everybody is speaking about that… but no official announcement has been delivered,” Cardinal Parolin told CNA Jan. 6.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, spoke to American journalists at the end of the dedication ceremony for a new wing of the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

He added that “of course” a papal visit to the nation’s capital city of Washington, D.C. is possibly in the agenda, but he stressed that “no official confirmation has been made.”

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Diane C. Lore | lore@siadvance.com
on January 06, 2015

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The union representing Catholic school teachers in the New York Archdiocese says the archdiocese is playing hardball with its latest contract proposal, threatening to close more Catholic schools unless teachers forgo a 2 percent raise increase over two years.

Federation of Catholic Teachers’ (FCT) President Julia Pignataro outlined what the union says are the latest contract proposals in a letter to members, a copy of which was obtained by the Advance.

Teachers have been working without a contract since they returned to school in September. Earlier in the collective bargaining process, the union asked for a 6 percent per year wage increase over a three-year period. The archdiocese countered with a 1 percent wage increase offer over three years, and the union then countered with a 5 percent increase.

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FLORIDA
NBC Miami

[with video]

As gay marriage began across Miami-Dade County Monday afternoon, the Archdiocese issued a letter to its employees saying they could be fired for any conduct that is “inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

The letter, from Archbishop Thomas Wenski, told employees that “All employees should note that, because of the Church’s particular function in society, certain conduct, inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church, could lead to disciplinary action, including termination, even if it occurs outside the normal working day and outside the strict confines of work performed by the employee for the Archdiocese.”

Archbishop Wenski’s letter continued warning employees that the conduct requirements also extend to the Internet. “Employees should exercise discretion when posting on social media sites, and not that online activity indicative of prohibitive behaviors may subject an employee to disciplinary action or termination.”

Wenski was critical of the move by the judicial system to overturn the gay marriage ban telling NBC 6, “By imposing a new definition of marriage on the people of Florida, the courts are changing what marriage means for everybody.”

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

[with timeline]

Bob Susnjara

Priests accused of sexual misconduct against children lived on a Mundelein seminary’s grounds for more than a decade, their names unknown to the public until the recent release of previously secret Archdiocese of Chicago documents.

The priests remained at Cardinal Stritch Retreat House seven years after some Lake County authorities initially suggested they should move, in part citing the building’s proximity to Carmel Catholic High School. The documents detail measures that were in place to keep tabs on the men at University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary off R oute 176.

Just as quietly as the priests arrived at the retreat house in 2000, the last one departed in 2013, the archdiocese has confirmed. The confirmation came after the release of the documents in November by the archdiocese.

Mundelein’s former police chief, who worked with the archdiocese to address the situation when the priests’ presence became known in 2005, said authorities originally were concerned about them living across the street from Carmel. As part of the fallout, the archdiocese in 2006 banned Carmel students from using the seminary’s property for an annual walkathon.

Raymond J. Rose, the retired Mundelein top cop now working as Lake County’s undersheriff, said safeguards he and others pushed for led authorities to conclude it was safest for the community to have the priests clustered in one building.

And Rose said the church complied with demands to give Mundelein police the names, photographs and other information about the priests at the retreat house.

However, outside visitors who made day and overnight trips to the retreat home were not informed, he said.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

— Kristine Ward, Chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) KristineWard@hotmail.com

EDITORIAL

Un-Hatting, Anyone?

The world knows Pope Francis can do surprising things.

He is not hide bound to tradition. The evidence is clear on a number of fronts, the latest of which being his Sunday announcement of the second round of cardinal appointments of his papacy.

Now, how about a surprise that might shake some sense into his hierarchy: un-hatting.

Today, January 6, 2015, — thirteen years into the Boston revelations of the sexual abuse scandal that became the tidal wave of revelations throughout the United States and rippling, then flooding across the world, — seems a most fitting day to consider un-hatting.

Cardinals who don’t deserve their station should have their red hats rescinded. If accountability is a real end of Francis the Reformer, then Francis the Giver should also be Francis the Taker Awayer – and no hat should come with a lifetime guarantee.

If the affront of a naked head would be too much to bear for those who made deliberate decisions not to protect children, then let Pope Francis create a switching-out day as well as a cardinal-making day. Switching out day could swap red hats for black ones.

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MARYLAND
Breitbart

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has announced they knew in advance of hiring her that the female bishop who struck and killed a cyclist two days after Christmas had a previous citation for drunk driving.

The Diocese said:

One of the core values of the Christian faith is forgiveness. We cannot preach forgiveness without practicing forgiveness and offering people opportunity for redemption. As part of the search process, Bishop [Heather] Cook fully disclosed the 2010 DUI for which charges were filed resulting in a “probation before judgment.” After extensive discussion and discernment about the incident, and after further investigation, including extensive background check and psychological investigation, it was determined that this one mistake should not bar her for consideration as a leader.

The police report the Diocese chose to ignore makes for gruesome reading.

At 1 a.m. on September 10, 2010, police in Caroline County, Maryland, observed Cook driving 21 mph below the posted speed limit of 50. She was riding on the shoulder of the road. Police also noticed something dragging underneath her car. Turns out one of her tires had shredded and was missing entirely. The police reported they “could not find the tire or any parts of it. It appeared that Cook had been riding on the rim for some time.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Please donate today to BishopAccountability.org – your gift is tax-deductible and helps document and promote transparency.

1. Our website hosted 1.5 million unique visitors — a 15% jump from 2013!

2. Our website grew to an astounding 300,000 pages of documents, articles, and reports. We maintain the world’s largest archive of abuse documents outside the Holy See.

3. Our Database of Accused Priests grew by 178 names. It now provides information on more than 4,000 accused bishops, priests, nuns, and brothers.

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MARYLAND
Christian Post

Police Building Criminal Case Against Bishop Heather Cook for Fatal Hit-And-Run; Church Says Her Fate Is Out of Their Hands

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CP REPORTER

The Baltimore Police Department confirmed Monday that it’s building a criminal case against Bishop Heather Cook, 58, the second-highest ranking official of the Episcopal Church of Maryland, after she crashed into a married father of two as he cycled along a local roadway then fled the scene as he lay dying two Saturdays ago.

Clergy from the church are expected to meet about Cook’s troubles on Tuesday, but say her fate is now out of their hands as police suggested the case could be headed for a trial.

“It’s still under investigation. As it occurs at this point it’s still being investigated as a criminal incident,” Detective Ruganzu Howard of the Baltimore Police Department told The Christian Post Monday about the incident that claimed the life of Thomas Palermo, 41.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the doting dad was a senior Johns Hopkins Hospital software engineer and a master bike frame builder who lived in the Baltimore County community of Anneslie with his wife and children.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

[with video]

By JULIET LINDERMAN, Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Episcopal Church has begun disciplinary proceedings against a Baltimore-based bishop who fatally struck a cyclist with her car, an official in the diocese where she worked said Monday.

National church leaders launched an investigation late last week after a complaint was filed with the church, said Sharon Tillman, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The decision to move forward with an investigation was made by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other national church leaders, Tillman said.

The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether Bishop Heather Cook violated church law.

Contacted for comment by telephone, Schori’s office referred The Associated Press back to Tillman.

“It is an in-depth process that comes with a full investigation,” Tillman said. “They are in the investigation stage.”

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

[with video]

By Ida Siegal

A longtime Catholic school priest at a renowned New York City school has admitted to sexually abusing minors in the 1970s and 1980s, and local prosecutors are now investigating, authorities say.

Father Robert Harrison, a priest who taught for 26 years and coached basketball for more than 20 years at the all-boys Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, has been removed from the school and is barred from any sort of ministry as church and law enforcement officials investigate.

The school’s president, Father Joseph P. Tierney, told parents in a letter Monday that Harrison made the sex abuse revelations during an inquiry into his personal finances.

“As of now, we have not received any allegations from victims/survivors, and based upon information that we have received from Father Harrison thus far, it does not appear that any of the abuse involved students from Cardinal Hayes,” said Tierney.

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MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun

By Larry Perl, lperl@tribune.com
Baltimore Messenger

A Homeland church in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is slowly and painfully coming to grips with Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook’s involvement in the traffic collision that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo on Roland Avenue.

“Has it been only a week since we heard the news?” the Rev. Caroline Stewart, associate senior rector of the Church of the Redeemer, asked parishioners in a sermon devoted exclusively to the issue.

In the sermon, which she delivered at Saturday’s Faith@Five contemporary service and at two traditional services Sunday morning, Stewart said the still-unfolding facts in the case, coupled with “disturbing background information” about Cook’s guilty plea to driving under the influence of alcohol in 2010, have permeated the Redeemer church community of 725 households. The issue has caused mixed emotions that touch on “many, many points of the human compass as well as the institution of The Episcopal Church,” Stewart said.

Police are continuing to investigate the 2:40 p.m. Dec. 27 crash in the 5700 block of Roland Avenue. Police said Palermo, 41, of Anneslie, a married father of two, was riding his bicycle in the 5700 block of Roland Avenue when he was struck by a car. The driver has since been identified by the diocese and by her attorney as Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook, the second-ranking official in the diocese.

Cook initially drove away from the scene but returned a short time later, according to the diocese and witnesses at the scene. No charges have been filed.

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WISCONSIN
JRN

[with video]

By Katie Crowther. CREATED Jan 5, 2015

MILWAUKEE — A Catholic priest from Milwaukee has been removed from teaching and coaching duties at a school in New York City. He’s being investigated for sexual abuse of minors.

Father Robert Harrison has been barred from public ministry. He’s currently at professional facility where he cannot have any contact with minors.

Harrison, 77, was one of Milwaukee’s first African-American priests. He was also the first black priest ordained by the Capuchins for service in the Milwaukee area.

According to Colleen Crane, a spokesperson for the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, Harrison admitted to the abuse during an investigation into his finances. Harrison allegedly told his superiors that the abuse occurred in various private residences during his early career in Milwaukee, during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN
JAN. 5, 2015

An assistant principal at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx has been dismissed after admitting just before the Christmas break that he sexually abused 10 minors in the 1970s and 1980s, authorities from his religious order said on Monday.

The Rev. Robert Harrison, a Capuchin priest, taught religion and black history and was one of two assistant principals at the Roman Catholic school near Yankee Stadium, which counts luminaries like Regis Philbin and Martin Scorsese among its alumni and is known for its success in advancing students to college.

Father Harrison began working at the school in 1989 and was a considerable presence there, coaching basketball and moderating the speech club and Black Heritage Club. Last May, to honor the 50th anniversary of his and a former faculty member’s ordination, the school closed for the day.

The Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, to which Father Harrison belongs, discovered the abuse on Dec. 22 after learning that Father Harrison was borrowing money from staff members at the high school, it said on Monday. When asked why, Father Harrison said he was paying an abuse victim, and then went on to acknowledge he had sexually abused 10 minors in Manhattan, the Bronx and in Milwaukee in the 1970s and 1980s, the province said.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

PROSECUTORS are considering whether to lay charges against a former teacher from the Hutchins School who was accused of sexually abusing boys during the 1960s.

Ronald Thomas was named by two ex-students during a public hearing in Hobart of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Former police commissioner Richard McCreadie gave evidence that he had questioned former principal David Ralph Lawrence and Mr Thomas — a former music teacher — about sexual abuse.

Both were thought to have died. Mr Thomas, however, was discovered living in retirement in New Zealand.

Police took statements from two former students last month before travelling to New Zealand to speak with Mr Thomas.

“They have now returned … and will prepare a report for the Director of Public Prosecutions,” a police spokeswoman said.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Dear Apostolic Visitors,

Please pay close attention to the following:

On December 6, 2011, the Archdiocesan Finance Council (AFC: Richard J. Untalan, Joseph E. Rivera, Msgr. James Benavente, Sister Stephen Torres, and Msgr. David C. Quitugua) was scheduled to have a meeting.

They never met. In fact, they were never to meet again.

On the agenda for December 6 was Item #5.

Item #5 was to be another discussion about Archbishop Apuron’s wish to assign the title or control of the Yona Property (the old Accion Hotel) to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary (RMS).

An earlier request to transfer the title to RMS had already been denied by 4 of the 5 members of the AFC, with Msgr. Quitugua, the Vicar General and a member of the Neocatechumenal Way, being the only one in favor.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – The Concerned Catholics of Guam organization is contemplating the possibility of filing a class action lawsuit against the head of the island’s Catholic Church over a multimillion dollar transaction. At the heart of the matter is the Redemptoris Mater Seminary – formerly Hotel Accion in Yona.

The property is valued anywhere between $40 million to $70 million . It was thought to be one of the largest assets of the Archdiocese of Agana, but apparently not anymore.

The CCOG was formed last month to investigate and look into recent controversies in the Catholic Church, and within the past few days the organization uncovered the Archdiocese of Agana no longer holds the deed to the seminary.

According to CCOG vice president David Sablan they’ve uncovered a paper trail that leads to Archbishop Anthony Apuron who in November 2011 signed off on a decree that assigns the property to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation. According to Sablan the archbishop did this without the consent of the Archdiocesan Finance Council and against the advisement of the archdiocese legal counsel. “Because of the way that transfer was going to take place the Archdiocese of Agana and the archbishop himself would generally have no control over that seminary so they advised the archbishop against it,” he explained.

The CCOG uncovered that the paperwork essentially transfers the Yona property from the Archdiocese of Agana to this Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation whose mission is to form men for priesthood following the life and practice of the Neocatechumenal Way, which according to Sablan was not the initial intent of the establishment of the seminary. Additionally the property would be under the control of the corporation’s board of which the archbishop sits on, but has little say on decisions.

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VIRGINIA
Fox DC

[with video]

By Tom Fitzgerald, FOX 5 Reporter

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. –
Police say a northern Virginia man used his position at a church to molest children.

Gregory Richard Yeamans remains in jail, but police say they are looking for even more victims.

It is a disturbing start to the new year in Spotsylvania County. The allegations of sexual abuse are rocking a Fredericksburg-area church.

Yeamans was arrested on New Year’s Eve for sexual abuse of two boys, ages 11 and 12. Investigators say the boys met Yeamans at the Fairview at River Club Church in Spotsylvania.

“An anonymous tip came in through the Department of Social Services,” said First Sgt. James Konicki of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.

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NEW YORK
WWNY

The senior pastor of the Smithville Baptist Church is accused of sexually assaulting a young girl.

State police arrested Thomas Wilson, 63, of 20560 Weaver Road, Watertown on a felony count of first-degree sexual abuse and a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Wilson is accused of having sexual contact with a nine year old girl in the village of Sackets Harbor during the spring or summer of 2008. Trooper Jack Keller, Troop D spokesman, told 7 News Monday night that Wilson was a friend of the girl’s family.

Keller said the girl’s father notified state police after learning some details about what allegedly happened. Keller confirmed the incidents happened behind the former Lake Ontario Playhouse.

Keller said it did not appear the incident was connected to Wilson’s duties with the church.

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VIRGINIA
WSET

[with video]

Lexington, VA – At 62-years-old, Larry Clark may spend the rest of his life in a jail cell.

But the former Buena Vista pastor says he doesn’t deserve the time, maintaining his innocence. At his sentencing Monday, he said, “My life has been devastated by the lies said about me.”

Sandy McElroy, Clark’s niece, tells ABC 13 that Clark would never harm a child.

“He’s innocent and I just hope whoever or whatever has done this to [the victim] that maybe one day they’ll pay and I’ll just say he wishes him no ill will. I just think in this small town it’s a crime not to let the case be moved out of this town,” said McElroy.

In October, a jury found the former Buena Vista pastor guilty of two counts of carnal knowledge and three counts of indecent liberties. During his testimony on a closed-circuit TV, the victim said Clark raped him.

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. (WUSA9) — A fifty-two-year-old youth minister from Spotsylvania has been arrested in connection for sexually abusing two minor boys, authorities said.

Richard Yeamans, 52, of Spotsylvania was arrested on December 31, 2014 for two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a minor and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

The Spotsylvania Department of Social Services received an anonymous tip on December 30 alleging sexual abuse of minors by the local youth minister, authorities said.

Detectives interviewed two victims and found evidence related to the alleged crimes involving Yeamans.

The incidents happened at the home of the suspect in Spotsylvania County, officials said. The 11- and 12-year-old boys both knew the youth minister from the Fairview at Riverclub Church located off Tidewater Trail.

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OREGON
KOIN

GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN 6) — The senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Gresham faces more than three dozen first-degree sex charges after he was indicted by a Deschutes County grand jury.

James Worley is accused on 37 counts of various first-degree sex acts with a child between September 2002 and June 2004.

Also known as “Jamie,” Worley is accused of sexual abuse, rape, sodomy, attempted sodomy and using a child in sexually explicit conduct. The grand jury indictment was dated Dec. 16, 2014.

The website of the Powell Valley Church said Worley, 42, has been the lead pastor since January 2012, and is married with four children.

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OREGON
KOMO

By Chelsea Kopta, On Your Side Investigator Published: Jan 5, 2015

GRESHAM, Ore. – An evangelical pastor and former police officer is facing more than 30 charges of sex crimes involving two children, one boy and one girl.

James Daniel Worley, 42, has been a senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Gresham since 2012, according to the church’s website.

The indictment filed Dec. 16 in Deschutes County charges Worley with 37 counts, including two counts of rape, 20 counts of sexual abuse, 11 counts of sodomy, one count of attempted sodomy and three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

In the latter three counts, the documents state Worley “did unlawfully and knowingly induce (the victims) … to engage in sexually explicit conduct for a person to observe.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 06 JANUARY 2015

Catholic-run homes in Northern Ireland in the 1950s were centres of “bleak lovelessness”, an official at the time said.

Kathleen Forrest, a State health inspector, called for the system to be reformed after visiting the Belfast Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

The words of Ms Forrest were read out yesterday at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry as it reopened in Banbridge.

The long-running inquiry is now examining abuse claims at Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge in south Belfast.

Counsel to the HIA, Christine Smith QC, yesterday quoted from Ms Forrest’s 1953 report in her opening remarks to the hearing.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Michael McHugh

A Catholic religious order has accepted notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth abused children while they were in the care of nuns in the North, a lawyer told a public inquiry yesterday.

Smyth visited two south Belfast residential homes at the centre of the independent probe into wrongdoing stretching back decades. The serial molester was later convicted of dozens of child abuse charges.

More than 100 witnesses from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge have come forward to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, headed by a former judge, which is one of the largest investigations of its kind ever held in the UK.

Senior counsel to the inquiry, Christine Smith QC, said: “Sexual abuse of children was perpetrated by the now notorious Fr Brendan Smyth.

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VIRGINIA
The Roanoke Times

Mon Jan 5, 2015

Luanne Rife luanne.rife@roanoke.com 981-3209

LEXINGTON — Before the 62-year-old former preacher was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison for child molestation, he urged his victim “to swallow your pride and come forward and fix your mistake.”

Larry McKinley Clark proclaimed his innocence and directed much of his statement at his sentencing hearing at the teenager he was convicted of molesting for two and a half years, starting when the boy was in middle school.

Clark had been the pastor of Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista and the teen was a member of the church.

Clark said unless the teen confesses the truth “you will carry the guilt of this your whole life.” Clark said his life has been ruined by fabrications.

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VIRGINIA
WDBJ

Former pastor Larry Clark will spend 35 years in prison for sex crimes against a minor who attened his church.

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NEW YORK
Watertown Daily Times

By CRAIG FOX
TIMES STAFF WRITER

WATERTOWN — The pastor of the Smithville Baptist Church has been accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl in 2008.

State police charged the Rev. Thomas W. Wilson, 63, senior pastor of the Smithville Baptist Church, with single counts of first-degree sexual abuse, a Class D felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a Class A misdemeanor.

Police said Wilson had sexual contact with the girl in the spring or summer of 2008 behind the Lake Ontario Playhouse in the village of Sackets Harbor. He is accused of touching the girl inappropriately, police said.

Trooper Jack L. Keller, public information officer for Troop D in Oneida, said Wilson, of 20560 Weaver Road, was arrested at the Watertown state police station Monday morning after a lengthy investigation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

The night before falsely accused priest Rev. Charles Engelhardt passed away on November 15, 2014, Pennsylvania prison officials denied the dying cleric critical medical care, and Engelhardt issued a last declaration of his innocence, according to a recent court filing by Engelhardt’s cellmate and exclusively reported by journalist Ralph Cipriano.

According to Cipriano, Engelhardt told cellmate Paul H. Eline before he died: “Paul, I do not feel well. Please understand that I am an innocent man, who was wrongly convicted.”

No end in sight to an outrage

This sad episode adds yet another chapter to the gross injustice against three men – Engelhardt, former teacher Bernard Shero, and ex-priest Edward Avery – who were wrongly convicted for crimes they never committed.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Jan. 5, 2015

A Catholic priest with ties to Wisconsin has been removed from his job at a teacher and coach at a high school in the Bronx after admitting that he sexually abused minors in Milwaukee and New York in the 1970s and ’80s, his religious order announced on Monday.

The Rev. Robert Harrison was relieved of all public ministry, including his job at Cardinal Hayes High School, on Dec. 22, the same day he admitted abusing 10 minors over the years. Colleen Crane, Milwaukee spokeswoman for Harrison’s religious order, the Detroit-based Capuchin province of St. Joseph, said it delayed announcing his dismissal until students could be told personally on their return from Christmas break.

A Milwaukee native, Harrison, 77, was one of the Milwaukee area’s first African-American Catholic priests and the first black priest ordained by the Capuchins for service in the Milwaukee area, in 1964.

Between the 1960s and 70s, he served at St. Francis and St. Benedict the Moor parishes in Milwaukee, the St. Francis Friary, and the Carmelite School for Boys in Wauwatosa, according to the Capuchins.

He also appears to have taught at St. Francis School and Messmer High School, according to a Milwaukee Journal story in 1965.

Harrison did not surface as a potential abuser during an extensive internal review of files undertaken in 2013 to assess the religious order’s handling of sexual abuse cases, according to Crane.

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UNITED STATES
Capuchin Province of St. Joseph

5 January 2015

The Capuchin Province of St. Joseph reports that Fr. Robert Harrison, OFM Cap. Has been removed from public ministry. On Monday, 22 December 2014, the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph learned that Fr. Harrison had abused minors in Milwaukee WI, and New York NY.

To the province’s knowledge, that sexual abuse occurred during the 1970s and 1980s. The province has not received any allegations from victims. The province learned this information on 22 December 2014 during an investigation into Fr. Harrison’s finances. When confronted by the province, Fr. Harrison then admitted to abuse of minors. Fr. Harrison informed the province that, to the best of his knowledge, no one ever reported any of the abuse to the province.

During the June 2013 audit of the Capuchin files, Fr. Harrison’s files were reviewed by the auditors. The auditors reported no evidence that suggested that Fr. Harrison may have been involved with the abuse of minors.

Immediately upon receiving the information on 22 December 2014, Fr. Harrison was removed as teacher and basketball coach from Cardinal Hayes High School, The Bronx NY. He is barred from public ministry as required under the terms of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. He is currently at a professional facility where he cannot have any contact with minors.

Per Capuchin Province of St. Joseph policy, the abuse was reported to the district attorney offices in Manhattan NY, The Bronx NY and Milwaukee WI. The province will continue to work cooperatively with civil authorities in this matter.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Jan. 5

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

For two full weeks, Catholic officials in New York and Milwaukee have hidden an admission by a priest who worked at a Bronx school that he sexually assaulted kids. Shame on all of them. (See official church statement below.)

On Dec. 22, Fr. Robert Harrison told his Catholic supervisors that he had molested children. He was then suspended from his post at Hayes High School in the Bronx.

But neither of Fr. Harrison’s supervisors – the Capuchins nor the New York Archdiocese – told the public. We hope they promptly told police. But there’s no excuse for them not telling parents, parishioners and the public immediately, especially since the pedophile priest admitted his crimes.

We suspect obviously selfish reasons for the two irresponsible weeks of secrecy. We suspect Catholic officials didn’t want to risk hurting holiday donations. We challenge the Capuchins and Cardinal Timothy Dolan to explain why Catholic officials once again chose to err on the side of secrecy and recklessness rather than the side of openness and safety.

We hope every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Harrison or cover ups by his superiors will find the courage to speak up, get help, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Catholic bishop of Maitland-Newcastle says he heads into 2015 knowing the Royal Commission into child abuse could turn its attention to the diocese.

The Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is investigating how institutions like churches have responded to allegations of abuse.

The Maitland-Newcastle diocese was the focus of a state government initiated special commission of inquiry that recommended one senior church official be prosecuted.

Bishop Bill Wright said the year ahead could be challenging.

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VIRGINIA
WDBJ

Nadine Maeser, nmaeser@wdbj7.com
Jan 05, 2015

Former pastor Larry Clark will be sentenced Monday afternoon in Rockbridge County.

Clark faces 35 years in prison.

Back in October, a jury found Clark guilty of five counts for sex crimes against a minor.

According to the victim’s mother, the child was a member of Clark’s congregation when he was a pastor at the Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista.

WDBJ7 spoke to the victim’s mother by phone Monday morning.

She says she hasn’t decided if she will give an impact statement or not, but she says her and her son will be inside the courtroom for the decision. They both hope Monday’s sentencing will bring closure to their family.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2015 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In creating 20 new cardinals – 15 of whom will be cardinal electors – Pope Francis has continued to set his sights on the world’s peripheries, and at the same time he began designing the College of Cardinals in order to push forward his reforms.

Among the new cardinal electors, only Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, hails from the Roman curia; he had previously served, since 2006, as the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.

Most of the new red birettas hail from the peripheries of the world, and follow the rationale of “the universality of the Church,” as Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, put it in a written note delivered Jan. 4.

With the Feb. 14-15 consistory at which the new cardinals are officially appointed, the weight of the curia will be diminished in the election of the next Bishop of Rome.
consistory, there will be 34 voting cardinals from the curia, among 125, a reduction of three percent.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Jan. 5, 2015 A Roman Observer

ROME
If any other pope had produced a list of newly designated cardinals similar to the one Pope Francis unveiled Sunday, the reaction would have been shock and disbelief.
Instead, there was only momentary surprise.

Cardinals for the first time in ecclesiastical backwaters such as Tonga, Myanmar, Panama and Cape Verde? Only one Roman Curia official on the list? Still not a single American named by Francis? And two of Italy’s traditional “cardinal sees,” Turin and Venice, snubbed for Ancona and Agrigento, places that haven’t been by led by a prelate with a red hat in 100 years?

Welcome to the Era of Francis. The 78-year-old Jesuit pope announced the names of 15 new cardinal-electors and five other non-voters over the age of 80 who will become cardinals Feb. 14 at the Vatican.

His choices belie a preference for those on the peripheries and the men who pastor them, those who are on the margins of the church and society.

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ILLINOIS
Rock River Times

Rockford priest Aaron R. Brodeski, 45, charged with two misdemeanor counts of public indecency, has pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

The guilty plea was entered in Winnebago County court Friday, Jan. 2. Brodeski was sentenced to two years of court supervision and 30 hours of community service.

Brodeski was charged following a March 27, 2014, incident at Road Ranger Gas Station, 4980 S. Main St., Rockford. Winnebago County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the gas station after receiving a report of a man masturbating in view of a female clerk.

Sheriff’s deputies spoke to a clerk at the station, who said a white male had been inside the business and had exposed himself while in the store and also while parked in a vehicle in the parking lot. Other employees and customers were present at the time of the incident.

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NEW MEXICO
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
January 5, 2015

This past week the Diocese of Gallup disclosed a list of 30 new names of credibly accused priests. As usual, there is talk about the names being old and in many cases dead. Which raises the question of why weren’t these names disclosed earlier? Why were the names not on the original list that was disclosed back in 2003?

At the time of the 2003 disclosure Bishop Donald E. Pelotte claimed:

Of the 494 bishops, priests and permanent deacons that are known to have served in the Diocese of Gallup from 1950 to 2002, there were 8 known individuals who had credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors made against them.

He also pledged:

As much as all of us would like to put this behind us, the healing process and the development of policies and procedures to prevent it in the future require more attention. We have publicly committed ourselves not to return to “business as usual” but to make every effort to reform and move forward. I, as your bishop, commit myself and my staff to transparency and to the protection of all our children and youth.

So why didn’t they find these names earlier? It looks like the Dioceses filed for Bankruptcy in 2012. The January 14,2014 notice letter from Bishop Wall to parishioners spoke not only of overall debt , but of the claims of survivors:

a committee of those who were abused has been appointed as part of the Chapter II process and they will act in the Chapter 11 case on behalf of all those who were harmed in the Diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Jan 5, 2015

Last week, American Conservative blogger Rod Dreher asked for help in understanding the decline of Christianity in the Northeast. Here’s my submission.

Let’s think of the decline in terms of the proportion of self-identified adult Christians (with Christians defined broadly to include Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others). Based on the American Religious Identification Survey and PRRI’s American Religion Atlas, between 1990 and 2013 the proportion of Christians in the country as a whole shrank from 86 percent to 71 percent. (The proportion of Nones — those who disclaim a religious identity — grew by an almost equivalent amount, from 8 percent to 21 percent.)

The Christian decline was in fact most pronounced in the Northeast, which went from 84 percent to 64 percent. The West, by contrast, only shrank from 80 percent to 71 percent. The decline in the Midwest was from 88 percent to 72 percent and in the South from 92 percent to 77 percent. In short, over the past quarter-century, the Northeast has supplanted the West as the country’s least Christian region, going from near the national average to well below it. How come?

The answer has everything to do with Roman Catholicism, the region’s largest religious tradition. From 1990 to 2013, the proportion of self-identified Catholics in the Northeast shrank dramatically, from 43 percent to 31 percent. By contrast, the Catholic proportion of the population in the rest of the country has declined by only four points, from 26 percent to 22 percent.

Much of the regional disparity has to do with the church’s Latinization. Latino immigration has been disproportionately into the West and the South, increasing the percentage of Catholics in each region. But this does not explain the difference between the Northeast and the Midwest, where the Catholic proportion of the population has declined by just six points (27 percent to 21 percent), despite having fewer Latino immigrants.

To be sure, shrinking Northeastern Catholicism does not account for the entire decline in Northeastern Christianity. The proportion of non-Catholic Christians in the Northeast shrank by 17 percent between 1990 and 2013, from 41 percent to 34 percent. That, however, is equivalent to the shrinkage of non-Catholics in the Midwest (16 percent) and well below the West (26 percent) and the South (29 percent). In other words, to the extent that the Northeast has de-christianized relative to the rest of the country, it has to do with Catholics — and specifically, with white Catholics.

The key event was the sexual abuse scandal that exploded in Boston in 2002. In Massachusetts, the epicenter of the crisis, the proportion of Catholics has shrunk by fully one-third, from 54 percent of the population to 36 percent. In Rhode Island and Connecticut, the shrinkage was 27 percent and 22 percent respectively. Although the scandal rippled across the country, nowhere has the disaffiliation of Catholics been greater than in southern New England, which has historically been the most Catholic part of the country.

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UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

1.2. 2015 Written By: Rachel Waltner Goossen

Editor’s note: This is excerpted from a longer article, “’Defanging the Beast’: Mennonite Responses to John Howard Yoder’s Sexual Abuse,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 89 (January), based on newly available documents and interviews with 29 individuals. Readers interested in Goossen’s work in its entirety, including documentation for women’s accounts of their experiences as well as Mennonite institutional responses, may order a hard copy of the issue from The Mennonite Quarterly Review. The MQR issue is also available as an e-book through MennoMedia.org, Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble.

During the mid-1970s, the renowned Christian ethicist and theologian John Howard Yoder embarked on an experiment in sexuality, devising his own guidelines and selecting his own subjects, whom he called “sisters.”

Following a three-year term as president of Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary, he developed “the notion of a distinction between two dimensions of sexuality, the familiar and the genital.”

Yoder speculated that people plagued either by inhibitions about sexual intercourse or by promiscuity would have difficulty attaining what he termed “the freedom of the gospel,” which he linked to Jesus’ encounters with women.

In a series of essays that he circulated on the seminary campus and beyond, Yoder speculated about Jesus’ sexuality as a model for his disciples, for the men who followed in his path.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

A local Catholic church asset — a former hotel worth $57 million at one time — may no longer be under the full control of the Archdiocese of Agana, government land records show.

The group Concerned Catholics of Guam first raised doubts publicly in July about the property’s control, and now plans to show the documents to a visiting delegation from the Vatican this week.

Department of Land Management documents state that Archbishop Anthony Apuron assigned “perpetual use” of the property to the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary and its institute for academic formation.

The seminary is under a four-member “board of guarantors,” including Archbishop Anthony Apuron, according to the seminary’s articles of incorporation. The majority of the board consists of three New Jersey residents affiliated with the Neocatechumenal Way’s leadership: couple Giuseppe Gennarini and Claudia Gennarini; and Angelo Pochetti, the seminary’s Articles of Incorporation states.

The Neocatechumenal Way is a worldwide movement in the Catholic church, but its practices and influence on Apuron are being opposed locally by certain Catholics, including members of Concerned Catholics of Guam.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* A leading US “expert” on the Vatican, John Allen, in an unexpected analysis, raises fair questions about the wisdom of Pope Francis’ new approach to appointing Cardinals, while a prominent conservative US economist, Stephen Moore, sharply questions the pope’s current approach to economics and climate change. Meanwhile, Pope Francis struggles to steer the Vatican through a child abuse and financial scandal infested tsunami and to change the subject, and may be quite surprised at the unexpected criticism from these seemingly predictable papal promoters. Is Pope Francis’ free pass with the media, even the “friendlier media”, continuing to dissipate?

* Allen raises concerns about the recent appointment of new Cardinals, indicating that many lack both ecclesiastical bureaucratic experience and power bases in large traditional dioceses. Please see Allen’s , “The pope’s new cardinals could perpetuate the system, not upend it” at:

* [Crux]

* And a journalist at the influential Los Angeles Times is even questioning whether Pope Francis’ purported aim for diversity among Cardinals is mainly an effort to centralize more power in the Vatican. Please see:

* [Los Angeles Times]

* Meanwhile, Moore, a prominent right wing Catholic economist and former Wall Street Journal editorial writer, has sharply questioned Pope Francis’ approach to economics and climate change in an article entitled, “Vatican’s left turn would leave the poor even poorer”. Given that Pope Francis’ top financial adviser is reportedly Peter Sutherland, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International and former Chairman of BP, Moore may be taking Francis’ typical rhetoric more seriously than the pope’s inconsistent actions suggest Moore should.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Todd H. Oppenheim is a felony trial attorney in the Office of the Public Defender, with 10 years of experience representing indigent clients before the District Court and Circuit Court in Baltimore City.

Todd H. Oppenheim January 5, 2015

The death of cyclist Thomas Palermo has struck several chords in me. First and foremost, his death is a tragedy and an irreplaceable loss for his family. Second, it is a clarion call for heightened motorist awareness of bicycle safety.

Besides grief, though, Palermo’s death has sparked a strong reaction in me as a criminal defense attorney who represents indigent clients. My reaction focuses on justice. Equal Justice.

Palermo died 10 days ago and still no charges have been filed by the State’s Attorney’s Office against the driver of the vehicle that hit him. Why? Based on my experience as an attorney in the Public Defender’s Office for 10 years, I believe one key factor is at work.

Heather Elizabeth Cook, who drove into Palermo and fled as he lay dying, is a member of the upper tier of Baltimore’s socioeconomic ladder as the Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

If one of my clients, who are mostly African-American men, hit Palermo, charges would have been immediately filed against them. This would have been done at the scene by police without a formal arrest – or at the jail if the police took them in and prosecutors looked at the (still publicly unreleased) police report about the incident.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Want to see Pope Francis’ vision for the church? Look at his new cardinals

By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service January 5

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis reinforced his radical reshaping of the Catholic Church by naming 20 new cardinals from countries as far afield as Ethiopia, Tonga, Thailand and Panama.

The clerics — who come from 18 different countries — include 15 who are eligible to vote for the pope’s successor in a future conclave, and five retired bishops and archbishops “distinguished for their pastoral charity” who are over age 80 and ineligible to select the next pontiff.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace of change in Rome, Francis has made appointments that reflect his desire for “pastors on the front line of difficult situations,” one Vatican observer said, who can bring a new perspective from the often overlooked outposts of global Christianity.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the choices showed the pope’s most important criteria was “universality,” and indicated he was not “chained to tradition” as he moves the balance of power at the highest levels of the church closer to the developing world.

It is the first time ever that cardinals have been selected from Tonga, Myanmar and Cape Verde to become “princes of the church.” There are only five Europeans included among the 15 new electors — two from Italy and three others. The United States was shut out for the second time in a row.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

By MICHAEL MCGOUGH

On Sunday, Pope Francis named 20 new members of the College of Cardinals, 15 of who are under 80 and eligible to take part in the next papal election. As he did with his first batch of appointments to the college, Francis chose several bishops and archbishops from the developing world and bypassed the archbishops of sees in Europe and the United States that traditionally are headed by a cardinal.

More proof that the pope is a liberal, right? That was the tenor of a lot of the coverage. Just as the pope has urged bishops to reach out to the “peripheries” of society (the poor, migrants, fallen-away Catholics), so he is now using his appointment power to name prelates from the peripheries of the world.

But there is a sense in which this diversity initiative is not liberal at all. In announcing the new cardinals, the pope said that they “show the indelible tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world.” But for some liberal Catholics, the goal has been to downsize the papacy and the importance of Rome, not to make the central government of the church more representative.

In 1999, the liberal former archbishop of San Francisco, John Quinn, published a book called “The Reform of the Papacy: The Costly Call to Christian Unity.” In a column in 2005, I summarized the proposal for a downsized papacy as follows: “For one thing, it would be more parochial, more local, with, most likely, an Italian pope who tended to his Roman flock and didn’t stride so much on the world stage.”

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