CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: The Canadian Press
Wednesday, May. 14, 2014

SARNIA, Ont. – A former Catholic priest is headed to prison for sex-related crimes against two teenage girls.

Justice Joseph Donohue sentenced Gabriele DelBianco, 57, to a total of four years in prison on Wednesday in Sarnia, Ont.

DelBianco was found guilty in February of three of 18 charges against him relating to incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s in southwestern Ontario.

He received three years on each of two sexual assault charges to be served concurrently and a further 12 months for gross indecency.

DelBianco left the priesthood in 1996 after serving at churches in Ontario communities including Wallaceburg and Windsor.

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CANADA
Blackburn News

Melanie Irwin on May 14, 2014

A former Catholic priest was led away in handcuffs at Sarnia courthouse Wednesday.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Donohue sentenced 57-year-old Gabriele DelBianco to four years in federal prison on sex-related charges against two teenage girls.

In February, DelBianco was found guilty of three of 18 charges against him relating to incidents involving four female teens during the 1980′s in southwestern Ontario.

He received three years for each of the two sexual assault charges, which were to be served concurrently, and a further 12 months for gross indecency.

One of the complainants, who gave a victim impact statement, says the click of the handcuffs was one of the sweetest sounds she’s heard in a long time.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Eugene Cullen Kennedy | May. 14, 2014 Bulletins from the Human Side

With the apparent relish associated with autocratic triumph, Cardinal Gerhard Müller of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has “accused U.S. women religious leaders of not abiding by a reform agenda the Vatican imposed on their leadership organization following a doctrinal assessment of the group.”

The self-righteousness that rose like mist from Müller’s torrent of accusations makes one wonder if he has a Bismarck hiding in the high branches of his family tree. NCR described his rant as “the most direct and confrontational language since the Vatican began to rein in the Leadership Conference of Women Religious two years ago.”

You might think that a world bearing the stigmata of war, poverty, plagues, and immeasurable, uncomforted suffering might trouble a high religious leader, but what upsets Cardinal Müller? Why, the speakers these women religious invite to their annual assemblies; the failure to have counterpoint views when the women are, as he intimates, preaching heresy; and, specifically, their bestowing their 2014 Outstanding Leadership Award to a Fordham theologian, Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, who (and you can’t make this up) was “criticized by the Bishops of the United States because of the gravity of the doctrinal errors in that theologian’s writings.” Müller seems unaware of how fully and professionally Johnson defended her work while some of the bishops most critical of her got indigestion from trying to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Wondering aloud if the leadership conference has “the ability truly to sentire cum ecclesia,” a classic bureaucratic phrase that, like snow, covers everything when officious Vatican investigators indict theologians without any real evidence, means, “to feel with the church.” The problem the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is addressing is, of course, how to feel with the suffering world, the beat of whose breaking heart cannot be heard in the vaulted tunnels of heresy hunters.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

An Albuquerque law firm on Wednesday filed two new child sex abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The lawsuits point to two specific cases of alleged abuse involving two priests at churches in Albuquerque: Queen of Heaven Parish and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

The lawsuits are filed on behalf of two men who say they were abused in the late 1960s and in 1986. The lawsuit also lists 40 priests from central and northern New Mexico who the lawsuits claim were part of a culture of child sex abuse during that time in the Archdiocese.

“The therapeutic needs of these men require transparency by the current Archdiocese leadership.

Without documents from that era, where about a third of the priests were sexually abusing hundreds of boys, it will be difficult for these men to begin to understand how and why this happened to them,” said Levi Monagle, a member of the litigation team helping the alleged victims.

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UNITED STATES/INDIA
KSTP

A priest who was convicted of fondling a 12-year-old girl while he was working in the Diocese of Winona has been deported to his native India.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say 48-year-old Leo Charles Koppala was turned over to authorities in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Koppola was charged last June with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. He pleaded guilty in March, admitting he fondled the girl while eating dinner at her grandmother’s house.

The Diocese of Winona has said Koppala was assigned in 2009 to the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Blue Earth and to St. Mary’s in Winnebago. He was placed on leave in June, and the diocese alerted his home diocese of Nellore, India.

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UNITED STATES/INDIA
Pioneer Press

Associated Press

POSTED: 05/14/2014

A priest who was convicted of fondling a 12-year-old girl while he was working in the Diocese of Winona has been deported to his native India, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday.

ICE said Leo Charles Koppala, 48, was turned over to authorities in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Koppola was charged last June with second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim younger than 13. He pleaded guilty in March, admitting he fondled a girl while eating dinner at her grandmother’s house.

ICE says Koppala didn’t contest his deportation, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation April 1.

“Koppala held a position of trust in the Catholic Church and the community. He broke that trust,” Scott Baniecke, field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in St. Paul, said in a statement. “We sincerely hope that his permanent removal from the United States will help the healing process for the victim and the victim’s family.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel Online

The Bishop of Winchester, Tim Dakin has told Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor that he won’t be taking any disciplinary action against the Dean of Jersey.

A report into the way abuse allegations are dealt with by Jersey’s church is being delayed so that its impact on an alleged victim can be properly considered.

ITV News has learned the Bishop of Winchester is seeking advice on the best way to publish it without causing the woman harm.

He’s set up an “Impact Assessment Group” to suggest ways the report by Dame Heather Steel can be made public.

She has been investigating how Jersey’s church looks after vulnerable parishioners.

We can today (Wednesday) reveal the Bishop of Winchester, Tim Dakin, has formally informed Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor that he will not be taking any disciplinary action against the Dean of Jersey who was originally suspended from office when details emerged of the way he handled an allegation of abuse involving a parishioner.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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

Three more credibly accused child molesting clerics have been publicly exposed for the first time thanks to the courage of victims. We applaud these brave men and women for stepping forward and beg them to contact secular authorities, not church figures.

[Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

There are at least two key lessons here.

First, times are slowly changing. It’s somewhat less difficult these days for victims to expose predators. So we encourage anyone who was hurt by clerics – no matter how long ago it happened – to speak up so that the truth can be known, kids can be protected and healing can really happen.

Second, there are obviously many child molesting clerics who have yet to be publicly exposed. So we again prod Catholic officials – as we do nearly every day and have done nearly every day for a quarter century – to go beyond the bare minimum and aggressively use their resources and bully pulpits and websites and bulletins and newspapers to beg those who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to speak up.

It’s irresponsible for Catholic officials to passively sit back and wait for the phone to ring. Pittsburgh’s bishop should personally visit every single parish where a proven, admitted and credibly accused priest, nun, seminarian or church employee worked. The bishops should clearly and emphatically beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to break their silence by calling police and prosecutors. Terse, carefully crafted three sentence notices tucked far back in a diocesan newspaper or parish bulletin don’t cut it.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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

A Catholic priest who has worked in Minnesota and was convicted of child sex crimes has been deported back to his home country of India. He is Fr. Leo Charles Koppala.

[Business Standard]

This is not the first predator priest from India who has worked and abused in Minnesota. Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul raped a Minnesota girl, Megan Peterson, just a few years ago. He returned to India and until recently, oversaw a group of schools there, even though his bishop knew he was a fugitive from justice. He’s being extradited now.

Kids are more at risk of sexual violence in the developing world and that is why we hope Catholic officials will do all they can to warn unsuspecting families about this dangerous man. Bishop John Quinn of the Winona Diocese claims he alerted Catholic officials in Nellore, India about Fr. Koppala. We hope Quinn actually followed through and we hope serious action is taken by Indian church officials to ensure that Fr. Koppala is kept away from children.

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UNITED STATES/INDIA
Business Standard

Press Trust of India | Washington May 14, 2014

A Catholic priest from India – who previously worked with the Archdiocese of Winona, Minnesota – was deported today following his conviction for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old.

Leo Charles Koppala, 48, was escorted by officers of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) on a commercial flight and turned over to Indian authorities on May 14 in New Delhi, the federal agency said.

This deportation was conducted by officers with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Bloomington, Minnesota.

On June 8, 2013, the Blue Earth (Minnesota) Police Department arrested Koppala and charged him with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The victim was 12-year-old at the time of the offense.

On June 10, 2013, Koppala posted bail and was released from local custody.

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CANADA
Blackburn News

By Dave Dentinger on May 14, 2014

A man who served as a marriage and family counselor in Auburn and Kincardine is going to prison.

57-year old Gabriele DelBianco is also a former Catholic priest, and has been handed a penitentiary term on sex-related charges at Sarnia courthouse. Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Donohue sentenced DelBianco to a total of four years in federal prison. He had been found guilty of three of 18 charges against him relating to incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980′s in southwestern Ontario while in the priesthood.

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CANADA
Sun News

NEIL BOWEN | QMI AGENCY

SARNIA, Ont. – His victims said he used his “rock star” status in the church to coerce them into sexual relationships as teens. Now Gabriele DelBianco, a former priest at churches in southwestern Ontario, will serve four years in prison for his crimes.

The sentence was handed down Wednesday in a Sarnia, Ont., courtroom.

In February, court found DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and sexually assaulting another woman twice.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

By Bill Zlatos

Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The scope of one of the largest sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh grew Wednesday with the disclosure that 19 people have made 23 allegations of abuse by members of a religious order at the former North Hills Catholic High School.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, said 18 of the alleged victims are men and the other is a woman. The latest Marianist brothers being accused of abuse are Brother James Kline, who taught at North Catholic from 1940 to 1947; Brother Joseph Binder, who taught at North Catholic from 1961 to 1966, 1975 to 1976 and 1979 to 1989; and Brother Julius May, whose service date at the school is unknown. Kline died in 1997, Binder in 2000 and May in 1970.

Asked how the diocese could not have known about such expansive abuse at one school, Lengwin responded, “I don’t know how you wouldn’t know or would know. A lot of people were able to hide their immoral behavior.”

The scandal began on March 20 when the diocese learned that Marianist Brother Bernard Hartman, 74, a former science teacher at North Catholic, is awaiting trial in Australia on charges he molested four students at a Catholic school there in the 1970s and ‘80s.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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

A former Windsor priest was sentenced to 4 years in prison for molesting multiple girls. He faced 18 charges of sexual abuse of children.

[Windsor Star]

Windsor church officials should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered this cleric’s crimes.

We are glad that this dangerous predator will spend time in jail. We are disappointed it is not for longer, but glad he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

We hope church officials will take further action and post the names, photos, work histories and whereabouts of all credibly accused child molesters on church bulletins and websites. We also hope this ruling encourages others to come forward and report to police.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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

Three new people (from Ohio, Minnesota and Indiana) have been put on the US bishops sex abuse panel. All are Catholic. All have close ties to Catholic schools or universities. None, as best we can tell, show any signs of real courage or independence.

So it’s the “same old, same old.”

Originally, a dozen years ago, this National Review Board showed a glimmer of hope. Initially, some of its members were high profile and outspoken individuals who didn’t depend on church institutions for their paychecks (such as former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and Illinois Judge Anne Burke). Now, however, it’s filled with low key Catholic insiders whose incomes often derive from Catholic institutions and who are clearly quiet and compliant “company men.” They will very likely never utter a single critical word about a single Catholic official, no matter how egregious his misconduct might be or how many kids are hurt on his watch.

Very quickly this so-called “watch dog” became a “lap dog.” It remains a “lap dog.”

Unfortunately, these new appointees (Mary K. Huffman of Centerville, Ohio; Donald J. Schmid of Granger, Indiana, and Nelle Moriarty of Rochester, Minnesota) look to be more of the same.

These men and women give their time and lend their reputations to church officials. But they end up being used as part of a shrewd public relations strategy in which bishops’ put respected, sincere lay people on panels, give them inadequate and inaccurate information, and thus shield themselves from criticism when bad decisions are made.

Far too few Catholics on these panels ever become brave “whistleblowers.” And that’s one reason why child molesting clerics remain hidden, why kids remain at risk and why the church’s horrific clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis continues.

NOTE – Just this week, two Seattle men who were on a local church review board blasted Seattle’s archbishop for keeping secret – for a decade – serious allegations against a predator priest.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Last Updated: May 14, 2014

A former Windsor priest has been sentenced to four years in prison and will spend the rest of his life on the sex offender registry.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, was sentenced Wednesday in a Sarnia court for three of 18 sex charges he initially faced for his abuse of young girls in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“I feel that we have all been robbed of so much joy,” one victim said Wednesday in court before her tormentor was sentenced. “Uncomplicated joy that comes from a world that makes sense. What Gabe has done doesn’t make sense. And, even more importantly, what God has allowed Gabe to do has left so many of us without faith.”

The trial began in October with four of Del Bianco’s alleged victims testifying in court.

Del Bianco was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women but found guilty for abusing the other two.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

With two weeks to go before the judge’s deadline, the Rev. Andrew McCormick has found a new lawyer to represent him in his retrial on charges he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 when he was at St. John Cantius church in Bridesburg.

Center City criminal defense lawyer Trevan Borum confirmed Wednesday that he will represent McCormick, 58, in the retrial. Borum said he will formally enter his appearance at a May 29 status hearing on the case before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright.

If Borum’s name is familiar to some, it may be because he had been hired by retired Catholic priest Robert Brennan. Brennan, 76, was charged with raping a boy from ages 11 to 14 who was a member of the “altar guild” at the Resurrection of Our Lord parish school in Rhawnhurst. The criminal charges were dismissed after the 26-year-old alleged victim died of an accidental drug overdose on Oct. 13.

McCormick had been searching for a new lawyer since March 12 when a jury deadlocked on the charges against him and defense attorney William J. Brennan Jr. was permitted to withdraw. Earlier, Brennan had said he felt uncomfortable after discovering shortly before trial that he knew the extended family of the alleged victim.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

May 14, 2014

James Moore, Compliance Manager
Administrative Actions and Appeals Group (Clery),
U. S. Department of Education
Union Center Plaza
830 1st Street, NE room 72 J1
Washington, DC 20202
Email: James.Moore@ed.gov

Dear Mr. Moore,

We are members of a self-help support group called SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest). Our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the innocent. That’s why we’re asking for your help.

We are worried about the safety of those at or near Adrian College in Michigan. A music professor there, Dr. Thomas Hodgman, admitted molesting two girls and is accused of molesting at least one more.

[BishopAccountability.org]

His former employer, a Catholic high school, had to pay $1.6 million to a California woman who was repeatedly sexually violated by Hodgman when she was a youngster.

Hodgman is also the Artistic Director and Conductor at Lenawee Community Chorus and “works with other educators and students to offer a music class to community preschoolers,” according to an Adrian official.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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

We are impressed by and grateful for the courage of every victim and witness who testified in the child sex abuse trail against a former member of the Covenant Life Church, Nathaniel Morales. It takes real strength and bravery to take the witness stand in open court against a charming and charismatic spiritual figure.

[WJLA]

And we hope that the courage of these men and women will inspire others who saw, suspected or suffered crimes in the Sovereign Grace Ministries (Covenant Life Church is part of) to step forward too. It’s never too late to share what you know or believe about child sexual abuse with police, prosecutors and the public.

These insular institutions – in which officials discourage trust in secular authorities and insist on handling crimes internally – won’t reform themselves. It takes brave individuals – inside and outside these unhealthy institutions – to speak up if kids are to be safe.

Finally, Morales didn’t act alone. Others with Sovereign Grace Ministries are likely complicit in his child sex crimes or child sex crimes by other predators. We hope they will “come clean” about what they know or suspect about abuse, including Mark Prater and C.J. Mahaney and all the rest.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael D’Antonio | May. 14, 2014

THE DARK BOX: A SECRET HISTORY OF CONFESSION
By John Cornwell
Published by Basic Books, $27.99

John Cornwell may be our most gifted and persistent chronicler of Catholicism in the context of the modern world. In Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, he raised essential questions about the Vatican’s response to the greatest evil of the 20th century. In Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint, he presents the great English cardinal as a flesh-and-blood person. Now, in The Dark Box: A Secret History of Confession, Cornwell uses his formidable talents to reveal the sacrament in a complete, compelling and original way.

Beginning with childhood recollections that are at once particular and universal, Cornwell recalls the ritual he was required to perform before first Communion, and the rote practice that followed through the rest of his childhood. He describes with real poignancy the boy who felt true sorrow over the idea that a 7-year-old could offend God and the distrust that arose when a priest propositioned him during a confession.

Despite the guilt heaped upon him in childhood, and the predation he was subject to as an adolescent, young Cornwell wanted to be a priest. He devoted seven full years to training for the priesthood. Sex and science, two forces that have undone many vocations, ended his pursuit of ordination. However, after a long time spent hovering “between agnosticism and atheism,” his marriage to a devout Catholic woman who raised their children in the faith brought him back to the fold.

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PUERTO RICO
Primera Hora

[Summary: In Puerto Rico, the first priest fund guilty of abusing a child under 14 was Anibal Torres Ortiz who was convicted in 2005. The scandal of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church and cover-up have taken on international resonance for more than a decade.]

>El escándalo de abuso sexual contra menores en la Iglesia Católica y el encubrimiento en las esferas de poder del clero llevan más de una década con resonancia internacional.

Tanta, que hasta Puerto Rico ha llegado. Tanta, que hasta el argentino papa Francisco tuvo que pedir perdón y comprometerse a sancionar a esos hombres de Dios que bajo la sotana ocultan a un pedófilo. Tanta, que la Iglesia ha tenido que pagar millones de dólares en indemnizaciones.

“Me siento obligado a asumir personalmente todo el mal que algunos sacerdotes, bastante pocos en número, obviamente no comparable con el número de todos los sacerdotes, a pedir perdón personalmente por el daño que han causado por haber abusado sexualmente de niños”, dijo el Papa el mes pasado.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Greg Kelly and Alison Cook, CBC News Posted: May 14, 2014

Roderick A. Macdonald may not be a household name, but he’s changed the way thousands of Canadians live.

The McGill University law professor played a crucial role in paving the way for same-sex marriage in this country, as well as the inquiry into abuse at residential schools – and the federal government’s 2008 apology to survivors.

Macdonald has spent his career challenging the way the law is conceived and applied in this country, and giving voice to those who’ve had little representation in the operations of institutional power.

But now he’s losing his own voice: his ability to speak is greatly impaired by the fact that he’s terminally ill with throat cancer.

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MARYLAND
Brent Detwiler

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

I’m attending the entire trial this week. Here’s a brief report from Monday and Tuesday.

Eight counts of sex abuse and sex offense by Nathaniel “Nate” Morales were scheduled to be tried this week in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland with Judge Terrence J. McGann presiding. Three of those counts were postponed because Daniel Bates, one of the victims, had a recent “serious medical procedure” according to the Judge and could not participate. Assistant States Attorney Jessica Hall indicated the State would retry Morales on those counts at a later date.

Most of Monday dealt with the selection of 12 jurors with 2 alternates. Around 2:00 PM Assistant State’s Attorney Hall and Defense Attorney Drew made their opening arguments.

Hall argued that Morales was a respected leader in Covenant Life Church who held a position of trust and authority with access to children that he could groom to be victims. She noted that Morales was outgoing, gregarious, esteemed and trusted. Also that he was in the worship group and functioned as the unofficial youth director.

She also outlined the crimes committed against Samuel Bates, Jeremy Cook and Brian Wolohan by Morales. Each time she ended her individual summaries by saying the victims or parents went to the CLC pastors and the pastors “covered up” and “ignored the heinous crimes that had been done” to these boys.

Defense Attorney Drew concerned himself with dates and times and the fact that no one reported any of these crimes to the police until Samuel Bates contacted Detective Sally Magee in October 2009. He did not seek to disprove, challenge or undermined any of the allegations against Morales.

The first witness called to stand was Samuel’s and Daniel’s mother, Grace Charlene Bates. Of greatest importance, she testified they went to Grant Layman in 1992 and told him about the sexual abuse of Samuel. This fact was not disputed by the Defense. Grant was a pastor at Covenant Life Church.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

He admitted molesting two teenaged girls
His former employer was forced to pay $1.6 million
But he works now at a MI college & no one was warned
Group wants Methodists, who meet there this week, to act
SNAP: “Church officials should at least alert others about him”
He is also accused of impregnating one girl & giving her an STD

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, child sex abuse victims and advocates will disclose that they are;

–writing a federal official saying that a Michigan college may have broken federal law by quietly hiring a credibly accused child molesting professor but telling no one about him, and
–writing Michigan Methodist officials, who meet this week at the college, and urging them to warn their flocks about him.

They will also beg;

– college officials to at least alert staff and students about the professor’s past, and
– anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered any crimes or misdeeds by the professor to “speak up, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.”

WHEN
Wednesday, May 14 at 4:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk leading to the Bell Tower at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan

WHO
Two-three members of a self help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
Leaders of SNAP are writing Michigan Methodist church officials and a federal bureaucrat about Dr. Thomas Hodgman, a music professor at Adrian College. The college hired Hodgman in 1999, despite the fact that Hodgman admitted molesting two girls and is accused of molesting at least one more.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Hodgman’s former employer, a Catholic high school, had to pay $1.6 million to a California woman who was repeatedly sexually violated by Hodgman when she was a youngster.

A federal law called the Clery Act requires colleges “to give timely warnings of crimes that represent a threat to the safety of students or employees.” In a new letter to a U.S. Education Department official, SNAP alleges that Adrian’s “continuing secrecy” surrounding Hodgman’s past “violates the spirit of the Clery Act and may well violate its letter too.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Get Reading

May 14, 2014 08:50 By Natasha Adkins

A woman, who said she was 11 when a retired vicar sexually assaulted her, gave evidence yesterday to Reading Crown Court.

Brian Spence, 74, faces nine counts of indecent assault involving four girls aged under 16.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between 1995 and November, 1999 when Spence – known then as Father Brian – was vicar of St John the Baptist Church in Crowthorne.

He was more recently priest-in-charge at St Mark’s Church in Englefield before he retired.

The jury watched a police interview recorded in 2012, in which the woman, now 30, described the incident as “a burden which I have carried with me since I was 11”

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Kevin Doran bishop of the diocese of Elphin, Ireland. Bishop-elect Doran succeeds Bishop Christopher Jones in the pastoral care of the diocese on the western coast of Ireland.

Bishop-elect Kevin Doran was born in Dublin June 26, 1953. He studied for the priesthood at Mater Dei College in Dublin and at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. He was ordained a priest July 6, 1977 for the Archdiocese of Dublin.

After his ordination, he taught in a school in Ringsend, Dublin ( 1977-1983). From 1980 to 1983 he served in the diocesan Secretariat for Education. In 1983 he was appointed University Chaplain. In 1990 he returned to Rome, earning a doctorate in philosophy at the Angelicum and at the same time was appointed Spiritual Director at the Irish College .

On returning to Ireland he was Parochial Vicar at Foxrock (1995-1998), director of the diocesan, later national Commission for Vocations (1998-2006), pastor of Glendalough (2005-2009) , and finally, Secretary General of the Preparatory Committee of 50th International Eucharistic Congress (2008-2012).

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FALL RIVER (MA)
WPRO

By Steve Klamkin WPRO News

Two men who allege they were sexually abused as young boys by a now-deceased priest are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River and its retired former bishop.

Daniel Sherwood and Paul Andrews allege in a lawsuit filed in Hartford, Connecticut that they were victims of clergy sex abuse by the late Monsignor Maurice Souza at St. Anthony’s parish in East Falmouth, Massachusetts in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Monsignor Souza died in 1996.

The suit was filed in Connecticut, which allows for a longer statue of limitations, until victims are 48 years old, said Robert Hoatson, a former priest who co-founded “Road to Recovery”, which serves survivors of sexual abuse and their families.

“The scandal of abuse was bad enough,” said Hoatson.

“What was worse, in many cases, was the cover-up and or the denial and or the enabling. And Bishop Cronin, we think did all of those things,” said Hoatson, outside a Fall River building housing offices of the Diocese where Daniel Cronin presided as Bishop for more than 20 years before being made Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut. He has since retired.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Leah Vincent

This past Sunday, I spoke about sexuality and modesty in front of a group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis.

Both professionally and personally, it was a profound moment for me, a formerly ultra-Orthodox woman, to sit there and name experiences that the ultra-Orthodox community hasn’t wanted to hear. To say aloud: I was raped, to say aloud: modesty can breed vulnerability to sexual assault, to say aloud: all girls deserve sex education. And to have these rabbis — some of whom were surprisingly open to these ideas — carefully listen to me articulate these silenced realities.

At this event, five former ultra-Orthodox Jews met with four ultra-Orthodox rabbis and one Orthodox woman in an optimistic but perhaps quixotic attempt to build bridges of communication between these two communities.

Tensions have risen between the two, as former ultra-Orthodox Jews have grown to be a bold voice for justice around issues of sex abuse, negligence in education, forced marriages, oppression of personal choice, removal of children from deviating parents and abusive treatment of deviating teens, in their communities of origin.

Former ultra-Orthodox Jews don’t speak with a unified voice, but our diverse perspectives are perceptive and essential — and troubling for the ultra-Orthodox world, which has often viewed them as an affront to their way of life. There is little constructive conversation between the two groups, for a number of reasons, including — as I, a former ultra-Orthodox Jew, have experienced — a tendency for the ultra-Orthodox community to attack the veracity and mental health of any former ultra-Orthodox Jew who publicly tells their story.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
South Coast Today

[the lawsuit]

By Curt Brown
cbrown@s-t.com
May 14, 2014

FALL RIVER — The Fall River Diocese and the lawyer for two men now suing it and its former bishop over sexual abuse charges against a priest failed to reach agreement during mediation last year, the parties said Tuesday.

Diocesan spokesman John E. Kearns Jr. said the two sides had been in mediation for a period of time until Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian pulled the plug on the discussions in May.

“We wanted to resolve it through mediation and that process was stopped,” Kearns said at a press conference outside his office.

Garabedian, in a telephone interview, called Kearns’ comments “inaccurate and self-serving.”

He said he did not end the talks, they were mutually terminated. “The offer and settlement made by the diocese was unreasonable. We had reached a stalemate,” he said.”>the lawsuit]

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CALIFORNIA
Manteca Bulletin

By Rose Albano Risso
City Editor ralbanorisso@mantecabulletin.com 209-249-3536
POSTED May 14, 2014

Sexual abuse claims against the Catholic Diocese of Stockton must be filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California by 4 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2014.

That announcement came from Bishop of Stockton Stephen E. Blaire in a media release sent by Director of Communications Sister Terry Davis.

The deadline for filing a claim, called the “Sexual Abuse Claim Bar Date,” applies to all sexual abuse claims that occurred before Jan. 15, 2014.

Earlier bar dates are set for other types of claims against the diocese pertinent to its filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. General claims have to be filed by May 22, 2014. Claims made by governmental bodies must be filed by July 14, 2014.

Sexual-abuse claimants must use the court-approved Sexual Abuse Proof of Claim Form for their claim to be valid. There are a number of ways to obtain that form.

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PUERTO RICO
BBC News

US federal authorities in Puerto Rico have arrested a Roman Catholic priest on charges of sexual abuse of minors.

Israel Berrios, 58, is the first priest to be detained over charges of this kind in Puerto Rico, a US territory.

He is accused of sexually abusing an altar boy and faces a minimum of 10 years in jail if found guilty.

His arrest is part of a wider investigation into sexual abuse allegations by several priests in the Caribbean island.

Puerto Rico Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda alleged Mr Berrios initially gave money, a computer and a camera to the boy, who is now 21, and also took him on a cruise.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Wicked Local Dighton

Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted May. 13, 2014

FALL RIVER — The Diocese of Fall River was first notified in 2012 of sexual abuse allegations against the late Monsignor Maurice Souza, diocesan spokesman John Kearns told reporters Tuesday.

Kearns said independent investigators hired by the diocese did not find evidence to support some of the claims made by two former altar servers that Souza sexually abused the boys for almost 10 years in the late 1970s and mid ‘80s. Kearns said the diocese offered both men counseling, and tried to resolve the issue through mediation, but he claimed that their attorney, Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, called off the mediation in May 2013.

“We wanted to resolve it through mediation, but that process was stopped,” Kearns said.

Garabedian said the mediation was unsuccessful because the diocese was “unreasonable in its position.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

A Catholic priest has again been quizzed about historic sex allegation.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, who retired from St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, Rochdale, was first interviewed last year.

Originally three women claimed they were indecently assaulted and sexually abused while pupils at nearby St Vincent’s Primary School.

The women were under 11 when it is alleged the offences happened more than 30 years ago.

It is claimed the abuse was committed in a presbytery next to the school. After the M.E.N reported the allegations six other women came forward with information.

Canon Stanley, who joined the church as a parish priest in 1972, retired to his native Ireland in 2002. He retired to Ballybunion in Kerry.

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PUERTO RICO
Free Press Journal

San Juan: A Catholic priest was arrested by the FBI and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for crimes of sexual trafficking and paedophilia, an official said.

Rev. Israel Berrios Berrios, 58, was arrested Tuesday at his residence in Naranjito, a village in the central part of this US commonwealth, Puerto Rican government spokesman Miguel Pereira told Efe.

Berrios, who in the photo of his Facebook profile appears taking the hand of the late Pope John Paul II, had been relieved of his duties by the diocese of Caguas, a city neighbouring San Juan, while he was being investigated.

This was the first arrest of a priest by the US federal authorities in Puerto Rico, with local authorities expected to confirm the charge, which would make Berrios the second priest charged with sex crimes on the island.

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MINNESOTA
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
May 13, 2014

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released a statement with their most recent disclosures:

Certain clergy members who we have made known to the public through press releases or who have been the subject of media reports over the past many months are not included in this disclosure. They remain under investigation. If claims against them are substantiated, their names will be added to our website. Similarly, if the claims against them are not substantiated, that too will be made known.

I read this to say a number of things:

1) They have more names.

2) If they find more are credibly accused, those names will be released.

3) If they find that the claims are not credible, “that too will be made known.”

The first one is suspected and there are other names out there. The second is a no brainier and the sooner the better. The third is the one that I stopped and reread a couple of times. It seems to say that they will finally come out with the names that they have been told about , but who through whatever standards they are using they found to not be names for the list. However, it claims that they will stop hiding those names.

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PUERTO RICO
La Prensa (Cuba)

San Juan, May 13 (EFE).- A Catholic priest was arrested Tuesday by FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for crimes of sexual trafficking and pedophilia, Puerto Rican government spokesman Miguel Pereira told Efe.

The Rev. Israel Berrios Berrios, 58, was arrested at his residence in Naranjito, a village in the central part of this U.S. commonwealth.

Berrios, who in the photo of his Facebook profile appears taking the hand of the late Pope John Paul II, had been relieved of his duties by the diocese of Caguas, a city neighboring San Juan, while he was being investigated.

This was the first arrest of a priest by U.S. federal authorities in Puerto Rico, with local authorities expected to confirm the charge, which would make Berrios the second priest charged with sex crimes on the island.

The first priest to be accused by Puerto Rican authorities is the former president of the Ecclesiastical Court of Arecibo Diocese, the Rev. Edwin Mercado Viera, scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on May 30.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN, mkauffman@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
5:47 p.m. EDT, May 13, 2014

Former Hartford Archbishop Daniel Cronin is being sued by two men who say he was negligent in his supervision of a Massachusetts priest who allegedly molested the pair 30 years ago.

The plaintiffs, former alter boys who are now in their 40s, say they were abused from 1979 through the mid-80s by Monsignor Maurice Souza, who served as pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth, Mass. At the time, Cronin was bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, which included St. Anthony’s

The suit does not claim that Cronin was aware of the alleged abuse, but says that as Souza’s supervisor, he had a “duty to evaluate whether Monsignor Souza posed an unreasonable risk of harm to minors.”

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PUERTO RICO
Latin American Herald Tribune

SAN JUAN – A Catholic priest was arrested Tuesday by FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for crimes of sexual trafficking and pedophilia, Puerto Rican government spokesman Miguel Pereira told Efe.

The Rev. Israel Berrios Berrios, 58, was arrested at his residence in Naranjito, a village in the central part of this U.S. commonwealth.

Berrios, who in the photo of his Facebook profile appears taking the hand of the late Pope John Paul II, had been relieved of his duties by the diocese of Caguas, a city neighboring San Juan, while he was being investigated.

This was the first arrest of a priest by U.S. federal authorities in Puerto Rico, with local authorities expected to confirm the charge, which would make Berrios the second priest charged with sex crimes on the island.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
WPRI

[with video]

Shaun Towne; Reporting by Madeline WrightUpdated: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WPRI) — Two former altar boys have filed a lawsuit claiming they were sexually abused by a now-deceased priest.

The lawsuit alleges Maurice Souza, a former monsignor at St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth, abused the boys in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Road to Recovery, an advocacy group, is calling attention to the suit, which claims the abuse began in the 1970s, when the boys were 9 and 10 years old, and that it lasted until they were 17.

The alleged victims filed the lawsuit against the Diocese of Fall River and former Bishop Daniel Cronin, who they claim failed to protect them.

“We have two very damaged men. We want them made whole,” said Robert Hoatson, a spokesperson for the alleged victims. “If the diocese steps up and does the empathetic and sympathetic thing, we can avoid a trial.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Morning Times

LEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Officials say a former suburban Philadelphia pastor charged with sexually assaulting a girl more than 20 years ago has taken his own life, a week before his trial was set to begin.

Sixty-one-year-old Scott Sechrist was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday night inside his home in Bristol Township.

Bucks County prosecutor Jennifer Schorn said he left a suicide note maintaining his innocence but she did not elaborate further.

Sechrist had served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Morrisville and allegedly knew the girl’s family from the church.

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IRELAND
Irish examiner

By Liam Heylin

The case against a priest accused of indecently assaulting a student in a school toilet on an unknown date in the mid-1980s has been dismissed after a trial at Cork District Court.

Liam O’Brien, aged 66, of Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin, was cleared yesterday of the single count of indecent assault on a 14-year-old boy, at Coláiste An Chroí Naofa, Carraig Na Bhfear, Co Cork, in the mid-1980s.

Judge Tim Lucey said one of the factors in favour of the defendant was that the alleged incident happened so long ago making it very difficult to defend.

“It is the defendant’s rights I have to be most careful of. The complainant has rights in other tribunals. But this is in criminal law and I have to be very careful.

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MARYLAND
WJLA

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – The jury has been selected, and opening arguments began around 3 p.m. in the sexual assault case of Nathaniel Morales, accused of sexually abusing boys for decades in Montgomery County.

A mother broke her silence 26 years after Morales allegedly molested her then-teenage son.

“To me, he’s a poster child for everything a predator could be,” she said.

During the late 1980’s, Morales was a respected member at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg. Described in court as “charismatic, affable, and the life of the party,” Morales lived in the basement of this Rockville home – where he reportedly molested the family’s two teenage sons.

One victim, now 39 years old, testified:

“I recall a number of times, while I was sleeping in the basement, waking up to him kneeling by my side, touching me…He mentioned he had these urges that he needed to satisfy one way or another.”

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Turn to 10

By Cierra Putman

FALL RIVER, Mass. –
Two men have filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River and then-Bishop Daniel Cronin for allegedly failing to prevent a priest from sexually abusing them when they were altar boys.

The men, who are now in their late 40s, filed a complaint in Connecticut in January and reported being sexually abused over several years.

Although the lawsuit was filed in January, the two men have asked the Road to Recovery, a support group for survivors of sexual assault, to speak on their behalf because they now want to make the suit known to the public.

“We’re here (Tuesday) to congratulate, to support and encourage two very courageous men who have said to themselves enough is enough,” said Robert Hoatson, of Road to Recovery.

The alleged victims accuse the now-deceased Monsignor Maurice Souza of sexually assaulting them while he was a priest and pastor at St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
ABC 6

Nicole Gerber
ngerber@abc6.com
@nicolegerber

FALL RIVER – A former priest from the Fall River catholic church is named in a lawsuit for sexually abusing minors. Now the Archbishop who acted as his supervisor also faces accusations of neglect and oversight.

The lawsuit has been filed in Connecticut.

Retired Archbishop of Hartford, Daniel Cronin, was the Bishop in Fall River back in the 70’s and 80’s while the accused priest Monsignor Maurice Souza allegedly committed countless sexual crimes against two altar boys.

The lawsuit names Cronin as the bystander who let it happen.

“He was his supervisor, and when supervisors are negligent they need to be held accountable… Someone knew in that parish, someone knew probably in the area, and probably should have stepped in and done something about it,” said Robert Hoatson of Road to Recovery – a nonprofit supporting the alleged victims.

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PUERTO RICO
Canoe

REUTERS
May 13, 2014

SAN JUAN – U.S. authorities on Tuesday arrested a 58-year-old Catholic priest in Puerto Rico on child sexual abuse charges, marking the first such detention in the U.S. territory by federal officials.

Israel Berrios was taken into custody at a relative’s home in the rural town of Naranjito, said Ivan Ortiz, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Berrios was arrested after a federal grand jury delivered four charges against him for sexual trafficking of minors and transportation of a minor with the intention of involving the minor in an illicit sexual act, Ortiz said.

Berrios faces a sentence from 10 years to life in prison. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Bishop Ruben Gonzalez, who heads the Caguas Diocese where Berrios worked, said he cooperated with authorities in the case after receiving the original complaint early last year.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

Tue, May 13, 2014

A former teacher at a boarding school run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has been cleared of indecently assaulting a teenage boy at the school in the 1980s after a judge said he could not be sure beyond reasonable doubt that the assault happened.

Fr Liam O’Brien (66) of Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin had denied a single charge of indecently assaulting the then 14-year-old boy in a toilet at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa in Carrignavar in Co Cork in the mid -1980s.

The complainant told Cork District Court that he had asked permission from Fr O’Brien to go the toilet during supervised study and he was in the cubicle when he heard a knock and opened the door to find Fr O’Brien outside.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

May 1, 2014

WASHINGTON—Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has Named Judge Mary. K. Huffman of Centerville, Ohio; Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald J. Schmid of Granger, Indiana, and Marriage and Family Therapist Nelle Moriarty of Rochester, Minnesota to four-year terms on the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board. Their terms begin in June.

Archbishop Kurtz in the appointment letters said that “The National Review Board plays a vital role as a consultative body assisting the bishops in ensuring the accountability of our procedures in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” With a quote from the Charter, he added that “The whole Church, especially the laity, at both the diocesan and national levels, needs to be engaged in maintaining safe environments in the Church for children and young people.”

Judge Huffman has served as a judge on the Montgomery County, Ohio Common Pleas Bench since 2002, and is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Dayton School of Law, her alma mater. She currently is president of the Dayton Bar Association.

Mr. Schmid has been Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana since 1994. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Notre Dame, where he was an adjunct professor of law, 2001-2008.

Nelle Moriarty has been a marriage and family therapist at Bluestem Center for Child and Family Development in Rochester, Minnesota since 1997, and a school counselor in Rochester Catholic Schools since 1992. She has been a trainer for the VIRTUS “Protecting God’s Children” program since 2011, and chairs the diocesan review board of the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota. She holds a master of science in counseling psychology from Mankato State University and has a Specialist Certificate in Human Sexuality from the University of Minnesota.

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INDIANA
Today’s Catholic News

GRANGER — A diocesan resident has been appointed to the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. That board collaborates with the bishops’ conference in preventing the sexual abuse of minors by persons in the service of the Church.

Donald J. Schmid of Granger, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, was nominated by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. His appointment was announced May 1 by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the bishops’ conference.

Schmid is the father of three children and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He has been a prosecutor with the Department of Justice since 1994 and has served on the diocesan review board since 2009. He also has served on the review board for the Midwest and United States Provinces of the Congregation of Holy Cross for several years.

Bishop Rhoades told Today’s Catholic that he nominated Schmid for the National Review Board because of his “excellent” service on the Diocesan Review Board.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
South Coast Today

By Curt Brown
cbrown@s-t.com
May 13, 2014

FALL RIVER — A New Jersey-based group for sexual abuse victims offered its support today for two men, who are charging in a lawsuit that former Fall River Bishop Daniel A. Cronin did not properly supervise a priest they said assaulted them.

“We are supporting two men who have said ‘enough is enough,” said Robert M. Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery, Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

The victims have accused the late Rev. Monsignor Maurice Souza, a New Bedford native, of sexually abusing them when they were altar boys, beginning when they were 9 and 10 years old, and Souza was assigned to St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth.

The lawsuit, filed in January in a Connecticut court, names Cronin and the Fall River Diocese as defendants. Cronin headed the Diocese for 21 years until he left in December 1991 to become archbishop of the Hartford Diocese.

In a separate press conference, John E. Kearns Jr., a spokesman for the Fall River Diocese, said the Diocese first learned of the allegations against Souza when it was notified of a possible claim in 2012.

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PUERTO RICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A Puerto Rican priest was arrested on federal sexual abuse charges involving children. We are grateful that law enforcement officials are taking serious action to protect children.

[Yahoo! News]

Fr. Israel Berrios, from the Diocese of Caguas, is charged with sexually trafficking minors. This is reportedly the first federal case of its kind in Puerto Rico. We hope this signals a new vigor in holding predators accountable and protecting children.

We are grateful to the brave victims who came forward and worked with federal investigators. We urge Catholic church officials in Puerto Rico to aggressively reach out to anyone who saw, suspected, or suffered child sex crimes. They should also post the names, photos, and work histories of all credibly accused child molesting clergy.

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COLOMBIA
Catholic.net

[Summary: The Archdiocese of Cali has issued a decree regarding archdiocesan child protection. Any priest, religious or layperson who serves the church and has knowledge of sexual abuse of minors by clergy or even a reasonable suspicion is bound to immediately contact the bishop or diocesan delegate.]

La arquidiócesis colombiana de Cali ha emitido un ‘Decreto arquidiocesano para la protección a menores‘. En él se pide que cualquier sacerdote, religioso o laico al servicio de la Iglesia Católica que tenga conocimiento de un acto de abuso sexual de menores cometido por un clérigo o la sospecha de razonable del hecho, está obligado a la denuncia inmediata ante el obispo o al delegado de la diócesis.

Siguiendo con las pautas y recomendaciones en las que ya trabaja el Vaticano desde hace años para luchar contra los abusos a menores por parte del clero, esta diócesis ha creado este ‘manual’ para ayudar a los fieles a detectar y saber cómo actuar frente a estas situaciones.

Entre las últimas de estas medidas, está la creación de una Comisión Vaticana contra los abusos a menores. La Pontificia Comisión para la Protección de Menores presentará al Papa Francisco “propuestas específicas” para sensibilizar sobre “las trágicas consecuencias del abuso sexual y de las devastadoras repercusiones de no escuchar o no informar cuando se sospecha de un abuso”. El Santo Padre instituyó formalmente la Comsión el 22 de marzo de este año y han tenido su primera reunión del 1 al 3 de mayo. Entre los miembros de esta comisión de expertos, se encuentra la irlandesa Marie Collins, que sufrió los abusos sexuales de un sacerdote cuando era niña.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Herald

San Juan — Un sacerdote católico puertorriqueño fue detenido el martes por agentes de la Oficina federal de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) por cuatro cargos relacionados con tráfico sexual de menores y pedofilia.

Así lo confirmó el portavoz del Departamento de Justicia de Puerto Rico, Miguel Pereira, quien añadió que el religioso, identificado como Israel Berríos Berríos, de 58 años, fue detenido en su residencia en Naranjito, pueblo de la zona central de la isla.

Berríos Berríos, quien en la foto del perfil de su cuenta de Facebook aparece dándole la mano al fenecido papa Juan Pablo II, había sido relevado de sus funciones por la Diócesis de Caguas, ciudad aledaña a San Juan, mientras era investigado por delitos similares.

Se trata de la primera detención federal de un cura en Puerto Rico, y se espera que las autoridades estatales también formalicen una acusación, lo que lo convertiría en el segundo sacerdote acusado en este ámbito.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

El sacerdote fue acusado por un gran jurado por tráfico sexual de menores e inducir a un menor a una conducta sexual ilícita

El sacerdote suspendido, Israel Berríos Berríos, quien en la mañana de este martes fue arrestado por las autoridades federales, firmó una declaración en la que aceptó haber cometido un acto de pedofilia mientras era párroco de la iglesia San José de Aibonito, donde ocurrieron los hechos.

Así lo reveló a este diario el obispo de Caguas, Rubén González. “Tenemos certeza moral de que el hecho se cometió. El mismo sacerdote lo admitió”, sostuvo el líder de la Diócesis de Arecibo.

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

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

A judge in Montana has set a “bar date” for clergy sex abuse victims. They have until August to report their crimes and potentially be part of a settlement.

[KXLH]

“Bar dates” give victims a limited amount of time to come forward, report their abuse, and receive help. This is wrong. It’s convenient for those who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes. It’s hurtful to everyone else.

It often takes years or decades for child sexual abuse victims to find the strength and courage to come forward and report the horrible crimes they suffered. Putting a deadline on when they can speak up and get help only benefits wrongdoers.

Still, we hope anyone who is suffering in silence and self blame will find the courage to come forward and start healing.

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PUERTO RICO
Yahoo! News

By DANICA COTO

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. authorities in Puerto Rico said Tuesday they have arrested a Roman Catholic priest on charges including sexual trafficking of minors in the first federal case of its kind in the U.S. territory.

Ivan Ortiz, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said 58-year-old Israel Berrios was a priest in the Diocese of Caguas, south of the capital of San Juan. He said the priest was arrested in the northern town of Naranjito.

Ortiz said the investigation is ongoing and that more arrests are possible. Authorities have not yet given details of the case.

Puerto Rico prosecutors also filed charges of lewd acts against Berrios.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
MassLive

By The Associated Press
on May 13, 2014

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Two former altar boys at a Massachusetts Roman Catholic church have filed a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused by a now deceased priest, while the former bishop of Fall River did nothing to stop it.

The suit was filed in Hartford, Connecticut in January but came to light Monday.

The complaint alleges that former Fall River Bishop Daniel Cronin did not properly supervise the late Monsignor Maurice Souza, accused in court documents of sexually abusing the boys, beginning when they were 9 and 10 years old in the 1970s, when Souza was at St. Anthony’s in Falmouth.

The now-retired Cronin went on to become Archbishop of Hartford. Souza died in 1996.

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SEATTLE (PI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

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

A retired judge and ex-U.S. attorney are blasting Seattle’s Catholic archbishop for being secretive and deceitful about predator priests.

We’re glad they’re speaking up. But they are to blame as well. They let themselves be used by church officials. They too kept quiet about Fr. Quigg for a decade.

[Seattle PI]

The two men – retired Judge Terrence Carroll and former U.S. Attorney Mike McKay – are former members of an archdiocesan review board.

It’s great to see them urge Archbishop Peter Sartain to “release the documents” about Fr. Quigg, a credibly accused cleric who sexually exploited a teenager, but whose wrongdoing was hidden for ten years until our group recently sent out a news release about him.

But these two men could and should have done more sooner to warn the public and protect others. We hope they’ll do more soon, sharing other secrets they’ve kept. Far too few Catholic church members and employees have become “whistleblowers.” And that’s one reason why the church’s horrific clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis continues and why child molesting clerics remain hidden and kids remain at risk.

We agree with Carroll and McKay when they say it’s deceitful for Sartain to claim his staff “recently learned” that Fr. Quigg was still acting like a priest. We strongly suspect that archdiocesan staff knew Fr. Quigg was doing this but ignored it for fear of drawing attention to his sexual misdeeds.

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KOREA
inside Korea

A Seoul appellate court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former priest who claims Catholic authorities wrongfully stripped him of his religious status and pay.

The Seoul High Court ruled that courts could not interfere in church affairs as the Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

The former priest, only identified by his surname, Kim, initially filed the lawsuit against the Samsungsan Cathedral in 2012 after he lost his priesthood and pay.

Catholic officials suspended Kim after he allegedly embezzled cathedral funds in 2005. They defrocked Kim after he filed civil suits against cathedral authorities in protest.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

CLIFTON PARK – A priest’s expected appearance in town court has been postponed until next month, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Rev. James Michael Taylor was originally scheduled to be in court on Wednesday but asked that the case be adjourned until June 11.

Taylor was arrested in April. A 30-year-old priest in the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, Taylor was accused of abusing his position of trust to carry on an inappropriate — and criminal — seven-month relationship with a girl half his age, law enforcement officials said after his arrest.

Taylor, an associate pastor at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Niskayuna, engaged in physical contact and shared phone calls, text messages and pictures with a 15-year-old girl he met a few years ago while serving as a deacon and youth minister at Corpus Christi Church in Clifton Park, police said.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The case against a priest who was charged with a single incident of indecent assault on a 14-year-old boy at a school in Co Cork in the 1980s has been dismissed.

Fr Liam O’Brien, of 66 Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock in Dublin, had been charged with a single incident of indecent assault, while he was a teacher Coláiste an Chroí Naofa, Carraig na bhFear in Cork.

At Cork District Court this afternoon, Judge Tim Lucey said he could not find the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt and dismissed the charge.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

May 12, 2014 3:53 pm | Author: berger

It was a year ago today that Judge Robert Dierker issued a ruling that rocked the archdiocese, ordering Archbishop Robert Carlson to turn over 20 years of records about 115 accused child molesting priests, nuns and church workers. (The case: Jane Doe v. Fr. Joseph D. Ross, et al.) As the case winds towards a June trial date, Twin Cities barrister Jeff Anderson – the nation’s most experienced clergy sex abuse attorney – has formerly entered his appearance alongside our town’s Ken Chackes. Anderson first deposed Carlson back in 1987 in a Minnesota abuse case.
TV ON TUES

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Caroline Winter

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is worried young men are turning away from teaching as a career option for fear of being falsely accused of child-sex offences.

It thinks issues such as the highly publicised Debelle royal commission in South Australia into handling of school sex abuse cases have not helped.

There has been a decline in male teachers in schools for some years and president of the AEU David Smith says it is understandable why this has happened.

“A number of young men … or men of any age for that matter have been put off, they’ve told us, by the potential litigation that there might be should there be some sort of vexatious, unfounded accusation against them,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

May 13, 2014 by J-Wire Staff

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is calling for Jewish victims/survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward and share their story.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said that while more than 1,500 people from across Australia have shared their story with a Commissioner, there may be many more who are yet to make contact with the Royal Commission.

“A recent telephone survey found that while there is widespread community awareness of the Royal Commission, many people are still unsure about what the Royal Commission can look into,” Ms Dines said.

“We encourage all Australians to find out more about the work of the Royal Commission and how survivors of child sexual abuse in an institution can share their story.”

According to the research around 65% of those surveyed were aware of the Royal Commission however of these:

* people aged 50+ were most likely to be aware of the Royal Commission
* 24% did not know the role of the Royal Commission
* 40% did not know which organisations the Royal Commission could examine and 37% thought the * Royal Commission could only examine religious organisations
* 50% did not know how to share their story with the Royal Commission
* residents from NSW/ACT were most likely to be aware of the Royal Commission (74%); followed by SA/NT 68%, TAS 67%, VIC and WA 62% and QLD 57%

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UNITED KINGDOM
Get Reading

By Linda Fort

Brian Spence, former vicar of St John the Baptist Church in Crowthorne and St Mark’s Church in Englefield, is facing nine counts of indecent assault involving four girls under 16

A 74-year-old retired vicar faces nine counts of indecent assault involving four girls aged under 16.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between 1995 and November, 1999 when Brian Spence – known then as Father Brian – was vicar of St John the Baptist Church in Crowthorne.

He was more recently priest-in-charge at St Mark’s Church in Englefield before he retired.

Elisabeth Bussey-Jones, prosecuting, told Reading Crown court yesterday (Mon) how the first girl remembered an incident because it was on a young family member’s birthday in the mid 90s.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: An Inupiat Eskimo, Ignatius J. Jakes entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Sheridan, OR as a coadjutator postulate Sept. 4, 1943, making his perpetual vows in March 1946. He spent his career as a manual laborer for the Jesuits in Spokane WA, Holy Cross, St. Mary’s and Fairbanks, AK and numerous Alaskan missions. He died in 1999 in a Jesuit infirmary at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Jakes was accused in a 2006 lawsuit of sexually abusing three young girls in Holy Cross, AK in the 1980s. The girls were said to have been between the ages of 5 and 7-years-old when abused. Jakes’ name was included on a list in the Fairbanks’ diocese’s 2010 bankruptcy documents of ‘Individuals against whom a complaint of abuse has been asserted by more than one person’.

Perpetual Vows: March 12, 1946
Died: Aug. 23, 1999

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MEXICO
El Occidental

[Summary: Priest Fernando Ortis Garcia has been disqualified from exercise of his priestly ministry and all church activities. He is alleged to have sexually abused a child under age 13.]

José Sánchez/ OEM en línea

Celaya, Gto.- El sacerdote Fernando Ortíz García fue inhabilitado del ejercicio de su ministerio y de toda actividad eclesiástica que realizaba desde hace cuatro años en el templo de San Luis de la Paz, debido al presunto abuso sexual cometido hacia una menor de 14 años de edad.

Con éste ya suman tres los casos de presunto abuso sexual contra menores en la Diócesis de Celaya, ya que los otros dos primeros fueron denunciados hace tres años en San Miguel de Allende, y aún se encuentran, como éste último caso, en dos procesos, el penal y el de carácter religioso. – See more at: http://www.oem.com.mx/eloccidental/notas/n3389239.htm#sthash.ezKXv9X1.dpuf

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Tue, May 13, 201

The revelation in 1992 that an Irish Catholic bishop had fathered a child didn’t look then like the onset of two decades of PR winter for Catholic clergy here.

The bleakness of that winter had far more to do with revelations from 1994 that Catholic bishops could be deeply derelict in their duty of care to Catholic children.

In 2003, we learned that Irish bishops had begun insuring their church’s financial assets against liability for clerical child sex abuse in 1987 – eight years before they began taking steps to protect the children themselves. This looked like midnight.

The Ferns report of 2005 confirmed the darkest fact: at least some Irish bishops had “placed the interest of the church ahead of children”.

For the Dublin archdiocese, 2009 was darker still: the Murphy report’s revelation of the scale of child abuse there to 2004, even beyond 1994 – and of the decades of administrative concealment that had enabled so much of it – baffled all comprehension.

Catholic clergy had always claimed to know all there was to know about sexual sin. It was impossible for most lay people to fathom the fact that the “learning curve” of the same clergy had never risen to the challenge of clerical child sex abuse, or even of grasping the scale of suffering it caused.

The formation of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in 2010 came as a welcome glimpse of a distant dawn. So did the association’s evocation of the spirit of Vatican II – that 1960s glimmering of relevance for the church.

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

BY DARRELL SMITH
dvsmith@sacbee.com
May 12, 2014

Maria Bunter heard the news over the weekend and couldn’t believe it. Not our Hector, she said. Can’t be.

But on Monday, days after a popular priest at her Davis church was arrested on allegations of sex with a 17-year-old girl, sadness joined Bunter’s disbelief as reality sank in. Hector Coria, 45, a pastor at St. James Parish in Davis, was arrested by Davis police Friday on suspicion of oral copulation and statutory rape involving the teen.

Davis police allege that while a priest at St. James in 2013, Coria befriended the girl and that the two later engaged in sexual relations. Police on Monday offered little information but said search warrants yielded enough to arrest the pastor Friday night. Coria remained free on bail Monday.

“We have a great deal of compassion for him and all concerned. He was a wonderful priest,” Bunter said Monday, standing with husband Walter in the parish parking lot. Coria, she said, always “found the right words” at the pulpit.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Bucks County Courier-Times

By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer

A former Morrisville pastor took his life Monday, a week before he was scheduled to go on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, who originally reported the crime to police in 1992.

Scott Sechrist, 61, was found dead inside his Bristol Township home, Bucks County prosecutor Jennifer Schorn confirmed Monday night. He left a suicide note maintaining his innocence, she added, but Schorn did not reveal the contents of the note.

Sechrist was awaiting trial on 20 counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a victim under age 16, as well as multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault and other related crimes. He was free on $500,000 unsecured bail.

Bristol Township reopened the investigation last October after receiving a referral from the Bucks County District Attorney’s office involving the sexual assault allegations, which allegedly took place between 1989 and 1992, according to court records.

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MONTANA
Missoulian

Helena Catholic Diocese: Victims have August deadline for sex-abuse claims

HELENA — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena is giving notice that sex abuse victims have until Aug. 11 to file a claim as part of the diocese’s bankruptcy proceedings.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy reorganization in January as part of a proposed settlement with about 360 victims of sexual abuse from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Monday’s notice by the diocese is part of a May 6 federal court order setting a deadline by which claims must be made.

Anyone who was sexually abused an employee of the diocese, or believes the diocese is liable for their abuse before the Jan. 31 bankruptcy filing, can file a claim by 4:30 p.m. Aug. 11.

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MONTANA
KXLH

HELENA — Victims of sexual abuse by employees of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena have until August 11 to file a claim if they wish to be part of a settlement that now includes more than 360 potential victims.

Facing the claims, the diocese declared bankruptcy in late January, part of a settlement with the diocese’s accusers.

The deal included the creation of a $15 million fund for victims.

The August 11 deadline (4:30 p.m. Mountain Time) follows a May 6th order by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Montana.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

GORDON DEEGAN, RALPH RIEGEL AND SARAH MACDONALD – PUBLISHED 13 MAY 2014

A BISHOP has admitted that it was “a terrible thing” that an abusive priest was allowed to remain in ministry after complaints of sex abuse had been made against him.

Bishop of Killaloe Dr Kieran O’Reilly said that it was “inexcusable” that ‘Father A’ remained an active priest until he retired in 1993.

The priest is the late Fr Tom McNamara, who served in the east Clare area of Mountshannon-Whitegate area during the 1970s to 1990s.

A report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) reported that there were 26 complaints of abuse concerning ‘Father A’.

Dr O’Reilly confirmed that the late Bishop of Killaloe Dr Michael Harty had referred ‘Father A’ to therapy.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Wicked Local Falmouth

Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted May. 12, 2014

FALL RIVER — A lawsuit has been filed in Connecticut that accuses the Diocese of Fall River and its former bishop, Daniel Cronin, of failing to prevent a priest from sexually abusing two boys who were altar servers on Cape Cod for almost decade.

The alleged predator-priest — Monsignor Maurice Souza — died in August 1996 at age 83. The lawsuit accuses Souza of sexually assaulting the victims from the time they were approximately 9 and 10 years old to when both were 17 years of age. Both alleged victims met Souza when he was the pastor of St. Anthony’s Church in East Falmouth.

The lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 4 and seeks monetary compensatory damages, says the boys were taken to Connecticut and Massachusetts for athletic events and other activities, and that they were sexually abused in both states by Souza from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. The lawsuit says the victims spent nights with Souza in hotel rooms, a church rectory and Souza’s residence in Taunton.

The lawsuit also alleges that Souza would provide “awards and inducements” to the plaintiffs, and that if they refused his advances, Souza would threaten to replace them with another “travel companion” to whom he would provide gifts and rewards.

The lawsuit says Souza also made disparaging and derogatory remarks about one plaintiff’s intelligence, athleticism and academic prowess.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Cape Cod Times

By CURT BROWN
cbrown@s-t.com
May 13, 2014

FALL RIVER — Former Fall River Bishop Daniel A. Cronin and the Fall River Diocese failed to supervise a priest who sexually abused two Falmouth altar boys from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, according to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut.

The suit, filed in the Judicial District of Hartford, names Cronin and the diocese as defendants. Cronin headed the diocese for 21 years until he left in December 1991 to become archbishop of the Hartford Diocese.

The 50-page complaint alleges Cronin did not properly supervise the late Monsignor Maurice Souza, a New Bedford native accused in court documents of sexually abusing the two altar servers beginning when they were 9 and 10 years old when he was assigned to St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth.

The abuse of the victims continued until they were 17 years old, according to Robert Hoatson, president of Road to Recovery Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families and is an advocate for the plaintiffs in this case.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
Road to Recovery

May 12, 2014

Retired Archbishop of Hartford, CT, Daniel Cronin, who is also the former Bishop of Fall River, MA, is being sued in Connecticut by two clergy sexual abuse victims from the Fall River, MA Diocese that Archbishop Cronin led as bishop for over twenty years

Fall River, MA priest, Msgr. Maurice Souza, sexually abused boys in CT, MA, and elsewhere

Hartford, CT, retired Archbishop Daniel Cronin, when Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, MA, negligently supervised Msgr. Maurice Souza, allowing him to sexually abuse at least two minor-aged boys for approximately a decade

What: A press conferences announcing the filing of a lawsuit against retired Hartford CT

Archbishop Daniel Cronin who is also the former Bishop of Fall River, MA, and the Diocese of Fall River, MA, on behalf of two clergy sexual abuse victims.

When: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Where: On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Fall River, MA, located at 887 Highland Avenue, Fall River, MA 02720 – 508-675-0211

Who: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families and advocate for the plaintiffs in this case; other survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and supporters.

Why: Former Fall River, MA Bishop and retired Hartford, CT Archbishop Daniel Cronin was the supervisor of Msgr. Maurice Souza when he was a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, MA. Msgr. Souza sexually abused two children, approximately 9 to approximately 17 years of age, from St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth on Cape Cod. The young boys were taken to Connecticut and Massachusetts for athletic events and other reasons and were sexually abused in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Archbishop Cronin, when he was Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, MA, is accused of reckless supervision, negligent battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, and other counts because Archbishop Cronin failed to protect children in the Fall River Diocese and beyond.

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

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Caroline O’Doherty

The number of priests formally accused of sexually abusing children in the country’s biggest Catholic diocese over the past 40 years has topped 100, according to the latest figures.

The cost of compensating victims of paedophile priests in the diocese has exceeded €20m, with €14m paid out in settlements and €6.4m spent on legal bills.

The review of the Dublin Archdiocese by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church found that allegations were made against three more priests in the last year, bringing to 101 the total of diocesan priests accused of abuse since 1975.

Concerns about 40 of them arose in the past 10 years. Of those, four were convicted in the criminal courts and 23 were found to involve concerns that were credible, although not proven. In those 27 cases, the diocese substantially restricted or terminated their ministries.

Of the total 101 accused, 49 are deceased, 34 are living and remain priests of the diocese, and 18 have left the priesthood and/or the diocese. In total, they faced 432 separate allegations of abuse.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

The Vatican defense by Archbishop Tomasi of 848 defrocked and 2,572 penalized pedophile priests is TGTBT! What does ‘too good to be true’ mean? Wiki.answers: “If something appears too good to be true, it usually isn’t true. This is how con-artists take money for nothing from gullible people. ‘Too good to be true’ basically means what it says – that something is so wonderful, there’s no way it could be real.” Pope Francis is the biggest CON-Christ so it is no surprise that his Papal Nuncio to the UN, Archbishop Tomasi is also a con-artist.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus ordained in 1947, John Thatcher spent his early career teaching at Jesuit high schools in Tacoma and Spokane, Washington. From 1957-1983 he was assistant priest at St. Ignatius parish in Portland, Oregon, and again 1983-1994. During the intervening decade Thatcher assisted at St. Aloysius in Spokane. He retired to Regis Jesuit Community in Spokane in 1994 and died in 2003. Thatcher was accused in a claim against the Portland, Oregon archdiocese of having sexually abused a 6-year-old boy in 1963.

Ordained: 1947
Died: Nov. 19, 2003

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TEXAS
KRIS

DRISCOLL – A Driscoll man is in jail, accused of stealing money from the church he worked at.

It appears he may have stolen at least $100,000 over several years from the St. James Church, which has locations in Driscoll and Bishop.

The Nueces County Sheriff’s Office arrested Benito Reyes Jr. for forgery with a financial instrument, and theft.

Authorities say Reyes was pocketing cash donations, paying himself for hours he never worked, and reimbursing himself for personal expenses like groceries, claiming that they were for the church.

The Sheriff’s Office says he would forge the head priest’s signature on his time sheets and reimbursements.

We’re told the Diocese of Corpus Christi has removed that priest while authorities investigate, but the Sheriff’s Office says they don’t believe he was involved.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle PI

Archdiocese made ‘astonishing’ claim in concealing Seattle priest’s sexual offenses, review board says

Posted on May 12, 2014 | By Joel Connelly

The Archdiocese of Seattle failed to inform Catholic faithful, and made an “astonishing” claim and “serious misstatements” in seeking to explain why a priest suspended from ministry for sexual misconduct with a teenager went on saying mass and conducting weddings, say former leaders of a diocesan review board.

“We urge you to consider releasing the documents of the review board relating to this matter, subject to not identifying any victims, so that the laity can have complete and accurate information,” retired Judge Terrence Carroll and former U.S. Attorney Mike McKay wrote earlier this month to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain.

Or as Carroll put it bluntly in a Monday interview: “By God, let those files be open so people can know what and who we are dealing with. We may have another case like this out there.”

The investigations documents, dating to 2004 and which the archdiocese has refused to make public, would reveal that a 17-year-old boy involved in a sexual relationship with the priest, Harry Quigg, was passed among the priest and friends, according to multiple sources.

Sartain has not talked with or directly responded to Carroll and McKay.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

BY JOEL MATHIS | MAY 12, 2014

At BigTrial.net, reporter Ralph Cipriano writes that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court isn’t the last stop for Monsignor William Lynn, who was convicted of child endangerment in the Catholic sex scandal — but then had that conviction overturned on a technicality earlier this year.

Four scenarios:

– The state Supreme Court could decide to affirm the Superior Court ruling that Lynn’s conviction should be reversed; such a decision would immediately end the case .

– Ronald D. Castile, the state Supreme Court’s chief justice, is scheduled to retire at the end of this year because he is 70 years old, the state’s mandatory retirement age for judges. If the Lynn case doesn’t get to the state Supreme Court before Castille steps down in December, and the remaining six members deadlock 3-3, a tie means the Superior Court ruling would stand.

– The state Supreme Court could decide to reverse the Superior Court. The case would then be remanded back to the Superior Court, which would have to decide on other appeal issues raised by Lynn’s defense lawyers.

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MINNESOTA
The Wild Reed

Paul Lakeland, author and director of Fairfield University’s Center for Catholic Studies, will be visiting Minnesota at the end of the month to speak on “Pope Francis and the Liberation of the Laity.”

I first met Paul at the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform’s 2010 Synod of the Baptized, “Claiming Our Place at the Table.” I was an organizer of this event while Paul was its keynote speaker. His talk at Synod 2010 was entitled “The Call of the Baptized: Be the Church, Live the Mission.” It was an excellent presentation, the transcript of which can be found here.

Now Paul is returning to Minnesota where he will be speaking on what Pope Francis has to say about the role of the laity in the world and the responsibilities the baptismal priesthood places on each of us who are baptized in Christ’s name. On Wednesday, April 30, Paul will be speaking at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Minneapolis (details here). Then on Friday, May 1, Paul will be at Christ Church Newman Center in St Cloud (details here). Both speaking engagements are free and open to the public.

Along with serving as the director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, Paul Lakeland is active in the American Academy of Religion, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Workgroup on Constructive Christian Theology. His two most recent books, both winners of Catholic Press Association awards, are The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church and Catholicism at the Crossroads: How the Laity Can Save the Church.

Following, with added links, is an excerpt from chapter five of Lakeland’s Catholicism at the Crossroads. This excerpt deals with understanding the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandal, and I believe it’s timely to share given all that is happening in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in relation to this scandal.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Mon, May 12, 2014

As many as 54 abuse allegations have been made against 28 Presentation Brothers (one unnamed) since January 1st 1975,with one convicted in the courts, the Catholic church child protection watchdog’s review has found.

Of those 28, 16 are deceased and four have left the congregation, Of the remaining eight Brothers, two are out of ministry, four are retired, and one returned to ministry following advice which was sought, following an independent risk assessment by the National Case Management Reference Group. It determined that he did not present a risk to children.

Three of the seven known living Brothers are subject to strict management plans and reside in community residences. Two of them have been independently risk assessed and received therapy. Allegations against the third Brother were only recently received and are being investigated.

Of the seven known living Brothers, six are out of ministry or retired with the seventh returned to ministry as explained above. Where the four who left the congregation are concerned the civil authorities had been informed about the allegations made against them.

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

KENTUCKY
WKU

By WKU PUBLIC RADIO NEWS

The Archdiocese of Louisville says it has opened an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against a Marion County priest. The Courier-Journal reports a May 8th letter written by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz says the church is looking into complaints against the Rev. Joseph Hemmerle. Hemmerle, who is the pastor of two Marion County parishes, has been placed on leave.

Kurtz says the archdiocese has reported the allegations to the commonwealth’s attorney in Meade County where the alleged abuse took place in the 1970s.

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CALIFORNIA
KCBA

[with video]

May 12, 2014
Parishioners at a church in Davis say they are shocked and heartbroken after a popular priest’s arrested for statutory rape. He is accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. Police arrested 45-year-old Father Hector Coria on Friday. Investigators say he became involved with a 17-year-old girl last year. He is a priest at St James parish in Davis. He has been placed on administrative leave.

Transcripción (CC) –

Parishioners at a church in Davis say they are shocked and heartbroken after a popular priest’s arrested for statutory rape. He is accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. Police arrested 45-year-old Father Hector Coria on Friday. Investigators say he became involved with a 17-year-old girl last year. He is a priest at St James parish in Davis. He has been placed on administrative leave.

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

AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

A FORMER priest and St Stanislaus’ College form master has been charged with 10 counts of indecently assaulting a male.

The matter involving Peter John Ryan, now 71 of Newington, was mentioned before magistrate Michael Allen in Bathurst Local Court yesterday.

Ryan, who is being represented by barrister Greg Walsh, did not appear during the brief hearing, which was mentioned by Department of Public Prosecutions solicitor Mr Walford.

Mr Walford told the court there were still police statements outstanding and asked the matter be put over until June 16 for replies.

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

CONNECTICUT
Shelton Herald

A Shelton priest has been relieved of his duties at St. Margaret Mary Church in Shelton.

Diocese of Bridgeport Bishop Frank J. Caggiano made the announcement that the Rev. John J. Stronkowski submitted his resignation after being asked to do so by the bishop.

“I do this in light of serious difficulties that have come to my attention recently regarding Father Stronkowski’s tenure as administrator, including his persistent absenteeism from both the rectory and the parish and its ministries, his growing difficulties with both the staff and lay leaders of the parish, and other personal and administrative shortcomings,” Caggiano wrote in a letter distributed to parishioners during this past weekend.

Been at parish since 2012

Stronkowski has been serving as the parish pastor since January, and previously was appointed as its administrator in September 2012.

He has been a priest in the Diocese of Bridgeport since 1985.

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KENTUCKY
Herald-Dispatch

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Catholic priest who leads two parishes in central Kentucky has been placed on administrative leave after an allegation that he sexually abused a boy in the 1970s.

The Rev. Joseph Hemmerle is pastor at St. Francis of Assisi and Holy Cross parishes in Marion County.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz wrote in a letter to parishioners that the Archdiocese of Louisville was contacted by someone who alleged the abuse by Hemmerle. The archdiocese referred it to law enforcement in Meade County, where the abuse allegedly occurred. The archdiocese is also conducting an internal investigation.

“We realize that this is a painful situation, and we want to support you during this time of uncertainty,” Kurtz wrote. “Please keep Father Joe and all victims of sexual abuse in your prayers.”

The Courier-Journal reports Hemmerle was also put on leave in 2002 after another man alleged he was molested in the mid-1970s at Camp Tall Trees, in Otter Creek Park. Hemmerle was allowed to return to ministry after investigations by police and the archdiocese could not substantiate the accusation.

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

CALIFORNIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

Father Hector Coria, a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento serving since July 1, 2012 as parochial vicar of St. James Parish in Davis, was arrested May 9 by Davis police on suspicion of statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor.

Police began investigating the sexual abuse charges against Father Coria, 45, earlier this month, according to a spokesman for the Davis Police Department. Father Coria allegedly befriended the 17-year-old female victim in late 2013, police said.

“In late 2013, Father Coria began a sexual relationship with the minor and engaged in that sexual relationship on multiple occasions since 2013,” a department news release said.

On May 9, Davis police served search warrants at multiple locations and subsequently arrested Father Coria. He was booked into Yolo County Jail on May 9 but was released on bail as of the evening of May 10, according to a jail spokeswoman. He is expected to be arraigned next month in Yolo Superior Court.

The following statement was released May 10 by Kevin Eckery, spokesman for the Diocese of Sacramento, concerning the arrest of Father Coria:

“Father Hector Coria, a priest at St. James Parish in Davis, has been arrested for alleged sexual misconduct by a minor by the City of Davis Police Department.

“In keeping with diocesan policy, Father Coria has been placed on administrative leave, his faculties have been withdrawn and he may no longer function as a priest while this matter is under investigation by local law enforcement and Davis Police.

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CALIFORNIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sacramento

Davis priest placed on administrative leave after arrest for sexual misconduct; Diocese to cooperate with Davis PD investigation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Eckery
Saturday, May 10, 2014 916-296-5945
keckery@eckery.com

The following statement was released by Kevin Eckery, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, concerning the arrest of Rev. Hector Coria for unspecified sexual misconduct charges with a minor by the City of Davis Police Department.

“Fr. Hector Coria, a priest at St. James Parish in Davis, has been arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor by the City of Davis Police Department.

“In keeping with diocesan policy, Fr. Coria has been placed on administrative leave, his faculties have been withdrawn and he may no longer publicly function as a priest while this matter is under investigation by local law enforcement and Davis Police.

“If you have any information that could assist law enforcement with their investigation, or if you feel you have been a victim of Fr. Coria, we urge you to contact Lt. Paul Doroshov of Davis PD at (530) 747-5420.”

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

A Davis Catholic priest was arrested for having sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, the Davis Police Department said.

Rev. Hector Coria, 45, was taken into custody by police after officers served search warrants at multiple locations Friday, police said.

The police department started investigating Coria after they got reports of the sexual abuse in early May. During the investigation, police found that Coria befriended the 17-year-old girl while he was a priest at St. James Parish in late 2013 and began a sexual relationship with the teen, police said.

Coria was booked into Yolo County jail for statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

Monday, May 12, 2014

CHRIS UHLMANN: Another Salvation Army officer has been accused of repeated child sexual assault.

The ABC has learned that the alleged perpetrator is a Salvation Army Major believed to be in his 80s who was not named by the Royal Commission hearings into child sexual abuse.

His alleged victims were the children of fellow officers.

One victim claims she reported her alleged rape and abuse almost 20 years ago but is yet to receive any formal response from the Salvation Army.

She spoke to Background Briefing’s Sarah Dingle.

And a warning, some listeners may find this story distressing.

SARAH DINGLE: The 49-year-old woman who we’ll call Bronte is a successful professional. She’s been involved with The Salvation Army literally since birth. Her teenage mother gave birth to her in a Salvation Army orphanage, and she was adopted by Salvation Army officers at just 10-days-old.

Around 1969, her parents and their best friends – also Salvation Army officers – went on a holiday in Victoria. Bronte was four.

BRONTE: Initially, the abuse started as him inserting his fingers into my genitals.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director, 949.322.7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

The sexual molestation of a child by a person in a position of power—especially religious power—is a crime.

The term “statutory rape” is troublesome. It implies that the victim—a child—has the power to consent to a sexual relationship with a much older adult in a position of power. Not only was Fr. Hector Coria an adult who should have known better, but he is also a priest with a moral and religious authority. And now, he has allegedly sexually molested a child. That is a crime with devastating effects on the victim, the community and the public.

We encourage Davis and Yolo County law enforcement to vigorously investigate this case, seek out other victims, and encourage witnesses to come forward. Coria has only been a priest for a short time, and we fear that there may be other victims from his time in the seminary and after his 2011 ordination.

We also urge Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto to reach out to the Spanish speaking communities where Coria worked, as well as the student community at UC Davis, where Coria conducted seminars and retreats. We beg Soto to act quickly and reach out to parishioners to ensure that they understand the gravity of Coria’s alleged crimes and do not act in ways that alienate and re-victimize girls who may have been abused, as we saw in the case of Redding priest Fr. Uriel Ojeda.

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MARYLAND
WJLA

By Jeannette Reyes May 12, 2014

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – The jury has been selected, and opening arguments are set to begin around 3 p.m. Monday in the sexual assault case of Nathaniel Morales, accused of sexually abusing boys for decades in Montgomery County.

Morales allegedly used his membership in the Covenant Life Church and job at the Covenant Life Academy to meet his victims. He allegedly abused boys at their homes, his apartments and on a church retreat.

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ITALY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, May 12, 2014

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

We are deeply impressed by the courage and moved by the pain of the dozens of Italian clergy sex abuse victims who are part of a just-released YouTube video message to Pope Francis. For the safety of the vulnerable and the healing of the suffering, we endorse their call to Vatican officials to release long-secret church records about clerics who commit and conceal heinous sexual violence against children.

[UPI}

It’s hard for a victim of sexual violence to speak about their suffering. It’s often harder when the perpetrator is a powerful church official. And it’s often harder still to do so publicly, revealing one’s name and face. So we applaud these wounded, but obviously caring individuals for having the strength.

We hope their video prompts many others – Catholics and non-Catholics – to offer these gutsy, pained individuals the sympathy and love they so richly deserve. They clearly have been hurt, are still hurt, and should be treated with extraordinary kindness and gratitude for their work in exposing – and hopefully preventing – these dreadful crimes. We also hope their video prods others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sexual violence and cover ups to speak up, get help, expose wrongdoers, and protect kids. Silence endangers kids and helps predators. Stepping forward helps kids and exposes those who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes.

At the same time, however, we urge these brave men and women to stay focused on healing and prevention without expecting or waiting for any positive response from Catholic officials. In our 25 years of experience, we’ve learned that we do, in fact, have the capacity to recover from the trauma we suffered as innocent children and vulnerable adults at the hands of Catholic clerics. And we can recover from the added trauma we suffered as brave adults when we sought help from church officials. It helps when church officials don’t ignore or re-victimize us. But often, that’s precisely what they do. Still, we can get better without them and that’s what we hope these courageous Italian survivors are doing.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Mon, May 12, 2014

The fact that no child safeguarding case management files existed in the Divine Word (SVD) missionary congregation prior to 2013 “is of great concern and indicates a lack of any focus on child protection within the society over the last 20 years,” the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) review has found.”Case files were constructed by the society in advance of the review taking place,” it said.

The existence of child safeguarding case management files within the congregation “can only be traced back to the beginning of 2013,” it said. “A lot of documentation was either never generated, or was removed or destroyed by parties unknown, or was kept in some file or files the existence of which has not yet been discovered.” it said.

It said it was “not acceptable that any Church authority in Ireland would have waited until 2012 to begin the process of implementing accepted and agreed Church child safeguarding policies, procedures and practices and while there may be explanations offered for this state of affairs, there are no excuses for it.”

It also described as “ truly unfortunate and a great injustice that it is almost impossible to identify the victims of historical child sexual abuse who live in developing countries and whose abuse took place many years ago.

“The behaviour of the few SVD members who perpetrated this abuse has severely undermined the integrity of a Christian brotherhood that aspires to bring the Good News to people who have not yet heard it,” it said.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michele Somerville

Last week, Prefect of the Confederation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) Gerhard Mueller, condemned the Leadership Conference Women Religious (LCWR) for honoring Catholic theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson and her book Quest of the Living God. The CDF argues that the book fails to be in accord with Roman Catholic doctrine. This magisterial spanking aims to dictate to a group of highly intelligent, well-educated women which books are suitable for their honors — this promises to uber-boost sales of an academic work and, I believe, puts the pope in a tricky spot. (See my 2012 piece, “Just Buy ‘Just Love’ for more on how such condescending condemnation works.) The pope is the pope. He can speak when he likes. But I think this pope, this time around, unlike the last time around, will have to say something.

Today’s pope is, after all, everyone’s favorite pope. At present, Francis I is re-examining the way the church hierarchy looks at LGBT Catholics, divorced and remarried Catholics and so-called “artifical” contraception. This kinder and gentler pope has exhorted Catholics to respond more vigorously to the marginalized among us, and to look more closely at our (I’m Roman Catholic) obligations to be conscientious stewards of the environment. This more Catholic-in-the-pew-friendly pontiff even appears to be more dramatically rethinking celibacy for priests. (That he’s doing so as a means of staving off the clear call to examine more openly the case for ordaining women, though disconcerting to Catholic feminists, detracts only somewhat from the dramatic nature of this examination.)

We have seen a great shift in this Vatican’s tone. But what have we not seen?

We have not seen the shift fully extend to the women of the church.

And we will not see Pope Francis I come down on this Mueller, despite that he ought.

Let Catholics recognize, at the very least, that this cuddly pontiff supports these Inquisitions, which had the Vatican monitoring women in convents. Let Catholics in the pews not push away the truth that the Vatican is still trolling its women — and that this campaign is conducted with the imprimatur of Pope Francis. Let Catholics be aware, as well, that it is women’s ordination activists the inquisitors seek, who dwell, more often than not, in convents.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Mon, May 12, 2014

None of the 15 Patrician Brothers who have faced 22 abuse allegations since January 1st 1975 have been convicted in he courts,a review by the church’s child protection watchdog has found.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) review has found that “in the vast majority of cases, the events which gave rise to the allegations may have taken place several decades before they were reported to the congregation and refer to alleged abuse between the 1950s -1980s.”

Of the 15 brothers who were the subject of allegations, “nine are deceased and five have left the congregation. One brother remains in the congregation,” the review found.

The five who left, did so “in excess of 30 years ago and have had no subsequent contact with the congregation. In all cases the allegations were made some considerable time after they had left. In two cases brothers left not long after the alleged time of the abuse.”

The reviewers “were assured by the provincial leader that any decision to leave the congregation was entirely a matter for the individual brother and that the congregation was not in possession at the time of Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Patrician Brothers of information relating to the allegations.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

TODAY’S PUBLICATION OF child protection audits by the National Board for Safeguarding Children’s has been welcomed by One in Four.

The charity provides support to people who have experienced sexual violence.

Advocacy Director with One in Four Deirdre Kenny says, “The audits show how some dioceses and orders have embraced a policy of transparent child protection and are working hard to implement good practice.

“In each case there has been a vast improvement in cooperation between the Catholic Church and the statutory agencies and all allegations are now reported to the civil authorities.

“The audits by the Church’s own watchdog are very worthwhile and the Catholic Church probably now have more consistent procedures in place than many other organisations and professionals.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

A RESPONSIBILITY TO protect children from abuse is treated with “utmost seriousness” in the Catholic Church’s Diocese of Meath, a report has found.

It’s part of the fifth tranche of reviews on child safeguarding in a number of dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

However, in one case, while formal contact was made with An Garda Síochána regarding allegations of abuse, the diocese waited 18 months before formally notifying the HSE, although informal contact was made.

The diocese was compliant in the vast majority of areas scrutinised by the watchdog.

It “partially met” just five criterion, resulting in a range of recommendations focusing on areas such as communication with victims of abuse and improved training for staff

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