Abuse Tracker

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

December 31, 2008
Officials of the Diocese of Cloyne-- which is under heavy fire for mishandling of sex-abuse complaints-- reportedly demanded access to all information in government files about an incident reported earlier this year.

NORWICH (CT)
United Press International

NORWICH, Conn., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Connecticut's Catholic Church is charged with racketeering in a suit that claims church officials covered up alleged sex abuse by priests, documents say.

The suit, brought by a New London, Conn., attorney, cites the leadership of the Norwich, Conn., Diocese with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act -- more commonly known as RICO -- for allegedly conspiring to keep reported child sex abuse by priests quiet, The Hartford Courant reported Wednesday.

The suit names former Bishop Daniel Reilly and its current vicar general, the Rev. Thomas McBride, as culpable under RICO for alleged child sex abuse committed by the late the Rev. Thomas Shea, who was accused of sexually abusing at least 16 girls in the 11 parishes within the Norwich Diocese.

CONNECTICUT
The Register Citizen

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:14 PM EST

HARTFORD — A Connecticut woman has filed a racketeering lawsuit accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich of conspiring to cover up sexual abuse of children by priests.

The woman is known only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Hartford. She alleges she was sexually abused by the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea in 1976 when she was 13 and he was assigned to St. Joseph's Church in New London.

The lawsuit claims the alleged cover-up conspiracy involved diocese officials transferring Shea and several other priests to other parishes numerous times after they were accused of sexual abuse.

The woman's lawyer, Robert Reardon, said he believes the lawsuit is the first racketeering case brought against the Catholic Church in Connecticut. Similar lawsuits have been filed around the country, but nearly all have failed, in attempts to get around time limits for taking legal action.

CONNECTICUT
Catholic Culture

December 31, 2008
A Connecticut woman has filed a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Norwich diocese, using a federal law designed for use against organized-crime figures. The lawsuit cites RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law in claiming that the diocese engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up evidence of priestly abuse.

OHIO
WTTE

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's highest court has turned down an appeal filed by a Toledo priest convicted of murdering a nun.

The Ohio Supreme Court said Wednesday that it is declining to hear the appeal of the Rev. Gerald Robinson.

Robinson was convicted in 2006 of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Examiner

Parishioners at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Little Italy were shocked and saddened to learn at weekend Masses that an investigation confirmed their former pastor molested a 13-year-old boy in the late 1970s at a New York church.

Michael Salerno, known as “Father Mike,” was removed in November 2007 when allegations surfaced more than 30 years after the abuse occurred, leaving parishioners with little explanation until this weekend when they said they were given a letter dated Dec. 28 from the head of the Pallottine Fathers, the order that runs the church.

“I regret that the investigation took so long to complete, since I know it has been a painful process for many, especially those in the St. Leo’s community,” the Rev. Peter Sticco wrote.

OHIO
Toledo Blade

The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Gerald Robinson, the Catholic priest convicted in 2006 of murdering a nun nearly 30 years ago.

In a brief notation released Wednesday, the high court listed the case under the heading, "Appeals not accepted for review." Justice Paul Pfeifer dissented with the decision and Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger recused herself. There was not explanation given by either justice for their decisions.

Robinson, now 70, was arrested in April, 2004, and convicted by a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury on May 11, 2006. The Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in July.

NORWICH (CT)
Newsday

December 31, 2008
HARTFORD, Conn. - A Connecticut woman has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich of conspiring to cover up sexual abuse of children by priests.

The woman is known only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit and alleges that she was sexually abused by the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea in 1976 when she was 13 and he was assigned to St. Joseph's Church in New London.

INDIA
Indian Catholic

KOCHI (ICNS): Police say a nun and two priests they arrested in Kerala have confessed to murdering a nun 16 years ago, but Catholic Church officials say the three are being framed.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's top investigating agency, claimed in court on Dec. 2 that it has evidence the trio committed the murder to cover up their sexual relations, UCA News reported.

“We don’t believe this. The investigation is proceeding with a pre-planned script,” said Father Paul Thelakat, spokesperson for the Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) based in the southern Indian Kerala state.

PORTLAND (ME)
Sun Journal

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PORTLAND (AP) - Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Malone says church officials obtained a police order and threatened church sanctions against an outspoken critic because he felt the man's words and actions were "threatening to me personally and harmful to my ministry."

Malone, leader of Maine's 215,000 Roman Catholics, issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon on the Diocese of Portland's Web site following news accounts of his actions against Paul Kendrick.

In his statement, Malone said he turned the other cheek for nearly five years as the Freeport man flooded the diocese office with e-mails and held vigils outside his residence, the chancery and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where Malone often celebrates Mass.

LORAIN (OH)
The Chronicle-Telegram

LORAIN — A former chaplain at Lorain Catholic High School has been sentenced to life in prison for raping an 8-year-old boy.

Joseph N. Williams, of Akron, will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Ryan Miday, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

The 64-year-old raped the boy in 1992 at a nursing home in Warrensville Heights, where the boy was visiting a family member. Williams already had left the church at that point and was working as a lawyer.

OHIO
Ohio.com

CLEVELAND: A former priest and lawyer from Akron has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of raping a boy in the 1990s.

Joseph N. Williams was convicted last week of three counts of rape and one count of kidnapping.

He was sentenced by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John J. Russo. Williams had denied the charges.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Culture

December 31, 2008
Pallottine Father Michael Salerno, who most recently served as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, has admitted that he “did sexually abuse a boy who was approximately 13 years old at the time at the time of the initial abuse,” according a letter from his provincial dated Sunday.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Wednesday December 31 2008

A dozen people yesterday joined a priest on his protest march over the Catholic church's handling of child abuse claims.

Fr Michael Mernagh set off alone on Monday morning from St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh, Co Cork, to the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin.

It is hoped that dozens more will now join his 'walk of atonement' before the group reaches the capital.

NEW MEXICO
The Denver Post

By Barry Massey
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/31/2008 12:30:00 AM MST

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — The leader of an apocalyptic religious sect in northeastern New Mexico was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for sexual misconduct with teenage female followers.

Wayne Bent, 67, received the sentence for criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

State District Judge Gerald Baca imposed the maximum sentence of 18 years but suspended eight years. Under state law, Bent must serve 85 percent of the sentence before he can be released.

NORWICH (CT)
Hartford Courant

By ELIZABETH HAMILTON
December 31, 2008
A New London lawyer has brought what is believed to be the first racketeering case against the Catholic Church in Connecticut, alleging that the Norwich Diocese engaged in a conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse of children by priests.

The lawsuit says the Norwich Diocese, its former bishop, Daniel Reilly, and its current vicar general, the Rev. Thomas McBride, should be held accountable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — more commonly known as RICO — for conspiring to cover up the criminal conduct of abusive priests.

The complaint was brought by a Connecticut woman, identified only as "Jane Doe," who alleges that she was molested by the Rev. Thomas W. Shea, now deceased, in 1976. Shea has been accused of sexually abusing at least 16 girls in the 11 parishes he served in the Norwich Diocese.

ARKANSAS
The Associated Press

By JON GAMBRELL

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Jailed evangelist Tony Alamo's right to religious freedom doesn't allow him to beat children, a lawyer suing the preacher over alleged abuse says.

In federal court filings this week, W. David Carter wrote that protecting the public trumps constitutional protections afforded to religion. Alamo's lawyer said in a court filing last week that the Bible requires spanking unruly children, and he suggested that Alamo had permission from church parents to discipline their children.

AKRON (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Posted by Donna J. Miller/Plain Dealer Reporter December 24, 2008 06:37AM

Joseph N. Williams, of Akron, a former Catholic priest and attorney, will be sentenced Tuesday for raping an 8-year-old boy.

Williams, 64, was a priest from 1969 to 1976 and served as a chaplain at Lorain Catholic High School. He then left the church and became a lawyer in the 1980s. He retired in 1998, prosecutor's spokesman Ryan Miday said.

After a two-day trial in December, a jury found him guilty of all charges; kidnapping and three counts of rape. He raped the 8-year-old in 1992 at a nursing home in Warrensville Heights, where the boy's family had gathered to visit a family member. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

AKRON (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Posted by Sarena McRae/Plain Dealer Reporter December 30, 2008 18:13PM

A 64-year-old Akron man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Tuesday for raping an 8-year-old boy in 1992.

Joseph N. Williams, a former Catholic priest and attorney, was found guilty by a Cuyahoga County jury last week on kidnaping and rape charges following a two-day trial in December.

He raped the 8-year-old in 1992 at a nursing home in Warrensville Heights, where the boy's family had gathered to visit a family member. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

AKRON (OH)
NewsNet 5

AKRON, Ohio -- A former Akron Catholic priest was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1992 rape of an 8-year-old boy.

Joseph Williams, 64, was a priest from 1969 to 1976. The jury found his guilty of three counts of rape and kidnapping.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE DIOCESE of Cloyne demanded to see all documents the State possessed concerning an allegation of sex abuse made against one of its priests, before it would agree to meet HSE officials on the case earlier this year.

The relevant allegation concerned a priest referred to as “Father A” in the report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) of the Catholic Church in Ireland, published on December 19th last.

The report found child protection practice in the diocese to be “inadequate and in some respects dangerous”.

The allegation, by another priest, claimed he had been abused when a young boy by “Father A” and that this matter had not been properly dealt with by Cloyne diocese, particularly by Bishop John Magee.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

SNAP fact sheet – November 2008

Recently, and especially over the past year, more and more suspended pedophile priests have begun to commit more subsequent crimes. This proves what history, psychology and common sense have long indicated (and we in SNAP have long said): merely removing a child molesting cleric from ‘active duty’ doesn’t ‘cure’ him. These men remain dangerous.

Cases like these and dozens more, show that it’s irresponsible for church officials to do the bare minimum: suspend predatory priests but refuse to house and/or supervise them.

Consider just these publicly disclosed cases over the last few months:

In October:

-- A Chicago area Jesuit priest (Donald McGuire) was convicted in charged in federal court for taking a minor out of the country and molesting him, In, he was also convicted by a Wisconsin court for molesting two students in the 1960s. In between, he was jailed for violating conditions of his pre-sentencing release. ...

-- A Grand Rapids priest (Shamaun Beas) was sentenced for sexually molesting two girls six years ago. He was already serving six to 20 years in prison from a 2004 Internet sex sting in which police say he tried to solicit who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sexual purposes.

MAINE
NECN

[with video]

(NECN: Amy Sinclair, Portland, Maine) - The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics is threatening to take extraordinary action against an outspoken supporter of abuse victims.

The doors of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine are now officially closed to sexual abuse victim advocate Paul Kendrick. Kendrick was asked to keep his distance from the cathedral and chancery after he wrote a letter to Bishop Malone says he planned to attend Christmas Mass "...in peace, but if you happen to look my way from time to time, you may see me shaking my head ever so slightly in disbelief, or my head in my hands as I pray for the tolerance to remain seated in spite of your hypocrisy."

Kendrick said he hoped to attend Mass to remind the bishop about a priest abuse case in Boothbay Harbor. He was frustrated because the bishop hadn't met personally with the victim's mother.

Diocese communications director Sue Bernard says Kendrick's advocacy work has crossed the line. She says leading demonstrations on behalf of sexual abuse victims is advocacy, but the personal attacks on the bishop's character is harassment. Kendrick was warned in the letter that if he tries again to contact Bishop Malone he risks losing any right "to participate fully in the sacramental life of the church."

BALTIMORE (MD)
ABC 2

Reported by: Jeff Hager

The sign is gone now from the sidewalk in front of Isabella’s Restaurant calling on the people of Little Italy to “Keep Mike in Their Prayers”, but they are reminded of the former priest’s absence from nearby St. Leo’s Roman Catholic Church every day.

"You know... I go to church. Attendance is down. The events that he really used to push for, which brought the community together, they're just not happening any more," said Isabella’s co-owner, Daniel Stewart.

Father Michael “Mike” Salerno disappeared from St. Leo’s in November of 2007 amidst allegations that he had molested a 13-year old boy at a church in New York in the Seventies.

UNITED STATES
The Observer

Clara Hersh

In the film "Narrow Bridge," writer and director Israel Moskovits confronts the controversial issue of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish world. Moskovits plays the protagonist, Daniel Schneider, a philosophy major attending secular college. He meets Rachel Goldberg (Samantha Leshin) in a philosophy class. The pair quickly forges a bond discussing philosophy and religion, enhanced by the fact that they are seemingly the two Jews on campus. While Rachel has not grown up religious, she is interested in learning more about her heritage. Daniel helps Rachel learn about Judaism and both grow to admire each other over the process, during which they begin dating and eventually become engaged.

Their relationship has its complexities. Rachel is quick to open up to Daniel and divulge her past, but Daniel is very elusive about his life before college. Whenever Rachel asks about his past, Daniel evades her questions and hastily changes the subject. A flashback reveals that the reason for Daniel's elusiveness is because when he was young, Rabbi Kaufman, a teacher whom he trusted and who had helped him in his struggle with Judaism, had one day offered him a ride home, then took a detour and sexually abused him.

When Rachel goes home with Daniel to meet his parents, Daniel is once again confronted with his childhood trauma, as well as Rabbi Kaufman himself. This throws Daniel into a state of panic. He starts to fight with his mother and fiancé and draws away from them. His behavior is so erratic that Rachel begins to question whether or not she made a mistake accepting Daniel's marriage proposal.

NEW MEXICO
Fox 40

By BARRY MASSEY

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — The leader of a small religious sect was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for sexual misconduct with two teenage female followers.

Wayne Bent, 67, who claimed the encounters were spiritual, not sexual, was convicted this month of criminal sexual contact with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Judge Gerald Baca imposed the maximum sentence of 18 years but suspended eight years. He will have to serve at least 8½ years before becoming eligible for release.

HOLMES BEACH (FL)
WWSB

HOLMES BEACH, FL. - A priest at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Holmes Beach is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct that happened 15 years ago.

The Diocese of Venice says the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph is accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in 1993 while he was serving at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church in Ft. Myers.

The priest denies the charges, however, Father Joseph has agreed to remove himself from active ministry while the diocese investigates the charges.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Review

By Catholic Review Staff

Parishioners of St. Leo in Little Italy were informed Dec. 28 that Michael Salerno, their former Pallottine pastor, admitted to the sexual abuse of a minor in the 1970s and that his faculties to function as a priest have been permanently revoked.

In a letter to parishioners dated Dec. 28, Father Peter T. Sticco, provincial for the Pallottines of the Immaculate Conception Province, who staff St. Leo, said Mr. Salerno admitted to the sexual abuse during an investigation conducted by the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he had served as a Pallottine brother.

“I regret that the investigation took so long to complete, since I know it has been a painful process for many, especially those in the St. Leo’s community,” wrote Father Sticco.

FORT MYERS (FL)
The News-Press

By JANINE ZEITLIN • jzeitlin@news-press.com • December 30, 2008

The national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is calling on Bishop Frank Dewane to confiscate the passport of Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, a priest who served in Fort Myers in the 1990s.

Dewane announced a sexual misconduct accusation involving a minor in 1993 at Masses last weekend at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church, where Joseph once led Haitian ministries.

“We fear that Fr. Joseph may be tempted to jump on a plane and return home, instead of facing justice here,” wrote the organization in a letter apparently sent today to Bishop Dewane.

BALTIMORE (MD)
WBAL

BALTIMORE -- The order that runs St. Leo's Catholic Church in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood has informed parishioners that an investigation has concluded former pastor Michael Salerno molested a boy in the 1970s while at a church in New York.

Known to many as "Father Mike," Salerno was a brother at All Saints Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., when the alleged abuse occurred.

The head of the Pallottine Fathers, the Rev. Peter Sticco, wrote in a letter Sunday that a final report by the Diocese of Brooklyn confirmed the abuse of the 13-year-old boy.

MAINE
WGAN

[audio presentation]

Paul Kendrick told us about his feud with the Catholic Church in Portland.

IRELAND
Herald

By Padraig O'Morain

Tuesday December 30 2008

Has the Catholic Church finally met its match in a junior minister -- Barry Andrews?

Let's hope so. Certainly, the behaviour of the Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) needs a strong political response.

That political response should be a national audit of child protection in every Irish diocese.

The fact is, we simply don't know how much has been learned by the Catholic hierarchy from the child abuse scandals of the 1980s and 1990s. Most dioceses are implementing sound child protection measures -- but are all?

PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

BILL NEMITZ

December 30, 2008

By his own admission, he's long been a thorn in the side of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. But in all the years he's spent lambasting the church hierarchy on behalf of those sexually abused by its priests, Paul Kendrick never thought it would come to this.

"Over the past years, it has become apparent that you are unwilling to cease from publicly slandering and defaming (Bishop Richard Malone's) character," stated a recent letter to Kendrick from the Rev. Andrew Dubois, the diocese's vicar general. "This is a cause of great scandal, which may impede (Malone's) effective ministry."

It was not an idle observation. Attached to Dubois' letter was a "canonical precept," or order, from Malone mandating that Kendrick "abstain from all verbal and written communication and physical contact with me."

Malone's precept also prohibits Kendrick from being "present in the same building with me (or) within 500 feet of me in public places."

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

By Julie Bykowicz | julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com
December 30, 2008
Parishioners at St. Leo's Catholic Church in Little Italy were informed at weekend Masses that their former pastor - who was removed suddenly more than a year ago - molested a 13-year-old boy in the late 1970s at a New York church. Michael Salerno, better known as "Father Mike," was a brother at All Saints Church in Brooklyn when the alleged abuse occurred.

When the allegation surfaced last November, Salerno left his post at St. Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church. Parishioners immediately protested, demanding answers.

In a letter dated Dec. 28, the head of the Pallottine Fathers, the order that runs St. Leo's, apologized for the delay. "I regret that the investigation took so long to complete, since I know it has been a painful process for many, especially those in the St. Leo's community," the Rev. Peter T. Sticco wrote.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Tuesday December 30 2008

A priest set off on a long lonely walk of atonement from Cork to Dublin yesterday in response to the Church's handling of the Cloyne child abuse controversy.

Fr Michael Mernagh left St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh, Co Cork, at 9am for the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin -- and urged anyone wishing to join his walk en route to do so.

But as the walk began, the cleric at the centre of the controversy, Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, refused to give an indication of whether he would retire or resign over scathing criticisms in a National Board for the Safeguarding of Children (NBSC) report.

MAINE
Catholic Culture

December 30, 2008
Father Andrew Dubois, vicar general of the Diocese of Portland (Maine), has ordered Paul Kendrick, co-founder of the local Voice of the Faithful chapter, to stay 500 feet away from Bishop Richard Malone or risk the penalty of interdict, by which Kendrick would lose the ability “to participate fully in the sacramental life of the Church.” Kendrick, who has also received a criminal trespass order, has harassed the bishop for five years, according to a diocesan spokeswoman.

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The state's raid on the West Texas polygamist compound has become a sacred touchstone, and not just for the peculiar sect that lived there.

It has mushroomed into a celebrated cause for those who mistrust "the government" in general and the state's child-welfare system in particular.

State-sponsored child snatchers seized shrieking babies from their desperate mothers' arms, they furiously recount in endless retellings via the Internet.

FLORIDA
The News-Press

By JANINE ZEITLIN • jzeitlin@news-press.com • December 30, 2008

The Diocese of Venice put out a public call Monday for potential victims to step forward in the wake of a sexual-abuse allegation against the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, a priest who served in Fort Myers in the 1990s.

Bishop Frank J. Dewane announced the sexual misconduct accusation involving a minor in 1993 at weekend Masses at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church, where Joseph once led Haitian ministries.

“The Diocese of Venice remains committed to a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse with a minor,” the statement read.

FORT MYERS (FL)
Herald Tribune

[Diocese statement (PDF - 53kb)]

Staff Report

VENICE - The Diocese of Venice is investigating a sexual misconduct allegation against a priest.

According to reports, The Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph is accused of having sexual contact with a minor when he was at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church in Fort Myers in 1993.

No specifics were given about the child’s age or gender.

FLORIDA
WINK News

By WINK News

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Diocese of Venice is investigating sexual misconduct allegations made against a priest.

The allegation suggests sexual misconduct by reverend Jean Joseph in 1993, while he was a priest at St. Francis Xavier in Fort Myers.

The diocese says they are investigating this allegation under the church's "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" adopted by US Catholic Bishops in 2002.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

OLIVIA KELLEHER

A PRIEST who is walking from Cork to Dublin to show solidarity with victims of clerical sex abuse has met Bishop John Magee of Cloyne diocese.

Bishop Magee has been severely criticised over recent weeks following a report on the mishandling of allegations relating to clerical sex abuse in his diocese.

Fr Michael Mernagh (70), who yesterday said he believed Bishop Magee should step down from his post, also maintained a three-day vigil outside St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh over Christmas in protest at the Cloyne revelations.

FLORIDA
NBC 2

[full statement of the Diocese of Venice]

by Kara Kenney
Last updated on: 12/29/2008 6:24:35 PM

LEE COUNTY: The Diocese of Venice is investigating allegations of sexual abuse made against a priest of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Fort Myers. The alleged incident happened at St. Francis in 1993.

The priest, Reverend Jean Joseph, is accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Father Joseph now works for a church in Holmes Beach, just north of Sarasota.

PORTLAND (ME)
Daily Advance

[with photo]

By DAVID SHARP
The Associated Press

Monday, December 29, 2008

PORTLAND, Maine — The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics has taken the unusual step of threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for people who were sexually abused by priests, possibly by denying him communion. ...

Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer and former dean of Duquesne Law School, said he had never heard of a bishop using church law, in this case the threat of an "interdict," against activists.

"It's extremely unusual," said Cafardi, who was an original member of the National Review Board, the lay panel the U.S. bishops created in 2001 to monitor their response to the abuse scandal.

The Rev. Tom Doyle, a Virginia priest and advocate for victims who is representing Kendrick, said the church has threatened to prevent Kendrick from receiving Holy Communion if he doesn't comply.

Doyle said he can't find any basis for the diocese's actions, but he said church leaders have been angered by the aggressive tactics of some activists. Doyle said his work with abuse victims cost him a promising career as a canon lawyer in the church.

MAINE
Town Hall

By DAVID SHARP

The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics has taken the unusual step of threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for people who were sexually abused by priests, possibly by denying him communion.

Paul Kendrick of Freeport has been banned from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, and warned in a letter that if he tries again to contact Portland Bishop Richard Malone he risks losing any right "to participate fully in the sacramental life of the church." ...

"It's a not-so-subtle attempt to silence me," Kendrick said Monday. "My response is that it's not about me. It's about protecting children today and helping and supporting those who were abused. He will not silence me from speaking out on those issues."

Sue Bernard, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portland, said the bishop doesn't object to criticism but that Kendrick's actions have gone far beyond that.

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

December 29, 2008
Bishop John Magee of Cloyne has accepted "full responsibility" for the mishandling of sex-abuse cases in his diocese. "We made errors-- not intentionally," the bishop said in an emotional Christmas-eve address. But the bishop continued to reject demands for his resignation, saying that he was determined to supervise the implementation of new policies to eradicate clerical abuse.

INDIA
The Times of India

30 Dec 2008, 0223 hrs IST, Ananthakrishnan G, TNN

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBI told a court hearing the Sister Abhaya murder case in Kochi on Monday that it was Sister Sephy, who was arrested along
with two priests, who hit the nun on the head with a hand-held axe.

CBI said Sister Abhaya was attacked because she saw Sister Sephy in a compromising position with the two priests at the Pius X Convent hostel in Kottayam district.

Sister Abhaya fell unconscious after the nun assaulted her, hitting her twice behind the ears and a third time on her head, CBI told the court of the chief judicial magistrate. The nun was afraid that Sister Abhaya would reveal her illicit relations with the priests - father Thomas M Kottur and father Jose Poothrikkayil, CBI said. Sister Abhaya, according to the investigating agency, witnessed the intimate acts when she came to drink water early in the morning.

FLORIDA
The News-Press

Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, a priest accused of sexual abusing a child during his time in Fort Myers in the mid-1990s, denies the allegation and has ceased active ministry, according to the Diocese of Venice.

TEXAS
Newspaper Tree

Editor's note: The state issued a report Dec. 22 on its activities investigating allegations of child abuse at the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch in Eldorado. James C. Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, issued the following statement. Previously, he wrote about the state's actions in a piece titled The Children of El Dorado: Suffering at the Hands of the State?, posted on April 21, 2008.

***
"The fact the Department of Family and Protective Services released the report right at the beginning of the holidays reflects the Department’s effort to cover up its gross misconduct that cost the taxpayers of Texas $12.5 million and severely disrupted the lives of 439 children without proper legal cause.

"Ultimately, the Department, after being chastised in the courts, brought a handful of cases, which together could never justify the wholesale raid it did and its unconscionable scattering of more than 400 children across the state. There are now only 15 children involved in cases; the other 424 cases were nonsuited and dismissed.

"The report ignores the sham anonymous call that the Department used to justify the Eldorado raid. It tries to gloss over the rulings against it by the Austin Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court.

INDIA
The Times of India

29 Dec 2008, 1449 hrs IST, IANS

KOCHI: In response to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) petition, a court on Monday extended the judicial custody of the three people accused
of having murdered Sister Abhaya in 1992.

The CBI requested the court of the chief judicial magistrate not to grant bail to Father Jose Putarika, Father Thomas Kottor and Sister Seffi because it would affect the investigation of the case, which is in its closing stages.

The court extended the judicial custody of the three accused till Jan 12.

INDIA
The Hindu

KOCHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday informed Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate P.D. Soman that it was the third accused, Sister Sephy, who thrice hit Sister Abhaya, who was staying at the Pius X Convent Hostel, Kottayam, on the head.

The CBI told the court that the third accused had hit Sister Abhaya with an axe (‘Kaikodali’) on the back of the head, near the right ear and on the top of the head.

In a report seeking to extend the judicial custody of the accused filed before the court, the CBI said that investigations revealed that Sister Abhaya woke up on March 27, 1992, the day she was killed, early in the morning, descended the staircase and went to the hostel kitchen for taking drinking water from the fridge. “The accused were found in objectionable circumstances” by Sister Abhaya, the agency said in the report.

FLORIDA
Bradenton Herald

By NATALIE NEYSA ALUND - nalund@bradenton.com

A local Catholic priest is being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct, according to a statement released today by the Diocese of Venice.

The alleged sexual misconduct occurred in 1993 between the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, now a priest at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Holmes Beach, and someone who at that time was a minor, said Adela Gonzales White, communications director with the Diocese of Venice. The reported incident took place when Joseph worked at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church in Ft. Myers.

White did not release the minor’s age or gender nor give any specifics on the allegations.

PORTLAND (ME)
WCSH

Posted By: Mike Webster

PORTLAND (AP) -- The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics is threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for victims of priest sex abuse.

Paul Kendrick has been banned from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland and warned in a letter that further attempts to contact Bishop Richard Malone could endanger his ability "to participate fully in the sacramental life of the church."

BATON ROUGE (LA)
KATC

A Baton Rouge appeals court has unanimously upheld the dismissal of a sexual abuse case against a former Crowley priest.

In March of 2003, a man identified only as "john doe" filed a suit against Rev. Joseph Pellettieri more than 30 years after the alleged incident.

Dammit Janet

... when unrepentant old hippie did her blogpost about the batshit craziness of Blob Blogging Wingnut. I felt that I should blog about priests who sexually abuse female children.

Pope Benny Ratzo recently pontificated upon the harm done to children. It was not an apology for the centuries of tacit complicity between the clerics who abuse children and those who don't. It was not an admission the Catholic Church and its refusal to be accountable for the actions of abusive priests, its hypocrisy that denies and evades responsibility, and its arrogance are morally bankrupt.

While the focus remains fixed on priests (men) who abuse boys, it is likely that more girls than boys have been subjected to sexual exploitation by members of the RCC clergy.

True Restoration II

Title: Vatican II, Homosexuality, & Pedophilia
Author: Atila Sinke Guimaraes
Publisher: Tradition in Action
Excellence: 4 stars
Why: much needed hard evidence of destruction in the Church
Summary in a sentence: A devastating dossier of deviancy.

The last book I reviewed by TIA was Previews of the New Papacy. I gave it only 2 stars because I thought it was not responsible to give such an extensive grouping of photographs with so little (con)textual commentary to guide the reader. But I will say that generally TIA, and Guimaraes in particular, are relentless when it comes to documentation. This was no exception, with 573 footnotes in just over 300 pages.

I certainly don't agree with TIA on everything, and they would certainly say the same about me, but I don't let that get in the way of endorsing and heartily agreeing with good work that they do.

Many of us don't remember where we were when we first heard of the sexual scandals plaguing the Church. There was no liminal event. We just started hearing bits and pieces on the news, punctuated with the names of Weakland or Bernadin or Law. It seemed at first a slow trickle that became a torrent. What Guimaraes does, with a flood of horrifying information, is show that the crisis is much, much worse than our worst nightmares.

HAWAII
Star-Bulletin

By Paul Curtis
Special to the Star-Bulletin

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 29, 2008

LIHUE » A former Kauai resident now living on Oahu was sentenced to 18 months in prison and five years' probation Friday for stealing more than $20,000 from two Kauai Catholic churches where she worked as a secretary.

She is free on bail pending appeal.

Daria Bruce, 62, was sentenced by Kauai Circuit Judge Randal G.B. Valenciano, who told Bruce that her apology was "not sincere as far as the court is concerned." For rehabilitation to occur, some feel there needs to be some remorse, or admission of guilt, and "you haven't crossed that bridge," Valenciano said.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel and John Cooney

Monday December 29 2008

PRESSURE is mounting on the Catholic Church to concede to a nationwide audit of childcare protection in all Irish dioceses in the wake of the Cloyne controversy as a major protest march gets underway today.

Campaigning priest Fr Michael Mernagh will lead the march from Bishop John Magee's seat at St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh, Co Cork, to the Pro Cathedral in Dublin.

Fr Mernagh -- who has maintained a three-day Christmas vigil outside St Colman's in protest at what he termed "the inexcusable" Cloyne childcare protection revelations -- warned that it was now time for the Church to "walk the walk rather than talk the talk".

Incensed

The Augustinian priest -- who had just returned from working with the poor in South Africa -- was so incensed by the Cloyne revelations that he slept in his car for two nights outside St Colman's over Christmas as part of his protest vigil.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kochi, Monday, December 29, 2008: All three accused in the Sister Abhaya murder case was produced before Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate today since the remand period of the three accused Fr Thomas Kottoor, Fr Jose Puthrukayil and Sr Sephy ends today.

IRELAND
Tribune

Justine McCarthy
Cloyne sex case victim accuses disgraced Magee of dragging High Court battle out 'to the bitter end'

The diocese of Cloyne is continuing to contest a number of civil legal actions by the victims it betrayed despite Bishop John Magee's admission of personal responsibility for mishandling complaints of child sex abuse.

In the six months since receiving the report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) on the diocese's "inadequate and in some respects dangerous" child protection policy, Cloyne has made no attempt to settle at least three High Court suits involving two diocesan priests.

Responding to the bishop's 'mea culpa' statement in Cobh Cathedral on Christmas night, one of the plaintiffs claimed that, at a meeting she attended with Magee and his vicar general, Denis O'Callaghan, to discuss her complaint nearly three years ago, the latter suggested to her: "There's always the civil route". She added: "He (Magee) is dragging this out to the bitter end. He's still abusing us and he's still abusing his position. I'm not surprised. It's typical of the way they behave."

IRELAND
RTE News

Monday, 29 December 2008 11:12
A priest has set off on a walk from Cork to Dublin.

Fr Michael Mernagh is undertaking the hike as an act of atonement for all victims of child sexual abuse.

Fr Mernagh began his journey at 9am this morning at the Cathedral in Cork, and is due to arrive at the Pro Cathedral in Dublin in nine day's time - on the feast of the epiphany.

FORT MYERS (FL)
The News-Press

By Rachel Myers • rmyers@news-press.com • December 28, 2008

A Catholic priest who served in Fort Myers in the mid-1990s is accused of sexually abusing a minor during his tenure here.

In a statement read to the congregation at Masses throughout the weekend, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of the Diocese of Venice informed parishioners at St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church that the Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph, who for a time led the Haitian ministries there, is being investigated for allegations of sexual misconduct.

According to Dewane’s letter, read by the bishop himself at earlier Masses at the Heitman Street church and repeated at the Sunday evening Mass, the alleged abuse occurred in 1993 and involved Joseph and a person who at the time was a minor.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

UNCONDITIONAL INDEMNITY from the State was sought by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) in the Catholic Church, should its report on Cloyne diocese be published before it went to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The board sought such protection as assurance against any likelihood of it being sued by persons named or parties referred to in the report.

It also told the office of the Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, that "on legal advice" it did not propose providing a copy of the report to the HSE.

A spokeswoman for the board said indemnity became an issue when its report was submitted to the Minister for Children and referred to a possible wider circulation of the document.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Evelyn Ring
THE Bishop of Cloyne John Magee must resign over his mishandling of child abuse allegations, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) insisted yesterday.

DRCC chief executive Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop said while it is important the bishop apologises, he must do more than that — he must go.

“The way in which he handled complaints of child sex abuse was absolutely unforgivable. We are surprised that he has not resigned,” she said. “Our culture has changed. We now have national guidelines for the protection and welfare of children, Children First, but he definitely did not put children first. ...

Ms O’Malley-Dunlop said the Cloyne abuse scandal would also trigger the memories of other people sexually abused as children.

“That is why we were particularly anxious to have our national helpline number (1800 77 88 88) widely published this Christmas,” she said. “The helpline is not just for people recently raped. Half of the people we see are victims of childhood sexual abuse.”

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A Dublin-based Augustinian priest will this morning begin a nine-day "walk of atonement" for all who have suffered clerical child sex abuse, from Cobh to Dublin's Pro-Cathedral.

Fr Michael Mernagh (70) has invited everyone to join him "if only for a few yards of the road". He leaves Cobh at 9am with the aim of arriving at Dublin's Pro- Cathedral on January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. His walk was prompted by the recent critical report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

NEBRASKA
World-Herald

BY TODD COOPER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The appeal of the embezzling nun is done — at least in Douglas County.

Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka has rejected Sister Barbara Markey's request to withdraw her guilty plea — a request Markey made after being sentenced to prison instead of probation.

Markey, 74, now is expected to appeal her prison sentence to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Markey, a psychologist who developed a widely used Catholic marriage preparation course, was sentenced in July to three to five years in prison — a term that is cut to 18 to 30 months under state sentencing guidelines.

AUSTIN (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

[Download: Read the Child Protective Services report]

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN — A dozen girls in a polygamist sect have been sexually abused in underage “spiritual marriages” performed with their parents’ consent, Texas Child Protective Services said Tuesday.

“The 12 girls were ‘spiritually’ married at ages ranging from 12 to 15, and seven of these girls have had one or more children,” CPS said in a report wrapping up a nine-month investigation in the largest-ever U.S. child welfare case.

Sect spokesman Willie Jessop called the report a “sensational” bid by state bureaucrats to win over public opinion after they rashly ordered a mass removal of children last spring and managed to keep only one girl in foster care.

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

David Clohessy, national director, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests,
St. Louis, Mo.

Re: "12 girls at ranch sexually abused, CPS says -- 'Spiritual' marriages cited; sect spokesman slams agency's report," Wednesday news story.

State officials who raided an insular, secretive, polygamous sect have been criticized for numerous alleged missteps.

But now comes the news that nearly two-thirds of the 262 children at the compound were abused or neglected.

Armchair quarterbacks with the benefit of hindsight can always find some fault in details about others' actions.

However, it's crucial to remember the big picture here: Some innocent kids were no doubt spared harm by the intervention of Texas authorities in this tragic situation.

FORT WORTH (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

From Staff and Wire Reports

The Rev. Robert Wilson, former chancellor of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese, died on Christmas Day at the age of 76.

Father Wilson was found unconscious at home and died later at a hospital, diocese spokesman Pat Svacina said.

Father Wilson, the pastor of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Aledo, spent more than 50 years in the priesthood and served as the diocese chancellor until 2006.

In that position, he was the top aide to former Bishop Joseph Delaney and played a role in the church's response to sex-abuse scandals in the 1990s.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Sunday December 28 2008

THE Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, has no intention of resigning over a child protection controversy and plans to lead the Easter ceremonies in his diocese next April.

Friends have insisted that the beleaguered Cork cleric -- a former private secretary to three Popes -- is now determined to personally supervise the implementation of child protection reforms in his diocese.

They also believe a special Christmas Eve message issued by Dr Magee will go a long way towards defusing the controversy over how the diocese mishandled clerical child abuse claims.

However, senior Church officials are worried that an imminent Health Service Executive (HSE) report on Cloyne's handling of the allegations could heap further damage onto the scathing criticisms contained in a report by Church watchdog, the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children (NBSC).

UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Michael Paulson
December 28, 2008

CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA is riven by internal debates - often about gender, sexuality, and authority - and seemingly unending controversies, about politics and parish closings and the handling of sexual abuse. Whenever one of these battles catches the attention of the evening news, one of the likely commentators is the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame who is one of the most visible interpreters of Catholicism to the American public. ...

IDEAS: You're so critical of the bishops, but you don't seem angry.

McBRIEN: I'm critical of the bishops not because I have any gripe against any one of them personally. John Paul II, in the 26 ?? years he was pope, did some good things. [But] the most serious deficiency the late pope had . . . was the poor quality of men he put in the hierarchy. And nowhere was this more obvious than at the height of the sexual abuse scandal in the priesthood. The truth be told, a significant number of bishops . . . including some high-ranking bishops at the time, were gay. I have no problem with people being gay, but the Catholic Church officially does, and it's constantly making statements that are hostile to gays, and they were compromised. They could not exercise leadership because they could not speak comfortably about issues relating to sexuality, because they were conflicted themselves.

KENTUCKY
International Herald Tribune

By Laurie Goodstein Published: December 28, 2008

OWENSBORO, Kentucky: Sixteen of the Reverend Darrell Venters's fellow priests are running themselves ragged here, each serving three parishes simultaneously. One priest admits he stood at an altar once and forgot exactly which church he was in.

So Venters, lean and leathery as the Marlboro man, a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone with a ringtone like a churchbell in the other, spends most of his days recruiting priests from overseas to serve in the small towns, rolling hills and farmland that make up the Roman Catholic diocese of Owensboro. ...

But the pool of priests was shrinking, from retirements, deaths and a handful who were removed from the ministry after accusations of sexual abuse of young people. They were also growing elderly: Eight were older than 70.

IRELAND
The Sunday Times (United Kingdom)

Mark Tighe
The children’s minister may refer the diocese of Cloyne to a special commission of investigation after last week’s statement by Bishop John Magee, in which he accepted responsibility for not acting on complaints of clerical sex abuse but refused to resign.

A spokesman for Barry Andrews said yesterday that the minister will ask for cabinet approval on January 7 to publish a Health Service Executive audit of church child-protection practices, which has raised concerns about the Cloyne diocese.

Andrews is also considering asking the cabinet to refer the Cloyne cases to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.

IRELAND
The Sunday Times (United Kingdom)

Liam Fay
One can tell a great deal about an organisation by the calibre of its top guns. With power comes responsibility, and the head that wears the crown should always be attached to a sturdy backbone. A true leader must place his followers’ welfare above his own.

Unfortunately for its faithful footsoldiers, however, the Catholic church is run by bishops rather than leaders, and few of these empurpled princes seem eager to stand up for anything other than the ritual kissing of their rings.

As if the church didn’t have enough trouble selling its message, its once-a-year best shot at securing a receptive audience was all but destroyed this Christmas by the dogged refusal of the Most Reverend John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne, to face the inevitable and resign.

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

by Nyier Abdou /The Star-Ledger
Saturday December 27, 2008, 5:35 PM
A former priest serving a five-year prison sentence for molesting a 12-year-old boy has lost an appeal to reduce his sentence.

Eugene Corbesero, 75, of Franklin Township in Somerset County, pleaded guilty in June 2007 to second-degree charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child as part of a plea deal with the state.

The charges stem from an incident in August 2006, when a 12-year-old who was attending a sleepover at Corbesero's house called 911 and reported the assault.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sunday Times

Amy Turner
Beguildy is a hamlet like any other in the valleys of mid-Wales. Sprinkled along the B4355, there are fewer than 100 homes here. It is so remote there is no mobile-phone reception; the public phone box contains only torn-out cables and rubbish.

There are ramshackle barns full of greying silage, empty, tumbledown farm cottages, a school, a post office and a pub. On a hill at the centre of the village is the church, St Michael’s. Beguildy is a tightknit community. In the village way, everyone knows everyone’s business. Or they thought they did until last January, when a terrible secret was revealed.

The reverend Richard Hart, 59, had been Beguildy’s vicar since 2001. His parish took in four other surrounding villages. He was chairman of governors at the village school, where his wife, Julia, 41, worked as a teaching assistant. They had five children; they ran a weekly toddlers’ group at the vicarage, as well as several Sunday-school and after-school church groups. He had christened many of the village children. In hindsight, say villagers, Hart was odd — socially awkward, and the family kept itself to itself. But he was the vicar. What reason could anyone have to distrust him?

FORT MYERS (FL)
The News-Press

news-press.com • December 27, 2008

A former St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church priest is under investigation, according to a letter Diocese of Venice Bishop Frank Dewane wrote.

“Bishop Frank Dewane read a letter to the congregation about charges leveled again a former priest who was here in 1993,” said Mike Purdy, an information center employee of The News-Press, who attended today’s 4 p.m. mass at St. Francis Xavier in Fort Myers.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Fionnan Sheahan

Saturday December 27 2008

Who wants to be a Minister? In the present economic climate, it might be a blessing in disguise to be dropped from the Cabinet in the next year. Being a Minister in the midst of an economic meltdown is not an easy task. Ministers who rode the crest of a wave during the boom are now treading water in the bust. ...

Mr Cowen's other personalised admissions to the Cabinet room would have to be retained, although Batt O'Keeffe's authority has been damaged by cave-ins on the budget cuts he initially stood by and the gloss has worn off Barry Andrews, in the past week, with his failure to read a report commissioned on the handling of child abuse allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne.

TEXAS
Deseret News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News

Published: Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008 2:55 p.m. MST

Members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church are attacking a report by Texas child welfare authorities, saying it is "as false and fraudulent as the original hoax telephone call that triggered the raid" on the YFZ Ranch.

In a statement sent to the Deseret News on Saturday, FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop criticized the Texas Child Protective Services report which claimed to have found a dozen girls from the Utah-based polygamous sect were confirmed victims of sexual abuse and neglect because they were married ages ranging from 12 to 15.

TEXAS
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Posted: 12/27/2008

Four days after Texas officials released a report defending its raid on a polygamous sect's ranch, the sect has fired back with its own statement calling the event an unjustified "fishing expedition" aimed at driving them out of the state.

The seven-page statement says the raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado left hundreds of children and adults traumatized, desecrated the sect's temple and reduced a self-sustaining community to poverty.

Now, the state has further damaged the community by releasing findings without giving the sect the right to respond in court and failing to offer an apology to more than a dozen families it determined had not abused or neglected their children, a sect spokesman said.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kottayam, Saturday 27 December 2008: Action will be taken against former CBI SP Thyagarajan for sabotaging the probe in the Sister Abhaya murder case.

Action will be taken against him as the report sent to the CBI headquarters in New Delhi was tampered with though there was enough evidence against the murderers.

The Christopher Hansard Courant

by Anne A. Simpkinson

In the early 1980s, Jeanne Miller was a typical suburban mom. She did community work, served as PTA president, and helped produce plays in her school district just outside Chicago. She was also a devout Catholic. “My mother died when I was 14, and I went to boarding school,” she recalls. “For a critical time in my life, the Church — the nuns — raised me and was my family.”

This sense of family began to disintegrate in 1982 when another mother confided that one of the parish priests had, during a swim at a nearby lake, tried to strip off her son’s bathing trunks when he was in the water. Thinking the accusation unbelievable, Miller initially proceeded, she admits, “to disprove what this woman had said.” But instead of being reassured when she called the head of religious education at the parish, she was told that the church had a file of complaints against the priest. When she contacted the archdiocese, she was rebuffed by a chancery official, who told her that her motherly instincts were working overtime. She could not prove her allegations, he said; nothing was going to be done.

The Christopher Hansard Courant

by Anne A. Simpkinson

In the early 1980s, Jeanne Miller was a typical suburban mom. She did community work, served as PTA president, and helped produce plays in her school district just outside Chicago. She was also a devout Catholic. “My mother died when I was 14, and I went to boarding school,” she recalls. “For a critical time in my life, the Church — the nuns — raised me and was my family.”

This sense of family began to disintegrate in 1982 when another mother confided that one of the parish priests had, during a swim at a nearby lake, tried to strip off her son’s bathing trunks when he was in the water. Thinking the accusation unbelievable, Miller initially proceeded, she admits, “to disprove what this woman had said.” But instead of being reassured when she called the head of religious education at the parish, she was told that the church had a file of complaints against the priest. When she contacted the archdiocese, she was rebuffed by a chancery official, who told her that her motherly instincts were working overtime. She could not prove her allegations, he said; nothing was going to be done.

INDIA
Express Buzz

KOCHI: The CBI on Friday interrogated former Kottayam Sub Divisional Magistrate S G K Kishore in connection with the investigation of the Abhaya case. It is learnt that he was interrogated in connection with the tampering of evidence.

Kishore, who is now working with a construction company in Hyderabad, was called by the CBI to Kerala for questioning. He was questioned in connection with the permission given by him to the Crime Branch to destroy some important evidence in the case including the diary and the veil of Sister Abhaya based on a request by the Crime Branch.

UNITED STATES
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Tim Townsend

12/27/2008

In the last "Keep the Faith" column of 2008, let's look back to the top 10 religion stories of the last year, and forward to some religion stories that might make 2009's year-end list.

Each year, religion reporters at the nation's newspapers (including this one) vote on the top 10 religion stories of the year. The list is compiled and then published each December by the Religion Newswriters Association. Here's this year's list in descending order:

5. In his first U.S. visit, Pope Benedict XVI brings a message of hope during stops in Washington and New York. During the trip, he meets with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

People suspect there are dioceses around the country where bishops still practise, "whatever you say, say nothing", writes Breda O'Brien

THE ROMAN Catholic Church is being rocked by yet another scandal, in the shape of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC) report on two priests who allegedly abused children in the diocese of Cloyne. It makes for profoundly depressing reading. Has nothing been learnt?

The report states bluntly that "any references to the need to protect vulnerable young people and to act in a timely and effective way to achieve this end" were "glaringly absent". Instead, the welfare of the priests seems to have been the priority.

Mind you, at least one of the priests (Fr A) is not happy with how he was treated, either. "His legal representative has raised as an issue with the diocese their failure to caution A about making an immediate response to the allegations when these were put to him by the bishop."

IRELAND
The Irish Times

MICHELLE McDONAGH and MARIE OHALLORAN

BISHOP OF Cloyne Dr John Magee has signalled he will not be resigning although he says he takes full responsibility for the "errors" made in relation to the management of child sexual abuse claims in his diocese. Speaking at Christmas Eve midnight Mass in Cobh Cathedral, he again apologised to all victims of clerical sexual abuse and particularly to those who were abused by priests in the Cloyne diocese.

He said he was determined to ensure that such abuse was unlikely to recur in the diocese. He also said he would report to the people of the diocese early in the new year on the implementation of changes.

But Cork East Labour TD Seán Sherlock, who has called for the bishop's resignation, asked: "If he has apologised, does that imply some guilt on their part and does that mean that justice will prevail and the victims of abuse will get redress?"

BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Advocate

By BILL LODGE
Advocate staff writer
Published: Dec 27, 2008

A Baton Rouge appellate panel this week upheld the dismissal of a civil court complaint of sexual abuse against a former Crowley priest.

A man identified only as “John Doe” filed his suit against the Rev. Joseph F. Pellettieri in March 2003, more than 30 years after the alleged incident.

The case file remains sealed. But on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal unanimously upheld state District Judge R. Michael Caldwell’s dismissal of the suit.

According to the appellate court’s public decision, the unidentified plaintiff claimed that he may have been hypnotized and that he did not recall any incident until approximately February 2002.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Michelle McDonagh, Stephen O'Farrell and Fiach Kelly

Saturday December 27 2008

A BISHOP has finally accepted "personal responsibility" for the mishandling of sex abuse allegations in his diocese.

But beleaguered Bishop of Cloyne Dr John Magee remained defiant last night and continued to resist demands for his resignation.

The bishop is at the centre of an outcry after a Catholic Church report found his diocese failed to act on credible complaints of sex abuse by priests -- effectively putting children at risk of further abuse.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday December 27 2008

SINCE his appointment 12 years ago as Bishop of the Cork diocese of Cloyne, John Magee has conducted his business outside the spotlight of national attention. But last week, a damning Church report into his handling of child sexual abuse complaints against two of his priests shattered the calm and raised speculation that he must feel obliged to resign, as did the Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey, in similar circumstances, six years ago. However, Bishop Magee gives no indication that he has any intention of resigning.

His self-righteous stance suggests that he has no real understanding of the gravity of his position and the damage that he is inflicting upon his own Church.

In the absence of any positive gesture, the bishop's acceptance of "responsibility" which was read out at Christmas Eve Mass in Cobh, is no more than empty rhetoric. Even if we accept the bishop's definition of responsibility, his choice of words do nothing to dispel the suspicion that he does not fully understand his situation.

FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram

By DARREN BARBEED
Barbee@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- The Rev. Robert Wilson, former chancellor of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese who sought to involve the laity in the church and was known for his compassionate ministry, died early Christmas morning. He was 76.

The Rev. Wilson, pastor of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Aledo, was found unconscious at home and was taken to a hospital where he died, diocese spokesman Pat Svacina said Friday.

"He was a hardworking priest who helped me enormously my first year in Texas," Bishop Kevin W. Vann said. "He was considerate and kind to me and everyone with whom he had contact.

DELTONA (FL)
News 13

DELTONA -- A former missionary from Deltona is facing federal child porn charges after multiple law enforcement agencies found thousands of images of child pornography on his home computer.

Joel Price, 36, was indicted earlier this month on child porn charges following an 8-month investigation that began in his home on Balsam Street in May.

Price had been a member of the New Tribes Mission for five years and had served as a member in Venezuela as a maintenance man. He resigned from the mission in June.

DELTONA (FL)
WESH

DELTONA, Fla. -- Thousands of images of child pornography, investigators said Friday, were found on the computer of a former local youth pastor.

Deputies found the images and said the suspect admitted he's addicted to child pornography.

Investigators said 36-year-old Joel Price worked as a youth pastor at New Tribes Mission in Sanford. They said he resigned after undercover agents busted him looking at and distributing more than 6,000 child pornography pictures and videos online.

"He was almost relieved to be caught and have this obsession stopped," said Gary Davidson, of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

DELTONA (FL)
Fox 35

DELTONA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- Detectives with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office say a former youth pastor and missionary from Deltona is facing federal charges after investigators found thousands of images of child pornography on the man's computer.

Investigators wrapped up an eight-month investigation last week with the indictment of Joel Price, 36, on two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Price first came under suspicion back in April, when a Martin County Sheriff's investigator, who also is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, discovered child pornography being openly shared over the Internet.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
A DEFIANT Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, read out a short statement to the congregation before celebrating midnight Mass at Cobh Cathedral on Christmas Day.

Bishop Magee has faced an avalanche of calls for his resignation over his mishandling of child abuse allegations that came to light in the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children report.

Before Mass began, he stood at the pulpit before hundreds of families and reiterated his apologies to all victims of clerical sexual abuse.

FRANKLIN (NJ)
Home News Tribune

By MICHAEL DEAK • Staff Writer • December 26, 2008

FRANKLIN (Somerset) —A 75-year-old former priest now serving a sentence for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy two years ago has lost his appeal to have his sentence reduced.

Township resident Eugene Corbesero, 75, was sentenced to five years in prison Oct. 5, 2007, by state Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong after pleading guilty to sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.

Corbesero, who is serving the sentence at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown, will be eligible for parole on Dec. 31, 2011.

UNITED STATES
Playbill

By Andrew Gans
26 Dec 2008

During its first day in nationwide release, "Doubt," the film version of John Patrick Shanley's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, brought in an estimated $1,425,000 at the box office, according to boxofficemojo.com.

That figure currently puts the film as the 11th highest-grossing film of Christmas Day.

UNITED STATES
Pam's House Blend

by: Pam Spaulding

This level of hypocrisy by Papa Ratzi, given the millions already shelled out because of the criminal priests the church allowed to run amok abusing children is mind boggling.How can he say these things with a straight face at this point?

MASSACHUSETTS
Western Massachusetts Catholics

"I will never understand as long as I live how he is allowed to be paid by the diocese and remain a priest. . . . and I was abused and I have nothing. I am 34 and I feel afraid of people. I am afraid of sex. I can't hold onto a job."

- from Shawn Dobbert's press conference after he filed suit against the Rev. Richard Lavigne and the Diocese of Springfield (Springfield Republican, July 12, 2002).

Dobbert's turn of phrase – that he would never understand as long as he lived – proved only too true. He died in circumstances ruled accidental in North Adams only a few days after his claim against Lavigne was settled in late 2004. He was buried after a service in an Episcopal church.

The two-year delay for his claim was not unusually long by Diocesan standards, but it was perhaps harder to take than most. The delay was caused in large part because his suit was used by the Diocese as a test case. Since Dobbert's suit wanted to examine the bishop/priest relationship, the Diocese worked to have it dismissed – on the grounds that such suits were a violation of church/state separation.

UNITED STATES
Macsinclair's Blog

From my previous post concerning the loneliness victims of clergy abuse suffer on the holidays, Mike Ference, a fine individual with an incredible story replied, and attached a news article on his efforts to open up the Church’s continuing efforts at stonewalling that surrounds the problem of clergy abuse.

Ference is right in that Catholic clergy childhood sexual abuse and cover-ups were seldom discussed before the Boston Archdiocese scandal broke around Cardinal Bernard Law’s mishandling of pedophile priests. According to Mike Ference, silence was, and is, a large part of the problem.

Abuse continues because too many people remain silent, look the other way, or, worst of all, actively engage in a cover-up concerning victims and abusers. The problem extends from Church authority into individual parishioners, law enforcement officials, politicians, and journalists. Ference claims that the civil liberties of abused children and their families often fall prey to the Catholic hierarchy’s ability to lure individuals into silence, influence law enforcement authorities, and manipulate the justice system.

VIRGIN ISLANDS
Caribbean Net News (Cayman Islands)

By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email: oscar@caribbeannetnews.com

ST THOMAS, USVI: The Catholic Diocese of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands has lost close to $2 million by investing with prominent Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff, who is accused of defrauding his clients of some $50 billion.

Bishop Herbert Bevard said the money that had been invested with Madoff included the diocese's savings account and endowment fund for St Mary's and St Patrick’s elementary schools on St Croix.

The Virgin Islands Daily News reported that Bevard said that the loss of these funds should not have a great impact on the current operations of the diocese or the schools.

VATICAN CITY
Philippine Star

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas Midnight Mass early yesterday by sending out an appeal for children who are abused, forced to live on the street or serve as soldiers.

He also called for peace in the Middle East – ahead of a possible trip to the region next year – telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.

CANADA
Niagara This Week

By Eddie Chau, Staff
Niagara-on-the-Lake

Dec 26, 2008

A former Virgil resident claims that a Mennonite conspiracy of silence had forced her to remain tight lipped about years of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her father.

But now 56-year-old Anne Klassen is breaking her silence about the decades of sexual assaults allegedly committed by her now-deceased father, Martin Klassen, and is on a self-imposed water fast until the Mennonite church community acknowledges its role into pushing her into silence about the years of abuse, which Klassen said occurred between the ages of two until her early 20s.

Klassen broke her silence at a press conference Dec. 16 at Ryerson University in Toronto. Klassen said she came out to speak against what she called the "Mennonite conspiracy."

CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By HAROLD CARMICHAEL, THE SUDBURY STAR

January was one tumultuous month in Greater Sudbury.

The weather was extremely erratic. Temperatures were cold, but there was also a mild spell that produced flooding and ruined the hopes of snowmobilers, skiers, skaters and tobogganing lovers alike. ...

Six men announced Jan. 28 they were coming forward and suing the Roman Catholic Church's Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie for $4.5 million each for sexual abuse they allegedly suffered from priests employed by the diocese decades ago.

ALASKA
Juneau Empire

By Mary Pemberton | The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS - The Diocese of Fairbanks, which is under bankruptcy protection, received 288 claims from people who said they had been molested by Roman Catholic clergy.

A Dec. 2 deadline for claims was imposed when the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year. The number of claims was reported by Catholic News Service.

The diocese said it sought bankruptcy protection this past February because it could not reach a financial settlement over the 150 or so abuse claims it had received at the time. The claims related to cases largely dating between the 1950s and 1980s.

GREENVILLE (RI)
The New York Times

By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: December 24, 2008
GREENVILLE, R.I. — To the Cavanagh family, the product they make at a nondescript plant here is just bread and water. But to millions at churches around the world, it is a sacred offering.

From a purely economic point of view, it is something that is almost as rare: a seemingly recession-proof business.

With the exception of a decline during recent Roman Catholic Church priest scandals, the Cavanagh Company’s business of making communion bread has been growing steadily for the last 65 years.

Macsinclair's Blog

I will post a Merry Christmas blog later. But for a Merry Christmas Eve post, I feel compelled to write a reminder that there are tens of thousands of individuals out there today who suffered at the hands of clergy abuse in not just the Catholic Church, but also in many other churches in the world. I searched Google, but I could not find a statistic of how many have come forward as of today, but I know the figure is staggering. And there are perhaps just as many, if not more, who have not come forward, and who struggle with the horror of secrecy.

I am a victim of clergy abuse.

For many victims, like me, Christmas can bring back some of the worst memories. I used to dread the Midnight Mass as much as I dreaded Easter. From middle school and through high school, I was an altar boy and a lector. McShefferey, the priest, would ply me with gin before mass, as usual, and after mass, as usual. Because the holidays were lonely and stressful for him, the abuse in his rectory, both sexual and physical, would be particularly violent on these nights.

MASSACHUSETTS
Western Massachusetts Catholics

[court documents]

We've already seen that the role of the commission was ambitious. They were supposed to help the bishop, the victims, accused priests, district attorney, laity, and general public. In hindsight, there was probably no way that they could have done it all.

But, their role was also increasingly ambiguous. The commission was created in 1992 to provide recommendations for action to the bishop, with a decided emphasis on the "Improper Conduct of Diocesan Personnel". But, over time, there was more than a hint that its members saw themselves as a sort of Swiss Army knife, ready to dispense justice, therapy or recommendations, depending on what was needed.

UNITED STATES
Pokrov

Author: Nicole Neroulias
Date Published: 12/23/2008
Publication: Religion News Service

As the new leader of the New York-based Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Jonah has inspired the group's estimated 100,000 adherents to hope for a brighter future after years of financial mismanagement and scandal at the highest levels of their church.

Born James Paffhausen, the 49-year-old convert who had only served as bishop for a few weeks, succeeds Metropolitan Herman, who retired in September after a critical report alleged the misuse of millions of church dollars. ...

Q: You've preached forgiveness for your predecessors, but questions have been raised concerning your actions as the abbot of a monastery in California, when you gave refuge to Michael Rymer, a defrocked priest accused of having a homosexual relationship with a mentally-challenged parishioner. Isn't there a danger that, as we saw with the Catholic sex abuse scandal, forgiveness could excuse and protect criminal behavior?

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Thursday he hoped Christmas would bring hope to those suffering from war, terrorism, injustice and poverty and appealed for peace in the Holy Land.

In his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message, the Pope also turned his thoughts to some of the world's wealthiest countries, which have been hard hit by the world financial crisis. ...

"Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse, and thus are traumatised to the depths of their soul."

Benedict said Catholics had to "do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children."

In the past year the Pope has repeatedly addressed the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, but did not raise it in his Christmas homily.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

Behind recent failures of Ireland's key establishments lurks one primary fear: that of autonomous thinking, writes Elaine Byrne

'THE LONGER I live, the more I think; and the more I think for myself." When Conor Cruise O'Brien wrote those words in his 1984 Irish Times column, he could have been referring to the intellectual development of the Irish nation. O'Brien turned accepted norms on their head and pioneered new ways of thinking. This made him intellectually dangerous to established consensuses on traditional nationalism and political ethics.

Ireland has allowed institutional authority to do the thinking. The character of authority has now since changed, changed utterly. Irish citizens have lost confidence in the integrity and capability of public life. In the last week alone, specific instances have contributed to a further undermining of trust in the pillars of banking, the church and politics.

On Thursday, Seán FitzPatrick, chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, resigned when it emerged he had transferred €87 million in loans in and out of the bank over an eight-year period to avoid public disclosure. To add insult to injury, FitzPatrick also moved personal funds from Anglo to Bank of Ireland in advance of the Government's decision to guarantee deposits and debts at Irish-owned banks. On Friday, the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, apologised to victims of clerical abuse after an independent report found that his diocese had put children at risk of harm because of its inability to respond.

National Catholic Reporter

All Things Catholic by John L. Allen, Jr.

For most media outlets in the United States, there were really only two big Catholic stories in 2008: Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York, and the fate of the “Catholic vote” in the November elections.

Both, of course, were important tales to tell, and for the most part church officials have no right to complain. Saturation coverage of the pope’s trip alone probably meant the Catholic church drew more positive notice in ’08 than in most years, especially recently. ...

9. O’Brien and the Legionaries of Christ

In June, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore demanded greater transparency from the Legionaries of Christ and their lay arm, Regnum Christi, and barred them from one-on-one spiritual direction with anyone under 18. The fact that O’Brien, who is no one’s idea of a doctrinal liberal, took those steps suggested that controversy surrounding the Legionaries is not merely about the usual left/right tensions. The story raised larger questions about how to balance the zeal and missionary spirit of some of the “new movements” against the need for proper oversight and accountability.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- During sessions aimed at healing a rift between Bishop Edward Braxton and diocesan priests, criticism was thwarted and open discussions on controversial subjects were discouraged, some members of a priests' association say.

The sessions, held Sept. 15-18 at a St. Louis hotel and organized by a consulting group, did little to bring about progress, according to Rev. James Voelker, who kept a journal he titled "Notes and Observations on Convocation."

Voelker, a member of the Southern Illinois Association of Priests, which has been critical of Braxton, said the bishop dodged questions and alleged that the moderators from the Reid Group of Seattle quashed criticism. One example, Voelker said, involved trying to take a microphone from him while he was speaking.

OKLAHOMA
KXII

[with video]

PONOTOC COUNTY, Okla. ― An Ada pastor is out of jail Wednesday afternoon after he was arrested accused of lewd acts with a child.

Officials say 60-year-old Kenneth Wayne Honeycutt is charged with four felony counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of twelve.

Investigators say it was a joint effort by the multi-disciplinary team that lead them to the pastor of New Home Baptist Church in Ada.

SANTA ROSA (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is disclosing a recent $215,000 settlement of a child molestation report against an ex-California priest who’s never been publicly accused of sex crimes before.

According to leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh made the payment in August to a man who says he was molested as a child by Fr. Thomas Parker. ...

In September 2007, Parker admitting abusing the boy in a conversation with church officials. The crimes took place in 1988-89 at St. Apollinaris parish in Napa, California, when the boy was a member and Parker was on the staff.

Church officials say Parker has been defrocked.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Journal

Dec 24 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

A CATHOLIC priest yesterday appeared in court charged with a string of sex offences against young boys.

Fr David Taylor, 59, is alleged to have committed five counts of indecent assault in the Holy Island and Seaham areas during the 1980s.

Taylor, of Northumberland Avenue, Bedlington, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address and did not enter a plea.

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

December 24, 2008
An audit conducted by Ireland’s Health Services Executive has reportedly found that the Diocese of Cloyne was the only Irish diocese not to follow child-protection procedures. The audit was commissioned two years ago, but its results have not been made public.

ARKANSAS
The Associated Press

By PEGGY HARRIS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A lawyer for jailed evangelist Tony Alamo asked a federal court Tuesday to remove religious references from a lawsuit against his client, saying they have the potential to draw the court into theological debate to decide the case.

John Hall of Little Rock said in a court filing that claims made by two former members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were based on religious beliefs and not matters for argument in a court of law.

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A dozen girls in a polygamist sect have been sexually abused in underage "spiritual" marriages performed with their parents' consent, Texas Child Protective Services said Tuesday.

More than one of every four pubescent girls at the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado was married at an inappropriate age, CPS found. The agency removed children en masse from the ranch in an April raid.

"The 12 girls were 'spiritually' married at ages ranging from 12 to 15, and seven of these girls have had one or more children," CPS said in a report concluding a nine-month investigation in the largest-ever U.S. child welfare case.

ADA (OK)
Tulsa World

By The Associated Press
Published: 12/23/2008 9:20 PM
Last Modified: 12/23/2008 9:29 PM

ADA -- A Baptist preacher was charged with child molestation in Pontotoc County District Court Monday.

Kenneth Wayne Huneycutt, 60, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Ada, is charged with four counts of lewd molestation. According to court documents filed by Undersheriff Joe Glover, Huneycutt allegedly molested two children under the age of 12.

Glover said he was called to Ada CARE Cottage Dec. 12 in reference to the alleged molestations. During a child forensic interview, the children claimed Huneycutt touched their private parts and made them touch his.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Wednesday December 24 2008

Caitrina Cody

THE number of people attending sexual assault units in hospitals escalates during the festive period, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has warned.

Chief executive Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop said yesterday people should be extra vigilant at Christmas, and urged revellers to look after friends, keep an eye on their drinks and to travel in groups. ...

Ms O'Malley-Dunlop emphasised that the helpline service is also there for those who suffered child abuse, as well as for older victims of sexual assault.

She said she expected that the recent high-profile reports of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne might trigger memories of childhood sexual abuse for people.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney and Ralph Riegel

Wednesday December 24 2008

The national system of child protection was close to collapse last night after the country's most senior churchman openly questioned the ability of the Government, the HSE and his fellow Catholic bishops to implement a single policy that safeguards children from clerical sexual abuse.

In his first public comment on the consequences arising from a church report into the failure of the Bishop of Cloyne John Magee to apply proper standards, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he was "extremely concerned" at the fact that, within a purported "one-Church-policy", a wide diversity existed in the interpretation and application of agreed procedures.

The archbishop revealed he had already warned the Irish Bishops' Conference and the Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children that if serious doubts persisted concerning the coherence and consistency of approach, he would implement his own system of accountable child protection.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney

Wednesday December 24 2008

IT is a tale of two Irish churchmen who made their names as Vatican officials before their promotion as pastoral bishops to head dioceses in the land of their birth.

As private secretary to three Popes, Newry-born Fr John Magee became one of the best-known faces on television from coverage of his world trips with Pope John Paul II.

When Fr Magee was appointed Bishop of the Cork diocese of Cloyne it was widely thought that he was being groomed for higher office. But since his appointment 12 years ago he has remained in relative national obscurity in his rural diocese.

That was until last week, when a damning Church report into his handling of child sexual abuse complaints against two of his priests catapulted him into the limelight amid mounting speculation that he will fall on his crozier, as did the Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

A state investigation has reportedly found that the Diocese of Cloyne was the only diocese in Ireland that failed to adequately adhere to child protection procedures.

The Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, is coming under increasing pressure to resign after a church report found that he failed to properly handle allegations of clerical child sex abuse.

The report from the Church's National Board for Protecting Children found that the Diocese of Cloyne was inadequate and in some respects dangerous in protecting children from sexual abuse.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Alf McCreary, Religion Correspondent
Wednesday, 24 December 2008

The Christmas period is traditionally a time when the Churches attract large congregations from all backgrounds as they celebrate the birth of Jesus, but the new year is also a time for taking stock of the challenges which are ever on the horizon

The Catholic Church has again been making the wrong headlines with yet another apology for some of the sins of the Reverend Fathers and its appalling record on child sexual abuse.

At the end of last week, Bishop John Magee of Cloyne in the Republic apologised to victims of sex abuse after an independent report found that the diocese had put children at risk of harm through an inability to respond appropriately to allegations of abuse.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Paul O’Brien and Conor Ryan
A STATE investigation has found that all Catholic Church dioceses with the exception of Cloyne adhered adequately to child protection procedures, the Irish Examiner has learned.

Cloyne was the only diocese “to raise a red flag” in the Health Service Executive audit, due to be published next month by Children’s Minister Barry Andrews.

Officials in Mr Andrews’ office revealed details of the audit last night after the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland Diarmuid Martin queried why it had not been published.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW, PATSY McGARRY and HARRY McGEE

EXTREME CONCERN at a possible diversity in child protection procedures in Irish Catholic dioceses has been expressed by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.

The archbishop yesterday made the only public intervention to date of any senior Irish Catholic Church figure in the ongoing controversy over child protection practices in Cloyne diocese.

He said he was "extremely concerned at the fact that within a purported 'one-Church-policy' there may in fact be a wide diversity in the interpretation and application of agreed procedures".

IRELAND
The Irish Times

ANALYSIS: Bishop Magee's claim that children's safety is his priority is not borne out by church report, writes PATSY McGARRY

WHAT EMERGED last Friday about the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in Cloyne diocese has set public perception of the Catholic Church's commitment to child protection back years.

Following publication of the Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) in Ireland report, you would imagine that it was still the late 1980s, where this devastating issue is concerned. At least in Cloyne.

It is as if the Church's 1996 guidelines, updated in 2000 and again in 2005, never existed. It is as if child protection measures put in place in all dioceses, including Cloyne, was just so much window dressing. It is as if the Ferns Inquiry never took place.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

CHRISTMAS IS a time for goodwill. It is also a time for celebrating and renewing a society's commitment to children. Sadly, in the case of the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, these two imperatives are at odds with each other. Distasteful as it is to call for the resignation of a senior and distinguished churchman during one of the church's great festivals, Bishop Magee's position is not tenable.

His complete mishandling of two cases of alleged abuse by priests in his diocese is compounded by his apparent lack of understanding of the gravity of his failure. He is undoubtedly sincere in his stated wish to restore public confidence in the child protection procedures of his diocese. The most effective way for him to fulfil that wish is to leave office with grace and dignity, but also with due promptness.

The bishop's failings, as disclosed in the excellent report of the head of the church's own National Board for Safeguarding Children, Ian Elliott, are particularly egregious because they span the period in which child abuse scandals came to the fore and from which lessons were supposedly learned. The two cases examined by Mr Elliott are not small, isolated mistakes, but form a pattern of dreadful inaction over a period of more than a decade.

ADA (OK)
Ada Evening News

Randy Mitchell Staff Writer

Ada — A Baptist preacher was charged with child molestation in Pontotoc County District Court Monday.

Kenneth Wayne Huneycutt, 60, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Ada, is charged with four counts of lewd molestation. According to court documents filed by Undersheriff Joe Glover, Huneycutt allegedly molested two children under the age of 12.

Glover said he was called to Ada CARE Cottage Dec. 12 in reference to the alleged molestations. During a child forensic interview, the children claimed Huneycutt touched their private parts and made them touch his.

IRELAND
The Associated Press

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK – 12 minutes ago

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Ireland's most prominent Roman Catholic leader, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, questioned Tuesday whether all of his fellow bishops adequately protect children from sexually abusive priests.

Martin became the first Irish Catholic leader to break silence over a new report into allegations that two priests molested several teenagers, chiefly in the 1990s, in southwest Ireland — and the local bishop, John Magee, didn't tell police quickly and fully about it as he was supposed to do. ...

One priest, who was accused of molesting a younger priest when he was just a boy, was encouraged by Magee to resign. But the investigation found that the bishop shielded the abuser's identity from police — and considered such concealment "the normal practice" for the church.

UGANDA
The New Vision

Tuesday, 23rd December, 2008

By Rwambuka Mugisha
in Ntungamo

An Anglican priest is to serve 12 months in prison for criminal trespass and sexual assault.

The Rev. Charles Turyahaabwa of Kitwe Church of Uganda assaulted Zepher Ntwirenabo, the wife of a junior layleader at the same church.

In her judgment, magistrate Lillian Margaret Buchana said the accused’s lawyers failed to convince the court that the allegations were concocted and that the defence witnesses’ testimonies had contradictions.

IRELAND
Los Angeles Times

By Associated Press
11:25 AM PST, December 23, 2008
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Ireland's most prominent Catholic leader is questioning whether all of his fellow bishops adequately protect children from sexually abusive priests.

Archbishop Diarmuid (DER-mit) Martin of Dublin is the first Irish Catholic leader to break silence over a new report into allegations that two priests molested several teenagers in southwest Ireland, chiefly in the 1990s.

A church-authorized investigation found that local bishop John Magee placed children in potential danger because he failed to tell police quickly and fully about abuse reports he received.

TEXAS
Deseret News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008 8:32 a.m. MST

Texas child welfare authorities claim 12 girls from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch are confirmed victims of sexual abuse and neglect because they were married at ages ranging from 12 to 15.

Those are among the conclusions reached in a final investigation into the raid that resulted in hundreds of children from the Utah-based polygamous sect being placed in state protective custody. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services released its long-anticipated report on the raid on the YFZ Ranch early Tuesday after a public records request by the Deseret News.

IRELAND
Press Association

Beleaguered Bishop of Cloyne John Magee faced growing pressure to resign amid the damning scandal over his mishandling of clerical sex abuse allegations.

The senior cleric, patron of national schools in east Cork, has refused to step down even though the Catholic Church's own watchdog branded his child protection policies inadequate and dangerous. Children's Minister Barry Andrews repeated calls for the former Vatican aide to consider his position.

TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer
Dec. 23, 2008, 10:58AM
SAN ANTONIO — Nearly two-thirds of the families involved in the April raid of a polygamist sect's west Texas ranch had children who were abused or neglected, said Texas child welfare officials in a report released Tuesday.

The Department of Family and Protective Services concluded there was evidence that 12 girls, ages 12 to 15, were "spiritually" married to adult men in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Seven of them had one or more children, the report says.

TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By R.G. RATCLIFFE Austin Bureau
Dec. 23, 2008, 10:38AM

Texas child welfare officials in a report today defended this year's raid on a West Texas polygamous compound as being about child abuse, not religion.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services was criticized by leaders of the Yearning for Zion Ranch outside Eldorado as being overzealous in a raid on the compound because the group believes in polygamous marriages, and leaders held that "spiritual marriages" for underage girls were godly.

"The Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life," officials state in the final investigative report on the April raid. "It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls — it has never been about religion."

IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

This links to Child Protection Policies and Procedures for the Catholic Church in Ireland which was published in 2005.

IRELAND
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin notes that as a result of an investigation carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church a situation has been reached in relation to a specific diocese in which the National Board now feels that agreed procedures regarding child protection are adequately in place with the full cooperation of that diocese.

The Archbishop is however extremely concerned at the fact that within a purported “one-Church-policy” there may in fact be a wide diversity in the interpretation and application of agreed procedures. This is of particular concern for the Archdiocese of Dublin where hundreds of priests from outside the diocese – from other dioceses and religious congregations - play an active role in many aspects of Church life in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Having regard to that, the Archdiocese is aware of and appreciates the unique role that a single, independent National Office can play, as is evident in the current situation. For example, a single diocese would not have the same ability to elicit conformity of practice from a wide range of Church bodies.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

AOIFE CARR and PATSY McGARRY

The Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin said he is extremely concerned that some dioceses may not be adhering to agreed procedures regarding child protection.

In a statement this afternoon, Dr Martin said he was waiting for written assurance from the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) in the Catholic Church that all dioceses and religious congregations have “committed themselves to a common system of accountable child protection and are applying it in a uniform way.”

The statement comes in the wake of the publication of a highly critical report into child-protection practices in the Diocese of Cloyne by the NBSC.

The report found child protection practices in the diocese to be "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By LINDA COOPER AND JAMES HODGE
Published: December 23, 2008

Humbled and privileged. That’s how Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois feels as he waits for the Vatican to excommunicate him.

Humbled by the torrent of support he’s received after refusing to disavow his belief that God calls women to the priesthood.

Privileged to be a small voice for women inside what he sometimes calls the clerical “boys’ club.” ...

Some — like a woman who wrote him about being sexually abused by a bishop — are livid that the church, while finding women unworthy for ordination, protects pedophile priests and never threatens to excommunicate them.

UNITED STATES
Pokrov

Author: Pokrov

Date Published: 12/5/2008

Publication: Pokrov

Related Document: Doe v. Metropolis of San Francisco: Deposition of Metropolitan Gerasimos Michaleas

During the deposition of Metropolitan Gerasimos Michaleas, a portion of which was filed with the San Francisco Superior Court in the case of Doe v. Metropolis of San Francisco, the hierarch was questioned concerning a letter from the Monastery of St. John of San Francisco. According to the transcript of the deposition, which was given on November 1, 2007, the letter was sent to Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOA) in New York.

The Monastery of St. John, located in Manton, California, belongs to the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Until recently, the abbot was Archimandrite Jonah Paffhausen. Paffhausen was selected as metropolitan of the OCA on November 12, 2008.

UNITED STATES
Pokrov

Sources close to the case report that late last week the OCA has reached a settlement with Paul Sidebottom, former Acting Dean of Students at St. Herman’s Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska. The settlement came after months of investigation and mediation of Sidebottom’s formal complaint filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in February 2008. The complaint alleged sexual harassment by former Alaskan Chancellor, Archimandrite Isidore (Brittain), and retaliatory discharge by the former OCA Bishop of Alaska, Nikolai (Soraich).

UNITED STATES
Pokrov

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] -- On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, the Orthodox Church in America issued the following statement.

”The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, a New York religious corporation (the 'OCA'), has concluded an investigation into the allegations made by Paul Sidebottom regarding actions by Archimandrite Isidore (Brittain) which took place in Kodiak, Alaska on May 16 – 17, 2007. While the OCA does not admit liability for any of the matters involved in Mr. Sidebottom’s allegations of sexual harassment, those allegations have been found to be credible by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ('EEOC') in its investigation of Mr. Sidebottom’s allegations, and the Holy Synod recognizes that the consequences of the protracted investigation have been a source of much distress to Mr. Sidebottom.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We’ve asked Braxton to meet with us.

We’ve asked Braxton to warn people about Fr. Bourque.

We’ve asked Braxton to not appeal the Fr. Kownacki case.

We’ve asked Braxton to not appeal the Fr. Roberts case.

We’ve asked Braxton to post names of predators on his website.

We’ve asked Braxton to put them in treatment centers.

Now, we’re asking Braxton to do something even simpler, easier and cheaper: just disclose their whereabouts.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tuesday December 23 2008

It is frankly outrageous that the publication of the report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children into clerical sex abuse allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne was not accompanied by the immediate and contrite resignation of the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee.

While he points out that the allegations are unproven, the process of investigation into them under his direction was diabolical.

How could Bishop Magee countenance anything other than his immediate resignation against this background?

CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

From Rochelle Brancato, wife of clergy abuse survivor Bob Brancato:

"I'd like to share some Christmas wishes with your readers. You'll see attached a photo we had taken in October of this year. Pictured are Bob, myself and our baby girl.

"Behind us are storm clouds, symbolizing the storm our family has made it through — as well as storms certain to come.

"The gravel road and gate represents the tougher, less traveled road we've taken. We like the Highwaymen song that says, 'True love travels on a gravel road.'

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

December 23, 2008
Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, under increasing pressure to resign because of his handling of the clerical abuse scandal, did not follow procedures envisioned by canon law for dealing with abuse allegations, according to a report in the Irish Independent.

NEOSHO (NO)
The Neosho Daily News

By Staff reports
Neosho Daily News
Mon Dec 22, 2008, 12:49 PM CST

Neosho, Mo. -
A rural Neosho self-proclaimed pastor will be back in court on Christmas Eve.

Randall “Danny” Russell is expected to appear at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Newton County Division II Associate Circuit Court for pre-trial conferences on six Class D felony charges of possession of child pornography and one misdemeanor count of second-degree child molestation.

Russell, 49, the pastor of Acts II Church in rural Neosho, could face up to four years in prison on each of the Class D felony charges, and a year and jail and / or a $1,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge.

IRELAND
Westmeath Independent

The State paid the salary of Cork National School principal Leo Hickey. Now despite the fact he was sentenced to three years in jail for sexual abuse, the State continues to pay his pension.

Recently, the High Court and Supreme Court have both ruled that the State is not vicariously liable for sexual assaults on young girls by Hickey, at the school near Kinsale in the 1970s.

Why?

Because Hickey was employed by the school patron and Board of Management and not by the State, despite the fact he was being paid by the Department of Education and implemented a curriculum devised by the department. ...

The four-judge court was careful not to give any indication as to whether the church authorities bore liability for what happened to Ms O’Keeffe.

But if, in the general instance, the State does not have liability, the spotlight surely falls on the patrons – which in most Irish catholic national schools has traditionally been a representative of the local Catholic Church.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Caitrina Cody

Tuesday December 23 2008

A DISTRAUGHT Cloyne father yesterday spoke about his disgust at the treatment his daughter's sexual abuse complaint received at the hands of Bishop John Magee.

"I feel such horror and disgust about the whole thing," said the man, who remains anonymous to protect his child's identity.

The Cork man's daughter was 14 when a trusted Cloyne priest began to abuse her.

"She was very innocent, even for her age," he said. He added that the priest, known only as Father B, was idolised by the family. "We all looked forward to going to Mass to hear his homilies, because they were both entertaining and sincere."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney and Caitrina Cody

Tuesday December 23 2008

The Vatican and senior Irish bishops expect beleaguered Bishop of Cloyne John Magee to resign over an internal Church report's indictment of him for failing to properly investigate two priests accused of raping children.

"There is little sympathy for Bishop Magee from his colleagues, because he has let them and Rome down," a senior Church source told the Irish Independent last night. "He is on his own."

Senior churchmen fear that if Bishop Magee continues to cling to office, his loss of credibility will damage the spirit of Christmas.

There are growing fears among Church leaders that if he stonewalls into the New Year, he will come under further threat in January when Children's Minister Barry Andrews puts recommendations to the Government arising from a second report from the Health Service Executive.

IRELAND
RTE News

[with audio]

Minister for Children Barry Andrews has defended his handling of a report that criticised how complaints of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne were dealt with.

The minister received the report earlier this year, but passed it on to the Health Service Executive without reading it.

Minister Andrews has said the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, must reflect on the findings of the report.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- During sessions aimed at healing a rift between Bishop Edward Braxton and diocesan priests, criticism was thwarted and open discussions on controversial subjects were discouraged, some members of a priests' association say.

The sessions, held Sept. 15-18 at a St. Louis hotel and organized by a consulting group, did little to bring about progress, according to Rev. James Voelker, who kept a journal he titled "Notes and Observations on Convocation."

Voelker, a member of the Southern Illinois Association of Priests, which has been critical of Braxton, said the bishop dodged questions and alleged that the moderators from the Reid Group of Seattle quashed criticism. One example, Voelker said, involved trying to take a microphone from him while he was speaking.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

AOIFE CARR and PATSY McGARRY

There is growing criticism of the Catholic Bishop of Cloyne, the Most Rev John Magee, and Minister for Children Barry Andrews in the wake of the publication of a highly critical report into child-protection practices in the diocese.

The report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, an independent body set up by the Church, found child protection practices in the diocese to be "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".

Labour TD for Cork East Sean Sherlock this morning called on the Bishop to resign and criticised Mr Andrews on his handling of the report.

“Nothing that anyone can ever do will ease the damage done to a number of young people in this area either through the original acts of sexual abuse by some members of the clergy or the failure of the Diocese of Cloyne to properly act on complaints made to them,” he said.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

PRESSURE ON the Catholic Bishop of Cloyne, the Most Rev John Magee, to resign is mounting after the Minister for Children Barry Andrews last night questioned his suitability to be patron of national schools in the diocese. His comments came following publication of a highly critical report into child protection practices in the diocese.

Mr Andrews said: "I can't really look into whether or not he should be in charge of that diocese, but I have a concern in relation to his role as patron of all national schools in Cloyne and whether or not we have a role to consider in that regard."

In relation to the report into child protection practices in Cloyne, Mr Andrews said on RTÉ News: "The bishop has to reflect on those findings because they are very serious."

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A SIGNIFICANT "difference in understanding" over who commissioned the report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) in the Catholic Church in Ireland, on child protection practices in Cloyne diocese, appears to have delayed its publication by months.

This "difference in understanding" was how NBSC chief executive Ian Elliott described the situation in a letter to the office of the Minister for Children Barry Andrews on September 9th last. He was replying to a September 3rd letter from that office which said it had not commissioned the report.

In the report published last Friday, Mr Elliott said that on February 15th last he met two senior officials from "the Department of Health and Children" to update them on initiatives the board was taking where best practice for safeguarding children in the church was concerned.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Jennifer Hough and Claire O’Sullivan
THE Bishop of Cloyne is under renewed pressure to step down after the Minister for Children expressed concern about Dr John Magee remaining in his position as patron of all national schools in his diocese.

Barry Andrews also called on Bishop Magee to “reflect” on the findings of the damning report which found he mishandled child abuse allegations and subsequently put children at risk.

On a day when the Church’s hierarchy was accused of “closing ranks” following the abuse allegations, Mr Andrews increased the pressure on Dr Magee to resign or be sacked.

ARKANSAS
Arkansas News

By TOM PARSONS
Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Embattled evangelist Tony Alamo’s lawyer has asked that “immaterial, impertinent or scandalous” language be removed from a civil lawsuit targeting Alamo in federal court.

The language was included in the suit only in an attempt “to stigmatize the defendant,” Alamo lawyer John Wesley Hall of Little Rock said in a filing last week. Hall also asked in a Sunday filing that one claim made in the lawsuit be dismissed altogether.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat E-Mail

BELLEVILLE -- Members of two metro-east groups critical of the handling of child sex abuse cases involving priests on Monday called upon a national organization to force Bishop Edward Braxton to meet with them regarding child safety.

David Clohessy, director of the St. Louis chapter of the Survivor's Network of Those Abused By Priests (S.N.A.P.), said a letter was sent to the National Review Board in Washington, D.C., set up by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, asking that Braxton be required:

• To post the addresses of 15 priests removed from active ministry mostly during the 1990s by a diocesan review board after allegations they sexually molested minors.

VATICAN CITY
IPS

NEW YORK, Dec 22 (IPS) - The financial crisis has the U.S. swirling with charges about the immoral greed of some corporate executives who recklessly bet their companies' futures to line their own pockets. The popular fix for this international calamity stops at the nation's borders: decouple top-line salaries and bonuses from stock prices and institute more transparency and regulation.

However, last month, the Vatican, in a groundbreaking statement, linked the financial crisis to a much deeper problem largely ignored in discussions of the crisis here. It underlined the need to consider carefully "the hidden but crucial role of the offshore financial system in light of the emergence of the global financial crisis". ...

The Vatican came to its knowledge of offshore painfully. Italy's Banco Ambrosiano, of which the Vatican was the main shareholder, collapsed in 1982. Its CEO Roberto Calvi, in collaboration with Bishop Paul Marcinkus, the U.S. national who headed IOR, the Vatican Bank, had siphoned off multi-millions of dollars to offshore accounts.

Ambrosiano lost 3.5 billion dollars of customers' deposits. Calvi, who fled Italy, was murdered and found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London. Marcinkus was protected from Italian indictment by the Church and later returned to the U.S. where he lived until his death in 2006.

A few years later, in a 1985 essay on morality and economics, Cardinal Ratzinger -- the future Pope Benedict XVI -- warned that the decline of ethics "can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse".

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The McGurk

The McGurk is a novel about the many cultural facets of Catholicism within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries. We read about a small aspect of that very large story as it plays out primarily in the lives of bishops, priests and nuns who are struggling with their Faith, their loyalties and their sense of 'church'. Many aspects of historical Jesus research are integral to the storyline. The Irish in Philadelphia and Irish Catholicism as it existed there is the nucleus of the story. ...

Topics portrayed include clerical sexual abuse of children, Satanism within the Church, the loss of Faith and its eventual return and the overall influence of Irish Catholicism and its paradigms on the formation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

UNITED STATES
Pokrov

A top Greek Orthodox church official is being harshly criticized for claiming that five men who reached a multi-million dollar child sex abuse settlement actually made up allegations.

Leaders of a support group for survivors of abuse in the Orthodox Churches are writing to Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis and the other members of the ruling body of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA). They want that group to discipline Metropolitan Isaiah Chronopoulos and force him to apologize for accusing the five men of lying.

In October, the men settled their lawsuit against Fr. Nicholas Katinas and numerous church entities. But two weeks ago, Chronopoulos publicly accused these victims of making false charges in that action. He made his allegations in a letter sent to all members of his Denver-based diocese, as well as posting them on the diocesan website.
Protocol 08-27

“Chronopoulos should explain and apologize for his hurtful claims,” said Melanie Jula Sakoda of Moraga, California. She is a co-founder of a San Francisco-based support group called Pokrov.org. “Church officials can’t have their cake and eat it too. They can’t pay millions to avoid an embarrassing public trial which will expose their complicity in child sex crimes, yet afterwards pretend the victims are lying.”

FAIRBANK (AK)
The Catholic Review

By Catholic News Service

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The number of people claiming to have been sexually abused by Catholic priests and other church workers in the Fairbanks Diocese over the past six decades more than doubled after the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection in March.

The diocese said 288 people have made abuse claims against more than 40 individuals, with most of the cases relating to childhood sexual abuse. Because of the bankruptcy, victims had faced a Dec. 2 deadline to be included in the group that will be compensated by the diocese for the abuse.

When the diocese announced in February that it would seek bankruptcy protection, it said it was unable to reach a financial settlement with 140 people who had filed about 150 claims against the diocese. The most recent abuse asserted in a claim took place in the 1980s, although some cases go back to the 1950s.

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

December 22, 2008
An Irish bishop has rejected calls for his resignation in the wake of a report detailing his failure to address reports of sexual abuse by priests in his diocese. Bishop John Magee of Cloyne came under fire after the release of a report by the independent National Safeguarding Board for Children, which said that the diocese had put children at risk by failing to confront clerical abusers.

MAINE
KeepMeCurrent

By Ann Fisher
Reporter – The Reporter

LYMAN (Dec 22, 2008): Bishop Richard J. Malone has appealed to the Vatican a church court decision that ruled sexual abuse accusations against former priest Thomas Lee were not proven.

The church court, which has special expertise in the area of church law, acknowledged that Lee's actions, which took place in the early 1980s, were "imprudent."

"I am stunned and disappointed at the outcome of this case and frustrated that the process has taken so long. It has undoubtedly been difficult for the families involved," said Malone in a news release.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Monday, 22 December 2008

One in Four is adding its voice to calls for the Bishop of Cloyne to resign after a report found that child abuse allegations in the Cork diocese were not dealt with properly.

The National Board for the Safeguarding of Children's Report found that child protection practices in the dioceses of Cloyne were inadequate and in some respects dangerous.

ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
Orange County Weekly

Posted by Gustavo Arellano in Ex Cathedra
December 22, 2008 6:51 AM

Sorry for not noticing this earlier: in November, Orange County Register reporter Teri Sforza wrote a puzzling post on the Reg's OC Watchdog blog noting that the Catholic Diocese of Orange had nicely recovered from all the payouts courts forced them to give to the victims of its rapin' employees over the years. "What is it they say about confession being good for the soul? Perhaps it's good for the bank account as well," Sforza wrote, adding, "We commend the Diocese for this startling bit of financial transparency" for allowing people to comb through their financial statements, making it seem as if it's a new development.

All together now: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown must be working overtime burning votive candles for some good words--any good words--in the press. Sforza calls the diocese's financial rebound "heavenly" but somehow didn't get around to interviewing parents at St. Mary's, St. Boniface, and Our Lady of the Pillar in SanTana, who had their parish schools shuttered because Brown was whining about there not being enough money 'cause of those pesky sex-abuse victims.

City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

We are signing off until next year at City of Angels and in 2009 our ongoing coverage of the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church will be at http://cityofangels5.blogspot.com/ .

The word at the top of the page next year is "Hope," in part because of Obama’s election, in part because there have been thousands of lawsuits against the Catholic Church for its pandering to pedophiles, in part because of this paragraph in a book about surviving with PTSD.

“Although Frannie was disabled by her traumatic experience, she was also, in certain ways, empowered by them. Frannie was a natural at using imagery and the altered state to help herself heal. The trance state was her powerful ally, and she was adept at achieving it, rapidly and deeply, thanks to a trauma-induced intensification in her brain’s visual, sensorimotor, and emotional centers.”

In other words, use your skills at dissociation to get you out of a bad place.

UNITED STATES
AveWatch

According to Ave Maria University’s website (screen capture), the AMU Founder’s Club hosted a visit from the President of “Opus Bono Sacerdotii” (OBS), Joseph Maher, one year ago this past Friday (December 19). IRS records show that the self-described exempt purpose of OBS is to offer “outplacement services for Roman Catholic priests and religious men and women for the purpose of providing a transition from one position to another”.
(Click below for more.)

***
The University Founders Club, started by Tom Monaghan (NY Times, 2/10/2003), advertised that the purpose of OBS was “to find solutions to sensitive situations confronting priests and religious in accordance with the authentic teaching of the Church.”

“Outplacement services” for “sensitive situations”?
Translation: OBS helps to quietly shuffle around pederast priests.

According to the OBS website, Joseph Maher helped start the organization in Detroit in 2002 after “he received much public attention for his staunch support of a priest from his parish who was accused of rape. Today, over 2,000 priests have contacted Opus Bono Sacerdotii for assistance, with more calling on a weekly basis.”

UNITED STATES
YouTube

Robert Schwiderski, Minnesota director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, discusses "Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church" in this video presentation.

UNITED STATES
Asia Times

By Julian Delasantellis

My wife was born and raised in one of those old, insular industrial towns of the US northeast, one of those places that headed off down the road to extinction following the 1973 oil embargo. Growing up among Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Portuguese-Americans and others, there was a remarkably high degree of respect for all manners and forms of diversity, all the various rainbow colors of race, creed and faith - as long as that creed was Roman Catholic.

My wife's family had her totally onboard with the program, from baptism through confirmation to high-school graduation from St Patrick's. She's told me that following graduation she had no knowledge of such historical personages as Cicero, Tom Paine or Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but she was absolutely, positively sure that Martin Luther was still down there roasting away in the hottest circle of hell.

When the sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests scandal germinated in Boston in 2002 and then metastasized across North America, I asked her if she was surprised by the revelations of perfidious ecclesiastical pederasty. "Not really," she told me.

She said that it was pretty common knowledge among the kids at school that some of the private "spiritual instruction" conferences with a few specific priests in the parish involved some pretty strange doings. When I asked her if the kids protested or complained to their parents, she said that was unthinkable.

IRELAND
Herald

By Padraig O Morain

Monday December 22 2008

It is wrong that Louise O'Keeffe, sexually assaulted by her school principal in the 1970s, faces costs of up to €750,000 after losing an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, can remove this wrong by waiving the State's right to costs.

What happened at Dunderrow National School, Co Cork, in the 1970s was indecent assault on a wide scale. Louise O'Keeffe was one of many girls indecently assaulted by their school principal, Leo Hickey. She was eight years old. Hickey was jailed in 1998 for three years. He had pleaded guilty to 21 sample charges of indecent assault against 21 girls. The sample had been drawn from 386 counts. ...

She lost in the High Court on the basis that Hickey had been appointed not by the State but by the school manager, Canon Stritch. The school was under the patronage of the Bishop of Cork and Ross and, in rejecting her claim, the High Court said that she might have had a more successful result if she had brought proceedings against the Catholic diocese.

VERMONT
WCAX

[with video]

Burlington, Vermont - December 21, 2008

Sunday's snow storm made it hard for devoted worshipers to get to and from church, but snow is the least of the problems for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

On December 17th, Bishop Salvatore Matano told reporters, "I apologize to all the victims of sexual abuse."

Last Wednesday, a Burlington jury decided a former altar boy should receive more than 3 million dollars for molestation he suffered at the hands of Father Edward Paquette in the 1970s. The Church now owes more than 12 million dollars to victims in sex abuse lawsuits, some of which are under appeal. The church still faces at least 26 more cases.

Christ the King Parishioner Eve Dubois says, "We have a lot of people who firmly believe in the Catholic faith. We're going to keep on believing. It's unfortunate what happened. Nothing we can do can change the past. All we can do is keep moving toward the future, and hopefully a better future."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By David Quinn

Monday December 22 2008

The diocese handled these complaints more or less as they would have in 1988

The Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, can consider himself a very lucky man that the economy and the banking scandals are deflecting public attention away from his appalling management of two clerical sex abuse allegations recently brought to his attention.

Were it not for this fact, the pressure on him to resign would be almost irresistible. As it is, the pressure was sufficient to force him to make public a report into his handling of the two allegations conducted by the Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC). The report makes for extremely damning reading. It catalogues how the diocese failed to cooperate properly with the board.

It states that the diocese accepts "that 'lacunae' existed in their child protection policies and practice", and it recognises "the need to ensure that all information relating to an allegation of abuse is conveyed to the appropriate authorities fully and in a timely way", and that this "has not happened in these two cases".

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney Religion Correspondent

Monday December 22 2008

A radical lay Catholic group has called for the immediate resignation of the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, in the wake of a damning sex abuse report.

The 'Voice of the Faithful' lobby, which campaigns for more accountability in the Irish Catholic Church, said that if Bishop Magee fails to step down, Pope Benedict should exercise his supreme authority by demanding his resignation.

The pressure on Bishop Magee (72) to quit follows the publication of an internal church report that found child protection practices in the Co Cork diocese were inadequate and dangerous, thereby potentially exposing vulnerable young people to further harm.

VERMONT
Times Argus

Associated Press - Published: December 22, 2008

BURLINGTON - The foreman of a jury that last week awarded a Maryland man $3.6 million in a case of sexual abuse by a priest says the current Vermont Catholic bishop's attitude during a videotaped sworn statement may have hurt the church's case.

In the Oct 2 deposition of Bishop Salvatore Matano, the bishop "showed no remorse. He showed no emotion, no real regret over what the victims had gone through," said Andrew Pearson, foreman of the jury that heard the latest lawsuit against the diocese alleging priest sex abuse.

Pearson said the jury reached an "easy consensus" that the diocese was at fault for hiring retired priest Edward Paquette while knowing he had had a history of abusing children and allowing him to work in parishes in Rutland, Montpelier and Burlington before dismissing him.

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

Marshall Fine

The timing may have been fortuitous, with the explosion of complains and lawsuits about sexual abuse against the Catholic Church.

But writer-director John Patrick Shanley insists that Doubt, his 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning play just released on film, isn't about the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. Despite the fact that it's set in and around a Bronx parochial school, it's barely about the Catholic Church, per se, he maintains.

"The sexual topic comes up maybe once," Shanley says in a telephone interview. "And obviously it's not about the Catholic Church and abuse. Rather, it's about living with doubt. It's about having your assumptions and prejudices exploded and having to live in the present tense. When your assumptions are overturned, what are you left with to look at?"

IRELAND
RTE News

[with audio]

Monday, 22 December 2008
The Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, has rejected calls for him to resign over his handling of child sexual abuse by clergy in his diocese.

The calls have come from a number of quarters, including from the father of an alleged victim, a former priest of his diocese and a victims' support organisation.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, the father of an alleged victim called for the Church to 'kick out' Dr Magee.

AdvertisementA report by the National Safeguarding Board for Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) published last week found the Catholic Church had not responded properly to abuse allegations.

UNITED STATES
NPR

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

[Audio for this story will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET]

[Watch Rev. Louis Miller's Testimony]

[With copy of the 1962 Vatican Document: Instruction on the Manner of Proceeding in Cases of Solicitation]

Morning Edition, December 22, 2008 · Michael Turner's ordeal, it turned out, was not remarkable. About 90 other boys were abused by Father Louis Miller, a priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville in the 1960s. The priest is in prison and the archdiocese settled for more than $25 million with Turner and others five years ago.

But after the settlement, Turner couldn't shake his anger.

"I was not truly mad at the right person," he says. "I kept going up a ladder, and I was looking at cardinals and even the Pope knew, you know, that this was this bad. That's what truly upset me."

Now Turner is in court again — suing the Vatican. [PDF] Until recently, no federal court has allowed a case to proceed against the Vatican — and few really believed the Holy See would ever be open to lawyers or its treasury subject to money damages. It is considered a foreign state with sovereign immunity. ...

In the meantime, lawyers across the country are watching these cases, and several are preparing similar lawsuits.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

ALISON HEALY

THE REPORT on serious allegations of abuse in the diocese of Cloyne must raise fears that other dioceses are not meeting their child safety obligations, the lay Catholic organisation Voice of the Faithful has said.

The organisation called "urgently" for the publication of the results of audits of child protection provision in all Irish dioceses.

Voice of the Faithful, which began in the US in response to clerical sex abuse scandals, describes itself as a grouping of "the people in the pews".

On Friday, the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, apologised to victims of clerical abuse after an independent report found that his diocese had put children at risk of harm because of its inability to respond appropriately to abuse allegations.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
A PRIEST who left the Diocese of Cloyne nine years ago over his deep disgust at how child sex allegations were being covered up has joined the growing number of people calling for Bishop John Magee to resign, saying it is in the best interests of the Church.

Father Matthew Ring stood down from the diocese in 1999 due to his “utter disillusionment and deep disgust” with its handling of sex abuse complaints. He called on the Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, to ask the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation to further examine practices in Cloyne.

“I posed the question to Bishop Magee at the time of my resignation: how can I baptise innocent children into a system when they run the risk of being abused and never see justice? What I got was a stoney silence,” he said.

KENTUCKY
National Catholic Register

BY JEFF GARDNER
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

December 21, 2008-January 3, 2009 Issue | Posted 12/12/08 at 8:03 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Could Pope Benedict XVI be deposed?

That’s a legal term, of course, for having to answer questions posed by lawyers as part of a “discovery” process in a lawsuit.

One lawyer in the United States feels confident that he will be able to ask the Pope certain questions during a deposition, now that a federal appellate court has ruled that a Kentucky district court may consider jurisdiction over the Holy See.

The case involves three men who claim to have been sexually abused in Kentucky. Attorney William McMurry brought a class action lawsuit on their behalf in June 2004, naming the Holy See as the defendant. The suit alleged “deliberate failure … to take effective action to prevent childhood sexual abuse by its priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, agents and employees.” McMurry alleged that “the Holy See has mandated that all allegations of childhood sexual abuse be kept under a cloak of complete secrecy.”

IRELAND
Alliance Support Group

Irish Examiner

by Eoin English, Irish Examiner, December 20, 2008

DESPITE extensive Garda probes, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided that two priests in the Cloyne diocese accused of child abuse should not face criminal charges.

Gardaí confirmed that "full and thorough" investigations were carried out into each of the allegations levelled against Fr A and Fr B, both priests in the Cloyne diocese.

But after examining one substantial Garda file in relation to Fr A and three files in relation to Fr B, the DPP directed that neither priest should face criminal prosecution. The DPP's decisions were not made public.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Sunday December 21 2008

PRESSURE is mounting on the Bishop of Cloyne Dr John Magee to "review his position" in light of damning criticisms in a Catholic Church watchdog report over childcare protection systems in his diocese.

The bishop -- a former secretary to Pope John Paul 11 -- has privately told friends and colleagues that he has no intention of retiring. He wants to personally ensure that the report's recommendations are fully implemented.

"There can be no place in the Church, or in wider society, for those who have perpetrated such vile acts and who have betrayed the sacred trust placed in them," the bishop declared.

The report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) was ordered earlier this year into how two cases of alleged clerical sex abuse were dealt with by the Diocese of Cloyne.

COLORADO
The Denver Post

By Virginia Culver
The Denver Post

Tom Kerwin, a Catholic gadfly who constantly prodded his church to modernize, died on Nov. 14. He was 78.

A service is planned at 11 a.m. Saturday at Church of the Risen Christ, 3060 S. Monaco Parkway. ...

After the priest pedophile scandal broke earlier this decade, he said in a 2002 Denver Post story that "only a church that is led by the ordained and the unordained can be the cure for the pathology, secrecy, patriarchy and privilege" that he believed permeated the Catholic church.

"The church is God's people, not a corporation of executives or a medieval fiefdom. Only a church that is out of touch with the Gospel would boast that it is not a democracy," he told The Post.

CANADA
Calgary Herald

By Andrew Burke; with files from Stephane Massinon and Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary Herald.December 20, 2008

At a nondescript house in an unremarkable corner of Bangkok called Peekmai Village number 1, the sign nailed to the front door said "Home Sweet Home." But inside, two women were sitting on a worn rosewood lounge and shaking their heads. "Did you say John had been arrested?" asked Sukontha Klaisud, a middle-aged Thai woman and the owner of the house. "Why? By who? What has he done?"

Sukontha has spent at least seven years living in the same house as John Charles Wrenshall, 62, a former Calgarian arrested in London on Monday and accused of masterminding a Bangkok pedophile ring.

Wrenshall was detained at Heathrow International Airport after leaving Bangkok for Canada. According to the U. S. Justice Department, the man described as quiet, generous and hardworking by his colleagues was also a serial abuser of young boys.

GREENWICH (CT)
Greenwich Time

By Debra Friedman
Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/21/2008 02:34:45 AM EST

After a year spent barred from practicing law, Greenwich Attorney Philip Russell is back in the game and looking straight ahead.

"It's as natural as breathing," Russell said of returning to state Superior Court in Stamford last week. Russell, 50, of Stamford, was reinstated Wednesday after finishing 12 months of probation for destroying a computer containing child pornography owned by a former Christ Church Greenwich choir director Robert Tate.

Russell, who represented the church, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport in September 2007 to one count of misprision of a felony, which means having knowledge of a felony but not reporting it. A lawyer representing Russell called his action an impulsive act in an otherwise law abiding career, according to the Associated Press. Russell's law license was taken away during the course of his probation after coming to an agreement with the Judicial Branch's Statewide Bar Counsel. Russell's sentence also included six months of electronically monitored home confinement, 240 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway, Free Press Staff Writer • December 21, 2008

When it comes to clergy sexual abuse lawsuits, no Roman Catholic diocese in the United States has been more willing to let such cases go to trial than the one based in Burlington.

“I don’t know of any other jurisdiction in the country that has had so many Catholic priest abuse cases brought to trial,” said Terry McKiernan, founder of Bishopaccountability.org, an Internet entity that tracks priest sexual abuse cases nationally.

McKiernan said 35 of the 3,000 cases alleging sexual abuse of children by priests have been carried through to trial and ended with a jury verdict. Four of those have taken place in Vermont, all in the past 13 months.

“You have a unique combination in Vermont of a diocese that is willing to go to trial and a plaintiff’s attorney who is willing to try them,” McKiernan said.

Santa Cruz Sentinel

We have had a splendid election and see how governmental power works in this country. There are many power centers, much citizen participation, and a snoopy press to investigate abuse of power -- essential in preserving democracy.

However, there are groups around the world that believe in variations of "the philosopher king" or even more frightening: "the great and good leader" Fuhrer. Any time you feel like complaining about our system of government, take a look at how absolute power works -- and how secrecy protects it.

• The Catholic Pedophile Priest problem: Secrecy in an organization as large, respected and ancient as the Catholic Church hid for decades a problem that needed publicity. Celibacy played a role in attracting young men into a priesthood -- respected by parishioners -- where some found their power over children both sexual and irresistible. The issue was finally forced into the public, and the Church has apologized and paid for its bad oversight and has apparently cleaned up the problem.

• Renegade Mormons: The secretive fundamentalist Mormon cults that keep to themselves, defy the laws against polygamy, and have benefited from the benign neglect of state authorities Utah, Arizona, Montana. "Elders" abuse not only grown women, but young girls and some boys as well. The courage of a handful of former victims opened

IRELAND
The Times (United Kingdom)

Mark Tighe
THE minister of state for children has described the findings of the report into allegations of sexual abuse by priests in Cloyne as “damning”.

Barry Andrews said Bishop John Magee had apologised “with good reason” after the report by National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), an organisation set up by the Catholic church, concluded that poor management had exposed “vulnerable young people to further harm”.

Magee said: “The safety of children is the priority for me and for the diocese of Cloyne. Whilst the allegations referred to in this report are not proven and this report makes no determination as to their veracity, nevertheless my intention is to alleviate those who have suffered in any way that I can.”

MAINE
Portland Press Herald

By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer

December 20, 2008

Maine's Roman Catholic bishop has appealed to the Vatican a church tribunal's finding that there was no proof that a Maine priest, Thomas Lee, had committed sexual abuse of minors.

The panel of three priests, with expertise in church law, decided that Lee's actions in the 1980s were imprudent but that multiple allegations of sexual abuse of minors had not been proved.

It was the first sexual abuse case involving a priest to be adjudicated by a tribunal within the diocese.

Bishop Richard J. Malone requested an appeal of the decision in September. In a written statement issued Friday, he said he wants to be sure that each piece of evidence was properly presented to the tribunal in 2007.

IRELAND
RTE News

Saturday, 20 December 2008 13:19
The Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, has said child protection reporting procedures are robust.

He was speaking after the publication of a report on sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne.

A second report is expected from the Health Service Executive.

The report by the National Safeguarding Board for Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) found the Catholic church had not responded properly to abuse allegations.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

By CLAUDE MCINTOSH

Strange animal, this Cornwall Public Inquiry.

The hard-core theorists smeared many good innocent people while campaigning for the inquiry.

The inquiry, they preached to us for years, would expose pedophile clans and send prominent citizens running for the hills, police incompetence and cover-ups in the highest of high places.

But the hard-core conspiracists are the ones being exposed through the testimony given by some of the people and organizations they vilified.

Among the facts brought out by the inquiry:

The man who came up with the infamous pedophile clan tale testified he made up the story and passed it along to Perry Dunlop the self-proclaimed world's only honest cop, who bought the tall tale hook, line and sinker. An alleged victim said he was told to put a priest's name in his affidavit, even though he had never met the man. Another said he was told to say he was assaulted on a school bus trip because that way he could sue the school board. And just about everything former judge Garry Guzzo alleged came apart during thorough cross examination by lawyers David Sherriff-Scott and Michael Neville. As the inquiry lumbers along, it is not hard to understand why Dunlop refused to testify.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday December 20 2008

THE report into the Cloyne clerical abuse allegations made five major findings.

It also issued eight recommendations about childcare practices within the Cork diocese.

Its findings were compiled after interviews with Bishop John Magee, Monsignor O'Callaghan and Dean Goold.

The main findings included:

l Children were placed at risk of harm because the diocese did not respond appropriately to information about alleged abuse by two clerics.

l The competence of those involved in childcare protection work in Cloyne was seriously questioned.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Post

Dec 20 2008 by Our Correspondent, Daily Post

A CHURCH elder said to be addicted to porn took his laptop to a police station and confessed that he had been downloading child images.

Bevan Andrew Waller, 32, was found to have 138 images of children aged between two and 16 years of age.

Two of them were found to be of the most serious category available.

IRELAND
Sunday Business Post

A Co Cork based Bishop took minimal action over a series of child sex abuse allegations against two of his priests, a damning report has found.

The investigation by the church’s abuse watchdog also concluded that what little action was taken by Bishop of Cloyne John Magee was inappropriately delayed and responses were inadequate and dangerous.

The allegations – branded alarming by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) – centre on two priests within the Co Cork diocese.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Paul O’Brien, Political Correspondent

CHILDREN’S Minister Barry Andrews welcomed publication of the National Board for Safeguarding Children report and pledged to publish a separate HSE report on the issue as soon as legal advice allowed.

But the minister was heavily criticised by the opposition, who said Mr Andrews was among those at fault for the delay.

“This report has been with Barry Andrews since last July and should have been published by him long before now,” Labour TD Sean Sherlock said. “It should not have required a political controversy to ensure that such an important report was published.”

Mr Sherlock said the delay had “only added to the trauma of those who suffered abuse at the hands of some members of the clergy”.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Paul O’Brien, Political Correspondent

THE Health Service Executive last night said it had “taken into account” the National Board for Safeguarding Children report when conducting its own investigation of how the Cloyne diocese handled the abuse claims.

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews received a copy of the board’s report in July and passed it to the HSE.

The HSE completed its investigation recently and submitted its report to the minister on December 4.

Mr Andrews said he will publish this report as soon as legal advice allows.

In a short statement last night, the HSE said: “The Department of Health & Children made available to the HSE a copy of the report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, the content of which was taken into account when the HSE carried out its review in 2008. The HSE’s review has been submitted to the Department of Health & Children and the Office of the Minister for Children.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Stephen Rogers

THE Bishop of Cloyne has described his decision not to give the name of an alleged child abuser to gardaí as “normal practice”, according to a report on alleged child abuse in his diocese.

The report by Ian Elliott, chief executive of the Catholic church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), details the alleged abuse by two priests, Father A and Father B. According to the report, a young priest, named as XY, first reported that he had been abused as a child by Father A in December 2004. On that occasion he spoke to the bishop, but did not reveal who his alleged abuser was. He did not do so until May 2005.

Four months later the bishop met with Father A, and as a result of that meeting Father A resigned.

In November 2005, the bishop’s delegate, Monsignor O’Callaghan, sent a letter to gardaí informing them a complaint had been received against a priest in the diocese.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

Damning report: young people exposed to harm by church authorities

CHILD PROTECTION practices in the Diocese of Cloyne in Co Cork were inadequate and dangerous, thereby potentially exposing vulnerable young people to further harm, an agency set up by the Catholic Church to protect children has found.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, (NBSC) was highly critical of the way that the Diocese of Cloyne and Bishop John Magee handled a series of complaints of sexual abuse made by five people against two priests in the diocese.

According to the report by the chief executive of the NBSC, Ian Elliott, which was published yesterday by the Diocese of Cloyne, child protection practice in the diocese was "significantly deficient in a number of respects.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Saturday December 20 2008

DR John Magee must carefully consider his position as Bishop of Cloyne in light of devastating childcare protection revelations, a TD warned last night.

And one victim rights group demanded an immediate audit of all diocesan childcare facilities after the damning findings of the Cloyne report.

Labour's Sean Sherlock dismissed Dr Magee's response to the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) findings as not going far enough. He also questioned the Bishop's decision to continue in the top diocesan job.

"Bishop Magee now has to seriously consider his position and decide whether or not he can retain the confidence of the people of Cloyne in the light of these disclosures," the Cork TD warned. "The statement issued by Bishop Magee is simply not adequate," he said. "Those in responsible positions in the Diocese of Cloyne have to take responsibility for the way in which the complaints were dealt with."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Saturday December 20 2008

A Catholic diocese left vulnerable children at risk of sexual abuse and even had a policy of giving gardai minimal information about a priest suspected of abuse, a damning report has found.

The report, by a Catholic Church watchdog, slated childcare protection practices in the Diocese of Cloyne, warning that they "alarmingly" failed vulnerable youngsters and left them at risk.

The shocking National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) report -- ordered into two separate complaints of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne -- found that child protection policies were inadequate, overly focussed on the needs of the accused cleric and inappropriately delayed.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

THE CATHOLIC Church “cannot be trusted to consistently put the safety of children above all other considerations”, Maeve Lewis, executive director of the One in Four group, said last night.

She was speaking following publication yesterday of a report into alleged incidents of abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne.

Ms Lewis called for an audit of child-protection practices in all Catholic dioceses in Ireland. “The State must intervene and bring the church into line with the rest of society,” she said.

NORWICH (CT)
Hartford Courant

December 20, 2008
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by a priest when she was a girl. And another person has stepped forward with allegations against another priest.

The woman alleges the late Rev. Thomas Shea assaulted her at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Gales Ferry beginning when she was 10 years old. Several other women have made similar allegations against Shea.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

By TREVOR PRITCHARD, STANDARD-FREEHOLDER

The Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese "should have known better" before striking a $32,000 deal with a former altar boy accusing a priest of sexual abuse, the city's Crown attorney told the Cornwall Public Inquiry Friday.

"(David) Silmser, I thought, participated more in initiating the (deal) than he did," said Murray MacDonald.

"But that doesn't change the fact that the church should have known better."

Yesterday was MacDonald's third and final day on the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, which is examining how institutions like the justice system and the local diocese dealt with allegations of historical sexual abuse. In the fall of 1993, the diocese paid Silmser $32,000 after he had told police he'd been sexually abused decades earlier by Rev. Charles MacDonald.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

GORDON DEEGAN

THE DIOCESE of Killaloe made its largest ever annual payout to victims of clerical sex abuse last year, accounts published yesterday reveal.

The diocesan accounts for 2007 confirmed that the diocese paid €619,717 to victims, bringing to over €1.49 million that which has been paid to sex abuse victims since 2003.

In a statement accompanying the accounts, the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, said: “The ongoing fallout from the tragedy of sexual abuse by a small number of clergy in the distant past continues to demand time and resources for healing and reconciliation. €619,717 has been paid in 2007 for this purpose.”

The accounts show that the diocese funded the payout from the €1.5 million sale of six acres of land at Dr Walsh’s Westbourne residence in Ennis in 2001.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A RELIGIOUS order has lost a High Court bid to halt an action against it by two men over sexual abuse more than 30 years ago by one of the order’s teachers.

The teacher, a member of the Franciscan order, was jailed in 1998 after pleading guilty to physical and sexual assault on the two complainants when they were aged 11 and 12 and pupils at the national school where he taught.

The men, now aged 46 and 47, subsequently brought civil proceedings – which will be heard by a judge and jury – against the teacher and the Franciscan order (the Regular Third Order of St Francis of Assisi).

IRELAND
One in Four

Minister, publish the report

Once again we have awoken to news of yet another chapter in the saga of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Minister for Youth and Children Barry Andrews, has refused to publish a report by the Church’s National Board for safeguarding Children regarding the way in which allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Cloyne have been handled. Under intense public pressure he later agreed to publish a second, more recent report by the HSE. What are we to think?

Since the mid-1990s, Irish people have been shocked by revelations of widespread clerical sexual abuse. It has been very difficult to accept that Church authorities have been responsible in many cases for covering up allegations, allowing abuse of children to continue. There are well documented instances where bishops and priests acted to protect the church rather than vulnerable children.

OMAHA (NE)
NTV

Associated Press - December 19, 2008 8:45 PM ET

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A former priest tells Omaha police he's been the target of vandals and thieves.

Daniel Herek was sentenced in 2006 to four months in jail for exposing himself in an Omaha parking lot. That incident came while he was still on probation for molesting a 14-year-old altar boy. The defrocked priest served 2 1/2 years on that charge.

Now, Herek has filed a police report, saying someone wedged an orange construction cone into his front door, making it impossible to open the door.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
A STATE investigation into a child sex abuse scandal has been dismissed out of hand by victims who said they were neither informed nor interviewed by the Health Service Executive, which conducted the inquiry at the Government’s request.

One of the victims of abuse in the Cork diocese of Cloyne said she and other victims were never made aware of a Health Service Executive (HSE) report into the mishandling of the abuse allegations.

Yesterday, Minister for Children Barry Andrews said he had asked the HSE to conduct its own investigation in July. He also defended his decision not to publish a separate report carried out by the Church’s National Board for the Safeguarding of Children (NBSC). He was given a copy of this report in July.

IRELAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne

Bishop John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne, today [December 19th 2008] released the following statement:

The safety of children is the priority for me and for the Diocese of Cloyne. Supporting those individuals who suffered clerical child sexual abuse is an integral part of my ministry and that of the diocese. Today I apologise to victims of clerical sexual abuse. There can be no place in the Church, or in wider society, for those who have perpetrated such vile acts and who have betrayed the sacred trust placed in them.

The Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children (NSBC), which is independent of the Diocese, completed a review in June of two child protection cases in the diocese. I cooperated with this review and fully accept its recommendations. I am currently implementing the findings of this review.

Clearly, implementing these recommendations is important but so too is public confidence in the child protection procedures in the diocese. For this reason I am today placing the NSBC report on the public record.

Whilst the allegations referred to in this report are not proven and this report makes no determination as to that veracity, nevertheless my intention is to alleviate those who have suffered in any way that I can, and this sentiment underpins my actions today.

IRELAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne

This report presents the findings of a review of two child protection cases which arose within the Diocese of Cloyne. The review was primarily records based but was supplemented by interviews with Bishop Magee, his delegate Monsignor O'Callaghan, and Dean Goold. Each case involved members of the clergy as the alleged perpetrators. Child protection practice was examined through the case records provided by the Diocese of Cloyne and found to be inadequate and in some respects dangerous. There was no evidence that risk had been appropriately identified or managed, thereby potentially exposing vulnerable young people to further harm. Deficits in practice are identified and recommendations listed to address these.
Please note that the allegations referred to in this report are not proven and this report makes no determination as to their veracity.

The Identification of the Two Cases

1. On the 15 February 2008, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC) met with two senior officials within the Department of Health and Children. The purpose of the meeting was to update the Department on the ongoing initiatives that the NBSC had embarked upon in order to embed best practice in the field of safeguarding children within the Church.

2. At the conclusion of that meeting, the CEO was informed that a complaint had been made to the Minister regarding the practice of the Diocese of Cloyne in a particular case. A copy of the correspondence was given to the CEO and he was asked to investigate the circumstances outlined in the complaint, and to report back his findings.

IRELAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne

1. As requested, this Report comments on the progress that has been made to date in implementing the necessary changes to safeguarding practice in the Diocese of Cloyne since the acceptance of the Report findings by the Bishop.

2. The National Board welcomes the appointment of Fr. William Bermingham as the new delegate for the Diocese. In all the contacts to date, he has impressed as a competent, and caring person who has a deep passion for safeguarding children. In all respects, Fr. Bermingham appears to be capable of leading the Diocese forward in its practice in this area.

3. The Diocese has shown a new openness and willingness to engage with the National Office which is greatly welcomed. This close working relationship enables us to provide guidance and to monitor closely practice in the Diocese

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Paul O’Brien, Political Correspondent
CHILDREN’S Minister Barry Andrews welcomed publication of the National Board for Safeguarding Children report and pledged to publish a separate HSE report on the issue as soon as legal advice allowed.

But the minister was heavily criticised by the opposition, who said Mr Andrews was among those at fault for the delay.

“This report has been with Barry Andrews since last July and should have been published by him long before now,” Labour TD Sean Sherlock said. “It should not have required a political controversy to ensure that such an important report was published.”

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan and Paul O’Brien
BISHOP OF CLOYNE John Magee was coming under strong pressure to resign last night as a damning Church report revealed he and his diocese had put children at risk by delaying in reporting clerical sex abuse to gardaí and failing to immediately remove alleged offenders from ministries.

The report from the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NSBC) found the Co Cork diocese was “significantly deficient” in dealing with alleged child abuse cases and “failed to focus on the needs of the vulnerable child”.

It also said the diocese had no understanding of the effects of paedophilia, or of the high level of re-offending. The report’s author, Ian Elliott, said that after a victim approached the bishop and his child protection team with a complaint, the actions taken were “minimal and were delayed”.

IRELAND
Press Association

A senior Irish Catholic Bishop took minimal action over a series of child sex abuse allegations against two of his priests, a damning report has found.

The investigation by the church's abuse watchdog also concluded that what little action was taken by Bishop of Cloyne John Magee was inappropriately delayed and responses were inadequate and dangerous. The allegations - branded alarming by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) - centre on two priests within the Co Cork diocese.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE CATHOLIC Bishop of Cloyne has apologised to victims of clerical sex abuse after an independent report found his diocese had put children at risk of harm through an "inability" to respond appropriately to abuse allegations.

The report documents serious allegations in the Diocese of Cloyne against two priests, including one claim by a woman that she was raped by one of the priests at the age of 13.

One of the alleged victims of abuse is himself a priest.

The report was conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSC), a body set up by, but independent of the Catholic Church.

AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

HARRIET ALEXANDER AND PETER HAWKINS
19/12/2008 1:00:01 AM

THE school chaplain at the centre of an alleged pedophile ring at St Stanislaus College has been charged with having homosexual intercourse with a 12-year-old boy and engaging in two acts of buggery with pupils at the Bathurst school.

Brian Spillane, who faces 93 charges of sexual assault, is also alleged to have incited a 13-year-old to kiss, caress and masturbate four other boys and to have indecently assaulted an 11-year-old boy.

The charges are detailed in documents before the Downing Centre Local Court, where six men are due to appear this morning over events that allegedly took place between 1979 and 1988.

IRELAND
Catholic Culture

[with links to a statement by Bishop John Magee, Report on the Management of Two Child Protection Cases (NSBC) and Report on the Implementation of the Review Recommendations (NSBC)]

December 19, 2008
An independent review board has issued a stinging critique of Church leaders' response to sex-abuse allegations in an Irish diocese. "Children have been placed at risk of harm within the Diocese of Cloyne through the inability of that Diocese to respond appropriately to the information that came to it regarding child protection concerns involving the clergy," concluded the National Safeguarding Board for Children (NSBC). The NSBC report was delivered to diocesan leaders and government officials in June of this year; it was released on December 19 by Cloyne's Bishop John Magee, after Irish health minister Barry Andrew came under fire for his failure to publicize the report's findings.

Bishop Magee noted that a more recent follow-up report by the NSBC noted "so much progress has been made" since the release of the original report, with diocesan policies offering greater protection for children; the follow-up report praised the diocese for its cooperation in the process. Bishop Magee underlined the determination of the diocese to address the problem, saying: " There can be no place in the Church, or in wider society, for those who have perpetrated such vile acts and who have betrayed the sacred trust placed in them."

CHICAGO (IL)
WAND

Associated Press - December 19, 2008 5:24 PM ET

CHICAGO (AP) - A Catholic priest accused of child sexual abuse says he feels betrayed by church leaders who announced a nearly $1.4 million settlement in a case involving allegations against him.

The 58-year-old Rev. Chester Przybylo (shih-BIL'-oh) was never criminally charged and says he maintain his innocence. He told The Associated Press on Friday he feels outraged and shocked by news of the settlement.

PORTLAND (ME)
WCSH

Posted By: Mike Webster

PORTLAND (AP) -- Maine's Roman Catholic bishop is supporting an appeal to the Vatican of a church tribunal's determination that sexual abuse accusations against an 81-year-old priest were not proven.

At issue are allegations against the Rev. Thomas Lee, who was suspended from ministry in 2003 and resigned six months later following an investigation into allegations regarding sexual abuse of minors.

UNITED STATES
The Catholic Key

WASHINGTON (CNS) - Despite the small number of cases of clergy sexual abuse reported in 2007, "we dare not become complacent," said Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. "In 2007, there were 12 credible instances of minors being abused. That's 12 instances too many," Bishop Cupich said in a Dec. 8 letter to his fellow bishops. "However, even with the small number in a church of 67 million people, we dare not become complacent.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A review of mishandled child abuse inquiries has found Bishop of Cloyne John Magee broke Catholic Church rules on reporting allegations.

The Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), which is independent of the Diocese, revealed minutes of a meeting from 2006, signed by the Bishop, which showed the cleric completely at odds with official regulations.

The minutes had been produced by the Bishop himself.

According to the report on the Diocese of Cloyne, Bishop Magee said gardai would never be given names of alleged child abusers in the church ranks.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By SEAN O’SULLIVAN • The News Journal • December 19, 2008

A pair of unnamed brothers, who were altar boys at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Dover, have become the latest to file suit against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington alleging sexual abuse by a priest and seeking damages.

The lawsuit, filed in New Castle County Superior Court today by attorney Thomas Neuberger, alleges that the late Rev. Eugene F. Clarahan, while drunk, sexually abused the boys, then 9 and 12, in separate incidents at a holiday gathering in 1980 at their parents’ home.

In the lawsuit they care called John Coe #2 and John Coe #3.

Clarahan was a priest for 31 years in Elsmere, Wilmington, New Castle and Dover parishes before being transferred to Maryland.

CHICAGO (IL)
Enkidu Magazine (Mexico)

WASHINGTON, EFE, Chicago Tribune, LaVoz.arg, Volha.br [Traducción al castellano © Enkidu Magazine] (19/12/2008): La arquidiócesis católica de Chicago anunció hoy que ha accedido pagar $1.375 millones de dólares en un acuerdo extrajudicial tras ser demandada por abusos sexuales que habría cometido uno de sus sacerdotes.

Fuentes judiciales dijeron que el acusado es el sacerdote Czeslaw "Chester" Przybylo, quien habría sometido a abusos sexuales a un inmigrante polaco de 13 años de edad entre 1987 y 1992.

En ese tiempo el sacerdote oficiaba en una iglesia del sector de Brighton Park de Chicago. Actualmente trabaja como pastor en el llamado "Sepulcro de Cristo, el Rey", que afirma ser católico pero independiente de la Iglesia Católica, dijeron las fuentes.

IRELAND
RTE News

Bishop of Cloyne John Magee has apologised to the victims of clerical sexual abuse and said there was no place in the Catholic Church for the perpetrators of such vile acts.

'The safety of children is the priority for me and for the Diocese of Cloyne,' he said.

'Supporting those individuals who suffered clerical child sexual abuse is an integral part of my ministry and that of the diocese. I apologise to victims of clerical sexual abuse.

NEW ALBANY (IN)
News and Tribune

By MATT THACKER
Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com

A longtime pastor of a New Albany church is facing several misdemeanor charges on allegations that he harassed a woman with whom he had a child. He also is accused of lying to police and then displaying a gun.

The Rev. William D. Hodge Jr. was arrested on a Clark County warrant by the Indiana State Police at 10 p.m. Dec. 12 at his home along the 6600 block of Hickory Trace in Georgetown. The 75-year-old Hodge was taken to the Harrison County Jail awaiting extradition, ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin said.

Cell phone records provided to ISP showed three “annoyance calls” were placed from Hodge’s phone to the woman’s residence since July 25, when Hodge filed for a restraining order against the woman, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court No. 3. In fact, he allegedly called her the same day he asked for the restraining order.

RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal

By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff | Friday, December 19, 2008

Eight Native American plaintiffs filed lawsuits in circuit court in Rapid City on Thursday that make more sexual and physical abuse allegations against numerous Catholic clergy at a former Catholic boarding school on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

The lawsuits name the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City; regional, national and worldwide Jesuit organizations; the Sisters of St. Francis, a religious order in Denver; and the Rosebud Educational Society/St. Francis Mission as defendants. Also named are individual priests, nuns and brothers who served at St. Francis Indian School in St. Francis.

The abuse allegations date from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, said plaintiff attorney John Manly, and involve boarding school students who were 5 to 16 years old at the time and are now in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Some of the alleged perpetrators are deceased, many are as yet unidentified, and others are listed only by first name or by their religious name.

WILMINGTON (DE)
WDEL

By Mellany Armstrong

The Diocese of Wilmington is being sued in what's being described as the first Delaware case alleging sexual abuse of siblings.

Two brothers are suing, saying they were abused by former diocesan priest Father Eugene Clarahan when they were altar boys in 1980. The brothers, identified as John Coe #2 and John Coe #3, say Clarahan was a family friend, and that he was drunk when he assaulted them at a family holiday party.

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Eugene Bingham

The long-time voice of the Catholic Church has been ousted from her job, a move she believes is in part linked to internal politics.

Lyndsay Freer left yesterday after 23 years' service to the church, surprised to be told that her role as national director of the Catholic Communications office was no longer required. ...

Asked for a lowpoint, Mrs Freer did not hesitate - the emergence of sexual abuse cases which rocked the church from the late 1990s.

SOUTH DAKOTA
KOTA

[with audio]

Created: 12/19/2008 6:57:26 AM
Eight more cases have been added toa lawsuit against the Rapid City diocese.

The cases involve former students at Saint Francis boarding school on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. Students claim the diocese knew school staff were physically and sexually abusing Indian children but ignored the problem.

Society & Religion (India)

Written on December 19, 2008 – 10:35 am

What does abuse in the church look like? Authors Peter Holmes and Susan Williams contend that “abuse” includes the many different ways people mistreat each other and create an environment that makes people feel unsafe and uncomfortable. It can happen when church leaders become “Messiah figures” and misuse their power or when a church member lashes out at someone else in anger—even when portions of Scripture or the use of the phrase “It’s God’s will” are used to inflict additional pain on someone who is already suffering.

As a background and resource to their book Church as a Safe Place, Holmes and Williams have incorporated the experiences of many who were “former Christians”—people who had a history in the church but for various (and sometimes shocking) reasons had left congregational life. They were able to identify harm and abuse in the church in five major areas: verbal, emotional, physical, sexual, and spiritual. The abuse is happening more often than many would believe or recognize.

UNITED STATES
National Secular Society (United Kingdom)

Three American men who were sexually abused by Catholic clergy have been allowed to name the Vatican as sole defendant in a lawsuit, a US appeals court has ruled. The men are hoping to force the Pope to give evidence in their case. The federal appeals court ruled that the men could proceed with their argument that Vatican officials were involved in a deliberate effort to cover up evidence of abuse by American priests.

Their case focuses on a 1962 directive from the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith),

Crimen Sollicitationis, that became public in 2002. The directive came to light because it was referred to in a footnote in a letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then head of the CDF, to the world’s bishops on required procedures for sex abuse cases.

VERMONT
Fox 44

Associated Press - December 19, 2008 7:05 AM ET

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A former altar boy awarded $3.6 million in a priest sex case wants a lien put on land owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

Lawyers for 43-year-old David Navari, of Takoma Park, Md., have filed a motion in Chittenden Superior Court seeking the lien on 10 acres of undeveloped land located south of the church's headquarters in Burlington.

1 of his lawyers, Jerome O'Neill, says it's standard procedure after winning a judgment to seek security.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Geesche Jacobsen, Jonathan Dart and Harriet Alexander
December 20, 2008

FIVE clergymen from an exclusive Catholic boarding school now stand accused of 183 sexual offences - and more men are expected to be charged in coming weeks, a court heard.

But yesterday, as four of the men faced court with a large group of supporters, the alleged sex scandal extended past St Stanislaus College in Bathurst when the former school chaplain was charged with the indecent assault of two girls as young as seven or eight.

New charges were laid yesterday and at least 25 victims - most of them former pupils from the school - have alleged rape and buggery, as well as indecent assaults involving kissing and touching.

NORWICH (CT)
Newsday

December 19, 2008
NORWICH, Conn. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a priest when she was a girl.

The woman alleges the late Rev. Thomas Shea assaulted her at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Gales Ferry beginning when she was 10 years old. Several other women have made similar allegations that Shea kissed and fondled them when they were girls.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kochi, Friday19 Dec 2008: The CBI gave an undertaking in the Kerala High Court today that it would question the nuns of the St Joseph’s Generalate, Kottayam, in their residential premises only, following which the Court disposed of a petition filed by 18 nuns alleging that they were being harassed by the CBI during the probe into the Sister Abhaya murder case.

A Division Bench of Justices K Balakrishnan Nair and H C Harirani also recorded the statement made by the CBI that it will strictly comply with section 160 (1) CrPC, which states that ladies and children below 15 years should be questioned as witnesses only in their residences.

The Court also noted the statement made by the CBI that it will not take the petitioners outside for questioning.

CANADA
The Gazette

John Wrenshall might come to symbolize everything that is wrong with how Canada's criminal-justice system handles cases of sexual abuse of children.

When we are casual about law enforcement in these horrible crimes, we endanger not only Canadian children, but sometimes those in other countries as well. These crimes demand psychological treatment in some cases, long jail sentences in others, sometimes both, and often post-jail supervision. We can't continue to treat them as almost trivial.

Wrenshall, 62, formerly of Calgary, was arrested this week at Heathrow airport in connection with charges handed down by a New Jersey grand jury, including running a Thai brothel of boys as young as 4 for "sex tourists," over at least eight years. ...

In 1997, the former Scout leader and church-choir member was sentenced to a year in jail and two years' probation for sexually assaulting eight Calgary choir boys over a period of decades. At his trial, Wrenshall admitted to having molested a dozen more boys under 13, but he faced no charges in those cases. The judge deemed his punishment, based on a joint defence-prosecution recommendation, a "satisfactory deterrent."

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

BY ANDY DAVIS

Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008

A day after hearing testimony that a 17-year-old boy had been beaten with a wooden paddle by a member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, a judge ordered the teenager to stay in foster care for 10 more days until he turns 18.

The boy told the judge he wants to remain in foster care after his birthday so the state will help pay for his college education.

The boy's parents, Jose and Becky Avila of Fort Smith, were upset to learn about the beating and have recently left the church, said their attorney, Pamela Fisk of Texarkana, Texas.

ELKHORN (WI)
Janesville Gazette

By GAZETTE STAFF Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008

ELKHORN — A Walworth County judge Wednesday refused to dismissed charges against a former youth pastor accused of having sex with a Lake Geneva teen in the 1970s.

Russell J. Lesser, 63, of Bryson City, N.C., sought to have the case dismissed, claiming the statute of limitations has expired, said Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss.

Koss argued it has not expired because Lesser hasn't lived in Wisconsin since the alleged offenses occurred.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Argus Leader

Josh Verges • jverges@argusleader.com • December 19, 2008

Fourteen former students of what is now the Marty Indian School have accused Catholic priests, monks, nuns and others of repeated sexual abuse.

Their lawsuits filed Thursday in Minnehaha County Circuit Court are in addition to a 2003 lawsuit involving eight other ex-students, which still is pending.

The Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls is named as a defendant in each case, but a lawyer for the diocese said it had no administrative control over the school. ...

The abbey's Minneapolis lawyer, Bob Stich, said those who remain at the abbey know nothing of the allegations, and the accused all are deceased.

"It's interesting that allegations like these are always made after the persons accused are dead," Stich said.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway • Free Press Staff Writer • December 19, 2008

Lawyers for the former altar boy who won a $3.6 million award in a clergy sexual abuse trial this week asked a Chittenden Superior Court judge Thursday to place a lien on 10 acres of Burlington church property worth $6.9 million.

The property, located at 329 North Ave., is land directly south of the headquarters for the state's Roman Catholic diocese and stretches from North Avenue to the city's bicycle path near Lake Champlain. No buildings are on the land.

"It is standard procedure after obtaining judgment to seek security in order to be certain you can get the judgment paid once the appeals have run their course," Jerome O'Neill, the attorney for the former altar boy said.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

December 19, 2008

BY MAURICE POSSLEY Special to the Sun-Times mauricepossley@gmail.com

The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.375 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that a priest sexually abused a teenage boy at Five Holy Martyrs Church from 1987 through 1992.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represented the victim, said Thursday that the Rev. Chester Przybylo repeatedly abused the Polish immigrant at the church at 4327 S. Richmond. The lawsuit alleged the victim was molested at the parish rectory and other locations.

Anderson said the victim reported the abuse to Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Alfred Abramowicz, but the bishop accused the boy of lying and told him to go to confession. Abramowicz died in 1999.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

By TREVOR PRITCHARD, STANDARD-FREEHOLDER

Crown Attorney Murray MacDonald stood by the advice he gave in 1993 to the Cornwall Police Service over whether it had grounds to charge a city priest with historical sexual assault.

MacDonald told the Cornwall Public Inquiry that information he later gleaned about David Silmser's allegations would not have substantially changed what he told the CPS in September 1993 - namely, that they couldn't proceed without a willing complainant.

"I would've drafted the letter (I sent them) perhaps differently," said MacDonald. "But the conclusion I drew, others . . . have drawn the same conclusion with knowledge of all this stuff."

CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Joe Wojtas Published on 12/19/2008

The Diocese of Norwich has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who said the late Rev. Thomas Shea repeatedly sexually assaulted her at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Gales Ferry, beginning when she was 10 years old.

Mary Jane Leverone is one of many women who have said Shea kissed and fondled them as girls during his 37 years as a priest, many of which were spent in parishes in southeastern Connecticut.

Leverone's attorney, James Hall of Pawcatuck, declined to discuss the amount of the settlement Thursday, saying he wanted to protect his client's privacy. The diocese did not return a phone call seeking comment.

STONINGTON (CT)
The Day

By Joe Wojtas Published on 12/19/2008

Stonington - A former Pawcatuck man has filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Norwich charging that the Rev. Paul Hebert sexually assaulted him when he was a first- and second-grade student at St. Michael's School.

Leonard Harrington, 38, is the second man to sue the diocese claiming that Hebert molested him at St. Michael's. Last year, the diocese paid $170,000 to James Fish of Pawcatuck to settle a similar lawsuit, one charging that Hebert sexually assaulted him in the church rectory when he was in the seventh grade. Hebert served at St. Michael's from 1971 to 1981.

”It's sad and unfortunate that Father Hebert's name comes up again,” said Harrington's attorney, James Hall of Pawcatuck.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

MARY CAROLAN

The Supreme Court has ruled, in a test action, that the State cannot be held vicariously liable for a series of sexual assaults by a national school principal on an eight-year-old girl pupil.

Some 200 cases were awaiting today’s judgment on the appeal by Louise O'Keeffe (43), of Thoam, Dunmanway, Co Cork, against a High Court decision the Minister for Education and State are not vicariously liable for the assaults. ...

The judges noted Hickey was, at all relevant times, a teacher employed and working in a national school under the management of the local Catholic priest and that, under the national school rules, it is the school manager - in this case Canon Stritch - not the Minister for Education who decides which teacher to employ.

OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Bruce Cadwallader

The former pastor of a Pleasant Township church escaped jail time but was labeled a sex offender today for possession of child pornography.

John W. Adams, 67, was caught downloading photos and videos of naked children at his North Linden home during a child-pornography investigation by Upper Arlington police in 2007.

He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of pandering obscenity in September.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

December 18, 2008 at 6:25 PM
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has reached a $1.375 million settlement in the sexual abuse case of a priest who allegedly molested a teenage boy from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, church officials said today.

The priest, Rev. Czeslaw "Chester" Przybylo, is accused of repeatedly abusing a 13-year-old Polish immigrant from 1987 to 1992 while serving at Five Holy Martyrs Church in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood.

Przybylo currently works as pastor at Shrine of Christ the King in west suburban Winfield.
The shrine calls itself "Catholic," but it is an independent congregation and not part of the Roman Catholic Church.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan and Stephen Rogers
THE Minister for Children may refer a report into allegations of child sexual abuse in a Co Cork diocese to the Dublin archdiocese’s commission of investigation.

On December 4, Barry Andrews received the Health Service Executive’s report on the alleged abuse in Cloyne.

He said he was deciding whether to refer that document to the archdiocese as provided for in the commission’s terms of reference.

CHICAGO (IL)
Fort Mill Times

By CARLA K. JOHNSON
(Published December 18, 2008)
CHICAGO — The Archdiocese of Chicago said Thursday it has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to a man who claims he was sexually abused as a boy by a Catholic priest.

The Rev. Chester Przybylo allegedly abused the then-teenaged Polish immigrant at Five Holy Martyrs parish from 1987 through 1992, said attorney Jeff Anderson, whose St. Paul, Minn.-based firm represents the alleged victim.

Documents show the archdiocese was aware of allegations against Przybylo, who was never criminally charged, Anderson said. ...

Advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is a plaintiff in Przybylo's slander lawsuit. Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, criticized the diocese for not releasing the documents on Przybylo earlier.

"How many more documents like this are they keeping secret?" Blaine asked at a news conference.

CALIFORNIA
San Clemente Times

December 18, 2008

By Nathan Wright and Lacey Nadeau

A Capo Beach youth pastor was arrested today on suspicion of sexual involvement with a minor.

The suspect, 28-year-old Daniel Pedroza, is a junior high school ministry pastor at Capo Beach Calvary Church in Dana Point. He is a resident of the city. His arrest followed a child abuse report authorities received from social services. The report claimed a female minor—somewhere between 14 and 17—had become sexually involved with her youth pastor, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Jim Amormino. He said the victim met Pedroza when she was in junior high, and that she had known him for a little while before the report was filed.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By GLENN COLLINS
Published: December 18, 2008
As it had to be, the majestic high Mass on Thursday for Cardinal Avery Dulles at St. Patrick’s Cathedral was an occasion of splendor and vivid remembrance for a soft-spoken cardinal who — though he wielded intellectual and moral influence as a Jesuit, a theologian and a writer — once said, “I’m not particularly made for ceremonies.”

Cardinal Avery Dulles, Theologian, Is Dead at 90 (December 13, 2008) The cardinal, the only American theologian ever appointed to the College of Cardinals, died last Friday at the age of 90 at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he had taught. He had “a triumphant life story,” said Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, who celebrated the nearly two-hour Mass. ...

Cardinal Dulles became a conservative theologian in an era of liturgical reforms and rising secularism, rallying to the defense of the pope against demands for change, and giving uncompromising loyalty to an American church that had been wounded after covering up hundreds of cases of sexual abuse by priests and suffering the loss of tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits as a result.

UNITED STATES
Time Magazine

Repeat after us: pastoral visits do not make Papal policy. Benedict XVI stunned and impressed his hosts during his pontifical visit to the United States with his relentless engagement of the trip's most delicate issue, the church's sex abuse scandal. Starting on the plane over, he issued a string of heartfelt apologies admitting "deep shame" about the tragedy, met privately with victims and accepted a book listing 1,500 victims — and their subsequent struggles — from archbishop Sean O'Malley, who inherited the scandal's ground zero, Boston, from Cardinal Bernard Law.

AUSTRALIA
ninemsn

A former Catholic priest who sexually abused a 15-year-old boy has been ordered to pay him $80,000 in compensation.

Edmund John Haines, 62, was jailed in October for four years and three months for a series of child sex crimes involving two young boys.

His crimes occurred in the Victorian towns of Bannockburn, Winchelsea and Geelong between March 2006 and February 2008.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

December 19, 2008

Article from: Australian Associated Press

MORE people are to be charged over alleged sexual assaults at a New South Wales boarding school, a magistrate has been told.

Lawyers for five men, four of whom were present, appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court today in relation to the alleged assault of students at St Stanislaus College at Bathurst dating back to the 1970s.

The five include former priest Brian Spillane, 65, who has been charged with 44 new charges.

However, Elizabeth Walker, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, withdrew 20 charges which had previously been laid against him.

BLOOMINGDALE (IL)
Chicago Suburban News

By David Heitz, dheitz@mysuburbanlife.com
Bloomingdale Press
Wed Dec 17, 2008, 02:24 PM CST

Bloomingdale, IL -
Officials at St. Isidore’s Catholic Church in Bloomingdale said a woman who was employed by the church as a fundraiser resigned Tuesday after it was discovered she had a pending felony court case in Lake County where she is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a previous employer.

While church officials said they were aware of pending divorce cases against her that came up during a previous background check, they did not know she faces a felony theft charge.

GASTONIA (NC)
Gaston Gazette

December 18, 2008 - 5:57 PM
Corey Friedman

The Rev. Ben Robertson believes church doors should be open to everyone - even registered sex offenders.

Congregations are grappling with a new state law that prohibits certain sex offenders from being within 300 feet of child care centers, which include church nurseries and playgrounds. If worship services are held in close proximity to church child care, the law could prevent some from attending.

"As a church that preaches Jesus Christ as our savior, we at the same time preach resurrection and that Christ welcomes all people, regardless of what they have done, regardless of what demons they are dealing with," said Robertson, the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Gastonia.

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Keloland

[with video]

There are new allegations of abuse involving the Catholic church. Lawyers are filing 22 lawsuits on behalf of Native Americans who claim they were victims of sexual and physical abuse while students at two South Dakota Indian boarding schools.

The lawsuits claim that both the Sioux Falls and Rapid City Catholic dioceses knew about the abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns at the schools and did nothing to prevent it.

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
KSFY

By Leslie Rupiper

14 lawsuits were filed today against the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese, priests and nuns. The suits accuse them of abusing Native American kids at the Marty Indian School. Lawyers say some of the alleged incidents happened as long as 50 years ago, others as recent as the 1980's. Lawyers for the alleged victims in this case call the abuse "grotesque acts of sadomasochistic violence". But an attorney for the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese says it had nothing to do with the operation of the Marty Indian School.

Three attorneys representing the alleged victims in the case filed the lawsuits in Minnehaha County Court Thursday morning. They say the allegations include physical and sexual abuse, and they're blaming it on the diocese and the Benedictine priests from Blue Cloud Abbey in northeast South Dakota. John Manly an attorney for the alleged victims says, "We are trying to hold those in charge, the corporate officers, accountable for child molestation."

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By NCR Staff
Published: December 18, 2008

Some 113 Catholic women religious have signed a letter addressed to the Vatican’s doctrinal czar pleading the case of Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who has been threatened with excommunication for his support of women’s ordination.

The letter, organized by the Detroit-based National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), is dated Dec. 12 and addressed to Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The nuns' letter says the Vatican's action "has diminished our Church."

NEOSHO (MO)
Neosho Daily News

Randall “Danny” Russell, 49, pastor of Acts II Church, will go to trial on March 10 on two Class C felony charges of first-degree child molestation, two Class A felony counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, two Class B felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, five Class C felony charges of second-degree statutory sodomy, and one Class C felony forgery count.

Russell could face up to 30 years or life in prison on the Class A felony charges, five to 15 years in prison on the Class B felony counts, and up to five years in prison on each of the Class C felony charges if a conviction is reached.

Allegations of child sexual abuse first came to light after an April 29, raid by the Newton County Sheriff’s Department at the church, which is also the site of Russell’s business, Garages & More, and his home. Deputies seized a computer from the business and several photographs of a nude juvenile girl from the church office. According to a probable cause affidavit, the photos were dated Dec. 21, 2003.

DANA POINT (CA)
The Orange County Register

By CHRIS CAESAR
The Orange County Register

DANA POINT – Capo Beach Calvary Church's junior high ministry director was arrested at the church this morning on suspicion of having a "sexual relationship" with a teen-age female enrolled in his program.

Daniel J. Pedroza Jr., 28, of San Clemente, will be charged with six felony charges, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

"We received a child abuse report from social services, detailing that a minor female between the ages of 14 and 18 disclosed she had been engaged in a sexual relationship with her youth pastor," he said.

CHICAGO (IL)
WAND

Associated Press - December 18, 2008 4:34 PM ET

CHICAGO (AP) - The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to a man who claims he was sexually abused as a boy by a Catholic priest.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents the alleged victim, announced the settlement Thursday.

Anderson also released documents he says show the archdiocese was aware of allegations against the Rev. Chester Przybylo, who worked in the archdiocese 15 years.

UNITED STATES
Voice of the Faithful

December 12, 2008 – Boston –Voice of the Faithful disputes the conclusions reported recently in a Boston Globe Op Ed article by Judge Michael Merz, who chairs the National Review Board for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Catholic bishops complicit in the clergy sex abuse scandal do indeed need to resign or be replaced. Unlike Judge Merz, we at VOTF do not assume that those responsible for coverups and scandal are in any way qualified to lead the cleanup.

Judge Merz’s remarks are especially troubling in light of the requirements for his Review Board to monitor compliance of the bishops with the USCCB’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Self-reporting by diocesan officials is not the same as a verifiable assessment, and it is troubling to learn that the NRB regards such unverified results as evidence of “forceful” response by the bishops or of their commitment to the programs. True commitment should include verifiable participation and independently audited results in all dioceses and penalties for those bishops who do not comply.

We also know from our experiences at the parish and diocesan level that child-safety training, once completed, is often not repeated and seldom emphasized. Again, this hit-and-miss approach to child protection does not speak of a “forceful” response despite Judge Merz’s assurances.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway, Free Press Staff Writer • December 18, 2008

David Navari, who won a $3.6 million damage award Wednesday in his case against the state’s Roman Catholic diocese, offered to give the money back if the diocese aggressively confronts priests in its ranks who molested children in the past.

Navari made the surprise announcement moments after the conclusion of a nine-day trial on claims the Rev. Edward Paquette twice molested him in the 1970s and the diocese was at fault because it knew Paquette was a child molester when it hired him.

Navari told reporters he was willing to put the proceeds of the jury award in a private trust for use by parents in the Burlington area needing financial help to defray the costs of an education in Catholic schools.

CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Joe Wojtas Published on 12/18/2008

The Diocese of Norwich has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who said the late Rev. Thomas Shea repeatedly sexually assaulted her at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Gales Ferry when she was between 10 and 12 years old. Shea was also accused of kissing and fondling many young girls in the parishes he was assigned to during his 37 years as a priest.

Mary Jane Leverone’s attorney, James Hall of Pawcatuck, declined to discuss the amount of the settlement this afternoon because he wanted to protect his client’s privacy. The diocese could not be immediately reached for comment.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Argus Leader

Josh Verges • Argus Leader • December 18, 2008

Responding to charges of sexual abuse at the Marty Indian School, a lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls said the school operated independent of the diocese.

The diocese owns several schools but Marty was never among them, Jeremiah Murphy said.

The Blue Cloud Abbey, an order of Benedictine monks, established the boarding school for Native American students, he said.

Although the bishop must approve when and where a mission is established and whether a priest can act publicly, the reach of the diocese stops there.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Argus Leader

Josh Verges • jverges@argusleader.com • December 18, 2008

In several lawsuits filed today, 14 former students at the Marty Indian School accuse Catholic priests, monks, nuns and others of repeated sexual abuse.

“It alleges grotesque acts of sadomasochistic violence for many years,” said John Manly, a lawyer for the accusers. “The real tragedy of this is the church knew and did nothing.”

Manly said he wants Bishop Paul Swain to name all alleged perpetrators in the Diocese and stop what he says is a common practice of settling victims’ complaints in secrecy. Victims must be allowed to go public with their stories, get help and seek prosecution of their abusers where possible, he said.

“You don’t tell victims to shut up,” Manly said.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Reuters

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Film drama "Doubt" led all nominees for Screen Actors Guild awards on Thursday with five nominations overall, including for best ensemble cast, even as talk of a possible strike cast a cloud over the awards.

Joining "Doubt," about a Catholic priest and nun engaged in a battle of wits over charges of sexual abuse, in the race for best ensemble cast were "Milk," about slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which tells of a man who ages backward. Those movies each earned three SAG award nods.

CHICAGO (IL)
Virtualization

By: PR Newswire
Dec. 18, 2008 11:24 AM

CHICAGO, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A new $1,375,000 settlement has been made in a child sexual abuse case involving a Catholic priest who worked in the Chicago archdiocese and now works as a pastor at Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield (Du Page County).

In a lawsuit filed by attorney Jeff Anderson in 2006 plaintiff claimed that from roughly 1987 through 1992, Fr. Chester (Czeslaw) Przybylo repeatedly abused the then 13 year old Polish immigrant boy at Five Holy Martyrs (4327 S Richmond Street, 773 254 3636) in the Chicago archdiocese. The lawsuit filed by the victim in today's settlement alleges that Przybylo molested him at the parish rectory, the Chicago Health Club, and the River City Apartment complex. The victim, who filed his lawsuit anonymously, is now in his 30s, married with children, and living in Illinois.

According to newly-released documents, now-deceased Chicago Bishop Alfred Abramowicz confronted Przybylo regarding allegations that he sodomized a different teenager. Abramowicz believed that the incident occurred because Przybylo did not deny the allegations. (Document 5)

INDIA
Frontline

R. KRISHNAKUMAR
in Thiruvananthapuram

ON a summer day in March 1992, a 21-year-old nun, a college student, woke up before daybreak at a convent hostel and walked downstairs to the kitchen alone for some cold water from the refrigerator.

Thus began one of Kerala’s most intriguing crime mysteries, the death of Sister Abhaya, which is about to unravel itself, or so it seems, after 16 years.

It was still dark outside at the St. Pius X Convent Hostel in Kottayam when a few hostel employees found the refrigerator door ajar and the contents of a water bottle spilled on the floor. One of a pair of slippers was under the refrigerator; the other one lay outside, near the convent well. The door leading to the well was locked from outside and a nun’s veil was stuck in between. Later in the day, Abhaya’s body was found inside the well.

The post-mortem report said there were two small “lacerated wounds” above the right ear on the back of Abhaya’s head and abrasions below the right shoulder blade and the right buttock. The direction of the wounds was described as “upwards and inwards”. There was no sign of molestation or rape, according to the report. The cause of death was stated as “drowning” (“A case of cover-up?”, Frontline, May 19, 1995).

What followed was a sensational saga of unsuccessful inquiries by various agencies, distorted at every stage by “unseen hands” with powerful political connections and marked by the destruction of evidence, the disappearance or death of suspects and witnesses, intense rivalry among investigating officers, a vicious trial by the media, and a nagging and critical scrutiny of the investigation by the courts.

SANDPOINT (ID)
Bonner County Daily Bee

By KEITH KINNAIRD
News editor

SANDPOINT - A district judge declined on Tuesday to go along with a plea agreement which proposed a limited jail sentence for a former pastor who pleaded guilty to fondling a Priest Lake girl several years ago.

Steven D. Bicknell's betrayal of the trust placed in him as a spiritual leader was cited as an aggravating factor when he was sentenced.

"The violation of trust when you're in a position as a minister or pastor is even more damaging because those individuals are individuals that we need to be able to trust. We, as a society, must be able to have faith in people who are placed in trust of dealing with our souls, our development," said 1st District Judge Steve Verby.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

[with audio and slideshow]

A jury awarded $3.6 million in damages Wednesday to a former Burlington altar boy molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in the 1970s, the second time in a year the state’s Roman Catholic diocese has been hit with multi-million dollar verdict in such a case.

The seven-woman, five-man Chittenden Superior Court jury reached its decision just before 3 p.m. after nearly 13 hours of deliberation.

The former altar boy, David Navari of Takoma Park, Md., alleged Paquette twice molested him at Christ the King Church in Burlington and claimed the diocese was to blame because it hired Paquette knowing he had previously molested altar boys in three states, including Vermont.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Terri Hallenbeck, Free Press Staff Writer • December 18, 2008

As the Senate Judiciary Committee fine-tuned legislation to toughen sex offender laws Wednesday, members had poignant personal reminders of the case that prompted the call for changes.

Cassandra Gagnon, the mother of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, whose death this summer spurred demand for tougher laws, was there. So was Denise Jacques, the wife of convicted sex offender Michael Jacques, who is accused of killing her. The women are sisters.

Gagnon said that other than speaking at a public hearing in Rutland this fall, she has stayed out of the public discourse about her daughter’s case. Until now. The more she has learned about Michael Jacques and the number of times he slipped through the criminal justice system, the more desire she has to speak up, she said. “I just don’t want to be quiet anymore,” she said.

VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By Kevin O'Connor Herald Staff - Published: December 18, 2008

BURLINGTON — In a potentially bankrupting slam to the state's largest religious denomination, a jury ruled Wednesday that Vermont's Catholic Church should pay nearly $3.6 million for negligence in hiring and supervising a pedophile priest.

A panel of five men and seven women deliberated for 13 hours over two days before finding the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese liable in a Chittenden Superior Court lawsuit regarding the former Rev. Edward Paquette, who worked in Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976.

The jury awarded David Navari, a 43-year-old Burlington native, $192,500 in compensatory damages and $3.4 million in punitive damages for civil claims that the diocese failed to protect him from Paquette. In his lawsuit, Navari said the priest fondled him on two occasions in 1977 when he was an 11-year-old altar boy at Burlington's Christ the King Church.

CANADA
VOCM

December 18, 2008

The Roman Catholic Archbishop in this province says a priest convicted of sexual assault, is extremely sorry for the trouble he has caused the complainant, her family and the church. The 55-year old priest from Ghana, West Africa received a suspended sentence and a year's probation, after pleading guilty to the incident that happened while he was serving in Holyrood.

PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

The Archdiocese of Portland was found to be compliant with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2008 after submitting information for the data collection audit.

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002, and revised and renewed in June 2005. It provides policies and procedures for the protection of children. The notification of compliance was sent in a letter to Archbishop John Vlazny from The Gavin Group, Inc., an independent group of auditors.

CHICAGO (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat

The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.2 million to a teenage boy and his mother, who claim he was sexually abused by a former Catholic priest.

Attorney Ken Cunniff represents the boy and his mother. He said Wednesday that Daniel McCormack, the former pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church, allegedly made repeated advances toward the boy, then age 14.

SLOVENIA
Slovenian Press Agency

Ljubljana, 18 December (STA) - The Ljubljana Higher Court has raised the prison sentence of the first ever priest in Slovenia to be found guilty of child sex abuse from three years and ten months to five years, according to reports in Thursday's papers.

CANADA
Calgary Sun

By DOUG MCINTYRE, SUN MEDIA

Knowledge of Asian culture was an attribute touted in the resume of a Calgary child molestor now accused of operating a pedophile ring in Thailand.

The sordid journey of 62-year-old John Wrenshall -- convicted in 1997 for sexually assaulting eight choir boys in Calgary -- ground to a screeching halt after his arrest Monday at London's Heathrow Airport.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials allege Wrenshall, founder of Calgary software firm Rinax Systems, ran a pedophile ring since 2000 in his home outside Bangkok, prompting an 18-count indictment comprising a slew of sex tourism and child-pornography charges.

BOSTON (MA)
Catholic News Agency

Boston, Dec 18, 2008 / 06:04 am (CNA).- Eighty-seven seminarians are now enrolled at the Archdiocese of Boston’s St. John’s Seminary, more than doubling the number of seminarians who were studying there just two years ago.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley resisted calls to close the troubled archdiocese’s seminary, making its preservation a priority of his tenure, Michael Paulson writes in the Boston Globe. The cardinal has encouraged bishops from New England and elsewhere to send their seminarians to Boston to prepare for the priesthood. ...

Enrollment at St. John’s was hard hit after its reputation suffered significantly from the sexual abuse crisis. According to the Boston Globe, many of the Boston-area priests who sexually abused minors had graduated from the seminary.

VERMONT
SouthCoast Today

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 18, 2008

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A jury Wednesday awarded a former altar boy nearly $3.6 million because the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in the 1970s didn't protect him from an abusive priest, who was once assigned to churches in New Bedford and Westport, Mass.

The Chittenden County Superior Court jury returned the verdict against the diocese after a two-week trial and 13 hours of deliberations in the lawsuit filed by David Navari, 43, of Takoma Park, Md.

"A jury of 12 Vermonters has seen all the evidence and I'm confident that they voted with their conscience," Navari said after the jury was returned.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear | Tribune reporter
December 18, 2008

A teenage boy and his mother will receive $1.2 million from the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago for sexual abuse the boy suffered at the hands of Daniel McCormack, a lawyer for the victims said Wednesday.

The agreement is the most recent settlement reached between the archdiocese and a victim of McCormack, the former pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church who pleaded guilty last year to fondling five boys ages 8 to 12 at the church. The victim in this settlement, however, was not part of the criminal case, lawyer Ken Cunniff said.

Cunniff said McCormack made advances toward the boy, then 14, once in August 2005 in public during a White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field. He also made advances in the church rectory and at Our Lady of the West Side School, Presentation campus, where McCormack coached him in basketball.

CHICAGO (IL)
Southtown Star

December 18, 2008

By Maurice Possley, Sun-Times News Group
The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy who was sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, an attorney for the family said Wednesday.

Kenneth Cunniff said the settlement calls for $1.1 million to be paid to the boy, who now is 16, and $100,000 to the boy's mother. In September, the archdiocese agreed to pay $2.5 million to the boy's younger brother, who also was abused by McCormack.

McCormack, 40, pleaded guilty in July 2007 to molesting five boys between the ages of 8 and 12 while he served as parish priest at St. Agatha Church on Chicago's West Side. He also was an algebra teacher and boys basketball coach at Our Lady of the Westside School.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

By TREVOR PRITCHARD, STANDARD-FREEHOLDER

The city's top prosecutor vigorously denied ever telling a fellow attorney he'd have been "happy" to see the sexual abuse allegations of former altar boy David Silmser disappear.

"He's either egregiously in error, or he's lying," said Murray MacDonald, referring to statements that Malcolm MacDonald (no relation) gave to the Ontario Provincial Police in 1994.

Yesterday was Murray MacDonald's first day on the witness stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, which is exploring how a number of institutions responded to historical sexual abuse complaints.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

No amount of money can restore the stolen childhood and shattered trust and devastated faith these kids have suffered and will continue suffering. But we hope this decision will bring them and their families some healing and closure.

We also hope these settlements will deter future recklessness, deceit and secrecy by officials in the Catholic church and in other institutions that deal with kids.

Virtually every survivor shares the same goal: stopping horrific child sex crimes and cover ups.

ALASKA
KTUU

by Channel 2 News Staff
Wednesday, December 17, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Hundreds of people have come forward, claiming past sexual abuse at the hands of former priests or lay volunteers with the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese.

Because the diocese is going through a bankruptcy, victims had to come forward by Dec. 2.

The diocese said 288 people have made abuse claims against more than 40 individuals, and most involve allegations of childhood abuse.

UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune

A former Harrisville LDS bishop who sexually molested three Weber County sisters -- whom he frequently visited at home while their parents were away -- was sentenced Wednesday to prison for up to 30 years.

Timothy O'Sean McCleve, 53, got the maximum sentence from 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones, who ordered two counts of second-degree felony sexual abuse of a child to run consecutively.

Defense attorney Randall Skeen asked for probation and a year in jail, citing McCleve's "extensive record of community service," as well a psycho-sexual evaluation indicating McCleve was "treatable and manageable within the community."

TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By TERRI LANGFORD
Houston Chronicle
Dec. 17, 2008

Texas Child Protective Services, the agency that last spring removed 439 children from a polygamist ranch in West Texas because caseworkers suspected child abuse, is refusing to release the findings of their completed abuse investigation to the Houston Chronicle.

On Wednesday, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins confirmed that the abuse investigation is finished but said the findings would not be released because CPS officials want to release them later in an upcoming report. The agency hasn't set a date for that release, Crimmins said.

COLORADO
The Kansas City Star

By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard has agreed to help promote a new documentary following his life in exile after a 2006 sex scandal - no longer bound by an agreement with his former church that prohibited him from talking publicly about the events that led to his downfall.

"The Trials of Ted Haggard," directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is set to air next month on HBO. Haggard has agreed to take part in publicity for the project, HBO said.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kochi, Thursday 18 December 2008: The Kerala High court yesterday dismissed the CBI application seeking transfer of bail applications of three accused in the sister Abhaya case to another judge . Earlier, CBI standing counsel filed an application before the Acting Chief Justice, Justice J B Koshy, complaining that they will not get justice from Justice K Hema, who is presently considering the bail applications of the accused– Father Thomas Kottur, Father Jose Puthrikayil and Sister Sephy.

The three were arrested in connection with the case on November 19 and currently lodged in the Ernakulam sub-jail.

Meanwhile, Justice K Hema directed CBI to handover the medical reports and case diary of the case to the court.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE NATIONAL Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) has indicated that it may publish the results of an inquiry it conducted into child protection practices in the diocese of Cloyne earlier this year.

In a terse one-line statement last night NBSCCC chief executive Ian Elliott said “given that the Minister has made it clear that this report is clearly ours, we are considering all options available to us”.

In a statement yesterday Mr Andrews said that “confusion appears to surround the commissioning and status of two individual reports into child sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne.”

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

December 17, 2008 at 5:20 PM
A teenage boy and his mother will receive $1.2 million from the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago for sexual abuse the boy suffered at the hands of Daniel McCormack, a lawyer for the victims said today.

The agreement is the most recent settlement reached between the archdiocese and a victim of McCormack, the former pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church, who pleaded guilty last year to fondling five boys ages 8 to 12 at St. Agatha. The victim in this settlement, however, was not part of the criminal case, lawyer Kenneth Cunniff said.

According to the complaint, McCormack made advances toward the boy, then 14, once in August 2005 in public during a White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field. He also made advances in the church rectory and at the Our Lady of the West Side School, Presentation campus, where McCormack coached him in basketball.

OGDEN (UT)
Deseret News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008 4:02 p.m. MST

OGDEN — His lips trembling and barely able to speak, Timothy O'Sean McCleve looked across the courtroom at the mother of his victims.

"From the deepest part of my heart I am truly sorry," he said.

McCleve was sentenced Wednesday to a pair of one-to-15 year prison terms after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. McCleve was the former bishop over the Harrisville LDS Church ward that the girls he sexually abused were in. Police said he would often stop by their home while their parents were away.

VERMONT
Fox 44

The verdict is in: a Burlington jury awards more than $3.5 million to a former altar boy who says the church didn't do enough to protect him from a pedophile priest.

After 13 hours of deliberation the jury awarded a multimillion dollar verdict to a former victim of priest Edward Paquette. That's the second time this year a jury has blamed the Burlington Diocese for hiring Paquette in the 1970s, knowing he had previously molested altar boys in three states, including Vermont.

"I'm confident that they voted with the conscience to met out justice in my case," said victim David Navari.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

[with video of Bishop Salvatore Matano's testimony]

December 17, 2008

A jury awarded $3.6 million in damages Wednesday to a former Burlington altar boy molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in the 1970s, the second time in a year the state’s Roman Catholic diocese has been hit with multi-million dollar verdict in such a case.

The seven-woman, five-man Chittenden Superior Court jury reached its decision just before 3 p.m. after nearly 13 hours of deliberation.

The former altar boy, David Navari of Takoma Park, Md., alleged Paquette twice molested him at Christ the King Church in Burlington and claimed the diocese was to blame because it hired Paquette knowing he had previously molested altar boys in three states, including Vermont.

CANADA
The Telegram

A Roman Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a young woman in Holyrood last summer has been given a suspended sentenced.

Rev. Patrick Robert Offin apologized for his actions this afternoon in provincial court in St. John’s after pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault in provincial court in St. John’s.
The charge stemmed from an Aug. 21 incident at the priest’s house.

Offin — from Ghana, West Africa — was serving a two-month stint at Holy Cross parish in Holyrood at the time.

VERMONT
NECN

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A jury is awarding a former altar boy nearly $3.6 million because the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington didn't protect him from an abusive priest in the 1970s.

The jury returned the verdict against the diocese on Wednesday after a weeklong trial in the lawsuit filed by the now 43-year-old Maryland man.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
KSL

December 17th, 2008 @ 10:33am
(KSL News) A former bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convicted of abusing children in his congregation will be sentenced this afternoon.

Timothy McCleve was convicted of charges of sexual abuse in connection with incidents that happened at a Harrisville church last March.

NEW YORK
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
NEW YORK (ABP) -- Time Magazine ranked the Southern Baptist Convention's refusal to establish a database of clergy sex offenders one of the most under-reported news stories in 2008.

A ranking of under-reported stories in Time's "Top 10 Everything of 2008" special feature placed the story at No. 6, behind a mix-up that accidentally sent U.S. nuclear-warhead fuses to Taiwan, the Congolese civil war, violence in Sri Lanka, and new guidelines for insurance coverage for mental health and regulation of food from animals that are genetically altered.

"Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention -- the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church -- urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors," the magazine noted.

VERMONT
WCAX

Burlington, Vermont - December 17, 2008

Jurors have reached a verdict in the latest priest sex abuse case against the Vermont Catholic Diocese.

Wednesday afternoon they awarded a former altar boy $192,500 in compensation and $3.4 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiff-- now 43-- wanted the diocese to pay him millions in damages for the actions of a pedophile priest. He said he was groped two times by former Vermont priest Edward Paquette 30 years ago at a Burlington parish.

UNITED STATES
Time Magazine

Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church — urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors. The SBC decided against such a database in part because its principle of local autonomy means it cannot compel individual churches to report any information.

VERMONT
Times-Argus

By KEVIN O’CONNOR
Staff Writer - Published: December 17, 2008

BURLINGTON - A jury ruled Wednesday that Vermont’s Catholic Church should pay $3.6 million for negligence in hiring and supervising a pedophile priest.

A panel of five men and seven women deliberated for almost 13 hours over two days before finding the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese liable in a Chittenden Superior Court lawsuit regarding the former Rev. Edward Paquette, who worked in Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976.

The jury awarded David Navari, a 43-year-old Burlington native, $192,500 in compensatory damages and $3.4 million in punitive damages for civil claims that the diocese failed to protect him from Paquette. In his lawsuit, Navari said the priest fondled him on two occasions in 1977 when he was an 11-year-old altar boy at Burlington’s Christ the King Church.

AUSTRALIA
The Herald

BY INGRID BOWN
18/12/2008
A MAGISTRATE broke the news yesterday to former Hunter priest and school teacher John Sidney Denham that police had doubled the criminal charges against him to 134.

The 67 new charges, laid yesterday, relate to seven alleged victims. The 66-year-old is now accused of sexually abusing 39 boys across almost two decades.

Among the fresh charges are allegations of buggery, that he incited one boy to commit an indecent act with another student, that he fondled boys' penises and kissed a victim, putting his tongue inside the boy's mouth.

WISCONSIN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A self-help group, SNAP (Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests) has learned that a Wisconsin judge has ordered convicted child molester Dale J. Soppe, age 72 of Fairfield, IA to pay restitution to victim Richard Hinde of Barron County who he abused more than 35 years ago.

The Barron County, Wisconsin District Attorney had filed felony 'indecent behavior with a child' charges in early May 2006 against Soppe (Case # 2004 BA 001499).

Criminal charges have been brought because Soppe left Wisconsin, which effectively tolled or 'stopped the clock' on the criminal statutes of limitations.

UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Times

By Jack Royston »

THE son of a woman who was raped by a Hindu priest said he does not know who to blame for the crime.

Shashikant Vyas, 61, has admitted forcing a 41-year-old woman, who recently tried to kill herself, to have sex with him against her will and was jailed for four-and-a-half years today.

But her son told Harrow Crown Court he does not plan to visit his mother, who is still in hospital after the suicide attempt, and is not sure who to blame for what happened.

Cross examining her son, Judge Alan Greenwood said: “He's admitted raping her but you don't know who to blame. Why?”

The son replied: “Because I don't believe he is capable of it.”

INDIA
Daily News & Analysis

KOCHI: The Kerala High court on Wednesday dismissed the CBI application seeking transfer of bail applications of three accused in the sister Abhaya case to another judge.

Earlier, CBI standing counsel filed an application before the Acting Chief Justice, Justice J B Koshy, complaining that they will not get justice from Justice K Hema, who is presently considering the bail applications of the accused-- Father Thomas Kottur, Father Jose Puthrikayil and Sister Sephy.

The three were arrested in connection with the case on November 19 and currently lodged in the Ernakulam sub-jail.

ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
Orange County Weekly

Posted by Gustavo Arellano in Ex Cathedra, Sports
December 17, 2008 6:52 AM

Both the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register have tripped over themselves this month in the attempt to give the swooning-est review of Mater Dei High's current varsity basketball squad and its head coach, Gary McKnight. The Times says McKnight "is used to ridiculous riches,"while Reg columnist Mark Whicker contributed another Valentine, noting the largest Catholic school west of Chicago were "pioneers in making high school basketball a nationally played sport, for good or ill."

Problem is, the Times and Register sports sections didn't bother, either this month or ever, to mention McKnight's true ill: allowing a known statutory rapist back on campus. The man, of course, is Jeff Andrade, whom Mater Dei officials let go in 1996 after finding out he was schtupping a student, a crime for which Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown had to pay out a couple of million dollars.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

[with video]

December 17, 2008

UPDATE, 9:35 A.M.: The jury in a church abuse trial at Chittenden Superior Court will review a 70-minute videotaped deposition of Bishop Salvatore Matano this morning as deliberations in the case enter a second day.

The trial involves a former Christ the King Church altar boy who contends he was molested by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s. The man, 43-year-old David Navari, has sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, asking for $6 million to $12 million in damages.

UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Times

By Tristan Kirk

A WOMAN raped by a Hindu priest has tried to kill herself several times and says she has been ostracised by the community after she was attacked.

The 41-year-old was raped by Shashikant Vyas in February this year, and now says her life has been ruined as friends and neighbours blame her for bringing about the prosecution of the priest.

Vyas is facing a spell behind bars for raping the woman in her home, ripping off her clothes, pinning her down, and leaving her with multiple injuries to her arms and breasts after he attacked her.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

(Staff) -- Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher announced the "exoneration" of former Alexandria- Cornwall Bishop Eugene LaRocque from a complaint he allegedly sexually abused a teenage boy in the mid-1970s.

The alleged victim filed a lawsuit against LaRocque and Father Don Scott, a parish priest in Maxville at the time, three years ago concerning the allegations.

Scott died previous to the man accusing the priest of the abuse. Durocher said "the diocese acknowledged the probable guilt of Father Scott soon after the lawsuit was launched, but always defended Bishop LaRocque" based on discrepancies in the dates of the alleged abuse and LaRocque's time at the local diocese. The Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall admitted the liability of Scott at a mediation of the lawsuit on Nov. 12, wrote Durocher.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Hartford Courant

Associated Press
December 17, 2008
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A Florida man has filed suit against the Bridgeport diocese, claiming he was sexually abused by a priest in Baltimore, New Jersey and Washington in 1977.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the fourth lawsuit filed against the diocese in connection with allegations against the Rev. Lawrence Brett.

UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Times

A HINDU priest who raped a woman has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Shashikant Vyas, 61, attacked and raped a woman in her home in February this year, leaving her physically and mentally scarred.

The 41-year-old has made several suicide bids since it happened and told Harrow Crown Court her life had been ruined by the rape.

UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Observer

Dec 17 2008 By Ben Clover

Sex beast priest Shashikant Vyas has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for rape.

Vyas, 61, pleaded guilty to pinning down the 41-year-old in the attack on February 1, leaving her with scratch marks all over her arms.

The victim has lost the support of family members who have sided with Vyas, with whom they have built a close relationship during his four years in England, the court was told.

INDIA
The Peninsular (Qatar)

Source ::: THE PENINSULA/ By John Mary

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has requested the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court to prevent Justice K Hema from hearing bail petitions filed by the accused in the Sister Abhaya murder case.

The CBI, while seeking the transfer of bail application files to another bench, felt it would not get justice in the investigation into the alleged murder of Sister Abhaya, an inmate of St Pius X Convent in Kottayam, on March 27, 1992.

Certain actions on the part of Justice Hema might affect the pace of investigation, the CBI submitted.

IRELAND
Leinster Leader

Published Date: 18 December 2008
By Staff Reporter

A FORMER priest was before Naas District Court last week on charges of indecent assault.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a member of a religious order for many years. He is currently in receipt of an Old Age Pension. The court heard the accused was facing nine charges of indecent assault dating back to the early 1980s. The court heard the alleged victim was a child at the time and the alleged offences occured in the local parish.

Judge Desmond Zaidan granted bail on a bond of n2,000 on the condition that the accused reside in a monastery and have no contact with the alleged victim. Inspector Patsy Glennon told the court the identification of the former priest in the media would cause great distress to the victim.

CANADA
Calgary Herald

Linda Nguyen And Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A former Calgarian accused of running a pedophilia business out of his Thailand home for at least eight years was arrested at a London airport Monday on his way back to Canada, a U. S. district attorney said Tuesday.

John Charles Wrenshall, 62, a man who was once convicted in 1997 for indecent assaults on choir boys at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer in Calgary, had lived outside of Bangkok since 1999 or 2000 after moving from Calgary.

American prosecutor Lee Vartan said in a phone interview that Wrenshall was arrested on a warrant stemming from an indictment handed down last summer by a grand jury in New Jersey.

CANADA
The Calgary Sun

By RENATO GANDIA, SUN MEDIA

British cops arrested a convicted Calgary sex offender who American authorities say is the ring leader of an international group of pedophiles.

John Wrenshall, 62, was named in an 18-count indictment issued by a federal grand jury in New Jersey in August, said the U.S. Attorney office in a news release.

The indictment was unsealed upon Wrenshall's arrest Monday at Heathrow Airport by London cops and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. ...

Wrenshall was convicted in 1997 for sexual assault of eight young choir boys, and now he's facing several sexual tourism charges in the U.S. court.

Pretending that he was researching pre-teen boys' sexuality, he lured his victims to his southwest home while he was serving as a scout master and a choir member at the Anglican's Cathedral Church of the Redeemer at 218 7 Ave. S.E.

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

BY ANDY DAVIS

Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A worker at the Trane Inc. plant in Fort Smith, Jose Avila left the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries about eight years ago, when he and his wife separated.

While he kept in touch with her and their five sons, he wasn't aware of any abuse within the ministry, said Avila's attorney, Pamela Fisk of Texarkana, Texas.

Now the boys have been placed in foster care by the Arkansas Department of Human Services, which contends that the practices of the church, including beatings for seemingly minor infractions, put children at risk of abuse.

WAGONER (OK)
Muskogee Phoenix

By Donna Hales
Phoenix Staff Writer

WAGONER — A Muskogee pastor testified Tuesday he did not tell authorities when a Porter man admitted to him that he had molested his adopted daughter.

John Thomas Ashwood, 68, who identified himself as pastor of the Sovereign Grace Church at Muskogee, gave the testimony in a sentencing hearing for Doyanne Putnam in Wagoner County District Court.

CANADA
The Standard

By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA

Anne Klassen claims a Mennonite "conspiracy of silence" intimidated her into staying quiet over the repeated sexual assaults she says she suffered for years at the hands of her now deceased father.

Klassen, 56, went public with her allegations in a press conference yesterday for the first time.

The native of Virgil wants the Mennonite church to acknowledge what she said was its role in scaring her into silence about the horrific sex attacks she said her father, whom she identified as the late Martin Klassen, subjected her to from early childhood until her 20s while growing up in the predominantly Mennonite town in the Niagara region.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Jonathan Dart, Geesche Jacobsen and Andrew West
December 17, 2008

A FORMER director of discipline at an exclusive Catholic boarding school in Bathurst has been charged with child sexual offences, in a police investigation of events at St Stanislaus College spanning 30 years.

Police searched the homes of the two most senior Vincentian fathers in Australia at the order's provincial residence in Marsfield yesterday.

Father Phil Robson, 60, a board member, former teacher and director of discipline, was arrested on five charges, including aggravated sexual assault and indecent assaults.

Father Greg Cooney, 61, the head of the order in Australia and a former school chaplain, was also arrested and interviewed over eight alleged offences, but later released without charge pending further inquiries, police said.

IRELAND
Irish Times

LUKE CASSIDYCalls have been made for the Government to immediately publish a report into the handling of allegations of sexual abuse against members of the clergy in the Diocese of Cloyne.

Labour’s Sean Sherlock said the Government’s refusal to publish the report is “a totally cowardly position”.

The report, prepared by Ian Elliot, chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), was submitted to Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews last July.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway • Free Press Staff Writer • December 17, 2008

The jury in the case of a former altar boy molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in the late 1970s went home Tuesday night without reaching a verdict and will resume deliberations this morning.

"Have a good night," Judge Dennis Pearson told the seven-woman, five man panel during a brief courtroom meeting with them at 10 p.m.

The jury decided to break off deliberations after almost eight hours after learning that a written transcript of Bishop Salvatore Matano's videotaped testimony would not be available for them to review Tuesday night.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan
THE Government is not going to publish a report into the mishandling of child sex abuse claims in a Cork diocese, Minister for Children Barry Andrews has confirmed.

Mr Andrews was given the report five months ago and has been under sustained pressure from child abuse campaigners to publish its findings. The report investigated the handling of allegations of abuse in Cloyne made to the Catholic Church between 15 and 20 years ago.

Mr Andrews said neither the department nor the Government commissioned the report and responsibility for publication of the potentially explosive report lay “elsewhere”.

MOCKSVILLE (NC)
Winston-Salem Journal

By Michael Hewlett | Journal Reporter

Published: December 16, 2008

Mocksville - The pastor of a Mocksville church was among the four men charged with soliciting for sex acts at Hobby Park off Clemmonsville Road.

Thompson Gregory Little, 43, of Mocksville is the pastor of Cornerstone Christian Church on N.C. 801.

"It's going to be a contested case," said J.D. Byers, Little's attorney. "I don't think what is alleged to have happened happened."

ARIZONA
Catholic Online

By Robert DeFrancesco
12/16/2008
The Catholic Sun (www.catholicsun.org)

Despite all that has happened, Bishop Olmsted’s desire and prayer is for reconciliation with both men and their return to full communion with the Church

PHOENIX, Az. (The Catholic Sun) - Two diocesan priests have been declared excommunicated from the Catholic Church for their continued involvement with a small, Mesa-based faith community.

Msgr. Dale Fushek and Fr. Mark Dippre, neither of whom has been active in the Catholic Church in recent years, received notice of their excommunication Dec. 9 from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. This type of censure carries with it the consequence of not being able to receive the Eucharist, celebrate Mass or receive other sacraments of the Church. Also, they cannot represent themselves as priests.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
City of Angels

The diocese says, sure, we will post your story, then hides it in an apology that does not even name the perpetrator. Ralph White faces obstruction from the Episcopal Church, eerily similar to treatment received by Catholic victims.

At age 80, White wants the story about abuse he suffered at the hands of Gibson Bell at All Saints Parish published widely, as he still believes there are other victims. Story distributed by Janet Patterson, clergy sex crime victims' advocate, who can be reached at: snapkansas@hotmail.com

For more than 60 years, a Philadelphia man has been on a quest. In his attempts to tell his story of clergy sexual abuse during his teen years, he has been rejected, stonewalled, and intimidated.

Ralph E. White, Jr. endured physical abuse and institutional imprisonment following his threats to reveal his sexual abuse by the family minister, the late Rev. Dr. Gibson Bell.

AUSTRALIA
CathNews

The Daily Telegraph reports Fr Cooney, 60, was freed pending further police enquiries but another priest who is still on the board of the school was charged with eight offences.

Father Phil Robson, 61, from the Vincentian order in Marsfield, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, intent to have sexual intercourse with a child and three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Current St Stanislaus principal John Edwards said the congregation would now decide upon Fr Robson's future.

UNITED STATES
Inside Catholic

by Joan Frawley Desmond
12/16/08

The implosion of Catholic religious orders in the 1970s shook the foundations of the Catholic Church in America, threatening both the financial viability of parish schools and the transmission of faith and morals to subsequent generations. Decades later, the clergy sex-abuse crisis produced another earthquake from which the Church has yet to recover.

Most Catholics view these two developments as entirely separate. But John Patrick Shanley, the screenwriter and director of the newly released Doubt -- the film adaptation of his award-winning, off-Broadway play of 2004 -- draws out the clear and subtle connections between the exodus of nuns and the unchecked abuses of clerical predators.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't succeed half as well as the play. The spare plot works better on stage, and Meryl Streep's interpretation of the central character occasionally drifts into caricature. Still, Shanley's meditation on the seismic shift in Catholic culture that converged with the Second Vatican Council helps us understand why an era that began with so much promise ended in such darkness and confusion.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Connecticut Post

By DANIEL TEPFER
Staff writer
Article Last Updated: 12/16/2008 07:05:59 PM EST

BRIDGEPORT -- He is among the most notorious accused child molesters in the area's history.

Yet Lawrence Brett has never spent a day behind bars.

His alleged abuse of about a dozen children across the nation has cost the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars. Church officials, however, continue to say they don't know where Brett, a priest in the diocese since the early 1960s, now is.

But two diocesan priests who admitted to meeting Brett on a Caribbean island were disciplined in 2003 by the diocese. He is even being sought by the FBI.

VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By KEVIN O’CONNOR
Staff Writer - Published: December 16, 2008

BURLINGTON — After hearing almost 10 days of testimony, a jury has begun deliberations in the latest priest misconduct trial involving Vermont’s Catholic Church.

A Chittenden Superior Court jury of five men and seven women heard closing arguments Tuesday morning in a civil lawsuit brought by David Navari, a 43-year-old Burlington native who claims the state’s largest religious denomination was negligent in its 1970s hiring and supervision of a pedophile priest.

Navari was an 11-year-old altar boy at Burlington’s Christ the King Church when former priest Edward Paquette groped the fifth-grader’s genitals on two occasions in 1977, the plaintiff testified in court.

OMAHA (NE)
NTV

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Omaha Archdiocese is mulling a new assignment for a priest sentenced to five years' probation for stealing more than $83,000 from an Omaha parish.

The Rev. Rodney Adams was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County District Court. He has been on administrative leave since resigning as pastor of St. Bridget and St. Rose parishes in May.

Adams was ordered to pay $23,000 in restitution and perform 500 hours of community service. Adams said in court that he's been in therapy for manic depression and a spending addiction.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

Free Press Staff Report • December 16, 2008

Lawyers for a former altar boy in the longest-running clergy abuse trial in the state’s history asked the jury for more than $6 million in damages today in closing arguments.

The alleged victim, David Navari, 43, has agreed to disclose his name now that the trial is ending. Navari said he was molested twice as an altar boy at Christ the King Church in Burlington by the Rev. Edward Paquette in the late 1970s.

Navari, now a Takoma Park, Md., business man, has argued the diocese is liable for damages because it knew Paquette was a child molester when it hired him. Paquette is not a defendant in this case.

UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Observer

Dec 16 2008 By Ben Clover

A woman who was raped by a Hindu priest has made several suicide bids after the attack broke up her family, a court heard.

Shashikant Vyas, 61, pinned down the 41-year-old in the attack on February 1, leaving her with scratch marks all over her arms.

The victim has lost the support of family members who have sided with Vyas, with whom they have built a close relationship during his four years in England, the court was told.

ARIZONA
Catholic Culture

[Statement of the Diocese of Phoenix]

Msgr. Dale Fushek, the founder of the popular Life Teen program, has been excommunicated.

VERMONT
WPTZ

[with video]

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The latest trial against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vt., is expected to conclude today.

It is unclear if a verdict will come down from the court today, but closing arguments are expected to conclude and the case will then go to the jury.

The plaintiff in the case took the stand last week, describing how he was molested as an altar boy at the church. The trial is the third of its kind this year against the diocese.

OMAHA (NE)
KETV

OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha priest who stole more than $83,000 from two south Omaha parishes has received probation.

Judge Russell Bowie sentenced Rodney Adams to three to five years of probation. Adams must also pay $23,000 in restitution over the next five years. The defense has established a restitution account at Wells Fargo bank for anyone who wants to help Adams pay back the church.

AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

By Gemma Jones

December 17, 2008 12:00am

THE leader of the Catholic order in control of St Stanislaus College in Bathurst was yesterday released without charge after being arrested and questioned by police over a paedophile investigation.

Father Greg Cooney, 60, was freed pending further police inquiries but another priest who is still on the board of the school was charged with eight offences.

Father Phil Robson, 61, from the Vincentian order in Marsfield, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, intent to have sexual intercourse with a child and three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

December 16, 2008, 11:47 am Posted by David Gibson

Last week Grant Gallicho posted here about a Boston Globe op-ed by Judge Michael Merz, head of the lay-led National Review Board that is supposed to ensure that the bishops follow their own policies on child protection. Merz’s view that the hierarchy was doing a good and no one should have any worries–and that any bishops who did anything wrong should not resign–was immediately questioned in many quarters. Now Voice of the Faithful, the lay reform group that grew up in reaction to the scandal and whose protests and efforts were part of the reason the NRB was created, has issued a response to Merz’s op-ed that questions its accuracy. VOTF’s leadership says it is “deeply disappointed” in Merz’s statements and continues:

Catholic bishops complicit in the clergy sex abuse scandal do indeed need to resign or be replaced. Unlike Judge Merz, we at VOTF do not assume that those responsible for coverups and scandal are in any way qualified to lead the cleanup.

OMAHA (NE)
World-Herald

BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A judge today sentenced a priest to five years’ probation for embezzling about $83,000 from St. Bridget Catholic parish in south Omaha.

The Rev. Rodney Adams also must pay restitution, Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie ordered.

Adams stole the money while serving as pastor of both St. Bridget, 4112 S. 26th St., and St. Rose, 4102 S. 13th St..

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Associated Press • December 16, 2008

The president of the Kentucky Bar Association and the group's ethics committee have settled an investigation over her removal of committee members in a deal that will put limits on her power.

The association's Board of Governors found that Barbara Bonar, of Covington, inappropriately removed several members of the ethics committee in August before their terms expired. Several have returned to the board, the association said. ...

Bonar took over the presidency of the state organization in July, despite a judge's findings last year that she acted unethically in litigation against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington over priest sexual abuse.

Special Judge Robert McGinnis found last year that Bonar committed "numerous ethical violations" by settling cases for individual clients who claimed sexual abuse while she was co-counsel for a group of plaintiffs in an $84 million class-action lawsuit against the diocese. That case was settled in 2006

UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

I get email after email with these words: “Innocent until proven guilty.”

Sometimes, they put “proven” in all caps: “Innocent until PROVEN guilty.”

The thing that gets me is the way they toss out those words as though “enough said.”

It’s a catchy slogan and they seem to think slinging the slogan will automatically solve something.

It doesn’t.

In fact, the slogan doesn’t even apply in the context where they’re slinging it.

“Innocent until proven guilty” is a standard for whether a person should go to prison, not a standard for whether he should be in the pulpit.

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, December 15th 2008, 4:00 AM

A top Brooklyn rabbi has been forbidden from being near his 13-year-old son after the teen called the cops on his father for beating him.

The son of Rebbe Sholom Twersky, 49, told police that his father scratched and slapped him on Oct. 28, hurting his arms, according to court records. The boy was taken to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

"He lost it and started slapping the kid around, and the kid wasn't going to take it," a police source said.

The Brooklyn district attorney's office charged the father of 12 with assault, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment.

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We’re here today to talk about two priests – Fr. Noche and Fr. McAlinden.
And we’re here to talk about three issues – openness, recklessness, and callousness.

First, Fr. Noche. . . We’re here today because at least six or seven parishioners have asked for our help. Over the years, many victims have gotten much support and help from Catholic lay people. So when lay people ask for our help, we try our best to lend a hand. And when we hear from a number of Catholics over several months, all reporting essentially the same facts and concerns, we feel duty bound to help them protect their families and help prod the church hierarchy to act responsibly.

ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

It's heart-breaking that it's taken so long for Catholic officials to discipline this dangerous predator. Had church officials acted sooner, who knows how many innocent kids and vulnerable teens might have been spared devastating abuse.

As best we can tell, this is the first time in US church history that a pedophile priest has been excommunicated. (Many assume that most predator priests are no longer priests. That's not true. Most have been suspended, but relatively few have been defrocked. Most remain on the church payroll, receiving health insurance, dental benefits, retirement pay, car allowances, housing allowances and other 'perks.')

Fushek's unwillingness to obey church authorities is often typical of predators, who tend to be egomaniacs who consider themselves 'above' the rules for other people. It's sad and telling that this penalty is given not because Fushek molested but because he opened a competing church.

OGDENSBURG (NY)
Watertown Daily Times

By MAX R. MITCHELL
TIMES STAFF WRITER
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2008

OGDENSBURG — The 50th Bishop's Fund Appeal for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg has not seen the success for which many had hoped.

By mid-December last year, the $1.15 million goal was nearly reached, but this year's fundraiser is about 10 percent under its $1.2 million goal, said Valerie A. Mathews, assistant director of development.

"We're always hopeful we will reach our goal," Mrs. Mathews said.

VERMONT
WCAX

Burlington, Vermont - December 16, 2008

The fourth sex abuse trial involving the Burlington Diocese is expected to wrap up today.

A now-43-year-old former altar boy claims he was abused by Father Edward Paquette in 1977. He says the church new Paquette was a pedophile but did nothing to stop him.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kochi, Monday, December 15, 2008: Kerala High Court today deferred the hearing of the bail plea moved by eighteen nuns alleging CBI harassment in the name of interrogation in the Sister Abhaya murder case.

In a petition filed by Mother Superior General of the S H Mount St Joseph Generalate, SH Mount , Kottayam including Annie John the Superior –General of St Joseph’s Congregation, and other nuns, it was stated that under the guise of investigation in the case, they were being “harassed”.

The nuns and the inmate are being compelled to go to distant places for interrogation, it was submitted. This is against the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code, petitioners said.

INDIA
Union of Catholic Asian News

December 15, 2008
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (UCAN) -- Bishops and Religious major superiors in Kerala state have expressed concern that the investigation into a nun's alleged murder 16 years ago is prejudiced.

Their three-day meeting that ended on Dec. 11 was held against the backdrop of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's top investigating agency, arresting two priests and a nun in mid-November.

The Church leaders agreed the CBI investigation went ahead with "prejudices and pre-conceived ideas," said Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council. About 30 bishops and 280 priests and nuns met in Kochi, 2,965 kilometers south of New Delhi, where they also discussed other business of concern to the local Church.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Kochi, Tuesday, December 16, 2008: The Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate extended the remand of three main accused in the Sister Abhaya murder case to December 29th.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court will continue to hear the bail plea of accused Father Thomas Kottur, Father Jose Puthrukkayil and Sister Sephi.

COLORADO SPRINGS (CO)
The Gazette

December 15, 2008
DENNIS HUSPENI
THE GAZETTE
A former pastor convicted of molesting a teen-age girl will spend Christmas in jail after a judge Monday refused his request to be let out on bail while awaiting sentencing.

Former Lighthouse Baptist Church associate pastor Jon Moore, 52, pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust Oct. 23 and was sent to the El Paso County jail. He was scheduled to be sentenced Monday to a maximum of 60 days in jail, but the probation department needed more time to complete his pre-sentence investigation report, said his public defender Michele Newell.

She asked that since Moore would have been released on Dec. 23, he be set free on bail.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Register-Guard

PORTLAND — The Archdiocese of Portland says it has met the requirements for a Roman Catholic Church program to protect children from sexual abuse.

The program, called the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, was adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002, and revised and renewed in June 2005.

It provides policies and procedures to protect children, and is reviewed by independent auditors.

INDIA
United Press International

By Bijo Francis

Hong Kong, China — The Catholic clergy of Kerala province in India organized a mass rally in Thrissur district on Sunday to protest the arrest of two priests and a nun on suspicion of murder. Addressing the rally, the former archbishop of Thrissur, Jacob Thomkuzhy, likened the arrests to the crucifixion of Jesus.

The two priests and the nun were arrested on Nov. 19 this year – 16 years after the alleged murder of a 21-year-old nun, Sister Abhaya – after a new investigation into the case was opened. Christian leaders were vocal in protesting the reopening of the court’s investigation, reports by media, and the interrogation of senior clergymen including two archbishops, Kuriakose Kunnassery and Mathew Moolekat.

Since the arrests, Christian leaders in Kerala have issued regular statements accusing the CBI of working against religious interests. Some senior bishops have also issued statements calling upon the local Christian community to reject the investigation.

ARIZONA
The Kansas City Star

The Associated Press

A priest accused of having sexual conversations with teenage boys has been excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix for starting his own ministry.

The diocese announced Monday that Monsignor Dale Fushek and another Catholic priest who helped open the ministry are now prohibited from receiving church sacraments.

Fushek was the second highest-ranking administrator in the diocese. He is awaiting trial on charges including assault and indecent exposure over conversations from the 1980s and '90s.

ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

by Michael Clancy - Dec. 16, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Dale Fushek, who was one of the highest-ranking Catholic priests in the Phoenix Diocese and later faced legal charges over sexual-misconduct allegations, has been excommunicated from the church.

Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted excommunicated Fushek last week but announced his ruling Monday, saying that it was needed because Fushek now holds non-denominational religious services.

Phoenix Diocese officials said the decision is unrelated to Fushek's legal case, in which he faces seven misdemeanor counts of sexual misconduct.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway • Free Press Staff Writer • December 16, 2008

Closing statements are set for this morning as a Chittenden Superior Court jury prepares to begin deliberations in the longest-running clergy abuse trial in the state's history.

Lawyers for the state's Roman Catholic diocese and a former Burlington altar boy presented final bits of evidence before resting their cases Monday, the ninth day of testimony in the case. In August, a similar clergy abuse trial lasted eight days.

The former altar boy in the current case, now a Takoma Park, Md., businessman, claims the Rev. Edward Paquette twice molested him at Christ the King Church in Burlington in the late 1970s.

UNITED STATES
Harvard Divinity Bulletin

by Mark I. Pinsky

faith and forbearance can sometimes be insurmountable barriers for religion journalists. When it comes to some true believers, I have learned, nothing you write that questions their idols seems to make any difference.

I have been covering Trinity Broadcasting Network and its flamboyant founders, Paul and Jan Crouch, for nearly two decades. During that time, I have chronicled and investigated the inexorable rise of the world's largest Christian media empire for newspapers on both coasts, in The Los Angeles Times and The Orlando Sentinel, as well as in chapters in several books.

My detailed exposés in the Times have included the Crouches' heavy-handed, corner-cutting, and even cutthroat dealings with fellow Christians, as well as disputes between Trinity and the Federal Communications Commission and evangelical trade groups like the National Religious Broadcasters. In part because of my reporting, Trinity withdrew from the NRB, and was stripped of its Miami television affiliate because of what the FCC charged was misrepresentation of minority ownership.

CLEVELAND (OH)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland

The Diocese respects the court's judgment as to as appropriate sentence. It remains the Diocese's position that no one knew of or approved the payments to Smith by Anton Zgoznik's firm.

CLEVELAND (OH)
Ohio.com

Published on Thursday Dec 11, 2008

A federal judge has sentenced the former chief financial officer of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese to a year and a day in prison on tax charge convictions.

Joseph H. Smith had been acquitted of more serious charges related to alleged kickbacks.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich did not determine restitution at the Thursday sentencing, but set a $200,000 to $400,000 range.

TAOS (NM)
The Associated Press

By DEBORAH BAKER

TAOS, N.M. (AP) — An apocalyptic religious sect's leader was convicted Monday of criminal sexual contact with an underage girl in an incident he called a spiritual healing exercise.

Wayne Bent, 67, was found guilty of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is the self-described Messiah and leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church in New Mexico.

WASHINGTON (DC)
United States Department of Justice

WASHINGTON - Joseph H. Smith, a CPA and attorney, was sentenced today to a year and a day in prison today by U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich for his participation in a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service announced.

Following a six-week trial, a jury in Cleveland convicted Smith of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and IRS, four counts of filing false tax returns, and one count of corruptly endeavoring to impede the IRS.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Smith was the treasurer, chief financial officer and eventually the financial and legal secretary for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Co-conspirator Anton Zgoznik, a former diocese employee, owned and operated several corporations that provided accounting, tax, financial and computer technology services for the diocese on an outsourced basis. During trial it was shown that Smith and Zgoznik entered into a scheme to defraud the IRS. Entities that Zgoznik owned and controlled paid Smith more than $784,000 from 1997 to 2003. Smith and Zgoznik disguised these payments as compensation earned for "consulting" or "legal" services that Smith purportedly provided for the Zgoznik entities.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

by Barbara Watkins, Review Staff Writer

Approximately 70,000 people have completed requirements of the Safe Environment Program, the archdiocesan effort to protect children from abuse, since its inception in 2002.

"Our goal is to keep kids safe," explained Terry Edelmann, director of the archdiocesan Safe Environment Program. The Safe Environment Program has three components: required background checks for everyone who works with or near children; required participation for everyone working with or near children in the educational/training Protecting God’s Children Program; and reading and signing the Code of Ethical Conduct. ...

"Fewer than 5 percent of abuse allegations by children turn out to be false," she said.

CANADA
The Windsor Review

By WJ Hull

You can tell that a book of poetry is important when the hall in which it’s launched is packed to capacity ten minutes before the reading is even scheduled to start. On Thursday, April 10th, as many people as could fit in Katzman Lounge, the largest reading venue on the University of Windsor campus, were crammed together to witness the launch of ex-nun Mary Ann Mulhern’s groundbreaking anthology, “When Angels Weep”. Most listeners were forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder for want of space—but every single one came away glad that they did.

“When Angels Weep” is a collection of poems that outline the abuses of Father Charles Sylvestre, a priest who had been bounced around Southwestern Ontario, abusing little girls at every stop, moving whenever the local authorities became suspicious. He had been victimizing children for decades before finally being turned over to police. He was found guilty of 47 counts of sexual assault, spending his last few days in a jail cell, dying alone in prison.

WISCONSIN
Still Running Off at the Keyboard

Yesterday I blogged an article titled "Church wants Vosen book destroyed". It concerned a priest who no longer has the authority to say public or private masses, and his trial for sexual abuse that allegedly took place several years ago. The allegations were made in 2003, and the trial was placed under "Pontifical secret", whatever that is.

Brent M. King, the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Madison, emailed me comparing the "Pontifical secret" to the seal of confession. So it would seem that we have another category of "secret" surrounding sexual abuse matters. I requested permission to post the email, but was denied. King did refer me to an article that he believes is a better one.

It tells us:

The news release [from the Diocese of Madison] is the latest chapter in the former St. John Vianney priest who was accused in 2003 of sexually assaulting a Janesville boy. The man, who was 26 years old when he made his accusations, said the assault happened when he was in fifth and six grades.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Freedom Eden

Forty years ago, Sister Norma Giannini "initiated sexual contact with each of [two] boys in the 1960s and continued sex acts repeatedly, sometimes at her house," when she was the principal of St. Patrick's grade school on Milwaukee's south side.

Giannini was sentenced to serve one year in the House of Correction for her crimes.

I thought that sentence was little more than a slap on the wrist. Prosecutors had recommended 8 years in prison.

Giannini had hoped to secure an early release. Today, that request was denied.

Good.

UNITED STATES
AlterNet

By Stephanie Salter, Tribune Star News. Posted December 13, 2008.

The place: Heaven’s gate.

The time: Around 2028, give or take a few mortal years.

The scene: A large crowd of newly dead, not yet liberated from their earthly forms, is trying to maintain order despite a cluster of men who shout, wag their fingers and, occasionally, shove.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen! For pity’s sake, please!” one of the non-combative people in the crowd cries out. “What in God’s name has you behaving in such an unholy way?” ...

“You mean he’s Roman Catholic, and he so offended the church leadership that he was officially denied the sacrament of Communion?” the gentle man asks.

“Correct!” booms the purple-aura man.

“What did he do?” the quiet man asks. “Was he among the thousands of mentally sick Catholic clergy who sexually abused children? Was he among the hierarchy who knew of these men’s illness but, in the name of protecting the church, continued to assign them to parishes and contact with more children?”

The purple-aura man grows more purple. In a low voice, heavy with fury, he responds: “He was indeed a priest. His name is Roy Bourgeois. But his excommunication had nothing to do with that unfortunate subject.”

INDIA
Organizer

By Jayapradeep Viswanathan

As part of its investigation the CBI had conducted a Narco Analysis Test on the suspects including the present three accused. The Kerala High Court directed the CBI to produce the result of the Narco Analysis Test in a sealed cover. CBI did it. But instead of the three CDs originally handed over to the CBI Director, only one CD was produced by them before the Court.

A nun is arrested in a murder case, that too the murder of another nun. The illegitimate relationship of accused priests with accused nun lead the murder. The sins of clergies flood regional media in South. The real story.

Unholy profanities by the so-called ‘holy men’ have shocked the levity in Kerala.

The last of the series is that of the astonishing disclosure of the CBI Joint Director Ashok Kumar at New Delhi. He said, “sixteen years after Sister Abhaya’s body was found in the well of a Christian convent in Kottayam, investigations into her murder finally made some headway with the arrest of two Catholic priests and a nun.” It is the first time a nun is arrested in this country in a murder case; ironically the victim also is a nun.

ARKANSAS
KARK

[with video]

Reported by: KARK 4 News
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 @01:45pm CST

The investigation into Evangelist Tony Alamo led to more raids on property owned by his ministry organization today in Miller and Sebastian counties.

The raids followed the execution of court orders on 14 properties in Sebastian County, and another seven in Miller County.

Arkansas State Police were assisting officials with the Department of Human Services who were looking for children to remove from those locations. While none were taken from properties in Sebastian County, 21 children have been removed from properties in Miller County in a raid that is still underway.

AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

December 16, 2008 12:00am

A PAEDOPHILE investigation at a Bathurst school took a dramatic turn yesterday with a fourth former worker arrested and more breakthroughs expected this week.

Rick McPhillamy, 47, from Bathurst went to the local police station with his solicitor early yesterday and was charged with two counts of indecent assault.

Former students of the Vincentian school, St Stanislaus college, claimed McPhillamy - who trained alter boys - lived in "The Priest's Corridor" opposite former priest Brian Spillane, who is facing 93 child sex charges.

MISSOURI
Central Newsmagazine

By Casey Godwin

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has held several rallies recently demanding the removal of Rev. Robert Osborne from St. Peters Catholic Church in Kirkwood. But Osborne’s supporters say claims against him are unfounded and he should stay.

A student at Vianney High School accused Osborne of sexual misconduct in 2006. Osborne was never prosecuted for those allegations; instead, a lawsuit was filed. In 2007, the Marianist Province and the high school reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum. The Marianists removed Osborne from Vianney, where he had been serving as president since 2002.

National SNAP Director David Clohessy and former St. John Vianney High School Public Relations Director Linda Briggs-Harty have spear-headed the rallies. SNAP officials said they are concerned that due diligence has not been done and is calling for a lay review board background check. According to the U.S. Bishops Charter, priests that are credibly accused of harming a child should face a review board that mostly consists of lay persons. The board is to make an assessment and determine whether the accused cleric is suitable for ministry. The decision to rely on lay review boards in the event of sexual misconduct with a child came in 2002 after such reports became increasingly common.

ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune

Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
Two Valley Catholic priests, Monsignor Dale Fushek and the Rev. Mark Dippre, have been excommunicated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted for defying his order to not engage in public ministry, an activity that was deemed out of accord with the Roman Catholic Church.

Thirteen months ago, the priests, who had served together in the 1990s at St. Timothy’s Catholic Community in Mesa, founded the nondenominational Praise and Worship Center, which meets Sundays at the Fiesta Fountains Reception Center, 1316 S. Longmore, Mesa.

Fushek was put on paid leave of absence in late 2005 after he was indicted on 10 misdemeanors related to sexual misconduct across almost a decade while he led the Life Teen program.

ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

by Michael Clancy - Dec. 15, 2008 12:29 PM
The Arizona Republic

Dale Fushek, once one of the most powerful and popular priests in the Diocese of Phoenix, has been excommunicated.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said the decision was the result of Fushek's role in the Praise and Worship Center, a new church that Fushek founded with another former priest, Mark Dippre.

Dippre also was excommunicated.

UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Christa Brown
Thursday, 11 December 2008

(ABP) -- The secrecy of Southern Baptist Convention officials about a financial scandal at their International Mission Board wasn't anything unusual. It's the sort of thing we've seen over and over again.

Southern Baptists need to begin seeing the pattern rather than merely viewing these things as isolated cases.

It's a very common pattern: Without accountability, power corrupts. Religious organizations are no exception.

PHOENIX (AZ)
KVOA

Associated Press - December 15, 2008 4:34 PM ET

PHOENIX (AP) - Phoenix's Catholic bishop has excommunicated a priest who started a nondenominational ministry after the priest was charged with misdemeanor sexual misconduct.

The action announced Monday against Monsignor Dale Fushek, once the diocese's second highest-ranking administrator, was a response to his creation of the Praise and Worship Center in Chandler.

In excommunicating Fushek and another Catholic priest who helped open the ministry, the diocese makes no mention of the criminal charges against Fushek. Fushek and the other priest are now prohibited from receiving the church's sacraments.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By SUE MONTGOMERY
December 6, 2008

[This article focuses on Canada; see the website of the order's Canadian province. The Holy Cross Brothers are also active in the United States, where almost 400 brothers are assigned. See a useful collection of links to Holy Cross Brothers websites.]

It's a Catholic order of religious brothers, born out of the French revolution, that spread to North America to teach and minister the sick and poor. They live, eat and pray together, and have taken vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. They have assets of in excess of $50 million, including investments and property, such as the prestigious private school Collège Notre Dame as well as the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. They own and operate St. Joseph's Oratory where an estimated 2.2 million visitors a year come for solace and prayer.
- - -
But there is a dark side to this seemingly chaste life of serving God. Like so many other Roman Catholic orders, the Brothers of Holy Cross, whose numbers in Quebec have dwindled to fewer than 60 from about 120 members 20 years ago, have had their share of allegations of sexual abuse and paying victims for their silence.

Until now, that has been kept under wraps by a culture of denial, intimidation and fear.

After more than 20 years with the order, Wilson Kennedy, 48, says he grew disillusioned by the sexual abuse and the ends to which the brothers would go to protect their reputation and fat bank accounts.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
TMJ-4

December 12, 2008

[Includes video and link to a statement by Giannini's order, the Sisters of Mercy.]

By Jon Byman and Ty Milburn

MILWAUKEE - A judge in Milwaukee County today ordered an elderly nun to serve out her jail sentence. Sister Norma Giannini has serve eight months of a year long sentence for a conviction on charges that she sexually assaulted boys while attending St. Patrick's School in Milwaukee during the 1960s.

Giannini's attorneys told the judge that the sister's health is failing and that she may die while in jail.

Giannini is 80 years old. She pleaded no contest to two felony counts of indecent behavior with a child and was sentenced in February to a year in the Milwaukee County House of Correction.

PORTLAND (OR)
Associated Press, carried on KTVZ-NBC21

The Archdiocese of Portland says it has met the requirements for a Roman Catholic Church program to protect children from sex abuse.

The program, called the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, was adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002, and revised and renewed in June 2005.

It provides policies and procedures to protect children, and is reviewed by independent auditors.

DUBUQUE (IA)
Telegraph Herald

December 13, 2008

A former Dubuque priest convicted of sexual abuse is no longer a member of the clergy.

Timothy DeVenney was granted a dispensation from all obligations and rights arising from Holy Orders, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Dubuque released Friday.

The archdiocese said Pope Benedict XVI granted the dispensation and DeVenney has not been a priest since September of this year.

DeVenney served four years of a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fondling several boys at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Dubuque in the mid-1990s.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

December 14, 2008

In a week in which Gabriel Byrne was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as psychotherapist Paul Weston in a television series entitled In Treatment, it seemed apt that Irish viewers got a chance to watch the Dubliner exorcize his own demons about binge-drinking, depression and self-imposed exile.

While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was nominating four Irishmen for the film awards — fellow Dubliners Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell getting acting nominations for In Bruges and Jonathan Rhys Meyers for The Tudors — a television documentary that delved into Byrne’s battle with drink was captivating and even unsettling viewers at home.

. . .

The actor claimed he suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse by priests between the ages of eight and 11. After seeing a slideshow about missionary priests in Africa, he moved to England to train at a seminary. He stuck it out for five years until “the lure of girls and the outside world” became too much.

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

The sun doesn’t shine much in the Bronx neighborhood where John Patrick Shanley’s powerful film, Doubt, is set. The atmosphere is gray and cold; its melancholy mood is disturbed only once in the film by a fierce wind storm that blows down many of the bare limbs of the convent trees. The winds of change are indeed blowing in the Catholic Church in 1964, and Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the principal of St. Nicholas parish school, seems determined to protect her domain from any corrupting influences that might be in the air.

Catholics of a certain age might be tempted toward nostalgia by the film’s opening shots, showing a quiet Sunday morning in this Irish-American neighborhood. The altar boys prepare the cruets of water and wine and negotiate which one of them will light the charcoal for the incense and which will ring the altar chimes for the consecration in this pre-Vatican II Sunday Mass. The working-class parishioners, nicely dressed, with the women all wearing the prescribed head-coverings, gently greet each other as they walk to church. Maybe Sister Aloysius has a point. Catholic life seemed simpler and more reliable then, with none of the questions and changes that the Vatican Council and all the other forces of the 1960s would bring to the Church.

But things are not quite as solid and certain as they seem. The first hint comes from the topic of the sermon given by the young priest, Father Brendan Flynn: “What do you do when you’re not sure?” he asks the congregation. He reminds them of the bond of despair and uncertainty they had all shared a year earlier when their beloved president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He compares this, however, to a much lonelier situation, offering as a parable the story of a sailor alone on a lifeboat who cannot see the stars to guide him. He proposes this as an image of the loneliness many in the congregation might feel because of some secret fear or pain in their lives that no one knows about. For example, he suggests, someone might be thinking, “No one knows that I’ve done something wrong.”

DUBUQUE (IA)
Telegraph Herald

December 14, 2008

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are questioning the length of time it took to defrock a former Dubuque priest convicted of sexual abuse.

Timothy DeVenney was granted a dispensation from the Vatican from all obligations and rights arising from Holy Orders, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Dubuque released Friday.

"The church hierarchy recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained and shielded this predator. Now, they can't wash their hands of him and ignore the danger he still presents to unsuspecting families and neighbors," said Barbara Dorris, SNAP outreach director in a statement.

UNITED STATES
City of Angels

December 13, 2008

By Kay Ebeling

[See also Ebeling's posting of the first amended complaint in this case, with commentary.]

With 24 perpetrators and 59 children assaulted in one town, the Franciscans constitute a public nuisance against the entire community, reads a lawsuit progressing towards pre-trial hearings in Santa Barbara.

There is no SOL on these charges. "Because the cause of action is based on conduct that is a continuing Public Nuisance, it is not subject to any statute of limitations set forth in 340.1," the lawsuit states.

Church attorneys tried to get the Santa Barbara public nuisance case moved to Los Angeles, but Judge Emilie Elias quickly turned them down. Now January 15, 2009, the Superior Court in SB will hear arguments on the church's motion to strike major portions of the original complaint. Plaintiffs come armed with decades of evidence, as shown in the brief copy and pasted in full below.

. . .

[Beginning of the brief filed by Timothy C. Hale]

For decades the Franciscan Friars have told half-truths to the communities in which they perform their ministry, and in doing so have lied. In no community has the lie been greater, or been the source of more tragedy, than Santa Barbara.

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

December 14, 2008

By Stephanie Barry

In a conference room at a downtown high-rise, dozens of men who say they were molested by priests learned recently about the economics of abuse.

Gauge the ugliness and duration. Measure the fallout: drugs, divorce, hospitalizations, suicide attempts.

For Daniel B. Daley, four years of alleged abuse by the Rev. Michael H. Devlin, his parish priest in West Springfield, yielded $80,000 in damages.

"They asked me: 'What difference did it make in your life?'" said Daley, one of 59 plaintiffs who in November collectively settled $4.5 million in clergy abuse claims with the local Catholic diocese. "But it's hard for me to say. I don't know how my life would have been different if it didn't happen."

Victims and their lawyers said they feel the settlements did not nearly assuage years of trauma - in Daley's case, starting when he was 11 years old.

But, a representative for the diocese said the church squeezed as much money as it could out of insurance carriers that resisted covering the claims for years.

A huge ice storm struck the Northeast a few days ago, and Kathy Shaw’s town is one of thousands without power in six states. Kathy and her dog are safe and comfortable at a hotel, and crews are working to restore power. She will be back at the Tracker in a few days.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Examiner

December 14, 2008

[For an example of the Examiner's reporting on the Cristancho case, see Carolyn Peirce's Priest Loses Custody of Triplets Fathered by Donating Sperm - Accused of Abusing Those Children. See also a court opinion in the case.]

By Frank Dingle

The Baltimore Examiner's ongoing reporting of sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church is to be commended. Although the Catholic Church's ongoing defense of their actions regarding sex abuse allegations is disheartening and disgusting, it's not surprising to the survivors of the unspeakable abuse at the hands of priests and other church leaders. For decades, the Catholic Church has attempted to defend the indefensible by transferring pedophile priests to other parishes to conceal and cover up their sexual abuse crimes.

These articles certainly help focus attention on the need for Archbishop Edwin O'Brien to take a leadership role in supporting efforts to protect children. Sadly, O'Brien is once again defending the church's actions by misleading the public regarding their handling of the Rev. Fernando Cristancho, a leader at St. Ignatius Church in Forest Hill.

I authored this piece not to get drawn into the details of this particular case -- there are more important issues at stake here, including how we move forward to protect innocent children, expose sexual predators and heal victims -- but a quick review of the church's failed efforts to protect the public and conceal the facts surrounding this case warrant further examination.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

December 14, 2008

[For Dulles' recent positions on the abuse crisis, referenced in this article, see his Rights of Accused Priests. For other Dulles essays, see America's Dulles archive.]

By Michelle Boorstein

Cardinal Avery Dulles, 90, a former professor at Catholic University who was born into a family of elite Protestant diplomats and became one of the country's most prominent Catholic theologians, died Dec. 12 at an infirmary at Fordham University in New York. Stricken with polio when young, he had post-polio syndrome, which led to progressive muscular and pulmonary deterioration.

Cardinal Dulles, who was appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 2001, was the first academic to be named to the Catholic Church's highest advisory council, as well as the first who had never served as a bishop.

. . .

Through more than 20 books and 800 articles, he articulated a conservative if tolerant case for Catholicism and the church's positions on contraception, sexuality, the role of women and clergy sex abuse. He served as a bridge between the Vatican and the more liberal American Catholic dissidents after the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. In his later years, he was seen more as an advocate of orthodoxy and said church sanctions against priests charged in sex abuse scandals were too extreme.

ATHENS (GA)
Athens Banner-Herald