////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat November 12, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Sisters say 14 years jail too good for dad. [Male parent] - No religion link reported. 3 girls.
The West Australian, by Natasha Granath, p 13, Saturday, November 12, 2005
PERTH: Two girls whose sister hanged herself after she reported their father for molesting them over many years said a 14-year jail term was nothing for a man who did not deserve to live.
The father, who cannot be named because it would identify victims of sexual abuse, was sentenced in the District Court yesterday to 45 years jail, to be served concurrently over 14 years. He will be eligible for parole after 12.
The man pleaded guilty to 14 charges of sexual penetration without consent and indecent dealings with two children and one count of breaching bail. He had evaded police for a year when charges were laid but was arrested in May.
Judge Allan Fenbury said in sentencing that the man's offences had been "appalling and unspeakable" and he had ruined the childhoods of two young girls and caused incalculable damage that led a third to commit suicide. [...]
Their mother said ... "When she first disclosed to me I told welfare straight away but without the girls disclosing to them, they couldn't do anything," she said. "They investigated but nothing happened. The girls were living under duress."
The three girls later moved to the protection of an Aboriginal mission and in 2001 the oldest finally reported the abuse to police, at age 13. However, the father threatened on the phone to kill her. ...
Sisters say 14 years jail too good for dadNATASHA GRANATH Two girls whose sister hanged herself after she reported their father for molesting them over many years said a 14-year jail term was nothing for a man who did not deserve to live. The father, who cannot be named because it would identify victims of sexual abuse, was sentenced in the District Court yesterday to 45 years jail, to be served concurrently over 14 years. He will be eligible for parole after 12. The man pleaded guilty to 14 charges of sexual penetration without consent and indecent dealings with two children and one count of breaching bail. He had evaded police for a year when charges were laid but was arrested in May. Judge Allan Fenbury said in sentencing that the man's offences had been "appalling and unspeakable" and he had ruined the childhoods of two young girls and caused incalculable damage that led a third to commit suicide. "Your actions show the extreme damage that can be done to young people and the damaging things they do to escape the pain of abuse," he told him. The only mitigating circumstances were the man's guilty plea, which had spared the girls giving evidence in court. Prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo said he had shown no remorse and continued to blame his daughters for reporting him. She asked he be jailed for 30 years, for release at 70. The victims plan to appeal for a longer sentence. Outside court, they said they were "disgusted" at the sentence, fearing their aggressor would be out in only seven years if he appealed and would return to torment them. "I think he should never be allowed to walk the earth again," one said. Their mother said she had tried many times to get the girls from her former de facto when he held them after an access visit but she was met with violence. She said her oldest daughter had told her of the abuse when she was only four and she had reported it to welfare workers in the Wheatbelt town. "When she first disclosed to me I told welfare straight away but without the girls disclosing to them, they couldn't do anything," she said. "They investigated but nothing happened. The girls were living under duress." The three girls later moved to the protection of an Aboriginal mission and in 2001 the oldest finally reported the abuse to police, at age 13. However, the father threatened on the phone to kill her. Her mother last saw her on the girl's 13th birthday. # |
• More jail for sex pervert piano teacher. [1990s Makarov] - No religion link reported. 3 boys.
The West Australian, p 45, Saturday, November 12, 2005
SYDNEY (NSW), Australia: Internationally renowned piano teacher Victor Makarov has been jailed for a minimum of 12 years for sexually assaulting three of his students.
The Ukrainian-born maestro, now based in Sydney, was found guilty of 18 sexual assault offences against three pupils. Makarov, 52, is already serving a maximum 12-year jail term for the abuse of another young victim.
The three students were boys aged between 12 and 16 when they were assaulted in the late 1990s.
District Court Judge Penelope Hock said Makarov had grossly abused the trust of the boys and their families.
"He engaged in sexually predatory behaviour towards these young boys at a crucial stage of their physical and psychosexual development," she said. # [Nov 12, 05]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun November 13, 2005 edition:-
• Irish children abused in a land of deference. - RCC.
Irish Independent, www.unison.ie /irish_independent/ stories.php3? ca=36&si=150 5542&issue_ id=13270 , ~ November 13, 2005
IRELAND - IT IS difficult to overstate the importance of the Ferns Report. It is a landmark document in the context of child sexual abuse - abuse compounded in its gravity because the actors were members of the most trusted group in our society.
The victims suffered not only sexual, physical and psychological abuse, but also the betrayal and inaction of a church that placed the protection of the most vulnerable below the priority of protecting themselves.
I heard a chilling description of what these abusive clergy did to their victims as the equivalent of "eating their souls". Unlike other forms of ill-treatment, sexual abuse of children by priests, and the subsequent disbelief of their stories is uniquely destructive of the individual spirit. Given the scale and brutality as outlined in the Ferns Report, the capacity to heal and even forgive among some victims is awesome.
The report, however, is a landmark in another aspect. It will change forever the special relationship that has existed for many decades between church and state.
This cannot happen unless the old relationship ends: the unrelenting deference, which constituted relations between state and church. Only then can the State act as it should - objectively. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:52 PM]
• New Rochelle nun speaks about childhood abuse. [Parish priest] - RCC. Ursuline sister speaks out. Molested as a girl.
The Journal News, By GARY STERN, gstern@thejournalnews.com , ~ November 13, 2005
NEW ROCHELLE (NY) - A 68-year-old Ursuline nun will speak publicly for the first time tomorrow about being sexually molested by a parish priest when she was a girl, an experience that silently shaped her entire life.
Sister Claire Smith of New Rochelle said that childhood shame was one reason she joined a religious community in 1956.
"I just felt I was used goods," she said. "Who would want me? I had this secret I couldn't tell anybody. These were the days when you didn't say anything."
Smith, who went on to become a noted educator and counselor, will address the Southern Westchester chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic lay group that formed in Boston during the sex-abuse scandal of 2002.
• Gay Priests Conflicted As Church Leaders Set To Discuss Restrictions. - RCC.
The Day, By RACHEL ZOLL & ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov/13/2005
UNITED STATES - The Rev. Fred Daley, a gay, Roman Catholic priest, had grown increasingly disturbed by Vatican pronouncements over the years that homosexuals were unfit for the clergy.
Then the situation escalated - some church leaders suggested that gays were responsible for the clergy sex abuse crisis. Daley was so angry, he did something last year that almost no other gay Catholic cleric in the country has done: He came out to his bishop, parishioners and his entire community to show that homosexuals were faithfully working in the church.
"I'm as much a member of the church as anybody else," said Daley, of St. Francis de Sales Church in Utica, N.Y., who was ordained in 1974 and said he has never considered leaving the priesthood. "I love being a priest."
Researchers have estimated that thousands of homosexual clergy across the United States have dedicated their lives to a church that considers them "intrinsically disordered" and prone to "evil tendencies." Soon, the Vatican will back up that teaching with a document that could set new restrictions on candidates for the priesthood - a pronouncement U.S. bishops may discuss in private during their national meeting starting Monday in Washington.
• Irish Report on Sexual Abuse by Priests Stokes Outrage. - RCC to be audited.
The New York Times, By BRIAN LAVERY, Published: November 13, 2005
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 12 - An independent report on sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests in Ireland has led some members of Parliament to call for a severing of the formal ties between the Irish government and the Roman Catholic Church and has led the justice minister to promise new child-protection laws and a nationwide audit of how the church handles such cases.
The report, by a three-member panel appointed by the Irish government, showed that the Catholic Church hierarchy in Ireland was only one part of a system that enabled cover-ups allowing known sexual predators to retain their positions within the church - and their access to young victims.
Before 1990, the panel found, the police were reluctant to investigate claims of sexual abuse by the clergy because they were fearful of challenging the privileged position of Roman Catholic Church authorities.
Most schools in Ireland are run by the Catholic Church, so even lay teachers found it difficult to sound alarms. In addition, public health authorities failed to follow up on some accusations of abuse and cut short other inquiries.
• Priest sued for child support. [2003-05 Martin] - RCC. Woman and baby.
London Free Press, http://lfpress.ca/ newsstand/ CityandRegion/ 2005/11/13/ 1304613-sun.html , By JANE SIMS, FREE PRESS JUSTICE REPORTER, November 13, 2005
[Picture] Sandra Ring-Morse of Ingersoll is also suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of London and the religious order priest Jason Martin belongs to. He denies he is the father of her youngest son.
CANADA - For a while, Sandra Ring-Morse thought she was living a real-life fairy tale.
Just months after her infant daughter was born dead and her marriage failed, a high school sweetheart rushed back into her life, vowing to leave his life in the Roman Catholic priesthood and promising true love and a lifetime of happiness, she says.
For seven months, Ring-Morse says, they lived together blissfully. They were engaged and had set a wedding date.
But what began with such whirlwind promise has evaporated into the stuff only soap opera writers might dream up.
Jason Martin, the man who had so quickly appeared in her life, abruptly left her in July 2004 and disappeared back into the priesthood, she says.
Two weeks later, the 31-year-old Ingersoll woman, already severely stressed by his departure, found out she was pregnant.
• Vatican to Define Its Policy on Gay Seminarians. - RCC.
Los Angeles Times, By Tracy Wilkinson, ~ November 13, 2005
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican is preparing to release a document, years in the making, that will bolster the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine against admitting gay men into the priesthood.
Despite an acute shortage of Catholic priests in many parts of the world, church leaders under Pope Benedict XVI are advocating a more careful screening of aspiring clerics to keep out homosexuals. However, rather than an absolute ban feared in some circles, the pope is expected to adopt a somewhat more nuanced approach in the final document.
The Vatican announced in 2002 that a year earlier it had begun revising guidelines on whether gays should be allowed to enroll in seminaries. Officials were responding to two concerns: what some Catholics saw as a growing gay subculture within seminaries and in church life, and the explosion of sexual abuse scandals in the United States and elsewhere, the majority of whose victims were boys.
Benedict has been clear in upholding church teachings that condemn homosexuality as "disordered" and potentially evil, both in his decades as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer, and since his election as pontiff in April. He has repeatedly emphasized traditional moral doctrine, condemning same-sex marriages and other perceived crises of values in the secular world.
• Ahern placates abuse victims. - RCC.
The Sunday Times (Britain), ~ November 13, 2005
IRELAND - THE taoiseach is to meet with Colm O'Gorman, the director of One in Four, a support group for sexual abuse victims, in an attempt to defuse the row over his defence of the Catholic church.
Bertie Ahern will hold a meeting on Thursday with O'Gorman, who was abused by Sean Fortune, one of Ireland's most notorious paedophile priests, to explain why he has been so supportive of the church following the Ferns report.
Last week Liz O'Donnell, a Progressive Democrat backbencher, called for an end to the the "special relationship" between the church and state and the "cosy phone calls from All Hallows to Government Buildings".
Ahern responded furiously: "Yes, I do ring All Hallows," he said, adding that the state owed religious communities "a great debt of gratitude".
Ahern, who only referred to a sense of "disappointment" at the evidence of the Ferns inquiry, pointed out that the church made an indispensable contribution to Irish education.
• Church stumbles over its self-preservation instinct. - RCC. 43 teachers. Children.
Irish Independent, ~ November 13, 2005
IRELAND - LAST WEEK, it was revealed that 43 primary and post-primary teachers have been suspended from work over the past 10 years because of sex abuse allegations.
There was hardly a murmur of reaction. The same day that news of the suspended teachers broke in the Irish Independent, the Government announced the terms of reference for the inquiry into child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese and the airwaves filled up with this topic again. The teachers didn't get a look-in.
Why the seemingly endless interest in clerical sex abusers, and the nearly zero interest in other categories ofchild abusers?
The chief reason, one presumes, is the former over-arching power of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
This power not alone provided cover for the abusers in its ranks, it also made it almost impossible for their abuse to be revealed.
• Of church scandal, forgiveness and fairness. - RCC.
Philadelphia Inquirer, by Jim Remsen, Inquirer Faith Life editor, ~ November 13, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - A respected Catholic priest is exposed as a child molester. A venerable pastor is shown to have once been a church administrator who failed to blow the whistle on abuse.
The church teaches forgiveness, but can a molester ever really be forgiven, let alone restored to public good graces? And has the administrator forfeited his right to be a parish pastor, or to receive public honors for his other, good works?
What is fair?
To Jim Post, it's "an exquisite moral dilemma."
As a founder of the activist group Voice of the Faithful, Post has watched as Catholics across the country absorb the shock of local priest abuse - then struggle with how to regard their once-trusted clerics, and the officials who minimized or enabled the problem.
• 3 more claim abuse at closed Catholic school. [1960s Mueller (Marianist)] - RCC.
Denver Post, ~ November 13, 2005
PUEBLO (CO) - Three more men claim they were abused by a former band director at a Roman Catholic high school during the 1960s.
A law firm representing the men said they electronically filed lawsuits against the Diocese of Pueblo on Friday. The filings couldn't be confirmed because the courts were closed for Veterans Day.
Eight suits already have been filed against the diocese and the Marianist religious order by men alleging they were abused by Brother William Mueller at the now-closed Roncalli High School. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:28 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sun November 13, 2005 Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon November 14, 2005 edition:-
• U.S. Catholic bishops to meet behind closed doors. - RCC.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, www.post-gazette.com/ pg/05318/ 606177.stm , By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Monday, November 14, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - The U.S. Catholic bishops will hold most of this week's 3 1/2 day meeting behind closed doors.
While long executive sessions and closed retreats have been common at their smaller June meetings, their major meeting each November in Washington, D.C., has normally had one half-day executive session.
The lengthy closed session worries some advocates of accountability.
"Whatever became of all those pledges to be more open and transparent?" said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "I would have hoped that, out of respect for Catholic lay people if nothing else, they would conduct less of their business behind closed doors."
Russell Shaw, a former communications director for the bishops, believes they have done "pretty well" at discussing sexual abuse in public, but that other topics have been taken more and more behind closed doors. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:41 PM]
• Families of Murder Victims Bring Five Point Reform Plan to US Bishops. [Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 dead.
AXcess News, By Staff, ~ November 14, 2005
WIHUDSON (WI) - At a news conference outside the meeting of all US Catholic bishops in Minneapolis, the families of two men who were murdered by a Catholic priest will unveil a five point plan for sexual abuse healing and prevention including a proposal to discipline bishops who ordain troubled seminarians to the priesthood.
In an unusual "John Doe" hearing last month, a St. Croix County judge determined that Fr. Ryan Erickson, 31, shot and killed two men in Hudson, Wisconsin in February 2002. One of the victims had confronted Erickson with allegations that the priest was molesting kids. Last December, Erickson hanged himself from a fire escape at his Hurley, Wisconsin church after being questioned by police about the murders.
The Rev. Philip Heslin, moderator of the Curia for the Catholic Diocese of Superior, the equivalent of the diocese's chief operating officer, said Erickson hanged himself.
Police in Hudson questioned Erickson about the murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, but the priest denied any involvement, Heslin said.
O'Connell and Ellison were found shot to death in an office at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in Hudson in February 2002. O'Connell was the director of the home, and Ellison was an intern there.
• Two Families Seek Church Accountability in Abuse Cases. [Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 dead.
Washington Post, By Alan Cooperman, Page A03, Monday, November 14, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - Sally Ellison does not have an appointment with the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. She is not even a Catholic. But she is flying 900 miles from her home in Wisconsin to Washington today for a meeting of U.S. bishops, and she thinks they should hear what she has got to say.
"Because of their negligence, my son is dead. I think that's a pretty good reason for them to listen to me, don't you?" she said.
After an unusual hearing last month, a judge in Hudson, Wis., ruled that a Catholic priest, the Rev. Ryan Erickson, "probably" murdered James Ellison, 22, and Daniel O'Connell, 39, on Feb. 5, 2002.
The troubled and troublesome priest, who had a penchant for real handguns and for pretending to shoot people with his thumb and index finger, avoided prosecution by hanging himself from a rectory fire escape last year.
But at the conclusion of the "John Doe hearing" -- a form of trial without a defendant that is allowed in just five states -- St. Croix County Circuit Judge Eric J. Lundell said he was convinced that Erickson, 31, shot the two men after O'Connell accused him of molesting children.
• Priest's court battle expands. [Liberatore] - RCC. 9 convictions. Sacristan + young male.
The Times-Tribune, BY CHRIS BIRK, Nov/14/2005
SCRANTON (PA) - A court battle is shaping up over psychological records of a Diocese of Scranton priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage parishioner.
Attorneys in the federal lawsuit against the Rev. Albert M. Liberatore are also pushing the diocese to release documents detailing all claims and investigations of sexual misconduct against diocesan priests or employees over the past 20 years.
Father Liberatore has already pleaded guilty to nine criminal counts in two jurisdictions stemming from a sexual relationship he had with a former sacristan at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Duryea.
Filed a year ago this month in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the civil suit on behalf of now college-age John Doe and his family levies a host of charges against the priest and diocesan officials, including assault and battery and failure to protect.
While his name is disclosed in court papers, it is the policy of The Times-Tribune not to identify victims of sexual assault.
• Memphis Catholic Diocese Hit With Another Sex Suit. [? 1979 Rev. St. Charles.] - RCC. Boy.
WREG, ~ November 14, 2005
MEMPHIS (TN) - A lawsuit spells out the abuse a 41-year-old Memphis man says he repressed for years. It was only after watching a news story about a former Memphis priest, Paul St.Charles that the victim remembered being molested. The victim says he was molested at the Church of Ascension on Ramill in Memphis when he was 15 or 16 years old. Then a teenager, he was spending the weekend at the rectory with Father St. Charles. He says the priest gave him wine and whiskey to drink and told him because they were in a church it was not wrong.
• Murder victims' families press bishops on reform, meeting. [Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 dead.
St. Paul Pioneer Press, By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press, ~ November 14, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - The families of two men believed to have been killed by a Roman Catholic priest in Hudson, Wis., gave the nation's bishops a plan Monday aimed at preventing sexual abuse by priests.
The family members also asked the bishops to arrange a meeting for them with Pope Benedict XVI.
A Wisconsin judge last month ruled the Rev. Ryan Erickson almost certainly shot to death funeral home director Dan O'Connell, 39, and employee James Ellison, 22, in 2002.
St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson said evidence suggests O'Connell learned the priest was sexually abusing someone, providing alcohol to minors, or both. Erickson committed suicide last December after being questioned about the murders.
Families of the victims have contended their loved ones might still be alive if the church had properly disciplined Erickson after old accusations of abuse.
• Pastor Charged With Sexual Misconduct. [1999-2002 Holthus] - Lutheran. Boy.
WCCO, MINNESOTA - AP, ~ November 14, 2005
MANKATO, Minn.-- A Lake Crystal area pastor was charged Monday with two felony counts of sexual misconduct for alleged acts with a teenage member of his church.
James Michael Holthus, 51, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bail was set at $200,000, with certain conditions, prosecutor Patrick McDermott said.
Defense attorney Christopher Rosengren of Mankato said Holthus "adamantly asserts his innocence" and looked forward to trial. He said Holthus' congregation at Trinity Lutheran Church had already started a legal defense fund.
The boy and his family attended that church in Lake Crystal, according to the criminal complaint. The abuse allegedly began when the boy was 13 and ended in 2002 when he was 16.
• Row erupts over Church-State relationship. - RCC.
Irish Emigrant, ~ November 14, 2005
IRELAND - Comments by Progressive Democrat TD Liz O'Donnell about the relationship between the Catholic Church and the State sparked a rebuke by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. This in turn led to further media debate. During a Dáil debate on the Ferns Report on clerical sexual abuse, Ms O'Donnell criticised the Church on all fronts but particularly its role in education. She called for an end to the "cosy phone calls" between All Hallows seminary, which is in the Taoiseach's constituency of Drumcondra, and Government Buildings. She demanded that there should be no further consultation on a range of issues. Among those she mentioned were abortion services, stem-cell research, in-vitro fertilisation, homosexuality and adoption. Ms O'Donnell also proposed that the Church's finances should be the subject of a State audit.
The Taoiseach responded forcefully, defending his relationship with All Hallows, where his father had worked for a half-century. He accused Ms O'Donnell of misunderstanding the role of All Hallows and the Vincentian Order. The seminary, he said, had educated young priests not for Ireland but for dioceses around the world. Mr Ahern added, "The Church is an important part of civil society and is critical to the faith, values and identity of many citizens". He went on to acknowledge the Church's contribution to education over the years, saying it had contributed greatly in the development of the country. He noted the Church's role in managing some 3,000 primary schools, "If they were to pull out tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to manage the education system".
• Church usher charged with sex abuse of teen. [2005 Esteves] - Pentecostal. Child.
Newsday, BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO, ~ November 14, 2005
PATCHOGUE (NY) - An usher at a Patchogue church was arraigned yesterday in the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old parishioner, police said.
Pastor Javier Feliciano, of Spanish Pentecostal Church, said he was told by the child's family that usher Junior Esteves, 28, of Medford, allegedly abused a child he was driving home from a rehearsal for a skit in which both dressed in fatigues and played soldiers of Christ.
Esteves was arrested Saturday at the church around 4:30 p.m. and charged with second-degree sexual abuse, which includes inappropriate touching of a child under 14. If found guilty, punishment is up to a year in jail.
"We're hurt," said Feliciano, leaving the church after yesterday's morning Mass. "We never expected this."
Feliciano said Esteves and the child, whose name and gender are being withheld by police, were going to be in a five-minute sketch with other church members for a special Saturday Mass to be officiated by the children from the church group.
• Dublin Archdiocese next for abuse inquiry. [Dublin Archdiocese 67 clergy] - RCC.
Irish Emigrant, ~ November 14, 2005
IRELAND - Following the report into the response to allegations of clerical child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Ferns, a similar State-commissioned investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese is beginning. The 18-month inquiry will follow up on a representative sample of allegations made against 67 Dublin priests between 1975 and 2004. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has promised full co-operation with the investigation.
The four-member Commission of Investigation will be headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, who sits in the Circuit Criminal Court. It will examine and report on the responses of the Catholic Church, the State and the public to allegations of child sex abuse. Judge Murphy has been asked to complete her report within 18 months. The inquiry can be directed by Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan to extend its investigations to other dioceses if it appears that a bishop has not implemented the 1996 rules published by the Bishop's Advisory Committee on Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Religious.
• Hudson victims' families turn to media to get bishops' attention. [Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 dead.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Last update: November 14, 2005 at 7:26 AM
WASHINGTON (DC) - Unsuccessful in their effort to meet with Catholic bishops gathered in Washington, families of two Hudson, Wis., funeral home workers who were apparently killed by a priest will speak at a news conference this afternoon to tell the bishops "to get their act together."
"We haven't had a card, a note, a phone call from our own bishop, so we have to try to get their attention another way," said Tom O'Connell. His son, Dan, and intern James Ellison were shot and killed on Feb. 5, 2003, at the O'Connell funeral home in Hudson.
The Rev. Ryan Erickson, a priest in Hudson at the time, probably killed the men because O'Connell was about to confront the priest over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage boy, a judge ruled last month. Erickson, who had been moved twice by his bishop after the killings, hanged himself last December.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opens its annual fall meeting in Washington today. Most of the sessions are closed to the public.
"They have their charter saying they will protect young people from abuse, but what are they doing?" Tom O'Connell said Sunday.
• Sex-abuse suits embroil Jesuits in Northwest. [Poole (Jesuit)] - RCC. Girl.
The Oregonian, By ASHBEL S. GREEN, Monday, November 14, 2005
OREGON - In the long shadow of the Archdiocese of Portland bankruptcy, an Oregon-based Jesuit province faces a growing priest-abuse litigation crisis of its own.
In the last few years, as many as 100 people have filed sex-abuse lawsuits accusing more than a dozen priests and volunteers of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, according to plaintiffs' attorneys.
The Northwest Jesuits are separate from the Portland Archdiocese and report to superiors outside the Vatican in Rome. The province covers five states -- Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska -- but the bulk of the alleged abuse occurred in remote Alaskan Eskimo villages that during the long winters are almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.
"There's no one to tell, no one to turn to, no one to talk to," said Elsie Boudreau, an Anchorage woman who was sexually abused by a Jesuit priest when she was a girl. Boudreau settled her case for $1 million in April.
The Rev. John D. Whitney, the Portland-based provincial superior, admitted that the Rev. James Poole had committed sexual abuse and apologized to Boudreau.
• Faith holds firm despite ferns. - RCC.
Belfast Telegraph, By Pól Ó Muirí, 14 November 2005
NORTHERN IRELAND - The Catholic Church in Ireland has certainly found itself at the centre of attention over the last number of weeks and that attention shows no sign of waning.
Media and politicians have been to the fore in highlighting, rightly, the sexual abuse of young children in the Ferns Diocese.
While that inquiry has drawn to a close - insofar as the report has been published - the horror of what was done by some priests will not be as easily forgotten.
Indeed, the Republic's Government have announced another inquiry into the Arch-Diocese of Dublin, though even that may not be enough with some politicians urging a nation-wide audit of the Church.
The bad news for the Church is that while "what" happened in Ferns (and in other dioceses) is known; why it happened is still not clear.
• Catholic Bishops Gather for D.C. Meeting. - RCC.
San Francisco Chronicle, By RICHARD N. OSTLING, AP Religion Writer, (11-13) 09:52 PST, Sunday, November 13, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC), (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops are gathering for a meeting with an unusually light agenda - in public, that is.
Church leaders were planning to open the event to media and observers from the first session Monday morning through midday Tuesday. But after that, the bishops will air opinions behind closed doors for another day or two -- perhaps treating delicate topics such as Catholic politicians, the sex-abuse crisis or the ongoing review of seminaries.
As a result, it promises to be the most secretive November session since the bishops decided to open up their gatherings in 1972. The hierarchy also meets each June, and occasionally those sessions have been entirely private.
The unusual degree of closed-door deliberations this time is not a policy change but rather the product of an unusually short list of items that require formal action, said Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:06 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Mon November 14, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue November 15, 2005 edition:-
• Priest, deacon accused of misconduct. [Schaeflein] - RCC.
Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly.com/ mld/inquirer/living/ religion/1316 8514.htm , By Martha Woodall and Christine Schiavo, ~ November 15, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia yesterday reported that it has restricted the duties of a Bucks County priest and asked a deacon and teacher at St. Joseph's Preparatory School to resign in response to allegations of inappropriate physical contact with minors.
Msgr. Charles J. Schaeflein, 86, who spent 25 years in archdiocesan high schools and 12 as pastor of St. Andrew parish in Newtown, has been barred from performing pastoral duties while the archdiocese and the Bucks County District Attorney's Office investigate recent allegations that he sexually abused a minor more than 15 years ago.
And the Rev. Mr. Charles Ginn Jr., an ordained deacon, was asked to resign last week from St. Joseph's Prep in North Philadelphia as a result of allegations he had inappropriately kissed and hugged three students in 1996. Ginn, who as deacon is capable of performing several priestly duties, including baptism, had taught history at the prestigious Jesuit boys' school for 29 years.
Donna Farrell, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said the church was investigating the allegations against Ginn and would report the allegations to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:54 PM]
• The courage to talk plainly. - RCC.
National Catholic Reporter, , for November 18, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - One of the hallmarks of the sex abuse crisis was silence.
It went hand in hand with the secrecy of the culture of hierarchy.
Everyone in the club knew there were reasons for not saying anything. It was just a few bad apples. It would damage the church. It would cause scandal. It would harm the reputations of all the good priests. And on and on.
So it was refreshing to read of Fr. Robert McLaughlin, pastor of St. Basil the Great in Kimberton, Pa., part of the Philadelphia archdiocese, who was as angry and betrayed by the scandal as are most priests, especially when it hits home.
When the devastating report of the Philadelphia Grand Jury came out (NCR, Oct. 7), he was one of those -- and we understand there were at least a few others -- who, this time, refused to buy the line from the chancery office. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:30 PM]
• Alleged victims say archdiocese reorganization plan inadequate. - RCC.
OregonLive, By WILLIAM McCALL, The Associated Press, 12:36 p.m. PT, Nov/15/2005
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The Archdiocese of Portland has proposed placing an overall $40 million limit on damages that can be paid to alleged victims of priest sex abuse as part of its bankruptcy organization plan, an attorney for victims said Tuesday.
The proposed limit is a fraction of more than $400 million that is being sought by people who say they were abused by priests.
David Slader, an attorney for alleged victims, contended the proposed reorganization plan would pit victims against each other for a share of the settlement money and allow the church to cover up most of the abuse by avoiding public trials. "This plan, which has taken a year and a half to put together, is a step backwards," Slader said.
He noted that nearly $9 million would go to claims already settled but not yet paid, leaving only about $32 million to share among more than 100 pending claims. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:09 AM]
• HSE to review Galway abuse inquiry. [1965-98 Brothers of Charity] - RCC. Six-year inquiry but no report.
One in Four, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - Following an announcement that the HSE is to set up a review of a six-year -old inquiry into abuse in Co Galway there has been a call for the resignation of the Brothers of Charity director of services in the county, Patrick McGinley.
The HSE said it is seeking to establish why the inquiry by health authorities into child abuse at Brothers of Charity institutions for the physically and intellectually disabled has being going on for six years. This "inquiry into an inquiry" is expected to be completed "at the earliest possible date", a HSE statement said.
In 1997 and 1998 allegations of past child abuse were made by former residents at institutions run by the Brothers of Charity Services in the (then) Western Health Board area. In December 1998 Mr McGinley brought concerns about the allegations to the health board. An inquiry by the health board began in April 1999 concerning allegations from 1965 to 1998. It is ongoing. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:30 PM]
• Armagh protest over bishops' inaction. - RCC persecuted whistleblower McGinnity for 20yrs.
One in Four, www.oneinfour. org/news/news 2005/inaction , ~ November 15, 2005
NORTHERN IRELAND - As many as 100 people are expected to demonstrate outside the Armagh residence of Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady from noon tomorrow at the ill-treatment of priests who suffered for trying to alert bishops to concerns about clerical sex abuse.
An ad-hoc group of members of rosary and prayer groups around the country are angry at the treatment of Fr Gerard McGinnity and other whistleblower priests who were banished for trying to alert the bishops to concerns about abuse.
Speaking to The Irish Times from Mullingar last night, Sarah Anne McGivney said: "The bishops have to be accountable for their treatment of good priests." Fr McGinnity "had been victimised and was entitled to have his position back. He was put through hell for 20 years and has suffered an awful lot. There are other priests too," she said.
• Church 'as much part of Bertie's genealogical map as Fianna Fail'. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - BERTIE Ahern's unique selling point is his ordinariness. He could be any one of us.
On the surface, he's an uncomplicated, amiable fellow - happy to work hard and enjoy his football and pints. However, there has to be more to him. Or else we'd all be the Taoiseach.
The magic ingredient in the Bertie mix is his landlubber's terror at the thought of rocking the boat. Safety comes first.
His conciliatory impulses make him an excellent negotiator, and he has carried this reputation all the way from the industrial storms in the Department of Labour to the Northern peace process. Just don't expect him to challenge the consensus. However, oddly for a socialist, he has no appetite for iconoclasm. ...
Like vast numbers of Catholics, he bears it familial goodwill. It is as much a part of his genealogical map as Adam and Fianna Fail.
After the Ferns scandal exploded in 2002, the Taoiseach announced that negligence in dealing with child abuse by priests was "a matter for the Church", when any other State would have been summoning the Papal Nuncio for what is euphemistically called a frank exchange.
While the promised inquiry into the Dublin archdiocese had run into its third year of delayed start-up, the Taoiseach spent last summer investigating the hours spent teaching the Koran in a north Dublin Muslim school.
• Victims' sex abuse claims set to top 12,000 mark. - RCC institutions allegedly abused 12,000. €1billion.
One in Four, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - THE number of compensation claims from survivors of institutional child abuse will top 12,000 when the deadline for applications expires next month.
The final figure is double the number of applications predicted when the Residential Institutions Redress Board scheme was launched in 2002.
The surge in claims is also expected to push up the overall cost of the scheme to at least €900 million. Legal fees are expected to cost an additional €100m.
• Taoiseach to meet One in Four. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - One in Four, the national charity that supports victims of sexual violence, will meet An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this Thursday to discuss his recent comments on the relationship between the State and the Roman Catholic Church.
One in Four director Colm O'Gorman requested the meeting following Mr Ahern's comments suggesting there was a sense of "disappointment" in the wake of the publication of the Ferns Report and that the Irish education system would become unmanageable without the continued involvement of the Church.
• Pastor Charged With Child Pornography. [2000s Schara] - Lutheran. Child pornography.
Channel 3000, By Angela Bettis, UPDATED: 8:52 pm CST November 14, 2005
MARXVILLE, Wis. -- Members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Marxville met Monday night to discuss the recent arrest of their minister.
The Dane County Sheriff's Department said the Rev. Jerald Schara was arrested Friday on a tentative charge of possession of child pornography.
Schara has been the minister at the church for 10 years.
• Families Try, Fail to Talk to Bishops. [2002, 2004 Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 killed.
Washington Post, By Alan Cooperman, Page A02, Tuesday, November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - Two Wisconsin families who believe their sons were killed by a Roman Catholic priest failed yesterday in their attempt to meet with members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But after initially being ejected from the downtown hotel where the 350 bishops had gathered for their semiannual meeting, the families were invited back into the lobby for an informal 10-minute conversation with a member of the bishops' staff.
The parents, brothers and sisters of Daniel O'Connell and James Ellison squeezed around a coffee table, sitting on the cushions and arms of a couch and two stuffed chairs. Security guards waved away reporters as the nine family members spoke quietly, with heads bowed and hands pressed between knees, to Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.
They gave her color photographs of the mustachioed O'Connell, 39, and movie-star-handsome Ellison, 22.
• Pastor charged with sexual misconduct. [1999-2002 Holthus] - Lutheran. Boy.
KARE, www.kare11.com /news/news_article. aspx?storyid= 111228 , ~ November 15, 2005
LAKE CRYSTAL (MN) - A Lake Crystal area pastor was charged Monday with two felony counts of sexual misconduct for alleged acts with a teenage member of his church.
James Michael Holthus, 51, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bail was set at $200,000, with certain conditions, prosecutor Patrick McDermott said.
Defense attorney Christopher Rosengren of Mankato said Holthus "adamantly asserts his innocence" and looked forward to trial. He said Holthus' congregation at Trinity Lutheran Church had already started a legal defense fund.
The boy and his family attended that church in Lake Crystal, according to the criminal complaint. The abuse allegedly began when the boy was 13 and ended in 2002 when he was 16.
• Accused priest could get 100-year sentence. [LeBrun] - RCC. 6 boys.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh, 06:29 PM, Nov. 14, 2005
MESA (AZ) - A former west Valley Catholic priest faces more than 100 years in prison if jurors decide to convict him of molesting six boys in Arizona after a monthlong trial in a Mesa courtroom.
Rev. Paul LeBrun, 49, already stripped of his priestly duties, preyed upon vulnerable young boys whose parents were abusive, divorced or abandoned by their fathers in Arizona and Indiana, prosecutor Suzanne Cohen said.
"He was basically a wolf in sheep's clothing," Cohen said during closing arguments Monday. "Everything he did was to get close to these little boys. Everything he did was to abuse these little boys."
But defense attorney Ken Hulls said the victims, which included four more boys in Indiana, didn't come forward for decades and are motivated by greed.
• U.S. bishops disagree over changes in liturgy. - RCC.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Tuesday, November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) -- At a meeting where the sexual abuse scandal was not on their public agenda, the U.S. Catholic bishops repeatedly raised the topic in matters ranging from their budget to an acrimonious discussion about proposed changes to the English liturgy.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago noted that a long-standing division between bishops who prefer standard American English and those who want a literal rending of Latin has become more complex. Some bishops on both sides have realized that the current English text is more familiar and meaningful to many Catholics than the centuries-old Latin text once was, he said.
"There are those who have been quite critical of the present translation, but who are now saying that we don't want to disturb the people, especially in the situation of weakened episcopal authority we have now," he said, referring to distrust of bishops who failed to remove child molesters from the priesthood.
Conference president Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., spoke of different credibility issues related to the scandal. While surveys show that 90 percent of priests love the priesthood and more than 90 percent of parishioners say parish priests do a good job, bishops fare less well. Priests fear that bishops will remove innocent priests.
"Only 42 percent believe they will be dealt with fairly if they are accused; 58 percent do not. Only 27 percent believe that accused priests have been treated fairly," he said.
• Catholic priest's faith nearly dead. [2002, 2004 Erickson] - RCC. Abuse allegations. 2 dead.
Renew America, by Matt C. Abbott, November 14, 2005
ARLINGTON (VA) - Father James Haley of Arlington, Va., had the following (edited) quasi-response to a Nov. 14 Washington Post story regarding the families of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison. O'Connell and Ellison were allegedly shot to death by the late Father Ryan Erickson in 2002.
"Amazingly, after four years, I have still not heard anything significant about my 'trial.' In fact, from what I understand, my case has still not been received by the Vatican, where it may sit for many more years. And again, this is a trial about my behavior, not the bishop's, nor the chancellor's, nor the behavior of so many homosexual priests.
"I believe all is lost unless some wealthy individual gives me the necessary funding to do a real exposure - the money being used primarily for my predicted legal defense because the Church will do, and has done, everything to prevent their dirty 'little' gay secret from being exposed. And the last thing I want is to end up in prison worrying about homosexual rape; I had too many 'roving' eyes in the priesthood.
"So it looks like the evil men have won. A priest for ever - utter nonsense! A Church that teaches the fullness of truth in faith and morals - total baloney! And the good people in the pews? Simple, blind, stupid sheep who are still totally culpable every time they pay a dime to the Church without first insisting on the fullness of truth about this horrendous moral tragedy. A brief 'instruction' from the Vatican will do nothing to solve this outrageous moral dilemma, nor prevent the infiltration of future homosexual men; in fact, it will probably encourage even more to join.
• Pastor to be Charged With Possessing Child Porn . [? 2000s Schara] - Evangelical Lutheran. Child pornography.
NBC 15, by Zac Schultz, Updated: 6:28 PM Nov 14, 2005
MADISON (WI) - A local pastor is currently in Jail and will be charged in Dane County Court Tuesday afternoon.
The Sheriff's Department made the arrest last Friday. Schara is the minister at both St. Paul's and St. John's Lutheran Church outside Mazomanie.
"On Friday Dane County Deputies arrested Jerald Schara from Mazomanie on tentative charges of possession of child pornography and he's currently being charged in the Dane County Jail," says Dane Co. Sheriff's Department Spokesperson Elis Schaffer.
The Sheriff's Department isn't saying if this child porn bust is connected to a larger case. "That would all be part of the investigation I'm not sure at this point if they're connecting this to anyone else or not," says Schaffer.
Paster George Carlson is Bishop of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin-Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "I was deeply saddened to hear of the arrest of the Rev. Jerald Schara on charge of pornography or obscene material. The Evangelical Church in America does not tolerate sexual exploitation or misconduct and we consider these charges very serious. Rev. Schara has been suspended from his pastoral duties as the legal process continues."
• Pastor charged with criminal sexual conduct. [? 2005 Holthus] - Lutheran. Juvenile.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, by Robert Franklin, 4:42 PM, November 14, 2005
CRYSTAL LAKE (MN) - A pastor in Lake Crystal, Minn., has been charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a young parishioner he was counseling.
The Rev. James Michael Holthus, 51, appeared Monday in Blue Earth County District Court in Mankato. He was held on $200,000 bail by Judge Kurt Johnson.
Holthus, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lake Crystal, was arrested Thursday following a search of his home and church office during which a computer was seized.
Chris Rosengren, the pastor's attorney, said Holthus "adamantly" asserts his innocence, looks forward to clearing his name in a trial and wants to thank those supporting and praying for him. Parishioners have started a defense fund, he said.
• Priests, death penalty, lay ministers on agenda on bishops' first day. - RCC.
Catholic News Service, By Nancy Frazier O'Brien, ~ November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC), (CNS) -- The U.S. Catholic bishops opened their annual fall meeting Nov. 14 with encouragement for the nation's priests and preliminary discussion of topics ranging from the death penalty to children's Masses, from lay ecclesial ministers to budget matters.
In his presidential address, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., called priests "the treasures who safeguard the church as a eucharistic community" and said they deserve the gratitude, support, esteem and collaborative respect of the bishops.
Attention stemming from publicity about sexual abuse cases and how the church has handled them was not about the "wonder, commitment, dedication and perseverance" of priests, but about "the darkness and sin which overwhelmed some," he said. "It has been a personally painful time for the vast majority of priests who did nothing to deserve that pain."
• Catholic bishops' president defends American priests after a negative 'avalanche' over. - RCC.
The Boston Globe, By Richard N. Ostling, AP Religion Writer | November 14, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) --The president of America's Roman Catholic bishops defended American priests Monday, saying a "handful" of miscreants who sexually abused minors have forced the rest of the clergy "to endure an avalanche of negative public attention."
Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., told a meeting of the U.S. hierarchy that despite that scandal and job pressures caused by the declining total of clerics, three recent surveys show a "high level of morale among priests."
He also said the overwhelming majority of lay parishioners "appreciate the job their priests are doing for them."
But Voice of the Faithful, an independent reform group with 30,000 lay members, criticized the bishops for lack of consultation with parishioners and inadequate outreach to abuse victims. David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, added that leaders of the national bishops' conference haven't met with abuse victims the past couple of years, though local bishops have done so.
• Public pays price for deal with orders. - RCC. Religious orders deal - twice estimate.
One in Four, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - TAXPAYERS will be aghast next month when they finally learn the full cost to the public of the Coalition's highly unsatisfactory exemption deal with religious orders involved in institutional child abuse.
By next month, compensation will be due to more than 12,000 survivors before the Residential Institutions Redress Board, double the predicted figure.
Thanks to a Fianna Fáil-inspired deal with the orders, their liability was limited to €128 million. With the final bill expected to exceed €900m, taxpayers will have to pick up the balance.
• Bishop let cousin in sex probe work on as priest. [~ 1950s +] - RCC.
Irish Independent, ~ November 15, 2005
IRELAND - A BISHOP knew for three years that an allegation of sex abuse had been made against one of his priests, who is also his cousin.
He only asked him to stand aside two weeks ago.
The bishop also took three years to order an examination of diocesan files to determine whether or not any other allegations had been made against him.
In addition, neither the Garda nor the local health authority was told about the allegation until two months ago.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has confirmed to the Irish Independent it informed the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones, that an allegation of sex abuse had been directed against the priest.
The priest served in Los Angeles between 1957 and 1964. [Bolding added.]
• Catholic bishops say they've responded to abuse crisis. - RCC.
KFOR, www.kfor.com/ Global/story.asp? S=4118584& nav=6uy6 , ~ November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - The U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops insists steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence of the clergy abuse crisis.
At a meeting in Washington, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas (kik-AN'-is) says there's now increased screening of applicants for the priesthood to ensure that children aren't put at risk. He adds that U-S bishops now refer allegations to civil authorities for investigation.
Kicanas' diocese recently emerged from bankruptcy caused by molestation claims.
• Families of 2 slain in Hudson give bishops letter. [2002, 2004 Erickson] - RCC. Molestation allegation/s. 2 killed.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, by Aaron Blake, Last update 8:08 PM, November 14, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - The families of two men killed in a Hudson, Wis., funeral home in 2002 delivered to a Catholic bishops conference on Monday a proposal for dealing with sexual abuse in the church. But they were disappointed at not getting to speak with bishops in person.
Six relatives of Dan O'Connell and three relatives of James Ellison met privately for 15 minutes at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' fall meeting with Teresa Kettelkamp, the executive director of the conference's Office of Child and Youth Protection.
The families had been told they couldn't meet with the bishops, so they held a news conference outside the Hyatt Regency hotel, where the bishops were meeting, and walked inside to try to deliver their five-part plan to the bishops.
Kettelkamp said she would give the families' letter and photos of the victims to Spokane, Wash., Bishop William Skylstad, the president of the conference.
• Two more Seattle priests dismissed from clerical state for sex abuse. [Ashwell, 1978 Jaeger, Cornelius] - RCC.
The Seattle Times, The Associated Press, ~ November 15, 2005
SEATTLE (WA) -- Two priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle have been laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state, because of child sex abuse allegations, Seattle Archbishop Alex J. Brunett said Monday.
George Barry Ashwell and David P. Jaeger, both 62, had already been removed from public ministry while the archdiocese awaited word from the Vatican on their fate.
Jaeger's laicization was voluntary; he admitted in the mid-1990s that he inappropriately touched a 13-year-old boy at a youth camp in 1978. Ashwell had denied inappropriately touching boys in his care.
In all, three priests from the Seattle Archdiocese have now been laicized, a process that can only be completed by the Vatican. The other is John Cornelius, who served in the Seattle Archdiocese from 1975 to 2002 and was defrocked by the Vatican last fall. More than 20 men lodged sexual assault complaints against him.
• Bronx nun, 68, goes public about being abused by priest in 1950s. [1950s priest] - RCC. Girl.
Newsday, By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer, 10:29 PM EST, November 14, 2005,
LARCHMONT, N.Y. -- A 68-year-old nun who is an accomplished educator and counselor told a crowd of Catholics on Monday night that she was abused from the age of 11 by a priest who took advantage of her grief when her big sister died in a car crash.
"He would hug me ... and then he would be all over me," Sister Claire Smith said. "It was the 1950s, and I was an Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx. I thought priests were almost godlike."
The abuse continued until she was 18, she said, and "I was robbed of my growing up."
Smith, who has multiple sclerosis and broke her legs in an accident two weeks ago, spoke from a motorized wheelchair at the Larchmont Avenue Presbyterian Church to the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, an organization that supports victims of priests' abuse and seeks a larger voice in church governance. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:24 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue November 15, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed November 16, 2005 edition:-
• Priest suspended amid 'misconduct' probe. [? 1980s Priest] - RCC.
U.TV, ~ November 16, 2005
IRELAND - A priest has been suspended in Co Monaghan after allegations of misconduct against children in Northern Ireland more than 20 years ago, it emerged today.
The Bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy informed churchgoers in the Irish Republic of the development at the weekend.
In a statement the diocesan office said: "Bishop Duffy told parishioners that as a precautionary measure to protect children he had requested the priest concerned to step down and he had agreed.
"The priest is now on administrative leave, pending the outcome of investigations by the relevant civil authorities to whom the case has been referred." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:36 AM] [Emphasis added.]
• Police lay 31 more sex abuse charges against retired priest. [Sylvestre] - RCC. 36 charges now. Girls.
Brandon Sun, www.brandonsun. com/story.php? story_id=10353 , The Canadian Press, ~ November 16, 2005
CHATHAM, Ont., Canada - A retired southwestern Ontario priest is behind bars after 29 more women came forward with complaints of childhood sexual abuse.
Chatham-Kent police laid 31 new counts against Charles Sylvestre on Monday, bringing the total sexual abuse charges the 82-year-old faces to 36.
Sylvestre, who lives in nearby Belle River, is charged with 29 counts of indecent assault, three charges of rape, three counts of sexual intercourse with a female under 14 years of age and one charge of attempted rape, said Det.-Const. Kate McArthur.
All of the alleged victims are females and were between the ages of nine and 14 at the time of the alleged incidents, McArthur said.
• Meath Chronicle. [presumably an editorial] - RCC.
The Meath Chronicle, www.unison.ie/ meath_chronicle/ stories.php3?ca=44 &si=1506864 &issue_id=13278 , ~ November 16, 2005
IRELAND - THE Catholic Church in Ireland has been enduring a torrid time over the past month following the publication of the report into sexual abuse by clergy in the Diocese of Ferns. And now Ireland finds itself divided on where Church and State relations should go from here.
The revelations of child sexual abuse contained in the report and reported upon extensively in the media for the past several weeks have appalled, horrified and disgusted all right-thinking people and the culture of cover-up by the religious authorities that it exposed has left many contemplating their faith in the institutions and hierarchy of the Church. As the fallout continues, there have been calls for a clear division to be created between Church and State that have been fuelled by the strong attack on the Church by former PD junior minister Liz O'Donnell last week.
Ms O'Donnell, in one of the strongest attacks on the Catholic Church in Ireland ever, said people should not accept the fact that the Church would be truthful or capable of self-regulation and she demanded an end to the traditional deference shown to it by Government. She furthermore denounced the "unbelievable immoral silence" of the Vatican following the publication of the Ferns Report. [...]
... The Catholic Church is heavily involved in the management of thousands of schools throughout the land and anecdotal evidence would suggest that most parents are happy to see the Catholic ethos continue to be part of their children's education. Ireland is, however, an evolving, multi-racial society and there are many issues surrounding the changes in the country's demographic landscape that need to be looked at.
This is not a time for knee-jerk reactions when it comes to talking about the future of Church-State relations. The abuse scandals that have been revealed have severely damaged and humbled the Catholic Church in this country and people have lost faith in its institutions. How the Church and its bishops attempt to regain and rebuild that trust will determine how the people, and ultimately the Government, will respond. [...]
• Bishops' gathering draws protest. [2002, 2004 Erickson] - RCC. Known abuser condoned. 2 killed.
The Boston Globe, By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff | November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) -- Families of two Wisconsin men who were apparently killed by a Catholic priest in 2002 yesterday said church officials were responsible for the deaths because they had evidence that the priest was sexually troubled but did not bar him from the priesthood.
Relatives of Daniel O'Connell and James Ellison made the accusations on the sidewalk outside the annual meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in protest of what they said was a failure of church leaders to take responsibility for their role in the deaths.
"Red flags were raised, action was not taken, and because of this James and Dan are dead," said Sally Ellison, James Ellison's mother. "I don't think they would be dead if the bishops had done their jobs."
According to the families, the shootings occurred after O'Connell confronted the Rev. Ryan Erickson, 31, about allegations that the priest was abusing children. Erickson shot O'Connell, 39, the next day, the families said, then killed Ellison, an intern at the O'Connell family's funeral home, because he witnessed the first slaying.
• Molestation trial winds down for ex-priest[1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh, Nov. 15, 2005
MESA (AZ) - The monthlong trial for a former West Valley Catholic priest accused of molesting boys neared its end Monday, as his attorney and the prosecutor gave their closing arguments.
Paul LeBrun, 49, could face more than 100 years in prison if jurors decide to convict him of molesting six boys in Arizona after the trial in a Mesa courtroom.
LeBrun, 49, already stripped of his duties, preyed on vulnerable young boys whose parents were abusive, divorced or abandoned by their fathers in Arizona and Indiana, prosecutor Suzanne Cohen said.
"He was basically a wolf in sheep's clothing," Cohen said during closing arguments Monday. "Everything he did was to get close to these little boys. Everything he did was to abuse these little boys."
• Priest investigation dropped. - RCC. Richardson charges dropped.
Cincinnati Enquirer, November 15, 2005
KENTUCKY - A criminal investigation has been dropped against a priest who was accused in August of sexual misconduct with a minor.
No evidence of wrongdoing was found against the Rev. Pete Richardson, who now lives at Glenmary Home Missioners' headquarters in Fairfield, Glenmary announced Monday.
The allegations - which Richardson denied - were investigated by prosecutors in Morgan County, Ky., where the accuser said the abuse occurred.
Richardson was director of Glenmary's department of pastoral services, in Nashville, Tenn., when the allegations surfaced.
He was then moved to the headquarters. His status will not change until a decision by the Glenmary Review Board, which awaits a report from Praesidium, a Texas risk management firm Glenmary hired to investigate.
He was pastor at parishes in West Liberty, Ky., and Owingsville, Ky., from 1994 to January 2004. Glenmary, founded in 1939, works to spread Catholicism in small towns and in rural America. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:09 AM]
• Pastor Arrested On Sexual Abuse Charges. [? 2000s Griffith] - Christian Christian Fellowship. 5 complainants.
ABC 7, www.wjla.com/ news/stories/ 1105/278 428.html , Wednesday November 16, 2005 5:15pm
LINTHICUM (MD), (AP) - Baltimore County police have charged the pastor of the Redemption Christian Fellowship in Woodlawn with sexually abusing children he was counseling.
Police say 39-year-old Gerald Fitroy Griffith, of the 1300-block of Peach Tree Court in Bowie, is charged with several counts of child abuse.
Police say they were contacted by five victims about alleged sexual abuse. Police say an investigation found that Griffith was sexually abusing the victims during counseling sessions in the church office. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:16 PM]
• Providence Diocese suspends priest accused of molesting teenager. [2001- 02 Cote (Dominican)] - RCC. Child.
WPRI, ~ November 16, 2005
PROVIDENCE, R.I., (AP) -- The Diocese of Providence has withdrawn a priest accused of molesting a Maryland teenager from his duties at a Rhode Island parish.
The diocese says it withdrew the accused priest, Aaron Joseph Cote, from Saint Pius the Fifth Parish in Providence today after learning that a lawsuit had been filed in a Washington D-C court accusing Cote of child sexual abuse.
The lawsuit was filed by Brandon Rains, an 18-year-old who has accused Cote of sexually molesting him in 2001 and 2002 while Cote was serving at Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, Maryland.
Cote, a Dominican priest, was assigned by the Providence diocese to Saint Pius in 2003.
• Gays In The Priesthood. - RCC.
PBS, ~ November 16, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - Catholic bishops met in Washington, D.C. to discuss the Vatican's plan to screen U.S. seminaries for applicants who might be gay. A report from Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland explains the process.
JUDY VALENTE: These candidates for the priesthood have just arrived at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland. The seminary is nearly 200 years old and one of the largest in the country. Like other seminaries and schools of theology, it will soon be visited for several days by one of the teams of American bishops and priests selected by the Vatican.
MONSIGNOR STEVEN ROHLFS: They have been asked to interview all of the seminarians, every single one. They've been asked to interview all of our faculty, all of the administration. We had to provide all of the coursework that we teach, all the outlines, all the bibliographies; they'll interview all of the professors.
• Bishops Task Force to Meet With Lawmakers. - RCC.
The Guardian (Britain), By RICHARD N. OSTLING, AP Religion Writer, ~ November 16, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC), (AP) - America's Roman Catholic bishops spent half of Tuesday and all Wednesday in unusual private discussions. By policy, even the topics considered were supposed to be secret, but it is certain the sex-abuse scandal was among them.
Patricia Ewers, head of the National Review Board, a lay panel that monitors the church's efforts to prevent sexual abuse, told the bishops about research plans. But some $2 million of the $3 million for a study authorized by the bishops has yet to be raised.
Separately, New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice said it would work Fordham University on research about the "causes and context" underlying the abuse crisis.
Issues to be investigated include the "prominence of young adolescent males among the victims" and seminaries' admission policies, according to John Jay. A Vatican pronouncement on gays in seminaries is expected shortly.
A confidential Oct. 3 memo notified bishops that executive sessions might be used to discuss the review board's work and their efforts to deal with abuse issues.
• Police Arrest Pastor On Child Abuse Charges. [? 2000s Griffith] - Christian Fellowship. 5 complainants.
TheWBALChannel.com , ~ November 16, 2005
TOWSON, Md. -- Baltimore County police arrested a pastor on Tuesday and charged him with several counts of child abuse.
Police said Gerald Fitroy Griffith, 39, of Bowie, is the pastor of the Redemption Christian Fellowship. The church is located in the 6500 block of Dogwood Road in Gwynn Oak.
Investigators said five victims about alleged sexual abuse contacted them -- alleging that Griffith was sexually abusing them during counseling sessions in the church office.
Griffith was arrested at Baltimore-Washington International airport on late Tuesday afternoon, as he was getting ready to board a flight to London. Police said has been charged with sexual abuse to a minor, perverted practice, sodomy, second-degree sex offense, third-degree sex offense, fourth-degree sex offense, and second-degree assault.
• Bishops' National Review Board Picks John Jay College of Criminal Justice to Conduct Sex Abuse Causes and Context Study. - RCC.
U.S. Newswire, wswire/ -- The U.S. Bishops' National Review Board, which advises the church on the handling of clergy sexual abuse of minors, has selected the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York to conduct a major study of the causes and context of the problem. John Jay College will work with Fordham University and other experts across the United States to carry out the research.
The decision was announced Nov. 16 by Patricia Ewers, Ph.D., chair of the board, during a meeting with the U.S. bishops in Washington.
Jeremy Travis, the president of John Jay College, when informed of the decision said: "John Jay College is honored to have been selected to carry out this enormously important research project. We commit ourselves to conducting the research with scrupulous objectivity and scientific rigor to advance society's understanding of the causes and context of the problem within the Church."
The study, Causes and Context of the Sexual Abuse of Children and Youth by Catholic Clergy in the United States, was called for by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was passed by the U.S. bishops in Dallas in 2002. According to the Charter, "To understand the problem more fully and to enhance the effectiveness of our future response, the National Review Board will commission a comprehensive study of the causes and context of the current crisis."
• Judge tells AG to release church records in abuse cases. [to 2005 Burlington Diocese] - RCC.
Burlington Free Press, By Sam Hemingway, Wednesday, November 16, 2005
VERMONT - Church records and documents connected with the state's criminal investigation into claims of past clergy sex abuse by Catholic priests in Vermont can't be kept confidential, a Chittenden County Superior Court has ruled.
Judge Ben Joseph, presiding over 13 cases alleging past sexual abuse of children by priests, said the release of the documents is needed to understand the extent of the purported misconduct and what the state's Catholic diocese did about it.
"The public interest in the disclosure of information about the alleged sexual abuse suffered by the plaintiff and others, as well as the effective administration of justice, outweighs the desire for confidentiality," Joseph wrote in his ruling released late Monday.
Jerome O'Neill, the attorney for the alleged 13 victims, praised the decision. He said until now, the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has been less than forthcoming in responding to his pre-trial disclosure requests.
• Bishop refines his case. [Aquino] - RCC. The lewd behaviour man was kept on.
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass., USA), By Dianne Williamson, dwilliamson@telegram.com , November 15, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) - Bishop Robert J. McManus has decided to bypass the secular skeptics and preach to the converted.
After more than two weeks of silence to lingering questions about the Rev. James Aquino case, he opted to respond to the 17,000 subscribers of The Catholic Free Press, the diocesan newspaper in which he writes an occasional column under his trademark motto, "Christ, The Splendor of Truth."
In doing so, the bishop relieved himself of the burden of answering questions about inconsistencies in his handling of the case, which is surely his prerogative and no great surprise, as the church hierarchy rarely considers itself answerable to the populace.
Specifically, reporters have been calling Bishop McManus repeatedly in an effort to understand why he initially supported the Rev. Aquino after the priest was charged with lewd conduct last year in Las Vegas, then suddenly relieved him of his duties last month after the issue broke in the press.
OK, so damage control is hardly rocket science, and it seemed apparent that the bishop responded to the scandal after he could no longer contain it. Except that's not what the bishop said when he removed Rev. Aquino Oct. 30. Then, Bishop McManus claimed that "I did not possess the whole truth" about the incident until recently, even though he learned about Rev. Aquino's conduct in February.
To recap, Rev. Aquino was charged with lewd conduct after police say they saw him masturbating another man in a Las Vegas porn theater Oct. 21, 2004. The bishop was informed in February of this year. In March, Rev. Aquino pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to perform community service. On Sept. 6, the case was dismissed.
Last month, as the case broke on the Internet and local reporters began making inquiries, Rev. Aquino called an extraordinary meeting of his parishioners at Our Lady of Loreto Parish and vehemently denied engaging in any sex act. Rather, he blamed the charge on police eager to target a priest. And his lawyer told parishioners that Bishop McManus has been "very supportive of Father and very pleased with how the matter was handled," saying he felt no need to discipline him.
Six days later, Bishop McManus felt a need to discipline him. His feelings had changed, the bishop said. Suddenly, he considered the case "a source of great scandal" for the church, he told parishioners.
Pesky reporters - as well as many in the public - were confused. What had changed? What new facts had come to the bishop's attention?
Finally, we know. Well, we sort of know. Actually, we're still not quite sure, but let's hear what the bishop has to say. In fairness to him, I won't paraphrase his main points and instead quote him directly:
"Shortly before I spoke at the parish I received an unredacted copy of the initial police report, which included the name of the individual alleged to have been involved in sexual activity with Father Aquino," the bishop wrote in the Free Press. "The police report I had been given in February did not include that full name. Second, I learned of the admission of sexual activity by the other consenting adult, when it was reported on NECN-TV. Third, I learned that an additional Las Vegas law enforcement official publicly supported the findings of the initial police report."
It's not clear why the name of the man alleged to have engaged in sex with the priest was pertinent to the bishop's understanding. As for the "additional Las Vegas law enforcement official," I believe he was referring to a Las Vegas police sergeant I interviewed by picking up the phone and calling him. This cop simply explained that Rev. Aquino had been caught in a raid, and he scoffed at his protestations of innocence.
In his homily to parishioners, Bishop McManus claimed that he had "tried my best to discern the truth" about the Aquino incident. In his recent column in the Free Press, he indicated that he relied on the priest and his lawyer for information, surely not the most exhaustive of investigative techniques. What sort of effort is expended by taking an accused man at his word, let alone the word of his lawyer? Bishop McManus spoke to the Las Vegas district attorney in February -- how can he now insist that he didn't know the truth?
These questions will remain unanswered. And the bishop's claim that his actions "did not constitute a coverup, as some have suggested," must go unchallenged, because he has declined to make himself available. Instead, he's obviously more comfortable pontificating in the Free Press.
So be it. I don't mean to pile on, but I figured that the bishop's explanation deserved a bigger audience than the one provided by the diocesan newspaper. And I'll simply note here that if the Free Press claims "the truth shall set you free," it can also tie you up in knots.
• Trial date set in Geoghan slaying. [2003 Druce] - Ex-priest's death.
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass., USA), By Gary V. Murray, gmurray@telegram.com , November 16, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) - Jury selection is scheduled to begin Nov. 28 in Worcester Superior Court for the trial of the man charged with the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.
Joseph L. Druce is raising an insanity defense to a charge of murdering the ex-priest on Aug. 23, 2003, in Mr. Geoghan's cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.
The 68-year-old former priest, who was beaten and strangled, was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy when he was killed. Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the murder of a man he believed was gay.
State Police Detective David Napolitano testified at a Sept. 16 suppression hearing in the case that Mr. Druce eagerly confessed to the killing after being advised of his Miranda rights. The detective said Mr. Druce told him he killed the defrocked priest because Mr. Geoghan was "talking about getting out and skinning other children and I just couldn't let that happen."
The detective testified that Mr. Druce told him he snuck into Mr. Geoghan's cell, jammed the door with a book and other items to prevent anyone from intervening, knocked the ex-priest to the floor and strangled him with a pair of socks. At various points during the interview, Mr. Druce said he saw the killing as an "honorable" thing and that he viewed the ex-priest as a "prize," according to Detective Napolitano.
The hearing was on a motion filed by Mr. Druce's appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, seeking the suppression of the reported confession. The motion, which was opposed by Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy, remains under advisement.
Judge Timothy S. Hillman, who will preside over Mr. Druce's trial, set the Nov. 28 date for the start of jury selection during a hearing yesterday.
At the outset of the hearing, Mr. Druce, who recently swallowed a piece of television cable in what prison officials said was an apparent suicide attempt, was asked by Judge Hillman how he was feeling.
"I'm not feeling too good. I got some stuff sticking out of my stomach," Mr. Druce responded as he lifted his shirt to reveal scarring from his recent emergency surgery.
Mr. LaChance told the judge that his client said he swallowed the cable and later ingested a piece of his eyeglasses, so he could get off the "10 Block" at the state prison in Walpole, where he said he had been housed with a number of his "documented enemies." Mr. LaChance said Mr. Druce had been threatened by other inmates and that urine and feces had been thrown at him.
"He's terrified to be there," the lawyer said.
Judge Hillman said he would consider Mr. LaChance's request that Mr. Druce be remanded to the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston while his trial is pending.
• Still no verdict in LeBrun trial. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
WNDU, Posted 10:15 pm, Nov/15/2005
MESA (AZ) - The jury in the molestation trial of former South Bend priest Paul LeBrun has yet to reach a verdict.
LeBrun is accused of child molestation at his church in Mesa, Arizona.
The jury started deliberating Monday but has still not reached a decision.
• Madison pastor charged with possession of child porn. [Schara] - Lutheran.
ABC 7, November 15, 2005
WISCONSIN - The Dane County district attorney Tuesday charged a Mazomanie pastor with possessing child pornography.
Jerald Schara has been held in Dane County Jail since his arrest last Friday. Schara is the minister at both Saint Paul's and Saint John's Lutheran churches near Mazomanie.
The sheriff's department is not saying whether the arrest is connected to a larger case.
Bishop George Carlson of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin-Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americas says he's saddened by the arrest.
He says Schara has been suspended while the legal process continues.
• Pastor Allegedly Downloaded Porn Pics of Young Girls. [2000s Schara] - Lutheran. Child pornography.
NBC 15, by Zac Schultz, Updated 7:07 AM Nov 16, 2005
MADISON, Wisconsin: A rural Mazomanie pastor has been officially charged with possession of child pornography.
Rev. Jerald Schara was unshaven as he made his initial appearance in Dane County Court. He's been in jail since his arrest last Friday - and he's now been charged with possession of child pornography.
According to the criminal complaint Schara confessed to detectives that he has been downloading images of pre-pubescent girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
The complaint says during one binge of downloading kiddie porn near Halloween Schara downloaded a Trojan Horse Virus that locked up his computer. When he took it to a computer shop to get fixed the technician found the child porn and called the Sheriff's Department.
Schara is already out on bond. "Mr. Schara you'll be released from jail on a signature bond. There are conditions of your release. You're not to have any unsupervised contact with any female juveniles," says Court Commissioner Todd Meuer.
• Jury selection in Geoghan slaying to begin November 28th. [2003 Druce] - Ex-priest's death.
WPRI, ~ November 16, 2005
WORCESTER, Mass. - Jury selection is scheduled to begin November 28th in Worcester Superior Court for the trial of the man charged with the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan (GAY'-gun).
Judge Timothy Hillman set the date yesterday during a hearing on several defense motions.
Joseph Druce is charged with murdering Geoghan in 2003. The ex-priest was beaten and strangled in his cell.
• Churches oppose disclosure. [2005 Springfield RC Diocese, Protestant clergy group]
The Republican, By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Wednesday, November 16, 2005
SPRINGFIELD (MA) - As the state House of Representatives gets ready to vote on a bill requiring charitable organizations such as churches to file annual financial disclosure statements, local battle lines continued to be drawn yesterday by opponents of the legislation.
A Catholic lay organization that supports the bill yesterday accused the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, the bishop of the Springfield diocese, of passing along misinformation about the bill in letters trying to generate opposition.
The accusation was denied yesterday by a diocesan spokesman.
Meanwhile, a group of Springfield Protestant clergy plan to meet today to discuss their opposition to the bill.
The Rev. Talbert W. Swan, organizer of the meeting, expressed surprise the bill could be voted on as soon as today in the House.
"I'm shocked. The Senate just passed it last week. It makes you wonder why it is being rushed through the House," Swan said.
• Beres won't face criminal charges. [Beres]
The Oregonian, By JEFF MAPES, Wednesday, November 16, 2005
OREGON - Law enforcement officials have ended an investigation against Louis Beres, a longtime leader of the Oregon Christian Coalition, after concluding that the sexual molestation alleged against him by family members occurred too long ago to be considered for prosecution.
"The allegations we have received are beyond the statute of limitations," Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk said Tuesday, adding that there is "no open investigation."
Beres' attorney, Stephen Houze, declined comment beyond noting that the investigation has been closed.
• Ferns Report sparks surge in calls to rape helplines. - RCC.
Irish Examiner, November 16, 2005
IRELAND - The publication of the Ferns Report into clerical child sex abuse in the Wexford area has reportedly sparked a surge in calls to rape crisis centres across the country.
This morning's newspapers said the Rape Crisis Network had reported a 50% increase in calls to helplines nationwide since the document was made public.
• Archdiocese reveals plan today. [Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. $US 20m. 200 complainants.
The Oregonian, Bt STEVE WOODWARD, Wednesday, November 16, 2005
PORTLAND (OR) - The Archdiocese of Portland's long-awaited, much-anticipated plan for emerging from its 16-month-old bankruptcy will be made public today.
A late Tuesday afternoon filing just met the deadline imposed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth L. Perris, who had already granted a year's worth of extensions.
Lawyers involved in the bankruptcy have said they expect the archdiocese's plan to offer a settlement fund of at least $20 million to pay more than 200 pending child sexual-abuse claims. The number of claims may continue to decrease as the archdiocese challenges the validity of nearly 100 claims, 30 of which have been thrown out by the court.
• Monsignor's resignation stuns. [Msgr. Schneider] - RCC. Sudden exit of seminary chief.
Newsday, BY CAROL EISENBERG, November 16, 2005
ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY) - A well-regarded priest who oversaw the seminary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre for five years announced in a prayer service Friday that he was stepping down immediately, stunning faculty and students.
Msgr. Francis Schneider, 49, told those gathered in the chapel of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington that he was resigning for personal reasons, citing stress. He said Msgr. Robert Emmet Fagan would become interim rector.
But the timing surprised some faculty members - coming a few weeks after a Vatican-ordered evaluation of the seminary, which was part of a nationwide review in response to the U.S. clergy sex abuse crisis. It also came just a few weeks before the end of the semester.
• Canon Law gave Bishop of Ferns the freedom to pursue errant priests. [Vatican, Ferns Diocese] - RCC.
New Ross Echo, ~ November 16, 2005
IRELAND - The Vatican never, at any time, directly intervened in the affairs of the Diocese of Ferns whilst it operated under the aegis of Bishops Donal Herlihy and Brendan Comiskey, a former professor of Canon Law this week stated.
And the reason it didn't is because Rome knew nothing of the allegations of abuse surfacing in Ferns.
Speaking on Thursday, Monsignor Maurice Dooley told The Echo that the structure of the Church is such that each diocese acts as an independent republic, whose head, the bishop, seldom, if ever, consults with Rome over problems arising in his diocese.
A former representative of the Pope on the Bioethics Committee of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Monsignor Maurice Dooley lectured on Canon Law at St. Patrick's College in Thurles prior to being made parish priest of Loughmore in 1992.
• Why is the church still running our schools?.
Indymedia, national / rights and freedoms / news report, by Sean Maguire - WSM 10:57am Wednesday, Nov 16 2005,
IRELAND - It's taken decades for the mask of evil to finally be fully exposed. The report by the inquiry into child sexual abuse by pervert priests in the Ferns diocese has at last exposed the suffering endured by huge numbers for people. Now all across the country the truth is finally being told.
One of the principal reasons why priests were able to get away with their rape and abuse of children for so long was because the state abdicated its responsibility to protect children. This is most obvious in relation to control of education.
Again and again in the Ferns report it emerges that priests were able to use their position on management authorities of primary schools to gain access to the children they abused. For example, in Monageer Fr. James Grennan abused 10 young girls during confirmation classes.
Local gardai 'lost' the investigation files and this evil predator was allowed to continue to abuse children. And he was able to use his position as chair of the management board of the local primary school to gain access to his victims.
• Watsonville molestation suspect faces new rape charge. [Early 1990s-1998 Martinez] - RCC. Girls.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, By Cathy Smith, November 15, 2005
WATSONVILLE (CA) - A former Watsonville pastor and school district employee facing trial next month on charges of molesting a teen was back in court Monday on a new allegation - that he raped a 24-year-old woman in 1998. Prosecutors claim the victim was a vulnerable immigrant from El Salvador.
Steven Montez Martinez, 48, was arrested in November in connection with acts allegedly committed in the early 1990s.
His trial on four counts of committing lewd acts on girl under age 16 is set for Dec. 6.
While investigating those allegations in September, another alleged victim surfaced, investigators say, who told them of a 1998 rape. It reportedly occurred in Sacramento County, where the woman now lives.
• Man Files Suit Over Sex Abuse Claims. [Francis] - Church of the Nazarene. Boy.
The Ledger, November 16, 2005
LAKE WALES (FL) - Gene Francis, a former pastor at the Church of the Nazarene in Lake Wales, is being sued by a man who claims Francis molested him in 2001, when he was 17.
The man, whose identity and age are not disclosed in court documents, filed the lawsuit Monday against Francis, the church and church officials.
In addition to claims of sexual abuse by Francis, the lawsuit alleges church officials were negligent in hiring Francis and "made only a pretense of investigating the charges."
• Judge orders release of priest sex abuse records. [to 2005 Burlington Diocese] - RCC.
WCAX, ~ November 16, 2005
BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A judge has ordered the release of church records and documents relating to the clergy sexual abuse scandal that are held by the attorney general's office.
Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph said disclosing the files to a lawyer representing 13 people charging they were sexually abused in the past by priests "is clearly in the 'public interest.'"
Jerome O'Neill, the attorney for the alleged 13 victims, praised the decision. He said until now, the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has been less than forthcoming in responding to his pretrial disclosure requests.
• Molestation trial winds down for ex-priest. [? 1980s-90s LeBrun] - RCC. 6 boys.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh, Nov. 15, 2005
MESA (AZ) - The monthlong trial for a former West Valley Catholic priest accused of molesting boys neared its end Monday, as his attorney and the prosecutor gave their closing arguments.
Paul LeBrun, 49, could face more than 100 years in prison if jurors decide to convict him of molesting six boys in Arizona after the trial in a Mesa courtroom.
LeBrun, 49, already stripped of his duties, preyed on vulnerable young boys whose parents were abusive, divorced or abandoned by their fathers in Arizona and Indiana, prosecutor Suzanne Cohen said.
"He was basically a wolf in sheep's clothing," Cohen said during closing arguments Monday. "Everything he did was to get close to these little boys. Everything he did was to abuse these little boys."
• Catholic Bishops Approve Proposals on Lay Workers. - RCC.
The New York Times, By NEELA BANERJEE, Published November 16, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) , Nov. 15 - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a set of recommendations for lay workers in the church on Tuesday but did not publicly address a number of contentious issues at its meeting here this week.
Many church experts said they expected issues of personal morality and sexuality, of urgent concern, to be discussed by the bishops at closed-door sessions over the next two days.
Among the questions facing the church are these: Should Roman Catholic politicians who support abortion rights be given Communion? How will the Vatican rule on gay men in the priesthood? And how are the large financial settlements being paid to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests affecting dioceses?
The conference, which meets twice yearly, does not reveal its agenda for private sessions. But the public session underscored some problems in the Catholic Church, including the chronic shortage of priests. On Tuesday, as the public session ended, the bishops approved a set of recommendations to guide dioceses in dealing with the rise of lay workers in the church. The lay people do much of what priests did a generation ago, like running youth ministries and organizing prayer services.
• Bishop downplays pain. - RCC. 'Clergy endure'. 11,500 claims nation-wide.
Boston Herald, http://news.boston herald.com/opinion/ view.bg?articleid= 112375 , By Boston Herald editorial staff, Wednesday, November 16, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - The head of this nation's Roman Catholic bishops may find comfort in playing a numbers game over the perpetrators of clergy sexual abuse, but this is one community that won't forget.
Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., told a meeting of American bishops Monday that a "handful" of abusive priests has caused the rest of the clergy "to endure an avalanche of negative public attention." That's an insult to those victims who have endured years of pain because of the betrayal they suffered at the hands of their priests and those within the church hierarchy who covered up their crimes.
It is estimated that Roman Catholic dioceses in this country have paid out more than $1 billion in acknowledgment of some 11,500 claims of sexual molestation - claims documented by our own attorney general and his counterparts around the country, most recently in Philadelphia.
• Catholic bishops do most work in private. - RCC.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, By Tim Townsend, Nov/15/2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - In the day-and-a-half of their annual fall meeting this week that the news media were allowed to observe, the U.S. Catholic bishops covered a lot of ground. But in their few public sessions this week, they steered clear of the issues that have made headlines around the country in the last year.
Those topics, said religion scholars and church-reform advocates, would probably be discussed behind closed doors after the prying members of the secular news media had returned to their newsrooms.
In front of reporters and other observers, the bishops talked about Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, the role of the Catholic laity in public ministry, a reaffirmation of the church's opposition to the death penalty, changes to the order and language of the Mass, financial and spiritual support for the church in Africa, a new religious alliance against pornography and a report by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
And yet among grumbling reporters and advocates of church transparency, more attention was paid to the topics the bishops did not take up, at least in public: Catholic politicians and Holy Communion, a forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuals in the priesthood, U.S. seminary inspections, financial fallout from the clergy sex abuse crisis, and a recent three-week international meeting of bishops in Rome at which the worldwide shortage of priests was the main topic.
• Priest faces 31 more charges. [1954 onwards Sylvestre] - RCC. 36 charges.
London Free Press, By BRIAN CLEEVE, SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS, November 16, 2005
CHATHAM, Canada -- A former Chatham priest is facing 36 charges of child sexual abuse, dating as far back as 1954.
Charles Sylvestre, 83, was released on $2,000 bail after his first court appearance on 31 new charges yesterday and is to return to court here Jan.
Five other charges of sexual offences against children were laid against Sylvestre in July.
Appearing sometimes dazed, the retired cleric sat through the 20-minute hearing in the prisoner's box, frequently looking at family members gathered in the courtroom.
Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie said he is waiting to see the Crown's case before Sylvestre makes any decisions about how it will be dealt with.
• Defrocked priest vows fight to clear name in abuse case. [Ashwell, Jaeger] - RCC. Children.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, By CLAUDIA ROWE, ~ November 16, 2005
SEATTLE (WA) - On a sunny Saturday in 1969, G. Barry Ashwell and David Jaeger, schoolmates for 11 years, were ordained into the priesthood together. More than three decades later -- also on the same day -- the Seattle Archdiocese announced that the Vatican had defrocked both priests after numerous allegations that they sexually abused children.
But here, their paths diverge. Jaeger -- most recently known for his sensitive ministry to AIDS patients -- has confessed and requested to be "released from the clerical state," while Ashwell remains unrepentant. Defiant, he is now preparing to defend himself in court.
"These people claim to be victims, and they very well might be -- but not by me," he said Tuesday in a rambling, hourlong interview that revealed a man stunned by his ostracism after a long and storied career.
"Did I do anybody any good, ever? Where are they all? No one speaks to me at all now. Everybody runs for cover. I'm a hermit."
• Priest released on bail. [Sylvestre] - RCC. 36 charges now. Children.
Edmonton Sun, CP, ~ November 16, 2005
CHATHAM, Ont., Canada -- A former southwestern Ontario priest facing 36 sexual abuse charges is out on bail.
Charles Sylvestre, 83, was released on $2,000 bail without deposit after a hearing yesterday.
Crown Attorney Paul Bailey consented to the release on a number of conditions. Sylvestre is not allowed to communicate with the 31 alleged victims, must reside in nearby Belle River, stay in Ontario, and is banned from being alone with anyone under 16 years of age unless in the presence of his surety.
• Poll finds doubts on abuse response. - RCC.
Philadelphia Inquirer, By David O'Reilly, ~ November 16, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia still has a way to go to restore public confidence in its handling of clergy sex abuse, a new Temple University/Inquirer poll has found.
A majority of adults polled said they believe archdiocesan leaders continue to put the church's reputation ahead of protecting children.
While many of those interviewed said the archdiocese has improved its handling of clergy sex abuse in recent years, 43 percent of Catholics - and 63 percent of non-Catholics - polled said they felt archdiocesan officials are first concerned with the church's reputation when confronted with abuse allegations.
The poll indicated that a significant number of non-Catholics continue to have doubts about Catholic priests and prelates.
• More time sought to file sex abuse suits.
Tennessean, November 16, 2005
TENNESSEE - Victims of sexual abuse by priests would have a second chance to file suit against the church or abusive clergy under a law change being sought by members of a victims' rights group.
During a news conference yesterday, members of the Tennessee chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP] announced they have found two lawmakers to support a bill that would temporarily reopen the statute of limitations on lawsuits against pedophiles.
Generally, state law gives a victim of sex abuse one year from the incident to file a civil suit against the abuser. Those abused as children generally have until age 19 to file the suit.
• AG must share abuse files on priests. [50yr Burlington Diocese] - RCC.
Times Argus, By Kevin O'Connor, Rutland Herald, November 16, 2005
VERMONT - A judge has ordered the state Attorney General's Office to share its priest misconduct files with a lawyer suing Vermont's Catholic Church.
Burlington attorney Jerome O'Neill has filed civil lawsuits in Chittenden Superior Court on behalf of 13 clients charging five former Vermont priests with child sexual abuse.
As part of the lawsuits, O'Neill asked the court to require the Attorney General's Office and the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington to share their paperwork about alleged priest misconduct.
Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph has yet to rule whether the diocese must turn over its files. But in a decision this week, the judge has ordered the Attorney General's Office to give O'Neill most of its findings, stating "the release of these materials to the plaintiff is clearly in the 'public interest.'"
The documents include transcripts of interviews with people claiming priest misconduct; correspondence between the Attorney General's Office, the diocese and clergy; and church personnel files obtained by the state during its ongoing investigation of sexual abuse charges spanning a half century.
• Temple/Inquirer Poll: Public Reaction to Priest Abuse Scandal. - RCC.
PRNewswire, www.prnewswire .com/cgi-bin/stories. pl?ACCT=104 &STORY=/ www/story/ 11-16-2005/ 0004217376 &EDATE= , Nov. 16, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) / PRNewswire/ -- Catholics in the Philadelphia region are deeply dissatisfied with the church leadership's handling of sexual abuse and cynical about the motives of church leaders, according to the latest Temple/Inquirer Poll, conducted by Temple University's Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in collaboration with The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The survey results come after a grand-jury report and weeks of news accounts about sexual abuse by priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
"The Temple/Inquirer Poll found that large majorities in the Philadelphia metropolitan area are highly critical of the church's leaders, and in many respects Catholics are as critical as non-Catholics," said IPA director Michael Hagen, an associate professor of political science at Temple. "Few Catholics believe that the church has been treated unfairly, either in a recent grand-jury report or in the news coverage that followed."
The poll results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Oct. 24 and Nov. 6 with a scientifically selected random sample of 1,500 adult residents of the nine-county Philadelphia metropolitan area (five southeastern Pennsylvania counties and four New Jersey counties). The overall margin of error attributable to sampling is 3 percentage points.
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed November 16, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu November 17, 2005 edition:-
• Priest cleared of sex charges. - RCC. Nigerian Paulist cleared.
The Star, www.thestar. co.za/index. php?fSectionId= 132&fArticle Id=3000194 , By Winnie Graham, for November 18, 2005
SOUTH AFRICA - A foreign Catholic priest has been cleared of sexual abuse charges by both a South African court and the Church.
Father Justin Nnaji, a member of the Society of the Missionaries of St Paul in Abuja, Nigeria, was charged with rape and sexual abuse in the Clocolan (Free State) Magistrate's Court on October 11 last year, refused bail and held in custody for more than five months.
In a statement released by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, the Right Reverend Hubert Bucher, the Bishop of Bethlehem, said he was relieved that this tragic episode in the history of his diocese had come to an end. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:36 PM] [Emphasis added]
• Navy doctor sues church officials, claiming sexual abuse. [1982+ Smith] - RCC. Hidden, then to Delaware. Boy.
WVEC, By RANDALL CHASE / Associated Press, Nov/18/2005
VIRGINIA - A Navy doctor filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a teenager, and that church officials did nothing to protect him.
Lt. Commander Kenneth Whitwell, 37, claims he was abused for several years by the Rev. Edward J. Smith while attending Archmere Academy, a Catholic high school in Claymont.
Whitwell alleges that Smith, who now works at a Norbertine Order priory in Middletown, began molesting him in 1982, when he was a 14-year-old freshman and Smith was his religion teacher.
According to the lawsuit, Smith had been removed from his job as principal at St. John Neumann High School in Philadelphia two years earlier amid allegations of sexually abusing children and was "hidden" by church officials in Maryland before being transferred to Delaware.
• Sex-abuse bill: first things first.
The Plain Dealer, Thursday, November 17, 2005 ant detail threatens to thwart a good bill that would help protect youngsters from sexual abuse. That must not happen.
The core of Senate Bill 17 is an uncontroversial provision that requires clerics to report sexual abuse (unless the reporting violates a sacred trust) just as doctors, teachers and social workers must do. The Ohio Senate approved it and has sent it along to the House.
The controversy involves the inclusion in the bill of a temporary relaxation of the two-year statute of limitations for civil suits in abuse cases. The measure would extend the statute of limitations for suing in abuse cases to 20 years after a victim's 18th birthday, but it would do so only for a 12-month window. After that, the two-year statute of limitations would return.
Fearing multimillion-dollar suits, several Catholic bishops are chucking rocks at that window with the vigor of rowdy schoolkids.
Victims and supporters say the two-year statute of limitations handcuffs traumatized youngsters who may take years to find the courage to face an abuser.
• Jesuits say half of Alaskan claims not theirs. - RCC. 40 for Jesuits, 40 not.
Catholic Sentinel, by Ed Langlois, Nov/17/2005
ALASKA - About half of the more than 80 sex-abuse lawsuits the Jesuits are facing in Alaska involve two diocesan volunteers who were never in the Society of Jesus or under its governance.
That is why the religious community is denying legal responsibility in those cases, says the head of the Northwest's Jesuits.
"While we have worked towards healing with those we believed were harmed by Jesuits, we believe it would be an injustice to take responsibility for actions by those who were not our members or responsible to the Province," says the provincial, Father John Whitney.
The Oregon Province of Jesuits covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Most of the abuse allegedly took place in remote Alaskan villages, where the Jesuits run missions they founded more than a century ago.
The Jesuits are seeking relief from more than 40 cases against one lay mission volunteer and two against another. Both were in the employ of the Diocese of Fairbanks.
• Priest convicted on sex abuse, faces 100-plus years in prison. [LeBrun] - RCC. Boys.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh, 01:15 PM, Nov. 17, 2005
MESA (AZ) - A jury Thursday found a Catholic priest guilty on six counts in the sexual abuse of boys when he was stationed in the West Valley after a trial that included powerful testimony from four Indiana men who said that they, too, were victimized by him.
The Rev. Paul LeBrun, 49, was found guilty after three weeks of testimony in a Mesa courtroom. LeBrun, awaiting trial in the Maricopa County Jail since 2003, was the first priest to be judged on sexual charges by a Valley jury since the Catholic sex scandal broke nearly four years ago. Other cases ended in plea bargains or, in two cases, the accused fled to other countries and have not been extradited.
LeBrun, who could face more than 100 years in prison, has been stripped of his priestly duties, but has not been defrocked. He stood trial on eight counts of sexual conduct with a minor and five counts of child molestation. Jurors deadlocked on five counts and acquitted LeBrun on a sixth; one other count was dropped. [Bolding added]
• Sex Abuse Investigation Into Pastor Expands. [? 2000s Griffith] - World Wide Ministries. Children.
TheWBALChannel.com , www.thewbal channel.com/ news/5349496/ detail.html , UPDATED: 8:26 pm EST November 17, 2005
TOWSON, Md. -- Police said new allegations have arisen against a pastor accused of sexually abusing children and teenagers inside his church office.
WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter Barry Simms reported Baltimore County police have expanded its investigation into more possible sexual abuse victims who have come forward.
Officers arrested Gerald Fitroy Griffith on Tuesday before he left for a flight to London, charging him with sexual abuse to a minor, perverted practice, sodomy, second-degree sex offense, third-degree sex offense, fourth-degree sex offense, and second-degree assault.
Griffith, 39, of Bowie, is the senior pastor of the Redemption Christian Fellowship, which is located in the 6500 block of Dogwood Road in Woodlawn. According to his World Wide Ministries Web site, Griffith refers to himself as Apostle Gerald Griffith.
• Once a rabbi, always a rabbi. Kaye quits rabbinic assn.; retains title. [2005 Kaye] - Judaist. Internet "boy."
Washington Jewish Week, by Eric Fingerhut, Staff Writer, ~ November 17, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - Rabbi David Kaye has resigned from Conservative Judaism's rabbinical association, but the title of "rabbi" cannot be taken away from him.
Such a designation is earned when one graduates from rabbinical school, according to leaders in the Conservative and Reconstructionist movement.
Kaye submitted his resignation to the Rabbinical Assembly a few days before the airing of the Nov. 4 Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation of sexual predators on the Internet in which he was ensnared.
A former rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Kaye also resigned his position with the teen educational group Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values due to the Dateline program.
Rabbi Joel Meyers, the R.A.'s executive vice president, said that giving up membership in the organization essentially means that Kaye is "no longer a member of the Conservative rabbinate" and "can't function as a Conservative rabbi."
• Defense, prosecutors react to conviction of priest. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
KVOA, http://kvoa.com/ Global/story.asp? S=4136057& nav=HMO6 , ~ November 17, 2005
MESA, Ariz. - The Phoenix Diocese says the trial of former Catholic Priest Paul LeBrun was "a long and arduous journey for all involved."
Jurors found LeBrun guilty today of sexually abusing boys in his care.
In a statement this afternoon, the Catholic diocese says it hopes the trial's end brings "closure, healing and reconciliation."
Prosecutors alleged that LeBrun took advantage of young boys in Arizona and Indiana whose parents were abusive, divorced or who were abandoned by their fathers.
• Settlement reached in priest abuse case. [1960s-70s Powell] - RCC. Former Loyola University professor. 6 children.
ABC 7, By Theresa Gutierrez, November 17, 2005
CHICAGO (IL) - A settlement has been reached in connection with a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse. At least six adults claimed father John Powell abused them in the late 60's and 70's. No criminal charges were filed against Powell but the priest has admitted to the abuse.
Two of the former Chicago Jesuit priest John Powell's victims spoke out Thursday. Patrice Regnier says Father Powell -- a former Loyola University professor -- started abusing her when she was 12 years old. She just received a settlement.
"The idea people found from me speaking the truth that they could come out themselves and speak the truth is a good thing," said Patrice Regnier, victim of sexual abuse.
Diane Ruhl says she was abused at 17 years old by Father Powell on the Loyola campus when she was a student. She confronted him 30 years later by writing him. He responded and admitted to the abuse in his letters.
• Priest convicted on sex abuse charges. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
KOLD, ~ November 17, 2005
MESA, Ariz. A jury has convicted a former Catholic priest on six counts in the sexual abuse of boys when he was stationed in the West Valley.
During his trial, 49-nine-year-old Paul LeBrun sat in a courtroom in Mesa and listened to the testimony of men who say they were victimized by a man they looked up to.
LeBrun could face more than 100 years in prison.
He was stripped of his priestly duties, but has not been defrocked.
LeBrun stood trial on eight counts of sexual conduct with a minor and five counts of child molestation.
• Silence and secrecy at school where child sex abuse went on for decades. [1966-1995 Monks of Ampleforth Abbey; Hume] - RCC. Children.
The Guardian, by Ian Cobain, Friday November 18, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - In 1997, near the end of his life, Cardinal Basil Hume sat down to write a theology book for children, which he called Basil in Blunderland. Given that the book was aimed at very young children, the title of the final chapter - Death - must have surprised some of the cardinal's readers.
These pages saw Cardinal Hume, the leader of 4 million Roman Catholics in England and Wales, anticipating his own passing. "In a very bad moment I think about the relief my demise will bring to some people," he wrote. "I do worry about the insensitive and clumsy ways I have handled some people, about my selfishness ..."
Cardinal Hume did not explain further, but some former pupils at Ampleforth college, the country's most celebrated Catholic public school, may believe he was referring to them.
For three decades between 1966 and 1995, a number of boys at the school endured sexual abuse at the hands of some of the monks who taught there, assaults that ranged from relatively minor incidents to, allegedly, rape. These were the decades during which Cardinal Hume was first the Abbot of Ampleforth, and then Archbishop of Westminster.
Exactly how many young boys were abused is difficult to say. Police say they have identified between 30 and 40 victims, although former pupils estimate the true tally could reach three figures. [Posted by Kathy Shaw]
• Mistrial declared in Milan pastor sex-abuse case . [Pastor] - Sect not named. Female.
Daily and Sunday Review, www.thedailyreview. com/site/news. cfm?newsid= 15583473 &BRD=2276 &PAG=461 &dept_id= 465049&rfi=6" ; By Aaron Cahall, Nov/16/2005
TOWANDA (NY) - A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the case of a Milan pastor accused of sexually abusing a female parishioner, after prosecutors said the defense claimed inadmissible evidence in their opening statement.
Bradford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffery Smith granted the prosecution's motion for a mistrial, "based on things said in the defense's opening statement that would not be admissible in court," according to Bradford County First Assistant District Attorney Albert Ondrey.
Ondrey declined to elaborate, adding only "things were claimed as evidence that would not be admissible." Smith and Arthur Agnellino, cited in court documents as attorney for the accused, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:42 AM[
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu November 17, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Child sex charges quashed against convicted paedophile.
[1973-91 Glennon] - RCC. Many children.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), www.abc.net. au/news/news items/200511/ s1509160.htm , 3:46pm (AEDT), Thursday, November 17, 2005
MELBOURNE (Vic), Australia: A court has quashed three child sex charges against a former Victorian Catholic priest and convicted paedophile.
Michael Charles Glennon is in jail for multiple child sex offences committed between 1973 and 1991.
Glennon argued that the trial judge had made a number of errors of law during earlier proceedings.
Prosecutors may pursue the charges in a new trial, after the Court of Appeal's decision today.
Glennon's sentence has also been reduced, from a maximum of 20 years, to 14 and a half years. # [Nov 17, 05]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri November 18, 2005 edition:-
• Vatican nearing gay priest ban?. - RCC gay people support group formed.
Washington Blade, www.washblade. com/2005/11-18/ news/national/ gay-priests.cfm , By ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG, Friday, November 18, 2005
UNITED STATES - A group of Catholic priests has created a new organization to support gay clergy and parishioners, just days before the Vatican is expected to announce a formal ban on gays entering into the priesthood.
The Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported that the document articulating the ban is to be released on Nov. 29, apparently confirming long circulated rumors.
The eight-page document is called, "Instruction on the criteria for determining the vocation of candidates with homosexual tendencies who stand to be admitted to the priesthood and the sacred orders," according to the Italian newspaper's report.
"The church may not admit to the priesthood those who practice homosexuality, present deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support so-called 'gay culture'," the document will say, according to Il Giornale. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:02 PM]
• Priest Relieved of Duties. [? 1960s-70s Shannon] - RCC. Children.
WNEP, By Norm Jones, UDPATED: 4:47 p.m.. Friday, November 18,
PENNSYLVANIA - A Roman Catholic priest from our area has been stripped of his pastoral duties after allegations of sexual misconduct with a child.
Father Patrick Shannon has been removed from duties at churches in Lewisburg and Mifflinburg and people in Union County are shocked.
While Fr. Shannon served Sacred Heart Church in Lewisburg and St. George Mission Church in Mifflinburg he apparently had skeletons in his closet from more than three decades ago.
The leaders of his religious order in Philadelphia said Friday they received a letter describing the alleged sexual abuse. The church investigated, found the allegations believable, then removed him from his duties last week.
• Appeal rejected. [Somanathan] - Hinduism. Woman.
Croydon Guardian, By Court reporter, ~ November 18, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - A Hindu priest, serving a 12-year jail term after a jury convicted him of twice raping a worshipper, has had his appeal against the convictions thrown out.
Ramanathan Somanathan, 42, of Colvin Road, Thornton Heath, claimed evidence from two women of his sexual advances to them should never have been heard by the jury.
In a test case on the use of "bad character" evidence in criminal trials, his lawyers argued the judge's decision to allow the women's evidence made his convictions unsafe.
However, Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting at London's Appeal Court with Mr Justice Bell and Mrs Justice Dobbs, said Somanathan could have no complaint and dismissed his appeal last Friday.
• Priest's appeal against rape convictions thrown out . [Somanathan] - Hinduism. Woman.
IcSouthlondon, Nov 18 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - A HINDU priest serving nine years for raping a woman from his temple has had his appeal against the conviction thrown out.
Ramanathan Somanathan, 42, of Colvin Road, Thornton Heath, lodged an appeal against the guilty verdict at his trial, saying that the jury heard evidence from two women about sexual advances he made towards them which made the conviction unsafe.
However, Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting at London's Appeal Court with Mr Justice Bell and Mrs Justice Dobbs, threw the case out saying Somanathan could have no valid complaint.
• Priest guilty in Valley molestations. [1986-91 LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
East Valley Tribune, By Gary Grado, November 18, 2005
MESA (AZ) - A Mesa jury convicted an Indiana priest Thursday of molesting young boys while he worked at West Valley parishes from 1986 to 1991.
The Rev. Paul Le Brun, 49, is the first of nine priests to be tried on sexual offenses they were indicted on in 2003 after a yearlong investigation into sexual misconduct in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
Le Brun faces 81 to 111 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 13.
A 12-count grand jury indictment alleged that Le Brun molested six boys while he was at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tolleson and St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear.
Deputy Maricopa County attorney Rachel Mitchell said four other men from Indiana whose allegations weren't part of the indictment also testified against Le Brun.
• Irish Sex Abuse Report Criticizes Catholic Church Handling of Allegations. [Ferns Diocese 21 clergy] - RCC. ~ 100 complaints.
Ms. Magazine, ~ November 18, 2005
IRELAND - A panel convened by the Irish government has released a report outlining failures by both the Roman Catholic Church and the state to protect children from sexual abuse over a 40-year period, provoking ire and leading to calls for an end to the close church-state relationship that characterizes Irish public life, reports the New York Times.
The nearly 300-page "Ferns Report" is the result of a three-year investigation into 100 claims of sexual abuse against 21 priests in the Ferns diocese. According to the Times, the report has been widely praised by victims' advocacy groups for breaking the tradition of silence with its analysis of the failures of both the Church and the government to address allegations of sexual abuse.
The Times reports that 95 percent of Irish elementary schools receive state funds while they are run by the Catholic Church. The report outlines the failure of the police and public health officials to respond adequately to allegations of abuse, given the influence the Church has in Irish society. The Ferns report also notes the influence of the Vatican on the failure of the Irish Church to adequately respond to the allegations, reports the Times.
• Shining light on darkness. - RCC. Goes 1 1/2hr to Rev. Scahill's service.
Natick Bulletin & Tab, By Mary Kate Dubuss/ Staff Writer, Friday, November 18, 2005
MASSACHUSETTS - Every Sunday, Terence McKiernan leaves his Natick home before dawn, so he can attend the 8 a.m. Mass at an East Longmeadow church. Though the trip to the parish of St. Michael's in western Massachusetts takes him an hour and a half each way, McKiernan says it is one of the only places he can go these days.
"It's gotten really hard to go to Mass, unless I feel the guy is courageous," McKiernan said.
His respect for Rev. Jim Scahill is rooted in the priest's own battle against the Springfield Archdiocese. He was the only pastor who spoke out and refused to send collection money on to the archdiocese when it kept a convicted child molester - Richard Lavigne - on the payroll.
Like many Catholics, McKiernan has struggled on many fronts since the sexual abuse crisis broke in 2002. He wanted to work on behalf on the scores of victims who were abused by children, which is now what he does as a full-time job.
His goal is to answer the "Watergate questions - what the bishops knew and when they knew it," through the examination of internal and public documents.
• Archdiocese, Prosecutors Agree To Deal. [1999 Boston Archdiocese] - RCC. Withheld information.
TheBostonChannel.com November 18, 2005
BOSTON (MA) -- The Archdiocese of Boston on Friday agreed to reforms and new reporting requirements in a settlement with federal prosecutors who were investigating charges that the church provided false information about an abusive chaplain.
The church was accused of withholding information from the U.S. Attorney's office in 1999 about a Veteran's Administration Chaplain who allegedly abused boys.
Under the deal, which U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan's office said was the first of its kind in the nation, Sullivan agreed not to bring charges against the archdiocese if the church agreed to the new reporting requirements.
The church is now required to provide background information on priests in the military, the VA and federal prisons to federal prosecutors. The church must also provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
The archdiocese released a statement saying it was pleased with the resolution of the case.
"The Archdiocese has consistently maintained that there was no basis for a criminal prosecution," the statement said. "By reaching a resolution and avoiding a prolonged and costly dispute, we can devote our energies and resources toward the advancement of our goal of protecting children and fulfilling the Church's mission in this Archdiocese."
• Boston diocese settles with prosecutors. [1999, 2000 Boston Archdiocese] - RCC. Lied about a priest.
UPI, Nov. 18, 2005
BOSTON (MA), (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors and Boston Catholic officials resolved allegations the diocese lied about a priest who was applying to be a Veterans Affairs chaplain.
Boston archdiocesan officials are accused of "knowingly providing false information" in May 1999 to the federal Office of Personnel Management in response to a background check of a VA priest.
Further, the archdiocese failed to properly notify the priest's VA supervisor of a new allegation of sexual misconduct in May 2000, prosecutors said Friday.
The archdiocese agreed to numerous remedial measures, including giving detailed background information to prosecutors on all priests serving as chaplains in the military, Veterans Affairs and federal prisons.
• Largest Individual Judgment in Sex Abuse Case Nets Florida Man $10.9 Million Judgment. [1960s-70s Fabbozzi] - RCC. Boy.
PRNewswire, Nov. 17, 2005
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A 47-year-old Florida man, Michael J. Powel, won a $10.9 million dollar judgment in Connecticut Superior Court against a former maintenance worker for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Carlo D. Fabbozzi. The jury agreed Fabbozzi repeatedly molested Powel between the ages of 9 and 13. Fabbozzi, now 78, was in his mid-40s at the time. The abuse took place in the late 60s and early 1970s on church property.
Powel repressed his painful memories of the abuse by Fabbozzi until year 2000, only to regain them while recuperating from removal of a life threatening malignant brain tumor. More than 68 scientific studies support the existence of full or partial repression, otherwise known as dissociative amnesia, following trauma like childhood sexual abuse.
Powel's account of the molestations was corroborated by the testimony of two other male victims. After initially defending the claims and invoking the Fifth Amendment privilege of self-incrimination as to his involvement in child molestations, Fabbozzi failed to appear at trial electing not to contest the claims.
In July, 2000 a jury of four men and two women, four of whom were Roman Catholic, returned a verdict of $5 million dollars ($2 million economic, $3 million non-economic damages) and authorized the award of punitive damages.
With the punitive damages, interest and costs assessed by Judge Edward F. Stodolink, the judgment totals $10,937,538.80.
• US victims may sue Irish training dioceses. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - Lawyers representing US clerical child sex abuse victims have indicated they may initiate multi-million-dollar lawsuits against Irish dioceses that trained paedophile priests.
They say that if a test case against an Irish diocese, probably Cashel and Emly, is successful, other cases will follow.
Manly & Maguire, a California law firm which has handled hundreds of clerical abuse cases, has said it is currently putting a test case together under Californian contract law. Other law firms are expected to follow suit after recent disclosures that 18 Irish priests are facing abuse charges in California.
According to attorney Patrick Wall, Manly & Maguire will argue Irish seminaries were hired by US dioceses to train priests and were negligent in their duties. He said the students in Irish seminaries were already "quasi-employees" of US dioceses and that the Irish seminaries had a legal duty to inform the US dioceses about any potential paedophiles.
• Vatican's silence on Ferns criticised. [1962-2002 Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 priests. ~ 100 assaults.
One in Four, Seanad Report: ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - The Government should contact the Papal Nuncio and demand that the Vatican issue a view on the Ferns report, Joe O'Toole (Ind) said.
Given that the report was the worst they had seen on a Catholic diocese on the issue of child sex abuse, it was unacceptable that there had been an absolute silence from Rome.
"As the leader of the Irish diplomatic corps in the Vatican, the Irish Papal Nuncio should recognise that he has a role to play in this regard. We need to hear from him on this matter."
• State 'must probe Elphin sex claims'. [Elphin Diocese] - RCC. Knew 3yrs ago.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - THE STATE has been told it must investigate the handling of clerical sex abuse claims in the diocese of Elphin, writes David Quinn.The call from Colm O'Gorman, the head of victim-support group One in Four, came after it emerged that the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones, knew about a sex-abuse allegation against one of his priests three years ago.
He only asked him to stand aside from his ministry last month following consultations with the Health Service Executive.
Mr O'Gorman said: "A case like this suggests that the diocese isn't properly abiding by the 1996 framework document" - which outlines how bishops should deal with such allegations. "The case demands an investigation by the State into how the diocese is dealing with sex abuse allegations generally."
• First duty of Taoiseach is to the state, not his faith. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - It is interesting to note just how many commentators and public representatives have told us in recent days that while there had been a "special relationship" between the Irish State and the Roman Catholic hierarchy, that relationship is now largely a matter of history, writes Colm O'Gorman
But is it really? It may be true that no member of the current Cabinet has responsibility for clearing legislation through the Archbishop's Palace, as was the case for many decades, but does the fact that such a blatant corruption of our democratic process no longer exists mean that we have become a more independent republican democracy, or does the State and its citizens continue to show undue deference to the church?
I was in Wexford last Thursday, meeting with many of those directly affected by the issues dealt with in the Ferns report. I was contacted at 4.30pm by a journalist seeking my response to an Taoiseach's "robust defence" of the Catholic Church. My initial reaction was one of disbelief.
Our Taoiseach rarely, if ever, seriously misjudges public opinion and while he had never condemned the Vatican for its role in Ferns, I never expected that he would defend or seek to somehow excuse that appalling failure by suggesting that it should be somehow judged in the context of the great amount of good the church has done in the past.
I was amazed to hear the elected leader of this republican democracy, the head of a Government which derives its powers not from Rome, but from us individually and collectively as citizens, fail to roundly condemn the institutional church, but instead rise to its defence.
• 100 protest outside primate's residence. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - Approximately 100 lay Catholics took part in a one-hour protest outside the residence of the Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, in Armagh yesterday.
Calling for justice for priests "victimised by bishops" because they expressed concern about inappropriate behaviour by other clergy, the group handed in a letter for Dr Brady, with whom they are seeking a meeting.
They carried placards reading: "We will not accept any more injustice from the bishops in the light of recent disclosures" and "Justice for all priests who protect youth". Group spokesman Roger Kennedy, from Cashel, Co Tipperary, said they travelled to Armagh from all over Ireland, with some journeying by a bus from Limerick and picking up people on the way.
• New file goes to DPP over abuse claims. [1950s-70s Brothers of Charity] - RCC. 14 children.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - Gardaí have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions following further sexual abuse complaints against a number of Brothers of Charity by former residents of the order's home at Lota in Glanmire outside Cork city.
According to a Garda source, complaints and allegations of sexual abuse made by 14 former residents have been forwarded to the DPP in respect of a number of retired Brothers who worked at the home between the 1950s and 1970s.
Gardaí have interviewed three surviving Brothers about the allegations and have travelled to Britain to meet at least one of them. It is understood the Brothers of Charity have co-operated fully with the Garda inquiry.
• Church showdown. - RCC. Political leader said Ferns 'disappointing'.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - Bertie Ahern and the leader of a sex-abuse victims' charity held a tough-talking showdown yesterday over the scandal of paedophile priests.
One in Four boss Colm O'Gorman said he vented "his sense of outrage" over the Taoiseach's description of the Ferns Report as "disappointing".
And he described his audience with Mr Ahern and Minister for Children Brian Lenihan at Government Buildings yesterday as "constructive".
• North-South talks on child audit. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ Nov. 18, 2005
IRELAND - Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has had talks with her Northern counterpart about the Government's audit on child protection measures in Catholic dioceses which cross the Border.
The meeting between Ms Harney and Minister Shaun Woodward took place in Belfast last Tuesday. It has also emerged that a meeting on the issue between Department of Health officials and the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland took place on November 8th last.
Meanwhile, a meeting at Government Buildings in Dublin yesterday between the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and representatives of the One in Four group was described later as "very, very amicable, constructive, and very helpful" by Colm O'Gorman, the One in Four director.
• D.C. rabbi quits after reported sex sting . [2000s Kaye] - Judaism. Naked self-portraits, internet chatroom search for underage boys.
WASHINGTON (DC) - Cleveland Jewish News, By: MATTHEW E. BERGER, JTA, Nov. 17, 2005
An official with an educational program for Jewish high school students has resigned after allegedly searching the Internet for liaisons with underage boys and sending naked pictures of himself.
Rabbi David Kaye resigned from Panim on Oct. 31, several days before being featured on "Dateline NBC" seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy he met in a chat room.
"He told me he was going to be on a program on national TV that would identify him engaging in inappropriate behavior," said Rabbi Sid Schwarz, founder and president of Washington-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.
Panim has never received a complaint against Kaye, and he is not accused of doing anything wrong in relation to his work there. But the incident is likely to revive concerns about the possibility of sexual misconduct between rabbis and other Jewish officials who have contact with minors.
• Aretakis weighs Bruno challenge.
Albany Times Union, Friday, November 18, 2005
ALBANY (NY) - John Aretakis, the controversial attorney who has carved a niche representing people who say they've been abused by priests, confirmed to Inside Politics Thursday he has "not ruled out" challenging Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, next year.
Aretakis, 45, a self-described "life-long Democrat," said he has been approached several times over the past year by people asking if he'd consider a run against Bruno. He didn't say who. But interest in him intensified, he said, after a number of Republican losses on Election Day in Bruno's district raised murmurs the senator's power may be ebbing.
"This is not a subject that I myself have thought about or broached," Aretakis said. "I have always believed that the moment when I entered politics would be the moment I would sell everything that's good about myself."
• Group wants alleged abusive priests' names released. [Knoxville Diocese] - RCC. Accused have rights, too. 'Witness' given outside church.
WVLT, ~ November 18, 2005
ALCOA , Blount County (TN) - A Tennessee organization wants Catholic Church leaders to make public the names of priests found to have sexually abused children.
Our Blount County Bureau Chief Stephen McLamb has more on what these people are asking.
Knoxville Diocese officials say they've identified one priest but will not release his name because like the victims, they say, he, too has rights.
Members of the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or "SNAP," were outside Alcoa's Lady of Fatima Church with a man who says he was abused during the mid and late 1960's by a priest assigned then to the Blount County area.
"There has to be other victims, other people who haven't come forward, haven't reached out for the help they want or need, thinking maybe they're still alone," says Mike Hitch, who says he was allegedly abused by priest.
• 'Outside' priests were excluded from Ferns investigation. [Ferns Diocese] - RCC. > 100 complaints -- but some left out.
New Ross Echo, ~ November 18, 2005
IRELAND - The catalogue of abuse drawn up by the Ferns inquiry of over 100 allegations of clerical sexual abuse against children by priests operating within the Diocese of Ferns could have run into far greater numbers had the Inquiry investigated all of the clergy operating within the Diocese.
Speaking at a public meeting held on Thursday night, founder of One in Four, Mr. Colm O'Gorman spoke of the frustration of many victims of abuse who contacted the organisation in 2002 on learning that the Ferns Inquiry had interpreted one of its terms of reference in a way that excluded from investigation a number of the religious operating within the diocese.
Addressing some 19 people who attended the meeting in the Talbot Hotel in Wexford, Mr. O' Gorman said that the Ferns Inquiry's interpretation of the words 'operating under the aegis of the Diocese' had excluded religious orders, seminarians and priests ordained outside the parish from investigation.
"There's a term of reference in it," said Mr. O'Gorman, "that says the inquiry is to investigate complaints, allegations and suspicions of clerical sex abuse made against priests operating under the aegis of the diocese of Ferns.
• Denial is still rife. - RCC. Secret organisation, maladministration, dereliction.
New Ross Echo, by Mary Frances Ryan, ~ November 18, 2005
IRELAND -- She was speaking during a debate on the Ferns Report in Dáil Éireann last Wednesday.
Ms. McDonnell claimed the Catholic Church's record was such that the State could not accept that it would be truthful or capable of self-regulation.
She said that in a democracy all views could be heard but that there should be no special relationship; that this extremely influential relationship should end absolutely.
"The Church is neither democratic nor accountable. In many ways it is a secret organisation," said Ms. O'Donnell.
She described the deference shown to the Church as the "root cause of society's failure to stop the Church's systematic maladministration and dereliction of duty to protect children".
• Appalling shadow over diocese. [Ferns Diocese] - RCC.
New Ross Echo, ~ November 18, 2005
IRELAND - Welcoming the recommendations set out in the Ferns Report for dealing with issues arising in the area of child protection, several councillors at the monthly Wexford Corporation meeting questioned whether the Department of Health will put in place the funding necessary to see that these are enacted.
"There has been an appalling shadow over the Diocese of Ferns for too many years," said Cllr. Joe Ryan, "but what we now need to do is ensure that the recommendations concerning child protection are acted upon.
"These recommendations should not just be applied to the Catholic Church, they also need to be applied to all the other organisations operating within areas where children are concerned.
• Witness: Girls told her they'd been molested. [2003 Joseph] - Church of God, and Baptist. 3 girls.
Philadelphia Daily News, By RAMONA SMITH, smithra@phillynews.com , ~ November 18, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - Yvette Odom's friend had barely moved into Odom's house with five of her children when Odom heard allegations of sexual abuse against the director of a gospel group in which the women sang.
The first night the family moved in, Odom's friend's teenage daughter came to the kitchen and told the two women that choir director Otis Joseph had molested her, Odom said yesterday in Common Pleas Court.
The 17-year-old "said that Otis had come downstairs to her bedroom" when the family still lived in his West Oak Lane home, said Odom. The teen said Joseph had climbed into bed with her and "tried to engage her in a sexual act," Odom testified at Joseph's trial on charges of sexually assaulting that girl and two of her sisters between August and October 2003.
"[She] was upset. She just kept saying, 'I don't believe it. I'm just glad to be out of there'," said Odom, who, with her husband, took in the friend and her children for a few weeks in fall 2003, after they had left Joseph's house.
Later, Odom said, a younger daughter interrupted a phone conversation between the two women with more bad news: "Mommy, Otis did this [abused her] to me."
The Daily News is withholding the names of the three sisters and their mother because the newspaper does not identify the alleged victims of sex crimes.
Joseph, 29, once a rising star in gospel-music circles in the city, was dismissed as choir director at West Oak Lane Church of God and later at Bright Hope Baptist Church, as sexual-abuse allegations began to surface.
• Woodlawn pastor is charged with sexually abusing teens. [? 2000s Griffith] - RCC. Redemption Fellowship. 5 complainants.
Baltimore Sun, By Nick Shields, November 17, 2005
MARYLAND - A pastor at a Baltimore County church has been charged with sexually abusing teenagers during counseling sessions, police said yesterday.
Gerald Fitroy Griffith, a pastor in the Woodlawn area, was charged with multiple counts of child abuse and sexual abuse of a minor, and with several other sex offenses, according to Baltimore County police.
Griffith, 39, of Bowie, who has traveled internationally with his ministry, was arrested Tuesday while waiting to board a previously scheduled flight to London at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, police said.
After five people contacted police about alleged sexual abuse, police began an investigation that led to a warrant being issued for Griffith's arrest.
• Diocese, Stanwich seal deal. [Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. $US 21m.
Greenwich Time, By Keach Hagey and Hoa Nguyen, Staff Writers, November 18 2005
GREENWICH (CT) - The Diocese of Bridgeport sold 25 acres to Stanwich School yesterday, ending the school's more than seven-year search for a permanent home while generating money the diocese says it will use to pay off a 2003 settlement reached with victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Diocese and school officials inked the deal yesterday for the undeveloped parcel on Stanwich Road adjacent to St. Agnes Church and Greenwich Reform Synagogue, where the school now leases space. Diocese and school officials declined to disclose the sale price. When the diocese put the property up for sale last year, the asking price was $15 million.
Diocese officials said they needed to sell the land to cover the cost of a $21 million settlement reached two years ago and which has since been paid to victims of sexual abuse.
• Plausible reasoning by Bishop McManus doesn't protect Catholics from sexual abuse.. - RCC.
Worcester Voice, ~ November 18, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) - In an attempt to delude the actions [???] his actions exposed by the media, to which most believe were wrong, Bishop McManus used the Worcester Dioceses' Catholic Free Press to further explain his position in the Fr Aquino case.
This comes after failing to address numerous media inquires, letters and telephone calls in request of explanation of the "new information"
Bishop McManus has failed to address any reasoning for the failed lines of communication, his lack of investigational procedures in the Aquino case and most of all his absence from admission of his sins.
How can the leader of the dioceses confirm he failed without taking full responsibility.
• Understanding 'the documents'. 5
LOS ANGELES (CA) - Editor's note: What documents are being sought by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as it investigates allegations of sexual abuse? Which documents are involved in the settlement of abuse lawsuits? Why does the Archdiocese continue to assert that certain documents are confidential?
The answers to these questions are straightforward enough, but have been confused by some, including members of the local media. In an effort to set the record straight, attorneys for the Archdiocese recently sat down with The Tidings and explained the documents issue.
"The first thing that people need to be clear about is that there are two separate legal processes going on," said Michael Hennigan, lead attorney for the Archdiocese. "One is civil and the other is criminal."
• Asking the right questions about 'touching'. - RCC.
The Tidings, By George Weigel [an author], November 18, 2005
UNITED STATES - Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, is almost certainly going to get himself in hot water with the U.S. Bishops Conference Office of Child and Youth Protection. That's entirely to his credit.
In the midst of the Long Lent of 2002, the conference passed a "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" (which was revised and reissued this last June). Article 12 of the charter requires dioceses to "maintain 'safe environment' programs...to be conducted cooperatively with parents, civil authorities, educators, and community organizations." The charter also specifies that these programs "be in accord with Catholic moral principles."
More than a few parents in more than a few dioceses have raised serious questions about whether many of these programs meet that standard. Bishop Vasa evidently agrees. In a recent pastoral letter, he listed the questions he thought needed to be answered before he was prepared to implement Article 12 of the Charter:
"Are such programs effective? Do such programs impose an unduly burdensome responsibility on very young children to protect themselves, rather than insisting that parents take such training and take on the primary responsibility for protecting their children?
Where do these programs come from? Is it true that Planned Parenthood has a hand [in] or at least a huge influence on many of them? Is it true that other groups, actively promoting early sexual activity for children, promote these programs in association with their own perverse agendas?"
• Priest accused of sex abuse: Navy officer alleges molestation in '80s while student. [1984-85+ Smith] - RCC. Boy.
Newszap, By Drew Volturo, Delaware State News, November 18, 2005
WILMINGTON (DE) -- A U.S. Navy commander filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that he was sexually molested by a priest while attending a Claymont Catholic school in the 1980s and began pushing for legislation to extend the time limit for victims to bring civil suits in Delaware.
In a 23-page suit filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell said the Rev. Edward J. Smith molested him during two ski trips to Killington, Vt., in 1984-85, when he was a student at Archmere Academy.
However, Mr. Whitwell said Thursday that the abuse went far beyond the two alleged incidents, lasting for nine years.
"I was a typical victim, a quiet, shy, 14-year-old freshman," said Mr. Whitwell, wearing a Navy dress uniform with his wife Amy by his side.
"He carved me out of the pack, so to speak. He befriended me by paying attention to me. He was my religion teacher and befriended my family."
• Group: Church covering up abuse cases. - SNAP exposes RCC.
Knoxville Sentinel, By ROBERT WILSON, rlwilson2594@msn.com , November 18, 2005
ALCOA (TN) - SNAP of Tennessee on Thursday exhibited its chain of alleged sexual abuse victims outside a Roman Catholic church to call attention to what the organization says is a wide-scale cover-up of abuse cases across Tennessee.
SNAP is the acronym of a national organization that stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
As part of its media event Thursday, SNAP of Tennessee exhibited a chain that had purple plastic silhouettes of people - some named, others shown as John Does - who the group says they have documented as victims of sexual abuse by priests in Tennessee.
The Tennessee chapter's current campaign, "Breaking the Silence in Tennessee," seeks to identify both predator priests and their victims and to persuade the church to reveal what SNAP State Director Susan Vance says is a "secret list" of priests who have committed acts of sexual abuse.
• Reaction from Paul Lebrun's trial. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
WNDU, Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter Stephanie Stang, ~ November 18, 2005
MESA (AZ) - A jury in Mesa, Arizona convicted Father Paul Lebrun on six counts, in the sexual molestation of young boys Thursday.
Lebrun shook his head as the verdicts were read aloud; a trusted priest, now a convicted child molester.
"During the trial I felt he didn't think they would find him guilty. He never once didn't smile," said one of the victim's mothers.
The Michiana community knows Lebrun from his years at the Little Flower Church in South Bend, during the 1990's. Indiana State Police investigated allegations of abuse here, but because of statute of limitations, no charges were filed.
Lebrun later moved to Arizona where he was accused of molesting six young boys from his church. During the trial four Indiana men testified.
"He said throughout this process was in the hands of God," said Kenneth Huls, Lebrun's attorney.
• Reluctant victim sees priest get 20 years. [1970s Graham] - RCC. Boy.
Post-Dispatch (St Louis), By Robert Patrick, Nov/17/2005
ST. LOUIS (MO) - The man never wanted to be first to come forward about his sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest decades ago.
"All along I said I didn't want to be the first person," the 43-year-old emphasized Thursday, the day the Rev. Thomas Graham was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Cowed by pain, shame and fear, he said, he had waited for others to step forward - and was ready to support them.
But during a search for his biological father's grave, he happened upon the church where Graham was then serving and saw him surrounded by adults and children. That prompted the man to report his abuse to the St. Louis Archdiocese in 1994. The church said later it could not substantiate the claim.
In 2002, after the priest sex abuse scandal broke in Boston and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce asked victims to come forward, the man stepped up.
• Open The Bridgeport Files. [2005 Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. Withholding files.
Hartford Courant, November 18, 2005
BRIDGEPORT (CT) - The Bridgeport Diocese should give up its battle to block the release of documents stemming from a priest sexual abuse scandal settled four years ago.
Four newspapers, including The Courant, sued to gain access to the sealed files. Superior Court Judge Robert F. McWeeny ordered the documents released three years ago, but the diocese appealed. Now the state Supreme Court has backed Judge McWeeny, citing an important presumption that court records are open to the public. The case was returned to Superior Court for a new hearing.
Catholic Church prelates have proclaimed a new era of openness and accountability regarding the sexual abuse of youths by priests. But that commitment means little if the church continues to hide behind, in the words of Judge McWeeny, a technical "fig leaf" to shield files that likely would shed light on the despicable actions of a small minority of clergy members.
• Lessons of a seminary. [2005 Archdiocese] - RCC. Withholding files. > 200 clergy. 560 claims.
Long Beach Press-Telegram, ~ November 18, 2005
CALIFORNIA - The California Supreme Court has settled the matter of whether Cardinal Richard Mahony should give prosecutors the files of two former priests accused of molesting children. Lesson learned, or so you might think.
Think again. The church has said its lawyers will review their case, although so far it has gone absolutely nowhere, and the lawyer for the two priests says he might appeal further to the U.S. Supreme Court. The most credible response comes from the district attorney, Steve Cooley, who says he expects to get the files he subpoenaed immediately.
The D.A.'s office further expects that the court's ruling also means prosecutors finally would get their hands on the archdiocese's secret files of more than 200 priests who are the targets of 560 legal claims alleging one kind of sexual abuse or another.
Even as the fight between churchmen and prosecutors plods on, further installments of this sad story unfold. The L.A. Times revealed Thursday that St. John's Seminary, which for 66 years has supplied priests for the archdiocese and other dioceses and is the alma mater of the cardinal himself, has a list of horrors among its priestly alumni.
• Priest convicted of Valley sex abuse. [1986-91 LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh and Aaron Royster, Nov. 18, 2005
MESA (AZ) - The only Valley Catholic priest to risk trial on child-abuse charges paid dearly on Thursday when jurors found him guilty of six sex crimes that carry an 81-year minimum sentence.
The Rev. Paul LeBrun, 49, a former youth minister, shook his head as jurors announced they had found him guilty of sexual abuse of six 11- to 13-year-old boys in the West Valley from 1986 to 1991.
"These young men were very courageous in coming forward and testifying before 16 strangers," including four alternate jurors, Deputy County Attorney Suzanne Cohen said.
LeBrun has been barred from handling priestly duties since 1999 and was charged in 2003, but has not been defrocked.
Since the priest scandal erupted in the Valley in 2002 and 2003, three priests have been pleaded guilty to charges, one died and three are sought by authorities in foreign countries. LeBrun is the first case to go to a jury.
• Archmere grad sues, claiming abuse by priest. [1980s Smith] - RCC.
The News Journal, By STEVEN CHURCH and BETH MILLER, Nov/18/2005
WILMINGTON (DE) - A Navy officer sued Archmere Academy and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington on Thursday, claiming he was sexually molested by a priest while he was an Archmere student in the mid-1980s.
In his federal lawsuit, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 37, of Quantico, Va., said the Rev. Edward Smith sexually abused him while they were on ski trips in Vermont in 1984 and 1985. At the time, Smith was an English teacher at Archmere and later went on to serve as treasurer of the Claymont school's board of trustees from 1997 until 2001, according to Archmere officials.
• 'Global resolution' would bring quicker aid to priests' victims . [Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. $US 40m.
The Oregonian Friday, November 18, 2005
OREGON - Many church services include a moment for what is known as passing the peace. Some variation on "Peace be with you" erupts from the pews as friends hug, strangers shake hands and shyer parishioners stand with frozen smiles, waiting for the moment to pass.
It always does.
The Archdiocese of Portland's $40 million settlement estimate, offered this week to victims of sexual abuse who are claimants in its bankruptcy case, will be seen, coldly, as a business deal. And of course it is.
Yet this is also a moment of proffered peace. It's tentative and awkward, trembling with the possibility of rejection and with something else -- real hope for a rapprochement.
True, there's nothing settled about this settlement estimate. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth L. Perris will scrutinize it and decide whether it is fair. It will also be subject to approval by claimants in the case. They can respond. Or they can let this moment pass.
Many victims of sexual abuse will, of course, judge this settlement estimate to be woefully insufficient, even something close to an insult and certainly no more than a starting point. Some victims, sadly, aren't even around to object. In the past year, as The Oregonian's Steve Woodward has reported, two victims of sexual abuse who were claimants in the archdiocese's bankruptcy case committed suicide. A third is considered an apparent suicide.
• Prosecutors win access to clergy files. [Archdiocese] - RCC. Alleged molestation. Files.
CNN, Posted: 8:11 a.m. EST (13:11 GMT), Friday, November 18, 2005;
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- California's Supreme Court has upheld an appeals court ruling that forces the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese to turn over the personnel files of two former priests accused of molestation.
The ruling issued Wednesday is the latest development in a battle between the Los Angeles County district attorney, who subpoenaed the private files three years ago, and the archdiocese.
Archbishop Roger Mahony has argued that opening the files would violate the church's constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Donald Steier, an attorney for the former priests, said he was considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling means prosecutors could scour personnel files for evidence that could result in criminal charges against additional clergy and possibly even Mahony himself. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:45 AM] November 18, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Leniency for priest whom Hinch shamed.
[1973-91 Glennon] - RCC. Many children.
CathNews (from Church Resources, Australia), www.cathnews. com/news/511/ 110.php , Nov 18, 2005
AUSTRALIA: A former priest and convicted paedophile has had three child sex charges quashed and his jail term for a series of others substantially reduced.
AAP reports that Michael Charles Glennon, 59, was sentenced in October 2003 to 18 years prison, with a 15 year minimum, in relation to almost 30 molestation charges against four victims between 1983 and 1991.
The term was increased to 20 years by adding on two years of the sentence he was already serving.
Most of the offences were committed at youth camps held at Karaglen, a rural property at Lancefield, north of Melbourne, which Glennon helped establish and operate.
The charges were dealt with in two separate trials in 2003, with the first being suppressed until the conclusion of the second.
Glennon appealed the outcomes of both trials in the Court of Appeal on 19 grounds, including that the trial judge erred in admitting some evidence.
He claimed a miscarriage of justice resulted from the failure of the trial judge to give certain warnings or directions to the jurors.
The former priest was convicted of sexually abusing 15 children between 1974 and 1991, mostly at Karaglen.
He became notorious in the mid-1980s after radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch mounted a public attack suggesting he was using his position as a priest to lure children to his youth camp. Hinch spent 12 days in jail in 1987 and was fined $15,000 for contempt of court after he revealed Glennon's 1978 sex conviction while a trial was pending.
SOURCE
Priest has some convictions quashed (National Nine News/Australian Associated Press 17/11/05)
MORE STORIES
Child sex charges quashed against convicted paedophile (ABC News 17/11/05)
John Jay College Chosen for Major Sex-Abuse Study (Zenit 16/11/05)
HAVE YOUR SAY Click here [Nov 18, 2005]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat November 19, 2005 edition:-
•Falsified Federal Document Posted Today by BishopAccountability.org. [Scanlan] - RCC. Girl rape. 16 documents include falsified federal form.
Bishop Accountability, www.bishop- accountability. org/docs/boston/ scanlan/scanlan_ doc_list.htm , Nov 19, 2005
WALTHAM (MA) -- Today, one day after the US Attorney in Boston announced the first settlement ever between federal prosecutors and the Catholic Church, BishopAccountability.org announced that it has posted online 16 hard-to-find church documents related to the federal probe.
These documents include the federal form falsified by Bishop William Murphy, now head of the Rockville Centre NY diocese. Bishop Murphy was accused of withholding adverse information on a government document, which is a federal offense.
The newly posted documents are from the "secret files" that Murphy kept when he was Vicar General of the Boston archdiocese. The files include an account of the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl by accused Boston priest William J. Scanlan.
The new postings also include Cardinal Law's deceitful reassurance that Scanlan was fit for a military chaplaincy. Law wrote that the priest "had nothing in his background which would render him unsuitable to work with minor children." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:41 PM]
• Ashwell ejected from priesthood. [1970s ?+ Ashwell] - RCC. Boys.
Whidbey News Times, By Jessie Stensland, Nov 19 2005
WASHINGTON - Barry Ashwell, former pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Oak Harbor, was defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI over child sexual abuse allegations, the Archdiocese of Seattle announced this week.
Ashwell, 62, could not be reached for comment, but he has adamantly denied any wrongdoing in the past. Ashwell was pastor of St. Augustine from 1978 to 2000.
Greg Magnoni, spokesman for the Archdiocese, said Ashwell was dismissed from the clerical state, or laicized, which means he can no longer function in any way as a priest. He's not allowed to perform last rites, marriages or other sacraments.
Under federal law, Ashwell will retain his retirement plan.
The Archdiocese placed Ashwell on administrative leave in September 2001 after an initial allegation of sexual abuse.
Magnoni said four men have accused Ashwell of sexually abusing them as children. The Archdiocese has settled one lawsuit involving Ashwell and two others are pending. Three of the alleged incidents occurred in the 1970s, before Ashwell came to Oak Harbor.
• Archdiocese of Boston Enters Agreement Resolving Federal Criminal Allegations, Reports U.S. Attorney. [Boston Archdiocese] - RCC. Provided false information.
PRNewswire, Nov. 18, 2005
BOSTON (MA) / PRNewswire / -- The United States Attorney's Office and the Archdiocese of Boston have entered an agreement to resolve allegations that the Archdiocese knowingly provided false information to the federal government regarding one of its priests.
The agreement, which is the first of its kind in the nation, imposes rigorous disclosure and reporting requirements for priests applying for federal service as chaplains, new reporting requirements for Archdiocesan personnel suspected of committing federal crimes, enhanced internal and external auditing of the Archdiocese's programs for the protection of children, and pathbreaking work to evaluate the effectiveness of programs designed to protect children in religious and educational settings.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Jeffrey G. Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General for the Northeast Field Office; and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced today that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a Corporation Sole ("Archdiocese of Boston"), entered into an agreement today to resolve allegations that the Archdiocese knowingly provided false information to the Office of Personnel Management in response to a background investigation of a priest who had been hired as a Veterans Affairs ("VA") chaplain.
• Ex-Church Aide Charged With Molesting 2 Boys. [2005 Fouts] - Covenant Church. 2 boys.
REDWOOD CITY (CA) Los Angeles Times From Times Staff and Wire Reports, ~ November 19, 2005
A former church youth director was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges he molested two teenage boys.
Christopher Fouts, 27, has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges.
The alleged attacks occurred between January and June while Fouts served as the director of Middle School Ministries at Redwood City's Peninsula Covenant Church, prosecutors said. The victims are ages 13 and 14.
• Ex-attorney who lied about abuse gets prison term. - Lawyer Smolka defrauded, made false abuse claims.
The Seattle Times, The Associated Press, ~ November 19, 2005
PORTLAND (OR) -- A disbarred Virginia lawyer has been sentenced to 37 months in prison after he falsely claimed to have been abused by a now-deceased Catholic priest.
Thomas E. Smolka, 57, attempted to defraud the Portland Archdiocese by claiming he had been abused as a child by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond in Oregon.
Grammond is accused of abusing more than 50 children in several Oregon parishes and is a focal point of lawsuits filed against the Catholic church.
Smolka, a former Virginia Beach lawyer, fled his home state after pleading guilty in Richmond to federal charges for having defrauded 17 clients out of at least $110,000 by taking retainers but failing to deliver legal services.
• Fight Over Priests' Files Headed for High Court. [Archdiocese] - RCC. Withholding 'secret' files.
Los Angeles Times, By Jean Guccione, ~ November 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) - Lawyers for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a court order forcing the archdiocese to disclose the confidential personnel files of two former priests accused of child molestation.
The state Supreme Court let stand without comment an appellate court order that the archbishop must give the documents to a grand jury.
The church argued that disclosure would represent government infringement on religious freedom, but the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled in July that the file release "will not result in excessive [government] entanglement."
In a letter dated Thursday, attorney Jeffrey S. Koenig asked the appellate court to delay its final order while the church appeals to the highest court.
"If the privileged documents are turned over to the grand jury, our efforts to obtain further appellate review will be rendered moot," he wrote in a two-page letter to Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein.
• Alaska Women Also Allege Abuse. [1960s-70s Lundowski, Smario] - RCC. 44 indigenous girls and boys.
Los Angeles Times, By William Lobdell, November 19, 2005
STEBBINS, Alaska -- Joseph Lundowski is not the only Catholic missionary accused of molesting Eskimo children on St. Michael Island during the 1960s and '70s.
Four Alaska native women alleged in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that Anton Smario sexually abused them as young girls in Stebbins and St. Michael parishes.
Now 84, Smario denies any sexual misconduct, although he said he had been naked in front of the girls who came to his catechism classes.
Smario and Lundowski, who is accused of molesting 40 Eskimo boys, lived in the villages for seven years, beginning in 1968. Though not ordained clerics, they stayed in the rectories and performed nearly the same duties as priests, according to villagers.
Smario said that at the time he served in Alaska, he was a lay member of the Franciscan order. Working in Anchorage, he said he met Father George Endal, who offered him volunteer work at the two St. Michael Island parishes.
• Suing priest for sexual molestation. [McSheffery] - RCC. Altar boy.
WTNH, by News Channel 8 investigator Alan Cohn, 6:03 PM, Nov. 18, 2005
CONNECTICUT - He's accused of sexually molesting a former altar boy. Now, years later, Father Daniel McSheffery is being forced to answer to those allegations. It was captured in a taped deposition that has been obtained by News Channel 8.
The lawyer representing Father McSheffery is furious that we have this video tape. The alleged victim in this case isn't just suing McSheffery, he wants him prosecuted criminally.
"What is your name?" "Daniel McSheffery."
It's hard to believe, says one of the alleged victims of Father Daniel McSheffery, this is the same man. The same 6'4" charismatic priest that used to deliver sermons from the pulpit of Saint Augustine's Church in North Branford.
"He had this big booming voice and he seemed like a really confident man of God." [6'4" = 193cm]
• Ex-Priest Admits Old Sex Charges. [1970s-90s Wempe] - RCC. 13 boys. [Los Angeles Archdiocese] - RCC. 560 complainants.
Los Angeles Times, By Jean Guccione, November 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) - The attorney for a former Los Angeles priest admitted Friday that his client had molested 13 boys in the 1970s and 1980s, an unusual public acknowledgment of guilt in the hundreds of sexual abuse cases against the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
Michael Edwin Wempe's lawyer made the admission during a hearing in a criminal case accusing the former priest of molesting another boy in the 1990s when he was chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The lawyer did so for strategic reasons in an attempt to limit damaging testimony about old abuse cases while he continues to fight the current charges. Wempe's case is being watched closely because he is one of three priests accused of molesting children after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, responding to abuse complaints, sent him to therapy and returned him to ministry.
The archdiocese has been sued by more than 560 people for allegedly failing to protect children from abuse, but the cases have long been mired in settlement talks and only a handful of the allegations have been tested in court.
The Wempe case has a tangled history: The former priest was originally charged with 42 counts stemming from decades-old molestations, one of which involved two brothers. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that the California law allowing prosecution of old child abuse cases violated the statute of limitations, and the charges were dismissed.
• Missionary's Dark Legacy. [1960s Lundowski] - RCC. Boys.
KTLA, By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer, November 19, 2005
ST. MICHAEL, Alaska -- Peter "Packy" Kobuk has to walk past the old Catholic church to get almost anywhere. To fill a drum of heating oil. To take his children to school. To wash his clothes at the only laundromat in this Eskimo village of 370.
"I think about burning it down, but I have to block that out," says Kobuk, 46. "It all comes back to me right away each time I have to see it."
The decaying wood-frame building also haunts John Lockwood, a married father of nine. Its bell tower, which rises above the village's 90 plywood shacks and prefabricated houses, is one of the first landmarks he sees when returning home in a longboat from hunting seals in the Bering Sea.
"It brings back a lot," says Lockwood, whose weathered face reflects a life spent in the Alaska outdoors. "He did all those bad things to us little kids there, and no one did nothing to stop it."
Even after 30 years, the men can't shake their memories of the late Joseph Lundowski, a volunteer Catholic missionary who arrived in their village in 1968.
• Church asks court to shield its files. [Los Angeles Archdiocese] - RCC. Appeal to keep files secret.
LA Daily News, Associated Press, November 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) - The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese asked an appeals court not to release the confidential personnel files of two former priests accused of sex abuse, despite a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this week that gave prosecutors access to the documents.
In a letter filed Friday with the 2nd District Court of Appeal, attorney Jeffrey S. Koenig said the Archdiocese of Los Angeles plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case within the next few weeks.
"If the privileged documents are turned over to the grand jury, our efforts to obtain further ... review will be rendered moot," the letter said.
Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, didn't immediately return a call Friday, nor did other attorneys for the archdiocese.
• Archdiocese, prosecutors agree to deal over withheld information. - RCC. [Scanlan] Fooled with children. [1999 Boston Archdiocese] Withheld facts from military. [2005 U.S. Attorney] Accepted reform promises.
The Boston Globe, By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | November 18, 2005
BOSTON (MA) --The Boston Archdiocese on Friday agreed to increase openness about its priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest without revealing an allegation he'd "fooled around with kids."
The church was accused of withholding information about the Rev. William Scanlan from federal authorities when Scanlan became a chaplain at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation without bringing charges against the archdiocese, if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements.
Under the deal, the church is required to provide background information on priests in the military, the VA and federal prisons to federal prosecutors. The church must also provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
• Charges avoided in case of priest. - RCC. [1980s Scanlan] Fooled around with children. [1999 Boston Archdiocese] Dishonesty on document. [2005 U.S. Attorney] Accepted reform promises.
Mercury News, By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, ~ November 19, 2005
BOSTON (MA) - The Boston Archdiocese avoided federal charges Friday by agreeing to be more open about priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest to a Menlo Park Veterans Affairs hospital without revealing accusations that he "fooled around with kids."
The church was accused of withholding information from federal authorities about the Rev. William Scanlan when he became a Veterans Affairs chaplain at the Peninsula hospital in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements.
Department of Veterans Affairs and San Francisco archdiocese officials have said they were never told about sex abuse claims against Scanlan from the late 1980s or that he had been ordered into psychiatric treatment. Scanlan also occasionally celebrated Mass in Redwood City, but retired in 2002 and apparently moved back to the East Coast.
Under the deal, the church is required to provide background information on priests in the military, the Veterans Affairs and federal prisons. It also must provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
The Boston archdiocese said in a statement that it is pleased with the settlement and "has consistently maintained that there was no basis for a criminal prosecution."
• Fake abuse plaintiff sentenced to 3 years . - Smolka. 'Lost' luggage, posed as abuse victim, mail, bank, social security.
The Oregonian, By NOELLE CROMBIE, Saturday, November 19, 2005
OREGON - Thomas Edward Smolka may have been on the lam during the nine months he was in Oregon in 2003 and 2004, but that didn't mean he wasn't busy.
Smolka, 58, dreamed up a raft of scams, from filing claims with an airline for lost luggage to getting prescription drugs at a discount using a dead veteran's identity, according to federal prosecutors. But it was posing as a victim of sex abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest that landed him in trouble with federal authorities.
When deputy U.S. marshals traced him to a Pearl District loft, they discovered Smolka had done extensive research into priest sex abuse cases in Oregon and especially on Oregon's most notorious priest pedophile, the Rev. Maurice Grammond. Authorities say Smolka had checked out more than 30 case files on clergy abuse from the Multnomah County Circuit Court, and he had a handbook for sex abuse victims.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Anna Brown sentenced Smolka to three years in prison for mail and bank fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.
The sentence was at the high end of federal sentencing guidelines, though Brown said she considered handing down an even higher sentence given what she called the "reprehensible" nature of the fraud he committed.
• Groups get abuse inquiry access. - Priests, lawyers and doctors. 12 applicants have 'standing', 2 not.
18, 2005
CORNWALL, Canada -- A dozen applicants have been granted standing at an inquiry into allegations of systemic sexual abuse in Cornwall.
The long-awaited inquiry into allegations of abuse at the hands of priests, lawyers and doctors in Cornwall is set to begin early next year.
Police spent years trying to get to the bottom of the claims in an investigation named Project Truth. But of 15 men charged, only one was convicted. Two of the 14 groups or individuals who applied for standing at the inquiry were denied yesterday.
Justice Normand Glaude said the estate of Ken Seguin will not be allowed standing, noting the Ministry of Correctional Services, Seguin's former employer, can represent him.
• California high court boosts Los Angeles D-A's effort to see ex-priests' files. [2003-05 Los Angeles Archdiocese] - Withholding facts.
KFOR, ~ November 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) -- California's Supreme Court has given a boost to the Los Angeles District Attorney's effort to see the personnel files of two ex-priests accused of sexual molestation.
The high court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that orders Cardinal Roger Mahony to release the records.
But the three-year battle in the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese may not be over. An attorney for the former priests says he may appeal to the U-S Supreme Court. Mahony has argued that opening the files would violate the church's constitutional right of religious freedom.
• Healing the Church. - RCC. Philadelphia aided and abetted hundreds of rapes.
The Dallas Morning News, Friday, November 18, 2005
UNITED STATES - The U.S. Catholic bishops wrapped up their fall meeting yesterday in Washington after two days of closed-door sessions. Traditionally, the bishops don't discuss the substance of these meetings, but it's a fair guess that the fallout from the ongoing sex abuse scandal was on the secret agenda.
Recent major developments in the abuse story haven't gotten much play nationally, but they offer more sobering evidence about this crisis.
In September, a Philadelphia grand jury issued a scathing report from its three-year investigation into the role that city's archdiocese played in aiding and abetting the rape of hundreds of children by pederast priests. The report placed blame "all the way to the top" – to the city's past two cardinal archbishops.
A stunned National Catholic Reporter editorialized that if ordinary Catholic males had shown the same indifference to the welfare of children as the city's Catholic leadership did, they'd be in jail.
• Archmere grad sues, claiming abuse by priest. [1984-85 Smith] - RCC. Boy.
The News Journal, By STEVEN CHURCH and BETH MILLER, Nov/18/2005
WILMINGTON (DE) - A Navy officer sued Archmere Academy and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington on Thursday, claiming he was sexually molested by a priest while he was an Archmere student in the mid-1980s.
In his federal lawsuit, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 37, of Quantico, Va., said the Rev. Edward Smith sexually abused him while they were on ski trips in Vermont in 1984 and 1985. At the time, Smith was an English teacher at Archmere and later went on to serve as treasurer of the Claymont school's board of trustees from 1997 until 2001, according to Archmere officials.
• Ahern 'disturbed' by abuse. - RCC. Disappointment and betrayal.
Irish Independent, ~ November 19, 2005
IRELAND - CAMPAIGNER Colm O'Gorman said the Taoiseach had expressed a "sense of disappointment and betrayal" over the church child abuse saga.
The leader of the One in Four group said Mr Ahern expressed upset: "Not just in relation to clerical sexual abuse, but the failure to prevent that abuse once people had been properly alerted to it."
Mr O'Gorman met the Taoiseach, his advisers, and Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan at Government Buildings yesterday.
Afterwards Mr O'Gorman was at pains to point out that that he knew of no differences between the Taoiseach and himself in relation to the need for the institutional church to be held fully accountable for the abuse which happened in Ferns and elsewhere.
He said as a first step he believed the three all party Oireachtas committees dealing with the key areas of Health and Children, Education, and Justice Equality and Law Reform should now examine in detail the contents of the Ferns report.
• Mesa priest guilty of abusing boys. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. 13 charges. 6 boys.
Tucson Citizen, The Associated Press, November 18, 2005
MESA (AZ) -- A Catholic priest will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty yesterday of sexually abusing boys in his Arizona parishes.
His trial also included testimony from four Indiana men who said they were molested by the priest years before.
Jurors found the Rev. Paul LeBrun guilty after three weeks of testimony. LeBrun, 49, has been jailed since 2003, and now faces 81 to 110 years in prison.
Although he has been stripped of his priestly duties, LeBrun remains a member of the Catholic clergy.
The Diocese of Phoenix released a statement yesterday afternoon calling the process "a long and arduous journey for all involved in this case." The statement said the diocese hopes the trial's end brings "closure, healing and reconciliation." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:00 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat November 19, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun November 20, 2005 edition:-
• Victims of sexual abuse by nuns to pamphlet parishioners after Mass. [Nuns] - RCC. Females.
WBAY, www.wbay.com/ Global/story. asp?S=4144557 , ~ November 20, 2005
MILWAUKEE (WI) - Three women who allege they were sexually abused by nuns planned to hand out flyers this morning to parishioners after Mass at St. John Cathedral in Milwaukee.
The women are members of the group called SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The group is urging others who have been abused by nuns to come forward.
It is also calling on Archbishop Timothy Dolan to order the superiors of religious orders of the archdiocese to report all information of abuse no matter when the incidents took place. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:33 PM]
• Feds Want To Keep Close Eye On Boston Archdiocese. [Boston Archdiocese; priest] - RCC. Transferred to California.
CBS 4, ~ November 20, 2005
BOSTON (MA) - From now on, the federal government is going to keep closer tabs on the Boston archdiocese and its priests.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has cut an unprecedented deal with the archdiocese. It requires extensive background information on priests who want to work as government chaplains and the government will keep an eye on the Archdiocese Child Protection Program.
In exchange, the archdiocese won't be held criminally responsible for not revealing sexual abuse allegations about a priest who was transferred to California in 1999.
Advocates for church sex abuse victims aren't happy.
"The U.S. attorney has cut a toothless deal," said Anne Barrett Boyle, of bishopaccountability.org. "He believes this agreement will result ultimately in greater protection for children than indictments would have. Sadly, evidence suggests he is wrong."
• The moral hypocrite in the Vatican. [Maciel; Vatican]- RCC. Male seminarians.
Los Angeles Times, By Jason Berry, ~ November 20, 2005
Jason Berry's books include "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" and, with Gerald Renner, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II."
VATICAN - CONSERVATIVE Catholics rejoiced at the election of Pope Benedict XVI because, as a cardinal, he had famously decried "moral relativism."
Now, however, the pope appears to be backtracking and, worse yet, he is tolerating a scandalous moral relativism by the Vatican secretary of state.
In 1986, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a global letter to bishops denouncing homosexuality as a "moral disorder." The language was harsh, much to the delight of conservatives.
But now that Ratzinger is pope, the church says that homosexual seminarians are to be treated with "respect and delicacy" if they are chaste, according to the newspaper Il Giornale, quoting from a leaked copy of a recently completed Vatican document on homosexuals in the seminary. That's a reasonable position, albeit a retreat from Ratzinger's denouncement of gays in 1986.
Perhaps more troubling for conservatives should be the pope's tolerance of the behavior of the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Six years ago, Sodano persuaded Ratzinger to halt a canon law case seeking the excommunication of a friend of his, an alleged pedophile, Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ order in Mexico.
• Secret list was compiled, then later destroyed. [Oblates of St. Francis de Sales] - RCC.
The News Journal, By STEVEN CHURCH, Nov/20/2005
DELAWARE - When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study of priest abuse in 2002, America's bishops began searching through the "secret archives" they are required to keep on every Roman Catholic priest under their authority.
The goal was to count the number of priests who had "credible allegations" of abuse made against them from 1950 through 2003.
One of the largest religious orders in Delaware, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, searched their confidential files to put together a list of names. The head of the order, the Rev. Joseph G. Morrissey, then sent the initials of one or more priests, along with their dates of birth, to researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
• Suffer the little children under 'canon law'. [Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. $US 5.38m lawyers' fees. Assets "in trust".
The Oregonian, Sunday, November 20, 2005
OREGON - Desperate times require desperate measures, and if you think bankruptcy was the full measure of the Portland Archdiocese's desperation, I have a brief addendum.
Lawyers for the Archdiocese . . .
Wait. I best be more specific, as the Archdiocese has five different law firms involved in bankruptcy negotiations, five firms that generated $5.38 million in legal fees through October.
Archdiocese lawyers at Sussman Shank filed a brief last week, begging U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Elizabeth Perris to rule quickly on church assets.
At issue is whether $600 million or more in church property belongs not to the Archdiocese but to the individual parishes, thus placing it beyond the reach of the "creditors," the men and women who say they were repeatedly abused as children by Catholic priests.
Although that property is deeded in the name of the Portland Archbishop, a "corporation sole," lawyers contend the real estate is being held in trust for the parishes, a cozy arrangement under "canon law" that is guaranteed by the First Amendment and protected from the bankruptcy court.
• Priest admits prior abuses. [Wempe 1980s] - RCC. 13 boys.
Pasadena Star-News, Associated Press, ~ November 20, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) - An attorney for a Roman Catholic priest expected to stand trial next week on child molestation charges said his client had molested 13 boys more than 20 years ago.
The lawyer for Michael Wempe made the admission Friday during a hearing in a criminal case in which the former priest is accused of molesting a boy when he was chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Defense attorneys Leonard Levine and Donald Steier opted to acknowledge previous clergy abuse in hopes of limiting damaging testimony about old cases.
Jurors probably "will say to themselves, 'We don't care. We are not going to find him guilty for what he did 20 years ago'," Levine told the court.
Wempe, 64, has pleaded not guilty to five charges that he sexually abused a boy over a five-year period.
• US pact with archdiocese called 'toothless'. [Boston Archdiocese] - RCC. Authorities compromising still.
The Boston Globe, November 20, 2005
BOSTON (MA) - Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and BishopAccountability.org, a national group that collects documents pertaining to the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, yesterday criticized as "toothless" a deal reached by US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston on Friday.
The agreement will require intensive scrutiny of local priests who seek to work as federal chaplains and mandate that the archdiocese publicly report assessments of its child protection programs.
But Ann Hagan Webb, cocoordinator of SNAP, said the agreement, which spares the Catholic Church a federal criminal indictment, fails to hold the church accountable, allows the church control of its own audits, and thus, too much leeway.
Anne Barrett Doyle, codirector of the Internet group, added that a criminal trial and indictments would have provided a greater sense of security for children.
• Tormented by broken trust. [1985 Dudzinski, Wilmington Diocese] - RCC. Boy.
The News Journal, By DAVID F. LEDFORD, Executive Editor, Nov/20/2005
DELAWARE - The case of Barry Lamb illustrates how the Catholic Church's Wilmington Diocese has handled allegations of sexual abuse since the 1950s. Lamb was 15 in 1985 when he told church officials that the Rev. Edward Dudzinski had sexually abused him while on a trip to Virginia. Dudzinski was removed as an associate pastor at St. Mary Magdalen parish in Fairfax.
The church helped Lamb get counseling. It did not report Dudzinski to police, nor did it help arrange for Lamb and his parents to speak with authorities.
"They said, 'You are not planning on having him arrested, are you, and causing any legal problems for us?' " Lamb recalled.
• Diocese kept abuse cases secret. [1960s priest] - RCC. Boy.
The News Journal, By STEVEN CHURCH, Nov/20/2005
DELAWARE - Michael Schulte remembers being in the family bomb shelter at the height of the Cold War when he told his parish priest about being raped as a middle school student.
Father Douglas W. Dempster had come to Schulte's New Castle County home in the Milltown development of Sherwood Park to investigate the teenager's claim that a Roman Catholic priest had sodomized him during overnight trips to Philadelphia and Virginia.
Schulte had kept the sexual assault secret for two years, until the day he saw his attacker get out of a car with a young boy from his neighborhood.
When Schulte finally came forward, church officials didn't call police or hire a counselor for him. It was the early 1960s, and those tactics would not become standard until 2002 -- when the abuse scandal in Boston became national news.
• Parents see value in altar serving. - RCC.
The News Journal, By GARY SOULSMAN, Nov/20/2005
DELAWARE - Altar server Brian O'Shaughnessy is the image of innocence as he carries the cross in for worship at St. Catherine of Siena, near Prices Corner.
It's a Saturday Mass and the 11-year-old also prepares the table for Holy Communion.
Altar servers are lay assistants to clergy and help with worship chores such as carrying candles and holding the missal, a liturgical book with texts for the celebration of Mass. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:04 AM]
• Archdiocese, Prosecutors Agree to Deal over Withheld Information. - RCC. [~ 1999 Scanlan] Fooled with children. [1999 Boston Archdiocese] Withheld facts from military. [2005 U.S. Attorney] Accepted reform promises.
Bishop Accountability www.bishop- accountability. org/news/2005_ 11_18_Lavoie_ Archdiocese Prosecutors.htm , By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, November 18, 2005
www.boston.com/ news/local/ massachusetts/ articles/2005/ 11/18/ archdiocese_ prosecutors_ agree_to_deal_ over_withheld_ information/
(Links to the cited documents, which are publicly filed, have been provided by BishopAccountability.org. We have made additional redactions to the documents to keep confidential the name of an alleged victim and the name of a patient. We have also redacted the accused priest's social security number.)
BOSTON (MA) -- The Boston Archdiocese on Friday agreed to increase openness about its priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest without revealing an allegation he'd "fooled around with kids."
The church was accused of withholding information about the Rev. William Scanlan from federal authorities when Scanlan became a chaplain at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation without bringing charges against the archdiocese, if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:30 AM]
• For the record. - RCC. Cote, Dominicans, and Washington Archdiocese.
The Boston Globe, November 19, 2005
PROVIDENCE (RI) - Correction: Because of an editing error, a story in Tuesday's City & Region section about abuse charges against a priest, the Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, who had served in Providence, misidentified the defendants in a lawsuit by the teenager who accused Cote of sexually abusing him. The teenager is suing Cote, the Dominican order, and the Archdiocese of Washington.
• 'Imprimatur' or not, 'Voice' grows among Catholics .
The Daytona Beach News-Journal, By JIM HAUG, Business Writer, Last update: November 19, 2005
ORMOND BEACH (FL) -- The Voice of the Faithful began in 2002 when Roman Catholics in Massachusetts met in a church basement to vent their anger over the sex abuse scandals.
The group has since grown to 30,000 members with chapters in every state. A local chapter has just formed but without the endorsement of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando.
Ten members representing parishes in Volusia and Flagler counties had their first meeting at the Ormond Beach Public Library because they were not allowed to use church property or use the church bulletins to make announcements.
No explanation was given, but member Rose Keane surmised that "(church leaders) see us in opposition. We aim to rebuild the church, not tear it down."
The Diocese of Orlando declined to comment for this story. On an informal and individual level, "there has been a lot of support from the clergy," said Bob Keane, a member of the local chapter.
• Judge's order will allow suits vs. diocese to proceed . [San Diego Archdiocese] - RCC.
Union-Tribune, By Onell R. Soto, November 19, 2005
SAN DIEGO (CA) - A judge has lifted a 2 1/2-year-old order freezing several lawsuits accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of condoning or ignoring staff members who sexually abused children over the past few decades.
The move is a first step toward getting the claims of sexual abuse before juries, said a lawyer for people who say they were abused by priests and others who worked for the San Diego diocese.
"The judge has made it clear these cases are going to trial," lawyer Irwin Zalkin said.
Micheal Webb, a lawyer for the San Diego diocese, said the judge's order is narrow and only allows limited litigation. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:28 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sun November 20, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• [Letter to Roman Catholic newspapers in Australia, saying 4% admitted in USA, 10% in Ferns, Ireland, Austria; Recommend reading CSAT.]
Faith Purification Programme (Perth, W. Australia), November 20, 2005
The Editor,
I think your newspaper ought to be receiving and publishing more news about the $1 billion that the seductions have cost the United States Church so far, and the heavy losses likely now that the Irish Ferns Diocese report showed 10 per cent of its clergy were seducing children. Even more disturbing is that the Irish Dail might, sooner rather than later, move to take education away from the Church's control. The politicians used to send bills to the hierarchy before they were moved in the Dail. This has stopped, but there are calls for the "cosy" relationships between Church and State to be further cut.
There was a measurable falling away in Austria after pictures of non-celibate behaviour between clergy teachers and seminarians were aired in the mass media. The local bishop had claimed it was like hugs after a soccer goal! He has been dismissed.
In the USA 4 per cent of the clergy were admitted by the Church to have been molesting children. This figure is far more than the 1 per cent that a central Church spokesman had claimed during the early stages of the 2002 exposures, and the 2 per cent claimed on Mass for You At Home on Australian TV this month. (The real U.S. figure is likely, judging by new seducers being uncovered each month, to be at least 5 per cent if not more.)
The fact that in 1999 the Boston Archdiocese falsely certified to the American military that a certain priest had no prior molestation complaints, even though such complaints had been made, is moving the Church into even lower public estimation. This time a federal official has made a "deal," but I suggest that if more of such cases are unearthed, officialdom will get stricter. (The Vatican, instead of punishing Boston's Cardinal Law, promoted him to be in charge of St Mary Major Basilica.)
Some of the newsitems give ideas for PENANCE by those responsible for condoning these actions. Also there are suggestions for closer adherence to the practices in the early Church that, to a large extent, made such behaviour almost unheard of, and far likelier to be discovered and acted on early in the clergy's careers. The method was to insist that each clergyman have a built-in conscience and watchdog, following the maxim that to prevent fornication every man ought to have his own wife, and vice-versa.
Here in Australia not too many Catholics know that a Father Glennon has committed so many sex crimes that his sentence, formerly 20 years, is still, after an appeal, 14 1/2 years (see ABC newsitem below). For Australia this is a long sentence. Facts are important, are they not? I recommend that you get onto the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker each day at http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse . [Signed]
[Newsitem follows:] Child sex charges quashed against convicted paedophile.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), www.abc.net. au/news/news items/200511/ s1509160.htm , 3:46pm (AEDT), Thursday, November 17, 2005
MELBOURNE (Vic), Australia: A court has quashed three child sex charges against a former Victorian Catholic priest and convicted paedophile.
Michael Charles Glennon is in jail for multiple child sex offences committed between 1973 and 1991.
Glennon argued that the trial judge had made a number of errors of law during earlier proceedings.
Prosecutors may pursue the charges in a new trial, after the Court of Appeal's decision today.
Glennon's sentence has also been reduced, from a maximum of 20 years, to 14 and a half years. #
Enc. CSAT - First page of Nov 16, and of Nov 20
[CATHOLIC NEWSPAPERS CIRCULARISED: Catholic Weekly, 8/133 Liverpool St, Sydney, NSW, 2000. Catholic Voice, 1 Ballumbir St, Braddon, ACT, 2601. Catholic Outlook, PO Box 6644, Parramatta, NSW 2150. The Catholic Leader, 143 Edward St, Brisbane, Qld, 4000. Catholic Jesuit Publications, PO Box 553, Richmond, Vic, 3121. Broken Bay News, PO Box 125, Wahroonga, NSW, 2076. The Record, PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902. ENDS.]
[PURPOSE: These newspapers, and their bishops, have been given information at various times since the scandal broke out (again) in North America in 2002. The purpose of sending a dated formal letter, and displaying it on the Internet, is to disabuse any reader of these publications who thinks that perhaps the editors and their masters do not know the enormity of news media coverage of the seduction crimes, and the damage it is doing in the struggle against carnality, sensuality, depravity, and the good parts of Western culture. ENDS.] [Nov 20, 05]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon November 21, 2005 edition:-
• Monsignor in Phoenix Is Arrested. [1984-94 Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Fondled in Confession. 7 young men, boys.
San Francisco Chronicle, By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer, Monday, November 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ), (AP) -- The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.
Fushek "used a relationship of trust to perform criminal acts, including but not limited to sexual activities, improper sexual discussions and physical contact, upon vulnerable minor and adult victims," prosecutors said in court papers.
Prosecutors said Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa or on property belonging to the church. The alleged victims were seven young men and boys.
Fushek resigned as pastor of St. Timothy's in April after someone claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985. He has denied the allegations and remains on administrative leave.
His attorney, Michael Manning, was out of the country and couldn't immediately be reached for comment. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:57 PM]
• Coalition Forms to Challenge Cardinal. - RCC. Protests about violence.
Yahoo! News, 5:30 pm ET, Monday November 21,
LOS ANGELES (CA): WHEN: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
TIME: 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Archdiocese of Los Angeles 3424 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202 213 637 7000
WHO: Representatives from three different groups, Anchorhold Affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, Stones of Silence and Survivors of Silence will gather at the Archdiocese office TO DELIVER A LETTER TO Cardinal Roger Mahony.
WHY: These groups have come together to ask the Cardinal to respond to a number of important issues relating to the clergy sexual abuse cases here in Los Angeles.
The recent incident involving survivors being physically bullied outside of a local Catholic Church has brought these representatives together asking the Cardinal to direct all Archdiocese Churches to openly decry the recent violence against victims and supporters of clergy sexual abuse.
• LifeTeen founder arrested. [Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Minors.
Catholic World News, Nov. 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) - Msgr. Dale Fushek, the fouder of the popular LifeTeen youth program, was arrested today in Mesa, the Arizona Republic has reported. He will face several charges of assault, indecent exposure, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
• Activists say convicted priest lives too close to child-care facility. [1970s Graham] - RCC. Boy.
KansasCity.com , By JIM SALTER, Associated Press, ~ November 21, 2005
ST. LOUIS (MO) - For nearly three months after his conviction for sexually abusing a boy in the 1970s, a retired Roman Catholic priest lived in a retirement home next to a child-care facility in St. Louis County, apparently in violation of state law.
On Monday, the St. Louis Archdiocese said it has moved the Rev. Thomas Graham to a different facility, away from children.
The announcement came after the activist group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) revealed earlier Monday that Graham was living at the Regina Cleri retirement home in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis.
The Berry Patch child-care facility is separated from the retirement home by a wooded area, but is on the same sprawling property as the retirement home. State law forbids convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or child-care facility.
• Former Our Lady of the Lake priest arrested for inappropriate conduct. [2005 Robins] - RCC. Man.
Slidell Sentry-News, BY SUZANNE LE BRETON, ST. TAMMANY NEWS, November 21, 2005
MANDEVILLE (LA) - The former priest at a Mandeville church was arrested Sunday evening after he was found in a restroom stall with another man at a truck stop in St. Charles Parish.
According to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne, the Rev. Dean Robins, 57, 337 Bentolino Drive, Kenner, admitted to conducting crime against nature.
He and Marbin Tursios, 35, of 184 Riverbend Drive, St. Rose, were found in a single stall at the St. Rose Travel Center "engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct."
• Insurance, past donations to cover clergy sex settlement. [Hartford Archdiocese] - RCC. Money from heaven?
Journal Inquirer, By Alex Wood, November 21, 2005
CONNECTICUT - Insurance companies will pay more than half the $22 million that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay to 43 people who alleged that priests sexually abused them, an archdiocesan spokesman says.
The rest of the money will come from the archdiocese's self-insurance fund and from its savings, according to the spokesman, the Rev. John P. Gatzak.
"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that the self-insurance and savings come, at one time or another, from the generosity of parishioners," Gatzak said last week. "The church is the people of God."
And money spent for one purpose can't be spent for something else, he acknowledged.
But Gatzak said no Catholic schools will be closed or otherwise affected by the settlement -- and that it won't cause the closing or merger of any parishes.
• Allegations cloud memories of deceased Enfield, Manchester pastor. [Reardon] - RCC. Children.
Journal Inquirer, By Alex Wood, November 21, 2005
CONNECTICUT - When Monsignor Edward J. Reardon died in 1991, more than 200 parishioners and dozens of clergy gathered for his funeral at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Manchester, where he had served as pastor for 13 years before his retirement in 1976.
Before coming to the Manchester parish, Reardon had served from 1950 to 1963 as pastor at St. Bernard Church in Enfield.
But 14 years after his death, Reardon's name has come back into the news in a very different context.
The Archdiocese of Hartford last month named him as one of 14 priests against whom child sexual-abuse allegations had been made. Those allegations led the archdiocese to agree to pay a total of $22 million to 43 people.
Hartford lawyer Hubert J. Santos represented Reardon's accuser. Contacted by telephone, Santos said he would ask his client about the possibility of an interview with the Journal Inquirer. But a subsequent call to Santos' office wasn't returned.
• Catholic Monsignor Arrested in Phoenix . [1984-94 Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Fondled in Confession. 7 young men, boys.
The Guardian (Britain), www.guardian.co. uk/worldlatest/ story/0,1280,- 5430371,00.html , 9:16 PM, Monday November 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ), (AP) - The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and asked them questions about sex that he misrepresented as being part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure.
Fushek "used a relationship of trust to perform criminal acts, including but not limited to sexual activities, improper sexual discussions and physical contact, upon vulnerable minor and adult victims," prosecutors said in court papers.
Prosecutors said Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa or on property belonging to the church. The alleged victims were seven young men and boys.
• Roman Inquisition. [Padre Pio] - RCC. Was forbidden to closely contact boys, women.
Mother Jones, ~ November 21, 2005
Unlike some Catholics of a certain age, who moan that the sex abuse scandal that burst onto the front pages almost four years ago shattered their faith in the presumed purity of priests, I didn't grow up with the notion of priests as saints.
Those in my acquaintance ate too much, smoked like stacks, bet on horses, and earned our allegiance, or didn't, by the quality of their hearts.
Saints, in any case, were dead, and I was vaguely aware of my own childish hubris in aspiring to be one.
It was much later that I realized many of the saints weren't even saints, in the colloquial sense of the word.
As if to underscore that fact, in the midst of the scandal, in 2002 Pope John Paul II canonized a man who not only wrestled with devils, flagellated himself to bleeding, fasted to the point of collapse, and bore the stigmata but was also accused of having had sexual dalliances with women and of pomading his hair, perfuming his body, and wearing makeup.
The Vatican once forbade Padre Pio, or Saint Pio da Pietrelcina as he is now called, from teaching teenage boys and hearing the confessions of women.
• Ampleforth child abuse scandal hushed up by Basil Hume. [~ 1975 Grant-Ferris , 5 other abusers, Abbot / Cardinal Hume] - RCC. Boys.
Yorkshire Post Today, Exclusive, by Mark Branagan, ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - PUPILS at a leading Roman Catholic school suffered decades of abuse from at least six paedophiles following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to call in police at the beginning of the scandal.
Hume, the future Cardinal and guiding light of Catholicism in Britain, was Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire when he received a complaint from parents in 1975 about Father Piers Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer.
It was alleged that Grant-Ferris – son of the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord Harvington – had "inappropriately touched" a boy at Ampleforth College's former prep school, Gilling Castle.
Hume dealt with the matter internally by moving Grant-Ferris from Gilling Castle, where he was second year form master, to Workington parish in Cumbria.
• Monk admits assaulting schoolboys. [? 1960s-70s Grant-Ferris] - RCC. 26 charges. Boys.
BBC News, http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/uk_ news/england/ north_yorkshire/ 4446010.stm , ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - A monk has been warned he will probably be jailed after admitting 20 counts of indecent assault on young schoolboys.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 71, taught at Gilling Castle Preparatory School, a feeder for Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Benedictine monk was arrested after a police investigation into Ampleforth Abbey, which is linked to the college.
At Leeds Crown Court Grant-Ferris denied six other counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency.
• Monk On Sex Rap. [1966-75 Grant-Ferris] - RCC. 15 boys.
Mirror, ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - A MONK who taught at a leading Catholic prep school faces jail after admitting indecently assaulting 15 pupils.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, admitted 20 charges involving boys under 12 and 13 between 1966 and 1975 but denied seven other charges, which the prosecution accepted.
Judge Ian Dobkin said there was a high probability he would go to jail.
• Sex shame of priests. [1966-75 Grant-Ferris +, Abbot / Cardinal Hume (Benedictines)] - RCC. 15 boys.
Yorkshire Post Today, ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - EVIDENCE of widespread child sex abuse by priests has mushroomed over the past few years and has rightly shaken the faith of the global community of Roman Catholics, not in God but in their own clergy.
The latest manifestation of this is the case of Piers Grant-Ferris, respected priest and schoolmaster at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, who used his position of responsibility to abuse young boys on a regular basis.
The case is shocking, however, not only in Grant-Ferris's exploitation of the opportunities which his job gave him, but also for the way in which his crimes were apparently covered up by Church authorities.
The fact that the then abbot of Ampleforth was Basil Hume, who later became head of the Church in England and Wales, is of particular concern.
Doubly so, given the police belief that senior college staff were aware of Grant-Ferris's activities when he was sent away to work as a priest in Workington, and the fact that other members of the Ampleforth community went on to abuse pupils in later years.
• Police inquiries into past crimes complicated by school bonds. [1966-75 Grant-Ferris +, Shore, Abbot / Cardinal Hume (Benedictines)] - RCC. 15 boys.
Yorkshire Post Today, by Mark Branagan, ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - POLICE investigations into crimes from years gone by are never easy – and in this case were complicated by the setting of one of England's leading Roman Catholic schools presided over by an order of Benedictine monks.
More than 30 officers, plus social workers, were involved in the 15-month inquiry at Ampleforth.
Ampleforth College – motto God Protect Him – is buried in the countryside near Helmsley. Old boys include Cardinal Basil Hume, Andrew Parker-Bowles, Rupert Everett, the Today TV programme presenter Edward Stourton, and Philip Lawrence, the murdered head of St George's RC School in Maida Vale, London.
There had been a case against a monk in 1996, and the school's former finance chief was jailed in 2000 for downloading child porn, but there seemed no cause for further concern until 2002 when a complaint was referred to them about housemaster Christian Shore.
• Monk admits abusing boys at Ampleforth prep school. [1966-75 Grant-Ferris +, Abbot / Cardinal Hume (Benedictines)] - RCC. 15 boys.
The Times, By Andrew Norfolk, ~ November 21, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - A PRIEST from one of Britain's leading Roman Catholic families yesterday admitted 20 offences of sexual abuse against boys at Ampleforth College near York.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 15 boys, all aged under 12, during a nine-year period when he was a teacher at Gilling Castle, Ampleforth's prep school.
Grant-Ferris, a Benedictine monk at Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, was told by the judge at Leeds Crown Court that he faces jail, even though his crimes were committed more than 30 years ago.
The priest, a former Irish Guards officer and a keen mountaineer, is the son of the late Lord Harvington, who as Sir Robert Grant-Ferris was a Conservative MP for 31 years and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Lord Harvington, a wartime fighter pilot, was regarded as the voice of the Vatican in Westminster.
• 373 file claims of abuse with Covington Diocese. [Covington Diocese] - RCC. 373 claimants.
The Cincinnati Post, By Paul Long, November 21, 2005
COVINGTON (KY) - More than 370 people have filed claim forms saying they were abused in the past decades by priests and employees of the Diocese of Covington, and they are seeking to be part of a class-action settlement.
Lawyers for the diocese and the class today told Special Judge John Potter in Boone Circuit Court they had 373 submissions as of the Nov. 10 deadline.
None has been checked out, and a few are obviously invalid - such as the claims of abuse in another diocese - but attorneys expect most are legitimate.
"A significant number, we're not going to have any questions that they are valid," said Carrie Huff, a Chicago attorney who represents the Diocese of Covington. "I don't think we'll have a problem with many of these claims."
• Former top official in Phoenix diocese arrested. [Monsignor Fushek] - RCC.
The Arizona Republic, by Jim Walsh, Nov. 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) - A charismatic priest who once held a high position with the Diocese of Phoenix was arrested this morning.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, once the highly popular, magnetic pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, was being booked at the Madison Street Jail, according to Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Fushek founded Life Teen, a popular Catholic youth ministry that swept the nation, in 1995. He also served as vicar general under former Bishop Thomas O'Brien.
• Cloaked in red, Catholics protest ouster. - RCC. Support for dismissed whistleblower Cuenin.
Boston Herald, By Thomas Caywood, Updated: 10:51 AM EST, Monday, November 21, 2005
BOSTON (MA) - Hundreds of Newton Catholics – already seeing red over the ouster of their popular priest – yesterday tried wearing it.
Several busloads of Our Lady Help of Christians parishioners, outraged by the removal last month of their pastor, the Rev. Walter Cuenin, showed up for Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston decked out in scarlet outfits in protest. ...
"He clearly violated archdiocese policy," church spokesman Terrence Donlan said, adding, "We certainly appreciate the heartache people are feeling. He was a beloved pastor."
But outraged parishioners claim Cuenin got the heave-ho for signing a letter critical of the archdiocese's handling of the clergy abuse scandal and because he openly ministered to gays.
As he closed the Mass, the Rev. John Connolly Jr. recognized the crowd of red-clad protesters packing the pews. He thanked them for coming and said, "We know this is not an easy time for you."
• Former top diocesan priest in Phoenix arrested. [Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Improprieties.
KOLD, ~ November 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) - A former top official in the Phoenix Catholic diocese was arrested today.
Word of the arrest of Monsignor Dale Fushek - co-founder of a large youth group and former Number Two man in the Phoenix diocese - comes from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
A spokesman for the office declines to give details pending a 1:30 p-m news conference.
It was announced in April that Fushek was resigning as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa amid allegations of sexual improprieties.
In a letter to parishioners, Fushek denied the allegations against him but said he resigned in order to protect his parishioners from the "ordeal."
• High-ranking Catholic official arrested. [1985 Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Improprieties.
East Valley Tribune, Associated Press, November 21, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) - The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which disclosed the arrest and scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon, would not immediately say what Monsignor Dale Fushek was accused of.
Fushek resigned as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa in April after someone claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985.
• Geisel will be out of jail next month. [2000s Ms Geisel] - RCC. 3 charges orginally. 17-y-o.
Capital News 9, The Associated Press, Updated: 11:16 AM, Nov/21/2005
ALBANY (NY) - The former CBA teacher charged with raping an underage student will be out of jail next month.
Sandra Beth Geisel, 42, was sentenced to six months in jail on one count of rape. The sentence includes time already served. She was originally charged with three counts, but that was reduced under a plea agreement that was worked out with the District Attorney's office.
The mother of four was fired from her teaching job at Christian Brothers Academy in June, after police caught her with a 17-year-old student.
• Sex abuse in Brazil: Abuser priest provides check-list for selecting victims. - RCC.
National Catholic Reporter, By John L. Allen, Jr., November 21, 2005
BRAZIL: A Brazilian newsmagazine has reported that two priests recently convicted for sexual abuse of minor boys kept diaries of their experiences, often featuring graphic sexual details, as well as in one instance a set of "rules" for selecting victims -- such as that the target be a young male from a poor family and preferably without a father.
The magazine also names two other Brazilian priests recently arrested for abuse of minors, including one caught in early November in a hotel room in northeastern Brazil with four young boys. In that case, the priest has denied charges of abuse.
The Brazilian newsmagazine Istoè, a nationally circulated newsweekly, published these findings on Nov. 16, suggesting that they represent a broad pattern of sexual misconduct among Brazilian clergy. The Istoè report was given prominent treatment Nov. 21 in Corriere della Sera, the leading Italian daily newspaper.
Corriere della Sera's coverage suggested that sexual abuse of minors by priests is no longer a phenomenon associated largely with the United States, pointing to scandals in England, France, Croatia and Ireland, in addition to Brazil. [Posted by Dennis Coday, NCR staff writer at 12:38 PM] [Bolding added.]
• Catholic school faces series of lawsuits over sexual abuse. [30yrs (Benedictines)] - RCC. Boys.
The Guardian, by Ian Cobain, Saturday November 19, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM - Ampleforth College, the country's most celebrated Roman Catholic public school, is facing a series of lawsuits after it emerged that dozens of boys were sexually abused there over a 30-year period.
A number of former pupils who were abused by monks who taught at the college are preparing to take action.
Ampleforth is at the centre of the most serious child sex scandal that the Roman Catholic church has faced in England and Wales, after police discovered that Cardinal Basil Hume failed to alert them to abuse, both while he was Abbot of Ampleforth and after he became Archbishop of Westminster.
Police say they discovered clear evidence that Cardinal Hume became aware of abuse as early as 1975, but chose not to contact them or social services. They believe that the subsequent two decades of assaults on pupils at Ampleforth and its prep school might have been avoided if he had alerted the statutory authorities.
• Ex-CBA Teacher To Be Sentenced Monday For Sexcapades. [2000s Ms Geisel] - RCC. 3 charges orginally. 2 teenage boys.
North Country Gazette, ~ November 21, 2005
ALBANY (NY) -- Sandra "Beth" Geisel could be home for Christmas.
The former English teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, charged with raping one of her willing underage male students, will be sentenced Monday, Nov. 21 in Albany County Court by Judge Stephen Herrick.
Sandra "Beth" Geisel, 42, of Latham, pleaded guilty in September to having sex with a 16-year-old student at the Colonie Catholic prep school.
As part of the deal reached in September between prosecutors and her attorney, Donald Kinsella, Geisel will be sentenced to six months of jail time. She will be required to register as a sex offender, will be placed on probation for 10 years and be required to undergo alcohol and mental health counseling.
Geisel will only have to serve two thirds of the sentence or 120 days with time credited for good behavior meaning that with credit for the time she has served in Albany County Jail since her arrest in for DWI in August that she will be out of jail next month. She waived her right to an appeal.
• Teacher Charged In School Sex Scandal To Be Sentenced Today. [2000s Ms Geisel] - RCC. 3 charges orginally. 2 teenage boys.
Newswatch 50, ~ November 21, 2005
ALBANY (NY) - A former Catholic school English teacher arrested for having sex with a 16-year-old student will be sentenced today in Albany.
Under a plea deal, 42-year-old Sandra Beth Geisel will be sentenced to 6 months in jail. She'll also have to register as a sex offender and will be on probation for 10 years.
The mother of 4 was fired from her teaching job at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany in June, after police caught her with a 17-year-old student.
During the investigation, a 16-year-old boy came forward and said he had sexual intercourse with Geisel on 2 occasions, leading to the charges against her.
• Christians in Grenada stunned by pastor's arrest. [? 2000s Griffith] - Redemption Christian Fellowship. Children.
Caribbean News Net, by Kishawn Thomas, Caribbean Net News Grenada Correspondent, kishawnthomas@hotmail.com , Monday, November 21, 2005
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada: The Christian community in Grenada was shocked on Thursday after receiving news of the arrest of a Baltimore County, Maryland, pastor on sexual abuse charges.
Gerald Griffith, who visited Grenada on two occasions after Hurricane Ivan, opened the eyes of many here who attended his crusades. But despite the bad news many believe that Pastor Griffith is innocent.
Caribbean Net News understands that Baltimore County police have arrested Griffith, 39, and charged him with several counts of child abuse.
Police said they were contacted by the victims about alleged sexual abuse. It was noted that an investigation found that Griffith was sexually abusing the victims during counselling sessions in the church office. [Emphasis added.]
• Parishioners, priests endure shadow of accusation. - RCC.
The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, Nov/21/2005
DELAWARE - Rae Stabosz hates the pain caused by the clergy sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church -- the pain of victims, the pain of priests, the pain of devout parishioners.
The 56-year-old mother of nine, who is a member of Holy Family parish near Newark and president of Catholic Scholars of Delaware, sees the anguish from many angles.
She has a friend who is a priest and was relieved of his ministry for one charge. She has other friends who have been victims of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. Other friends are ministering faithfully -- day in, day out.
• Impact extends beyond sex abuse victims. - RCC and other religions.
The News Journal, www.delaware online.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/ 20051121/NEWS/ 511210354/- 1/NEWS01 ; By BETH MILLER, Nov/21/2005
DELAWARE - When priests sexually abused kids like John Dougherty, Doug McClure and Tom English, the damage they did extended far beyond those boys.
They damaged the boys' futures, too -- their marriages, their friendships, their families, their faith in God, their trust in people. The effects can extend for generations.
"Abuse destroys relationships," said psychologist Diane Langberg in her book "On the Threshold of Hope," written for survivors of sexual abuse and their loved ones. "Instead of being known, we are hidden. Instead of being loved, we are used. Instead of having a voice, we are silenced. ... Relationships become painful, frightening, chaotic places."
• Naive adoration; a lifetime of pain. - RCC.
The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, Nov/21/2005
DELAWARE - Father Edward B. Carley walked into the fourth-grade classroom at St. Ann's Catholic School in Wilmington and 10-year-old Johnny Dougherty felt a surge of hope.
The nuns had prepared the class for the visit from two new priests at the parish -- Carley and the Rev. Paul Fallers. And John thought it a most welcome change to have a man at the front of the classroom.
"It was like Jesus was coming through the door," he said.
• Betrayal by trusted figures leaves scars.
The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, Nov/21/2005
DELAWARE - The sexual abuse of children -- no matter who commits the crime -- can twist the lives of survivors and leave them with chronic psychological and physical problems, experts say. And when children are abused by a trusted person -- a parent, a teacher, a doctor, a minister -- the effects are compounded.
The secrecy, isolation, emotional manipulation, and mental, physical and spiritual anguish all take their toll.
Abuse by a parent is the hardest on kids, said Dr. Mark Borer, a Dover psychiatrist with almost 20 years of experience in treating victims, including children, adolescents and adults. Next-hardest is abuse from a special cadre of people. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:46 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Mon November 21, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue November 22, 2005 edition:-
• Sides to vet abuse claims. [Covington Diocese] - RCC. 370 claims.
The Cincinnati Post, http://news. cincypost.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/ 20051122/NEWS 01/511220346 , By Paul A. Long, November 22, 2005
COVINGTON (KY) - With more than 370 people seeking their share of a $120 million fund created from the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington, attorneys now must go through the laborious process of validating those claims.
That will mean meeting with people to listen to their stories of alleged abuse at the hands of diocesan priests and employees, then trying to determine where they fit into a matrix established to quantify their abuse and put a dollar figure on it.
The plan calls for payments of $5,000 to as much as $450,000 for extraordinary cases.
During a hearing Monday in Boone Circuit Court, attorneys told Special Judge John Potter they had received 373 claim forms, the first time a specific number was put on the class-action lawsuit alleging that diocesan officials perpetrated a decades-long cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests and other church employees. Nov. 10 was the deadline for people who wanted to make claims in the class-action. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:29 AM]
• Father Jim Poole speaks about sexual abuse accusations. [Poole] - RCC. $US 1m. 5 girls.
KTUU, by Megan Baldino, Monday, November 21, 2005
Warning: Some of the content of the story is graphic in nature and not suitable for children.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - She came forward as Jane Doe I, suing the Catholic Church and Rev. James E. Poole, claiming he sexually abused her as a child. The lawsuit settled for around $1 million. But much of the case was under a gag order, including the deposition of Father Poole. But with the permission of Elsie Boudrea, formerly Jane Doe I, the public will hear Poole's disturbing admissions.
For decades he was one of the most popular priests in Alaska. Father Jim Poole was the radio priest, responsible for starting KNOM in Nome and preaching the gospel of the Lord across Western Alaska. Now in his 80s, he sits accused of sexually abusing five women when they were children. Poole has been stripped of his priestly responsibilities in Fairbanks.
Attorney John Manley asked the questions in an interview with Poole. Manley has handled hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases across the country, including in Alaska. The deposition was taken in September 2004 and up until now, no one has seen it. The case Jane Doe I v. Father Jim Poole had been placed under a gag order. In it was damaging admissions given by Poole himself.
"He said there had been some allegations and that he wanted to know whether or not I had ever indulged in French kissing with Elsie, and I said yes," said Poole.
In the deposition, Poole admits again and again to French kissing Boudreau when she was a child visiting her family in Nome. But he claims it was never sexual.
• Church liable in girls' abuse. [Taylor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] - Mormon. $US 4.2m. Stepfather. 2 girls.
The Seattle Times, By Bob Young, ~ November 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - In a decision that could reverberate through clergy sexual-abuse cases everywhere, a King County Superior Court jury has awarded $4.2 million to two sisters who were sexually abused for years by their stepfather, a Mormon priest.
The civil jury found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon church, liable for intentional misconduct and negligence and ordered the church to pay most of the award. The remainder of the award would be paid by the girls' abuser, Peter N. Taylor, who is no longer their stepfather or a priest.
"The size of the verdict is particularly newsworthy. I think the jury is making a statement," said Timothy Kosnoff, a lawyer for the girls who were abused in their Federal Way home during the 1990s.
Kosnoff said the verdict, handed down late Friday afternoon, was the first sexual-abuse decision against a church in Washington state. He said it could affect settlement values in abuse cases against the Catholic Church here and in other states. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:15 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue November 22, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed November 23, 2005 edition:-
• Local theologian says gays ruling will have 'little impact'
. - RCC.
CathNews, www.cathnews. com/news/511/ 137.php , ~ November 23, 2005
AUSTRALIA -- Professor Neil Ormerod of the Australian Catholic University has said that the instruction banning practising homosexuals from admission to Catholic seminaries is not as radical as earlier drafts and would likely have little impact on recruitment practices.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Pope Benedict has approved the instruction, which was leaked early yesterday on the internet before next week's official release and will be sent to seminaries around the world.
"Most of all it still seems to me a negative response to the sexual abuse crisis in our church," Professor Ormerod told the paper.
"What it is doing is presenting a position consistent with the church's teaching on homosexuality," he said. "They are asking for a commitment on the part of seminary candidates to respect the church's teaching." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:28 PM]
• Priest charged with sexual molestation
. [Mons. Fushek] - RCC. 10 charges. Teenage boys.
Monsters and Critics, UPI, 14:34 GMT, Nov 23, 2005,
PHOENIX, AZ, United States (UPI) -- A Roman Catholic priest in Phoenix who founded an international organization for young people 20 years ago has been charged with molesting teenage boys.
Monsignor Dale Fushek was arrested Monday. He was released on bail and required to wear an electronic monitor and to stay away from anyone under the age of 18.
Fushek faces 10 misdemeanor counts, including indecent exposure, endangering a minor and assaults on teenagers and young men. He denies the charges.
• County attorney praises cooperation of diocese
. [Mons. Fushek +] - RCC.East Valley Tribune, By Lawn Griffiths, November 23, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) -- Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, a Catholic, didn't flinch Monday when he compared the two past Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix bishops and their levels of cooperation in prosecuting priests.
The one with the Midas touch is Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who arrived in December 2003 to replace Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, who led the diocese for 21 years.
At a news conference about the 10-count indictment of one-time vicar-general and Mesa priest Monsignor Dale Fushek, Thomas praised the help his office had gotten under Olmsted's leadership.
"It is striking contrast from the behavior of the prior bishop and his regime of stonewalling and avoiding responsibility for the crimes committed on his watch," Thomas said.
O'Brien was an adversary to former County Attorney Richard Romley, who threatened to charge O'Brien with obstruction of justice unless O'Brien was more forthcoming about decades of misconduct and the reassignment of priests accused of abuse from one parish to another.
• Ex-Mesa priest named in sex offenses
. [Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. 10 charges. Supporters wore buttons. Males.East Valley Tribune, By Lawn Griffiths and Mike Branom, November 22, 2005
ARIZONA -- Monsignor Dale Fushek, a dynamic, fiercely popular East Valley Catholic leader once eyed as the next Phoenix Diocese bishop, was arrested Monday on 10 charges of sexual misconduct with men and boys.
Fushek, 53, is the highest-ranking official in the Phoenix Diocese accused of sexual misbehavior. Under Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, he held the No. 2 leadership role as vicar general.
He also is co-founder of Life Teen, the largest international Catholic program for youth, headquartered in Mesa. It reaches more than 125,000 young people in 950 parishes in 18 countries.
"This is like seeing Mary's Jesus crucified," said Yvonne Gefroh, a parishioner of St. Timothy's Catholic Community in Mesa, where Fushek served for more than 20 years.
She and a couple of hundred others came to a special Mass at the church Monday night to pray for him. Some wore buttons reading, "I support Msgr. Dale."
• Ex-pastor arrested on third charge
. [Taylor] - Community Church. Boys.The Sun News, By Kelly Marshall, ~ November 23, 2005
SOUTH CAROLINA -- A former Murrells Inlet minister who was indicted last year on two charges of molesting boys was arrested Tuesday on an additional charge of second-degree criminal sexual misconduct with a minor.
Troy Taylor, 36, who led Low Country Community Church in Murrells Inlet, surrendered Tuesday afternoon at the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Neil Johnson.
A bond hearing will be today at the Georgetown County jail, Johnson said.
Taylor's lawyer, Scott Joye, said his client has maintained his innocence on all charges.
"I can't comment, other than to say that Troy has maintained all along that he is not guilty of these charges," Joye said. "He is going to await his day in court."
• Charges against priest darken rising star
. [1984-94 Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Fondled in Confession. 7 young men, boys.East Valley Tribune, By Lawn Griffiths, November 23, 2005
MESA (AZ) -- By 2003, Monsignor Dale Fushek's star was rising so fast, the Tribune named the Mesa priest one of the "10 People to Watch" in the coming years. It may have been prophetic. The pastor of the dynamic St. Timothy's Catholic Community was preaching to 8,000 a weekend.
He had just gained the coveted monsignor title and had been been advanced to vicar-general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. He oversaw construction of the stately Diocesan Pastoral Center. He co-founded the international Catholic youth program, Life Teen, and launched the highly respected Paz de Cristo homeless kitchen and ministry in Mesa.
He designed the worship service for Pope John Paul II's Mass in Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium in 1987, then chaperoned Mother Teresa in 1989 in her Valley search for a Missionaries of Charity house site.
And it looked as if Fushek, with his sparkling credentials and personable gifts, was the heir-apparent for bishop appointed by the pope for this diocese.
It was not to be.
Now, the 53-year-old priest is under house arrest in his Phoenix apartment, ordered to have no contact with youth, stripped of his passport, and no longer holding an assignment in the diocese.
• Judge delays call in abuse case against priest
. [1999-2001 Sewar] - RCC. Boy.Democrat & Chronicle, by Michael Zeigler, November 23, 2005
ROCHESTER (NY) -- A judge reserved decision today on a request by a Roman Catholic priest to dismiss charges that he molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he'll decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when he was pastor of Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street.
The alleged victim, who is now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in Sewar's private quarters in the church rectory.
• A Source of Scandal
. - RCC.Beliefnet, By Fr. Gerard Thomas, ~ November 23, 2005
The recently leaked Instruction concerning the entrance of gay men into seminaries and religious orders was far worse than what I had expected.
Contrary to some media reports that focused on the Vatican's banning of "sexually active" gay men from the seminaries (anyone--straight or gay--who enters the seminary must be celibate) and stories that zeroed in on "transitory" gays (another way of speaking about basically straight men), the document has a far simpler and more wide-ranging goal: the banning of any man who understands himself as gay. The document explicitly bars those who have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies."
This is about as broad a ban as you could imagine.
• Worcester Faithful saddened with reality of actions by Bishop McManus.
. [Aquino, Worcester Diocese] - RCC.Worcester Voice, ~ November 23, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) -- The continued backlash from the Fr James Aquino scenario continues to grow. Catholics who are and have been faithful to Worcester Bishops have now no room for accommodations. The sad reality that protection of the clergy, and reputation of the Worcester Dioceses comes before what is known to be wrong and inexcusable actions have deluded any chance for reunification of the dioceses.
Some faithful have questioned the ability of Bishop Robert McManus to run the dioceses of Worcester, while others have sought his removal.
The sad reality of the Worcester dioceses remain as such. The Worcester dioceses has paid the lowest clergy abuse settlements in the nation. Clergy abuse victims who the Worcester diocese publicly states were treated with dignity and respect, report being terrorized by Attorney Joanne Goulka of the law office of Griffin and Goulka who represents Travelers Insurance company.
• Protester Sentenced to Picking Up Trash
. [2 RC Brothers] - RCC. Male.Los Angeles Times, From Times Staff and Wire Reports, November 23, 2005
LOS ANGELES (CA) -- The man who handcuffed himself to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's chair during Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in June was sentenced to 30 days of picking up trash.
James C. Robertson, 58, of Los Angeles pleaded no contest to disturbing a religious service. He was ordered to stay at least 300 yards from Mahony, the cathedral and the Los Angeles Archdiocese's headquarters.
Robertson, who is suing the archdiocese for failing to protect him from two allegedly abusive Catholic brothers, is picking up trash in lieu of 45 days in jail. He was also placed on three years' probation.
• Vatican: Seminaries must ban active gays from the priesthood
. - RCC.
The Seattle Times, By Daniel Williams and Alan Cooperman, The Washington Post, ~ November 23, 2005
ROME -- The Vatican is ordering seminaries to bar candidates for the priesthood who "practice homosexuality," have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or support "gay culture," according to a document published Tuesday by Adista, a Catholic news agency in Rome.
The long-awaited instruction to seminary directors was scheduled for official release next week. It has been the subject of numerous leaks that have sparked intense debate and led some Catholic leaders, including the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to defend the place of celibate gay priests in the church. But until Tuesday, a full text had not been published.
"The church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture," said the five-page document, which a Vatican official said appeared to be the authentic, final version.
The instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Vatican department in charge of seminaries, is not entirely new. Previous Vatican documents dating back to 1961 have called homosexuality an "intrinsically disordered" condition and have declared gays ineligible for ordination.
• Accused sex abuser wants to return to diocese
. [1970s Monsignor Shafer] - RCC. Girl.
Des Moines Register, By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE, REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR, November 23, 2005
DAVENPORT (IA) -- The top administrative officer for the Davenport Catholic Diocese, accused of child sexual abuse, is seeking to return to duties as a priest.
The Davenport diocese said Tuesday it has empaneled a special 10-member review board to consider the request of Monsignor Drake Shafer.
Shafer was vicar general, second in command in the diocese, when a West Burlington man sued him and the diocese alleging the priest sexually assaulted him in the 1970s. Identified only as John Doe, the plaintiff said he was 14 or 15 at the time.
An April 2002 e-mail Shafer sent to the victim was read in a court hearing on March 19, 2004 . In the message, Shafer said he was drunk on the night in question and apologized for hurting the victim.
"I did not intend to abuse you that night or any other," the e-mail said.
Shafer denied the allegations, but later settled the lawsuit. The diocese also settled with the victim as part of a $9 million settlement in 2004 with several plaintiffs.
• Vatican paper surfaces, puts limits on gays in priesthood
. - RCC.
USA Today, By Cathy Lynn Grossman, ~ November 23, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- A leaked version of an upcoming Vatican document says men with a homosexual orientation should be denied training for the Roman Catholic priesthood unless they can prove they've been celibate for at least three years and promise to teach Catholic doctrine that gay sex is always wrong.
Seminaries should refuse admission to sexually active gay men or those who "support so-called gay culture," according to a version of the document published Tuesday by the Italian Catholic news service Adista. The Associated Press says an official for the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education authenticated the version scheduled for release next Tuesday.
The document, which has been in the works since 1974, is intended to guide bishops and seminary directors on choosing, training and ordaining priests. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on it in August, according to the AP, but the document doesn't have the standing of an infallible teaching.
The church teaches that people with a homosexual orientation deserve love and respect but that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered."
• In Strong Terms, Rome Is to Ban Gays as Priests
. - RCC.The New York Times, By IAN FISHER and LAURIE GOODSTEIN, Published: November 23, 2005
ROME, Nov. 22 - A new Vatican document excludes from the priesthood most gay men, with few exceptions, banning in strong and specific language candidates "who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "
The long-awaited document, which has leaked out in sections over the last few months, was published Tuesday in Italian by an Italian Catholic Web site, AdistaOnline.it .
The document appears to allow ordination only for candidates who experienced "transitory" homosexual tendencies that were "clearly overcome" at least three years before ordination as a deacon, the last step before priesthood. It does not define "overcome." Several critics worried that that language would make it nearly impossible for men who believe their basic orientation is gay - but who are celibate - to become priests.
The anticipation of the document has divided Catholics, especially in the United States, igniting contentious debate over whether this is an appropriate response to the recent sex scandals and whether celibate gay men can still be good priests.
• Instruction
.
Bishop Accountability, www.bishop- accountability. org/resources/ resource-files/ churchdocs/2005_ 11_04_ Grocholewski_ Instruction OnHomosexuality. htm ; ~ November 23, 2005
CONCERNING THE CRITERIA OF VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT REGARDING PERSONS WITH HOMOSEXUAL TENDENCIES IN VIEW OF THEIR ADMISSION TO SEMINARIES AND HOLY ORDERS
INTRODUCTION
VATICAN CITY -- In continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and, in particular, with the decree Optatam totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published various documents to promote an adequate integral formation of future priests, offering guidelines and precise norms concerning its different aspects. The Synod of Bishops in 1990 also reflected on priestly formation in the current circumstances, with the intention of complementing the conciliar teaching on this issue and make it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, Pope John Paul II published the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis.
In light of this rich teaching, the present Instruction does not intend to dwell on all the issues in the affective or sexual realm that require attentive discernment throughout the entire period of formation. It contains norms regarding a particular issue, made more urgent by the current situation, and that is the admission or not to Seminaries and Holy Orders of candidates that have deep-seated homosexual tendencies.
• Ottawa to unveil $4B for native school abuse
. [Religious indigenous boarding schools] - Various Churches and government. Children.
CTV, Canadian Press, November 23, 2005
OTTAWA, Canada -- The federal government is set to compensate thousands of people who suffered abuse and cultural isolation in native residential schools.
Sources say the price tag could top $4 billion for a deal that would see Ottawa offer lump-sum payments to about 86,000 surviving students or descendants of those who have died.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan is expected to join native leaders for a news conference today.
It's the latest in a whopping list of Liberal funding announcements as MPs prepare to hit the election campaign trail next week.
And it's in addition to at least $4 billion to be committed to fight aboriginal poverty when the prime minister attends a first ministers summit later this week in Kelowna, B.C.
• US sex charges for Trini pastor
. [? 2000s Griffith] - Redemption Christian Fellowship. 17 charges. 4 males, 1 female.
Trinidad News, by Mark Bassant, mbassant@trinidadexpress.com , Wednesday, November 23rd 2005
TRINIDAD -- WELL known Trinidadian pastor Gerald Fitzroy Griffith faces 17 counts of sexual abuse after he was arrested last week in Maryland, Baltimore while waiting to board a flight to London from the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Public information officer Michael Hill of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) told the Express that Griffith, 39, faces the following sexual charges: three counts of sexual abuse of a minor, five counts of second degree assault, five counts of fourth degree sexual offence, one count of third degree sexual offence, one count of second degree sexual offence, one count of perverted practice and one count of sodomy.
If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in jail.
The charges were all laid by Detective Charles Allan of the Family Crimes Division attached to the BCPD.
They involved four male victims ages 16-23 and one 19-year-old female victim.
• Site details Vatican policy against gays in priesthood
. - RCC.
The Boston Globe, By Tracy Wilkinson and Maria De Cristofaro, Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2005
ROME -- Men who have "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or who sustain a "gay culture" may not be trained to become Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican says in a new document posted yesterday on a Catholic news website.
However, the church says, if a man had "transitory" homosexual tendencies that have been "overcome" for at least three years, he may be admitted to a seminary, the school that trains priests.
The document was quickly criticized by some gay rights sympathizers, who say the church does not understand homosexuality.
Many details of the document had leaked out in advance of the Vatican's official release of the new instructions, scheduled for Nov. 29, most recently in the daily newspaper Il Giornale of Milan nearly two weeks ago. But the Internet publication yesterday by Adista, an Italian Catholic news service, represented the first time the document in its entirety has been disclosed.
The new instructions are basically a reaffirmation of the church's long-standing ban on ordaining active gays into the priesthood. They repeat a 1961 condemnation of homosexual acts but provide more specific guidelines that were ordered partly in response to the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the church.
• 12th sex-abuse lawsuit filed against Denver archdiocese
. [1968 White] - RCC.
Denver Post, ~ November 23, 2005
COLORADO -- A former student at a Roman Catholic school in Sterling filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Denver archdiocese of turning a blind eye to child sexual abuse that took place decades ago, the 12th such lawsuit against the archdiocese in recent months.
The plaintiff, identified only as John Doe No. 2, alleges that former priest Harold Robert White sexually abused him in 1968 in a darkened storage room at St. Anthony's Catholic School while he helped White set up tables and chairs for a church event.
The lawsuit filed in Denver District Court alleges that the archdiocese continued to give White unfettered access to altar boys and other children despite being alerted to allegations against him as early as the 1960s.
An archdiocesan spokeswoman said the archdiocese takes seriously any sex abuse allegation and responds "with care for all those involved."
• Vatican says active gays not welcome in priesthood
. - RCC.
Malaysia Star, By Philip Pullella, November 23, 2005
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Practising homosexuals should be barred from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood, the Vatican says, taking a strict line on the place of gays in the clergy, an issue that has divided the faithful worldwide.
An eagerly awaited Vatican document said the Church would also bar men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support gay culture but would admit those who clearly overcame homosexual tendencies for at least three years.
Key excerpts from the official English-language version of the document, to be issued next week, were read to Reuters late on Tuesday by a Vatican prelate in possession of the document.
The document reinforces standing policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced. Its urgency has been highlighted by the 2002 sexual abuse scandal in the United States, which involved mostly abuse of teenage boys by priests.
• Lewisburg priest loved his parishioners
. [~ 1973 Shannon (Oblate)] - RCC.
The Daily Item By Karen Blackledge, November 23, 2005
LEWISBURG (PA) -- The Rev. Patrick Shannon loved his parishioners and would want them to persevere in faith, the Most Rev. Kevin Rhoades, bishop of the Harrisburg Diocese, said during a healing Mass Tuesday evening in Sacred Heart of Jesus Church.
The Rev. Shannon was recently removed as priest of Sacred Heart and of St. George's Mission in Mifflinburg after letters were received by the Harrisburg Diocese and the Oblates about an alleged sexual incident involving the priest and a juvenile about 32 years ago or when the priest would have been about 33.
"We need to pray for Father Shannon, his accuser and the Oblate superior," the Rev. Rhoades told a crowded church where many parishoners stood. "We need to support one another in faith, hope and charity."
Before the Mass, Jo Odronic of Lewisburg echoed the mood of many in the congregation about their priest of the past 12 years.
When the announcement came after Mass about two weeks ago of the Rev. Shannon's removal, she said "My heart went right to my throat and my whole body went stiff. I could feel my face drop and the rest of the day was ruined. I couldn't get a grip on myself. I felt we had lost a leader. I was a sheep without a shepherd. We didn't have a chance to say goodbye to him."
• Abuse victims need support
.The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, Nov/23/2005
DELAWARE -- Whether the perpetrator was a priest, a baby sitter, a teacher, a family member or a total stranger, victims of child sexual abuse need help to recover from the trauma, experts say.
"The fact is, with trauma -- you can only keep it down so long without its presenting itself somehow in your life," said Valerie Marek, executive director of Survivors of Abuse in Recovery, a nonprofit agency that offers counseling and support to those who have been abused.
Victims -- the ones who are becoming healthier survivors -- say so, too.
• Catholic Document on Priests And 'Gay Culture' Stirs a Debate
. - RCC.New York Sun, By MEGHAN CLYNE, November 23, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) - A new document refining the Vatican's position on homosexuals in the priesthood will place greater pressure on American bishops, seminary rectors, and local clergy, and may inflame tensions among leaders of the Catholic Church in America, observers said yesterday.
Despite criticism from some quarters, those supportive of the document's stipulations said it might also result in more careful attention being paid to the process by which young men become priests, ultimately proving beneficial to the church.
The document, first made public by an Italian Catholic news agency, Anista, was issued by the church's Congregation for Catholic Education, a group of cardinals and bishops whose responsibilities include overseeing the training of new priests. It provides "instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to seminaries and holy orders," and won praise from some orthodox Catholics as an important affirmation of central church teaching on the matter of homosexuality.
• Vatican closes door on gay seminarians
. - RCC.
Albany Times Union, By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press, Last updated 11:18 p.m., Tuesday, November 22, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.
A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.
Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.
Critics of the policy warned that, if enforced, it will likely result in seminarians lying about their orientation and will decrease the already dwindling number of priests in the United States. Estimates of the percentage of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a research review by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, an author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."
• Vatican Reaffirms Restrictions On Gay Clergy
. - RCC.The Day, By TRACY WILKINSON & MARIA DE CRISTOFARO, plus LOS ANGELES TIMES, Published on Nov/23/2005
ROME -- Men who have "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or who sustain a "gay culture" may not be trained to become Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican says in a new document posted Tuesday on a Catholic news Web site.
However, the church says, if a man had "transitory" homosexual tendencies that have been "overcome" for at least three years, he may be admitted to a seminary, the school that trains priests.
The document was quickly criticized by some gay rights sympathizers, who say the church does not understand homosexuality.
The new instructions are basically a reaffirmation of the church's long-standing ban on ordaining active gays into the priesthood. They repeat a 1961 condemnation of homosexual acts but provide more specific guidelines that were ordered partly in response to the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the church.
• Vatican closes door on gay seminarians
. - RCC.Dominican Today, ~ November 23, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.
A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.
Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.
• Sisters win $4.2 million in abuse lawsuit
. [1990s Cavalieri] - Mormons. $US 4.2m. 2 stepdaughters.
The News Tribune, The Associated Press, November 23rd, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Two college-age sisters have been awarded $4.2 million in a lawsuit against the Mormon church, a judgment prompted partly by the way a bishop dealt with sexual abuse committed by their stepfather while they were children.
Jessica Cavalieri, 24, and her younger sister, Ashley Cavalieri, 19, were abused at their home in suburban Federal Way during the 1990s. The decision Friday by a King County Superior Court jury could be a landmark in sexual abuse litigation against religious institutions in Washington state, lawyers said.
It's the first sex-abuse verdict by a jury in a lawsuit against a church in the state and could affect settlements in other abuse cases, including those against the Roman Catholic Church, said Timothy Kosnoff, a lawyer for the Cavalieris.
"The size of the verdict is particularly newsworthy. I think the jury is making a statement," Kosnoff said.
James Rogers, a lawyer who has represented people claiming they were abused by Catholic priests, agreed.
The Mormon Church would "aggressively pursue an appeal," said Gordon Conger, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Clerical abuse victims press legislators to lift limit on lawsuits
. [1970s] - RCC.Toledo Blade, By JIM PROVANCE, BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU, November 23, 2005
COLUMBUS (OH) -- "Where was the outcry? Where was the outrage?" asked Mike Chakers yesterday as he stood next to his two adult sons.
Both, he told the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, were sexually abused by the same Cincinnati priest more than 20 years ago, and he said he's still listening for the outrage from the Catholic Church.
"My youngest son confided in me not long ago that his first sexual experience when he was just a young boy came literally at the hands of a priest," Mr. Chakers said. "How terribly sick and perverted."
More than 100 people, many of them claiming to be victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy, attended a day-long hearing to voice support for a bill establishing a one-time, one-year window to revive civil cases for which the statute of limitations has long expired.
They told the committee that the bill is about receiving an overdue apology, getting justice, restoring self-respect, and publicly exposing accused members of the clergy. But they also admit that sometimes it's about money.
• Vatican says active homosexuals unwelcome in priesthood
. - RCC.
Napa Valley Register, By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer, 1:08 AM PST, Wednesday, November 23, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican says homosexuals who are sexually active or support "gay culture" are unwelcome in the priesthood unless they have overcome their homosexual tendencies for at least three years, according to a church document posted on the Internet by an Italian Catholic news agency.
The long-awaited document is scheduled to be released by the Vatican on Nov. 29. A church official who has read the document confirmed the authenticity of the Internet posting by the Adista news agency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the document has not yet been officially released by the Vatican.
The document said that "the church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."
"Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies," it said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:46 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed November 23, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Monsignor on sex charges
[1984-94 Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. 7 males.
The West Australian, p 32, Wednesday, November 23, 2005
UNITED STATES: A former vicar-general of the Catholic diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, has been charged with fondling seven boys and young men between 1984 and 1994.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, allegedly asked them about their sex lives, pretending that the questions were part of their confessions. He is one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged. [Nov 23, 05]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu November 24, 2005 edition:-
• Registration case ruling is delayed
. [1990s Johnson] - New Song Bible Church.
Bonner County Daily Bee, www.bonnercounty dailybee.com/ articles/2005/11/24/ news/news01.txt , By KEITH KINNAIRD, News editor, Posted 09:38:54 am PST, Thursday, Nov 24, 2005
SANDPOINT, Idaho -- A ruling was put off Wednesday in a case of a Sagle man accused of failing to register as a sex offender in Idaho after being convicted of a misdemeanor offense in Washington.
Judge Barbara Buchanan heard argument from attorneys on both sides of the case during a preliminary hearing, but opted to issue a written ruling after she's had a chance to pore over Idaho and Washington's registration requirements.
"This situation is way too important to make a decision today," she said.
Barry Lee Johnson, the 51-year-old pastor of New Song Bible Church, is accused of failing to register as a sex offender after moving to Idaho in the mid-1990s. Johnson, according to Prosecutor Phil Robinson, was convicted in 1992 of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in Benton County, Wash.
The offense was classified as a gross misdemeanor. Johnson's Coeur d'Alene attorney, Clark Peterson, argued the crime his client was convicted of in Washington is not substantially comparable to anything in the list of offenses in Idaho that warrant registration. Moreover, the state of Washington did not require Johnson to register as a sex offender at the time of his conviction, he said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:17 PM]
• Church should have heeded lesson of history on child abuse
. [1522 Vatican court, 20th century Irish RCC] - RCC
One in Four, ~ November 24, 2005
IRELAND -- The Catholic Church might appear to be facing its gravest and most desperate hour. Not so.
Historian JF Loughlin of Catholic Encyclopaedia fame wrote of the challenges that confronted Pope Adrian VI upon his investiture in 1522: "His Holiness had to reform a court that thrived on corruption and detested the name of reform."
In his first major address to his Christian flock, Pope Adrian launched a scathing attack on the Church, which was rocked by scandals of all sorts. He declared: "So much had vice become the accepted norm that those who are polluted are no longer aware of the stench. I ask you, my brethren, where will it end?"
He warned that if God permitted the persecution of the Church it was because of the sins of men, and especially those of prelates and clergy. Among the sins that Adrian listed was sexual abuse of children by men of the cloth.
• Put them on trial
. [RCC hierarchy] - RCC. 80% want them tried.
One in Four, ~ November 24, 2005
Public want Cardinal and bishop to face courts
IRELAND -- Eight out of 10 Irish people believe Cardinal Desmond Connell and Bishop Brendan Comiskey should stand trial for failing to protect child abuse victims.
A new survey for the Star found that the public strongly feels that in the wake of the Ferns Inquiry into sex abuse by priests, all senior clerics who covered up for child abusing colleagues should face the rigours of the law.
• Catholic Religion Teacher and Alleged Locutionist Accused Of Possessing Child Porn
. [2005 McColgan] - St. Joseph High School. Child pornography.
Spirit Daily, ~ November 24, 2005
HAMMONTON, N.J. -- A New Jersey high school teacher [and alleged locutionist] is under arrest, charged by the federal government with possessing child pornography.
Michael McColgan, 34, is a religion teacher and a coach at St. Joseph High School in Hammonton.
The FBI said that McColgan sent child pornography to an undercover agent while talking in an online chat room.
They later raided his Blackwood home and found 40 images of child pornography on his computer.
McColgan is not only a religion teacher, but he is also a coach of golf, soccer and bowling.
Students found it hard to believe McColgan would be accused of such a crime.
"Shocking. Very shocking. He had to be the most holy man I ever knew," said one student. "He was such an influence on us. [...]
• Diocese considers future of vicar general
. [1970s Monsignor Shafer] - RCC. Male.Quad-City Times, By Dustin Lemmon, November 23, 2005
DAVENPORT (IA) -- The Catholic Diocese of Davenport is considering the future of Monsignor Drake Shafer and whether he's suitable for ministry.
Shafer, the diocese's vicar general, has denied the allegations made by a West Burlington, Iowa, man, who is identified in court records as "John Doe." The abuse allegation is the only one against Shafer in his 30 years as a priest.
According to a diocese press release issued Tuesday, a review board met with Shafer, his attorney, his accuser, the accuser's attorney and several witnesses Nov. 5.
• Group says convicted priest lives too close to day care
. [? 2005 Graham] - RCC. Bond-breaking? Boy.Post-Dispatch, By Robert Patrick, Nov/23/2005
ST. LOUIS (MO) -- An advocacy group for victims of priest sex abuse is calling for a criminal investigation into whether the Rev. Thomas Graham, convicted in August of sodomy, broke the law by living too close to a Shrewsbury day-care center.
Graham's lawyer says his client did not break the law and was complying with the conditions of his bond, which ordered him to stay at Regina Cleri, a home for retired priests on South Laclede Station Road.
On Aug. 31, a St. Louis jury found Graham guilty of sodomizing a young boy in the rectory of the Old Cathedral sometime in the late 1970s.
Under Missouri law, a person convicted of certain sexual offenses, including statutory or forcible rape, statutory or forcible sodomy and child molestation, is forbidden from living within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility.
• Canon law system is compromised
. - RCC.
One in Four, ~ November 24, 2005
The church shelters child molesters and accused child molesters, writes Jason Berry [U.S. specialist author]
IRELAND -- The Ferns report raises a question: should the Vatican enjoy the exemptions of international law in its handling of clergy sex offenders? Would diplomatic correspondence between the papal nuncios in Dublin and their Vatican superiors shed light on possibly illegal strategies? Such questions have relevance in light of the church's canon law system.
It can penalise priests who abuse, yet is hopelessly compromised.
Consider Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State. This autumn Cardinal Sodano invited Fr Marcial Maciel - who faces 20 allegations of paedophilia - to a prestigious religious conference at Lucca in Italy.
The cardinal has a history of helping the disgraced Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a religious congregation with a house of studies at Leopardstown in Dublin. Cardinal Sodano pressured Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to halt a 1998 canon law case seeking Fr Maciel's excommunication. It was initiated by eight former legionaries at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
• Redress board urged to alert victims
. - Mainly RCC.One in Four, ~ November 24, 2005
IRELAND -- The Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) has been criticised for not being more vigorous in alerting people to the fact that its closing date for compensation applications to the board is December 15th.
Questions have also been raised about reports that the average settlements have dropped from €78,000 to €76,500.
Tom Cronin, of the Irish Survivors of Institutional Abuse group, said there were still former residents who were not aware they were entitled to compensation and who were unaware their legal and other costs would be covered if they applied to the board. He knew such people.
• Innocent priests need to be protected
. Mainly RCC.One in Four, ~ November 24, 2005
IRELAND -- Things are rarely as simple as they seem. Today most people probably agree that as soon as an allegation of child abuse is made against someone, that person should be suspended from their job while an investigation takes place.
The trouble is, even if the person is cleared, lasting damage will have been done to his or her reputation. Frankly, it would be better to be suspected of murder than of child abuse.
With this kind of thinking in mind, it has been decided in Britain that teachers accused of child abuse will not be automatically suspended while an investigation takes place.
One of the teachers' unions has said staff must be given more protection against "false and malicious claims which are destroying careers and reputations".
What of priests? Should they be automatically suspended or not?
• Brazil priest sentence fuels pedophilia scandal
. [2001-02 ?+ Spricigo] - RCC. 2 boys.
The Union Tribune, By Raymond Colitt, REUTERS, 10:38 a.m. November 23, 2005
BRASILIA, Brazil – A Brazilian court has sentenced a Catholic priest to 14 years and eight months in prison for his second pedophilia conviction amid concern of a looming child abuse scandal in the world's largest Catholic country.
Father Tarcisio Tadeu Spricigo was convicted of sexually abusing two boys in the city of Anapolis, in the central Brazilian state of Goias, a local court said Wednesday.
"He enticed needy children with money and promises to help with their homework," the sentencing judge, Ana Maria Rosa, told Reuters.
The incidents involved a 13-year-old altar boy, who lived in the parish house with Spricigo between 2001 and 2002, and a 5-year-old boy, Rosa said.
• $2b residential school deal a start, Knockwood says
. - Various Church and government live-in schools. $CAN 2b. Rapes, beatings, and cultural isolation.
The Chronicle Herald, By JENNIFER STEWART (Staff Reporter) and The Canadian Press, ~ November 24, 2005
CANADA --It is difficult to put a dollar amount on the abuse and cultural genocide thousands of native children suffered at residential schools across Canada, survivor Noel Knockwood said Wednesday in Dartmouth.
The 73-year-old is a former student at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia. He said the more than $2 billion in payments and healing programs the federal government is proposing for survivors isn't enough, but it's a start.
"It's pretty difficult to measure a cultural loss and it is rather hard to put a dollar figure on any kind of an issue such as that," Mr. Knockwood said. "Regardless, it's a start and it might be the beginning of something a little bit better."
The settlement, announced in Ottawa on Wednesday, has yet to be approved in court, but if it is, the survivors of rapes, beatings and cultural isolation would likely be paid by the end of next year. Most survivors now average 60 years old and many are sick or dying.
• Jacquelynne Willcox: Purge of gays will not help Vatican
. - RCC.
The Australian November 25, 2005
AUSTRALIA -- AT a time when a significant group of thinkers in the Catholic Church are seriously searching for ways to make priestly vocations more user friendly, others are on a witch-hunt to make them less attractive to a core group ideally suited to the lifestyle: gay men.
Indeed, there must certainly be a significant group of Australian priests and brothers busily praying for divine protection from the church's latest crusade to rid its parish of the hordes of homosexuals its own princes only recently encouraged.
For it is only 10 years or so since some Sydney seminarians were being told not to worry about their homosexuality. Like married and even women priests, the progressives asserted, homosexuality would be overtly, rather than covertly, accepted as an optional priestly lifestyle. I understand that policy relaxation has recently been abandoned, in Sydney seminaries at least.
In the meantime, the wise men at the Vatican who ordered, and are carrying out a purge of homosexual - celibate and active - men appear to have confused homosexuality with pedophilia and sexual abuse. In their zeal to correct and avoid the sins of their past, they have set upon a group particularly well suited to the extraordinary counter-culture that the priesthood is. That is to say, a life without women and children.
• Vatican document on homosexuals raises series of delicate questions
. - RCC.
Catholic News Service, By John Thavis, ~ November 24, 2005
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A long-awaited Vatican document drew a sharp line against priestly ordination of homosexuals, but in the process raised a series of delicate questions for church leaders and seminary officials.
The six-page instruction, prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education, said the church cannot ordain men who are active homosexuals, who have "deeply rooted" homosexual tendencies or who support the "gay culture." Those who have overcome "transitory" homosexual tendencies, however, could be ordained, it said.
The document, expected to be released at the Vatican in late November, was published online Nov. 22 by an Italian news agency.
• Vatican 'Gay' Priest Ban Forcing Dissidents Out of the Closet
. [Clark, Radcliffe (Dominican), Mahony] - RCC. Some leaders disagree with Vatican.LifeSite, By John-Henry Westen, November 23, 2005
ROME, (LifeSiteNews.com) - The leak of what has been confirmed by various sources as the Vatican document barring from entering the Catholic priesthood men who are homosexual, has spurred comments from various leaders within the Catholic church. Some of those comments have exposed the commentators as willingly and resolutely opposed to the Catholic teaching on the matter of homosexuality and the priesthood.
In addition, faithful Catholics both within the hierarchy and among the laity have spoken up to defend the Vatican's statements, despite animosity from the media guardians of political correctness.
Apart from the usual anti-Catholic groups, which to no-one's surprise used the leaked document as yet another opportunity to bash the Church, Catholic priests opposed to the Vatican stand have publicly exposed their dissent from Christian moral teaching.
In addition to Rochester, NY, Bishop Matthew H. Clark, and Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, the former international leader of the Dominican Order, who came out against the long-standing Vatican position in recent weeks (see coverage http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111406.html ), the controversial Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has, through the diocesan spokesman, not surprisingly also come out against Catholic teaching as re-emphasized by the Vatican document.
• Christian brother admits to 10 sex assaults on students
. [1970s Toomey] - RCC. Boys.
CathNews, ~ November 24, 2005
AUSTRALIA -- A Melbourne Christian Brother has admitted he sexually assaulted 10 students at a Catholic high school in Melbourne more than 30 years ago.
The Age reports that Peter John Toomey, then a teacher at Trinity Regional College in Brunswick, would order his victims, aged 11 and 12, to sit on his knee while he fondled them.
The County Court heard that Toomey would also watch his pupils change for swimming and sports classes, and two victims recalled his students being made to line up naked -- inspected on the basis they were "being checked for mud".
Toomey, now 56, of Brunswick, yesterday pleaded guilty to 10 counts of indecent assault in the 1970s. One victim regarded Toomey as "a cruel figure" who would strap the boys "for almost anything".
• Indigenous Canadians taken from families awarded compensation
. [to 1970s] - Various Churches and Government. Indigenous children.
ABC (Australia), Reporter: David Mark, ~ November 24, 2005
CANADA -- TONY EASTLEY: The Canadian Government has announced a $2.2 billion compensation package for children who were taken from their families and educated in church run schools.
Around 90,000 people will be eligible for the compensation, receiving a minimum of $11,500 plus an extra $3,000 for every year they spent in the residential schools.
Many who claim they suffered psychological and sexual abuse at the schools will receive much larger packages.
The package is being hailed by Canada's Indigenous community for bringing comfort and a sense of victory for the survivors of the residential schools, most of which were shut down by the mid 1970's.
• Natives leery of compensation
. [to 1970s] - Various Churches. Indigenous children.Edmonton Sun, By BROOKES MERRITT, ~ November 24, 2005
CANADA -- Former students of notoriously abusive residential schools for aboriginal children are leery of Paul Martin's $4-billion compensation promise, and wonder if it's just pre-election posturing.
And they worry the federal package might overshadow the other guilty parties in this whole ordeal - the churches who ran the schools.
The package is expected to provide any child who attended a residential school - whether or not they were the victim of sexual or physical abuse - with $10,000 for their first year at the school, and $3,000 for every year after that.
"No amount of money can bring back what was taken from us," said Mel Buffalo, head of the Indian Association of Alberta.
• Priests Citing New Problem in Gay Policy
. - RCC.
The New York Times, By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, November 24, 2005
UNITED STATES -- A day after the disclosure of a new Vatican directive that deters most gay men from joining the priesthood, some priests say they are shocked by one easily overlooked clause. It says that spiritual directors and confessors in seminaries "have the duty to dissuade" any candidates "who show deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from joining the priesthood.
These priests said this would turn the confessional and spiritual counseling sessions, which seminarians previously regarded as private and supportive meetings, into a tool for weeding gay men out of seminaries.
"The relationship between a seminarian and his confessor or his spiritual director should not be about enforcing church documents, but to serve as spiritual guides," said the Rev. Michael Herman, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago who has recently publicly identified himself as gay in order to speak out against the Vatican's action.
"They've gone so far as to say your confessor's and spiritual adviser's role is to talk you out of" becoming a priest, Father Herman said.
• Pastor, wife face molestation raps
. [2005 Tachado and Mrs Tachado] - Christian and Ministry Alliance. Teenager.
Daily Star, BY GILBERT BAYORAN, November 24, 2005
PHILIPPINES -- A pastor and his wife charged for the molestation of a 16-year-old high school student, and a Bago resident accused of raping his niece, were arrested separately in the upland areas of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, the police said yesterday.
Nabbed by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Moises Nifras in Brgy. Prosperidad, San Carlos City on Nov. 22 were Efren Tachado, 41, a pastor of the Christian and Ministry Alliance, and his wife, Shalem, 39.
Senior Inspector Victorino Romanillos, acting police chief of San Carlos, yesterday said the Tachado couple was charged in court for three counts of sexual abuse, under Section 5(b), Article 3 of RA 7610.
Police investigations show that the victim who was staying at the house of the couple, was allegedly molested twice by Efren on Jan. 29 and Feb. 14 this year.
• Ex-priest surrenders license
. [~/< 2004 Mieliwocki] - RCC. 4 boys.
Observer-Tribune, ~ November 24, 2005
MENDHAM (NJ) -- A former Catholic priest who served as a social worker at the Daytop drug rehabilitation center and faces charges of sexually abusing children, doesn't have the "makeup to sexually abuse anyone," his defense attorney said on Monday.
The former priest, Richard J. Mieliwocki, 58, of Madison, faces five to 10 years in prison for endangering the welfare of a child and 18 months for criminal sexual contact.
Mieliwocki was charged in 2004 with the abuse of four boys at the Daytop facility located off Route 24 in Mendham. Mieliwocki's attorney, Thomas C. Pluciennik of Morris Plains, rejected a plea offer in October and said he is waiting for crucial criminal information or "discovery," to help prepare for trial.
"This is my third request for discovery from the prosecutor's office. We aren't going anywhere in this case until I receive discovery. This will be an interesting case when it goes to trial," Pluciennik said.
• Pope's edict prohibits gay priests
. - RCC.
The Guardian, by John Hooper in Rome, Thursday November 24, 2005
ROME -- Gay activists reacted with dismay yesterday to a document, endorsed by the Pope, telling Roman Catholic seminaries worldwide they had a duty to weed out homosexual candidates for the priesthood.
The only exceptions allowed were for those with "homosexual tendencies" that were "merely the expression of a transitory problem such as ... uncompleted adolescence". And candidates would need to show such urges had been "clearly overcome" years before being ordained.
The guidelines, stricter than earlier reported, were welcomed by conservative Catholics. George Weigel, a leading American lay theologian, said the church was obliged "to make sure the men it ordains are capable of living lives of celibate chastity".
Campaigners said the uncompromising policy would pave the way for more sex abuse. Richard Kirker, general secretary of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said it would encourage candidates to deny their sexual orientation during selection.
In the US, Joe Solomonese, of the Human Rights Campaign, said: "When the church should be taking responsibility for the harm created by a devastating sex abuse scandal, they are instead using gay people as scapegoats."
• Vatican's document on gays sparks anger
. - RCC.Cape Times (South Africa), By Philip Pullella, November 24, 2005
VATICAN CITY: A new Vatican document on homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood has touched off a storm of criticism from those who say the church is missing the point and using gays as scapegoats for its sex scandals.
The document, which says the church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years, is due to be released officially next week.
But it said practising homosexuals and those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred, a stand which was welcomed by conservatives both in the Catholic Church and in other religions.
"This looks like a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from the Vatican's real problem which is child sex abuse by clergy," said Peter Tatchell of the British gay pressure group OutRage!
"The Pope should be tackling paedophiles within the church, not witch-hunting gay people," he said.
• Gay and Lesbian Catholics: Everything & Nothing -- More Questions Than Answers!
. - RCC.
All American Patriots, Nov. 23, 2005
CHICAGO, (IL) /PRNewswire/ -- Organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics worldwide have reacted angrily to the leaked text of the Vatican's "Instruction Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders."
New Ways Ministry USA, the US Rainbow Sash Movement, and the Roman Catholic Caucus of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement, based in London, UK have issued a joint reaction claiming that the document says everything and nothing, raising more questions than answers.
What is now assumed to be the definitive text appeared two days ago on the website of Adista, a progressive Catholic news agency in Rome, with a headline, "Ethical Cleansing."
The "Instruction" was signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE), Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, and its Secretary, Canadian Archbishop Michael Miller, on November 4. The document received approval from Pope Benedict XVI on August 31, then ordering its publication.
The text has been prepared jointly by the CCE and the Congregation for Divine Worship & the Discipline of the Sacraments. Significantly, the Vatican's department dealing with religious communities, as well as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, do not appear to have had prime roles in its formulation.
• Judge reserves ruling in abuse case against priest
. [1999-2001 Sewar] - RCC. Boy touching.Democrat & Chronicle, by Michael Zeigler, November 24, 2005
ROCHESTER (NY) -- A judge reserved decision Wednesday on a request to dismiss charges that a Roman Catholic priest molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he would decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when Sewar was pastor of Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street.
The alleged victim, now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in the church rectory.
Sewar's attorney, John F. Speranza, asked Elliott to dismiss the charges on the ground that a document filed by police to bring Sewar to court was defective. The document is supposed to be called an accusatory instrument but was titled "warrant application."
• U.S. Catholics disagree over new Vatican decree against gays in the priesthood
. - RCC.The Detroit News, By Richard N. Ostling / AP Religion Writer, ~ November 24, 2005
UNITED STATES -- A new Vatican decree against gays in the priesthood has brought mixed reactions from U.S. Roman Catholic observers, with some seeing notable benefits and others predicting morale problems and a worsening clergy shortage.
The decree, approved by Pope Benedict XVI, is set for release next week. The Italian text was leaked Tuesday, and a Vatican official confirmed its accuracy to The Associated Press.
It says men should not be admitted to seminaries or ordained as priests if they practice homosexuality, have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or "support so-called gay culture." Those with only "transitory" homosexual tendencies must be celibate three years before being ordained as deacons, the step before priesthood.
Some observers said it will be difficult to define what is meant by "deeply rooted" or "transitory" tendencies.
• Faith, Pope and chastity
. - RCC.
Sydney Morning Herald, by Linda Morris, November 25, 2005
Despite the Vatican's new ban on gay priests, the Catholic Church's struggle with homosexuality is far from over, writes Linda Morris.
AUSTRALIA -- BEFORE a Catholic seminarian becomes a deacon, the penultimate step towards priesthood, he makes a vow of chastity. In the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Strathfield, the candidate makes an oath of fidelity to live a life in union with the church and then, wearing a white alb, pledges before the altar:
"I [name], standing here before God and this community, acting with my own free will, declare I will undertake the commitment of celibacy for the rest of my life to serve God and his people through the sacrament of Holy Orders."
The vow has such solemn, binding force in the Catholic Church that the priest can break his vows of chastity only by receiving a formal annulment.
• Nov 22 Abuse Victims Testify
. - RCC.
WCPO, www.wcpo.com/ wcpo/localshows/ iteam/1a79500e. html , Reported and Web Produced by Laure Quinlivan, Photographed by Phil Drechsler, Updated 19:22:27, Nov/22/05
OHIO -- (Anchor) Victims of priest sexual abuse are pressing for a change in Ohio law they say will better protect children and hold church leaders accountable.
Ohio senators have already passed the bill, and today the house judiciary committee took action.
the I-team's Laure Quinlivan has an exclusive report with a local man who made the trip to Columbus.
(Laure Quinlivan on set) Today is the first time this 38-year old west sider has spoken in public about his abuse. His wife is active in church and his kids attend Catholic school. But he can no longer stomach church leaders who he believes are failing to protect children. [...] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:36 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu November 24, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Christian brother admits to 10 sex assaults on students.
[1070s Toomey (Christian Brother)] - RCC. 10 boys.
CathNews (from Church Resources, Australia), www.cathnews. com/news/511/ 141.php , Nov 24, 2005
MELBOURNE (Vic), Australia: A Melbourne Christian Brother has admitted he sexually assaulted 10 students at a Catholic high school in Melbourne more than 30 years ago.
The Age reports that Peter John Toomey, then a teacher at Trinity Regional College in Brunswick, would order his victims, aged 11 and 12, to sit on his knee while he fondled them.
The County Court heard that Toomey would also watch his pupils change for swimming and sports classes, and two victims recalled his students being made to line up naked -- inspected on the basis they were "being checked for mud".
Toomey, now 56, of Brunswick, yesterday pleaded guilty to 10 counts of indecent assault in the 1970s. One victim regarded Toomey as "a cruel figure" who would strap the boys "for almost anything".
Crown prosecutor Marc Sargent said Toomey taught a variety of subjects at year 7 and year 8.
Toomey's defence lawyer, David Hallowes, said his client was in his early 20s at the time of offending. He said his client was remorseful and had entered a plea of guilty.
Mr Hallowes said Toomey, who has worked at a Christian Brother -- run aged care facility in recent years, did not have any involvement with children and had undertaken a sexual rehabilitation program by his own volition. He said there was little risk of Toomey reoffending.
Judge Meryl Sexton extended Toomey's bail for sentencing on a date to be fixed.
SOURCE
Christian brother admits to 10 sex assaults on students (The Age 24/11/05)
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Brazil abuser priest provides checklist for selecting victims (CathNews 23/11/05)
Irish Catholic leaders to face new abuse probe (CathNews 10/11/05)
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#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri November 25, 2005 edition:-
• Inuit orgs praise residential school deal
. [Various Churches and Government] - Indigenous children.
Nunatsiaq News, www.nunatsiaq. com/news/nunavut/ 51125_06.html , By JIM BELL, ~ November 25, 2005
CANADA -- Three of Canada's regional Inuit organizations are praising a $2 billion comprehensive settlement deal for aboriginal residential school survivors that Anne McLellan, the deputy prime minister, announced at a press conference in Ottawa this past Wednesday.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Inuvialuit Regional Council, and the Makivik Corp. all said this week that they support the agreement, which offers compensation to all Inuit, Métis and First Nations survivors of residential schools associated with the federal government.
The deal is partly based on a report done by the Assembly of First Nations in the fall of 2004, which sought to find ways of fixing the federal government's ailing dispute resolution plan for residential school survivors. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:54 PM]
• Officials, aboriginal leaders open talks
. [Various Churches and Government] - Indigenous children.Arizona Daily Sun, AP, ~ November 25, 2005
KELOWNA, British Columbia, Canada (AP) -- Indigenous leaders came to this former frontier town Thursday to hash out with Canadian officials a multibillion-dollar plan to fight poverty and disease on native reserves and settle damage claims for mistreatment.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, participating in the two-day summit along with the premiers of Canada's 13 provinces and territories, got a jump on talks Wednesday by proposing a $1.7 billion payment for aboriginal victims of sexual and psychological abuse during forced Christian schooling.
Some 100,000 children were required to attend such residential schools over the past century, and the sad history of their abuse has long been cited by Indian leaders as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reserves.
• United church welcomes residential schools agreement
. [Various Churches and Government] - Indigenous children.CCN Matthews, Nov. 23, 2005
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada -- In response to today's government announcement regarding an Agreement in Principle toward a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, The United Church of Canada has released the following statement:
The United Church of Canada welcomes the Agreement in Principle on a comprehensive resolution package for former students of Indian Residential Schools announced this morning by the Government of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations.
The agreement is the result of a negotiation process launched under the Political Accord of May 30, which appointed the Hon. Frank Iacobucci as the federal negotiator and mandated him to recommend a lasting and fair resolution package. The negotiations included the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations, the churches, and legal counsel for former students.
The United Church is pleased that the resolution package not only addresses the issues of compensation to former students for the common experience of attending the schools and compensation for individual abuses, but also provides resources for healing programs, a truth and reconciliation process, and commemoration. The United Church is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.
• Residential schools settlement reached
. [Various Churches and Government] - Indigenous children.The B.C. Catholic, By DEBORAH GYAPONG, ~ November 25, 2005
OTTAWA, Canada (CCN) – An offer by 41 Catholic religious orders and dioceses is included in a historic Nov. 23 agreement-in-principle to settle Indian residential schools abuse claims.
"This is a total, complete, comprehensive settlement of everything involved with residential schools," said Saskatoon lawyer Rod Donlevy, who represented the 41 Catholic entities in the negotiations. "This is a good thing for everybody."
"Residential schools is an issue that's been tearing up people for years," he told CCN in a telephone interview from his office after the announcement.
• $2B in compensation for abused natives
. [Various Churches and Government] - Indigenous children. $CAN 2b.Metro News, ~ November 25, 2005
CANADA -- The federal government is offering $2 billion in reparation payments to ease the plight of aboriginals who fell prey to rape, beatings and emotional abuse in church-run residential schools.
Though the agreement in principle must still be approved by the courts, native leaders and government officials said the compensation package will help mitigate what one called "the terrible and tragic legacy of our shared past."
"Today is an historic milestone on the path towards reconciliation and healing for the thousands of First Nation individuals who have suffered and who continue to suffer from the effects of residential schools abuse," said Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
• Reorganization plan may be abuse claimants' best bet
. [Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. Funds to shrink $US 40.5m to $21.5m.
Catholic Sentinel, Ed Langlois, Nov/25/2005
PORTLAND (OR) -- Sex-abuse claimants will get paid much sooner, and possibly more, if they accept a reorganization plan set out by the Archdiocese of Portland last week.
Waiting for resolution in a dispute over parish and school ownership will delay payment of claims perhaps for years. And if the archdiocese prevails, the compensation will be only about half as much as under last week's proposal.
The likely pool of funds to pay disputed compensatory claims would shrink from $40.5 million to $21.5 million, says a disclosure statement filed by the archdiocese.
In the statement, the archdiocese said engaging the property dispute is in no one's best interest, since the case could take years to go through appeals.
The archdiocese's plan "provides the best opportunity for the claimants to receive compensation for their claims without delay," said archdiocesan attorney Tom Stilley, adding that claims that cannot be settled in the process can still be filed in District Court.
• Advent teaches we're not in control -- God's light can help
.Catholic Sentinel, by Archbishop John Vlazny, Nov/25/2005
PORTLAND (OR) -- Advent is as long as it can possibly be this year -- four full weeks. It all begins on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. Advent, that wonderful season of hope, provides us with a time to celebrate quietly and purposefully the coming of the Lord Jesus among his people. Advent is a time of great expectation.
It is a time when the prophets speak to us in Scripture about the one who comes with justice and peace. Parents see expectation in the faces of their children. We all long to teach them about the birth of Jesus as they wait for the coming of Santa Claus.
Last year in Advent I heard about the situation in Ireland back in the 17th century when the English armies were occupying the country. The King's army had been sent to suppress the "Roman" religion of the Irish peasants. Priests were outlaws. They were all forced to minister on the run and celebrate the sacraments in secret.
But the Irish were not easily intimidated. When Christmas came, they placed burning candles in their windows and left their doors unlocked. The occupation troops were suspicious and wanted to know what this was all about. The people explained that the candles were lighted and the doors left open so that Mary and Joseph, looking for a place to stay on Christmas Eve, would find their way to their homes where they would be welcome.
Of course the English thought this was just another silly "superstition" and they let it go. But the lighted candles were really a signal to any priest in hiding that this was a "safe" house where he could come in and offer Mass on that most holy night. ...
On the first Wednesday of Advent, Nov. 30, we shall be observing our first Ember Day of the new liturgical year. This is a time I have asked all the Catholics of western Oregon to set aside for prayer and fasting. Our intention once again is for the healing of the victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and their eventual reconciliation with the church. We pray too for our perseverance in continuing the evangelizing mission of the church, in spite of all the obstacles and distractions.
The unremitting anxiety, unexpected longevity and mounting frustration that have accompanied the scandal have made life challenging for all of us. We like to be in control. Clearly we are not in control this time. When you stop to think about it, a major problem of the human family right from the very beginning was its desire to be in control, to be like gods. That's what led to the downfall of Adam and Eve. It can lead to our downfall as well.
• Cash for residential schools a temporary fix
. [Various Churches, and Government] - Indigenous children.
The Province, Friday, November 25, 2005
CANADA -- For years, First Nations people in Canada have endured a silent pain. A pain that no one can possibly understand unless you have been there.
The federal government's agreement to compensate those who attended residential school shows a little more understanding to why we have so many problems in modern society.
Money is the only means by which modern-day government can try to deal with the pain and suffering of those lost in the cities, homes and their own cultures.
The sad reality is the products and services that the money will provide will be temporary.
• Aboriginal settlement welcomed
. [Various Churches, and Government] - $CAN 2b. Indigenous children.Western Catholic Reporter, By RAMON GONZALEZ, WCR Staff Writer, ~ November 25, 2005
CANADA -- Church leaders have heralded as historic a $2-billion package aimed at compensating tens of thousands of Aboriginal people who were forced into residential schools.
"I agree with the Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine that this truly is a historic moment, a moment for the ages for sure," said Providence Sister Gloria Keylor, spokesperson for a coalition of 41 religious communities with a stake in the residential schools debacle.
"I think this is a fair package. I think it is a package that will bring closure to the past. That's our prayer, that this will bring closure to the past and allow us to open a new door to the future."
• Residential school cash from federal libs?
. [Various Churches, and Government] - $CAN 2b. Indigenous children.Kamloops This Week, By DALE BASS, Nov 25 2005
CANADA -- As the First Nations community celebrated a settlement package announced by the federal government for residential school survivors, Evelyn Camille wasn't feeling very satisfied.
The survivor of the Kamloops Residential School said she is unhappy the agreement-in-principle doesn't help the families of survivors who have died.
"They still matter," she said of those who are ineligible because of death. "Their children should continue to fight for their rights because what happened affected everyone in the family. They've also had to live with what happened to their parents."
Camille lived at the Kamloops school run by the Roman Catholic Church from 1945 to 1955 and said she endured many indignities.
Her braids were cut, she was doused in a chemical "to supposedly kill bugs," beaten and sexually assaulted.
The insistence by school staff that the children only speak English and adhere to non-First Nations customs "took our language and our culture."
• Liberal Government reaches deal on residential schools
. [Various Churches, and Government] - $CAN 1.9b. Indigenous children.Liberal.ca , November 25, 2005
CANADA -- The Government of Canada has reached an Agreement in Principle with the Assembly of First Nations, legal representatives of former students of Indian residential schools and representatives of the churches involved in running those schools regarding a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools.
The agreement, which still requires court approval, includes a $1.9-billion payment package as well as a variety of measures to help abused Aboriginals and their families with healing and reconciliation.
"It is my sincere belief, and that of the Government of Canada, that all of these elements taken together will promote reconciliation and the resolution of the Indian residential school legacy," said Public Security Minister Anne McLellan.
• Report of the Acting General Secretary
. [Various Churches, and Government] - $CAN 1.9b. Indigenous children.The Anglican Church of Canada, ~ November 25, 2005
For Action: Prayer support for Residential Schools negotiations,
CANADA -- That this Council of General Synod, with the full support of the Plan B Task Force, call the church to prayer on behalf of all those involved in the negotiations between the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, legal counsel for former students, the Assembly of First Nations, and legal counsel and others representing Church entities, that these negotiations will result in a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in Canada.
Rationale:
On May 30th, 2005, the Government of Canada announced the appointment of the Honourable Frank Iacobucci as the Government's negotiator to lead discussions toward a just and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools (see Appendix 1). At the same time, the Government of Canada signed a Political Agreement with the Assembly of First Nations, naming the AFN as playing a key role in the negotiations (see Appendix 2). [...]
• Sex Abuse Investigator Accused Of Molestation
. [1970s Carger] - RCC. 2 boys.
CBS 2, AP, ~ November 25, 2005
JOLIET (IL), (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet says a clinical psychologist who reviewed sexual abuse complaints against its priests has resigned after himself being accused of molesting two boys nearly 30 years ago.
The psychologist, James Carger of Riverside, has denied the allegations, but says he resigned to avoid impeding the work of the Diocesan Review Committee. Carger has led that committee since May of 2003.
• Area minister arrested and charged with abuse
. [2001-04 Griffith] - Redemption Christian Fellowship. 4 males, 1 female.Catonsville Times, ~ November 25, 2005
MARYLAND -- A Woodlawn minister with an international following has been arrested in connection with five cases of alleged child abuse that date between June 2001 and July 2004.
Gerald Fitroy Griffith, 39, of the 1300 block of Peach Tree Court in Bowie, was taken into custody on an arrest warrant Nov. 15 at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore County police said.
He is charged with sexual abuse to a minor, perverted practice, sodomy, a number of other sex offenses and assault, according to county police.
• Gay Anglican Blasts Vatican
. - Anglican v. Roman Catholicism.New York Post, November 25, 2005
STOCKHOLM -- U.S. Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson, who is gay, said yesterday that a new Vatican document barring homosexuals from becoming priests unless they've resisted their sexual tendencies for three years will force people to sin -- by lying.
"It's very clear that if you want to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and you know you're gay, you have to lie about it," said Robinson. Post Wire Services
• Sex priests sent to Workington after college abuse
. [Carroll, Grant-Ferris (Benedictines)] - RCC. Boys.
Times & Star, ~ November 25, 2005
UNITED KINGDOM -- A CATHOLIC college sent two priests to work at the same church in West Cumbria, despite both admitting that they had sexually abused young boys.
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire dispatched Father Piers Grant-Ferris and Father Gregory Peter Carroll to Our Lady and St Michael's Church in Workington after becoming aware of their indecent behaviour.
Father Carroll, now 66, was suspended in 1987 after admitting his crimes to the school's headmaster.
He was sent to Workington, where he worked as parish priest for 14 years from 1987. Carroll was jailed for four years in September for sexually abusing boys.
Now it has been revealed that Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, who served in Workington between 1978 and 1989, had also abused boys at Ampleforth a decade before.
• Vatican Keeps Blurring the Issue
. - RCC.
Los Angeles Times, by Steve Lopez, November 25, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- The Vatican has spoken, and once again we can only marvel.
If you've got "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or practice a "gay culture," the church says, don't bother knocking on the seminary door.
Unless, of course, your "transitory" homosexual tendencies have been driven into submission and "overcome" for at least three years.
I'm not sure how to translate any of this, but let me try.
If you have short-rooted gay tendencies rather than the deep-rooted variety, enjoy the theater but don't get carried away, or if you're capable of living in denial for periods of three years or longer, grab a robe and a pair of sandals and let's talk.
Frankly, I can't tell whether this is a sign of progress or further retreat into the Dark Ages. Church leaders might have been better off continuing to pretend there were no gays in the priesthood, or they could have stuck with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that's made for hundreds of years' worth of comfortable hypocrisy.
• Pope Benedict, why isn't celibacy enough?
. - RCC.Los Angeles Times, By R. John Kinkel, November 25, 2005
R. JOHN KINKEL, a former priest, teaches sociology at Baker College in Michigan and is the author of "Chaos in the Catholic Church" (Xlibris, 2005).
LOS ANGELES -- THE CATHOLIC Church seems to be unraveling at an astonishing rate. The latest threat to its future comes next week, when the Vatican's Congregation on Catholic Education officially begins scapegoating gay priests -- believed to make up 30% or more of the U.S. Catholic clergy -- for its sex abuse scandals.
That's when the Vatican has said it will issue regulations banning men who are actively homosexual or have "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from the priesthood. Catholic seminarians -- priests in training -- who say they are gay will be ordained, under the new rules, only if they have not had sex with another man for four years.
As a former priest who left the church to marry and raise a family, I am sadly sympathetic to gay priests who may quit rather than put up with these absurd and unenforceable homophobic requirements for ordination.
Isn't it enough that the church insists on a celibacy vow? Must it now also insist -- for gays only -- on celibacy even before entering the priesthood?
• Gays help expose online predators
. [2005 Kaye] - Judaism. Internet "Boy".Washington Blade, By LOU CHIBBARO, JR., Friday, November 25, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) -- Gays involved with a group that conducts controversial online sting operations against adult men who solicit sex from underage teenagers of both sexes are calling on the gay community to take a more visible stand against the sexual exploitation of children and teens.
Perverted Justice, the group some have criticized as vigilante, participated in a Nov. 4 nationwide broadcast of the weekly program "Dateline NBC," which used hidden cameras to show men arriving at a house in Fairfax County, Va., for that they believed were meetings with underage teens of both sexes for sexual encounters.
Instead, much to their shock and horror, they were greeted by "Dateline NBC" reporter Chris Hansen, who informed them that the "teens" between the ages of 12 and 15 with whom they thought they were about to have a sexual tryst were actually adults members of a group called Perverted Justice. [...]
Among those ensnared the Fairfax sting was 55-year-old Rabbi David Kaye, who worked for a national youth group in Rockville, Md. Kaye, believing he was exchanging messages with a 13-year-old male, sent the "teen" a nude photo of himself, Hansen reported.
He also offered to perform oral sex on the youth. The adult who impersonated the teen accepted Kaye's offer, according to transcripts of instant messages between Kaye and the fictitious minor.
The "teen" then invited Kaye to his house, saying his mother was deceased and his father was away on a trip. When Kaye arrived, he was greeted by Hansen, who began pressing him with questions about why he came to the house to have sex with a 13-year-old.
Several hidden television cameras recorded the encounter between Kaye and Hansen. "Dateline NBC" reported that even before the episode aired, Kaye resigned from his job at the Institute for Jewish Leaders & Values.
He also reported finding online a photo of Kaye with two other rabbis later convicted of sexual misconduct.
• Keeping dark secrets won't heal wounds of priest-abuse victims
. - RCC.The News Journal, Nov/25/2005
DELAWARE -- When Catholic Church officials refuse to release the names of priests who molested children, they call it "privileged information."
Everyone else knows it for what it really is: old-fashioned stonewalling.
Committing grievous crimes and then covering them up for decades doesn't bestow privilege on anyone. So it would best if the secret keepers stopped pretending their stand is based on high-minded principle.
Victims and their families, naturally, view this tragedy a betrayal of trust, as dramatically shown in a recent series of News Journal articles. Unfortunately, in Delaware the legal system failed them too.
• Former Montgomery Priest Found Dead In His Mobile Home
. - RCC. Fr Sherlock. 3 children.WFSA, 10:56 PM EST, Nov 24, 2005
MONTGOMERY (AL) -- A former well known and controversial priest at Montgomery's St. Peters Catholic Church is dead.
The Archdiocese of Mobile confirms Alexander Sherlock was found dead at his Mobile home Tuesday morning.
The cause of death is not known, but the Archdiocese says Sherlock had been battling cirrhosis of the liver.
Sherlock had been a well-respected priest in Mobile and in Montgomery who often spoke out against the sex-abuse cases rocking the catholic church.
Eventually he resigned from the church admitting he sexually abused at least three minors while serving in Mobile.
• Canadian natives win £1bn for 70 years' abuse
. - Various Church and government live-in schools. $CAN 2b. Rapes, beatings, and cultural isolation.
The Times (Britain), From David Charter in Washington, ~ November 25, 2005
CANADA -- CANADA announced yesterday that it will pay Can$2 billion (£1 billion) to former pupils of government boarding schools that were set up to "Christianise" the children of native Indians but which are blamed for decades of physical and emotional abuse.
About 80,000 Canadian aborigines will qualify for a share of the biggest pay-out in the country's history, which marks a fresh attempt by the Government to atone for systematically trying to strip native children of their language and culture over a period of 70 years.
Native leaders said that the money should be just the first step towards redressing a national tragedy that had left generations spiritually bereft and fuelled deep and continuing social problems.
Canada's 700,000-strong indigenous communities, known as the First Nations, suffer epidemic rates of alcoholism, drug addiction and sexual abuse.
• LDS CHURCH LOSES SUIT: When lay clergy counsel abuse victims, church is responsible
. - Latter-day Saints (Mormons). $US 2.5m. 2 girls.
Salt Lake Tribune, ~ November 25, 2005
UTAH -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it follows state laws - which vary across the country - on reporting child sexual abuse.
But a jury in Washington state, where the law does not require clergy to report sex-abuse cases, has nevertheless ordered the church to pay at least $2.5 million to two sisters who contend that local church leaders failed to help them when they reported being abused by their stepfather.
It is the first time that a Washington jury has held a religious organization liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress for failing to either report child sexual abuse or to urge the victim to report it to authorities. The LDS Church plans to appeal.
The jurors apparently believed that when religious leaders are in positions where they counsel members of their congregations in such serious matters as sexual abuse, they must do more than strictly adhere to the letter of the law. We agree. They have a responsibility to report the abuse, even when reporting is not required.
• Reviewer of abuse claims is accused
. [1979 Carger] - RCC. 2 boys.Chicago Tribune, By Manya A. Brachear, Published November 25, 2005
ILLINOIS -- A clinical psychologist who reviewed sexual abuse complaints for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet has resigned amid allegations that he molested two brothers when he worked for the DuPage County Health Department almost 30 years ago.
Dr. James Carger of Riverside resigned immediately after the allegations surfaced in September but vehemently denies that any abuse took place. "There is no truth to it at all," he said.
Carger resigned, he said, because he did not want to impede the work of the Diocesan Review Committee, a volunteer panel that assesses the credibility of abuse allegations against priests. No criminal charges have been brought against him, and no civil lawsuit has been filed.
Kevin Tretter, 31, and Thomas Tretter, 32, contend that Carger molested them during government-subsidized counseling in 1979 shortly after their mother filed for divorce. Carger's work was not connected with the church at that time.
• Vatican document on homosexuals and seminaries-- full text
. - RCC.
Catholic World News, Nov. 22, 2005
VATICAN CITY (CWNews.com) - The following is an unofficial translation by CWN of the full Vatican document.
Congregation for Catholic Education
Instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies, considering their admission to seminary and to Holy Orders
Introduction
Following the teaching of Vatican II and, in particular, the decree Optatam Totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published different documents to promote an adequate formation integral of future priests, offering guidance and precise norms regarding their several aspects. In the meantime also the Synod of Bishops in 1999 reflected on the formation of priests in the present circumstances, with the intent to bring to fulfillment the conciliar doctrine on the subject and to render it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, John Paul II published the post-Synodic apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis.
• Mixed emotions for residential school survivors
.
Kenora Daily Miner, By Mike Aiken, Miner and News, Thursday November 24, 2005
CANADA -- "There's both happiness and sorrow," said residential school survivor Louis Cameron.
After learning about the news of a compensation award from the federal government, the Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) First Nation band member said he was happy the wait was over, but sad for the memory of all his family members, who didn't live long enough to hear it for themselves.
Elder Julia Keewatin of Grassy Narrows agreed. Speaking through an interpreter, she said, "Since the announcement of reparations, many people have died. Do it now, before any more of our people die."
On Wednesday morning, the federal government announced it would spend $2 billion to compensate those who attended residential schools. An initial award of $10,000 would be distributed to those who simply attended, with another $3,000 for each year of attendance.
The decision does not preclude further action for those who claim for physical or sexual abuse, said Kenora lawyer Doug Keshen, who was at the negotiating table Sunday, when the deal was reached.
• Ex-teacher, church volunteer gets jail for abusing teens
. [2002 and 2004 Jones] - Calvary Church. 2 boys.
The Beacon News, www.suburban chicagonews. com/beaconnews/ city/2_1_AU25 _MOLEST_S1.htm , By Bill Bird, ~ November 25, 2005
JOLIET (IL) -- A one-time high school teacher and Aurora-area church youth leader will surrender to authorities early next year to begin serving a jail sentence for sexually molesting two teen-age boys at his former home in Naperville.
Lloyd D. Jones, 44, of Michigan City, Ind., will serve six months in Will County Jail beginning Jan. 6 for abusing the youths in 2002 and 2004.
At the time of the molestations, Jones lived in the 2800 block of Gypsum Circle, on Naperville's far southwest side.
He pleaded guilty April 14 in Will County Circuit Court to two felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Judge Carla Alessio-Goode this month sentenced Jones to jail, followed by four years of probation. Jones also must register with Illinois State Police as a convicted sex offender.
Jones is a former drafting teacher at Kennedy High School on Chicago's southwest side. He also was a volunteer youth leader at Calvary Church in Aurora.
• Charges shed light on church: Eastside 'cult' is likely hiding members accused of sex abuse, police say
. [2000-02 Belzak; Kirkland, Muratore] - Tridentine Latin Rite Church. Boy.King County Journal, by Noel S. Brady, Nov-25-2005
WASHINGTON -- The shadowy history of an Eastside church, recognized by many as a cult, has come into focus with new charges of child molestation and an admission by one former member that he molested an 8-year-old boy.
Steven A. Belzak told King County prosecutors that he began sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy at a home in Sammamish for male members of the Tridentine Latin Rite Church. In his confession, he said the abuse went on for three years, beginning in 2000.
Another church member, 20-year-old Justin Kirkland, is charged with first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation. And last week prosecutors charged a third man, Michael W. Muratore, 21, with first-degree child molestation.
Kirkland and Muratore remain at large, and investigators believe the so-called cult that reared them is protecting them from prosecution.
"It's most likely that the cult is shielding or hiding them," said King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart. "This breakaway group is not recognized by the (Roman Catholic) church. They're a cult."
[COMMENT: Aren't they all, aren't they all! / Some are big, and some are small! / And into sin they all do fall! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Vatican paper on gays slammed as hypocritical
. - RCC.
IOL, 02:37AM, November 24 2005
VATICAN CITY - A new Vatican document on homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood has touched off a storm of criticism from those who say the church is missing the point and using gays as scapegoats for its sex scandals.
The document, which says the church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years, is due to be released officially next week.
But it said practising homosexuals and those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred, a stand which was welcomed by conservatives both in the Catholic Church and in other religions.
• Judge may drop abuse charges against priest
. [1999-2001 Sewar] - RCC. Boy touching.
Star-Gazette, By MICHAEL ZEIGLER, Gannett News Service, November 25, 2005
ROCHESTER (NY) - A judge reserved decision Wednesday on a request to dismiss charges that a Roman Catholic priest molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he'll decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when Sewar was pastor of Church of the Annunciation in Rochester.
The accuser, now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in Sewar's private quarters in the church rectory.
Sewar's lawyer, John F. Speranza, asked Elliott to dismiss the charges on the ground that a document filed by police to bring Sewar to court was legally defective. The document is supposed to be called an accusatory instrument but was titled warrant application.
• Can gays be priests?
.
The Tablet (British independent RC paper), by Timothy Radcliffe, ~ November 25, 2005
The long-awaited Vatican document on homosexuality in the priesthood, due to be published next week, has been substantially leaked. Here the former Master of the Dominicans assesses what it has to say about gay men and their suitability for holy orders.
UNITED KINGDOM -- TWO WEEKS AGO I was in Nova Scotia, giving a retreat for the bishops and priests of eastern Canada. A priest sent up a piece of paper with a question that he was too shy to ask publicly: "Will this document on the admission of gays to the priesthood mean that I am not welcome anymore? Does it mean that people like me are second-class priests?" I have heard this same question, in one form or another, from priests all over the world. The forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuality and the priesthood (see page 40) is the focus of intense anxiety, which is why we must attend to exactly what it says.
There are two principles to bear in mind: first, we must give it as positive an interpretation as possible. This is not a matter of putting a positive spin on documents but of trying to discern what are the true intentions of the authors. Our media are filled with accusation and this document will be denounced as another attack on gay people. This denunciation also occurs within the Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has often given tendentious interpretations of the writings of theologians. Theologians, in turn, give the most negative possible interpretation to Vatican documents. Nothing good can come from Rome! As a Church we must find another way of listening to each other, which really attends to what is said. Justice and truthfulness demand this. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:42 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Fri November 25, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat November 26, 2005 edition:-
• High-Ranking Priest Arrested and Charged with Sexual Misconduct Involving Boys and Young Men
. [Monsignor Fushek] - RCC. Males.
Newsinferno, Source: Newsinferno News Staff, November 26, 2005
PHOENIX (AZ) -- Monsignor Dale Fushek, the former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, has been arrested on charges he fondled boys and young men and questioned them about their sex lives while pretending to be conducting confessions.
As vicar general, the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop, Fushek, 53, is one of the highest-ranking priests to be implicated in the widespread sex scandal that just won't go away.
He has been charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. Since each charge is a misdemeanor, Fushek faces a total of three years and nine months in jail.
Fushek has been placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring until his arraignment on December 6. He also had to surrender his passport and was ordered not have contact with anyone under age 18. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:21 PM]
• Child abuse letter rocks Anglicans
. [North Coast Children's Home] - Anglican.
The Sunday Mail, By PAUL WESTON, for Nov 27, 05
AUSTRALIA -- GOLD Coast pensioner Richard "Tommy" Campion has a horrifying, clear picture of what his lawyers believe will be one of the worst cases of child abuse in an Australian orphanage.
His nightmares have led him to write a five-page letter to the Anglican Church in which he graphically details the sadistic treatment he and fellow orphans suffered at the church's North Coast Children's Home at Lismore in northern NSW in the 1950s.
The instances of "cowardly physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse from the staff, clergymen and matron" have been corroborated by many other victims who contacted Mr Campion's Brisbane lawyer, Simon Harrison.
As part of his campaign to gain an apology and compensation for the victims, Mr Campion, 58, agreed to be photographed outside the grounds of the home this week. He later asked the new owners' permission to visit the old dormitories.
• Disgraced priest dies
. [Sherlock] - RCC.
Montgomery Advertiser, By Alvin Benn, November 26, 2005
ALABAMA -- Alex Sherlock, forced to resign as an active Catholic priest in the wake of sexual abuse claims against him, was a Biblical scholar and a superb fundraiser, said those who remember him fondly.
Sherlock's body was found at his house in Mobile on Wednesday. Authorities said his death was from natural causes. He was 65.
While friends and relatives attended a funeral for him in Mobile on Friday, a former member of his Montgomery congregation and a fellow priest who attended the same seminary described Sherlock in positive terms.
"In the time I knew him, he was a great guy and a great minister," said Carl Barranco of St. Peter's Catholic Church. "It was most unfortunate to have heard about his past."
• Deacon named interim director
. [? 2005 Aquino] - RCC.Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass., USA), November 26, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) -- Deacon Anthony R. Surozenski has been appointed by Bishop Robert J. McManus as interim director of the Diaconate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester.
He was assistant director of formation for the program and his wife, Alice, is coordinator of diaconal family activities.
He is filling a vacancy left by the Rev. James J. Aquino, who headed the program until he was placed on administrative leave late last month by the bishop. The move came after public disclosure that Rev. Aquino had been detained by vice squad police officers in Las Vegas, who alleged he had committed a public lewd act with another man.
He was initially cited for lewd conduct and giving false information, but was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct after doing 50 hours of community service and getting counseling.
• Sex offender will serve six months
. [Jones] - Calvary Church. 2 boys.The Herald News, By Bill Bird, SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS, ~ November 26, 2005
JOLIET (IL) -- A one-time high school teacher and Aurora-area church youth leader will surrender to authorities early next year to begin serving a jail sentence for sexually molesting two teenage boys at his former home in Naperville.
Lloyd D. Jones, 44, of Michigan City, Ind., will serve six months in Will County Jail beginning Jan. 6 for abusing the youths in 2002 and 2004.
At the time of the molestations, Jones lived in the 2800 block of Gypsum Circle, on Naperville's far southwest side.
He pleaded guilty April 14 in Will County Circuit Court to two felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Judge Carla Alessio-Goode this month sentenced Jones to jail, followed by four years of probation. Jones also must register with state police as a convicted sex offender.
Jones is a former drafting teacher at Kennedy High School on Chicago's southwest side. He also was a volunteer youth leader at Calvary Church in Aurora.
• Sex abuse panel chief resigns in allegations' wake
. [1970s Carger] - RCC. 2 boys.The Herald News, From staff reports, ~ November 26, 2005
JOLIET (IL) -- The head of the panel that reviews allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet resigned after two brothers accused him of molesting them.
Dr. James Carger, a clinical psychologist from Riverside, stepped down from the Diocesan Review Board on Sept. 28 when the brothers reported the accusations to the diocese. Carger has denied the allegations.
Carger was appointed to the review board in 2002 and named chairman in May 2003, said Sister Judith Davies, diocese chancellor.
• Wrongs will never make the world right
.The Daily Dispatch, November 26, 2005
We've long been told that two wrongs don't make a right. And no amount of wrongheadedness can make the world right, either.
The Catholic Church has dropped a Brazilian singer who promoted condom use in an anti-AIDS campaign from the lineup of next month's benefit Christmas concert at the Vatican. Daniela Mercury was dismissed because her statements in the public health campaign went "against the moral doctrine of the church," said Eligio Ermeti, a spokesman for the agency organizing the event.
There's no doubt that is true. The Catholic Church disapproves of contraceptives - and, of course, premarital sex - so telling someone to use a condom flies in the face of the church's beliefs. And we suppose it is unsurprising, though unnecessarily rigid, for the church to drop Mercury from its performance.
However, the Vatican felt the move was necessary because of the crass actions of American singer Lauryn Hill two years ago at the same concert. Hill deviated from the script to criticize the church and its leaders over much-publicized child sex abuse by certain Catholic priests.
It is impossible to defend the church in the sex abuse allegations. Evidence clearly shows that some priests abused young parishioners, and that the church often took action to cover up the abuse while keeping the rogue priests in service. [Emphasis added. ]
• New gay priest edict widely condemned
. - RCC.
Toronto Star, By LYNDA HURST, FEATURE WRITER, Nov. 26, 2005
CANADA -- A new Vatican instruction on banning homosexual men from entering the priesthood won't be officially released until Tuesday, but its leaked contents are being condemned on a wide range of fronts by a wide range of critics.
They say it is:
