Clergy Child Molesters (161) — References / Archive / Blog

• Navy chaplain found guilty of rape and fraternization

  [? 2000s Rev. Lt. Shane Dillman -NEW*] - Pentecostal. 1 rape, 2 other women. United States of America flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   The Virginian-Pilot, < http:// hamptonroads. com/2009/06/ navy-chaplain- found-guilty- rape-and- fraternization >; By Kate Wiltrout, June 1, 2009
   NORFOLK (VA) -- A Navy chaplain who served aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was found guilty Monday of raping a young enlisted woman.
   Lt. Shane Dillman, a Pentecostal chaplain who previously earned honors for his work, faces up to life in prison on that charge. He also was convicted of fraternization but was found not guilty of making a threat.
   Last week, he pleaded guilty to adultery, fraternization and other charges stemming from relationships with two other women. He faces up to nine years in prison on those counts. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:20 PM] (This is the first item of Abuse Chronology: http://www. multiline. com.au/~ johnm/ethics/ ethcont161. htm , and of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abusetracker , A Blog by Kathy Shaw, of Monday, June 01, 2009.)
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INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm   Visit www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker . These are digests of and links to mass media and other coverage of clergy abuse. Get fuller details by trying the links.

• BISHOP IS DEFIANT ON THREATS

  [2009 Bp DiMarzio -NEW*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions unannounced.
   New York Post, http://www. nypost.com/ seven/06012009/ news/ regionalnews/ bishop_is_ defiant_on_ threats_ 171910.htm ; By EDMUND DeMARCHE and LEONARD GREENE, June 01, 2009
   NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn bishop accused of using his bully pulpit to blackmail legislators over a molestation bill he opposes said yesterday he has no plans to repent.
   Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio told state lawmakers that he would close churches in their districts -- and blame them for the shutdowns -- if they backed a bill making it easier for sexual-assault victims to sue local parishes, which was first reported by The Post.
   DiMarzio, who made the threats months ago during a legislative breakfast at his residence, said he'd gladly preach the same sermon again. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 AM]

• Uganda: Pastor Kyazze to Be Quizzed Over Kayanja Sodomy Claim

  [~ 2000s Pastor Robert Kayanja -NEW*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.    
   AllAfrica, The New Vision, by Herbert Ssempogo, May 31, 2009
   KAMPALA, Uganda – PASTOR Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Centre is to appear before Police detectives investigating sodomy allegations against Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre.
   Kyazze, who last week returned from the US, is expected to report to the Central Police Station in Kampala tomorrow.
   "I am wanted in connection with statements that have been made at the Police. My name has been mentioned several times," Kyazze said in an interview yesterday. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:09 AM, June 01, 2009]

• Liberators are on the march and the nation should fall in behind them

  [Decades - Government and R. C. Church] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Orphans and other children.  
   Irish Examiner, By Fergus Finlay, for Tuesday, June 02, 2009
   IRELAND – I HOPE tens of thousands of people march tomorrow week.
   That's the day when the survivors of institutional abuse in Ireland are planning to lead a dignified and silent solidarity march from the GPO to Leinster House.
   Let me go back to the beginning. I don't want to refer to the people who will be leading this solidarity march as survivors. By their actions they forced open gates that many would prefer stayed locked forever. They forced open gates they were locked behind themselves, and they forced open gates of silence.
   Their courage in speaking out and campaigning allowed us to see eventually what they have always known. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:07 PM]

• Archdiocese of Miami to close 13 churches

  - RCC  
   Miami Herald, BY JAWEED KALEEM, jkaleem § MiamiHerald.com , ~ June 01, 2009
   MIAMI (FL) – Thirteen Catholic churches -- most in some of South Florida's poorest urban areas -- will be closed and members sent elsewhere, the Archdiocese of Miami said Sunday.
   But stunned parishioners, some close to tears, said they will not go down without a fight.
   "This is a travesty," said Reginald Munnings, who attends St. Francis Xavier, Miami's first black Catholic church. Munnings and 60 other families will be asked to attend Gesu, Miami's oldest Catholic church located in downtown Miami. "I'm not going to go," said Munnings, 52, who, like other parishioners, knew cuts were coming, but was shocked to hear that his was on the list. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:23 PM]

• Bishop of Peru Rips Actions of Former RC Priest Albert Cutie To Join The Episcopal Church

  [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - Leaving RCC. Hand on rump of bikini-clad Ms Canellis. Episcopalian bishop upset at quick conversion.      
   Virtue Online, World Exclusive, By David W. Virtue, www.virtueonline.org , June/1/2009
   PERU – The Bishop of Peru, The Rt. Rev. Bill Godfrey says the announcement of the reception of Fr. Alberto Cutié into The Episcopal Church from the Roman Catholic Church has caused deep concern among Global South Anglican leaders.
   "Changing from one Church to another is not like changing shirts," said Godfrey in an interview with RPP-TV in Peru.
   "Father Alberto Cutie still provides a lot to talk here. His decision to abandon the Catholic Church in order to belong to the Anglican Episcopal Church has generated many polemical commentaries."

• Rev. Budd gets probation

  [2003-05 Budd*] - Methodist. 15yrs PROBATION. Woman.  
   Winona Post, By Sarah Elmquist, ~ June 01, 2009
   WINONA (MN) -- A pastor convicted of having sexual contact with a woman seeking spiritual guidance was sentenced to 15 years of probation Thursday.
   Rev. Donald Dean Budd, 65, must also register as a predatory offender and complete community service. He was also ordered to give up his license to preach while on probation, and must seek treatment as a psychosexual offender. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:19 PM]
   [LOOK BACK: January 09, 2009; ~ August 06, 2008; ~ May 21, 2008]

• A fair deal for the abused. Make sure of your vote

  - RCC. Guilty Orders to pay €128m, lax State €1,300m.  
   Irish Independent, Monday June 01 2009
   IRELAND -- OVER the last week the answers to the question of how to make religious orders pay their fair share of the compensation to those who suffered so dreadfully in many of their institutions appeared little by little to become clear.
   At first, they had appeared slow to take on board the extent of the anger and horror prompted by the disclosures of the catalogue of physical, sexual and emotional abuse detailed in the Ryan Report. Not so the leaders of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. Once they spoke, it was clear the 2002 deal between the Government and congregations must be revisited.
   Under that arrangement, the Government gave the orders an indemnity against claims above a total of €128m. In reality, their liability was much lower. The cost to the taxpayers is in the region of €1.3bn.

• Paedophilia is one area where ignorance is certainly not bliss

  - RCC.
   Irish Independent, By Patricia Casey, Monday June 01 2009
   IRELAND -- It is difficult to be dispassionate about paedophilia, yet dispassionate we must be if we are to make any progress in extending our very limited knowledge base about this condition.
   Some journalists have commented, erroneously, on how much we know about paedophilia. The fact of the matter is we only know how to diagnose the condition and little else.
   The debate, in which we in Ireland are now engaged, has focused on several issues, including understanding the causes and on identifying a treatment that will be effective in controlling paedophilia.

• Father Alberto Cutie scandal: Time for the Catholic Church to catch up with the times

  [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, now leaving RCC.    
   NJ.com , by Joseph Wardy, ~ June 01, 2009
   UNITED STATES -- Wake up, Catholic Church. You are hundreds of years behind the times.
   The world has changed and then some but in the 45 years since I graduated from Catholic high school nothing much has changed except a different Pope-- all of whom are laughably infallible. The Pontiff is really a Zen practitioner in that he (we know it's always a he) is already perfect.
   If the Catholic Church were a profit-run organization, it would replace AIG as the leading organization qualifying for bailout money. Yet, it is a most wealthy conglomerate with enough money in its paintings alone to feed all the hungry in the world.

• Woman testifies against Navy chaplain accused of rape

  [? 2000s Rev. Lt. Shane Dillman*] - Pentecostal. ≥2007 1 rape, 2 other women  
   The Virginian-Pilot, By Kate Wiltrout, May 28, 2009
   NORFOLK (VA) -- They met soon after she reported to the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in Newport News in 2007.
   She was an airman, just a few months out of boot camp, living on the East Coast for the first time.
   Chaplain Shane Dillman was a lieutenant who met every new sailor during indoctrination briefs. He told them all to come see him if they ever wanted to talk.
   She eventually took him up on the offer. She was 20 years old, struggling with immigration problems, a crumbling marriage and homesickness.

• Monsey rabbi to appeal conviction for sexually abusing daughter

  [1990-97 Weingarten*] - Ultra-Orthodox Judaist. 30yrs PRISON. Daughter.      
   The Journal News, By Steve Lieberman, slieberm § lohud.com, May 29, 2009
   NEW YORK -- A 59-year-old Monsey man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison has filed papers seeking to appeal his conviction for sexually abusing his daughter.
   A U.S. District Court jury in Brooklyn convicted Rabbi Israel Weingarten in March of taking his daughter out of the United States to Israel and Belgium and sexually abusing her.
   Weingarten taught children for the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community. He ran a Satmar school in Belgium and worked for religious elementary and secondary schools in Brooklyn. [Posted June 01, 2009]
   [LOOK BACK: May 8, 2009; March 2, 2009]

• Chaplain found innocent of rape

  [~ 2000s Rev. Lt. Shane Dillman*] - Pentecostal. 4 women sailors.  
   Navy Times, By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer, Posted 9:54:04 EDT, Sunday May 31, 2009
   NORFOLK (VA) -- Lt. Shane Dillman, the Navy chaplain accused of several sex-related offenses involving four female shipmates, pleaded guilty during a general court-martial beginning Tuesday in Norfolk, Va., to several lesser charges. He was found innocent of raping a female junior enlisted sailor.
   Despite the dismissal of the main rape charge, two sexual assault charges regarding the same female sailor remained.
   The judge, Capt. Moira Modzelewski, who found Dillman innocent of rape Thursday, began deliberating on the remaining charges Friday. The court-martial was to resume Monday, when findings and any sentencing were expected. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:04 AM, June 01, 2009]

• Society should worry about crisis in Christianity

  - Civil society.  
   Daily Monitor (Uganda), by Peter Nyanzi, ~ June 01, 2009
   In Catholics, Anglicans laugh loudly as Pentecostals 'sodom' things up (Daily Monitor, May 23), columnist Bernard Tabaire argued that the crisis in the Pentecostal churches "only makes the local Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Uganda look attractive again."
   I think Mr Tabaire's assertion can only be described as idealistic at best because it is not the Pentecostal faith that is in crisis but Christianity as a whole.
   In all this, there are certainly a lot more losers than winners and the biggest of them all is society - Mr Tabaire and all those of his kin inclusive. The whole of Christianity as an institution faces the risk of losing its essence (saltness) in the eyes of society but given the social importance of religion, there is a legitimate concern that the community should be worried and afraid.
   First, it is not just the Pentecostals as Mr Tabaire seems to insinuate that have been in the news for the bad reasons. In recent months, the local and international media have been awash with raving stories about the misdeeds of religious leaders from the various faiths. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:26 AM]

• FYI: No statue of limitations for child molestation

   
   The Lufkin Daily News, Sunday, May 31, 2009
   TEXAS -- Q: I was wondering how long is the statute of limitations on child molestation?
   A: There is no statute of limitations on child molestation, according to the Texas Penal code.
   The Texas Penal code states that there is no limitation on "murder and manslaughter; sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; sexual assault, if during the investigation of the offense biological matter is collected and subjected to forensic DNA testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match the victim or any other person whose identity is readily ascertained; continuous sexual abuse of young child or children under Section 21.02, Penal Code and indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM, June 01, 2009]

• We will never allow this terrible abuse happen again

  - RCC and Irish State.  
   Irish Independent, Monday June 01 2009
   IRELAND -- Despite the heartfelt appeal of abuse survivor Michael O'Brien to avoid the politicisation of the abuse scandal, Alan Shatter cannot refrain from the most blatant political charges.
   To compare the systematic and endemic abuses of the past with our current child welfare and protection services is not just an insult to all who deliver social services but also a serious underestimation of the abuse catalogued in the Ryan report.
   There are gaps in our child protection systems and there is certainly room for improvement. However, the portrayal by Alan Shatter of today's services as a modern incarnation of the sexual abuse perpetrated by "care providers" of the past is a disgrace.

• Rape case against Navy chaplain wraps up

  [~ 2000s Rev. Lt. Shane Dillman*] - Pentecostal. 4 women sailors.  
   The Virginian-Pilot, By Kate Wiltrout, May 30, 2009
   NORFOLK (VA) -- Abuse of position, abuse of trust, vulnerable women and sex - those are the themes of the case against a Navy chaplain accused of rape, the lead prosecutor said Friday in closing arguments.
   Prosecutor Lt. Michael Marinello spent 50 minutes wrapping up the four-day case, which alleges that Lt. Shane Dillman raped a sailor while both were assigned to the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson. The Pentecostal chaplain is also charged with making a threat and multiple counts of fraternization - the military term for forbidden, overly friendly relationships between officers and enlisted sailors.
   Capt. Moira Modzelewski, a military judge, will rule on the charges Monday, then preside over sentencing. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:51 AM, June 01, 2009]

• Navy chaplain pleads guilty to lesser sex charges, not rape

  [~ 2000s Rev. Lt. Shane Dillman*] - Pentecostal. 4 women sailors.
   The Virginian-Pilot, By Kate Wiltrout, May 27, 2009
   NORFOLK (VA) -- Navy chaplain Shane Dillman pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple charges of adultery, fraternization and conduct unbecoming an officer, and could face up to nine years in jail.
   But first, Dillman will be court-martialed today on rape and other adultery and fraternization charges, to which he is pleading not guilty.
   The lieutenant and Pentecostal minister, Dillman reported aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in July 2007. He came from Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, where he earned honors for ministering to wounded Marines and twice escorted President George W. Bush on tours of the hospital. [Posted June 01, 2009]

• Parishioners rally at shuttered church

  - RCC Latin American ethnic parish.
   Asbury Park Press, By Jim McConville, STAFF WRITER, June 1, 2009
   LONG BRANCH, New Jersey – We will not give up our church without a fight.
   That was the sentiment of an estimated 200 Spanish- and Portugese-speaking parishioners of St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church who staged a peaceful demonstration at noon Sunday in front of their now-locked house of worship in protest of the Diocese of Trenton's ruling that the church is to be closed and these parishioners join Our Lady, Star of the Sea, roughly a half-mile away.
   Wearing black arm bands and white T-shirts with "Save Our Church" emblazoned in bright red letters, St. John parishioners held a roughly 90-minute service in 80-degree heat at the Willow Avenue location, reading scripture and singing hymns in Spanish and receiving holy communion.

• Archbishop Timothy Dolan offers wish of renewal for Croton church

  - RCC.
   The Journal News, By Christine Pizzuti, cpizzuti § lohud.com, June 1, 2009
   CROTON-ON-HUDSON (NY) - Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who has developed a reputation of being charismatic and easygoing, visited Holy Name of Mary in the village yesterday to rededicate the Catholic church - and deliver a few one-liners.
   Pentecost Sunday's Mass carried a theme of renewal within the church and thanks to the parishioners who continue to come. The church's last two pastors were forced out after being accused of sexual abuse; as a result, the parish has lost some members.
   Hundreds attended yesterday's service.
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 01, 2009
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 02, 2009 edition:


• Man pleads guilty to sex assaults on three boys

  [- ? 2000s Mr Jose Diaz -NEW*] - Christian. Boys.  
   Democrat and Chronicle, http://www. democratand chronicle.com/ article/ 20090602/ NEWS01/ 906020314/ 1002/NEWS ; by Michael Zeigler, June 2, 2009
   NEW YORK -- Jose M. Diaz ingratiated himself with the parents of young boys by taking their sons hunting and shopping, playing video games and shooting an air rifle with them, and hosting sleepovers at his Rochester home.
   The parents socialized with Diaz and considered him to be trustworthy because he was a volunteer firefighter and active churchgoer who seemed genuinely interested in their kids.
   But just before last Christmas, the parents discovered that Diaz had been subjecting their sons to repeated sexual assaults. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:10 AM, June 02, 2009]

• Passaic predator case shows change in Orthodox community's response

  [2006 Mr Mitchell Levington -NEW*] - Orthodox Judaist. 2 boys (14).
   Examiner, by Jerry DeMarco, North Jersey Crime Examiner, June 01, 2009
   NEW JERSEY -- An Orthodox community in North Jersey is trying to reconcile the arrest of one of its own on charges of attempting to have sex with two 14-year-old boys.
   Already a convicted Megan's Law offender, 48-year-old Mitchell Levinton of Passaic Park was working for a kosher catering company in 2006 when he befriended the boys and invited them to home, where he exposed them to pornography and graphic sex, Passaic County authorities said this week. …
   "I am pleased to say that by far most of the rabbis in Passaic have been supportive of the alleged victims and of bringing the allegations to law enforcement authorities," said attorney Michael Lesher, who has worked to protect children nationwide from sexual abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:19 PM, June 02, 2009]

• Sex case involving former Yuma priest settled

  [Unnamed priest - ? NEW*] - RCC. Another US $1.2m going in a SETTLEMENT. 2 boys and others. [Monterey Diocese] - RCC. Failed to inform police, allowed priest to assault others.
   Yuma Sun, FROM STAFF AND AP REPORTS, 7:10 PM, June 1, 2009
   YUMA (AZ) -- The Diocese of Monterey, Calif., has agreed to pay a $1.2 million settlement and formally apologize to a man who said the church protected a Yuma priest and a California priest who had sexually abused him.
   Bishop Richard Garcia will formally apologize to the man and his family, and the diocese also agreed Friday to release church documents detailing the abuse - two things the victim's attorney said he wanted most.
   The attorney, John Manley, said the documents will show the diocese "has blood on its hands" because church leaders failed to notify police when they first learned the boy was assaulted, allowing one of his abusers to subsequently molest the boy's brother and others. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:50 AM, June 02, 2009]

• Sex abuse lawsuit names deceased Asheville priest

  [Years ago - Fr Pechulis -NEW*, Fr McCole -NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
   Citizen-Times, by Clarke Morrison, 09:16 AM, June 2, 2009
   ASHEVILLE (NC) – A lawsuit filed by a Philadelphia man claims he was sexually abused as a child by now-deceased Asheville priest.
   The lawsuit was filed in Buncombe County Superior Court on behalf of Steven B. Souder, said his attorney, Jay Abramowitch.
   The lawsuit names Father Justin Pechulis, of Asheville, retired priest John McCole, of Philadephia, the Archdiocese of Philadephia and the Diocese of Charlotte. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:17 AM, June 02, 2009]

• Let Labrador students join residential schools suit, judge told

  [Decades - 4 Churches and the Government] - Residential schools. ? Indigenous children.  
   CBC News, June 02, 2009
   CANADA -- Arguments were to continue Tuesday in a St. John's courtroom on whether former students at five residential schools in Labrador can participate in a federal class action suit.
   Former students from Newfoundland and Labrador have been excluded from a national class action, because the schools they attended were not founded and operated directly by the federal government.
   Lawyers for the students argue that the physical, mental and sexual abuse that students suffered at the Labrador schools is no different than what students in the rest of Canada suffered. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:16 AM, June 02, 2009]

• Nicholas Katinas, defrocked Greek Orthodox pastor, dies

  [1970s Katinas] - Greek Orthodox. Boys.  
   The Dallas Morning News, By SAM HODGES / samhodges § dallasnews.com , ~ June 02, 2009
   DALLAS (TX) -- Nicholas Katinas, the defrocked former pastor of North Dallas' Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, has died.
   An e-mail from the church to parishioners said Katinas, who was accused of child sexual abuse, "fell asleep in the Lord" on Monday. He was 75.
   The church's current pastor, the Rev. Christopher Constantinides, confirmed the e-mail but offered no other information. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:43 AM]
   [LOOK BACK: ~ September 09, 2008 and others.]

• Uganda Government News: Human Rights Commission enters sodomy case

  [? 2000s Pastor Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.  
   UGPulse, ~ June 02, 2009
   UGANDA -- The pastors accused of defaming Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Center by alleging that he engaged in sodomy of some of his male followers have welcomed the intervention of the Uganda Human Rights Commission into the case.
   Pastors Solomon Male of Arise for Christ, Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church and Mike Kyazze of Omega healing Center say it is important that the UHRC has started hearing cases of the young men who were allegedly sodomised.
   Pastor Male said he appeared before the UHRC panel investigating the matter yesterday and gave them information on how the alleged sodomy victims approached him for help. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:22 PM]

• Nov. 30 is new deadline for Jesuit abuse claims

  - RCC (Jesuit order).    
   News-Miner, By Mary Beth Smetzer, Published Tuesday, June 2, 2009
   FAIRBANKS (AK) – Survivors of Jesuit sexual abuse have a second chance to file legal claims against the Society of Jesus Oregon Province. An Oregon Federal Court bankruptcy judge has set a Nov. 30 deadline for new claimants to come forward.
   Judge Elizabeth L. Perris set the claims filing deadline with no geographical limitations, either nationally or internationally.
   The Portland-based province that encompasses five states, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Montana filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in mid-February citing mounting legal claims of clergy sex abuse.

• Abuse groups seek compo case reviews

  - Roman Catholic Church, and Irish State.  
   Irish Examiner, By Jennifer Hough, for Wednesday, June 03, 2009
   IRELAND -- GROUPS representing child abuse victims have called on the Government to revisit "every" compensation case with a new expert advisory board.
   Following a meeting with the Minister for Children Barry Andrews to discuss the findings of the Ryan Report which uncovered systemic abuse of children in care institutions, abuse survivor and campaigner Christine Buckley said it was "absolutely shocking" that victims were getting so little compensation for the physical, sexual and emotional abuse suffered.
   Ms Buckley said the meeting with the minister was "very positive and effective" but that groups wanted to see a special new panel in place to deal with cases and revisit all the old ones. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:12 PM, June 02, 2009]

• Will a Fresno judge allow a new trial re Msgr. Anthony Herdegen? Would bishops withhold evidence or lie under oath?

  [1959-73 Mons. Herdegen*] - RCC. 2 brothers.  
   City of Angels, By Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Network, ~ June 02, 2009
   CALIFORNIA -- Looking through the personnel file of Monsignor Anthony Herdegen, to me what stood out most is what was not there, in a good two thousand pages of loose sheets documenting Herdegen's 50-year career in Central California parishes.
   Plaintiffs' Motion for a New Trial will be heard next Monday afternoon June 8th by Judge Donald Black in Fresno Superior Court Department 97B. Plaintiffs filed their motion for a new trial May 14th saying testimony of a new witness would have caused the jury to reach a different verdict.
   As the jury deliberated last April, a new witness came forward, whose testimony could prove what brothers Howard and George Santillan were unable to convince this jury, that the Diocese of Fresno had prior notice about sex crimes against young altar boys and parishioners by Anthony Herdegen, as reported in a City of Angels May 21 post
   There have been several complaints of Herdegen sexually abusing other boys besides the Santillan brothers, yet the Monsignor's personnel file is a pile of carefully photocopied pages from 1949 to his retirement in 1995 that make Herdegen look almost like a saint. Then in April 1995, Herdegen's lovely hand written note says: "Rev. Bishop John: After much prayer and deep reflection I have come to the time when I need to retire and spend my reclining years in preparation for the Lord's call." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:09 PM]
   [LOOK BACK: ~ April 01, 30, 2009; March various, 2009.]

• Abuse victims demand fund details

  - Irish State and RCC.  
   Irish Independent, By Shane Hickey, Tuesday June 02 2009
   IRELAND -- VICTIMS of child abuse are to demand that the government reveals how much money the religious congregations will give for compensation and what the funds will be used for.
   Discussions will take place tomorrow evening between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and a number of groups representing those who were abused. Last night the Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) group said details of what additional contributions the orders would be making needed to be clarified.
   Campaigners for victims have said a "firm line" should be taken with the 18 congregations which signed the 2002 indemnity deal that limits the amount they pay out to €128m. The abuse bill has now grown to €1.3bn.

• St. Benedict's parishioners fight to save church

  - RCC.  
   News Tribune, ~ June 02, 2009
   LADD (IL) -- Dozens of parishioners at St. Benedict Church in Ladd have banded together in hopes of persuading the Diocese of Peoria to keep the church open.
   Sunday, more than 70 parishioners met and agreed to form Project HOPE, Help Our Parish Exist.
   Members seek to petition Bishop Daniel Jenky to reverse the decision to suspend services at the Ladd church, effective June 17. (The church would, however, remain available for special services such as weddings and funerals.)

• FREE SPEECH IN CONNECTICUT: CATHOLICS NEED NOT APPLY

  - RCC.
   Catholic League, June 2, 2009
   CONNECTICUT -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses the state of free speech for Catholics in Connecticut:
   Three months ago, two lawmakers from Connecticut sought a state takeover of the governing structure of the Catholic Church. This gambit, which we properly labeled a "fascist stunt," lost. The reason it lost is because of the courageous reaction of Catholics, led by their bishops, and organizations like the Catholic League. Among the steps taken to thwart this unconstitutional abridgement of religious liberty was a rally at the state Capitol.
   In retaliation, some state officials are now seeking to penalize the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, led by Bishop William E. Lori. They have accused the Bridgeport Diocese of breaking the state's lobbying laws. On May 29, Bishop Lori filed suit seeking an injunction to stop the punitive measures from being implemented.

• Pennsylvania News Anchor, Educator, Lawman Named to Bishops Child, Youth Protection National Review Board

  - RCC.
   National Conference of Catholic Bishops, ~ June 02, 2009
   WASHINGTON (DC) – Mike Clark, a Pittsburgh TV news anchor, and Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., president of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, have been named to the National Review Board for three-year terms beginning June 1.
   In addition, Stephen A. Zappala Jr., Pennsylvania's Alleghany County District Attorney, has been tapped for a three-year term beginning June 1, 2010.
   Others to begin their terms in June are Charles Handel, Ed.D and Anna Moran, J.D., whose appointments were announced last year.

• US bishops name new members to National Review Board

  - RCC.
   Catholic Culture, June 02, 2009
   UNITED STATES -- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has named three western Pennsylvanians to the National Review Board, which was established by the bishops at their June 2002 Dallas meeting to address the clerical abuse of minors.

• Exhibit shows faces of sexual abuse

  - Various.
   Legislative Gazette, By T.J. RAPHAEL, 12:54 PM, Tuesday Jun 2, 2009
   NEW YORK -- Today in Albany Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, D-Maspeth, hosted a photo and informational exhibit entitled 'Faces of the 1 in 5' to generate support for the Child Victims' Act legislation which she is sponsoring. The bill [A.2596/S.2564] is sponsored in the senate by Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan.
   The exhibit centered around 17 photos of New York state childhood sexual abuse victims. Five survivors also recalled their traumatic experiences in hopes of urging the Legislature to support this law that would add five years to existing statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. Under this bill, individuals would be able to seek criminal and civil penalties against their abusers until they are 28-years-old.

• Bishop Lori: Connecticut officials trying to limit church's freedoms

  - Religious freedom at risk?
   Catholic Courier, ~ June 02, 2009
   BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) -- Saying its First Amendment rights are being violated, the Diocese of Bridgeport is seeking a court order to stop state officials from what it calls "an unconstitutional application of state lobbying laws" to church activities.
   Diocesan lawyers filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Hartford May 29 asking that a decision by the Connecticut Office of State Ethics determining the Bridgeport Diocese was subject to laws governing lobbying organizations be overturned.
   The decision stems from the diocese's involvement in organizing a March 11 rally at the Connecticut Capitol in Hartford to oppose a bill that would have given laypeople financial control of their parishes.

• Hand of God

  [Fr Joseph Birmingham] - RCC. Movie. 12 of 40 are seducers!
   Open Parachute, May 29, 2009
   UNITED STATES -- I watched the documentary Hand of God the other night. It left me deeply angry.
   The film was made by Joe Cultrera and documents the sexual abuse suffered by his brother Paul as a child. The abuser was the Catholic priest Joseph Birmingham. Paul was abused as an altar boy in the 1960s and told no one, including his family, for 30 years. Meanwhile the priest, despite other allegation of sexual abuse, was promoted by the diocesan (seems to be a common way for the church to ignore the problems it creates).
   Paul later finds out that of the 40 priests in Birmingham's graduation class 12 had been exposed as sexual abusers! [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:28 AM, June 02, 2009]

• Conn. Bishop Fights Back

  - RCC defence.  
   National Catholic Register, Posted by Tom Hoopes, 3:22 PM, Monday, June 01, 2009
   CONNECTICUT -- "As a bishop," writes Bridgeport's William Lori, "I will take every measure possible to defend our faith and our Church from attempts to silence us – and our individual parishes could be targeted next."
   One thing he is willing to do, it turns out, is sue the state of Connecticut.
   It started when parish reorganization Bill 1098 was announced in Connecticut with just five days before its scheduled hearing, Bishop Lori recounts on his blog. At that point, the Bridgeport Diocese:
  • "alerted our membership – in person and through our website;"
  • "encouraged them to exercise their free speech by contacting their elected representatives;"
  • "We organized a rally at the State Capitol in Hartford." [Posted June 02, 2009]

    • A fair deal for the abused

      - RCC leaders got Orders to change tune.  
       Irish Independent, Monday June 01, 2009
       IRELAND -- OVER the last week the answers to the question of how to make religious orders pay their fair share of the compensation to those who suffered so dreadfully in many of their institutions appeared little by little to become clear.
       At first, they had appeared slow to take on board the extent of the anger and horror prompted by the disclosures of the catalogue of physical, sexual and emotional abuse detailed in the Ryan Report. Not so the leaders of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. Once they spoke, it was clear the 2002 deal between the Government and congregations must be revisited.
       Under that arrangement, the Government gave the orders an indemnity against claims above a total of €128m. In reality, their liability was much lower. The cost to the taxpayers is in the region of €1.3bn. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:08 AM, June 02, 2009] ;

    • Lynch makes high court pick

      - RCC.  
       Concord Monitor, By LAUREN R. DORGAN, June 02, 2009
       NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Gov. John Lynch announced yesterday that he will nominate Superior Court Judge Carol Ann Conboy to serve on the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
       Conboy took the long road to the top of the legal profession, serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and teaching English at Merrimack Valley High School and Manchester's Southside Junior High School before becoming a lawyer. …
       In her 17-year career on the bench, Conboy has seen a wide array of cases. She dealt with the state's legal battles with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester over audits of sexual abuse cases.

    • Pennsylvania News Anchor, Educator, Lawman Named to Bishops Child, Youth Protection National Review Board

      - RCC.
       DFW Catholic, June 2, 2009
       WASHINGTON DC (MetroCatholic) - Mike Clark, a Pittsburgh TV news anchor, and Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., president of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, have been named to the National Review Board for three-year terms beginning June 1.
       In addition, Stephen A. Zappala Jr., Pennsylvania's Alleghany County District Attorney, has been tapped for a three-year term beginning June 1, 2010.
       Others to begin their terms in June are Charles Handel, Ed.D and Anna Moran, J.D., whose appointments were announced last year.

    • Connecticut court unseals priest abuse documents

      - RC hiding facts still.
       The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, ~ June 02, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- In a ruling due to be formally published this week, the Connecticut Supreme Court has found that documents filed in more than two dozen civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport should be unsealed.
       The lawsuits, which alleged sexual abuse, were brought against the diocese and six priests in the mid-1990s. The judge then handling the case sealed documents that he felt could jeopardize the defendants' right to a fair trial, until a jury had been selected. But the cases all settled in 2001 without going to trial.
       In 2002 The New York Times sought to intervene and have the records unsealed. The Boston Globe, Hartford Courant and The Washington Post all joined the case later. The newspapers' request made its way up to the Connecticut Supreme Court once before, but was sent back down for further proceedings. In 2006, the trial court ruled that the documents should be released. The reasoning went that the basis for sealing them -- to protect the defendants' right to a fair trial -- had expired and the church had not raised a strong argument for keeping them under seal.

    • '70s altar boy alleges abuse & that Krol abetted cover-up

      [1970s Fr Pechulis*, Fr McCole*] - RCC. Boy.  
       Philadelphia Daily News, By ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, sbarned-smith § phillynews.com , 215-854-5926, ~ June 02, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- A former altar boy for the late Cardinal John Krol filed a lawsuit yesterday alleging that he was sexually abused by two priests in the 1970s.
       The lawsuit makes no allegation of sexual misconduct by the Philadelphia archbishop, who died in 1996, but does contend that Krol blithely ignored the accusations.
       Lawyers for Steven B. Souder, 47, of Philadelphia, filed the suit in Asheville, N.C., against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the diocese of Charlotte, N.C., and a now-retired Philadelphia priest. [Posted June 02, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 02, 2009
    • Church must stop denial and watering down of abuse claims.  - RC prelate admits that the RC homes had no morals, and opposes delays by religious orders.  

    Church must stop denial and watering down of abuse claims

       The Record (R.C. Perth, W. Australia, weekly), cathrec § iinet net au , p 10, Wednesday, June 3, 2009
       DUBLIN, Ireland (CNA) – The Church in Ireland must move out of "denial" and must never "water down" the suffering of abuse survivors, Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin said regarding the recent report on physical and sexual abuse in Irish institutions.
       He warned that culpable religious orders face their "last change" to renew their charism.
       Writing on May 25 in an opinion essay in the Irish Times, the archbishop addressed the recently-released Ryan report which exposed major abuse of students in industrial schools.
       Noting the ineffectiveness of simple apologies, Archbishop Martin said that nonetheless "sorry" must "always be the first word."
       He said the Ryan report shocked him, but did not surprise him.
       The archbishop explained that as a student he had worked in a Dublin hostel for former industrial school residents.
       Later he had worked in a London centre for ex-prisoners, many of whom had been Irish industrial school residents.
       "Anyone who had contact with ex-residents of Irish industrial schools at that time knew that what those schools were offering was, to put it mildly, poor-quality childcare by the standards of the time.  The information was there," Archbishop Martin wrote in the Irish Times, noting that a clergyman and some journalists had tried to call attention to the abuse.
       "The first thing the Church has to do is to move out of any mode of denial," he insisted.
       "That was the position for far too long and it is still there."
       He said that the Church had presented itself as different and more moral than other childcare institutions.
       "Its record should have shown that and it did not.  Ryan reveals Church institutions where children were placed in the care of people with practically no morals," he added.
       He warned priests and religious not to let their "sense of shock" at what has happened to permit them to slip into a situation where they "feel themselves almost as the victims."
      [Picture] John Kelly, centre, who says he was abused while in the Dainean Reformatory between 1965 and 1967, reacts after being refused entry to the release of a report by the government's Commission to inquire into Child Abuse, in Dublin, Ireland, on May 20.    PHOTO: CNS / CATHAL McNAUGHTON, REUTERS  
       "No one in the Church must ever try to water down or reformulate the suffering of survivors.  Let the survivors speak and tell their stories as they experienced them," he said.
       Calling on the religious orders responsible for the institutions in which abuse occurred, he asked them directly: "What happened that you drifted so far away from your own charism?"
       The culpable orders' credibility and survival, he said, depends on the honesty with which they examine themselves.  "People are angry and disillusioned," he insisted.
       Archbishop Martin said that somehow many had lost "the most essential dimension" of the life of followers of Jesus Christ.
       The Christian message is a message of love.  What the Ryan commission recounts is sadly so very far removed from that.  In Jesus' eyes the poor deserve the best and they did not receive it here."  He decried as "stunning" the orders' incomplete response to an agreement with the government concerning abuse, criticising the "poor excuse" about legal difficulties.
       Calling for the religious orders to try to redeem their charism by supporting survivors and their families, the archbishop warned:
       "In many ways it your last chance to render honour to charismatic founders and to so many good members of your congregations who feel tarnished."
       He said that another report on the sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Dublin will be released soon.
       "It will not be easy reading," he warned, saying that the sufferings of abuse victims will nevery be wiped away by new child protection measures.
       "Let the truth, however, come out." #
       [COMMENTS: Much of the reason for the physical abuse (read "cruelty") and sexual seduction was that the people running the institutions were defying, with the RCC's blessing, the teaching in the epistles to Timothy and Titus that clergy were to be family men, and in other epistles that all men ought to be the husband of one wife, and vice-versa, and that husbands had to love their wives.  Males with a bad streak sometimes are civilised by being bonded in marriage, and most fathers, we hope, would not hurt any child, having learnt to love their own.  ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm#church_must_stop
    [Jun 03, 09]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed June 03, 2009 edition:


    • WOODHAVEN: Priest expected to receive probation at Thursday sentencing

      [2009 Mar 26 - Fr Roger Knapp -NEW*, quite new] - RCC. Exposing, fondling himself.  
       The News Herald, http://www. thenewsherald. com/articles/ 2009/06/03/ news/doc 4a256b1a7b0052 71471754.txt , By Jackie Harrison-Martin, ~ June 03, 2009
       WOODHAVEN (MI) – Sentencing for the Rev. Roger Knapp is expected to be at 11:15 a.m. Thursday before 33rd District Judge Michael McNally.
       Knapp is expected to receive probation for a charge of disorderly conduct. He pleaded no contest May 13 to the misdemeanor.
       The charge stems from a March 26 incident at Amigo's Restaurant, 22085 West Road. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:05 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • Trial set for ex-counselor

      [? 2000s Mr Joshua Farrell -NEW*] - Mennonite. ~ 11 boys.
       Burlington County Times, By CHRISTOPHER RUVO, June 03, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A Quakertown, Pa., man will stand trial on felony charges that allege he had sexual contact with teenage boys and solicited sex from at least 10 male minors, some of whom he met at a Mennonite summer camp in Milford where he had been a counselor.
       Ottsville District Judge M. Kay DuBree ruled Tuesday that there is enough evidence against Joshua P. Farrell, 20, for him to be prosecuted in Bucks County Court. DuBree made the ruling after 10 teenage boys took the stand against Farrell at a preliminary hearing.
       DuBree dismissed a charge of sexual assault after the alleged victim on that charge decided not to attend the hearing at the last minute. Authorities said the boy was too embarrassed to testify, but they plan to talk to him and the charge could be refiled. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:27 AM, June 03, 2009 ]

    • Church camp assistant charged with child sex offences

      [? 2008-09 Unnamed man -NEW* (26)] - Christian camp. Girl (12).    
       The West Australian, 15:45 WST, June 3, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A Rockingham man has been charged with child sexual assault offences after he allegedly groped a young school girl at a church-run camp.
       Det-Sen Const Carl Fjastad, of the child abuse squad, alleged the man had twice indecently dealt with the then-12-year-old girl, once at a Baldivis camp and once at an undisclosed location.
       The 26-year-old man was an assistant group leader at the church-run camp, which held daily vacation sessions for school children. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:24 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • Former teaching assistant pleads guilty to sexual offence charges

      [? 2008-09 Mr Shaun Burford -NEW*] - Christian. Minors (13-15).  
       This is Kent, 12:15, Wednesday, June 03, 2009,
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A FORMER teaching assistant has pleaded guilty to sexual offences involving children under 16.
       Shaun Burford, of Coombe Valley Road, Dover, worked at Christ Church School in Ashford. He appeared at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday to enter guilty pleas.
       He was charged with causing or inciting a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child aged 13 to 15 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • Haredim take on sex abuse of children

      [~ 2009 Unnamed perpetrator - NEW*] - Haredi Judaists. Child (3).  
       The Jerusalem Post, By RUTH EGLASH, ~ June 03, 2009
       ISRAEL -- For Zehava (not her real name), the decision to break with the stringent cultural norms of her tight-knit haredi community in Ramat Beit Shemesh and report the suspected sexual abuse of her three-year-old child to the secular authorities came quickly.
       "I grew up in the community, but I have always been open and accepting of the world around me," begins the haredi-raised Zehava, as she shares the story of her battle against the town's religious leaders, who in her view turn a blind eye to the ongoing problem of sexual abuse in the semi-private haredi school system.
       "We have an epidemic on our hands, and there is complete denial here that there is anything wrong," she continues. "I spoke to the rabbis and other community leaders here, but they all called me a liar and said that this kind of thing does not happen here … but it does." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:21 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • More charges of child pornography added to Vero Beach pastoral counselor

      [~ 2009 Gerard Lamothe -NEW*] - ex RC priest (married). Child porn.  
       TCPalm, By Henry A. Stephens, Originally published 06:39 p.m., June 3, 2009
       VERO BEACH (FL) – Police say they added 32 new charges of child-pornography possession Wednesday against pastoral counselor Gerard Lamothe, a week after arresting him on one initial charge.
       Police arrested Lamothe, 60, of Vero Beach, a former Catholic priest who is married with 11 children, shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday at his business, Pastoral Counseling Center, of the 3000 block of Airport Drive West.
       Lamothe was later booked at the Indian River County Jail on $160,000 bail. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:57 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • Youth pastor sentenced for sex abuse

      [2000s Mr William Richardson -NEW* (33)] - Christian. Teen girl.
       Pekin Daily Times, By Sharon Woods Harris, 05:00 PM CDT, Tue Jun 02, 2009
       PEKIN (IL) -- An East Peoria youth pastor has been sentenced to five weekends in jail and four years of sex offender probation for the sexual abuse of a girl in his youth ministry.
       William D. Richardson, 33, of 111 Cracklewood in East Peoria, pleaded guilty on May 21 to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 18 over whom he had a position of trust or authority, a Class 2 felony.
       Richardson was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Tazewell County Children's Advocacy Center and $3,000 fine, to go through counseling, and to have no contact with children under the age of 18 except for supervised visits with his two sons. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:19 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • Priest arraigned on charges of stealing from parish accounts

      [2002-07 Fr Patrick Dunne -NEW*] - RCC. > US $432k.
       Mid-Hudson News, June 03, 2009
       WHITE PLAINS (NY) – A former parish priest at Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in White Plains was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of grand larceny in the second degree, a felony.
       Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said that it is alleged that over a six year period from January 1, 2002 to December 30, 2007, Patrick Dunne, 64, of White Plains, stole over $432,000 from various parish accounts.
       Fr. Dunne diverted monies that were donated by parishioners for several campaigns including the church building fund, a collection for Hurricane Katrina victims, and the weekly offertory received by the church for general church operations. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:51 PM, June 03, 2009 ]

    • We've been betrayed beyond belief – so let the winds of change howl

      - RCC and Irish State.  
       Irish Examiner, By Ivan Yates, for Thursday, June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- Our republic is just over 60 years old. As you mature through life, you reflect on your own failures, errors and shortcomings. As a nation we need to face these with honesty. We have been too trusting and deferential to those on whom we have conferred authority
       NEVER has the nation be so demoralised. After painful months of trying to cope with the impact of the recession, we've now had to absorb two bodyblows. Thanks to Ireland's stable geological base, we don't experience either earthquakes or tsunamis. The past fortnight has provided one of each in human form.
       The unspeakable horror from the Ryan commission report has nauseated everyone. The shock of the €4 billion half-year loss in Anglo Irish Bank has sent a tremor through the exchequer finances. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:16 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • State's aftercare 'responsibility' for young

      - Irish State.
       The Irish Times, By CARL O'BRIEN, Social Affairs Correspondent, for June 04, 2009
      IRELAND -- CARE SYSTEM: THE STATE has a moral obligation to provide support to hundreds of young people who leave the care system each year, in light of the findings of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, a conference heard yesterday.
       At present the State has no legal obligation to provide aftercare services to young people who leave care at 18, although some young people do receive such support. An estimated 700 to 800 leave the care system each year.
       At a conference organised by the Irish Association of Young People in Care (IAYPIC) yesterday, Prof Mike Stein of the University of York's social policy unit said the Government needed to do much more to provide support to vulnerable young people. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:13 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • Shock over child abuse 'under shadow of the cross', says minister

      - RCC and Irish "Establishment."    
       The Irish Times, By GERRY MORIARTY, Northern Editor, for June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY:  IT IS particularly shocking that vulnerable people were "brutalised under the shadow of the cross", a Dublin city minister told the Presbyterian Assembly in Belfast.
       A Dublin lay member of the church also told the Assembly yesterday that an unusual outcome of the Ryan report was that it was likely to persuade more people to support the Lisbon Treaty.
       The Rev Alan Boal of the Abbey Church in central Dublin said the scale and duration of the abuse revealed in the Ryan report shocked everyone, including current members of the Catholic orders involved. The findings also made it difficult for churches generally to preach Christianity. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:11 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • Report out of stock due to heavy demand

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By RUADHAN Mac CORMAIC, for June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- RYAN COMMISSION:  THE GOVERNMENT publications office was yesterday awaiting delivery of hundreds more copies of the child abuse report after it ran out of stock due to "exceptional" demand.
       Huge public interest has also put the Ryan commission's website under severe strain, with additional servers and bandwidth being added to cope with unexpectedly high visitor numbers.
       Some 90,000 separate downloads of the report were logged in the first 24 hours after the publication of the report two weeks ago, and 183,000 files have been downloaded in all. The company which hosts the website said it had "never seen anything like it", a commission spokeswoman said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:08 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • Religious orders to make 'substantial' contribution - Cowen

      - RCC.
       The Irish Times, for June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS MEETING:  TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen last night promised groups representing victims of child abuse in institutions run by religious orders that those congregations would make "substantial" additional contributions by way of reparation.
       Mr Cowen and four Government Ministers met some eight groups representing victims of child abuse for almost three hours at Government Buildings last night to discuss the outcome of the Ryan report into child abuse in institutions run by Church orders.
       As they emerged from the meeting, the representatives said that good and positive progress had been made during the meeting, though some fundamental issues required clarification. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:06 PM, June 03, 2009]

    • Brothers sorry for 'shameful' abuse denials

      [2009 May - Christian Brothers] - RCC. Still denying 5 days before Ryan published.
       The Irish Times, By ALISON HEALY, for June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- ORDER'S APOLOGY:  THE CHRISTIAN Brothers have described its response to the abuse issue as "shamefully inadequate and hurtful" after it emerged that the order was denying allegations of abuse up to five days before the publication of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
       Survivors of institutional abuse said it was "not surprising" that the order was denying abuse so recently.
       Labour's health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said it "absolutely beggars belief" that the Christian Brothers could still have been taking this stance in May. "I find it just incredible," she said. "Before the Ryan report, we had the Commission hearings and the Redress Board so it's quite incredible that they would still be denying abuse with the information available to them." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:03 PM, June 03, 2009]
       [MEDITATION: Confess therefore your sins one to another. (Christian Scripture, James 5:16). If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). (R.C. Douay). ENDS.]
       [COMMENT: "The truth is not in us."  Couldn't have put it better myself!  The decent Brothers must be turning over in their graves. - Webmaster, June 25, 2009.]

    • Attorney: Grand Jury Should Look At Priests

      - RCC.  
       KSBW, ~ June 03, 2009
       SALINAS, Calif. -- An attorney representing a man who claims he was sexually molested by two priests from the Monterey County Diocese 18 years ago said a criminal inquiry should be made into how the church reports allegations of child molestation.
       During a news conference held outside the St. Mary Nativity Church in Salinas, John Manley said those who knew about the sexual molestation of his client should be punished for not reporting the allegations to police.
       "The grand jury and district attorney needs to look into this and make sure it doesn't happen again," Manly said.

    • EDITORIAL: Police failed to learn from Sebutinde report

      [? 2000s Pstr Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.  
       The Observer, Written by THE OBSERVER, 07:14, Monday, June 01, 2009
       UGANDA -- President Museveni was recently quoted as being dissatisfied with the Police handling of the sodomy allegations against Pastor Robert Kayanja. This followed reports that the Criminal Investigations Directorate had been too eager to clear the pastor of any wrong-doing and instead move against his accusers.
       Our view is that the bad publicity afflicting the CID as a result of this and other incidents would perhaps have been avoided if the Police authorities and government had taken Justice Julie Sebutinde's recommendations more seriously.
       The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Corruption in the Police Force headed by Justice Julie Sebutinde was appointed on April 23, 1999 to investigate allegations of widespread corruption in the Police Force. The probe unearthed a lot of crimes committed by senior Police officers and recommended tough measures against the culprits.
       However, instead of implementing its recommendations, most of the officers were retained in the Police Force, simply reshuffled or even promoted. Others left temporarily only to return in higher positions than those they had allegedly abused, at least according to Sebutinde. [Posted June 03, 2009]

    • Kyazze quizzed over sodomy allegations

      [Pstr Robert Kayanja*] - "Omega Healing Centre." 6 boys.
       The New Vision, ~ June 03, 2009
       UGANDA -- PASTOR Michael Kyazze of the Omega Healing Centre in Kampala was yesterday interrogated over sodomy allegations against Pastor Robert Kayanja, report Herbert Ssempogo and Umaru Kashaka.
       Kyazze arrived at the Kampala Central Police Station before 10:00am where journalists, who awaited his arrival, mobbed him.
       "I was summoned to give my statement. I am glad I have come to the Central Police Station instead of Kibuli," he said. Kibuli is where the Criminal Investigation Directorate is located.

    • Govt rights body takes on Kayanja sodomy case

      [Pstr Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.
       The Observer, Written by Michael Mubangizi, 16:26, Wednesday, June 03, 2009
       UGANDA -- The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has commenced parallel investigations into allegations of sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre.
       A committee comprising three Commissioners; Constantine Karusoke, former Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons Service Joseph Etima, and Agaba Maguru has been formed to investigate the matter.
       The Observer has been told that all concerned parties in the allegations – including the accused and his accusers - have been summoned to appear before the commission.

    • WANG WANGAMBA; Which pastor is a bummer?

       
       The Observer, Written by Wang w'Angamba, 14:25, Wednesday, June 03, 2009
       UGANDA -- A prominent American evangelical preacher was once accused by his wife of sodomising her. She narrated that on the fateful day, she went to bed with her husband as usual. She soon fell asleep, only to be woken up by her husband humping away in the "wrong" place.
       In his defence, the man of God said that he had sodomised her "by mistake". He pleaded that since the two "possibilities" were close to each other, he ended up with, or rather in, the wrong one! No one, least of all his wife, bought the silly explanation. The fact that he waited for his wife to fall asleep before "unleashing the dragon" speaks volumes.
       I was reminded of the story after reading the accusations of sodomy against a leading pastor in Kampala. I, of course, have no problem with sodomy, which is really nothing more than anal and, by some definitions, oral sex. Contrary to what self-styled sex policemen Martin Sempa and Solomon Male would have you believe, sodomy is not the same thing as homosexuality, which I don't have a problem with either. Preoccupation with who sleeps with whom, when and how is really a matter for voyeurs. The only time it should concern us is when the parties involved are not consenting adults.

    • War tactics should be applied to Irish Catholic abusers and those who covered up ..

      - Has no trust in RC leaders.  
       Examiner (United States), by Mike Ference, Pittsburgh Independent Examiner, June 03, 2009
       Commentary: Every day brings new evidence that we no longer live in a civilized and principled society. The worst part, it usually concerns another case of sexual misconduct involving a Catholic priest, young children and a church hierarchy that helped to cover up the case.
       The recently unveiled 2,600-page report by the Irish Commission explaining the systematic practice of torture and molestation at the country's labor and educational institutions run by the Catholic Church for decades clearly suggests that Catholic Church Hierarchy have certainly outlived any usefulness to society.
       And they still deny the heinous crimes and expect their weekly bounty of donations. But as more and more cases of abuse – and cover-up – come to light, one begins to wonder whether the Pope and his entourage of red hats should be considered any more trustworthy than, say, Saddam Hussein.

    • Vero pastor faces more child porn charges

      [~ 2009 Gerard Lamothe*] - ex RC priest (married). Child porn visible through window.  
       WPTV
       Reported by WPTV staff, webteam § wptv.com , Last Update: 5:22 pm, ~ June 03, 2009
       VERO BEACH, FL -- Police arrested Gerald Lamothe for the second time at his workplace, Pastoral Counseling Center Wednesday afternoon.
       According to police, Lamothe, a former priest, is accused of having child pornography on his workplace computer.
       Vero Beach Police Department received information stating that there was a computer monitor at a business, which was displaying "child pornography". The business was closed, but the monitor was visible through a window, says a police report.

    • Pastor Indicted For Stealing $432K From Church

      [2002-07 Fr Patrick Dunne*] - RCC. > US $432k.
       WPIX, BY PIERRE BONNY | wpix.com , 1:27 PM EDT, June 3, 2009
       WHITE PLAINS (NY), (WPIX) -- A White Plains pastor has been indicted for stealing over $400,000 from his church.
       Rev. Patrick Dunne, 63, pleaded not guilty in Westchester County Court Wednesday morning to charges he stole $432,000 from Our Lady of Sorrows Church in White Plains.
       He was arraigned on an indictment of one count of grand larceny in the second degree, a felony that carries up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

    • 'Pastors are after cars, suits, not hearts', says one of them

      - Pentecostal Pastor Michael Kyazze speaks out.  
       The Observer, Written by Michael Mubangizi, 16:28, Wednesday, June 03, 2009
       UGANDA -- A Kampala pastor has accused colleagues of amassing material wealth while paying a deaf ear to social vices that threaten to rip apart Pentecostal churches in Uganda.
       Pastor Michael Kyazze, Head of Discipline in the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda, says Kampala is a city of hundreds of clergymen competing to drive posh cars and wear expensive suits while sodomy gets firmly entrenched in born-again churches.
       "Kampala is a city of clergies with about 700 pastors but where are they when we want them to clean the church? Why are they silent about the plight of boys who have fallen victim in a system we are serving?" asked Kyazze.

    • How the Vatican sold its soul

      - RCC's financial shenanigans.  
       The Guardian (United Kingdom), http://www. guardian.co. uk/commentis free/belief/ 2009/jun/03/ vatican- central-bank by Philip Willan, guardian.co.uk , Wednesday, June 3, 2009
       The Vatican appears to have an enduring vocation for Italian political and financial scandal. Secrecy and intrigue were the order of the day when American archbishop Paul Marcinkus held sway in the Bastion of Nicholas V, the medieval tower housing the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the Vatican's central bank.
       The requirements of a clandestine global struggle against atheist communism may explain the choice of business partners such as Michele Sindona and Roberto Calvi, whose mafia links and ruinous bankruptcies brought lasting discredit on the Catholic church three decades ago.
       The Vatican hoped that a goodwill payment of $240m to the creditors of Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano's would salve its conscience and erase the memory of Marcinkus's inept and dishonest banking practices. We were led to believe that a new broom, wielded by the lay banker Angelo Caloia, had since swept the premises of the IOR.

    • Alberto 'Father Oprah' Cutie's Controversy Inspires More Support Than Outrage

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, becomes Episcopalian.    
       Hispanic Business, June 3, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- The rise, fall, and rise again, of Father Alberto Cutie is making international headlines -- even a month after the former tabloid magazine exposed Cutie's secret relationship with a girlfriend.
       After a Spanish language magazine posted pictures of the Cuban-American priest, Cutie almost immediately defected from the Catholic Church to become an Episcopalian, which allows priests to marry.

    • Pope grants congregation power to more easily laicize some priests

      - RC hq keeps power about child abuse in its grasp.  
       Catholic News Service, By Cindy Wooden, June 03, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has granted the Congregation for Clergy new powers to dismiss from the priesthood and release from the obligation of celibacy priests who are living with women, who have abandoned their ministry for more than five years or who have engaged in seriously scandalous behavior.
       The new powers do not apply to cases involving the sexual abuse of minors by a priest; those cases continue to be subject to special rules and procedures overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
       The new faculties were announced by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the clergy congregation, in an April 18 letter to the world's bishops. Catholic News Service obtained a copy of the letter in early June.

    • Sickening to claim that perpetrators of abuse are victims too

      - RCC.  
       Irish Post, ~ June 03, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE RECENT Ryan Commission report on the abuse of children in institutions in Ireland is almost beyond belief.
       The very people charged with taking care of vulnerable children seized the opportunity to abuse them both physically and sexually.
       Let's be perfectly clear about one point in all this.
       We are not talking about isolated incidents.

    • LAWMAKER MARKEY RIPS BISHOP DIMARZIO

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions occurred.  
       Catholic League, June 3, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses remarks made yesterday by New York Assemblywoman Margaret Markey:
       Catholics in New York State are very concerned about a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey that would discriminate against the Catholic Church by opening the door to endless claims of sexual abuse while at the same time giving the public schools a pass. Obviously, Catholic leaders oppose her bill and much prefer the legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Vito Lopez which would establish an equal playing field for private and public institutions alike. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio would vigorously oppose Markey's bill and support Lopez's effort. What is surprising is the disturbing language used by Markey in retaliation.
       Markey has accused Bishop DiMarzio of being "on the borderline of jeopardizing his not-for-profit status." She also went so far as to warn him: "If I were the bishop, I would walk very cautiously."

    • The fight against child abuse

      - General community.
       The Oregonian, by Paul Mones, guest opinion, 8:30 AM, Tuesday June 02, 2009
       OREGON -- Our state legislators are in the midst of dealing with one of the worst fiscal crises in recent memory. No doubt they will have to make many tough, unpopular decisions this year. However there is one legislative decision they need not fret over because it is a no-brainer. House Bill 2827 is a simple piece of legislation that gives an extra measure of justice to victims of child abuse.
       In the words of one of the bill's co-sponsors Chris Garrett (D-Lake Oswego ) - the other sponsor is Rep. Andy Olson (R-Albany) - this bill "will ensure an effective civil remedy for victims of child abuse."
       The bill extends the present statute of limitations by giving victims until the age of 40 to file an action against their abuser, requiring that claims be initiated by the time the victim turns 40 years old or within five years of when the injury or the connection between the abuse and the injury is discovered. The bill has unanimously passed the house but curiously has not received the same overwhelmingly positive reception in the Senate. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:48 AM, June 03, 2009]

    • ANNOUNCEMENT MEDIA KIT

      - RCC.
       Archdiocese of Omaha, ~ June 03, 2009
       OMAHA (NE) -- On June 3, 2009, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed The Most Reverend George J. Lucas, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, as Archbishop of Omaha. He will be the fifth Archbishop of Omaha and the tenth to lead the archdiocese when he is installed on July 22, 2009.

    • Lucas is chosen to be Omaha archbishop

      - RCC.  
       World-Herald, BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH, ~ June 03, 2009
       OMAHA (NE) -- After nearly two years of waiting for a new archbishop, the 220,000 Roman Catholics of northeast Nebraska learned today that they have a new leader – and that the force will be with them.
       Bishop George Lucas of Springfield, Ill., will be the new archbishop of Omaha, replacing the retiring Elden F. Curtiss.
       Lucas' name, beyond being the same as the director of "Star Wars," won't mean much to Nebraskans, but they should begin getting to know him today as he is presented in Omaha.

    • Pope Appoints George Lucas Archbishop of Omaha

         
       Vatican Radio, June 03, 09
       VATICAN CITY (RV) -- On Wednesday Pope Benedict appointed George Joseph Lucas Archbishop of Omaha in the United States of America.
       Archbishop Lucas, formerly bishop of Springfield Illinois, takes over from Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss, who has retired on reaching the age limit of 75.
       Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1949, he was the eldest of four children and attended St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South, and then Cardinal Glennon College.

    • Officials: Waco area sees recent rash of sex crimes against children

      [Pastor, Woman teacher to boy, another teacher, university student]  
       Waco Tribune-Herald, By Erin Quinn, Wednesday, June 03, 2009
       WACO (TX) -- The year isn't half over, and the Waco area has seen more than 20 people charged in sex crimes against children. Among those, a Bellmead pastor, two teachers and a Baylor University student.
       And Monday, a 27-year-old former Brazos Middle School teacher pleaded guilty in McLennan County district court to 10 counts of sexual assault of a child. The victim was a 14-year-old male student. She will be sentenced July 26.

    • Hottest Places in Hell

     
       Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 03, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserve their neutrality."
       This quote is usually attributed to the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. It's a loose translation from Dante's Inferno.
       That was one of those things they made me read in school, and I wound up loving it. It's just an allegorical tale, but it's very visual. And since I grew up in a hellfire & brimstone sort of church, Dante's visual metaphors were the sort that I could easily latch onto.
       In Dante's Inferno, people at various levels of hell are afflicted by their own chief sin. They're people who tried to justify and rationalize their sins, and who are unrepentant.

    • Care children 'need help for five years' after leaving

       
       Irish Independent, By Shane Hickey and Ralph Riegel, Wednesday June 03 2009
       IRELAND -- CHILDREN who are in the care of the State need to be monitored and helped for five years after they leave, according to the victims of residential abuse.
       Yesterday, groups representing those who were attacked in institutions started talks with the Government over the recent Ryan report, which will culminate in discussions with Taoiseach Brian Cowen this evening.
       The Government has yet to "name a price" on what compensation package it is now demanding from Ireland's religious congregations over the abuse of children in care facilities.

    • Increased payment to be sought from religious orders

      - RC Orders.
       The Irish Times, By BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent, June 03, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE GOVERNMENT will seek a substantial increase in compensation from the 18 religious orders named in the Ryan report into child abuse, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said yesterday.
       However, Mr O'Keeffe refused to put an exact figure on the amount.
       The Minister said that the Government believed that the compensation offered by the religious orders, which was capped at €127 million, and agreed by then minister for education Michael Woods in 2002, was not now enough.

    • Brothers denied abuse days before report

      [Decades to 2009 May 15 - Christian Brothers] - RCC. Denied their cruelty, seductions.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 03, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE CHRISTIAN Brothers continued to deny as recently as May 15th last, five days prior to publication of the Ryan report, that there was any abuse in institutions run by them. In letters to the Residential Institutions Redress Board, the Brothers repeatedly insisted that no abuse took place.
       This is confirmed in letters seen by The Irish Times : dated May 15th last, concerning the O'Brien Institute in Dublin; November 20th, 2008, concerning Artane industrial school in Dublin; November 7th, 2008, concerning Glin industrial school in Limerick; and July 18th, 2008, concerning St Joseph's industrial school in Tralee.
       All the letters were signed by the Christian Brothers' province leader Br Kevin Mullan, who was also a member of the Cori team which negotiated the 2002 redress agreement with the State.

    • Taoiseach to meet abuse victims

     
       The Irish Times, By CHARLIE TAYLOR and PATSY McGARRY, June 03, 2009
      IRELAND -- Groups representing former residents of institutions run by religious congregations are to meet with Taoiseach Brian Cowen this evening.
       There will also be "a silent march of solidarity" with former residents of the institutions in Dublin at noon, from Parnell Square to the Dáil, where wreaths will be laid "in memory of the living and dead" of the institutions.
       Among the groups expected to be represented at the meeting with the Taoiseach, which is due to begin at 6pm are members of Right of Place, Right to Peace, Alliance Victims' Support, SOCA UK, SOCA Ireland, Aislinn, Survivors of Institutional Abuse (SOIA) and the Irish Survivors of Institutions, International groups.

    • Native judge to be new chair of residential schools commission

      [Four Churches and the Government] - Indigenous children.  
       Globe and Mail, By JOE FRIESEN AND KIRK MAKIN, ~ June 03, 2009
       CANADA – Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair, a respected aboriginal judge from Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench, will be appointed the new chair of Canada's residential schools truth and reconciliation commission, The Globe and Mail has learned.
       Judge Sinclair will be joined by two new commissioners, who sources said are Wilton Littlechild, the Alberta regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations and Marie Wilson, a former regional director of CBC North who is married to Stephen Kakfwi, a Dene former premier of the Northwest Territories.

    • Irish PM to meet abuse victims

      - RCC and Irish State.  
       BBC News, ~ June 03, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is due to hold talks on Wednesday with groups representing victims of child abuse in Catholic institutions.
       The meeting will discuss the Ryan report, which revealed the scale of abuse of children by members of some religious orders.
       There will also be a "march of solidarity" with former residents of the institutions in Dublin.

    • An unlimited appetite for past obscenities

      - Mary Raftery exposed it 10yrs ago, and book was published.
       Spiked by Michael Fitzpatrick, ~ June 03, 2009
       IRELAND -- The report of the Ryan commission into the physical and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by religious orders in Ireland has so far provoked only pious apologies and token gestures (1).
       It is 10 years since Mary Raftery exposed, in a series of television documentaries, the systematic brutality that prevailed in residential schools for the children of the poor in Ireland through most of the twentieth century. Her findings were comprehensively documented in Suffer the Little Children, co-written with Eoin O'Sullivan, an academic authority on the 'industrial' schools (2).
       The series provoked a public outcry and an official apology (the first of many) from the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern – and the decision to appoint the commission of inquiry that finally reported last month. The main event of the intervening period was a deal (in 2002) between those largely responsible for the abuse – the Irish government and the religious orders – to limit the financial liability of the latter to compensation claims.

    • TAX THREAT VS. BISHOP

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions occurred. Threat.  
       The New York Post, By BRENDAN SCOTT, June 3, 2009
       ALBANY, NEW YORK STATE -- The Brooklyn bishop who's threatening to close churches and schools in districts of lawmakers backing a sex-offender law might be risking his diocese's tax-exempt status, the legislation's sponsor said yesterday.
       Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has pushed the political envelope with his vehement opposition to her bill, which would make it easier for people sexually assaulted as kids to sue.
       "He's on the borderline of jeopardizing his not-for-profit status" by openly politicking, she said. "If I were the bishop, I would walk very cautiously."

    • Proposal would require sex abuse prevention training for teachers

     
       Daily Herald, ~ June 03, 2009
       ILLINOIS -- A little-noticed provision in a proposed Illinois law would, for the first time, require schools to provide training to prevent sex abuse by teachers.
       The proposed change comes following a string of high-profile cases involving teachers accused of abusing students, which gave rise to questions about what schools are doing to protect students. …
       Barbara Blaine, executive director of the Survivors' Network for Those Abused by Priests, says such programs are driven mostly by insurance risk prevention, as indicated by VIRTUS being developed by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group.
       The most important thing, Blaine said, is a shift in attitudes. Though the vast majority of teachers are good, caring people, parents and teachers have to realize that, like some priests, even trusted teachers do abuse children, and allegations should be taken seriously.

    • Sex abuse victims lobby in Albany for limitations bill

      [1960-63 Unnamed priest] - RCC. Girl.
       Newsday, BY JAMES T. MADORE | james.madore § newsday.com , 10:13 PM EDT, June 2, 2009
      ALBANY (New York State) - Beth McCabe is a smiling 12-year-old with wavy dark hair in the photograph on display in the Legislative Office Building.
       The former Lindenhurst resident is one of 18 adults who contributed childhood snaps to an exhibit aimed at winning support for temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases. Eight of the photos are of people who grew up on Long Island.
       McCabe, now 60, said a visiting Catholic priest abused her between 1960 and 1963. "I'm here as proof that these things happen," she said. "And I support this bill because it provides a window where victims can come forward to expose predators who continue to abuse."

    • 2nd diocese adds $1.2M to settlement for molesting

      [Frs Guillen and Velez] - RCC. US $1.2m extra SETTLEMENT. Male.
       Arizona Daily Star, By Stephanie Innes, Published Jun.03.2009
       TUCSON, ARIZONA -- A former Yuma man who was molested by a Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson priest has received an additional $1.2 million settlement.
       The Diocese of Monterey in California agreed last week to pay the money to the 29-year-old man, who says he endured sexual abuse by two Catholic priests – the Rev. Juan Guillen, who is in an Arizona state prison for child molestation, and the Rev. John Velez, whose whereabouts are unknown.
       The man, now living in Salinas and working in sports promotion, had already received a settlement of $600,000 under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy reorganization, which was completed in 2005. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:03 AM, June 03, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed June 03, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Thu June 04, 2009 edition:


    • Former youth pastor charged with molestation

      [~ 2003-04 Mr Jose Coronado -NEW*] - "Church of God of the First Born." Male youth.  
       The Daily Commercial, http://air america.com/ ronreagan/ blog/ 2009/jun/03/ keith-olbermann- cheney-and- torture-over- his-head ; By; MILLARD K. IVES, June 03, 2009
       CENTER HILL (FL) -- A former youth pastor was charged with four counts of sexual battery Tuesday, on accusations he had a four-year sexual relationship with a teen-aged member of the church.
       Jose Alfredo Coronado, 38, of Center Hill, was arrested at his job at the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections office. He is being held at the Sumter County jail in lieu of $120,000 bail.
       Sumter County Sheriff's officials said the 18-year-old alleged victim went to the sheriff's office on Tuesday, saying he had been sexually involved with Coronado between the ages of 12 and 14. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:50 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Westminster man accused of sexually assaulting boys

      [1990s Mr James McLees (58) -NEW*] - Baptist. 2 boys.
       Fox 31, Web Staff, June 3, 2009
       WESTMINSTER, Colo. - A longtime Boy Scouts leader faces allegations that he molested two young boys a decade ago.
       Westminster Police arrested James Gordon McLees, 58, Tuesday on charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.
       Authorities say he was active in church organizations as well as being involved in the Boy Scouts of America throughout the Denver metro area over the last ten years. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:18 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • What We Do

      [2008 Jacob Max* (85)] - Judaist. Suspended sentence. Woman.  
       Baltimore Jewish Times, by Andrew A. Buerger, Publisher, ~ June 04, 2009
       MARYLAND -- How many times have you been watching the TV news when they interview the person living next door to a recently arrested child molester or serial killer and they say, "Gee, he was such a good neighbor; he even helped me shovel my driveway when it snowed."
       According to some sociologists, many molesters are kind, endearing people. In fact, that's how they lure in their victims.
       So it shocked many here, but is no surprise to some experts, that last month Rabbi Jacob A. Max was found guilty of fourth-degree sexual molestation. Here's a guy who, over the past six decades, has officiated at countless simchot in our community. He was there to officiate at a funeral when someone was in need; likewise at births, weddings, b'nai mitzvah and more. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:00 PM, June 04, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: ~May 15, 2009; April 13, 2009]

    • Congregations: statement

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, for June 05, 2009
       IRELAND – Statement issued by the religious congregations following their meeting with the Government:
       The congregations, who had an initial meeting with an [sic] Taoiseach today, indicated their willingness to make financial and other contributions towards a broad range of measures, designed to alleviate the hurt caused to people who were abused in their care.
       The congregations will contribute towards a trust, proposed by an Taoiseach, and a process has now commenced to establish how this can be achieved.
       Each congregation is fully committed to identifying its resources, both financial and other, within a transparent process, with a view to delivering upon commitments made today. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:13 PM, June 04, 2009]

    • Government statement: full text

      - "Dismay and abhorrence."
       The Irish Times, for June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- Statement released after the Taoiseach's meeting with religious congregations:
       The Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen TD, along with ministers Batt O'Keeffe, Dermot Ahern, Mary Harney and Minister for Children Barry Andrews, met in Government Buildings with representatives of Religious Congregations to begin the process of addressing with them the issues arising from the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
       At the outset, the Taoiseach pointed out that the Government had accepted that the failings of the State had clearly contributed to the conditions in which the pain and suffering experienced by thousands of children in ways documented in the report of the commission came about and went undetected.
       However, Mr Cowen said, "I must express the dismay and abhorrence which, with the whole of the population, we have experienced on reading the report and the catalogue of suffering, deprivation and abuse which was the lot of so many children committed to institutions under the care of religious communities.
       [COMMENT: So, the strong RC focus on yet denial of sex by its clergy has led the leader of an RC nation to express "abhorrence."  Defiance of sensible scriptures does lead to disaster, doesn't it! ENDS.]

    • Victims happy with Cowen's role but still sceptical about orders

     
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, for June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- SURVIVORS' GROUPS: GROUPS REPRESENTING former residents of children's institutions run by 18 religious orders investigated by the Ryan Commission praised the Taoiseach last night but remained sceptical about the congregations following their meeting with him yesterday.
       Christine Buckley of the Aislinn Centre said last night she was pleased "with the determined effort made by the Taoiseach" at yesterday's meeting and expressed the hope that "the period of procrastination and game-playing of the religious appears to be coming to an end".
       But she was fearful the congregations might emphasise the State's responsibility for the institutions they managed "in favour of themselves in monetary terms".

    • Religious orders agree to independent audit of assets

      - RCC.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- NEGOTIATIONS: AN INDEPENDENT audit of assets belonging to 18 religious orders which were party to the 2002 compensation agreement with the State is to be completed within two weeks for presentation to the Government. The 2002 deal capped the orders' contribution at €127 million.
       The congregations, whose management of residential institutions for children led to last week's Ryan report, agreed to the audit at a meeting with the Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Government Buildings yesterday.
       They agreed to contribute to a trust the Taoiseach proposed be set up, so further financial and other supports can be provided to people who had been in the institutions as children. They also committed themselves to identifying resources, "both financial and other, within a transparent process with a view to delivering upon commitments made today."
       [COMMENT: Memo to the auditors -- "Be quick, because the assets might prove slippery." ENDS.]

    • Article says indemnity was unconstitutional

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, for June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- 2002 AGREEMENT: THE INDEMNITY element of the 2002 agreement between the State and the 18 religious congregations which ran institutions for children was unconstitutional, according to an article in the latest edition of the Irish Law Times .
       Titled The Congregational Indemnity Agreement: An Unconstitutional Endowment of Religion , it is written by Eoin Daly, a PhD candidate at the faculty of law in UCC and a Government of Ireland research scholar in the humanities and social sciences.
       He writes that the indemnity offended Article 44.2.2 of the Constitution, which states that "the State guarantees not to endow any religion".

    • Another pastor quizzed over sodomy

      [Pstr Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.  
       The New Vision, By Herbert Ssempogo and Simon Longoli, ~ June 04, 2009
       UGANDA -- ANOTHER pastor was yesterday questioned, bringing to five the number of clergy interrogated over allegations of sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja.
       Felix Ssemujju of Omega Healing Centre in Namasuba, a Kampala suburb, arrived at the Kampala Central Police Station at 10:00am and addressed journalists.
       Ssemujju said last November, one of Kayanja's accusers, Samson Mukisa, approached him and narrated his ordeal.

    • Priest accused of exposing himself in restaurant is fined

      [2009 Mar 26 - Fr Roger Knapp*] - RCC. Exposing, fondling himself.  
       Detroit Free Press, By CECIL ANGEL, Free Press Staff Writer, June 4, 2009
       WOODHAVEN (MI) -- A Catholic priest accused of exposing himself to a waitress while he sat at a table in a Mexican restaurant was sentenced today in 33rd District Court in Woodhaven to nine months probation and fines and costs of $595.00.
       The Rev. Roger Knapp also was ordered to stay away from the Amigo's Mexican Restaurant in Woodhaven and to have no contact with the waitress.
       He must attend a sex offender program for 10 weeks and undergo a psychiatric examination. Knapp, 57, of Gibraltar, pleaded guilty to being an disorderly person, a misdemeanor. An indecent exposure charge was dropped. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:34 PM, June 04, 2009]

    • Gibraltar priest accused of indecent exposure gets probation

      [2009 Mar 26 - Fr Roger Knapp*] - RCC. Exposing, fondling himself.
       The Detroit News, Valerie Olander / June 04, 2009
       WOODHAVEN (MI) -- A priest was sentenced today to nine months probation and ordered to attend a 10-week sex offender class after pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from an indecent exposure allegation.
       The Rev. Roger Knapp, 57, pastor of St. Victor Catholic Church in Gibraltar, agreed to the plea deal last month. The city attorney dropped a lewdness charge.
       A waitress at a Mexican restaurant in Woodhaven said the priest exposed and fondled himself under a table on March 26. Knapp claimed he was wiping salsa off his pants.

    • PUBLIC SCHOOL ABUSE VICTIMS IN NY STATE: RELIEF IS ON THE WAY

      - Equality of treatment likely.
       Catholic League, June 4, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Paul Vitello has a news story in today's New York Times reporting on the decision by New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey to amend her bill on the sexual abuse of children. Her previous bill only covered private institutions like the Catholic Church, leaving in place protections afforded public institutions. This led many Catholics to oppose her bill and support the one sponsored by Assemblyman Vito Lopez which treats public and private institutions equally. There is still one major difference between the two bills: Markey's allows for a one year suspension of the statute of limitations, thus permitting anyone to file a claim regardless of when the abuse occurred.
       Catholic League president Bill Donohue outlined a new campaign:
       The statute of limitations is an integral provision of justice, and that is why the Lopez bill is still preferable to Markey's new one. But if Markey's bill prevails, the Catholic League will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in a massive public education campaign to alert those who have been sexually abused by a public school employee that they now have one year to sue the schools, even if the abuse took place when JFK was president. We will use every media outlet available.

    • Thousands raped and abused in Catholic schools in Ireland

      - RCC and Irish Republic.  
       The Guardian (United Kingdom), with video, by Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent, guardian.co.uk , Wednesday, May 20, 2009
       IRELAND -- The shocking scale of sexual and physical abuse in educational institutions in Ireland run by the Catholic church was revealed today in a report describing how thousands of boys and girls were raped, abused and exploited by the religious brothers and nuns who were supposed to look after them.
       The 2,600-page report by Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse found that for decades rape was "endemic" in more than 250 Irish Catholic care institutions from the 1930s to the 1990s, and that the church in Ireland protected paedophiles in its ranks from arrest.
       "A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys. Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from," it said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:29 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Courtroom drama at Abbey depicted institutional cruelty

      - A play in 1961 depicted the degradation.
       The Irish Times, June 02, 2009
       A District Court judge brought the issue of abuse to the stage, writes CAROL COULTER , Legal Affairs Editor
       IRELAND -- IN VOLUME 4 of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse , which describes the political, social and economic context of the industrial school system, there is a short sub-chapter titled A Play at the Abbey Theatre .
       This describes how, in January 1961, a play called The Evidence I Shall Give was premiered at the Abbey, running initially for 42 performances, followed by four other runs and totalling 87 performances over the year, which, Mr Justice Ryan comments, was "most unusual".
       The play was written by Richard Johnson, a judge of the District Court in Co Kerry, and was a court-room drama depicting a day in the life of a District Court judge. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:05 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Attorney calls for investigation into Diocese of Monterey

      [Frs Guillen and Velez] - RCC. US $1.2m. Male.  
       The Salinas Californian, BY SUNITA VIJAYAN, svijayan § thecalifornian.com, June 4, 2009
       MONTEREY (CA) -- An attorney for a man claiming he was sexually abused by two former Diocese of Monterey priests called Wednesday for a criminal grand jury investigation into how church officials report claims of child molestation.
       On Friday, the Diocese of Monterey agreed to pay $1.2 million to the former altar boy, who claims that from 1988 to 1994 he was molested by two priests, the Rev. Juan Guillen of Tucson, Ariz., and The Rev. John Velez, residence unknown.
       The victim, "John Doe," claimed church officials had mishandled the allegations, denying his mother's request for the diocese to pay for counseling, and discouraging his family from making a report to legal authorities. …
       Responding to Manly's statement, diocese spokesman Warren Hoy said Wednesday afternoon that there is "no cover-up" within the church, in terms of reporting child molestation claims.

    • Irish Americans shocked, outraged at Irish child abuse report

      - RCC.    
       Irish Central, By APRIL DREW, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer , ~ June 04, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Irish Americans have reacted with outrage and disgust to the Ryan Commission report on clerical abuse of children in Ireland.
       The 2,600-page report concluded nine years of investigations into the claims by thousands of adults that they were abused for decades at reform schools and that the Irish government failed to do anything to stop it.
       Over 30,000 Irish children, now between 50 and 80 years of age, were sent to industrial schools, orphanages and reformatories because they were deemed "dysfunctional."

    • Salinas priest facing molest charges due in court Friday

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.  
       The Salinas Californian, Staff report, June 3, 2009
       SALINAS (CA) -- A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday for a former Salinas parish priest accused of sexually molesting a teenager, his attorney said on Wednesday.
       The Rev. Antonio Cortes of St. Mary of the Nativity Catholic Church, was arrested on April 16 after the 16-year-old filed a report with Salinas police. Cortes is accused of molesting the boy and giving him alcohol since he was 14. He remains in Monterey County Jail on charges including providing alcohol to a minor, sodomy and possession of child pornography.
       At the preliminary hearing, the judge will decide if there is enough evidence for Cortes to stand trial. The Rev. Antonio Cortes of St. Mary of the Nativity Catholic Church, was arrested on April 16 after the 16-year-old filed a report with Salinas police. [LOOK BACK: April 17, 2009]

    • Pastor pleads not guilty to stealing $432G from White Plains church

      [2002-07 Fr Patrick Dunne*] - RCC. > US $432k.
       The Journal News, By Rebecca Baker, rebaker § lohud.com, June 4, 2009
       WHITE PLAINS (NY) -- The Rev. Patrick Dunne was solemn and silent yesterday as he entered a not-guilty plea to stealing $432,000 from his White Plains church, including money intended for Hurricane Katrina victims.
       Dunne, the 63-year-old former pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, was arraigned in state Supreme Court in White Plains on an indictment charging him with second-degree grand larceny. He is accused of stealing the money over a six-year period and using it for personal expenses and recreation, including gambling.
       The case went to a grand jury last week after months of negotiations between prosecutors and Dunne's lawyer failed to produce a plea bargain. Dunne, pastor of the Mamaroneck Avenue church since 1991, is facing up to 15 years in prison on the felony charge. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:02 AM

    • Priest arraigned on charges of stealing from parish accounts

      [2002-07 Fr Patrick Dunne*] - RCC. > US $432k.
       Mid-Hudson News, June 04, 2009
       WHITE PLAINS (NY) – A former parish priest at Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in White Plains was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of grand larceny in the second degree, a felony.
       Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said that it is alleged that over a six year period from January 1, 2002 to December 30, 2007, Patrick Dunne, 64, of White Plains, stole over $432,000 from various parish accounts. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:58 AM]

    • I saw a great movie last night

      - Christians. Movie "All God's Children."
       Tim Fischer, http://www. timfischer1. com/Site/Blog/ Entries/ 2009/6/3_ I_saw_a_ great_movie_ last_night. html ; June 03, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Kim and I saw a great movie last night "All God's Children" and met two very cool movie makers: Luci Westphal, Scott Solary.
       Since you are here reading this you probably have an idea of the importance of survivors finding their voice and how after all the years of keeping quiet, we have such a need to shout out about what happened to us, and our desire to help stop it from happing from anyone else!
       So once we start talking it doesn't do much good if we don't have someone listening to us. These two (Luci & Scott) have listened and put together a wonderful heartfelt succinct movie that will touch your heart.
       I walked away with a feeling of vindication. That someone on the outside gets it. I feel I could talk to them the same as I do a member of SNAP. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:50 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Diamond To Throw Out First Pitch At Minor League Baseball Game

     
       The Gorilla Position, ~ June 04, 2009
       WILIMINGTON (DE) -- Former professional wrestler Pat Kennedy (a/k/a Simon Diamond in World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the original Extreme Championship Wrestling) and former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Al Chesley will throw out the first pitch at a Wilmington (DE) Blue Rocks minor league baseball game June 10, according to the team Wednesday.
       The two will represent SNAP --Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests.

    • Orthodox Video Silent on Reporting Sexual Abuse to Police

      - Orthodox Judaists.
       Forward, By Rebecca Dube, Published June 03, 2009, issue of June 12, 2009.
       NEW YORK -- A government-funded video made by one of New York's largest Orthodox social service agencies – touted as its guide for dealing with child sexual abuse – makes no mention of abuse as a crime to be reported to police.
       Critics say the video raises questions about Ohel Children's Home and Family Services, which is heavily supported by taxpayers and deeply involved in the Brooklyn district attorney's efforts surrounding child sexual abuse in ultra-traditional Orthodox Jewish communities. Some Orthodox leaders, those critics say, including those at Ohel, have tried wrongly to handle sexual abuse within the community, excluding secular law enforcement authorities – leading to abuse being covered up and cases of pedophiles remaining free to molest more children.
       "The only way to begin dealing with this issue is to begin reporting any incidents of sexual abuse directly to the authorities," said Lonnie Soury, spokesman for Survivors for Justice, a group of Orthodox sexual abuse survivors. "Any organization that advocates anything but that is doing so at the expense of children's health." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:43 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Abuse in Ireland: Will we scrutinise our institutions in SA?

         
       Thought Leader, By Patric Tariq Mellet, June 03, 2009
       SOUTH AFRICA -- There are so many stories and issues in the lives of South Africans that have for too long had to take a backseat in our media which seems to be stuck in a groove. Generally the South African media are besotted with the world of politicians and high-society figures, coasting from one juicy story to the next highlighting politicians' trials, tribulations, foibles, escapades, indiscretions, antagonisms, failures and achievements. The daily opera of the political estate takes precedent over every other aspect of life. Good journalism covering other aspects of our national life, good and bad, has suffered as a result.
       Important stories, exposés, investigative journalism in the civil arena and the interrogation of the business sector, of the churches and of what we call civil society have fallen by the wayside over the past decade. It is often projected that the government is the end all and be all of life in South Africa. From that focus everything is done to assail government, almost like a piñata assault or beating the whipping boy for all of South Africa's ills. While government is painted as the sick beast wildly thrashing about on a road to nowhere, it is often counterposed that a virtuous business sector and even more virtuous NGO sector have the answers and are models to emulate. Others are turning to churches in their droves. In terms of the NGO, charities and religious sector, often referred to as civil society, there is virtually no serious critique.
       Over the last week in Ireland, all hell broke loose as a nation was forced to look deep inside itself at an ugly side of its national life, when the Ryan Commission Report into Child Abuse in Catholic institutions was released by the government. The assumption had always been that the church filled the gaps that the state could not reach. The Catholic Church was projected as the social cohesion life blood of Ireland working tirelessly in the fields of health, welfare, education and so on. The selfless work of the church was heralded for all to emulate. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:37 AM, ~ June 04, 2009]

    • Child abuse groups say Cowen meeting was positive

      - RCC.  
       Belfast Telegraph, Thursday, June 4, 2009
       IRELAND -- Representatives of institutional child abuse victims have described a meeting with the Taoiseach yesterday evening as "very positive".
       Brian Cowen met a number of organisations to discuss how the Government should respond to the recent Ryan Report, which revealed widespread abuse in religious-run institutions across the country.
       Victim support groups have reacted to the findings by calling for statutory child protection guidelines and the naming of a date for a referendum on children's rights.

    • Needs of abuse victims 'priority'

      - RCC and Irish Republic.
       BBC News, ~ June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- The needs of the victims of child abuse in Catholic institutions must be the Irish government's "particular priority", the Taoiseach has said.
       Brian Cowen was speaking after talks with victims groups on Wednesday to discuss the Ryan report into abuse by members of some religious orders.
       He apologised for "the failure to intervene, to detect your pain or to come to your rescue."

    • Good can surely come out of Ryan report

     
       The Southern Star, By Hilary Wakeman, Saturday June 6, 2009
       IRELAND -- 'THE stuff of nightmares', 'The Irish Holocaust', 'A crisis for Ireland'. Ever since the Ryan report came out we have not been able to stop talking about the terrible history of abuse of children that it has revealed. Turn on the radio and there's a discussion going on about it. Open a newspaper and every columnist and commentator is writing about it. Families talk about it, friends talk about it and even total strangers ask each other what they think about it. Ireland is in deep shock.
       One response is to puzzle over what sort of culture there was in those times which made possible such horrific cruelty to small children and young people. It seems to have been a combination of centuries of repression by a foreign nation and, maybe as a direct result, a desire to place 'godly' Irish people on a pedestal and treat them as though they themselves were small gods.
       When my family and I moved to Ireland, 13 years ago, we were astonished by the way some Catholic clergy (not all of them) expected to have everything done for them, as if the people were their servants. They did not seem to expect to wait their turn in a queue, or to have to pay for things the way ordinary human beings did. I have to admit, as a Church of Ireland clergyperson, that it was touching that clergy of other denominations were in some places given the same sort of queue-jumping priorities. That politeness always seemed a nice bit of ecumenism, even when it didn't feel right to take advantage of it.

    • Homeless man waiting since August for residential school compensation

       
       CBC News, June 03, 2009
       CANADA -- A homeless man in Calgary has been waiting nearly a year for his government compensation cheque for the abuse he suffered in a residential school.
       Reggie Prairie Chicken, 61, learned in August 2008 he qualifies for a five-figure payment under the federal compensation program for former residential school students.
       His lawyer, Tony Merchant, said lengthy delays in paying the compensation is a final insult from Ottawa for people who suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse in residential schools. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:20 AM,, June 04, 2009]

    • Westminster youth worker accused of assault

      [1990s Mr James McLees* (58)] - Baptist. 2 boys.  
       The Denver Post, By 9News and The Denver Post, Posted: June/04/2009
       WESTMINSTER (CO) -- A 58-year-old Westminster man long associated with Boy Scouts of America and church youth groups in the metro region has been accused of sex assault on two boys a decade ago.
       Gordon McLees was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse, police said Wednesday.
       Police told 9News that McLees' accusers are brothers who told police only recently that they were touched inappropriately by McLees several times when he was a volunteer religion teacher at Tri-City Baptist Church in Westminster 10 years ago.

    • Man involved with Boy Scouts accused of sexual assault

      [1990s Mr James McLees* (58)] - Baptist. 2 boys.
       9 News, written by: Jeffrey Wolf, ~ June 04, 2009
       WESTMINSTER (CO) -- Police have arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting two boys nearly a decade ago.
       Westminster Police arrested 58-year-old James Gordon McLees on charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child pattern of abuse.
       Police say it was not until very recently that the two brothers told investigators that McLees inappropriately touched them several occasions while he was a volunteer religion teacher at Tri-City Baptist Church.

    • State cannot just absolve itself of blame for abuse

      - Irish State and RCC.  
       The Southern Star, By Editor, for Saturday June 6, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE State cannot just absolve itself of blame for the horrific systemic abuse of children in institutions run by religious orders, as outlined last week in the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, by merely putting the moral imperative on these orders to come up with further cash to compensate and help the victims. It is not that simple.
       While nothing can ever justify the abuses that were perpetrated on these innocent young children – many of them already victims of unfortunate family circumstances, mainly poverty-related, in the dark middle years of the last century – the religious orders involved were acting as agents of the State, which ultimately failed dismally in its obligation to ensure the safety and welfare of these children. And, this is where the buck must stop.
       Children were sent to these institutions for reasons that would be unthinkable in this day and age, but were accepted as the norm back in the early years of the State. In cases where a mother had died, as often happened in childbirth in those days, and the father could not eke out a living and bring up a young family at the same time, the children were taken into the care of institutions and, as families tended to be bigger then than they are now, siblings were split up and put in different institutions. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:08 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Cowen meets religious orders

     
       The Irish Times, IRISH TIMES REPORTER, June 04, 2009
       IRELAND -- Taoiseach Brian Cowen is meeting representatives from religious orders at Government Buildings today to discuss their response to the Ryan report.
       Mr Cowen is also expected to discuss an increase in the amount that congregations contribute by way of reparation to abuse victims.
       There has been widespread criticism of the deal stuck between the Government and 18 orders in 2002 which capped the orders' contribution at €127 million.

    • Dave Bakke: Next Springfield bishop will have easier assignment, thanks to Lucas

      [Bishop Daniel Ryan] - RCC. Sexual abuse.  
       The State Journal-Register, By DAVE BAKKE ( dave.bakke § sj-r.com ) , Posted Jun 03, 2009
       SPRINGFIELD (IL) -- One can only imagine what Msgr. George Lucas' reaction was in mid-winter 1999 when he received word of his new assignment from the Vatican. He was leaving his job as rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis to become bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
       His reaction could very well have been "Hooray! Oh, no!" for he had reached the top of the pyramid only to learn he was being placed atop a very shaky pyramid. It must have been like being promoted to CEO of General Motors. "Thanks, I think."
       Lucas had just been appointed to head up one of the most turbulent dioceses in the Midwest, if not the country. Springfield's previous bishop, Daniel Ryan, had just resigned early after being sued for sexual abuse. It was the latest in a string of accusations of sexual impropriety against Ryan and only the latest and highest-profile of a sordid series of alleged sexual-misconduct episodes by priests that had marred the last decade in the Springfield diocese. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:03 AM, June 04, 2009]

    • Sex Abuse Bill to Include Public Institutions, Too

     
       The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: June 4, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Addressing complaints from Roman Catholic officials and others, the state assemblywoman sponsoring a bill to temporarily lift the statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of children said on Wednesday that she would amend her proposal to apply to public as well as private entities.
       The change would give people who say they were abused in public schools, for example, the same opportunities to sue as those claiming abuse in religious or private schools.
       The assemblywoman, Margaret M. Markey, a Queens Democrat, said fellow lawmakers supporting the bill, known as the Child Victim Act, had told her that their constituents' most persistent reservations about it were based "on the idea that this was somehow unfair."

    • Oregon judge sets fall date for sexual abuse suits against Jesuits

      [Fr Patrick O'Donnell, and Jesuit Order] - RCC. Boys. Nov 30 deadline.
       The Spectator, June 03, 2009
       SEATTLE (WA) -- A federal judge in Portland announced Monday that those sexually abused by Jesuit priests have until Nov. 30 to file claims.
       The decision will affect people in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and other states, months after a string of lawsuits involving Native American children and the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus arose. The province filed for bankruptcy Feb. 17 after victims came forward.
       The decision comes on the heels of the first sexual abuse case against the Archdiocese of Seattle to go to trial, though all of the plaintiffs settled before the court made a decision. That case centered around whether Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, who served the Seattle Archdiocese from 1975 to 1991, and other diocesan officials knew that former priest Patrick O'Donnell was abusing boys. Hunthausen helped establish the Institute for Theological Studies, now the School of Theology and Ministry, at Seattle U in 1985. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:54 AM, June 04, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Thu June 04, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Fri June 05, 2009 edition:


    • Catholic orders plead poor in abuse compensation cases

      [2000s-2009 Religious Orders - NEW*] - RCC. Untrue claims denying billions of assets. 14,000 survivor claimants.  
       Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), http://www. smh.com.au/ world/catholic- orders-plead- poor-in- abuse- compensation- cases- 20090605- by1b.html ; June 5, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Catholic orders responsible for abusing Ireland's poorest children say they're struggling to come up with money to help their victims.
       Yet investigations into their net worth paint a very different picture - that of nuns and brothers with billions' worth of carefully sheltered assets worldwide.
       Irish government leaders said they expect the 18 religious orders involved in abusing children in workhouse-style schools to pay a much greater share of compensation to 14,000 state-recognised victims. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:02 AM, June 05, 2009]

    • BREAKING: Melzer Pleads Guilty in Teen Sex Case

      [? 2000s Mr Adam Melzer -? NEW*] - Judaist. Corrupting > 12 boys.  
       The Jewish Week, Staff Report, ~ June 05, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- Adam Melzer, the 35-year-old former yeshiva basketball coach charged last summer with child endangerment, pled guilty in a court appearance in Hackensack, NJ on June 3.
       A married father and member of the Orthodox community in Teaneck, Melzer was accused of persuading teenage boys whom he coached at a local day school to take naked pictures of themselves several years ago and give the photos to him.
       Four youngsters in the community contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the Teaneck Police Department last summer, leading to Melzer's arrest. Officials believe that more than a dozen teens from the community took part in or knew of the photo requests, but have not come forward to avoid stigma and unwanted publicity.

    • Ex-deacon faces new sex charges

      [1990 Deacon Curtis Allen -NEW*] - Church of Christ. 2nd victim.
       Baltimore Sun, By Justin Fenton | justin.fenton § baltsun.com , June 5, 2009
       BALTIMORE (MD) -- Baltimore police have filed new sex abuse charges against a former church deacon who was arrested last month on charges that he sexually assaulted a minor.
       Curtis Allen, 48, who was a deacon at Bethel El Temple Church of Christ in Northwest Baltimore, has been charged with third- and fourth-degree sex offenses and related counts and is accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in 1990, court records show.
       The alleged victim, a woman who is now in her 30s, came forward with accusations after seeing news coverage of Allen's arrest in May, according to Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:07 PM, June 05, 2009]

    • Lawsuit accuses Freehold priest of sex abuse

      [1984-85 Fr Richard Milewski - NEW*] - RCC. Altar boy (13).
       Ashbury Park Press, By Kathleen Hopkins, TOMS RIVER BUREAU, June 5, 2009
       [letter from Bishop John M. Smith]
       TOMS RIVER (NJ) – A Roman Catholic priest, most recently the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Freehold, has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s, when the clergyman was assigned to St. Veronica's Church in Howell.
       The lawsuit, filed late last month in Superior Court in Ocean County by lawyer Robert R. Fuggi Jr., alleges that the Rev. Richard Milewski abused his client, an unnamed, 37-year-old Virginia man, between 1984 and 1985.
       Fuggi said his client was 13 years old and a student and altar boy at St. Veronica's, which has an elementary school, at the time. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:47 AM. June 05, 2009]

    • Limerick brother due in court on sex abuse charges

      [1967-69 Unnamed Brother (Christian Brothers) -NEW*] - RCC. 36 charges. Boys.  
       Limerick Leader, By Petula Martyn, June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- A FORMER Christian Brother is due before Limerick Circuit Court later this month charged in connection with the sexual abuse of boys at a city school in the 1960s.
       The former Brother, who is now married and living in Dublin, faces 36 charges of indecent assault on dates between 1967 and 1969 at a boys secondary school where he worked as a teacher.
       The alleged abuser cannot be named until he is formally arraigned before a judge at the circuit court.

    • Jesuits settle abuse claim against late Sacramento priest

      [1954-58 Arthur Falvey (Jesuit) -NEW*] - RCC. US $100k COMPENSATION. Boy.  
       Sacramento Bee, By Jennifer Garza, jgarza § sacbee.com , Published: Friday, Jun. 5, 2009
       SACRAMENTO (CA) -- The Jesuit religious order has paid $100,000 to a man who claimed he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at St. Ignatius Church in Sacramento more than 50 years ago.
       Will Green, 61, said he was raped repeatedly by the Rev. Arthur Falvey over a period of four years, starting in 1954 when Green was 7 years old. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:38 AM, June 05, 2009]

    • Bishop denies allegations

      - RCC.  
       The Malta Independent, ~ June 05, 2009
       MALTA -- The Gozo Curia said in a statement by Bishop Mario Grech yesterday that during the preceding night some wording had been scribbled on the Curia's walls, conveying slanderous allegations against the bishop about his pastoral activities.
       The bishop denied the allegations, which he said have no basis, and gave an assurance that his decisions are taken after consultation in all responsibility to God and the Church, even if they cost him.

    • UPDATE: Salinas priest to stand trial in child molestation

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.  
       The Salinas Californian, BY KIMBER SOLANA, ksolana § thecalifornian.com, June 5, 2009
       MONTEREY (CA) -- Based on testimonies heard in court today, a Monterey County Superior Court judge ordered the Rev. Antonio Cortes to stand trial on accusations of child molestation.
       Cortes, of St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas, will face one felony charge of sodomy, one felony charge of possession of child pornography, and two other misdemeanor charges. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:47 PM]

    • Dicastery Given Faculties to Penalize Wayward Priests

      - RC hq hands back some power.  
       Zenit, JUNE 5, 2009
       VATICAN CITY, (Zenit.org).- There are cases when priests' lack of discipline causes grave scandal and wounds the common good; to help quickly remedy these situations, Benedict XVI has extended the faculties of the Congregation for Clergy.
       Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, secretary of that congregation, explained today that the dicastery now has the faculty to treat cases of dismissal from the clerical state "in poenam" (as a penalty) for those clerics who have attempted marriage or have committed other grave sins against the Sixth Commandment.
       In an interview with Vatican Radio, the archbishop clarified that "this is not a simplification of procedures or even a simplified procedure, but rather a juridical instrument consistent and coherent with current canon law."

    • Priest To Stand Trial In Sex Abuse Case

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.  
       KSBW ~ June 05, 2009
       SALINAS, Calif. -- A judge ruled that there is enough evidence in the case of a Salinas priest accused of having child pornography on his computer and molesting a minor for him to stand trial.
       A preliminary hearing was held for the Rev. Antonio Cortes, 41, on Friday. At the hearing, police testified that hard drives on Cortes' computer contained videos of child porn.
       Police also said that a boy told them the he was molested by the priest who gave him so-called "spiritual massages."

    • Lessons in the power of the church

       
       The Irish Times, for June 06, 2009
       The overwhelming control of the primary education system that the Catholic Church has held since the Famine results not from charity but from the exercise of power, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE
       IRELAND -- THIS WEEK, the Government chief whip Pat Carey said an extraordinary thing. Or, rather, a thing that is extraordinary only in Ireland. He suggested, in the context of the negotiations between the Government and religious orders over the fallout from the Ryan report, that this might be the time for the State to "take on its responsibilities for delivering an educational system".
       In almost every other developed society, this would be a virtually incomprehensible statement. In Ireland, it is a potentially potent one. It hints at a realisation that the Ryan report marks the necessity for a whole new deal in Church-State relations, one in which basic services in education (and in health), overwhelmingly funded by the taxpayer, finally come under public control. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:35 PM, June 05, 2009]

    • Accused Salinas priest to be freed on bail

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.  
       The Salinas Californian, BY KIMBER SOLANA, ksolana § thecalifornian.com, June 5, 2009
       MONTEREY (CA) -- A Salinas priest accused of child molestion has posted bail and is in the processed of being released within the next hour, according to an official from the Monterey County Jail.
       At a preliminary hearing today, MontereyCounty Superior Court Judge Terrance Duncan reduced Cortes' original bail of $750,000 to $100,000 after the judge said prosecutors had failed to provide evidence that the Rev. Antonio Cortes of St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas is a flight risk and poses any danger to the public.
       [COMMENT: If he can speak Spanish, he is a flight risk! ENDS.]

    • Dublin solidarity march for abused

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, for June 06, 2009
       IRELAND -- UNIONS AND employers are being requested to allow workers in Dublin an early lunchbreak next Wednesday so they can take part in a silent march of solidarity with survivors of institutional abuse, as detailed in the recent Ryan report.
       The march will leave Parnell Square for the Dáil at noon. Participants will carry one banner with the words "Cherishing all of the children of the nation equally", a quote from the 1916 Proclamation.
       Organised by Survivors of Institutional Abuse Ireland, it will be led by Christine Buckley of Aislinn, John Kelly of Survivors of Child Abuse Ireland, Noel Barry of Right of Place, and Michael O'Brien of Right to Peace, who is also a former mayor of Clonmel. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:28 PM, June 05, 2009]

    • Abuse victims could sue public schools under amended New York legislation

      - State school leader follows RC and Jew example.  
       Catholic Culture, June 05, 2009
       NEW YORK -- New York's bishops have opposed Assemblywoman Margaret Markey's proposed Child Victim Act for two reasons: it would apply only to private, not public institutions, and it would lift the statute of limitations on abuse case for one year, perhaps eventually resulting in diocesan bankruptcies.
       In a surprise move, Markey has addressed the first objection and amended her act to include public institutions, prompting opposition from New York State Council of School Superintendents.

    • Pope 'very distressed' at Ryan briefing by top Irish clerics

      - RCC.      
       The Irish Times, from PADDY AGNEW in Rome, for June 06, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- POPE BENEDICT XVI showed his distress at the Ryan report on child abuse at religious institutions in Ireland during a half-hour meeting in the Vatican yesterday evening with Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin.
       Asked what had most disturbed the pope in the Ryan report, Archbishop Martin replied: "This is a different case from many others because it is about the institutionalisation of a problem."
       However, there was no comment from the pope or his officials last night. The Vatican has refrained from making any comment on the Ryan report, with official spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi commenting merely that this was "a matter for the local church". [Posted June 05, 2009]

    • Preliminary hearing in Salinas priest molestation case under way

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.  
       The Salinas Californian, BY KIMBER SOLANA, ksolana § thecalifornian.com, June 5, 2009
       MONTEREY (CA) -- In graphic detail, two Salinas Police Department officers testified at a preliminary hearing this morning about alleged sexual molestation by the Rev. Antonio Cortes.
       The Salinas parish priest is facing child molestation charges related to a 16-year-old "John Doe."
       Monterey County Superior Court Judge Terrance Duncan listened to the testimonies to determine whether Cortes will stand trial.

    • Milestone Screening in Missouri

      - Movie "All God's Children."
       Good Hard Working People, ~ June 05, 2009
       ST. LOUIS (MO) -- Scott and I traveled to Missouri for three days this week to attend a screening of All God's Children in St. Louis and to meet some of the wonderful people of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), who helped the Mamou Steering Committee back in the day, are supporting us in our outreach today and who set up the screening in St. Louis.
       We had such an outstanding time in Missouri, which also included sight seeing in the city, relaxing in the country, meeting wonderful new people and finally getting to see Rich Darr again and spending more time with David Darr as well.

    • Row as controversial priest joins Episcopal Church

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian.    
       Religious Intelligence (United Kingdom), By George Conger, 4:30pm, Friday, June 5, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- The reception of Fr Alberto Cutié into the Episcopal Church followed a two-year period of reflection by the Miami Roman Catholic priest and TV host, and was not a spur of the moment decision by the priest or the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, the Rt Rev Leo Frade has stated.
       On May 28, Bishop Frade received Fr Cutié into the Episcopal Church, prompting outrage from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Miami and titillation from the American press, who questioned whether Fr Cutié's newfound appreciation of Anglicanism was prompted by a moving of the spirit, or the publication of compromising photographs of him in a Spanish-language tabloid.
       The reception of Fr Cutié into the Episcopal Church has been given great prominence in the South and Central American media and provoked contradictory comments from Anglican bishops in the region.

    • Vatican official explains new authority of bishops to defrock priests

      - RCC devolves powers a little.  
       Catholic News Agency, 11:54 am / Jun 5, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNA).- During an interview today with Vatican Radio, Secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, clarified that bishops around the world have not been granted with "automatic" powers to defrock priests, but only with the capacity to proceed more speedily in cases that were not considered by the current Code of Canon Law approved by Pope John Paul in 1983.
       The new powers granted to bishops were announced by a letter sent to all episcopates by Cardinal Claudio Hummes on April 18 and are aimed at filling some legal voids present in the current Canon law. The archbishop further explained that they are not a "blank check" to automatically defrock priests, as some members of the Italian press have recently claimed.
       The changes authorized by Pope Benedict XVI allow bishops to proceed in the laicization of priests only in some cases not considered by the current Canon law, such as when a priest leaves the ministry by his own will; when he asks the bishop to be dispensed from the commitment of celibacy; or when a priest leaves the priesthood without telling the bishop and enters into a civil marriage, has kids "and is not interested in solving his canonical situation."

    • Irish church leaders meet pope to discuss report on child abuse

      - RCC.      
       Catholic News Service, By Carol Glatz, ~ June 05, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two top leaders of the Irish church met with Pope Benedict XVI June 5 to discuss a report by an independent commission on child abuse.
       Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference traveled to Rome to provide Vatican officials with information about the church in Ireland, including the impact of the commission's report, said a June 5 statement by the Irish Bishops' Conference.
       Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin joined the cardinal for the June 5 private papal audience.

    • Another Sex-Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against Episcopal Diocese Of Texas

      [1960s Mr Jim Tucker] - Episcopalians hid the seductions. Boys.  
       Houston Press, By Craig Malisow in Courts, Cover Story, Friday, Jun. 5 2009
       TEXAS -- A fourth man has filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and St. Stephen's Episcopal School for allegedly covering up his sexual abuse at the hands of the school's chaplain.
       Filed Thursday in a Corpus Christi federal court, the suit is the third to accuse then-headmaster Allen Becker and other diocese authorities of covering up Jim Tucker's molestation of male students in the Austin boarding school in the 1960s. (After the publication of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the Press was made aware of a lawsuit filed against the diocese for Tucker's alleged molestation of a student at Houston's St. James Episcopal School, where Tucker worked after St. Stephen's. That suit was settled and sealed).
       The new lawsuit, which does not name the accuser, alleges that "During the summer of 1967, Tucker made his usual late-night visit to plaintiff's bed in the dark room with the lights out, and while carrying on a general discussion, defendant Tucker molested, sexually abused and exploited [the] plaintiff … .Plaintiff's memories were not recovered until after June of 2007 when [he] read a notice letter from the diocese and St. Stephen's community about an investigation that confirmed numerous reports and other evidence of Tucker's crimes against boys that had been concealed by the bishops and the headmasters … ." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:17 PM, June 05, 2009]

    • Sex Abuse Bill May be Headed for Vote Next Week

      - All children now might get sueing rights.
       Forward, By Rebecca Dube, ~ June 05, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A newly amended bill to extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse and to allow a one-year "window" for otherwise time-barred lawsuits may come up for a vote in the New York State Assembly as early as Monday or Tuesday according to one of its sponsors.
       The controversial measure, opposed by the Catholic Church and some Orthodox Jewish organizations, is sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) and Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan).
       "The bill has already been overwhelmingly adopted in three previous sessions and I am cautiously optimistic that we have the votes to pass it in the Assembly again next week and I look forward to its adoption by the Senate during this session," Markey said in a news release today.

    • 2nd Victim Comes Forward In Deacon Sex Case

      [1990 Deacon Curtis Allen*] - Church of Christ. Teen boy, now teen girl.
       WBAL, ~ June 05, 2009
       BALTIMORE (MD) -- Baltimore city police have expanded the investigation into a church deacon accused of child sexual abuse after a second potential victim came forward.
       Curtis Allen, 48, a deacon at Park Heights' Beth-el Temple Church of Christ, was charged two weeks ago with abusing a teenage boy in the 1990s.
       Following word of Allen's arrest, another alleged victim -- this time a woman -- came forward with similar claims.

    • Reporting scandal: Media coverage of abuse helps victims, church

      [1940s-70s Irish State and R.C. Church orders] - RCC. Many children.      
       Catholic News Service, By Cindy Wooden, ~ June 05, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The embarrassment and scandal raised by each new report of a case of sex abuse in the church also has a positive effect of giving other victims the courage to come forward and increasing the church's commitment to ending abuse, said experts meeting at the Vatican.
       The Anglophone Conference, which began in the 1990s as an informal network of English-speaking bishops meeting to share strategies for fighting abuse, held its 10th formal meeting at the Vatican June 1-5.
       The meeting began just two weeks after an independent Irish commission released a report saying there was pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment in most of Ireland's residential care institutions for children from 1940 through the 1970s. The institutions were funded by the state but often run by Catholic religious orders.

    • The bishop, the priest and the pol

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Ousted housing crusader priest.  
       DotCommonweal, Posted by Paul Moses, 8:58 am, June 5, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The New York Times today set out the unfortunate story of how the U.S. bishops' spokesman on domestic policy ousted a priest who was highly effective as a housing organizer from his job as head of a Brooklyn housing advocacy organization.
       The priest, Father Jim O'Shea, a Passionist, had done a remarkable job of organizing the residents of the rapidly gentrifying Williamsburg and Greenpoint sections of Brooklyn to win commitments for thousands of units of affordable housing at a time when the city was re-zoning the neighborhoods to vastly increase luxury developments. It was considered an unlikely victory at the time for the local residents, many of them poor Latinos or Polish immigrants.
       O'Shea led a group called Churches United for Housing, run by a board of lay people and some of the pastors of local parishes. Notwithstanding the board's structure or rules, Diocese of Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio intervened with the local pastors and ordered them to fire the priest from his post, according to supporters of O'Shea. O'Shea ultimately resigned the job.

    • Our Opinion: Bishop Lucas had calming influence

      - RCC.
       The State Journal-Register Last update 06:36 AM, Jun 05, 2009
       SPRINGFIELD (IL) -- WHEN BISHOP GEORGE LUCAS arrived in Springfield nearly a decade ago, he assumed leadership of the Springfield Catholic Diocese at perhaps the most turbulent point in its history.
       Bishop Daniel Ryan had just resigned following two years of rumors of sexual misconduct, and a civil suit filed shortly thereafter put those allegations into the public record. Many in the diocese assumed Lucas arrived here with a mandate to fix things, though neither Lucas nor anyone else in Church hierarchy ever acknowledged as much.
       After lawsuit settlements in sexual misconduct cases in 2003 and 2004, followed by a December 2004 incident in which a priest was severely beaten in Douglas Park, Lucas convened a panel headed by former U.S. Attorney Bill Roberts to look into misconduct among priests in the diocese. The panel's report, released a year later, amounted to an unprecedented public soul searching by the diocese. Though he had a reserved personality and was not prone to seeking publicity, Lucas was a highly visible figure in the diocese and a reassuring presence.

    • Archbishop in solidarity with Gozo bishop

      - RCC.  
       The Times of Malta, June 05, 2009
       MALTA -- Archbishop Paul Cremona and vicar general Annetto Depasquale have expressed solidarity with Gozo Bishop Mario Grech who was yesterday the target of insults written on the walls of the Gozo Curia.
       Mgr Grech yesterday said the allegations defamed his work as spiritual shepherd and were related to decisions he might have taken to protect the interest of Gozitan churches.

    • Gozo Curia walls vandalised with allegations on bishop

      - RCC.
       The Times of Malta, June 04, 2009
       MALTA -- The outside walls of the Gozo Curia were last night vandalised with malicious writings against Gozo Bishop Mario Grech. Some of the graffiti described the bishop as being a liar and of being dishonest.
       Bishop Grech said in a statement that the writings were related to decisions aimed at safeguarding the interests of the church in Gozo.
       Calling for solidarity in prayer, he said that although he was satisfied that many loved the church, he was sorry that sometimes he saw signs of lack of understanding and collaboration. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:21 AM, June 05, 2009]

    • Bishop Avidly Opposes Bill Extending Time to File Child-Abuse Suits

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions occurred. Threat.  
       The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: June 4, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn repeated a warning this week that he has leveled at lawmakers for months: If the statute of limitations on child sex-abuse lawsuits is temporarily lifted, as pending state legislation proposes, a cascade of very bad things will happen.
       His Roman Catholic diocese and others will go bankrupt. Bishops like him will be forced to close churches and schools. And wrathful constituents will punish the politicians who, in his view, will have made this all happen.
       Religious leaders have been part of civic dialogue at least since Moses. More recently, Pope John Paul II and Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York have been considered among the master politicians of their time. [Posted June 05, 2009]

    • The 'bad eggs' of Ireland's abuse scandal

      - RCC.  
       Eureka Street (Australia), by Frank O'Shea, June 05, 2009
       It's long since I began
       To call up to the eyes
       This wise and simple man
       – W. B. Yeats, 'The Fisherman'
       IRELAND -- He was the saintliest man I ever knew. He was a teaching brother and a success in the classroom, though less so at the sports coaching which was expected of every member of staff – anyone who trains a football team with an open and well-thumbed book of the rules in one hand is not likely to produce a winning combination.
       He spent much of the second half of his working life in houses of formation, preparing the young brothers for their lives as religious. Those he trained told me that his own life was his greatest lesson.
       Later, in the community in which I got to know him, he would annoy his confreres by clearing the table before anyone had a chance for seconds. His view was that we should always get up from a meal feeling that we could have eaten more. In hospital on one occasion, his superior had to call on the vow of obedience to persuade him to drink the certain black alcoholic beverage which a kindly nun had suggested to build up his fragile frame.

    • Of pain and gain

      - RCC.
       Haaretz (Israel), By Assaf Uni, ~ June 05, 2009
       DUBLIN, IRELAND - This is not Ireland's finest hour. After more than a decade of economic growth that bestowed much money and optimism upon the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle, the tide seems to be turning. The construction sector has collapsed completely. Skeletons of abandoned buildings line Dublin's canals, plastic sheeting flaps in the gusty Atlantic wind, scaffolding rusts in the salty air. The big banks are teetering on the brink of nationalization; the swelling national debt is liable to drive the country into bankruptcy soon. Prices are rising, wages are being cut, tens of thousands have been laid off, and the media is filled with reports about new taxes to be levied on homeowners and ordinary working folk.
       Within this general atmosphere of gloom, old pains are again surfacing: Last month a government report was published, following a nine-year investigation, stating that tens of thousands of Irish boys and girls had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse in boarding schools run by the Catholic Church in Ireland over the last 70 years. What had been trickling out since the 1980s in personal stories in this vein has welled into a flood that threatens to drown Ireland in a torrent of rage and shame. The press is calling on the Church to ask for forgiveness, and the victims are exploding in a violent way in the media.

    • Martin and Brady to meet Pope

      - RCC.    
       The Irish Times, June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, and the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will meet Pope Benedict in Rome today to update him about the fallout from the Ryan report on institutions run by religious orders.
       Pope Benedict, who apologised for sexual abuse by clergy during a visit to Australia last year and has not commented publicly on the revelations in the report which said sexual abuse was endemic in boys homes and children lived in daily terror of being beaten.
       The report published last month has sparked public outrage and heard calls for an increased financial contribution from the 18 religious orders named in it to compensate victims.

    • Uganda: Another Pastor Quizzed Over Sodomy

      [~ 2000s Pastor Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.    
       AllAfrica, The New Vision, June 05, 2009
       KAMPALA, Uganda – ANOTHER pastor was yesterday questioned, bringing to five the number of clergy interrogated over allegations of sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja.
       Felix Ssemujju of Omega Healing Centre in Namasuba, a Kampala suburb, arrived at the Kampala Central Police Station at 10:00am and addressed journalists. Ssemujju said last November, one of Kayanja's accusers, Samson Mukisa, approached him and narrated his ordeal.
       "He told me that Kayanja had sodomised him. I counselled and prayed for him. I also advised him to make a statement," he told the journalists. He however, denied allegations that Mukisa, who has since withdrawn his statement, was promised trips to Sweden among other goodies if he tarnished Kayanja's name.

    • Pope to be briefed on Ryan report

      [Decades] - RCC anarchy.      
       RTE News, 13:24, Friday, June 5, 2009
       IRELAND -- Two of the country's most senior figures in the Catholic Church are to meet Pope Benedict XVI in Rome today.
       All-Ireland Primate Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will discuss the fallout of the Ryan report with the Pontiff.
       When senior bishops met in Maynooth two weeks ago a decision was made to travel to the Vatican to provide information on the impact of the Ryan report.

    • Broken Silence

      - Judaists.  
       Sh'ma, by Andrew Silow-Carroll, ~ June 05, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Last year the New York Times ran a despairing series of articles on how hard it was becoming to prosecute street crimes because of witness intimidation. Cooperating with the prosecution could mean a death sentence for a witness, or her family. If this weren't bad enough, a perverse "no snitching" ethic began to pervade hip-hop culture, in part fueled by minority communities' sometimes justified mistrust of the police. A mainstream rapper named Cam'ron told "60 Minutes" he wouldn't go to the police even if he knew a serial killer were living next door.
       Cam'ron was posturing, but community activists and anti-violence advocates noted that a gangsters code had become, as one put it, "a cultural norm."
       Earlier this year, members of the Spinka Hasidic movement, including one of its grand rabbis, were indicted on (and pleaded not guilty to) a series of federal indictments for conspiracy, mail fraud, and money laundering. Some in the Hasidic community were scandalized – in part because the case was said to be based on tips from a Spinka insider. "People are very shell-shocked about the whole thing on many levels," a representative of the Orthodox Union told the Forward. "Number one, that our neighbors and friends are implicated, and number two, that an act of mesira on this level was perpetrated by one of our own."

    • Fontaine to step down as Assembly of First Nations chief

         
       CBC News, June 04, 2009
       CANADA -- Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine said Thursday he will retire at the end of his term in July after almost nine years in the role.
       During a press conference in Ottawa, Fontaine called his time at the helm of the AFN "the best job that I have ever had" but said he would not seek a record fourth three-year term. …
       Last June, Fontaine oversaw last year's historic apology from the federal government for decades of racist policy and abuse in government-funded aboriginal residential schools.
       In April, he and a group of aboriginal delegates travelled to Vatican City and met with the Pope, who expressed sorrow for the Roman Catholic Church's role in the residential schools system. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:21 AM, June 05, 2009]

    • New Sex Abuse Allegations Against Church Deacon

      [1990 Deacon Curtis Allen*] - Church of Christ. Teen girl, teen boy.  
       ABC 2, Reported by: Ryan Dooley, Email: dooley § wmar.com , Last Update: 9:46 pm June 04, 2009
       BALTIMORE (MD) -- A young girl has come forward with new allegations against a Baltimore church deacon already charged with several counts of sexual abuse.
       Police say the girl, who was 14 at the time, came forward today saying she had also been molested by Curtis Maurice Allen. Allen has already been charged with 13 counts of child molestation while he was a deacon at the Beth-El Temple Church of Christ.
       Police say the girl was from a different location of the Beth-El Temple Church of Christ, that location has not been released. [Posted June 05, 2009]

    • Pope to hear about abuse report

      - RCC.      
       BBC News, ~ June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland is to meet the Pope to discuss a report into child abuse by religious orders.
       Thousands of children were abused in Catholic-run institutions, according to the report published last month.
       Cardinal Sean Brady, who spoke of his shame at the findings, will be accompanied by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin at the Rome meeting.

    • Pope briefed on Ryan probe fallout

      - RCC.
       The Press Association, ~ June 05, 2009
       IRELAND -- Ireland's two top clergymen will meet Pope Benedict to discuss the fallout from a devastating inquiry that found widespread child abuse in Catholic church-run institutions.
       Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin have travelled to Rome to update the Holy See on a number of issues regarding the Irish Church, including the impact of the Ryan report. The meeting will take place just a day after religious orders agreed to pay substantial funds into a dedicated trust in a belated attempt to make amends to thousands of victims of abusive priests and nuns.

    • Joseph Cistone will take over for Robert Carlson

      - RCC.  
       ABC 12, with video, By Terry Camp, June/04/09
       SAGINAW (MI), (WJRT) --The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw is continuing preparations in welcoming its new bishop.
       Bishop Joseph Cistone was selected by the Vatican to replace Robert Carlson, who will become the Archbishop of St. Louis.
       Cistone's installation will take place in July.
       One issue that Cistone has experience in dealing with is the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church.
       Cistone had a role in a grand jury investigation involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
       That grand jury report came out in 2005, but when he was chosen to lead the Saginaw Diocese, Cistone expected he would be getting some questions about the investigation. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM, ~ June 05, 2009]

    • John Fidler: Latest report affirms systematic abuse by church officials

      [1930s-60s Religious Orders] - RCC. Systematic physical, sexual, and psychological.  
       Reading Eagle, ~ June 05, 2009
       PENSYLVANIA -- Revelations of further abuse of children by those affiliated with the Catholic Church really aren't revelations at all. They are affirmations.
       For some, they may amount to no more than a yawn as the daily drumbeat of the mistreatment of children by adults numbs a society inured to children's misery. Puppy mills generate more sympathy.
       But the tens of thousands of poor and neglected children in the most recent reporting were wards of church-run residential schools in Ireland, where priests, nuns and others carried out a systematic routine of physical, sexual and psychological abuse from the 1930s to the 1990s, a government commission said. [MEDITATION: If the salt loses its savour …   By their fruits you shall know them. ENDS.]

    • Ex-Christ the King bball coach Bob Oliva finds sexual abuse troubles travel

      [1960s Mr Bob Oliva*] - RCC. Male.  
       New York Daily News, By Michael O'Keeffe, DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER, Friday, June 5, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Authorities in Boston are investigating allegations that Bob Oliva, the legendary Christ the King Regional High School boys basketball coach who resigned in January amid allegations of sexual abuse, molested a longtime family friend during a trip to Massachusetts more than 30 years ago.
       Boston police quietly initiated the investigation in March, but it has become more active in recent weeks. Sgt. John Donovan of Boston's Crimes Against Children Unit has interviewed more than a dozen people close to Oliva or his alleged victim, Jimmy Carlino, during the past month.
       "Obviously the district attorney in Boston and the Boston Police Department have to think there is credibility to Jimmy Carlino's claims," said Sam Albano, a longtime Oliva friend who became estranged from the coach after the abuse allegations became public last year. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM, June 05, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Fri June 05, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sat June 06, 2009 edition:


    • Priest 'abused minors'

      [2008 Unnamed priest -NEW*] - RCC. 4 boys.    
       The Times (South Africa), http://www. thetimes. co.za/ News/ Article. aspx?id= 1012629 , by Sashni Pather, Published Jun 05, 2009
       SOUTH AFRICA -- A CATHOLIC priest who presided over a well-known Johannesburg church is expected to go on trial in the Brits Regional Court in November for allegedly sexually assaulting four minor boys.
       The priest, who is from Germany, was placed on "administrative leave" by his church in Johannesburg, shortly after the incident.
       The alleged abuse is believed to have occurred at a religious camp in Hartbeespoort in February last year. The camp was organised by the church and attended by young boys from the congregation. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:44 AM, June 06, 2009]

    • Ontario priest accused in assaults

      [1977-95 Mons. Robert Borne -NEW*] - RCC. 3 complainants.  
       CNews, By ANTHONY DIXON, SUN MEDIA, The Ottawa Sun, June 06, 2009
       PEMBROKE, Canada -- A well-known local Roman Catholic priest has been accused of sexually assaulting three victims.
       Twenty-five years to the day after his ordination as a priest, Monsignor Robert Borne, 60, was charged by the Ontario Provincial Police, Renfrew County Crime Unit, for incidents alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1995.
       The charges were laid on April 20 of this year. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:46 AM, June 06, 2009]

    • Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage faces eviction

      [~ 2000s Rev. Dr Patrick Okechi*] - Church of England. Appealed, squatting. Adultery. Woman.  
       The Observer, Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent, for Sunday, June 7, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- Two Church of England bishops have begun legal proceedings to evict a defrocked cleric who is squatting in one of their properties.
       The Rev Patrick Okechi was barred from office last December when a tribunal found him guilty of "conduct unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk in holy orders", following an affair he had with a parishioner.
       Okechi has failed to leave the vicarage of the Church of the Good Shepherd with St John in West Bromwich, West Midlands, and has been squatting in the house for six months. He has refused to search for alternative accommodation and has lodged a claim for reinstatement.
       His actions have forced the bishops of Lichfield and Wolverhampton to seek a court order to regain possession of the property, needed to house the new vicar, who takes up his post on 3 July. Neither bishop will be present at Tuesday's hearing. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:10 PM]
       [LOOK BACK: Dec 09 and 10, 2008]

    • Heimkinder fordern 25 Milliarden Euro

       
       H/pd, ~ June 06, 2009
       [English speakers can use their PC translation programs. Adults who as children were in care homes sponsored by Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany are seeking compensation and justice because they said they were used as forced laborers.]
       MAINZ (hpd), GERMANY -- Im Vorfeld der dritten Sitzung des „Runden Tischs Heimerziehung", der am 15. und 16. Juni in Berlin stattfinden wird, hat der Verein ehemaliger Heimkinder (VEH) seine politischen Forderungen konkretisiert.

    • Letter from Bishop John M. Smith

      [1984-85 Fr Richard Milewski*] - RCC. Altar boy (13).  
       Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, ~ June 06, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- This links to a letter that Bishop John M. Smith sent to Catholics regarding allegations made against Father Richard Milewski.
       He wrote in part:
       "This complaint against Father Milewski is completely new to us. The first we heard about it was late on Wednesday. The Diocese has had no opportunity to investigate this complaint to determine whether or not it is credible. Nevertheless, I discussed the complaint with Father Milewski, and he has agreed to temporarily step aside from his duties as Pastor at St. Rose of Lima Parish in order to allow the Diocese time to investigate and to make a determination as to whether or not the complaint is credible. At the conclusion of our investigation, I, as Bishop, will decide whether it will be necessary to take further administrative measures."

    • Ontario priest accused of sexual assaults

      [1977-95 Mons. Robert Borne*] - RCC. 3 complainants.  
       CBC News, June 06, 2009
       CANADA -- A Roman Catholic priest from eastern Ontario is facing several charges after three people alleged they were sexually assaulted.
       Monsignor Robert Borne, 60, of Pembroke is accused of two counts each of gross indecency, indecent assault and breach of trust in relation to three alleged victims.
       Borne was charged in late April but only turned himself in to provincial police on Friday.

    • Giro di vite contro i preti sposati "Via dal clero chi non è casto"

      - RCC.  
       La Repubblica, di ORAZIO LA ROCCA, June 6, 2009
       CITTÀ DEL VATICANO – Giro di vite di papa Ratzinger per quei preti che vìolano il voto di castità, anche con rapporti omosessuali, o che si sposano civilmente senza lasciare l'abito talare. Vera e propria tolleranza zero nei confronti di chi - semplici sacerdoti, ma anche esponenti della gerarchia cattolica - non rispetta uno dei capisaldi della Chiesa latina, il celibato sacerdotale, o si macchia di crimini orrendi come la pedofilia.
       Ne ha parlato, ieri alla Radio Vaticana, il vescovo Mauro Piacenza, segretario della Congregazione per il clero, spiegando le nuove disposizioni varate da Benedetto XVI per punire preti concubini, sacerdoti gay che cadono in tentazione o ecclesiastici che commettono abusi sessuali. Norme rese note nei giorni scorsi in una lettera inviata agli oltre 400 mila parroci distribuiti nei 5 continenti.
       [translation]
       New directives overhauled by Benedict XVI to punish priests who violate celibacy and gay priests who fall into temptation or clergy who commit sexual abuses
       Tightening of the screw against married priests "Expel from the clergy whoever is not chaste"
       by Orazio La Rocca, June 6, 2009
       VATICAN CITY – Tightening of the screw by Pope Ratzinger for those priests who violate the chastity vow, even through a gay relationship, or who have a civil marriage but continue to be priests. It's a real and proper zero tolerance towards those who - being ordinary priests but also belonging to the high catholic hierarchy - don't respect one of the mainstays of the Latin Church, priestly celibacy, or commit horrendous crimes like pedophilia.
       Yesterday, on the Vatican Radio, bishop Mauro Piacenza, the Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, explained the new directives overhauled by Benedict XVI to punish concubine priests, gay priests who fall into temptation or clergy who commit sexual abuses. Those rules were made known days ago in a letter sent to more than 400,000 parish priests distributed into 5 continents.
       But yesterday in the Vatican there took also place a delicate summit between Ratzinger and the highest hierarchy of the Irish Catholic Church to discuss how to face – including the economic compensation for the victims – the scandal of the sexual violence committed on minors in the past years by priests and nuns. One of the blackest pages for the Irish Catholics is well-described after an investigation made by a government body, The Child Abuse Commission, which found out that in Ireland between 1940 and 1980 were committed 2,500 cases of sexual abuses on minors living in catholic institutions.
       The Pope was briefed by the Irish Primate, Cardinal Sean Baptist Brady, and by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, who – among other things – anticipated the news "about a forthcoming report about other additional sexual violence committed in the past years also in my diocese". No indiscretion came out from the meeting, even if it's sure that Martin confirmed to the Pope what he had already said during a very recent newspaper interview during which he made it known "the importance to do all possible so that all the truth would emerge" and that "the victims must be helped, though being aware that the sufferance inflicted to the children cannot ever be cancelled".
       Ample, instead, was the explanation about the tightening of the screw illustrated by the Monsignor Piacenza speaking on the Vatican radio. He assured the Congregation of the Clergy was given more powers for intervention. "Above all the faculty to deal with those cases of dismissal from the clerical state as a punishment, in addition to the dispensation from the related obligations to the clergy who infringed the sanctity of Matrimony through a civil marriage and that after being admonished don't change their ways but continue to lead a scandalous and irregular life; and about the clergy responsible of having committed grave and external sins against the sixth Commandment ", the one which forbids "committing adultery".
       A rule which according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers – Piacenza specified – "to the whole of human sexuality, the offenses against chastity, homosexuality included". Naturally, for each of any case – the bishop clarified – any decision will be taken after a legitimate administrative procedure, the right of defense must always be guaranteed." (Jun 6, 2009)

    • NY Child Victim Act Amended to Include Public Institutions

      - Intention now to also protect children in public schools etc.  
       Injury Board, by Joe Saunders, ~ June 06, 2009
       NEW YORK -- In a surprising move, NY state Rep. Margaret Markey has announced that she'll offer an amendment to her Child Victim Act bill to include public institutions as well.
       The Child Victim Act is designed to give a voice to those who've suffered childhood sexual abuse but had no legal recourse due to the statute of limitations. The amendment will remove the sole objection the Catholic Church and other private institutions have had regarding the bill.

    • Assemblywoman amends child sex abuse bill

     
       Newsday, BY BART JONES | bart.jones § newsday.com , 8:23 PM EDT, June 4, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A state assemblywoman has amended her child sex abuse victims bill to include public as well as private institutions, addressing one of the main arguments of the Catholic Church that the measure discriminated against it.
       But the amendments did not quell the complaints of opponents, and brought on some new ones - the public schools.
       Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth), who told Newsday as recently as Tuesday she was not amending the bill, said Thursday she would do so in response to concerns from colleagues. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:46 PM, June 06, 2009]

    • Part 6: What the Church Knew about Richard Lavigne

      [1972+ Fr Richard Lavigne] - RCC. Altar boy dead.
       The Daniel Croteau Murder,    MASSACHUSETTS -- What did the Springfield Diocese know about the pedophile tendencies of former priest Richard Lavigne (pictured above) – and when did church officials know it? That question, of course, has been a major point of contention after the church faced nearly 40 claims against him since the 1990s – and especially after it was revealed that he is the prime suspect in the 1972 murder of 13-year-old altar boy Daniel Croteau.
       The Diocese has maintained that the first complaint it received was in 1986, claiming that it requested a mental health evaluation of the priest in that year, shortly after two complaints surfaced, and "the result of that evaluation was that Father Lavigne was not a threat to re-offend and he could, with counseling, continue his duties," according to a diocesan statement.

    • Local Priest charged with sexual assult

      [1977-95 Mons. Robert Borne*] - RCC. 3 complainants  
       96.1 myFM, with audio, 9:31:34 EDT, Sat, Jun 06, 2009
       CANADA -- An arrest has been made in sexual assault cases that date back as far as 1977. Renfrew OPP and the Renfrew County Crime Unit have charged 60 year old priest, Father Robert Borne, of Pembroke, with multiple counts of gross indecency, indecent assault and breach of trust. OPP Sergeant, Kristine Rea, tells myFM about the charges -

    • Taxpayers don't deserve any money from religious orders

      - Irish State and RC Religious Orders.  
       Irish Independent, Saturday June 06 2009
       IRELAND -- The process initiated by the Government, in the wake of the Ryan report, is back-to-front and deeply flawed in its thinking and planning. It is as though Brian Cowen and his ministers are setting out on this new voyage in a sieve; the water is already coming in and the whole vessel will inevitably sink without bringing anything worthwhile to the victims of abuse, unless emergency action is taken.
       The process is back-to-front in that the Taoiseach should have seen the religious orders for comprehensive discussions before seeing the representatives of the abused. He should have clarified with the religious their position, including his own demand for a given sum of money, before attempting to elicit the demands of the various survivor groups, who, once again, are in the ha'penny place as they have been for the past decade.
       In a more profound way, the whole process is back-to-front. It was clear at the time of the former Taoiseach's apology and even more clear in 2002 when the "secret deal" between the Government and the religious orders was signed, that an audit of the finances of the religious orders was essential. This need was repeatedly raised as a key requirement during the whole history of commission hearings and the work of the Redress Board. Nothing was done.

    • New Truth and Reconciliation commissioners revealed

      - Government, and 4 Churches.  
       Anglican Journal, by Leigh Anne Williams, Jun 5, 2009
       CANADA -- As Canadians prepare to mark the first anniversary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's June 11 official apology to native people who suffered abuse as children in Indian Residential Schools, unofficial reports of the names of those chosen as a new chair and commissioners for the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) appeared in the media.
       The Globe and Mail has reported that Justice Murray Sinclair, a respected Manitoba judge, will chair the commission. Judge Sinclair grew up on the former St. Peter's Indian Reserve north of Selkirk, Man. and attended law school at the University of Manitoba. He was appointed the Associate Chief Justice of the provincial court of Manitoba in 1988, becoming the first native judge on the bench in Manitoba and only the second in Canada. The Globe also reported that the two new commissioners to be named are Wilton Littlechild, the Alberta regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, and Marie Wilson, a former regional director of CBC North who is married to Stephen Kakfwi, a Dene former premier of the Northwest Territories. Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Chuck Strahl's office would not confirm the appointments or a time when an official announcement would be made. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 AM, June 06, 2009}

    • Irish church leaders meet pope about child abuse

      - RCC and Irish Republic.      
       National Catholic Reporter, By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service, ~ June 06, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Two top leaders of the Irish church met with Pope Benedict XVI June 5 to discuss a report by an independent commission on child abuse.
       The day before, the 18 Irish religious orders implicated in decades of abuse of thousands of children in their care agreed to increase their contribution to the compensation fund for victims.
       Following a June 4 meeting with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowan and other government ministers, the orders also agreed to an independent audit of their assets, so that their ability to pay further compensation can be determined. See full story below.

    • Leaders seek Pope's help to rescue Church in wake of abuse report

      - RCC.
       Irish Examiner, By Caroline O'Doherty, Saturday, June 06, 2009
       IRELAND -- POPE Benedict XVI has been asked to help rescue the Catholic Church here from the devastation caused by the Ryan Report on abuse of children in religious institutions.
       Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin met with the Pope in Rome last night to explain the scale of the fallout from the report and seek advice on how to regain public confidence.
       Of concern to the country's two most senior Church leaders in seeking the meeting was the Government's demand that the religious orders that ran the institutions make a substantial contribution towards the compensation and support of abuse survivors.

    • Crisis now poses major challenge to Benedict

      - RCC.
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Saturday June 06 2009
       IRELAND -- IRELAND'S clerical child sex abuse crisis has escalated into a major challenge of the moral supremacy of Pope Benedict XVI that is being watched closely by millions worldwide.
       At stake is Pope Benedict's capacity to eradicate from the Church an evil that has discredited the priesthood and eroded trust in the authority of Rome and national bishops across the globe who covered up the crimes of paedophile clergy.
       Pope Benedict's special private audience last night with Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin is extraordinary, if not unprecedented.

    • Hierarchy to hear about Pope meeting

      - RCC.
       RTE News, 10:20, Saturday, June 6, 2009
       IRELAND -- Cardinal Seán Brady has said the outcome of last night's meeting between Pope Benedict, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and himself will be conveyed to the rest of the hierarchy.
       Earlier this week, the two prelates discussed the Ryan report with seven prefect Cardinals who lead separate Vatican departments.
       Through a spokesman Cardinal Brady said that the 45-minute encounter with the Pope focussed mainly on the impact of the Child Abuse Commission report.

    • Church leaders meet Pope as abuse report rocks Vatican

      - RCC.      
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Saturday June 06 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- THE Irish clerical abuse scandals soared to the top of the Catholic Church's agenda last night when Pope Benedict XVI held confidential talks with Ireland's two leading churchmen.
       They met as the Vatican braced itself for even more horrific revelations from a report into the Archdiocese of Dublin.
       Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland; and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, reported directly to the Pontiff in the Apostolic Palace on the damaging loss of public trust in the Irish Church in the wake of the Ryan Commission's report.

    • Pope's role in wake of abuse

      - RCC.            
       Irish Independent, Saturday June 06 2009
       IRELAND -- HOW fascinating to have been to be a fly on the wall as the Irish Catholic Church's two most senior figures met Pope Benedict XVl. All Ireland Primate Cardinal Sean Brady, and the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, were in the Vatican, at the request of their fellow Irish bishops, to discuss the Ryan Report into child abuse by religious.
       There is considerable anger in many countries over abuse of children by Catholic clergy. It is no exaggeration to say that Ireland has become a focus for that outrage. This country is now considered a prime black spot, the original source of what they call 'The Irish Disease', visited upon so many other countries as Catholic religious orders spread their wings.
       The Ryan Report received enormous international attention, as people in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and other countries saw that things were as bad, or worse, in Ireland as in their own countries.

    • Pope distressed at Ryan briefing

      [Decades] - RCC.      
       Herald, By Clodagh Sheehy, Saturday June 06 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- THE Pope last night expressed his solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse in Ireland.
       The pontiff has been asked to help rescue the Catholic Church here from the fallout from the Ryan Report on the abuse of children in religious institutions.
       Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin met Pope Benedict in Rome last night to explain the negative reaction to the report and to ask his advice on how to restore public confidence.

    • S.F. accuses church of dodging taxes

      - RCC might be moving assets.  
       San Francisco Chronicle, by Marisa Lagos, Saturday, June 6, 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- San Francisco's tax assessor believes the Archdiocese of San Francisco has moved the ownership of various assets to a new nonprofit organization in order to shield the properties from being seized or sold for potential lawsuit payouts.
       Yet the church has refused to pay the taxes for transferring the 232 properties, Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting said. The tax bill, which the church has appealed, could reach $15 million - one of the largest in city history.
       Both sides agree that the year-long battle, which will come to a head at a June 16 appeals hearing, isn't only about the millions of dollars at stake for the local Catholic Church and city coffers. It could also have wide-ranging implications for hundreds of other nonprofit groups.

    • Bill on Childhood Sexual Abuse Suits Is Amended to Add an Age Limit

      - Age limit proposed, 53.
       The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: June 5, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Many abuse victims were disappointed, and a key State Senate ally was taken by surprise, when the Assembly sponsor of a bill temporarily waiving legal deadlines for filing child sex-abuse lawsuits amended the legislation on Friday to propose a significant restriction.
       In the second major revision this week, Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey, a Queens Democrat, told supporters that her bill would now establish 53 as the maximum age for anyone wishing to file suit claiming sexual abuse as a child.
       "While I am absolutely committed to the right of every victim to have full access to justice for their claims," she wrote in a memo addressed to "friends and supporters" of the Child Victims' Act of New York, as the bill is called, "the adoption of this bill this year is a critical first step that we must take." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:37 AM, June 06, 2009]

    • Graphic Details Brought to Light of Priest Molestation

      [~ 2007 to April '09 - Fr Antonio Cortes*] - RCC. Teen boy and child porn.
       KION, ~ June 06, 2009
       SALINAS, Calif.- Father Antonio Cortes was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing facing charges of rape and child porn.
       Father Cortes is facing one felony count of child sodemy and one felony count of child pronography.
       For the first time Friday, the accounts of what the 16-year old, identified as John Doe, is alleging against Fr. Cortes of Saint Marys of the Nativity church.

    • The Taliban of the Tabernacle

      - RCC and Irish State.  
       Irish Independent, Saturday June 06 2009
       IRELAND -- Bruce Arnold's The Irish Gulag is an important book, probably the most important to be published in Ireland in the past 10 years. It should be bought in bulk by the State and distributed free in every third-level college and library in the country. It should be sent to every member of every religious order and to all civil servants. Every judge, lawyer, garda, teacher, social worker, doctor, nurse, cleric and politician in the country should get a copy. And when the State has done all that, it should send the bill to Cori.
       This suggestion may seem excessive. But it's reasonable, given the size of the problem we face. Somehow we have to find an explanation for how Irish society could have permitted tens of thousands of children to be grossly abused in institutions across the country over many decades. And this book is the only comprehensive explanation that exists.
       It is the definitive account, not only of what went on in the institutions but of how and why. It explains the origins of the institutions, the involvement of the religious, the appalling abuse that became commonplace, the complicity of the State in what went on over so many decades.

    • No words can help the abuse victims says Singing Priest

      - RCC.
       Herald, By Lorna Nolan, Saturday June 06 2009
       IRELAND -- FATHER Eugene O'Hagan, of Irish group The Priests, today spoke for the first time of the shock he and his colleagues felt after the Ryan Report was published last month
       The singer said he and his brother, Father Martin, and their school friend Father David Delargy, who are all Roman Catholic priests and make up the band, now face an enormous challenge to try to bring some healing to the victims.
       Their aim, he claimed, was to offer some peace to those who suffered abuse at the hands of the clergy, through their music. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:24 AM, June 06, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat June 06, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sun June 07, 2009 edition:


    • Canton priest accused of sexual misconduct that allegedly occurred 30 years ago in Yo

      [1970s Thomas Crum -NEW*] - RCC. Minor.  
       Canton Repository, < http://www. cantonrep.com/ communities/ canton/ x313677951/ Canton-priest- accused-of- sexual- misconduct- that- allegedly- occurred- 30-years- ago-in- Youngstown? view=print >; CantonRep.com staff report, ~ June 07, 2009
       CANTON (OH) – The priest of Our Lady of Peace parish has been accused of committing sexual misconduct with a minor in Youngstown more than 30 years [? ago].
       Rev. Thomas Crum has been placed on administrative leave as a result of what the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown calls "a newly reported and credible allegation."
       The incident is said to have occurred when Crum was a faculty member at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:11 PM, June 07, 2009]

    • Church leaders to report on meeting with pope

      - RCC.      
       The Irish Times, By PAUL CULLEN and PATSY McGARRY, for June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- CATHOLIC PRIMATE Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will today deliver a report on the pope's response to the Ryan report to bishops holding their summer meeting in Maynooth.
       The two met Pope Benedict on Friday in the Vatican. Earlier last week, they met six members of the curia, including secretary of state Cardinal Bertoni.
       The bishops, after their meeting on Wednesday, are expected to issue a statement setting out their responses and those of the pope to the Ryan report on the abuse of children in institutions. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:28 PM, June 07, 2009]

    • Bishops gave editor sack over articles on sex abuse

      - He opened some windows, but was ejected in 1994.    
       Irish Independent, By JIM CUSACK, Sunday June 07 2009
       IRELAND -- A majority of Irish bishops agreed a report which effectively sacked the editor of the Catholic Church magazine, Intercom, in 1994 after the periodical raised the issue of clerical abuse.
       Fr Kevin Hegarty, who last week said some of the Shell-to-Sea protesters were acting in a "fascist" manner, was moved out of his job as editor of the magazine after commissioning articles on subjects like clerical sexual abuse, women priests and compulsory celibacy. When he was appointed to the job of editor in 1991 he was regarded as one of the rising intellectual forces in the Irish Catholic Church.
       He said last week that the bishops informed him that articles in the magazine were "bad for morale". [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:36 AM]

    • Archbishop defends abuse inaction

      - RCC. Not his role to fight inhumane institutions. !  
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, for June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE ARCHBISHOP of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has said he did not do more about concerns he felt 40 years ago about Artane industrial school because his role "as a seminarian in my 20s was in helping those young people to integrate into society".
       At the time, he said, "social workers, health boards and the diocese were trying to reform and eventually close down the institutions … Consensus soon emerged that the best – and indeed the only – option for Artane would be to close it down, which happened in 1969."
       He was responding to queries prompted by remarks he made in an article published in The Irish Times on May 25th.

    • Abuse, shame and secrets

      [1966 Fr Richard Nichols] - RCC. Boy+.  
       Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, by James E. Causey, ~ June 07, 2009
       WISCONSIN -- When Leonard Sobczak was sexually assaulted by Father James Nichols 43 years ago, a speck of malignancy was inserted into his brain.
       Not a tumor, but something just as debilitating. As he matured, the malignancy sprouted constant memories of the assault. And these thoughts consumed him.
       They affected his relationships. He says he's "spiritual," but he no longer attends church.
       Nichols had several victims. Some may never come forward.
       After four decades, Sobczak finally felt it was his time to do just that.
       [CORRECTION in item later, dated June 8: "The priest was Father Richard, not James, Nichols. He died of a heart attack, not cancer." ENDS]

    • Voters back Flynn over Fianna Fail's Ryan

      - RCC. Letterfrack survivor poised to win council seat.  
       The Times (United Kingdom), by Sarah McInerney, ~ June 07, 2009
       IRELAND -- Mannix Flynn, the writer and actor, was poised to win a seat as an independent councillor on Dublin city council last night.
       Flynn, who only announced his candidacy late last month, secured a huge vote in the south-east inner-city ward, beating high profile Fianna Fail and Labour candidates. The 52-year-old attracted over 1,300 first-preference votes, some 600 more than Sarah Ryan, a sitting Fianna Fail councillor and daughter of Fianna Fail MEP, Eoin. …
       As a child, Flynn spent 18 months in the Christian Brothers' industrial school in Letterfrack, Co Galway, where he was abused.
       The Ryan Commission report, which exposed the extent of abuse in such institutions, was published during the election campaign. Flynn said his life history would serve as a "template" for others and vowed to "lead by example".

    • Church leaders meet Pope as abuse report rocks Vatican

      - RCC.      
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Saturday June 06 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- THE Irish clerical abuse scandals soared to the top of the Catholic Church's agenda last night when Pope Benedict XVI held confidential talks with Ireland's two leading churchmen.
       They met as the Vatican braced itself for even more horrific revelations from a report into the Archdiocese of Dublin.
       Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland; and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, reported directly to the Pontiff in the Apostolic Palace on the damaging loss of public trust in the Irish Church in the wake of the Ryan Commission's report. …
       But a key element of last night's talks was a briefing by Archbishop Martin of the need for Rome to brace itself for even more shocking revelations of abuse in the report of the Government's investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin, which is still being finalised.

    • Cloyne commission to probe possible cover-ups

      - Irish State and RCC.  
       Sunday Business Post, By John Burke, Sunday, June 07, 2009
       IRELAND -- The commission examining child protection practices in the diocese of Cloyne will receive key documents detailing how information was shared between state bodies.
       The inquiry had sought files from the Health Service Executive (HSE) by court order in an effort to identify discrepancies between the information given by the diocese authorities to the HSE and gardaí.
       The files will be used by the commission to determine what level of information-sharing took place between local garda management and the HSE.

    • Theologian condemns 'monsters' over abuse

      - RCC.      
       RTE News, Sunday, June 7, 2009
       IRELAND -- A Catholic theologian has said the dregs of society ran institutions where children were abused by what he called monsters.
       However, Fr Vincent Twomey also praised many other members of religious orders for caring for vulnerable people who had been abandoned for centuries by British administrations here.
       He was speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme.

    • Abuse priests 'monsters' - theologian

      - RCC.      
       The Irish Times, ~ June 07, 2009
       IRELAND -- A former student of Pope Benedict today branded clerics who ran abusive institutions as the "dregs of society".
       Those to blame for the violence were monsters, Fr Vincent Twomey said.
       Last Friday, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin briefed the Pope in the Vatican on the devastating Ryan inquiry and the subsequent fall-out and criticisms of religious orders.
       Fr Twomey told BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme: "I think we were looking at the dregs of society in a certain sense."

    • Terry Quarry v. Doe 1

      [1970s Unnamed priest] - RCC. 6 boys.  
       California Court Opinions, June 06, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
       FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FOUR
       TERRY QUARRY et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,v.DOE 1, Defendant and Respondent. A120048 (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. HG07313640)
       Six brothers claim they were sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1970's, when they were children. They sued defendant Doe I in 2007 for damages due to adult-onset psychological injuries allegedly caused by that abuse. When they sued, they ranged in age from 43 to 49. They alleged they did not discover until 2006 that the cause of their adulthood psychological injuries was the childhood sexual abuse.
       The Bishop demurred to the complaint. He argued that plaintiffs' causes of action were barred under earlier limitations periods and that later expansions of the statute of limitations did not revive their lapsed claims. Plaintiffs contended that the current statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.1) applied, pursuant to which their claims did not accrue until 2006, when they discovered the cause of their injuries. The trial court sustained the Bishop's demurrer and dismissed the complaint.
       We reverse and hold that the prior limitations periods did not extinguish claims that had not accrued while those limitations were in effect, and that the timeliness of the complaint is to be measured by the statute in effect at the time the complaint was filed. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:57 AM, June 07, 2009]

    • Pope distressed at Ryan briefing

      - RCC.      
       Herald, By Clodagh Sheehy, Saturday June 06 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- THE Pope last night expressed his solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse in Ireland.
       The pontiff has been asked to help rescue the Catholic Church here from the fallout from the Ryan Report on the abuse of children in religious institutions.
       Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin met Pope Benedict in Rome last night to explain the negative reaction to the report and to ask his advice on how to restore public confidence.

    • Revised Markey bill to be voted on by N.Y. Assembly within days

      - General community.  
       Catholic Courier, By Amy Kotlarz, ~ June 07, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The proposed Child Victims Act of New York, which would temporarily suspend the state's civil statute of limitations on the filing of child sex-abuse lawsuits, was revised June 4 to allow claims against both public and private entities. The bill is expected to come before the state Assembly for a vote within the next few days.
       "After several years of denying the fact that her bill would exempt public institutions, Mrs. Markey (the bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, D-Queens) has now acknowledged that her original bill did just that," said a June 5 statement from Richard E. Barnes, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference. "However, even this amended bill remains terrible public policy for the state."
       Markey's Child Victims Act of New York (A2596a) proposes to temporarily waive -- or create a "window" in -- the state's current civil statute of limitations on cases of child sexual abuse, giving alleged victims a period of one year in which to lodge previously time-barred claims, no matter how long ago the abuse is alleged to have occurred.

    • Abuse victims share stories at VOTF meeting

      - RCC.
       The Hour, By FRANICS X. FAY JR., Hour Senior Staff Writer, ~ June 07, 2009
       NORWALK (CT) -- The Voice of the Faithful chapter of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport heard a riveting account of priestly sexual abuse during its meeting this week.
       E. Brian Walsh, a 58-year-old musician and writer from Bristol, said that it was only two years ago that he came to grips with the trauma, stemming from the rape that was inducing suicidal thoughts, and sought help from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
       "The people I've met in SNAP have given me the love and affection that has allowed me to regain my self respect and dignity," he told 35 listeners in the First Congregational Church on the Green.

    • Priest Removed after Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.
       WYTV, ~ June 07, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- The Youngstown Diocese has removed a priest from the ministry after allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.
       Reverend Thomas Crum has admitted to the allegations, which happened when he served as faculty at Cardinal Mooney High School between 1975 and 1977.
       Since then, he's served all around Northeast Ohio including: St. James Parish in Warren, St. John the Baptist Parish in Campbell, St. Christine Parish in Youngstown, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Youngstown and St. Charles Parish in Boardman. For the past four years, Father Crum has served as Pastor at Our Lady of Peace Parish in Canton. He has since resigned.

    • Former Mooney, Boardman priest removed over abuse allegation

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.
       Vindicator, STAFF REPORT, June 07, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – A priest who once served on the faculty of Cardinal Mooney High School has resigned from his Canton parish over an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor.
       The Youngstown diocese said Saturday that Bishop George V. Murry has placed the Rev. Thomas Crum on administrative leave over the allegation of abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago.
       The allegation surfaced last week, said the Rev. John Jerek, spokesman for the diocese. He said the bishop met with "the person who'd been abused." He would not give more information about whether the person was a man or a woman, or whether the person had been a student at Mooney. He also said that he couldn't confirm if the episode even took place at Mooney. He said he didn't want to comment too much, citing an ongoing investigation by Youngstown police. No charges have been filed yet.

    • Diocese removes priest

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.  
       Tribune Chronicle, POSTED: June 7, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- A priest in Canton who once served at Warren's St. James, Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School and several other local churches has been removed from all ministry by the Youngstown Diocese.
       A news release from the diocese Saturday said the Rev. Thomas Crum admitted to allegations of an incident of sexual misconduct that happened more than 30 years ago when Crum was at Mooney but were newly reported, according to the diocese.
       The release said the allegations were reported to "civil authorities," and Crum admitted them to diocesan officials.
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sun June 07, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 08, 2009 edition:


    • Man charged with obstruction of justice in child sexual exploitation case

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider -NEW*, quite new] - RCC. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell -? NEW*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.  
       City of Ashville, http://www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/police/default.aspx?id=10428 , Asheville Police Blotter, ~ June 08, 2009
       ASHEVILLE (NC) -- Asheville police have charged John Warren Schneider, birth date 7/30/1952, of Lakeshore Drive, with Felony Obstruction of Justice in connection with the arrest last month of Paul Lawrence Berrell on multiple counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
       Mr. Berrell, birth date 3/12/1980, of North Ridge Drive, is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center under a $1.5 million bond for offenses that now also include Statutory Rape and Indecent Liberties with a Child.
       Detectives today charged Mr. Schneider with "feloniously [obstructing] the criminal investigation into the illegal activities of Paul Berrell on May 18, 2009. John Schneider entered Paul Berrell's apartment and deleted a computer file containing hundreds of pornographic images of children. This act was done in secret and with malice."
       Mr. Schneider was ordained as a Catholic Priest in 1983. He has held his current position at St. Eugene's Catholic Church since 2005. His bond was set at $10,000 unsecured.
       Further updates, as available, will be posted on this Web page or issued via media release. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:39 PM, ~ June 08, 2009]

    • Time for Catholics to 'build a new Church'

      - Breakaway Catholics consecrate women bishop; she speaks out.      
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Monday June 08 2009
       THE first Irish-born woman bishop since the fifth century has called on ordinary Catholics to work to transform the power structures of Church and State.
       Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan said that old hierarchical structures needed to be broken down to prevent scandals, such as those revealed in the Ryan report, from ever happening again.
       The female bishop was born in Rathdowney, Co Laois, but later emigrated to the United States with her parents.
       A theology professor and author, she was one of eight women who defied the Vatican American Catholic Church authorities three years ago when they were ordained priests on a chartered ship near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:10 AM, June 08, 2009]

    • New priest chosen for Canton parish stunned by sex-abuse allegations

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.  
       Canton Repository, By Charita Goshay, 06:40 PM, Posted Jun 08, 2009
       CANTON (OH) – A pastor who grew up attending Our Lady of Peace church will take over the pulpit there, days after the parish's former priest, Thomas Crum, confessed to a 30-year-old allegation of sexual misconduct with a student at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown. Crum has been placed on administrative leave.
       Monsignor Lewis Gaetano, a priest at St. Paul parish in Canton and a faculty member at Walsh University, has assumed administrative duties at Our Lady of Peace, located at 1001 39th St. NW.
       Last week, Crum, a Louisville native and St. Thomas Aquinas High School graduate, admitted to diocesan authorities and police in Youngstown that the accusation was true. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:28 PM, June 08, 2009]

    • Play in Mendham a first-hand look at abuse

      - RCC. A play.
       Daily Record, By ABBOTT KOLOFF, June 8, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- Joe Capozzi's play starts with him hearing voices.
       One voice tells him to keep a dark secret. Another tells him to speak out. That struggle was part of Capozzi's life for two decades after his alleged sexual abuse by a Catholic priest when he was 16 years old.
       The autobiographical play ends in 2005 when he tells his estranged wife that he had been molested by the same priest who performed their marriage ceremony. Everything leading to that point explains why it took so long to talk about the abuse, Capozzi said. But not completely.
       "I'm still trying to understand myself," said Capozzi, 40, who grew up in Bergen County and now lives in Manhattan. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:09 AM, June 08, 2009]

    • Police Investigating "Sexual Misconduct" Claims Against Local Priest

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.
       WYTV, ~ June 08, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- Youngstown's police chief admits his officers were made aware of the allegations against a local priest last week -- but have not been able to make much headway.
       Over the weekend, we learned Bishop George Murry had placed Father Thomas Crum on Administrative Leave -- following accusations Crum had engaged in what the Diocese describes as "sexual misconduct" while he had been on the facility at Cardinal Mooney High School more than 30-years ago.
       In a written release, The Diocese claims Crum did admit to the allegation after being confronted. Most recently, Crum was serving as pastor at a parish in Canton.
       Over the course of his nearly 35-year career Crum has served at a dozen parishes around the Diocese. At this point..despite the amount of time that's passed, police say they're pursuing their investigation.
       Chief Jimmy Hughes says he'll want to check with prosecutors, but says, "my understand[ing] of it is, the statute of limitations -- the clock starts when the crime is discovered by us."

    • Diocese of Toledo issues statement

      - RCC.
       Toledo on the Move, By Hubert Wiggins, 5:10 p.m., Monday, June 08, 2009
       TOLEDO, OHIO -- The Office of Communications of the Diocese of Toledo issued the following statement in response to a letter delivered to Bishop Leonard Blair by an organization representing survivors of sex abuse by Catholic priests.
       The letter states: "In its ongoing efforts to protect children, the Diocese of Toledo continues to encourage anyone who has an allegation, or knowledge of suspected or actual sexual abuse of a minor by Diocesan personnel, to immediately contact local civil authorities, and the Toledo Diocesan Case Manager, Mr. Frank DiLallo to report any allegations or knowledge of such abuse.

    • When priests were kings

      - RCC.  
       The Mayo News, by Fr Kevin Hegarty, ~ June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE American novelist, Mary Gordon wrote, some years ago, that her mother would find it impossible to understand two things about today's world; the demise of the typewriter and that when most Americans now think of Catholic priests, their minds first turn to thoughts of sexual scandal.
       So far as clergy are concerned it was all so different when Mary was young. In her memoir, 'Circling My Mother', she has expressed the awe in which priests were held in the Catholic community:
       "It is almost impossible to convey to anyone under fifty the glamour, the shimmer, the esteem that attached to priests when my mother was young, right through the time I was a teenager, the mid-sixties at least. Priests were treated like princes - no, like kings. As with royalty, certain metonymies applied. If the king was his sceptre or his crown, the priest was his hands. The awe connected with the Eucharist was expressed by the attention centred on the hands of priests. Their hands turned bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. A priest took special care of his hands. He was allowed that vanity. It was considered neither self-indulgent nor effeminate. A certain kind of Catholic understood that there were white linen towels kept especially for a priest's visit, so that no cloth but white linen would touch his sacred hands … Nothing was too much to do for them … Their visits were anticipated, treasured, like the visit of a movie star to a small town."

    • Can the Pope Save the Legion of Christ?

      [Decades - Maciel Degollado*] - RCC. US $10-15m, male seminarians, mistress had daughter.    
       New Oxford Review, ~ June 08, 2009
       That was the implicit question set forth at the end of our New Oxford Note "The Self-Destruction of a Cult of Personality" (Apr.). We shall soon find out the answer.
       Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an investigation of the Legion of Christ, whose founder, the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, fathered a child some twenty years ago and faced a slew of allegations of sexual abuse of seminarians.
       The investigation was announced by the Pope's secretary of state, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, in a March 10 letter to Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, general director of the Legion.
       The investigation will take the form of an apostolic visitation by a "team of prelates" who have yet to be named.
       The Holy Father, wrote Cardinal Bertone to the Legion, "is aware of the noble ideals that inspire you and the fortitude and prayerful spirit with which you are facing the current vicissitudes, and he encourages you to continue seeking the good of the Church and society by means of your own distinctive initiatives and institutions." [LOOK BACK: May 2009; April 02, 2009]

    • Holy cow! Taxpayers hit with $3m Vatican office

      - Aussie taxpayers to pay for representation.    
       Courier Mail, by Ian McPhedran, for June 09, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- TAXPAYERS will fork out a massive $372,000 a year to rent a flat and office space in Rome for the new ambassador to the Vatican, former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, even though there is a modern Australian embassy just 5km away.
       And another $3 million, or $12,000 a square metre, is being spent to convert and fit out an apartment to become the new office for the ambassador adjacent to the Vatican.
       Rent for each property will cost taxpayers about $14,000 a month plus about $1500 a month each for service or "condominium" charges.
       [COMMENT: This is obviously another waste of money by the "financial conservative" PM KRudd. ENDS.]

    • New auxiliary bishop for Philadelphia

      - RCC.  
       Philadelphia Inquirer, By David O'Reilly, June 08, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- Cardinal Justin Rigali announced today that Monsignor Timothy C. Senior had been named an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
       Senior, 49, has served as the archdiocese's vicar for clergy for the past five years. He previously served seven years as secretary, or head, of Catholic Human Services here.
       The agency, which has 4,500 employees, includes the Catholic Health Care Services and Catholic Social Services, is the the largest private provider of social services in Pennsylvania.

    • Pope gives bishops power to dismiss 'errant' priests

      - Some power back to RC bishops.  
       Guardian (United Kingdom), by Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent guardian.co.uk , 16.29, Monday, June 8, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has authorised new powers for bishops to dismiss "errant" priests from their ministry.
       The guidelines, issued by the Congregation for Clergy – the Vatican body which oversees the priesthood – will make it easier and faster for bishops to dismiss priests who are living with women, have left their ministry or who have engaged in scandalous behaviour. The new powers do not apply to cases involving clerical sex abuse, which will continue to be dealt with by a separate body.
       Cardinal Claudio Hummes told the Catholic News Service that the new, quicker administrative procedure was prompted by "many situations where canon law did not seem adequate for meeting new problems" saying, as an example, that the 1983 code of canon law made no provision for priests who had abandoned their ministry.

    • Msgr. Senior to become auxiliary bishop for Philadelphia

      - RCC.  
       Catholic News Agency, 11:11 am, Jun 8, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA), (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Monsignor Timothy C. Senior, 49, as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
       Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, announced the appointment at a news conference Monday morning in the Archdiocesan Office Center.
       Msgr. Senior has served as Vicar for Clergy of the archdiocese for the past five years. Prior to that, he had served for seven years as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Catholic Human Services for the archdiocese.

    • Local Priest Named Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia

      - RCC.
       KYW, by KYW's Steve Tawa, ~ June 08, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- Pope Benedict XVI is appointing a local monsignor as auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia.
       Bishop-elect Timothy Senior, 49, will be helping Cardinal Justin Rigali with day-to-day activities.
       Senior recalls getting the phone call from the archbishop:
       "It was actually Memorial Day -- at 11:46."

    • Rebel priests await Milingo visit

      - "Married Priests Now!"  10 more leave RCC over celibacy.      
       Daily Nation, By BOB ODALO, ~ June 08, 2009
       In Summary
       Faction advocating marriage for the Catholic clergy to ordain two bishops
       KENYA -- Another 10 priests have broken away from the Catholic Church over celibacy.
       And controversial Zambian archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is set to rub his former church the wrong way as he arrives in the country in a fortnight to ordain two bishops of the Married Priests Now! movement.
       The priests, from Machakos, Nairobi, Nakuru and Nyeri dioceses, converged in Machakos to lay ground for their big day. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:14 PM]
       [LOOK BACK: February 11, 2009, June 2, 2008, others, and January 15, 2008]

    • Priest who served in Roostown removed for sexual misconduct allegation

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Minor.  
       Record-Courier, ~ June 08, 2009
       OHIO -- A priest who once served as pastor at St. Peter of the Fields Church in Rootstown has been removed from all ministry by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown over an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor.
       A news release Saturday from the diocese said Bishop George V. Murry has placed the Rev. Thomas Crum on administrative leave over the allegation of abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago while Crum was on the faculty of Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.

    • Pope 'visibly upset' over Ryan Report

      - RCC.      
       RTE News, with audio, June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- Pope Benedict was visibly upset by accounts of the Child Abuse Commission's report, according to one of the Irish archbishops who briefed him on it in the Vatican.
       Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the message which Cardinal Sean Brady and he brought from last Friday's encounter was that the Irish hierarchy had to listen to survivors of abuse, to learn from the Ryan Report and to do some deep soul-searching about how the church will look in the years to come.
       Cardinal Brady, who met representatives of the Conference of Religious of Ireland yesterday evening to brief them on the meeting, reported the Pope as saying that this was a time for deep examination of life in the Irish church.

    • Pope 'very upset' to hear details of abuse report, bishops told

      - RCC.
       Belfast Telegraph, Monday, June 8, 2009
       IRELAND -- Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told their colleagues today that the Pope was 'very upset' to hear the details of the Ryan Report.
       The two senior church men briefed the pontiff last week on the report into the widespread abuse of children in state institutions run by religious orders.

    • Pope 'visibly upset' over abuse

      - RCC.      
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- Pope Benedict was "visibly upset" when he heard details contained in the Ryan report on abuse in State institutions run by religious orders, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said today.
       Archbishop Martin and Catholic Primate Seán Brady were speaking after meeting bishops in Maynooth today in the wake of a meeting with the pope on Friday where they discussed the Ryan report with the pontiff.
       The two met Pope Benedict on Friday in the Vatican. Earlier last week, they met six members of the curia, including secretary of state Cardinal Bertoni.
       In a statement to journalists after today's meeting, Cardinal Brady said the Pope had "listened very carefully, very attentively, very sympatheticly to what we had to say and he said in reply that this was a time for deep examination of life here in Ireland in the Church.

    • Former Greek Orthodox Priest Nicholas Katinas Passes Away at 75

      [1970s Katinas] - Greek Orthodox. Boys.  
       Pokrov, Publication: The National Herald, Author: Theodore Kalmoukos, Date Published: Jun/6/2009
       BOSTON, UNITED STATES - Nicholas Katinas, the defrocked Greek Orthodox priest and former pastor of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Dallas, passed away on Monday, June 1 at the age of 75. He was at the center of one of the most serious child sexual abuse scandals of recent years in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Greek American Community.
       Mr. Katinas's death was made known late in the evening on Monday, June 1 by an e-mail which was send by the Holy Trinity parish. The message read that "The entire Holy Trinity family would like to expresses their heartfelt sympathies and condolences to Presbytera Angela Katinas, Manuel Katinas, Father James Katinas, Stephen Katinas, Matthew Katinas and Maria Fotopoulos along with their families on the falling asleep of our past priest, Nicholas Katinas, who fell asleep in the Lord June 1, 2009. Trisagion and Funeral information will be forthcoming. May His Memory be ever Eternal." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:44 AM, June 08, 2009]

    • Don't close the book yet

      [1970s Katinas] - Greek Orthodox. Boys.
       Pokrov, ~ June 08, 2009 Publication: The National Herald; Date Published: Jun/6/2009
       Ever since the sex abuse scandal allegedly involving minors broke out, Nicholas Katinas, the disgraced and defrocked former priest, kept an eerie silence. He did not utter one world either in his defense, or to express any remorse to his many accusers.
       Neither were his whereabouts known. At first, he apparently moved to Rhodes, the island from which he hails, and later to Florida. He was probably hiding because he was too scared to face his alleged victims, or too ashamed to be seen in public.
       Whatever it was, we now may never know.

    • Bishop who took in Alberto Cutié unafraid of making waves

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, now Romanists --> Episcopalians.    
       Miami Herald, BY JAWEED KALEEM, jkaleem § MiamiHerald.com , ~ June 08, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) It was the made-for-TV ending to a weeks-long saga of fame and faith: Alberto Cutié, the telegenic priest embroiled in a magazine-photo scandal, would leave the Roman Catholic church to become an Episcopalian -- and would marry his girlfriend of two years.
       But when Cutié's new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, stood inside Miami's Trinity Cathedral to announce the news to dozens of international reporters, he created his own waves.
       The "Inquisition is over," Frade said in widely broadcast remarks after Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora admonished him for a disrespectful "public display." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:20 AM]

    • An angry electorate has clearly voted for change

      - RCC.  
       Irish Independent, By Mary Kenny, Monday June 08, 2009
       You could tell, for weeks now, that these elections were going to be some kind of a meltdown: just by the way that the electorate were discussing the political class in shops, pubs and even hairdressers' salons -- not normally a location of Platonic political discourse.
       "They want punishing, that's what they want," the old dears were saying in our little Kentish town. …
       Irish politicians, too, may have reason to be grateful for the timing of the Ryan Commission report: as in that ghastly phrase employed over 9/11 -- "A good day to bury bad news" -- so much anger and distress and fury has been vented against the clergy and the institutions of the Catholic Church that the political class seem a lesser object of hostility.
       Contrary to claims that the Ryan Commission "shamed Ireland in the eyes of the world", apart from reportage that lasted precisely one day, it was barely noted in the London papers: the political shenanigans were far too exciting.

    • Pope shares public's outrage over abuse, bishops will hear

      - RCC.      
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Monday June 08 2009
       IRELAND -- THE Pope's distress at the Irish institutional abuse scandal will be communicated to the Bishops' Conference today.
       The heads of Ireland's 26 dioceses will be told Pope Benedict XVI shares the level of anger and outrage felt by the Irish public after the Ryan report's revelations on the scale of systemic abuse of thousands of children.
       Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will report on the outcome of their half-hour encounter with the German Pontiff last Friday evening in Rome, and will tell their fellow bishops of the deep distress he expressed to them.

    • Bishops discuss meeting with Pope

      - RCC. "Huge denial," says Archbishop.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, ~ June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- Catholic Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin are delivering a report on the pope's response to the Ryan report to bishops holding their summer meeting in Maynooth today.
       The two met Pope Benedict on Friday in the Vatican. Earlier last week, they met six members of the curia, including secretary of state Cardinal Bertoni.
       Asked on the way into the meeting this morning about a letter sent by the Christian Brothers, five days before publication of the Ryan report, refuting there had been any abuse in their institutions Archbishop Martin said: "There has been huge denial about abuse".

    • Abusers were 'dregs of society'

      - RCC.    
       BBC News, ~ June 08, 2009
       IRELAND -- A Irish theologian has said the "dregs of society" ran Catholic institutions where children were abused by what he called "monsters." …
       He said many of them came from large and extremely poor families and their parents had pressurised them to enter congregations because of the social status and life-long security they offered.
       Fr Twomey said many did not have real vocations, and were frustrated sexually because celibacy was not their choice.
       He said what we were looking at were "the dregs of society in a certain sense".

    • "Tail-between-the-legs cowering"

      - RC group v. tax authorities.  
       California Catholic Daily, ~ June 08, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Catholic Answers, a lay-run Catholic apologetics and evangelization group based in San Diego County, has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service alleging the federal tax-collection agency is using its powers to stifle the legal expression of pro-life and other religious viewpoints by non-profit organizations.
       "We're suing the IRS for violating our First Amendment rights, for slapping us with a fine for exercising our free speech rights, and for intimidating all non-profit organizations into silence," said Catholic Answers president Karl Keating in a statement posted on the organization's web site.

    • Haunted by Irish rosary beads

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.      
       The Boston Globe, By James Carroll, June 8, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- FROM A HOOK on the wall behind my writing desk hangs a rosary that I inherited from my mother. Its glass gray-blue beads are cut with tiny edges, and it glistens. Mom collected sets of rosary beads. Especially favored were rosaries she brought back from Ireland, font of the faith. Irish beads sent prayers straight to heaven. The rosary beside me may not actually be one from Ireland, but lately it has been haunting me. I wonder if it was made in a Dublin institution known as Goldenbridge?
       It has taken a couple of weeks to get the mind around the revelations of the Irish report on child abuse, a government investigation into the treatment of children at state schools and orphanages that were run by Catholic orders like the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers. Twenty-six-hundred pages documented the nightmarish experience of something like 30,000 children across 60 years. "Scourge of Abuse" was the New York Times headline. "A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment permeated most of the institutions." Sexual abuse of boys was "endemic." The children were treated like prisoners and slaves. One observer commented that the system wasn't abused; abuse was the system.
       At first, reactions were unsurprising. An Irish cardinal said he was "profoundly sorry." Many saw the moral standing of the Catholic Church obliterated. Legions of people, including many Irish, have taken this news of yet more clergy abuse as reason to denigrate Catholicism, as if the archest old stereotypes of the church-haters have been vindicated. Meanwhile, others quietly join the throng of ordinary Irish who've left the faith behind. That the report names no perpetrators and generates no adjudication constitutes a further offense. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:16 AM
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 08, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 09, 2009 edition:


    • Metro Church Worker Charged with Abuse

      [2009 Mr Antoine Johnson -NEW*] - Baptist. Man posed as girl to meet boys.  
       My Fox Atlanta, ~ June 09, 2009
       GWINNETT COUNTY, GEORGIA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - A Gwinnett County man was behind bars Tuesday, accused of child molestation. Investigators said Antoine Johnson posed as a 16-year-old girl on the internet to meet young boys. Authorities said they had one alleged victim and suspect there may be more.
       The victim's mother said she never would have thought a man who worked with youth at a local church could be accused of hurting young children. …
       Johnson had been volunteering with the youth at Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula over the last two years. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:37 PM, June 09, 2009]

    • Dallas Catholic Diocese describes 'con man'

      [- 2008-09 Mr "Bill Ryan" -NEW*] - RCC. Confidence trickster. ~ US $128,000.
       The Dallas Morning News, By BROOKS EGERTON / begerton § dallasnews.com , ~ June 09, 2009
       DALLAS (TX) -- Dallas Catholic Diocese officials are releasing new information about a "con man" who obtained about $128,000 from a University of Dallas campus church.
       They also say the FBI dropped its inquiry into the matter without coming to any conclusions about what happened. The FBI would not confirm or deny that Monday.
       Diocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said the man used the name William "Bill" Ryan and is white, in his 60s, and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. He weighs about 150 pounds and has wavy, graying hair. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:50 AM, June 09, 2009]

    • Priest's rape trial begins today

      [≤ 2004 Fr Enel Almeus -? NEW*] - RCC. Rape.    
       Express, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
       TRINIDAD & TOBAGO -- Haitian Roman Catholic priest Enel Almeus is expected to face a judge and jury today, five years after being committed to stand trial for rape.
       Almeus is being represented by Senior Counsel Desmond Allum and attorney John Heath, while Senior Counsel Israel Khan has been granted a fiat to prosecute.
       When the matter was called yesterday before Justice Andre Mondesir, a nine-member jury was selected. Khan is expected to make his opening statements today. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:57 AM, June 09, 2009]

    • Ex-priest to be extradited to UK

      [1980s Fr James Robinson - ? NEW*] - RCC. Altar boys.    
       BBC News, ~ June 09, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A former Roman Catholic priest suspected of abusing altar boys in the UK is to be extradited from the United States, a Los Angeles court has ruled.
       James Robinson is the subject of five complaints relating to alleged offences in the Coventry and Birmingham areas.
       He worked in Sutton Coldfield, Cradley Heath and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
       Father Robinson, who denies the claims, is expected to be extradited in the next two months unless he successfully appeals the US court's decision. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:05 PM, June 09, 2009]

    • Priest jailed for altar boy 'anatomy lesson'

      [1968-69 Fr Desmond Gannon - NEW*] - RCC. "Anatomy lessons." Altar boy.    
       The Australian, http://www. theaustralian. news.com. au/story/ 0,25197, 25614875- 12377,00.html , ~ June 09, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A PEDOPHILE priest who claimed he was giving an altar boy an anatomy lesson when he sexually molested him has been jailed for more than two years.
       Desmond Laurence Gannon, 79, was a Catholic priest at Kilmore, north of Melbourne, when he abused the boy on three separate occasions in 1968 and 1969.
       Gannon pleaded guilty to five counts of indecently assaulting a male under 16. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:01 PM, June 09, 2009]

    • Settlement reached in diocese case

      [1970 Mr Bob Krantz -? NEW*] - RCC. SETTLEMENT. Victim was expelled by the school, too!  
       Argus Leader by Josh Verges, June 9, 2009
       SIOUX FALLS (SD) -- A former O'Gorman High School student who accused a teacher of sexual abuse has resolved his federal lawsuit against the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese.
       The diocese reached a deal with 54-year-old Tom Gust during a mediation conference last week in Sioux Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Simko, court records show.
       Gust, who now lives in California, accused typing teacher Bob Krantz of forcing himself on Gust in a supply room in 1970 after keeping him after school, court documents state. Gust said school staff hid the abuse and expelled him from school.

    • Pierce due in court again

      [? 1990s-2000s Mr David Pierce*] - Baptist. 54 charges. 4 choir boys.
       Courier, Monday, June 08, 2009
       BENTON (AR) -- David Pierce, the former Benton First Baptist Church music minister who faces 54 counts of sexual indecency with a child, is scheduled for his second court appearance Tuesday.
       Pierce, 56, is scheduled to appear at a 1 p.m. proceeding before Benton District Judge Mike Robinson and possibly enter a plea, Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady said.
       "(Pierce) will have the opportunity to plead, but could ask for a continuance," Casady said. "I'm not sure what he will do."
       Pierce has been free on a $25,000 bond. The bond was issued by Robinson on April 27 following Pierce's initial arrest. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:37 AM, June 09, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: May 2009; ~ April 25, 2009]

    • Replacement for Pius Ncube

      - RCC. [2006-07 Abp Ncube*] - RCC. Married woman (who died May 2008).  
       Zimbabwe Telegraph, By GETRUDE GUMEDE, Published: June 9, 2009
       ZIMBABWE, BULAWAYO -- The Roman Catholic Church will on 20 June unveil a new Archbishop for the Bulawayo Diocese to replace Pius Ncube who stepped down from the post after allegations of adultery, The Zimbabwe Telegraph reports.
       A number of candidates are tipped to fill the position that h as been vacant for almost two years.
       In the list of candidates are St. Mary's Bulawayo Cathedral Administrator Martin Schupp, former Chishavasha Seminary Rector Antonio Santos Marizane, Hwange Bishop Albert Jose Serano and the chairman for the Bulawayo Provincial Congregation of Marian Hill missionaries Gibson Dube.
       A notice has been given to all churches to clear all programmes for 20 June as they await the Pope's representative in Zimbabwe Apostle Muncio, his grace George Kocherry to arrive in Bulawayo and announce the appointment. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:20 PM, June 09, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: Various, and May 02, 2008, and further back]

    • Book says SBC lacks system of preventing sexual abuse

      - Bapists. Book.  
       Associated Baptist Press, By Bob Allen, Tuesday, June 09, 2009
       AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) -- A book released in advance of the June 23-24 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention claims the nation's largest Protestant faith group has more than 100,000 clergy, but no effective system of denominational oversight to protect children from sexual abuse.
       This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang is a combination memoir and exposé written by Christa Brown, an anti-clergy-sex-abuse activist.
       Brown tells her own story of being sexually abused by a youth minister at the Texas Southern Baptist church of her childhood and how years later as an adult she met a bureaucratic response when trying to warn denominational officials there might be a sexual predator in their midst. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:45 PM]
       [LOOK BACK: ~ May 01, 2009]

    • Eco-bishop makes it official and steps down from pulpit

      - RCC.    
       Sydney Morning Herald, by Josephine Tovey, for June 10, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A PROMINENT and outspoken Australian bishop who took extended leave without explanation six weeks ago formally resigned last night, citing personal reasons and ill health.
       Bishop Christopher Toohey, known as the country's "eco-bishop" for his passionate environmentalism, took leave from his position in the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese in April amid keen speculation.
       The Balmain-born clergyman, who was the subject of a recent Compass documentary, holds views on climate change that are sharply at odds with Cardinal George Pell. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:19 AM, June 09, 2009]

    • Child abuse survivors protest outside Saginaw Diocese

      - RCC.  
       WJRT, with video, By Kristen Abraham, June/09/09
       SAGINAW (MI), (WJRT) -- ()--A group of child abuse survivors protested outside the Saginaw Diocese Tuesday afternoon, partly in response to ABC12's interview with Bishop Elect Joseph Cistone of Saginaw.
       The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is demanding answers from the church leader about his alleged role in covering up the church abuse scandal.
       SNAP hand delivered a letter to Cistone's office at the Diocese of Saginaw. They have two requests, and they say the community deserves answers. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:10 PM]

    • Bishop says priest apologized for abusing teen

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Minor.
       Beacon Journal, By Colette M. Jenkins, POSTED: 08:24 p.m. EDT, Jun 09, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- The Rev. Thomas Crum, a Roman Catholic priest who admitted that he sexually abused a male teenage student for a period of a year, has apologized for his behavior.
       "He apologized to me for the shame that this has brought on the diocese and the church," said Catholic Diocese of Youngstown Bishop George V. Murry, during a news conference today at diocesan offices.
       Murry said that the victim has requested no contact with Crum. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:06 PM

    • Priest jailed for five counts of indecent assault in 1960s

      [1968-69 Desmond Gannon*] - RCC. "Anatomy lessons." Altar boy.    
       Herald Sun, by Shelley Hadfield, 11:27am, for June 10, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A PRIEST who told an altar boy he would give him "anatomy lessons" before indecently assaulting him has been jailed.
       Desmond Laurence Gannon, 79, was a Catholic priest in Kilmore when he committed five counts of indecent assault in the 1960s.
       Gannon was today sentenced to 25 months' jail with a minimum of 14 after Judge Frank Gucciardo said he could see little remorse over the offences. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:59 PM

    • Corrections and clarifications

      [1966 Fr Richard Nichols] - RCC. Boy+.  
       Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Posted: Jun. 8, 2009
       WISCONSIN -- James Causey's column in the Crossroads section Sunday about a sexual abuse victim misstated the first name of a priest accused of abuse and the cause of his death. The priest was Father Richard, not James, Nichols. He died of a heart attack, not cancer. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:55 PM

    • Jarmoluk to leave St. Peter in Geneva

      - RCC.
       The Geneva Sun, By STEVE LORD, slord § scn1.com , June 9, 2009
       GENEVA (IL) – The Rev. Joseph Jarmoluk will leave St. Peter Church Parish next month after 12 years as pastor.
       Jarmoluk will become pastor at another St. Peter Church, in Spring Grove, Ill., and will be replaced by the Rev. Martins Emeh, who has been working at the Rockford Diocese office as the person in charge of the television Masses. …
       Wiegert said the change is "absolutely not" involved with the controversy that swirled around Jarmoluk and the church after the 2002 arrest and 2004 conviction of St. Peter's former assistant pastor Mark Campobello for aggravated sexual abuse.
       The Campobello affair divided St. Peter's Parish, with one group wanting to know more about what Jarmoluk knew and did about the abuse, and another group defending Jarmoluk's actions and saying he was a victim of a conspiracy to get him out of the church. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:50 PM

    • Law on checking residential disability centres essential

      - > 800 children probably still "in care."    
       The Irish Times, June 10, 2009
       OPINION: Institutional care does not belong to a different era, as the Ryan report stated, as thousands of people with disabilities still live in such care, writes DEIRDRE CARROLL
       IRELAND – THREE WEEKS after the publication of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report (Ryan report), there has been little public outcry about the horrendous abuse of children with disabilities in institutions, nor has there been any mention that children and adults with disabilities remain in uninspected, unregulated services, paid for by the Irish taxpayer. Unfortunately, institutional care does not belong to a different era, as stated in the Ryan report, as thousands of people with a disability continue to live in institutional care, some in what can be described as Dickensian conditions.
       Media coverage of this issue was limited to Inclusion Ireland and Emily Logan, Ombudsman for Children. Logan drew attention to the continuing failure of the Government, the Department of Health and Children and the HSE to provide for independent inspection of services where children with disabilities live. Inclusion Ireland has highlighted this failure since 2006. Figures published in 2005 showed that 374 children with disabilities were living in full-time residential care, with a further 500 receiving what is called "residential support services", ie respite care, which may last for a few days a couple of times a year, or be a longer stay of weeks or months if needed. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:47 PM

    • Breaking news: Transparency called for in sexual abuse cases

      - RCC appoints cover-up man to be bishop of Saginaw.  
       Midland Daily News, by Angela E. Lackey, angelalackey § mdn.net , 4:06 PM EDT Tuesday, June 9, 2009
       MICHIGAN -- Barbara Blaine, founder and president of Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests (SNAP), has called for Bishop Joseph R. Cistone to be open and transparent about his role in the cover up of child sexual abuse cases.
       "The innocence of children was shortened because of the actions and inactions of this bishop," Blaine said.
       Cistone was named bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw on May 20. A grand jury report from 2005 states he was complicit in the cover up of multiple cases of child sexual abuse committed by priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:33 PM

    • Asheville Priest Charged With Obstruction In Child Sex Case - Resigned Tuesday

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider*] - RCC. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.
       News Channel 7, By Jonathan Carlson, Published: June 9, 2009
       ASHEVILLE (NC) -- A Western North Carolina Catholic priest has been charged with Obstruction Of Justice.
       The Rev. John Schneider was arrested yesterday and has since bailed out of jail.
       This, after police say he deleted pornographic images off the home computer of his church's music minister.
       That man, Paul Lawrence Berrell, was under investigation and later arrested, last month, on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor – statutory rape – and indecent liberties with a child. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:29 PM

    • Priest admits sex with Mooney student

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Schoolchild.
       Vindicator, June 09, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – A priest has admitted sexual misconduct with a student at Cardinal Mooney High School while the priest was on the faculty there in 1975 and 1976.
       Bishop George V. Murry said today he has promised anonymity to the victim of sexual misconduct by the Rev. Thomas Crum. The victim's name, age and gender is not being made public.
       Bishop Murry said he was contacted May 22 by the victim, who made the allegation of sexual misconduct against Father Crum. The victim was a teenager at the time of the abuse and a student at Cardinal Mooney High School, where Father Crum was on the faculty from 1975-77. Bishop Murry said the victim told him that the abuse did not occur on school or church grounds and more than one incident took place between 1975 and 1976. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:25 PM

    • Amended bill on abuse lawsuits still 'terrible' policy, official says

      - RCC.  
       The Catholic Spirit, Catholic News Service, Tuesday, June 09, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Even with an amendment to include public institutions, a bill that would temporarily waive statutes of limitations on filing sex abuse lawsuits "remains terrible public policy," said the New York State Catholic Conference in Albany.
       As originally written, the Child Victims Act of New York -- also known as the Markey bill after sponsor Democratic Assemblywoman Margaret Markey -- applied only to suits against individuals and private institutions.
       On June 3 Markey said she would amend her proposal to include public institutions. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:17 PM

    • Pontiff Urges "Deep Examination" in Ireland

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.      
       Zenit, JUNE 9, 2009
       MAYNOOTH, Ireland, (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is calling for a "deep examination" of the life of the Church in Ireland, according to the archbishop of Dublin who met with the Pope on Friday regarding last month's report of the widespread abuse of children in Ireland's Catholic schools.
       Archbishop Diarmuid Martin affirmed that the Holy Father was "visibly upset" when he was presented by the prelates with the details contained in what has come to be called the Ryan report (after the head of the commission that compiled it). The report was released May 20 and informs on decades of abuse.
       Archbishop Martin and Cardinal Sean Brady, archbishop of Armagh, met today with bishops in Maynooth and recounted their Friday meeting with the Pontiff. The two prelates released a statement to the press after today's meeting. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:15 PM d="a021711" class="title">

    • OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

      - RCC.        
       The Catholic Spirit, Vatican News Service, JUN 9, 2009
       VATICAN CITY, (VIS) - The Holy Father:
       - Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, Australia, presented by Bishop Christopher Henry Toohey, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.
       - Appointed Bishop Otto Separy, auxiliary of Aitape, Papua New Guinea, as bishop of the same diocese (area 18,200, population 105,800, Catholics 78,400, priests 25, religious 98). Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:13 PM

    • Brothers Want New Trial against Catholic Church

      [1959-73 Mons. Herdegen*] - RCC. 2 brothers.  
       CBS 47, with video, ~ June 09, 2009
       FRESNO (CA) -- Two brothers from the South Valley, who claim they were sexually assaulted by their Catholic priest, want a new trial.
       George and Howard Santillan claim the Fresno Diocese covered up abuse by their Wasco Priest, Monsignor Anthony Herdegen.
       Back in April, a jury agreed that the abuse happened but didn't believe that church leaders knew about. Now attorneys for the brothers say they have new evidence.

    • Survivors group reaches out

      - RCC.
       Columbia Daily Tribune, By T.J. Greaney, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
       MISSOURI -- When he was 9 years old, Don Asbee's parents thought it was wonderful that the priest at their church in Milton, Pa., had taken such an interest in him. Asbee's father was often away on business, and his mother thought he needed a male role model.
       But Asbee now realizes his isolated position made him an easy mark for a pedophile. He and one of his closest friends – both church altar boys – spent the next four years being bullied and raped by predatory priests, he said.
       "My childhood was basically stolen from me," he said.
       Asbee eventually moved away, began a career as a metal sculptor and pushed the memories deep inside. His friend committed suicide at age 20. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:07 PM

    • Demonstration to mark clerical abuse with children's shoes

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Ireland Online, 15:53:28, June 09, 2009
       IRELAND -- Organisers of a silent demonstration in memory of victims of clerical abuse in church-run institutions will leave children's shoes piled at the Dáil railings following the march.
       Groups on a solidarity walk through Dublin tomorrow have called on people attending to bring white ribbons to tie to the gates of Leinster House as a mark of respect for those who suffered and died at the hands of religious orders.
       A petition with thousands of names will also be handed over to the head of the Congregation of Religious of Ireland, Marianne O'Connor.

    • The Trail of Tears

      - Baptist.  
       Let's Stop Pastor Darrell Gilyard Together ~ June 09, 2009
       JACKSONVILLE (FL) -- Since the plea bargain I have received so many emails from caring people from my past, people that also watched Darrell Gilyard preach back in the late 80's early 90's and revered him. Most of these people knew of my situation with him and also of the scandal that that all became public once his past was fully seen.
       But there are still many that simply did not know and are now shocked. They wondered what happened to him, why he wasn't a regular at First Baptist any longer, but assumed he just moved on. There have been pictures of our church youth group tour days posted on the popular "facebook" site, in many of these Darrell is sitting in a pew with his arms around teen girls and no one thought much of it.
       They have held onto the pictures and just see the memories of being with this "famous pastor" and of the fun we had as a huge group of kids that love the Lord and were on the road telling people about Jesus. No one really saw any red flags, at least not any that they mentioned. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:30 AM

    • Victims group opens Mid-Missouri branch

      - SNAP.
       Columbia Daily Tribune, June 08, 2009
       COLUMBIA (MO) -- A national support group for victims of sexual abuse by authority figures will have the first meeting of its Mid-Missouri chapter tomorrow night.
       The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests chapter will meet from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wakonda Center, 2100 E. Broadway, Suite 315. Abuse victims and their family members are invited to attend.
       "We're a confidential self-help group working to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable," Amy Surdin of Columbia, who is SNAP's Mid-Missouri outreach coordinator, said in a news release. "Despite the word 'priest' in our title, we welcome anyone who was hurt in any institutional setting." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:27 AM

    • Mystery as bishop quits rural diocese

      -RCC.    
       The Australian, by Andrew Fraser | for June 10, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- MYSTERY surrounds the sudden departure of the Catholic bishop of a western NSW diocese who resigned unexpectedly just after Easter.
       The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference yesterday confirmed that Bishop Chris Toohey of Wilcannia-Forbes had resigned after taking extended leave.
       While all manner of rumours have been circulating on the internet about the reasons for the sudden departure of Bishop Toohey, it is believed that he has had medical problems associated with servicing such a large area with diminishing resources. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:07 AM, June 09, 2009]

    • Ex-priest to be flown to UK to face child abuse claims

      [1980s Fr James Robinson*] - RCC. Altar boys (5 complaints).    
       Coventry Telegraph, ~ June 09, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A FORMER Coventry priest is to be flown back to the UK to face allegations of abuse against altar boys in the city during the 1980s.
       The extradition of Father James Robinson - a former assistant parish priest at St Elizabeth's, Eld Road, Foleshill - has been agreed by a magistrate judge in Los Angeles, California.
       West Midlands Police say the decision means the paperwork will now be completed for the 71-year-old's return, which is expected to take place within the next two months. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:04 AM

    • Sacked vicar may have rights to stay in vicarage, court told

      [~ 2000s Rev. Dr Patrick Okechi*] - Church of England. Appealed, squatting. Adultery. Woman.  
       Birmingham Post, by Rebekah Oruye, Jun 9 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- Add a commentRecommend A West Bromwich vicar sacked for having an affair with a parishioner may have rights to the vicarage he refuses to leave, a court heard today.
       Dr Patrick Okechi, former Reverend at the Church of the Good Shepherd in West Bromwich was removed and barred from serving as a vicar in December after a tribunal ruled he was guilty of "conduct unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk in holy orders".
       Since then, he has filed for reinstatement at an Employment Tribunal and refused to move out of the vicarage in Bromford Lane, where he lives with his wife and three children. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:56 AM

    • Victim group calls for inquiry into Shine's supporters

      [≤ 1997 Surgeon Mr Michael Shine] - RC hospital. Patients.    
       The Irish Times, By EITHNE DONNELLAN and KITTY HOLLAND, June 09, 2009
       IRELAND -- A GROUP supporting victims of the struck-off doctor Michael Shine has written to the Medical Council and An Bord Altranais asking them to investigate named doctors and nurses who supported the former Drogheda surgeon after he was accused of abusing patients.
       Dignity 4 Patients spokeswoman Bernadette Sullivan confirmed the move yesterday amid renewed calls for an independent inquiry into the actions of Mr Shine at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, where he worked from 1964 until 1995; the manner in which complaints against him were handled; and the way a subsequent prosecution against him was dealt with. …
       While about Ir£1.2 million was set aside by the Medical Missionaries of Mary, which ran the hospital, for victims of Mr Shine when it handed over the hospital to the former North Eastern Health Board in 1997, Ms Sullivan said nobody has yet received any compensation.
       She said the Medical Missionaries of Mary should now, like other religious groups in the wake of the publication of the Ryan report, contribute more to some sort of redress scheme for those abused by Mr Shine. "They are now out of step with all the other religious groups involved in Cori," she said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:26 AM

    • Vatican expected to respond to Ryan abuse report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.      
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 09, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE VATICAN is expected to respond publicly to the Ryan report, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has said.
       Commenting yesterday on the meetings in Rome last week involving him, the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady, seven cardinal-prefects of the Roman Curia and Pope Benedict, Archbishop Martin said the pope was "very visibly upset" to hear of some of the things in the Ryan report – "how the children had suffered from the very opposite of an expression of the love of God".
       Speaking in Maynooth yesterday, as the Irish Episcopal Conference began its three-day summer meeting, Archbishop Martin added: "I think the dialogue we have established will continue and something will come of that. When exactly I don't know." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:24 AM

    • Priest charged with obstruction in indecent liberties case

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider*] - RCC. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.  
       Citizen Times, Staff Reports, 12:15 AM, June 9, 2009
       ASHEVILLE (NC) – Asheville Police on Monday charged the pastor of St. Eugene Catholic Church with deleting hundreds of images of child pornography from the computer of his music minister.
       John Schneider, 56, of Lakeshore Drive, Asheville, was charged with felony obstruction of justice for entering Paul Berrell's apartment on May 18 and deleting the pornographic images during a criminal investigation, according to warrants filed at the Buncombe County Magistrate's Office.
       Police on May 20 charged Berrell, 29, with one felony count of indecent liberties with a student under the age of 16. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM

    • Long shadow of damaging new revelations hangs over bishops

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.      
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Tuesday June 09 2009
       IRELAND -- THE shadow of Rome, the Ryan child abuse report and the spectre of the forthcoming findings of the state investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin hovered ominously over the governors of the Irish Church yesterday.
       But outwardly, it looked just like a normal June meeting of the Irish Bishops Conference at Maynooth College.
       Bishops took their traditional post-lunch walks yesterday afternoon in the splendid quadrangle of St Joseph's Square.

    • Fresno judge to rule within week on Motion for New Trial by plaintiffs, in pedophile priest case tried March 2009

      [1959-73 Mons. Herdegen*] - RCC. 2 brothers.  
       City of Angels, By Kay Ebeling, City of Angels Network, ~ June 09, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Jeff Anderson of Minnesota and Tony DeMarco of LA appeared in Fresno California Superior Court for an afternoon hearing today, on their Motion for New Trial in the Catholic pedophile priest civil lawsuit that went to a verdict earlier this year. In April 2009 a Fresno jury found the two altar boy brothers were indeed molested by Monsignor Anthony Herdegen, but church hierarchy in and around Fresno did not have prior notice, so plaintiffs received no financial settlement.
       A source told City of Angels that the Fresno hearing Monday June 8 went on for a good hour, and that it is unusual for Judge Donald Black not to issue a tentative ruling in advance. Instead, at the end of the hearing, Judge Black took the arguments under advisement and said he would issue an order within the week.
       Four attorneys appeared for the defendant Bishop of Fresno claiming the jury should have been interrupted and the trial restarted when the new witness came forward. DeMarco and Anderson say the new witness contacted them after the jury went into deliberation and there is no case law that would have allowed the judge to reopen the case at that point. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:43 AM

    • Pastor attacks pentecostalist colleagues for silence over homos

      - Pentecostals.  
       The New Vision, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
       UGANDA -- Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church has attacked colleagues in the Pentecostal movement of conspiring to remain silent on matters of sexual abuse in the church.
       Sempa, who is one of the pastors crusading against sodomy in the Church, claims the problem will persist in the church if pastors do not come out openly to condemn.
       He says many pastors are secretly calling and encouraging him but they can not come out to join him for fear of being labelled enemies to Pastor Kayanja and others who have been accused of sodomizing followers.

    • Former local priest defrocked

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Male minor.
       Tribune Chronicle, By DARCIE LORENO, POSTED: June 9, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- No charges have been filed against the Rev. Thomas Crum since allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor some 30 years ago emerged publicly this weekend.
       The incident is to have occurred in the 1970s during the priest's tenure at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.
       But after a male victim reported the misconduct to the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown on May 29, the investigation was turned over to Youngstown Police Department, which is attempting to sort out the claims and locate the victim for interviews. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:27 AM

    • Youngstown Diocese removes priest

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Male minor.
       Beacon Journal, ~ June 09, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- A Roman Catholic priest who recently admitted to an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago has been removed from ministry in the Diocese of Youngstown.
       The Rev. Thomas Crum resigned last week as pastor of Our Lady of Peace parish in Canton, after an allegation of sexual abuse was reported to the diocese. The allegation dates back more than three decades, when Crum was a faculty member at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown. Crum subsequently acknowledged to church authorities that the allegation was true, according to a news release issued by the diocese.
       Crum, who is on administrative leave, is prohibited from celebrating the sacraments, wearing clerical attire and presenting himself as a priest in good standing. He has been placed in a psychological treatment center. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:25 AM

    • Keep better tabs on clerics in abuse cases, group asks

     
       Toledo Blade, By DAVID YONKE, BLADE RELIGION EDITOR, June 09, 2009
       TOLEDO (OH) -- An advocacy group for victims of clerical sexual abuse called on the Toledo Catholic Diocese Monday to provide special housing and more stringent counseling and monitoring of priests accused of child abuse.
       The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also asked the Toledo diocese and Bishop Leonard Blair to initiate a policy banning tributes to priests charged with credible allegations of child sexual abuse.
       Barbara Blaine, a Toledo native, Chicago lawyer, and founder and president of SNAP, said in a news conference outside the downtown Catholic Center that most Toledo-area priests accused of child abuse receive little or no supervision and continue to pose a threat to children. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:23 AM

    • Former Rootstown priest is removed Admits to sexual abuse of minor

      [1970s Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted. Male minor.
       Record Courier, ~ June 09, 2009
       ROOTSTOWN (OH) -- A priest who once served as pastor at St. Peter of the Fields Church in Rootstown has been removed from all ministry by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown over an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor.
       A news release Saturday from the diocese said Bishop George V. Murry has placed the Rev. Thomas Crum on administrative leave over the allegation of abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago while Crum was on the faculty of Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.
       A news release from the diocese said the allegation came to light just last week and was immediately reported to civil authorities. Crum subsequently admitted to the allegation to church authorities, according to the diocese. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:18 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Tue June 09, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed June 10, 2009 edition:


    • Accuser: Anderson used God to manipulate

      [2005-06 Matthew Anderson (31) -NEW*] - Christian. Boy (then 16).
       The Herald-Zeitung, < http:// herald-zeitung. com/story. lasso?ewcd= 78956151f9 a0244f&- session= HeraldZeitung: 42F944890e e5102DEDGv x39A457D >; By Chris Cobb, Published June 10, 2009
       TEXAS -- The trial began Tuesday for a former youth pastor and local churchgoer turned alleged sexual predator.
       Matthew Anderson, 31, is charged with five counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecency with a child, with witnesses testifying that he used the word of God to convince a then 16-year-old boy to perform sexual acts multiple times between December 2005 and January 2006.
       Anderson pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday, just before a full day of testimony began with Comal County Assistant District Attorney Steve de Lemos painting Anderson as someone who used his knowledge of scripture to earn and eventually shatter the trust of a local minor. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM, June 10, 2009]

    • Fairbanks priest named in sex abuse lawsuit

      [1990s Fr Gerald Ornowski - NEW* (Marianists)] - RCC. Girl.    
       News-Miner, By Mary Beth Smetzer, Published Wednesday, June 10, 2009
       FAIRBANKS (AK) – The pastor of St. Mark's University Parish and Catholic Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus has been named in a civil suit alleging sexual abuse of a minor that took place in the western coastal village of Stebbins in the early 1990s
       The Rev. Gerald Ornowski along with his religious order, the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, headquartered in Stockbridge, Mass., were named in the lawsuit.
       The civil complaint alleges Ornowski committed felony sexual abuse of a young girl on at least three occasions while serving in Stebbins, one of two Bering Sea coastal villages he divided his time between from 1990 to 1994. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:27 AM, ]

    • Pain Mothers organization: 'sentence does not help sexual abuse victims'

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi -NEW*] - RCC. Court frees him to go back to the kids. 3 boys.  
       Buenos Aires Herald, ~ June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The head of the Pain Mothers organization, Vivian Perrone, said that Julio César Grassi's 15 years arrest without effective prison accused of 17 cases of sexual abuse is typical of "warm judges that want to be right with God and the devil."
       "The judges keep making fun of the citizen's common sense," said Perrone who harshly criticised the Court's decision of releasing Grassi until they solve the outcome of the appeal of his conviction.
       She said "the judges gave a 15 years sentence to a priest that was a child tutor who sexually abused them, and now he has the right to go back to his child foundation." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:02 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • 'Black Magic' child abuser guilty

      [1983-92 "High Priest" John McFadden -NEW*] - Black Magic group. 3 children.  
       BBC News, ~ June 10, 2009
       SCOTLAND -- A former police officer who claimed he was a "Black Magic" high priest has been convicted of sexually abusing three children in East Dunbartonshire.
       John McFadden, 42, from Bearsden, was found guilty of abusing a boy between 1988 and 1992 in Kirkintilloch.
       He was also convicted of abusing two other youngsters at various addresses in Kirkintilloch between 1983 and 1990. …
       The court heard how McFadden told one of his victims, a 12-year-old boy, that demons and spirits would kill him and drag him to hell unless he carried out sex acts. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:27 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • O'Gorman Student And Diocese Settle Sexual Harassment Case

      [1970 Mr Bob Krantz -NEW*] - RCC. School expelled victim. Boy.
       KSFY, By KSFY Staff, ~ June 10, 2009
       SIOUX FALLS (SD) -- Court documents obtained by KSFY Action News shows that a former O'Gorman student has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese.
       54 year old Tom Gust accused typing teacher Bob Krantz of forcing himself on Gust in a supply room in 1970 after keeping him after school. Gust said school staff hid the abuse and expelled him from school.
       Gust said he repressed the memories until 2005 when he found out about other allegations on the diocese website. Today, Gust told Action News he's glad the ordeal is over. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:55 AM, June 10, 2009]

    • Area Man Sues Episcopal Diocese Over Mom's Estate

      [~ 1940s Rev Gibson Bell -NEW*] - Episcopalian (Anglican communion). Mother gave clergyman her estate. Teen boy.  
       KYW, by KYW's John McDevitt, ~ June 10, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- An 81-year-man who says he was repeatedly raped by an Episcopal priest more than 60 years ago is now suing the Diocese of Pennsylvania.
       When Ralph White (at right in photo) was a teenager at All Saints Parish in Wynnewood, he says, he was sexually abused on a number of occasions by the Rev. Gibson Bell.
       Rev. Bell influenced White's mother to have her son placed in a mental institution. Later, White's mother disowned her son and willed her estate to Rev. Bell.

    • Lambasting for pedophile priest

      [1968-69 Fr Desmond Gannon*] - RCC. Turpidude of character. PRISON. Altar boy.    
       The Age, by Steve Butcher, for June 11, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A JUDGE who jailed an elderly former Victorian priest for sex offences against a boy 41 years ago has damned the repeat pedophile offender for his lack of true remorse.
       Judge Frank Gucciardo yesterday told the man his absence of contrition "displays a turpitude of character that borders on the scandalous and is offensive to morality and the law".
       Judge Gucciardo said Desmond Gannon's explanations for his conduct, when interviewed by police last year, betrayed self-delusion and a "lack of understanding of the impact of your behaviour" on his victim. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:53 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • San Francisco archdiocese's tax dispute with city could cost $15 million

      - RCC.  
       Catholic News Agency, 02:25 am, Jun 10, 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., / (CNA).- A year-long conflict over whether the Archdiocese of San Francisco should face a tax bill of as much as $15 million for its property reorganization will soon come to a key moment in a June 16 appeals hearing.
       The Archdiocese had moved 232 San Francisco properties from one Catholic non-profit organization to another. The properties included empty lots and commercial land but also famous churches such as Mission Dolores, Old St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Francis of Assisi.
       The city tax assessor has argued that this move was a transfer of assets to a separate entity, while the archdiocese said the action was simply an internal reorganization.

    • Bishop: Romance not found between priest, killer

      [Saldana / Saldaña] - RCC.
       American-Statesman, By Jeremy Schwartz, for Thursday, June 11, 2009
       AUSTIN (TX) -- An Austin Diocese investigation could not confirm allegations that slain priest Jesse Euresti and his convicted killer had a romantic relationship, Bishop Gregory Aymond said Wednesday.
       Manuel Martin Torres Saldaña said he and Euresti had a sexual relationship and that he stabbed the 69-year-old priest to death after a late-night quarrel.  Torres Saldaña lived in Euresti's home in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, to which Euresti planned to retire this summer.
       Euresti's family members have denied that the men had a romantic relationship and said that Torres Saldaña served as a caretaker when Euresti was in Austin, where he was the pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic Church. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:07 PM]

    !!!: Church 'will not join abuse talks'

      - RCC. Cardinal leaves it to the Orders.    
       The Press Association, ~ June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Head of the Catholic Church has revealed he would not be involved in new negotiations to compensate victims of abuse in institutions.
       Cardinal Sean Brady said while a deal should be revisited, it would not be right for the church to enter talks between Government and 18 religious organisations whose members physically and sexually assaulted thousands of children in their care. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:39 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • Raw anger as Dublin rises up to support victims of clerical abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Belfast Telegraph, for Thursday, 11 June 2009
       IRELAND -- The centre of Dublin was silenced yesterday by 5,000 people marching on the heart of Ireland's government in the name of all those abused in church-run institutions over 60 years.
       The huge, extraordinary and raw demonstration of suffering and anger, came just weeks after the Ryan Commission catalogued the horror of what took place.
       Yesterday, under the emotive banner 'Cherishing all of the children of the nation equally' – taken from the 1916 Proclamation – the throngs marched to the gates of the Dail at Leinster House. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:04 PM

    • Tears and fury as institutional abuse survivors march on Dáil

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, for June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- IT WAS billed as a silent march to commemorate the victims of institutional abuse. But there was no way of containing decades of grief, frustration and anger.
       It all came pouring out in a dam-burst of emotion in front of Leinster House, as victims and members of the public gathered to remember the thousands of children who passed through more than 200 Catholic-run institutions over the past 70 years.
       They brought white ribbons and tiny children's shoes to symbolise the innocence of so many lost childhoods. But some couldn't hold back their fury and resentment at their treatment as the march converged on Leinster House. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:00 PM

    • Child abuse by Catholic institutions condemned by Irish marchers

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Times (United Kingdom), David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent, ~ June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- A sombre silence fell over Dublin yesterday when thousands of men, women and children marched through the capital to highlight decades of abuse in Catholic-run residential institutions, a shameful secret exposed last month by a government report.
       Hundreds of thousands of children passed through orphanages and care homes run by religious orders, including the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.
       Horrific stories of rape and beatings carried out by sadistic nuns and brothers went unbelieved and ignored for decades until publication of the Ryan report last month unleashed a national wave of anger. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:58 PM

    • Child Sex Abuse Bill Poised for Vote Amid Albany Chaos

       
       Forward, By Rebecca Dube, Published June 10, 2009, issue of June 19, 2009.
       NEW YORK -- Last summer, New York State Assemblywoman Marge Markey had lunch with Delaware State Senator Karen Peterson. On the menu: a strategy session on how Markey could successfully achieve passage of a bill that would make it easier for sexual abuse survivors to sue their molesters and the institutions that employed them.
       In 2007, Peterson got the Delaware legislature to pass a measure repealing the statute of limitations for all child sexual abuse cases, and creating a two-year window during which past victims who had already exceeded the old statute of limitations could file civil lawsuits.
       Two years and about 100 lawsuits later, Delaware's "window" is set to close on July 10. Meanwhile, Markey's proposal to extend the statute of limitations in New York and create a one-year window for previously time-barred lawsuits is closer than ever before to winning passage – provided it can overcome opposition by religious groups and political chaos in the state Senate. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:56 PM

    • The Fight Over Bringing Old Accusations to Court

     
       The Wall Street Journal, By SUZANNE SATALINE, ~ June 10, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- If it is too late to bring a criminal case against a child abuser, should it be too late to sue in civil court?
       A handful of legislatures have grappled with that question, and a pair have said better late than never.
       Two states have created litigation windows that open up a new time period for victims of childhood sexual abuse to seek redress in civil courts. In 2002, California allowed victims one year to file cases against their abuser or the employer, no matter when the abuse had occurred. Delaware followed suit in 2007, giving people two years to bring accusations in civil court. This year, New York state legislators have been debating a one-year statute. Other states are mulling similar measures. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:53 PM

    • Truth forum has cost $3M before it starts

      - Decades. Indigenous children.  
       Winnipeg Sun, THE CANADIAN PRESS, June 10, 2009
       OTTAWA, Canada – A revamped reconciliation forum on native residential schools has cost about $3 million – and it hasn't started yet.
       The Harper government is set to relaunch the flawed Truth and Reconciliation Commission with a new three-member panel.
       It's expected that Manitoba Judge Murray Sinclair will lead the forum to hear stories ranging from good experiences to horrific abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:51 PM

    • Aboriginal truth panel set for relaunch under new chair

     
       Canada.com , By Jorge Barrera, Canwest News Service, ~ June 10, 2009
       CANADA -- A commission charged with gathering the stories of residential school survivors received a second start Wednesday when the Conservative government announced the names of the three people who will lead the journey into one of Canada's darkest chapters.
       Manitoba's Justice Murray Sinclair was chosen to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will also include Marie Wilson of the Northwest Territories and Wilton Littlechild of Alberta, said Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.
       The announcement came the day before the one-year anniversary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology to residential school survivors. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:48 PM

    • New commissioners for native reconciliation

     
       CBC, June 10, 2009
       CANADA -- More than a year after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for residential schools was established, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl has introduced the second panel of leaders for the group.
       Judge Murray Sinclair, a judge in Manitoba who became the province's first aboriginal associate chief justice in 1988, will chair a panel that is being revived after months of internal wrangling among its former members, who all resigned last year.
       The other members of the commission are Marie Wilson, a senior executive with the N.W.T. workers compensation commission, and Wilton Littlechild, Alberta regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:46 PM

    • Appointment of New Chairperson and Commissioners of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission

     
       CNW, June 10, 2009
       OTTAWA, Canada / CNW Telbec / -- The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) welcomes the appointment today of The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair as Chairperson and Marie Wilson and Chief Wilton Littlechild as Commissioners.
       Chairperson Justice Murray Sinclair is a member of the Three Fires Society, and a Third Degree Member of the Midewiwin (Grand Medicine) Society of the Ojibway. Manitoba's first Aboriginal judge, Justice Sinclair brings to the TRC his many years of commitment advocating for Aboriginal rights and expert knowledge of Aboriginal culture and the administration of justice.
       The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair was appointed Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in March of 1988 and to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba in January 2001. Shortly after his appointment as Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in 1988, Justice Sinclair was appointed Co-Commissioner, along with Court of Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice A. C. Hamilton, of Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:41 PM

    • Protest voices

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, Compiled by CARL O'BRIEN, ~ June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- I was put in an institution shortly after I was born … I've never felt part of society. We were always told we were nobody. It's great to see the crowd here today, but it won't bring back my life.  My time in an institution still affects me. Today's march means people believe us.
       All of these years of suffering in silence. Now we can speak out
       This was a hugely symbolic day, bringing everyone together to protest what happened and to call for justice. What went on in the institutions was truly shocking. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:37 PM

    • On Catholic schools

      - RCC.
       The Irish Times, for June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE BISHOPS discussed the role of Catholic schools in Irish society in the wake of the publication of the Ryan report. There have been calls from politicians and in the media for the Catholic Church to be removed from the provision of primary education.
       "The Catholic Church is one patron among many different patron bodies providing primary education in Ireland. School patrons, whether Catholic or otherwise, are fully accountable and operate under State regulation.
       "Specifically, the safety and welfare of pupils in our schools are assured by State law and regulation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:35 PM

    • Profound moment of validation for forgotten children

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, for June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- Thousands turned out yesterday in solidarity with the tortured victims of systemic institutional abuse, writes CARL O'BRIEN Social Affairs Correspondent
       EVERYWHERE YOU looked, there were powerful and emotionally charged scenes.
       There were two older men who hadn't seen each other since Letterfrack in the 1950s, who broke down in tears when they recognised each other.
       There was the woman who had found out in recent years that the baby she had in a Magdalene laundry hadn't died after birth, as she had been told; the baby had been given up for adoption. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:33 PM

    • On the Ryan report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, for June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- "The Ryan report represents the most recent disturbing indictment of a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland for far too long.
       "Heinous crimes were perpetrated against the most innocent and vulnerable and vile acts with life-lasting effects were carried out under the guise of the mission of Jesus Christ.
       "This abuse represents a serious betrayal of the trust which was placed in the church. For this we ask forgiveness. We are ashamed, humbled and repentant that our people strayed so far from their Christian ideals. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:30 PM

    • Bishops express shame over awful litany of abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, for June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE CATHOLIC bishops have expressed shame and repentance over "a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland for far too long".
       Speaking at a press conference in Maynooth last night, as the summer meeting of the Irish Episcopal Conference was coming to an end, Catholic primate Cardinal Séan Brady asked for forgiveness.
       "We are ashamed, humbled and repentant that our people strayed so far from their Christian ideals. For this we ask forgiveness," he said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:27 PM

    • Irish Bishops conclude Summer Meeting

      - RCC bishops admit RCC culture was "disturbing."    
       Independent Catholic News, ~ June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- At the end of their three day Summer General Meeting, the Irish Bishops, headed by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and President of the Irish Bishops' Conference Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Vice President of the Irish Bishops' Conference, issued statements summarising the issues they had discussed. These included the Ryan Report, the 2012 Eucharistic Conference, education, refugees and migrants and the impact of the recession. The statements follows:
       Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report
       Bishops discussed the failure of Church institutions to protect children and to prevent the extensive level of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and neglect, as documented by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report, by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, published on 20 May last.
       The Bishops said: "The Ryan Report represents the most recent disturbing indictment of a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland for far too long. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:25 PM

    • Catholic Church chooses not to comment on Grassi's conviction

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Court frees him to go back to the kids. 3 boys.  
       Buenos Aires Herald, ~ June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The Argentine Catholic Church decided not to comment on father Julio César Grassi's conviction for aggravated sexual abuse and corruption of minors.
       "The ecclesiastical authority doesn't usually comment on the decisions of the Judiciary in cases in which members of the clergy are involved, since the Church believes that the Judiciary's verdicts should be uniform for all citizens," said the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA).
       The agency, which depends on the Argentine Episcopal Conference, shed light on the news of Grassi's conviction through its information service with details of the trial in which the religious man was indicted for 17 counts of sexual abuse, 15 of which he was absolved from.

    • Advocacy Group Claims Second Priest Victim Found

      [1970s Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.  
       WYTV, ~ June 10, 2009
       OHIO -- A group that advocates for victims of clergy abuse is claiming another person has come forward with a complaint against a local priest.
       A leader with the organization known as "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" -- or "SNAP" -- tells us she was contacted yesterday by a man who says he too was abused by Father Thomas Crum.
       Over the weekend, Crum was placed on leave from the ministry by Youngstown Bishop George Murry after he received allegations of sexual misconduct while Crum was teaching at Cardinal Mooney High School in the mid-1970's. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:44 PM

    • Grassi: I will appeal this 'terrible, unexpected' ruling

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Court frees him to go back to the kids. 3 boys.  
       Buenos Aires Herald, ~ June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- In statements made to the press after the sentence was declared, Grassi said that he didn't see "substance" in the hearing and that it was all "ridiculous."
       "This was an injustice, a punch in the stomach that has left me without air," said the priest.
       Although the Court allowed Grassi to enter the Felices los Niños foundation if accompanied, Grassi said that he was "not at all happy" with the ruling.

    • Thousands march in Dublin for child abuse victims

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       AFP, ~ June 10, 2009
       DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) – Thousands marched through central Dublin Wednesday to protest the decades-long abuse of children in Catholic church-run institutions, as Irish bishops apologised anew for the "heinous crimes."
       The silent marchers wore white ribbons and many carried children's shoes which the organisers asked them to leave outside parliament "to symbolise the lives shattered in these institutions".
       Ireland's Catholic bishops, meeting for their summer conference, later expressed their shame at the abuse perpetrated by religious orders, which was revealed in an official report last month. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:39 PM

    • Irish abuse victims march, church repentant

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       Reuters, By Andras Gergely, ~ June 10, 2009
       DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish bishops said they were "ashamed, humbled and repentant" about widespread abuse of children at Catholic-run schools after victims marched silently to the Irish parliament Wednesday to demand justice.
       Disclosures of floggings, slave labor and gang rape in Ireland's now defunct system of industrial and reform schools have shamed Irish people, particularly older ones who did not confront what a report last month described as endemic abuse.
       "Heinous crimes were perpetrated against the most innocent and vulnerable, and vile acts with life-lasting effects were carried out under the guise of the mission of Jesus Christ," the Irish Bishops' Conference said in a statement. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:33 PM

    • Suit vs. alleged priest abuse victims thrown out

      [Stepek] - RCC. Filed lawsuit.  
       Chicago Breaking News, 3:42 PM, June 10, 2009
       ILLINOIS -- An Illinois Appellate Court ruled on Wednesday that a Roman Catholic priest could not clear his name by suing the men who accused him of molesting them as teens.
       Rev. Robert Stepek, former pastor of St. Albert the Great Church in Burbank, was removed from ministry in 2006 after an archdiocesan review board determined there was reasonable cause to suspect that sexual abuse of minors occurred.
       Soon after his removal, Stepek filed a $4 million lawsuit against his accusers, stating that the sexual abuse allegations were false and retaliation for disagreements between the priest and the two men. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:31 PM

    • Connecticut vs. Bishops on Front Burner--Again

      - RCC.
       EDGE Boston, by Kilian Melloy, Wednesday Jun 10, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- An attempt by the state of Connecticut to exert control over the finances of Catholic dioceses in that state has been decried as revenge by lawmakers there for the church's role in shaping marriage equality legislation. …
       The charges of lobbying violations stem in part from the money spent by the church on a rally that saw more than 50 buses full of Catholic protesters arrive in the state's capitol on March 11.
       The Office of State Ethics requires "registration and reporting" of lobbyists amounts in excess of $2,000 spent on efforts to influence lawmakers' decisions, noted a June 5 article at The Stamford Advocate.
       Moreover, the diocese was not registered as a lobbyist; spending more than $2,000 on lobbying activity requires such registration.
       Despite the level of organization and preparation that went into the mass transport of over 3,500 Catholic demonstrators on that day, Bishop Lori was quoted by The Advocate as saying that the rally was "spontaneous." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:27 PM

    • Argentine priest gets 15 years prison for sex abuse

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Court frees him to go back to the kids. 3 boys.  
       Reuters, By Hilary Burke, ~ June 10, 2009
       BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (Reuters) – A well-known Argentine priest was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for sexually abusing a boy at his "Happy Children" foundation, in the latest pedophilia case to hit the Roman Catholic Church.
       After a nine-month trial, a court in a Buenos Aires suburb found Father Julio Grassi guilty of sexually abusing one boy during the 1990s but absolved him of molesting two others.
       Leftist protesters waving signs calling Grassi a rapist demonstrated outside the tribunal, scuffling with the priest's supporters in the street after the verdict was given.
       "I'm astounded, frozen and embittered by this," Grassi, 52, told a local television station.

    • Grassi sentenced to 15 years of prison

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Court frees him on appeal. 15yrs PRISON. 3 boys.  
       Momento 24, June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The priest Julio Cesar Grassi was sentenced today to 15 years of prison by the Oral Court number 1 of Moron, in the case for sexual abuse and corruption of minors denounced by three men who had been in his shelter home when kids.
       Judges Luis Andueza, Jorge Carrera and Mario Gómez ruled after 200 hearings since August 19, 2008, more than nine months ago.
       But he will not go to jail, he will not be allowed to leave the country and can not be away from his home for more than 24 hours, neither can have contacted with age minors.
       Grassi faced 17 charges of abuse and corruption of minors occurred before 2002. He was sentenced for only two of them. During the judicial process, declared expert psychiatrists and psychologists who analyzed three informers, "Ezequiel", "Gabriel" and "Luis". Three young people (children at the moment of the abuses) and the Children were in charge of Grassi in the head office of the Foundation "Felices los niños", in Hurlingham.

    • Diocese of Austin closes Euresti inquiry

       
       KVUE, ~ June 10, 2009
       AUSTIN (TX) -- The Diocese of Austin Wednesday confirmed that it has closed its investigation into the alleged sexual relationship between a priest that was killed in Mexico and his confessed killer, but diocese officials say they were unable to verify the killer's allegations.
       Manuel Martin Torres-Saldaña told investigators in Mexico that he had been romantically involved with Father Jesse Euresti, a priest at Cristo Rey Catholic Church in East Austin, and lived at the priest's retirement home in Nuevo Laredo.
       Torres-Saldaña told investigators he killed Euresti with a knife and machete during an argument at the home in March. Euresti's body was later found dumped along a rural highway. Torres-Saldaña was sentenced to 37 years in prison, the maximum allowed in Mexico. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:21 PM

    • Father Grassi: the sentence will be announced today

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Court frees him to go back to the kids. 3 boys.  
       Momento 24, June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The prosecution of the case requested 30 years' imprisonment for alleged charges of abuse and corruption of minors in the "Happy Children's Foundation". The ruling is expected to be announced after midday.
       The verdict will be out this afternoon at 2 p.m., by judges Luis María Andueza, Mario Gomez and Jorge Carreras.

    • Results of Inquiry Into Priest Murder

      [Euresti]  
       My Fox Austin, June 09, 2009
       AUSTIN (TX) -- Bishop Gregory Aymond said Tuesday that after a private inquiry into statements made by the murderer of an Austin priest concerning a romantic relationship between the two men, he is unable to verify whether or not those statements are true.
       During his confession, Manuel Martin Torres-Saldana told investigators he killed Father Jesse Euresti because the priest was trying to end their one-year sexual relationship. In response to questions from reporters, Aymond, of the Diocese of Austin, promised to look into the allegations.
       In a press release Tuesday, Aymond said that those closest to the priest denied the allegations and that there would be no further elaboration on the matter. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:13 PM

    • Diocese: Investigation reveals no sexual relationship between priest, killer

     
       Austin American-Statesman, By Jeremy Schwartz | 11:47 AM, Wednesday, June 10, 2009
       AUSTIN (TX) -- The Diocese of Austin said this morning that an investigation did not reveal a sexual relationship between Father Jesse Euresti, the former pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic Church in East Austin, and his confessed killer.
       Bishop Gregory Aymond promised an investigation after Manuel Martin Torres-Saldana, who was recently sentenced to 37 and a half years in a Mexican prison, claimed he and the priest were lovers.
       "I am unable to verify the truth of Torres-Saldana's statement," Aymond said in a statement. "Therefore, it is appropriate that we remember in gratitude Father Euresti's 44 years of priestly ministry." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:11 PM

    • Eviction in Father Grassi's shelter

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Police remove the inmates. 3 boy complainants.  
       Momento 24, Posted 15:32, May 16, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- Yesterday evening, Federal Police evicted the minors' home Fundation "Felices los Niños", in the neighborhood of Chacarita, under a climate of tension with neighbors and followers of Father Julio Cesar Grassi.
       The eviction was made by a judge's decision, who ordered to close it because abuse accusations, that involves 34 minors between 8 and 17 years, the majority of them were resisted to abandon the place, and according to later statements the minors were "mistreated, pushed and even beaten" by the authorities that participated in the eviction.
       Commissioner Ricardo Pedace from District V that took participation in the procedure, said that "the presence of the police was arranged by the Justice", and affirmed that the transfers of the minors were fulfilled of voluntary form", assuring that "did not exercise pressure or violence on minors to be moved them".
       [TRANSLATION COMMENT; Presumably this was translated by a computer, and not tidied up by a human translater afterwards. Sorry! ENDS. ] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:09 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • Judge suspends the minors' transfer from Grassi's foundation

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Police remove the inmates. 3 boy complainants.  
       Momento 24, May 18, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The Council of Rights for Children and Adolescents arranged this morning the suspension of the transfer of 15 minors who reside in the shleter for children "San Jose Obrero", of the foundation "Felices los niños" of father Julio César Grassi, for the absence of safety guarantees in the implementation of the eviction arranged by Miriam Rustán de Estrada.
       Spokesmen of the mentioned organism requested to the judge her intervention to protect the children and to avoid any physical damage because they refuse to leave the place.
       "We ask the justice to make a decision regarding what is happening. This situation is serious and unacceptable", they said from the Council of Minority. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:06 PM, June 10, 2009]

    • Grassi waits for the acquittal on Wednesday

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. 3 boy complainants.  
       Momento 24, June 8, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- Grassi says he feels the support of the Church and trusts in his acquittal. "I am calm in my conscience. I hope that the truth that was said over the trial should culminate with my acquittal", pointed out Grassi.

    • Grassi sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of child abuse

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. Police removed the inmates. 15yrs prison. 3 boy complainants.  
       Buenos Aires Herald, ~ June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- A court in Buenos Aires sentenced Julio César Grassi to 15 years in prison on several charges of child abuse at the Felices los Niños foundation in Hurligham in the late 1990s. Grassi was also barred from heading the foundation and returning to its building unaccompanied.
       He was found guilty for the aggravated abuse and rape of a minor. Nevetheless, he was acquitted in two other cases. The provincial court meanwhile allowed the priest to remain free until the sentence is confirmed.
       The statement of the judge said Grassi had deliberately preparing the minors for the sexual abuses, "intending to change the sexual orientation of the victims." The court ruling said he must not get close to any minors, and he will not be allowed to enter the Felices Los Niños foundation unaccompanied. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:01 PM

    • Abuse Victim Launches Lawsuit

       
       CFRA, by Daniel Proussalidis with Kristi Soble, Wednesday, June 10, 2009
       CANADA -- A sexual abuse victim is filing a civil lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, and the priest that is convicted of abusing him.
       While the abuse took place when he was 14-years old, Alex says it's only now that he feels strong enough to do what he calls the right thing.
       "And that's confront it to hit it head-on, in a sense, and deal with it in the best way that I know how so I can rid myself as best as I can of the negative emotions," Alex told CFRA News. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:59 PM

    • Asheville Priest Resigns

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider*] - RCC. Now resigned. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.  
       ABC 13, with video, ~ June 10, 2009
       ASHEVILLE (NC) -- A priest accused of obstructing justice, has resigned from Asheville's St. Eugene's Catholic Church.
       The Diocese of Charlotte says Father John Schneider turned in his resignation today for "the good of the church".
       A replacement will be named soon, according to the Diocese. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:40 PM

    • The Priest was Wiping Salsa off his pants?

      [2009 Mar 26 - Fr Roger Knapp*] - RCC. Exposing, fondling himself.
       City of Angels, ~ June 10, 2009
       That's a new name for it: From Detroit News, June 5th:
       MICHIGAN -- "Woodhaven - A Downriver priest was sentenced Thursday to nine months probation and ordered to attend a 10-week sex offender class, after pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from an indecent exposure allegation." (Story, linked below, is titled: "Woodhaven priest receives probation, Pastor of St. Victor to attend sex offender class under plea deal") Here is more from the story:
       The Rev. Roger Knapp, 57, pastor of St. Victor Catholic Church in Gibraltar since 1996, agreed to the plea deal last month. The city attorney dropped a lewdness charge.
       A waitress at a Mexican restaurant in Woodhaven claimed the priest exposed and fondled himself under a table on March 26.
       Knapp claimed he was wiping salsa off of his pants.

    • Solidarity march for abuse victims

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       RTE News, with video and audio, June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- Thousands of people gathered at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin this afternoon to take part in a silent march in solidarity with survivors of sexual abuse.
       The march got under way at midday and proceeded in silence past the GPO to the Dáil.
       A petition of solidarity was presented to the Conference of Religious of Ireland and representatives of the 18 religious orders who signed the indemnity deal. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:33 PM

    • A Special Year to Get Priests Back in Shape

      [Decades - Maciel Degollado*] - RCC. US $10-15m, male seminarians, mistress had daughter.    
       Chiesa, by Sandro Magister, June 10, 2009
       ROME, - In a few days, on Friday the 19th, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the special Priestly Year conceived by Benedict XVI will begin.
       Pope Joseph Ratzinger explained the reasons for it to the cardinals and bishops of the congregation for the clergy, who met last March for their plenary assembly. …
       But the occurrence of another event must be noted in this regard. With the beginning of the Priestly Year, there will also be the start of the apostolic visitation that the Vatican authorities have ordered to be conducted in the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.
       This congregation distinguishes itself by its abundance of vocations and its large number of new priests. At the same time, however, it risks collapsing just as the figure of its charismatic founder, the priest Marcial Maciel, has collapsed.
       The definitive revelation of Maciel's gravely immoral double life has now become a terrible scandal, above all for those who were his most fervent disciples. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:27 PM]

    • Devil-worshipping sex offender now living downtown

      - Devil worship.  
       The Spokesman Review, June 08, 2009
       SPOKANE (WA) -- A devil-worshipping sex offender who recently moved to Spokane from Texas has registered at a new address in downtown Spokane.
       Danny "Triple 6" Walter Schertz, 61, is living at the New Washington apartments, 327 1/2 W. 2nd Ave., according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. …
       Schertz denied any sexual abuse and said he's a proud Satanist.
       "I just want to be left alone," Schertz said. "I'm just out doing my own thing, and it don't have anything to do with no teenagers or no kids, or anything illegal."
       In a phone conversation this morning, Schertz took issue with this blog post in which the Church of Satan denied he's a member. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:24 PM

    • Former policeman who claimed he was black magic priest convicted of abuse

      [1988-92 "High priest" John McFadden*] - Black Magic group. Boy.  
       STV, ~ June 10, 2009
       SCOTLAND -- A former policeman who claimed he was a black magic high priest has been convicted of sexually abusing three youngsters.
       John McFadden, 42, told one of his victims, a 12-year-old boy, that demons and spirits would kill him and drag him to hell unless he carried out vile sex acts.
       McFadden dressed in a black cloak and used a crucifix with a skull and crossbones and an onyx ring, which he claimed gave him power, to terrify the youngster into keeping the abuse a secret.

    • Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage given reprieve

      [~ 2000s Rev. Dr Patrick Okechi*] - Church of England. Judge adjourns the hearing. Squatting. Adultery. Woman.  
       Guardian, by Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent guardian.co.uk , Wednesday, June 10, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A judge has denied the Church of England the power to evict a defrocked cleric who is squatting in a vicarage.
       At Birmingham county court yesterday, district judge Simon Bull adjourned the hearing after questioning whether the church had rights over the property.
       "It may be of inconvenience to the claimants, but if there are squatters in my neighbours' garden and my neighbours are not around, I don't have the right to take possession," he said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:06 AM
       [COMMENT: Perhaps the bench ought to be given an IQ test, too! ENDS.]

    • Survivors of Sexual Abuse By Priests Form Mid-Missouri Network

      - Another chapter of SNAP.  
       KOMU, ~ June 10, 2009
       COLUMBIA (MO) -- Survivors of sexual abuse speak up as Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests forms its new chapter in Mid-Missouri.
       Survivors of sexual abuse met June 9th to share their stories at the inaugural meeting of the Mid-Missouri Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests.
       SNAP is an all-volunteer organization that supports survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures. The national network of over 9,000 members also advocates for causes such as increasing the statute of limitations for sex crimes and identifying alleged predators on Roman Catholic Church websites. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:03 AM

    • Ruling in Grassi's case expected today

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. 3 boy complainants.  
       Buenos Aires Herald, ~ June 10, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- Julio César Grassi, a famous priest who heads an important children's foundation in Buenos Aires, will hear sentence in a case in which he is accused of abusing 17 children.
       In the final hours before the verdict, Grassi was spending the day at a "spiritual retreat" and he said he was confident the court would rule in his favour. The priest and his defence have repeatedly claimed his innocence in the case, which gained a special notoriety in the media as the priest was very visible in the nineties in various prominent television shows.
       "I'm tense, because this ruling is very important to my life and to the life of the Felices los Niños foundation," Grassi said during an interview today. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:00 AM

    • It's time to help remove the burden of guilt from abused

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Irish Independent, By Bruce Arnold, Wednesday June 10 2009
       IRELAND -- This is not about pain or hurt, this is about flawed and oppressive legislation that adds up to an abuse of human rights
       A huge burden of guilt and fear still rests upon those people abused in the industrial schools and other institutions. Specific examples of guilt include the committal procedures by which many of them were hauled through the courts and sent to the child prison system run by the religious orders. Specific examples of fear may be readily found within the redress system through which many of the abused have taken their applications.
       Unless the Dail addresses these issues in specific undertakings, then the debate tomorrow and Friday will become meaningless and the show of political solidarity will be wasted in fine words and emotional reactions. This is not what the abused men and women want. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:54 AM

    • Group Questions New Bishop-Elect's Past

      - RCC.  
       WNEM, with video, ~ June 10, 2009
       SAGINAW COUNTY, Mich. -- Only weeks before he's expected to begin his new job, concerns over Saginaw's new Bishop are heating up as one group claims Joseph Cistone helped cover up child abuse.
       The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, held a news conference Tuesday, demanding answers about the bishop's track record.
       The group is trying to meet with incoming Saginaw Bishop Cistone to discuss his past dealings within the Catholic Church. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:52 AM

    • Hundreds gather for child abuse solidarity march

      [60yrs - Religious Orders] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday, 10 June 2009
       IRELAND -- Hundreds of people have gathered in Dublin for a march to show solidarity with the victims of child abuse at religious-run state institutions.
       The march has been arranged by victims groups and children's charities in response to the recent report from the Child Abuse Commission.
       Participants are being asked to wear white and carry a child's shoe as they march from Parnell Square to Leinster House this lunchtime. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:37 AM

    • Thousands support abuse survivors

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       BBC News, ~ June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- Thousands of people have gathered in Dublin for a silent march to show solidarity with survivors of child abuse crimes.
       They walked in support of the victims of crimes committed in 216 religious institutions across the Republic of Ireland.
       The marchers followed a route from Parnell Square in north Dublin at noon to the gates of government at the Dail.

    • Gag order on former Bishop

      - Episcopalian.  
       Religious Intelligence (United Kingdom), By George Conger, ~ June 10, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A gag order has been issued against the former Bishop of Pennsylvania forbidding him to make public evidence he believes will exonerate him from charges of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse.
       On April 17, attorneys for the Rt Rev Charles E Bennison, Jr, filed a motion with the Episcopal Church's Court for the Trial of a Bishop asking that it set aside its guilty verdict. The court found that the bishop, when he was a parish rector in California, had committed of two counts of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy for conspiring to cover up the 1973 affair between his brother John Bennison, his parish youth minister, and a 14-year-old member of the congregation.
       In 2006, John Bennison was deposed from the ordained ministry, and on June 26, 2008 the court held Bishop Bennison was guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy and recommended that he be defrocked. Bishop Bennison appealed the finding and remains suspended from office pending the case's final disposition. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:33 AM

    • Abuse commission apologises for naming survivor

       
       The Irish Times, By PAUL CULLEN, June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE CHILD abuse commission has apologised to a survivor of Goldenbridge industrial school for naming her in its final report.
       The commission followed a strict policy of anonymity in relation to both the victims and the perpetrators of abuse in church-run industrial schools. However, the woman is named in a footnote to a sub-report, which details her committal to an industrial school in 1935.
       A spokeswoman for the commission said the naming of the woman was inadvertent but insisted no breach of confidentiality was involved because she was not an applicant before the commission. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:30 AM

    • Solidarity marchers dismayed as Dáil debate postponed

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, By CARL O'BRIEN, Social Affairs Correspondent, June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- THOUSANDS OF people are expected to take part in a march of solidarity for victims of institutional abuse in Dublin today. However, the build-up was overshadowed yesterday by a row over a decision to postpone a Dáil debate on the Ryan report.
       The march was organised to coincide with a debate scheduled for today on the findings of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. This will now take place on Thursday and Friday, following Fine Gael's motion of no confidence in the Government.
       Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn Centre, which provides support to abuse victims, said: "This march was organised very carefully to coincide with the debate. Now, we feel like we've been kicked around like footballs by the political establishment." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:28 AM

    • Thousands join solidarity march for abuse victims

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, June 10, 2009
       IRELAND -- Victims of child abuse in church-run institutions will today hand over a petition to the head of the Conference of Religious of Ireland.
       After a silent march through Dublin children's shoes will be left at the Dáil gates and white ribbons will be tied on the railings outside Leinster House as a mark of respect for those who suffered clerical abuse.
       Christian Brother Kevin Mullan and at least one representative from other orders named in the damning Ryan report have accepted invitations to attend.

    • Silent march for victims of church abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.  
       Herald, By Claire Murphy, Wednesday June 10 2009
       IRELAND -- Thousands were expected to march in Dublin today in support of the victims of institutional child abuse.
       Organisers asked participants to wear a white ribbon and bring a child's shoe to symbolise the young people who were abused in schools in Ireland.
       The march was due to coincide with a debate on the Ryan Report under the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

    • Bishop Murry Talks About Priest Removal

      [1970s Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.  
       WYTV, ~ June 10, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- "There's sadness at Mooney, but there's also a great deal of sadness at our Lady of Peace in Canton," says Bishop George Murry of the Youngstown Diocese. Bishop Murry says members of the diocese are shocked by the removal of Father Thomas Crum from the ministry.
       The Bishop placed Crum on administrative leave after an anonymous victim came to him May 22, alleging a sexual relationship had taken place between the then teenage victim and Crum at Cardinal Mooney High School in 1975. The victim told Bishop Murry the relationship lasted a year. The Bishop says Crum has admitted to the affair and has apologized for bringing shame on the diocese.
       "It's a very sad situation that a young person was sexually abused by someone that he trusts."

    • Bishop hopes to restore trust

      [1970s Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.
       WFMJ, ~ June 10, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- A Youngstown priest who admitted to sexually abusing a student more than thirty years ago has resigned, and is undergoing psychiatric treatment at a mental facility.
       The Youngstown Bishop held a press conference Tuesday to tell how the church learned of the crime.
       He was considered a well-liked priest who worked at over a dozen churches, recently at Our Lady of Peace in Canton.

    • Diocese files bankruptcy report; victims' lawyer wants more

      - RCC.
       The Gazette, By Gregg Hennigan, gregg.hennigan § gazettecommunications.com , June 09, 2009
       DAVENPORT (IA) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport says it is in compliance with all of the nonmonetary terms of its bankruptcy settlement, but an attorney for clergy abuse victims wants the diocese to do more.
       U.S. bankruptcy Judge Lee Jackwig, in approving the diocese's $37 million settlement last year, required the diocese to file at least three annual reports on its progress in implementing 17 nonmonetary terms. The diocese this month filed the first report.
       The terms include the release of the names of all perpetrators of abuse, an apology from Bishop Martin Amos to the victims, and other acts of reconciliation. The diocese said it has finished each one except Amos must still hold atonement services at seven of the 54 parishes where abuse occurred. He has another year to complete those, but he will visit the remaining parishes this month, according to the report. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM

    • Fallout from abuse

      [1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.
       Vindicator, By LINDA M. LINONIS, June 10, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – It's unlikely criminal charges will be filed against the Catholic priest who admitted sexually assaulting a student at Cardinal Mooney High School in 1975 and 1976 because the statute of limitations has run out.
       The victim, who no longer lives in the area, could still file a civil lawsuit over the matter.
       Bishop George V. Murry spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon at the chancery offices here.

    • Priest quits amid child porn scandal

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider*] - RCC. Now resigned. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.
       Citizen-Times, By Clarke Morrison, 12:15 AM, June 10, 2009
       ASHEVILLE (NC) – The pastor of St. Eugene Catholic Church resigned Tuesday following charges he deleted hundreds of child pornographic images from the home computer of his music minister to foil a police investigation.
       The resignation of the Rev. John Schneider from the north Asheville church he headed since 2005 followed his first appearance in Buncombe County District Court on a charge of felony obstruction of justice.
       The Most Rev. Peter J. Jugis, the bishop overseeing the Diocese of Charlotte, traveled to Asheville Tuesday to meet with Schneider.

    • Group claims Saginaw Bishop covered up abuse

      - RCC.
       ConnectMidMichigan , ~ June 10, 2009
       SAGINAW (MI) -- Nearly a month into his appointment and controversy is already swirling around the new Bishop of Saginaw.
       A victims advocacy group, the Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priest or SNAP, claims a 2005 grand jury report showed Bishop Joseph Cistone and other Catholic leaders took part in covering up sexual abuse cases involving priest in Philadelphia.
       The group gathered outside the Diocese of Saginaw Tuesday and spoke with reporters about what they'd like to see from Bishop Cistone.

    • Bishop: Priest cannot return to active ministry

      [1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.
       Tribune Chronicle, By AMANDA SMITH-TEUTSCH, POSTED: June 10, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- The dishonored priest who admitted to sexually abusing a high school student told church officials he only abused one child over his 30 year career in the Youngstown diocese.
       Bishop George Murry, of the Diocese of Youngstown, answered questions about the Rev. Thomas Crum on Tuesday at diocesan offices. Crum was removed from active ministry last week after confirming allegations that he had sexually abused a minor in 1975-76.
       Murry said Crum was asked by diocese investigators if he had abused any other children other than the victim who came forward.

    • Mid-Missouri chapter of sexual abuse survivors' group forms

      - SNAP forms chapter here.  
       Columbia Missourian, By Emily Ponder, Zack Aldrich, June 10, 2009
       COLUMBIA (MO) – Don Asbee says he was nine years old when a priest began sexually abusing him at his Catholic school. Now, Asbee is forming a support group for others who have gone through similar experiences.
       The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has about 9,000 members nationwide, and Asbee wants to reach out to others in mid-Missouri to provide a place for other victims to find solidarity. Asbee, along with three others, held a news conference Tuesday to announce the chapter's formation. The group held its first meeting Tuesday night at the Unity Center in Columbia.
       "The idea is to just make our presence known to the best of our ability so that they know that if they have gone through this, there is at least a group out there to support them so they can realize, 'It isn't just me'," Asbee said. "Because that's what I thought."

    • Priest jailed for molesting altar boy

      [1968-69 Fr Desmond Gannon*] - RCC. "Anatomy lessons." Altar boy.    
       The West Australian, 17:03 WST, June 10, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- One of Melbourne's most senior Catholic clergy has admitted children were put at risk after a priest failed to report allegations of child molestation made against a colleague.
       The church apologised to the victim after Desmond Laurence Gannon was jailed for 25 months on Wednesday for molesting an altar boy on three occasions between 1968 and 1969.
       Gannon, 79, had told the Victorian County Court he was giving the boy an anatomy lesson. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:35 AM

    • Judge to rule on new Fresno diocese trial

      [1959-73 Mons. Herdegen*] - RCC. 2 brothers.  
       Fresno Bee, By Pablo Lopez / ~ June 10, 2009
       FRESNO (CA) -- A judge said he will rule this week on whether to give two brothers a new trial against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno because of newly discovered evidence that backs their claim that they were molested by a priest, and that the diocese did nothing about it.
       George and Howard Santillan sued the diocese for $20 million, but a Fresno County Superior Court jury ruled against them in April.
       The jury said Monsignor Anthony Herdegen had molested the two former altar boys from 1959 to 1973 at St. John's Catholic Church in Wasco. But the panel ruled that the diocese wasn't liable because it did not know about the molestation at the time.

    • Clerical abuse issue is everybody's problem

          [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Kerryman, Wednesday June 10 2009
       IRELAND -- IN 1795 the British government established Maynooth College for the training of Irish priests for Ireland. Their purpose was to prevent candidates for Irish diocese going to European colleges for training.
       Europe, especially France, was under the influence of republicanism, particularly following the French revolution of 1789. This revolution caused a huge migration of Catholic clergy from France to Britain. Britain was embarrassed by their presence and found use for many of them by having them appointed to the faculty of Maynooth. So Maynooth, at first, was staffed largely by French priests and they set the agenda for the Irish church of the subsequent two centuries.
       There was a major problem with these French priests: their theology was tainted with Jansenism – a form of Calvinism. Whatever good points Calvinism may have, it has one serious flaw: the doctrine of predestination, the belief that before one is born God has decided that some would be saved and enjoy heaven for all eternity, while the others, the vast majority, would spend eternity in hell fire. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:24 AM

    • 'Sex abuse' priest to be extradited

      [1980s Fr James Robinson*] - RCC. Altar boys (5 complaints).    
       Coventry Telegraph, ~ June 10, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A FORMER Coventry priest is to be flown back to the UK to face allegations of abuse against altar boys in the city during the 1980s.
       The extradition of James Robinson – a former assistant parish priest at St Elizabeth's, Eld Road, Foleshill – has been agreed by a magistrate judge in Los Angeles, California.
       West Midlands Police say the decision means the paperwork will now be completed for the 71-year-old's return, which is expected to take place within the next two months. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:21 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed June 10, 2009
    • Pervert priest jailed.  [1968-69 Desmond Gannon*] - RCC. Altar boy.    

    Pervert priest jailed

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 10, Thursday, June 11, 2009
       Victoria, Australia – A paedophile priest who claimed he was giving an altar boy an anatomy lesson when he sexually molested him has been jailed for more than two years.
       Desmond Laurence Gannon, 79, was a Catholic priest at Kilmore, north of Melbourne, when he abused the boy on three occasions in 1968 and 1969. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm#pervert_priest_jailed cont21.htm# australia/austchron3.htm# religion/religchron3.htm# submit/subchron8.htm#
    [Jun 11, 09]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Thu June 11, 2009 edition:


    • Missing minister faces charges

      [? 2009 ≤ May '09 - Jose Rosa -NEW*, quite new] - "Shalom Church." 2 boys.  
       The Daily Item, http://www. dailyitem.com/ 0100_news/ local_story_ 162000657. html , By Marcia Moore, ~ June 11, 2009
       MILTON (PA) – An arrest warrant has been issued for the missing Rev. Jose "Joe" Rosa, alleging he had indecent sexual contact with two boys at his Valley home and at Congregacion Menonita Shalom Church in New Columbia, state police at Milton said Wednesday.
       A cloud of suspicion has hung over Rosa, 52, of 1104 Sabra Way in Kelly Township, Union County, since his disappearance May 21.
       "We don't know (Rosa's whereabouts), but we have to move this along," trooper Matt Burrows said of the filing of criminal charges. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM]

    • 50 years for evil gang of paedophiles

      [~ 2000s Unnamed Elder -NEW*, plus 5 others] - Christian Church. In paedophile gang.  
       Glasgow Evening Times, By Brian Donnelly and Catriona Stewart, ~ June 11, 2009
       SCOTLAND -- SIX men involved in one of Scotland's worst paedophile networks were today jailed for a total of more than 50 years.
       A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh sentenced the group to between two and 20 years for a string of child pornography charges.
       It followed a trial last month where shocking details emerged of a suburban paedophile gang operating in Scotland.
       Jordanhill Parish Church members were horrified as it emerged a respected elder was among the paedophile ring. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:41 AM, June 11, 2009]

    • Cleric dismissed after texting explicit messages to teen girl

      [≤ 2007 David Waters -NEW*] - Church in Wales (Anglican communion). Explicit texting.    
       Wales Online, http://www. walesonline. co.uk/news/ wales-news/ 2009/06/11/ cleric-dismissed- after-texting- explicit- messages- to-teen- girl-91466- 23845783 ; By Sian Watts, Jun 11 2009
       WALES – A PRIEST who claimed he had left the church after "losing his faith" has been banned from the clergy after sending lewd text messages to a teenage parishioner.
       The Reverend David Waters, was the Rector of St Catwg's Church, Gelligaer, before being removed. At the time he claimed he had been relieved of his duties after "losing his faith".
       But a Church in Wales tribunal decided that Rev Waters should be banned after he sent sexually explicit text messages to a girl under the age of 18. Rev Waters was subject to an internal investigation by the Church after being suspended in June 2007. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:02 AM, June 11, 2009]

    • Piccoli pleads guilty to targeting Catholics in Ponzi scheme

      [< 20yrs Piccoli -NEW*] - Fraudulent "investments." Uses RCC publications.  
       Catholic News Agency, 11:53 am, Jun 9, 2009
       BUFFALO (NY) / (CNA).- A New York businessman pleaded guilty Monday to mail fraud and tax evasion in a scam that conned millions of dollars from primarily Catholic investors.
       With about 150 of his victims present to watch him, 82-year-old Richard Piccoli admitted to running a Ponzi scheme aimed at Catholics for nearly two decades.
       Piccoli, owner of Gen-See Capital Corp, declined to comment after his appearance in the U.S. District Court in Buffalo. Piccoli had been advertising for his company primarily in Catholic publications, targeting clergy and Church entities, and offering priests as references. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:39 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • Fairbanks priest denies abuse claims

      [1990s Fr Gerald Ornowski -NEW* (Marianists)] - RCC. Girl.    
       News-Miner, June 11, 2009
       FAIRBANKS (AK) – The Rev. Gerald Ornowski, a Fairbanks priest who has been named in a civil suit alleging sexual abuse of a female minor while serving in the early 1990s in Stebbins, a western Alaska coastal village, denies the allegations.
       Ornowski's denial was confirmed by Robert Hannon, diocesan chancellor, who was present at a conference call regarding the lawsuit Tuesday, which included Ornowski and his religious superior at the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception. The congregation also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
       Ornowski is currently at the congregation headquarters in Stockbridge, Mass., for medical tests and treatment.

    • Ottawa man sues Catholic priest for sexual abuse

      [~ 1980s Fr Dale Crampton -NEW*] - RCC. Minor male.  
       The Vancouver Sun, By Brendan Kennedy, Canwest News Service, ~ June 11, 2009
       OTTAWA, Canada – A[n] Ottawa man, 40, who was sexually molested by his parish priest more than 25 years ago is suing the priest and the Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa for $2 million.
       The man, who can only be identified as "Alex" due to a publication ban from the original trial, filed a statement of claim with the Ontario Superior Court Tuesday.
       The claim names Dale Crampton, a former pastor at St. Maurice Church, and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Ottawa as defendants. It charges that Crampton's actions and the archdiocese's negligence caused Alex mental and emotional suffering, and impaired his opportunities to enjoy a normal adolescence and adulthood, among other damages. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:27 AM, June 11, 2009]

    • Private school settles with families that claimed abuse

      [Unnamed offenders -NEW*] - Lutheran. 5 minors.  
       The Monitor, by Jeremy Roebuck, 9:46 PM June 10, 2009
       EDINBURG (TX) – A McAllen private school has settled a lawsuit brought by the parents of five former students who claimed campus administrators covered up reports of sexual abuse.
       St. Paul Lutheran School agreed to make an undisclosed cash payout to each family but did not admit any fault or wrongdoing as part of an agreement finalized last week, representatives from both sides said Wednesday.
       "I believe that the willingness of these families to settle out of court, before a verdict was rendered, reveals their hidden motivations for filing charges against a Christian school that has earned an excellent reputation in the McAllen community," the Rev. Christopher Otten, senior pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, said in a statement. [Posted June 11, 2009]

    • Ex-student sues, says he was molested by 2 priests at same time

      [1990s Fr Gus Krumm (Franciscan) -NEW*, Fr Alexander Manville -NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
       The Orange County Register, By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI, ~ June 11, 2009
       SANTA ANA (CA) – A former Catholic school student claims that two priests at a Huntington Beach parish molested him in the early 1990s, and also blames the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for not removing one of the clerics from the school even after another accuser was paid a monetary settlement.
       The accusations directed at Rev. Gus Krumm, a former associate pastor at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church and Rev. Alexander Manville, a retired priest who still resides at the parish, were detailed in a lawsuit filed this week in Orange County Superior Court.
       Krumm, a Franciscan priest who has since been removed from ministry, had been an associate pastor at Sts. Simon and Jude from July 1998 to September 1998 before he left to become head pastor of a Portland church. He was later moved to a Sacramento church, and was removed there in 2003 after admitting to sexual misconduct with children. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:20 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • Harsh words make my point

      - Baptist.  
       Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 11, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Did you see the article about my book in the Associated Baptist Press? Did you see the first guy's comment underneath the review?
       Take a deep breath and take a look. Here's what he says:
       "This woman is on nothing more than a vendetta against the SBC because she's still having problems as a result. Her constant desire to get publicity is evidence of her penchant for hateful revenge. Frankly, I suspect her alleged experience really happened, and yet it's still just a story without substantiation. Being Baptist had nothing to do with her experience. It happens is all walks of life and it's unfortunate. The article states that she 'found him on her own.' What more compelling evidence can there be but that this woman still has mental/emotional issues she can't overcome? [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:38 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • N.J. Supreme Court upholds time limits for sex abuse lawsuits

     
       The Star-Ledger, by Mary Fuchs/State House Bureau, 1:25 PM, Thursday June 11, 2009
       TRENTON, NEW JERSEY -- The state's highest court today upheld a statute of limitations law that determines when victims of childhood sexual abuse can bring charges against their alleged abusers.
       Advocates for sex abuse victims lauded the decision, saying the state Supreme Court was lending its authority to a law they say was loosely interpreted by lower court judges.
       "It's a game-changer," said Stephen Rubino, a Margate lawyer who has represented victims in clergy sex scandals.
       The Child Sexual Abuse Act, enacted in 1992, gives victims two years to sue the accused offender once they have realized the emotional and psychological effects of the abuse. But Rubino said courts often misinterpreted the law and threw out valid cases of sexual abuse.

    • Point-scoring put aside for sombre reflection on report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC, and Irish State. 30,000 children.  
       The Irish Times, By MICHAEL O'REGAN, ~ June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- DÁIL SKETCH: YESTERDAY WAS a very different kind of day in the Dáil. Political point-scoring was put aside for an extended debate on the sordid and shocking contents of the Ryan report.
       The mood was sombre. Speaker after speaker emphasised the shame of church and State.
       Harrowing stories of the ill-treatment of children, almost incomprehensible in their brutality, were heard.
       Fine Gael's Jim O'Keeffe remarked that it was the saddest debate he had witnessed in over 30 years in the Dáil.

    • State still failing to protect children in 'grave danger' of child abuse

      - Irish State.
       IRELAND -- The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, ~ June 11, 2009
       THE GOVERNMENT must act urgently to protect vulnerable children today," said Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín ó Caoláin who warned that "the nightmare of child abuse is not a thing of the past; it is happening every day".
       "Most of this abuse takes place in the family home. If the services are not in place, the State today will be just as culpable as it was in the past when it conspired with the church to cover up the abuse of children."
       Mr ó Caoláin said during the Dáil's debate on the Ryan report that "the woefully inadequate state of our child protection services has been repeatedly exposed".

    • Congregations ignored requests to hand over money, says Dempsey

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. €6m requested. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By MICHAEL O'REGAN, for June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey sharply criticised the religious congregations for the attitude they took to funding when he held the education portfolio.
       He said: "I benefited from a good education by the Christian Brothers. Most fair-minded people would acknowledge that the vast majority of the religious who taught in our schools were not involved in abuse.
       "However, I was appalled at the attitude taken by the representatives of the congregations when I met them in December 2003 to request that they pay the State the €6 million they received from their insurance companies as an ex gratia payment. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:22 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • Light 'shone into darkest corners in history of the State' - Cowen

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, for June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE RYAN commission report on child abuse is one of the most important reports "and almost certainly the gravest ever published in the history of the State", Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil.
       It "has shone a powerful light into probably the darkest corner of the history of the State. What it has revealed must be a source of the deepest shame to all of us."
       Opening the two-day debate on the report, which investigated the systematic abuse over decades of children in institutions run by 18 religious congregations, Mr Cowen repeated the apology to abuse victims made on behalf of the State by his predecessor Bertie Ahern in 1999.

    • Hand over primary school network to State, says Gilmore

      - Irish State.
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, for June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE PRIMARY school network should be handed over to State ownership, according to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who said there are 3,200 such schools but the State owns fewer than 100.
       He said the most important lesson from the Ryan commission report is "accountability and this must be at the heart of any future reforms. No institution is above the law. Every institution must be examined, inspected and held to account for what it does". And "because we are now paying for them we the people are entitled to reform our health, education and welfare systems to meet our current needs, rather than the demands of those who founded them so may years ago".
       Mr Gilmore said: "We should begin by transferring the physical infrastructure of our publicly-funded schools and hospitals into the ownership of the State.

    • All-party motion

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, for June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- The following is the text of the all-party motion for the two-day Dáil debate on institutional child abuse:
       That Dáil éireann: accepts the conclusions of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and in particular the failure of the State and the religious congregations running the institutions to protect the children who were placed in these institutions from abuse; acknowledges the pain and suffering endured by the former residents of institutions and that the commission's report vindicates their claims of abuse and that crimes were committed by members of the religious congregations and others against children placed in care; expresses its revulsion at the extent, severity and nature of the abuse suffered by children in residential institutions; restates the sincere apology of the House to the victims of childhood abuse for the failure to intervene, to detect their pain and come to their rescue; notes that the Minister for Children will be submitting a plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the commission's report to the Government for its approval by the end of July; restates the acceptance by the House of all of the recommendations contained in the commission's report and its support for their full implementation;

    • Nation should be haunted by 'famine of compassion'

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC and Irish State. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By MICHAEL O'REGAN, for June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny said the Ryan report shamed the Republic as a state and as a society.
       "The legislature must deal with the consequences of the horrors of the past and set down what we can to deal with the future," he added.
       Through the decades, he said, the mantra was that the children should be cherished equally.
       "As we now know, the State was ignoring the neglect and abuse of the most vulnerable of our children. This was not cherishing them or Christian compassion. It was a failure to care. We stand complicit in the criminalisation of little children as a consequence of their poverty, but that is just the beginning.

    • Schweigemarsch für Missbrauchsopfer in Irland

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Norbert.denef.com , June 11, 2009
       DUBLIN, Irland (AFP) – Tausende Menschen haben in Irland mit einem Schweigemarsch an die Missbrauchsopfer in Schulen und Kinderheimen der katholischen Kirche erinnert. Die Demonstranten trugen weiße Bänder und stellten symbolisch Kinderschuhe vor dem Parlamentsgebäude in der Hauptstadt Dublin ab. Angeführt wurde der Zug von vier überlebenden, die "in Erinnerung an die Lebenden und die Toten" zwei weiße und zwei schwarze Kränze vor dem Leinster House niederlegten. Die Polizei sprach von 7000 Demonstranten, die Zeitung "The Irish Times" von bis zu 15.000 Teilnehmern. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:08 PM, ~ June 11, 2009]

    • Man suing over Ottawa clergy abuse put up to it by lawyer, diocese says

      [1982+ Fr Dale Crampton] - RCC. 7 altar boys.  
       Ottawa Citizen, 5:02 PM, June 11, 2009
       OTTAWA, Canada – A day after a former altar boy announced he's suing Ottawa's Roman Catholic archdiocese over his abuse at the hands of a priest, the archbishop's spokesman suggested the man is only suing because a lawyer wants him to.
       An Ottawa man who can only be identified as "Alex" filed suit for $2 million this week over claims he was assaulted by Rev. Dale Crampton, then the pastor at St. Maurice Church on Percy Street, beginning in 1982. In 1986, Crampton pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting seven altar boys. Four years later the archdiocese paid $150,000 to the families of three of the boys, but Alex said in a Wednesday news conference that he was unaware of the settlement and has never had so much as an apology from the church.
       Msgr. Kevin Beach, the archdiocese's vicar general, said in a written statement Thursday that the church "is committed to a process of justice, healing and reconciliation for the victims of clergy abuse." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:38 PM

    • Youngstown Prosecutor Says Investigation To Proceed In Priest Abuse Case

      [1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. Admitted 1. 2 males.  
       WYTV, ~ June 11, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- When we first heard from Bishop George Murry earlier this week about this alleged sexual misconduct, the Bishop said the victim told him he understood the statute of limitations for any criminal charges would have passed long ago.
       But after some extensive research, the local prosecutor tells me today that may not necessarily be accurate. Atty. Jay Macejko says, "it appears that there is an argument to make that this is a viable case." The prosecutor says there are at least three other sexual abuse cases on the books suggesting an investigation of Father Thomas Crum can be pursued.
       Crum was placed on administrative leave by Youngstown Bishop George Murry last week after it was learned Crum engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor back in the mid-70's. At the time Crum was on the faculty at Cardinal Mooney High School and the alleged victim was a student there. On Tuesday, the Bishop told reporters the victim was now requesting anonymity, saying that day, "I will honor the request of the victim." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:32 PM

    • Child abuse was part of a prevalent church culture, Irish bishops say

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. "Heinous, vile." 30,000 children.    
       The Catholic Review (United States), By Cian Molloy, Catholic News Service, ~ June 11, 2009
       DUBLIN, Ireland – The abuse of children in institutions run by Catholic priests and nuns was part of a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland, the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference said at the conclusion of its summer meeting.
       The bishops spent a major portion of their June 8-10 meeting discussing a report from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, published May 20 under chairman Sean Ryan. The commission found that church institutions failed to prevent an extensive level of sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect.
       "The Ryan report represents the most recent disturbing indictment of a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland for far too long," the bishops said. "Heinous crimes were perpetrated against the most innocent and vulnerable, and vile acts with life-lasting effects were carried out under the guise of the mission of Jesus Christ.

    • Bishops determined to maintain role in schools

      - RCC.  
       Ireland Online, 07:29:42, June 06, 2009
       IRELAND -- Ireland's Catholic bishops appear determined to maintain their involvement in the running of hundreds of schools across the country.
       The bishops issued a statement last night following a three-day meeting in Maynooth to discuss the fallout from the Ryan Report into the widespread abuse of children in religious-run State institutions. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:25 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • Irish Question Catholic Identity After Abuse Report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       KPCC (UNITED STATES), By Rob Gifford | NPR | Jun 10, 2009
       In Ireland, a report into child abuse in schools and orphanages run by Roman Catholic religious orders has renewed debate over the power the church wields in Irish society – especially in the field of education. The report found a shocking level of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.
       IRELAND -- In Ireland, an explosive report by an independent commission into child abuse in schools and orphanages run by Roman Catholic religious orders has renewed debate over the power the church wields in Irish society – especially in the field of education.
       The report, known as the Ryan Report after the senior judge who led the investigation, found a shocking level of sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children in the church's care throughout the 20th century.

    • Clergy abuse case considered

      [1970s Unnamed priest] - RCC. 6 boys.  
       San Francisco Chronicle by Bob Egelko, Thursday, June 11, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- The state Supreme Court took up an Oakland case Wednesday to decide whether six brothers who say they learned only recently that their psychological problems had been caused by a priest's sexual abuse during their childhood can sue the Catholic Church.
       The seven justices all voted to grant a hearing on an appeal by Oakland's Catholic Diocese of a ruling reinstating a lawsuit by the men, who said a priest molested them in the early 1970s. A lawyer for the brothers said the case would decide whether many other Californians in similar circumstances can sue for damages.
       Lead plaintiff Terry Quarry and his five brothers, ages 43 to 49, sued the diocese in 2007, saying they had discovered only recently that their psychological problems as adults were related to the molestation they allegedly suffered as children.

    • Brooklyn Bishop to Have Heart Bypass

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions occurred. Threat.
       The New York Times, By Paul Vitello, June 11, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Nicholas A. DiMarzio, the Roman Catholic bishop of Brooklyn.Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, 64, the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, is scheduled to undergo heart bypass surgery next week. …
       Also, he has been actively – and sometimes contentiously – lobbying to block a bill in Albany that would make it easier for those claiming they were victims of sex abuse as children to file lawsuits.
       Such a law would drive the diocese to bankruptcy, he claims. And when churches and schools are shuttered as a result, angry Catholics will punish the lawmakers responsible, he has said.
       In recent days, his lobbying led Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey of Queens, sponsor of the child sex abuse legislation, to accuse him of stepping close to the line of church-state separation protections.

    • Brothers Sue D.C. Archdiocese, Charging Abuse by Priest

      [Mons. R.J.Dooley]
       Washington Post, Thursday, June 11, 2009
       WASHINGTON (DC) -- Two brothers who allege they were victims of sex abuse by a priest in the 1950s and early 1960s filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Archdiocese of Washington and the churches where they say some of the abuse occurred.
       Donald F. Burns, 62, and Stephen F. Burns, 63, say in their lawsuit that the archdiocese at the time knew or should have known that Monsignor R. Joseph Dooley would molest them because the church knew of other incidents involving boys abused by Dooley.
       The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Superior Court, alleges that much of the abuse occurred in the Burns home and in Dooley's trailer in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where he took them. Donald Burns said he was abused from the age of 12 to 14, and Stephen Burns said he was sexually assaulted from age 9 to 17. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:58 PM, June 11, 2009]

    • Is Pennsylvania a pro-pedophile?

      - General community.      
       Examiner, by Mike Ference, Pittsburgh Independent Examiner, ~ June 11, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- Now that we know an entire country (Ireland) permitted dysfunctional sex freaks, disguised as Catholic clergy, to torture and molest innocent children for decades, maybe, it's time to expose the same heinous crimes in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
       Former PA State Rep. Lisa Bennington, D-Allegheny County, held a press conference on May 12, 2008 in Harrisburg, PA to discuss legislation known as the Child Victim's Act of Pennsylvania, which addressed statute of limitations and identifying sex abusers.
       If the bill had passed, it would have changed the age at which a civil suit could have been filed from until the accuser is 30 to 50, bringing the civil statute of limitations in line with the criminal statute. The bill would also have suspended the civil statute of limitations for two years in child sex abuse cases in which the statute had expired so that people over the age limit could file a suit. And it would have allowed the filing of such actions against child sex abusers and their enablers in both public and private institutions.

    • The Maturing of a Movement: Statute of Limitations Reform for Sex Abuse Victims

       
       FindLaw, By MARCI A. HAMILTON, Thursday, June 11, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- When the California legislature passed amendments to its statute of limitations on child sex abuse in 2002, no one knew that its members were initiating a revolution for child sex abuse survivors. The key innovation was the "window" legislation, which gave survivors one year (2003) to file claims even if the statute of limitations for their claims already had expired. In this column, I'll consider the growing influence of this important law and its supporters.
       The Facts Learned from the California Experiment
       There is no question that the California legislation was passed in part as a response to the public revelations about the cover-up of child sex abuse by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, stemming from the investigative reporting in the Boston Globe. But the legislators did not pass the window legislation to apply solely to the Church. The legislators took what they had learned from the problems with the hierarchy of the Church – the fact of pervasive and hidden child sex abuse – and then passed legislation to benefit all victims of child sex abuse. Thus, the legislation was not at all anti-Catholic, but rather anti-child abuse. Courts reached this obvious conclusion repeatedly, with Melanie H v. Sisters of the Precious Blood being the leading decision.
       In California, over 1,000 survivors came forward (about 850 from the Catholic Church). No one knew, though, what the benefits or costs of the window would be. It was a large experiment. Now that the claims have been litigated or settled, however, there are important facts that we have learned for the first time, or that reinforced facts unearthed by previous studies:
       First, window legislation is not just good for victims. It is good for everyone. Windows divulge the perpetrators' and their enabling institutions' ugly secrets. In California, the names of over 300 perpetrators who had never before been named publicly were released. And the bishops' role in placing children's needs below public appearances was also elaborated. Making that information public is a benefit to every parent and child.

    • Vicar sacked for sending sex texts to teenage girl during 'crisis of faith'

      [≤ 2007 David Waters*] - Church in Wales (Anglican communion). Explicit texting.    
       Daily Mail, By Daily Mail Reporter, Last updated at 2:59 PM, June 11, 2009
       WALES -- A village vicar has been sacked after he admitted sending a series of sexually explicit text messages to a teenage parishioner.
       Reverend David Waters, 61, targeted the schoolgirl with the messages which he sent to her mobile phone, a tribunal has heard.
       Rev Waters, rector of St Catwgs Church in Gelligaer, South Wales, admitted that he sent text messages of an 'unseemly, sexual and intimate' nature to the girl during a crisis of faith.

    • Report a source of shame to all of us, says Cowen

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.  
       The Irish Times, By LUKE CASSIDY, June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- "The Ryan commission report has shone a powerful light into probably the darkest corner of the history of the State," Taoiseach Brian Cowen said in the Dáil today.
       The Taoiseach was speaking during a two-day debate on the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in the house this morning.
       Mr Cowen said the report has "radically changed" the public's perception of what went on in the institutions and has "vindicated once and for all" former residents.

    • Two-day Ryan abuse debate begins

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       BBC News, ~ June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- A two-day debate on abuse in institutions run by religious orders has begun in the Dáil.
       Over 2,000 people told the Ryan Commission they were either sexually or physically abused.
       It happened in a network of reformatories, industrial schools and workhouses up to the 1980s.

    • 'Black Magic' child abuser is found guilty

      [1988-92 "High priest" John McFadden*] - Black Magic group. Boy.  
       Glasgow Evening Times, ~ June 11, 2009
       SCOTLAND -- A FORMER cop who claimed he was a Black Magic high priest has been convicted of sexually abusing three youngsters.
       John McFadden told one of his victims - a 12-year-old boy - demons and spirits would kill him and drag him to hell unless he carried out sex acts.
       The 42-year-old dressed in a black cloak and used a crucifix with a skull and crossbones and an onyx ring, which he claimed gave him power, to terrify the youngster into keeping the abuse a secret.

    • The tie between church and state is not sacred

      - RCC.  
       European Voice, By Judith Crosbie 05:00 CET, June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- In demanding that guarantees be attached to the Lisbon treaty, the Irish government is exhibiting an unhealthy deference to the Catholic church.
       The leaders of the European Union's national governments will next week (18-19 June) agree to requests from Ireland to 'clarify' the much-argued-over Lisbon treaty. The 'clarifications' that the European Council will issue are meant to encourage voters in Ireland to back the treaty in a second referendum in the autumn. The demands include a declaration on workers' rights as well as legal guarantees of Ireland's freedom to decide on military neutrality, taxation and ethical issues.
       The most innocuous of these guarantees would appear to be the ethical one. EU officials are used to Irish governments demanding assurances that the Union will not try to impose abortion or other perceived evils on its people. Ireland secured a protocol to the Maastricht treaty, even before it was put to the people in a referendum, saying that it would not affect the Irish constitution's ban on abortion. This time around, the protocol will be broader, taking in not only abortion, but potentially also stem-cell research, gay marriage and the role of religion in education. Few at an EU level have questioned Ireland's insistence on retaining control over these issues. Indeed, the assurances are considered almost meaningless since they restate the obvious: that the EU has no competence in these areas.

    • Order to be quizzed over Church's sex abuse files

      [1965+ - 41 clergy] - RCC. Files kept secret.  
       News Letter, By Philip Bradfield, Published Date: June 11, 2009
       NORTHERN IRELAND -- A MEMBER of the Policing Board is set to quiz the Chief Constable today on why the PSNI agreed not to inspect child abuse archives of the Roman Catholic Church dating back to 1965.
       And victims of clerical abuse in Northern Ireland are now calling on the Church to be completely transparent with its records.
       The news comes after the Ryan Report in the Republic made international headlines for detailing the physical and sexual abuse suffered by 2,000 children in Church care. Questions have been raised in recent days as to whether a similar inquiry should now be held in Northern Ireland.
       But the News Letter can confirm that the Roman Catholic Church reached agreement with the PSNI several years ago that it would keep its entire archive of child abuse allegations against 41 clergy dating back to 1965 under wraps. Instead, the Church made its own summaries of all such allegations and presented them to the PSNI. The Public Prosecution Service later concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute nine suspects.

    • Priest cannot sue 2 brothers who say he molested them, court rules

      [1980s Stepek] - RCC. 2 brothers.  
       Chicago Tribune, By Manya A. Brachear | June 11, 2009
       ILLINOIS -- In the first ruling of its kind in Illinois, a state Appellate Court decided Wednesday that a Roman Catholic priest could not sue two brothers who say he molested them.
       Enabling Rev. Robert Stepek to sue the men who cooperated with a church investigation would infringe on religious liberties granted by the U.S. Constitution, a three-judge appeals court said in its decision to order the trial court to throw out Stepek's lawsuit. Allowing the suit would require a court to examine how the church disciplines clergy -- a move that would conflict with the "free exercise [of religion] clause of the 1st Amendment," the ruling said.
       In 2006, Stepek was removed from the pulpit at St. Albert the Great Church in Burbank after a review by the Chicago archdiocese determined there was reasonable cause to suspect that sexual abuse of minors occurred when he was at St. Symphorosa Parish in Chicago in the early 1980s.

    • At 81, he fights church over abuse allegations

      [~ 1940s Rev Gibson Bell*] - Episcopalian (Anglican communion). Mother gave clergyman her estate. Teen boy.
       Philadelphia Inquirer, By David O'Reilly, June 11, 2009
       {apology from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania}
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- At 81 and in poor health, Ralph White Jr. is not confident he will live to see a dime from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
       But White voiced relief yesterday that a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court had ordered the church to respond to his lawsuit alleging his pastor sexually abused him in the 1940s, when he was a boy, and later took his inheritance.
       White, of West Philadelphia, is seeking unspecified damages from the five-county diocese and All Saints parish in Wynnewood, and the return of his modest inheritance.

    • Church abuse victims call for transparency

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC. 30,000 children.    
       News Letter, Published Date: June 11, 2009
       IRELAND -- TWO people who suffered sexual abuse while in the care of the Roman Catholic Church have called for all files on the matter to be made open to victims and the authorities.
       Richhill resident Tom Hayes was in the care of the Roman Catholic church from two until 16 in Kerry and Limerick. He suffered physical and mental abuse from members of religious orders and sexual abuse from other boys.
       "The Church will always do the minimum in these cases," said Mr Hayes, who is now secretary of a selfhelp network, the Alliance Victims Support Group. "Then you have to embarrass them before they come clean. The Church will do nothing unless it is dragged screaming. No files on abuse have been released to victims by the Church anywhere in Ireland to date." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:03 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Thu June 11, 2009
    • Thousands march in silence to protest against abuse by Church.  - RCC. 7000 to 15,000 in capital march.  

    Thousands march in silence to protest against abuse by Church

       The West Australian, p 36, Friday, June 12, 2009
      [Picture] Taking to the streets: The silent demonstration in memory of victims of clerical abuse.    Picture: Associated Press  
       DUBLIN – Thousands of people have marched through central Dublin to protest over the decades-long abuse of children in Catholic Church-run institutions, as Irish bishops apologised anew for the "heinous crimes".
       The silent marchers wore white ribbons and many carried children's shoes that the organisers asked them to leave outside Parliament "to symbolise the lives shattered in these institutions".
       Ireland's Catholic bishops, meeting for their summer conference, later expressed their shame at the abuse perpetrated by religious orders, which was revealed in an official report last month.
       They asked for forgiveness, saying: "We are ashamed, humbled and repentant that our people strayed so far from their Christian ideals."
       Four survivors leading the rally in Dublin laid wreaths – two white and two black – outside the Leinster House Parliament building "in memory of the living and dead" in the state-funded institutions.
       Police said about 7000 people joined the march on Wednesday, while the Irish Times newspaper reported up to 15,000.
       Last month, an official inquiry led by Judge Sean Ryan reported that sexual, physical and emotional abuse was "endemic" in industrial and reformatory schools, orphanages and other childcare institutions dating back to the 1930s.
       The findings of the report, which followed a nine-year investigation, have caused widespread shock in mainly Catholic Ireland.
       After their meeting, the bishops said they had discussed the report.
       "Heinous crimes were perpetrated against the most innocent and vulnerable, and vile acts with life-lasting effects were carried out under the guise of the mission of Jesus Christ," they said.
       Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Ireland's top cleric, Cardinal Sean Brady, briefed Pope Benedict XVI on the report this week.  Archbishop Martin said the Pontiff had been "visibly upset".
       A judicial commission is also investigating abuse allegations involving priests working in the archdiocese of Dublin – the country's biggest – and Cloyne in the south.  A report is due this year. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm#thousands_march_in
    [Jun 12, 09]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Fri June 12, 2009 edition:


    • Lawyer: Client to ask for forgiveness in case involving church funds

      [~ 2000s Ms Michelle Spigarelli -NEW*] - RCC. Funds.  
       The Joplin Globe, By Greg Grisolano, ggrisolano § joplinglobe.com , ~ June 12, 2009
       FRONTENAC, Kan. – With his client facing the possibility of prison time and a large fine, the attorney for a woman who was the pastoral assistant and business manager at the Catholic church in Frontenac said she will ask for forgiveness.
       "This has been a very difficult time for Michelle, and our position will be to ask for understanding, mercy and forgiveness," James Pratt, a Wichita attorney representing Lanora Michelle Driskell Spigarelli, said by phone on Thursday.
       When asked whether his client was seeking those things from the court or from the members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Pratt declined to comment further. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:16 AM, June 12, 2009]

    • Newcastle priest still being investigated

      [? 1990s-2000s Rev. Hlongwane (48) -NEW*] - "Vezubuhle Fellowship." 15 boys (4-14yrs).  
       East Coast Radio Newswatch, ~ June 12, 2009
       SOUTH AFRICA -- Northern KZN detectives have their hands full trying to get to the bottom of a case that has outraged community members at Newcastle. A 48-year old priest appeared in court yesterday on suspicion that he raped and sodomised 15 young children.
       Michael Hlongwane was a priest at Vezubuhle Fellowship and stands accused of abusing boys who are aged between four and 14. He was arrested last month after one of the children told his parents about what was going on.
       Police spokesperson Shooz Magudulela says Hlongwana asked the court not to release him yet - even though he had appeared yesterday for a bail application. He claims that the priest fears for his life as he has received threats from the community. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:12 AM, June 12, 2009]

    • Episcopalian Abuse Scandal

      [1950s-60s Unnamed chaplain - ? NEW*] - Episcopalians, too. Schoolboys.  
       National Catholic Register, Posted by Tom McFeely, 1:34 PM, Friday, June 12, 2009
       TEXAS -- People who think that sexual abuse by clergy is exclusively a Catholic problem, or that only Catholic bishops have mishandled abuse allegations, or that a married priesthood would solve the abuse problem, should read this article.
       It's a recapitulation published by The Houston Press of an egregious abuse scandal in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, involving a married Episcopalian priest who took advantage of his position as chaplain at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin in the late 1950s and 1960s to prey upon male students. (Warning: the article contains some graphic details and crude language about the sexual abuse that occurred.)

    • Making awful even worse

      [Decades - 2009 - Rev. Gibson Bell*]- Episcopalian. Sex. Asylum. Got the estate.
       Episcopal Cafe, http://www. episcopalcafe. com/lead/ dioceses/ worst_possible_ media_strategy. html , ~ June 12, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- Radio station KYW has the bare bones of an extremely distressing story from the Diocese of Pennsylvania:
       An 81-year-man who says he was repeatedly raped by an Episcopal priest more than 60 years ago is now suing the Diocese of Pennsylvania. When Ralph White was a teenager at All Saints Parish in Wynnewood, he says, he was sexually abused on a number of occasions by the Rev. Gibson Bell.
       Rev. Bell influenced White's mother to have her son placed in a mental institution. Later, White's mother disowned her son and willed her estate to Rev. Bell.
       Rev. Bell died in 1979, and the church now owns the property.
       The Philadelphia Inquirer goes deeper with an extremely sympathetic depiction of the alleged victim:
       At 81 and in poor health, Ralph White Jr. is not confident he will live to see a dime from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:30 PM, June 12, 2009]

    • New Allegations Surface Involving Youngstown Priest

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       WFMJ, ~ June 12, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- The Youngstown Diocese tonight reports two more allegations against one of its priests accused of sexually abusing a minor. A news release from the Diocese says the new allegations concern the Reverend Thomas Crum. He was removed from his duties after a complaint surfaced that he abused a student when he served at Cardinal Mooney High School thirty years ago. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:00 PM, June 12, 2009]

    • SNAP Group Starts in Louisville

      - Another SNAP chapter.
       WFPL, by Stephanie Sanders, 12:39 pm, June 12, 2009
       LOUISVILLE (KY) -- A Louisville chapter of a national organization for people who've been sexually abused by clergy has started. The second meeting of the support group is tomorrow. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – or SNAP – started in 1989.
       Louisville SNAP Leader Colleen Powell says meeting people with the same experience is often helpful.
       "It's a small group opportunity to tell our stories, be listened to, believed, and decide what we want to do with those feelings," says Powell.

    • More Allegations Reported Against Fr. Crum

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, ~ June 12, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- When the Diocese of Youngstown reported that Reverend Thomas Crum was removed from ministry due to a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 30 years ago, the diocese asked that anyone who was abused, or who knew of someone who was abused, come forward. This week, two more allegations against Father Crum have been reported to the diocese. The diocese is working with the families to extend outreach and reconciliation. The information has been turned over to diocesan attorneys who are reporting to civil authorities.

    • Youngstown Bishop Removes Priest From All Ministry

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, ~ June 12, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., of the Diocese of Youngstown has placed Reverend Thomas Crum on Administrative Leave as a result of a newly reported and credible allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago when Father Crum was on the faculty at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown. The allegation was immediately reported to civil authorities. Subsequently, Father Crum admitted to the allegation to Church authorities.
       Father Crum, who was pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Canton, has resigned effective immediately. He cannot publicly celebrate the sacraments, wear clerical attire or present himself as a priest in good standing.
       In accordance with the Diocese of Youngstown Child Protection Policy, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Essential Norms from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the independent, predominantly lay Diocesan Review Board has been fully advised and supports the bishop's decision to immediately remove Father Crum from ministry.

    • More sexual-abuse allegations against former priest Thomas Crum

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       Canton Repository, By Benjamin Duer, CantonRep.com staff report, 04:16 PM, Posted Jun 12, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – Two more sexual-abuse allegations have surfaced against Thomas Crum, former priest of Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Canton. A statement was issued today by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
       Last week, Crum, a native of Louisville and a graduate of Central High School and Walsh University, was removed from ministry by Bishop George V. Murry following credible allegations of an incident that occurred more than 30 years ago involving a student at Cardinal Mooney High School.
       Crum was assigned to Our Lady of Peace in 2005. Prior to that, he served at St. Anthony Church in Canton from 1992 to 1994, followed by a leave of absence. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:52 PM, June 12, 2009]

    • Schism in Zambia; priest excommunicated

      - Fr Mbewe starts up breakaway Church.    
       Catholic Culture, ~ June 12, 2009
       ZAMBIA -- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has declared that Father Luciano Mbewe, founder of the Catholic Apostolic National Church of Zambia, has been excommunicated. Father Mbewe is a vocal advocate of permitting priests to marry, and his splinter group has links to Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who was himself excommunicated in 2006.

    • Sources: Alberto Cutié to wed within weeks

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian.    
       Miami Herald, BY JAWEED KALEEM, jkaleem § MiamiHerald.com , ~ June 12, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- Alberto Cutié will tie the knot within weeks, say sources close to the former Roman Catholic priest who joined the Episcopal church in late May.
       Cutié and his fiancée, 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis, recently hired several off-duty police officers to work security at the high-profile private wedding, which will take place at an unnamed Episcopal church in the next two weeks.
       The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, will officiate at the wedding ceremony.

    • New archbishop says he won't second-guess church closings

      - RCC.  
       WWL, with audio, David Blake Reporting, ~ June 12, 2009
       NEW ORLEANS -- The first native son to ever lead the New Orleans Catholic Archdiocese has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. 59-year-old Gregory Aymond, who was born in New Orleans and raised in Gentilly, is leaving Austin, Texas to take over for the retiring Archbishop Alfred Hughes.
       Aymond says he never dreamed this would happen and is saying hello to New Orleans and goodbye to Austin in the same day.
       "I want to be among the people and work with the priests," Aymond said. "We have to make some decisions obviously."

    • Report: Father Cutié To Wed In Next Few Weeks

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, left RCC, wedding plans.    
       CBS 4, ~ June 12, 2009
       MIAMI (FL)   The long-running soap opera between Alberto Cutié and 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis is coming to a storybook ending. According to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald, Alberto Cutié is set to wed his fiance' Ruhama Buni Canellis within the next two weeks.
       Cutié and Canellis have hired off-duty police officers to work security at the private wedding. The nuptials are planned to take place at an unnamed Episcopal church, with Rev. Leo Frade, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, leading the wedding.
       Cutié and Canellis have been at the center of a scandal after pictures and videos were revealed showing the couple in romantic positions on a South Florida beach. Cutié at the time was under a vow of celibacy as a Roman Catholic priest. But, Cutié wound up leaving the Catholic church saying he was in love with Canellis.

    • Kenyan priests' group plans illicit ordination of new bishop

      - RC priests revolting against celibacy.      
       Catholic Culture, June 12, 2009
       KENYA -- Spokesman for a small group of Catholic priests dedicated to ending the rule of priestly celibacy have claimed that they remain loyal Catholics, even though they plan to ordain a new bishop without permission from the Holy See -- an act that brings the penalty of excommunication.
       Father Daniel Kisomo, the leader of the Married Priests Now movement-- which claims only 7 official members-- will be ordained to the episcopacy by Emmanuel Milingo, the Zambian archbishop who was excommunicated in September 2006.

    • Catholic Church drowns Supreme Court in arguments, in attempt to prevent more lawsuits about pedophile priests in California

      [1970s Unnamed priest] - RCC. 6 boys.  
       City of Angels, By Kay Ebeling, Creator, City of Angels, ~ June 12, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Whether adult victims of pedophiles will be able to file lawsuits against third parties in California will be decided in the next year by the state Supreme Court. In recent months, two cases regarding California Catholic archdioceses came out of two appellate courts with two opposite opinions of the Legislature's 2002 amendments to the statute of limitations in child sex crimes - a testament to the perpetual confusion in California law, as well as the perpetual fight by the Catholic Church to keep the crimes of its pedophile priests a perpetual secret.
       Attorneys for the Catholic Church filed dozens of letters requesting review of Quarry vs. Doe 1 on behalf of archdioceses all over the state - as well as insurance companies and, of course, other law firms. The Supreme Court of California granted the request to review Quarry June 10, 2009.
       Here at City of Angels we have tracked down some of those filings and in upcoming posts we will quote them fluidly. The initial Request for Depublication states outright why the Catholic Church wants the Court to keep the Statute of Limitations the way it was before Freud: If Quarry stands there might be more lawsuits against the church.
       "In addition to representing the Bishop of Oakland (Doe 1) in Quarry, this office represented the Bishop of Oakland and a number of other defendants in more than 70 cases in (California). This office has currently three matters which are directly impacted by the Quarry opinion. If Quarry stands, more are expected."

    • A dangerous precedent (Erin)

      - RC Church - lobbyist?
       Beliefnet, by Rod Dreher, ~ June 12, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- Do you remember this post of Rod's back in March, about how the Connecticut legislature proposed a bill that would remove power from Catholic priests and bishops and mandate that parishes be run by lay people? That bill was defeated, thanks in part due to the outrage and protests by Catholics throughout the state. But now, the State of Connecticut is investigating whether the Diocese of Bridgeport acted as a lobby when it coordinated the actions of concerned Catholics to help them protest against this proposed legislation:
       According to the Connecticut Office of State Ethics, the diocese acted as a lobbying organization in March when it rented buses to transport people to a rally in Hartford -- the state capital -- to protest a bill that would have granted more power to parishioners regarding church finances.
       Officials also are investigating whether the church acted as a lobbying organization on its Web site when it urged parishioners to contact lawmakers about the bill, which eventually was withdrawn amid public outcry, and about a another bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which was signed into law in April. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:03 PM, June 12, 2009]

    • Bridgeport Diocese Appeals Release Of Priest Sex Abuse Documents

      - RCC.
       The Hartford Courant, By DAVE ALTIMARI | 2:25 PM EDT, June 12, 2009
       BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Diocese of Bridgeport has filed a motion today to have the whole Supreme Court rehear their appeal to keep more than 12,000 pages of court records involving lawsuits against their priests sealed.
       The church has asked that the entire seven-member court hear arguments on the case, meaning for now the documents will remain sealed.
       "The decision raises significant concerns and deserves review by the full Court, as opposed to a divided panel," the Diocese states in its court motion.

    • Diocese wants court to reconsider release of secret abuse files

      - RCC.
       Connecticut Post, STAFF REPORTS, Updated: 02:36:11 PM EDT, Jun/12/2009
       [The court decision, Dissent]
       BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport today asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling last month ordering the release of secret church documents regarding allegations of abuse of children by diocesan priests.
       The diocese in its motion for reconsideration asked that entire seven-member court hear its appeal rather than the five-judge panel that, by a 4-1 vote, dismissed efforts by diocesan lawyers to keep under wraps hundreds of pages of depositions, internal church memos and other documents that detail how top church officials, including then-Bishop Edward Egan, allegedly protected abusive priests.
       "The decision raises significant concerns and deserves review by the full court, as opposed to a divided panel," the diocese states in its motion filed in the case, Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese Corp.

    • Bridgeport diocese appeals court decision to make public sex-abuse documents

      - RCC.
       Catholic Culture, June 12, 2009
       BRIDEPORT (CT) -- The Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, has decided to appeal a decision by the state's highest court requiring the public release of documents that detail the reactions of diocesan authorities to sex-abuse allegations against Catholic priests. The diocese has asked the Connecticut Supreme Court to reconsider its decision and hear new arguments, saying that the case "raises significant concerns and deserves review by the full court."
       The diocese has energetically defended the privacy of files that were sealed after a 2002 settlement with sex-abuse victims. But a lower court ruled in favor of a plea by several newspapers to unseal those files, and the state's highest court upheld that ruling in a 4-1 decision issued in May. During the appeals process the 12,000 documents in question will remain sealed.

    • S.F.'s blast at Vatican was legal, court says

      - RCC opposed for requiring heterosexual adoption parents.    
       SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco Chronicle, by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer, 15:52 PDT , Thursday, June 4, 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- San Francisco didn't cross into constitutionally forbidden territory of government hostility to religion when the Board of Supervisors denounced a Vatican order to Catholic Charities not to place adoptive children with same-sex couples, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
       The 2006 resolution condemned the Vatican's "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric" and urged local church officials to defy the order by Cardinal William Levada. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights sued, contending the city was expressing hostility toward Catholicism in violation of the Constitution.
       A federal judge threw out the suit, a decision that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld Wednesday. It said the supervisors had acted for a legal secular purpose - to protect gay and lesbian couples from discrimination - and not to express the city's disapproval of Catholicism. [Posted June 12, 2009]

    • Irish child abuse: the particular sufferings of the disabled

      - RCC.    
       The Times (United Kingdom), by Ruth Gledhill, ~ June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- Earlier this week, thousands marched through Dublin in protest at what is turning out to be one of the darkest chapters in the history of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church.
       Soon after the Ryan report was published, David Sharrock, who writes for The Times in Ireland, wrote a powerful column. He reported the appearance of Michael O'Brien on the RTÉ show Questions and Answers, the Republic's equivalent of the BBC's Question Time.
       Michael listened patiently to the answers given by politicians to his question about whether the assets of religious orders found guilty by a commission report of systemic, endemic child abuse should be frozen.
       Then he let rip. 'I went to the commission and had seven barristers there questioning me, telling me that I was telling lies when I told them that I got raped of a Saturday, got a merciful beating after it and he then came along the following morning and put Holy Communion in my mouth.

    • Limerick priest predicts tough times will draw more to Novena

      - RCC.    
       Limerick Leader, Published Date: June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE Ryan report into abuse of children in State institutions, rising unemployment and the murders of innocent Limerick people, may draw more to the annual novena, according to Fr Adrian Egan of the Redemptorists Fathers.
       The city's biggest festival of faith - the nine day annual novena - will begin on June 19 and annually draws tens of thousands of people to the Redemptorist Church at Mount St Alphonsus.
       Fr Egan said the findings of the report "will be very much in our thoughts and prayers at the novena", particularly following the reports of horrific abuse at St Joseph's Industrial School in Glin, Co Limerick

    • N.O. native named Archbishop of New Orleans

      - RCC.  
       WWL, with Tom Planchet / Eyewitness News, June 12, 2009
       NEW ORLEANS – Pope Benedict XVI has named a New Orleans native as the new Archbishop of New Orleans to replace Archbishop Alfred Hughes, who is retiring.
       Most Reverend Gregory M. Aymond, is currently the Bishop of the Diocese of Austin, Texas.
       Aymond was ordained as a priest in the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1975 after completing studies at the Notre Dame Seminary.
       Hughes, who has been the subject of some controversy in the past year over the closing of several area churches, served for 18 months after the retirement age of 75 set by canon law.

    • Vatican names Austin's Bishop Gregory Aymond to replace Hughes as N.O. archbishop

      - RCC.
       The Times-Picayune, by Bruce Nolan, 5:24 AM, Friday June 12, 2009
       [announcement from the New Orleans diocese]
       [Bishop Aymond's biography]
       NEW ORLEANS -- The Vatican for the first time in the city's history today appointed a New Orleans native to head the Catholic church here, naming Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas the 14th archbishop of New Orleans.
       He will replace Archbishop Alfred Hughes, who retires after seven of the most tumultuous years in the 216-year history of the New Orleans church.
       Aymond, 59, grew up in Gentilly and spent his entire career in New Orleans until his departure for Texas nine years ago.

    • We're a Church, Not a Lobby, Catholic Bishop Tells Ethics Probers

      - RCC.
       Fox News, By Joshua Rhett Miller, ~ June 12, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., says he's a man of God, not a lobbyist. But state officials say he's both.
       According to the Connecticut Office of State Ethics, the diocese acted as a lobbying organization in March when it rented buses to transport people to a rally in Hartford – the state capital – to protest a bill that would have granted more power to parishioners regarding church finances.
       Officials also are investigating whether the church acted as a lobbying organization on its Web site when it urged parishioners to contact lawmakers about the bill, which eventually was withdrawn amid public outcry, and about a another bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which was signed into law in April.

    • Silence and tears on a grim journey through evil deeds

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC. 30,000 children.  
       Irish Independent, By Lise Hand, Friday June 12 2009
       IRELAND -- THE bright sunshine beamed through the glass dome, suffusing the Dail chamber with light. But on the floor of the House, and in the public gallery above, grief, remorse and anger cast a long dark shadow over the sunlit room.
       Usually the Dail proceedings on a Thursday morning are punctuated with rowdy and rambunctious banter during the order of business. But then this wasn't a usual session in the lower House of the Oireachtas -- it was the first day of a two-day debate on the horrendous findings of the Ryan report into child abuse. There were no political shenanigans yesterday, just a grim sense of unity among deputies on all sides of the chamber as they set off on a bleak journey.
       For this was a return back into Ireland's far too recent past, a bone-chilling, harrowing but entirely appropriate and necessary revisit of the dreadful, dark deeds perpetrated on the most vulnerable and helpless members of our society.

    • 'Shining a light into the State's darkest corner'

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       Irish Independent, By [?]ine Kerr, Political Correspondent, Friday June 12 2009
       IRELAND -- THE Ryan report has shone a powerful light into the darkest corner of the State's history and is the source of the deepest shame for the nation, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday.
       The catalogue of horror and terror endured by children in the care of religious congregations was "appalling beyond belief", Mr Cowen said in the Dail, where campaign groups and victims of child abuse had gathered in the public gallery.
       On the first of a two-day debate on the Report of the Commission into Child Abuse, Mr Cowen made a heartfelt and sombre speech in which he claimed the State had failed hundreds of children in care. He again apologised on behalf of the State.

    • The day in quotes …

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.  
       Irish Independent, Friday June 12 2009
       IRELAND -- "What it (Ryan Report) has revealed must be a source of the deepest shame to all of us … Children in the care of the state and in our care were physically, emotionally and, in many cases, sexually abused and our State and its systems failed to hear their cries or come to their help." --Taoiseach Brian Cowen
       "Let us not hide behind euphemisms. This was not just failure to protect. This was torture, pure and simple."-- Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny
       "It is fair to say that the sordid saga of the systematic abuse and neglect of children who were handed over by the State into the custody of religious institutions shocked Irish society to its very core." -- Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore

    • On Statutes of Limitations in Sex-Abuse Cases

       
       The Wall Street Journal, By Ashby Jones, June 11, 2009
       NEW YORK -- We'll admit it. We really never thought we'd see an interesting article in a mainstream news publication about statutes of limitations, the old staple of first-year civil procedure classes. But lo and behold, the WSJ's Suzanne Sataline has pulled it off.
       In the Law Journal column on Thursday, Sataline wrestles with the question of whether statutes of limitation should be retroactively modified to allow victims of child abuse to sue their abusers. A handful of legislatures have grappled with that question, as it turns out, and said yes.
       In 2002, California allowed victims one year to file cases against their abuser or the employer, no matter when the abuse had occurred. Delaware followed suit in 2007, giving people two years to bring accusations in civil court. This year, New York state legislators have been debating a one-year statute [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:04 AM, June 12, 2009]

    • Dáil debates Ryan report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC and Irish State. 30,000 children.  
       The Irish Times, June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Dáil is holding a special sitting today to conclude its debate on the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
       The debate is expected to finish today.
       Yesterday Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the Ryan commission report "has shone a powerful light into probably the darkest corner of the history of the State".
       Mr Cowen said the report "radically changed" the public's perception of what went on in the institutions and has "vindicated once and for all" former residents.

    • Dáil to resume Ryan report debate

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.
       Ireland Online, 07:51:40 June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Dáil's two-day debate on the findings of the Ryan report on child abuse is due to resume at Leinster House later today.
       Yesterday, the Taoiseach reiterated the Government's apology to the victims of abuse by members of religious orders in state-owned institutions.

    • Clerics dodge responsibility to claim moral high ground

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.  
       The Irish Times, By MARY CONDREN, June 12, 2009
       Church figures cannot be allowed to blame abuse on those without "real" vocations
       IRELAND -- TO THIS day, I can still see my father's face when the letter came from the Archbishop of Dublin in the early 1950s. A young married man with several children, a labourer in Guinness, he too had witnessed the crocodile walks of dozens of children in the inner city, accompanied by women, young and old, in starched French head dresses, long woolly habits and ill-fitting shoes, their faces drenched in the perspiration of hot summer days.
       Heartbroken, incapable of Not Knowing, he and his companions decided to act: Santa Claus parcels and parties in the Mansion House at Christmas; trainloads of children out of Dublin on summer excursions to Gormanston; film shows and parties at special seasons – all of these punctuated my childhood. But it was never enough: nothing ever would have been. These were the tragic consequences of a society committed to Not Knowing.
       Rivers of alcohol ran through O'Connell Street in the Christmas of those times: pools of misery flooded the orphanages and tenements. My father and his companions made the connections and proposed a solution. A Christmas crib would be erected at the base of Nelson's Pillar. The Artane Boys' Band would be invited to play throughout Christmas Week. Collections would be made. Basic comforts for the orphaned and those who cared for them would follow from the citizens of Dublin. He wrote to the archbishop requesting his blessing on this work. Citizens of Dublin? To the archbishop in those days only Protestants were citizens; the rest were, in his words, members of "my parish".

    • N.J. justices uphold law in child sex abuse cases

       
       The Star-Ledger, BY MARY FUCHS, STATEHOUSE BUREAU, Friday, June 12, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- The state's highest court yesterday upheld a statute of limitations law that determines when victims of childhood sexual abuse can bring charges against their alleged abusers.
       Advocates for sex abuse victims lauded the decision, saying the state Supreme Court was lending its authority to a law they say was loosely interpreted by lower court judges.
       "It's a game-changer," said Stephen Rubino, a Margate lawyer who has represented victims in clergy sex scandals.

    • Reduced to tears by harrowing tales of the vulnerable

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - RCC. 30,000 children.      
       The Press and Journal (Scotland), By Derek Lord, Published: June 12, 2009
       IRELAND -- RETURNING home on Wednesday afternoon, I found Herself in floods of tears. She was listening to an Irish radio station covering a march of more than 5,000 people in Dublin that had been organised by some of the victims who had suffered at the hands of nuns and Christian Brothers in Ireland's industrial schools for most of the 20th century.
       The last of these brutal establishments was only closed down in the 1990s. A 2,600-page report into the horrific treatment meted out to the children in over 200 of these correctional schools was released recently, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Church and the politicians who for generations had turned a blind eye to the sexual and psychological abuse suffered by thousands of vulnerable children in their charge.
       The march was aimed at Leinster House, the seat of Ireland's government, but most of the politicians were conspicuous by their absence.

    • Anderson guilty; gets 5 life sentences

      [2005-06 Matthew Anderson*] - Christian. Boy (16).  
       The Herald-Zeitung, By Chris Cobb, Published June 12, 2009
       TEXAS -- A Comal County jury found former youth pastor Matthew Anderson guilty of sexual assault Thursday, sentencing him to life in prison for abusing a 16-year-old boy.
       Anderson, 31, was accused of using passages of scripture to victimize a devout young Christian and coerce him into performing numerous sexual acts in late 2005 and early 2006.
       After two days of highly religious and at times graphic testimony, the 12-member jury deliberated for an hour before convicting Anderson of five separate counts of sexual assault of a child and an additional two counts of indecency with a child by contact. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:34 AM

    • The Court said they do not know yet if Grassi is a second offender

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. 3 boy complainants.  
       Momento 24, June 11, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- The president of the court, Luis Maria Aldueza, who condemned the priest Julio Cesar Grassi to 15 years of prison for sexual abuse and corruption of minors, justified her decision of not putting him on jail because there is no possibility of leaving the country.

    • Parish leaders to catechists: No more outside CCD classes

      - RCC. Moral safety worries may cancel morality lessons.  
       Gloucester Daily Times, By Patrick Anderson, ~ June 12, 2009
       ROCKPORT (MA) -- Margaret Sullivan of Rockport converted to Catholicism five years ago, immersed herself in the faith and became one of the most popular catechists on Cape Ann by teaching religion from the kitchen table instead of the classroom.
       With Hail Mary Freeze Tag, Lord's Prayer Capture the Flag and spiritual wilderness hikes, Sullivan and a group of Rockport residents cultivated a faith-based community in backyards instead of church property.
       But now those classes are in jeopardy because of liability concerns among the leaders of Holy Family Parish and new rules banning group classes in private homes that are considered unsafe.
       [COMMENT: And why did all these ridiculous rules come into being?  Because R.C. Church leaders had not done their job properly, that's why. ENDS.]

    • Violence in Argentine courtroom as prominent priest convicted of abuse

      [1990s Fr Julio Grassi*] - RCC. 3 boy complainants.  
       Catholic Culture June 12, 2009
       ARGENTINA -- Father Julio Cesar Grassi, founder of an organization that assists Argentine street children, has been convicted for the sexual abuse and rape of a minor and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The judges ruled that in preparing victims for abuse, Father Grassi was "intending to change the sexual orientation of the victims." The judges also acquitted Father Grassi on 15 other counts of abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:26 AM, June 12, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Fri June 12, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sat June 13, 2009 edition:


    • Former Waco-area pastor changes attorney defending him in his wife's death

      [2006 Matt Baker -NEW*] - Baptist. Wife dead.  
       Tribune-Herald, http://www. wacotrib.com/ news/content/ news/stories/ 2009/05/15/ 05152009 wacbaker lawyer.html? imw=Y ; By Tommy Witherspoon, Friday, May 15, 2009
       TEXAS -- The former East Texas prosecutor who invited the media to come take their best shots at Matt Baker is back on the case.
       Guy James Gray, of Kerrville, the district attorney in Jasper, Texas, for 25 years who prosecuted the James Byrd Jr. dragging-death case, confirmed Thursday that he has agreed to replace Richard Ellison, also of Kerrville, as Baker's attorney.
       Baker, 37, a former Central Texas Baptist minister, is charged in the April 2006 alleged drugging and suffocation death of his wife, Kari, a Hewitt teacher and the mother of Baker's two daughters. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:19 AM, June 13, 2009]

    • Tearing down the 'institutions of terror'

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - RCC. Tear them down, says MP. 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND – DAIL SKETCH: WIPE THEM out, said Catherine Byrne. Those "landmark buildings which were institutions of terror should all be wiped from the landscape forever".
       The Fine Gael TD who grew up in the shadow of one of those institutions said "people have suffered enough, and should not be constantly reminded of what has happened to them when they pass these monuments of cruelty".
       She did something unprecedented by using the last moments of her Dáil speaking time for a minute's silence in tribute to the abused children.

    • Prosecutors subpoena Matt Baker's school records, preparing for murder trial

      [2006 Matt Baker*] - Baptist. Wife dead.  
       Tribune-Herald, By Tommy Witherspoon, Wednesday, May 20, 2009
       TEXAS -- McLennan County prosecutors are seeking Matt Baker's college and high school records pertaining to any criminal investigations, disciplinary actions and counseling sessions.
       Prosecutors are preparing for Baker's trial on charges that the former Central Texas minister killed his wife and tried to mask her death as a suicide.
       In an application for subpoenas filed Tuesday, prosecutor Crawford Long requested Chris Holmes of Baylor University's office of general counsel to supply his office with Baker's student records from undergraduate and graduate schools, including transcripts and any "documentation pertaining to any student misconduct." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:22 AM, June 13, 2009]

    • Britain 'treated equally' those failed by State

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.      
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND -- TRIBUTE WAS paid to Britain for "treating equally" Irish people who went there when they failed to get equality in Ireland.
       Frankie Feighan (Fine Gael) said "as a country we always aspired to a united Ireland but failed to unite our people. We blame Britain for most of our ills but for this we can only blame ourselves."
       Speaking during the Dáil debate on the Ryan report, he said: "This country has never been equal, not since the foundation of the State … There was a hierarchy in this country. We had deference towards the church but also towards intellectuals, doctors and solicitors.

    • Baptist leaders must consider possible consequences

      [2006 Matt Baker*] - Baptist. Wife dead.  
       Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 13, 2009
       TEXAS -- Southern Baptist pastor Matt Baker church-hopped through Texas, leaving a trail of sexual assault and abuse allegations. Yet, no one stopped him. Now he's indicted on a murder charge.
       Matt Baker didn't even have to move across state lines. Every step of his career, Baker was in churches and organizations affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Yet, even within that single entity, no one was keeping track of the many allegations against Baker.
       A Texas Monthly investigative journalist offered this explanation for why Baker was able to keep getting jobs in Baptist-land despite the many accusations against him:
       "To avoid defamation lawsuits, leaders of a church have an incentive to keep their mouths shut when it comes to questionable behavior among clergy, which is perhaps why First Baptist officials said nothing about the allegations when other churches later called, interested in hiring Matt." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:16 AM, ~ June 13, 2009]

    • Rights referendum would be 'monument' to victims

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND -- A REFERENDUM to enshrine children's rights in the Constitution is "possibly the greatest monument" to the victims of child abuse, according to Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
       It has been discussed for more than four years and "the time for debate is now over".
       Speaking during the Dáil debate on the Ryan report, Mr Gormley also said there were many people to blame for the unspeakable horrors children in care endured.

    • Department 'stood idly by' while children were abused

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND -- CASES OF child abuse where the Department of Education "stood idly by", were highlighted in the Dáil during the debate.
       Phil Hogan (FG, Carlow-Kilkenny) said that in 2002 he had asked then minister for education Dr Michael Woods for an investigation into "the role of the head of the inspectorate of reformatory industrial schools in giving a clean bill of health to some housemasters and convicted paedophiles like David Murray and Myles Brady in Kilkenny".
       Mr Hogan said that at the time the department was "at the centre of the matters" coming to political and Garda attention and it "stood idly by". The minister's response "was a request for me to give him more information rather than to investigate the complaints I had made".

    • Woods says 2002 deal subject of 'poorly informed comment'

      - RCC and Irish State.
       The Irish Times, By MICHAEL O'REGAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND -- FORMER MINISTER for education Dr Michael Woods claimed the 2002 deal between the then government and religious orders had been the subject of "some poorly informed comment".
       Some commentators, he said, had claimed that there should have been a full inventory of all the lands, schools, hospitals, care centres and other facilities, before accepting the contribution of the congregations who ran most of the institutions on the State's behalf.
       "This would have meant delay and more pain and suffering for the victims," said Dr Woods.

    • Department failed thousands of abused children - O'Keeffe

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By MICHAEL O'REGAN, June 13, 2009
       IRELAND -- DÁIL DEBATE ON RYAN REPORT: BATT O'KEEFFE criticised the Department of Education for failing to protect children in residential institutions, but strongly defended the department's current civil servants.
       The Minister for Education said that had the department done its job properly, thousands of children would not have suffered the way they did.
       "We failed them," he said.
       Mr O'Keeffe rejected claims made in the Dáil on Wednesday by Labour's education spokesman Ruairí Quinn, who had complained about the department's failure to provide him with details of the ownership of schools.

    • Bridgeport Diocese Appeals Release Of Priest Sex Abuse Documents

      - RCC continues stalling tactics.  
       The Hartford Courant, By DAVE ALTIMARI | June 13, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- The Diocese of Bridgeport filed a motion Friday to have the full Supreme Court rehear its appeal to keep more than 12,000 pages of court records involving lawsuits against its priests sealed.
       The church has asked that the seven-member state court hear arguments on the case, meaning for now that the documents will remain sealed.
       "There are several issues that have never been addressed before in Connecticut courts and the full court should hear them," said Ralph W. Johnson III, the attorney for the church.

    • Clergy abuse victim launches $2M lawsuit against priest

      [≤ 1987 Dale Crampton] - RCC. 7 boys.  
       Niagara Falls Review, Posted By SHANE ROSS, SUN MEDIA, ~ June 13, 2009
       CANADA -- The Catholic church continues to be committed to "a process of justice, healing and reconciliation for the victims of clergy abuse," Monsignor Kevin Beach, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Ottawa, said yesterday.
       Beach was responding to a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday against the archdiocese and Dale Crampton, a former priest at St. Maurice parish in Ottawa who was convicted in 1987 of sexually molesting seven boys.
       One of his victims, "Alex," who was 14 when he was assaulted by Crampton in 1982, held a news conference this week to announce his $2 million suit.

    • Brooklyn's DA Is Unfit For Office

      - Judaist.  
       Failed Messiah, ~ June 13, 2009
       NEW YORK -- VosIzNeais posted a video interview with Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes done for it by Yair Hoffman. Hoffman, a haredi rabbi, may be familiar to some of you for his reporting on the Agriprocessors issue. Hoffman's video camera found only happy workers, a perfect, sparking clean plant and nothing wrong. A few days later the State of Iowa hit Agriprocessors with over 9300 counts of child labor violations.
       You can see his transparently pathetic attempt at ambush journalism against Machom Shilo head Rabbi Bar-Hayyim on YouTube, as well.
       No one should be surprised that Hoffman was less than professional interviewing Hynes.

    • 'I fear that others are still at risk'

      - RCC.    
       Irish Independent, By Breda Heffernan, Saturday June 13 2009
       IRELAND -- THE Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, yesterday admitted losing sleep over fears that children could still be abused by clerics even after the lid has been lifted on past horrors.
       Dr Martin said that while the Church has serious questions to ask itself following the publication of the Ryan report into institutional abuse, so too does society at large.
       "We have in our diocese very rigid norms with regard to child protection, but I can't say that I sleep calmly every night because you're as strong as the weakest link in those structures and inevitably there are aspects that haven't been looked at," he said.

    • Think Again: Those primitive haredim - yet again

      - Haredi Judaists.  
       The Jerusalem Post, By JONATHAN ROSENBLUM, ~ June 13, 2009
       ISRAEL -- One of the first lessons I learned practicing law was that there are usually two sides to a story, no matter how compelling your client's version. My lawyer's antennae were pricked last week by a front-page article in this paper headlined: "Haredi parents take on sexual abuse of children. Ramat Beit Shemesh parents increasingly frustrated with leaders' denial of problem." The piece portrayed two parents who bravely bucked "the stringent cultural norms" of their "tight-knit haredi community in Ramat Beit Shemesh" to seek redress for the alleged sexual abuse of their children.
       Another hero of the piece was David Morris, director of Lema'an Achai, who promoted his organization's efforts to assist haredi parents versus the rabbinic authorities who, in many cases, end up "believing the perpetrators' story over the victims." Morris speculates that there is an epidemic of child abuse in Ramat Beit Shemesh based on the wild claim that every case investigated by the police represents 1,000 others not investigated.
       WHAT AROUSED MY SUSPICIONS? For one thing, not one local rabbi was quoted. Nor was there any indication that any had even been contacted. The story fit a little too neatly into familiar stereotypes of the haredi world. First, the portrayal of the community and its rabbinic leaders as hopelessly backward, with no knowledge of psychology or awareness of the darker side of human nature. Second, the idea of a community so insular that it would rather let its children be traumatized for life than address its problems or seek outside help.

    • Order to release abuse info appealed

      - RCC still avoids the light.  
       The Day By John Christoffersen, Published on Jun/13/2009
       NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport asked the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday to reconsider a ruling that would make public thousands of pages of documents that detail alleged sexual abuse by priests.
       The court's 4-1 ruling last month covers more than 12,600 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests that have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. Most of the victims were altar boys or belonged to church youth organizations.
       The records could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the allegations when he was Bridgeport bishop.

    • Diocese Tries to Keep Documents Under Seal

      - RC leaders still follow Crimen Sollicitationis.
       The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: June 12, 2009
       BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport asked the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday to reconsider its order to unseal 12,000 pages of court documents related to lawsuits claiming sexual abuse of children by priests.
       The motion represents the last possible appeal – short of the United States Supreme Court – in a seven-year tug of war between the diocese and four newspapers, including The New York Times. The newspapers are seeking records in 23 lawsuits filed against the diocese and seven of its priests in the 1990s, during the tenure of Bishop Edward M. Egan, who became archbishop of New York in 2000 and retired two months ago.
       The documents were sealed in 2001 after the diocese reached settlements with the plaintiffs, most of them former altar boys and youth group members who say they were molested in the 1960s, '70s and early '80s, before Bishop Egan's arrival.

    • A Church Leader's Unusual Confession

      - Abp Weakland was homosexual and "progressive."
       Washington Post, By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service, Saturday, June 13, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- In a forthcoming memoir, former Milwaukee archbishop Rembert Weakland reveals his sexual awakening as a gay man and his struggle to remain a prominent -- and celibate -- leader in a church that calls homosexuality "intrinsically disordered."
       The progressive Catholic also opens up about leading the worldwide Benedictine Order, presiding at the funeral Mass of famed monk Thomas Merton, befriending Pope Paul VI, butting heads with Pope John Paul II and preparing an authoritative statement on Catholicism and the economy in the 1980s.
       At times "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop," set to be published Monday, reads like a Horatio Alger novel. Weakland rises from poverty in Pennsylvania to study classical music at the illustrious Juilliard School in New York, then leads an international religious order and becomes witness to, and even a minor player in, some of the most consequential events in modern Catholicism.

    • More Accusations Against Valley Priest

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       WYTV, ~ June 13, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- Two more alleged abuse victims have come forward to the Youngstown Catholic Diocese, accusing a former Valley Priest, Father Thomas Crum, of sexual misconduct.
       Youngstown city prosecutors are looking into the allegations against the suspended priest. He was placed on leave last weekend after being accused of sexual misconduct with a student when he taught at Cardinal Mooney in the mid-1970s. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat June 13, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sun June 14, 2009 edition:


    • Parishioners in Newark protest priest's removal from church rectory

      - Mons. Granato's supporters rally.  
       The Star-Ledger, http://www. nj.com/news/ index.ssf/ 2009/06/ parishioners_ in_newark_ protest.html , by Tanya Drobness / 4:48 PM, Sunday June 14, 2009
       NEWARK (NJ) – Holding pickets and rosary beads, hundreds of church parishioners gathered today to protest the Newark archbishop's decision to remove their longtime pastor from the rectory when he retires this month.
       The Newark archdiocese maintains that the soon-to-retire Msgr. Joseph Granato must move out of St. Lucy's Church.
       He will be allowed to remain pastor emeritus and preside over Mass at the church and other parishes in the diocese. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 PM]

    • Priest denies calling Daingean children 'ruffians' in sermon

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 institutions] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. "Ruffians." 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, By KITTY HOLLAND, for June 15, 2009
       IRELAND -- PARISHIONERS IN the midlands have been "very upset" by a priest's sermon at Mass yesterday morning, where it was felt he defended the industrial and reformatory schools in the last century.
       Fr Tom Coonan was celebrating Mass at St Joseph's Church, Ballingar, Co Offaly, yesterday where it is alleged he said some of the children sent to the nearby Daingean reformatory school were "ruffians" who had not been wanted by society.
       Fr Coonan said he did not use the word "ruffian" in his sermon. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:19 PM, June 14, 2009]

    • Sumter town wrestles with councilmember accused of sex crime

      [~ 2000s Mr Jose Coronado*] - "Church of God of the First Born." 2 teens.  
       Daily Commercial, By MILLARD K. IVES, Staff Writer, June 14, 2009
       CENTER HILL, Florida -- City Council will try to determine at next month's regular meeting what to do about a member recently jailed on accusations he had sexual relationships with two teen members of his church.
       Jose Alfredo Coronado, 38, of Center Hill, and a youth pastor with the Church of God of the First Born, was arrested initially on four counts of sexual battery early this month.
       An 18-year-old member told Sumter County Sheriff's officials the two had been sexually involved while he was between the ages of 12 and 14. Additional charges were filed on the short-time councilman after a second teen church member made similar allegations.

    • Prelate suggests abusers were let down by church

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - No experience of being loved. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, for June 15, 2009
       IRELAND -- IT MUST be asked how a culture "inspired by a punitive, judgmental God" had emerged in church-run institutions for children, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev Diarmuid Martin, has said.
       Speaking in light of the Ryan report on child abuse, Archbishop Martin also suggested that perhaps many perpetrators of abuse in those institutions were themselves "victims of a form of Catholicism which never allowed them to experience being loved".
       He was speaking in Dublin at the launch of Who is My Neighbour?, a book edited by Fr Eoin Cassidy, head of the philosophy department at Dublin's Mater Dei Institute. It is a collection of papers delivered at a conference in Dublin in February 2008, and organised by the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:15 PM, June 14, 2009]

    • Help for victims of clergy abuse

      - Any faith can have seducing clergy.  
       Tribune Chronicle, By AMANDA SMITH-TEUTSCH, POSTED: June 14, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO - While cases are few, abuse by pastors and priests isn't confined to any single denomination.
       "Clergy abuse can occur in any faith," said Judy Jones of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. SNAP has branches in every state and most major metropolitan areas.
       Often, survivors of abuse keep it secret for years.
       "It's a very difficult thing," she said. "Often people will see reports on the news and say, look, there are other people out there."

    • Focus must be on victims, C of I bishop says on Ryan report

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and Churches. 30,000 children.  
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, for June 15, 2009
       IRELAND -- IRELAND IS in trauma following publication of the Ryan report, the Church of Ireland [Anglican communion] Bishop of Cork Most Rev Paul Colton has said. But he went on to remind all that in the midst of this trauma, the only people who matter are the victims. "They must be the centre of all our concerns and efforts."
       In what is believed to be the first public comment by a Church of Ireland bishop following publication on May 20th of the Ryan report on child abuse in Catholic-run institutions, he warned against impetuous responses and told those using it to further their own agenda, to set those agendas aside.
       Speaking at the diocesan synod of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork at the weekend, he said the nation's trauma was as nothing compared to the interminable suffering of the victims. "As we have seen again and again, their tears continue to flow," he said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:12 PM, June 14, 2009]

    • A Krummy Weekend for Diocese of Orange

      [1990s Fr Gus Krumm* (Franciscan), Fr Alexander Manville*] - RCC. Krumm doubts in 2004. Boy.  
       Orange County Weekly, By Gustavo Arellano in Ex Cathedra, ~ June 14, 2009
       ORANGE COUNTY (CA) -- The pedophile time bomb that was Father Gus Krumm finally exploded locally this week, when a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court alleged that Krumm and another priest molested a student at St. Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach during the early 1990s.
       All I can say is: about time. In 2004, I wrote about how Krumm kept getting shuffled from diocese to diocese after a stint at the now-shuttered St. Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara, a notorious Club Ped* for priests.

    • Irish child abuse victims calling helplines in record-breaking numbers

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Irish Central (United States), ~ June 14, 2009
       IRELAND -- Irish victims of abuse in Church-run institutions have inundated abuse helplines with phone calls since the publication of the Ryan Commission report of clerical abuse of children in Ireland.
       Under-staffed and under-funded Irish support services are overwhelmed by the record numbers of child abuse victims seeking help, and are requesting emergency government funds to meet the demand.
       Maeve Lewis, executive director of the One in Four support group, which helps abuse victims with prosecutions against offenders, told the Irish Examiner: "It's been absolutely relentless. We thought it would calm down after a couple of weeks, but it hasn't.

    • The Ratzinger Group, LLC

      - RCC.  
       GetReligion, ~ June 14, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- A few months ago we looked at the lack of media coverage of an attempt by some Connecticut legislators to replace the Roman Catholic Church's governing structure with a congregational system. Well, the media developed an interest in the story soon enough and the legislators were brushed back by a huge public uproar over the meddling.
       But the story continues. The diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., transported parishioners to a rally in the state capital to fight that bill. In doing so, the Connecticut office of State Ethics says the diocese acted as a lobbying organization. And there's more:
       Officials also are investigating whether the church acted as a lobbying organization on its Web site when it urged parishioners to contact lawmakers about the bill, which eventually was withdrawn amid public outcry, and about a another bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which was signed into law in April.

    • Bolivar church planning Mass minus priest

      - RC people resist archbishop's order to demolish.
       The Daily News, By T.J. Aulds, Published June 14, 2009
       BOLIVAR PENINSULA, TEXAS – Catholics who call the Bolivar Peninsula home were to have their first Mass since before Hurricane Ike struck nine months ago at a nearby Methodist church. The Mass was abruptly canceled Saturday afternoon and parishioners accused the Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese of ordering the Bolivar parish priest to stay away.
       Parishioners vow to have the service if only to send a message of their displeasure to the archdiocese.
       Members of the Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Port Bolivar have been locked in a fight with the archdiocese to keep the parish going after the hurricane severely damaged the church sanctuary and other church buildings.
       Last week, the archdiocese ordered the church be torn down, but a group of parishioners got a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition.

    • Fix flaws in sex-offender law

      - RCC. Cases of Frey relative, and Fr Gilbert Gauthe.
       The Advertiser, news § theadvertiser.com, June 14, 2009
       LOUISIANA -- As you read this morning's paper, you'll see the extraordinary story of Pam Frey. She came forward as an adult to tell authorities that she had been sexually abused as a child by a relative.
       You can read more of her story as the series continues this week. One important part of that story, and the story of all Louisiana children who have been sexually exploited, has been written, though not yet finished.
       State Rep. Fred H. Mills, D-Parks, has introduced legislation that would require the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to compile a list of offenders in its keeping who have committed certain sexual offenses against children 12 and under. Those offenses include aggravated rape, forcible rape, simple rape and molestation. …
       To see the inadequacy of the current system in these cases, we need look back only 25 years to the Gilbert Gauthe case.
       Gauthe was a priest who was shuffled from parish to parish as questions, then concerns and then allegations arose from his behavior with children. Finally, he was arrested and charged with molesting a group of Vermilion Parish boys. Gauthe was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

    • Probing Pushy Preaching

     
       Hartford Business, by Laurence D. Cohen, ~ June 14, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- Are you really angry at a church or a coven of Cohen the Columnist worshippers? Your best bet is to call the IRS and accuse the religious folks of violating some obscure paragraph of the tax code.
       It's not that your accusation is likely to stick; it's just that the IRS guys are the only guys dumb enough to take on the case.
       God and Satan have teamed up to create a bewildering stew of tax law and First Amendment litigation and ethics regulations more complex than the Baltimore Catechism. No one wants to go there. It would be like knocking on the door marked "Hell," just to see what's going on.
       And then, there's the Connecticut Office of State Ethics, which, in violation of the laws of God, Man and Common Sense, has decided to "evaluate" the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, to determine whether it acted as a lobbyist up there at the state Capitol, where lobbyists are required to wear badges and have preachers point at them and scream, "unclean, unclean."

    • For once, let's all just stop abdicating responsibility

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Irish Independent, By James Downey, Saturday June 13 2009
       IRELAND -- SHAKESPEARE'S 'Macbeth' said that he had "supp'd full with horrors". We may think that we have sated ourselves with the abominations detailed in the Ryan Report, but we have not.
       Soon we will see another document on clerical sex abuse -- the report on the Dublin archdiocese. The disclosures have made Archbishop Diarmuid Martin weep. There will be more tears, more shocks -- and more repentance -- before we can lay this ghost to rest.
       And not all the tears, nor all the genuine repentance, nor all the fine speeches such as those we heard in the Dail this week, will suffice to clear our national conscience. Only what the Church calls "a firm purpose of amendment" can do that.

    • 'It is our holocaust'

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Old victims joined the march. 30,000 children.
       Irish Independent, Sunday June 14 2009
       The emotions differed in each individual who marched but all were there to show solidarity, says Geetha Nicodemus
       IRELAND -- THEIR knees hurt and some were frail. Walking from Parnell Square to Leinster House was too far for some. But they wanted to show their solidarity with the victims of clerical abuse last Wednesday, and they wanted to fight for a safe future for their grandchildren.
       So they stood at different spots along the route at distances they knew they could manage to walk. As the crowd approached they held hands to support each other and walked up to join the march. Their emotions ranged from quietly sombre to anger, to tears, and their voices choked as they spoke. They expressed disbelief at the callous way the issue of child abuse had been handled all these years, and they walked in the hope that God was walking with them this day for justice.
       "Ours is not a country of dancing leprechauns, shared laughter and of thousands of smiles. This story is our genocide. It is no different from the 1890 story of Indians in Canada where 50,000 kids died in institutions," said Damien Moore who spent seven years at St Vincent's Orphanage, Glasnevin.

    • Catholic schools could fall into wrong hands -- Quinn

      - RCC.  
       Irish Independent, By MAEVE SHEEHAN, Sunday June 14 2009
       IRELAND -- Labour TD Ruairi Quinn has claimed that Catholic schools could fall into the control of right wing Catholic fundamentalists unless they are taken into State ownership.
       Mr Quinn, who last week questioned whether education officials were members of Opus Dei, said: "The real problem now is that they can't service the boards of management because of declining numbers. The people who take over the Catholic school infrastructure are going to be right wing Catholics like Libertas, Spuc and all these driven, hard-right, religiously extreme, lay members of the Church who will be utterly unaccountable to anybody."
       He told the Sunday Independent that the Government should simply take control of the school infrastructure from religious orders, which have been forced to revisit their original €128m abuse deal with the Government because of the scale of child abuse released in the Ryan Report. The final bill is expected to be €1.4bn, with more than €400m of this amount potentially going on legal fees. The 18 orders are due to meet the Taoiseach this week with an inventory of their assets.

    • Archbishop Hughes' tenure was stormiest in recent N.O. history

      - RCC.  
       The Times-Picayune, by Bruce Nolan, 9:44 PM, Saturday June 13, 2009
       NEW ORLEANS (LA) -- Conventional wisdom holds that history requires years to render judgment on leaders, but of New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes this is already certain: The two great catastrophes in the nearly 300-year history of the local Catholic church both detonated on his short watch, trying Hughes as no archbishop before him.
       Hughes' seven-year tenure opened with the firestorm of a national sexual abuse scandal and ends in painful recovery from the most destructive hurricane ever to hit New Orleans.
       Both bruised the institutional church and altered the ways people relate to it.
       The crises befell an archbishop who, from the beginning, acknowledged that he was more comfortable doing one-on-one spiritual direction than managing a major community in crisis.

    • No 'Doubt' about it: Play evokes strong reactions

      - RCC. A play.
       Duluth News Tribune, By Robin Washington, ~ June 14, 2009
       DULUTH (MN) -- This is a column that started out as a forum – regrettably, one I intended to facilitate but never did, around the movie and play "Doubt," which ends its Duluth Playhouse run this afternoon.
       Instead, I've asked national experts and locals familiar with the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal to weigh in on the play's treatment of the subject. If you've yet to see the play or movie be warned: This is a plot-spoiler.
       The play centers around the suspicions of Sister Aloysius, a Catholic school principal in 1964 New York, that a new, affable priest is molesting a 12-year-old boy. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:06 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sun June 14, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 15, 2009 edition:


    • State Senate may vote on sex abuse bill

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions occurred. Threat. [2009 Bp William Murphy -NEW*] - RCC. Claims paying victims would divert funds from its mission.  
       Newsday, http://www. newsday.com/ news/local/ politics/ny- licath16128 81449jun15, 0,2385853. story , BY WILLIAM MURPHY | AND JAMES T. MADORE, william.murphy § newsday.com , james.madore § newsday.com , 8:33 PM EDT, June 15, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A bill allowing lawsuits by people who say they were sexually abused as children could be voted on today in the state Assembly, although even if it passes its fate in the Senate is uncertain amid the chaotic leadership battle there.
       Supporters and opponents Monday declined to predict the bill's fate - even as some lobbied to bolster their positions. …
       Over the past two weekends, Catholics in the Diocese of Rockville Centre heard a written statement at Mass from Bishop William Murphy saying the bill could be "financially devastating," and would divert resources from pursuing the church's mission. Brooklyn and Queens Catholics heard a similar message from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.
       "Opening a window for the bringing of time barred abuse claims would have a severe negative impact on charitable ministries within the Dioceses, diverting resources from pursuing the Church's mission to the defense of litigation," according to Murphy's statement. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:59 PM, June 15, 2009]
       [COMMENT: The Roman Church's "mission" (judging by the $2 billion paid so far in the USA alone for legal costs and towards compensating seduction victims), evidently includes giving unlawful sensual pleasure to the clergy.  Therefore, it could be argued that accepting more of the survivor-victims as worthy of compensation would be a continuation of the Church's mission. ENDS.]

    • Protecting the pedophiles

      [2008 April - Unnamed teacher -NEW*] - Ultra-Orthodox Judaist. Boy (7).  
       Haaretz, By Tamar Rotem, ~ June 15, 2009
       ISRAEL -- For several weeks in April last year, the seven-year-old son of residents of the ultra-Orthodox Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood insisted on staying at home. "This was odd, because he always loved to go to school," relates his mother. "All of a sudden he looked scared and tried to find excuses not to go."
       Then one day the boy suddenly told his elder brother: "The rabbi touched me."
       "The rabbi" is a teacher at the ultra-Orthodox Yishrei Lev school for boys, which the boy attended. "When his brother asked, 'Where did he touch you?'" relates the father, "the boy pointed to his intimate parts."

    • San Leandro woman accuses Catholic priest of sexual abuse

      [1970-72 Fr Joseph Ferreira -NEW*] - RCC. Female.  
       Oakland Tribune, By Angela Hill, June/15/2009
       OAKLAND (CA) – A woman who says she recently experienced repressed memories of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in a San Leandro parish in the early 1970s has filed a lawsuit against the priest and Oakland's diocese for unspecified damages.
       Standing with her attorney and several members of a support group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Lorene Rouse, 50, of San Leandro, held a news conference outside the diocese offices in downtown Oakland on Monday afternoon, describing incidents she said occurred from 1970 to 1972 at Our Lady of Good Counsel in San Leandro, and naming the alleged abuser as the Rev. Joseph Ferreira.
       "This came out last year," Rouse said. "Something had triggered my memories and I was having flashbacks, and now I know that this really happened. It is not something I made up. I would never want to make up anything as awful as this." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 PM, June 15, 2009]

    • Abused daughters' parents front campaign

      - RCC. The Fosters of Melbourne.    
       Ninemsn, By Michelle Draper, ~ June 15, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Christine and Anthony Foster are warning other parents about sex abuse against children.
       They've campaigned to meet the Pope and spoken out against horrific abuses within the Catholic Church that destroyed two of their daughters' lives.
       Now Anthony and Christine Foster want to warn other parents that the "insidious" sexual abuse inflicted on two of their three young girls during primary school could happen to anyone.
       The Melbourne couple, who found themselves excluded from a meeting of sexual abuse victims with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Australia last year, are the face of a new advertising campaign warning parents to "Wise Up" to child sexual abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:02 PM]

    • S.F. Assessor Phil Ting Takes on the Catholic Church Tomorrow Morning

      - RCC.  
       SF Weekly, By Anna McCarthy in Government, Law & Order, 11:59AM, Monday, Jun. 15 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- Tomorrow morning, assessor Phil Ting will be arguing in front of the San Francisco Appeals Board that the Catholic Church owes San Francisco up to $15 million in transfer taxes -- one of the largest tax bills in the city's history. The hearing will be held at 1 South Van Ness on the second floor atrium conference room starting at 10 a.m.
       Ting says the Archdiocese of San Francisco transferred ownership of 232 properties among three different nonprofits without paying the required taxes. Nonprofits are exempt from property and federal income taxes, but not from property transfer taxes. The properties in question include such city favorites as: Mission Dolores, Old St. Mary's Cathedral, and St. Francis of Assisi.
       The diocese claims that the three nonprofits aren't actually "separate" per se, as they all fall under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church -- and that the transfers were just gifts under canon law. It refers to the exchange as "internal reorganization." But Ting isn't buying it. Apparently, a gift worth between $210 million and $1.25 billion (estimated worth of the properties in question) is a little suspect.

    • Our culture of shame

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, By KATE HOLMQUIST, for June 16, 2009
       IRELAND -- GIVE ME A BREAK: MONSIGNOR TOM COONAN does not recall using the word "ruffians" in relation to boys detained in Daingean reformatory school, but he does recall saying that they were "no angels" and "unwanted". He added they were like children unwanted today.
       If these kids were no angels, it follows that today's "unwanted" children are also no angels. I disagree.
       Twenty-five years ago, when I started out at The Irish Times , it was an uphill battle to find people willing to tell their stories.
       The stories were there, but people were afraid because truth-telling equalled shame.
       I spent most of my time finding people who would speak honestly about cancer, relationship breakdown, the health system, HIV, drug abuse, alcoholism, adoption, unemployment (it was the 1980s), the difficulties of families living in poverty in suburban ghettoes, being female in a male-dominated society, mental illness, inadequate psychiatric hospitals, rape and sexual abuse.
       And this was in the days before mobile phones and answering machines. Before Liveline and the Oprah factor. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:35 PM, June 15, 2009]

    • Abuse survivors at higher risk of suicide

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Suicide worries, and old age. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, for June 16, 2009
       Experience of being abused in an institution could lead to anxiety over receiving nursing home care in later life, writes MICHELLE McDONAGH
       IRELAND -- SURVIVORS OF institutional abuse in Ireland may be at a higher risk of suicidal behaviour if they need to receive nursing home care – as many will – in later life, according to the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF).
       Director of research at the NSRF, Dr Ella Arensman, explained that the experience of being abused in an institution had led to huge anxiety among survivors regarding the possibility of receiving nursing home care in later life.
       "This fear of what might happen to them as they grow older must be given appropriate consideration as a risk factor for suicidal behaviour among survivors," she said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:33 PM, June 15, 2009]

    • The best place to put all those tiny shoes is in a constitutional locker

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       Irish Examiner, By Fergus Finlay, for Tuesday, June 16, 2009
       IRELAND -- WHY is there suddenly all this talk about changing the constitution where children are concerned?
       The leader of the Green party announced last week that the time had come for a change, and he wasn't alone. More or less every member of the Government has indicated support for change even if, up to now, none of them seemed to be in too much of a hurry.
       The thing that has introduced the sense of urgency is the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse. That report revealed to us all that the abuse of children was wholesale throughout most of the history of the state. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:31 PM, June 15, 2009]

    • Revived residential school commission to look into Inuit concerns

      - No Inuits on commission.  
       CBC News, Last Updated 3:51 PM CT, Monday, June 15, 2009
       CANADA -- One of three newly-appointed members to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says she plans to bring up concerns raised by Inuit who attended native residential schools.
       Some Inuit have said they are not properly represented on the commission, which is tasked with collecting stories from former residential school students across Canada.
       None of the commissioners appointed last week by Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl are Inuit.
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Mon June 15, 2009
    • Catholic head admits sins of orphanages.  [1950-60s Charity bodies] - Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches. Cruelty main focus. 800,000 orphans.  

    Catholic head admits sins of orphanages

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , p 28, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
       BERLIN – The leader of Germany's 26 million Catholics has admitted Church orphanages did "wrong" to some children in the 1950s and 60s and promised individual inquiries.
       In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper yesterday, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch said he would soon meet some of the victims to hear their stories.
       He wrote he was sorry "children and young people evidently suffered wrong and mental and physical suffering in Catholic orphanages."  He called on Catholic charity bodies to let former orphans see their files.
       Unlike a scandal in Ireland over sexual abuse in orphanages, the allegations in Germany have focused on corporal punishment, duress and tiring manual labour by the children, many of whom were refugees made fatherless in World War II.
       A "round table" on the German abuses, with members to be appointed by Parliament, was due to hold a third meeting in Berlin yesterday between former orphans and Lutheran and Catholic Churches, which ran most of the orphanages.
       Archbishop Zollitsch said in the article it was not yet possible to estimate how many of the Catholic orphans were mistreated.  Research and claims filed against the Church suggested the number was in the "low hundreds".
       The orphanages brought up nearly 800,000 children in the period, when West Germany was still recovering from the devastation of war.
       Focus, a weekly magazine, said a group representing the former orphans was calling for a state compensation fund to offer €50,000 ($86,000) to each of the 500,000 former orphans. #
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm#catholic_head_admits
    [Jun 16, 09]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 16, 2009 edition:


    • Popular US-based evangelist arrested for carnal abuse

      [2009 June 14 - Unnamed evangelist -NEW*, very new] - Christian. 2 girls (15, 14).    
       Jamaica Observer, < http://www. jamaicaobserver. com/news/ html/ 20090616 T010000-0500_ 153568_ OBS_POPULAR__ US_BASED_ EVANGELIST_ ARRESTED_FOR_ CARNAL_ABUSE. asp >; by Horace Hines, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
       SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland - A popular United States-based evangelist was up to press time last night still in police custody, more than 24 hours after he was arrested for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl and fondling a 14-year-old in his room at a Negril hotel early Sunday morning.
       Last night, an Observer source said charges should be laid against the high-profile minister by today.
       "He is expected to be charged between later tonight (last night) and tomorrow (today)," said the police source. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:28 AM, June 16, 2009]

    • Church on the defensive over Father Kizito saga

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana -NEW*] - RCC. Boys. [2007 Fr Ignacio Pitalis* (80) (Legio Maria)] - RCC. Life imprisonment. Orphan girl (10)    
       The Standard, By Lucianne Limo, ~ June 16, 2009
       KENYA -- The Catholic Church is reeling from allegations of a sex scandal against one of its senior clergymen with the potential of shaking the church to its core.
       A group of young boys alleged that one of the church's best-known benefactor missionaries, Fr Renato Kizito Sesana, had sexually abused them during his over 20-year tenure as a charity worker in Kenya.
       The shocking revelations were aired in the Monday KTN Prime Time news bulletin only a day before the marking of the Day of the African Child.
       The story broke as an 80-year-old Legio Maria sect priest was jailed for life in Kisumu for defiling a minor. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:59 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Priest, 80, gets life term for defiling minor

      [2007 Fr Ignacio Pitalis (80) -NEW* (Legion of Mary)] - RCC. LIFE IMPRISONMENT. Orphan girl (10).  
       The Standard, By George Olwenya, ~ June 16, 2009
       KENYA -- An 80-year-old Legio Maria sect priest defiled a Standard Three girl inside a church then threatened to kill her if she reported the act.
       The preacher was yesterday jailed for life by a Siaya court.
       Ignacio Pitalis Agunda was sentenced to life imprisonment for defiling an orphan who went to worship at his church. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:02 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Prominent Morris pastor on leave amid reported FBI investigation

      [? 2000s Mons Patrick Brown - NEW*] - RCC. Money.  
       Daily Record, http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090616/UPDATES01/90616021/Prominent+Morris+pastor+on+leave+amid+reported+FBI+investigation ; By Abbott Koloff, Staff writer, June 16, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- A prominent pastor and chaplain of the Morris County jail has been placed on administrative leave by the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese because of an FBI investigation into financial matters at his parish, church officials said on Tuesday.
       Monsignor Patrick Brown, 58, temporarily stepped down from his position as pastor of St. Vincent DePaul Church in Long Hill two weeks ago, diocese officials said, after FBI agents informed church officials about the investigation.
       FBI officials did not have an immediate comment on the matter.
       "I think he's a great man and a great priest," said Ken Mullaney, an attorney who represents the diocese. "I stand by him. There has been nothing to lead us to believe that there was anything inappropriate." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:20 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Teen molested as a child by Queens baker confronts tormentor in court

      [2002 Mr Isaac Ebstein (kosher baker) -NEW*] - Judaist. Boy.
       New York Daily News, By Nicole Bode, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, June 16, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A Queens baker who admitted molesting a 10-year-old boy isn't going to prison - but he's been booted from the kitchen.
       The Rabbinical Council of Queens banned Issac Ebstein, 50, from Queens Kosher Pita in Kew Gardens Hills after he pleaded guilty to luring the boy with cookies and abusing him in 2002.
       The council told Ebstein, 50, he had to divest himself of ownership because he was convicted of a "crime of moral turpitude" - or the shop would lose kosher certification.
       A council spokesman declined to comment, but a source said Ebstein agreed. Ebstein's victim confronted him in court Tuesday, describing how he turned to drugs to mask his secret pain. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:00 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Priest abuse case will continue

      [1970-73 Fr Andrew Burke -NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
       The Pueblo Chieftain, By JEFF TUCKER, June 16, 2009
       PUEBLO (CO) -- A request from the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo to dismiss a sexual abuse claim against it was denied Monday.
       District Judge Victor Reyes rejected the church's motion for summary judgement in a lawsuit from a Colorado prison inmate, identified as John Doe No. 7, alleging the Rev. Andrew Burke sexually abused him while Burke was a priest at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Pueblo.
       The suit claims Burke molested the plaintiff from 1970 to 1973, beginning when he was 10 years [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:44 AM, June 16, 2009]

    • Albert Cutié Gets Hitched in a Courthouse

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian, June 16 civil wedding to divorcee.    
       Miami New Times, By Kyle Munzenrieder in NewsTuesday, 2:21PM, Jun. 16 2009
       FLORIDA -- After all that deception, Alberto Cutié has finally been made an honest man. NBCMiami reports that Cutié and his girlfriend Ruhama Canellis were married today in a Coral Gables courthouse. A courthouse? Apparently Cutié wasn't ready to get hitched in an Episcopal church.
       While a high profile, celebrity Priest with the Catholic Church, Cutié carried out an affair with Canellis that dates back at least two years. And no, the two weren't waiting for the wedding night to jump into bed. The affair and Cutié's clandestine breaking of his celibacy pledge came to public knowledge last month thanks to some paparazzi shots of the two snuggling on a beach.
       Cutié promptly left the Catholic Church, and joined up with the Episcopal church. Episcopalian Priests are allowed to marry.

    • Vatican excommunicates former Catholic priest from Zambia

      - Breakaway Church forming.  
       The Pilot, By Mwansa Pintu, Posted Jun/16/2009
       LUSAKA, Zambia (CNS) -- A former Catholic priest from Zambia who is an advocate of optional celibacy for clergy and the ordination of women has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
       Bishop George Lungu of Chipata, president of the Zambia Episcopal Conference, announced the excommunication of Father Luciano Anzanga Mbewe June 9.
       The bishop said in a statement that the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith took the action because Father Mbewe entered into schism for establishing the Catholic Apostolic National Church of Zambia.

    • 2 Clergy Abuse Victims Speak Out

      - RCC.  
       Fox 5, ~ June 16, 2009
       LAS VEGAS (NV) -- Two clergy abuse victims are speaking out, and they want Las Vegans to do the same.
       Members of a group called SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, held a news conference outside the Las Vegas Chancery Tuesday.
       They said there could be priest abuse victims in the Valley who are keeping quiet. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:30 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Board's refusal of application challenged

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Advertising in UK criticised. 30,000 children.    
       The Irish Times, for June 17, 2009
       IRELAND -- A MAN who claims he was abused in an industrial school has challenged the Residential Institutions Redress Board's refusal to accept his application for redress on grounds it was made too late.
       In High Court proceedings, the man claims the application should be allowed on grounds of exceptional circumstances in that, he claims, an advertising campaign in the UK to highlight awareness of the redress scheme was flawed.
       The man has brought judicial review proceedings arising out of the board's rejection last December of his application under the scheme set up in 2002. The board ruled no exceptional circumstances existed allowing his application to be considered. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:20 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Moved to outrage by apathy over child abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, for June 17, 2009
       Dáil debate on Ryan report showed cynical indifference towards scale of problem, writes VINCENT BROWNE
       IRELAND -- THE MOTION the Dáil debated last Thursday and Friday on the Ryan report on residential child abuse included the almost clichéd resolve: "cherish all of the children of the nation equally". The same motion acknowledged "the State has an obligation to ensure that children and young people in the care of the State receive the highest possible quality of care". The motion was agreed unanimously without a vote. Brian Cowen concluded his speech with the words: "From this shame and evil, we will make Ireland a model of how to treat our children". Several other deputies spoke in similar terms.
       All very moving, apparently.
       It would be all the more moving if it meant anything. Even meant something in relation to vulnerable children also in the care of the State. For the evidence is that it means very little if anything at all. The annual report for 2008 of the Mental Health Commission was published recently. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:17 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Alberto Cutié's Romantic Rival Goes Bye-Bye Just in Time for the Nuptials

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, left RCC. Attempt to eject ex-boyfriend.    
       Miami New Times, By Francisco Alvarado in News, The Z List, 5:08PM, Tuesday, Jun. 16 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- This past May 31, after renouncing Catholicism, international celebrity priest Alberto Cutié delivered his first sermon as an Episcopalian minister. TV cameras and tabloid reporters filled the parking lot of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park. The scene was played repeatedly on television screens across Latin America. …
       After the service, Cutié embraced his attractive, well-groomed fiancée, 35-year-old beautician Ruhama Canellis. As the couple chatted with their new Episcopalian brothers and sisters, they were closely guarded by Capt. Antonio Sanchez, a Biscayne Park cop with salt-and-pepper hair and bushy black eyebrows. He is the village's number two law enforcer.
       But, according to a lawsuit filed last Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Sanchez is more than a watchdog for the priest and his new wife. He improperly used his badge to try to get Canellis's ex-boyfriend thrown out of the country.
       The lawsuit, which has not been disclosed before by any media, charges the Village of Biscayne Park Police Department, Sanchez, Cutié, Canellis, and the officer who signed the trespassing arrest report, Raimundo Atesiano, with malicious prosecution, false arrest, conspiracy, and civil theft.

    • Father Alberto Cutié is now a married man

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian, June 16 civil wedding.    
       Miami Herald, BY JAWEED KALEEM, jkaleem § MiamiHerald.com , ~ June 16, 2009
       FLORIDA -- Sitting in the passenger seat of a champagne-colored Lexus and hiding his face behind a newspaper, former Roman Catholic priest Alberto Cutié left a Coral Gables courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday as a married man.
       But Cutié, who left the Catholic church to become an Episcopalian in late May, will have to wait more than a week before his new church recognizes the marriage in a religious ceremony. That will take place in an unnamed church under Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.
       Cutié and his wife, 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis, quietly slipped into the Coral Gables Branch Court at 3100 Ponce de Leon Blvd. through a gated back entrance around noon Tuesday, avoiding a growing group of news crews gathered outside.

    • Pope Soothes Austrian Church After Bishop Furore

      - RCC.    
       Javno (Croatia), ~ June 16, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict has moved to smooth relations with the Austrian clergy after he was forced to cancel the promotion of a conservative priest from the country in March whose appointment had polarised the Catholic Church. On Monday and Tuesday the pope and senior Vatican officials met with the archbishops of Vienna and Salzburg, the bishops of Graz-Seckau and Linz and several other senior members of the Austrian church, the Vatican said in a statement.
       The meeting tackled "in fraternal dialogue and a constructive spirit, several subjects regarding the situation of the diocese of Linz and the church in Austria, setting out solutions to the current problems," the Vatican said.
       In March, the pope effectively revoked the appointment of Gerhard Maria Wagner from his appointment as auxiliary (assistant) bishop of Linz which had caused an uproar in Austria and beyond because of Wagner's controversial views.
       [COMMENT: Curing these problems won't be easy! ENDS.]

    • Conn. Court Unseals Clergy Abuse Records

      - RC secrecy plans undone.  
       Courthouse News Service, By JEFF GORMAN, June 16, 2009
       CONNECTICUT – The Connecticut Supreme Court allowed The New York Times and other newspapers to gain access to information regarding 23 cases of alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.
       Alleged victims began filing sexual abuse charges in the mid-1990s, and the cases were all settled by 2001. In 2002, the Times requested that the sealing orders be vacated.
       The Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese appealed the trial court's decision to unseal the records. The diocese argued that the trial judge should have been disqualified because the judge served on a task force concerning public access to the courts. Justice Katz disagreed.

    • Parishioner Says Bishop Covered Counselor Abuse

      [2003-05 Mr Donald Budd*] - Methodist. Woman.
       Courthouse News Service, June 16, 2009
       MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (CN) - A parishioner says that when she told a bishop/CEO of the United Methodist Church that a church counselor had sexually imposed on her, the bishop said the counselor would have "a 'church' trial" and tried to silence her by having her sign a waiver of rights. When she refused to do this, the woman says, the bishop told her her claims were no longer credible.
       The plaintiff says she went to the county attorney, who pressed charges, and the counselor, Donald Dean Budd, pleaded guilty to a felony for his sexual misconduct. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:33 PM, June 16, 2009]

    • Pierce given more time: August plea date set on sexual indecency charges

      [? 1990s-2000s Mr David Pierce*] - Baptist. 54 charges. 4 choir boys.
       Courier, ~ June 16, 2009
       BENTON (AR) -- David Pierce, the former First Baptist Church of Benton minister of music who faces 54 counts of sexual indecency with a child, did not enter a plea Monday during an appearance in Saline County Circuit Court.
       His attorney, Mark Hampton of Little Rock, formerly of Benton, said he needs more time to review the extensive evidence in the case.
       Circuit Judge Grisham set Aug. 17 as the date for Pierce's next court appearance.

    • Father Alberto Ties the Knot

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian, June 16 civil wedding.    
       NBC Miami, By TODD WRIGHT, ~ June 16, 2009
       FLORIDA -- It's official. Father Alberto is now a married priest.
       According to Miami-Dade court records, Alberto Cutié and Ruhama Canellis were married today in a Coral Gables courthouse by a judge. Speculation was that the two were expected to be wed later this month, but apparently the rush to consummate the marriage proved to be too strong.
       Cutié, who was the face of the youth movement in the Catholic church, recently switched to the Episcopalian faith to marry the love of his life. After years of keeping his relationship with Canellis a secret and violating his vow of celibacy, Cutié finally made the single mother the preacher's wife.

    • Kenya: Catholics Urged to Shun Married Rebel Priests

      - Celibacy causing loss of RC clergy.  
       AllAfrica, June 16, 2009
       NAKURU, Kenya – Kenya's 10 million or so Roman Catholics have been urged by the bishops to shun rebel priests who have left service to marry or to join new churches.
       Responding to recent media reports of married and deserting priests, the bishops said on Tuesday that they were "saddened by those unfortunate priests who, retaining that special character conferred to them by their priestly ordination, have been unfaithful to the obligations of celibacy they accepted when they were ordained."
       In a pastoral letter issued at Christ the King Cathedral in Nakuru, the bishops cautioned Catholics not to be deceived by the rebels. "By defecting from the church, they are no longer Catholics".

    • Catholic Priest

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. Taped acts. Boys.    
       KTN, video presentation {QuickTime Player is required}, ~ June 16, 2009
       KENYA -- We begin with the shocking story of a Catholic priest who has used his authority to sodomize young boys under his care in a period of over 20 years.
       Our investigations indicate that Father Renato Kizito Sesana, who runs the Koinonia Community Center for poor orphaned boys from the slums, woos his victims by the promise of a better life and education and later through what many victims claimed as hypnosis, lured them to perform indecent acts which he went ahead and recorded on tape…Ktn tonight unmasks father Sesana's mask.

    • Kenya: 'Shocked' Bishops to Probe Sex Abuse Claim

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. Videos made. Boys.    
       AllAfrica, June 16, 2009
       NAKURU, Kenya – The Catholic bishops of Kenya have expressed shock at allegations of child sex abuse by a prominent missionary priest and promised "to investigate the matter to its final conclusion."
       The privately-owned Kenya Television Network (KTN) claimed in a Monday night report that Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana, an Italian missionary well known for his work with disadvantaged children, has been sexually molesting some of the boys in his care for the last 20 years.
       KTN reported that it was in possession of leaked videos that the priest shot of himself abusing the boys. The station said it could not air the videos because they were too graphic. Fr. Kizito is also claimed to have invited some of his friends and other contacts in Europe to molest the minors.

    • Catholic priest in Kenya denies sex scandal

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni)] - RCC. Boys.    
       Spero News, By Spero News, ~ June 16, 2009
       KENYA -- A statement was issued on June 16 by Comboni missionary Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana in response to a news report on June 15 accusing him of sexual misconduct:
       I have been absent from Kenya since the beginning of January. I returned yesterday morning because I was informed about what was happening and I wanted to face the situation.
       Let me state very clearly. I have not sodomized any child. I am ready to face anybody who can prove the opposite.

    • NY Child Victim Act May Come Up For Vote Today

      - Child sex abuse bill now covering both public and private institutions.  
       Injury Board, by Joe Saunders, ~ June 16, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The much antipated Child Victim Act may finally reach a vote in the NY State Legislature today. The bill has been aggressively opposed by the NY State Catholic Conference and Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy.
       The bill has been amended by its sponsor Rep. Margaret Markey to include both public and private institutions. The measure would allow childhood victims of sexual abuse the opportunity at justice in the courts. Since the statute of limitations has long since passed in many of these tragic cases, the bill would allow those abused by priests, nuns, teachers, and other public officials to bring lawsuits against the perpetrators as well as the institutions who covered up the systemic abuse. One amendment to the bill which is not so good but necessary for passage is the age restriction placed on the measure. Only those who have not reached their 53rd birthday would be eligible.

    • Memorial plaque for US clerical sex abuse victims

         
       RTE News (Ireland), video presentation, ~ June 16, 2009
       MENDHAM (NJ), U.S.A. -- Charlie Bird, Washington Correspondent, reports that a plaque was unveiled in Mendham, New Jersey, where a local priest abused more than 20 children

    • BREAKING! Queens Rabbis Force Bakery To Fire Convicted Pedophile

      [2002 Mr Isaac Ebstein* (kosher baker)] - Judaist. Boy.
       Failed Messiah, ~ June 16, 2009
       NEW YORK -- PUBLIC ADVISORY - SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2009 On Friday, June 12, 2009, the Vaad Harabonim of Queens ordered the retail establishment known as Queens Pita Bakery and/or Queens Kosher Pita, located at 68-38 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11367, to terminate the employment and any ownership interest of Isaac Ebstein, who earlier in the week pled guilty to felony and misdemeanor sex crime-related charges in the State Supreme Court, Queens County. In its hand delivered letter to Queens Pita, signed by Executive Vice-President, Rabbi Chaim Schwartz, the Vaad stated that "by the close of business on June 12, Ebstein shall neither work, nor be present in the store in any capacity whatsoever."

    • Former local priest jailed

      [1968-69 Desmond Gannon*] - RCC. 25mos PRISON. Altar boy.    
       Star, ~ June 16, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- FORMER Kilmore priest Desmond Gannon has been jailed for 25 months for molesting an 11-year-old boy, during his time in the local parish.
       Gannon, now 79, had previously pleaded guilty to five counts of assault against the altar boy on three separate occasions during August and September 1968.
       Prosecutor Ray Gibson told the County Court last month that during an interview with police following his arrest, Gannon told police that he had taken the victim "for a bit of a drive" to talk to him about "growing up and development" and while he admitted to touching the boy's genitals, said it was his intention to explain the "differences in anatomy".
       Now 51, the victim made a statement to the court that after the abuses he had felt "broken, old, clumsy, dirty, ugly, guilty, confused, rejected, worthless and scared."

    • Martin reveals personal disgust at abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Secret documents upset him. 30,000 children.    
       Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Tuesday June 16 2009
       IRELAND -- ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin became so upset on reading stomach-churning descriptions of priests raping children in top secret documents hidden away in church archives that he "simply threw them on the floor".
       Archbishop Martin describes how the state investigation into the archdiocese of Dublin has often caused him to "turn over at night and wonder whether I have done the right thing or made a mistake".
       The archbishop will reveal his personal disgust at clerical child abuse tonight in a TV3 documentary, 'The Abuse of Trust: Sins of the Fathers'.

    • Neue Fakten auf dem Runden Tisch

       
       Katholisch, ~ June 16, 2009
       BONN, Deutschland -- Die Tagesordnung klingt eher langweilig: Juristische Fragen und Datenschutz-Aspekte sollen behandelt werden, wenn der Runde Tisch Heimkinder am Montag und Dienstag in Berlin hinter verschlossenen Türen zum dritten Mal zusammentritt. Doch das Gremium unter dem Vorsitz der früheren Bundestagsvizepräsidentin Antje Vollmer (Bündnisgrüne) wird sich mit einer Reihe neuer Fakten auseinandersetzen müssen. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:56 AM]
    Translation by http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
       New facts on rounding table
       "Catholic," ~ June 16, 2009
       BONN, Germany -- The agenda sounds rather boring: Legal questions and aspects of data protection are to be treated, if the round table of home children on Monday and Tuesday in Berlin behind locked doors meet for the third time. But the committee under the presidency of the former Bundestag vice-president Antje Vollmer (the alliance Green) will have itself to argue with a number of new facts.

    • Federal judge: Colorado diocese must turn over file of accused ex-priest who committed suicide

      [1970-73 Fr Andrew Burke*] - RCC. Boy+.  
       Catholic Culture, June 16, 2009
       PUEBLO (CO) -- A federal judge has ruled that the Diocese of Pueblo must turn over its files on the late Andrew Burke, who committed suicide in 2005 after being accused of committing abuse decades before. According to a police report, Burke said he had a "psychosexual behavior disorder" when he sought laicization in 1973; he later became the Colorado Mental Health Institute's director of social work.

    • Ex-St. Rose coach rejects jail time, will be tried in January

      [Mr Bart McInerney*] - ? RCC. Boys.
       Asbury Park Press, By Matt Pais, STAFF WRITER, June 15, 2009
       FREEHOLD (NJ) – The case against Bartholomew McInerney will proceed to trial after the former St. Rose baseball coach rejected any and all potential plea agreements that would have called for him to serve jail time.
       McInerney could face up to 120 years in prison if convicted of all charges in a 12-count indictment alleging he engaged in a series of sexually explicit conversations with his players.
       At a hearing before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Monday afternoon, McInerney formally declined to accept any potential plea agreements with prosecutors that would call for him to serve time behind bars and also declined to make any counter plea offers. Mellaci then set a trial date of Jan. 4. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 AM, June 16, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: August 09, 13 (x2), 2008.]

    • Judge: Alleged victim can still sue church

      [1970-73 Fr Andrew Burke*] - RCC. Boy+.
       9News, posted by: Jeffrey Wolf, ~ June 16, 2009
       PUEBLO (CO) -- A priest who died several years ago will still be at the center of lawsuits because of a ruling Monday.
       Andrew Burke shot himself at his home in Pueblo in 2005 after allegations of sexual abuse.
       Judge Victor Reyes ruled that an alleged victim could still sue the Diocese of Pueblo which had argued that the statute of limitations had run out.

    • Priest is silent on claims of of abuse

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       Vindicator, By Linda Linonis, June 16, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – The bishop of the Youngstown Diocese has spoken to two who reported sexual misconduct.
       Despite new allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at him, the Rev. Thomas Crum remains silent.
       The Rev. John Jerek said he told Father Thomas Crum about two more allegations late last week.
       "[Father Crum] has listened, but hasn't responded," said Father Jerek, vicar of clergy of the diocese. Father Crum remains at an undisclosed private psychiatric hospital.

    • ELDERLY MAN CLAIMS ABUSE SIX DECADES AGO: Episcopal Church denies financial obligation.

      [~ 1940s Rev Gibson Bell*] - Episcopalian (Anglican communion). Mother gave clergyman her estate. Teen boy.
       EURweb, ~ June 16, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- An 81 year old man wants the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania to pay for his alleged sexual abuse and for the inheritance he claims they stole from him. Ralph White Jr. said even if he doesn't live to see a dime of any money awarded him he's glad to know the church must respond to his allegations.
       According to papers filed by White who is suffering from a heart condition, he claims he was sexually abused by his pastor in the 1940s when he was a boy. Now a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court had ordered the church to respond to his lawsuit. White, of West Philadelphia, is seeking unspecified damages from the five-county diocese and All Saints parish in Wynnewood, and the return of his modest inheritance.
       Last year, the diocese publicly apologized to White for failing "to respond adequately to the injuries and injustices" he endured at the hands of a priest. But recently representatives insisted the church had "no financial responsibility to Mr. White."

    • Sex-abuse lawsuit against Pueblo diocese can continue

      [1970-73 Fr Andrew Burke*] - RCC. Boy+.
       The Denver Post, ~ June 16, 2009
      PUEBLO (CO) -- A federal judge said Monday that a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo can go forward, denying the church's claim that the lawsuit was filed too long after the fact.
       The lawsuit involves former Catholic priest Andrew Burke. He committed suicide in September 2005, just as allegations about his sexual conduct with a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Pueblo in the early 1970s were about to be made public

    • Weakland Book On Shelves

      - Abp Weakland.
       WTMJ, By Mick Trevey, ~ June 16, 2009
       WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN -- Former Archbishop Rembert Weakland's book is now on store shelves. The book has drawn controversy for the way Weakland writes about the priest sex abuse scandal and his own sexuality.
       "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church" chronicles Weakland's life. He talks frankly about being a liberal Catholic Church leader, about his sexual relationship with a graduate student, and the way he handled the church sex abuse scandal.
       At The Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, the store's owner says the first shipment sold out. The store is now selling a second shipment. "In a lot of ways, he's an extremely well respected man in a lot of circles," said store owner Linda Burg. "I think most of the people who bought it have known him, worked with him."

    • Group hears tearful recounting of abuse at residential schools

      - Denied right to speak own language.  
       Peterborough Examiner, Posted By ELIZABETH BOWER, ~ June 16, 2009
       CANADA -- Peterborough's Shirley Williams used to get so lonesome in her residential school, where she was physically and emotionally abused, that she'd sometimes crawl under her bed covers and imagine she was in her family's kitchen with her mother and father.
       During these stolen moments, says the Ojibwa woman, she'd have imaginary conversations out loud in Anishnaabe -- the language she was forbidden to speak at St. Joseph's Residential School in Spanish, Ont.
       Williams, a retired Trent University professor, recalls a nun pulling the covers off her and asking what she was doing.
       "Praying, Sister!" she recalls replying. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM, June 16, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Tue June 16, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed June 17, 2009 edition:


    • International Pastor now charged and in court

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr. Paul Lewis (45) -NEW*, very new] - Christian. 2 teen girls.    
       Go Jamaica, http://go- jamaica.com/ news/read_ article.php? id=10031 , ~ June 17 2009
       JAMAICA -- The Jamaican-born international pastor who allegedly gave two teenaged girls money in exchange for sexual favours is now answering charges before the courts.
       The police charged the Reverend Dr. Paul Lewis this afternoon with carnal abuse and indecent assault following an interrogation which lasted for over two hours.
       He's appearing before the Sav-la-mar Resident Magistrates Court. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:12 PM, June 17 2009]

    • Charleroi priest placed on leave after abuse claim

      [~ 1990s Fr David Dzermejko (61) -NEW*] - RCC. Minor.  
       Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Wednesday, June 17, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A Catholic pastor has been placed on leave from a Charleroi parish where he has served for 18 years due to an accusation that he sexually abused a minor more than a decade ago.
       The Rev. David Dzermejko, 61, "was placed on administrative leave because of an allegation that we received and deemed to have some semblance of truth," said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
       He declined to give any details of the allegation or the person who made it, other than to say that "it does not involve Mary Mother of the Church parish" in Charleroi, where he has served for 18 years. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:08 PM, June 17, 2009]

    • Parishioners from churches ordered closed will protest outside Bishop Richard Lennon's office

      - 50 parishes to be closed. Protest march.
       The Plain Dealer by Michael O'Malley, Wednesday, June 17, 2009
       CLEVELAND (OH) -- Parishioners from at least 10 Catholic churches ordered closed by Bishop Richard Lennon have scheduled a protest march today outside the bishop's office in downtown Cleveland.
       The group, known as "Endangered Catholics," plans to hand out copies of a statement claiming Lennon's closing of 50 parishes in the eight-county diocese was an "injustice" to all Catholics.
       "It is our bedrock belief that no parish should be closed, suppressed or merged without consent of the parishioners," the statement reads in part.

    • A new system of school patronage

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, for June 18, 2009
       IRELAND -- IN A thought-provoking speech this week, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, reflected on the future shape of Catholic education. His comments were timely in the context of the Ryan report which raised awkward questions for the church, and for wider society, about Catholic management of schools.
       As Dr Martin acknowledges, the current virtual Catholic monopoly of school management is a "historical hangover" which does not reflect current realities. At present, some 92 per cent of primary schools are controlled by the Catholic Church; most of the remainder by the Church of Ireland. Teachers are employed by a board of management chaired by a representative of the patron, usually the local parish priest, or the local rector in the case of the Church of Ireland, but salaries are paid by government – ie the taxpayer. The patron has an input into the appointment of all teachers and, critically, he convenes the interview panel for vacancies at school principal level.
       Even without the Ryan report, it is clear that the governance structures of our schools must be modernised and changed. The scathing Department of Education report on the Muslim school in north Dublin points to the need for more professional management of such schools, along with full transparency and accountability. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:37 PM, June 17, 2009]

    • Audit of congregations to be given to State next week

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       The Irish Times, By PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, for June 18, 2009
       IRELAND -- AN INDEPENDENT audit of the assets of 18 religious congregations which were party to the controversial 2002 redress agreement with the State is to be presented to the Government next Wednesday.
       The congregations, whose management of residential institutions for children led to the recent Ryan report, agreed to the audit at a meeting in Government Buildings on June 5th last with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and senior Ministers.
       The congregations agreed at that meeting to contribute to a trust the Taoiseach proposed be set up, so that further financial and other supports can be provided to people who had been in the institutions as children. They also committed themselves to identifying resources, "both financial and other, within a transparent process with a view to delivering upon commitments made today." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:31 PM, June 17, 2009]

    • Sincere priests and nuns must not be targets of a witch-hunt

      - RCC.
       The Irish Times, for June 18, 2009
       OPINION: SYMPATHY FOR priests and nuns is thin on the ground at present but spare a thought for those thousands of members of religious congregations who bore no direct responsibility for the abuse that took place in residential institutions, writes JOE HUMPHREYS
       IRELAND -- The anecdotes I've heard are as tragic as they are numerous: stories of frail, elderly men and women – whose only sin was to share the same clothing as their betrayers – afraid to go outside their front doors in case they are spat upon, literally or metaphorically, by the public.
       Some priests have stopped wearing the collar. Others speak of sleepless nights as they try to come to terms with the detail of the Ryan report. I had this week arranged to meet a nun to discuss some important charity work in which she was involved but she called off the appointment, expressing concern about raising her head above the parapet.
       [COMMENT: But, how many of them turned a blind eye to cruelty and sex abuse? ENDS.]

    • Ryan taboo on warped sexual training of Brothers a cop-out

      - RCC. Whipping their own bottoms.    
       The Irish Times, for June 18, 2009
       OPINION: Sexual violence is at the heart of Christian Brother thinking and practice. Sadly, the Ryan report fails to draw obvious conclusions, writes JIM BERESFORD
       IRELAND -- REFERRING TO the beating and humiliation of child prisoners described in the Ryan report, theologian Mary Condren (Opinion and Analysis, June 13th) says it was well known that "many religious congregations used the discipline, small whips, every week on their own naked flesh … Others actively practised public humiliation." I thank Condren for breaking a taboo.
       Indeed the Christian Brothers used self-flagellation to punish the sexual impulse, hoping thereby to preserve the vow of chastity. Novices as young as 15 at their Marino novitiate were issued with the "discipline" and instructed to use it whenever they fell into sexual sin by thought or deed. As one novice informed me: "we were told to whip our bottom while saying Hail Marys".
       Self-flagellation is not an aberration of Christianity; it is a form of mortification at least as old as western monasticism and is still practised by many Christians today. Many of the famous saints were self-flagellants and proud of it. A whipping is thought to purify the body of sexual sin – though in truth it often has the opposite effect. Although modern psychology regards the practice as an expression of psycho-sexual pathology, self-flagellation was an essential part of the religious formation of Christian Brother novices until the 1960s.
       [COMMENT: From which pagan cult/s did Christians copy self-whipping? ENDS.]

    • Former Bellmead pastor indicted in repeated sexual assault of child

      [~ 2005 + W. Frank Brown*] - Baptist. Teenage girl.  
       Waco Tribune-Herald, By Tommy Witherspoon | 05:09 PM, Wednesday, June 17, 2009
       BELLMEAD (TX) -- The former pastor of Bellmead First Baptist Church was indicted today [on] multiple counts of sexual abuse of a child.
       William Frank Brown, 45, was indicted on four counts of sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child.
       He remained in the McLennan County Jail late Wednesday, held in lieu of $200,000 bond. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:18 PM] [LOOK BACK: ~ April 01, 2009]

    • Don't leave clergy alone with children: report

      - Boys 10-15 most at risk from Anglican clergy.  
       The Age, by Barney Zwartz, for June 18, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- THE Anglican Church in Australia is set to overhaul its rules for how clergy and church workers interact with adolescents after an independent report revealed the extent of sexual abuse within the church.
       The report, released yesterday, showed the church averaged nearly a complaint a month between 1990 and 2008, that boys between 10 and 15 were most at risk, and that most victims took more than two decades to complain.
       In a study the researchers believe is the second of its type worldwide, University of Sydney professors Patrick Parkinson and Kim Oates examined every completed report of child sexual abuse – 191 by 135 abusers. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:14 PM, June 17, 2009]

    • Church welcomes sexual abuse report

      - Anglicans.
       ABC Local, for June 18, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- The Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower says the Anglican Church is committed to stamping out child sexual abuse within its ranks.
       He has welcomed a national report by University of Sydney academics who looked into 191 cases of abuse across the country between 1990 and last year.
       The report makes eight recommendations, seven of which are already in place in Tasmania.
       The oustanding matter, developing a standardised way to record abuse, will be enacted over time.

    • What's wrong with this picture?

      [? 1990s-2000s Mr David Pierce*] - Baptist. 54 charges. Sheriff arrested fellow congregant. 4 choir boys.  
       Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 17, 2009
       BENTON (AR) -- Remember the "what's wrong with this picture" feature in Highlights magazine? As a kid, I would huddle in a library corner, studying the two seemingly identical pictures and trying to figure out what was wrong with the second one. Sometimes I'd spot a rabbit in the bushes that wasn't in the first picture, or maybe an additional squirrel scurrying up a tree. Sometimes, the second picture would erase things instead of add things. I'd count the stripes on a girl's skirt because there might be 8 stripes in the first picture, and only 7 in the second. Or maybe a boy's hat would have vanished. You had to look at everything very closely.
       That's how I feel whenever I see news on the Arkansas case involving the prominent First Baptist Church of Benton. There is something wrong with the picture.
       On Friday, April 24th, Sheriff Bruce Pennington announced the arrest of Southern Baptist music minister David Pierce on one count of sexual indecency with a child. The sheriff himself made the arrest. The sheriff is a member of the church. That was the first thing that didn't look quite right.

    • Irish Church can no longer operate public school system, archbishop says

      - RCC.    
       Catholic Culture, June 17, 2009
       IRELAND -- Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has said that Church control of the Irish schools is a "historical hangover that doesn't reflect the realities of the times." In light of the country's increasing religious diversity, he said, it is unrealistic to have the Catholic Church run over 90% of the nation's primary schools. The archbishop has suggested a nationwide forum to discuss new approaches to public education.

    • The case for canonical discipline of Archbishop Weakland

      - RCC. US $450,000 hush-hush money. Abp blames RCC's ban.  
       Catholic Culture, Jun. 17, 2009
       UNITED STATES (CWNews.com) -- In a strongly worded editorial that appears in the July edition of Catholic World Report, the monthly magazine's editor, George Neumayr, expresses shock and dismay that a retired American prelate is openly questioning Church teaching on homosexuality.
       In his new autobiography, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church, Archbishop Rembert Weakland acknowledges his own homosexual affairs, Neumayr notes. The archbishop resigned in disgrace after it was revealed that he has given $450,000 in archdiocesan funds to silence a young man who complained that the archbishop had exploited him; today he has the temerity to suggest that it is the Church's failure to accept homosexuality, rather than his own moral weakness, that made the blackmail possible. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:05 PM, June 17, 2009] [SOURCE: The source of the RC and other Christians' ban on homosexual sex is in the New Testament. ENDS.]

    • 'They are out to get me, for money'

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. Koinonia Community. Boys.    
       Daily National, By DAVID OKWEMBA, Posted 22:30, Wednesday, June 17 2009
       KENYA -- The Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing orphan boys in his care on Wednesday maintained he was the victim of vicious extortionists who want to grab the projects he runs. Father Renato Kizito claimed those making the accusations have demanded Sh40 million to drop their claims.
       He further alleged that one of the young men recorded accusing him of sexually abusing him had been offered Sh75,000 ($1,000) to testify against him. "I am told people proposed to my superiors I should pay them Sh40 million to drop the matter," Father Kizito, who is head of Koinonia Community, a rehabilitation centre for street children, told the Nation.
       He says the institution has assets worth Sh3 billion. However, he declined to name those who demanded the money from him, saying he had learnt of it only a few hours earlier. The priest from the Comboni Fathers said he recorded a statement at Kilimani Police Station upon his arrival in Nairobi on Monday. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:17 PM, June 17, 2009]

    • Priest's sexual abuse probed

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. Boys.
       News 24, 22:05, June 17, 2009
       NAIROBI, KENYA -- Kenyan police said on Wednesday that they had launched an investigation into allegations that a sexagenarian Italian Catholic priest sexually abused children in his care over a period of 20 years.
       The case surfaced when a Kenyan television channel earlier this week carried allegations by purported victims and relatives against Father Renato "Kizito" Sesana, a well-known figure in the east African country.
       "We have seen the case in the media … Investigations have been launched to ascertain the allegations. It is a serious matter," deputy police spokesperson Charles Owino Wahongo said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:15 PM

    • Accused pastor faces questioning today

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis*] - Christian. 2 teen girls.    
       The Gleaner, by Dalton Laing, June 17 2009
       JAMAICA -- A prominent Jamaican-born international pastor who was arrested in Westmoreland on Sunday will be interrogated by the police at 10 this morning with a view to being charged for carnal abuse.
       According to the police, the 45-year-old pastor, who was taken into custody just as he was about to step on to the pulpit on Sunday, will have his lawyers, Michael Erskine and Terry Ballyntine, present.
       The allegations that led to the pastor's arrest stem from a June 1 incident where it is alleged he met a 14-year-old girl at a crusade and took her on a trip to Clarendon.

    • Int. Pastor charged

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis* (45)] - Christian. 2 teen girls.
       Radio Jamaica, ~ June 17 2009
       JAMAICA -- The police have charged internationally acclaimed pastor Paul Lewis who was arrested on Sunday for the alleged carnal abuse of a teenager.
       Mr. Lewis was questioned Wednesday morning in the presence of his attorney Michael Erskine and later charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault.
       He is to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
       Pastor Lewis, who is in Jamaica on the invitation of a local church, is accused of carrying out the act at a Westmoreland hotel.

    • Child sex: The cruel truth

      - General community and RCC.    
       Daily Nation, By CAROLINE RWENJI and FRED MUKINDA, Posted 22:30, Wednesday, June 17 2009
       KENYA -- Sexual abuse against children has been on the increase over the years, but many of the cases are never reported, police have said. Information available at police headquarters shows that 1,626 cases of attacks against children were recorded in 2007. The number rose to 1,984 in 2008, representing an increase of over 300.
       The Cradle, a child rights organisation, on Wednesday said that an average of 10 cases involving child abuse have been reported at its Nairobi offices every week since January. The police figures translate to an average of five children being defiled every day. …
       Child abuse cases have been in the headlines this week, with police arresting a suspect with a pack of pictures of naked children. A well-known Catholic priest, Father Renato Kizito, is defending his reputation against claims that he sexually abused children under his care for 20 years.
       The Catholic Church, whose reputation in other countries is damaged by cases of child sexual abuse, has promised to investigate all cases and punish appropriately those found guilty. "Children are easy targets because they are vulnerable," said nominated MP and former Cradle executive director Millie Odhiambo.

    • Pope, Austrian bishops discuss Church crisis

      - Austria's RC bishops unhappy.    
       Catholic Culture, June 17, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- After a 2-day meeting with a delegation of Austrian bishops, the Vatican has issued a statement reporting "a fraternal exchange of ideas with a constructive spirit."
       The special meeting was called to discuss the troubled situation of the Church in Austria, particularly in the Linz diocese, where the papal appointment of an auxiliary bishop sparked angry protests earlier this year. The discussion at the meeting, held at the Vatican on June 15-16, extended to a general consideration of priestly training and Church life throughout Austria.

    • Kenya police probe priest sex scam

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni / Koinonia)] - RCC. Boys.    
       Capital News, Jun 17, 2009
       NAIROBI, Kenya -- Police on Wednesday said they had launched investigations into the sex scandal pitting renown Catholic priest Father Renato Kizito who has been accused of sexually molesting young boys under his care.
       Deputy Police Spokesman Charles Owino Wahong'o said detectives would record statements from complainants to be able to ascertain if the priest has a case to answer.
       "We have seen the reports in the media and are looking into calling the complainants to record statements about the matter. It is a serious one and can not be ignored," Mr Wahong'o told reporters at a news briefing in Nairobi.

    • Vatican warns SSPX against new priestly ordinations

      - Breakaways uncanonical.  
       Catholic Culture, June 17, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has warned against the ordination of new priests for the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), saying that the ordinations scheduled later this month would be "illegitimate." A Vatican statement released on June 17 quoted from the letter sent by Pope Benedict XVI to the world's bishops on March 10, referring to the irregular status of the SSPX bishops: "As long as the Society (of St. Pius X) does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church."

    • Letter to Cardinal George

      - RCC.      
       BishopAccountability.org , AND, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, June 17, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Dear Cardinal George:
       Like millions across the globe, we are horrified by the disclosure of systemic and devastating child sex crimes and cover-ups in Catholic institutions in Ireland. Like hundreds of thousands here in the US, we also are shocked by your silence and the silence of your American colleagues to this vast scandal.
       For weeks, Ireland has been in turmoil over a new government report which documents decades of pervasive and systematic child abuse in church-run orphanages and other residential care institutions. Although the report has shocked Catholics and generated headlines worldwide, US church officials have failed to make a public statement about the scandal.
       The silence of US bishops has been deafening, especially given that this news affects millions of Irish-American Catholics in a personal way. Your silence is particularly egregious because so many US priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and bishops began their careers or lives in Ireland.
       We can't help but wonder if you and your brother bishops are staying silent because the Irish report may prompt closer scrutiny of the American hierarchy on two fronts: (1) How many predatory Irish priests and nuns found sanctuary in US dioceses? (2) Did bishops cover up the sexual and physical abuse of helpless children in Catholic orphanages and residential schools in the US?
       Ireland had a centralized system of state-financed, church-run schools and homes for children. The situation in the US is, of course, very different. Still, Catholic dioceses and religious orders in America have, for decades, operated hundreds of orphanages, reform schools, minor seminaries, and boarding schools. We know that many of these institutions have well-documented histories of child sex crimes.
       At St. John's School for the Deaf in Wisconsin, for instance, the boarding school's longtime director, Father Lawrence Murphy, is believed to have raped and abused as many as 200 boys. Two Oregon orphanages employed Fr. Maurice Grammond, who is accused of abusing 50 children.
       In light of the horrific report from Ireland and the unsettling facts of similar abuse in the US, we are urging you and each of your brother bishops to:
       1. Insist that Irish church leaders give you the names of clerics who molested in Ireland and came to the US,
       2. Publicly name all Irish abusers who molested there and moved here,
       3. Start reaching out to parishioners in the US who may have been assaulted by Irish clerics, and
       4. Admit to the hidden crisis of child abuse in US Catholic orphanages, minor seminaries, and reform schools
       Today, BishopAccountability.org has posted on the Internet a list of 12 US Catholic residential institutions where children were sexually abused. This list is just a start. Like their Irish counterparts, US Catholics and citizens need and deserve a full accounting of the mistreatment of children in all residential institutions owned by the US Catholic Church. You can help make sure the truth is told. But that will happen only if you and your colleagues show courage, prod your Irish brethren for abusers' names and records, and make that information publicly known. You must then use your vast resources to identify and help those who were molested in US institutions or by abusive Irish priests who came to the US.
       We trust you will share our letter with your colleagues. We look forward to hearing your response.
       BishopAccountability.org
       SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
       Terence McKiernan, President, 508-479-9304
       Barbara Garcia Boehland, San Antonio Director, 210 725 8329
       Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, 781-439-5208
       David Clohessy, National Director, 314 566 9790
       P. O Box 541375 Waltham MA 02454
       PO Box 6416 Chicago IL 60680

    • Activists challenge US bishops about Irish abuse

      - RCC.      
       BishopAccountability.org , AND, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, ~ June 17, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- They release list of 12 "troubled Catholic orphanages and boarding schools" here
       Concern is spurred by recent 'devastating report' of 'widespread crimes'
       Organizations blast American prelates' "deafening silence" on Irish abuse report
       US church hierarchy knows of similar horrors in schools here, two groups charge
       WHAT After a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will try to hand-deliver a letter to top Catholic officials urging them to:
       -- admit the "hidden crisis" of child abuse in Catholic orphanages, reform schools, minor seminaries, and boarding schools in the US,
       -- force Irish church leaders to give them the names of clerics who molested in Ireland and were sent to the US, and
       -- start reaching out to parishioners in US who may have been assaulted by clerics from Ireland.
       The group will also release a new list by BishopAccountability.org of 12 US Catholic residential institutions where predator priests worked or where child sex abuse has been reported. The list can be seen online at: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/institutions/.
       WHEN Wednesday, June 17, 1:00 p.m.
       WHERE On the sidewalk outside the San Antonio Hyatt Regency hotel, where hundreds of Catholic bishops are holding their annual spring/summer meeting
       WHO Four or five clergy sex abuse victims and a Texas mom whose teenage son was molested in a San Antonio high school seminary – one of many Catholic residential schools where child abuse has been documented. They belong to a support group called SNAP.
       WHY For weeks, Ireland has been in turmoil over a new government report there which documents decades of pervasive and systematic child abuse in church-run orphanages. Although the report has shocked Catholics worldwide and generated hundreds of headlines, no American bishop has issued a public statement about the scandal.
       "The silence of our church leaders has been deafening," said Terence McKiernan, BishopAccountability.org's founder and president, "especially given that this news affects millions of Irish-American Catholics in a personal way."
       "As a result of our recent research, we conclude that the Irish report strikes too close to home. Are American bishops staying mum because they fear examination of their own orphanages and residential schools?" McKiernan asked. (At St. John's School for the Deaf in Wisconsin, for instance, the boarding school's longtime director, Father Lawrence Murphy, is believed to have raped and abused as many as 200 boys there. Two Oregon orphanages employed Fr. Maurice Grammond, who is accused of abusing 50 children.)
       In releasing the list of 12 orphanages and residential schools, McKiernan's group is launching a major research initiative to create a database of all the US Catholic orphanages, boarding schools, minor seminaries, and reform schools where children allegedly were abused or that were staffed by credibly accused nuns, brothers, or priests.
       In their letter to the US bishops, SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and BishopAccountability.org are urging each bishop to release names of all Irish abusers and other credibly accused child molesters – priests, brothers, and nuns – who have worked at children's residential institutions in his diocese.
       Contact: Terence McKiernan, BishopAccountability.org Co-Director and Founder, 508-479-9304 Anne Barrett Doyle, BishopAccountability.org Co-Director, 781-439-5208 Barbara Garcia Boehland, SNAP San Antonio Director 210-725-8329, 210-621-2177 David Clohessy, SNAP National Director 314-566-9790

    • EXCLUSIVE: Democratic NY State Assemblyman Allegedly Threatens Rebellion To Block Markey Bill

      [2009 Bp DiMarzio*] - RCC. Virtual admission that more seductions are not yet revealed. Threat.  
       Failed Messiah, ~ June 17, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a powerful Democratic leader in the NY State Assembly, wants to have his rejected bill – backed by the Catholic Church and Agudath Israel of America – brought to a floor vote by the Republicans.
       A well placed source very close to the situation in the Assembly and Senate called from Albany early this morning to tell me Lopez is threatening to break party ranks and go over to the Republicans.
       The backstory here is supposed to be Lopez's real estate dealings and links to Church-owned real estate. (The Church is one of the largest property owners in Brooklyn.)
       The Bishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas DiMarzio has already threatened lawmakers backing the Markey Bill that the Church would close churches and schools specifically in the legislators' districts if Markey passes, as retaliation for their votes for Markey.

    • Kenya church braves stormy scandals

      - RCC, sex and marriage.  
       Capital News, Jun 17, 2009
       NAIROBI, Kenya, - The Catholic Church in Kenya put on a brave face on Wednesday amidst a two-pronged onslaught that threatened to shake it's standing in society.
       The Church's top organ – the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) – announced that a sex scandal involving a well-known priest and the decision by some clerics to break their celibacy vows were unlikely to shake the millions of Kenyan Catholic followers.
       KEC Vice Chairman Bishop Philip Sulumeti remained firm that priests who opted to marry had no place on the pulpit.

    • Clergy sex abuse victims comment on archdiocese tax issue

      - RCC, and property.  
       Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, June 16, 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- When it comes to their 'separate corporations,' Catholic officials want it both ways. In clergy sex and cover up lawsuits, they routinely claim that schools, parishes, and other church entities are entirely separate and their assets can't be 'co-mingled.' Now in San Francisco, to gain tax advantages, they claim these 'separate corporations' aren't really separate at all.
       This just seems like more ingenuous and desperate lawyering by a hierarchy more committed to self preservation than anything else.
       [COMMENT: This is not the first time the RCC in the USA has tried asset-shifting.  Previously it was tied in to attempts to avoid paying their legal liabilities to survivors/victims of clergy sex abuse. ENDS.]

    • Statement on seven abusers who have quietly moved to Las Vegas

      [1990s Fr Gus Krumm* (Franciscan), and 6 others] - RCC. Boy.
       Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Statement by Rita Prince, June 16, 2009
       LAS VEGAS (NV) -- With no subpoena powers or church whistleblowers or special talent or massive effort, our group has found seven Catholic priests who have molested elsewhere, then moved here to Las Vegas.
       We suspect there are others, maybe dozens of others.
       Here's who we've found right now.
  • Fr. Gus Krumm of California
  • Fr. Theodore Anthony Geerts of Iowa
  • Fr. Edmund Boyle of Washington
  • Fr. Theodore Meisner of Kentucky
  • Fr. Robert A. Bowling of Kentucky
  • Fr. James Beine of Missouri
  • Fr. James Patrick Feeney of Wisconsin

    • Kenyan priest gets life for child rape

      [2007 Fr Ignacio Pitalis* (80) (Legion of Mary)] - RCC. Life imprisonment. Orphan girl (10)  
       AFP, ~ June 17, 2009
       NAIROBI, KENYA (AFP) – A court in western Kenya sentenced an 80-year-old priest to life imprisonment for the rape of a 10-year-old girl, judicial sources told AFP Wednesday.
       The court in Siaya town found Ignacio Pitalis, a priest from the homegrown Legia Maria (Legion of Mary) movement, guilty of defiling the young girl in a prayer room in July 2007 after sprinkling her with holy water.

    • Abuse of Trust: Sins of the Fathers

      - RCC.  
       TV3, video presentation, ~ June 17, 2009
       IRELAND -- The shocking story of what really happened behind the scenes in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

    • Anglican Church releases report on child sex abuse cases

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. Boys most likely victims.  
       Radio Australia, ~ June 17, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- The Anglican Church has released a report into past cases of child sex abuse within the church in Australia.
       University of Sydney researchers examined 191 incidents involving 17 dioceses across the country between 1990 and 2008.
       The study shows boys aged between 10 and 15 were the most likely victims, while the average time it took for abuse to be reported to authorities was 23 years.

    • Uganda: Pastors Quizzed Again Over Sodomy Claims

      [~ 2000s Pastor Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.  
       AllAfrica, The New Vision, by Herbert Ssempogo, June 16, 2009
       KAMPALA, Uganda – PASTORS Martin Ssempa and Solomon Male were yesterday interrogated again over allegations that Miracle Centre Church Pastor Robert Kayanja sodomised six boys.
       The Police want to establish if they bribed Kayanja's accusers to say he sodomised them. Although the pastors say they were simply helping the victims to get justice, Kayanja believes they are not acting in good faith but bent on tarnishing his image.
       Male and Ssempa arrived at the Central Police Station in Kampala at 10:00am.

    • No Free Pass

      - Romanists and Orthodox Judaists oppose opening law up.  
       National Survivor Advocates Coalition, by Sister Maureen Paul Turlish - 6/14, Victims' Advocate, June 16, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The New York Assembly should not be giving a free pass to sexual predators of children - of any stripe, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. Neither should there be any statute of limitations where the sexual abuse of children is concerned.
       A major epidemic is going on in our country, a pandemic if one considers it in its worldwide proportions and it is hard to believe, in light of such concerns, that we continue to have churchmen in the state of New York as elsewhere who actually oppose the removal of statutes of limitations regarding the sexual abuse of our children.
       In the state of New York, it appears that leaders of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Jewish denominations are of the opinion that sexual predators and abusers should not be held accountable.

    • Bishops meet: Leadership from a flock of shepherds

      - RCC discussions.
       Beliefnet, by David Gibson, Tuesday June 16, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- The U.S. hierarchy gathers for its spring meeting tomorrow, in San Antonio, in the wake of one of the most divisive and ugly stretches the Catholic Church has seen since, well, Joseph Bernardin was alive. And the bishops themselves have been the perpetrators and victims of much of the nastiness, much of it centered on Barack Obama's election and Obama at Notre Dame.
       It is important not to talk about "the bishops" as if they were of one heart and mind on these controverted issues. In fact, they're not, and it has been a vocal minority--albeit a large minority of 80-plus prelates out of 285 or so active ordinaries--that has challenged not only American Catholics but also their fellow bishops. And that silent majority has remained largely silent. This hasn't been an edifying witness on either side.
       So what to do? Some want the bishops to "man up" and adopt a harder line (the minority line) for Catholic universities, Catholic pols, and Catholics themselves. There are other options, and two editorials, in the Jesuit weekly America, and the lay-edited bimonthly, Commonweal, offer constructive suggestions and encouragement.

    • Anglican Church report to strengthen child protection

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.  
       Anglican Media, Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009
       [Study of Reported Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church]
       AUSTRALIA -- The Anglican Church has released the report of a major research project commissioned to help strengthen its child protection protocols.
       The report into past cases of child sexual abuse was received on Saturday at a meeting in Sydney of the Standing Committee of the Church's General Synod.
       It examines 191 alleged cases of child sexual abuse reported between 1990 and 2008 from 17 dioceses around Australia .
       Anglican Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, said the research project was the first of its kind in Australia , with a project by the Roman Catholic Church in the USA being the only similar undertaking anywhere in the world.

    • Archbishop Freier welcomes public release of report on past cases of child abuse

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.
       Anglican Media, Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009
       [Study of Reported Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church]
      
       AUSTRALIA The Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, has welcomed the public release of a report commissioned by the Anglican Church of Australia looking into past cases of child sexual abuse in 17 dioceses across the nation.
       The report examines 191 alleged cases of child sexual abuse reported between 1990 and 2008.
       Dr Freier said one of the chief aims of the report was to inform the Church on what steps could be taken towards better prevention of sexual abuse within church communities.

    • Church reviews anti-abuse strategy

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.  
       The West Australian, 17:16 WST, June 17, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A third of child sexual abuse cases substantiated by the Anglican Church resulted in no action against the perpetrator, a new study has found.
       Anglican Primate Archbishop Phillip Aspinall on Wednesday released the results of a research project designed to help the church strengthen its child protection protocols.
       The study was welcomed by victims group Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA), although the organisation said it remained to be seen whether the church would stand by victims over time.

    • Anglican Church 'facing up' to sexual abuse

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.
       ABC News, June 17, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- The Anglican Church in Australia says it has begun implementing recommendations of a major report aimed at preventing child sexual abuse in its ranks.
       The church today released the report on 191 cases of abuse reported around the country between 1990 and 2008.
       Australia's Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, says they asked researchers from the University of Sydney to examine the cases.

    • Civil suit against abusive priest advances

      [1965-72 MacArthur*] - RCC. Child.  
       Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, By Marie Rohde, Posted Jun. 16, 2009
       MILWAUKEE (WI) -- A civil lawsuit brought by two women against an abusive priest crossed a legal hurdle Tuesday when a judge ruled a jury would be allowed to decide whether the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., conspired to conceal the priest's misconduct.
       But Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Thomas Cooper also noted that there would be problems with the case if it goes to trial, largely because the sexual abuse accusations date back nearly 40 years and many of those involved in the alleged conspiracy are dead.
       The priest, Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 87, lives in a retirement facility for abusive priests near St. Louis.
       [LOOK BACK: October 28, 2008 (in Nov. list); Aug 15, 2008 (said off to prison); June 26, 2008]

    • Confey priest still in limbo a year after name was cleared

      - Fr Corcoran, no job, a year on.  
       Leinster Leader, By Henry Bauress, Published Date: June 17, 2009
       IRELAND -- A LEIXLIP parish priest, Fr Philip Corcoran continues to wait in limbo a year after he was cleared of sexual abuse allegations by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
       The Leinster Leader understands the a number of parishioners in the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo in Confey, have written to the Dublin Diocesan authorities to clarify the current status of Fr. Corcoran.
       In June 2008, the Leixlip parish priest was cleared of allegations of sexual abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:58 AM, June 17, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed June 17, 2009
    • Church study reveals sex abuse  - 1990-2008. Anglican Church. 191 allegations. Boys most at risk.  

    Church study reveals sex abuse

       The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , letters § wanews com au , by DAWN GIBSON, p 3, June 18, 2009
       Australia – Boys were far more likely to be sexually abused by priests than girls, even in churches where clergy members did not have to take a vow of celibacy, an Anglican Church report released yesterday said.
       Anglican Primate Archbishop Phillip Aspinall said the project was the first of its kind in Australia and a Catholic Church study in the US was the only similar one in the world.
       "We reiterate our apology, our sorrow and our deep regret for abuse which has occurred," Dr Aspinall said. "While this report is aimed at strengthening our child protection protocols it also reminds us of the tragic events of the past and of the pain which still exists."
       Two researchers from Sydney University, Emeritus Professor Kim Gates (medicine) and Professor Patrick Parkinson (family law), analysed 191 alleged cases of sex abuse reported between 1990 and 2008 to determine patterns of behaviour. The cases came from 17 of the 23 Anglican dioceses in Australia. Three country dioceses refused to take part. The other three lacked relevant cases.
       The authors called on churches and religious youth groups to review the screening and education of those who came into contact with children, with a focus on ensuring that boys were not in danger from potential predators.
       They said paedophiles in church circles often got away with their crimes for years, often until their victims were middle-aged, even in an era where sexual abuse has become more widely reported.
       In stark contrast to patterns of abuse in the general population, three-quarters of complainants were male and most were between the ages of 10 and 15 when they were abused.
       Not only were boys more likely to be abused, they were more likely to suffer longer. Forty per cent of the boys claimed they had been abused for three years or more, compared with 18 per cent of girls. There was an average delay of 23 years before complainants reported the allegations.
       The researchers questioned the popular assumption that abuse in the church stemmed largely from the unnatural requirement of celibacy, which has been continually raised in connection to abuse cases involving Catholic priests.
       They pointed out that although Anglican priests were free to marry, church work provided a lot of opportunities for adults to be alone with children, such as taking them home after a church activity, individual counselling or church camps.
       "The clear finding of this study is that boys are much more at risk of abuse in church communities than girls," they said in the report.
       "The most likely explanation for this is that those with a disposition to engage in the sexual abuse of minors are more likely to have the opportunity of doing so with boys, and with less risk of discovery."
       Of the 44 cases known to go to court, 53 per cent ended in the accused being convicted. #
       [COMMENT: Well, it seems that the religions are really on their own.  Earthiness is revealed in faith after faith. COMMENT ENDS.]
    http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm#church_study_reveals
    [Jun 18, 09]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Thu June 18, 2009 edition:


    • Man abuses 8-year-old during night while family slept in same cabin

      [2009 June - Mr Patrick West-Owens (20) -NEW*, very new] - Church camp. Girl (8).  
       AZ Family, http://www. azfamily.com/ news/local/ stories/ prescott-news- 061709- arrest_for_ sexual-assault. 8e9e87d1.html ; June 17, 2009
       PRESCOTT, ARIZONA - The following is a release from the Prescott Police Department:
       On June 16, 2009 Prescott Police Detectives arrested 20-year old Kingman resident Patrick West-Owens for three counts of Sexual Assault, three counts of Sexual Abuse and one count of Indecent Exposure.
       West-Owens accompanied a church group from Kingman to an event at the Camp Yavapines located at 2999 Iron Springs Rd. While at the Camp, he spent the night in a cabin with a Kingman family he has known. While the family slept, he lured an 8-year old female into his bunk where he coaxed her into various sex acts.
       Upon the family learning the following morning of what transpired from the 8-year old girl, they transported West-Owens back to Kingman and returned to the Prescott camp where police learned of this incident. After further investigation, detectives went to Kingman where they located West-Owens and interviewed him about this incident. After the interview, they placed him under arrest and transported him the Yavapai County Camp Verde Jail where he was booked. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:17 AM, June 18, 2009]

    • Episcopal Bishop Leo Frade -- the Real Scandal in Flight of RC Priest to TEC

      [2009 Feb / Jun - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - ex- RCC (now an Episcopalian). Married divorced Ms Canellis. [2009 May-June - Bp Leo Frade - NEW*] - Episcopalian. Quick acceptance of clergyman.    
       Virtue Online, COMMENTARY, By David W. Virtue, www.virtueonline.org , Jun/17/2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- The frenetic media attention surrounding telegenic former Roman Catholic priest Fr. Alberto Cutie's flight from his church to The Episcopal Church and thus breaking his vows, the church's rule of celibacy and then marrying his divorced girlfriend, missed the real story.
       Cutie is not the first priest to leave the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of celibacy. He certainly won't be the last, but he is certainly one of the first to leave it so publicly while acknowledging an affair with a formerly married woman and then being accepted into another Christian denomination - The Episcopal Church - where he has been made more welcome than the Prodigal Son.
       Over the years, thousands of priests have left the Catholic Church unable to handle celibacy, but they did so quietly without causing scandal, giving no offense to their superiors, and choosing to be laicized while still remaining faithful Roman Catholics. I have met quite a number and they are embarrassed and angry by Alberto Cutie's behavior. His celebrity status has only aggravated the situation.
       Cutie's sudden reception into The Episcopal Church by the ultra-liberal Episcopal Bishop of Southeast Florida, The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, is the real scandal. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:33 PM, June 18, 2009]

    • Accused Priest to Become Bishop

      [2009 Fr J. Collova, and, American Apostolic Church -NEW*] - A. A. Church. Plans to install abuser as bishop.
       Today's TMJ4, by Mick Trevey, ~ June 18, 2009
       MILWAUKEE (WI) -- The Milwaukee Archdiocese publicly lists Father Joseph Collova as a likely sexual abuser and removed him from ministry. Now, a different church plans to ordain Collova a bishop.
       In the Milwaukee Archdiocese, Collova was removed from ministry over the abuse allegations. He was eventually excommunicated from the Catholic Church. This weekend, the Chicago-based American Apostolic Church plans to install Collova as a bishop in Milwaukee.
       Collova maintains he did not abuse anyone. He was not convicted in court.
       However, the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests is upset over Collova's upcoming ordination. "It's extremely disturbing," said Peter Isely. who is a local leader of the Network. "What he did was so heinous that they will never ever allow him to be a Catholic priest and around children and families in parishes ever again," Isely said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:25 PM]

    • Ex-priest sentenced for child pornography

      [? 2009 Ex-Fr Joseph Macanga -NEW*] - RCC. Child porn.  
       Bucks County Courier Times, By DANIELLE CAMILLI, ~ June 18, 2009
       TRENTON (PA) -- A former priest and teacher was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison Wednesday for possessing child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra said.
       Joseph E. Macanga, 55, of Lumberton, was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper allowed Macanga to remain free on a $100,000 bond, pending his surrender to U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials on a date to be determined by prison authorities.
       Macanga served as a priest and teacher at the Church of St. Andrew in Newtown and Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia among others in Pennsylvania and New Jersey including Lumberton Middle School. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:05 AM, June 18, 2009]

    • Area man charged with child sex abuse was church youth leader

      [2005+ Mr Shawn Rickert - ? NEW*] - Baptist. Girl.  
       Dayton Daily News, By Nancy Bowman, Updated 3:43 PM, Thursday, June 18, 2009
       TROY (OH) – A Tipp City area man charged this week with rape and gross sexual imposition for alleged acts against a girl under age 13 served as a youth leader and director of children's church at Vandalia Baptist Temple, a Miami County sheriff's detective said.
       Shawn P. Rickert, 38, is being held in the county jail on $105,000 bail set Tuesday, June 16, in county Municipal Court.
       He faces one felony charge of rape and eight felony charges of gross sexual imposition. He is accused of sexual conduct and sexual contact with the child beginning in 2005, when she was under age 13, according to investigative reports.

    • Detention order sought against pedophile

      [2001+ Mr Colin Humphrys (himself victim of Church and others) - ? NEW*] - Boy.    
       The Age, by Larine Statham, 4:09PM, June 18, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A serial pedophile could be jailed indefinitely if prosecutors can convince an Adelaide court he remains unable to control his sexual urges.
       Colin Charles Humphrys is awaiting sentencing over a two-year sexual relationship he formed with a 14-year-old boy he met in a toilet block in 2001. …
       The court was told Humphrys had recently been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, having himself been the victim of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by church leaders and politicians.
       "This opens up an entirely different approach for treatment," his lawyer Nick Vadasz said.

    • Religious Order Target of Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt -NEW* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       KYW, by KYW's David Madden, ~ June 18, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- A lawsuit has been filed in Delaware on behalf of a former student at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia who alleges a priest molested him while in his freshman year in 1991.
       The suit contends the late Father John McDevitt coerced then-14-year-old Richard Green -- a nephew of deceased New York Cardinal John O'Connor -- in the 1990-91 school year. Green,now 31, is represented by attorney Michael Reck. As for McDevitt:
       "He threatened him with low grades in his religion class in order to entice him into private tutoring sessions, and during the private tutoring sessions, he proceeded to sexually abuse the plaintiff." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:32 PM, June 18, 2009]

    • Memorial Plaque for US Clerical Sex Abuse Victims

      [1972-82 Fr James Hanley] - RCC. Many boys.    
       RTÉ News, Six One News, By Charlie Bird, June 15, 2009
       [With photos of the monument. A BishopAccountability.org transcript of RTÉ News report.]
       DUBLIN (IRELAND) – Sharon Ní Bheoláin: The Catholic church in the United States has paid out billions of dollars in compensation to the survivors of child abuse. One town, Mendham in New Jersey, where a local priest abused over 20 children back in the early 80s. Our Washington correspondent, Charlie Bird, reports from Mendham, where the local people have built a memorial to the survivors.
       Charlie Bird: This is the picturesque town of Mendham in New Jersey, about an hour from New York. In the early 80s the community of 5,000 people was rocked by one of the biggest abuse scandals to hit the Catholic church in the United States. It emerged that a local priest, Father James Hanley, had been abusing children in his care for years.
       "It will be better [for] that person to have a millstone hung around his neck and [he be] thrown into the depth of the sea."
       Pat Serrano: That's correct, and it's true, I wish we had some millstones. I will say, we did have forget-me-nots here, the day of the dedication, and we want to show all victims that we will not forget them.
       Bird: Pat Serrano's son Mark was the first to break his silence on the abuse. In October 2003, another abuse victim, Jim Kelly, took his own life, and as a result of his death, some of the survivors and their families decided to erect a memorial in the form of a millstone. [Posted by Terry McKiernan at 8:12 PM, June 18, 2009]

    • New Jersey Memorial to Abuse Victims

      [1972-82 Fr James Hanley] - RCC. Many boys.    
       RTÉ Radio 1, Morning Ireland, DUBLIN (IRELAND), By Charlie Bird, June 15, 2009
       [BishopAccountability.org transcript of RTÉ Radio 1 report.]
       Aoife Kavanagh: One of the recommendations of the recent Ryan report on child abuse was that some consideration should be given to an appropriate memorial here. Well, in Mendham, New Jersey, in the U.S. they have their own tribute to the victims who suffered at the hands of Catholic priests. Our Washington correspondent, Charlie Bird, has been to Mendham to see the memorial.
       UNITED STATES – Charlie Bird: Pat Serrano, we're here at St. Joseph's in Mendham in New Jersey. We're looking at a millstone, and it says, the dedication says, this millstone is dedicated to victims of sexual abuse at St. Joseph's and everywhere as a tribute to their survival, a mark of our deep respect, and as a symbol of our commitment to their healing. Jesus said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you. Tell me about the significance of this millstone.
       Pat Serrano: This church, St. Joseph's in Mendham, had many many boys who were abused by a pastor between 1972 and '82. My son Mark was abused from age 9 to 16 by Father James Hanley, and Mark went through many many troubled years, as they do, but in 2002, his story was in the New York Times, which brought out many many of the other survivors. In October of 2003, Jim Kelly, one of three brothers who were abused by James Hanley, went under a train in Morristown. And at the funeral, Bill Crane, from Oregon, another survivor, wanted a tribute, and he thought of the millstone, and it was made in Oregon from a piece of basalt, brought here, and put here at St. Joseph's, thanks to Father Ken Lasch, who was the pastor at the time. And it is a great symbol to survivors who can make it through the horrors of their childhood abuse, and they stole their souls when they were children. But this millstone brought this hunting grounds of Hanley to a healing place, and finally, a hallowed place.

    • Man claiming to be ex-boyfriend of Alberto Cutié's wife sues couple, cops

         
       Miami Herald, BY JAWEED KALEEM, jkaleem § MiamiHerald.com , ~ June 18, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- A man who says he is the ex-boyfriend of Ruhama Buni Canellis, the newlywed wife of former priest Alberto Cutié, is suing the couple and the Biscayne Park Police Department.
       In a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Maxi Paulus Ratunuman, 44, says Biscayne Park police arrested him without cause on June 6 while he was installing floor tiles in a customer's house on Griffing Boulevard in Biscayne Park.
       The reason: Ratunuman, who the lawsuit says lived with Canellis in the Biscayne Park area for three years and helped raise her teenage son, had information "that would bode badly" for the her and Cutié, who wanted to get him out of the picture.
       County records show that Biscayne Park police Officer Antonio Sanchez, named in the suit along with Officer Raimundo Atesiano, arrested Ratunuman on trespassing charges.

    • Dead priest accused of sexual child abuse and the pope is still crazy

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       Examiner, by Trina Hoaks, Atheism Examiner, June 18, 2009
       DELAWARE -- Richard Green, a 31-year-old man, is claiming that he was "repeatedly" sexually abused by a priest when he 14. According to an Associated Press report, Green, who is the nephew of the late New York Cardinal John O'Connor, filed suit in Delaware on Thursday.
       Green said that he was molested by the now deceased priest Rev. John McDevitt. Reportedly, he was blackmailed to submit to sessions of time spent alone with the priest under the guise of tutoring. McDevitt supposedly knew that Green was the nephew of the late cardinal and threatened to give him a low grade in religion if he did not attend the "tutoring" sessions.
       Green was attending Father Judge High School in Philadelphia when the alleged abuse is said to have occurred. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:11 PM

    • Embattled priest fires workers

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni / Koinonia)] - RCC. Whistleblowers don't have jobs now. Boys.    
       Daily Nation, By LUCAS BARASA, Posted 22:30, Thursday, June 18 2009
       KENYA -- Two employees of an organisation linked to embattled Catholic priest Renato Kizito were sacked on Thursday as police confirmed receiving complaints against him. In an advertisement in the Nation, Koinoina Community announced that it had severed ties with Mr Michael Ochieng' and Mr Michael Omondi Owiso.
       "We wish to advise all our esteemed partners and the public in general that the following persons are no longer trustees and/or employees of Koinoina community and are therefore not authorised to transact any business on behalf of the community or using the name of the community," the advert said.
       The two are suspected to have blown the whistle on the priest's alleged sexual abuses. Yesterday, deputy police spokesman Charles Wahong'o, who on Wednesday denied that there were any complaints against Fr Kizito, made an about-turn, saying CID headquarters at Mazingira House had recorded reports.

    • KENYA: APERTA INCHIESTA SU PRETE ITALIANO PER PEDOFILIA

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni / Koinonia)] - RCC. Boys.
       Nuovi sacerdoti: l'informazione libera, giu 17, 2009
       (ASCA-AFP) - NAIROBI, Kenya - La polizia kenyana ha annunciato l'apertura di un'inchiesta su accuse di pedofilia nei confronti di un prete cattolico italiano residente da piu' di 20 anni nel Paese africano e che smentisce categoricamente tali accuse.
       Il caso e' stato provocato dalla trasmissione lunedi' di un reportage su un canale televisivo kenyano contenente testimonianze di presunte vittime di padre Renato "Kizito" Sesana, personaggio assai conosciuto in Kenya per le sue attivita' di missionario.
       "Abbiamo sentito parlare di questo caso nei media. E' stata aperta un'inchiesta per verificare le accuse. E' un caso grave", ha detto ai giornalisti il vice portavoce della polizia del Paese africano, Charles Owino Wahongo, precisando di non avere ancora ricevuto alcuna denuncia.
       [translation]
       Kenya: an Italian priest is being investigated for pedophilia
       (ASCA-AFP) - NAIROBI, June 17, 2009 - The Kenyan police have announced the opening of an investigation after a Catholic priest, who has been a resident there for more than 20 years, was accused of pedophilia. The priest denies categorically the truthfulness of those accusations.
       Everything started when in a Kenyan TV reportage on Monday were heard the alleged victims of Father Renato "Kizito" Sesana, a very known figure in Kenya for his missionary activities.
       "We heard about this case through the media. We opened an investigation to verify if the accusations are true. It's a very grave case", the vice spokesman of the Police in that African country, Charles Owino Wahongo, said to the reporters, specifying that no formal charges had been received, yet.
       The missionary, a former journalist about sixty-years-old, has disdainfully denied the truthfulness of the accusations made yesterday during a press conference.
       "I never sodomized any child, neither in Kenya nor anywhere" he said. In his opinion, those charges were invented by "people who want to smear my name. These people want to get my property and my possessions". [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:58 PM]

    • Five boys allegedly assaulted by Fr Kizito record statements

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni / Koinonia)] - RCC. 5 boys.
       The Standard, By Lucianne Limo and Cyrus Ombati, ~ June 18, 2009
       KENYA -- Five boys who have accused Catholic priest Fr Renato Kizito Sesana of sexual abuse have recorded statements with police.
       Consequently, police are expected to summon Kizito.
       The boys recorded statements at CID headquarters last week, in the company of their lawyer Stephen Kibunja.

    • Kenyan Catholic faithful defend church's stand

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. 5 boys.
       Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Written By Naisula Lesuuda/Rose Kamau, Posted Thu, Jun 18, 2009
       KENYA -- The Catholic Church faithful in Kenya have come out to strongly defend the integrity of the church and to support Archbishop Cardinal John Njue on the church's stand on celibacy.
       This comes amidst allegations of sexual abuse facing a member of the church's clergy.
       The lay people have expressed their displeasure at negative reports about the Catholic Church, which they say are diverting the church's energy and resources from evangelization.

    • Abuse Charges Against Priest Rock Kenya's Catholic Church

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. 5 boys.    
       Voice of America, By Derek Kilner, Nairobi, June 18, 2009
       KENYA -- Kenya's powerful Catholic church has been rocked by allegations that an Italian priest long active in the country molested children for which his organization was responsible. The priest denies the charges, saying he is a victim of extortionists.
       Kenyan Deputy Police Spokesman Charles Owino says investigations will begin into allegations that Renato Sesana, an Italian Roman Catholic priest known as Father Kizito, sexually abused boys staying at homes for street children that the priest operates in the country.
       The allegations, made by alleged victims and their relatives on the KTN television channel, have dominated the week's headlines in the deeply religious country. However, Owino says that no formal complaints had yet been made.

    • New Jersey Man Files Lawsuit Alleging Abuse by Priest

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       The Wall Street Journal, By SUZANNE SATALINE, ~ June 18, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A man who says in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that he is the nephew of Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor, the former head of the New York archdiocese, states in the suit that he was molested by a priest while attending a Catholic high school in the early 1990s.
       Richard F. Green, 31 years old, and a resident of New Jersey, says in the complaint, filed in Superior Court in Wilmington, Del., that the priest knew he was related to the cardinal and used that information to intimidate the teen.
       Mr. Green filed the complaint under a window, created by the Delaware legislature, that lifted the statute of limitations on civil suits and allowed alleged victims of childhood abuse two years to sue. More than 60 suits had been filed as of last week. New York state lawmakers are considering creating a one-year window.

    • Charleroi priest faces sex abuse allegation

      [1980s-90s Fr David Dzermejko* (61)] - RCC. Minor.
       The Valley Independent, By Michael Hasch, Thursday, June 18, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- The Diocese of Pittsburgh has placed the longtime pastor of a Charleroi parish on administrative leave while it investigates allegations that he sexually abused a minor more than 20 years ago.
       The Rev. David Dzermejko, 61, who has served for 18 years at Mary, Mother of the Church, was placed on leave Monday after the diocese determined there was "some semblance of truth" in the allegations, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese.
       Dzermejko, who has denied the allegations, remains pastor but will not perform any pastoral duties until a full investigation by the diocese has been completed, Lengwin said Wednesday.

    • Theater Calendar

      - Play "For Pete's Sake."
       Recorder, June 18, 2009
       MENDHAM (NJ) -- "For Pete's Sake," a 75 minute presentation of the life of Joseph Capozzi, who wrote the play about his experiences, will be performed at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, at the Grace Lutheran Church, 65 East Main Street, Mendham.
       This one-act play is about the effects of clergy sexual abuse on a victim. A donation of $20 is requested and all proceeds will benefit Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey. For advance tickets or more information, call Rev. Robert Hoatson at (862) 368-2860.

    • Allegations of Sexual Abuse at Catholic Residential Institutions in the United States

      - RCC. US similarities to Ireland, and differences.    
       BishopAccountability.org , ~ June 18, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- This webpage provides a sample of Catholic residential institutions in the United States where sexual abuse of minors has been alleged. Many aspects of the allegations in these cases will be familiar from the Ryan report on abuse in Irish institutions. For example:
  • In Washington State, the Christian Brothers of Ireland settled with two dozen alleged victims in a single residential school.
  • In Wisconsin, the director of a school for the deaf admitted to sexually abusing at least 30 boys and may have molested 200 or more.
  • In Vermont, church officials settled with 75 men and women alleging physical and sexual abuse of shocking brutality at an orphanage.
  • In Kentucky, an order of nuns settled with 45 men and women alleging physical and sexual abuse at another orphanage.
       The large numbers of alleged victims, the horrific nature of the abuse, and the advantage taken of entirely vulnerable children in 24-hour care, all link these U.S. cases unmistakably with the Irish situation.
       Ireland's system of Catholic residential institutions for children was centralized and state-financed, whereas in the United States, almost every diocese had its orphanages, residential schools for the handicapped, and minor seminaries. Both systems endured into the 1980s.

    • Another lawsuit filed against Catholic Diocese

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       WDEL, By Peter MacArthur, ~ June 18, 2009
       DELAWARE --The nephew of former New York Cardinal John O'Connor is in Delaware, claiming he was abused by a priest and ready to sue under Delaware law.
       Rich Green says he was molested by Father John McDevitt while a student at a Pennsylvania Catholic high school. Delaware law allows Green to sue here because he claims Delaware church leaders knew McDevitt was a child molester from his time working at Salesianum High School in Wilmington.
       That same law leaves open the window for alleged victims to sue no matter when they were abused.

    • Pope denounces bad priests and praises good ones

      - RCC.  
       Telegraph (United Kingdom), Posted By Damian Thompson, June 18, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI today called for a "full and complete acknowledgment" of the sins of the clergy, in a letter to priests which recognises that nothing less will enable the Church to restore its battered reputation.
       Here's a good summary of its contents, by Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News Service. Some critics will no doubt complain that the Pope has balanced his reference to bad priests by defending "the great majority of priests". But why shouldn't he?
       The majority of priests are innocent, good men. One of the many terrible consequences of the crimes of sexually incontinent clergy is that they cast a shadow over virtuous colleagues. There are times to thank priests for their sacrificial ministry, and this is one of them.

    • Group Protests Catholic Abuse

      - SNAP takes protest to RC bishops' meeting.      
       KSAT, ~ June 18, 2009
       SAN ANTONIO (TX) -- Protesters were out in full force today at a downtown hotel, where hundreds of Catholic bishops are holding their annual summer meeting. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, held a demonstration outside of the downtown Hyatt Regency Wednesday afternoon.
       Members of SNAP talked about the turmoil that is currently going on in Ireland, over a Government report that details decades of abuse in church-run orphanages there. …
       Another group, BishopAccountability.org, also released a list of what they call "troubled U.S. Catholic orphanages." The Saint Anthony High School Seminary, located here in San Antonio, is on that list.
       [COMMENT: Can you imagine Jesus, Peter, James, and John meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel? ENDS.]

    • Pope thanks God for gift of priesthood, but also recognizes failures

      - RCC.  
       Catholic News Service, By Cindy Wooden, ~ June 18, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church must acknowledge that some priests have done great harm to others, but it also must thank God for the gifts the majority of priests have given to the church and the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.
       In the face of scandal, "what is most helpful to the church … is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God's gift" of the priesthood, the pope said in his letter for the Year for Priests.
       Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests, the yearlong focus on priestly ministry was to begin June 19.

    • Pope calls for acknowledgement of church's weaknesses

      - RCC. "Year of the Priest/s".        
       Ireland Online, 12:18:58 June 18, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has deplored acts of infidelity by priests and has called for a "frank and complete acknowledgement" of the Catholic Church's weakness.
       Benedict didn't specify the clerical sex abuse scandal that has convulsed the church in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere.
       But in a letter today to priests marking the start of the Vatican's Year of the Priest, Pope Benedict said the church had suffered greatly from the actions of some priests and that many around the world had found reason to reject the church as a result.
       [COMMENT: It is already supposed to be a year to honour Saint Paul. ENDS]

    • Washington County pastor placed on leave while investigation proceeds

      [1980s-90s Fr David Dzermejko*] - RCC. Minor.  
       Tribune-Review, By Michael Hasch, Thursday, June 18, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- The Diocese of Pittsburgh has placed the longtime pastor of a Washington County parish on administrative leave while it investigates allegations that he sexually abused a minor more than 20 years ago.
       The Rev. David Dzermejko, 61, who has served for 18 years at Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi, was placed on leave Monday after the diocese determined there was "some semblance of truth" in the allegations, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese.
       Dzermejko, who has denied the allegations, remains pastor but will not perform any pastoral duties until a full investigation by the diocese has been completed, Lengwin said Wednesday.

    • Pope Benedict Writes Letter Proclaiming Year for Priests

      - RCC.  
       Vatican Radio, ~ June 18, 2009
       LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
       Proclaiming a Year for Priests on the 150th Anniversary of the Dies Natalis of the Curé of Ars
       VATICAN CITY -- Dear Brother Priests,
       On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy – , I have decided to inaugurate a "Year for Priests" in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the "dies natalis" of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests worldwide. This Year, meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive witness to the Gospel in today's world, will conclude on the same Solemnity in 2010. The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus", the saintly Curé of Ars would often say. This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with heartfelt gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church, but also for humanity itself. I think of all those priests who quietly present Christ's words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic labours, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity? And how can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as "friends of Christ", whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?
       I still treasure the memory of the first parish priest at whose side I exercised my ministry as a young priest: he left me an example of unreserved devotion to his pastoral duties, even to meeting death in the act of bringing viaticum to a gravely ill person. I also recall the countless confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my pastoral visits to different countries: men generously dedicated to the daily exercise of their priestly ministry. Yet the expression of Saint John Mary also makes us think of Christ's pierced Heart and the crown of thorns which surrounds it. I am also led to think, therefore, of the countless situations of suffering endured by many priests, either because they themselves share in the manifold human experience of pain or because they encounter misunderstanding from the very persons to whom they minister. How can we not also think of all those priests who are offended in their dignity, obstructed in their mission and persecuted, even at times to offering the supreme testimony of their own blood?
       There are also, sad to say, situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the world which finds grounds for scandal and rejection. What is most helpful to the Church in such cases is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God's gift, embodied in the splendid example of generous pastors, religious afire with love for God and for souls, and insightful, patient spiritual guides. Here the teaching and example of Saint John Mary Vianney can serve as a significant point of reference for us all. The Curé of Ars was quite humble, yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his people: "A good shepherd, a pastor after God's heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy".

    • Pope deplores priests' infidelities to their vows

      - RCC.
       The Associated Press, ~ June 18, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI deplored priests who were unfaithful to their vows and called Thursday for a "frank and complete acknowledgment" of the Catholic Church's weakness in a letter to priests around the globe.
       The letter was the first public statement from Benedict since an independent commission in Ireland issued a report last month detailing "endemic" molestation and rape at church-run boys' facilities and ritualized beatings at girls' schools from the 1930s to the 1990s.
       Benedict didn't specifically address the clerical sex abuse scandal that has convulsed the church in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere. But he was clearly referring to the scandal in saying there had been "situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers."

    • A true voice of hope in the midst of horror

      - RCC.      
       Herald, By Claire Byrne, Thursday June 18 2009
       IRELAND -- It was April 2005 and I was in Rome covering the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II as a television reporter. Over the course of a number of evenings, I interviewed a man of the Church for the live broadcasts which were beamed back to Ireland.
       It was clear that he was a learned man and one who knew the business end of the workings of the Catholic Church inside and out. He had spent a great deal of his early working career in the Vatican and although he was living back in Ireland then, it was clear that he was at home in Rome and at the centre of its inner circle.
       Burden
       I have asked myself since, did Archbishop Diarmuid Martin know at that time, the burden, that four years later, would be visited upon him? Was he aware as we stood under the television lights at the Vatican that in 2009, the very future of the Catholic Church in Ireland would rest very firmly on his shoulders?
       [COMMENT: Well, if the bishops and religious orders had been telling the truth in their reports to the Vatican, Abp Martin ought to have known all about the corruption, and ought to have been trying to clean it up. ENDS.]

    • A refugee of evil Irish past

      - RCC. Story of an evil father.      
       The Boston Globe, By Kevin Cullen, Globe Columnist / June 18, 2009
       MASSACHUSETTS -- She lives in a city north of Boston but grew up in Ireland, when it wasn't green as much as it was black and white.
       When she was 7, her mother died, and the father she knew as warm and kind grew cold and mean.
       When she was 14, her father put her on his bicycle and pedaled 25 miles, to a convent.
       "The nuns were nice until my father left," she said. "I don't remember saying goodbye to my father."

    • CARDINAL KIN SHOCK

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       New York Post, By DAN MANGAN and CATHY BURKE, June 18, 2009
      PENNSYLVANIA -- A nephew of the late John Cardinal O'Connor was abused by a perverted priest who targeted him when he was a teen attending a Catholic high school, an explosive new lawsuit claims.
       Richard Green says his nightmare unfolded when he was a 14-year-old freshman at the Philadelphia school.
       The suit charges the abuse continued even as school and church officials engaged in a "conspiracy of silence" to cover up the sick history of the Rev. John M. McDevitt, a religion teacher.
       Worse, McDevitt used Green's close relationship to O'Connor "to get power over him," forcing the teen into accepting his tutoring, lawyer J. Michael Reck said.

    • Residential school survivors to get help

      - RCC.  
       Winnipeg Free Press, By Staff Writer, ~ June 18, 2009
       CANADA -- THE Catholic Church in Canada is partnering with First Nations to raise millions of dollars to help survivors of residential schools.
       The Moving Forward Together campaign announced this week is co-chaired by Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber and Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
       They aim to raise $25 million over the next five years to develop various educational and healing programs on reserves across the country. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:24 AM

    • PD: Kingman man sexually assaulted girl during church camp

      [2009 June - Mr Patrick West-Owens* (20)] - Church camp. Girl (8).  
       ABC 15, ~ June 18, 2009
       PRESCOTT, AZ -- Prescott police detectives arrested a 20-year-old Kingman man Tuesday for allegedly engaging in sexual acts with an 8-year-old girl during a church camping event.
       According to a Prescott Police Department press release, Patrick West-Owens was charged with three counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual abuse and one count of indecent exposure.
       Police said the suspect accompanied a church group from Kingman to an event at Camp Yavapines located in the 2900 block of Iron Springs Road in Prescott.

    • Civil suit filed against Budd

      [2003-05 Budd*] - Methodist. Woman.  
       Winona Post, By Cynthya Porter, ~ June 18, 2009
       MINNESOTA -- McKinley Methodist Church and former pastor Donald Budd, 65, are both named in a civil suit filed this week by Samantha Beach, the woman with whom Budd was convicted of inappropriate sexual involvement.
       In May of 2009 Budd was sentenced to 15 years of probation for two felony counts of sexual abuse stemming from two years of counseling sessions that turned sexual with Beach, a parishioner.
       The law prohibits clergy from engaging in such behavior with individuals seeking comfort, advice or aid from them in their role as a religious leader.

    • Former Bellmead pastor indicted

      [~ 2005 + W. Frank Brown*] - Baptist. Girls.
       KXXV, by Patrick Tolbert, ~ June 18, 2009
       WACO (TX) -- A McLennan County Grand Jury indicted a former Bellmead pastor on four counts of indecency with a child by contact and four counts of aggravated sexual assault.
       William Frank Brown was indicted for the incidents which began about four years ago in another state. There, Brown is accused of molesting girls aged 9 or 10. When he moved to Texas, Police say Brown assaulted a victim as well. Police say the alleged sexual assaults took place hundreds of times, some of which were in Robinson, Harris Creek and in Waco.

    • Evangelist remanded

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis*] - Christian. 2 teen girls.    
       Radio Jamaica, ~ June 18, 2009
       JAMAICA -- A crowd of anxious supporters gathered outside a Savanna-La-Mar courtroom in Westmoreland Wednesday to hear the fate of popular Jamaican-born American evangelist Paul Lewis.
       Pastor Lewis, who is accused of sexually assaulting two teen girls, was ordered remanded until July 7.
       Lewis, the head of Paul Lewis Ministries was charged Wednesday with carnal abuse and indecent assault of two teenagers.
       Mr. Lewis was questioned Wednesday morning in the presence of his attorney Michael Erskine.

    • Celebrity pastor charged

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis*] - Christian. 2 teen girls.
       The Gleaner, June 18, 2009
       JAMAICA -- The Jamaican-born international pastor, who allegedly gave two teenage girls money in exchange for sexual favours, was remanded when he appeared in the Savanna-la-mar Resident Magistrate's Court late yesterday afternoon.
       He has been remanded until July 7.
       The police yesterday afternoon charged the accused, Reverend Dr Paul Lewis, with carnal abuse and indecent assault following an interrogation which lasted more than two hours.

    • New focus in pursuit of abuse by clergy

      - RCC.    
       The Boston Globe, By Michael Paulson, June 18, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Five weeks after an Irish commission released a devastating report about abuse at Catholic children's institutions there, a Waltham-based organization is starting an effort to compile evidence about what it believes was a similar pattern of abuse at Catholic institutions in the United States.
       BishopAccountability.org, an organization that maintains an Internet-based archive about clergy sexual abuse, published on its website yesterday a list of twelve Catholic institutions whose faculty or staff have faced allegations of child sexual abuse.
       Organizers are hoping to rapidly expand that list, including schools in and around Boston.
       Many of the schools where the abuse allegedly took place were run by religious orders, not dioceses, and are no longer open. Many such allegations are already public through lawsuits or media coverage, but organizers of the new archive expect more accusers to emerge as a result of the effort.
       [COMMENT: Archives have been kept by various groups and people, probably since before the 2002 denoument, and this group, Bishop Accountability, has been doing a sterling job already. ENDS.]

    • O'Connor's Nephew Claims Priest Abused Him

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).  
       My Fox New York, June 17, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- MYFOXNY.COM - Fox 5 has learned that the nephew of the late New York Cardinal O'Connor said he was a victim of clergy sex abuse and is filing a lawsuit.
       On Thursday afternoon, Rich Green is expected to announce his lawsuit against the priest who allegedly molested him at a high school in Pennsylvania.

    • Catholic pastor accused of child sexual abuse

      [1980s-90s Fr David Dzermejko*] - RCC. Minor.
       Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Thursday, June 18, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A Catholic pastor has been placed on leave from a Charleroi parish due to an accusation that he sexually abused a minor more than a decade ago.
       The Rev. David Dzermejko, 61, "was placed on administrative leave because of an allegation that we received and deemed to have some semblance of truth," said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
       He declined to give any details of the allegation or the person who made it, other than to say that "it does not involve Mary Mother of the Church parish" in Charleroi, where he has served for 18 years.

    • Cardinal O'Connor's nephew: Pa. priest molested me

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).
       New York Daily News, By Bill Hutchinson, 4:00 AM, Thursday, June 18th 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- The nephew of the late John Cardinal O'Connor will file a civil suit Thursday claiming he was repeatedly molested as a child by a priest who taught his religion class, his lawyer said Wednesday night.
       Rich Green claims he was sexually assaulted by the Rev. John McDevitt while he was a 14-year-old freshman at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, Pa.
       Green, now 31, claims McDevitt, who died in 1999, targeted him because he was O'Connor's nephew.

    • Cardinal's nephew's claims priest abuse

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).
       The Morning Call, By Darryl R. Isherwood | June 18, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A nephew of the late Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York plans to file suit today in a Delaware court, alleging he was sexually abused by a priest while a high school student in Philadelphia.
       Rich Green, who attended Father Judge High School in the early 1990s, claims he was abused by the Rev. John M. McDevitt, who was a teacher at the school, according to an attorney for Green.
       McDevitt was a Philadelphia city councilman from 1958 to 1962 and a member of the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, a religious order headquartered in Washington, D.C. He died in 1999. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:13 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Thu June 18, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Fri June 19, 2009 edition:


    • Affidavit Alleges Sexual Assault By Iowa Pastor

      [2003-09 Pastor Efrain Umana -NEW*] - Christian. ≤ 2 women, 1 girl.  
       KETV, http://www. ketv.com/ news/1979 3231/detail. html , ~ June 19, 2009
       COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa. -- A pastor in Council Bluffs has been accused of sexually assaulting at least two women and one girl during the past six years.
       An affidavit out of Pottawattamie County details allegations against Efrain Umana.
       Umana was arrested in Lincoln and paid bond Thursday to be released from Pottawattamie County Jail, said Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilbur [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:10 AM, June 19, 2009]

    • Diocesan webmaster pleads guilty to child porn charges, was hired despite assault convictions

      [2007 Mackenzie-Ft. Smith Diocese -NEW*] - RCC. Hired sexual assaulter. [2000s Mr Charles McGee] - ? RCC. Girls (2 convictions). Now internet porn.  
       Catholic Culture, June 19, 2009
       CANADA -- The former webmaster of the northern Canadian Diocese of Mackenzie-Ft. Smith has pled guilty to internet child-pornography charges. Charles McGee -- who was also an attorney -- had been convicted twice for sexually assaulting young girls.
       "When he was hired with us a year and a half ago, it was felt that it was a second-chance opportunity in a totally safe setting in terms of no contact with minors," said Bishop Murray Chatlain, who apologized last month for the systemic abuse of Native American children in residential schools. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:34 PM, June 19, 2009]
       [COMMENT: If the bishop was speaking from the heart, that is evidence that there ought to be an Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.) test before priests are promoted! ENDS.]

    • Tampa Pastor arrested for molestation

      [2007 Rev. Jose Dossantos (40) - NEW*] - Potter's House. Girl (12).  
       ABC Action News, Reported by Carly Timmons, Email: ctimmons@abcactionnews.com , ~ June 19, 2009
       HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA -- A Tampa Pastor was arrested for lewd & lascivious molestation from a March 2007 incident.
       In March 2007, Jose Dossantos unlawfully touched a 12-year-old female victim without her consent.
       Dossantos was 40-years-old at the time and a church pastor. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:36 PM, June 19, 2009]

    • Men allege sexual abuse by D.C.-area priest in 1950s-60s

      [1950s, 1963-67 Mons. Joseph Dooley -NEW*] - RCC. 3 boys.  
       The Examiner, By Maria Schmitt, Special to The Examiner, 8:21 PM EDT, Jun/18/09
       WASHINGTON (DC) -- Three men have alleged in lawsuits that they were sexually abused decades ago by a Washington-area priest.
       One of the alleged victims, George Thompson, now lives in Arizona. He said in his lawsuit that Joseph Dooley sexually abused him while Dooley was monsignor at St. John the Baptist Church in Silver Spring and Thompson was a teenage parishioner.
       Thompson alleges the attacks occurred between 1963 and 1967.
       Two other men, who do not want their names to be made public, allege in another suit that Dooley abused them while they were young parishioners of Dooley's in the late 1950s through the mid-'60s at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Bethesda and Annunciation Catholic Church in Northwest Washington. One of the men says he served as an altar boy and was only 9 years old when the abuse started. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:43 AM, June 19, 2009]

    • Celebrity priest who was attacked for speaking out against child abuse

      - RCC.  
       Irish Examiner, By Ryle Dwyer, for Saturday, June 20, 2009
       IRELAND -- WHILE Eamon de Valera was dreaming of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, young boys were being flogged and b*ggered by a sordid assortment of perverted clergy and depraved Christian Brothers.
       He should have known what was going on, but he chose to ignore it, just as we are ignoring things now.
       Edward J Flanagan, who was born near the Galway village of Ballymoe in 1886, emigrated to the United States in 1904. He studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1912 and went to minister in Nebraska. In 1917 he founded a home for homeless boys in Omaha, and later set up Boys Town about 10 miles outside the city in 1921. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:18 PM, June 19, 2009]

    • Qld Anglicans vote on abuse time statute

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.    
       Sydney Morning Herald, 10:44AM, June 19, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Anglican leader Archbishop Phillip Aspinall has been called on to drop the time-limit defence blocking child sex victims from suing for abuse in church schools and parishes.
       Brisbane priest, the Reverend Peter Shayler-Webb, will move a motion at this weekend's Brisbane Anglican synod calling for the church not to invoke the statute of limitations.
       The motion says that the legal defence "works great injustice to victims of child sexual abuse by preventing them bringing cases, whether they have merit or not". [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:36 AM, June 19, 2009]

    • Abuse report 'only part of the story'

      - Church of Ireland (Anglican communion).  
       The Irish Times, By BRIAN KAVANAGH, for June 20, 2009
       IRELAND -- CHURCH OF Ireland Primate Archbishop Alan Harper welcomed an audit report of church work with young people as good news for Irish children and those who work with them, at a time when the country is still reeling from the fallout of the Ryan report on child abuse in industrial schools.
       "It is important to say that there is a great amount of good news out there, a lot of positive things that need to be said, and it would be an enormous pity if the good news was, so to speak, blocked out by the enormous furore of the negative," the archbishop said.
       "That is not to minimise the negative experiences of those who have suffered in the past, except to say that isn't the whole story, its only part of the story," he added.
       The archbishop was joined by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews and representatives from youth agencies at the report launch in Church of Ireland House in Dublin yesterday. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:14 PM, June 19, 2009]

    • US watchdog preparing report on child abuse

      - RCC.      
       The Irish Times, from KEVIN CULLEN in Boston, for June 20, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- AN AMERICAN watchdog group says it is preparing an American version of the Ryan report to document the abuse of children and young adults in institutions run by religious orders in the United States.
       It says it is also building a pair of databases that will name Irish priests and religious who abused minors in Ireland.
       Officials at BishopAccountability.org, the Boston-based group that grew out of the scandal of the cover-up of sexual abuse of minors by priests that rocked the US Catholic Church seven years ago, said they were inspired to compile evidence of institutional abuse at some 1,000 institutions across the United States after reading the Ryan report.
       Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, said the Catholic Church in the US was modelled on the Irish Catholic Church. Indeed, at the turn of the 20th century, the vast majority of priests in the US were Irish. To this day, about two-thirds of American bishops are of Irish descent. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:12 PM, June 19, 2009]

    • Pope losing patience with Austrian bishops, Vatican-watcher reports

      - RCC.    
       Catholic Culture, June 19, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- This week's extraordinary meeting at the Vatican, in which the Pope and leaders of the Roman Curia conferred with a delegation of Austrian bishops, was called because the Pontiff is "upset over how [the Austrian bishops] have allowed rebellions and abuses to run free," reports Sandro Magister of L'Espresso.
       "The statement released at the end of the meeting didn't say so, but for two days in a row the Austrian bishops faced severe criticism," Magister continues.
       [COMMENT: The Austrian bishops cannot be really toppled in their own land, as much as the Vatican Curia might like to do so.  The Curia seems to be out of touch with reality regarding its promotions of clergy. ENDS.]

    • Fresh twist to Kizito sex claim probe

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana*] - RCC. 5, or 4 boys.    
       Daily Nation, By DOMINIC WABALA, Posted 20:14, Friday, June 19 2009
       KENYA -- Investigations into claims of sexual abuse of four boys by a Catholic priest entered their second day on Friday with one of the boys allegedly failing to implicate the cleric.
       A senior police officer said that one of the boys claimed he could not recall being abused by the priest, Father Renato Kizito.
       The three other boys are reported to have accused the priest, who runs a home for destitute boys, of sexually abusing them. But a police doctor's medical examination of the four did not find any conclusive evidence that they had been sexually abused.
       The alleged victims, aged 11, 17, 24 and 25 years, were scheduled to be examined again yesterday.

    • Baptist ministers facing sex charges appear in court

      - Baptists.
       Associated Baptist Press, By Bob Allen, Friday, June 19, 2009
       LIBERTY, Mo. (ABP) -- Southern Baptist ministers in three states facing molestation charges had recent days in court. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:34 PM, June 19, 2009]

    • Potters House Church pastor charged with molesting 12-year-old

      [2007 Jose Dossantos* (40)] - Potter's House. Girl (12).
       TBO, TBO.com Staff, Published: June 19, 2009
       FLORIDA -- A church pastor has been charged with lewd and lascivious molestation in connection with a March 2007 incident involving a 12-year-old girl.
       Jose A. Dossantos, 42, of 7013 Early Gold Lane, Riverview, was arrested Thursday and released from jail today after posting a surety bond.
       Jail records indicate Dossantos is the pastor of Potters House Church.

    • Kenya: Missionaries Call for Justice in Sex Abuse Claim

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni Missionary)] - RCC. 5 or 4 boys.    
       AllAfrica, ~ June 19, 2009
       KENYA -- Comboni Missionaries, the religious congregation of a priest accused of child molestation, has said it expects justice to prevail in the matter.
       "We Comboni Missionaries are shocked and saddened by the accusations against one of our own priests, Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana. Fr. Kizito has been involved in many humanitarian projects for the good of the people of this country," the congregation said in a statement signed by the Provincial Superior, Fr. Mariano Tibaldo.
       "We totally submit to the law of the country but we underline that no one is guilty until proven so. So let justice prevail. We likewise want to submit to the indications of the Holy See. In this difficult moment let Fr. Kizito feel we are near him with brotherly care.

    • Pope deplores 'acts of infidelity' by priests

      - RCC.        
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 19, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE POPE has deplored acts of infidelity by priests and has called for "a frank and complete acknowledgment" of the Catholic Church's weakness.
       In what is being interpreted as an indirect response to the Ryan report, as well as to clerical sex abuse generally, he said yesterday that there had been "situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers". …
       However one US victims' group said yesterday that his words of sorrow "ring hollow".
       David Clohessy, director of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, said: "It's tiresome again to see verbal Vatican posturing about clergy sex crimes devoid of any action whatsoever or any admission that the real issue remains: callous bishops who continue to recklessly and deceptively transfer sexually troubled priests to unsuspecting parishes."

    • Attorney: Revive suit over abuse in mid- '70s

      [1970s Charles Hoffman*] - RCC, Scouts. Boy.  
       Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, BY CHARLIE FRAGO, Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009
       ARKANSAS -- A 44-year-old Little Rock man should be allowed to revive a civil suit contending that he was abused more than three decades ago, his attorney argued before the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday.
       Paul Barre's suit against a former scoutmaster, the Boy Scouts of America and Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church was dismissed in 2007 by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Ellen Brantley because the three-year statute of limitations had run out.
       Barre said he didn't remember the abuse he blamed on Charles Emmett "Chick" Hoffman Jr. until 2003, after work with a therapist allowed him to recover the repressed memory of being fondled and receiving oral sex at age 12 by Hoffman at a Scout camp.

    • FoI might have exposed abuse, says Information Commissioner

      - Irish State, RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor, June 19, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE RYAN Commission Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in Institutions might not have been necessary if freedom of information legislation existed, according to Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly.
       Speaking at a conference on the Freedom of Information Act organised by Public Affairs Ireland, she asked: "What might have been the outcome if 30 years ago, FoI legislation had allowed the public to rip away the secretive bureaucratic veils that hid the industrial schools and other institutions from clear view and exposed the practices therein?
       "Leaving aside the abuse itself, a money trail might have uncovered the commercial exploitation of the children and the mismatch between State funding and the actual amounts parcelled out to the children by way of food, clothing and education.

    • After Ryan, one of the more disturbing by-products is that Religious have been made scapegoats<

      - RCC and Irish State. Orphaned and abandoned children.
       Irish Independent, By D Vincent Twomey, Friday June 19 2009
       IRELAND -- Another by-product is the way politicians and secular commentators are using the present outrage to promote their own agenda
       The media, including the Irish Independent, gave full coverage to my reference to the perpetrators of abuse in Catholic-run institutions as the "dregs of society" (in fact I added "of a certain kind"). This was when I took part in a lively debate on Radio Ulster about an article I had written. I regret very much this slip of the tongue, which has, understandably, caused offence.
       What was not reported was what I added almost immediately: "Don't forget, there were many other thousands of Religious who were doing extraordinary good work looking after the sick and educating a country that had been abandoned by [the British] government for 200 years."
       The original article, together with the subsequent radio discussion, was an initial attempt to understand how such evil could become endemic in the institutions mentioned in the Ryan report and be tolerated by the society of the time.

    • Victims' group questions U.S. Catholic Church ties to Irish sex abuse scandal

      - RCC.      
       Express-News, By Abe Levy, 12:51 PM, Jun 18, 09
       SAN ANTONIO (TX) -- As the national body of Catholic bishops launched its spring meeting at a River Walk hotel Wednesday, a handful of protesters were denied access to deliver a letter of concern about pedophile priests in Ireland, a problem they believe the bishops have so far ignored.
       Addressed to Cardinal Francis George, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the letter asks the bishops to condemn the child sex abuse scandal recently made public in an Irish government report -- and reveal any ties to the U.S. Catholic Church.
       The letter questions specifically whether pedophile priests from Catholic orphanages, boarding schools and other residential programs in Ireland were sent to similar institutions in the United States only to contribute to the pedophile priest scandal here, which became widely known in 2001.
       [COMMENT: 2002 more likely.]

    • Brothers seek forgiveness over abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. Paedophiles were protected by Church and State.    
       CathNews, ~ June 19, 2009
       IRELAND -- Ryan Commission Report on abuse in institutions, Christian Brothers congregational leader, Br Philip Pinto, has called on the brothers to become "more human and compassionate" and to "seek forgiveness" from victims.
       The 2,600 page report found that for decades rape was "endemic" in more than 250 Irish Catholic institutions from the 1930s to the 1990s, and that the Church protected pedophiles in its ranks from arrest.
       In a letter sent to Christian Brothers throughout the world, Br Pinto said the report was "very critical" of many institutions, including those run by the Christian Brothers, and the findings "leave us all ashamed and humbled".

    • Group looks for abuse in Catholic schools

      - RCC.  
       United Press International, Published June 18, 2009
       WALTHAM, Mass., (UPI) -- Catholic schools in the United States may have had the same pattern of abuse revealed by the Ryan Report in Ireland, a Massachusetts group says.
       BishopAccountability.org, based in Waltham, posted a list on its Web site of 12 Roman Catholic schools where teachers or other staff members have already faced charges of molesting children, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.
       The Ryan Report documented years of sexual and physical abuse of boys and girls in institutions run by the Christian Brothers, Sisters of Mercy and other Catholic religious orders. While most of the abuse occurred years ago, the report has sparked a call to end the church's dominant role in education.

    • Ireland needs to restore damaged reputation

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.    
       Irish Independent, By Brendan Keenan, Friday June 19 2009
       IRELAND -- AFTER the twin scandals of Anglo-Irish Bank and the Ryan report into institutional abuse, Ireland needs to restore its damaged international reputation by applying high standards of governance, a major cross-border economic conference heard yesterday.
       Frances Ruane, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said it was an "unfortunate coincidence" that the evidence of wrongdoing at Anglo and the Ryan report came so close together.
       "There is a real issue about restoring our reputation," she told the conference organised by InterTrade Ireland, the cross-border development body.

    • Judge: New evidence very likely to produce different result on retrial, in case of Santillan vs Bishop of Fresno

      - RCC.  
       City of Angels, By Kay Ebeling, Creator, City of Angels Blog, ~ June 19, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Plaintiffs claim new evidence shows defendant frequently received reports of molestation which were either never documented or the documentation was 'lost.' (- Judge granting new trial in Fresno this week)
       Plaintiffs also question: If this new witness and his mother reported pedophile behavior in 1967, why is there nothing about the report in the files defendants turned over before the first trial?
       A date for new trial should be set at a status conference in Fresno July 15th.
       Trying to prevent the new trial, Defendant the Bishop of Fresno claimed since they turned over the name of this new witness during pretrial discovery, his testimony is hardly new evidence. Defendants say plaintiffs had plenty of time to find him and interview him before the March 2009 trial.

    • And here comes the drama in the Cutié marriage

      [2009 Feb / Jun - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - ex- RCC (now an Episcopalian). Married divorced Ms Canellis. Attempt to exile ex-boyfriend.    
       Miami Herald, ~ June 19, 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- Now that ex-priest Alberto Cutié is a married man, a honeymoon should be in the making for him and his bride Ruhama Buni Canellis.
       Instead, the couple will battle in court with the bride's ex-boyfriend, who says they owe him $15,000 and that the newlyweds conspired with Biscayne Park cops to kick him out of the picture.
       In a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Maxi Paulus Ratunuman, 44, says Biscayne Park police arrested him without cause on June 6 while he was installing floor tiles in a customer's house on Griffing Boulevard.

    • International pastor's lawyer to seek bail

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis (45)*] - Christian. 2 teen girls.    
       Go Jamaica, ~ June 19, 2009
       JAMAICA -- Attorney-at-law Michael Erskine, who is one of the lawyers representing the international pastor arrested on allegations of engaging in sexual activities with two teenaged girls in Jamaica, says he will be seeking bail for his client.
       Reverend Dr. Paul Lewis was remanded yesterday when he appeared in the Sav-la-mar Resident Magistrates Court in Westmoreland.
       Mr. Esrkine says he will be making a bail application in the Supreme Court next week.

    • Pastor charged for alleged sexual abuse of teenage girl

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis*] - Christian. 2 teen girls (~ 15).    
       Dominica News, CMC, ~ June 19, 2009
       KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - A United States-based Pentecostal pastor has been charged for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl in Jamaica.
       Paul Lewis, 45, was questioned in the presence of his attorney Michael Erskine Wednesday and later charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault for an alleged incident involving a 15-year-old girl.
       The pastor is accused of carrying out the act at a hotel in the western city of Negril.
       Lewis, who was born in Jamaica but lives in New York, was arrested on Sunday just as he was about to preach at a crusade.

    • SF vs. the Catholics, Round One

      - RCC. Values US $210m to $1250m.  
       San Francisco Bay Guardian, By Rachel Buhner, ~ June 19, 2009
       SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- The highly anticipated showdown between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the San Francisco Assessor-Recorders Office came to head June 16th in the Atrium conference room located at One South Van Ness. At stake is millions of dollars in revenue to the city, and perhaps the question of whether the Catholic Church will be able to hide hundreds of millions in assets from sexual abuse victims and other litigants.
       Arguing in front of the Transfer Tax Review Board, the legal counsel for both the RCA and the Assessor-Recorder's Office presented their respective cases with minimal theatrics. However, with the city estimating the total property values of the transferred parcels ranging anywhere from $210 million to $1.25 billion, and the potential transfer tax payout to be somewhere between $3 and $15 million – on top of increased property taxes as the properties are reassessed -- there was clearly a lot at stake for both parties.
       Each side began by offering arguments for and against the payment of the transfer taxes, with little new information being offered beyond previous filings. Using PowerPoint presentations, intricate graphs and convoluted Canon Law citations, the counsels presented their reasoning as to why the taxes are owed, or why the RCA should be exempt.
       [SCRIPTURE: "Whose image and superscription is this? … render unto Caesar …" (check around Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25. ENDS.]
       [AFTER-THOUGHT: Where does the money come to pay the lawyers? ENDS.]

    • John Fidler: Are children still at risk of abuse from Catholic priests?

      - RCC. 2002 movie.
       Reading Eagle, http://www. readingeagle. com/article. aspx?id=143948 , ~ June 19, 2009
       READING (PA) -- They are more than naked, the girls lined up side by side while nuns taunt them about the most intimate parts of their bodies. Charity and mercy are missing in this asylum for girls caught kissing boys, for being raped or in some cases, for simply being too pretty.
       While the nuns throw their taunts like so many darts, some of the girls cry; some stare through their tormentors, numb to the mistreatment.
       In Peter Mullan's shattering film from 2002, "The Magdalene Sisters," scene follows scene in which the nuns humiliate, abuse and otherwise deny the humanity of a sampling of the 30,000 girls believed to have been persecuted in these Irish asylums over a century. The last Magdalene Asylum closed in 1996.

    • 'Uniform approach' needed to abuse issue

      [1990-2008] - Anglicans. 191 allegations.  
       Sydney Morning Herald, by Paul Osborne, 4:29PM, June 19, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Anglican leader Archbishop Phillip Aspinall has called on all states to make it easier for child sexual abuse victims to sue churches.
       Archbishop Aspinall's call comes in the wake of an independent report commissioned by his church which found it took on average 23 years for a victim of sexual abuse to report their abuse.
       All states set a time limit, known as the statute of limitations, for abuse victims to bring their cases to court.

    • RYAN REPORT: Sinn Féin in the Dáil debate on the clerical child abuse scandal and cover-up

      - RCC and Irish State. Systematic child abuse.    
       An Phoblacht, BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA, ~ June 19, 2009
       IRELAND -- ONE of the most emotional demonstrations ever seen on the streets of Dublin was witnessed in Ireland and beyond these shores last week. Thousands of people who had been abused as children in institutions run by Catholic religious orders and by the state walked from Parnell Square to Leinster House on the eve of the Dáil debate on the Ryan Report.
       The Ryan Report has documented a catalogue of horrific abuse of children stretching over decades and cover-up of that abuse by church and state. It has reopened the debate on the flawed 2002 deal between the Fianna Fáil/PD Government and the religious orders and it has led to calls for more support for the victims and action to aid children at risk today. Further revelations are expected in the forthcoming report on clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese.
       Speaking in the Dáil debate on the Ryan Report, Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín ó Caoláin called for the establishment of an independent international audit of the assets of the religious orders responsible for systematic child abuse.

    • Vatican City: Pope Alludes to Ireland's Abuse Scandals

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.      
       The New York Times, By RACHEL DONADIO, Published: June 18, 2009
       VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI called on Thursday for a "frank and complete acknowledgment" of the "weaknesses" of priests and denounced those who did not honor their vows. It was the pope's first statement on such matters since a state-appointed commission in Ireland last month reported "endemic" sexual and physical abuse in church-run residential schools there from the 1930s to the 1990s, when the last of the institutions closed.

    • Lobbying Intensifies, but Fate of Sex Abuse Bill Is Up in the Air

       
       The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: June 18, 2009
       ALBANY (New York State) – The political education of Beth McCabe began a few years ago, when she took her turn at the microphone here during a Senate committee hearing on childhood sexual abuse.
       As Ms. McCabe, a consultant for nonprofit groups, testified about being abused as a 10-year-old, and saw the pained reaction of elected officials in the hushed room, she had a kind of epiphany, she said: that maybe her personal story – painful and private for so many years – would have the power to change public policy.
       It was a moment of pure insight, common to many of the volunteer advocates who have been trawling the Capitol hallways for months, lobbying for a bill that would permit adults to file suit over childhood sexual abuse that may have occurred long ago.

    • Priest told to leave Charleroi parish

      [1980s-90s Fr David Dzermejko*] - RCC. Given 1hr to leave. Minor.
       Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Jonathan D. Silver, Friday, June 19, 2009
       PENNSYLVANIA -- A veteran Catholic priest recently accused of a long-ago sexual assault was abruptly told to pack his belongings and leave his parish in short order, the pastor's lawyer said yesterday.
       John P. Liekar Jr. said the Rev. David F. Dzermejko told him that a priest from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh "met with him, made the allegation and told him to get out. He had one hour to gather what he could and he had to get out on the street."
       The diocese on Monday placed Father Dzermejko, 61, on administrative leave from Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi while an internal inquiry runs its course.

    • Phila. abuse suit targets Catholic order

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).
       Philadelphia Inquirer, By David O'Reilly, June 19, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- A nephew of the late New York Cardinal John O'Connor says he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest while a student at Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia.
       Attorneys for Rich Green, O'Connor's 31-year-old nephew, announced yesterday that they were filing a lawsuit in Delaware against the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, whose Wilmington-Philadelphia Province dispatches teachers to schools from Boston to Florida.
       The suit alleges that the late Rev. John M. McDevitt, an Oblate, abused Green in the early 1990s when Green was a 14-year-old freshman at Judge and McDevitt was his religion teacher.

    • Sex allegations against priest, nearly 20 years later

      [1991 Fr John McDevitt* (Salesian)] - RCC. Boy (14).
       Philadelphia Daily News, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, sbarned-smith@phillynews.com , 215-854-5926, June 19, 2009
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- When Jack McDevitt made his farewell speech to Philadelphia City Council in June 1962 before beginning his studies for the priesthood, his mother cried tears of happiness.
       "He was destined to be a priest since he was an infant," she said in a Daily News article at the time.
       And a fellow councilman said: "I've never seen him angry… . I know he'll be a very fine priest."
       But John M. McDevitt Jr.'s legacy became clouded yesterday when a Salem County, N.J., man filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, molestation and physical abuse by the priest, who died in 1999 at age 75. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:18 AM, June 19, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Fri June 19, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sat June 20, 2009 edition:


    • Va. Beach Sunday school assistant accused of sexually abusing child

      [2008-2009 June 20 - Mr Shea Huffman (18) -NEW*] - Assembly of God. Child.  
       The Virginian-Pilot, http:// hamptonroads. com/ 2009/06/ va-beach- sunday-school- assistant- accused-sexually- abusing-child , By Ricardo Lopez, June 19, 2009
       VIRGINIA BEACH (VA) -- Virginia Beach police arrested a Sunday school teaching assistant Friday after reports of sexual abuse by a child in his class, police said in a news release.
       Shea Mathew Huffman, 18, has been charged with custodial indecent liberties and forcible sodomy. Huffman worked at Calvary Assembly of God at 4925 Providence Road. The alleged abuse occurred from January 2008 until June 2009, police said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:11 AM, June 20, 2009]

    • 400 cases of sexual abuse by Dutch clergy

      [1995-2009 Various clergy] - Protestants and Roman Catholics. 400 cases.  
       Expatica Netherlands, ~ June 20, 2009
       NETHERLANDS -- More than 400 cases of sexual abuse by clergy have been reported in the Netherlands since 1995
       The Netherlands - The allegations were made on Friday night by television programme Zembla.
       Among the victims are people who sought council [counsel] from both Catholic priests and Protestant ministers.
       The offenders include clergy holding a variety of functions and ranks. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:05 AM, June 20, 2009]

    • Former altar boy alleges in suit that L.A. priest molested him

      [1986, 1987, 1988 - Fr Aguilar-Rivera] - RCC. Sundry survivors.    
       Los Angeles Times, By Duke Helfand, June 19, 2009
       LOS ANGELES (CA) -- A former altar boy sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Thursday, alleging that he was sexually abused by a priest in 1987 shortly before the priest fled to his native Mexico to avoid criminal prosecution over other molestation allegations.
       The plaintiff, now 32, alleges that when he was 9 or 10, Father Nicholas Aguilar-Rivera molested him repeatedly at a Catholic church near downtown Los Angeles.
       The lawsuit asserts that an official with the archdiocese later encouraged Aguilar-Rivera to leave Los Angeles after parents of several children from the parish reported similar abuse to church officials. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:23 AM, June 20, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: ~ April 18, 2009; February 07, 2009; ~ September 28, 2008 (book exposé banned in Mexico); July 28, 2008 (arrested).]

    • Group asks Diocese to consider moratorium on closing of churches

      - RCC.  
       The Post-Standard, by Hart Seely / 3:50 PM, Saturday June 20, 2009
       SYRACUSE (NY) -- About 170 people from parishes throughout Central New York came together today in Syracuse to formally petition the Syracuse Catholic Diocese to reconsider its plans for consolidating and closing local churches.
       The group will pass petitions and make a direct appeal to new Bishop Robert J. Cunningham, asking him to call a moratorium on the reconfiguration program, until the decision-making process has been reviewed.
       Today's meeting at the Bishop Harrison Center on Lancaster Avenue brought speakers from several parishes that have been consolidated or face imminent closure. Some spoke of frustration with the system and the negative impacts they believe it has had on the church. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:56 PM]

    • Parishioners vow to fight church closings

      - 100 join fight to save RC church.
       News 10 Now, with video, By Tamara Lindstrom 06:44 PM Jun/20/2009
       SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- About 100 people gathered in Syracuse Saturday in an effort to stop the Catholic Diocese from closing more churches.
       "What we object to in the strongest terms is shutting down a vibrant, financially strong Catholic community because we see that as a continuation of a retreat which Catholicism is now engaged in," said Peter Borre, chair of the Council of Parishes located in Boston. Borre has fought reconfiguration in Boston for five years, and was brought in to give the parishioners advice.
       The Syracuse diocese has closed dozens of churches in the last three years, and more mergers and closings are in the works.

    • Sex, lies and the Internet: priests and pornography caught in the Web

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni Missionary)] - RCC. 5 or 4 boys.    
       Saturday Nation, By GITAU WARIGI, gwarigi@nation.co.ke , Posted 18:10 Saturday, June 20 2009
       KENYA -- Perverts have had a bad time this past week, which is just as well. They are a creeping menace. I am told they are considered the lowest of the low by even hardcore convicts. They are terribly humiliated by fellow inmates when they are sent to Kamiti or Shimo la Tewa prisons.
       One of them was arrested recently when he foolishly presented himself at a Nairobi studio to collect photographs from a film he had sent to be developed. It contained pictures of naked women and – hello – children. I am on the prudish side, but I know very well that there is a thriving underground market for such pornographic enterprise in this country and beyond; it is something akin to the market for hard drugs.
       No question about it: the Internet has been a revolutionary purveyor of every bit of information one can think of. This also means it can be used to transmit every kind of smut imaginable. …
       The august institution called the Catholic Church has been caught up in this messy mix. The allegations affect a missionary and former columnist for this newspaper, Fr Renato Kizito. Simultaneously, the controversy over priests who have chosen to break with the church because of mandatory celibacy rules has been getting wide play.
       As far as I know, a Catholic priest takes certain vows, one of which is celibacy. Nobody drags him into it. If along the way he loses the vision, it is quite hilarious to blame the church.

    • Accused Asheville priest's hearing delayed

      [2009 May 18 - Fr John Schneider*] - RCC. Now resigned. Computer deletions. [- 2009 Mr Paul Berrell*] - RCC. Child pornography, statutory rape, indecent liberties.  
       Citizen-Times, Staff Reports, 12:15 AM, June 20, 2009
      ASHEVILLE (NC) – A court hearing for a former priest accused of deleting hundreds of child pornographic images from the home computer of his music minister has been continued until August.
       The Rev. John Schneider is scheduled to have a probable cause hearing Aug. 14 on a felony charge of obstruction of justice. Schneider, 56, resigned from St. Eugene Catholic Church following his June 9 arrest.
       A warrant states that Schneider entered the North Ridge Drive apartment of former music minister Paul Lawrence Berrell on May 18 and deleted hundreds of pornographic images of children "in secret and with malice" during a criminal investigation of Berrell.

    • Old boys defend Father Kizito

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni Missionary)] - RCC. 5 or 4 boys.    
       Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Written By: Wangari Kanyongo, Posted: Sat, Jun 20, 2009
       KENYA -- Beneficiaries of Kivuli Rehabilitation Centre ran by a Catholic Church priest at the centre of a child abuse scandal have come out to strongly defend their benefactor.
       The beneficiaries under the umbrella of the Kivuli Old Boys Welfare Association (KOBWA) say the centre's founder Father Renato Kizito is being framed by his detractors.
       The old boys who were joined by the children from the centre say that their image has been tarnished by reports that their benefactor has been sexually abusing some of them.

    • Victims ask for justice, bishops ask for forgiveness

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.    
       The Sunday Times (Philippines), By Fr. Shay Cullen, for June 21, 2009
       IRELAND -- It was not so much a "march of misery" than one of memories. There was plenty of both as many as five thousand people walked silently through the streets of the capital Dublin to the seat of the Irish government, Dail Eireann, to remember the thousands of children who suffered abuse in the more that 216 Irish institutions run by religious orders for 70 years until they were closed down in the late 1970s. I marched with them to remember and walk in solidarity and to join my voice to those who have vowed to defend children's rights without compromise.
       There were survivors on the march, the relatives of the victims and thousands of supporters. It was dignified and yet emotional. Christine Buckley, a survivor and campaigner for justice for victims of clerical abuse, spoke powerfully of the 10 years of struggle to have their voices heard, their suffering acknowledged and just recompense made. "This was the day they were all striving for," she said. The long awaited Ryan Report on the history of child abuse in the Church-run industrial schools finally exposed the extent and severity of the physical, psychological, emotional and sexual abuse they suffered.

    • Pope Appoints CDF Under-Secretary, Bulawayo Archbishop

      [2006-07 Abp Ncube*] - RCC. Married woman (who died May 2008).    
       Vatican Radio, with audio, June 20, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (RV) -- On Saturday Pope Benedict made a series of appointments.
       He named Monsignor Damiano Marzotto Caotorta, under secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Msgr. Caotorta replaces Archbishop-elect Di Noia who has gone to fill the post of under secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.
       Also Saturday the Holy Father appointed Indian Divine Word Missionary Alex Thomas KALIYANIL Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo Zimbabwe.
       The Archdiocese has been without a pastoral leader since the resignation of Archbishop Pius Ncube in 2007.

    • Pope Benedict appoints new archbishop, replaces Pius Ncube

      [2006-07 Abp Ncube*] - RCC. Married woman (who died May 2008).
       Zimbabwe Guardian, by Nancy Pasipanodya, 13:13:00 +0000, Sat, Jun 20, 2009
       ZIMBABWE -- POPE BENEDICT XVI has appointed Indian Divine Word Missionary Alex Thomas Kaliyanil Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo Zimbabwe, replacing disgraced Archbishop Pius Ncube who stepped down in 2007.
       The Archdiocese has been without a pastoral leader since Ncube's resignation. A fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe, Ncube was forced to step down after he was accused of having an affair and fathering a son with a Ms Rosemary Sibanda.
       The Archbishop elect, who was born in the Archeparchy of Changanacherry in India, has served as a missionary priest in Zimbabwe since 1987 when he was solemnly professed as a Divine Mercy Missionary. He was ordained a priest in 1988.

    • Judge acquits pastor in molestation case

      [2008 Rev. James M. Wilson] - Baptist. Girl (16).  
       Columbia Daily Tribune, June 19, 2009
       MISSOURI -- A Moberly pastor was acquitted Tuesday in Boone County Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree child molestation.
       James M. Wilson, 42, of Renick still faces a Sept. 14 trial in Randolph County on a kidnapping charge. Wilson, who is also the principal of Terrill Road Christian Academy in Moberly, was found not guilty by Associate Circuit Judge Larry Bryson on the molestation charge.
       Wilson's 16-year-old accuser told authorities Wilson took her in May 2008 from Moberly to a Columbia hotel, where she claimed that he fondled her. Boone County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Scholz said Bryson determined certain aspects of the girl's testimony were not credible. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:32 AM, June 20, 2009]
       [LOOK BACK: Nov 11, 2008]

    • Brooklyn 'Prophet' Preacher Charged With Carnal Abuse in Caribbean

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Dr Paul Lewis* (45)] - "Messengers for Christ." 2 teen girls.    
       Brooklyn Daily Eagle, By Howard Campbell, Associated Press, and Ryan Thompson, ~ June 20, 2009
       NEW YORK, BEDFORD-STUYVESANT – A Brooklyn-based Pentecostal faith healer who has led crusades around the world was charged last week with sexually abusing a teenage girl in his native Jamaica.
       Paul Lewis, of the The Messengers for Christ World Healing Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, was charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault in an incident involving a 15-year-old girl in the western Jamaican city of Negril, police said.
       Lewis, 45, made an initial court appearance on the charges but did not enter a plea. A judge ordered him held without bail. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:17 AM

    • Pope opens Year for Priests, says they must witness God's compassion

      - RCC.  
       Catholic News Service, By John Thavis, ~ June 20, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Formally opening the Year for Priests, Pope Benedict urged all priests to strive for holiness and said the ordained ministry was indispensable for the church and the world.
       "The church needs priests who are holy, ministers who help the faithful experience the merciful love of the Lord and who are convinced witnesses of that love," the pope said at a prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica June 19.
       At the same time, in an apparent reference to cases of priestly sex abuse, he warned of the "terrible risk of damaging those we are obliged to save."

    • Brooklyn pastor, Dr. Paul Lewis, busted in Jamaica for teen sex rap

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Paul Lewis (45)*] - "Messengers for Christ Ministries". Cash offered. 2 teen girls.    
       New York Daily News, BY Alison Gendar, DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF, 4:00 AM, Saturday, June 20, 2009
       NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn pastor was busted in his native Jamaica for having sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old watched, authorities said yesterday.
       The Rev. Paul Lewis, founder of the Messengers for Christ Ministries World Healing Center, was held without bail on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault, Jamaican police said.
       The Bedford-Stuyvesant evangelist was arrested Wednesday after witnesses saw him hanging out with the girls and then taking them to a hotel, police said. Lewis, 45, who was on the island for a crusade at a local church, is accused of offering the girls between $30 and $60 for the romp.

    • Roots of a warped view of sexuality

      - RCC's repression of Nature's ways.    
       The Irish Times, June 20, 2009
       Why is it that child sex abuse was more prevalent in Irish Catholicism than elsewhere? To answer that question it is necessary to go back to the Famine and examine how sex became a taboo, writes PATSY McGARRY
       IRELAND -- YOU MIGHT have seen that report on the RTÉ TV news last Monday from Charlie Bird in Mendham, New Jersey. There, they erected the first monument in the world to victims of clerical child sex abuse.
       It is a 180kg basalt stone, in the shape of a millstone, with a chain running through it. An inscription attached reads, in those unequivocal words of Jesus from Matthew's gospel, concerning those who would harm the young: "It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea".
       The monument was inspired by a suicide, in October 12th, 2003, of 37-year-old James Kelly, who had been sexually abused as a child by a priest in Mendham. His abuser was Fr James Hanley, who had served at St Joseph's parish in Mendham. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:49 AM]
       [COMMENT: "More prevalent in Irish Catholicism"?  There is no proof of that, and more transparency in other countries might show that it is global, and that other religions, including Judaism and Hinduism etc, have a similar high risk factor. ENDS.]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat June 20, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sun June 21, 2009 edition:


    • Cura de Jalapa, proveedor de pornografía infantil

      [Fr Rafael Muniz Lopez - NEW*] - ? RCC. Child porn supplier.        
       Notisistema, http://www. notisistema. com/noticias/? p=189319 , ~ June 21, 2009
       MEXICO -- Rafael Muñiz López (en la foto), sacerdote de Jalapa, Veracruz, era el principal proveedor de imágenes de menores de edad para una red de pornografía por Internet, según revelaron investigaciones de la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal (PGJDF). Al informar sobre la consignación de seis de los siete implicados, el titular de la dependencia, Miguel Ángel Mancera, aseguró que gracias a la intervención de correos electrónicos y mensajes instantáneos por Internet de Muñiz López –quien se identificaba como Lobo Siberiano– se descubrieron miles de imágenes y videos de pornografía infantil, muchas de las cuales distribuía desde su parroquia y la Universidad Veracruzana.
       [synopsis in English]
       The Attorney General for the Federal District alleges that the Rev. Rafael Muniz Lopez of Jalapa, Veracruz, was a main supplier of images of child pornography to an internet network.
       Miguel Angel Mancerea said that through emails and instant messages via the internet, authorities identified Lopez Muniz, who used the name Wolf-Siberian, as purveyor of thousands of images and videos of child pornography, many of which were distrubuted from the parish and Universidad Veracruzana. He added that he priest's brother, Francisco Javier, was released for lack of evidence. Investigation continues as an international network operates in Argentina, Brazil and Spain. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:11 PM, June 21, 2009]

    • No church shift on child abuse

      - National Anglicans won't budge.    
       The Australian, by Michael McKenna | for June 22, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- THE Anglican Church yesterday voted down an internal push by clergy to drop the statute of limitations on legal action for child sexual abuse.
       A motion before the three-day Brisbane synod, overseen by Primate Phillip Aspinall, would have set a nationwide precedent in exempting victims from laws that require they launch legal action by the time they turn 21.
       Peter Shayler-Webb tabled a motion that said the legal defence "works great injustice to victims of child sexual abuse by preventing them bringing cases, whether they have merit or not". [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:31 PM, June 21, 2009]

    • Minister accused of abuse

      [2003-09 Pastor Efrain Umana*] - Christian. ≤ 2 women, 1 girl.  
       World-Herald, By Katie Fretland, June 18, 2009
       NEBRASKA -- A minister who served Spanish-speaking congregations in Council Bluffs and Lincoln has been charged with sexually abusing a child parishioner and forcing an adult woman to have sex with him.
       Efrain Umana, 53, was extradited from Lincoln to Iowa last week. Tuesday night, he was released from the Pottawattamie County Jail after posting $50,000 bail.
       According to an affidavit filed in Pottawattamie County District Court, Umana took the girl in 2003 to the sound room of the Council Bluffs church where he was pastor. He said he was looking for keys. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM]

    • Abuse victims deserve justice

      - General community.
       Albany Times Union, First published in print: Sunday, June 21, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The state Assembly should give serious consideration to the Markey/Duane Child Victims Act now before it.
       All victims of childhood sexual abuse deserve access to civil court since access to the criminal justice system has been denied them forever by statutes of limitation.
       It is unconscionable that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in New York has seen fit to oppose legislation that would hold sexual predators, no matter their religious affiliation, accountable for their crimes.

    • We forced Christian behaviour into Catholic schools

      - RCC. Civil power stopped caning by 1982.  
       Irish Independent, By Dr Cyril Daly, Sunday June 21 2009
       IRELAND -- OVER the past several weeks, Irish people have suffered a sustained slur. The insinuations are grievous. And they are false. When children were being beaten in national schools and in secondary schools and in orphanages, Irish people, we are subtly invited to believe, did nothing and said nothing. That is a comprehensive lie. It is a deformation of Irish social and educational history.
       Irish lay people did act, did speak, did organise, did demand and did finally force the authorities to stop corporal punishment in Irish schools. The last Irish child to be caned or strapped legally was caned or strapped on Friday, January 29, 1982 -- 27 years ago. From that date Irish people, by their sustained campaigns, forced Christian behaviour into our Catholic schools -- to the palpitating horror of priests, nuns, brothers and salt-of-the-earth lay teachers.
       The strap was pulled from their hands. Not by Christian vision but by secular enforcement. That is a scandalous fact then, now and forever. We can never change that truth -- Christian values had to be forced by the secular arm of the State on teachers and religious. But we can, I hope, painfully but generously forgive.

    • Climate of fear stymies open debate on sex abuse

      [60yrs - Religious Orders, 216 places] - Irish bureaucrats and RCC. 30,000 children.
       Irish Independent, Sunday June 21 2009
       IRELAND -- PAYOUTS to victims of the recent earthquake in Italy had to be delayed last month after the number of people claiming for money turned out to be greater than the official population of the affected area.
       The mayor of the worst hit town insisted indignantly that "the people of L'Aquila are not cheats", but he needn't have been so touchy. The prospect of money for nothing is bound to attract a few chancers. It's human nature.
       It's become impossible, however, to suggest that any of those who claimed to have been the victims of abuse in Church-run institutions in Ireland might have been economical with the truth in the hope of financial gain, without being accused of siding with paedophiles. Even deviating by the slightest degree from the set of approved responses has become a risky undertaking. Fr Tom Coonan found that out last week when, during mass at St Joseph's church in Ballingar, Co Offaly, he observed that the boys sent to the nearby St Conleth's reformatory school in Daingean were … well, the next part is disputed.

    • Bishop Murry has earned community's appreciation

       
       Vindicator, Sun, June 21, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- Ever since the American Catholic Church was rocked to its core in 2002 by credible newspaper reports that the church's hierarchy had covered up numerous incidents of sexual abuse of minors by priests, we have adopted a hard line against bishops and archbishops who have been identified as protecting the clergy.
       Our position is that while priests who indulge in sexual abuse and pedophilia are being punished as a result of the outcry from Catholics and non-Catholics, the hierarchy has not been called to account. Some of the most influential bishops and archbishops have sought to silence the accusers of the abusive priests with monetary payoffs and to protect the priests by assigning them to other parishes.
       We have often criticized the failure of those in charge to deal with this shocking scandal in an honest, open, Christian manner.

    • Fall from grace

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Paul Lewis*] - "Messengers for Christ Ministries". 2 teen girls.    
       The Gleaner, by Adrian Frater, News Editor, Western Bureau: June 21, 2009
       JAMAICA -- THE ARREST of New York-based evangelist, the Reverend Dr Paul Lewis, has stunned the church community even as he remains behind bars at the Savanna-la-Mar police lock-up, in Westmoreland, facing charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault.
       The charismatic Lewis, who was born in Jamaica, has developed a reputation as a minister with healing powers, and is the founder and president of The Messengers For Christ Ministries World Healing Centre based in New York.
       But in Jamaica, Lewis is widely remembered as the man who baptised controversial dancehall star Desmond 'Ninja Man' Ballentine, who had a brief sojourn in the Church before returning to his secular ways.

    • 'Ashamed, humbled and repentant'

      - RCC's child care included scalding, holding under water, sexually abused.    
       The Times of Malta, by Fr Joe Borg, June 21, 2009
       IRELAND -- "They raped me on a Saturday, gave me an unmerciful beating afterwards, and then gave me Communion on Sunday. My God."
       This is just one quotation from the Ryan report or to use its official title 'The Report of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse'. The report compiles 2,600 pages of documented experiences like the one above. It shows very clearly that physical and sexual abuse was endemic in Irish institutions for boys run by religious orders between 1940 and the late 1970s.
       Hundreds of children were systematically beaten, flogged, kicked, physically assaulted, scalded, burned, held under water, beaten in front of other staff, residents, patients and pupils as well as sexually abused.
       Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he was overcome with anger and disgust when he read the report, and at one point while reading it, he hurled the document across the room; later, he had trouble sleeping. Mgr Martin had openly opposed the effort of his predecessor, Cardinal Desmond Connell, to prevent the release of documents showing how the Dublin archdiocese handled sex-abuse complaints. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:12 AM]

    • Iglesia defiende a cura acusado de pederastia

      [Fr Rafael Muniz Lopez *] - ? RCC. Child porn supplier.        
       La Mujer de Purpura viernes 19 de junio del 2009
       MEXICO -- La Arquidiócesis de Xalapa acusó a la Procuraduría del Distrito Federal de excederse en su actuación y fabricar pruebas qe inculpan a Rafael Muñiz López
       La Arquidiócesis de Xalapa aseguró que con la consignación del sacerdote Rafael Muñiz López (acusado de delincuencia organizada y pornografía infantil calificada) se busca golpear a la Iglesia católica.
       Indicó que "sin mayor fundamento y dolosamente", la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal (PGJDF) ejerció acción penal contra Muñiz López y lo consignó ante un juez del Reclusorio Norte.
       Aseveró que la Procuraduría capitalina se excedió en su actuación e incluso fabricó pruebas.
       [synopsis in English]
       Women in Purple
       Church Defends Priest Accused of Pedophilia
       Friday June 19 2009
       The Archdiocese of Xalapa has accused the Federal District Attorney of going too far in bringing charges against the Rev. Rafael Muniz Lopez who allegedly was found with child pornography on his computer.
       The archdiocese said the charges are without foundation and were maliciously brought agains the priest by the Attorney General and recorded before a judge in the Reclusorio Norte. It is also alleged by the archdiocese that evidence was fabricated and that this constitutes persecution of the Catholic Church.
       The priest was arrested April 17 in the parish of St. Peter the Apostle in Xalapa, Veracruz along with his brother Francisco Javier for alleged involvement in an international network of cyber-pedophiles. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:55 PM, June 21, 2009]

    • Abandoned to shame and heartbreak

      - RCC.  
       Herald, By Peter DeRosa, Saturday June 20 2009
       IRELAND -- For 24 years, I wrote about sex abuse in the Catholic Church for the Herald and its sister paper the Independent. They fought hard to bring clerics to account and obtain justice for their victims. At a time when the hierarchy considered itself the real Government and politicians grovelled before the Pope and bishops, no word of mine, however harsh, was censored.
       Here are a few excerpts from the scores of articles I wrote on this tragic topic.
       In March 2002, Michael Woods boasted he'd got religious to pay €127m to compensate victims of State institutions.
       "Extremely generous," said Bishop Walsh, chairman of the Bishops' Child Protection Committee.
       I wrote: "Victim numbers may far exceed what Woods expects. The taxpayer could be left footing a huge bill for the unspeakable crimes against children that religious bodies have perpetrated over decades." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:39 PM

    • Less red tape for Qld church sex victims

      - Brisbane Anglicans' kindness, justice.    
       Brisbane Times, 11:54PM, June 21, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- The Anglican Church in Brisbane has resolved to negotiate a protocol for waiving the time limit blocking child sex abuse victims from suing.
       All states set a time limit, known as the statute of limitations, for abuse victims to bring their cases to court.
       A motion calling for the church to stop invoking the statute, which is 21 years in Queensland, was debated at the Brisbane diocese annual Synod on Sunday, but did not pass.

    • DUIN: Missionary kids abused sexually

      - Movie.  
       The Washington Times, By Julia Duin | Sunday, June 21, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- I was at a book-signing event in Seattle a few months ago when I met Marilyn Christman, who asked me to look into the sexual abuse of Protestant missionary kids (MKs).
       I ended up viewing "All God's Children: The Ultimate Sacrifice," a documentary by New York filmmakers Scott Solary and Luci Westphal. They were haunted by the stories of more than 80 children whose days at a Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA) boarding school in Mamou, Guinea, in West Africa sound like something out of Abu Ghraib: savage beatings, sexual abuse, rape and sadistic punishments.
       Kids were beaten so hard the yardsticks broke. Old film footage of happy children at school – with classic hymns as the soundtrack – is juxtaposed with stern-faced adults describing the horrible things done to them. Mrs. Christman says she was raped by five male dorm parents starting when she was 8. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:27 PM

    • Sex and the Priestly: Father Cutie Renews Celibacy Debate

       
       Time, By Amy Sullivan Sunday, Jun. 21, 2009
       It's hard out there for a pope these days. On Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI launched what he is calling "The Year of Priests," exhorting Roman Catholics to spend the coming year honoring the sacrifice of their local pastors and directing priests to encourage each other so that they might, among other things, "be able to live fully the gift of celibacy and build thriving Christian communities."
       Overshadowing the Pope's declaration, however, was the news that earlier in the week Father Alberto Cutie – the Miami-based priest and television personality who left the Catholic church last month amid soap opera-worthy scandal – had married his girlfriend of two years. Also making waves was the publication of former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland's memoir detailing his life as a closeted gay man within the church and the loneliness that drove him to pursue a sexual relationship with another man. Weakland, who stepped down seven years ago when he turned 75, the age when priests typically submit letters of resignation that the Church may or may not accept, is the highest-ranking Catholic leader to publicly reveal his homosexuality.
       Although both he and Cutie have insisted they do not want to be held up as poster boys for changing the Church's celibacy requirement, their stories have added new fuel to a long-simmering debate. The Catholic Church in the U.S. has a serious priest crisis – the number of men entering the priesthood has dropped by 60% over the past four decades and the current average age of active priests is 60. Many dioceses have been forced to close parishes or import foreign priests to deal with shortages. But advocates of celibacy reform say there is a better solution: ditch the 900-year-old church law prohibiting priests from marrying or being sexually active. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:17 PM

    • Priest calls for inquiry into north’s institutions

      - Fr McCafferty, SURVIVOR, speaks out.    
       Live Journal, By Diana Rusk, Irish News, June 19, 09
       IRELAND -- THE publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, detailing the shocking scale of the abuse of children in homes run by clergy, has encouraged many more victims to come forward.
       Fr Patrick McCafferty, who was sexually assaulted at the hands of a priest and who now helps other abuse survivors, said the report published last month had empowered victims to tell their story and find help.
       In 2003, after decades of silence, the Belfast-born priest spoke publicly about his ordeal, to encourage the many hundreds of other victims to find the strength to deal with the horrors of their past. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:24 AM, June 21, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sun June 21, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 22, 2009 edition:


    • Baptist Church director resigns after he's linked to child porn

      [- 2009 June - Unnamed man -NEW*, very new] - Baptist. Child pornography
       St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www. stltoday.com/ stltoday/news/ stories.nsf/ stcharles/ story/ E77195AFE9F544 FA862575DD0071 AE66?OpenDocument ; By Joel Currier, June/22/2009
       ST. CHARLES (MO) -- The director of children's programs at the First Baptist Church of St. Charles has resigned after authorities began investigating him on suspicion of child pornography, Senior Pastor David Sheppard said today.
       The man has not been arrested but detectives with the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department seized his computer Friday at the church, 2701 Muegge Road, Sheppard said. The man worked part time running children's programs at the church for 4 1/2 years. Sheppard said authorities also seized the man's home computer.
       Sheriff's Lt. Craig McGuire would not confirm or deny whether the department is investigating the man. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:22 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Miracle on the 73: TBN Personality Turns Wine into a Double DUI

      [2009 April 26 - Pastor Stephen Galiher -NEW*] - Trinity Music City Church. Drink driving. Man injured.  
       Orange County Weekly, By Gustavo Arellano, in Gimme That OC Religion, ~ June 22, 2009
       ORANGE COUNTY (CA) -- It's telling about the sad state of religion reporting in Orange County, one of the founts of American Christianity, that no one has yet to report this: a major Trinity Broadcasting Company personality has pleaded guilty to two felony DUIs that put a 70-year-old man in the hospital with serious injuries.
       On April 26, around 10 p.m., one Stephen Eugene Galiher was speeding at least over 85 miles per hour in his company-owned BMW on the 73 Freeway near the 55 Freeway interchange when he smashed into a car, causing it to overturn twice. Galiher--the head pastor at Trinity Music City Church, the main place of worship at TBN's Christian music theme park in Hendersonville, Tennessee--was in town after appearing four days earlier on Behind the Scenes, a show where TBN head Paul Crouch checks in with his many ministers. A California Highway Patrol report obtained by the Weekly shows that the officer on hand "smell[ed] a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Galiher's breath and, his eyes were red and bloodshot." When asked what he drank, the pastor admitted to "2 glasses of red wine at the Newport Beach Island Hotel." Either Galiher's a lightweight, or he's a big liar--when was the last time drinking too much wine created bloodshot eyes? [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:07 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Trial date postponed for Coeburn pastor charged with indecent exposure at Kingsport's Riverfront Park

      [2009 April 8 - Pastor John McCarroll -NEW*] - Christian. Indecent exposure.
       Times-News, Staff Report, ~ June 22, 2009
       KINGSPORT (TN) -- The case of a Coeburn pastor charged with indecent exposure on April 8 has been postponed and is set for a hearing on motions.
       Kingsport Police Department vice detectives arrested John Franklin McCarroll, 65, 2306 E. First Ave., Big Stone Gap. The arrest occurred during an undercover investigation into lewd and lascivious acts at the public restrooms at Riverfront Park on Netherland Inn Road. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:12 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Grand Jury indicted Rodgerson

      [-2009 Mr Aaron Rodgerson -NEW*] - Religion not known yet. Failure to report neglect of baby (10mos).  
       Kirksville Daily Express, ~ June 22, 2009
       KIRKSVILLE (MO) – Kirksville City Councilman Aaron Rodgerson was indicted by the Adair County Grand Jury Friday for misdemeanor charges of failure to report abuse or neglect of a child under the age of 18 years of age as a mandated reporter, and unlawfully engaging in the practice of law.
       Rodgerson, 34, was arrested Friday night at 8:12 p.m. at 1010 W. Burton Street.
       He bonded out a little more than two hours later.
       According to court documents, law enforcement officials responded to a hotline call on or about May 6, describing a malnourished 10-month-old baby. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:25 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Former priest charged with abusing child accused resigns from his parish

      [1977-81 Unnamed former priest (32-36) - NEW*] - RCC. Girl (12)    
       The Queensland Times, by Andrew Korner | for June 23, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A FORMER Ipswich Catholic priest has been charged with the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl from the city.
       Police said they issued the 64-year-old man - now living in Brisbane - with a notice to appear in court last Thursday in relation to charges of indecent treatment of a child.
       Detective Inspector Mick Niland said the offences were alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1981 when the man, then aged between 32 and 36, was working as Catholic priest in the Ipswich area. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:37 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Christian Brother John Coswello committed child-sex offences at St Vincent's boys' orphanage in South Melbourne

      [1970s Bro. John Coswello ? NEW*] - RCC. 2yrs 10mo PRISON. Orphan boy (12)    
       Broken Rites, By a Broken Rites researcher, ~ June 22, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- In the Melbourne County Court on 15 May 2009, a jury found a Catholic religious brother guilty of committing sexual offences against a 12-year-old boy in a Melbourne orphanage.
       Brother John Francis Coswello (aged 70 at the time of the trial) has been a member of the Victoria-Tasmania province of the Christian Brothers for more than 50 years.
       On 22 June 2009 Judge Ross Howie sentenced Coswello to two years and ten months jail, with a minimum of 15 months to be spent behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
       The charges related to St Vincent's Boys Home at 237 Cecil Street, South Melbourne, where Coswello worked durng the 1970s. The court was told that Coswello's duties included being in charge of a dormitory at night.

    • Catholic Church must develop new role to survive

      - RCC.  
       The Irish Times, By FINTAN O'TOOLE, for June 23, 2009
       If the church is to have a future it has to replace the ethic of control with a radical ethic of service, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE
       IRELAND -- IRISH DEBATE is very good at presenting people with false alternatives. As we stumble tentatively towards some kind of new settlement for the provision of social services, we seem to face another one. If, we are told, we don’t want church control of schools and hospitals, we must have State control. If the church hands over ownership of primary schools, everything will be run by bureaucrats from the Department of Education in Dublin. One hierarchy will be replaced by another.
       It ain’t necessarily so. Public ownership isn’t the same thing as rigid State control. There is, and will always be, an important place for voluntary organisation, including that of religious communities and people of faith.
       Our problem in Ireland is that the peculiar intertwining of nationality and religion, predating even that of church and State, left us without a clear sense of what governments should do. We have never, to this day, developed a strong sense that there are basic aspects of health, education and welfare that belong to citizens as of right. Partly because the church would not allow it to do so, the State has never accepted the responsibilities that are part of the European welfare model. In return, the church has never quite accepted that it is part of civil society. We have had the paradox of a State that behaves as if it is a charity and a church that behaves as if it is a government. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:35 PM, June 22, 2009]

    • Massive solidarity for Italian missionary accused of abuse in Kenya

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Combonian)] - RCC. 5 or 4 boys.    
       Catholic News Agency, 02:12 pm / Jun 22, 2009
       ROME , Italy, (CNA).- Various Catholic organizations have expressed their solidarity with Father Kizito Sesana, a Combonian missionary from Italy who has been unjustly accused of sexually abusing children in Kenya, where he has served children and young people for over 20 years.
       According to the magazine Mondo e Missione, published by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Father Sesana has been the target of “a defamation campaign begun by the privately owned Kenya Television Network, which has accused the priest of abusing children.”
       The Superior General of the Combonians, Father Teresino Serra, issued a statement expressing support for Father Sesana, recalling his “great devotion to the missions. The leadership expresses his closeness to Father Sesana in this time of trial.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:35 PM

    • Detectives probe sex video in Fr Kizito saga

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Combonian)] - RCC. Video being examined. Boys.
       Daily Nation, By BENJAMIN MUINDI, Posted at 21:40 Monday, June 22 2009
       KENYA -- Police were on Monday analysing a video clip and photos that allegedly show Father Renato Kizito, the Catholic priest accused of child abuse, having sex with a boy.
       According to deputy police spokesperson Charles Wahong’o, CID officers were studying copies of the photos and the videos to determine their authenticity.
       Mr Wahong’o, however, declined to divulge details of what experts were looking for to establish whether or not the materials were manipulated. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:32 PM

    • New Archbishop replaces Pius Ncube

      [2006-07 Abp Ncube*] - RCC. Married woman (who died May 2008).      
       The Zimbabwe Times, By our correspondent, ~ June 22, 2009
       BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE – Pope Benedict the XVI has announced the appointment of Very Reverend Father Alex Thomas Kaliyanil as the new Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bulawayo.  Father Alex replaces Archbishop Pius Ncube who was dethroned in 2007 following sensational allegations of sexual misconduct with a member of his congregation.
       Father Alex was born in India in 1960.
       In Zimbabwe Father Alex was first assigned as Assistant Priest at Holy Cross Parish in Tshabalala between 1990 and 1992. Currently, Father Alex is Regional Superior of the Divine Word Missionaries in Zimbabwe. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:30 PM

    • Diocese Tries Again To Stop Document Release

      [2009 re 2001 settlement - 23 cases] - RC leaders again stifling free inquiry.  
       Connecticut Law Tribune, By THOMAS B. SCHEFFEY, ~ June 22, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- In a bid to prevent public disclosure of more than 1,200 pages of sealed court filings from 23 priest sex abuse cases that were settled in 2001, the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese is seeking new arguments before a full seven-member Supreme Court.
       On June 2, in a 4 to 1 decision, the high court adopted a broad definition of “judicial” court filings that the public is allowed to see because the documents form the basis of court rulings. In making the ruling, the majority ordered the release of nearly all of the priest sex abuse files.
       This instant landmark opinion, Rosado v. Bridgeport, gives litigants and lawyers clearer guidelines of what court filings will be considered open records subject to public inspection. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:59 PM

    • Catholic Church Accused of 'Trafficking' Sexually Abusive Priests

      [1986, 1987, 1988 - Fr Aguilar-Rivera] - RCC. Sundry survivors.    
       Courthouse News Service, By KARINA BROWN, June 22, 2009
       LOS ANGELES (CA), (CN) - The Catholic Church sent a child-molesting priest to Mexico instead of defrocking him, and has spent "many years … engaging in the international trafficking of known child molesting priests," shuttling them between California and Latin America, a man claims in Superior Court.
       The John Doe plaintiff claims that Father Nicholas Aguilar Rivera molested "numerous children" as a priest in Mexico in 1986. When parents and police confronted him, Cardinal Noriberto Rivera Carrera helped Rivers escape from Mexico by transferring him to a Los Angeles church, according to the complaint.
       There, Rivera "immediately … began having altar boys and students from the parish school come to his rectory bedroom," the lawsuit states. When one of the children complained to a church employee, the church allegedly transferred Rivera a second time. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:08 AM

    • Abuse report 'being considered'

      - RCC.    
       Press Association, ~ June 22, 2009
       NORTHERN IRELAND -- The Ryan Report into child abuse in the Irish Republic is being carefully considered in Northern Ireland, the Health Minister has said.
       Michael McGimpsey's officials are considering whether there are any cross-border implications after the public inquiry in the south discovered thousands of victims of clerical sexual and physical violence. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:05 AM

    • Sexual abuse victim wins $1.75-million settlement

      - RCC. 5yrs sex. CAN $1.75m settlement. Botched abortion.  
       The Lawyers Weekly, By Norman MacInnes, Toronto, for June 26 2009 issue
       CANADA -- A woman who as a girl endured five years of sexual abuse by a priest that ended in a botched abortion has secured a settlement of almost $1.75-million.
       The Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ont. has agreed to pay Lou Ann Soontiens $1.745-million to settle her civil sexual assault suit. Costs, when settled, will likely push the total over $2-million.
       “As far as we can determine, it is the largest settlement of an individual sexual abuse case in Canadian history,” Rob Talach told The Lawyers Weekly. Talach and Paul Ledroit of Ledroit Beckett in London, Ont. represented Soontiens. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:55 AM, June 22, 2009]

    • Vatican told bishops to cover up sex abuse

      - RCC Vatican secrecy orders. Hypocrisy charge.    
       DORCHA, ~ June 22, 2009
       Expulsion threat in secret documents
       **Poster's Note: Please keep these words in mind when you read the following archived article from 2003: 'Lawyers point to a letter the Vatican sent to bishops in May 2001 clearly stating the 1962 instruction was in force until then. The letter is signed by Cardinal Ratzinger…' In case you have forgotten, Ratzinger is now the Pope. The time span in this article covers at least 5 popes, including Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II and the current man holding the title, Benedict XVI [a.k.a Ratzinger]
       IRELAND -- I note with interest the stories about how disturbed the Pope was at hearing the clerical abuse report from Ireland. I find this to be sheer hypocrisy, and I also do not think that asking for public apology from anyone even BEGINS to cover what must be done to bring even a tiny amount of justice for the victims. Nothing can ever make up for this obscenity and crime against humanity that has been covered up down through the years.
       The reason I am posting this now has to do with the release of the Ryan report in Ireland, detailing the 'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care', which was also happening in the North of Ireland.
       Read the 1962 Vatican document (PDF file) Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:42 AM

    • Catholic Priest Sex Abuse : Secret letters fuel 2002 Boston crisis

      - RCC.  
       Church Abuse Law Blog, video presentation, ~ June 22, 2009
       MASSACHUSETTS -- January 2002 news report features Joe Bergantino of WBZ TV Boston. Once-secret trove of letters prove Boston Catholic cardinals had long supported serial child molester Fr. John Geoghan. The archdiocese cover-up unravels as the national Catholic sex abuse crisis gains Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM

    • Church protects its money - abuse victim

      - Anglicans.    
       Herald Sun, 06:03pm, June 22, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- THE Anglican Church's refusal to scrap an age limit for child sex abuse claims shows the church is protecting its money rather than its flock, says an abuse victim.
       All states set a time limit, known as the statute of limitations, for personal injury victims to bring their cases to court.
       In Queensland, a victim is required to launch legal action by the time they turn 21.
       A motion calling for the Anglican Church to refrain from invoking the statute was rejected at the Brisbane synod yesterday. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM

    • State to review abuse deal with church

      - RCC.  
       Irish Independent, By Katherine Donnelly, Monday June 22 2009
       IRELAND -- Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe has ordered a review of how property valuations were agreed with religious orders to compensate victims of institutional abuse.
       The high-powered internal review of the valuation process surrounding 64 properties was sanctioned amid claims the State was short-changed.
       The unexpected twist brings into further disrepute the controversial €128m deal, which has resulted in the religious orders paying only 10pc of the total €1.2bn victims' compensation bill. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM

    • EDITORIAL: Diocese should drop fight to hide past

      - RCC.  
       New Haven Register, June 22, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has come a long way from the dark days when complaints about priests who sexually abused boys were ignored and the priests shuttled to new assignments where they remained in contact with children.
       Bridgeport was part of a plague of sexual predation that became an international church scandal.
       In 2001 and 2003, the Bridgeport Diocese reached multimillion dollar settlements of lawsuits in which there were more than 50 claims of sexual abuse by its priests. At the time of the 2003 settlement, a spokesman for the diocese said the settlement was “all about transparency, … about healing, about doing the right thing, about closure.” [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:49 AM, June 22, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 22, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 23, 2009 edition:


    • Paraguay president accused of sex attack

      [~ 1999 - ~ 2007 Bishop Lugo Méndez*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). One female from age 16. 2 other women. Rape allegation. Sons 6yrs, < 2yrs, 16mos.  
       Brisbane Times (Australia), 8:44AM, for June 24, 2009
       PARAGUAY -- A former housekeeper who accuses Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo of fathering her six-year-old son has charged that the former Catholic bishop initiated the relationship by sexually assaulting her.
       Benigna Leguizamon, 27, said in a radio interview that the assault took place in the bishop's two-story [two-storey] residence where she worked as a housekeeper.
       "He locked me in a room and there he took off my clothes by force and he overpowered me. There was no way of escaping him," she said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:56 PM

    • Actions speak louder than words

      - Baptists.  
       Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 23, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Dear Southern Baptist Messengers:
       “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s a good slogan, but do you really mean it?
       A year ago, your Executive Committee announced its decision not to create a clergy-predator database or an office to field abuse claims. (Eric Gorski - Associated Press, “Southern Baptists reject sex-abuse database,” Washington Post, 6/10/08).
       What message do you imagine this do-nothing decision sent? To Baptist clergy abuse survivors, it sent a message of “we don’t really care.” To Baptist clergy-predators, it sent a message of “we’ll look the other way.” [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:04 PM, June 23, 2009]

    • Criminals in all but name

      [Sr Xaviera (Sr Alida, Sr Severia), Sr Nora Wall, Donal Dunne] - RCC.  
       Sunday Tribune, http://www. tribune.ie/ article/ 2009/may/31/ criminals- in-all-but- name , With seven photos, June 21, 2009
       DUBLIN (IRELAND) -- Among the people given pseudonyms in the Ryan commission report, Sr Xaviera, the nun who defended her record on 'Prime Time' in 1996, stood out as 'extremely cruel', writes John Downes.
       For the rosary bead makers and other children who suffered at St Vincent's industrial school in Goldenbridge, Dublin, the memories of life with the nun named as Sr Alida in the Ryan commission report are bleak. In fact, she was Sr Xaviera (or Severia), who over a decade ago famously defended her record in an interview with RTE's Prime Time programme.
       The Mercy nun is one of 11 people given pseudonyms in the report, whose names the Sunday Tribune is publishing for the first time today.
       She joins a growing list of others, including former Mercy nun Nora Wall and convicted paedophile Donal Dunne, who have also been named since the report was published a week and a half ago. [Posted by Terry McKiernan at 8:59 PM, June 23, 2009]

    • Lugo accused of rape

      [~ 1999 - ~ 2007 Bishop Lugo Méndez / Mendez*] - RCC. One female from age 16. 2 other women. Sons 6yrs, < 2yrs, 16mos.  
       Momento 24, June 23, 2009
       PARAGUAY -- The president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, was now accused of having raped Bengina Leguizamón, the woman who denounced a supposed parenthood of the Catholic ex-bishop. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:58 PM

    • Organization to publish American version of Ryan report on child abuse

      - RCC.    
       Irish Central, By ANTOINETTE KELLY, ~ June 23, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- A religious watchdog organization in the U.S. has stated it is planning to release an American equivalent of Ireland’s Ryan report of child abuse at Catholic Church-run institutions.
       Boston-based group BishopAccountability.org provides the public with a database of accused priests, survivors’ accounts of abuse and a timeline of the scandal of U.S. bishops covering up for priests who sexually abused minors in churches and schools.
       The organization told the Irish Times it is in the midst of building a database of names of Irish religious figures who abused children in Ireland and later fled to America. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:30 PM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Tue June 23, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed June 24, 2009 edition:


    • Former Pastor Charged With Assault, Taking Indecent Liberties

      [2009 Feb and Apr - Pastor James L. Swanson -NEW*] - "Greater Zion Church." Girls 14 and 15.  
       Loudoun Independent, http://www. loudouni.com/ news/breaking- news/ 2009-06-24/ former-pastor- charged-assault- taking-indecent- liberties , Wednesday, June 24, 2009
       VIRGINIA -- James L. Swanson, 55, of Leesburg, is charged with two counts of assault and battery and taking indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial or supervisory position in that case.
       The alleged incidents occurred while Swanson was a pastor with the Greater Zion Church in Ashburn.
       A nearly two-month long investigation by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division led to the identity of three allegedvictims.
       In April, Loudoun Investigators received independent information of a 14-year-old female and 15-year-old female, both of Ashburn, having inappropriate contact with the pastor.
       One of the incidents is reported to have occurred in February 2009, with the second occurring on April 14, 2009. Swanson is charged with assault and battery in these two cases. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:25 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • American pastor remanded on porn charges

      [-2009 Mr Thomas Manton (50) -NEW*] - "Dominion International." Sex orgies, recording commercially.    
       Daily Nation, By NICHOLAS NGOLYO, Posted at 22:30 Wednesday, June 24 2009
       KENYA -- During the day, he was a man of God, preaching the good news to his flock. But at night, he turned into somebody else, engaging in sex orgies and recording them for commercial distribution.
       This is the picture that police painted of a 50-year-old American evangelist who was on Wednesday charged with possessing pornographic material.
       A compact disk
       Mr Thomas Kevin Manton of Dominion International, a church that operates from a Nairobi hotel, was denied bail and remanded in custody until Friday for the police to complete their investigations. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:28 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • I. Ranfurly Brown's accuser testifies

      [2008 Oct - Rev. I.R.Brown -NEW*] - Anglican. Push, slap, choke, to girl (14).  
       The Nassau Guardian, By ARTESIA DAVIS, artesia@nasguard.com , Guardian Senior Reporter, ~ June 24, 2009
       BAHAMAS -- Anglican priest I. Ranfurly Brown allegedly pushed, slapped and choked a teenage girl while at a church-sponsored picnic at Nirvana Beach, his accuser claimed during testimony in the magistrates court yesterday.
       Brown, the rector of St. Agnes Church who was in charge of the picnic, is on trial for allegedly assaulting the 14-year-old on October 13, 2008.
       The girl and several of her teenage friends testified about the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault during the first day of the case that is being heard by Magistrate Ancella Evans-Williams.
       The names of the alleged victim and her friends have not been disclosed because they are minors. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:14 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • Local Hindu leader loses appeal

      [≤ 2008 Prakashanand -NEW*] - Hindu. Groped 2 girls.
       Austin American-Statesman, By Eric Dexheimer | 10:01 AM, Wednesday, June 24, 2009,
       TEXAS -- Prakashanand Saraswati, the spiritual leader of the Barsana Dham Hindu temple, is still barred from the grounds of the ashram he founded just south of Austin, an appeals court ruled today. The decision from the 3rd Court of Appeals upholds an earlier ruling by a state district court judge in Hays County last November.
       Prakashanand, who in April 2008 was charged with groping two underage girls on the ashram in the 1990s, has not been permitted back on Barsana Dham’s grounds since last May, soon after his arrest at a Washington D.C. airport. In his appeal, Prakashanand argued that by denying him physical access to Barsana Dham, where he has an office and apartment and hundreds of followers, the state was infringing on his First Amendment rights to practice his religion.
       The Hays County district attorney responded that the guru already had agreed to the restriction when his bond conditions were first set. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:13 PM

    • Church pastor charged with sexual abuse

      [? 2000s Tomás Gonzáles / Tomas Gonzales -NEW*] - Christian. 2 relatives.
       The Monitor, by Ana Ley, ~ June 24, 2009
       MERCEDES, TEXAS – A church pastor faces multiple felony charges in connection with allegations he sexually abused two female relatives.
       Tomás Gonzáles, 61, of Mercedes, was arraigned Tuesday evening in Mercedes Municipal Court on two counts of indecency with a child and eight counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
       "I committed the error," he said in Spanish during the arraignment. "Now I have to pay for it." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:02 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • Former Christian Brother pleads guilty to sexually abusing Limerick boys

      [1967-68 Bro. Sean Drummond (Christian Brother) - NEW*] - RCC. 19 boys (8-9).  
       Limerick Leader, By Petula Martyn, ~ June 24, 2009
       IRELAND -- A FORMER Christian Brother who taught at Creagh Lane National School has appeared before Limerick Circuit Court today charged in connection with the sexual abuse of school boys.
       Sean John Drummond, 61, with an address at Ballinteer, Dublin pleaded guilty to 36 counts of indecently assaulting 19 boys on dates between July 1967 and July 1968.
       The boys were all pupils at the school which was located on Bishop Street, and were aged between eight or nine when they were abused by the then Brother. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:23 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • MICHELE BETTI GOES TO OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA TO SUPPORT SEXUALLY EXPLOITED PATIENT

      [Several years - Mr John LoRé - NEW*] - No sect in early pars.  
       Betti & Franks, By MICHELE BETTI and CHAD FRANKS | b&f opinions, June 23, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Michele Betti goes to Oakland, California to support SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and one of its survivors who was manipulated and exploited by her Oakland psychologist John R. LoRé, Ph.D. repeatedly during therapy for several years.
       SNAP set up the event in order to warn everyone about this predator and to bring awareness to the community.
       LoRé surrendered his license to the California Board of Psychology for sexual misconduct. But, he has started and co-directs an Oakland non-profit called Peace Parenting Project.
       Despite his license revocation, LoRé still lists himself as a psychologist on his website [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:01 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • Boys aged 10-15 most likely to be targets of clergy sex abuse

      - Anglican Church.  
       Religious Intelligence, By George Conger, ~ June 24, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Boys aged between 10 and 15 years of age are the most frequently targeted victims of clergy sexual abuse, a report presented on June 13 to the Standing Committee of the Anglican Church of Australia’s General Synod has found. Prepared by Professor Patrick Parkinson and Professor Kim Oates of the University of Sydney the “Study of Reported Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church” examined 191 cases of abuse reported to diocesan officials between 1990 and 2008 from 17 of the church’s 23 dioceses --- three rural dioceses declined to participate in the study while three others reported no incidents of abuse. The study was commissioned by the 2004 General Synod and sought to identify the “characteristics of accused persons” and their victims and the circumstances of the offence, as well as “ascertain patterns of abuse in relation to similarities or differences in gender and age of the child complainants,” in order to “inform the Church on what steps could be taken towards better prevention of sexual abuse within church communities.”
       Archbishop Philip Aspinall of Brisbane stated, that “while this report is aimed at strengthening our child protection protocols as we look to the future, it also reminds us of the tragic events of the past and of the pain which still exists. We reiterate our apology, our sorrow and our deep regret for abuse which has occurred.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:24 AM

    • The Diocese, the Bishop, and the School are separate entities and other fiction by church attorneys in Santillan vs. Bishop of Fresno

      [Mons. Herdegen] - RCC mental gymnastics.  
       City of Angels, By Kay Ebeling, Creator, City of Angels Blog, ~ June 24, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- One more post here about the Fresno case, for which a new trial was granted June 12th, before we go on to stories about new lawsuits being filed in Los Angeles. My favorite part of the Bishop of Fresno's “Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for New Trial,” quoted in depth below, is from page 9, where the Bishop claims the abuse took place in a parochial school, not the diocese, two totally different entities.
       “Plaintiffs erroneously conflate the corporate defendant, The Roman Catholic Bishop of Fresno, A Corporation Sole, with the school. The school is a separate corporate entity - the Diocese of Fresno Education Corporation. Plaintiffs’ attempt to eliminate this distinction by conflating multiple entities through the generic use of the word ‘Diocese,’ does not eliminate their separate corporate existence.”
       Don’t you love how church attorneys conflate and de-conflate their corporate entities as needed?
       Why didn't plaintiffs find the new witness W Doe before the March trial? According to W Doe's declaration, after he and his mother reported the abuse to the school principal Sister Vidaline, “I was never again scheduled to serve mass. When I asked later why, I was told I would not be attending St. John’s Catholic school much longer. Within a month or two after I complained about Monsignor (Anthony) Herdegen, I was told I was being expelled from St. John’s Catholic school. Nobody could tell me why I was being expelled. Around 1975 or 1976, I moved away from Wasco, never to return.”

    • Group asks Diocese of Youngstown to seek out abuse victims

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       Canton Repository, CantonRep.com staff report , ~ June 24, 2009
       CANTON (OH) -- A support group for clergy sex-abuse victims published a letter Wednesday publicly urging the Diocese of Youngstown to send a second, more emphatic and explicit letter to hundreds of Catholics who attended a school where a now-suspended priest worked.
       SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy-abuse victims.
       Earlier this month, the Rev. Thomas Crum admitted sexually abusing a child and was suspended from his pulpit at Our Lady of Peace Church in Canton. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:06 PM, June 24, 2009

    • SNAP orders Youngstown Bishop to take action

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.
       WFMJ, ~ June 24, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) -- The Bishop of the Youngstown Diocese is being called on to hold a public meeting to discuss allegations of sexual abuse by one of its priests.
       The diocese recently suspended Father Thomas Crum from his duties after several people came forward saying the priest molested them as a child.
       At least one of those allegations came from a former Cardinal Mooney student where father Crum served in the late 1970's. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:04 PM
       [COMMENT: The heading says SNAP "orders" the bishop.  SNAP probably REQUESTED the bishop to hold the meeting. ENDS.]

    • Survivors’ Hopes Dashed as NY Assembly Adjourns Without Sex Abuse Vote

      - General community. Judaist comment.
       Forward, By Rebecca Dube, Published June 24, 2009, (issue of July 03, 2009)
       NEW YORK -- Sexual-abuse survivors who traveled to Albany, N.Y., with high hopes this past spring got a tough lesson in political reality. The state Assembly’s regular session ended on June 22 without any action on a bill that would make it easier for sex-abuse victims to sue their molesters and the institutions that employed them.
       “People are playing politics with innocent kids’ lives. I don’t even know what to think anymore,” said Joe Diangelo, a member of Survivors for Justice, a group that formed last year to support Jewish survivors of child sexual abuse. Diangelo was one of several Jewish activists who joined Catholic abuse survivors lobbying New York State legislators this year, only to see their efforts countered by a strong push against the bill from the Catholic Conference and a few ultra-Orthodox Jewish organizations.
       “It’s sad, but by no means are we going to stop,” Diangelo said as he protested outside the office of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a Brooklyn Democrat who played the most visible role in blocking the sex-abuse bill in the Assembly. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:30 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • Former pastor accused of having inappropriate contact with three Loudoun teens

      [2009 Feb and Apr - Pastor James L. Swanson*] - "Greater Zion Church." 3 teenaged girls.
       Loudoun Times, June 24, 2009
       VIRGINIA -- A former pastor has been charged with having inappropriate contact with three Loudoun teenagers.
       James L. Swanson, 55, of Leesburg, was recently charged with two counts of assault and battery and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial or supervisory position. The alleged incidents occurred while Swanson was a pastor with the Greater Zion Church in Ashburn, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said.
       A nearly two-month long investigation discovered three alleged victims. In April, investigators received information that a 14-year-old female and a 15-year-old female, both of Ashburn, were having inappropriate contact with the pastor. One of the incidents is reported to have happened in February with the second happening on April 14. Swanson is charged with assault and battery in these two cases, Troxell said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:23 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • Former Pastor Charged With Assault Of Teens

      [2009 Feb and Apr - Pastor James L. Swanson*] - "Greater Zion Church." 3 teenaged girls.
       Leesburg Today, June 24, 2009
       VIRGINIA -- A former Ashburn area pastor has been charged for having what authorities are calling "inappropriate contact" with three Loudoun teenagers.
       James L. Swanson, 55, of Leesburg, has been charged with two counts of assault and battery and taking indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial or supervisory position. The alleged incidents occurred while Swanson was a pastor at the Greater Zion Church in Ashburn.
       The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office investigation into Swanson and the allegations has been ongoing for two months and has led to the identification of three alleged victims. Investigators with the sheriff's office received two independent reports of a 14-year-old female and a 15-year-old female, both Ashburn residents, having inappropriate contact with Swanson. According to authorities, one of the alleged incidents occurred in February 2009 and the other April 14, 2009. The assault and battery charges stem from those two incidents.

    • Priest Slaps Teen

      [2008 Oct - Rev. I.R.Brown*] - Anglican. Slap, etc.  
       The Bahamas Journal, By IANTHIA SMITH, June 24, 2009
       BAHAMAS -- Controversial Anglican Archdeacon I. Ranfurly Brown, who is accused of slapping a teen girl during a church picnic last year, appeared in court Tuesday for the start of his assault trial.
       The alleged victim and her mother were among many witnesses who testified in court yesterday.
       The Anglican priest is accused of assaulting the 14-year-old on October 13, 2008 at the St. Agnes Anglican Church annual church picnic on Nirvana Beach.

    • Defrocked priest sentenced to probation

      [Janssen] - ? RCC.  
       Quad-City Times, by Ann McGlynn | Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
       IOWA -- A defrocked priest who lied to court officials will spend two years on probation, a judge ruled Wednesday.
       James Janssen's conviction will be wiped from his record if he successfully completes probation, Judge Marlita Greve ruled. He must also pay a $750 fine.
       Janssen, accused but never criminally charged with molesting several children, walked into court using a cane and wearing white - the color he was known to wear when he was a priest.

    • 5 virtuous figures caught pants down

      - Various religious leaders.
       CNN, http://www. cnn.com/ 2009/LIVING/ wayoflife/ 06/24/mf. virtuous. figures. cheat , Mental Floss, June 24, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- With South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford dominating the news, let's look back at a five other so-called virtuous figures who became embroiled in sex scandals -- and this list just scratches the surface.
       PICTURE: Jim Bakker admitted to cheating on his wife Tammy Faye Bakker.
       1. Aimee Semple McPherson
       By the mid-1920s, evangelist McPherson was packing them in at her Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, preaching hope and warning against the sinful life. But in 1926, she disappeared while swimming at a local beach.
       She turned up a month later with a fantastic story about being kidnapped and taken to Mexico. Unfortunately, the evidence said otherwise: It appeared Aimee had been shacked up with a married man.
       The evangelist was charged with perjury, but she stuck to her story and was eventually acquitted. Her popularity waned after the scandal, but you gotta hand it to her for chutzpah: instead of apologizing to her confused flock, McPherson bobbed her hair, bought some short skirts, and began dancing and drinking in public.
       2. Jim Bakker: Simple people with a simple dream, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker started out hosting a children's religious puppet show. By the mid-1970s, however, the fabulous Bakker duo had become the toast of televangelism. …
       3. Jimmy Swaggart: Swaggart was one of Jim Bakker's fiercest critics when the Bakker scandal broke, telling an interviewer he himself had never even kissed a woman other than his wife.
       Maybe not. But the bombastic and fantastically successful television preacher -- and cousin to rock-and-roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis -- was doing something with that prostitute in a cheap New Orleans hotel room in early 1988. …
       4. Amrit Desai: A onetime art student, Amrit Desai came to the United States from India in 1960. He began giving yoga lessons on the side and ended up training several thousand people, who in turn became yoga instructors around the country. …
       Desai even took a vow of celibacy himself in 1974, despite being married with children.
       No wonder it was something of a shock (perhaps greatest to his wife) when in 1994, the beloved teacher admitted to having affairs with three of his followers. …
       5. Paul R. Shanley: In the 1970s, Shanley was known as "the hippie priest"; he was a Roman Catholic clergyman whose specialty was ministering to kids struggling with their sexual identity.
       By 2002, however, Shanley was a central figure in the greatest scandal ever to hit the Catholic Church in the United States. Shanley was accused of molesting more than two dozen boys over a 35-year span. … [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:06 PM, June 24, 2009]

    • Help Survivors of Child Abuse from New York State

      - General community.
       Good Hard Working People, ~ June 24, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The Child Victims Act in New York State needs your help!
       As many of you know there is a "Statute of Limitations" (SOL) when it comes to holding child abusers accountable. A "Statute of Limitations" is the maximum amount of time one has to bring a lawsuit from the time of the injury of other ground for a lawsuit.
       When it comes to abuse of children, most survivors don't speak up and seek justice until they are adults (for many reasons including the ability to realize and comprehend what happened to them as children and the process of overcoming the shame and guilt, which is sadly common among victims). As you can imagine, by the time an abused child is an adult, the "Statute of Limitations" has often expired. The abuser continues to break the law and harm children and is never held accountable.
       In 2002 the California legislature passed amendments to its statute of limitations on child sex abuse, essentially opening a "window", which gave survivors one year (2003) to file claims even if the statute of limitations for their claims already had expired.
       The New York Legislation is now considering such a "window" to give sex abuse victims the opportunity to seek justice and for the criminals to be held accountable even if the SOL has expired. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:01 PM

    • International pastor gets bail

      [2009 June 1 - Rev. Paul Lewis (45)*] - "Messengers for Christ Ministries". 2 teen girls.    
       Go Jamaica, ~ June 24, 2009
       JAMAICA -- The International pastor arrested on carnal abuse and indecent assault charges has been granted bail.
       Reverend Dr. Paul Lewis was taken into custody on two Sundays ago after if was found the he gave money to two teenage girls in return for sexual favours. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:00 PM

    • Former Delaware priest faces 15th abuse lawsuit

      [Years - DeLuca] - RCC. 15 civil lawsuits so far.  
       The Post-Standard, by Renée K. Gadoua / 2:39 PM, Wednesday June 24, 2009,
       SYRACUSE (NY) -- A 15th lawsuit has been filed in Delaware against a former Catholic priest, Francis G. DeLuca, who was sentenced to 60 days in jail after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a boy in Syracuse in 2006.
       The latest case was filed June 16 by two firms in Wilmington, Del. Delaware lawmakers passed a law in 2007 eliminating the statute of limitations in cases of child sex abuse and opened a two-year window allowing cases previously barred by the statute of limitations to be tried. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:22 PM
       [LOOK BACK: May 8, 09]

    • Milingo slaps Catholics in the face

      - "Married Priests Now!" 150,000 married clergy.      
       Daily Nation, By LUCAS BARASA, Posted 22:30, Wednesday, June 24 2009
       KENYA -- Eight years ago, he annoyed the Catholic headquarters in the Vatican by breaking the code of celibacy. On Wednesday, controversial Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo arrived in the country and slapped the Catholic Church in Kenya in the face.
       The Zambian-born archbishop is the overall prelate of a group with 150,000 married priests worldwide. He was ordained as a parish priest in 1958. He was consecrated as archbishop of the archdiocese of Lusaka in Zambia in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.
       In 1983, he was recalled from Lusaka to Rome over a controversial “non-conventional healing ministry” he led.  He broke his celibacy vows in 2001 and married 43-year-old Korean acupuncturist Maria Sung in a classical wedding where 62 couples dressed in bridal gowns and tuxedos were married in the Moon Unification Church.
       On Wednesday, Bishop Kasomo said at Sasamotor Centre that he married his girlfriend, Mary Ann in 1993, a year after becoming a priest. They have four children. Also present was Fr Peter Njogu, who said he has been married for 20 years and has three children. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:19 PM

    • Hindu leader awaiting trial still barred from Driftwood headquarters, court rules

      [≤ 2008 Prakashanand*] - Hindu. Groped 2 girls.
       San Marcos Mercury, by BRAD ROLLINS, Managing Editor, ~ June 24, 2009
       TEXAS -- A state appeals court today rejected Hindu leader Prakashanand Saraswati’s request to return to the Hays County headquarters of his spiritual movement while awaiting trial on indecency with a child charges.
       The international leader of the JKP-Barsana Dham sect of Hinduism, the 90-year-old Saraswati was arrested in April 2008 for allegedly touching the breasts of then-minors between 1993 and 1996. He was released on $500,000 bonds on the condition that he not leave the country and not come within 200 yards of the Barsana Dham Center on Farm-to-Market Road 1826 near Driftwood, a 200-acre replica of an Indian holy district and the movement’s North American seat. He has been living in a house nearby, court records show.
       In May last year, 22nd State District Judge Charles Ramsay relaxed the bond conditions to allow Saraswati to visit India for religious duties backed by $10 million bond posted by infomercial magnate Peter Spiegal, a Saraswati adherent who amassed a fortune in part by selling ionic air purifiers, health supplements and other products via television and telemarketing. In August, Ramsay rejected Saraswati’s request to return to the Barsana Dham Centerb and Saraswati applied for a writ of habeas corpus to the Third Court of Criminal Appeals. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:10 PM

    • Pope is slammed over vague abuse response

      - RCC.    
       The Irish Post, ~ June 24, 2009
       IRELAND -- SURVIVORS of Ireland’s child abuse scandal have reacted with dismay at what is being widely interpreted as the Pope’s first official comments on the controversy.
       They said the reference in a letter to priests across the world was too vague to have real meaning – with one group calling it a pathetic attempt at a statement.
       It came as they continued to call for the perpetrators of the crimes to be named and garda action taken against them. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:08 PM

    • Kicking out gays but keeping clergy-perps

      - Baptists. Homosexuals out, seducers remain?
       Stop Baptist Predators, June/22/09
       UNITED STATES -- FROM THE BAPTIST PRESS -- The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee recommended in a unanimous vote Monday afternoon that the denomination cease its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church, a Fort Worth, Texas, congregation that has been the source of controversy over its stance on homosexuality . …
       At issue is whether the church is in violation of Article III of the SBC Constitution, which states that churches "which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior" are not in friendly cooperation. Broadway Baptist has approximately five open homosexual members, including two male couples, according to church leaders. Some of the homosexuals serve on church committees. …
       Stephen Wilson, a member of the Executive Committee and vice president for academic affairs at Mid-Continent University, emphasized to Baptist Press that the denomination encourages churches to reach out to people struggling with homosexuality. The issue with Broadway Baptist, though, is over a church allowing members who are homosexual and unrepentant …
       Oh… I see … the real problem is that these five gay church members are “open” and “unrepentant.” They’re violating the #1 rule of Baptist life -- keep it secret. If you dance, don’t tell. If you drink, don’t tell. And if you’re gay … well that goes double … don’t tell. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:05 PM

    • Kenya: Missionary Institute, Organizations Back Priest

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Combonian)] - RCC. Boys.    
       AllAfrica, ~ June 24, 2009
       ROME -- The Superior General of the Comboni, Fr Teresino Serra, issued a statement expressing support for Fr Renato Kizito, an Italian Comboni missionary being accused of sexually abusing children in Kenya, where he has served for over 20 years.
       Fr. Serra recalled Kizito's "great devotion" to the missions. He expressed the congregation's closeness to Fr Kizito "in this time of trial."
       According to the magazine Mondo e Missione, published by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Fr Sesana has been the target of "a defamation campaign begun by the privately owned Kenya Television Network (KTN), which has accused the priest of abusing children," Fr. Serra said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:01 PM

    • Trial Date Set In Suit Against Diocese

      [1990s Yurgel] - RCC. GUILTY. Altar boy (14). [1990s Charlotte Diocese] - RCC. Covered up seduction.
       WSOC, ~ June 24, 2009
       CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A trial date has been set for the Diocese of Charlotte to defend accusations it covered up sexual abuse in the 1990s.
       The suit, filed by a man victimized by the Rev. Robert Yurgel when the victim was a 14-year-old altar boy, alleges that the diocese sought to cover up the crimes. The trial will begin in May 2010.
       Yurgel pleaded guilty in early February to molesting the man. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and will be on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:55 PM

    • Irish priest faces civil case

         
       Irish Central, By CAHIR O'DOHERTY, Irish Voice Reporter, ~ June 24, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- Father Michael Kelly, 59, a priest from Balingarry, County Tipperary who is now based in California, is facing a civil legal action over allegations that he sexually abused a child in 1984.
       Kelly, who served in a number of California parishes over 35 years, was placed on administrative leave in September 2007 while his own diocese investigated the charge made against him.
       After the diocesan review board, based in Stockton, California, found no evidence to support the claim of sexual abuse, Kelly was cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated to active ministry at St Joachim’s Catholic Church in March 2008. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:52 PM

    • North Carolina Priest Abuse Suit Moves Forward

      [1990s Yurgel] - RCC. GUILTY. Altar boy (14). [1990s Charlotte Diocese] - RCC. Covered up seduction.  
       Claims Journal, June 24, 2009
       NORTH CAROLINA -- A North Carolina judge is allowing some claims in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte to move forward.
       The Charlotte Observer reported that the lawsuit alleges that church officials covered up the sex crimes of the Rev. Robert Yurgel, who pleaded guilty to a sex offense in February. He was sentenced to at least seven years in prison. The victim was an altar boy at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte in the 1990s when the abuse occurred.
       The Charlotte Diocese denies that officials knew of abuse allegations until Yurgel was arrested last year. They had sought dismissal of the lawsuit by the victim. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:01 AM

    • Paraguay President Lugo Accused Of Rape

      [~ 1999 - ~ 2007 Bishop Lugo Méndez*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). One female from age 16. 2 other women. Sons 6yrs, < 2yrs, 16mos.  
       Javno (Croatia), ~ June 24, 2009
       PARAGUAY -- The woman who claims that the President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo is her son`s father, accused the former Roman Catholic bishop of rape.
       Lugo refused to comment on her accusations in great detail, but told a press conference that “this was all a part of the second chapter of the novel” and that he expects “the third chapter”.
       "The matter is in the courts and you should talk to my attorney" the president said. However, Lugo`s attorney Marcos Farina was unavailable for a comment. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:57 AM

    • City clergy in court over pornography

      [-2009 Mr Thomas Manton*] - "Dominion International." Sex orgies, recording commercially.    
       Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Written By Walter Dzuya, Posted: Wed, Jun 24, 2009
       KENYA -- A city clergy man Thomas Kevin Manton was on Wednesday arraigned at Kibera Law courts and charged with being in possession of pornographic material with intent of publishing it.
       Thomas Kevin Manton however pleaded not guilty to charges of obscene publication contrary to section 181 of the penal code.
       It is alleged that on the 25th of February this year at Runda Estate in Nairobi for the purpose of public exhibition he produced one compact disc tending to corrupt morals. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:28 AM

    • Alamo Wants Evidence Kept From Trial

      [Hoffman, a.k.a. Tony Alamo] - "Tony Alamo Christian Ministries".Underage marriages, beatings. 36 + 92 children.  
       Today's THV, Posted By Alyson Courtney, ~ June 24, 2009
       ARKANSAS -- Jailed evangelist Tony Alamo says investigators were relying on old information when they raided his Fouke compound last year and that evidence they seized should be barred at his trial.
       In motions filed Tuesday, the 74-year-old also asks for the names of informants who gave information to authorities. Alamo is charged in a 10-count indictment with violating the federal Mann Act by taking underage girls across state lines for sex.
       The court papers ask U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes to bar to disallow computer data, business records and photographs seized by investigators. A former Alamo attorney said the computers contained no pornography. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:21 AM

    • NY ABUSE BILL STALLS: PUBLIC SCHOOLS STILL VULNERABLE

     
       Catholic League, ~ June 24, 2009
       NEW YORK -- The bill by New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey that would suspend the statute of limitations for one year for cases of child sexual abuse (victims must be 53 or younger) will not pass this year unless a special session is called and the bill is put to a vote.
       Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on the bill’s fate:
       Right now it looks like this badly conceived legislation is dead in the water. But were it to pass eventually, I renew my pledge today to spend whatever it takes to alert the residents of New York State of their right to sue the public schools if they were ever sexually abused by one of its employees (provided they meet the conditions outlined in the bill).
       Some have questioned my motive. Let me end the suspense: I am fed up with unscrupulous lawyers and their well-greased professional victims’ groups seeking to plunder the Catholic Church. Now that public institutions are finally included in the Markey bill, it is only just that potential claimants be informed of their rights. And guess what? A reality check has already taken place. Opposing the Markey bill are the New York State School Boards Association, the New York State Council of School Superintendents, and other civic groups. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:18 AM

    • The unjust result of sex abuse suits

      - RC special pleading.
       DELAWARE -- The News Journal, June 22, 2009
       [The print edition indicates the author is the Rev. John Hynes.]
       The two women looked at me expectantly. Their brother in Mexico needed an operation. Could the church help? I tried to explain …we have limited resources. I was thinking of the couple in the corridor who said they couldn't afford medicine. I was also thinking of the number of parents who were having difficulty paying tuition in our parochial school.
       Thank God the diocese has a fund to help some of them … so far.
       A medium-size Catholic parish like ours has to be self- sufficient. So we have clothing re-sales, carnivals and walkathons. Our budget will come close to $1.9 million, over 60 percent for the school. About $100,000 goes to the diocese to support the larger church's expenses. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:50 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • Statute of limitations bill appears dead in New York Assembly

     
       The Georgia Bulletin, June 23, 2009
       ALBANY, N.Y. State (CNS) -- Even after it was amended to include all public institutions, a bill that would have extended the statute of limitations for lawsuits related to the sexual abuse of a minor was "inherently bad public policy," said the executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference. Richard E. Barnes spoke June 23, hours after the state Assembly adjourned without voting on a bill that would have given people who claim they were sexually abused as children a one-year exemption from the statute of limitations. Currently alleged victims must file suit within five years after they turn 18. Barnes said in a statement that members of the state Assembly "looked very closely at this very controversial bill" sponsored by Assembly Member Margaret Markey "and gave it the thoughtful consideration it deserved." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • Controversial child sex abuse bill fails to advance

     
       Newsday, BY BART JONES | bart.jones@newsday.com , 10:55 PM EDT, June 23, 2009
       NEW YORK -- Supporters of a controversial bill to make it easier for alleged child sex abuse victims to sue their abusers thought this was their year to get the legislation passed.
       Democrats controlled both the State Senate and Assembly for the first time in years, and the bill had already passed the Assembly three sessions in a row.
       But when the Assembly wrapped up its current session early Tuesday in Albany, the bill - like its sponsor Assemb. Margaret Markey (D- Maspeth) - was nowhere to be seen. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:27 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • Charges of cross-border church abuses continue

      [1986, 1987, 1988 - Fr Aguilar-Rivera] - RCC. 19 charges. Sundry survivors.    
       Foreign Correspondency, June 23, 2009
       MEXICO CITY - A victims’ group said Thursday that it was filing a new lawsuit in Los Angeles, California, against Mexican and U.S. church officials accused of sheltering a suspected pedophile priest.
       The lawsuit accuses Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera of conspiring with Roman Catholic officials in the United States to shelter Nicolas Aguilar, a Mexican priest wanted in California for 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.
       This is the third lawsuit filed by the group, Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, against the Catholic Church for allegedly protecting Aguilar. Two previous lawsuits filed in Los Angeles against the Mexican cardinal by Mexican citizens were dismissed in 2007. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:28 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • In Dublin, "Martin of Television" Faces the Storm

       
       Whispers in the Loggia, ~ June 24, 2009
       IRELAND -- With Ireland still reeling from last month's Ryan Report, a TV documentary aired nationally last week raised the curtain on the next major look into the Isle's staggering history of clergy sex-abuse and chancery cover-up: the Murphy Report of the state inquest on the archdiocese of Dublin, first expected this summer but seemingly to be delayed pending "ongoing court proceedings."
       Yet while the testimony of victim-survivors has become crushingly commonplace in the reporting of their stories, what made TV3's Abuse of Trust unique and significant was the cooperation of the Republic's top prelate, the capital's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (left, at mic), who spoke on the program of his "personal torment" at reading through some of the 60,000 in-house files he handed over to the state panel (but only after his predecessor dropped a court challenge to the papers' release). [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:22 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • 'Forgotten Australians' seek apology for abuse

      [Decades - States and Churches] - 500,000 children.  
       ABC News, June 24, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Hundreds of thousands of Australian children raised in institutions over the past century say they want a formal apology for the abuse and neglect they suffered.
       They have named themselves the Forgotten Australians and a large number of them are in Canberra this week for the tabling of a parliamentary report, which reviewed recommendations made years ago that still have not been acted on.
       There are 500,000 children who suffered abuse in state and church-run homes and institutions. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:14 AM

    • Sexual Misconduct Charges Mount Against Former Youth Minister

      [Wilson]  
       WOLO, Written by Kara Nelson, 00:13, Wednesday, 24 June 2009
       SOUTH CAROLINA -- Sexual abuse allegations against a former youth minister are mounting tonight. Lexington County Authorities say more victims are coming forward. People who live on Irvin Jumper Road in Gaston say they had no idea the man who resided in their neighborhood could be guilty of sexually assaulting teenage boys.
       William Wilson remains in a Lexington County Jail. Tonight he faces sexual misconduct charges involving two 13-year-olds. That's in addition to the original three minors who came forward to Police last week. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:11 AM]

    • Family Minister Accused of Sexual Abuse

      [Gonzales*]
       KRGV, ~ June 24, 2009
       MERCEDES, TEXAS -- Tomas Gonzales, 61, is a pastor at a church in Donna. Tonight, he's in jail, charged with 10 felony counts. Police know there are at least two victims and there may be more.
       Police say they asked Gonzales to come to the police station last night for questioning. When the pastor showed up, officers say he confessed to the crime.
       Gonzalez appeared before a judge around 6:30pm. A judge read him his rights and charged him with eight counts of aggravated sexual abuse and two counts of indecency with a child. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:05 AM, June 24, 2009]

    • Editorial: Ricken seems good fit for area Catholics

      - RCC/  
       GREEN BAY (WI) -- Press-Gazette, June 24, 2009
       Green Bay Catholic Bishop David Ricken strikes us as someone who's comfortable with being a Catholic, unapologetic about the church's teachings and eager to cheerfully defend them against critics – all traits that should serve him in good stead as he meets the challenges ahead.
       In his first visit with the Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial board Tuesday, Ricken seemed willing to answer any question tossed his way, although sometimes only to a certain degree. …
       We were impressed by his acknowledgment that the Catholic church was slow to come to terms with the scandals involving priests committing sexual abuse.
       "You just don't think of priests and people in that sector of the population violating another person in this way," he said. "It was hard for me to understand, it was hard for the bishops to understand, so it took us time to really catch on to the seriousness of the problem." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:50 AM]
       [COMMENT: "Slow to come to terms."  "You just don't think of priests …"  Books point out that Christian clergy have been doing it for about 1700 years or so -- that's really being slow! ENDS.]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed June 24, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Thu June 25, 2009 edition:


    • US preacher faces pornography charges in Kenya

      [-2009 "Prophet" Thomas Manton -NEW*] - "Dominion International." Sex orgies, recording commercially.  
       EarthTimes, http://www. earthtimes. org/articles/ show/274758, us-preacher- faces-pornography- charges-in- kenya.html ; ~ June 25, 2009
       Nairobi, KENYA -- Kenyan police were Thursday investigating accusations that an American preacher has been moonlighting as a trafficker of pornographic images. 50-year-old Thomas Manton, of the Dominion International church, was Wednesday denied bail after being arrested for allegedly producing pornography with the intention to distribute it.
       A lawyer for Manton - who describes himself as "God's Voice to the Nations" on his website - told the Daily Nation that the allegations were part of a scheme to extort money from his client.
       Manton is the second foreign religious figure to face sex accusations in recent weeks.

    • Bar mitzvah tutor guilty in molests

      [2000s Mr Yona Weinberg -NEW*] - Judaist. Convicted. 2 boys.
       New York Daily News, By Scott Shifrel, 4:00 AM, Thursday, June 25th 2009,
       NEW YORK -- A Bar Mitzvah tutor took the stand to deny molesting teens - but he didn't convince a Brooklyn judge, who convicted him of sexually abusing two victims.
       Yona Weinberg, 31, was acquitted of eight other counts, including a felony, but still faces up to two years in prison for the misdemeanors.
       Weinberg, a social worker, was found guilty of molesting one boy in his home and a synagogue's ritual bath and the other in a van and a yeshiva stairwell.

    • Former youth minister sentenced for 1970s sexual relationship with child

      [1974-76 Mr Russell Lesser -NEW*] - Christian. 10yrs PRISON. Teen girl.
       Janesville Gazette, By PEDRO OLIVEIRA JR., Thursday, June 25, 2009
       WISCONSIN -- A former youth pastor was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday on charges of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 16 in the mid-1970s.
       Russell J. Lesser, 64, of Bryson City, N.C., had pleaded guilty April 14 to a felony charge of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 16. Two others charges were dismissed but read in.
       The former pastor began his advances during a "trust" game, victim Laurie Asplund said, but then sexually assaulted her more than 40 times from summer 1974 to spring 1976. She was 14 to 16 years old. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:07 PM, June 25, 2009]

    • Second suit alleges past sexual abuse at Dunrovin

      [1970s Unnamed brother (Christian Brother) -NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
       Stillwater Gazette, By ANDREW WALLMEYER, awallmeyer@acnpapers.com , June 25, 2009
       MINNESOTA -- A civil suit filed in Ramsey County District Court this morning accuses a Catholic brother of sexually abusing a then-teenaged boy in the early 1970s while the two were staying at Dunrovin Christian Brothers Retreat Center in Marine on St. Croix.
       The suit seeks unspecified damages from The Christian Brothers order and Cretin-Derham Hall High School, which the plaintiff's attorneys say facilitated the abuse by allowing an accused pedophile to continue to work with children.
       "Knowing that he was a child molester, they still put him in at Cretin and also gave him some responsibilities over at Dunrovin … where he then had access to kids. Nobody told any parents or kids that this guy had a prior history, and that constitutes fraud," said Patrick Noaker, who filed the suit on behalf of "John Doe 129," a former Cretin student and St. Paul resident who now lives out of state. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:49 PM, June 25, 2009]

    • Priest too ill to front court over alleged sexual abuse of students

      [? Years ago - Fr Hugh Murray (79) -NEW*] - RCC. 3 students.    
       Cowra Community News, http://cowra communitynews. com/viewnews. php?newsid= 3006&id=47 , ~ June 25, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A CATHOLIC priest charged with indecently assaulting boys from Bathurst’s St Stanilaus College has heart problems and is too ill to face court, a Sydney court heard yesterday (Thursday).
       Hugh Edward Murray, 79, of Marsfield, was arrested and charged on Tuesday with five counts of indecently assaulting three students of the boarding school.
       Murray was excused from attending Downing Centre Local Court on August 20 when the adjourned matter again comes before the court.
       Meanwhile, alleged victims of sex abuse at the college say they are angry the school is hosting the ordination of a new bishop for the region today (Friday) while police investigations are still underway. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:24 PM, June 25, 2009]

    • Paraguayan bishop exhorts priests to overcome 'filth' that causes scandals

      [~ 1999 - ~ 2007 Bishop Lugo Méndez*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). One female from age 16. 2 other women. Sons 6yrs, < 2yrs, 16mos.  
       Catholic News Agency, ~ June 25, 2009
       ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay, Jun 25, 2009 / 05:39 pm (CNA).- Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay exhorted priests this week to overcome the “filth” of scandals, which arise from bad doctrine, sinful lives, the abandonment of the faithful to sects and economic corruption.
       Over the last year, Paraguyans have witnessed former bishop Fernando Lugo abandon his commitment to his diocese and vocation. Lugo then became the country's president, only to later have it revealed that he fathered at least one child while he was a bishop.
       Bishop Livieres addressed these types of behavoir in a letter to mark the Year for Priests, saying the “filth” of some priests that has led to scandals. In the letter, the bishop also called on priests to “not lose sight of the transcendental vocation they have been called to by Jesus Christ.” [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 PM]

    • Convicted priest returns to Newbury

      [25yrs - Fr McDonagh* (Salvatorian)] - RCC. Out in 18mos. Girls.  
       Newbury Today, ~ June 25, 2009
       UNITED KINGDOM -- A RETIRED priest, jailed for sexually abusing young girls over a 25-year period, is back in Newbury and editing his order’s national newsletter.
       Father Patrick McDonagh was handed a four-year jail term in December 2007.
       However, the judge suspended all but 18 months of the sentence after a colleague of the priest said he would be under “strict instructions” to undergo therapy and have no contact with children.
       On Wednesday a spokesman for the Salvatorian order said that this amounted to Father Patrick making regular telephone calls to a superior in Bristol and informal monitoring by retired colleagues. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:27 PM

    • School hosts ordination during abuse investigations

      [Fr Hugh Murray* (79)] - RCC. 3 students.    
       ABC News, By Bronwyn Herbert for AM, for June 26, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- Alleged victims of sex abuse at a Catholic boy's college say they are angry the school is hosting a major religious ceremony while police investigations are still underway.
       A police strike force team is investigating old cases of abuse dating back to the 1960s at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst in central western New South Wales.
       But today more than 1,000 guests, including Archbishop Cardinal George Pell, will gather at the school for the ordination of a new bishop for the region. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 PM, June 25, 2009

    • BREAKING! Hella Winston Wins Prestigious Press Award For Haredi Sex Abuse Reporting

      - Ultra-Orthodox Judaists.  
       NEW YORK -- Failed Messiah, ~ June 25, 2009
       The NY Jewish Week's coverage of haredi child sexual abuse wins first place in the Jewish Press Association's Rockower Awards.
       I'm told A charge of Double Betrayal In Williamsburg by Hella Winston has won first place.
       Mazel Tov to Hella whose coverage of this issue is truly groundbreaking. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:18 PM

    • The Ryan Report, child abuse and matters closer to home

      - RCC.    
       IRELAND -- On Line Opinion (Australia), ~ June 25, 2009
       During recent weeks, there has been much publicity in the media in Ireland and in Australia regarding the release of a report commissioned by the Irish Government into past widespread abuse of children. The body making the report is The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. It was set up in 2000 by the Irish Government and began its work while I was in Ireland for 12 months’ study. The Commission had three primary functions:
    • to hear evidence of abuse from persons who allege they suffered abuse in childhood, in institutions, during the period from 1940 or earlier, to the present day;
    • to conduct an inquiry into abuse of children in institutions during that period and, where satisfied that abuse occurred, to determine the causes, nature, circumstances and extent of such abuse; and
    • to prepare and publish reports on the results of the inquiry and on its recommendations in relation to dealing with the effects of such abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:15 PM

    • Kenya: Go Quietly, Milingo, Build Own Church And Marry

      - Breakaway Church.      
       AllAfrica, Daily Nation, by Lucy Oriang', June 25, 2009
       NAIROBI, Kenya – MANY YEARS AGO, AS A student in Zambia, I happened to meet Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo during an assignment to cover one of his returns to the country after spending time at the Vatican.
       For days on end, I tagged along after the priest, who was operating under a veil of suspicion over his faith healing. He struck me as a pretty charismatic person, albeit a misunderstood one.
       He has since transformed himself into a rebel without a cause. In his transition from icon to iconoclast, he has gone out on a limb, ordaining married men into so-called Catholic priesthood in the same breath as he is declaring that he and his cohorts will not quit the church.

    • Area Priest Accused Of Abuse Dies At 60

      [Fr Kelley]  
       WLWT, ~ June 25, 2009
       CINCINNATI (OH) -- A Cincinnati priest accused of molesting dozens of boys died earlier this month in Tennessee.
       David Kelley had worked for decades at area parishes, schools and hospitals before he was suspended from the priesthood in 2003.
       Church officials have said they first got reports of Kelley's suspected abuse in 1994, but a victims advocacy group said a fellow priest reported Kelley's activities in 1986.

    • Video in priest sex saga tabled in House

      [1989-2009 Fr Renato Kizito Sesana* (Comboni Missionary)] - RCC. 5 or 4 boys.    
       KENYA -- Daily Nation, By Caroline Wafula Posted Thursday, 22:36, June 25 2009
       A video recording allegedly depicting Catholic priest Renato Kizito in a sexual orgy with young boys was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
       National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende said he will view contents of the video clip to ascertain its authenticity before giving further direction on the matter.
       Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale (New Ford Kenya) also tabled a letter from two lawyers who have undertaken to present themselves to the Police Commissioner to own the video clip as evidence of the alleged molestation by the priest. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:59 PM

    • Let’s marry, rebel bishop tells priests

      - "Married Priests Now!" 150,000 married clergy.      
       The Standard, By Oscar Obonyo, ~ June 25, 2009
       KENYA -- He has become the face of the movement countering the Catholic Church doctrine on celibacy for priests.
       Zambian breakaway archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo is back challenging the strict doctrine of a church that has excommunicated him.
       Milingo is now hitting the church where it hurts by enticing other disenchanted clergymen to marry and join his ‘Married Priests Now’ movement.

    • Group asks Diocese of Youngstown to Seek out Abuse Victims

      [~ 1975-76 Fr Thomas Crum*] - RCC. 3 complainants now.  
       Vaticancrimes.us , ~ June 25, 2009
       OHIO -- A support group for clergy sex-abuse victims published a letter Wednesday publicly urging the Diocese of Youngstown to send a second, more emphatic and explicit letter to hundreds of Catholics who attended a school where a now-suspended priest worked.
       SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy-abuse victims.
       Earlier this month, the Rev. Thomas Crum admitted sexually abusing a child and was suspended from his pulpit at Our Lady of Peace Church in Canton.

    • Suspended priest dies

      [Fr Kelley]
       Dayton Daily News, By Tom Beyerlein, 3:44 PM, Thursday, June 25, 2009
       CINCINNATI (OH) -- David Kelley, a Roman Catholic priest who was awaiting possible defrocking by the Vatican amid allegations that he sexually abused more than three dozen boys, died of lung cancer at 60 on June 6, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati confirmed Thursday, June 25.
       Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said Kelley, who was on paid leave and wasn’t permitted to present himself as a priest, was living in Tennessee at the time of his death. He said Kelley’s family asked that his burial place not be disclosed. The family arranged a private funeral, Andriacco said.
       Christy Miller, who heads the Cincinnati chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Kelley “was one of the most notorious guys we had” because of the numbers of youth he allegedly abused.

    • Philly priests face sex-abuse charges

     
       PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- Philadelphia Gay News, ~ June 25, 2009
       Two former Archdiocese of Philadelphia students filed separate suits this month alleging sexual abuse by diocesan priests, while a third suit was filed last week against a current diocesan priest.
       Plaintiffs in the first two suits allege that officials with the archdiocese had knowledge of the abuse and did not intervene.
       Richard Green, 31, of Pittsgrove Township, N.J., filed suit last week in Delaware Superior Court, alleging that the late Rev. John M. McDevitt Jr. sexually abused him during his freshman year at Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia.
       The suit states that Green was struggling in his religion class in 1990 and McDevitt, who taught at Father Judge from 1989-94, kept him after school for private tutoring. Green described in the suit that “getting a bad grade in religion just wasn’t an option,” as he was the nephew of the late Cardinal John O’Connor of New York.

    • N.J. Radio Host's Blog Threats Dangerous

     
       Hartford Courant, ~ June 25, 2009
       CONNECTICUT -- An attorney for New Jersey radio host and blogger Hal Turner said his client was only practicing his right to free speech when he recently used a blog posting to urge people to "take up arms" against two Connecticut legislators and a state ethics official. But it's not so benign as simply a free-speech issue. We're glad that Mr. Turner, described by anti-racism groups as a white supremacist and anti-Semite, was charged in Connecticut with inciting injury to person or property, a felony.
       Turner had taken umbrage at a bill introduced earlier this year – and since withdrawn – that would have changed the way the Roman Catholic Church is governed, giving more authority to lay members. The controversy was rekindled recently when state ethics officials decided to investigate whether church officials violated lobbying laws by organizing a rally at the state Capitol to protest the measure.
       Earlier this month, the Turner blog included a post that promised to release the home addresses of state Rep. Michael Lawlor and state Sen. Andrew McDonald – sponsors of the withdrawn bill – and Thomas Jones of the State Ethics Office. It went on to say, "It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die."
       [COMMENT: Fundamentalism is bubbling away underneath even in really peaceful religions like Christianity.]

    • Notorious priest is dead

      [Kelley] - RCC.
       Cincinnati Enquirer, By Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com , June 25, 2009
       CINCINNATI (OH) -- A Cincinnati priest accused of abusing almost 30 boys died earlier this month in Tennessee.
       David Kelley had worked in parishes, schools and hospitals for three decades in Greater Cincinnati before the sexual abuse accusations prompted lawsuits and his suspension from the priesthood in 2003.
       Kelley, 60, died before the Vatican could determine whether he should be permanently removed from the priesthood. Although he had been barred from presiding at Mass or working as a priest, he was permitted to be buried as a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

    • Neo-Nazi Hal Turner Arrested Again

      - Allegedly inciting violence.
       Southern Poverty Law Center, June 25, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Hal Turner, a neo-Nazi talk radio host known for his threats against public figures, is scheduled to appear in federal court this afternoon on charges of threatening to assault and murder three federal judges.
       The arrest comes three weeks after he was taken into custody in New Jersey on charges that he incited violence against two Connecticut legislators. He had been freed on $25,000 bond and wasn’t scheduled to return to court until July. …
       Most recently, he was charged on June 3 with inciting injury to persons or property after he posted a blog entry that encouraged readers to “take up arms” against two Connecticut lawmakers, Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor. Turner was upset about state legislation that would give more power to the laity in the Roman Catholic Church.

    • Police hold American pastor 'look-alike'

      [-2009 Mr Thomas Manton*] - "Dominion International." Sex orgies, recording commercially.    
       Daily Nation, ~ June 25, 2009
       KENYA -- It was a case of mistaken identity. A man who the police thought was American evangelist suspected of possessing pornographic material was arrested as he was preparing to leave the country Thursday morning.
       The man suspected to be Mr Thomas Kevin Manton was then detained and interrogated for about 30 minutes.
       Mr Francois Daniel, a South African national later laughed off the whole incident terming it as ‘funny’ despite missing his flight to Seychelles.
       The police however on realising their mistake apologised for the mix up.

    • Pedo-Priest Gus Krumm Fighting to Keep His Personnel Files Personal

      [1990s Fr Gus Krumm* (Franciscan), Fr Alexander Manville*] - RCC. Krumm doubts in 2004. Boy.  
       Orange County Weekly, By Gustavo Arellano in Ex Cathedra, ~ June 25, 2009
       ORANGE COUNTY (CA) -- If you want to fight for the side of truth and justice, join members of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) this Sunday around 8:30 in the morn as they distribute fliers outside Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Huntington Beach. They'll alert parishioners about what Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown never bothered to do: that someone recently filed a lawsuit against admitted pedo-priest Gus Krumm, a Franciscan (pedo-friar?) who served for years at the parish during the late 1990s.
       Those parishioners should also know that Krumm is furiously fighting to keep secret his personnel files, the reams of documents kept on all Catholic priests and orderlies that have shown again and again how church leaders actively protected pedophiles at the expense of innocents. The court battle isn't happening in Los Angeles, though; it's taking place in Los Angeles Superior Court, site of a 2006 settlement between victims of Franciscans at St. Antonthy's Seminary in Santa Barbara and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (administrator over Catholic life in Santa Barbara County). The release of personnel files were agreed to by the Franciscan order as part of the settlement, but individual pedo-priests were allowed to contest their files--with the legal help of the Franciscans. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:32 AM, June 25, 2009]

    • Jesus loves the little children

      - Baptists.
       UNITED STATES -- Stop Baptist Predators, ~ June 25, 2009
       Sometimes it’s hard not to be cynical about the things Baptist leaders say. For me, this is one of those times, as I watch the stuff spewing forth from the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Louisville. If I didn’t poke fun with a bit of sarcasm, I’m afraid I might dissolve into a puddle of weeping.
       They issued a “pro-adoption” resolution. That’s nice. I’m all for adoption. But it started looking a little weird when it started looking as though Baptist leaders might be promoting adoption, in part, simply because they want to raise their membership numbers. “More kids” means “more Baptists.” …
       If Baptist leaders really believed that “Jesus loves the little children,” wouldn’t they take action to work toward protecting the kids in their own churches?
       Isn’t that what this convention was supposed to be about this year? “Actions speak louder than words.” Remember? So why are they giving us feel-good songs instead of real action to protect kids?

    • Preacher detained for porn

      [-2009 "Prophet" Thomas Manton*] - "Dominion International." Sex orgies, recording commercially.    
       IOL, ~ June 25, 2009
       NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenyan police has arrested an American preacher who faces charges of trafficking pornographic material, police said on Wednesday.
       Thomas Manton IV, a self-styled prophet, was detained late on Tuesday following a complaint by a woman who said he posted pornographic pictures of her on a website.
       "He will be charged for trafficking pornographic material and being in Kenya illegally," a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

    • In the name of Love

      - RCC. "Charity," "Love".    
       The Southern Star, By Perry O’Donovan, ~ June 25, 2009
       IRELAND -- In looking through the Ryan Commission Report material I’m particularly struck by the way the word ‘charity’ stands out. Several of the outfits responsible for the organised crime scrutinised by Justice Ryan’s commission identified themselves using this special word: ‘Brothers of Charity’, ‘Daughters of Charity’, ‘Sisters of Our Lady of Charity’, and – most Orwellian of all – the officers of the ‘Institute of Charity’.
       The word ‘charity’ stands out because it is the most abused of all words in this word-abused world – and it’s widespread abuse is a perfect expression of the will to ignorance and stupefied spiritual darkness in which we wallow and suckle. It has come to be synonymous with ‘almsgiving’, whereas what the term actually signifies is the highest and most divine form of love – the pure love of God, unmediated, unmeasured, overwhelming, and unmistakable.
       And, of course, in the Orwellian new-speak world of untruth in which we dwell ‘love’ itself, by being made to mean everything and anything, means virtually nothing at all. ‘God is love’ we’re taught to say glibly – a lesson only too well-learned from our teachers – and that we ought to ‘love our neighbours as ourselves’. However, in this dump in which we pride ourselves, the word ‘love’ refers to everything from face-sucking Hollywood ‘stars’ – making ‘love’ – to our concern for Third World famine victims; or, similarly, it may refer to anything from that sense of belonging and one-ness we sometimes feel when we sing our tribal songs and wave our flags in the cauldron of a tense sports stadium (or at some commemorative event for our war-dead forefathers) to what happens when a solitary contemplative becomes wholly absorbed in the prayer of simple regard.

    • Pastor will plead not guilty

      [2003-08 Pastor Efrain Umaña/Umana*] - "Templo Monte Horeb". ≤ 2 women, 1 girl.  
       World-Herald, By Katie Fretland, June 25, 2009
       NEBRASKA -- Efrain Umaña Sr., a pastor who served congregations in Council Bluffs and Lincoln, will plead not guilty to sex abuse charges, his attorney said Wednesday.
       Umaña, 53, was charged earlier this month in Pottawattamie County with having sex with a 10- or 11-year-old girl parishioner in 2003, forcing an adult woman parishioner to have sex with him in 2007 and assaulting two other women with the intent to commit sexual abuse in 2008.
       He is accused of assaulting them while serving as pastor at Templo Monte Horeb in Council Bluffs, which he left about nine months ago amid allegations of misconduct.

    • Pastor charged with sex crimes was dismissed from 2 Lincoln churches

      [2003-08 Pastor Efrain Umaña/Umana*] - "Templo Monte Horeb". ≤ 2 women, 1 girl.
       Lincoln Journal Star, By HILARY KINDSCHUH / 12:18:57 am CDT, Thursday, Jun 25, 2009
       LINCOLN (NE) -- The pastor charged last week with a series of sex crimes in Iowa has a troubled history in Lincoln – including an allegation he sexually abused a teenager.
       The Rev. Efrain Umaña was arrested June 11 at his home at 1906 Hartley St. in Lincoln for extradition to Iowa.
       Council Bluffs police allege Umaña, 53, forced a 10- or 11-year-old girl to have sex with him in Templo Monte Horeb church there in 2003.

    • Bathurst sex abuse case: too sick for court

      [Fr Hugh Murray* (79)] - RCC. 3 students.    
       Brisbane Times, by Bellinda Kontominas, June 25, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- A priest charged with indecently assaulting three students at a Bathurst high school has failed to appear in court due to illness.
       Father Hugh Edward Murray, 79, was arrested earlier this week at his Marsfield home and charged with five counts of indecent assault on a male.
       The charges relate to the assaults of three students at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, between 1966 and 1978.

    • YOUR VIEW: Abuse is crime, not just illness

      - Paedophilia is a crime, not an "illness."  
       South Coast Today, By ANN M. BRUNO, (Ann M. Bruno lives in Mattapoisett), June 25, 2009
       MASSACHUSETTS -- I read with interest the opinion piece that Monsignor John Oliveira sent to The Standard-Times ("A year to support Catholic priests," June 16). Monsignor Oliveira speaks of priests who have not lived up to their commitment and have suffered the illness of pedophilia. Pedophilia is more than an illness; it is a crime. Priests found guilty in a court of law have been convicted and imprisoned.
       It upsets me when I hear the church call it an illness and a sin, as if we could give some magical medicine to the criminal to change him, or even worse, pray away this depravity. This crime should not have been covered up with hush money and signed papers forbidding further punitive action on the victim's part.
       Church hierarchy failed in their duty and oversight of these crimes. I don't know if, in my lifetime, I will ever be able to forget that glaring fact. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:05 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Thu June 25, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Fri June 26, 2009 edition:


    • Ex-St. Mark's teacher sued for alleged abuse

      [1986+ Fr Charles Wiggins -NEW*] - RCC. Schoolgirl.  
       WDEL, http://www. wdel.com/ story.php? id=687515 76151 , with audio, ~ June 26, 2009
       DELAWARE -- A Delaware woman is suing the Diocese of Wilmington, Saint Mark's High School and a priest who formerly taught there, claiming she was abused when she was a student.
       The suit filed Thursday in Superior Court says Father Charles Wiggins abused the plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe, beginning in 1986, and the Diocese and then-Saint Mark's principal Ron Russo didn't report the crimes. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 26, 2009 11:56 AM]

    • Baltimore Co. man sues archdiocese, alleges molestation by priest

      [1977-82 Fr Michael Barnes -? NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
       Baltimore Sun, By Brent Jones | brent.jones@baltsun.com , 4:23 PM EDT, June 26, 2009
       MARYLAND -- A Baltimore County man in his 40s is suing the Archdiocese of Baltimore for an undisclosed amount of money, alleging negligence by the Roman Catholic Church after what he claims were years of sexual molestation by one of its priests.
       The lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges that Rev. Michael L. Barnes, a co-defendant in the suit, abused the plaintiff while he was a minor at the St. Clare School in the 700 block of Myrth Ave. in Essex. The school and St. Clare Roman Catholic Church are also co-defendants in the case. Court papers say the church was aware of Barnes' history, which included several other molestation claims.
       The abuse began in 1977, when the victim was 12 years old, and lasted for five years, according to the lawsuit. Court papers say much of the molestation occurred in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and Fenwick Island, Del. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 26, 2009 4:38 PM, June 26, 2009]

    !!!: Church hierarchy 'betrayed' orders

      [2009 Traitorous Orders -NEW*] - RCC. They say Bishops betrayed them !    
       The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, June 26, 2009
       IRELAND -- THE CATHOLIC primate Cardinal Seán Brady, the Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev Diarmuid Martin and other bishops have been severely criticised for their actions and statements, where religious congregations were concerned, following publication of the Ryan report.
       It has also been claimed that at least three victims of abuse have died by suicide since publication of the report.
       Fr Tony Flannery, a Redemptorist priest, has revealed that many members of the congregations feel “terrified”, “ashamed”, “hurt” and “betrayed”, not only because of the actions of the guilty among their own colleagues, but also because of the actions and public statements of the archbishop and other members of the hierarchy who, he said, have led the public criticism of members of Ireland’s religious congregations. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:40 AM]

    • Priest may lose OAM over sex charge

      [Fr Hugh Murray* (79) (OAM)] - RCC. 3 male students.    
       Perth Now, 03:58pm, June 26, 2009
       AUSTRALIA -- HE has dedicated his life to the Catholic church.
       For years he was a member of the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board and his work with HIV and AIDS sufferers in Sydney earned him a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1994.
       But this week, Father Hugh Edward Murray, 79, was charged with five counts of indecently assaulting males.
       Suffering heart disease and too sick to face the charges in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court yesterday), a solicitor for Murray said he "vehemently" denied the allegations that he said stemmed from a "police trawl".
       [COMMENT: Why do we find anti-discrimination and pro-indiscriminate immigration go hand in hand with indiscriminate criminal sex?  Or is this a "frame-up"? ENDS.]

    • Uganda: Pastor Kayiira Grilled Again

      [~ 2000s Pastor Robert Kayanja*] - "Rubaga Miracle Centre." 6 boys.  
       AllAfrica, The New Vision, by Steven Candia, June 25, 2009
       KAMPALA, UGANDA – Pastor Bob Kayiira of Omega Healing Centre was on Tuesday questioned by the Police for the second time in connection with an ongoing sodomy probe that has hit the born again Church.
       Several pastors have been interrogated in the probe, following their allegations that Pastor Robert Kayanja of Kampala Miracle Centre sodomised six boys.
       Kayiira, who was interrogated last month arrived at the Kampala Central Police Station at 11:00am.

    • Tony Blair to U.S. Catholic leaders: Go forward 'undaunted'

      - Bliar sounds "the charge."  
       USA Today, ~ June 26, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who survived a tumultuous decade in the post, had a message today for another major global institution under constant pressure and criticism -- the Catholic Church.
       Go forward, "unafraid, or if afraid, undaunted" and do the work of the Catholic Church, "to demonstrate God's love and compassion and to be in the service of others. That what this church is about at its best. Always has been and always will be."
       But does battle-tested Blair have advice on how the U.S church could deal with, say, restructuring/shrinking parishes, overburdened priests rushing from Mass to Mass? What about potential blow-back from the deeply troubling report on decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors in Irish Catholic institutions? Or the sharp dissonance between the Church and Catholic politicians who don't follow its doctrine in their votes?

    • Teacher again accused of abuse, and his religious order of fraud

      [1960s Bro. Charles (Raimond) Rose] - RCC. 4th claimant (1968).
       Star-Tribune, Featured comment, By ABBY SIMONS, 11:56 PM, June 25, 2009
       ST. PAUL (MN) -- A retired Roman Catholic brother already accused of sexually abusing two students years ago at Twin Cities parochial schools and a third in California was sued again Thursday by a fourth alleged victim who attended St. Paul's Cretin High School in the 1960s.
       The former student, identified in court papers as John Doe 129, accuses Brother Charles Anthony (Raimond) Rose of abusing him in 1968.
       The suit, filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court, also accuses the Chicago-based Christian Brothers of the Midwest, Christian Brothers of Minnesota and the school, now called Cretin-Derham Hall, of fraud for allowing Rose to teach there two years after he was reported to have sexually abused a student at De La Salle High School in Minneapolis. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:39 AM, June 26, 2009]

    • Catholic groups, high school sued over alleged abuse by priest

      [1960s Bro. Charles Rose*] - RCC. 4th claimant.
       Pioneer Press, By Maricella Miranda, mmiranda@pioneerpress.com , Updated 12:29:08 AM CDT, Jun/26/2009
       MINNESOTA -- An alleged sexual-abuse victim is suing two Roman Catholic organizations and Cretin-Derham Hall High School claiming they committed fraud by employing a known child molester as a teacher.
       The suit, filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court, claims the Christian Brothers of the Midwest, Christian Brothers of Minnesota and the high school knew in 1966 that Brother Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose sexually abused a student at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, where he previously taught.
       The plaintiff identified in the suit as "John Doe 129" claims his attack happened seven years after that. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:33 AM, June 26, 2009]

    • Former youth pastor sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sex with child

      [1974-76 Mr Russell Lesser*] - Christian. Teen girl.
       Janesville Gazette, By PEDRO OLIVEIRA JR., Friday, June 26, 2009
       ELKHORN (WI) – A former youth pastor was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison on charges of sexually assaulting a child in the mid-1970s.
       Russell J. Lesser, 64, of Bryson City, N.C., pleaded guilty April 14 to a felony charge of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 16. Two others charges were dismissed but read in.
       During his sentencing Thursday, Lesser asked for the court’s mercy and apologized to victim Laurie Asplund. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 26, 2009 7:16 PM]

    • Former De La Salle teacher faces new sexual abuse allegations in Minnesota

      [1966, 1970, 1982 - Bro. Charles Rose (Christian Brother)] - RCC. 4th claimant.
       San Jose Mercury News, By John Simerman, Contra Costa Times, ~ June 26, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- A former religion teacher at De La Salle High School in Concord who was accused of sexually abusing a student on a ski trip to Lake Tahoe in 1982, resulting in a seven-figure payout, is the subject of a flurry of new lawsuits in Minnesota alleging similar crimes before he came to California.
       Among at least three lawsuits involving Brother Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose are two alleging fraud – a recent legal strategy used by victims of childhood sexual abuse to overcome lapsed statutes of limitations on personal injury claims. The latest, filed Thursday, accuses the Christian Brothers order in Minnesota and a St. Paul high school with knowing Rose had a history of sexual abuse when, the lawsuit claims, he sexually abused a teen boy at a retreat house in 1973 or 1974.
       Two other lawsuits accuse Rose of sexually abusing students in 1966 and 1970 at the same school and another in Minneapolis. From 1963 to 1994, Rose taught in Minnesota, North Dakota and New York. He taught at De La Salle for two years in the early 1980s, said Bob Schwiderski, Minnesota director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national advocacy group.

    • Cutié's Going To The Chapel, and He's Gonna Get Married

      [2009 Feb - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian, June 16 civil wedding to divorcee.    
       Miami New Times, By Kyle Munzenrieder in News, 4:22PM, Friday, Jun. 26 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- The day when former-Catholic Priest Alberto Cutié and Ruhama Canellis were legally wed wasn't good timing, as we reported an alleged ex-paramore of Canellis's was arrested under shady circumstances and was suiting the couple.
       Well, The Herald is reporting that the two will have their church ceremony tonight, and considering public interest is else where at the moment, to say the least, the timing couldn't be better.

    • Bill to Raise Age of Sex Abuse Victims Moves Through Legislature

      - General community.
       Salem News, by Tim King, Salem-News.com , June 25, 2009
       After clearing the House, House Bill 2827 will go to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to be signed into law.
       (SALEM, Ore.) - A bill that would raise the age of sex abuse victims in Oregon from 24 to 40 will likely become law. The future of House Bill 2827 appeared bleak when we wrote about it May 28th 2009. (see: Will Oregon Stand for Sex Abuse Victims? - Tim King Salem-News.com )
       Many of the cases originate from churches in Oregon and experts like Portland Attorney Kelly Clark, say it often takes several decades for a person to comprehend the magnitude of their experience and come forward.
       Bill Crane from the group SNAP, (Survivors Network of people Abused by Priests) says it is a good day in Oregon and while cautious, he agrees that it is good news on a day that could use it. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 26, 2009 4:35 PM]

    • Father Cutié Denies Gay Allegations

      [2008-09 - Fr Alberto Cutié / Cutie*] - RCC. Carousing with bikini-clad Ms Canellis, May 28 becomes Episcopalian, June 16 civil wedding to divorcee.    
       Miami New Times, By Kyle Munzenrieder in Media Watch, News, 12:22PM, Friday, Jun. 26 2009
       MIAMI (FL) -- This week TVyNovelas blasted accusations that Father Alberto Cutié was gay on their cover this week (we think they're just desperately trying to play catch up with TvNotas, who broke the scandal in the first place). A former Radio Paz co-worker, Jose Linares, of Cutié claims he walked in on the Priest with a special friend named Leonardo, a slightly younger, chubby Colombian man, while the two were noticeably pants-less.
       Well, unsurprisingly the accusations have been met with denials all around.

    • Kenya: Milingo Ordains Bishop And Deacons in Secret

      - Consecrates married man as bishop of "Married Priests Now!". 150,000 married clergy.      
       AllAfrica, Catholic Information Service for Africa, June 26, 2009
       KENYA -- The former Catholic archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, Emmanuel Milingo on Tuesday consecrated a bishop and ordained seven deacons to his Married Priests Now! movement in a private ceremony in Nairobi.
       It was not clear why the ceremony was held secretly, although some reports indicate efforts were made to stop Archbishop Milingo from entering Kenya.
       He consecrated Fr Daniel Kasomo as a bishop to head the movement's activities in the country. The new bishop said the movement will cater for priests who have married but still want to continue serving as priests. Bishop Kasomo has been living with his wife Maryanne for 20 years.

    • Vatican: Report raises questions about internal debate

      - RCC.  
       Adnkronos, June 25, 2009
       VATICAN CITY (25 June) (AKI) - The Vatican is beset by a number of internal conflicts that risk paralysing the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a report in the Italian magazine Panorama. The weekly magazine, due to be published on Friday, says several cardinals in senior positions are divided over issues including dialogue with China, relations with the Jews and the beatification of former pope John Paul II.
       Inside the Vatican, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Levada, is reported to be in conflict with the head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Antonio Canizares.
       Former secretary of state Angelo Sodano and former personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, Stanislao Dziwisz, are also reported to be "duelling", while another cardinal Achille Silvestrini is accused of challenging the power of the Vatican's influential secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 26, 2009 12:02 PM]

    • Bishop says pressure groups are unfairly targeting churches

      [Decades - RCC and Irish State] - Orphan and other children.  
       Religious Intelligence By George Conger, ~ June 26, 2009
       IRELAND -- The Church of Ireland’s Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has condemned the moves by pressure groups to use the findings of the Ryan Report on child abuse in Roman Catholic-run institutions to advance their own special interests and political campaigns.
       In the first public statement on the Ryan Report by an Anglican cleric in Ireland, Bishop Paul Bolton told his diocesan synod the needs of the victims of abuse should take precedence. “They must be the centre of all our concerns and efforts,” he said on June 13.
       The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA), also known as the Ryan Report after the commission’s chair Justice Seán Ryan, examined the extent and effect of child abuse after 1936 in Reformatory and Industrial Schools operated by Roman Catholic religious orders and funded and supervised by the Irish Department of Education.
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Fri June 26, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sat June 27, 2009 edition:


    • ADULTEROUS PASTOR: PRESS CONFERENCE CALLED

      [- 2009 Unnamed pastor -NEW*] - Christian. Another man's wife.  
       Weekend Observer, http://www. observer.org. sz/index.php? news=5338 , By Fanyana Mabuza, ~ June 27, 2009
       SWAZILAND -- Silence can be golden, but at times silence can mean consent and it is for this reason that the Swaziland Conference of Churches is calling for a press conference slated for Monday, where they want to put into perspective the issue of a prominent Manzini pastor who is allegedly entangled in a love triangle that involves another man’s wife.
       The Conference of Churches, in a statement, explained that the press conference would not be a witch hunt, but was aimed at correcting some perceptions that may have been created in the minds of many people after they read the story that was carried by this publication last weekend.
       Of utmost importance, is their wish to allay fears that were created, when this publication, due to ethical constraints, could not disclose the name of the pastor nor the church, save to say that he was prominent and from Manzini. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 7:29 AM]

    • Westlake Priest Accused of Exposing Himself While Driving

      [2009 ~ June - Fr Donald Snyder -NEW*, very new] - RCC. Exposing himself.  
       Fox 8, by Kevin Freeman, Fox 8 News, ~ June 27, 2009
       WESTLAKE, Ohio -- A local priest is in legal trouble after he's accused of exposing himself while driving on a local highway.
       Rev. Donald Snyder, 63, is charged with one count of indecent exposure. Rev. Snyder is a priest at St. Ladislas Church in Westlake.
       According to a Westlake police report, a truck driver called 911 after seeing Snyder exposing himself while driving next to him on Interstate 90 in Rocky River. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 5:25 PM, June 27, 2009]

    • Some sex charges dismissed against church worker

      [? 2008-09 Mr Shawn Rickert -NEW*] - "Baptist Temple." Boy.
       Dayton Daily News, By Nancy Bowman, ~ June 27, 2009
       TROY (OH) – A charge of rape and four counts of gross sexual imposition against a youth leader and director of children’s church at Vandalia Baptist Temple were dismissed Thursday, June 25, but Shawn P. Rickert remains jailed on four additional gross sexual imposition charges.
       Refiling of the charges dismissed against Rickert, 38, who lives near Tipp City, will be sought through a Miami County grand jury, sheriff’s Detective Dave Norman said.
       The charges were dismissed in county Municipal Court because the alleged victim, now age 10, was not available at court Thursday to testify regarding specific allegations. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 7:18 AM]

    • Priests torn between love for spouse and celibacy vows

      [2000s Fr Godfrey Siundu -NEW*] - RCC -> Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ. Had impregnated nun, married her May 2006.  
       The Standard, By Osinde Obare and Vincent Bartoo, ~ June 27, 2009
       KENYA -- Fr Godfrey Siundu, Kenya’s first head of the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ (ECCC), a splinter group from the Roman Catholic Church, has been called a rebel without a cause.
       The 38-year-old opened a can of worms when he broke the mandatory celibacy rule and impregnated Ms Stella Nangila, then a nun at Mon Parish in Marakwet.
       In May, 2006, they wedded in Kitale.
       As a Catholic Father, he was bound by the celibacy creed of the church but felt otherwise. "I was living a double life, but now my conscience is clear," says Siundu. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 4:48 PM]

    • Born Again in Brooklyn

      - About the RCC.  
       The New York Times, By Michele Madigan Somerville, June 27, 2009
       NEW YORK -- About a decade ago, moved by a convergence of my longstanding fascination with religion and a time of great personal loss, I embarked on a search for a church and wound up a born-again Catholic. It was not a straight or untroubled path, guided as it was by both my attraction to and enmity for the Roman Catholic Church into which I was born and baptized.
       Growing up Irish Catholic in New York City put me in a good position to experience the best and worst of the Church. Most of the Sisters of Charity who taught at my grade school were tyrants. In 1971 I knocked on the door of my parish rectory to inquire about becoming an altar server; I was advised that only boys could serve. Brides, said the priest, were the only females allowed on the altar. When my mother became critically ill at age 30, a Catholic priest administering last rites, refused to offer absolution when she, who had given birth to four children by age 25, refused to express contrition for taking birth control pills. People for whom I care deeply have been molested by priests. …
       I love the radical Catholic Church. I love that there are Roman Catholic bishops sticking their necks out to ordain women. That Catholic doctrine places mighty emphasis on the role of conscience in worship and creates fertile ground for conscientious dissent. I support dramatic change as energetically as I can. I withhold my cash from the bishops and hand my diocesan appeal tender to the Woman’s Ordination Conference and to SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). I devote much time and talent to working in the Gay Ministry at my church. I recognize it is my obligation as a conscious, conscientious Catholic to discern – to know that the church no more belongs to the Vatican than it does to me. The power of the Church may rest with the College of Cardinals, but its glory rests with people like me. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 9:56 PM]

    • Sex and the Church

      - Christians.  
       The Standard (Kenya), By Oscar Obonyo, ~ June 27, 2009
       KENYA -- It appears as if there are no devils in Hell – they are all in the Church.
       And deviant sex has nearly everything to do with it – child sex molestation, sodomy and pornography. Allegations of child sexual molestation against a priest, prosecution of a preacher over pornography, and priests and nuns’ confessions of adultery and breaking of celibacy vows have awakened the country to the realisation the standing of the Church is in a shambles.
       It is becoming clear that some priests prey on children with abandon. They engage in sex escapades that are the province of the brothel and the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 4:46 PM

    • Fraud Lawsuit Christian Brothers Press Conference

      [1966, 1970, 1982 - Bro. Charles Rose (Christian Brother)] - RCC. 4th claimant.  
       YouTube, video presentation, ~ June 27, 2009
       MINNESOTA -- This is a press conference on the filing of a lawsuit in Minnesota involving Brother Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose, the Christian Brothers and a St. Paul high school. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 12:07 PM

    • Ex-priest consecrated a bishop

      [2009 Fr J. Collova, and, American Apostolic Church*] - A. A. Church. Abuser R. C. priest installed as bishop in breakaway Church.
       Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, ~ June 27, 2009
       MILWAUKEE (WI) -- A former Milwaukee priest, excommunicated and listed by the Milwaukee Archdiocese as a likely sex offender, has been consecrated as a bishop in the American Apostolic Church, a socially liberal breakaway denomination with ministries in Illinois, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
       Bishop S. Joseph Collova was consecrated in a ceremony last weekend. He and the American Apostolic Church have denied allegations that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a young man for seven years beginning in 1980 when he was 14. They say efforts to get the Milwaukee Archdiocese to release his complete personnel file have been unsuccessful. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 10:39 AM, June 27, 2009]

    • Review of Rev. Thomas Doyle

      - Book review. Fr Doyle and others gave RCC warnings 25yrs ago.
       This Little Light, ~ June 27, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Reverend Thomas Doyle is the whistle-blower priest and former Vatican canon lawyer who, twenty-five years ago, warned Catholic bishops about the looming clergy sex abuse nightmare. They ignored him, but Doyle’s prophetic words proved to be tragically true.
       In 2007, Doyle wrote to Baptist officials with a similar warning. They too ignored him.
       Here is what Reverend Doyle said about "This Little Light."
       This book should rightly make any honest Christian furious. The smooth-talking, Bible-quoting, God-invoking perpetrator is disgusting enough but the real anger surges forward as one reads page after page of the twisted, lie-filled and hypocritical response of the Southern Baptist bureaucracy. “Praise the Lord and be saved” suddenly means nothing as the self-righteous, self-appointed guardians of God’s authentic words reveal the shallowness of their understanding of the scriptures they endlessly quote and of the mission of the Lord they claim to follow.
       Christa Brown is a lawyer who has survived the nonsensical brainwashing inflicted by her church. She has survived the sexual molestation and devastating abuse by the duplicitous pastor who used her naive faith to molest her. Most important, she survived every attempt by the mighty Southern Baptist Convention to shut her down. She has become what her church could never be, a true presence of Christian justice and compassion.
       Christa’s vivid story is much more than a narrative about sexual exploitation by a minister. It is about yet another main-line denomination that continually used the words and mission of Christ for its own self-serving ends, but has never had the courage or even the spiritual ability to do the challenging word of Christ. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 8:33 AM

    • Deputies Check Up On Sex Offenders

      - General community.
       KHTS, Written by Carol Rock, 14:00, Friday, June 26, 2009
       CALIFORNIA -- A few dozen deputies went door-knocking Friday morning around the valley to make sure sex offenders were playing by the rules.
       Calling out the offenders' names and listening carefully as they knocked, deputies drew a curious neighbor or two if their summons went unanswered. Those registrants that answered the door were cooperative, used to the drill of bringing deputies up to speed on their activities.
       Teams spread out to drop in on those offenders who listed their residence in the Santa Clarita Valley to make sure they were in compliance with the terms of their release. According to Lt. Steve Low, who heads the SCV Detective Bureau, the deputies were visiting 200 locations. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 7:22 AM

    • Church challenged to 'keep interest' of Catholics in new media age

      - RCC.
       The Catholic Spirit, By Catholic News Service, Friday, June 26, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- The church's great communications challenge today is to "keep the interest of people who have so many places to turn," Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., told the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management.
       Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., addresses the annual meeting of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management in Philadelphia June 25. - CNS photo/Robert Lisak, courtesy of National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management Bishop Kicanas, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed the organization's annual meeting June 25 in Philadelphia. …
       Bishop Kicanas accented the importance of trust for effective communications. The church's sexual abuse crisis "harmed far too many, but also damaged the church's ability to communicate," he said. Some judged the church hypocritical, "more concerned about its reputation than about children who were harmed. Some stopped listening."
       Thus, restoring trust became his goal in Tucson, "as it has for so many bishops in their dioceses," he said. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 7:14 AM

    • Guest column: Do-over needed: Sex-offender law based on myths

      - General community.
       Des Moines Register, June 27, 2009
       DAVE SPENCER is a former sex offender, convicted of third-degree sexual abuse, and was discharged from prison in 2004. Contact: curedes10 § yahoo.com
       IOWA -- Iowans concerned about family safety should read this carefully. The Iowa General Assembly passed a bill this spring, SF 340, that keeps registered sex offenders out of schools, libraries and swimming pools and keeps the "worst offenders" subject to the prohibition against living within 2,000 feet of a school or child-care center.
       Will this protect your children better than the old law? Gov. Chet Culver signed the bill into law because he says these measures will make Iowa safer and law enforcement's job more effective. Concerned citizens should consider three points of reality both the governor and General Assembly seem to have ignored in their rush to impress you on TV.
       First, this new law (as it presumes better public safety) is still predicated on the same old clinically and factually disproven myths. One is that sex offenders always reoffend. This is false, as proven by a federal study using 2004 data for Iowa that shows about 3 percent of registered sex offenders reoffend sexually, even though about 45 percent have or will commit other general crimes. The national statistic for general criminal recidivism is 68 percent. Many general criminal offenders have several convictions for similar crimes, but the average sex offender has about 1.5 sex-offense convictions, according to federal statistics and a state report. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 27, 2009 7:09 AM]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Sat June 27, 2009
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sun June 28, 2009 edition:


    • Sex scandals shake Church of Sweden

      [2009 April - Three clergymen -NEW*] - Church of Sweden. Various.  
       IceNews, http://www. icenews.is/ index.php/ 2009/06/28/ sex-scandals- shake-church- of-sweden , June 28, 2009
       SWEDEN -- After another wave of sex scandals has hit the institution this year, the Church of Sweden is trying to limit damage and maintain the faith of its flock. The Church has been dealing with a steady flow of publicised sexual incidents for a number of years, and things have yet to cool down.
       Archbishop Anders Wejryd told the TT news agency he regrets the incidents, but to his credit insists that transparency is the best way to deal with the ongoing problem. “It is tragic, but I think that we have been successful in our ambition to get people to file reports,” he said.
       In April, branches of the Church in Stockholm, Lund and Vaxjo had to deal with several incidents related to sex such as a priest who has having an inappropriate relationship with a 15 year-old, a priest who slept with a grieving widow, and a third who was caught abusing women with language on an Internet dating site. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 7:07 AM]

    • Edmund Rice Network

      - U.S. Boys' Town Father Flanagan told Ireland in 1946.    
       Edmund Rice Network, ~ June 28, 2009
       IRELAND -- In amongst the myriad of words spoken and written following the publication of the Ryan Report in Ireland, in amongst all the hurts, grievances, angers flowing from aggrieved people, in amongst the stories and memories being recalled, the story of Fr Flanagan, the visionary and legendary founder of Boys Towns in USA, offers us a sobering challenge.
       In 1946, Fr Flanagan returned to his birthplace and also visited the "so-called training schools", in effect the borstals or reformatories, to see if they were "a success or failure."
       Although he was treated as a celebrity, he made it clear he was unhappy with what he found in Ireland. He was dismayed at the state of Ireland's reform schools and blasted them as "a scandal, un-Christlike, and wrong."
       Speaking to a large audience in Cork, he said, "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland's penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child's character." Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 6:59 AM

    • Change of heart: Catholic priests must choose between celibacy and love

      - RCC -> Episcopalians after romance came. United States of America flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
       South Florida Sun-Sentinel, By James D. Davis | June 28, 2009
       FLORIDA -- The Rev. Bob Deshaies never dated while growing up in Waterbury, Conn. He went to a Catholic high school seminary, then a Catholic college, then a major seminary. "You'd be giving up your ministry for a cheap piece of fluff," his spiritual director told him.
       Then he met Deborah Cabral, a youth worker at a parish in Worcester, Mass. He got to know her first as a co-worker, then as a friend, then as a girlfriend. That meeting in 1985, and the relationship that followed, led into marriage, then out of the Catholic priesthood and into the Episcopal Church within two years, preceding Alberto Cutié by two decades.
       "When you meet a woman who opens up your heart and soul, it's mind-shattering," says Deshaies, now rector at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church in Plantation. "It got me to rethink everything." Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 7:03 AM

    • McAleese to meet abuse survivors

      [Decades - RCC and Irish State] - Insitutionalised children.  
       The Irish Times, June 28, 2009
       IRELAND -- President McAleese is to meet with survivors of institutional abuse at Áras an Uachtaráin today.
       The President will meet with some 300 survivors at this afternoon's meeting.
       Speaking at a rally in Dublin earlier this month, John Kelly, Survivors of Child Abuse in Ireland, said: “This will have great significance because you were denied your constitutional rights as a child, you were valued as a child, the constitution didn’t mean anything,” he said. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 6:54 AM

    • President to meet abuse survivors

     
       RTE News, 09:28, Sunday, June 28, 2009
       IRELAND -- Survivors of institutional abuse are due to meet President Mary McAleese today.
       Organisers say the meeting will be a step in the right direction in their fight for justice.
       Around 300 people are expected to attend the meeting, which is taking place at Áras an Uachtaráin at 2.30pm this afternoon. Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 6:52 AM

    • Year of the priests

      - RCC.  
       Winnipeg Free Press, By Brenda Suderman, ~ June 28, 2009
       CANADA -- His days as the spiritual leader of the city's Italian Catholics begin early and usually end late, but Rev. Sam Argenziano isn't complaining about the heavy demands of the priesthood.
       "There are high points every day," he says about leading the flock at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church on River Avenue. "Just being with my parishioners, celebrating life with them, celebrating their weddings, their children, their 50th wedding anniversaries." …
       Part of that reflection is acknowledging the hurt caused by sexual abuse by members of the priesthood, says Weisgerber, and how that has affected the Catholic Church. Priests are now trained differently, schooled in protocols to avoid potential abuse, he says.
       "There's no question that the sexual abuse scandals really lowered the reputation of the priests," he admits. [Posted by Kathy Shaw on June 28, 2009 6:43 AM, June 28, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Sun June 28, 2009

    • Right Wing Hastens to Hold Up Gay Adoptive Dad, Alleged Pedophile, As Typical of All Gays

      [~ 2009 Mr Frank Lombard - NEW*] - Episcopalian. Adopted son (5).  
       EDGE Boston, by Kilian Melloy, EDGE Staff Reporter, Monday Jun 29, 2009
       UNITED STATES -- Pundits on the right lost no time in seizing on the shocking case of a gay adoptive father who allegedly offered his five-year-old son as a sex object online.
       Pointing to the case, which culminated in a June 26 arrest, a June 29 Christian News Wire article titled "Lombard Demonstrates Why Gays Should Not Be Able to Adopt" reported the broad outlines of the case, in which Duke University Center for Health Policy Associate Director Frank Lombard allegedly offered an undercover officer the sexual services of his young adopted son.
       The article also used the case to decry, in equally broad terms, adoption by same-sex couples, taking the occasion to promote a purported study reportedly done by discredited researcher Paul Cameron. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:43 PM, July 01, 2009]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Mon June 29, 2009 edition:


    • Kids and congregants at risk

       
       Stop Baptist Predators
       UNITED STATES -- People often ask me why I keep doing this work.
       That graph is a big part of the answer. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, about 1 in 6 Americans are Baptist.
       Southern Baptists alone are twice as big as the second-largest Protestant group, the Methodists. And if you add in all the other sorts of Baptists, then Baptists are about 4 times more numerous than the Methodists. That’s according to data compiled by the National Council of Churches, which listed the top 25 faith groups in the country.
       Baptists are so big that they literally dwarf all the other Protestant groups.
       Southern Baptists alone claim to have about 16.2 million members. That’s a population the size of Chile or the Netherlands.
       To serve that population, Southern Baptists have 101,000 clergy in this country and 43,000 churches. Yet, despite their faith group’s shared identity, Southern Baptists disclaim any shared responsibility for their clergy… or for the safety of people who sit in Southern Baptist pews. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:58 PM, June 29, 2009]

    • Redress board queried about repeated denials

     
       IRELAND -- The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
       A SOLICITOR who has represented former residents of State institutions for children has said she queried with the redress board as far back as 2003 why it continued to accept repeated denials by the Christian Brothers of any abuse in institutions they had managed.
       Gort, Co Galway-based solicitor Eileen McMahon has also accused the provincial of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, Br Kevin Mullan, of not being sincere in his recent apology to former residents of the institutions.
       Ms McMahon has dealt with approximately 250 cases at the redress board, mainly involving clients now living in the UK. She referred to letters sent to the board by Br Mullan which denied any abuse by the Christian Brothers and which were published in this newspaper on June 3rd last. One was lodged with the board by Br Mullan on May 15th, five days before publication of the Ryan report. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:54 PM

    • Keeper of St. Norbert Church Pedo-Priests Now Accused of Boy Rape Himself

     
       Orange County Weekly By Gustavo Arellano in Ex Cathedra
       ORANGE COUNTY (CA) -- What is it about the pastors of St. Norbert Church in Orange and their predilection for protecting pedo-priests? The most recent example was Cirilo Flores, who is now an auxiliary bishop under Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown; the most notorious example was John Urell, who famously cracked during a deposition digging into his days as the man in charge of "investigating" the pedophiles who terrorized county parishes for decades. I guess they just learned from their elders; after all, longtime St. Norbert pastor Sinon Falvey was in charge of two pedo-priests during his tenure from 1969 to 1989: John Kenney and John Lenihan. God smote the first John in a 1977 car accident; with Lenihan, Falvey moved him along to my home parish of St. Boniface in Anaheim.
       Now, Falvey is the target of a civil lawsuit filed June 25 in Orange County Superior Court. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:51 PM

    • Industrial schools were the product of a religious but unspiritual society

     
       The Irish Times,
       RITE AND REASON: The Ryan report has consigned the triumphalist Catholic Church in Ireland to the dustbin of history, writes BRENDAN Ó CATHAOIR
       IRELAND -- ‘ROMANTIC IRELAND is truly dead and gone,” Mannix Flynn said with justifiable anger. In his review of Bruce Arnold’s new book, The Irish Gulag: How the State Betrayed its Innocent Children (The Irish Times, May 30th), Flynn added: “Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany will now have the company of the Irish Church State, a brutal regime that perpetrated acts of unimaginable horror on its most vulnerable children … It will take generations to heal and understand this trauma. The Irish people will suffer for a long time to come.”
       It has taken us several generations to recover from the Great Famine (1845-1850). Unscholarly attempts were made to compare what was western Europe’s worst modern peacetime disaster to the Holocaust. Historical truth helps to set us free; unhistorical comparisons do not. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:47 PM

    • Diocese of Paterson recommending priest under FBI investigation be reinstated as church pastor

     
       The Star-Ledger by Mark Mueller / 6:00 PM, Monday June 29, 2009
       STIRLING (NJ) -- A lawyer for the Diocese of Paterson has recommended that a Morris County priest be returned to active ministry even as the FBI continues to investigate how the clergyman spent parish funds.
       Monsignor Patrick Brown, the longtime pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Stirling, was placed on leave June 4, a day after two FBI agents arrived at the diocese with questions about Brown's spending practices. The FBI also has subpoenaed records from the church's banks and from a Morristown jewelry store where Brown, 58, frequently bought gifts for parish volunteers. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:30 PM

    • Two cases that affect SOL for child sex crimes in opposite ways now up for review by Supreme Court of California

     
       CALIFORNIA -- City of Angels By Kay Ebeling Creator, City of Angels Blog
       The State Supreme Court accepted the KJ petiion for review last week, leveling the playing field between adult victims of pedophiles and corporate entities who are trying to prevent further lawsuits. Earlier this month the Catholic Church and its attorneys celebrated when the state's highest court granted their request to review Quarry, where the trial court sustained the Bishop of Oakland’s demurrer and dismissed the complaint. Then the First Appellate Court reversed and Catholic Church attorneys worked long and hard to get the Quarry decision reviewed, as we reported here June 12th.
       Now, by the Court agreeing to review KJ as well, "All the big issues will be on the table," an attorney close to the California Clergy Cases told City of Angels. In K.J. v. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton, the plaintiff began to recover memory of the abuse in 2004 and filed suit in 2007. The Third Appellate Court agreed with the Church that the case was time barred, now the Court will review both cases.
       "The justices, at their weekly conference in San Francisco, agreed to review a Third District Court of Appeal ruling that affirmed a San Joaquin Superior Court judge’s dismissal of a suit by 'John K.J. Doe' against the Stockton Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church," reported Metropolitan News Enterprise June 25th. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:27 PM

    • El Obispo de Minas pide perdón y aguarda la sanción del Vaticano

     
       El Pais,
       URUGUAY – La Iglesia Católica de Uruguay sufre su primer gran escándalo. Minas está conmovida. Su obispo fue fotografiado manteniendo relaciones sexuales con dos reclusos que después lo extorsionaron. Se da por hecho que Roma lo removerá.
       En la misa vespertina de este sábado los presbiterios de la Diócesis de Minas leerán una carta del Obispo Francisco Barboza en la que pide disculpas a los fieles por el dolor causado, luego que se conociera que mantuvo relaciones sexuales con dos presidiarios.
       Según fuentes policiales el Obispo había "contratado" a dos presos -Gerardo Enrique Bentancor y José Martín Britos-, procesados por varios delitos, para que hicieran algunas tareas en el obispado. Al principio la relación era de colaboración y ambos visitaban con cierta asiduidad al obispo en busca de ayuda económica.
       [summary]
       The Catholic Church of Uruguay has suffered its first big scandal. A bishop was photographed having sex with two inmates who then extorted him. It is assumed that Rome will remove him.
       Those attending Mass on Saturday evening were read a letter from Bishop Francisco Barboza who apologized for the pain he has caused.
       Police sources say the bishop "hired" two prisoners, Gerardo Enrique Betancourt and Jose Martin Britos, who were prosecuted for various crimes, to do work in the diocese. At first the relationship was collaborative and they visted the bishop with some regularity for financial aid.
       The bishop several times went to visit Betancourt last year when he was in the hospital.
       The bishop later when to Rome where he participated in various seminars and courses for 43 days and then returned to Uruguay to continue a relationship with the men. In December, he invited the prisoners to a dinner that culminated in sexual intercourse that was recorded with a cell phone. Extortion began later and Barboza decided to make a police report.
       This was made public yesterday in a statement that appeared in El Observador.
       The bishop in a letter to people of the diocese said he never thought this would be a source of pain for the people and he asked for forgiveness and announced he would comply with any penalty imposed by the church "with total obedience."
       In the meantime, Betancor was prosecuted for extortion while Britos was prosecuted for attempted extortion. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:07 PM

    • Obispo de Minas ayer pidió perdón; se aguarda la decisión del Papa

     
       El Pais
       URUGUAY -- La Iglesia Católica aguarda la decisión del Papa sobre el obispo Francisco Barboza, que fue fotografiado en actos sexuales con dos individuos. Se le puede suspender su condición de obispo o de sacerdote, pero no quitarle su condición.
       El nuncio apostólico Anselmo Pecorari, dijo ayer sábado que no puede informar si el Papa Benedicto XVI tomó alguna decisión y lamentó no poder hacer comentarios sobre el tema. Los sábados, el Papá trata temas relacionados a los obispos.
       Otras fuentes consultadas consideran muy remoto que el Papa resuelva tan rápidamente esta situación, ya que deberá analizar la carta que Barboza le envió y escuchar la posición de la Congregación de Obispos que lo asesora.
       [summary]
       The Catholic Church is awaiting the decision of the Pope on Bishop Francisco Barboza, who was photographed in sexual acts with two individuals.
       Anselmo Pecorari, the Apostolic Nuncio, said Saturday he does not know if Pope Benedict XVI has made a decision and he said he regretted not being able to comment on the situation.     Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:56 PM

    • Holy See to decide future of Uruguayan bishop accused of sexual misconduct

     
       Catholic News Agency, 02:43 pm, Jun 29, 2009
       MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, / (CNA).- Church leaders in Uruguay are awaiting a decision from the Holy See on how to proceed with the case of Bishop Francisco Barbosa da Silveira of Minas, who has been accused by clergy in his diocese of sexual misconduct.
       Sources at the Uruguayan Bishops’ Conference confirmed that the bishops do not have the authority to take the necessary measures in the case of Bishop Barbosa, who has been denounced for having homosexual relations by some clergy in his diocese. The case of Bishop Barbosa must be dealt with by the Holy See.
       The newspaper El Pais reported the bishop requested a police investigation saying he was the victim of extortion. Two adult men with criminal backgrounds were charged and sentenced to prison. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:47 PM

    • Sunday Sequence

     
       BBC, audio presentation,
       NORTHERN IRELAND The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, a priest of the of Newark, N.J., diocese, discusses his advisory role in the making of a film Beyond the Fire which is about clergy sexual abuse, faith, redemption and some very dark secrets. Maeve Murphy, who is also interviewed, is writer and director of the film. Father Hoatson, who advocates for clergy abuse survivors, is also a survivor of clergy abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:39 PM

    • Bar Mitzvah Tutor Convicted of Sexual Abuse

      [2000s Mr Yona Weinberg*] - Judaist. Convicted. 2 boys.
       Brooklyn Daily Eagle, by Ryan Thompson (court@brooklyneagle.net), published online June-25-2009
       JAY STREET, NEW YORK – A Bar Mitzvah tutor was convicted Wednesday of seven counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, for sexually abusing two boys, the Brooklyn District Attorney announced.
       Yona Weinberg, a 31-year-old social worker from Flatbush, was originally charged with sexually abusing four male students. The indictment had charged Weinberg with course of sexual conduct against a child in the second degree, nine counts of sexual abuse in the second degree, attempted sexual abuse in the second degree, and six counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
       The alleged victims, who were 12, 13 and 14 years old, were Weinberg’s students at the Khal Beth Abraham synagogue, where Weinberg gave Bar Mitzvah lessons. At least one victim was Weinberg’s client at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, where Weinberg was a social worker. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:54 AM

    • Martin admits scandals hurt church credibility

     
       Irish Independent, By Grainne Cunningham and Kathryn Hayes, Monday June 29 2009
       IRELAND -- ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has publicly conceded "the legacy of scandals" has seriously damaged the image and credibility of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
       The archbishop spoke of the need for renewal as he launched the beginning of the Year of Evangelisation over a weekend which saw the ordination of four new priests.
       Speaking at a special service in the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, on Saturday, Archbishop Martin said: "The difficult times we are living through and experiencing do not excuse us from the task of preaching the Gospel, in season and out." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:32 AM

    • Papal visit would not be welcome in wake of Ryan report

     
       Irish Independent By Anne-Marie Walsh, Monday June 29 2009
       IRELAND -- POPE Benedict XVI is not entirely welcome here in the wake of the damning Ryan report, a survey found.
       More than half of people surveyed do not want a second papal visit following the revelations in the report on child abuse.
       An online survey by radio station Newstalk, in which 1,108 people took part, shows the scenes that greeted the late Pope John Paul II during the first papal visit 30 years ago are unlikely to be recreated. …
       "Until he condemns what happened and pays compensation for his vile colleagues' actions, and helps this country prosecute them by handing over all documents in relation to abuse issues and the movement of priests, then he shouldn't be allowed set foot in this country," said one of the interviewees. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:19 AM

    • The context of our sex abuse shame

     
       Eureka Street (Australia)
       Shane Wood June 29, 2009
       IRELAND -- During recent weeks, there has been much publicity in the media in Ireland and in Australia regarding the release of a report commissioned by the Irish Government into past widespread abuse of children. The body making the report is The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. It was set up in 2000 by the Irish Government and began its work while I was in Ireland for twelve months study.
       The Commission had three primary functions:
  • to hear evidence of abuse from persons who allege they suffered abuse in childhood, in institutions, during the period from 1940 or earlier, to the present day;
  • to conduct an inquiry into abuse of children in institutions during that period and, where satisfied that abuse occurred, to determine the causes, nature, circumstances and extent of such abuse; and
  • to prepare and publish reports on the results of the inquiry and on its recommendations in relation to dealing with the effects of such abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:15 AM

    • Deadline looms for sex-abuse cases

     
       The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, June 29, 2009
       DELAWARE -- The two-year window of Delaware's 2007 Child Victim's Act is about to close, putting an end to a steady stream of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that dates to the 1950s and reaches to churches, schools and private homes.
       The 2007 law eliminated the civil statute of limitations in such cases and opened the two-year period during which cases previously barred by the time limit could be filed.
       More than 140 cases had been filed as of Friday, attorneys said, and lawmakers last week unanimously approved legislation to clarify that the deadline for the cases should be July 9 -- marking exactly two years since Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed the act into law. Some judges and attorneys previously thought the window closes Tuesday, the last day of the fiscal year. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:11 AM, June 29, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Mon June 29, 2009

    • Police: Duke University official offered adopted son for sex

      [~ 2009 Mr Frank Lombard -NEW*] - Episcopalian. Adopted son (5).  
       CNN, http://www. cnn.com/ 2009/CRIME/ 06/30/ duke.molestation. internet , June 30, 2009
       DURHAM (NC) and WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Duke University official is accused of offering his 5-year-old adopted son for sex on the Internet, according to the FBI and court documents in the case.
       Frank M. Lombard, 42, was arrested last week at his home in Durham, North Carolina. During an Internet chat, Lombard allegedly offered the child to the person he was chatting with, who was a task force officer from Washington's Metropolitan Police, the FBI said in a statement.
       The chat was initiated after a confidential source facing child pornography charges told authorities they had witnessed a man, allegedly Lombard, performing sex acts on a child over the Internet.
       During the chat, according to the complaint filed against Lombard, he told the officer that he had performed multiple sex acts on the boy and that the officer could do the same if he came to Durham. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:25 PM, July 01, 2009]
    Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont161.htm
    For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.

    #### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue June 30, 2009 edition:


    • Lawsuit claims priest molested altar boy in 1990s

      [1990s Mons. Sinon Falvey - ? NEW*] - RCC. Altar boy.  
       The Orange County Register, By EUGENE W. FIELDS, ~ June 30, 2009
       ORANGE (CA) – A 29-year-old man is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, alleging he was sexually abused by a priest when he was as an altar boy at St. Norbert Church in the 1990s.
       The man, who is identified in the lawsuit only as John DC Doe, alleges he was molested from 1990 to 1992 and that the diocese knew about the molestations and did nothing to stop it.
       The priest is not named in the lawsuit, but the man's attorney, Rebecca Rhoades, identified the priest as Monsignor Sinon Falvey. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:57 PM, June 30, 2009]

    • Former pastor sentenced to 17 years

     
       ROYCE CITY (TX) -- Herald-Banner By Brad Kellar,
       A former Royse City pastor has been sentenced to prison on federal charges he possessed and trafficked in child pornography on his church’s computers.
       Steve Richardson, 36, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release. Richardson pleaded guilty March 19 to two federal counts; one alleging transporting and shipping child pornography and one alleging the possession of child pornography.
       According to a release issued by Acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, Richardson, 36, the former Pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Royse City, Texas, was sentenced late Monday by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 17 years in federal prison. In addition, Lindsay ordered Richardson serve a lifetime of supervised release and register as a sex offender. Richardson has been in federal custody since he was arrested on September 24, 2008, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on related charges in a federal criminal complaint. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:20 PM

    • Deacon Sentenced on Sex Charges

      [2006-08 Deacon Dean Stone -? NEW*] - Christian. PRISON. 3 girls.
       WSET,
       VINTON (VA) -- A former church deacon at a church in Vinton, accused of molesting three teenage girls, has been sentenced to 225-years in prison.
       Dean Harold Stone pleaded guilty in April to 12 felony sex charges for the offenses that happened between 2006 and 2008.
       The sentence comes a week before the church's former assistant pastor is scheduled to be sentenced for an unrelated sex crime. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:17 PM

    • Diocese reinstates Long Hill pastor amid reported FBI probe

     
       Daily Record, By ABBOTT KOLOFF, Staff writer, June 30, 2009
       NEW JERSEY -- Monsignor Patrick Brown was reinstated Tuesday as pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Long Hill while the FBI continues an investigation into parish finances, Paterson Diocese officials said.
       Ken Mullaney, an attorney for the diocese, said the decision was made because the FBI investigation has been dragging on longer than expected and diocese finance officials have not found any problems with parish finances.
       “It seems unfair to have Monsignor Brown in limbo while this investigation continues,” Mullaney said. “We have not seen any evidence of wrongdoing.”
       Mullaney also said the FBI asked him about expenditures made by Brown that include paying mortgages and college tuition for people, and giving money to some of the diocese’s poorer parishes. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:13 PM

    • Bishop says diocese is taking action to prevent abuse

     
       Canton Repository, By Charita Goshay, CantonRep.com staff writer, Posted 08:36 PM, Jun 30, 2009
       YOUNGSTOWN (OH) – .Bishop George V. Murry got the kind of phone call every shepherd dreads: One of his priests had been accused of sexual immorality.
       Shortly afterward on May 22, Murry removed Thomas Crum from the pulpit at Our Lady of Peace Church in Canton. Crum admitted engaging in inappropriate behavior with a student more than 30 years ago while at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.
       In the weeks hence, the head of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown has been on a quest to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again. He vows to keep parishioners apprised of what the diocese is doing about it, and encourages anyone who has been victimized to contact his office. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:09 PM

    • Jewish Week Wins Five Writing Awards

      - Won Judaist journalism awards, covered clergy child abuse.
       The Jewish Week Staff Report
       NEW YORK -- Jewish Week staff writers Stewart Ain and Tamar Snyder and correspondent Hella Winston were among the winners of the 2008 Simon Rockower Awards for excellence in Jewish journalism, which were announced last week.
       The paper also won top honors for its annual magazine, Directions, and second place in its circulation division for editorial writing.
       Winston, who has aggressively covered allegations of child sexual abuse against Orthodox rabbis in Brooklyn and the communal response to it, won first place in the features category for “A Charge of Double Betrayal,” the story of a man who says he was victimized first by the yeshiva principal who allegedly molested him and then by a yeshiva administration that took no action. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:05 PM

    • Abused were hidden in clear sight, says ombudsman

     
       The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
       IRELAND -- FOLLOWING THE Ryan report “we all emerge … somewhat lost, unbalanced, the touchstone of our former beliefs and certainties cast adrift,” the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly has said.
       “We stood exposed, not as an island of charming saints and chatty, avuncular scholars but as a repressed, cold-hearted, fearful, smugly pious, sexually ignorant and vengeful race of self-styled Christians,” she said
       She recalled that at the 2004 Céifin conference in Ennis, Co Clare, she had wondered “what the real us [her emphasis] actually was, the old-style pious Mass-goers, or the new-style materialists.” She continued, “I wonder even more so in the light of Ryan.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:03 PM

    • Burqa debate brings forth memories

      - Chrisitianity and Islam discussed.
       Stop Baptist Predators,
       UNITED STATES -- Last week, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said, “The burqa is not welcome on French territory.”
       The burqa is the head-to-toe garment that is worn by a small minority of Muslim women. It conceals even the face. In this photo of two women in Marseille, the woman on the right is wearing a burqa.
       President Sarkozy declared that the burqa was not a religious symbol but a sign of women’s “debasement.” “In our country,” he said, “we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen… deprived of all identity.” …
       Of course, the mixing of culture and religion isn’t unique to Muslims. And Muslims don’t have any lock-box on religious authoritarianism and paternalism. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that any religion can be misused for oppressing the weak and perpetuating the powerful. That’s a lesson I learned from my own westernized Christian religion.
       Though Baptists don’t display bloody sheets, there is nevertheless much about Baptist culture and belief that is often misused to train girls into the bondage of a subservient self-image. And if you’re a Baptist clergy abuse survivor of either sex, you are virtually guaranteed to experience religiously-fueled oppression, particularly if you dare to try to report it.
       I don’t purport to know what the “right answer” to the burqa debate is. But I do believe that, if the debate is to be honestly engaged, we should not pretend that a burqa is nothing more than the equivalent of a Texas Baptist’s bolo tie, or a Jewish man’s yarmulke, or a Catholic’s cross necklace. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:54 PM

    • A Summer Read: Tennessee survivor Mike Coode writing book as adult victim of pedophile priest, here is part of the story

     
       City of Angels
       Soon to be a major book, maybe a movie or at least part of one, here is Mike Coode’s story, something to read on a beach chair this weekend. Based on his experience going public as an adult victim of a pedophile priest in the early 1990s, his book should be ready for a publisher in mid-July, Mike told me today. I hope so, as Coode spins a good yarn in Tennessee straight talk style, as revealed in the speech copied here, which he delivered at a Nashville VOTF meeting in 2004. Enjoy this summer read, a taste of what Mike Coode’s upcoming book will be like.
       UNITED STATES -- I have a story to tell, and the question I ask myself is Why would I want to tell it? It is so painful this telling of my personal loss; the humiliation, the spiritual confusion, and the debasement. It’s difficult to publicly share my story with my sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and lifetime Friends. It’s difficult to see the pain in the eyes of those of you who share this terrible experience with me. It’s difficult to share my story with strangers.
       But I must share it, because if by telling this story, one child is spared this horrible experience, if my story moves one person to see that the wrongs committed by the leaders of my church, our church, are corrected, then it’s worth the telling. If there are tears, it’s okay. When I see the pain in your eyes, it’s okay. That anguish you feel, that horrible pit in your stomach must forever be a reminder to you that this must stop. We must see that our children and our grandchildren are never caught up in this terrible tragedy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:32 PM

    • Morris County priest under FBI investigation reinstated by Diocese of Paterson

      - Mons. Pat Brown back on duty.
       The Star-Ledger, by Mark Mueller / 2:48 PM, Tuesday June 30, 2009
       STIRLING (NJ) -- A popular Morris County pastor who was placed on leave early this month amid an FBI investigation into his spending was reinstated today by the Diocese of Paterson.
       Monsignor Patrick Brown 58, arrived back at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Stirling around noon, said Michael Critchley, a lawyer representing Brown in the criminal probe.
       "He couldn't be happier," Critchley said. "To be removed from something you've given your entire life to for 30 years -- and having the prospect of it being taken away -- is frightening, and for him to be reinstated to his priestly duties, his prayers have been answered." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:22 PM

    • Dublin inquiry into how 19 senior clergy handled sex claims

      - RCC. Molesters' names will be revealed.
       The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
       IRELAND -- THE DUBLIN Archdiocese Commission of Investigation is believed to have inquired into how four archbishops and 15 bishops addressed clerical child sex abuse allegations in the Dublin archdiocese.
       It is expected to present its report to Minister for Justice by the middle of next month, most likely in the week beginning Sunday, July 12th.
       The report is understood to be 800 to 1,000 pages and, unlike the 2005 Ferns report or the Ryan report, it will name priests who have been convicted in the courts in relation to abuse and those whose names are already in the public domain in relation to abuse.
       It is thought likely that on its receipt the report will be referred by the Dermot Ahern to Attorney General Paul Gallagher for advice as three priests investigated by it are currently before the courts on abuse charges. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:16 PM

    • Irish Church bracing for report on handling of clerical abuse in Dublin archdiocese

     
       Catholic Culture June 30, 2009
       IRELAND -- Still reeling from the impact of a report on rampant abuse of children living in Church-run institutions, Catholics in Ireland are now bracing for a report on the handling of sex-abuse allegations against priests of the Dublin archdiocese. That report, the work of another independent investigating committee, reportedly will be released within the next few weeks. It is said to approach 1,000 pages in length, and will include the names of priests who have faced abuse charges. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:16 PM

    • Ronnie Polaneczky: 'Is it possible …to appreciate the totality of who … Jackson was?'

     
       Philadelphia Daily News By Ronnie Polaneczky, Daily News Columnist
       UNITED STATES -- As we move into day five of Life After Michael Jackson, I'm wondering: How can it be that I feel so bad for the sad, tormented man he'd become?
       I wouldn't normally feel inclined toward a forgiving view of someone credibly accused, as the King of Pop was, of child molestation. Yet I find myself boomeranging like an atom between two "Yes, but …" poles:
       Michael Jackson slept with little boys. Yes, but … he could stir in us a thrilling range of human emotion - from exuberance and delight to restlessness, rage and yearning. …
       I contacted David Clohessy to stew over the ambivalence I've been feeling about the Gloved One's legacy.
       Is it possible, I asked, to appreciate the totality of who Michael Jackson was, when his demons drove him to behave in such a disturbing way with children?
       "I feel both sympathy and revulsion" for Jackson, said Clohessy, a childhood victim of molestation and national director of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "I feel sorry for anyone who came from a family where burning ambition was just drilled into children.
       "On the other hand, there's a danger in minimizing the abuse charges. When you watch a 30-minute memorial to Michael Jackson, and they don't even mention the molestation until 22 minutes into it, it tells present sex-abuse victims that abuse isn't that bad. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:21 PM

    • Judge delays classification of sex offender until July 20

     
       Watertown Daily Times TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009
       CANTON (NY) – The sex-offender-classification hearing for the former pastor of Oswegatchie First Baptist Church has been postponed until next month.
       Merton E. Parks, 61, of 469 Oswegatchie Trail Road, Fine, was sentenced in May to 10 years' probation on a charge of felony possessing a sexual performance by a child.
       St. Lawrence County Court Judge Jerome J. Richards said Monday that he was delaying the hearing until July 20 because the risk assessment test wasn't properly completed. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:04 AM

    • Churches led by ‘naughty’ pastors facing closure

      - Evangelicals and Pentecostals.
       Times of Swaziland, By MUSA NHLEKO, June 30,2009
       MANZINI, SWAZILAND – Churches headed by wayward pastors and church leaders face closure.
       This is if the Swaziland Conference of Churches (SCC) will be able to establish a regulatory body this year for all evangelicals and pentecostals in the country.
       This was said by Bishop Steven Masilela, who is the SCC President, during a press conference yesterday at the Tum’s George hotel.
       Bishop Masilela said the body would be able to handle issues of moral decay amongst pastors and church leaders in Swaziland. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:01 AM

    • Oahu pastor jailed for assaulting girl

      [7yrs Pastor Manuel Taboada -? NEW] - Christian. 10yrs PRISON. Girl.
       Star-Bulletin, with video,By Star-Bulletin Staff and News Services, POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 30, 2009
       HAWAII -- A woman who was sexually assaulted by her mentor and spiritual leader for at least seven years starting when she was 12 years old watched a judge sentence Manuel Guillermo Taboada to 10 years in prison yesterday.
       The woman, her friends and family did not make any statements before Circuit Judge Richard Pollack handed down the sentence. Neither did Taboada.
       "What's he going to say to them, 'I'm sorry?' I don't think sorry's enough and that's why he agreed to a prison sentence," said Michael Green, Taboada's lawyer. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:57 AM

    • Former priest faces 29 sex abuse charges

      [1979-83 Unnamed priest -NEW*] - Christian. 2 boys.
       Breaking News,
       IRELAND -- A trial date has been set for a former priest accused of the sexual assault and b*g*ery of two young boys almost 30 years ago.
       The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies 29 charges of both indecent assault and b*g*ery on dates between June 1, 1979 and June 31, 1983 when one of the alleged victims was aged between seven and 11 years old and the second was aged between 14 and 15 years old. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:44 AM

    • No room for pedophiles in priestly ministry, says Cardinal Hummes

       
       Catholic News Agency, 12:55 pm, Jun 29, 2009
       ROME / (CNA).- The prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, said last week pedophilia is a “terrible crime” that affects only a small percentage of priests, adding that “there is no room in the priestly ministry for people who have committed these crimes.”
       In an interview in Rome with the magazine “Vida Nueva,” the cardinal pointed out that the Church “cannot close her eyes” to these problems, but at the same time he emphasized, “There is no room in the priestly ministry for people who have committed these crimes.”
       “The Church cannot accept cases of pedophilia. Those guilty must be punished both through civil and canon law,” he said, clarifying however that most of the clergy “have nothing to do with these problems.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:37 AM

    • Two diocesan priests named in new sex abuse lawsuits.

      [1960s Fr John O'Brien -NEW*] - RCC. Minor/s. [1960s Fr James Richardson -NEW*] - RCC. Minor.
       Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, June 25, 2009
       WILMINGTON, DELAWARE -- Two priests of the Diocese of Wilmington – one deceased and one retired – have been named in separate lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors, the Diocese of Wilmington announced today. Prior to the filing of these lawsuits, there had been no allegations of this nature against either of these priests.
       Rev. John Francis O’Brien, who passed away on January 7, 2003, is accused of abuse of a minor in the early 1960s.
       Fr. O’Brien was ordained in 1962 and during the first ten years of his priesthood he served as associate pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Wilmington, St. Helena’s Church in Wilmington and St. Ann’s Church in Wilmington. In 1972 Fr. O’Brien was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in New Castle, Delaware. In 1982 he became pastor of St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wilmington. Fr. O’Brien was assigned as pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Church in Wilmington in 1997 and served in that capacity until his death. He also served the Diocese of Wilmington as director of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYM).
       Rev. James Edward Richardson, retired, age 77, is accused of sexually abusing a minor on two occasions in the late 1960s. Fr. Richardson denies the allegations. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:03 AM

    • Nuns issue abuse apology

      - RC Sister of Charity apologises.
       The Irish Times,
       IRELAND -- A nun who campaigns for social justice today apologised to children who were abused while under the care of the Sisters of Charity.
       Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, a member of the religious order criticised in the devastating Ryan report, said members were ashamed, shocked and horrified by the physical and sexual abuse of children at its facilities.
       She told a conference in Dublin Castle the report laid bare the appalling manner in which the most vulnerable children were treated in institutions run by congregations over the past 50 years. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:24 AM

    • McAleese says abuses a 'millstone'

      - RCC and Irish State.
       The Irish Times, By ELAINE EDWARDS,
       IRELAND -- The abuse of children in some institutions run by religious orders is a “millstone of biblical proportions” in Irish history, President Mary McAleese said today.
       Addressing a conference in Dublin organised by the Sisters of Charity, one of the orders under whose care children were abused, Mrs McAleese also paid tribute to the order for the positive work achieved by its members.
       Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, a member of the order, delivered an apology today at the conference to those who were abused in the care of the sisters. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:21 AM

    • Youth group leader admits to fondling

     
       Pottstown Mercury, By Carl Hessler Jr., chessler@pottsmerc.com ,
       NORRISTOWN (PA) – A New Hanover church youth group leader solemnly admitted to a judge that he had indecent contact with a teenage girl who attended the church.
       David Benson Lewis, 24, of the 2900 block of Reifsnyder Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of endangering the welfare of a child, indecent assault and unlawful contact with a minor in connection with incidents that occurred between July and August of 2008.
       The girl was 15 years old at the time of the incidents and Lewis was 23. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:13 AM

    • Kaneohe Minister Sentenced For Molesting Child

      [7yrs Pastor Manuel Taboada*] - Christian. 10yrs prison. Girl.
       KITV,
       HONOLULU, HAWAII -- A judge gave a former Kaneohe minister the maximum sentence Monday for pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl member of his congregation.
       Manuel Taboada faced a maximum 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole after six years.
       Taboada was charged with eight counts of second-degree sexual assault. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:11 AM

    • EIRE/ The Ryan report/ 1.

      - Church and State responsible.
       Il Sussidiario (Italy), The Background, by John Waters, martedì 30 giugno 2009
       IRELAND -- Reserving to itself vast resources of power, the State tends towards evil. In a sense, it cannot really be “good”, and even with eternal watchfulness and oppeness can never do much better than avoid outright corruption.
       The Ryan report describes a wholesale State-driven system of child abuse. The Catholic Church was, of course, deeply implicated, but with the collusion of the Department of Education, the police and the courts. Usually, when this is said, it is interpreted as an attempt to in some complex way “excuse” the Church, to spread the blame. But in Ireland now the opposite is more common: an avoidance of State responsibility so as to emphasise the Church’s wrongdoing.
       Without in any way seeking to diminish the evil that was done by people who claimed to walk in the way of Christ, it needs to be recorded that not a single Irish child could have been taken into one of these institutions without the say-so of the State. None of it could have happened had the State not colluded, had the police and the courts and even the (alleged) national child-protecton agency not arranged for a steady flow of victims to be provided to the Church-run institutions of torture and degradation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:08 AM

    • Irish Priest Faces Civil Case

      - Fr Michael Kelly cleared.
       Irish Emigrant,
       STOCKTON, Calif. – The Rev. Michael Kelly, pastor of St. Joachim Catholic Church in Lockeford, was cleared of wrongdoing by the diocesan review board, based in Stockton, California. They found no evidence to support the claim of sexual abuse that Kelly was charged with last year. Kelly had been placed on administrative leave after being accused of abusing a 10-year-old boy in the mid- 1980s.
       “We categorically deny the allegation," said Albert Ellis, a Stockton attorney who said he has known Kelly for more than 30 years. "It's absurd. It never happened. The guy has a stellar record. He's extremely well-liked and well-respected."
       Ellis said he was surprised that Kelly had been placed on administrative leave after sharing with Blaire the results of a voluntary polygraph examination. That examination, sometimes referred to as a lie-detector test, showed Kelly was being truthful, according to Ellis, when the priest denied he had abused the boy or any other child during his 35-year career as a priest. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:02 AM

    • Lawsuit: Priest molested 2 teens

     
       TOMS RIVER (NJ) Asbury Park News
       By Kathleen Hopkins, TOMS RIVER BUREAU, June 29, 2009
       TOMS RIVER – A sexual abuse lawsuit against a former pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Freehold has been amended to include a second plaintiff who has come forward with allegations that he was sexually abused by the Roman Catholic priest during an overnight trip to a spa resort about 25 years ago, when the clergyman was assigned to St. Veronica's Church in Howell.
       The new plaintiff, now 38 and living in Pennsylvania, alleges in the amended lawsuit that the Rev. Richard Milewski pulled down his bathing suit while roughhousing with him in the pool and squeezed his genitals until he was motionless with pain.
       The plaintiff, identified in the lawsuit only by initials "S.J.," alleged that Milewski made the group of boys he took to the spa resort in northwest New Jersey strip naked before going into a whirlpool tub and steam room with him. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:58 AM, June 30, 2009]
    ////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Tue June 30, 2009
    SYMBOLS:
       * -- NEW*, and in later entries summarising the facts just an asterisk (*), signify predatory clergy whose offences were not known to the public, and probably/possibly not included in previous overall statistics and enumerations of the numbers of seducing etc. clergy.
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    FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED
    Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker for current on-line
    The Boston Globe book: http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse USA
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    THE INTENTION is to PROTECT CHILDREN by RELIGIONS IMPROVING
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    PARTIAL CONTENTS and ANCHOR LIST (After reading an article, use Browser's "Back" button to return to Anchor List)
    • Catholic head admits sins of orphanages. GERMANY: Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches. 1950-60s. Cruelty main focus. 800,000 orphans. June 16, 2009
    • Church must stop denial and watering down of abuse claims. IRELAND: R.C. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin decried as "stunning" the orders' incomplete response to an agreement with the government concerning abuse, criticising the "poor excuse" about legal difficulties. Jun 03, 09
    • Church study reveals sex abuse. AUSTRALIA: Anglican Church. 1990-2008. 191 allegations. Boys most at risk even in Church that has married clergy. Jun 18, 09
    • Pervert priest jailed. AUSTRALIA: RC Fr Desmond Gannon gave altar boy "anatomy lesson." Jun 11, 09
    • Thousands march in silence to protest against abuse by Church. IRELAND. RCC. 7000 to 15,000 in capital. Jun 12, 09
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