• Church probed after young girls made to marry
[2000s Unnamed people -NEW*] - "Gospel of God Church." Forced marriages. 2 girls (13, 15).
Weekend Post, http://www. weekendpost. co.za/article. aspx?id= 504678 , by Bongani Fuzile, December 01, 2009
SOUTH AFRICA -- POLICE are investigating the activities of a Dimbaza-based church after two under-age members were rescued from forced marriages in the last week.
The two girls, aged 13 and 15, both claimed that the Gospel of God church forced them to get married at a young age.
A senior church leader denied the allegations yesterday, but suggested child brides were acceptable in society.
“It’s an individual’s choice to get married at what age she wants to. We don’t force anyone in our church, but this is a disgrace that we will investigate,” said John Sibanda. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:23 AM, December 01, 2009] (This is the first item of Abuse Chronology: http://www. multiline. com.au/~ johnm/ethics/ ethcont167. htm , and of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abusetracker , A Blog by Kathy Shaw, for Tuesday, December 01, 2009)
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Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm Visit http://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 clicking the links.
• Former Catholic priest in Grand Prairie gets prison in child porn case
[2005 Fr Matthew Bagert (40) - ? NEW*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). 4yrs prison. Child porn.
The Dallas Morning News, By JASON TRAHAN / jtrahan § dallasnews com , ~ December 01, 2009
TEXAS -- A former Catholic priest in Grand Prairie who pleaded guilty to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children on a church computer in 2005 was sentenced to more than four years in prison today.
U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay also ordered that Matthew Bagert, 40, remain on supervised release for three years after getting out of prison. He will likely have to register as a sex offender for life, officials said.
Bagert, who lives in Richardson, is to report to prison on Jan. 19. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:55 PM. December 01, 2009
• Church counsellor 'assaulted' boy
[1980s Bro. William Irwin (54), (former Vincentian) -NEW*] -- (RCC). Boy.
Whitsunday Times, http://www. whitsunday times.com.au/ story/ 2009/12/01/ catholic- counsellor- assaulted- boy-court ; December 1, 2009
SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA -- A CATHOLIC brother is accused of sexually assaulting a boy he had been counselling after the youngster was molested by another man, a court has been told.
Former Vincentian brother William Stanley Irwin, 54, of Pyrmont in inner Sydney, appeared briefly in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday charged with two counts of gross indecency on a male under the age of 18 in the mid-1980s.
The court was told Irwin was arrested last week and had since been stood down from his teaching job at St Aloysius College at Milson's Point on Sydney's lower north shore. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:21 AM, December 01, 2009]
• Bradford Vicar Peter Hedge convicted of sexual abuse
[Rev. Peter Hedge - ? NEW*] - ? Church of England. Boys.
Pannone Personal Injury Blog, By Molly Whittall in Abuse Cases, on Monday, October 19, 2009
UNITED KINGDOM -- Pannone LLP has been consulted in respect of possible legal action following the conviction of Bradford Vicar Peter Hedge last week.
Hedge was convicted of various sexual offences including the rape of two young boys. Hedge was described by the trial Judge as one of the most manipulative individuals he had come across. The offences were committed when he was curate at St Margaret's Church in Thornbury. It would appear he kept the boys quiet by giving them money which was often used for drugs. The full story can be read in the Yorkshire Post. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:57 AM, December 01, 2009]
• Kevin Myers: Our mob-law cowardice is to blame for legacy of abuse
- Defying the law leads to more lawlessness.
Irish Independent By KEVIN MYERS, Tuesday December 01 2009
IRELAND -- Nineteen-seventy-four, and two evil young paedophile priests, Francis McCarthy and Bill Carney, were unleashed into the world. For years, they enjoyed the tacit protection of the Church, An Garda Siochana and the State, as they violated scores of boys.
That same year, loyalist bombs exploded in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 34 people. Within days, Garda Special Branch had the names of 10 UVF men from the Portadown-Dungannon area responsible. But someone in government then decided not to seek the extradition of these men, because the Republic did not want the precedent established in one direction, leading thereby to extradition of IRA men northwards.
For it was, implicitly, better that the IRA campaign continue, than terrorists of any kind face their just deserts.
For this is the simple truth: if the institutions of justice are maimed for one, they are maimed for all. You cannot take tiles off a roof and tell it to admit rain but not snow. Law was already blinkered for the Church: it was no great stretch to blinker it for the IRA. Let me remind you: at around this time Martin McGuinness was caught with 1,000 lbs of explosive. He got six months. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:18 AM, December 01, 2009
• The Franciscan grabbed the freshman by the testicles and instructed the boy to cough as if it were a hernia exam. Just another day of Seminary Life.
[1960s-70s - Franciscan friars] - RCC. Boys.
City of Angels, ~ December 01, 2009
CALIFORNIA -- Franciscan friars with no medical training tested boys for "undescended testicles" at St. Anthony's high school seminary in the 1960s and '70s, as revealed in a new lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara last month and reported here in Part 4 of the Santa Barbara Story November 2009 here at City of Angels. Soon after the testicle exam, an assault by a group of unruly Franciscan friars fills out the plaintiff's first year of high school, apparently just another part of life at the seminary.
The legal documents in pedophile priest rape episodes again speak for themselves. Here are more direct quotes from: First Amended Complaint for Damages and Relief, Case Number 1338070 filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court November 3, 2009.
Because these stories seem unbelievable, I asked Tim Hale, the Santa Barbara attorney who authored the briefs, how he came up with the details in these cases, as reported here November 23, 2009 Hale said: "Everything alleged in the amended complaints is supported by admissible evidence assembled from investigation and discovery conducted during the last eleven years of litigation involving the Franciscans." Hale works for Nye Peabody Stirling & Hale law firm in Santa Barbara. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:47 PM, December 01, 2009]
• 'Abusive rabbi' trial to open February
[~ 2000s "Rabbi" Chen/Hen*] - Judaist. Cruelty to "correct children's souls."
YNet News, by Aviad Glickman, December 01, 2009
ISRAEL -- The indictment against "abusive rabbi" Elior Chen, who is accused of a line of serious abuse against eight children was read at Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday.
Chen fled Israel in March 2008 to Brazil and was extradited back to Israel last month after a long legal process.
In the hearing, Chen's lawyer Ariel Atari requested to delay giving his response to the charges against his client. At the request of the judge, Yoram Noam, Chen stood up and declared that he understands the charges brought against him. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:32 AM, December 01, 2009
• Conn. diocese releases documents on priest sex abuse
[1950s - ~ 2001 Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. Sexual abuse by priests.
NECN with video, by Brian Burnell,
BRIDGEPORT (CT), (NECN) -- More than 12,000 pages of documents were released today by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They detail decades of sexual abuse by priests and steps taken by the church.
The documents were released computer files and came from 23 lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, lawsuits settled in 2001. They shed light on what the diocese knew and when it knew it going back to the 50's.
Beth McCabe, SNAP Connecticut: My abuse happened in the early sixties. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:39 PM, December 01, 2009
• Bravery exposes abuse
[Fr James McNamee]
Fingal Independent Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- THE abuses suffered at the hands of Fr James McNamee was to affect his young victims physically and psychologically for decades but the bravery of a few like Bernard from Swords has exposed the Skerries priest's litany of abuse for all time.
Bernard from Swords was one of Fr McNamee's victims and at the age of 43 he says he is just 'turning the corner' in recovering from the abuses dealt to him as a child of six at the hands of the paedophile priest from Skerries.
The abuses Bernard suffered between the ages of six and 10 remained a dark secret for years and led to trouble with alcohol in his teenager years.
One drunken night, when he admits being 'off my face' he came home and spilled the whole dreadful story to his mother who was 'dumbfounded' by the news.
Some time passed before the family addressed the issue properly but Bernard praised his parents reaction to the terrible news and for never doubting his word.
Bernard told the Fingal Independent: 'My parents have always believed me and still do. My father was very hurt by it as any father would be.' Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:15 AM, December 01, 2009
• Bridgeport Diocese Releases Abuse Docs
WFSB with video
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The Diocese of Bridgeport released more than 12,000 documents Tuesday, shedding more light about sexual abuse complaints that were made against priests to the diocese.
The records date back to the 1960s.
The information was requested to help figure out what leaders of the diocese knew about the complaints and what they did about those concerns at the time.
One court record connected to a victim in Westport reads, "During the summer of either 1978 or 1979, another boy and I traveled to Block Island, Rhode Island, with Father Moore. That night, the other boy and I literally jumped out of a bedroom window to escape Father Moore's sexual advances." In the document the victim goes on to say, "I was never offered counseling services by the Diocese of Bridgeport or any of its representatives." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:36 PM, December 01, 2009
• Critics say documents show Egan, Curtis protected sex criminals
Connecticut Post By Ken Dixon Updated: Dec/01/2009
CONNECTICUT -- What's most striking in the long-suppressed files on pedophile Roman Catholic priests is the arrogance of the Diocese of Bridgeport hierarchy, including the late Bishop Walter W. Curtis and retired Cardinal Edward M. Egan, according to survivors of sexual abuse and critics within the church.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Voice of the Faithful, a group of Bridgeport diocese parishioners who have called for greater church transparency, said that thousands of pages of documents released Tuesday uncover a culture of secrecy, cover-up and denial.
They said that church leaders protected priests at the expense of abused children, many of whom remain angry decades after they were sexually abused. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:34 PM, December 01, 2009
• Lori oversaw change in handling abuse claims against priests
- RCC. Bp Lori lauded.
News Times, By Daniel Tepfer, Published: 01:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 2, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport's hierarchy shielded priests accused of sexual abuse for years, Bishop William Lori faced the problem directly.
Days before Lori was installed as Bridgeport bishop in 2001, the diocese agreed to pay about $15 million to 26 people who claimed they were abused by priests in the 1970s and '80s.
Although the abuse occurred during the tenure of Lori's predecessors, Edward Egan and Walter Curtis, he immediately took steps to begin addressing the controversy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:30 PM, December 01, 2009
• Govt starts drafting child-protection laws
Irish Examiner Tuesday, December 01, 2009
IRELAND -- The Government has started drafting legislation to allow the use of so-called "soft information" for vetting people working with children.
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen said it is a priority for the Government, after what he described as the "harrowing litany" of abuse uncovered in the report into the Dublin Archdiocese. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:23 PM, December 01, 2009
• Neill urges vigilance against abuse
The Irish Times, December 01, 2009
IRELAND -- The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev John Neill, said today churches off all faiths have to continue their efforts to tackle the “evil” of child abuse.
In his first public remarks since the Murphy report last week, Dr Neill expressed his "deep sorrow for and sympathy with" the victims of clerical child sex abuse and paid tribute to their bravery.
“In having the courage to bring to light the dreadful experiences of their own childhood, the victims of abuse have challenged the whole of Irish society,” he said. They have performed an invaluable service to those who might be at risk now or indeed into the future." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:21 PM, December 01, 2009
• Martin 'unhappy' with response
IRELAND -- The Irish Times, By KILIAN DOYLE and LUKE CASSIDY, December 01, 2009
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said he is not happy with the response of bishops to Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time tonight Dr Martin said he would write to the priests or bishops named in the report that “had a responsibility to the archdiocese of Dublin” to ask them to “give answers about what happened”.
Dr Martin said: “I believe that the people of the archdiocese of Dublin, where this abuse took place, have a right to have these questions addressed today.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:16 PM, December 01, 2009
• Child protection laws 'a priority'
IRELAND -- The Irish Times, By ELAINE EDWARDS, December 01, 2009
New legislation to protect children rather than a constitutional referendum has to be the Government’s “immediate concern”, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said.
Mr Cowen was responding to questions in the Dáil today in relation to the findings of the Murphy commission on the handling by the Dublin Archdiocese and the State of allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy.
He said Minister for Children Barry Andrews would consider the report with a view to deciding what needed to be done, in addition to the measures it would implement in response to the Ryan abuse report published last May. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:13 PM, December 01, 2009
• Cowen defends Vatican response
- RCC.
The Press Association ~ December 01, 2009
IRELAND -- Brian Cowen has defended the Vatican's refusal to deal directly with an investigation into paedophile priests in the Dublin diocese that has shocked the country.
The Taoiseach insisted Rome's effective snub of Judge Yvonne Murphy's inquiry was in keeping with international law concerning diplomatic channels. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:11 PM, December 01, 2009
[COMMENT: So, when a nation's inquirers, hardly able to believe that supposedly holy men and women have been leading children into sin, asks the "chief shepherd on earth," he will shelter behind "diplomatic law," instead of following divine law, which is to "feed My lambs, feed My sheep." So, the Bishop of Rome isn't really a "bishop of souls" at all, is that it? ENDS.]
• Dublin's sex-abuse scandal: variations on the American theme
Catholic Culture by Phil Lawler, December 1, 2009
For anyone who has followed the sex-abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church, the report of the Murphy Commission on sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese tells a painfully familiar story. With a haunting sense of déjà vu, one reads about the innocent boys who were violated, the concerned parents who were ignored, the predatory priests who were coddled and protected. In Dublin, as in the US, there are two distinct elements to the scandal. A small minority of priests in the archdiocese molested young people (usually young males). While their behavior was both criminal and sinful, it was only a part of the problem. They could not have continued their contemptible behavior, and could not have escaped punishment, if they had not been protected by Church officials. The failure of the hierarchy to protect young people and to discipline predators is the second element of the scandal.
The Murphy Commission rightly focuses on this second element, condemning the “cover-up” of abuse within the Dublin archdiocese. The commission saw that systematic cover-up as a “perversion of power and trust.” If the bishops who shuffled predatory priests from parish to parish believed that they were protecting the Church from public scandal, they were sadly mistaken. Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern pointed out, as he released the Murphy Commission’s findings, “the cruel irony that the Church, partly motivated by a desire to avoid scandal, in fact created a scandal on an astonishing scale." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:08 PM, December 01, 2009
• Egan evasive, defensive in fending off queries into clergy sex abuse
Connecticut Post, By Michael P. Mayko, ~ December 01, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Edward Egan claimed to be proud of the "excellent" written policy that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport adopted on sexual misconduct by priests shortly after he became bishop in December 1988.
But, in depositions on clergy sex abuse made public Tuesday, Egan, who later became cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York, became guarded when questioned about the sexual misconduct by priests, as well as the whereabouts of those sent for psychological evaluation or reassignment following a claim of misconduct.
If "anyone were to ask, I would simply say they probably had no business to ask and I would just avoid the answer," Egan said during questioning Oct. 7, 1997, by the late lawyer T. Paul Tremont. Tremont, who with his partner, Cindy Robinson, pair represented dozens of area residents who sued the Diocese of Bridgeport and won nearly $36 million in the settlement of lawsuits they filed over claims of sexual abuse by priests. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:03 PM, December 01, 2009
• Ensuring abuse won't be repeated
Connecticut Post, ~ December 01, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has long known this day was coming. As one court after another rejected its arguments over the years, diocesan officials have had time to prepare for its deepest secrets to be made public. That day is here.
On Tuesday, after taking its argument all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the diocese unsealed papers dealing with three decades of accusations of child molestation against diocesan priests. It is, at long last, a chance to finally stop keeping secrets and to help the wounded heal.
Supporters of the diocese have argued the release is unfair because it deals with decades-old claims, and decisions made by officials who have long since left town. They have a point. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:00 PM, December 01, 2009
• Documents: Conn. bishop downplayed abuse claims
- 6 RC priests leave trail of litigation.The Associated Press, By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (AP), ~ December 01, 2009
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. – Newly released documents in lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., show that then-Bishop Edward Egan was combative with lawyers for victims of alleged abuse by priests – and thought it "marvelous" so few priests had been accused of abuse.
The documents, including a 1999 deposition of Egan, were made public Tuesday by a court, which unsealed documents in lawsuits filed by 26 people against six priests. The lawsuits were settled in 2001. Five of the priests were banned from ministry and one died. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:06 PM, December 01, 2009
• Bridgeport diocese releases secret records on sexual abuse by priests
- 6 RC priests cost US $15m, so far.News Times, Published: 01:45 p.m., Tuesday, December 1, 2009
CONNECTICUT -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, complying with a court order, this afternoon released documents chronicling how it handled allegations of sexual abuse against its priests dating back more than three decades.
The diocese turned over thousands of pages to Waterbury Superior Court officials and to the lawyers of four newspapers that had filed suit to force release of the documents.
The files consist of more than 12,000 pages from 24 lawsuits against six priests settled for $15 million by the diocese in 2001. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:03 PM, December 01, 2009
• Ex-Grand Prairie priest sentenced for child pornography
[2005 Fr Matthew Bagert* (40)] - RCC. Child porn.Fort Worth Star-Telegram, BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR., ramirez@star-telegram.com
DALLAS, TEXAS -- A former Grand Prairie priest was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison for possession of child pornography which he viewed on the Internet on a church computer.
Matthew Bagert, 40, was sentenced to 51 months without parole by U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay. He must register as a sex offender. Bagert entered a plea of guilty in April to one count of possession of child pornography. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Bagert, of Richardson, must surrender to federal prison officials on Jan. 19. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:58 PM, December 01, 2009
• Diocese of Bridgeport Releases Documents Relating to Cases Settled in 2001
- RCC.Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, 1:00 p.m Tuesday, December 1, 2009,
BRIDGEPORT, CT, . – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport announced today that it has complied with a court order to release documents, previously-sealed by multiple court orders, which pertain to clergy sexual abuse cases that were settled in 2001.
The documents relate to misconduct from the 1960s and 1970s. They include pre-trial materials such as motions, depositions, testimony, and correspondence, all produced in pre-trial activity throughout the 1990s.
All of the documents at issue were shared with the victims through their attorneys leading up to the settlement of these cases. Furthermore, between 1993 and 2002, more than 200 media reports were published about these cases. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:52 PM, December 01, 2009
• New York Archdiocese Defends Egan Handling of Sex Abuse
1010 WINS (HARTFORD, Conn.)
NEW YORK, (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- The Archdiocese of New York says recently retired Cardinal Edward Egan "aggressively investigated" allegations of sex abuse by priests despite newly released documents that show Egan downplaying the claims.
The Bridgeport diocese on Tuesday turned over more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests settled by the diocese in 2001. The release of the documents ended a seven-year legal battle to keep them private. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:48 PM
• The Tragedy of Irish Catholicism
The New York Times by Ross Douthat
IRELAND -- Of the horrifying report detailing the Irish hierarchy’s decades-long cover-up of priestly sexual abuse, the Telegraph’s Damian Thompson writes:
The greatest scandal, of course, lies in the acts perpetrated by wicked clergy against the innocent. But it’s the secrecy and deceit of the Church authorities that resonates most with me. For, although I was educated by Irish brothers, I can honestly say that I’ve never experienced clerical paedophilia, or even met a priest or brother who was to my knowledge a classic paedophile. But I have encountered, many times, the arrogance of senior clergy who believe that almost anything can be kept secret from the laity if it might “damage the good name of the Church” (ie, inconvenience or embarrass them). And I associate the worst abuses of power with the mean-spirited Jansenism of the Irish Church and the Irish clerical diaspora.
I was struck by this last line because recently I’ve been reading American Catholic, Charles Morris’s history of Catholicism in the United States. His account emphasizes the extent to which the modern Irish Church – which, because of the extraordinary influence of Irish clergy in this country, is in many respects the American Church as well – was the invention of a small group of strong-willed Victorian clerics, led by Dublin’s Cardinal Paul Cullen. Pre-Cullen, Irish Catholicism was “one of the most ragtag national churches in Europe,” Morris writes; post-Cullen, it was one of the most unified, rigorous, enthusiastic and militant branches of Catholicism in the world. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:45 PM
• Martin 'not happy' with bishops' response
IRELAND -- RTE News with video,
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said that he is not happy with the response of bishops named in the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
In an interview with RTÉ News, Archbishop Martin said he is writing to Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:43 PM
• The Catholic Church and the doctrine of "mental reservation"
Bay Windows by Jeff Epperly Contributing editor Tuesday Dec 1, 2009
UNITED STATES -- Those of us in Massachusetts who’ve followed the Catholic Church’s hyperbolic machinations on LGBT issues since the days of disgraced pedophile-enabler Cardinal Bernard "Daisy" Law, can recite a long list of end-of-days predictions the Church has used to try and derail every single pro-LGBT initiative that has come up on a state and local level. Under the mournful guise of protecting children and families, the Church spent years trying to convince city councils and state legislators that, were we afforded even the most basic civil rights in housing and employment, the world as we know it will come to an end. …
The report added: "This is clearly untrue but in the Church’s view it is not a lie because, when the curate told John that the parish priest was not in, he mentally reserved the words ’ … to you.’"
Put another way, Boston’s Cardinal Law would not have lied if he told parishioners that "priests are not sexually molesting your children" because he thought but held back the unspoken words "right now, that I know of."
This sounds more like a lesson in philosophy from Peter Griffin of "Family Guy" than it does theology, but there you have it.
And they paint us as disordered. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:39 PM, December 01, 2009
• Creditors In Del. Diocese Bankruptcy Meet
CBS 3 RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Officials of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington are answering questions regarding the diocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
At a meeting Tuesday, diocesan representatives answered questions from an attorney for the U.S. trustee's office. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:37 PM
• Bishop of Limerick wins local support but controversy rages on
Limerick Leader By Anne Sheridan Published Date: December 01, 2009
IRELAND -- AS pressure mounts on the Bishop of Limerick to resign in the wake of the Murphy report into child sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese, many people in Limerick have come out to express their support for him.
This week, a group of 80 priests and parishioners issued a statement in which they publicly defended Dr Donal Murray, saying that his resignation would present a "retrograde step" for the continuance of child protection measures in the Mid-West.
As the controversy raged, the Bishop was notably absent from the launch of the St Vincent de Paul annual Christmas Appeal this Monday night. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:35 PM
• Philip Ameen and the Last Crusade
- RCC.
Business Finance, by Jack Sweeney, December 1, 2009
CONNECTICUT -- Even after a Darien, Connecticut, priest was convicted of stealing up to $1.4 million in donations from his parish, few church officials could have imagined the possibility of Connecticut lawmakers introducing a bill to remove control of parish finances from Roman Catholic bishops.
Nevertheless, when Bill 1098 was introduced into the Connecticut General Assembly last March, the diocese of Bridgeport was ready for battle. Back in 2006, having sensed the outrage of his flock over the brazen theft, Bishop William E. Lori had appointed a special finances task force (composed of three priests and three lay members) to define the finance best practices that would help the pastors of 87 parishes elevate their financial controls. As each task force member's resume was rich in finance experience, they formed an impressive financial round table.
However, no one's portfolio could match the singular credentials of task force member Philip Ameen, a 58-year-old layperson who for the past 12 years had served as principal accountant and comptroller for the General Electric Company -- a role that required the churchgoer to signoff on the company's financial statements, which in 2006 tracked the whereabouts of $163 billion in revenue. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:31 PM, December 01, 2009
• Catholic Church Releases Priest Sex Allegation Documents
- RCC.WESTPORT (CT) -- Westport Now
Five priests who served in Westport are cited in documents released today by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport as it complied with a court order to disclose documentation on how it handled allegations of sexual abuse against its clergymen.
The diocese turned over thousands of pages to Waterbury Superior Court officials and to the lawyers of four newspapers that had filed suit to force release of the documents, which cover a period going back more than 40 years.
The five priests who served in Westport named in the documents include Martin J. Federici, picked up by Westport police in 1968 for allegedly molesting a boy in his car. He served at Westport’s Assumption Church from 1968 to 1970. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:24 PM, December 01, 2009
• Archbishop defends handling of abuse claims
New Haven Register,
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT (AP) – Recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan steadfastly defends priests in the Bridgeport diocese and his handling of abuse allegations while he was bishop there, saying that charges of sexual misconduct were rarely proven to be true.
Egan makes the claims in a 1999 deposition, one of thousands of documents that were made public on Tuesday. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:13 PM, December 01, 2009
• Archbishop says he wouldn't discuss abuse claims
San Jose Mercury News, By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer,
HARTFORD, Conn.–Recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan says it was not appropriate to discuss allegations of priest sex abuse with people who had claimed to be abused while he was bishop of the Bridgeport diocese.
Egan makes the statements as part of a 1997 deposition that was part of thousands of documents made public on Tuesday, ending a seven-year legal battle. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:17 PM, December 01, 2009
• BREAKING NEWS - Bridgeport diocese releases secret records on sexual abuse by priests
- RCC. > 30yrs of seduction documents.Connectcut Post,
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, complying with a court order, this afternoon released documents chronicling how it handled allegations of sexual abuse against its priests dating back more than three decades.
The diocese turned over thousands of pages to Waterbury Superior Court officials and to the lawyers of four newspapers that had filed suit to force release of the documents.
The files consist of more than 12,000 pages from 24 lawsuits against six priests settled for $15 million by the diocese in 2001. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:13 PM, December 01, 2009
• Diocese in denial: Fallout from the Bridgeport sex-abuse scandal
- Bp Lori.Connecticut Post
Zero tolerance policy
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- In the midst of growing criticism of how the Roman Catholic addressed claims of clergy misconduct, Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori played a key role in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' approval of zero-tolerance policy on priests who sexually abuse children.
Key provisions of the policy approved in June 2002 include:
All priests guilty of abuse will be barred from church work -- from saying Mass to wearing a Roman collar to running a parish. … Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:11 PM, December 01, 2009
• Catholic Church Sex Abuse Documents Released
- RCC.NBC New York
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Diocese of Bridgeport has released more than 12,000 pages of documents, from 23 lawsuits, containing information about sexual abuse complaints against several Connecticut priests and how the church handled those complaints.
The records include testimony, depositions, affidavits and motions that had previously been under seal. They could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan handled the abuse allegations when he was Bridgeport bishop.
The almost 450 pages of depositions Egan gave, how that he did not investigate aggressively some claims of abuse, he reassigned priests who he knew had allegations made against them and he minimized allegations made against several priests, the Hartford Courant reports. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:07 PM, December 01, 2009
• Transcript of Nov. 18, 1996 Videotaped Deposition of Monsignor Andrew T. Cusack
The Hartford Courant
CONNECTICUT -- Rosado v. Catholic Diocesan Corp. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:04 PM, December 01, 2009
• Transcript of Nov. 11, 1995 Videotaped Deposition of Monsignor Andrew T. Cusack
The Hartford Courant,
CONNECTICUT -- Rosado V. Bridgeport diocese Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:00 PM, December 01, 2009
• nothing to hide
Catholic Culture,
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Diocese of Bridgeport spent 8 years fighting to prevent the release of records involving sex-abuse cases. Dozens of pleas and motions in state courts. Two trips to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Three efforts at the US Supreme Court. All to no avail. Today, in compliance with a court-ordered deadline, diocesan spokesman Joseph McAleer says that the documents will be released.
But McAleer warned that the documents may not contain much new information. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:51 PM, December 01, 2009
• Cardinal Edward Egan Protected Abusive Priests At Victims' Expense
The Hartford Courant, By DAVE ALTIMARI, 1:25 p.m. EST, December 1, 2009
[This site also links to nine other documents.]
[Transcript of Oct. 7, 1997 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan]
[Transcript of Sept. 23, 1999 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan]
CONNECTICUT -- "Claims are claims. Allegations are allegations."
Those six words uttered by retired Cardinal Edward M. Egan during two depositions neatly sum up his approach to handling the burgeoning priest sexual abuse scandal that he inherited when he took over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut in the late 1980s.
In 448-pages of depositions that Egan was forced to give as part of 23 lawsuits against seven priests that eventually were settled, the Bishop showed little compassion for the alleged victims and instead argued with attorney's that only a "remarkably small number" of priests have ever been accused of wrongdoing.
"These things (sexual abuse complaints) happen in such small numbers. It's marvelous when you think of the hundreds and hundreds of priests and how very few have ever been accused, and how very few have even come close to having anyone prove anything," Egan said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:44 PM, December 01, 2009
• Timeline of priest abuse settlements, documents
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Connecticut Post
The following is a chronology of events in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport concerning sexual abuse by priests:
Jan. 4, 1993: Sharon See and Brian Freibott file suit in Bridgeport Superior Court against the Diocese of Bridgeport, claiming they were sexually abused by the Rev. Raymond Pcolka when they were children at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Stratford.
Feb. 16, 1993: Eleven more people claiming abuse by Pcolka file suit against the Bridgeport diocese.
May 1994: The diocese pays $250,000 to two men who claimed they were sexually abused by the Rev. Laurence Brett in Sacramento, Calif., in the mid-1960s. Brett was working there with permission of the Bridgeport diocese. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:42 PM, December 01, 2009
• Timeline: Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport Priest Abuse Case
CONNECTICUT -- The Hartford Courant, Research by Rosa Ciccio and Tina Bachetti of Center for News Research and Archives. December 1, 2009
March 2001. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport settles 23 lawsuits brought against seven unnamed priests for an undisclosed amount of money. The court orders the documents sealed and church officials believe eventually destroyed. Four newspapers – the New York Times, Hartford Courant, Boston Globe and Washington Post, file an emergency appeal in April 2002, seeking to have the documents preserved and unsealed. The diocese embarks on what would be more than a seven-year battle against the newspapers.
March 17, 2002. The Courant publishes a story based on thousands of pages of sealed court documents and testimony from civil suits against six priests. Among the findings:
New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan, while serving as bishop of the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese from 1988 to 2000, allowed several priests facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse to continue working for years. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:39 PM, December 01, 2009
• Priests cited in sexual-abuse claims
Connecticut Post
CONNECTICUT -- Following is a list of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport against whom claims of sex abuse are chronicled in previously secret documents: Lawrence F.X. Brett
1963-64, St. Cecelia's Church, Stamford; 1964, appointed spiritual director of Sacred Heart University.
1964: College student goes to urologist because Brett, while performing oral sex on the teen, bit the young man's penis, causing wound. Brett is sent to New Mexico monastery and diocese releases memo that Brett is being treated for a recurrence of hepatitis.
In 1966, Brett serves as priest in Diocese of Sacramento, Calif., where he is accused of assaulting two boys; 1969-72, teacher at Calvert Hall, a Catholic high school in Baltimore and leaves after being accused of molesting two students. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:37 PM, December 01, 2009
• Diocese Turns Over Documents in Sex Abuse Lawsuits
WTIC, By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer, ~ Dec 01, 2009
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Connecticut Roman Catholic Diocese has turned over to court officials thousands of documents connected to priest sex abuse lawsuits, ending a seven-year legal battle.
The documents, which court officials planned to release later Tuesday, could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the abuse allegations when he was Bridgeport bishop. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:35 PM, December 01, 2009
• The St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese
City Pages, Nov 25, 2009
MINNESOTA -- It's been a rough decade for the Catholic Church. A hierarchy all too eager to cover up its employees' sins has compelled many of the faithful to flock to less creepy pastures in recent years.
Given the history, you'd think church higher-ups in Minnesota would go out of their way to help expose abusive priests past and present. But you'd be wrong.
In April, Minnesota's Catholic leaders issued a protective order to keep secret the identities of 46 former priests suspected of sexually abusing children at the St. Paul-Minneapolis and Winona Archdioceses.
The church's controversial move came during a lawsuit filed against the St. Paul-Minneapolis and Winona dioceses. Attorney Jeff Anderson accused leaders of suppressing information on an alleged sex abuser in the church. Anderson–who'd filed numerous suits alleging molestation by priests, and whose own daughter was abused decades ago by a clergyman–requested the hitherto undisclosed names be made public, arguing that the public safety was otherwise jeopardized. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:00 AM, December 01, 2009
• The truth about priests
[Bishop Raymond Lahey] - RCC. Rosary beads in naked boy picture.
Maclean's, by Michael Friscolanti on Tuesday, December 1, 2009
CANADA -- Even to the eyes of a seasoned child pornography investigator, the photographs are horrific. One image depicts a young boy, no older than 12, standing on a wooden deck, a pair of white underwear pulled down around his knees. In the next shot, a different naked boy is sitting in an office chair, with two holy rosaries–one white, one black–dangling from his skinny neck. It’s impossible to know for sure, but detectives believe the anonymous boy could be as young as nine years old.
In yet another photo–one of 964 discovered on Bishop Raymond Lahey’s laptop–a male teenager is posing in front of a bookcase. “He is blond and looks hurt as there are red welts and marks on his stomach and chest area,” according to a police statement filed in court. “He looks sad in this image.”
Sadness does not even begin to describe such a betrayal. In August, the same Bishop Lahey proudly announced a historic, out-of-court settlement worth millions of dollars for victims who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests in his diocese of Antigonish, N.S. Then, just weeks after the press release, he was flagged by border guards following a flight from England to Ottawa, and–after a peak inside his Toshiba–charged with possessing and importing child pornography. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:18 AM, December 01, 2009
• Call for archbishops who knew to resign
[Fr Mames McNamee]
Fingal Independent By John MANNING, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- ANY living member of the hierarchy who knew of Fr James McNamee's abuses and simply moved him on to another parish or institution should immediately resign, according to one of the paedophile priest's victims. Bernard from Swords, was serially abused by the priest who was originally from Skerries, when Fr McNamee was serving in the parish of Crumlin in the 1970s. The Swords abuse victim said: 'Any bishop or archbishop who knew about priests who were abusing and just moved them on to serial abuse somewhere else, should resign.'
'I know people have asked them to look into their own conscience, but do they have a conscience?'
He said that victims and authorities alike had been intimidated into silence over the years. Bernard said: 'It shows the power of the Catholic Church at the time that people were afraid to speak out.' The Swords man who is now 43 years old criticised Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD for failing to call for the resignation of bishops and archbishops named and shamed in the Murphy Report on clerical abuse in Dublin. He said he was worried that the failure of those in authority to call for resignations meant that the 'deference' to the church was still endemic in Irish society. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:13 AM, December 01, 2009
• Priest swam nude with boys
[1960 onwards Fr James McNamee -? NEW*] - RCC. Nude with boys.Fingal Independent By John MANNING Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- THE first accusations of the sexual abuse of young boys by Fr James McNamee date back to 1960 and for the next 40 years his church conspired to move him on and hide him away rather making him answer for his abuses. The first complaint in 1960 centred around 'inappropriate behaviour' with two boys from Stella Marris football club. The allegations were investigated by the church with both Bishop Dunne and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, accepting the priests explanation of events after he said he 'merely permitted the boys to use the showers after returning from the seaside'.
Archbishop McQuaid was convinced of the priest's innocence and told him to 'forget about' the incident, according to the Murphy Report on clerical abuses in Dublin.
Subsequently there were a number of complaints from members of the Stella Maris football club who recalled Fr McNamee 'swimming nude with other team members'. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:11 AM, December 01, 2009
• Abuse horror
[1960 onwards Fr James McNamee*] - RCC. Nude with boys.Fingal Independent By John MANNING Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- A MAN from Swords who was consistently abused over a period of four years by a paedophile priest says the lessons of the Murphy Report on clerical abuse must be learned to protect our children's future.
Bernard, a 43-year-old man from Swords, was abused in the swimming pool and car of Fr James McNamee between the ages of six and 10 and he still carries the psychological scars of those events today.
For Bernard, the publication of the Murphy Report has brought some closure and after the last five years in therapy, he hopes his life has turned a corner and he can put the events of those dark days behind him finally. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:09 AM, December 01, 2009
• Victim still longs to confront abuser
[1960 onwards Fr James McNamee -? NEW*] - RCC. Nude with boys.
Fingal Independent, By John MANNING, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- A SWORDS victim of a paedophile priest exposed in the Murphy Report says that seven years after the priest's death he still longs to confront him and ask him why he abused children under his care. Bernard from Swords was one of at least 21 victims of Fr James McNamee who was a serial abuser of young boys while serving in the dioceses of Crumlin in the mid 1970s.
Between the ages of six and 10, Bernard was one of the boys from Crumlin and Walkinstown that Fr McNamee abused in a swimming pool at his house in the diocese.
'I was one of the chosen few,' Bernard told the Fingal Independent wryly. 'It is amazing to think now that other boys who were not given access to the pool were jealous of us - how lucky they are.' Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:07 AM, December 01, 2009
• Storm the Vatican April 2010. Also, Money for therapy comes from plaintiffs not Church, and Santa Barbara Story Part 3
City of Angels By Kay Ebeling
CALIFORNIA -- Part 3 of the Santa Barbara Story, is below. Also we are running reruns from last week for clarification. Some readers balked and misunderstood about the therapy funds available for victims announced here a few days ago. It is Not money that comes from the Church, the funds come from plaintiffs in the Santa Barbara 2006 settlements. They donated and created a trust fund for other victims who need therapy. Also, the Ash Wednesday 2010 Day of Silence announced a few days ago here is to raise funds for people in Canada who are going to Rome to "storm the Vatican" in April 2010. Both stories are rerun below for clarification, but first, from Santa Barbara.
The author is City of Angels is slammed at work, [sic] had planned to write an evocative drama based on these Santa Barbara court documents, but I have to work overtime all this week on my "real" job. So instead here at City of Angels we are copy and pasting from the legal documents, exactly as filed: I am not making this stuff up. The following, except for occasional offset comments by CityofA, all the way to the line of asterisks (***) is direct quotes from: First Amended Complaint for Damages and Relief, Case Number 1338070 filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court November 3, 2009. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:03 AM, December 01, 2009
• Donegal priest blasts 'arrogance' of bishops
Derry Journal Published Date: December 01, 2009
IRELAND -- A Lifford priest who was cleared of sex abuse has criticised the "arrogance" of Ireland's bishops and described their statements following the publication of the Murphy report as "weak and spineless."
Fr Edward Kilpatrick made comment during a homily at St. Patrick's Church, Murlough, on Sunday in the aftermath of the findings of the Murphy Report into sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin over three decades.
Fr Kilpatrick, who was acquitted of sex abuse in 1997, said he was "ashamed" by the findings of the report. "With my colleagues in the area, we wondered what to say this weekend. As a professional in the institutional church, I am ashamed standing here before you on this Sunday," he said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:01 AM, December 01, 2009
• One-on-One with Milwaukee's Next Archbishop
WTMJ By Vince Vitrano with Jay Sorgi Story Created: Dec 1, 2009
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- The transition has already begun for the man who will be Milwaukee's next Archbishop.
Current La Crosse Bishop and Milwaukee Archbishop-Designate Jerome Listecki is already busy getting ready for his new job.
When he first came to Milwaukee following the announcement of his new post, he sought patience and forgiveness, admitting he will make mistakes. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:31 AM, December 01, 2009
• Local priest speaks of impact of sex abuse report
IRELAND -- The Fermanagh Herald
A CLOGHER diocesan priest who celebrates 40 years in the ministry next year accepted an invitation from the Herald to address the impact of the child sex abuse by clergy 'Murphy Report' which was released last Friday. …
Did he feel nervous? - 'It wasn't easy to talk about it, but I did talk about it. The congregation were rather subdued. What I said was we first of all had to pray for the victims and the survivors, that God would give them strength and healing for all their hurts.
"Secondly, I addressed the issue of priests who did this. I said it was, of course, such a breakdown of trust to damage innocent children in this way. I also said we had put systems in place to ensure that this could never happen again to children in our care." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:03 AM, December 01, 2009
• Go now, bishop, before Vatican sends you a P45
[1980s Fr Thomas Naughton] - RCC. Altar boy.Irish Independent, By JOHN COONEY, Tuesday December 01 2009
IRELAND -- MOST certainly Donal Murray should resign as Bishop of Limerick and respect the state judicial finding of the Murphy commission that his mishandling of complaints against the notorious paedophile cleric Thomas Naughton was "inexcusable".
Dublin-born Bishop Murray, a leading academic theologian, finds himself in public disgrace and an embarrassment to his Church. No amount of "mental reservation" on his part can alter this judgmental reality.
Frankly, it was pathetic on Sunday for him to tell a congregation of elderly parishioners at a Mass in Limerick that the question of whether he should resign will depend on whether his presence in the diocese is "a help or a hindrance". Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:47 AM, December 01, 2009
• Group defends Limerick bishop
The Irish Times, By KILIAN DOYLE and KATHRYN HAYES
IRELAND -- Priests and parishioners in the Diocese of Limerick have voiced their support for Bishop Murray, arguing that demanding his resignation will not help the healing of victims of clerical sex abuse.
The Dublin diocesan report said Dr Murray had handled a number of allegations of abuse badly. In one case, his actions were “inexcusable”, the report said.
About 80 people attended a meeting in Limerick on Sunday to discuss his future, just hours after Dr Murray told Mass-goers at St Joseph’s Church that he would be guided by the priests and people of the diocese as to whether his presence was a “help or a hindrance”. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:42 AM
• SNAP to Diocese: Find sex abuse victims
WWLP, with video, by Veronica Cintron
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, stood in the rain outside the Bishop Timothy McDonnell Elliot Street residence.
They claim Dominican priest Aaron Joseph Cote --a western Massachusetts native-- had likely [= "probably" in Australian English] molested children in our area during the 90's. "Every place that he's worked, allegations arose of abuse against children," said SNAP member Bill Nash.
Cote, who has worked in several states, was just convicted and ordered to serve a 10-year probation in Manhattan. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:35 AM, December 01, 2009
• Elior Chen's trial postponed to February following lawyer's request
[~ 2000s "Rabbi" Chen/Hen*] - Judaist. Cruelty to "correct children's souls."
The Jerusalem Post
ISRAEL -- The trial of Elior Chen, the self-styled rabbi who allegedly influenced followers to abuse their children in order to "correct their corrupt souls" and was indicted on eight counts of abusing and assaulting minors by the Jerusalem District Court last month, will begin in February.
Ariel Atari, Chen's lawyer, requested that judge Yoram Noam postpone the commencement of the trial in order to allow the defense sufficient time to study the case. The judge acquiesced. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:30 AM, December 01, 2009
• Church sex abuse documents go public
- 7yrs delaying the truth.
YouTube
CONNECTICUT; (WTNH) -- The Bridgeport Diocese lost a seven year court battle to keep some documents in the clergy sex abuse scandal sealed, and today the public will get a look at those documents. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:28 AM, December 01, 2009
• Papal envoy denies contempt claim
BBC News
IRELAND -- The pope's ambassador to Ireland has denied that he showed contempt for an official inquiry into clerical child abuse in Dublin, a newspaper has said.
Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, who took up office as the Irish papal nuncio in April last year, failed to respond to a request from the Murphy inquiry.
Dr Leanza said the Irish government-ordered inquiry did not go through the appropriate diplomatic channels.
He told Tuesday's Irish Times that his actions could not be taken as contempt. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:15 AM, December 01, 2009
• Support group for sex abuse victims blasts Catholic Diocese …
- Donations go to PR firm, 6 offenders.
Sussex Countian By Antonio Prado Community News Mon Nov 30, 2009, 05:21 PM EST
WILMINGTON Del. -- A steady, cold rain could not stop the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) from conducting its latest demonstration against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington on Monday, Nov. 30 over the sex abuse scandal.
SNAP gathered in front of the Chancery Building – which houses the office of Bishop W. Fran Malooly – to denounce the diocese’s decision to hire a Los Angeles-based public relations firm to help it through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy the diocese sought as faces numerous sexual abuse cases.
SNAP also demonstrated in front of the diocesan office in Forty Acres to protest the diocese’s effort to continue paying for the retirement benefits of six confirmed pedophile priests as it undergoes Chapter 11 proceedings, according to SNAP Director Judy Miller Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:11 AM
• Relatives of tragic victim again call on cleric to quit
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Barry Duggan Tuesday December 01 2009
THIS is the second time in recent years that Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray has been at the centre of a controversy over clerical sex abuse.
Abuse victim Peter McCloskey took his own life in 2006 after he unsuccessfully attempted to seek redress from Bishop Murray over the sexual abuse he suffered on numerous occasions at the hands of a priest in the diocese in the 1980s.
Since the shocking revelations in the Murphy report, McCloskey family members have called on Bishop Murray to resign. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:09 AM, December 01, 2009
• 'Gardai deferred unduly to church in past'
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Tom Brady, Security Editor Tuesday December 01 2009
GARDAI have in the past shown undue deference to the power of the church and state authorities, commissioner of the force Fachtna Murphy admitted yesterday.
He was commenting on the findings of the Commission of Investigation into clerical sex abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. Mr Murphy said this level of deference had no place in the garda force of 2009 and would not be tolerated "under my watch".
In response for calls to bring in outside help with the examination of the findings, Mr Murphy said his force had the experience to carry out a thorough investigation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:07 AM, December 01, 2009
• Walsh defends backing of embattled colleague
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By John Cooney Tuesday December 01 2009
BISHOP of Killaloe Willie Walsh last night defended his backing of embattled Bishop of Limerick, but admitted he regretted causing offence to victims of clerical child sex abuse.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Dr Walsh said that he felt that the Murphy commission should have given Bishop Donal Murray more credit for his overall tackling of child abuse rather than concentrating on one investigation of a complaint which it described as "inexcusable."
Dr Walsh also said that his description of calls for Bishop Murray's resignation as "a kind of public trial" was not meant to be contemptuous of the intelligence of ordinary Catholics who want their bishops to accept moral responsibility for their failures to protect children from paedophile clergy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:04 AM, December 01, 2009
• Abuse report: Cover-up clerics likely to get off the hook
- RCC.IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Dearbhail McDonald and Barry Duggan Tuesday December 01 2009
NEW evidence will be needed if senior clerics and gardai are to be prosecuted for their involvement in the cover-up of child sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.
Legal sources last night poured cold water on the prospect of senior members of the hierarchy being held criminally responsible for their failure to protect children from paedophile priests, as a previous garda investigation had ruled out such prosecutions.
The disclosure came as pressure continued to mount yesterday on Donal Murray, the Bishop of Limerick, to resign. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:02 AM, December 01, 2009
• The case against Bishop Murray shows he failed to monitor abusers
- Priest met boy on homosexual nightclub. Bishop failed to act.Irish Independent, By Dearbhail McDonald, Legal Editor, Tuesday December 01 2009
IRELAND -- HIS failure to investigate one particular cleric was described by Judge Yvonne Murphy as "inexcusable".
But it is not just the case of convicted paedophile priest Thomas Naughton in which Bishop Donal Murray was embroiled during his 14-year tenure as an auxiliary in Dublin.
In 1989 a priest identified in the Murphy report as Fr Horatio approached Bishop Murray and told him he was attracted to a young girl. Horatio denied there was anything physical in the relationship.
Nine years earlier, Horatio had been the subject of a complaint after the parents of a 15-year-old boy told the archdiocese that their son had been abused after meeting the priest in a gay nightclub. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:00 AM, December 01, 2009
• Bishop 'deeply upset' by double trauma of victims
- RCC.
The Connaught Sentinel December 1, 2009
Church put its own protection before children
IRELAND -- THE Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan – who was found to have correctly handled allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a priest in the Dublin Archdiocese some years ago – has said he is “deeply upset” by the trauma suffered by victims of clerical sex abuse.
Bishop Drennan, who was auxiliary bishop in Dublin between 1997 and 2005, is one of five bishops who still hold office mentioned in the shocking report by Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:57 AM, December 01, 2009
• Bridgeport Diocese Expected To Release Priest Abuse Documents Today
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The Hartford Courant By DAVE ALTIMARI December 1, 2009
After eight years of legal battles that went to the nation's highest court, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport today is expected to release more than 12,600 pages of documents detailing sexual abuse complaints against several of its priests and how the church hierarchy handled those complaints.
Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens set the Dec. 1 deadline to give the diocese time to review all of the documents and create a log of ones that it considers privileged information that should not be released.
That's on top of the 15 documents in the 23 separate files that the state Supreme Court has ruled shall remain sealed because those 15 documents, including at least two depositions, were not submitted as legal documents. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:52 AM, December 01, 2009
• Tuam archdiocese abuse cases all reported
IRELAND -- The Mayo News by Áine Ryan
ALL ALLEGATIONS of sexual abuse made against priests in the Archdiocese of Tuam have been reported to the relevant statutory authorities, a spokesman for the archbishop confirmed to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday).
Father Fintan Monahan has confirmed there is no priest still serving in the diocese who has been the subject of such an allegation. Of the 377 priests who have served since 1940, there have been allegations made against 15, with some of these since deceased, he said.
He also told The Mayo News that Archbishop Michael Neary – who expressed his shock and sadness in a sermon relayed throughout the diocese at Sunday Masses – would ‘welcome’ a national audit of all dioceses, if the State, which commissioned the investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin, ‘deemed it necessary’. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:49 AM, December 01, 2009
• Conn. court expected to release church documents
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Waterbury Republican-American,
Bridgeport's Roman Catholic Diocese is expected to release thousands of documents connected to sexual abuse lawsuits.
The diocese was ordered by Waterbury Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens to release the papers Tuesday.
The files consist of more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests settled by the diocese in 2001. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the diocese's appeal of a Connecticut Supreme Court decision ordering release of the documents. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:46 AM, December 01, 2009]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Tue December 01, 2009
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont167.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed December 02, 2009 edition:
• Temple town reels under sleaze scandal
[~ 2009 Devanathan - NEW*] - ? Hindu. CDs on sale. ≥ 30 women.
The Times of India, http:// timesofindia. indiatimes. com/india/ Temple-town- reels-under- sleaze-scandal/ articleshow/ 5294274.cms ; ~ December 02, 2009
CHENNAI, INDIA : For a town of a thousand temples, a sex scandal, that too one involving a priest, has come as a shocker. About 75km from Chennai and perched on the edge of the booming industrial hub of Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram is yet to recover from the brazenness of 35-year-old Devanathan, who allegedly played out his ‘unholy’ acts in the sanctum sanctorum of the Maheswarar temple.
Police picked up the man in first week of November after they got hold of a CD showing his sexual exploits within the temple’s precincts. Copies of the CD had apparently sold like hot cakes in the town famous for its ‘kancheevaram’ silks. With the media splashing salacious details of his relationships with a series of women, apparently from varied socio-economic backgrounds, the issue continues to rock the local community which comprises weavers and families associated with the management of the temples that crowd its landscape. With some of the women now accusing the priest of rape, the case which was initially based on obscenity was transferred on Tuesday from the town’s police force to the district crime branch for investigation. Clearly, what’s made the incident sensational are its voyeuristic and exhibitionistic aspects which seem out of place in a small town known for its orthodox traditions.
Police say the priest allegedly threatened and sexually assaulted at least 30 women. Among the victims who approached the police is a 30-year-old woman, Malar (name changed), wife of a school teacher, living close to the temple. She complained that priest had drugged her before raping her inside the temple. She alleged that the priest had blackmailed her by recording footage of their sexual act on his mobile phone, and forced her to have sex with him on several occasions later. Malar accused the priest of threatening to tell her husband about the relation if she failed to ‘co-operate’. The priest would apparently visit her house requesting for milk to do a puja, as a way of communicating his desire to meet her at the temple. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:03 PM, December 02, 2009]
• Diocese Pays $200,000 to Settle Priest Abuse Case
[1976 Vallely - NEW*] - RCC. Altar girl.
MPBN, ~ December 02, 2009
MAINE -- The victim says she was molested by a Catholic priest in South Berwick when she was a girl.
A woman who says she was abused by a Catholic priest in South Berwick when she was 11 has reached a $200,000 settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the woman's attorney told the Portland Press Herald.
The woman says she was abused by the Rev. James Vallely in 1976, when she was an altar server at St. Michael's parish. Vallely died in 1997, and the diocese has previously listed him as one of nine deceased priests who had credible abuse allegations against him, according to the paper. Vallely also served in parishes in Portland, Bangor and Florida. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:48 PM, December 02, 2009
• An Irish archbishop doing what no American bishop has done
- RCC.
Catholic Culture, By Phil Lawler | December 02, 2009
UNITED STATES -- What would happen, do you think, if one American bishop had challenged his brothers to admit their culpability for the sex-abuse scandal? Would the sky have fallen in, if one determined bishop had stood up at that June 2002 meeting in Dallas, and said in public that some of his colleagues were morally obligated to resign?
It didn’t happen. It still hasn’t happened. To this day, we haven’t seen any American bishop say, for the record, that some of his colleagues betrayed their responsibilities so thoroughly that they can no longer be considered fit to act as successors to the Apostles.
One diocesan bishop has no power over another; Bishop X cannot require Bishop Y to resign. But he can ask him to resign; he can exhort him to resign; he can explain why resignation is the only proper option. Or, short of demanding a resignation, he can acknowledge that at a minimum Bishop Y needs to come clean, to acknowledge his guilt, and to make amends. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:06 PM, December 02, 2009]
• Child sex charges against priest Peter Brock withdrawn
[1970s Fr Peter Brock] - RCC. 22 charges withdrawn.
The Herald (Australia), ~ December 02, 2009
AUSTRALIA -- CHILD sex charges laid against Catholic priest Peter Brock were withdrawn this morning.
As committal proceedings against the well-known clergyman were due to recommence in Newcastle Local Court this morning, DPP solicitor John Stanhope told the court that the 22 charges laid against Fr Brock would be withdrawn.
He had been charged with abusing two boys in the 1970s. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:01 PM, December 02, 2009
• Priest's child sex charges dropped
[1970s Fr Brock] - RCC. 22 charges withdrawn.
AUSTRALIA -- ABC News
A Hunter Valley Catholic priest has walked from a court a free man, after multiple child sex offences were dropped.
Father Peter Julian Brock was charged with 22 child sex charges, relating to two boys dating back to the 1970s. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:59 PM, December 02, 2009
• Every auxiliary bishop had some knowledge of crimes
IRELAND -- The Irish Times
ANALYSIS: It’s not just about Bishop Donal Murray. Many other bishops failed and they should all resign, writes MARY RAFTERY
AS BISHOP Donal Murray thrashes about trying to save his own skin, it is clear he is doing immense damage to his brother bishops, as he divides and sets them against each other. It is not too difficult to find a rationale for his tenacity in the face of such strong public revulsion at his lack of action to protect children from gruesome abuse – he was not the only one (true), and consequently it is unfair that he be singled out to pay for the gross negligence of so many other bishops (also true).
The answer to this is not of course that Donal Murray should remain as bishop of Limerick. It is rather that all the other guilty ones should also resign. The point has been made that some of these are more seriously implicated than others, and all should not be tarred with the same brush. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:57 PM, December 02, 2009
• Church and State relations
The Irish Times December 03, 2009
IRELAND -- THE BISHOPS named in the Dublin diocese report must be made accountable for their behaviour. There is, nevertheless, a danger that in focusing in particular on the position of Bishop Donal Murray, we may miss a central point. Ultimate responsibility for the way in which the safety of children was so recklessly ignored does not lie with any individual bishop. It does not lie even with the Irish hierarchy as a whole. It lies with the Vatican.
We know this because the approach to allegations of child abuse was consistent, not simply between bishops or across Irish dioceses, but around the world. There was a way of doing things – keeping the crimes secret and moving the abusers on to another parish until the whole pattern began to repeat itself. It does not absolve Donal Murray from personal responsibility to say that he was part of this system. Equally, however, the mindset behind the system would not be fundamentally altered by his resignation.
It is in the light of the primary role of the Vatican that we must see the unwillingness of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the papal nuncio to respond to requests for information from the Murphy commission. The Taoiseach, in a painfully deferential statement in the Dáil, has endorsed these refusals as acts of “good faith” consistent with diplomatic norms. This submissiveness is entirely inappropriate to the leader of a republic, some of whose most vulnerable citizens have been grievously harmed by the policies and practices of the Holy See. It also shows either an unwillingness or an inability to grasp the nature of the scandal with which his Government is supposed to be dealing. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:55 PM, December 02, 2009 [RECAPITULATION: Ultimate responsibility for the way in which the safety of children was so recklessly ignored … lies with the Vatican. ENDS.]
• Law, attitudes toward sex-abuse claims have changed
CONNECTICUT -- Connecticut Post By Michael P. Mayko
Revelations from long-sealed records chronicling the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport clergy sex-abuse scandal unleashed a new round of nightmares for Barbara Oleynick when they were released by court order Tuesday.
Not only was the Housatonic Community College adjunct professor sexually abused by a priest at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Bridgeport when she was 5 years old, but decades later she learned that her son had also been abused by a popular Fairfield priest.
Nearly a decade ago, Oleynick found herself driving to Holy Family Church in Fairfield, where she confronted the Rev. William Donovan and listened to him confess that his sin was, not sexual abuse, but alcoholism. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:53 PM, December 02, 2009
• Bishop should not 'cling on to office'
IRELAND -- The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
CHURCH OF IRELAND: A PROMINENT Church of Ireland figure said last night that “a bishop should not cling on to office on the basis of some opinion poll, some ‘X-Factor’ vote, some popularity contest among his clergy and their parishioners”.
Canon Patrick Comerford, director of spiritual formation at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute in Dublin, said “a bishop must be a focus of unity.”
He continued: “Mistakes based on poor moral judgment, on low moral standards must be a cause of resignation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:50 PM, December 02, 2009
• Prelate reluctant to remain if thought a 'divisive figure'
IRELAND -- The Irish Times By KATHRYN HAYES
BISHOP MURRAY RESPONSE: THE BISHOP of Limerick Donal Murray says he is not looking to save his position and does not wish to remain on if he is going to be a “divisive figure”.
In a statement issued yesterday, in response to comments made by Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin, a spokesman for Bishop Murray said the Limerick Bishop had given a “thorough public response” after the publication of the Dublin diocesan report.
Speaking on RTÉ on Tuesday night, Archbishop Martin said he was writing to all auxiliary bishops named in the report as he is not satisfied with some of their responses so far. He said bishops shouldn’t look for support in their own diocese as the report refers specifically to the Archdiocese of Dublin. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:47 PM, December 02, 2009
• Cab-style child abuse body being considered
IRELAND -- The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
A PROPOSAL to set up a statutory body similar to the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to deal with the issue of child abuse is being prepared for presentation to the Government by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews.
He has also said that an audit by the HSE of child protection practices in Catholic dioceses and religious congregations is expected to be completed by December 22nd next.
The Minister is proposing that the Garda vetting unit, based in Thurles, be put on a statutory basis and that it have responsibility for the management of all soft and hard information relevant to allegations or suspicions of child abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:44 PM, December 02, 2009
• 'No instructions' from State on any approach to Vatican
ROME -- The Irish Times from PADDY AGNEW in Rome
CHURCH CO-OPERATION: THE IRISH Embassy to the Holy See in Rome said yesterday it had so far received “no instructions” from the Government about any approach to the Vatican related to the Commission of Investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin.
This was relatively “normal”, Ambassador Noel Fahey suggested, as the Government only received the report last Thursday and was still considering it.
The Ambassador did not rule out that the Government might, at some future date, wish to make a representation to the Holy See about the Murphy commission report, but suggested it was much too early for such a decision. In one section of the report, “Documents Held By Rome”, the commission appeared to imply that full co-operation was not forthcoming from the Holy See. The commission reported that requests for information made to the Vatican and to the papal nuncio in Dublin went unanswered. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:42 PM, December 02, 2009
• Cowen shows he is 'second an Irishman, first a Catholic'
The Irish Times,
IRELAND -- DUBLIN DIOCESAN REPORT: LISTENING TO Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the Dáil on Tuesday as he delivered his semper fidelis (always faithful) defence of the Vatican and the papal nunciature to Ireland over their lack of co-operation with the Dublin diocesan commission, was to be reminded of other days and another taoiseach, writes PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
In April 1951, during debate on the ill-fated Mother and Child Scheme, opposed by the Catholic bishops led by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, then taoiseach John A Costello felt impelled to announce, “I am an Irishman second: I am a Catholic first and I accept without qualification in all respects the teaching of the hierarchy and the church to which I belong.” He told the Dáil: “I, as a Catholic, obey my church authorities and will continue to do so.”
It is hardly unfair to suggest that in his doughty defence of the Vatican’s non-co-operation with a commission of this State, set up by a Government of which he was a member, our current Taoiseach has discovered he too is “an Irishman second”. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:40 PM, December 02, 2009
• Story being used 'to get at' Bishop Murray
The Irish Times
IRELAND -- VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: THE TEENAGE daughter of abuse victim Peter McCloskey, who died tragically following a meeting with the Limerick Catholic diocese, says she does not think Bishop Donal Murray should resign.
The late Mr McCloskey alleged that Fr Denis Daly, a priest ordained for Sydney who served in Limerick from 1978 until his death in 1987, abused him in 1980/81.
His brother Joseph claimed the 37-year-old, who was found dead on April 1st, 2006, was “devastated” by the mediation process with the diocese.
Following the publication of the Dublin diocesan report last week, Peter McCloskey’s mother Mary repeated calls she made for Bishop Murray’s resignation following her son’s death three years ago. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:37 PM, December 02, 2009
• Bishop Murray: Conscience clear about time in diocese
IRELAND -- Irish Examiner By Jimmy Woulfe and Fiachra O Cionnaith Thursday, December 03, 2009
THE Bishop of Limerick has said "his conscience is clear" about his time in Dublin but admitted some things should have been done differently.
Despite repeated calls from him to resign in the wake of the Murphy report into the handling of child sex abuse, Dr Donal Murray said he wouldn’t be forced out of the Church.
The embattled bishop said he is now engaged in a "listening process" in which he will gauge opinion in the Diocese of Limerick but also public opinion nationwide. He said he wants to hear in particular from the victims in Dublin. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:33 PM, December 02, 2009
• Attorney Breaks Silence About Abuse Docs
WFSB,
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- After releasing over 12,000 pages of documents related to the church sex abuse scandal were made public, one attorney who has detailed knowledge of the case spoke out.
Cindy Robinson's law office is near the Bridgeport Cathedral and Bridgeport Diocese. However, it's been a long journey for Robinson to see the day when legal documents in the dozens of cases of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of clergy were finally released.
Robinson said, "Hopefully, because of the fact that we've had so many courageous people come out and tell their story, it will have a stifling effect in the future and policies will be enacted to prevent this from happening." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:55 PM, December 02, 2009
• Bridgeport diocese unseals 12,600 pages of court documents
National Catholic Reporter (USA), By NCR Staff, Dec. 02, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- After years of legal wrangling and after unsuccessfully taking its argument all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, on Dec. 1 the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese unsealed nearly 12,600 pages of documents dealing with three decades of child molestation accusations against diocesan priests.
The files, including a deposition of then Bishop Edward Egan, the recently retired cardinal of New York, were part of lawsuits filed against six priests in the Bridgeport diocese, five of whom were eventually banned from ministry and one who died. The lawsuits were settled in 2001.
The diocese, which covers some of the wealthiest towns in the country as well as Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city, has paid nearly $38 million over the years to settle abuse claims involving allegations by more than 60 people who said they had been molested by priests. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:19 PM, December 02, 2009
• Diocese Pays $200,000 To Clergy Abuse Victim
WMTW
PORTLAND, MAINE -- A lawyer has confirmed that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland made a $200,000 settlement on Nov. 5 with his client, who said she was molested by a priest in 1976 in the rectory of St. Michael's Church in South Berwick.
The priest was the Rev. James Vallely, said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, of Boston. The victim, who lives outside of New England, was 11 years old at the time and one of the first female altar servers in the state.
The settlement money came from insurance, said Sue Bernard, spokesperson for the diocese. The diocese received its first complaint about Vallely in 1978 and took action. It did not involve the victim in the settlement. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:07 PM, December 02, 2009
• Police, security show up at SNAP press conference
Gay Christian Movement Watch,
MEMPHIS (TN) -- Yesterday, the Tennessee Chapter of SNAP (Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests) held a peaceful press conference in front of COGIC’s world headquarters in Memphis. The press conference was called in the wake of a controversial rape case involving a COGIC music minister and a 16 year girl at Greater St. Mark COGIC pastored by Ronald Rolfe.
But the few people that showed up were met with an overwhelming show of force at the bequest of COGIC officials.
David Brown, the chapter’s president and chief spokesman told me that four police squad cars with a police captain as well as COGIC’s internal security guards met them.
Brown said SNAP had done similar press conferences many times before and had never encountered any police presence. The show of force he said was highly unusual but he was told by an official with Memphis police that they [the police] received a call and were asked to come out. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:23 PM, December 02, 2009
• Bishop O'Reilly "revolted " by abuse wrongdoing
IRELAND -- The Westmeath Independent
The Bishop of Ardagh of Clonmacnois Colm O'Reilly has said this week he finds the wrongdoing highlighted in the Report from the Dublin Commission of Inquiry into child abuse by clergy revolting and shameful.
The Bishop has encouraged anyone in [the] diocese who still feels they need to be heard in relation to child abuse to contact the civil authorities.
He said: "The Report from the Dublin Commission of Enquiry into child abuse by clergy brings home once again the extent of the suffering caused to innocent children by priests who abused them. What makes this criminal activity most abhorrent is that it was perpetrated by people with a sacred calling who betrayed the trust place in them. A great wrong has been done which I find revolting and shameful." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:50 PM, December 02, 2009
• Litany of evil
The Irish Echo (United States), By Alana Fearon, afearon@irishecho.com , December 2, 2009
IRELAND -- There have been calls for abuse investigations in every diocese in Ireland following publication of a shocking report detailing decades of sickening child abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said the cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy in Dublin of child abuse by priests was shocking and disturbing, this in the wake of a highly-anticipated report that revealed decades of abuse was concealed by the church in an attempt to save its reputation.
The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, 1975 to 2004, also found that gardai had colluded in the cover-ups. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:46 PM, December 02, 2009
• Canon lawyer criticises archbishop
- Fr Doyle speaks truth to power, still.The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
IRELAND -- IRISH AMERICAN canon lawyer Fr Tom Doyle has strongly criticised Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s comments on the Dublin archdiocese report.
Fr Doyle took particular exception to the archbishop’s stance on RTÉ Radio’s This Week on whether Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick should resign after publication of the report, which described the bishop’s handling of an allegation of clerical child abuse while an auxiliary bishop in Dublin as “inexcusable”.
Archbishop Martin had said resignation was a matter for Bishop Murray and indicated in his RTÉ interview that it was a matter for public opinion. Fr Doyle felt this stance was “a contradiction in terms”.
Fr Doyle added: “Anyone in any way involved with a cover-up should be forced to resign. It is far, far worse than any doctrinal slip.” As far back as the mid-1980s, Fr Doyle warned the US Catholic Church of dire consequences if the scandal of clerical child sex abuse was not dealt with openly and effectively. He was ignored and removed from his position at the Vatican embassy in Washington. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:41 PM, December 02, 2009
• Meeting urged
The Irish Times,
IRELAND -- THE MINISTER for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, is being urged to meet the papal nuncio to establish why the Vatican refused to supply information to the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Labour MEP Nessa Childers said: “The Government appears to have settled for the papal nuncio’s account of events and seems prepared to allow this matter to lie unchallenged.”
She said she regretted “that the Department of Foreign Affairs appears to have ruled out any re-assessment of relations with the papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:39 PM, December 02, 2009
• Victims have challenged whole of society, says CofI archbishop
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
IRELAND -- VICTIMS OF clerical child sex abuse have been praised by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev John Neill for “having the courage to bring to light the dreadful experiences of their own childhood, the victims of abuse have challenged the whole of Irish society.”
They had “performed an invaluable service to those who might be at risk now or indeed into the future.”
Commenting on the Dublin diocesan report, he said it made for “horrific reading”. He continued “the very first and by far the most important response must be one of deep sorrow for and sympathy with the many people who have suffered deeply at the hands of those in whom they should have been able to place their trust.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:37 PM, December 02, 2009
• Church engaged in 'damage limitation' exercise
IRELAND The Irish Times By PAMELA DUNCAN
ABUSE SURVIVOR Andrew Madden has accused the Catholic Church of attempting to undermine the findings of the Dublin diocesan report and of engaging in a process of “damage limitation” since its publication.
Mr Madden, a victim of Fr Ivan Payne, said comments in recent days by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Bishop Eamon Walsh and Bishop Willie Walsh had caused considerable anger and deep distress” to those who had been sexually abused.
He added that he was shocked by the decision of priests and lay people to issue a statement in support of Bishop Donal Murray. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:35 PM, December 02, 2009
• Ireland report into abuse by Catholic priests finds police coverup
The Christian Science Monitor, By Jason Walsh | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, from the December 2, 2009 edition
DUBLIN, Ireland - That the Catholic church covered up sexual abuse by priests for years is hardly news anymore. But the highest-profile investigation into abuse allegations yet in Ireland found another breach of public trust: The Garda Síochána, the police force for the republic, failed to investigate reports of priest abusing children and conspired to protect Catholic officials in Dublin for 30 years.
The commission on child abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin led by Judge Yvonne Murphy released its long-awaited report on the matter last week. Justice Murphy's commission investigated how allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin were dealt with by both state and church authorities from 1975 to 2004. The report slammed the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland and, for the first time, reprimanded state agencies, particularly the Garda.
Unlike the Catholic sex abuse scandal uncovered by The Boston Globe in the archdiocese of Boston in 2002 where, instead of reporting the incidents to police, the dioceses directed the offenders to seek psychiatric treatment, in Ireland children, parents, and others reported suspicions of abuse to police but investigations did not follow. Many cases were simply referred back to church authorities instead. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:32 PM, December 02, 2009
[COMMENT: If this is correct, there must have been a serious lack of honesty and decency in the Irish police force, as well as in those wearing religious "uniforms." ENDS]
• Church vows to support pastor accused of sex assault
[2006 - March 2009 Pastor Keith Pettis*] - "New Life Christian Centre." Girl (12).
WCNC, By Mark Boone, Posted: Wednesday, Dec. 02, 2009
LOWELL (NC) -- Members of a Gaston county church are vowing to support their pastor after he was accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.
Keith Pettis, pastor of New Life Christian Center, was arrested in August on several charges, including statutory rape, taking indecent liberties with a child, and first-degree sex offense with a child.
The girl, now 14 and living in another N.C. town, said the abuse started in August 2006 and continued until March of this year, according to Gaston County Police. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:25 PM, December 02, 2009
• The Irish Map of Hell
- 7000 in victims' march.
Religion in the News, by Christine McCarthy McMorris
IRELAND -- On June 10, 7,000 survivors of institutional child abuse and their supporters conducted a silent March of Solidarity in Dublin. The march began at the Garden of Remembrance that honors Irish fighters for independence and proceeded to the General Post Office, which was partially destroyed by British gun ships in the 1916 Easter Rebellion.
There, organizers raised a banner quoting the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: “Cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.” The crowd carried white ribbons and held single children’s shoes above their heads on walking sticks in order, The Irish Times reported the next day, to “symbolize the innocence of so many lost childhoods.”
The march ended at Leinster House, where the Dáil, the Irish Parliament, sits. As shoes, ribbons and wreathes were laid in a pile, the silence gave way to an outbreak of weeping, shouting, and fury. Cries of “Compulsive liars!” and “We were not criminals!” and chants of “Tell the truth, tell the truth!” overwhelmed the designated speakers at the podium.
There was, wrote The Irish Times’ Carl O’Brien, “no way now of containing decades of grief, frustration and anger” suffered by “thousands of children who passed through more than 200 Catholic-run institutions over the past 70 years.” The impetus for the march was the May 20 release of the Irish government’s Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (popularly known as the Ryan Report after the commission’s chair, Justice Seán Ryan).
Journalists, critics, and clerics alike wondered what impact it would have on the already faltering Catholic Church in Ireland. “Is the Catholic Church entering into exile?” asked the Rev. Dr. Patrick Claffey in an Irish Times op-ed August 25. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:13 AM, December 02, 2009
• Gardai near end of Meath abuse investigation
[1969 Unnamed priest -NEW*] - RCC. Boys.
Irish Independent By Elaine Keogh Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- A garda investigation into allegations against a priest of sexually abusing young boys in the diocese of Meath is almost complete.
Some of the alleged offences are said to have taken place in the presbyteries where the priest was living at the time, and others in different locations in and outside the diocese.
The offences are alleged to have taken place in 1969. The priest, now in his 70s, is no longer an active minister in the Church. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:01 AM, December 02, 2009
• Archbishop Martin 'unhappy' with Bishop of Limerick's response
Limerick Leader Published Date: December 02, 2009
IRELAND -- ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has said that he is not happy with the response of Limerick's Bishop, Dr Donal Murray, following the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
In an interview with RTÉ News, the Dublin Archbishop said he is writing to Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses.
He gave his response last evening to Limerick journalist Joe Little on RTE as Bishop Murray gave an extensive interview to the Limerick Leader, covering in depth all the issues involved in the crisis.
The interview will be published in the Limerick Leader's weekend editions. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:57 AM, December 02, 2009
• Limerick Bishop: 'I'm not looking to save my position'
Limerick Leader Published Date: December 02, 2009
IRELAND -- A SPOKESPERSON of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, has said he is "not looking to save his position", but has "merely entered into a process of engagement with the people and priest of his diocese as to whether his ministry is a hindrance or help to the diocese."
Bishop Murray was responding to comments made by the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on Primetime on Tuesday night, in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the response received to date by the bishops named in the Murphy report.
"We would also like to stress that full consideration is being given to the opinions of all members of the public, not least those in the Archdiocese of Dublin and, particularly, survivors of clerical child sex abuse during Bishop Murray's time there as an auxiliary bishop. All voices are being heard," said a spokesperson for the bishop. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:55 AM, December 02, 2009
• Threat of rift over abuse report
IRELAND -- The Press Association
The country's Catholic hierarchy is facing a damaging rift after a Bishop publicly clashed with a senior colleague over the inexcusable mishandling of child sex abuse.
As the fall-out from a report on the cover-up of paedophile priests deepened, Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray hit back over calls for him to stand up and take responsibility for his actions. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:53 AM, December 02, 2009
• Athy priest: I'll go to Lough Derg on pilgrimage in solidarity gesture with abused
- RCC.
IRELAND -- Leinster Leader By Maeve McGovern and Conor McHugh
THE parish priest of Athy, Fr Michael Murtagh, said the findings described in the Murphy Commuission's Report sent shivers down his spine.
And he has said he will complete a pilgrimage to Lough Derg next summer as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the abuse.
Addressing Mass goers, Fr Murtagh said that amid the horrific hurt that has been inflicted on victims no institution, bishop or priest can completely erase the face of Christ or undo his mission. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:48 AM, December 02, 2009
• Documents Shed Light On Church's Treatment Of Allegations Against Priests
- Odd, but allowed in, and corrupted children.
The Hartford Courant, By DAVE ALTIMARI, EDMUND H. MAHONY, MATTHEW KAUFFMAN and ALAINE GRIFFIN; December 2, 2009
CONNECTICUT -- Even as a young seminary student, Raymond Pcolka's psychiatric problems caused doctors to question whether he should be a priest.
Early in his studies, seminary officials sent Pcolka home for a year to "recover control of his nerves." But after returning to school, a Bridgeport psychiatrist deemed Pcolka to be suffering an "obsessive compulsive type neurosis." Another doctor diagnosed a neurotic reaction and "adjustment problems of late adolescence." Still another recommended further psychiatric examination for the "uncommunicative" Pcolka.
>> Transcript of Oct. 7, 1997 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan
>> Transcript of Sept. 23, 1999 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan
"If there is any question of this man's stability or ability," one doctor wrote, "I would recommend psychological testing before final vows."
Despite his odd behavior, Pcolka was ordained in 1965 by then-Bridgeport Bishop Walter Curtis and assigned to St. Benedict's Parish in Stamford. Within months, he allegedly fondled an altar boy at the church.
By the time then-Bishop Edward Egan relented and removed him from the priesthood 28 years later, Pcolka had left behind a trail of victims, both male and female, who claim they were molested in churches, in his private quarters at church rectories and at a home he owned in New Hampshire. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:43 AM, December 02, 2009
• From Files: Complaints And Diocese Reactions
[? to 1990 to 1995 Fr Charles Carr] - RCC. Fondled boys.The Hartford Courant
CONNECTICUT -- Despite a May 1990 memo by a diocese official worrying about "a developing pattern of accusations" that the Rev. Charles Carr of Norwalk had fondled young boys, then-Bishop Edward Egan kept Carr working as a priest until 1995, when he suspended him only after a lawsuit was filed.
At that time, Egan's aide, Vicar Laurence R. Bronkiewicz, wrote a sympathetic note to Carr.
"Trusting that you understand the reasons for these actions, I join Bishop Egan in praying that the Lord will bless you with the graces you need at this time in your life," Bronkiewicz wrote. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:39 AM, December 02, 2009
• Bishop would back report into child abuse
Longford Leader, By Liam Cosgrove, Published Date: December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois has indicated he would be willing to allow an investigatory body to undertake a report similar to the Murphy report in the Dublin archdiocese on clerical sex abuse if the "public and political will" called for it.
Bishop Colm O'Reilly was speaking less than a week after the Murphy Report uncovered shocking tales of abuse from hundreds of priests on children spanning three decades, whilst also revealing details of a massive cover-up involving Church and some agencies of the State.
The long serving cleric said he would have "no problem" in sanctioning an independent audit of the diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois as calls mount for a nationwide investigation of every diocese in the country. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:31 AM
• Helping Danny
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing
(Published as “Coping With Clergy Abuse” in the Colusa Sun Herald on February 8, 2008.)
UNITED STATES -- Danny’s lawyer grasped my hand and said, “Thank you for bringing Danny into court today. Can you bring him in tomorrow?”
“I’ll try,” I said, “I have young children; I can’t guarantee that I will make it.”
“Can you give him a call to help him get going if you can’t bring him in?” the lawyer asked.
“No problem,” I said, “I’ll call him twice."
Danny had missed an earlier court date. The charge was criminal mischief. He was angry at the Catholic Church for being so slow to settle his clergy abuse lawsuit, and he took his anger out on someone else’s property. So I offered to bring Danny to court to prevent him from missing another court date. We arrived late. I could not leave my own home earlier as my children did not have anyone else to care for them before school. When I got to Danny’s house, he hadn’t finished dressing. He spent fifteen minutes wandering around his house looking for his shoes and jacket while his mother criticized him. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:27 AM
• Uganda: Five Pastors to Be Probed Over Kayanja Sodomy Claims
AllAfrica, The New Vision,
KAMPALA, Uganda – FIVE pastors who accused evangelist Robert Kayanja of engaging in homosexual acts are to be probed over tarnishing his image.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in October instructed detectives to investigate Kayanja's accusers, Solomon Male, Michael Kyazze, Bob Kayiira, Martin Ssempa and Felix Ssemujju. The DPP's letter was copied to the office of the President.
Kayanja, who heads the Rubaga Miracle Centre, was yesterday scheduled to record another statement at the CID headoffice in Kibuli, Kampala. However, he had not gone to Kibuli by press time, sources told The New Vision. Kayanja insists that the allegations were a ploy to damage his reputation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:17 AM
• ‘Nothing has changed’
Irish Examiner, By Dan Collins, Wednesday, December 02, 2009
IRELAND -- MARIE COLLINS, who was 13 years of age when she was raped in hospital by a priest, has said she is shattered by the silence of the Vatican and the response of the Church leadership in Ireland to the report on abuse in the Dublin diocese.
It is almost one week since the 720-page report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, and in that time, "nothing has changed".
"We have got the drawbridges pulled up, we have got closing of ranks; we have bishops who have not even bothered to read the report, and we have had all the apologies again about what these men did, the abusers. But we have had nothing that has said, ‘we the leadership of the Church are sorry for our actions’," Ms Collins said yesterday. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:15 AM
• Church's view of sex the root cause of its troubles
The Irish Times
OPINION: AFTER THE first wave of revelations over a decade ago, the sexual abuse of children by the clergy was explained away by the Roman Catholic Church by the bad apple theory – that these isolated “sexual acts” were transgressions by a minority of weak priests. In the wake of the Dublin diocesan report, that explanation has been amplified to include institutional failures of decision-making in dealing with offenders and victims, and a culture of secrecy and cover-up, writes MAUREEN GAFFNEY
IRELAND -- But tidying up corporate governance and instituting a more transparent culture is not going to resolve the scandal of clerical sexual abuse. That will require the church to face up to a much more profound problem – the church’s own teaching on sexuality.
Consider the list of issues the church has failed to deal with credibly since the 1960s: premarital and extramarital sex; remarriage; contraception; divorce; homosexuality; the role of women in ministry and women’s ordination; and the celibacy of the clergy. All have to do with sexuality. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:12 AM
[COMMENT: The move towards a guilt complex led the early Christians into serious errors. The various Christian sects could not understand that the message of Jesus, in spite of twists and changes to the scriptures, was that He had saved the world from sin. Humans don't have to punish themselves -- they are asked to live clean decent lives. Clean decent lives includes marriage. Any Church that twists on that is not following the Man from Gallilee. The Orthodox Churches are warped less seriously than Rome on this matter. However, they won't allow bishops to be married men, and they frown on second marriages even in cases of widowhood or widowerhood. Nearly every Reformed Church has adopted the proper theories on clergy and marriage. ENDS.]
• Mahwah assistant pastor charged in sex assault
[2003 Assistant Pastor Curtis Franklin -NEW*] - Full Gospel Church. Girl (< 16).
The Record, BY WILLIAM LAMB,
MAHWAH (NJ) – An assistant pastor at a Mahwah church has been arrested, accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl on at least three occasions about six years ago, authorities said.
Curtis Franklin, 44, of Mahwah was taken into custody on Tuesday, a day after the victim reported the alleged abuse to police, said John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County Prosecutor. Molinelli declined to give a detailed account of the alleged abuse, saying only that it occurred at a residence in Mahwah.
Franklin is the assistant pastor at the Mahwah Full Gospel Church on Grove Street. Molinelli said Franklin met the girl about six years ago when he was a volunteer at a youth ministry sponsored by the church. The girl was under age 16 at the time, the prosecutor said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:00 AM
• Abuse charge against worship leader rocks prominent Fla. church
[~ 2009 Mr Russell Lewis (28) -NEW*] - Baptist. Girl (14).Associated Baptist Press, By Bob Allen, Tuesday, December 01, 2009
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (ABP) -- A Florida Baptist church known for its sometimes-provocative efforts to entice first-time visitors is receiving unwanted attention after the arrest of a staff member on molestation charges.
The Coral Springs Police Department arrested Russell Dion Lewis, 28, Nov. 21, on one count of custodial sexual battery and 10 counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. If convicted he could receive up to 15 years of prison.
Police believe Lewis, a worship leader and assistant youth minister at Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Fla., was involved in a five-month relationship with a 14-year-old female. While authorities say the acts were consensual, in Florida a 14-year-old cannot legally consent to sex. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:54 AM
• Bishop defends response to report
BBC News
{Prime Time}
IRELAND -- A Catholic bishop says he has given a "thorough response" to criticisms of him in a report into the cover-up of paedophile priests in Dublin.
The Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, has released a statement following comments by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, on the Murphy Report.
Bishop Murray denies he is trying to save his position. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:51 AM
• Murray defends 'thorough public response'
RTE News with video, Wednesday, December 2, 2009
IRELAND -- Bishop Donal Murray has said he has given a thorough public response to the Murphy report since its publication last Thursday.
The Bishop of Limerick was responding to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's challenge to ten serving and retired bishops to explain whether they should resign in light of their handling of clerical child sexual abuse while they were prelates in Dublin.
In a statement, responding to Archbishop Martin's comments on last night's Prime Time programme, Bishop Murray says he has done three lengthy media interviews and communicated twice with Limerick's massgoers about criticisms of him in the Report. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:49 AM
• Murray defends response
IRELAND -- The Irish Times By CHARLIE TAYLOR
The Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray “is not looking to save his position” and has answered all questions related to the Murphy report, it was claimed today
In a statement issued this morning, a spokesman for Bishop Murray said he “had entered into a process of engagement with the people and priest of his diocese as to whether his ministry is a hindrance or help to the diocese.”
The statement comes in response to comments made by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last night in which he said he was not satisfied with the response of some of the bishops named in the Dublin diocesan report. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:44 AM
• Maine Diocese Says $200k To Settle Abuse Case
[Fr James Vallely -? NEW*] - RC platefillers lose another US $200k. Girl (11) altar server.
WBZ,
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- The lawyer for a woman who says she was molested by a Maine priest when she was a girl says the church has agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
The woman says she was abused by the Rev. James Vallely in 1976 when she was 11 years old and one of the first female altar servers in Maine. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:42 AM
• Controversial art displayed by local Dundalk Priest depicts sexual abuse
Dundalk Democrat By Tamara O'Connell
IRELAND -- A DUNDALK priest has unveiled a controversial art installation which is "an unashamed attempt to get at the heart" of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Friar Fr Joe Walsh from Castle Road, Dundalk created the installation, which depicts sexual abuse, as a "visual response to the Ryan Report".
The brightly coloured exterior of the installation looks like a funfair or circus tent. However, the interior is darker and appears more sinister.
Teddy bears are nailed to crosses and the music to Teddy Bears' Picnic plays eerily in the background with only candles to light the way. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:40 AM
• Second priest in sex claim tip-off
The Age, By NICK MCKENZIE December 3, 2009
AUSTRALIA -- THE Catholic Church's chief sexual abuse investigator in Melbourne has for the second time tipped off a priest that he is the target of a covert police inquiry.
The action by Peter O'Callaghan, QC, has infuriated police and drawn a strong rebuke from Victoria's top sexual crime detective.
In the two separate cases, the priests were told by Mr O'Callaghan that they were under investigation without the consent of detectives, before police had interviewed them and while the inquiries were at a covert stage, leaving them open to potential compromise. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:29 AM
• Release of priests' sexual-abuse files sparks reactions
The Hour, By CHASE WRIGHT (Hour Staff Writer) and JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (Associated Press),
NORWALK (CT) -- Local parishioners and advocates for the many children who claimed sexual abuse from priests under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport began dissecting more than 12,000 pages of secret documentation released on Tuesday under a court order.
The Bridgeport Diocese turned over more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests settled by the diocese in 2001. The release of the documents ended a seven-year legal battle to keep them private. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:27 AM
• Unholy row with Rome an affront to victims
Irish Independent By John Cooney Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND – ALL eyes in a crowded Italian restaurant in the leafy Dublin suburb of Terenure a few weeks ago surveyed the grand entrance of a refined-looking foreign church dignitary and a well-dressed Irishman. Both men were led deferentially by Fabbio, the head waiter, to the best table in the house.
Word soon spread that the special dinner guests were none other than the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the general secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach Dermot McCarthy.
What the Taoiseach's right-hand man and the Pope's representative in Ireland discussed at table was of little concern to the other diners, who were more thrilled that they had sighted in their midst a powerful Vatican official with access to Pope Benedict XVI. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:25 AM
• Empty apologies from bishops an insult to victims
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Andrew Madden Wednesday December 02 2009
The reaction of the Catholic hierarchy to the publication of the Murphy report last Thursday is extremely annoying and deeply hurtful.
I had a meeting with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin some months ago; I made it very clear to him that if the Commission of Investigation found that the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse against priests by bishops was found to have contributed in any way to more children being sexually abused by those priests, then the very least the bishops needed to do was to own up to their part in that and apologise for it very clearly -- they should not hide their own actions behind apologies for what the abusing priests had done.
The report showed that many children were sexually abused by priests whom the bishops knew were a danger. Indeed, in the case of former priest Ivan Payne, the commission identified at least seven boys who were abused by him after I had reported him to church authorities in 1981. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:22 AM
• Tearful Walsh apologises for 'head on a plate' remark
Irish Independent, By Gordon Deegan, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- THE Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh broke down and cried on live radio yesterday after saying that he didn't want to pass judgment on others.
Dr Walsh broke down after stating: "Part of my nature is never really to judge anyone else. Part of the reason for that is that I am only too conscious of my own frailty and failures, so I don't want to pass judgment on anyone else."
An under-pressure Dr Walsh was responding to the fallout from his remarks on RTE radio, on Monday, when he warned against a desire to get "a head on a plate" over calls for the resignation of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:19 AM
• Second order has 'no more money for victims'
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Conor Kane and John Walshe Wednesday December 02 2009
A SECOND religious order, which ran institutions where children were abused, says it has no money to make any additional contribution to a compensation fund for victims.
The Rosminian Order and the Good Shepherd Sisters have both apologised for the hurt caused to children in their care but said they were unable to make any contribution on top of what they have already paid.
The revelation comes a week after several other congregations, including the Christian Brothers, offered an additional €200m in cash and property. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:17 AM
• Call for State to step in on bishops' role in schools
Irish Independent By John Walshe Education Editor Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- PARENTS want the State to decide if certain bishops should remain as patrons of primary schools.
At present the Catholic bishops are patrons of around 3,000 of the country's 3,200 primary schools. Some of them were criticised in last week's Murphy report for not doing enough in relation to allegations of abuse when they were auxiliary bishops in the Dublin diocese.
One of them, Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murray, has come under strong pressure to step down. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:15 AM
• Bishop's future in balance as diocese looks at resignation
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- THE fate of the besieged Bishop of Limerick hung in the balance last night as arrangements began across his diocese for a series of meetings to decide whether he should stay or resign.
Dr Donal Murray is anxiously waiting to hear back from the parishes of the Limerick diocese to gauge the public and priests' reaction to the shocking revelations in the Murphy report.
The bishop has been under severe pressure to resign after the report labelled his failure to investigate a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin Archdiocese as "inexcusable". Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:13 AM
• Taoiseach defends Vatican's silence
Irish Independent, By Michael Brennan, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has defended the Vatican's failure to respond directly to requests for information from the Commission of Investigation into child abuse in Dublin.
The commission had sought information from the Vatican, since September 2006, about reports of child sexual abuse passed on by the Archdiocese of Dublin.
But two letters requesting information from the Pope's ambassador, the Papal Nuncio, were not answered. And the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith insisted, in March 2007, that it would only respond through the proper "diplomatic channels" -- in a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:11 AM
• Martin demands answers 'to satisfy congregations'
- RCC.
Irish Independent, By Louise Hogan, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last night cranked up the pressure on senior clerics at the centre of the growing controversy over child sexual abuse.
Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray has been under severe pressure to resign after a state inquiry labelled his failure to investigate a paedophile priest -- during his time as an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin archdiocese -- "inexcusable".
Last night Archbishop Martin said he was writing to all the clerics in Judge Murphy's report indicating he was not happy with their replies to the Murphy Commission's findings. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:09 AM
• Priest sex abuse hits close to home
[? to 1990 to 1995 Fr Charles Carr] - RCC. Fondled boys. [1950s - ~ 2001 Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. Sexual abuse by priests.
Connecticut Post
CONNECTICUT -- Uncle Charlie held a place of honor and trust in his family. Everyone looked up to him. Along with their respect, they bestowed many honors on him. They chose him to be a godfather of one of their identical twin sons. They allowed him to baptize the boys, serve their first Holy Communion and confirm them as Catholics.
That's what Uncle Charlie, aka the Rev. Charles Carr, did because those are the things priests do. Along the way, however, the reverend committed some unspeakable acts against several young boys, including his godson and nephew, Shaun Peter Carr. For years, the Diocese of Bridgeport knew of the priest's predilection for fondling boys because some parishioners accused him of sexually abusing them.
None of those complaints, however, percolated into lawsuits. That is until Shaun Peter Carr -- who was on the cusp of graduating from college, cum laude, and preparing to marry his fiance -- started talking. He had to. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:07 AM
• Papal nunscience: Calls to expel the Vatican ambassador miss the point
- RCC, and Irish State.
Forth Wed, Dec 02, 2009
IRELAND -- Jason Walsh says public outrage at the Catholic Church is understandable but the Holy See isn’t the state at fault – Ireland is
Demands to boot Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, the Papal nuncio, out of the country are growing louder and more vociferous by the day. Protests, both real and virtual in the form of a Facebook a group, have forced Dr. Leanza to respond to criticism that the Vatican has washed its hands of the matter and taken no interest in seeing clerical abusers tried.
The affair started when the Murphy Report into Catholic sexual abuse in Ireland revealed that both Dr. Leanza, who was appointed in 2008, and his predecessor Archbishop Giueeppe Lanzzarotto had failed to respond to two separate requests for information from the commission. Outraged parents, mostly drawn from Ireland’s rapidly growing ranks of lapsed and ex-Catholics, see this as evidence that the Vatican is at the very least complicit in the abuse of children. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:05 AM
• Records show Egan evasive, skeptical about sex abuse claims
- RCC.
News Times, By Michael P. Mayko, Staff writer
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Edward Egan was defensive, evasive and, at times, argumentative when questioned about his role investigating complaints of sexual misconduct by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport during his tenure as bishop from 1988 to 2000, according to previously secret documents on the abuse cases unsealed Tuesday by court order.
The release of nearly 12,600 pages of documents at Waterbury Superior Court came after the U.S. Supreme Court last month ended a legal battle of more than seven years when justices refused to hear diocesan lawyers' appeal to keep them private.
While Egan claimed to be proud of "the excellent" written policy he helped establish as Bridgeport's bishop, he also appeared complicit in a policy of disinformation concerning the practice of abruptly reassigning priests accused of sexual abuse. The explanation for a priest's new assignment, if a public one was offered at all, often involved a feigned medical problem. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:01 AM
• Local man a defendant in molestation suit
- Mormons.
Cherokee Tribune by Ashley Fuller afuller@cherokeetribune.com December 01, 2009
CANTON (GA) -- A Canton man is identified as a defendant in a childhood sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America.
The lawsuit was filed in California in November by three brothers who allege that William "Bill" Knox, 67, molested them, and the church ignored their complaints.
According to the lawsuit, Knox used his position within the church and the Boy Scouts to sexually abuse the plaintiffs and at least one other child between 1977 and 1987 while they lived in California. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:58 AM
• Dublin archbishop apologises to clerics' sex abuse victims
- RCC.
Anglican Media Melbourne (Australia), By Ray McMenamin, Wednesday, Dec 2, 2009
IRELAND -- The Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin has said that a cover up by the church of allegations of sexual abuse of children by clerics compounded the suffering of victims and resulted in more such cases.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin apologised for the way the church dealt with the allegations after an Irish government-commissioned report said church authorities had covered up abuse.
"The damage done to children abused by priests can never be undone," Martin told a media conference in the Irish capital after the 26 November publication of the report into how the church handled allegations of abuse by its clerics. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:55 AM
• Critics: Documents show church coverup
Times of the Internet, Dec. 2, 2009
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., (UPI) -- Documents released Tuesday by the Catholic diocese in Bridgeport, Conn., show church leaders were more intent on protecting priests than children, critics say.
The diocese, in a statement released with the thousands of pages, said there has been a "significant culture change" in Bridgeport and the U.S. church, The Connecticut Post reported.
"The diocese has worked and will continue to work diligently and transparently to address the issue of sexual abuse in order to prevent this tragedy from happening again," the statement said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM
• Irish clerical sex abuse report reveals ‘betrayal of sacred trust,’ bishops say
Catholic News Agency, 01:43 am, Dec 2, 2009
DUBLIN, Ireland, / (CNA).- Last week an Irish government investigation released its report about the Irish bishops’ failure to combat and report clerical sexual abuse. Irish prelates have reacted with dismay and shame about their predecessors’ “betrayal of the sacred trust.” The report focused on why church leaders in the Archdiocese of Dublin did not report to police a single abuse complaint against a priest until 1995.
Archbishops and their senior deputies had compiled confidential files on more than 100 parish priests accused of sexually abusing children since 1940. The files were locked in the Dublin archbishop’s private vault, the Associated Press says.
Archbishops of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara did not report cases of abuse but tried to avoid public scandal by moving offenders from parish to parish and also overseas to U.S. churches. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:50 AM
• Former Grand Prairie priest sentenced to 51-month prison term for viewing child porn
[2005 Fr Matthew Bagert* (40)] - RCC. Child porn.
The Dallas Morning News, By JASON TRAHAN / jtrahan § dallasnews com ,
TEXAS -- A former Grand Prairie priest who pleaded guilty to downloading hundreds of images of nude boys on a church computer in 2005 was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay ordered Matthew Bagert, 40, who was married last year and has a 9-month-old son, to report to prison Jan. 19.
Bagert will remain on supervised release for three years after serving his 51-month prison sentence. He is likely to have to register as a sex offender for life, officials said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:48 AM
• Our View-Cover-up of sex abuse aids holy pedophiles
- RCC mainly.
Daily 49er, By Staff,
UNITED STATES / IRELAND -- The Catholic Church in Ireland has come under some well-deserved fire recently for covering up widespread pedophilia. Much like similar cases across the U.S. over the past 25 years, children have been continuously exposed to the dangers of sexual abuse from those who they should be able to trust the most – priests and law enforcement.
Since the early 1990s, the Catholic Church has worked hard to avoid association with child sexual abuse. So with numerous abuse cases being brought up each year, it is no surprise that over time four archbishops – with the assistance from police and elected officials – succeeded in covering up numerous abuse cases.
In the newly released three-year Ryan Report done by the Commission of Investigation, investigators looked at a sampling of 46 priests with complaints from 320 children between 1975 and 2004. Out of the 46 only 11 were ever prosecuted; some died without ever facing accusations. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:46 AM
• Is child sex abuser in your town?
The Irish Post, BY ROBERT MULHERN AND GRAHAM CLIFFORD;
UNITED KINGDOM -- THE LOCATION of a convicted sex offender who worked in Britain and who has been named in Ireland’s most damning child abuse report is unknown and a cause for concern.
John Kinsella was one of 46 priests named in an investigation as part of a Diocesan Report, which exposed a litany of abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. Kinsella, who was born in 1948, was based in Yorkshire for 26 years.
He served three years of an eight-year sentence in the Curragh prison after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent assault on two brothers aged 12 and 13 in 1999. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:44 AM
• Call for inquiry into clerical abuse
IRELAND -- Kilkenny People
Published Date: 01 December 2009 By Staff Reporter
A LEADING advocate of abuse victims in Kilkenny has called for an independent inquiry to be set up to investigate the extent of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Ossory.
Manager of the Kilkenny Rape Crisis Centre, Catherine Twomey has called for an immediate investigation into the extent of abuse in the Diocese of Ossory in the wake of the findings of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, which was published last weekend.
"We have to move forward and come clean. The findings in this report are having a huge effect on people's spirituality and even more so considering that there is a retired bishop from the Diocese quoted in the report. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:41 AM
• Altar boys were abused during Kerry holidays
IRELAND -- Kerryman
By DÓNAL NOLAN dnolan@kerryman.ie
Wednesday December 02 2009
ALTAR boys were abused in Kerry by two priests of the Dublin Archdiocese during trips to the county in the 1970s, it was revealed in the Report of the Commission this week.
It emerged that one of the priests who abused children in his care during a Kerry trip, Fr William Carney, was reinstated to his priestly duties by former Kerry bishop, Kevin McNamara, even after he had admitted to abusing children. That evidence emerged in a shocking indictment of McNamara's record as Archbishop of Dublin contained in the report.
Fr Carney – who was restored to priestly duties by Archbishop McNamara after he pleaded guilty to charges of child sex abuse in 1983 – abused one young boy on a trip to Kerry in the late 1970s, the Commission heard. He fondled his victim's penis on that occasion as they stayed in an unspecified Kerry location. The victim told gardaí that Fr Carney had fondled his penis with his hand, but that no other abuse had taken place on the trip. The group was also accompanied by another infamous predator, Fr Francis McCarthy – who accepted that he and Fr Carney had taken two groups of altar boys to Tralee for a week's holidays. Fr McCarthy, who pleaded guilty in 1997 to abusing two people, told investigators he was unaware of any untoward behaviour on the visit. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:39 AM
• Bishop's 'regret' over revelations in Murphy Report
IRELAND -- Kerryman
By DÓNAL NOLAN dnolan@kerryman.ie
Wednesday December 02 2009
BISHOP Bill Murphy said he does not think a Commission should be established to inquire into child sex abuse in the Kerry diocese, but added that if it were the Church in Kerry would welcome it and do all to assist in its work.
In an interview with Radio Kerry this week, Bishop Murphy said he did not think an inquiry was necessary to examine the issue in Kerry. And in a letter to parishioners read at Masses throughout the diocese on Sunday, he expressed his 'sincere sympathy and regret' to survivors of clerical abuse.
One survivor of religious abuse in Kerry, John Prior, has said the Bishop's comments do not go far enough to addressing the problem at its root, however. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:37 AM
• McNamara's actions caused 'severe damage'
[Fr Thomas Naughton] - RCC. [≤ 1983 Fr William Carney] - RCC.Kerryman, By DÓNAL NOLAN, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- FORMER Bishop of Kerry, Kevin McNamara, 'allowed' convicted absuer Fr Tom Naughton to 'severely damage' more victims through his apparent sloth in reacting to the complaint of a victim's family, the Murphy Report found.
He also restored notorious predator, Fr William Carney, to 'priestly faculties despite his having pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse in 1983 and despite the fact there were suspicions about him in relation to numerous other children,' the Report states.
The Clare native, who was Bishop of Kerry after Eamon Casey from 1976 to 1984 was one of the leading voices of conservative Catholicism in Ireland through the divisive period of liberalisation in the Irish State during the 1980s. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:35 AM
• COMMENT: Every diocese should have sex abuse inquiry
IRELAND -- Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
THE shocking implications of the Murphy Report are a matter for all jurisdictions of the Catholic Church and a commission should be established to inquire into the sexual abuse of children by clerics of all dioceses, including Kerry, at the earliest opportunity.
Such a move is necessary if the people of this country are to have any confidence in the Church's ability to protect children within its ministry in all corners of our island.
It can only be the first step of any meaningful attempt to address the wrongs inflicted by the abusers of the Church and the superiors who protected them. No other step towards ending this culture of protection can happen without it, as it is the only baseline for a full and honest rehabilitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:33 AM
• Abusers organised trips with young boys
IRELAND -- Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
ABUSE was carried out by a number of priests of the Dublin archdiocese on trips organised to Kerry in the 1970s, the Commission report reveals.
Kerry was the location for a number of trips organised by priests of the Dublin Archdiocese for young people in the 1970s during which abuse took place. The Commission also heard that one suspected abuser spoke to his superiors about bringing separated wives on visits to the Kingdom, in an apparent effort to deflect attention from complaints of abuse raised about him.
In evidence heard by the commission, one farm outside of Tralee was the scene for a week's holiday organised by an unnamed priest attached to the ProCathedral in 1972. A victim of this priest – an altar boy at the ProCathedral) recalled one trip to a farm outside of Tralee: "I would have been on one holiday in Kerry, which would have been his first from the Pro-Cathedral, his first to organise. So that was probably 1972. He ha d an arrangement with …there was a farm …near Tralee. A lady there […] and she had, I think it was a bungalow on her farm and she rented it out as a holiday home." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:31 AM
• One Kerry priest has been convicted
IRELAND -- Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
WHILE allegations of child sex abuse have been made against 11 priests of the Kerry Diocese since 1955 only one has ever been convicted. Fr John Brosnan, of Gurteenrow, Firies, was senteced to four years' in jail when he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent asssault on four females and one male between 1977 and 1985.
He was sentenced following a trial at Tralee Circuit Court in which jurors heard shocking evidence of his abuse from five witnesses.
It emerged following the case that the then Bishop of Kerry, Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin, had been told of the allegations against Fr John Brosnan several years before the court case, but had not removed him from his duties. He was finally relieved from his duties by Bishop Bil Murphy in 1996. Fr Brosnan is still serving a sentence at Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:29 AM
• Priest calls for bishops to resign
IRELAND -- Drogheda Independent By Alison COMYN Wednesday December 02 2009
A LOCAL priest has condemned some figures of authority in the Catholic Church, saying anyone who covered up the heinous crimes of abuse must no longer remain in their positions.
Fr Iggy O'Donovan, from the Augustinian Church, has also told how he reported serious allegations of clerical abuse made by a local person early last year, and the bishop he contacted has never responded to him.
'Other authorities, including the gardaí, have taken action, but I have never heard from the bishop and he remains in office to this day,' says Fr Iggy. 'At the same time the person came to me telling of the crime, I went to the police, which I felt was my duty, and also the bishop, but I would have expected to have heard something from him. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:25 AM, December 02, 2009]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Wed December 02, 2009
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont167.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Thu December 03, 2009 edition:
• Bishops must sacrifice themselves to fix church
- RCC.
Irish Independent, http://www. independent. ie/opinion/ analysis/ bishops-must- sacrifice- themselves- to-fix-church- 1963993.html ; By David Quinn, Friday December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- AS usual the publication of a report into clerical sex abuse is being used to advance all sorts of agendas, chief among them being the long-standing aim of secularists to drive the Church from education. That this would mean depriving ordinary Catholics, who have nothing to do with the scandals, of their schools turns not a hair on their head.
Priests themselves are being portrayed as collectively suspect and threatening because of the rule of celibacy, as though non-celibates never abuse children.
Ludicrously, calls are being made to expel the Papal Nuncio even though the present nuncio is in Ireland barely a year and was never asked for documentation by the Murphy Commission. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:59 PM, December 03, 2009]
• Plea for new probe into Bernadette's murder amid claims of cover-up
[1970 Fr Columba (Passionist) and another clergyman] - RCC. Bernadette Connolly (10) dead.The Herald, ~ December 03, 2009
IRELAND -- The Herald has learned that detectives investigating the murder of Bernadette Connolly in Sligo were ordered not to detain a Passionist priest for questioning over the killing -- just hours before they were to move on him.
Case detectives believe a Sligo-based priest, Fr Columba had information about the murder and intended to arrest him. But they received a direct order not to do so, from unnamed senior figures in the force.
According to sources, the arrest was arranged to take place at the Passionist monastery in Mount Argus, Dublin, after Fr Columba was moved there from Sligo.
A former detective told the Herald: "I got this instruction to reopen the file, to bring Father Columba in. But the night before it came from very senior figures that I was to forget about it. I had been told that Fr Columba was in Mount Argus and was told to prepare my interview. A superior officer came to me and said to call it off. I was told this was coming right from senior gardai." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:15 PM, December 03, 2009
• A Catholic rather than a Christian country
- RCC.The Irish Times, December 04, 2009
We appear not to have absorbed into our culture any real understanding of what Christ came to tell us, writes JOHN WATERS
IRELAND -- THERE IS a place, between pew and public square, which has yet to be heard or even acknowledged in the wake of the Dublin diocesan report. It is not reached by either the moral/legalism of the media-driven public conversation or the pious mantras in which the Irish Catholic Church addresses its faithful.
Because our public discourse has an agnostic rulebook, there are limits to its probing. All Christians are citizens but not all citizens Christians, so the discussion avoids showing an interest in matters that might be deemed in-house. The Murphy report has, of course, many implications of a civic, moral and socio-political complexion, and the debate has been pretty exhaustive about these. But there are deeper questions pertaining to Christianity, which by definition cannot be dealt with in a public discussion in which faith has been separated from knowledge of reality.
Catholics can go to church seeking answers, but the most they can hope for is a replication of the responses offered to the civic realm. Some priests may address their congregations, but of necessity their contributions will be tailored to take account of external realities, while adhering to a form of cultural expression that might be deemed part of the larger problem. The bishops are preoccupied with institutional survival. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:13 PM, December 03, 2009
• Papal princes immune to censure
The Irish Times, December 04, 2009
ANALYSIS: The Catholic Church’s hypocrisy starts right at the top of the organisation, writes JASON BERRY
THE DUBLIN diocesan report spotlights the crisis tearing at the Catholic Church’s central nervous system. At issue is the Vatican’s pathological obsession with protecting guilty church officials.
Since the 1990s, the Vatican has forced at least 15 bishops and one cardinal (the late Hans Hermann Groer of Austria) to step down for sexual abuse of youngsters. The Vatican has defrocked dozens of priests but not one bishop has been so punished – they have been removed from office but not from the priesthood.
Irish-born Anthony O’Connell, who abused three seminarians, resigned as bishop of Palm Beach, Florida in spring 2002. A titular bishop still, he lives in a South Carolina monastery. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:10 PM, December 03, 2009
• The Wounded Irish Church
-- Catholic Online, By Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D., Inside Catholic ( www.insidecatholic.com ), Dec/4/2009
DUBLIN, IRELAND (Inside Catholic) - The responsory at today's Mass was especially appropriate: "The Lord is coming and will not delay; He will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation."
Sadness and anger pervades Ireland this first week of Advent. The release of the massive Murphy Report revealed more details about the three decades of abuse of minors by priests. But it was the evidence of a widespread and deliberate cover-up by Church officials and police that many found "impossible to imagine," as Emma McDermott told me.
Emma is 24 years old, a former Montessori teacher and Bailieborough native, who rediscovered her faith several years ago when her mother gave her one of the books published by lay apostolate Direction for Our Times (DFOT). "This makes me want to cry -- I was raised to have the highest regard for priests." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:07 PM
• Martin to quiz Papal Nuncio over abuse inquiry
Irish Examiner, By Paul O’Brien and Sean O’Riordan, Friday, December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin is to meet with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland to discuss the Vatican’s failure to supply information to the Dublin archdiocese abuse inquiry.
It follows a meeting between the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the secretary general of Mr Martin’s department on Wednesday.
In a statement last night, the department said the Papal Nuncio had "called at his own request" on the secretary-general, David Cooney. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:04 PM
• Prelate's position as chairman of maternity hospital queried
The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- A GOVERNMENT backbencher has told the Dáil that it is inappropriate for the Archbishop of Dublin to be chairman of the National Maternity Hospital.
Ciarán Cuffe (Green, Dún Laoghaire) said it was “time to move on from that” and it was “not appropriate for a representative of the church to chair such a hospital or many other State institutions. We have to examine carefully the possibility of putting in place an alternative mechanism for these institutions”.
Referring to the controversy over the papal nuncio’s failure to respond to the Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Mr Cuffe said that responsibility “has to go to the top. The pope should comment on this matter and set out the changes that will arise from the horrendous evidence contained in these volumes”. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:59 PM, December 03, 2009
• Talks with Brown on sex abuse urged
The Irish Times By MARIE O'HALLORAN
IRELAND -- A CALL has been made for the Government to engage in direct talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown and the Northern Ireland Executive to address allegations of child sexual abuse in the North.
“There is no reason to believe that clerical sexual abuse stopped at the Border,” said Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter.
He also accused the Taoiseach of “defending the indefensible” when he “excused the conduct” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the papal nuncio. Mr Shatter said “it is a scandal the congregation and the Vatican relied on diplomatic protocol to avoid providing information to the Murphy commission”. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:56 PM
• O'Rourke rejects Cowen's defence of Vatican silence
The Irish Times,
IRELAND -- FIANNA FÁIL backbencher Mary O’Rourke has disagreed with the Taoiseach’s defence of the Vatican and papal nuncio who refused to co-operate with the Dublin diocesan report.
Ms O’Rourke, a former minister, referred to the “sheer discourtesy of a body called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or something with an equally convoluted title”.
She added: “This wonderful doctrine body, wherever it is, does not reply to letters.
“Consider the discourtesy of it, and the discourtesy of the head of the Vatican, parading around Ireland in his wonderful glitzy clothes, but not replying to letters and not seeing fit to talk to his counterpart … whoever that is. It is just not good enough." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:53 PM
• Former Anglican priest sentenced for indecent assaults
[1960s-70s Rev. Kenneth Gibbs*] - Anglican. 3½yrs sentence. 5 girls.
SooToday.com Thursday, December 03, 2009
CANADA -- Kenneth Gibbs was handed a three-and-a-half-year sentence today for indecently assaulting five now-grown women when they were girls and he was an Anglican priest in Chapleau and Elliot Lake.
Gibbs, now 77, was convicted last month of eight indecent assaults that occurred during the 1960s and 70s.
Gibbs fondled the children inappropiately, sometimes telling them it was a special "tickle game" that was never to be discussed with others. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:51 PM [LOOK BACK: Nov 9, 2009, September 10, 2009]
• Minister requests meeting with papal nuncio over abuse report
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY and MARY FITZGERALD
IRELAND -- THE PAPAL nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza has been requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
In a brief statement last night, Mr Martin said he would be meeting the nuncio “to discuss issues surrounding the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation”. This would include “the commission’s findings as well as the issue of the co-operation of the nuncio and the Holy See with the commission”, he said.
It also emerged yesterday that, on Wednesday, Dr Leanza called on the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, at Iveagh House. The meeting was at the nuncio’s request. No details of what took place have been released. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:49 PM
• HSE to write to all bishops over child protection audit
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
IRELAND -- THE HSE is to write to each bishop and provincial of a religious order in the State requesting further information, in addition to the statistical details already supplied by them as part of the current audit of child protection practices in Catholic dioceses and religious congregations.
It is hoped the audit will be completed by December 22nd next. However, as a number of dioceses had already asked to resubmit their questionnaire responses, this may be delayed.
The request for further information from bishops and provincials follows an intervention by Phil Garland, the HSE’s newly appointed assistant national director for children and family services. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:46 PM
• Response to clerical child abuse report
The Irish Times,
IRELAND -- Madam, – I started reading the Murphy report at 10am in an office of the Department of Justice last Thursday week and quickly became both very angry and very sad as chapter after chapter revealed sickening details of acts of abuse perpetrated by priests on vulnerable young children. No matter how many other reports I may have read or how easily I recall my own childhood experiences at the hands of former priest Ivan Payne, there is nothing that prepares a decent human being for the details of how any adults, let alone priests, sexually abused young children.
And then there is the cover-up of that abuse. The knowing calculating self-serving cover-up of the sexual abuse of children in order to maintain secrecy, avoid scandal, protect the reputation of the church and preserve its assets. The report is quite clear that these were the preoccupations of the archdiocese in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, adding that the commission of investigation had no doubt that child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and that the structures and roles of the church facilitated that cover-up. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:44 PM
• Released priest hopes he can 'fade back into obscurity now'
The Irish Times
IRELAND -- THE IRISH priest who was held hostage in the Philippines for 31 days received a rapturous welcome at Dublin airport yesterday.
Fr Michael Sinnott (79) was greeted by his family, fellow priests from the Columban Missionaries and Department of Foreign Affairs officials. “Apart from the weather, it’s always good to be back in Ireland,” he joked. …
He said he had heard about last week’s publication of the report into clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese.
“I’m working myself with a very vulnerable section of the community, including people who have suffered from abuse. It is a heinous crime for anyone in authority to abuse children, especially priests,” he said. “It’s difficult also because the morale of the good priests, the men who are doing their work day by day, is affected by all this.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:41 PM
• Greensburg Priest Accused Of Visiting Porn Web Sites
[2009 ? Dec - Prof. Fr Mark Gruber*] - RCC. Adult male porn.
WPXI,
LATROBE, Pa. -- A Catholic priest and professor at St. Vincent College has been removed from his post after porn was found on his work computer.
Fr. Mark Gruber is accused of viewing several porn sites.
Campus IT technicians discovered the porn sites with pictures of naked men had been repeatedly accessed from Gruber’s computer. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:26 PM [LOOK BACK: Nov 27, 2009]
• Former Toledo priest in child porn investigation
[Ex-Fr Gabriel Barrow] - RCC. Porn.ABC 13
Gabriel Barrow was defrocked in 2005, according to SNAP
TOLEDO (OH) -- A former Toledo-area priest is under investigation amidst accusations he was involved with child pornography.
Gabriel Barrow has not yet been charged, but investigators in Houston, Texas have confiscated a lot of items from his residence. The items include sex toys, condoms, lubricants, adult porn videos, dozens of video tapes and computer disks. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:24 PM
• Abuse Victims Hold News Conference
WFSB,
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A number of Catholics say the whole story about the Bridgeport Diocese sex abuse scandal has yet to be told. This, in spite of the release of thousands of pages of court files earlier this week.
At the news conference on Thursday, advocated held up pictures of Bridgeport Diocese priests either accused of or found to have molested young children, abuse victims and advocates said more needs to be done to look into the possibility that there are other victims.
The group claimed the Bridgeport Diocese has not shared all of the documents that a judge ordered it to release in connection with a 2001 settlement involving six abusive priests. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:21 PM
• Ireland: call to expel Nuncio after abuse inquiry
Church Times, by Gregg Ryan, Ireland Correspondent
IRELAND -- WIDESPREAD condemnation of the way the Roman Catholic bishops of the Dublin archdiocese dealt with paedophile priests over three decades culminated in a call for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, over the Vatican’s failure to respond to the scandals (News, 27 November).
The independent commission established by the Irish government under Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy of the High Court examined complaints against 46 individual priests, involving 320 children, the majority of whom were boys. One priest admitted sexual abuse of more than 100 children.
It found that four Archbishops and several auxiliary Bishops of Dublin, including five now serving in dioceses of their own, seriously failed in their duty of protection towards children. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:19 PM
• Conn. prosecutor to review new clergy abuse papers
Nashua Telegraph
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – A Connecticut prosecutor says he’ll review documents unsealed this week detailing sexual abuse allegations against priests, but noted in the past when authorities have looked into such complaints they were too old to prosecute.
Advocates representing victims urged prosecutors Thursday to review the documents from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport to see if any church officials should be prosecuted. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:36 PM
• Archbishop Weakland shredded evidence of abuse, court documents show
[Abp Weakland]Catholic Culture December 03, 2009
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- Archbishop Rembert Weakland shredded reports about sexual abuse by priests during his tenure as head of the Milwaukee archdiocese, according to sworn testimony that came to light this week. In depositions taken in the 1990s, the former archbishop admitted that he regularly destroyed documentation of abuse complaints. A victims’ group–the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP–has asked local prosecutors to investigate whether criminal charges against Weakland would be appropriate. SNAP has asked Archbishop-elect Jerome Listecki, the incoming head of the Milwaukee archdiocese, to denounce Weakland’s behavior. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:32 PM
• Priest abuse victims want criminal investigation of church leaders
Connecticut Post By Daniel Tepfer Dec/03/2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Holding posters with photos of priests accused of sexually abusing children in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, groups that advocate for victims this afternoon called on State's Attorney John Smriga to investigate not only the allegations against diocesan clergy but the senior church officials who covered it up.
"There are grounds here for a public prosecutor to prosecute," said Anne Barrett Doyle, director of Bishop Accountability.Org, as she walked up the steps of the Superior Court on Main Street to give Smriga a disk with the previously secret church documents released Tuesday by court order.
"When public prosecutors are sufficiently sure there has been a coverup of child abuse allegations they don't sit down and shrug their shoulders," she said. "They ensure the public's right to know about it is upheld." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:09 PM
• Catholic order Sisters of Mercy in sex abuse payout
- €128,000,000.
IRELAND BBC News
The Irish Sisters of Mercy is to supply a 128m euros (£116m) package as reparation for decades of child abuse in its schools and orphanages.
In May, the Ryan report laid out a picture of systematic abuse.
The order of nuns ran five schools named in the damning report, including the notorious Goldenbridge. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:57 PM
• Irish nuns offer 128 million euros to abuse victims
AFP
DUBLIN, Ireland – An Irish Catholic order of nuns who were strongly criticised in a report on child abuse said Thursday it will pay 128 million euros (193 million dollars) in damages.
The Sisters of Mercy said the cash and property was "reparation for the suffering of children while in residential institutions within Mercy care".
In deciding to make the contribution, the nuns said the order "attempted to be faithful to the values of reparation, reconciliation, healing and responsibility". Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:52 PM
• Murder case Gardai hit a Berlin-like wall of silence
[1970 Unknown person] - Possible murder.
Herald By PJ Browne Thursday December 03 2009
IRELAND -- WHEN I, with others, joined the Garda Siochana's "Murder Squad" in 1980 the boss was Detective Chief Superintendent Dan Murphy, and his deputy was Detective Superintendent John Courtney. Both were vastly experienced investigators and longtime members of the squad.
One case that was always on the lips of Dan Murphy was the death of Bernadette Connolly in Co Sligo on that miserable spring day of Friday, April 17, 1970. I heard him speak about it many, many times, and that was more than 10 years since the young girl's death. …
During the course of the investigation, information was received about a green van and its registration.
Crucially, it was established that the van belonged to the Passionist priest who was based at a monastery in the locality.
When gardai tried to investigate, a wall of silence prevailed and no one would admit who was using the van between 4.30pm and 7.30pm on the day that Bernadette disappeared.
That wall of silence was more difficult to break down than the Berlin Wall and still to this day has not been penetrated.
Equally worrying are the reports that emerged that the garda file on the matter had been shown to a member of the church hierarchy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:58 PM
• Weakland shredded copies of sex abuse reports, documents say
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By Bruce Vielmetti Posted: Dec. 3, 2009
Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony released Thursday by an advocacy group for victims of abuse.
In depositions taken during the 1990s, Weakland admitted destroying copies of the reports in his office, according to the documents released by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
SNAP has asked Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm to review the newly unsealed documents for possible criminal violations. The documents have come to light during the discovery process in litigation by several past victims that accuse the archdiocese of fraud. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:54 PM
• Priest arrested for raping a male congregant
Times LIVE By Nkosana Lekotjolo 7:10 PM Dec 3, 2009
SOUTH AFRICA -- A 31-year-old Free State priest is due to appear at the Lindley District Court for allegedly raping a 22-year-old man who is a church member.
Police spokesman, Sergeant Mmako Mophiring, said that the victim was allegedly raped on Wednesday night at about 22pm at the priest's house situated in the church yard.
Mophiring said the victim had been at the church at about 8pm with the priest - the same night he was allegedly raped. He went home and returned back to the church. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:51 PM
• NY Church Stonewalled on Sex Abuse--But Fought Marriage Equality
EDGE Boston by Kilian Melloy Thursday Dec 3, 2009
UNITED STATES -- The Dec. 2 defeat in the New York State Senate of a bill that would have extended marriage equality to the state’s gay and lesbian families was promoted--and celebrated--by New York’s Catholic leadership.
But questions still linger about the role one New York church official in particular played in the clerical sex abuse scandal.
A statement released by the New York State Catholic Conference on the day of the Dec. 2 vote, which saw the measure lose 38-24, declared that, "it has become clear that Americans continue to understand marriage the way it has always been understood, and New York is not different in that regard," reported a New York Times article from that same day. Added the statement, "This is a victory for the basic building block of our society."
But if the nuclear mixed-gender family is society’s basic component, some see the church as having failed to protect its most vulnerable members. A separate new York Times article also published on Dec. 2 noted that questions still linger about the role played by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, then a Connecticut bishop, who was questioned about cases of child molestation committed by priests under his supervision. When a lawyer taking Egan’s deposition asked why the bishop had failed to intervene immediately in cases involving complaints about a predatory priest, Egan told him, "I didn’t make a decision one way or the other. I kept working on it until I resolved the decision." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:48 PM
• Major Irish order of Catholic nuns offers €128 million in reparations to child abuse victims
Breaking News 24/7
DUBLIN – A major Irish order of Roman Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, is offering to pay victims of child abuse, the government and charities nearly €128 million ($193.5 million) to compensate for decades of abuse in its schools and orphanages.
Thursday’s compensation offer is the largest yet from 18 orders of Catholic priests, brothers and nuns who ran schools, workhouses and orphanages for generations of Ireland’s most deprived children until the 1990s. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:45 PM
• Hunter Catholic priest sex abuse charges dropped
[1970s Fr Peter Brock] - RCC. 22 charges withdrawn.
The Herald, BY DAN PROUDMAN Dec 04, 2009
AUSTRALIA -- HIGH-profile Catholic priest Peter Brock repeated his declaration of innocence yesterday after child sex charges were dropped against him.
After more than two years of police investigations and well-documented court hearings, it took less than a minute for Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor John Stanhope to inform magistrate Elaine Truscott in Newcastle Local Court that the prosecution was withdrawing all 22 charges against Father Brock.
Mr Stanhope did not give a reason for withdrawing the charges. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:42 PM
• Diocese of Portland reaches settlement on sex abuse case
Catholic News Agency, 01:08 pm, Dec 3, 2009
PORTLAND, Maine, / (CNA).- The Diocese of Portland, Maine has reached a $200,000 settlement with a woman who was allegedly molested by a priest in 1976 in South Berwick.
The announcement was made Wednesday by Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, an attorney who has dedicated his recent years to reaching large settlements with Catholic dioceses around the country.
The victim, who lives outside of New England, was 11 years old at the time and one of the first female altar servers in the state Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:40 PM
• Man pleads guilty in child sex case
[? 2009 Fr James Grady (58) - ? NEW*] - RCC. Trafficking children.Belleville News-Democrat The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (MO) -- A St. Louis County man arrested in an undercover sting into sex trafficking of children has pleaded guilty to federal charges. …
The third suspect, the Rev. James Grady, is scheduled for trial March 1. The 58-year-old is a Catholic priest suspended with pay by the Archdiocese of St. Louis pending the outcome of his case. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:37 PM
• Parents misled about sex abuse
- RC principal failed to alert police, parents, other children.
The Chronicle, by Lacey Burley | December 4, 2009
AUSTRALIA -- PARENTS of students at the heart of a child sex abuse scandal are outraged they were misled by the school’s principal who knew for 14 months of a complaint that a teacher had sexually abused a student.
The principal had denied any prior knowledge of the allegations at a meeting after the accused teacher was charged with rape in November last year.
A school parent contacted The Chronicle yesterday and said parents were angered by Tuesday’s court case in which the principal was found not guilty of failing to report a student’s complaint that she was sexually abused by a teacher.
Court case details revealed the Catholic primary school principal had known of the complaint and reported it to his superiors 14 months before Toowoomba Police arrested and charged the teacher with 12 counts of rape and 34 counts of indecent treatment of a child. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:28 PM
• Sisters of Mercy to compensate abuse victims
RTE News with audio, Thursday, December 3, 2009
IRELAND -- The Sisters of Mercy are to contribute property and cash to the value of €128m by way of reparation for the suffering of children while they were cared for by the congregation in Industrial Schools.
The nuns say they are deeply saddened by the findings of last May's Ryan Report and reiterate their wholehearted apology for the suffering experienced by the children in their care.
This offer is the largest so far by any of the 18 Catholic religious bodies whose institutions were severely criticised for systemically abusing children in their care. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:19 PM
• Call for Lianza to discuss report
The Irish Times By ELAINE EDWARDS
IRELAND -- The papal nuncio Giuseppe Lianza should appear before an Oireachtas committee in order to address the issues raised by the Murphy commission, the Dáil has been told.
TDs were today making statements to the House on the report of the commission on the handling of allegations of child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
Fine Gael’s spokesman on children, Alan Shatter, said it was “a scandal” the body known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome and the Vatican had relied on diplomatic protocol to avoid providing information to the Murphy commission. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:21 AM
• Pedophilia is a Privacy Right, and other Appeals arguments of the Catholic Church, as Franciscan Friars fight release of documents
[Franciscans] - RCC. Franciscans disgrace themselves.
City of Angels By Kay Ebeling
CALIFORNIA -- Part 5: The Franciscans of Santa Barbara are filing mounds of briefs with the Courts of California, fighting release of documents regarding pedophile priests among the friars. The Church is now working to obstruct release of files that would reveal its own crimes, because, as they say in their appeal briefs, the cases settled “without any finding of fact on the plaintiffs’ allegations by the court.” In other words, the cases never went to trial, so the Church never has to release the documents.
Since the sex abuse cases against the Franciscans settled in 2006 before going to trial, documents that would have been evidence in a trial do not now have to be released, even though release of those documents was part of the settlement, church attorneys argue in their appeal. I know, it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to. The Church has endless funds, so it can file appeals endlessly, on any twist of logic, even the definition of a word.
We've seen this abuse of the legal system in Connecticut, Oregon, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and we'll likely see it in Delaware, even though plaintiffs in Wilmington settled their lawsuits this fall, in a pre-trial decision that includes … release of perpetrator priest personnel files. Don’t hold your breath. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:15 AM
• A Bishop’s Testimony Is Heard
- RCC.The New York Times By ARTHUR SULZBERGER,
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The witness was Edward M. Egan, then the Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. The question was about a priest who had been accused of sexually molesting children.
“I didn’t make a decision one way or the other,” Bishop Egan said. “I kept working on it until I resolved the decision.”
The exchange is one of hundreds recorded in a vast trove of documents the Diocese of Bridgeport made public on Tuesday after battling in court for seven years to keep them sealed. The archive – more than 12,000 pages of memos, church records and testimony – was gathered for 23 lawsuits, alleging sexual abuse of children by seven priests, that the diocese settled in 2002. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:52 AM
• Sexual Misconduct in the Church
The Art of War
In this blog from Reuters, the writer discusses the reactions to recent sex scandals among the clergymen of the Catholic Church, and concludes that church-goers need to radically change the way they view and deal with their spiritual leaders.
The basic point is that clergymen are simply human beings, and need to be treated exactly as such. They have no higher connection to God and certainly no license to commit rape and child abuse. If these crimes were committed by someone in the "secular" world rather behind church doors, the punishment would be great and people's opinions would be strongly affected. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:41 AM
• Decision time for Bishop Murray
Limerick Post Written by Rebekah Commane Thursday, December 03 2009
IRELAND -- BISHOP of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, is under increased pressure to resign following comments made by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin that he is not happy with the response of bishops named in The Murphy Report into clerical child sex abuse.
Bishop Murray is to make a decision on his position in the next two weeks.
Should he decide to stand down, it could mean a fresh wave of new appointments throughout the diocese.
Speaking on RTE’s Primetime, Archbishop Murray said bishops named in the report had a responsibility to the archdiocese of Dublin, where the abuse took place, and should not be seeking answers from members of their own dioceses, and would be writing to the bishops to this effect. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:13 AM
• Nathan Halbach, Son of a Catholic Priest, Dies
- "Family values" of an RC priest.
The Gospel According to Hate,
UNITED STATES -- Just over a month ago, The New York Times published the article, "A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest," about a young man, Nathan Halbach, with brain cancer who was speaking out for the first time (and bravely breaking the Catholic church's gag order) about being the abandoned son of still-practicing Catholic priest. Here is the link to a two minute slide-show and verbal interview with Nathan and his mother, Pat Bond, that the Times published in October. It's worth watching.
On Friday November 27, Nathan died of cancer, without his biological father at his bedside. So much for the "family values" that the Catholic church and its clergy are preaching to the nation in their current attempts to derail LGBT rights and women's reproductive rights. But, don't worry, Nathan's biological father, Rev. Henry Willenborg, OFM, was praying for him from afar, and I'm sure that meant so much to Nathan as his brain was being painfully eaten from within. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:52 AM
• Victims talk about how former Anglican priest destroyed their innocence – WATCH THIS SITE FOR SENTENCING STORY TODAY
[1960s-70s Rev. Kenneth Gibbs*] - Anglican. 3½yrs sentence. 5 girls.
The Sault Star, Posted By LINDA RICHARDSON,
CANADA -- One by one the five middle-aged women faced the former Anglican priest who molested them when they were young children.
"I've been waiting for 40 years to put into words the fear, hurt and anger you brought to my life," one of Kenneth Gibbs' victims told the 77-year-old man.
"God created a child that you destroyed," she said Wednesday looking directly at Gibbs, who was sitting in a wheelchair next to the prisoner's box. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:49 AM
• Diocese not told island priest was abuser
- RCC.
The Connacht Tribune December 3, 2009
Known paedophile transferred to Inishbofin in 1980's
IRELAND -- THE Dublin Archdiocese successfully requested the transfer of a known paedophile priest to County Galway during the 1980s – without ever informing the local Catholic hierarchy that there were child protection concerns surrounding him.
Parishioners on Inisbofin were shocked to learn at the weekend that the clergy in the Tuam Archdiocese had no knowledge of potential allegations of abuse against Fr. Noel Reynolds prior to his appointment to the island.
The late Fr. Reynolds subsequently admitted abusing children on the island – however, there are no indications that any local children were targeted by the priest who was sent to the west from a Dublin parish. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:41 AM
• Archbishop to contact police over abuse tip-offs
The Age, By NICK MCKENZIE, December 4, 2009
AUSTRALIA -- CATHOLIC Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart will contact police about concerns that the church's chief sexual abuse investigator tipped off two priests that they were under investigation by detectives for alleged sexual abuse.
Depending on the advice he receives from police, Archbishop Hart has also said that he may review the process used for 13 years by the Melbourne archdiocese to privately investigate more than 450 cases of church sexual abuse.
"He will await the outcome of the discussions with the police [before deciding whether to conduct a review]," a spokesman for the archbishop said. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM
• 'I was ashamed at having to face my congregation after damning Murphy Report'
The Strabane Chronicle By Conor Sharkey
IRELAND -- A local parish priest has spoken of his "shame" at having to face his congregation in the wake of the latest sex abuse scandal to rock the Catholic church.
Fr Edward Kilpatrick, parish priest of St Patrick's Church, Murlog, spoke out days after the Murphy Report revealed the extent sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Dublin over three decades.
Published on Friday, the devastating report accused four former archbishops, a host of clergy and senior members of the Garda Síochána of covering up 30 years of sex crimes by priests in Ireland's capital. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:33 AM
• Arrested Mahwah assistant Pastor makes bail
[2003 Assistant Pastor Curtis Franklin*] - Full Gospel Church. Girl (< 16).
Mahwah Suburban News, Wednesday, December 2, 2009
MAHWAH (NJ) – Bail has been posted for a former youth ministry volunteer who was arrested and charged with sexual assault and other crimes Tuesday after an alleged victim came forward.
Curtis Franklin, of 126 Grove St. in Mahwah, is currently the assistant pastor at the Mahwah Full Gospel Church, 133 Grove St.
According to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Franklin engaged in "inappropriate sexual contact" on at least three occasions six years ago with a female under the age of 16 at a residence in Mahwah. The incident went unreported until Nov. 30 of this year. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:31 AM
• Maine diocese to pay woman $200,000 in abuse settlement
[1976 Fr James Vallely -NEW*] - RCC. Girl (11).Bangor Daily News From Staff and Wire Reports
PORTLAND, Maine – The lawyer for a woman who says she was molested by a Maine priest when she was a girl says the church has agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
The woman says she was abused by the Rev. James Vallely in 1976 when she was 11 years old and one of the first female altar servers in Maine.
Vallely served throughout Maine, including South Berwick where the girl lived. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:29 AM
• Why clerical sex abuse probe must recognise no boundaries
- RCC.
IRELAND -- Belfast Telegraph By Eric Waugh
It was in the 1970s that the Irish bishops of the Roman Catholic Church were having one of their regular meetings in St Patrick's College, Maynooth. On these occasions they were provided with an ample luncheon.
After lunch on that day, the Bishop of Galway, Dr Michael Browne, a formidable character known to many of his people as 'Cross Michael', was still enjoying a post-prandial cigar when he strolled into the adjacent library of the college to collect a book.
The official at the desk mentioned to the bishop that, regrettably, there was a no-smoking rule in the library. But the bishop continued on his way unabashed and duly rejoined his colleagues.
Some time later, though, he had cause to re-enter the library. He was still smoking. "Second offence," he said jauntily to the attendant at the desk, waving the cigar in his fingers. In an era like our own, when the church has its back to the wall, facing public onslaught over the misdeeds of its clergy, this little cameo is not only interesting: it is significant. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:25 AM
• Victims asked to come forward
IRELAND -- Wickow People, Wednesday December 02 2009
GARDA COMMISSIONER Fachtna Murphy has directed an examination of the findings of the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin on the handling of complaints and investigations by Church and State authorities.
Referring to the ongoing work of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, the Commissioner said a substantial investigation was undertaken by the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit in 2002.
'The Commission itself acknowledged that this investigation was an effective, coordinated and comprehensive inquiry. The investigation has resulted in the submission of a number of files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and following his direction, people have appeared before the courts charged with serious offences. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:21 AM
• Extend abuse probe all over, say priest and abuse victim
IRELAND -- The Meath Chronicle, Dec 03, 2009
A Navan area parish priest has called for the Commission of Investigation into clerical abuse in Dublin to be extended to all dioceses in the country, declaring that if this was not done, the subject would continue to come up for the next 20 to 30 years.
Fr Martin Mulvaney, PP, Johnstown Parish, said that it would be "grossly unfair" to victims of abuse if their suffering was to be "regurgitated year after year", adding that he felt an extension of the remit of the commission nationwide was now warranted.
Meanwhile, a Trim resident who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of two Christian Brothers in an industrial school, said he felt vindicated by the findings of the Murphy Report and also demanded "a complete trawl of every diocese in the country so that we can root out this cancer in our midst". However, Michael Clemenger, who has written a book about his experiences - 'Holy Terrors' - said that while he wanted abusers to be "exposed, named and shamed", he did not see any point in jailing people. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:18 AM
• Commission's inquiry should be extended to all dioceses
- RCC.
The Meath Chronicle, Opinion,
IRELAND -- Judge Yvonne Murphy's shattering report on the obsessive secrecy and culture of covering up sex abuse scandals in the Dublin archdiocese was every bit as bad as had been predicted, and sees the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland facing its greatest ever crisis after it was revealed that not only were thousands of children raped and abused by Catholic priests, many of them serial offenders, in the Dublin diocese over a 30-year period, but that the allegations of abuse were completely mishandled by both Church and State authorities.
The devastating abuse report accuses the Church of denial, arrogance and cover-ups, adding that there was no regard for child welfare among bishops. The report has been severely critical of the handling and covering up of abuse complaints by some of the most senior hierarchical figures within the archdiocese. The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation was established in 2006 to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse involving Dublin diocesan priests, as well as priests and members of religious orders who worked in or were attached to the capital's parishes and schools. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:16 AM
• The soul of a bishop
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Beliefnet, by Rod Dreher,
The New York Times has a look at newly released depositions in Catholic priest sex abuse cases from Bridgeport, Conn., which give us a look into the mind of Bishop Edward Egan, who would go on to become the Cardinal Archbishop of New York. This is very telling:
Near the end of the long questioning, Bishop Egan and a plaintiff's lawyer came to loggerheads over the meaning of numbers.
"Bishop Egan, the fact that 19 individuals have come forward and made claims," Ms. Robinson asked about Father Pcolka's case. "You don't consider that to be a significant number of individuals?" …
Let's say you were the father of the 13 year old girl Fr. Pcolka raped, or the mother of the little boy Fr. Pcolka sodomized, or of one of the boys who were compelled by the priest to urinate on him while he giggled in bed. How do you think you would feel knowing that your lawyerly bishop did not consider your child to be "a significant portion of the diocese"?
As monstrous as devils like Pcolka were, how do you explain a bishop who is so coldly indifferent to human suffering, especially the suffering of children? It boggles the mind and revolts the conscience. What kind of man thinks this way, and acts like this? I understand it with ordinary bums and conformists and apparatchiks, but a man who is a bishop in the church of Jesus Christ? Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:13 AM
• Murray insists his conscience is clear
[ Fr Thomas Naughton] - RCC.
RTE News, with audio, Thursday, December 3, 2009
IRELAND -- Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray has said he has a clear conscience about his role in relation to the activities of a number of abusing priests in the Dublin Archdiocese when he was Auxiliary Bishop there.
However, in his first media interview since last Friday, he told the Limerick Leader newspaper that the one case that caused him 'constant anguish' was that of Fr Thomas Naughton.
He said he had apologised to people in Donnycarney, Ringsend and Valleymount in 2002, and said that he was unable to do more about the activities of this priest. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:07 AM
• Bishop of Limerick says he responded 'promptly' to allegations
- RCC.Limerick Leader, Published Date: December 05, 2009
IRELAND -- IN his initial response to the Murphy report, the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, said that the report made for "very disturbing reading".
He said that it established and acknowledged the shocking truth of child sexual abuse by priests in the archdiocese, which he apologised for and deeply regretted.
"Any abuse of children is deplorable and I condemn it unreservedly. Today my thoughts and prayers are with the survivors of abuse and their families. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:59 AM
• The Bishop of Limerick's darkest day
IRELAND -- Limerick Leader, By Anne Sheridan and Mike Dwane, Published Date: 03 December 03, 2009
THE Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, still maintains he has a clear conscience and was not involved in the cover-up of child sexual abuse complaints within the Dublin diocese.
In an exclusive interview in this weekend's Limerick Leader, Dr Donal Murray said he doesn't feel "the full truth" is being heard in how the sickening report reflects on his term of office as auxiliary bishop of Dublin between 1982 and 1996 – and that parts of the report were "unfair" towards him. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:55 AM
• Denial of and inaction on abuse reflects badly on senior churchmen
The Southern Star, By Editor, Saturday December 5th, 2009
IRELAND -- AT the time of the publication last May of the Ryan Report into systemic physical and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by various religious orders on behalf of the State – which made for terribly unsettling reading – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin hinted that what was to come in the report on clerical child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin would be even more shocking. The publication on Thursday of last week of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, otherwise known as the Murphy Report, confirmed that the information that Archbishop Martin was privy to then was every bit as horrific as he had intimated and there is no doubt that it will be hugely damaging to the Roman Catholic Church at a time when the institution is already suffering from a huge drop in numbers attending Mass as well as a dearth of vocations to the priesthood.
The vast majority of clergy still serving are good people and should not be tainted as guilty by association with those who abused their positions of trust over the years to defile innocent young people by sexually abusing them and condemning them to lives of self-doubt about their own worth, which in turn led them to abuse alcohol or drugs or even other people, or perhaps to inflict self-harm or attempt suicide. However, there are some men still in positions of authority in the Irish hierarchy who failed to do the right thing by those unfortunate members of their flock who fell prey to evil abusers and, as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny correctly called for at the weekend, they should resign.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was somewhat ambivalent when asked what he thought of that call, saying that it was a matter for these people’s own consciences to consider and decide on. However, as former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte stated, the members of the hierarchy whose actions – or lack of same – have been exposed and branded as inexcusable by Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report should not be allowed by the State to have any further role in patronage of educational institutions in their dioceses. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:52 AM
• SNAP slams Connecticut diocese after documents released, admits not having read them
Catholic News Agency, 06:07 am, Dec 3, 2009
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., / (CNA).- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) as well as “Voice of the Faithful," said on Wednesday that thousands of pages of documents released Tuesday "uncover a culture of secrecy, cover-up, denial and arrogance," in the Diocese of Bridgeport, but admitted that they haven't yet read the more than 12,000 pages of documents released by the diocese.
David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, said the documents show "partial truth about devastating cover-ups, and are a step toward healing those still trying to recover from the horror of sex crimes suffered in their youth by trusted, respected, but abusive priests."
Clohessy told CNA that "we hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover-ups, in Connecticut and elsewhere, will be inspired to speak up, call police, expose predators, protect kids, get help and start healing." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:50 AM
• Cardinal Egan: 19 alleged abuse victims not a ‘significant’ number
Catholic Culture December 03, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Documents released by the Diocese of Bridgeport on December 1 revealed that Cardinal Edward Egan, while bishop of the Connecticut diocese, characterized the number of alleged abuse victims as insignificant when seen in the context of a diocese of 360,000 Catholics.
“Bishop Egan, the fact that 19 individuals have come forward and made claims: you don’t consider that to be a significant number of individuals?” an attorney asked.
“I do not consider that a significant segment or factor,” Cardinal Egan answered. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:47 AM
• Under fire, Irish bishop insists he responded promptly to allegations
Catholic Culture December 03, 2009
IRELAND -- Facing criticism from the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin and calls for his resignation, Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick defended his response to abuse allegations while he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin. Bishop Murray-- who has begun a period of reflection over whether he should remain in office or resign-- said:
At no time did I as an auxiliary bishop of Dublin, receive an allegation of sexual abuse and fail to act; when an allegation of sexual abuse of children by a priest was brought to my attention, I responded promptly and conscientiously and in each case notified the archbishop and diocesan authorities and co-operated fully with them. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:45 AM
• Church of sin
[Frs Reynolds, Naughton, McCarthy] - RCC. 46 sinful priests' cases examined.Wicklow People, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- FORTY SIX PRIESTS were dealt with in the damning report of the Commission of Investigation with Wicklow children making up some of the sexual abuse victims who fell prey to members of the clergy. Only ten of the complaints of sexual abuse against the 46 priests were found to have been handled correctly by the archdiocese.
There is criticism of the way the reports of abuse were handled, such as Fr. Noel Reynolds while based in Glendalough, and Fr. Tom Naugton while he was a curate in Valleymount.
Fr. Frank McCarthy abused a young child while working in Dunlavin. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:43 AM
• Calls for Limerick bishop to hand in his resignation
[Fr Thomas Naughton] - RCC. 2 convictions. > 20 seduction complaints.Wicklow People, Wednesday December 02 2009
IRELAND -- THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK, Dr. Donal Murray, is facing calls for his resignation in light of the way he dealt with abuse allegations against Fr. Tom Naughton.
At the time of the allegations Bishop Murray was among the former auxiliary bishops of Dublin.
More than 20 complaints of child sexual abuse have been made against Naughton, who has twice been convicted of child sexual abuse. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:40 AM
• An Interview with Dr. A.W. Richard Sipe
- Dr Richard Sipe speaks again.
Healing and Spirituality
UNITED STATES -- Dr. Richard Sipe is respected internationally for his research into the sexual and celibate practices of Roman Catholic bishops and priests. He spent 18 years serving the Church as a Benedictine monk and Catholic priest. In those capacities he was trained to deal with the mental health problems of priests. He has been married for 35 years and has one son. Both as a priest and married man he has practiced psychotherapy, taught on the faculties of Major Catholic Seminaries and colleges, lectured in medical schools, and served as a consultant and expert witness in both civil and criminal cases involving the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. For more information, see http://www.richardsipe.com/ Some of the references Dr. Sipe makes in his answers are listed at the end of the interview. In the interview that follows, JR is Jaime Romo and RS is Richard Sipe.
JR: First of all, I want to thank you for being such a great support to me personally, and for so many survivors of clergy abuse. You have been a lifesaver and guide to more people than I imagine you’ll ever know. Who have been your mentors or guides in important times in your life?
RS: It is gratifying to know that my work and research has been of comfort and value to victims who have suffered so much as a result of abusive clergy. Trying to be a Christian is the foundation of all my efforts. Victims and survivors have inspired me to search ever more deeply for the facts, dynamics, and causes of abusive behavior of men and women in a culture that preaches protection and love. Jeanne Miller, the Chicago mother of an abused boy, was the first hero to push me in 1988 to make a concerted effort to understand and do something about clergy abuse.
[i] Fr. Tom Doyle and lawyer Jeff Anderson are the steady lights that guide me through the dark tangles of legal obstacles and sociologist Anson Shupe helps me unravel the systemic machinations and malfeasance that church superiors perpetrate.
[ii] I am inspired by the brotherhood/sisterhood of those who seek to heal, protect, and prevent abuse of all children and vulnerable folk. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:22 AM
• In Egan’s Depositions, a New View of a Sex Scandal
[Then-bishop, later Cardinal, Edward Egan] - RCC.
The New York Times, By PAUL VITELLO, Published: December 2, 2009
{Edward M. Egan's Depositions}
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- The deposition was in its fifth grueling hour. The lawyer and the witness had dueled over the meaning of common words, about whether an executive “supervises” or “administers,” about the difference between a lie and a failure to tell the truth.
Then the lawyer sprang his big question: You could have prevented someone from hurting people and you decided not to. Why?
The witness was Edward M. Egan, then the Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. The question was about a priest who had been accused of sexually molesting children.
“I didn’t make a decision one way or the other,” said Bishop Egan, whom the lawyer suggested had failed to act quickly against the cleric. “I kept working on it until I resolved the decision.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:13 AM
• Moral compass must point towards justice for victims
Irish Independent, By Collette Caddle, Thursday December 03 2009
IRELAND -- There is much in our world today to annoy us. The banks lost all our money and yet we have to rescue them. The councils built on flood plains and people's homes have been destroyed as a result. And as if life wasn't miserable enough, we were robbed of the opportunity to play in the World Cup in South Africa. It was the final straw. We were incensed, furious, livid and we wanted action. Someone should pay.
Yet how apathetic is our reaction when we learn that the Catholic Church, instead of protecting our children, put them in danger? Where is the anger, where is the call for action? When did our moral compass become so skewed?
I'm not interested in witch hunts but I would like to see justice done and I do want change. Yet the main reactions to the Murphy report are ones of embarrassment, shame, disapproval and a certain acceptance that these things happen. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:09 AM
• Senior clergy 'would not object' to further inquiries by State
Irish Independent By Gordon Deegan and John Cooney, Thursday December 03 2009
IRELAND -- BISHOP of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh yesterday revealed that he and other bishops he has spoken to would have no difficulty with state inquiries into clerical child sex abuse in their own dioceses.
"I would certainly be quite happy to have an inquiry into my diocese," Dr Walsh said at his residence in Ennis yesterday.
"I would certainly co-operate fully with it.
"It would be painful, but I would be quite happy to have it." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:07 AM
• Bishop Murray signals he may stand down over criticism
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, John Cooney and Elaine Keogh; Thursday December 03 2009
IRELAND -- EMBATTLED Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray last night gave his first public signal that he may leave his post.
The Dublin-born bishop said he might resign -- even if the pastoral bodies from whom he has sought guidance about his record on child protection come out in favour of him staying.
Responding to criticisms of his "inexcusable" handling of a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, Bishop Murray said: "In the unlikely event it (the guidance) was entirely positive, I still have my own decision … about whether I feel I can be Bishop of Limerick." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:05 AM
• Dead man's wife claims under-fire bishop is also victim
- RC thinks abuser's "enabler" ought to continue.
IRELAND -- Irish Independent By Barry Duggan Thursday December 03 2009
THE former wife and daughter of a child sex abuse victim who took his own life believe the Bishop of Limerick should be allowed to continue his work.
Cathy McCloskey, whose husband Peter died three years ago after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray following the sexual abuse he suffered, said the bishop should not be forced from office. Peter McCloskey was repeatedly raped by Fr Denis Daly, who has since died, in the Caherdavin parish while serving as an altar boy in 1980/81. He reported the matter to Dr Murray in 2002, but died four years later.
After Dr Murray was named in last week's Murphy report, Peter's father Aidan said that "a criminal would have been treated better by the bishop" and called for the bishop's immediate resignation. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:03 AM
[COMMENT: Such bishops and other "enablers" ought to be in prison awaiting trial. ENDS.]
• Abuse investigation leaked to priest
[Peter O'Callaghan] - RC secrecy "rules" work only one way.
ABC News, By Lexi Metherell, for The World Today
AUSTRALIA -- The Catholic Church's own investigator of sexual abuse in Melbourne has leaked details of a secret police investigation to the priest under scrutiny.
It is not the first time that it has happened and abuse victims say an urgent review of the way the archdiocese deals with abuse claims is needed.
For 13 years Peter O'Callaghan QC has been investigating claims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Melbourne as part of the so-called 'Melbourne Response'. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:00 AM
• SNAP Press Release: Former Toledo priest subject of search warrant
[2002 Rev. Gabriel Barrow - NEW*] - Orthodox Christian. Child porn.
Pokrov,
{search warrant}
HOUSTON (TX) -- A support group for people who were sexually abused by priests has learned that a former Toledo area clergyman was the subject of a search warrant in Houston, Texas, following a tip provided by two concerned citizens.
SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, recently became aware that a search warrant was executed on the home, business and person of the former Archimandrite Gabriel Barrow on September 9, 2009. The affidavit accompanying the warrant alleged that Barrow was in possession of child pornography. A copy of the warrant, which includes the supporting affidavit, as well as a list of the items seized, is linked above.
”I am so proud of the young men, including one survivor, who provided information to the Houston Police Department," said Cappy Larson of San Francisco, California. Larson is the co-founder of SNAP Orthodox. ”It’s not every day that you find concerned citizens who is willing to go the extra mile to help protect kids.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:55 AM, December 03, 2009
• Board backs city over archdiocese in tax matter
- RCC. US $14.4m Property transfer taxes unpaid.
San Francisco Chronicle, by Rachel Gordon, Tuesday, December 1, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO (CA) -- San Francisco's tax fight with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco is headed to court.
The city's Transfer Tax Appeals Board unanimously ruled Monday in favor of San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting's position that the archdiocese owes City Hall $14.4 million in unpaid property transfer taxes.
The panel determined that the church, in moving properties from one Catholic nonprofit corporation to another, was required to pay property transfer taxes. The taxes are collected when properties are sold or transferred to a separate and distinct legal entity. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:51 AM, December 03, 2009
[COMMENT: Ouch! Were these property "transfers" an attempt to avoid paying the sex-abuse survivors the full amount of compensation? Regarding the taxes, the worldly leaders of the RCC ought to ponder on "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" and "It is more blessed to give than to receive." ENDS.]
• Response to clerical child abuse report
The Irish Times,
IRELAND -- Madam, – My instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather, for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.
At the very least, it would seem, all were guilty of negligence – some, such as Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, whose behaviour was described as “inexcusable”, more than others. But all were deemed guilty of inaction, of failing to listen to their conscience, as Mary Raftery put it on radio and television.
They were deemed guilty of putting the interests of the institution above the safety and welfare of children. Their failure to act when necessary, whatever the motivation, caused profound emotional damage to the victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families, and facilitated even more abuse. Their failure to act decisively has also, as Fr Tom Doyle, the American canon lawyer, said on Prime Time, caused untold spiritual damage to those entrusted to their pastoral care. To begin with, all bishops mentioned in the report should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions. The longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops. – Yours, etc,
Rev Dr D VINCENT TWOMEY, SVD; Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, Divine Word Missionaries, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Madam, – I have just finished cutting Bishop Donal Murray out of my child’s confirmation photographs taken in 1990. I couldn’t stomach the sight of him standing there, not a care in the world, his arm resting around the shoulders of my lovely, innocent child. It breaks my heart to think that on that day that was so happy for my children and me, Bishop Murray was exposing other lovely, innocent little children to the demonic practices of his cohorts.
I’m a practising Catholic; one who is finding it very difficult to believe a word coming from the mouths of any bishop, priest, or the pope.
None of them cared a whit for those little children, if they did they would have, if necessary, placed themselves between those “monsters” and their tiny prey. I have no doubt their minds were on more important things, like minding the church’s millions.
I am a mother of retirement age, and feel sick every time I see any of those old reprobates on TV, their big heads swollen with self- indulgent piety. Where was Bishop Murray’s conscience in all of this, “his judgment of reason”? He was told and therefore knew that deeds were being done that ran contrary to the law of the land.
Bishop Murray and the others are supposed to be “servants of God.” Poor God, what a disservice they’ve done him. He should resign immediately. – Yours, etc,
LIZ BOWIE, Highthorn Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:49 AM, December 03, 2009
[COMMENT: What these bishops, priests, and others have done have made it almost impossible to believe that they belong to a moral group based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, or to believe that they believe their own teachings about eternity and having supernatural powers. ENDS.]
• Theologian calls on all bishops in report to resign
IRELAND -- The Irish Times By PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent,
ALL BISHOPS named in the Dublin diocesan report “should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions”, leading theologian Dr Vincent Twomey has said.
The former professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said “the longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops”.
In a letter published in The Irish Times today, he says “my instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.” [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 2:46 AM, December 03, 2009]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Thu December 03, 2009
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont167.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker , Fri December 04, 2009 edition:
• Statement Regarding Rev. Msgr. Alan J. Placa Decision
[Mons. Placa cleared] - RCC.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, Friday, December 04, 2009
ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY) -- The Most Reverend William Murphy, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre has been informed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome that it has completed its final review of the status of Rev. Msgr. Alan J. Placa, a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The Congregation has found him to be not guilty of the allegation of sexual abuse of a minor which was made against him in June of 2002.
When the allegation was made, the Diocese immediately placed Msgr. Placa on administrative leave of absence. Over the course of seven and a half years, this case has been subjected to extraordinary scrutiny including all of the elements required by the Essential Norms established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas in 2002.
This decision confirms the same decision which was determined in first instance by the Tribunal of the Diocese of Albany. The Holy See’s definitive decision completes the canonical process for Msgr. Placa. This action by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith renders the decision final and definitive. As a result of this decision, Msgr. Placa is no longer on administrative leave and is now permitted to exercise priestly ministry freely in the Roman Catholic Church. In accordance with the provisions of the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, we have been instructed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to restore Msgr. Placa to ministry and to do what we can to restore his good name. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:26 PM, December 04, 2009]
• Rembert the ripper
[Archbishop Weakland] - RCC. Shredded the evidence.Catholic Culture,
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- Newly released depositions reveal that Nantucket's naughtiest nightowl, when he was an eminent pastor of souls, had an effective method for dealing with embarrassing documentation. He shredded it.
Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony turned over to Milwaukee County's district attorney on Thursday.
[chop]
In the deposition, Weakland explains that he got copies of the weekly logs made by vicars in the archdiocese about ongoing problem priests. He said he would read them, then shred them because he didn't want to keep them in his office. He would "try to remember anything that is quite serious and important," and later discuss the matters with the vicar.
Didn't want inadvertently to disedify the cleaning lady, I suppose. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 3:47 PM
• No mother had a chance against the powers they were up against
- Over-respectful to the cloth.
The Herald, By Sinead Ryan, Friday December 04 2009
IRELAND -- A caller to one of the many radio talk shows discussing the fallout from the Murphy Report this week simply couldn't understand why parents, who knew paedophile priests were operating, didn't do more.
"But why didn't they tell the guards?" she demanded. "Why didn't they keep it up?" She sounded young -- perhaps a young mother herself. Her bewilderment is easy to understand if we apply today's values and society to the question
Insist
However, she was referring to 30 or 40 years ago when, despite parents' concerns and in some cases, full knowledge, the very authorities that today we would insist on hearing us, turned a deaf ear.
Worse, in some cases, they colluded with those suspected of committing crimes. Yesterday's re-telling of the tragic murder of Bernadette Connolly, believed to have been carried out by a monk, now deceased, at Cloonmahon Monastery, is a classic, if appalling, example of the extent of 'cover up' -- a word which in today's language merely means not quite telling the truth -- a 'mental reservation' if you like. Sure, it could happen to a bishop. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:34 PM
• Sexual abuse scandal knows no rest: Released documents stir anger
USA Today
UNITED STATES The clergy sexual abuse scandal has subsided from the front page headlines it dominated in 2002 but the painful issue is still front burner for survivors -- and bishops -- as the legal story continues to spin out slowly.
This week we have accounts from three directions of bishops past and present who shredded or spurned records of victims and abusive priests.
In Wisconsin, the Pierce County Herald reports:
Former Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Rembert Weakland shredded copies of reports concerning sexual abuse by priests. That's according to legal depositions Weakland gave in the 1990's testimony that was made public today by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:29 PM
• A Roman Catholic church that's certain, except when it's not
North Country Public Radio,
UNITED STATES -- The Roman Catholic church is one of the most influential, life-shaping forces in North Country culture.
As a non-Catholic, I've watched from the sidelines as the Church has struggled to maintain its role as a powerful force for good, despite huge challenges.
(The largest of these challenges is the dramatic decline in the number of priests and nuns, forcing many churches in the Diocese of Ogdensburg to close, consolidate or reduce services.)
But the Church's role has also grown increasingly political and increasingly ambiguous in recent years. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:27 PM
• Greensburg Central Catholic asks for dismissal of lawsuit
- RCC.Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Richard Gazarik, Friday, December 4, 2009
PENNSYLVANIA -- Attorneys for Greensburg Central Catholic High School want a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a former student who alleges the school refused to allow her to graduate after she complained that a teacher was sexually harassing her.
In August, Caitlin Russo of Belle Vernon sued the school and the Diocese of Greensburg for violating her civil rights under Title IX, which bars any form of discrimination on the basis of gender in educational programs that receive federal funding.
Russo was a 14-year-old freshman at the school in 2004. In the lawsuit, she alleges that German teacher Douglas Mills, who was then 54, pinned her against a locker, asked her personal questions "of a sexual nature" and conducted "stalking-like behavior," according to the suit filed by Pittsburgh attorneys Helen Kotler and David Weiner. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:24 PM
• Priest abuse victims want criminal investigation of church leaders
Greenwich Time By Daniel Tepfer Posted: Dec/03/2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Stephen Kali just left a Main Street store when he noticed the small group of people standing in front of state Superior Court on Thursday afternoon, holding posters with photos of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport accused of abusing children.
Sidling over to where John Marshall Lee, a member of the Voice of the Faithful, a group that advocates for greater transparency in the Catholic Church, was holding a poster of the Rev. Alfred Bietighofer, he inquired what was going on.
Lee told Kali that it was a demonstration to call on State's Attorney John Smriga to investigate not only allegations against diocesan clergy, but the senior church officials who covered it up. The protest came two days after the diocese, forced by court order, released thousands of previously secret records documenting allegations of sexual abuse against diocesan priests dating back decades. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:44 AM
• Bishop attended parties thrown by paedophile priest says abuse victim
[Carney] - RCC. Grandfather now.
The Herald, By Charlie Mallon, EXCLUSIVE, Friday December 04 2009
IRELAND -- A LEADING Irish bishop enjoyed Sunday afternoon parties at the home of a notorious paedophile priest -- with abused children as guests.
Bishop James Kavanagh joined in parties at the home of sex abuser priest Fr Bill Carney while children abused by Carney were there as his weekend "guests".
The astonishing claim was made today by one of defrocked Carney's victims, who bore him a child at the age of 22, having been abused by him from the age of 10.
The Herald has also learned that paedophile priest Carney is now a grandad. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:49 AM
• Cowen critical of Church handling of abuse cases
Offaly Express Published Date: December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has criticised the handling of abuse cases by Catholic bishops and senior prelates, in a reaction to the Murphy report on the handling of cases in the Dublin archdiocese.
He stated "The Report of the Murphy Commission is truly shocking and disturbing.
It is a crushing verdict that the good name and standing of the Church as an institution was placed above the basic safety of children. Where this was facilitated by servants of the State, it was a betrayal of trust and a complete abandoning of duty. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:46 AM
• Bernadette witness could still be quizzed
[1970 Fr Columba (Passionist) and a monk] - RCC. Bernadette Connolly (10) dead.The Herald By Cormac Byrne, Friday December 04 2009
IRELAND -- A POSSIBLE witness in the case of murdered schoolgirl Bernadette Connolly could still be questioned -- if the garda opt to reopen the case.
The revelation comes after an appeal in the Herald by broadcaster Gerry Ryan to have the 39-year-old cold case re-examined.
The schoolgirl (10) disappeared close to her Co Sligo home in April 1970, and her body was discovered three months later 15 miles away.
Gardai had two suspects in the case: a priest, Fr Columba; and a second person, a monk. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:43 AM
• Minister tackles Papal Nuncio on abuse
The Herald, By Clodagh Sheehy, Friday December 04 2009
IRELAND -- Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal [? Micheál] Martin has asked the Papal Nuncio to meet him to discuss concerns about the Murphy Commission Report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
The failure of both the Vatican and Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza to co-operate with the commission was highlighted in the abuse report.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:41 AM
• Defection from Catholic Church
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
IRELAND -- I haven’t believed in any form of religion since I was twelve and even then I thought it was all nonsense.
But yet, until recently, I thought it was sufficient simply to walk away.
I was wrong.
The Catholic church is not something you just walk away from, because the Catholic church clings like old chewing gum to everything it touches. It abuses our children and our sick. It owns our politicians, and it takes our money.
It hates us. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:39 AM
[COMMENT: Hates, or is the correct word "despises"? The Webmaster wonders whether over the centuries RC "divines" have been busy working out how many dogmas and customs they can invent that directly contradict the teachings of the New Testament. ENDS.]
• Foreign Agents Cover Up Child Abuse in Ireland
Bock the Robber Dec 4th, 2009
IRELAND -- The Commission of Investigation wrote to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in the Vatican asking for its help. It needed information about concealment of a multiple crime by agents of the Vatican. The CDF, formerly known as the Holy Inquisition, headed by Josef Ratzinger until he became Pope, ignored the letter.
The Commission also wrote to the Papal Nuncio, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to Ireland, seeking similar assistance. He also ignored the request.
Subsequently, the Vatican complained to the Irish government that the Commission had breached protocol by not making the inquiries through diplomatic channels.
This is false. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:36 AM
• McCloskey Family Statement
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
IRELAND -- This is a statement received from the family of Peter McCloskey. It has been reproduced here without alteration.
McCloskey Family Statement on 3rd December 2009
Issued by Peter McCloskey’s parents, Aidan & Mary, his brother Joseph and sister Aida.
Peter McCloskey is our son and brother. United with common purpose we speak now on his behalf. As a family, we have found the events of recent years deeply traumatic. In common with many families, who have had similar experiences, we are familiar with “The Silent Episcopal Wall” that leaves us torn apart, above all wounded.
The publication of the Ryan Report, and more recently the Murphy Report concerning the Dublin Archdiocese, has resonated deeply within our family. It crystallises for us, that Peter’s search for truth and justice in approaching the Limerick Diocese, to expose his experience of clerical child sexual abuse, was as innately corrupt as that of the Dublin Archdiocese. The cover-up is endemic and country wide in the Catholic Church. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:34 AM
[COMMENT: It's world-wide, as you might expect. ENDS.]
• Fears for Harney as Facebook gets Govt to call papal nuncio to task
The Mire, Friday, December 4, 2009
IRELAND -- Social media gurus are expecting a surge of activity on the Feck Off Mary Harney Facebook page after a Facebook campaign against the papal nuncio to Ireland resulted in his being called to task by the Government.
The page was created by Simon McGarr after the report of the commission of inquiry into sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese revealed that the papal nuncio had refused to reply to investigators.
The government refused to find fault with the papal nuncio following the report but yesterday he was requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:30 AM
• Former Bishop Allowed Norwalk Priest Accused of Molestation to Continue in Ministry
[? to 1990 to 2002 Fr Charles Carr] - RCC. Fondled boys. [1950s - ~ 2001 Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. Sexual abuse by priests.
The Zalkin Law Firm, from Clergy Abuse News, December 2, 2009
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Reverend Charles Carr of Norwalk had been accused of fondling young boys, and recently released documents reveal that a diocese official had been concerned about "a developing pattern of accusations" against the former priest, reports the Hartford Courant. In 1990, however, the Bishop at the time, Edward Egan, kept Carr working as a priest for 5 more years and suspended him only after a lawsuit against him was filed. He was then reinstated in 1999 as part-time chaplain in a nursing home in Danbury.
Another deposition regarding Carr in the documents claims that two boys were molested by Carr when they were parishioners at Our Lady of Fatima in Wilton. The claim is that the priest "tickled" them and grabbed at their private parts. Carr was then removed from Our Lady of Fatima, as the parents of the boys made a complaint to the diocese. Carr was then moved to serve as a "spiritual advisor" at Central Catholic high school in Bridgeport. In 2002, Carr was defrocked and referred to law enforcement. This is one of many stories to come out of recently released Church documents. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:27 AM
• RELEASE OF SECRET DOCUMENTS IN DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR TRUTH AND CHILD PROTECTION
[1950s - ~ 2001 Bridgeport Diocese] - RCC. Sexual abuse by priests.Anderson Advocates Blog By Jeff Anderson
BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- These records, like thousands of other church records that surface through civil lawsuits, reveal the same careless disregard for public safety and shameful obsession with self preservation. Dozens of Connecticut pedophile priests live today among unsuspecting neighbors, friends and co-workers, near children and perhaps still molesting children. These documents help explain how these shrewd criminals escaped detection for so long, thanks in large part to their uncaring supervisors and associates. These disclosures are another reminder that it’s crucial to report child sex abuse to criminal and civil authorities, not church authorities. For more than twenty-five years I have helped and advocated for victims of predator priests. Many of these brave individuals have done what these four newspapers have done: expose ugly truths about tragic cover-ups. I commend them all for their courage. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:09 AM
• Gibbs jailed for assaulting young girls
[1960s-70s Rev. Kenneth Gibbs*] - Anglican. 3½yrs sentence. 5 girls.
The Sault Star, Posted By LINDA RICHARDSON,
CANADA -- Wiping away tears, the five women hugged and comforted each other Thursday as they watched a city police court officer push Kenneth Gibbs' wheelchair out of the second-floor courtroom.
Their 77-year-old former minister was headed first to the courthouse cells -- and then to jail -- to begin serving a federal penitentiary term for molesting them when they were young girls.
Superior Court Justice Edward Koke sentenced the one-time Anglican priest to three and a half years in prison for sex offences he committed in Chapleau and Elliot Lake in the 1960s and 1970s. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:47 AM
• SNAP raps NYC archbishop on remarks re Cardinal Egan and clergy sex abuse
- RCC. The error-free clergyman!
Voice from the Desert,
NEW YORK -- A support group for clergy sex abuse victims says it’s “stunned” that New York’s new Catholic archbishop refuses to admit that his predecessor made even a single error with clergy sex cases over 20 years in two dioceses.
On Tuesday, Catholic officials were forced by court order to release 12,000 pages of long-secret church records about clergy abuse cases in Bridgeport Diocese, which was headed by then-Bishop Edward Egan. Egan later went on to head the New York Archdiocese.
Within minutes of the release, New York’s current archbishop, Timothy Dolan, released a statement claiming that “During his tenure as Bishop of Bridgeport (and later as Archbishop of New York), Bishop Egan aggressively investigated and properly dealt with all allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:44 AM
• ‘Confidence in Christ’
[Decades - Maciel Degollado*] - RCC. US $10-15m, male seminarians, mistress had daughter.
National Catholic Register (owned by the Legion), Friday, December 04, 2009
Father Álvaro Corcuera, the general director of the Legion of Christ, sent a letter for the feast of Christ the King to members of Regnum Christi, Catholic News Agency reported Nov. 28. He wrote about having “limitless confidence in Christ.”
The letter focused on the Kingdom of Christ: “Christ’s Kingdom is not an abstract or ill-defined reality. If Christ is calling us to establish his Kingdom on this earth, we can ask ourselves where and how we are to do so.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:39 AM
• Martin to meet nuncio next week
IRELAND -- The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY and MARY FITZGERALD,
The papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza has been requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
In a brief statement last night, Mr Martin said he would be meeting the nuncio “to discuss issues surrounding the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation”. This would include “the commission’s findings as well as the issue of the co-operation of the nuncio and the Holy See with the commission”, he said.
It also emerged yesterday that, on Wednesday, Dr Leanza called on the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, at Iveagh House. The meeting was at the nuncio’s request. No details of what took place have been released. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:36 AM
• Priest abuse victims speak out
WTNH, with video,
BRIDGEPORT (CT), (WTNH) - There are calls for further investigation into alleged sex abuse at the hands of priests in the Bridgeport Diocese. Abuse victims spoke out Thursday.
They came to this courthouse calling on prosecutors to examine church documents they believe show the Bridgeport Diocese covered up allegations of sex abuse by priests.
"We believe the problem in Bridgeport is much greater than the diocese is conceding," said Anne Doyle of Bishopaccountability.org . Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:31 AM
• 30-stone church abuser ‘too fat for jail’
[1970s Elder John McConaghy -NEW*] - ? A reformed Church. Girl.
Belfast Telegraph, By Lisa Smyth, Friday, December 4, 2009
NORTHERN IRELAND -- A sex abuse charity has branded as unbelievable a court decision to free a church elder who sexually abused a child – because he was too fat to go to jail.
At Antrim Crown Court yesterday disgraced 30-stone John William McConaghy was sentenced to two-and-a-half years behind bars for the abuse that began when the girl was just 10 years old. But the jail term was suspended as the judge ruled that his obesity meant he would not receive proper care in prison.
His victim, now aged 44, told the Belfast Telegraph that she bravely gave evidence against McConaghy because he had never shown any remorse for his actions. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:28 AM
• ‘If McConaghy is the Christian he professes to be he would have told the truth’
[1970s Elder John McConaghy*] - ? A reformed Church. Girl.
Belfast Telegraph, Friday, December 4, 2009
NORTHERN IRELAND -- The woman subjected to years of sickening sex abuse at the hands of a so-called Christian church elder has spoken of her relief that her attacker has been revealed as a paedophile.
His victim said she contacted police after the death of a close friend who was aware of the abuse she had suffered and had told her repeatedly to “make sure he doesn't get away with it”.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph after John William McConaghy was sentenced for 20 counts of indecent assault, his victim said he had abused his position as a family friend and church elder and that she will always live in the shadow of the sex attacks. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:23 AM
• Police: Pastor's wife convinced 5-year-old girl to participate in sex acts with husband
[1990s Pastor Robert Adams -NEW*, Mrs Teresa Adams -NEW*] - Christian. Girl (5).
Gaston Gazette, by Corey Friedman, December 03, 2009
NORTH CAROLINA -- A fugitive Gaston County pastor wanted on child rape charges faces new allegations of sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl.
Police say 46-year-old Robert Lee Adams molested the girl more than a decade ago. Adams’ wife, 43-year-old Teresa Gilreath Adams, is accused of convincing the girl to engage in sex acts with her husband.
“Mr. Adams informed Mrs. Adams to have the victim conduct some activity, and at her urging, the victim participated,” said Capt. Joe Ramey of the Gaston County Police Department. “She encouraged the victim to participate in an act that led to these charges.” Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:20 AM
• Second victim files charges against Mahwah assistant minister
[2003 Assistant Pastor Curtis Franklin*] - Full Gospel Church. Girl (< 16).
Mahwah Suburban News, Thursday, December 3, 2009
MAHWAH (NJ) – Additional complaints were filed Dec. 3 against an assistant pastor of Mahwah Full Gospel Church, 133 Grove St., after a second woman came forward alleging she was sexually assaulted by him as a minor while serving as a volunteer youth minister for the church.
Curtis Franklin, 44, of 126 Grove St., was originally arrested Dec. 1. He was charged with sexual assault and other crimes by a 21-year-old woman who claimed he had engaged in "inappropriate sexual contact" with her at a Mahwah residence on at least three occasions six years ago when she was 15. According to the prosecutor’s office, Franklin met the alleged victim while a volunteer youth minister at the church.
The incidents went unreported until November. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:14 AM
• FAMILY AND FORMER CO-WORKER SAY: Minister arrested for rape had two sides
[? 2009 Rev. Phillip Joubert (48) ? NEW*] - Baptist. Incest, rape.The Hour, By STEVE KOBAK,
NORWALK (CT) -- Sources close to the family of a Norwalk pastor accused of incest and rape say the preacher acted like a God-fearing Jekyll in public and an abusive and controlling Hyde behind closed doors.
The arrest of the Rev. Phillip Joubert shocked leaders in the religious community, who knew him as a charismatic spiritual leader, but some people close to Joubert saw a man who was divisive and selfish.
Marvin Bolden, Joubert's brother-in-law, said he believed the allegations against Joubert "right from the jump." Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:09 AM
• Martin, Papal Nuncio to discuss Murphy report
- RCC.
RTE News
IRELAND -- The Minister for Foreign Affairs is to meet the Papal Nuncio to Ireland next week to discuss the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Micheál Martin asked Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza for a meeting to discuss issues relating to the report which investigated clerical child sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
The meeting will take place early next week. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:05 AM
• Report on clergy abuse in Dublin church leads to calls for more action
The Pilot (United States Boston RC archdiocese paper), By Cian Molloy, Posted: Dec/4/2009
IRELAND, (CNS) -- A report detailing failures of church leaders' handling of sex abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin has resulted in calls for bishops' resignations and further investigations and prosecution.
"The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets," said the report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy. "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state."
The report said church officials and police colluded in covering up instances of child sexual abuse by clergy. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 8:00 AM
• Snodaigh calls for inquiry in every Diocese
An Problacht,
IRELAND -- PRESSURE is building against Catholic bishops named in The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, also known as the Murphy Report, with widespread dissatisfaction with their responses to date.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said on Tuesday that he is writing to Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses.
Martin said: ‘Everybody has to stand up and accept responsibility for what they did.’ Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:57 AM
• Having the courage to take the lead on a lawsuit against church
[Fr Pcolka]
Connecticut Post,
CONNECTICUT -- George Rosado pulled the packed school bus he was driving to a halt in front of a house in Trumbull. It was a well-cared-for place. And he knew who lived there.
He stared at it. After a while, the kids on the bus noticed that they were idling longer than usual. " 'Are we picking somebody up?' they wanted to know," Rosado recalls of that day. "That shook me out of the stuff running through my head, and I started the bus back up and finished the route."
That was the closest former altar boy Rosado, now 46, has come to confronting the former Catholic priest, Raymond Pcolka, a cleric who Rosado says stole his childhood innocence, sexually abusing him from the time he was 8 until he was 11. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 7:53 AM
• Ireland should pray for a white knight to rid it of these bishops
IRELAND -- Belfast Telegraph, Friday, 4 December 4, 2009
The Catholic church is in disgrace. We do not know how many priests have molested children, but we know that hundreds did. The old argument put up in defence of the church - that a child was in no greater danger from a priest than from any other type of person - is now invalidated. Children were in danger at the altar rails, in the sacristy and in schools.
Still, it is likely that more priests - many more - did not offend than did.
There is no excuse for some of the craven whingeing from priests who tell us that they suffer now for sins they did not commit, drawn low in general esteem by the behaviour of others. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:58 AM
• Catholicism offshoot dissolves after scandals
[Archbishop hillip Zimmerman] - Breakawy "Reformed Catholic Church" disbands.
The Columbus Dispatch, By Meredith Heagney, Friday, December 4, 2009
COLUMBUS (OH) -- An independent Catholic denomination with its global headquarters in Columbus has disbanded, having been torn apart after publicity about the criminal backgrounds of its top leader and a former priest.
Critics of former Archbishop Phillip Zimmerman of the Reformed Catholic Church say he covered up his 2005 felony conviction and allowed participation by a convicted child molester.
Those loyal to Zimmerman say that disgruntled former clergy members launched baseless attacks in an effort to take power. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:56 AM
• Suicide victim's parents say bishop should go
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, Friday December 04 2009
IRELAND -- THE parents of a clerical sex abuse victim who took his own life have repeated their call for the Bishop of Limerick to resign.
Peter McCloskey (37) died in 2006 after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray and the Limerick diocese following the sexual abuse he suffered as an altar boy in the early 1980s.
He was repeatedly raped by deceased priest, Fr Denis Daly in the Caherdavin parish between 1980 and 1981. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:53 AM
• Two more congregations reveal contributions to trust
- Millions of euros going because of Orders' sinfulness.The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY,
IRELAND -- TWO MORE of the 18 congregations investigated by the Ryan commission have revealed they intend to contribute to a trust being set up to help former residents of institutions that they managed.
The Sisters of Mercy are to contribute €127.5 million in cash and assets – €20 million in cash, and properties valued at €107,506,800.
Of this amount, the State is to receive €80,856,800; a trust for former residents is to be paid €11,590,000; and voluntary groups will receive €5,060,000. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:45 AM
• €500m compensation offer to victims of clerical abuse
- < €500m going.Belfast Telegraph Friday, December 4, 2009
IRELAND -- Religious orders in Ireland are to hand over close to €500m in total to compensate victims of sex abuse.
The latest to announce their increased offer are the Sisters of Mercy who revealed last night that they are handing over more than €20m in cash and €107.5m in property.
They said that they wholeheartedly regretted the suffering experienced by children in their care. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:43 AM
• Pornography Found On Local Priest's Work Computer
[~ 2009 Prof. Fr Mark Gruber*] - RCC. Child pornography.
KDKA,
GREENSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (KDKA) -- A Catholic priest and professor at Saint Vincent College has been removed from his post after pornography was found on his work computer.
Father Mark Gruber is accused of viewing porn sites.
Campus IT technicians were investigating an unflattering email about the college that was sent from a campus computer when they found that porn sites with pictures of naked men had been repeatedly accessed from Gruber's computer. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:40 AM
• St. Vincent bars priest, professor
[~ 2009 Prof. Fr Mark Gruber*] - RCC. Child pornography.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Friday, December 04, 2009
LATROBE (PA) -- The Rev. Mark Gruber, a high-profile Catholic priest and professor at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, was removed from ministry and barred from campus after pornography was found on his computer this summer.
His attorney says the photos of young nude men were from a computer virus. State police called to investigate suspected child sexual abuse found no evidence that the pictures were of minors. They also concluded that other people used the computer.
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki has sent the case to Rome for a final verdict on his status as a priest. His attorney says Father Gruber may sue if he isn't restored as a priest and professor. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:37 AM
• Study of Catholic sisters focuses on religious role of women
- RCC.
The Arizona Daily Star, By Patty Machelor | Published: Dec. 04, 2009
TUCSON, Arizona -- A Vatican study of Roman Catholic sisters in the United States is discouraging and intrusive to some local women while others say it is a chance to emphasize good works and call more women to religious life.
The $1.1 million study – which some view as more of an investigation – includes hundreds of questions on the spiritual and personal lives of this country's 59,000 Catholic sisters. U.S. bishops are being asked to fund the three-year undertaking. Topics range from finances to attracting new members to nuns who dissent publicly from church teachings in such areas as civil disobedience and sexuality.
"We are closing schools and churches and they are asking the diocese to spend money on this type of thing?" said Sister Lil Mattingly, a Maryknoll Missioner who said she is speaking for herself and not as a Maryknoll. Mattingly said she has a hard time reconciling the wealth in Rome with funding problems here. Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:34 AM
[COMMENT: But, you see, the Vatican KNOWS EVERYTHING, so is entitled to spend the people's money on anything it likes! Not! ENDS.]