STATESVILLE (NC)
Record and Landmark

Oct. 23, 2019

By Megan Suggs

The Catholic Church in western North Carolina is conducting a review of personnel documents going back to the creation of the diocese in 1972 to release a list of priests accused of sexual abuse. The plan is to release the list by December.

On Wednesday, the Rev. Patrick Winslow, the vicar general and chancellor for the Diocese of Charlotte, came to St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Hickory to discuss the review process.

The Charlotte diocese is made up of 46 counties, including Iredell.

Winslow said the church adopted a charter in 2002 to prevent sexual abuse by the clergy. The charter includes a zero tolerance protocol where priests accused of sexual abuse are put on temporary leave. A review board determines whether the accusations are credible, and if they are found to be so, the priest is permanently removed from ministry.

SHARJAH (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)
Gulf Today

Oct. 23, 2019

A nun, who had filed a rape case against Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is out on bail, approached the national and state Women’s Commissions and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that the priest and his supporters harassed her through various online platforms.

“Attempts to intimidate and defame me and my colleagues through the social media were made by the bishop and his followers. False statements, imputations and fabricated stories tarnishing our reputation and character are being systematically spread through the YouTube channel, Christian Times, run by Bishop Franco and his aides,” the complaint said.

The actual intention of these videos was to insult and harass her, her fellow nuns who are witnesses in the case. The idea was also to exert immense pressure on the investigation officials. Though the Kuravilangad police booked a case against the You Tube channel in May this year, the channel continues to upload more videos, she added. Ever since the FIR was registered, she and her fellow nuns were subjected to character assassination, the nun said in the complaint. The nun stated that such actions are a violation of the bail conditions laid down by the Kerala High Court.

The complaint was filed on Oct.19 according to a spokesman of the Save Our Sisters (SOS), an outfit formed in solidarity with the nun against the bishop. “There is a concerted effort to defame her. All kinds of stories are doing the rounds. They started character assassination after all efforts to cow her down failed,” said the spokesman.

Meanwhile, the trial against the tainted bishop will begin at the Additional District Sessions Court 1 in Kottayam on Nov.11. The Additional District Sessions Judge Gopakumar has already issued a summons seeking the bishop to appear for a preliminary hearing on the charge sheet.

DENVER (CO)
Religion News Service

October 23, 2019

By Jack Jenkins

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has unveiled a new independent report detailing allegations of sex abuse against at least 166 children by 43 Roman Catholic priests over the course of 70 years.

Weiser announced the more than 250-page report during a news conference on Wednesday (Oct. 23), describing the documented abuse of children by Catholic priests going back decades as “unimaginable.”

“The most painful part for me is that we have had stories told of victims coming forward, and they weren’t supported,” Weiser told reporters in Denver. “We can’t make up for that. What we can do is build a culture that going forward, when people come forward and tell their stories, they are supported.”

Weiser also made mention of a new reparations program for victims, which will be funded by dioceses and orchestrated by Kenneth Feinberg.

The report states that 97 of the victims were sexually abused “after the Colorado Dioceses were on notice that the priests were child sex abusers.”

PARMER COUNTY (TX)
KFDA TV

Oct. 23, 2019

By Kaitlin Johnson and Arianna Martinez

Oct. 23, 2019

A Parmer County jury found Peter Wafula, the former priest accused of sexual abuse of a child, not guilty today.

The courtroom heard the closing statements today before the jury went into deliberations. During the closing statements, the defense told the courtroom, “There is no greater crime on earth than to convict an innocent man.”

On the other hand, the prosecution said, “A person who knows he should never be alone with a child has him alone in a place where he has control.”

The jury had three options to consider, including indecency with a child, assault or not guilty.

FRESNO (CA)
Fresno Bee

Oct. 23, 2019

By Robert Rodriguez

After nine days of testimony from 15 witnesses, Judge Jane Cardoza ruled Wednesday there is enough evidence to send former Anglican priest Jesus Antonio Castaneda Serna to trial for allegedly sexually assaulting nearly a dozen of his adult parishioners.

Serna is charged with 22 felony and misdemeanor counts, including sexual battery, battery, attempted sexual battery and attempting to prevent a witness from testifying. With the exception of one woman, all of the alleged victims are men.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he could face 23 years and six months in prison.

Serna’s attorney Ralph Torres said he will prove to a jury Serna’s accusers may have had other motives for seeing him removed from his position in the church.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 23, 2019

Church officials in Buffalo have updated their lists of accused priests. However, while providing more information, they continue to omit names, not presenting parishioners and the public with the full truth.

Buffalo church officials split hairs when they refuse to list the names of deceased priests who have “only” one allegation against them. If it weren’t for the Church’s history of obfuscating allegations, minimizing knowledge about them, and declining to investigate them in the first place, it is likely that some of those claims would have been corroborated many years ago. We also know that it is often after seeing that someone else has named an abuser that other victims realize they are not alone and come forward too. This has happened in the #MeToo movement, with university abuse scandals, and within the church abuse scandal.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 23, 2019

This morning, a grand jury declined to indict a Houston-area church official who had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman who had come to him for counseling.

Our hearts ache for Laura Pontikes, the alleged victim in this case. We know that Cardinal Daniel DiNardo himself told Pontikes that he believed her when she first came forward with the allegations against Monsignor Frank Rossi. We also agree with Baylor Professor David Pooler that this case seemed to be a clear example of nonconsent and are saddened for the victim that she was not believed by the grand jurors. We hope that she is getting the help and support that she needs in this challenging time.

To us, this case shows the challenges of recognizing the issue of consent, especially in relationships that have a power imbalance such as in the clergy-penitent relationship. It is nearly impossible for there to be an equal relationship when one person is coming to the other in time of emotional and spiritual crisis.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 23, 2019

Today, the Colorado Attorney General released the results of his voluntary review of church records in Colorado. Unfortunately, absent subpoena power and the ability to compel testimony under oath, we are not confident that the attorney general was able to review the full scope of abuse and cover-up in Colorado.

According to this report, over the course of 70 years in Colorado, 166 children were abused by 43 priests. Our hearts ache for each one of these victims and their families. We hope that this report will now compel legislators in Colorado to take steps to institute legislative reform that can help prevent future cases of abuse and support survivors, such as reforming the statute of limitations laws that often bar survivors from bringing claims forward and exposing abusers and their enablers. At the same time, we doubt that these numbers represent the full scope of abuse in the state, especially given the revelations that church officials only reported abusers less than 10 times since 1950.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Eccentric Observer

Oct. 23, 2019

By Danielle Grady

Members of St. William Catholic Church stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of their Park Hill church, holding signs and banners declaring: “Refugees and Immigrants Welcome.”

“This morning, we reaffirm our long-standing commitment as a sanctuary parish,” Dawn Dones, the pastoral associate for St. William, told a huddle of TV cameras and reporters.

With that, St. William, located at the corner of 13th and Oak streets, became the first Catholic church in Louisville in recent times to publicly declare itself a sanctuary, but the parish has had many firsts.

St. William has long been known as an advocate for progressive, social justice causes, despite — and sometimes at odds with — the often-conservative nature of the Roman Catholic Church. The congregation’s activism goes back to the ‘60s when it opposed the war in Vietnam and began advocating for fair housing. Since then, the parish has voiced support for other groups and causes, such as Black Lives Matter.

“We believe in what we’re doing. We’re not bashful about it,” said Bob Eiden, a member of the church since the 2000s. “Plus, we’re the progressive center for Louisville.”

This forward-thinking spirit is represented in the way St. William is run and in the way it performs its Masses, as well. The parish is the only one in the Archdiocese of Louisville to be headed by a pastoral administrator (and a woman, at that) instead of a male priest. Decisions are made by the congregation as a whole, instead of being handed down unilaterally by its leader. And during Mass, norms are broken, including the use of gender-neutral language throughout the ceremony, not kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer and reflections given by congregation members over Bible readings instead of a homily from the priest.

TORRINGTON (WY)
Torrington Telegram

Oct. 23, 2019

By Seth Klamann

The Vatican’s “administrative penal process” into former Wyoming bishop Joseph Hart — which could see the cleric removed from the priesthood — has yet to resolve, the church said Tuesday, and investigations in Kansas City are on hold until the process in Rome finishes.

Current Wyoming Bishop Steven Biegler announced in June that Hart, who has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 10 men, would face adjudication by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The body was first formed to safeguard church doctrine and to investigate heretics nearly 500 years ago.

More recently, the CDF has been the highest court overseeing the penal process into disgraced clerics. Earlier this year, for instance, it upheld the conviction by a church court of the archbishop of Guam. The CDF also investigated former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was accused of sexual abuse. In January, the body issued a decree finding McCarrick guilty and removing him from the priesthood.

According to Crux Now, a Catholic news outlet that’s covered Hart extensively, the former bishop is likely to face a trial in front of five judges. A similar process was followed when the CDF investigated McCarrick and Anthony Apuron, the Guam archbishop. Crux Now also reported that former Wyoming bishop Paul Etienne asked the CDF to investigate Hart in 2010. It’s unclear why the case didn’t move forward then.

DENVER (CO)
Coorado Sun

Oct. 23, 2019

By Jennifer Brown and Jesse Paul

Catholic priests in Colorado sexually abused at least 166 children since 1950, according to a damning, 263-page report released Wednesday by an independent investigator who found the church expunged files and covered up abuse for decades.

It took nearly 20 years on average for the church to stop an abusive priest after receiving an abuse allegation, and more than half of the child victims were sexually abused after the diocese was aware that the priests were abusers, the review found.

The report accuses 43 priests, but most of the abuse was committed by five. In the Denver archdiocese, three priests alone abused at least 90 children. The report said there were 100 instances in which the church could have reported abuse to police dating back to 1950, but did so fewer than 10 times.

The findings come after a seven-month investigation into the church led by Colorado’s former U.S. attorney, Bob Troyer, and after an agreement between the state’s attorney general and the Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo dioceses. The report is the most comprehensive accounting of abuse by Catholic priests in Colorado to date and comes after similar reckonings across the nation.

The investigation — which was paid for by a private, anonymous donor — did not find any priests currently in ministry who have been credibly accused of abusing children, though the report cautioned that “we cannot be positive there are none.”

DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register

Oct. 23, 2019

By Lauretta Brown

More than a year after the explosive allegations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, one of the important unanswered questions is exactly what kind of misconduct the disgraced former bishop committed at Seton Hall University’s two seminaries — and whether this misconduct was situated in the context of an alleged long-standing homosexual subculture that could still be in place today.

In August, Seton Hall released a statement regarding an outside review that the university commissioned last year in the immediate wake of the McCarrick revelations. But although that statement indicates the review has been completed and found that McCarrick had engaged in historical “sexual harassment” of Seton Hall seminarians, it conspicuously failed to discuss the issue of homosexuality directly and whether a homosexual subculture had been found to still exist at Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Hall College Seminary.

And the statement does not disclose what changes, if any, are contemplated to screening procedures for seminary candidates or the formation of seminarians to address the alleged homosexual subculture.

But according to some of the individuals who provided testimonies to the review, one thing is clear: The response to date by local Church authorities has been very inadequate.

In August 2018, Seton Hall University’s board of regents announced that it had retained Gibbons P.C. as “special counsel to commission an independent review of McCarrick’s influence and actions at the [Immaculate Conception] Seminary. Gibbons retained the law firm of Latham & Watkins to conduct the independent, unrestricted review.”

This review was commissioned shortly after a Catholic News Agency report that featured allegations from seven priests that McCarrick made sexual advances on the seminarians at Seton Hall over a period of decades, initially during his time as an aide to Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York and later as bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, from 1982 to 1986 and as archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, from 1986 to 2000.

BATAVIA (NY)
Batavia News

Oct. 23, 2019

By Matt Surtel

The case of the Rev. Donald Becker is currently in Rome, according to a revised list of priests accused of sexual abuse.

The newly reformatted list was released Tuesday by the Buffalo Diocese. It provides some information not previously available.

Although Becker, 77, was removed from ministry in 2002 and is described as retired, the case in Rome would decide his future standing within the church.

Becker served at St. Mary’s Church in Batavia from 1992 to 2002 when he was placed on sick leave in the aftermath of sexual abuse allegations.

He has been named in a total of six lawsuits filed since Aug. 14. In one, Becker is accused of molesting a boy beginning when he was 11 years old.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Blast

Oct. 22, 2019

By Ryan Naumann

The four women suing Danny Masterson for alleged sexual assault have slapped the Church of Scientology’s leader David Miscavige with legal papers.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Masterson’s alleged victims are informing the court they have legally served Miscavige with their lawsuit. The service was done at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International on Hollywood Boulevard.

The papers were given to an employee at the front of the center. The documents being served will allow their suit to continue on against Miscavige

Back in August, the four women - two of whom are identified by name, the other two are Jane Does, sued Masterson, the Church of Scientology and Miscavige. They accused the defendants of stalking them in an effort to silence their sexual assault allegations against Masterson.

NEW YORK (NY)
Al Jazeera

Oct. 23, 2019

In a series of exclusive interviews with Fault Lines, several men across New York City come forward with painful memories of abuse by a Catholic priest.

They say that Father John Paddack - who was ordained in 1984 and had been ministering in New York until he was suspended in July - molested them during confession and counselling sessions in different Catholic schools across the city.

They are allowing these predator priests to frolic around aimlessly on the streets of New York, with open access, under the shield of a collar.

The men allege years of abuse by Paddack, sparking the latest revelations in a decades-old scandal that has shaken the Catholic Church to its foundation.

And they say that, in the intervening decades, Paddack remained in ministry - working in close proximity to children.

The church should "stop hiding", says Joseph Caramanno, one of the men who says he was abused by Paddack while in high school, and one of the first to open a public case against the priest.

"They are allowing these predator priests to frolic around aimlessly on the streets of New York, with open access, under the shield of a collar," he says.

LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC News

Oct. 22, 2019

KATC's news team has received two Suncoast Regional Emmy Award nominations for their programs focusing on the accusations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Lafayette.

The nominations, organized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, were announced Monday.

In a half-hour special report, KATC-TV exposed a long-kept secret in the Diocese of Lafayette: The List of priests who faced credible accusations of sexual abuse involving children.

In the 1980s, the diocese was home to the first reported case of clergy sex abuse in the country. The scandal persisted in this devoutly Catholic region for decades and the diocese eventually acknowledged that 15 priests were credibly accused. Over the years abuse survivors called for the 15 names to be made public, yet the diocese refused. As recently as 2014 a former bishop said he saw "no purpose" in releasing the 15 names.

In January 2019 KATC revealed the scandal was far more extensive than the church let on-- and published the names of 36 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse involving children. This report followed years of research, and months of waiting for the church to release its list. The decision to publish this list ahead of the church's "official" list was based on several factors: an increasing lack of transparency from the diocese, the unwillingness to commit to a release date as other Louisiana dioceses had done, and most importantly the public's right to know.

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

Oct. 22, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is seeking to hire a new investigator to look into reports of clergy sexual abuse of minors for the Diocesan Review Board.

Jeffrey L. Trant, who recently was appointed to lead the diocese's newly designated Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance that oversees such allegations, said the person hired will succeed the first person to hold the position, retired State Police Officer Kevin Murphy. A search for his successor is underway.

"As a result of an ongoing review that the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance is completing since my appointment as director of the office in June, it was determined that there was a need to hire new investigative staff," Trant said. "Around the same time, Kevin Murphy, who has served as the only investigator for the review board, notified Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski and me of his decision to retire."

Murphy has been the sole investigator for the Diocesan Review Board since 2004.

"The new investigator will succeed Mr. Murphy in conducting investigations of reports of clergy sexual abuse against children, youth and other vulnerable persons once we are cleared to do so by the district attorney for the jurisdiction where the abuse is reported to have occurred," Trant said.

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

October 22, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

The Buffalo Diocese has added 19 names since last November to its growing list of priests with substantiated claims of child sexual abuse.

That list now includes 97 priests – 75 from the diocese and 22 religious order priests who worked in the diocese.

The list of names has more than doubled in the less than two years since Bishop Richard J. Malone first began identifying priests accused of molesting children.

The diocese’s latest list still represents only a fraction of the roughly 150 clergy who have been publicly accused of sexual impropriety with children and, in a handful of cases, adults. However, it does name three priests who previously had not been outed publicly – in media accounts or in lawsuits – as accused abusers: the Rev. Ramon Aymerich, the Rev. Richard J. Bohm and the Rev. Terrence N. Niedbalski.

Aymerich is identified as having left the Catholic Church in 1982 to become an Episcopal priest. Bohm and Niedbalski are deceased.

NEW YORK (NY)
Al Jazeera

Oct. 23, 2019

By Paul Abowd

Gabriel* was a young Catholic student when Father John Paddack arrived at his school in 1984. The priest taught at Incarnation School, said mass at its parish and was involved with the altar boy programme. Before long, Gabriel says Paddack began calling him into a secluded place in the church, where the boy was instructed to confess his sins.

That is where Gabriel said Paddack molested him - about twice a week for two years, starting when he was between the ages of 11 and 12 years old.

Gabriel was familiar with the Catholic ritual of confession, but he said Paddack did things differently: There was no barrier separating them. In fact, he said, Paddack sat close to him, placing one hand behind his neck and the other on his inner thigh.

"How do you get alone with someone?" he said. "Confession. You don't have a crowd. It's a one on one thing."

Gabriel kept the trauma of this abuse mostly to himself for decades. He was angry and ashamed. When Al Jazeera's current affairs programme Fault Lines interviewed him in June, he asked to use a pseudonym, fearing retribution from the Catholic Church hierarchy.

CINCINNATI (OH)
FOX 19

Oct. 22, 2019

By Jennifer Edwards Baker

Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser is clarifying remarks he made recently regarding a warning he said he issued to the archdiocese about one of their priests.

Gmoser recently confirmed to FOX19 NOW he warned the Archdiocese of Cincinnati through a letter in September 2018 to keep the Rev. Geoff Drew away from children and to monitor him.

He now says he realizes that warning was verbal, not written.

“I came to learn later after conferring with the representative, a representative of the Archdiocese, that it was not a letter so there is not some document that they are hiding from you. I stand by what I told them but they were kind enough to inform me that ‘no, Mike, it was not a letter, it was a conversation and that communication was by telephone, not in the written form.'

NEWTON (MA)
National Catholic Reporter

Oct. 22, 2019

By Peter Feuerherd

Don't count on the bishops to clean up sex abuse in the church, Anne Burke told the annual gathering of Voice of the Faithful here Oct. 19.

Burke, chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and a justice of the court's First Judicial District, formerly served as interim chair of the National Review Board for the U.S. bishops' conference; she last addressed Voice of the Faithful in 2012. At that time, she saw reason for optimism that the bishops were willing to address the sex abuse crisis.

"Unfortunately, the hope I extended to you in 2012 has been severely eroded," she said. "I no longer have faith in the hierarchy."

Voice of the Faithful was founded in 2002 in response to the sex abuse crisis in the Boston Archdiocese, where this year's convention was held. The group now boasts affiliates around the country, which monitors progress on transparency by the church hierarchy on sex abuse and finances.

"I am disheartened to say we continue to learn of new instances of clerical misconduct and discover anew that some members of the hierarchy have engaged in secrecy and cover-ups," Burke said.

ROME (ITALY)
The Guardian

Oct. 22, 2019

By Angela Giuffrida

Campaigners have gathered in Rome to call for the lifting of a ban on female priests that would “save the Catholic Church” where it is failing to ordain enough men.

Activists from the Women’s Ordination Worldwide (Wow) group protested outside the Vatican on Tuesday as the church’s hierarchy pondered the idea of allowing married men in the Amazon to become priests in order to plug the shortage in the region.

The activists argue that ordaining women priests would solve the issue as effectively and should be prioritised.

‌”Empowering women would save the church,” said Kate McElwee, a Rome-based representative of Wow. “Our church and our Earth are in crisis – and empowering women in roles that they are already serving in their communities is a solution. We’re advocating for equality and that includes ordination.”

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB TV

Oct 22, 2019

By Troy Licastro

The Diocese of Buffalo has a newly formatted list of Diocesan and Religious Order priests with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.

According to the Diocese, these lists include priests whose names were previously published. Deceased priests who have received only a single allegation after their death are not included in the public listing.

“This is not to minimize the allegation, but to point out how difficult it is to substantiate an allegation. Every accused person is entitled to due process and to defense of his reputation. Yet, a deceased priest cannot defend his good name. However, if a deceased priest receives two or more allegations his name will be added to the list,” the Diocese says.

Pearls and Irritations (blog)

October 22, 2019

By James E. Connell

Many, but not all, of the fifty States of the USA have statutes that prevent members of the clergy (of whatever faith) from reporting to civil authorities information about child abuse or neglect that the clergy person acquires in a confidential setting. An effort to repeal or revise these statutes is underway and this effort is rooted both in the sense of urgency placed on the subject by the American people and in a critical moral value that is being violated.

Unquestionably, secrets have a proper place in our lives. At times governments need secrets, businesses need secrets, families need secrets, individuals need secrets, and even churches need secrets. But, if secrets contribute to the abuse or neglect of a minor, that form of secrecy is immoral and perhaps illegal, depending on the civil laws at hand.

However, Americans have taken steps to curtail secrecy that might harm children. All fifty States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have enacted statutes that require certain persons to report to civil authorities any information these persons acquire regarding abuse or neglect of a child. These persons are referred to as mandatory reporters.

NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist News Global

Oct. 22, 2019

By Bob Allen

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse is suing a California church and her former youth pastor in one of the first of many lawsuits expected to be filed under a new law greatly extending the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims.

Tracy Epler of Los Osos, California, filed a lawsuit Oct. 17 seeking damages for sexual abuse she claims she endured while attending the high school youth group at First Baptist Church in Modesto in the mid-1970s.

The congregation, now called CrossPoint Community Church, recently settled a lawsuit with another woman claiming that a different youth pastor molested her for in the 1980s.

Two weeks ago Epler could not have filed the lawsuit, because she waited too long to disclose abuse that she says started when she was 17. That changed with the stroke of a pen Oct. 13, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 218, giving victims of childhood sexual abuse either until age 40 or five years from discovery of the abuse to file civil lawsuits.

The previous limit had been 26, or within three years after a survivor discovers that psychological injury or illness experienced in adulthood was caused by abuse suffered in childhood. The bill also includes a three-year “lookback” window allowing victims of any age to bring claims that would otherwise be barred by statutes of limitation.

“This historic state law will make California safer for thousands of families,” said her attorney, Joseph C. George, “but only if victims, witnesses and whistleblowers in schools, camps, churches and day care centers do as Tracy’s doing — find the strength to pick up the phone and call a source of help, be it a therapist, the police, or an attorney.”

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 22, 2019

The bankruptcy reorganization at a Minnesota diocese has ended and now dozens of survivors of sexual abuse will be compensated for the abuse and cover-up they experienced. We hope that this process has brought healing to these survivors and that parishioners in Minnesota will be vigilant in keeping an eye out for signs of abuse in the future.

We are grateful to the survivors of sexual abuse from the Diocese of Duluth who stood up for their rights and for all victims. Because of them, hundreds of thousands of pages of previously secret files will be released for all to read and absorb. Understanding the actions of Catholic church officials in suppressing evidence and testimony will go a long way towards helping Minnesota lawmakers shape more effective laws that prevent future abuse.

It is important to note that, while $40 million is a lot of money and is justly deserved by those who have suffered decades in silence, in the grand scheme of things it is but a drop in the bucket given the wealth of the church. In less than one year, if each parishioner in this small diocese made a weekly contribution of $20, the settlement will be paid off in full. For the cost of a stackable washer and dryer per parishioner, ($888), this egregious abuse of children has been settled.

DENVER (CO)
Colorado Politics

Oct. 22, 2019

By Michael Karlik

Kenneth Feinberg has begun receiving claims from victims of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Colorado, under a voluntary compensation program created by the dioceses of Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

Feinberg, who also managed compensation payouts to victims of 9/11, the Aurora Theater shooting, and the Boston Marathon bombing, told CPR that money is only part of what makes people whole in the wake of their trauma.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Radio Times

Oct. 21, 2019

By Penny Young

The Keepers is a 2017 documentary web series about the true story of the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a nun who taught at a school in Baltimore. Her students believed that her murder was part of a cover-up of a sexual abuse scandal that she had knowledge of.

Directed by Ryan White, the series has been met with critical acclaim for its honest and sensitive treatment of the subject – it does not come to a clear conclusion as to whether the allegations against the authorities have any truth, but leaves viewers to decide for themselves.

PHOENIX (AZ)
KPNX TV

Oct. 21, 2019

People here in the Valley are working to help the mothers and families caught up in Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s alleged adoption scandal.

Pastors Barmon Langbata and Greg Pratt along with the Life Church at South Mountain in Phoenix are stepping in to help the victims in this case.

Langbata says the tight-knit church is shocked by the whole situation, surrounding Petersen and the alleged baby-trafficking business.

“Everybody’s very sad as far as Marshallese community right now here in Phoenix. We’re trying to get together and do something for them,” he told 12 News.

Langbata had a chance to speak with the mothers recently and says they’re doing pretty good, considering the circumstances.

HOUSTON (TX)
Associated Press

Oct. 21, 2019

A Texas grand jury has declined to indict the onetime deputy to Cardinal Daniel DiNardo on charges he sexually assaulted a married woman in a case that raised questions about consent in the #MeToo era.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office had presented the case against Monsignor Frank Rossi on Monday, more than a year after Laura Pontikes filed a criminal complaint with Houston police.

"A grand jury was presented all the evidence and determined that no criminal charges are warranted," said Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office. "If new evidence is discovered at a later date, prosecutors have the option of presenting that evidence to another grand jury for consideration."

ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

Oct. 22, 2019

A top Vatican administrator is denying the Holy See risks default over its structural deficit, saying claims in a new book about possible financial ruin are overblown.

Archbishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the office that manages the Vatican's real estate and other assets, told the Avvenire newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference Tuesday that all that is needed is a "spending review" to bring down costs.

Galantino was responding to claims in a new book published Monday, "Universal Judgment" by Italian author Gianluigi Nuzzi, that has added to speculation about the Vatican's finances and the state of Pope Francis' promised reforms.

The Vatican hasn't published a budget since 2015 and has been without an in-house auditor or economy minister for more than two years, fueling conspiracies about its financial health.

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Oct. 22, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

Back in 2009, a frenzy broke out around the then-editor of the newspaper of the Italian bishops, a layman named Dino Boffo, with lurid media accounts first of his alleged homosexual misconduct, and then, when the charges turned out to be bogus, speculation about who’d set him up. Many theorized a complex plot involving the Vatican’s Secretary of State, the head of the Vatican gendarmes, and the editor of the Vatican paper.

Through it all, the Vatican stayed mute for 18 long days until it finally issued a rebuttal. At that point, people had already assumed silence signified consent, with one Italian daily breaking the news under the following headline: “The Vatican denies everything … No one believes it.”

Judging from Tuesday in Rome, all the pope’s men are determined not to let history repeat itself.

Facing a new wave of purported financial scandals, with a major piece in Italy’s most widely-read newsmagazine by one well-known journalist on Sunday and the launch of a new book by another Monday night, on Tuesday the empire struck back, with two of the pope’s closest counselors going on the offensive.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

Oct. 22, 2019

A former North Carolina Episcopal priest who was previously imprisoned for child sexual abuse has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexually abusing children in a different case.

WLOS-TV reports 78-year-old Howard White Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of second-degree forcible rape, eight counts of second-degree forcible sex offense and seven counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

White was charged last year with abusing a boy and a girl in the 1980s while he worked at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville. Those charges came while he was serving an 18-month sentence for pleading guilty in 2017 to sexually assaulting a student in Boston while serving as chaplain at St. George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island.

BOISE (IDAHO)
Idaho Statesman

Oct. 21, 2019

By Kelsey Grey and Ruth Brown

Fifteen Catholic priests and one deacon who worked at or were associated with the Diocese of Boise have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor since the 1950s, according to a report released Monday by the Diocese.

Those priests have since been removed from the ministry. The cases date back to 1950, and were reported as recently as 2018. Six of the 15 priests were clergy members of the Diocese of Boise, while nine were from other dioceses but were at one point assigned to Boise.

Since 1950, more than 300 priests have served in the Diocese of Boise.

The cases were presented to the Diocesan Review Board for Sexual Abuse of Minors in 2002. The Diocese of Boise informed law enforcement “in appropriate cases where the alleged perpetrator was known to be alive,” according to the report.

FRESNO (CA)
KFSN TV

Oct. 21, 2019

By Jason Oliveira

Jesus Serna, who was known to his followers as Father Antonio, served from 2007 until 2017 at Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Anglican Church in Fresno.

It was during this time police say he used his power in the church to sexually assault multiple victims --mostly men-- while at his East Shaw office location. He has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of felony sexual battery involving 10 members of his former church.

Cameras and recording devices were not allowed in the courtroom as Serna listened to Monday's testimony through a court-appointed translator as his former office assistant told the court he "saw some very unsavory things while at the office."

According to police, parishioners believed Serna had healing powers through a special massage ritual that could cure everything from drug addiction to body pain to even a person dealing with marital issues.

But Police say the so-called ritual was just a way for Serna to sexually assault his victims.

His former office assistant testified: "Victims would be on the massage table covered with a blanket but I could tell Father's hands were underneath the victim's underwear"

The prosecutor then asked: "Would you say you witnessed Father touch the genitals of around 30 parishioners?

WAYNESVILLE (NC)
WLOS TV

Oct. 21, 2019

By Rex Hodge

A former mountain priest is sentenced to a dozen years in prison. 78-year-old Howard White pleaded guilty to multiple child sex abuse charges during his tenure at Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains. White was rector at the church from 1984 until 2006.

“He pleaded guilty to all 15 counts that we had indicted him on for offenses,” says District Attorney Ashley Welch. “All in the 1980's except for onein 2004...3 men and one woman,” says Welch.

Four of his victims were in court Monday to hear White's guilty plea to second degree forcible rape, second degree child sexual abuse, and indecent liberties with a child.

Margaret Yarbrough defines herself as a survivor.

“I forgave the defendant long ago,” she says, “because I had to do so in order to...it would have cost me my life had I not done it.”

“I would encourage any victim to tell someone whether you report it or not, tell someone, so that you can move forward,” she says. “I came forward because I expect my children to do the right thing and I cannot expect them to do the right thing if I do not do the right thing.”

Two years ago, White pleaded guilty to child sex charges in Massachusetts., serving a year in prison before being returned to Haywood County to face the local charges.

DENVER (CO)
Colorado Public Radio

October 21, 2019

By Anthony Cotton, Andrea Dukakis, and Alex Scoville

It’s a difficult job, but one attorney Kenneth Feinberg has taken on — again and again.

After 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombings and the Aurora Theater shooting, Feinberg has been responsible for deciding how much money is owed to victims of those tragedies and others. By his own admission they aren’t easy decisions.

"This is a judgment that one has to make based on the credibility of the claim, the nature and scope of the abuse and the damage suffered by the victim,” Feinberg said.

Now he’s being asked to make that judgement again, this time for the victims of sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Colorado.

The formation of the Colorado Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program was announced by Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Attorney General Phil Weiser in February along with a review of church records to determine which priests in the dioceses of Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo have had credible allegations of sexual abuse made against them.

Feinberg has done similar work with other Catholic Church victims in other states, including California, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

HAGATNA (GUAM)
Associated Press

Oct. 21, 2019

Officials say Guam’s clergy sex abuse survivors could begin receiving compensation from the Catholic Archdiocese of Agana in the first half of 2020.

The Pacific Daily News reported a U.S. District Court judge has given the archdiocese more time to calculate payment amounts to nearly 280 clergy sex abuse survivors and other claimants.

Officials say victims and church officials are scheduled to go into mediation Oct. 30, with a church reorganization plan to follow.

The judge has granted an archdiocese request for a second extension of a deadline to file a reorganization plan and disclosure statement to Jan. 16, 2020.

DULUTH (MN)
Minnesota Public Radio

Oct. 21, 2019

By Martin Moylan

Scores of child sexual abuse victims in the Diocese of Duluth will soon share tens of millions of dollars in compensation, following a federal judge’s final approval Monday of a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the diocese.

The plan provides abuse survivors with about $40 million and access to the records of priests who molested them.

“The diocese (must) turn over to us and eventually make public thousands of pages of documents on the credibly-accused priests within the Diocese of Duluth,” said Mike Finnegan, an attorney representing victims.

He said the church also agreed to implement broad child protection measures to make sure children are better protected in the future.

MPR News investigationBetrayed by Silence
In MaySettlement reached in Duluth diocese church abuse cases
“This is a day where the survivors stood up, had their voices heard, had their courage acknowledged in court by the judge, by the bishop and by everybody else that was there,” Finnegan added.

Bishop Paul Sirba said his first thoughts are with the innocent people harmed by clergy.

NEW YORK (NY)
Wall Street Journal

Oct. 20, 2019

By Nicole Friedman and Ian Lovett1

New state laws encouraging child sex-abuse victims to come forward are expected to spur a wave of lawsuits against insurance companies.

Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., have laws going into effect this year that extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex-abuse claims against alleged abusers or the institutions they were affiliated with, according to advocacy group Child USA.

Most of these institutions, such as churches or schools, are expected to try to use liability insurance to cover some of the cost of defending against these lawsuits and paying potential damages.

But almost every aspect of these insurance contracts could end up under dispute. In some cases, it might be difficult to find a contract at all.

“The insurance litigation wave is just beginning,” said Robert Chesler, an attorney at Anderson Kill, which represents insurance policyholders.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Telegraph

Oct. 21, 2019

By Nick Squires

Worldwide donations to the Catholic Church have plunged in the wake of sex abuse scandals that have eroded faith in the Vatican, a new book claims.

The Church’s finances are in such a dire state – a result of a toxic mix of incompetence, internal wrangling and corruption – that the Vatican risks a default by 2023, according to the expose.

The amount of money donated by ordinary Catholics to the Church, known as Peter’s Pence, has plummeted from €101 million in 2006 to €70 million in 2016 and may now be less than €60 million.

Only a fifth of the total goes to helping the poor and needy, with the rest held in bank accounts or used to plug gaps in the finances of the Curia, the Vatican’s governing body.

The revelations are based on scrutiny of 3,000 confidential documents obtained by an Italian investigative journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi.

In his book, Universal Judgment, which was published on Monday, he portrays the Vatican as a viper’s nest of jealous cardinals, warring departments and avaricious officials who are adept at parallel book-keeping.

BEEVILLE (TX)
Beeville Bee-Picayune

October 17, 2019

By Gary Kent

Bee County District Attorney José Aliseda announced recently that the 13th Court of Appeals has upheld the early March 2018 conviction of a former Catholic priest here.

Stephen Tarleton Dougherty had been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2016 and indicted in June of that year.

Although the defendant’s initial trial ended in a mistrial in March 2017, the second trial started in early 2018 for the first degree felony offense when he was 61 years old.

Jurors deliberated close to three hours before returning to 156th District Court Judge Patrick Flanigan’s courtroom with a guilty verdict.

Jurors then returned after less than 40 minutes with a recommendation for a 60-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.

NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek

Oct. 21, 2019

By Mohammed-Al-Hilli

Child abuse revelations have rocked the Catholic church in the last generation, leading to lasting damage to how the Church is viewed worldwide and even shaking the faith of some believers.

Some speculate that a similar scandal is brewing in Shia Islam, with abusers exposed to be using egregious misrepresentations of religious law to facilitate their attacks.

The limelight has been shone on this in a recent BBC documentary, provocatively titled "Undercover with the Clerics." Girls as young as 13 were essentially pimped out by Iraqi men who claimed religious legitimacy. Specifically, the men stated they were followers of Grand Ayatollah Syed Sistani, despite the fact that the cleric has condemned their actions as abhorrent not only to Islam's values but to Iraqi law and human rights.

Those human rights have come on in leaps and bounds in Iraq since the toppling of Saddam and his dictatorship in 2003.

Civil society has gone from being all but non-existent to becoming one of the more vibrant examples of life in the region. Iraq's constitution guarantees that at least a quarter of the country's members of parliament are women (a slightly higher percentage than in the current U.S. House of Representatives.)

LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal

Oct. 21, 2019

By Justine Lofton

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing failed to investigate allegations of a priest sexually assaulting a man during a boxing training camp in 1990, a new report shows.

Nearly 30 years later, the diocese has apologized to the victim, The Associated Press reports. The priest in the case was stripped of his priestly faculties in 2018 after an investigation into a similar case that occurred in 2014.

Roman Catholic Diocese hired law firm Honigman LLP to investigate the 1990 case, The AP reports. The firm’s report released Thursday, Oct. 17, determined the case was mishandled.

The victim sent a letter in 1990 to the Rev. Patrick Egan that said Egan sexually assaulted him the year before, when he was 25 years old, The AP reports. The diocese learned of the accusation in early 1990s but didn’t investigate because the victim was not a minor when the alleged assault occurred.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 21, 2019

A Boise priest whose trial uncovered incredibly violent child pornography and chat logs was defrocked by the Vatican today. While it is unlikely that this priest will ever get out of prison, we hope that church officials continue to keep tabs on him instead of simply washing their hands.

Fr. W. Thomas Faucher was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison for the possession of incredibly violent child pornography. During his trial, online conversations were revealed in which Fr. Faucher spoke in detail of his desires to rape and murder young infants.

It is clear that an offender like Fr. Faucher should receive the stiffest penalties possible from both the state and his employer. And even though he was sentenced without the possibility of parole, we hope that church officials will continue to monitor his whereabouts and status. This is especially crucial given the recent AP News investigation that discovered nearly 1700 abusive priests were living without oversight from church officials, giving them an opportunity to offend again.

LONG ISLAND (NY)
News 12

Oct. 18, 2019

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has publicly named a priest accused of sexually abusing a child more than 35 years ago.

A woman, known only as Jane Doe, settled a lawsuit against Fr. Joseph D. Casaclang with the diocese. She claims that she was between the ages of 10-13 when she was a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Parish in Kings Park. According to the suit, Father Casaclang visited the family and sexually abuse the girl at her family’s home.

The alleged abuse occurred between 1979 and 1982.

In a phone call, Jane Doe says she settled the lawsuit for an amount in the low six-figures.

FAIRFIELD (CT)
WSHU Radio

Oct. 17, 2019

By J.D. Allen

A state senator from Long Island has proposed legislation that would establish a legal fund for sexual assault victims who want to take advantage of a one-year window offered by New York to file civil lawsuits against their alleged offenders.

More than 850 cases have been filed since the Child Victims Act was signed into law in August. Most of the cases have targeted institutions with significant financial backing, like the Boys & Girls Club, Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church.

State Senator Jim Gaughran of Long Island plans to introduce a bill when the legislature reconvenes in January. It would have a state agency manage a private fund to cover the legal fees associated with filing such cases. New Yorkers would be able to donate to the fund.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 17, 2019

At least seven more men have come forward to allege that a now-disgraced cardinal abused them as children. We applaud these survivors for coming forward and hope that these men are getting the help and support that they need.

Sadly, these latest allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick are likely not the last. Studies have shown time and again that that most cases of sexual violence are never reported in the first place. This is why it is critical that church officials use their substantial resources and standing to warn parishioners and the public about abusers, urge victims and witnesses to make reports to police, and, critically, continue to do so regularly.

Even more importantly, this is why we believe that civil authorities such as Attorneys General or state police should open investigations into the dioceses into their state, armed with subpoena power and the ability to compel testimony under oath. We know that institutions cannot police themselves and that the best way for the fullest truth to emerge is for all records to be reviewed by independent professionals in law enforcement.

This is especially critical for the safety of children, as we also know that there is no special age at which an abuser stops abusing. There have been many cases where abusers have gone on to abuse again, despite being monitored as McCarrick supposedly is. We hope that church officials in Kansas will warn the public about McCarrick’s presence and that their colleagues in every diocese in which he served will again reach out to their flocks to share this news and urge other victims to come forward.

WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP TV

Oct. 20, 2019

By Jack Pointer

October 18, 2019

A Catholic priest convicted this summer of sexually abusing two girls at a Northwest D.C. church will not get a new trial, a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

Urbano Vazquez was found guilty Aug. 15 on four counts of sexual abuse for acts involving two girls between 2015 and 2017.

The 47-year-old had served as assistant pastor at Shrine of the Sacred Heart.

In filing a motion for retrial last month, Vazquez’s defense attorney cited errors that deprived the priest of a fair trial, including denying a request to try him separately for each victim. In addition, prosecutors used evidence of other alleged acts for which he wasn’t charged, lawyer Robert Bonsib said.

Judge Juliet McKenna ruled that those arguments had been argued and ruled upon before the jury trial.

Vazquez faces a maximum of 45 years plus 270 days in prison when the judge sentences him Nov. 22.

BOISE (IDAHO)
Idaho Statesman

Oct. 21, 2019

By Ruth Brown

The Vatican formally cut ties with W. Thomas Faucher, a former Boise priest who pleaded guilty last year to some of the most violent, depraved child pornography seen in recent Ada County history.

Faucher, 74, pleaded guilty to five felony crimes and was sentenced in December to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

On Saturday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise issued a press release announcing the Vatican’s decision. The Diocese said Bishop Peter Christensen informed Faucher of the decision, which the Vatican called “serious and unappealable,” according to the press release. That means Faucher will no longer be able to call himself a priest or exercise any of the duties of a clergy member.

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Morning Herald

Oct. 21, 2019

By Adam Cooper

A former Catholic priest who was jailed for raping a boy at a notorious Victorian boarding school will spend more time in prison for sexually assaulting another child.

Michael Aulsebrook, a one-time deputy principal at Salesian College Rupertswood, is in prison after he was last year found guilty of raping an 11-year-old boarding student at the Sunbury school in 1988.

After the rape, a trial in the County Court heard, Aulsebrook told the boy: ‘‘Get out of my sight, you disgust me.’’

On Monday, the 63-year-old had his jail term increased after pleading guilty this year to indecently assaulting another boy, then aged 11, at a camp away from the school in 1985 or 1986.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
KUTV TV

Oct. 16, 2019

By Cristina Flores

Kristy Johnson, now a resident of Utah, is preparing to sue The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under a newly-passed California law designed to help adults who were sexually assaulted as children.

California Assembly Bill 218 becomes law in 2020.

Unlike Utah law, which allows adults who were victimized as children to sue perpetrators as individuals, the California law also allows victims to sue entities and institutions that covered up the sexual assault or allowed it to happen when they had the power to stop it.

“These places that have purposely covered up, I don’t care who you are, it’s time to pay the price for that,” Johnson said.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 18, 2019

We are thrilled by the decision to re-try a Kansas City archdiocese priest whose trial last month ended in a hung jury. We believe this move will help keep children in Kansas safer and sends the message that abuse will not be tolerated.

The formal charges against Fr. Scott Kallal stemmed from abuse allegations from one girl, but during the trial at least two other girls testified. Going through a trial even once demonstrates real courage by this teenager and her family and they are to be applauded for their willingness to go trial a second time. We hope any others with knowledge of or suspicions about Fr. Kallal will be inspired by this bravery and step forward so these young girls who testified won’t have to shoulder this burden alone.

If the full truth is to be exposed here, it is crucial that victims, witnesses, and whistle-blowers come forward to law enforcement officials and report any information or suspicions. We hope that church officials in Kansas City, KS will take steps to urge parishioners and the public to share what they know with police and prosecutors now.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 18, 2019

A new lawsuit has been filed by three survivors of childhood sexual abuse who allege they were abused at the hands of a priest in the Diocese of Oakland. Suits were previously file in 2003 and 2010. We applaud these courageous women who have persevered to bring more information about the abuse by Msgr. Vincent Breen to light. Without the recently passed AB 218 signed by Governor Gavin Newsom and championed by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, there would be no opportunity to fully reveal the monsignor’s predations.

Of note is the repeated failure of multiple adults – including nuns, bishops, school principals and other priests – to defend and protect children. Instead, they allowed Msgr. Breen to prey upon young girls for at least 22 years. All, it appears, because of his prodigious fundraising prowess.

Also of note is the terrible corruption evident in the "deal" made by then-Bishop John Cummins with the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. Msgr. Breen had been arrested in 1981, with Fremont police having identified at least eight victims. But instead of going to jail, the monsignor was let off the hook on condition he move out of the county. He was permitted to retire a priest in "good standing" and never faced criminal justice.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Oct. 21, 2019

Four non-profit groups that help prevent and heal the wounds of child sex abuse will soon get $150,000 as a decade-long process of resolving predator priests cases in the Davenport Catholic diocese comes to a close.

In 2008, more than 180 victims of child molesting clerics resolved the diocesan bankruptcy which church officials began in 2006. The victims insisted, however, that $1.5 million be preserved for ten years to compensate other victims who “were still trapped in silence, shame and self-blame” and could not come forward in time for the court-established deadline, said Davenport attorney Craig Levien, who represented them.

Twenty victims later applied for and received awards from that ‘future claimants’ fund. Back in 2008, the bankruptcy court set a deadline of ten years for that fund, which expired last summer.

Whatever monies were left over, the original victims ensured, would eventually go to groups that prevent or expose abuse and help those wounded by abuse.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Oct. 21, 2019

By Fr. Peter Daly

The former bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, represents the worst in the corrupted tradition of the priesthood over the centuries. He saw the church and its resources as his personal plaything. He saw the people of the church, both clergy and laity, as his servants. He sees himself as a feudal lord. Unlike Jesus, he did not see himself as a servant, especially to the poor.

Bishop Michael Bransfield is not alone. There are many other bishops and priests like him. They are the spiritual heirs of the Borgias and the Medici.

Before Bransfield went to West Virginia, he was the rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., for 15 years. There, at the largest Catholic Church in North America, he got accustomed to access to enormous amounts of money and to powerful friends. He also employed and hosted many young seminarians and priests from various seminaries and religious houses that surround Catholic University of America.

WICHITA FALLS (TX)
Wichita Falls Times Record News

Oct. 20, 2019

By Terry Mttingly

For decades, Southern Baptist leaders rolled their eyes whenever there were headlines about clergy sexual abuse cases.

That was – wink, wink – a Catholic thing linked to celibate priests. Then there were those mainline Protestants, and even some evangelicals, who modernized their teachings on marriage and sex. No wonder they were having problems.

This was a powerful, unbiblical myth that helped Southern Baptists ignore their own predators, said SBC President J.D. Greear, during a recent national conference hosted by the denomination's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the new SBC Sexual Abuse Advisory Group.

"The danger of this myth is that it is naive: It relegates abuse to an ideological problem, when it should be most properly seen as a depravity problem. … It fails to recognize that wherever people exist in power without accountability abuse will foster," said Greear, pastor of The Summit Church near Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

JOHANNESBURG (SOUTH AFRICA)
News 24

Oct. 20, 2019

By Jenni Evans

It's the scandal that rocked Bishops Diocesan College in Rondebosch, Cape Town: a 30-year old teacher is accused of having an illicit relationship with an 18-year-old matric pupil.

Few would have predicted that a relationship between a pupil at Cape Town's elite Bishops Diocesan College and a female teacher would have snowballed this week to a take-down request to a porn site and a group of top lawyers being appointed for everybody involved.

But that is what happened after the news broke that the school, founded by the Anglican Church, is investigating a case of serious sexual misconduct against one of its female teachers.

Situated in leafy Rondebosch, the school is one of the most exclusive - and expensive - private schools in the country, and has produced a wealth of well-known South Africans.

VATICAN CITY
United Press International

October 20, 2019

By Nicholas Sakelaris

The Vatican has rejected an appeal from an Indian nun who's fighting her dismissal two months ago from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.

Sister Lucy Kalappura's expulsion came after she reported a rape involving another nun and a powerful bishop -- and ran afoul of the Catholic Church for publishing books and songs, and gaining money from the endeavors. She came under fire after supporting a group of nuns who publicly condemned the rape.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

October 20, 2019

By Cindy Wooden

Told that some people think Pope Francis isn’t exactly a fan of the rosary, Jesuit Father Federic Fornos practically shouted, “What?”

“Pope Francis says the rosary is the prayer of his heart. He prays it every day,” said the international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, formerly known as the Apostleship of Prayer.

Father Fornos was at the Vatican press office Oct. 15 to launch the latest effort to respond to what he said was Pope Francis’ explicit request that the network help young people learn to pray and love the rosary.

The Click to Pray eRosary is both a free app for Apple and Android and an actual high-tech rosary bracelet that connects to a smartphone using Bluetooth. Making the sign of the cross with the rosary automatically opens the app on the phone, while clicking one of the prayer beads allows the person praying to advance through the prayer texts, music and images on the screen.

FRANCE
Anthem Magazine

October 20, 2019

By Kee Chang

This past March, a French archbishop was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese in what has been dubbed “the trial of silence” by the French media in yet another crushing blow to the Catholic Church. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence for failing to report to the authorities accusations made against Father Bernard Preynat. This is the subject of François Ozon’s most politically engaged and incendiary film of his career, By the Grace of God, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival—where it won the Silver Bear (the Grand Jury Prize)—a month prior to the verdict being delivered. The film’s title comes from a now legendary press conference given by Barbarin in 2016 (portrayed in the movie) when he shocked France: giving thanks to the lord that the statutes of limitations had run out on alleged abuse. The phrase became so well-known i

UNITED STATES
Wall Street Journal

October 17, 2019

By Ian Lovett

Less than half of American adults attend church regularly, while 26% claim no religious affiliation

Religiosity in the U.S. is in sharp decline.

Less than half of American adults attend church regularly, while 26% claim no religious affiliation, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center on Thursday, with the ranks of people who don’t adhere to any faith growing fast while church attendance has fallen steeply.

Christians make up 65% of the U.S. adult population, according the 2018-2019 study, down from 77% in 2009. At the same time, those who don’t identify with any religion—often known as “nones”—now make up more than a quarter of the population, compared with 17% a decade ago. Only 45% of adults said they attended church at least once a month, down from 52% in 2009.

The data reflect a seismic social reordering that has seen the population shift away from Christianity and toward religious disaffiliation.

Some “nones” are atheists or agnostics, while others consider themselves to be spiritual but don’t adhere to a particular religious tradition.

Every age group, racial group and region of the country is less Christian than a decade ago, according to the study.

Less than half of millennials, the youngest demographic group in the study, identify as Christian; 40% of them are unaffiliated. The oldest demographic group, born between 1928 and 1945 and known as the Silent Generation, is 84% Christian and 10% unaffiliated.

Protestants fell to 43% of the population, down from 51% in 2009, while Catholics fell 3 percentage points, to 20%. Other Christians—neither Catholic nor Protestant—make up the other 2%.

Within the 26% of U.S. adults who are religiously unaffiliated, atheists grew to 4% of the overall population from 2%; agnostics grew to 5% from 3%, and those who identify as “nothing in particular” rose to 17% from 12%.

Non-Christian religions largely held steady. Jews remain at 2% of the population and Muslims are at 1%.

[Write to Ian Lovett at Ian.Lovett@wsj.com]