UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

The Vatican confirmed today that Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, a credibly accused serial predator, has been suspended from his post as deputy bishop of a diocese in Paraguay.

[Vatican Radio]

[NBC News]

The Pope should fire Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano. Livieres deliberately promoted a credibly accused abuser who admitted sleeping with teens and allegedly molested several of them.

Livieres ignored a fellow bishop who explicitly warned that Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity is “a serious threat to young people.” How much more reckless can a church official be?

And Pope Francis should harshly and publicly explain and denounce Livieres' irresponsible actions, instead of letting him “save face” by yet-another vague and minimizing statement from a lower-level Vatican staffer.

This piecemeal, reactive approach – gently disciplining egregious wrongdoers only when they're publicly exposed – won't cut it. For years Vatican officials have taken belated, grudging and lenient action against church officials when their wrongdoing has been so bad that it prompted international criticism. So this hand-slapping of one Paraguay bishop is inadequate. It is far from ground-breaking.

Covering up abuse and endangering kids is a cancer on the church. It requires severe surgery, not an occasional band-aid only applied under duress. Francis must publicly oust a number of complicit bishops and say why in no uncertain terms if he really wants to get other bishops to stop putting innocent children in harm's way.

Fr. Urrutigoity spent time in Canada, Switzerland, Minnesota (Winona), and Pennsylvania (Scranton). He's accused of abuse in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho July 30, 2014

In a column that will be published tomorrow, the embattled archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis says he will not resign. Soon after I reported that Archbishop John Nienstedt was being investigated for a series allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with seminarians, priests, and other adult men, an affidavit filed by Nienstedt's former top canon lawyer strongly criticized the archdiocese's sexual-abuse policies and practicies. Calls for his resignation began to grow. Earlier this week, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an editorial urging the archbishop to step down. So did the New York Times. But Nienstedt won't go.

Eighteen years ago, Pope John Paul II chose me to serve the Church as a bishop, an authentic successor of the apostles. A bishop’s role is more like that of a father of a family than that of a CEO. I am bound to continue in my office as long as the Holy Father has appointed me here. I have acknowledged my responsibility in the current crisis we face, and I also take responsibility for leading our archdiocese to a new and better day.

“This is what the Lord says to you," Nienstedt's column continues, citing Second Chronicles: "'Stop being afraid, and stop being discouraged because of this vast invasion force, because the battle doesn’t belong to you, but to God.'"

Apologizing for the "distractions I have inadvertently caused," the archbishop emphasizes three things about his response to the months-long scandal. First, he announces that he has a new leadership team that operates with the philosophy of "Victims First." In consultation with victims, Nienstedt says he plans to hire a new victims liason--who will be a layperson. Second, he claims that he has never knowingly covered up sexual abuse. He admits that he was too trusting of the archdiocese's process, and that "we did not handle all complaints the way we should have in the past." And third, Nienstedt says that he has always been honest with his people. Over the past year, according to the archbishop, he has learned that he must change his leadership style.

INDIA
Hindustan Times

Bengaluru, July 30, 2014

An 11-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a temple priest in Bangalore on Tuesday, less than a month after a seven-year-old was raped in a city school, sparking widespread protests in the southern city.

Police say the 53-year-old priest, a friend of the victim's family, has been arrested. On Tuesday night, he forced himself upon the girl at her home when her parents were away. Hearing the victim's screams, her two sisters – also minors – ran in from another room, forcing the priest to flee. Later, the parents filed a case with the local police.

In another incident that came to light on Wednesday, a 26-year-old carpenter has reportedly confessed to police that he raped a seven-year-old girl. Results of the victim's medical tests will reveal when the incident took place, police officials said. The carpenter's mother worked as a domestic help at the girl's residence. His family, however, says police tortured him to get the confession.

Anger against sexual violence has been rising in the country since December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old medical student was brutally gang-raped, and killed, by six men inside a private bus in south Delhi.

LOUISIANA
The Advocate

Claire Taylor
July 30, 2014

On June 15, 1992, a 26-year-old man provided a legal statement accusing three Diocese of Lafayette priests of sexual misconduct against him in the 1970s and 1980s.

One of those priests, Ronald Lane "Jean Paul" Fontenot, pleaded guilty and was convicted in 1986 of statutory rape in Spokane, Washington, where he was transferred for counseling after he was placed on leave in Lafayette in 1983 when a civil lawsuit was filed.

A second priest, David Primeaux, admitted in a 1984 psychological evaluation that he started abusing children in 1980 at St. Benedict in Covington. The Diocese settled a lawsuit in 2000 in which Primeaux allegedly admitted molesting a boy while serving at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Milton in the early 1980s.

Primeaux left the priesthood in 1985 and later got married. When some of his victims confronted the wife of the priest-turned-professor in Virginia in December 2012, he committed suicide.

The final priest accused by the young man is the Rev. Gilbert Dutel, who today serves as pastor of St. Edmond Catholic Church in Lafayette.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Responding to journalists’ questions, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, made a statement about the situation in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) and the Apostolic Visitation of Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló.

The Visitation was announced by the Apostolic Nuncio to Paraguay on 2 July, and took place from 21-26 July.

“Concerning the situation in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay),” Father Lombardi said, “I can confirm that in the course of the visitation, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló cautioned Bishop [Rogelio Ricardo] Livieres [Plano] against proceeding with further priestly ordinations. No other provisions were announced. Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló will report the results of his visitation to the Pope.”

News reports had also suggested that the Vicar General of the Diocese, Fr Carlos Urrutigoity, had been fired. Father Urrutigoity has been the subject of accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors at a school in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Diocese has pointed out the allegations against Father Urrutigoity were never proven.

In his statement, Father Lombardi noted that Father Urrutigoity had been relieved of his duties as Vicar General shortly prior to visitation: “With regard to Father Carlos Urrutigoity, he had been relieved of his duties as vicar general by Bishop Livieres on July 14, a few days before the visitation, on the grounds of the completion of other duties on his part.”

VATICAN CITY
TribTown

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
First Posted: July 30, 2014

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is taking action in a divisive diocese in Paraguay where an Argentine priest, accused by a former superior of being a "serious threat to young people," has been removed as the No. 2.

The Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity is still an active priest in the Ciudad del Este diocese, however, in a sign that he remains in good standing with his bishop.

Urrutigoity has denied allegations of impropriety, has never been charged and his bishop, Monsignor Rogelio Livieres, has stressed that there is no accusation against him that he sexually abused minors. But Urrutigoity's case re-emerged after Francis sent a team of Vatican investigators to the diocese this month to look into criticisms against Livieres by other Paraguayan prelates.

Livieres in 2005 allowed Urrutigoity to join his diocese, even though Urrutigoity's then-superior in Scranton, Pennsylvania had warned Livieres and the Vatican that he was a threat and unsuitable for the priesthood.

Urrutigoity had been a member of the schismatic, traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. He later joined the Scranton diocese and founded a priestly society where the old Latin Mass was celebrated.

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 07/30/2014

Responding to calls for his resignation, Archbishop John Nienstedt said Wednesday that he will remain at the helm of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Nienstedt has come under fire in recent months for his handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

"I have acknowledged my responsibility in the current crisis we face, and I also take responsibility for leading our archdiocese to a new and better day," Nienstedt wrote in a column to be published in Thursday's Catholic Spirit newsletter.

That "crisis" is the result of accusations and lawsuits against the Archdiocese, church officials and priests regarding alleged child abuse and what some have called cover-up of crimes.

Critics say Nienstedt and his predecessors did not take action to remove credibly accused priests from the ministry.

Nienstedt said he will not resign and will, instead, "apply these hard lessons that I have learned over the past months."

The archbishop said that he is creating "a new leadership team that operates under the philosophy of 'Victims First' " and that he's appointing a victim liaison. Nienstedt said the church has reached out to victims of abuse for their input.

MINNESOTA
Huffington Post

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis says he won't resign despite criticism over the archdiocese's handling of sexual abuse claims involving priests.

Archbishop John Nienstedt made his comments in in a column that will appear in Thursday's archdiocese newspaper, The Catholic Spirit. He says he's bound to stay in office as long as Pope Francis wants.

Nienstedt says he'll continue to apply the hard lessons he's learned over the past months.

He says he's never knowingly covered up clergy sexual abuse. He says he's created a new leadership team that puts victims first. And he maintains he's always been honest with Catholics of the archdiocese.

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis - The Catholic Spirit

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt | July 30, 2014

To say that this has been a difficult year is quite an understatement.

Here in the archdiocese, Catholics have witnessed many troubling media reports, and many of us have had difficult conversations with friends and family about what it means to be Catholic and why we still profess the faith. I, myself, have been the subject of two investigations, which have brought with them more public scrutiny. I have received messages calling me a hypocrite, a domineering boss and a liar. Others have written that I am a courageous moral leader and a true shepherd. I have read them all. I am grateful for everyone who has taken the time to write, regardless of how they feel, as most believe they are acting in the best interests of the Church.

In the end, it comes down to this: 18 years ago, Pope John Paul II chose me to serve the Church as a bishop, an authentic successor of the apostles. A bishop’s role is more like that of a father of a family than that of a CEO. I am bound to continue in my office as long as the Holy Father has appointed me here. I have acknowledged my responsibility in the current crisis we face, and I also take responsibility for leading our archdiocese to a new and better day.

In Second Chronicles 20:15, the spirit of the Lord tells King Jehoshaphat and the troops, as his enemies are approaching across the Palestinian wilderness in battle, “This is what the Lord says to you: ‘stop being afraid, and stop being discouraged because of this vast invasion force, because the battle doesn’t belong to you, but to God.’ ”

I have heard calls for my resignation since I arrived in this wonderful archdiocese seven years ago. I will continue to listen to those who express concerns about my leadership, but I will also continue serving as I have been called to do. I am devoted to serving this local Church, and I will continue to do so and to apply these hard lessons that I have learned over the past months. While it may be difficult to believe, the suffering we have endured is bearing much fruit in reform of practices and correction of decisions that were made in the past, either by me or my predecessors.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News - July 30, 2014

The Vatican has confirmed that all priestly ordinations have been suspended in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, after a Vatican investigation of the diocese.

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, who headed the Vatican investigation, was reporting his findings to Pope Francis. The Vatican spokesman said:

I can confirm that in the course of the visitation, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló cautioned Bishop Livieres against proceeding with further priestly ordinations. No other provisions were announced.

IRELAND
Irish Times

Wed, Jul 30, 2014

Former priest and serial child abuser Tony Walsh has failed in appeals against separate sentences imposed on him for what the Court of Criminal Appeal has described as the “depraved” rape and sexual abuse of young boys.

Walsh, who was known as the “Singing Priest” for his role in a travelling all-priest vocal group before he was defrocked, is serving a 16-year sentence imposed on him in 2010 for the rape and abuse of three schoolboys.

In 2012 Walsh had 15 months added to this sentence for abusing two other boys.

In a written judgement delivered by presiding judge Mr Justice John Murray, the appeal court said that with regard to the first appeal the offences were of the “utmost gravity”, but even that description did not do justice to the “appalling nature” of the offences committed against young boys.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: July 30, 2014

John Nienstedt writes in a church newspaper column, “I am bound to continue my office.”

Archbishop John Nienstedt will announce Thursday that he is not resigning as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, despite growing pressure for him to step down.

Nienstedt will make the announcement in his column in the The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper of the archdiocese.

“To say that this has been a difficult year is quite an understatement,” wrote Nienstedt.

“In the end, it comes down to this: eighteen years ago, Pope John Paul II chose me to serve the Church as a bishop, an authentic successor of the Apostles … I am bound to continue in my office as long as the Holy Father has appointed me here.”

Nienstedt, who has led the Twin Cities archdiocese since 2008, has been under growing criticism for his handling of child clergy abuse cases in the archdiocese.

A Minneapolis law firm hired by the archdiocese to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct by Nienstedt with adults has completed its work and submitted a report. Auxiliary bishop Lee Piché said Tuesday that church officials will review that along with “any other information we receive.”

VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | July 30, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican has ordered a Roman Catholic diocese in eastern Paraguay to remove a priest accused of sex abuse in the U.S. and to restrict the activities of the bishop who hired him.

Pope Francis is sending a papal delegation to Paraguay to investigate the activities of the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, a priest accused of sex abuse in Pennsylvania.

Pope Francis sent a papal delegation to Paraguay to investigate the activities of the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, a priest accused of sex abuse in Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy P. Alvarenga, Vanguardia
Pope Francis sent a cardinal and an archbishop to investigate Carlos Urrutigoity in the diocese of Ciudad del Este. The two men visited the country July 21-26.

The removal is the latest demonstration of the pope’s “zero tolerance” of clerical abuse, and it suggests priests suspected of child abuse in one country can no longer find shelter in other countries.

In 2002, Urrutigoity was accused of sexual abuse of minors in a highly publicized lawsuit in the Diocese of Scranton, Pa. He and another priest, Eric Ensey, were suspended by then-Bishop James Timlin amid allegations they had sexually molested students at St. Gregory’s Academy. The diocese reportedly reached a $400,000-plus settlement in the case in 2006.

Urrutigoity, a native of Argentina, was transferred to Canada before settling in Paraguay.

IDAHO
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Wednesday, July 30, 2014

An Idaho church deacon who blamed Satan after he molested a 12-year-old girl in a storage closet has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, but could spend less than a year behind bars.

Alexander Gonzalez Garcia, 57, was arrested last December on charges of lewd conduct with a minor.

According to authorities, the girl said that Garcia had touched her inappropriately while they were in a storage closet at Nampa Seventh-Day Adventist Church, where he was a deacon.

Garcia reportedly told investigators that “Satan was in the storage room with him and the girl.” But he insisted that he had only kissed her and hugged her.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Chicago Tribune

By Alexandra Chachkevitch
Tribune reporter
12:12 p.m. CDT, July 30, 2014

A Greek Orthodox priest charged with felony theft waived his right to a preliminary hearing in a Milwaukee County courtroom this morning.

The Rev. James Dokos, who was affiliated with Saints Peter and Paul Church in Glenview, is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 26.

"There are significant jurisdictional issues to address in this matter," Dokos' lawyer Patrick Knight said in court Wednesday. Knight did not specify the issues.

Dokos is accused of improperly spending more than $100,000 from a trust fund intended to benefit Annunciation Church in Milwaukee, where he was a longtime pastor until transferring to Saints Peter and Paul Church in 2012.

Dokos, 62, who has been suspended from his duties at the Glenview church, made his initial court appearance two weeks ago, where bail was set at $5,000. Because it was a personal recognizance bond, he was not required to post any money for his release.

NEW JERSEY
South Jersey Times

By Alex Young | South Jersey Times
on July 29, 2014

SALEM — The former pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Salem pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting a minor child — one of his own relatives — in the summer of 2013.

Jonathan Smith, 59, formerly of Market Street in Salem, will be sentenced to four years in New Jersey State Prison when he returns to Superior Court in September. He pleaded guilty to one count of second degree sexual assault.

In court Tuesday, Smith admitted to sexually assaulting a victim less than 13 years old. At Smith's arraignment in April, Assistant Salem County Prosecutor Lisa Rastelli revealed that the victim was a relative who spent time during the summer of 2013 at Smith's home, the Presbyterian pastor's house on Market Street.

The boy's mother reportedly became concerned when he returned home after his time in Salem and something didn't seem right. The victim told his mother about the incidents, who then alerted the authorities.

SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

JOHANNESBURG – Police say the extradition of a German Catholic priest to face charges relating to sexual abuse is the culmination of a process that began last year.

The 56-year-old priest was handed over to German police officers last night having spent seven years living in South Africa.

He has been in custody since being arrested in September but the local charges have been withdrawn to pave the way for the extradition which will see him face almost 40 charges back home

LOUISIANA
IND

The spectre of priest sex abuse has returned to haunt the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette following the recent release of an investigative report by Minnesota Public Radio, revealing new allegations of another child predator hiding behind the clerical collar.

The investigative, four-part series by Minnesota Public Radio delves into court documents tracing as far back as the 1980s, when the first reported priest sex abuse scandal put the Lafayette Diocese under the national spotlight. New information revealed in MPR’s report, however, shows one alleged child predator, the Rev. Gilbert Dutel, has remained with the Diocese, and currently serves as the pastor of St. Edmond Catholic Church in Lafayette.

According to MPR, Dutil’s alleged sexual abuse traces back to the 1970s, during his tenure as pastor of St. Theresa Church in Abbeville, and a case involving a young boy:

In the case of Dutel, the documents show, the allegations weren’t limited to young adults. Dutel had also been accused of sexually abusing a child. In an interview with a lawyer in 1992, the alleged victim said Dutel had abused him in the 1970s, starting when he was 9 years old.

Despite the allegations, Dutil, who is now 69 years old, has remained with the church, even receiving assignments to work with several elementary and high schools over the 22 years since the claims first surfaced, including a spot on the St. Thomas More Catholic High School’s board of directors, as well as a more than 10 year stint with the St. Peter and Paul Church in Scott. The church in Scott also operates as an elementary school, and in 2010 an anonymous donor who paid for the school’s playground requested it be named “Father Gil’s Playground” in honor of Dutil.

WISCONSIN
Madison.com

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Is the Archdiocese of Milwaukee too broke to pay its legal bills?

That's the question Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley will be asked to answer Wednesday.

Kelley agreed more than a year ago that the archdiocese would not have to pay legal fees while its bankruptcy case was pending so it could keep enough cash on hand to cover at least one month's bills. Bankruptcy law requires the archdiocese to pay legal fees for itself and its creditors.

In this case, most creditors are victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Their attorneys say the archdiocese has more cash than anticipated, and they'd like to get paid. The lawyers say they are owed more than $2 million.

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt may speak to some reporters today about partial results from an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct with adults. We hope he'll explain why he has so clearly violated the US bishops' abuse policy by hiding and helping proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. We doubt, however, that he will, in spite of his repeated promises to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes.

[Star Tribune]

[Commonweal]

As we've said before, we don't care about Nienstedt's private behavior, unless it involves sexually harassing seminarians or underlings or makes him unable or unwilling to discipline predators in his archdiocese.

We care deeply about Nienstedt's public behavior which inexcusably puts children in harm's way. He has been and remains, secretive, reckless and callous about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

We have little faith in so-called "investigations" that are funded or carried out by Catholic officials. Powerful prelates can always find and pay lawyers or "experts" who will tell them what they want to hear. (This is why they continue to quietly send proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics to the same church-funded "treatment" centers year after year after year, while hypocritically blasting those same centers in public for the allegedly "bad advice" they gave about putting predators back on the job.)

As my colleague, Barbara Dorris of SNAP said:

“We believe that most priests don't or can't honor their celibacy pledge. So they have sexual secrets. And if you have a sexual secret, you're less willing to report the sexual secrets of your colleagues and supervisors, especially if those secrets involve criminal behavior.

This is perhaps the most disturbing sentence we've read about this investigation: ‘he also stands accused of retaliating against those who refused his advances or otherwise questioned his conduct.’

We are highly skeptical when bishops like Nienstedt claim that allegations against them are ‘personal attacks’ due to ‘my unwavering stance on issues consistent with church teaching, such as opposition to so-called same-sex marriage.’ This is especially unlikely if there are in fact ten accusers including some who were or are Catholic clerics.”

PENNSYLVANIA/VIRGINIA
Philadelphia Daily News

VALERIE RUSS, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER RUSSV@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5987
POSTED: Wednesday, July 30, 2014

THREE WEEKS before taking the helm of North Philadelphia's Zion Baptist Church, the Rev. A. Carl Prince met with leaders of the small Virginia church he was leaving.

On Dec. 18, 2011, he and Mount Hope Baptist Church leaders signed an "Announcement of Retirement" that took effect at the end of that year.

Prince asked that "in the interest of the Church and Christian civility, that all litigation and investigations both civil and criminal, present and future, be ceased," the statement said.

On Jan. 12, 2012, Prince officially started at Zion, at Broad and Venango streets, one of the city's most prominent churches. For 38 years, it had been the church of the late human-rights and economic-development advocate Rev. Leon Sullivan, the "Lion of Zion."

It seems that Prince, who was voted out as pastor of the Philly church this month, had left some problems behind at Mount Hope, in Prince George County, 30 miles from Richmond.

There were 400 members when Prince arrived, but just 20 when he left, former trustee John Allen said.

"He wrote new bylaws that made him both the CEO and CFO of the church," Allen said.

"He had his name put on the church bank account and he tried to sell the church out from under the last 20 members."

CANADA
Sylvia's Site

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Sylvia

Amazing and most welcome news from Paraguay:

28 July 2014: “Reports: The Vatican fires a priest in Paraguay accused of molesting US seminarians” & related articles

The articles are of interest to Catholic around the world, but of particular interest to many Canadians whose sons were exposed to Father Carlos Urrutigoity while the latter – and fellow priests from the fledgling Society of St. John – first lived at and then near at St. Gregory’s Academy just outside Scranton Pennsylvania. St Gregory’s, an all boys Catholic school, was then run by the Fraternity of St. Peter.

There have been allegations about the goings on in the Society in the Society of John for years, and often battles and friction between those who alleged that Fathers Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey were sexual predators and those who defended the pair.

Some may recall that Bishop Rogelio Livieres the Opus Dei bishop of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay took Urroitigoityand other members of the Society of Sgt. John into his diocese. Livieres allegedly refused to believe the allegations against the priest, and refused to heed warning from the Bishop pf Scranton, NY when Urrutigoity was previously incardinated.

Urrutigoity became Vicar General of the Diocese. Dominic Carey, a Canadian who has had no problem at all with priests bedding down with young lads, is, I think, serving in the Ciudad del Este seminary and assisting – or perhaps even directing? - the formation of new priests (? – I must check this out )

IDAHO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

We're appalled that an admitted child molesting deacon who abused a 12 year old and blamed it on Satan may spend just a year in prison.

Prosecutes say Deacon Alexander Gonzales Garcia molested the girl by locking her in a closet during a July 2013 potluck at his church. That kind of crime strongly suggests that Garcia is out of control and not likely to respond well to treatment.

We are deeply disappointed in Judge Bradly S. Ford's decision. And we call on him to publicly explain why he gave such a lenient sentence – more appropriate for a purse snatcher than a child molester.

We beg officials in the Seventh-day Adventist Church – at the national and regional levels and the congregation in Nampa where the crime happened – to aggressively reach out to anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered child sex crimes and urge them to call police and start healing.

IRELAND
RTE News

Former priest and serial child abuser Tony Walsh has failed in appeals against separate sentences of 16 years and 15 months imposed on him.

The jail terms were handed down for what the Court of Criminal Appeal has described as the "depraved" rape and sexual abuse of young boys in the 1970s and 80s.

Walsh, who was known as the "Singing Priest" for his role in a travelling all-priest vocal group before he was defrocked, is serving a 16-year sentence imposed on him in 2010 for the rape and abuse of three schoolboys.

In 2012 Walsh had 15 months added to this sentence for abusing two other boys.

In a written judgment delivered today by presiding judge Mr Justice John Murray, the appeal court said that with regard to the first appeal the offences were of the "utmost gravity".

He said even that description did not do justice to the "appalling nature" of the offences committed against young boys.

PARAGUAY
The Tablet

30 July 2014 by Liz Dodd

The Vatican has suspended ordinations to the priesthood in a Paraguayan diocese in which its vicar-general has been accused of sexual abuse while serving as a priest in the US.

The Church has not given an official reason for the ban on ordinations in Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano’s diocese of Ciudad del Este.

A week-long Vatican investigation into the diocese led by Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello ended on Saturday.

The investigation followed allegations that the diocese’s vicar-general, Argentine priest Fr Carlos Urrutigoity, had abused seminarians in Minnesota and Pennsylvania more than a decade ago.

Fr Urrotigoity denies the allegations.

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

30 July, 2014

People with disability have been invited to attend an important information session in Sydney next month to find out more about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the forum was part of ongoing consultations with the disability community on the issue of child sexual abuse in institutions.

“The Royal Commission is aware that many people with disability have experienced child sexual abuse while in the care of an institution,” Mr Reed said.

“We are determined that people with disability can participate in the process of the Royal Commission.

“You will not be required to discuss your personal story at the forum, it is a chance to find out more about the work of the Royal Commission and how you can share your story.

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

People in Geelong are invited to learn more about the work of the Royal Commission at a community information forum next month.

Chair of the Royal Commission Justice Peter McClellan will address the forum on Wednesday 13 August 2014.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the community forum is open to any members of the public who have an interest in the Royal Commission.

“We particularly encourage people affected by child sexual abuse while in the care of an institution to attend the community forum,” Mr Reed said.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY, Star Tribune
Updated: July 29, 2014

A Minneapolis law firm hired by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct with adults by Archbishop John Nienstedt has completed its work and submitted a report to church officials.

Attorney Matthew Forsgren of the firm Greene Espel declined to discuss the findings and referred questions to the archdiocese.

The archdiocese commissioned the investigation earlier this summer in an effort to address accusations received by the chancery as Nienstedt fended off mounting criticism over the church’s handling of other sexual misconduct cases.

Lee Piche, auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, said in a statement late Tuesday that the Greene Espel report “does not comprise” the entire investigation.

“We need to digest the information and any other information we receive,” said Piche, who was not available to answer questions.

Piche announced July 1 that Nienstedt asked him to investigate claims about the archbishop, which he said were received by the archdiocese several months earlier. Piche said the misconduct allegations “did not involve anything criminal or with minors.”

Nienstedt said at the time that the accusations were “absolutely and entirely false.” He called the allegations “a personal attack against me due to my unwavering stance on issues consistent with church teaching, such as opposition to so-called same-sex marriage.

IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Wed, Jul 30, 2014

Adam contented himself with decorating a letter from his sister, Nicole (14) and putting a seal on it instead.

He didn’t write himself as he felt “cynical”, he said. “I did believe the gesture [of the pope meeting his mother] was sincere but I honestly didn’t believe it would produce any real result.”

Nicole Kane with her Mum Marie and the letter she received from the Pope. Photograph: Thomas NolanPope Francis thanks Irish teenager for supporting mother

However, following reports of the meetings Francis had with his mother and the five other abuse survivors, he now believes the pope is sincere about the abuse issue “more so than his predecessor. It seems that way. I’d like to think so”.

DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

[Summary: The Trier diocese has been sharply criticized for returning to service a priest who was accused to sexual abuse. Hermann Schell of Schafsbrief initiative, said on Tuesday that the move was unacceptable. He said it defames all abuse victims and shows that the diocese lacks awareness of injustice. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said the charges could not be proven. The arrest of judgment was not carried out "because of proven innocence, but due to low guilt," said the spokesman. The pastor is alleged to have given the youth money in exchange for sex but the boy ran away.]

Nach der aufgehobenen Beurlaubung eines früheren Pfarrers hat eine Missbrauchsopfer-Initiative das Bistum Trier scharf kritisiert.

Es sei nicht hinnehmbar, dass der Geistliche aus dem saarländischen Lebach wieder als Vertretung oder Aushilfe arbeiten dürfe, sagte der Sprecher der Initiative Schafsbrief, Hermann Schell, am Dienstag. Dies sei eine Diffamierung aller Missbrauchsopfer und zeige beim Bistum „fehlendes Unrechtsbewusstsein ohne Ende“. Das Verfahren gegen den früheren Lebacher Pfarrer wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs war im März dieses Jahres von der Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken gegen die Zahlung von 6000 Euro eingestellt worden. Die Einstellung sei nicht „wegen erwiesener Unschuld, sondern wegen geringer Schuld“ erfolgt, sagte der Sprecher der Staatsanwaltschaft am Dienstag.

Man gehe davon aus, dass sich der Geistliche über eine Internetplattform mit einem Jungen in Saarbrücken „zu sexuellen Dienstleistungen“ verabredet habe, sagte der Sprecher. Bei dem Treffen habe der Pfarrer dem Minderjährigen auch Geld gegeben, der Junge sei aber weggelaufen und es sei nicht zu sexuellen Handlungen gekommen.

AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Andrew Hamilton | 30 July 2014

Reckoning: the Catholic Church and Child Sexual Abuse, written by Chris McGillion and Damian Grace, and jointly published by Eureka Street and ATF Press, offers a useful map of the journey that has led to the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse. It recalls how the widespread sexual abuse of children within the Church came to prominence in Australia, outlines the variety of responses to it, and reflects on the explanations given for it.

The book is modest and even in its tone. It offers a broad perspective on the challenges that will arise from ensuring that children are safe in the future.

The dimensions of an adequate response to child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church are now fairly clear. First, children must be protected from abusive behaviour. This requires curtailing the opportunities for potential abusers to meet, groom and abuse children. It also requires preparing, monitoring and supervising church representatives who are in contact with children.

Second, the criminal gravity of sexual abuse must be recognised, and the response both to victims and offenders be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime. This requires responding professionally and transparently to accusations of abuse, excluding from public ministry those who have offended, and continuing to monitor any offenders who remain within religious communities.

Third, the serious harm suffered by people who were abused as children must be recognised. This is done by ensuring they receive the pastoral care and counseling they desire, and can claim compensation.

Finally, the Catholic Church must take responsibility for the sexual abuse inflicted by its representatives and for its concealment, and for ensuring that aspects of its culture that encourage abuse are remedied. For this, serious and independent study will be necessary.

IDAHO
KTVB

Katie Terhune, KTVB July 29, 2014

CALDWELL-- A Nampa deacon who claimed that Satan took control of his body and made him molest a 12-year-old girl in a church storage room is headed to prison.

But 57-year-old Alexander Gonzales Garcia, who was arrested in December, could spend only a year behind bars after Judge Bradly S. Ford opted Tuesday to retain jurisdiction.

Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years before parole eligibility, but could still be released as early as 2015 if he successfully completes his term of retained jurisdiction, commonly known as a "rider."

He will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay about $8,000 in civil fines and court costs.

Garcia, a deacon with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nampa, was originally charged with lewd conduct with a minor under 16. In an interview with police detectives, he admitted touching the girl inappropriately during a July potluck at the church, but insisted Satan had been in the storage room with him, and had made him molest the girl.

IDAHO
Idaho State Journal

Associated Press

CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — A former southwestern Idaho church deacon who told police Satan may have taken control of his body, causing him to molest a 12-year-old girl in a church storage room, has been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.

However, District Judge Bradly S. Ford retained jurisdiction for a year, meaning 57-year-old Alexander Gonzalez Garcia of Middleton could get out of prison after a year if he responds well to treatment programs.

Garcia was initially charged with lewd conduct with a child, but pleaded guilty in March to sexual abuse of a minor. He must register as a sex offender and have no contact with the girl, her family or any girls under the age of 18.

IDAHO
KIVI

By On Your Side Newsroom.
CREATED Jul 29, 2014

Alexander Gonzalez Garcia, 57, of Middleton has been sentenced to five years fixed and up to 15 years in prison for felony sexual abuse of a minor under 16 years of age.

Garcia was a deacon at the Nampa Seventh-Day Adventist Church was arrested in December 2013 after the Nampa Police Department found he had sexual contact with a 12-year-old female victim on church grounds. In an investigation revealed in July of 2013, detectives found that Garcia locked the 12 year-old in a closet and began kissing, hugging and touching her inappropriately.

Garcia in an interview with police claimed that Satan was in the room with him and made him do it.

During today’s hearing, Judge Ford commended the victim for her courage in coming forward immediately and reporting the abuse. He noted that if there’s one place a child should feel safe, it’s in a church.

IDAHO
Idaho Statesman

Last December, Alexander Gonzalez Garcia blamed Satan for causing him to molest a 12-year-old girl in a storage room at the Nampa Seventh-Day Adventist Church where he served as a deacon.

On Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Bradly Ford sentenced the 57-year-old Middleton man to at least five and up to 15 years in prison for that felony. But the judge retained jurisdiction, which means Garcia will be evaluated in the prison system for one year, after which Ford can decide whether to release him on probation or have him complete his prison term.

“Mr. Garcia used his position of trust in the church to take advantage of the victim, and he deserves to be behind bars where he can no longer be a danger to the community,” Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor said in a news release. “This case should serve as a reminder to every parent that you need to be very careful of who your kids are hanging around with.”

Ford commended the victim for her courage in coming forward and reporting the abuse, which reportedly happened in July 2013. Court records show Garcia initially denied the abuse but later told police Satan was in the locked room and made him touch the girl inappropriately.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON July 29, 2014

PASTOR Scott Williams was described as “charismatic” by former Ballarat East High School staff and students.

However, concerns were also raised about the ex-teacher’s daily lunchtime meetings with senior students during his Ballarat tenure to discuss religious matters.

Williams on Monday night was accused of horrific sexual and physical abuse at his religious cult Christian Assemblies International (CAI) by the ABC’s Four Corners program.

He is also accused of misusing vast amounts of money donated by CAI members and building up a worldwide multi-million dollar property portfolio.

Mr Williams taught at Ballarat East High School in the early 1970s before heading to Germany as a missionary, where he worked in Feldafing as a pool attendant at a military school for young men.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

29 JULY 2014

In the hit Cold War TV drama series The Americans, one of the main weapons both the KGB and the CIA-FBI deploy against each other is sex. The story of the undercover Soviet spies posing as the all-American apple pie family, Elisabeth and Phillip Jennings, swirls around issues of infidelity, bedroom betrayals, pillow talk and the ever-present threat of blackmail in the background.

The Jennings' unsuspecting nemesis and neighbour, the FBI spy catcher Stan Beeman, is himself using his sexual prowess to seduce an attractive female Russian agent who initially turns to the American because she has been sexually exploited and abused by a senior KGB operative at the USSR embassy in Washington DC.

The Americans plot line and the heavy emphasis on lust, love and treachery (of both the sexual and political kind) is laden with hammed up Holywood-style psycho-drama although to be fair its creator Joe Weisberg was a CIA case officer who served on the Cold War frontline.

Indeed, the series and its main premise is not so far-fetched perhaps when you consider the long history of how intelligence services used sexual blackmail to recruit and "turn' agents, including here in Northern Ireland.

Back in the mid-1970s there was little or no sign of the Cold War thawing and in the UK there was a real sense of national crisis and decline.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

'Date rape is bad, stranger rape is worse': Richard Dawkins sparks outrage during Twitter debate

By SAM MARSDEN and STEPHANIE LINNING

Controversial scientist Richard Dawkins provoked fury yesterday after referring to ‘mild date rape’ and ‘mild paedophilia’ in comments on Twitter.

Campaigners for women and child abuse victims condemned the prominent atheist’s posts as ‘offensive and damaging’.

Professor Dawkins, 73, became embroiled in the row when he made a point about logical thinking to almost a million followers on the social networking site.

The academic sparked anger by choosing the example of sexual abuse to illustrate the idea.

He began by writing: ‘X is bad. Y is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of X, go away and don’t come back until you’ve learned how to think logically.’

Then he added: ‘Mild pedophilia [sic] is bad. Violent pedophilia is worse. If you think that’s an endorsement of mild pedophilia, go away and learn how to think. ...

However in a statement on his website last night, he said he ‘was only talking logic’, and had ‘no desire to make light of the seriousness of any kind of rape or [sic] pedophilia’

LOUISIANA
The Advocate

Claire Taylor July 29, 2014

Here in the heart of Cajun country, where the first priest sex abuse scandal rocked the Roman Catholic Church faithful in the 1980s, allegations have surfaced that a priest who sexually abused a boy in the 1970s continues to minister in Lafayette.

Two documents from the 1990s uncovered during a recent Minnesota Public Radio investigation allege the Rev. Gilbert Dutel sexually abused a boy in the 1970s while serving at a church in Abbeville. He was also was accused of coercing young men into having sex, the MPR story says.

Both Dutel, who is pastor of St. Edmond Catholic Church in Lafayette, and the Diocese of Lafayette denied the allegations Tuesday.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests issued a statement July 21, following the MPR investigation, urging Diocese of Lafayette Bishop Michael Jarrell to suspend Dutel immediately.

The Diocese of Lafayette, in a written response to The Advertiser's questions about the reports Tuesday, said the "unproven allegations" against Dutel were investigated years ago.

"No new information exists that warrants any action by the Diocese," the statement reads. "In the absence of any contrary information, Father Dutel remains a priest in good standing."

CANADA
BBC News

By Wesley Stephenson
BBC News

The Pope was recently reported to have said that about 2% of Catholic clergy are paedophiles. But how does this compare with society as a whole - is it more or less than average?

As soon as you give this question a moment's thought, you realise that it's not going to be an easy one to answer. Paedophiles are not easy to identify.

"Because paedophilia is so secretive and so few people are willing to admit it, there is no meaningful way to get a reliable estimate," says Dr James Cantor, a psychologist and sexual behaviour scientist at the University of Toronto.

"There's no meaningfully ethical way of taking 200 men, hooking them up to detectors, showing them pictures of adults and children and seeing how many respond most to children."

One person who has attempted an estimate is Dr Michael Seto, a clinical and forensic psychologist at the Royal Ottawa Healthcare group.

In 2008 he wrote a book in which he put the prevalence of paedophilia in the general population at 5%.

The figure was based on surveys conducted in Germany, Norway and Finland in which men were asked whether they had ever had sexual thoughts or fantasies about children or engaged in sexual activity with children.

SOUTH AFRICA
Sowetan

By Sapa-AFP | Jul 30, 2014

Originally from Aachen in West Germany, Kerkhoff is wanted for alleged sex crimes against children committed before he moved several years ago to South Africa, where he was arrested on similar charges.

A German Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse of children in his native country and in South Africa has been extradited to Germany, police said Wednesday.

Georg Kerkhoff, who is in his 50s, was put on a plane to Germany on Tuesday night, South African police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini told AFP.

"We took him to the airport and handed him over to the German police. He will face trial in Germany," he said.

Originally from Aachen in West Germany, Kerkhoff is wanted for alleged sex crimes against children committed before he moved several years ago to South Africa, where he was arrested on similar charges.

PARAGUAY
DFW Catholic

Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Jul 29, 2014 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An apostolic visitation of Paraguay's Cuidad del Este diocese concluded on Saturday with the visitors suspending a scheduled ordination until they have reached conclusions about their investigation.

“For the time, priestly and diaconal ordinations for the students of St. Joseph's Major Seminary are suspended and it is unknown how long this will endure – it can only be revealed by the Pope,” Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, who led the apostolic visitation, said at a July 26 press conference.

The diocese was scheduled to have priestly ordinations Aug. 15. A release from the diocese clarified that “the ordinations of Aug. 15 have been suspended until the conclusion (of the visitation), not canceled.”

While the visitation took place July 21-26, Cardinal Abril y Castello and Bishop Milton Troccoli Cebedio – who assisted the cardinal in the investigation – will return to Rome to arrange the data collected and present it to Pope Francis.

The conclusion has not yet been scheduled, but is anticipated in September. The apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este was announced by the apostolic nuncio to Paraguay July 2.

UNITED STATES
NW Times

By Bill Dolan bill.dolan@nwi.com, (219) 662-5328

GARY | A national organization advocating change within the Roman Catholic church wants local parishioners to use the group's website to tell church fathers who should be the diocese's next bishop.

"Church law encourages all Catholics to express their views on Church matters that concern them, and this includes who their new bishop may be," Nick Ingala, a spokesman for Voice of the Faithful, said Tuesday.

However, Debbie Bosak, communications director for the Gary Catholic Diocese, said she is skeptical of the the group, which first formed a dozen years ago in response to the sex abuse scandal of recent years.

"They are not an official organization of the Catholic Church but rather a dissident group of lay Catholics with an agenda," she said.

Ingala said Voice of the Faithful, headquartered in Newton, Mass., supports "survivors of clerical sexual abuse, recognizes priests of integrity and seeks to shape structural change in the Church," and wants greater participation in bishop selection.

He said the group's motto is, "Keep the Faith, Change the Church."

"That change-the-church part really does create some opposition," he said, adding his group isn't challenging the pope's authority to name bishops.

UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Opus Dei Beast PR Stunt of the Day: Wall Street Journal “Speculation Grows Over Potential Visit by Pope Francis to U.S.” to goad big American business donors and American idiot Catholics to give millions to Vatican Mammon Beast.

It’s very easy to detect the American journalists who are part of the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team at the Vatican – they all speak positively and fanatically about Pope Francis -- in order to brainwash and entice American idiot Catholics to give blindly and stupidly millions of dollars to the voracious evil Vatican Mammon Beast. Take the Wall Street Journal title Speculation Grows Over Potential Visit by Pope Francis to U.S. and its first paragraph to instantly programme American idiot Catholics that there is an “’intense’ speculation” of Pope Francis’s visit (see news articles below with our comments and emphases). Its purpose is to incite a pop star hype - to attend Pope Francis's Mass - like attending a concert of porno naked singer Miley Cyrus.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

There's a bigger, deeper battle behind the recent controversies involving the local Catholic church, some observers said yesterday.

As dozens of island Catholics gathered yesterday at the steps of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica to support ousted Monsignor James Benavente, and also to pray for healing, observers said the deeper rift stems from a sect within the church whose actions depart from some of the oldest Catholic traditions.

Archbishop Anthony Apuron removed Benavente from being rector of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña over alleged fiscal mismanagement, the archbishop stated yesterday.

"There is a bigger issue at play here: The imposition of the Neocathecumenal Way upon the Catholic Church in Guam," said Charles White, a Guam resident who writes a blog called The Thoughtful Catholic.

"Members of the Neocathecumenal Way practice their faith in a way that largely separates them from their parishes," White wrote in an email.

"For example, they celebrate Mass away from the Church proper every Saturday night, instead of attending normal parish Masses," White stated. "While they insist that these Masses are open to others, in practice, they are not. They are not even published in the parish bulletin." ...
The Guam Catholic church's leadership, through Archbishop Anthony Apuron, hasn't responded to phone calls or emailed requests for comment on the Neocatechumenal Way.

Apuron is a member of the Neocathecumenal Way, says Tim Rohr, another outspoken critic of the archbishop who offers daily updates on local church issues on his blog Jungle Watch.

GUAM
Jungle Watch

The story can be found here. Following is the comment I posted on the PDN website.

Here's a few facts for now. Not that they matter to Apuron.

The 7 million dollar debt was incurred in the building of the Saint Therese chapel and the addition of the museum at the Cathedral. Both projects were approved by all the required boards and councils and ultimately signed off on by Apuron, since HE is the only person who can do so.

The loan is current and is amortized over 30 years. It is also fairly recent. And as anyone with a mortgage knows, the mortgagee makes little headway knocking down the principal for the first several years. Apuron approved the projects with enthusiasm because they made him look good. There will be more facts to come, but for now:

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Jul. 30, 2014

Archbishop Anthony Apuron yesterday said Monsignor James Benavente was removed as rector of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica because of poor financial management.

The Cathedral-Basilica and the Catholic cemeteries are millions of dollars in the red, according to the archbishop, and accounting practices are so "inappropriate" the cemeteries' funding cannot be properly audited.

Apuron released a statement, shortly before a huge crowd of Benavente supporters gathered at the steps of the Cathedral-Basilica, that he decided "a change in administration" at the Cathedral-Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries of Guam Inc. is necessary so accounting practices can be re-established and financial audits can be completed.

Benavente, who had been the rector at the Cathedral-Basilica for nearly 20 years, declined to comment on the allegations.

He did say a prayer before a few hundred of his supporters who gathered despite strong winds and rain outside the Cathedral-Basilica and across the street from the church in Hagåtña.

CANADA
Advertiser

Rosie Mullaley
Published on July 29, 2014

A woman suspected of swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Patrick's Parish in St. John's will go to trial this fall.

Dianne Clare Coady wasn't in provincial court Monday when her case was called. Instead, she was represented by her lawyer Amanda MacDougall.

MacDougall and Crown prosecutor Mike Murray agreed to have the trial begin Nov. 3. Murray told Judge Colin Flynn that the trial is expected to last two weeks.

Coady has pleaded not guilty to three charges - theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and uttering forged documents.

OHIO
National Catholic Reporter

Nicholas Sciarappa | Jul. 21, 2014

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests donated $1,000 to a Catholic Worker house that shelters homeless women after the Cincinnati archdiocese retracted its funding because a woman priest led a prayer service at the shelter.

The archdiocese had promised Lydia's House, which offers shelter to homeless women and their children, $1,000 toward the purchase of a new washer and dryer. A number of community organizations support the house, which can hold up to four women and six children, and the archdiocese was an irregular donor.

"We spent the money in June with the promise that it would be reimbursed at the start of the new fiscal year July 1, and we submitted the receipt on July 5," said Mary Ellen Mitchell, one of the founders of Lydia's House. "We found out Wednesday, July 16, of this week that [the archdiocese] wouldn't do the reimbursement."

The archdiocese withdrew the donation after learning that Debra Meyers would hold a July 20 prayer service at the house. Meyers is a Roman Catholic Woman Priest, but the house's monthly newsletter, which contained information about the prayer service, did not identify her as such.

TEXAS
Cleburne Times-Review

By Matt Smith/ msmith@trcle.com

Fort Worth police arrested Pastor Dan Haby of the Cowboy Way Church in Alvarado on Friday in Alvarado on two counts of indecency with a child, FWPD Sgt. Raymond Bush confirmed Tuesday morning.

Haby used to live in Fort Worth and the alleged assault occurred between 2000 and 2001 and involved a then 15-year-old male victim, police said. The victim contacted police in June and investigators subsequently obtained two arrest warrants for indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Members of the FWPD Fugitive Unit arrested Haby at his home without incident. He was transported to the Fort Worth Jail and his bonds were set at $30,000. He has since bonded out, police said.

Haby, 51, is listed as Cowboy Way Church of Alvarado’s lead elder and pastor on the church’s website and has been with the church since its inception in 2005.

TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

BY DEANNA BOYD
dboyd@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — The pastor of the Cowboy Way Church in Alvardo was charged Tuesday with indecency with a child on accusations that he molested a teen boy several years ago while he was pastor at another church.

Dan Haby Jr., 51, was arrested at his Alvarado home by Fort Worth fugitive officers Friday afternoon on two arrest warrants accusing him of indecency with a child by sexual contact. He was later released from jail after posting a $30,000 bond.

Leigh Williams, children’s pastor at Cowboy Way Church, said Tuesday afternoon that Haby would love to comment but was advised to let his attorney, Daniel Hernandez, handle questions about the case. She said she also could not comment on Haby’s current status with the church in light of his arrest.

“At the advice of the attorney, I can’t comment unfortunately,” Wiilliams said. “There’s lots that I would like to say but I’m going under what the attorney has advised us to do.”

Hernandez has not returned a phone message left at his office.

TEXAS
WFAA

Posted on July 29, 2014

FORT WORTH -- The pastor of Cowboy Way Church in Alvarado has been arrested, accused of molesting a teenager nearly 15 years ago.

According to our content partners at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dan Haby, 51, is accused of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Police believe he molested a teen boy while he was the pastor at Stockyards Community Church in 2000 and 2001. The victim, now an adult, was 15 at the time.

Two arrest warrants were issued and Haby was taken into custody at his home Friday. He was released on bond.

WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times

1943 - 2014 | Obituary

David Peter Jaeger

July 27, 1943 ~ July 22, 2014

The family of David Jaeger sadly announces his death on July 22, 2014 from the complications of Alzheimer's disease. David was born July 27, 1943 in Seattle to Peter & Lorrayne Jaeger and was raised in the Green Lake area with his three younger sisters Marilyn Jaeger Veomett, Patti Jaeger Quinn, and Debbie Jaeger Knaub. He attended St. Benedict's school and Blanchet High School before entering St. Edward's Seminary in Kenmore as a sophomore in high school. David was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Seattle on May 19, 1969. He served as associate pastor in Vancouver, Wa and Everett and then in several administrative positions. His final assignment was directing Archdiocesan ministries to Gays and Lesbians as well as heading the Catholic AIDS ministry. He resigned from ministry in 2005 and then worked as the manager of the Helpline Call Center at the headquarters of the Society of St. Vincent DePaul until his retirement in 2012. He has resided at Gaffney House on First Hill since September 2013 due to the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A priest and the former director of seminarians for the Seattle Archdiocese has died. We hope he is not given a burial of a priest in good standing.

As the head of seminarians for the Seattle Archdiocese, Fr. David Jaeger, let a known abuser, Fr. Paul Joseph Conn, perform duties as a priest. Jaeger himself is an admitted child molester, having acknowledged abusing 8-10 boys. He was voluntarily defrocked in 2005.

We hope his victims find peace from his death. We are glad that he can no longer hurt any more children And we hope Catholic officials do not callously rub salt into the wounds of victims by giving Jaeger a large and pomp-filled funeral.

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | July 29, 2014

(RNS) When victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests first organized into a small band of volunteer activists in the late 1980s, reports of clergy molesting children were still new and relatively few. Most were minimized as anomalies or dismissed altogether — much the way the victims were.

But today, as the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, marks its 25th anniversary at a conference in Chicago (Aug. 1-3), its members can take satisfaction in seeing that its claims have been validated, and a few (though hardly all) of its recommendations have been implemented by the church hierarchy.

And instead of facing constant verbal attacks and the occasional angry parishioner spitting on them at a protest, SNAP’s members today are far more likely to receive a handshake and a word of thanks, and maybe even a donation.

SNAP’s advocacy on the Catholic scandal also helped push the reality of sexual abuse into the public consciousness to the point that victims can regularly win in courts and get a hearing in the media, and they are much more likely to come forward to tell their stories, whether they were abused by clergy or by athletic coaches or Boy Scout leaders.

Yet that success is also presenting SNAP with a daunting new challenge as it looks to the future: how to respond to a flood of new inquiries from victims from other faiths and institutions, and how to push for changes beyond the familiar precincts of the Catholic Church.

UNITED STATES
Darkness to Light

Recently I had the pleasure of having breakfast with my friend and colleague, Boz Tchividjian. I’m so thankful for the friendship he and I have developed and while talking he gave me one more reason to be thankful. He brought to my attention something I had not given enough consideration. It’s from his insight this article originated.

We were discussing the reasons behind why I didn’t say something about my abuse and why other survivors don’t tell or speak up while the abuse is occurring. During the conversation I told him something my mom had said to me. He stopped me and said it was important and to say it again.

He asked if there had been any indications to anyone that the abuse that was happening. I told him about one man in my life who had been a positive, male role-model for me. When I was about 13, he was talking with my mom about my abuser (but at this time no one knew) and said, “there’s something that’s not quite right about that guy spending all this time with those boys. I can’t put my finger on it but I know there’s something that’s just not right.” To which my mom said, “If something were going on with David, he would tell me.”

It’s those last four words that bears repeating…“he would tell me”.

My mom and I have a strong and healthy bond. Because my dad was not in the picture for the first 23 years of my life, it resulted in mom and I having lots of time together and the opportunity to forge an incredible relationship that we still have to this day. I would go so far as to say it’s an uncommonly good relationship as parent/child relationships go. I remember while growing up, most of my friends saying at some point, “I just can’t talk to my mom or dad about…”. I never had that issue with my mom. We were always close and always talked about everything. I remember telling her when I had sex for the first time. I told her about the first time I used drugs. When I got arrested for said drugs, it was my mom I called to bail me out. So it’s clear you can see I’ve felt comfortable enough in telling her about the good, the bad and the ugly.

PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By John Luciew | jluciew@pennlive.com
on July 29, 2014

A western Pennsylvania congregation is being rocked by a child sex abuse scandal involving the church's youth pastor and a 15-year-old girl.

According to the Associated Press, 33-year-old Brian Keith Smith of Westmoreland County is charged with aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and possession of child pornography, stemming from explicit cellphone pictures he received from the girl.

The youth pastor of the Journey By Grace Church stands accused of performing sex acts with the 15-year-old girl in the church building, AP reports.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, Smith told Rostraver Township police he and the girl "knew it was wrong," AP wrote.

Journey By Grace Church Pastor Bill Bailey told AP that church officials contacted police when they learned of the relationship earlier this month, firing Smith.

ZAMBIA
Lusaka Times

Fourty-Seven year-old Bishop Dominic Nyondo who was arrested last week for allegedly sexually abusing nine young girls from his Church has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of sexual abuse in a Kitwe magistrates court.

Bishop Nyondo of Holy Fire Christian Ministry Church in Kitwe has been charged with three counts of defilement, three counts of rape and three counts of indecent assault .

This was after he allegedly sexually abused the girls aged between 14 and 20 years on the pretext that he was cleansing them of evil spirits.

Bishop Nyondo of House number 853 Ipusukilo township in Kitwe is accused of allegedly having sex with three girls below the age of sixteen between April 2010 and November 2011.

He is further accused of allegedly having sex with three women without their consent between December 2013 and June 2014 and further indecently assaulting three women during the same period.

The accused person is said to have undressed his victims while he prayed for them, ‘anointed’ them with milk and later had sex with them.

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, CA, Western Regional Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 949-322-7434 cell, jcasteix@gmail.com )

A leading figure in the Zen Buddhist movement in the US, who had dozens of abuse allegations against him, has died.

Joshu Sasaki Roshi allegedly sexually abused hundreds of students. Some of the allegations were reported to the Rinzai-ji board, but no action was ever taken. A group of independent Buddhist leaders investigated the claims against Roshi and said” "we have reports that those who chose to speak out were silenced, exiled, ridiculed, or otherwise punished.”

We hope his passing will give some comfort to the many individuals he abused. We also hope it will liberate others he hurt so they can disclose their pain, share their burdens and begin to heal.

Roshi's backers talk of how much good he did. The same could be said about most sex offenders. Many of them work in "helping professions" and volunteer their time at non-profits and perform great service to others. That, however, doesn't negate the severe harm they cause. Nor should it cause us to ignore or minimize that harm.

MICHIGAN
WOOD

He called his Christian Radio Program "Family Friendly" He was anything but. Appearing in Grand Rapids Federal Court today John Balyo will be required to describe in details the crimes he committed against children. Most of his testimony will probably be unfit for broadcast. He will be sentenced to 15 to 50 years in prison. At best he would be 50 years old before he is released, if he does his full sentence he'd be 85. Of course he still faces local charges in Calhoun County and a local conviction would probably keep the pervert in prison for the rest of his life.

Homeland security officials said when he was arrested, Balyo was on the verge of even more serious crimes.

MICHIGAN
WOOD

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former Grand Rapids Christian radio host John Balyo is headed to prison after entering a guilty plea in federal court on two charges involving child pornography and sexually assaulting a child.

Balyo, 35, was very soft spoken and to the point when he spoke in court Tuesday morning, replying “Yes, your honor,” and “No, your honor” when questioned by the judge.

When explaining his actions that led up to the charges, Balyo, who is also facing state charges in a separate case in Calhoun County, showed no emotion. At one point, he said he knew what he did was wrong.

According to his plea, Baylo met with another man and a 12-year-old boy in a Kalamazoo hotel room in April. The men sexually assaulted the boy, who was paid cash by Baylo.

MICHIGAN
WZZM

John Hogan, WZZM July 29, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- Former WCSG radio host John Richard Balyo admitted today that he and a second man handcuffed a 12-year-old boy to a motel bed, sexually abused him and took nine photos during the April encounter.

"I did take images of a child and they were sexually explicit involving bondage and nudity,'' Balyo admitted today in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. "I performed sex acts as described. I knew it was wrong.''

Balyo and Ronald Lee Moser paid the boy for his involvement in the April 19th assault. His hands and feet were handcuffed and he was tied to the bed, according to courtroom statements today.

While bound, Balyo took nine photos of the boy, first in his underwear and then naked.

MICHIGAN
WLNS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A former host at a popular Christian radio station in western Michigan is pleading guilty in a child pornography investigation.

John Balyo was in Grand Rapids federal court today, just weeks after his arrest on state charges at a Christian music festival in Gaylord.

Balyo faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of fifty years in prison. He must also register as a sex offender.

The 35-year-old Balyo is charged with sexual exploitation and possessing child pornography. His signed plea deal was filed in court Thursday.

MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com
on July 29, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Former Christian radio host John Balyo admitted Tuesday, July 29, that he photographed sex acts with a 12-year-old boy at a Kalamazoo County hotel.

The child was held to the bed in restraints.

“I performed a sexual act as described and I knowingly possessed the images on my camera,” Balyo, 34, of Caledonia, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ellen Carmody.

“I knew it was wrong.”

Balyo pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography, crimes that could put him away for up to 50 years.

GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Following the removal of Monsignor James Benavente as rector for the Cathedral Basilica and director of director of the Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Agana, Archbishop Anthony Apuron today finally issued a statement on the matter.

In a press release he stated that based on the findings of a recent audit he decided that a change in administration in the two entities was necessary and urgent to re-establish proper accounting practices, complete a financial review , financial report and an audit.

According to Apuron an audit conducted by Deloitte & Touche revealed the Cathedral and Catholic Cemeteries have about $7 million in indebtedness. He added the firm determined the accounting practices, especially in the Catholic Cemeteries are "inappropriate" and that an audit is not possible until appropriate accounting has been reestablished in the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam. The archbishop removed Monsignor James from his positions, exactly one week after he celebrated his 20 year anniversary. The monsignor has denied any wrongdoing.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with video]

Guam - The controversy continues to boil at the Archdiocese of Agana as dozens of supporters, including island dignitaries, gathered in prayer for the latest crisis to hit the Catholic church, the termination of Monsignor James Benavente as rector of the Cathedral.

Monsignor James’ removal comes just days after Father John Wadeson was removed for a sex scandal dating back to the 1970s. But the Archdiocese denies any claims that the two events are in any way related.

Little is known about why Monsignor James Benavente was fired from the church as rector of the Cathedral de Basilica. Neither the Archdiocese nor Monsignor James have revealed the reasons. The news became public when Monsignor James informed his fellow brothers and sisters of his removal.

Tim Rohr is a close catholic observer who maintains a blog about the Catholic community on Guam. He tells PNC what he’s learned of Monsignor James’ removal.

"He’s accusing not just Monsignor James, but Monsignor James, Richard Untalan, Joe Rivera and Sister Steven Torres, who were the four members of the archdiocesan finance council that the archbishop terminated after they refused to permit the conveyance of the title of the old Accion hotel property to a separate corporation away from the archdiocese. And so the archbishop is accusing Monsignor James and those other three of trying to sell that property without the archbishop’s permission," explains Rohr.

GUAM
Jungle Watch

10:59 PM. I made this post at 2:52 PM at which time there were 761 votes. By 8:40 PM the Archbishop's A grade had risen from 11% to 48% with about 10 "A"'s added per minute. The activity continued till 9:20 PM when the A grade rose to 56% and is still continuing. All that activity began after I posted this poll. So we obviously know who reads my blog, as if we didn't know already. (I catch Adrian on here all the time, the Archbishop too.)

It's very simple, Tim Rohr posted hugely embarrassing numbers and the Neo's mobilized. But no matter. Everyone knows that you can click as much as you want on these polls so they don't mean anything. What matters is that we have a lying, lawless bishop and a chancery seething with jealously and hate. It is now on display for all to see. Why else would they release their report to the media damning Msgr. James at the very moment his prayer vigil was beginning?

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

Two entities under Guam's Catholic church have about $7 million in debts that have been reduced only "marginally," and the financial woes led to a change in administration, Archbishop Anthony Apuron stated yesterday.

The archbishop recently announced the removal of Monsignor James Benavente from being rector at the Numbre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica. The Cathedral-Basilica and the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam incurred the debts, the archbishop stated.

The $7 million accounts for about "one quarter" of the total indebtedness of the Archdiocese of Agana, the archbishop stated.

NEW ZEALAND
Newstalk

By: Emily Murphy, Latest Crime News | Tuesday July 29 2014

A decision over whether a former Catholic brother facing hundreds of sex charges will be extradited to Australia has reached the final stage.

Bernard McGrath is wanted in Australia on 252 charges for alleged offending against boys in New South Wales.

The charges date back over 30 years.

Justice Minister Judith Collins says she'll consider submissions sent to her from McGrath before making her final decision.

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis ( 314-566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

Priest who pled guilty is back on the job
Dallas bishop quietly transferred him to new posts
Just three years ago, he admitted to “inappropriate touching”
But some allegations against the cleric go back almost 40 years

The Catholic bishop of Dallas has quietly put back on the job a priest who pleaded no contest three years ago to misdemeanor assault charges for inappropriately touching of a 14-year-old girl, a support group has learned.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say that Fr. Robert Crisp now does prison ministry, according to the Dallas diocese webpage.

They also say that a concerned Catholic informed them that Fr. Crisp also ministers at St. Joseph Village, a retirement home, in Coppell (1201 E. Sandy Lake Road)

(To confirm the latter, SNAP urges reporters to call Fr. Crisp's private line: 972-879-8474 or the home: 972-304-0300.)

“Bishop Kevin Farrell should be ashamed of himself,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “He's apparently given not one but two job assignments to a convicted sex offender, directly contradicting the so-called 'zero tolerance' promise he and his brother bishops have bragged about for years.”

“It's ironic that in the very city where America's bishops solemnly and repeatedly pledged 'one strike and you're out', Bishop Farrell secretly puts an admitted child molester back around unsuspecting Catholics,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP's outreach director. “How many grandkids visit relatives at this facility? And is Fr. Crisp being allowed to work in parishes too?”

“For decades, bishops have done what Farrell is now doing: moving a proven predator to another job and claiming that somehow a child predator won't gain access to kids in this position or that position,” Dorris stressed. “But there's a reason civilized societies jail molesters: because unless we do, they'll find a way to win parents' trust and abuse children again, no matter what job title or position they may be given.”

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A child sex abuse and cover up trial started yesterday against a Kansas City pastor who is the former head of the State Board of Education.

The civil suit was filed in January 2013 in Jackson County Circuit Court “by a Kansas City-area woman identified as Jane Doe” and “alleges that the Rev. Stan Archie began committing repeated acts of sexual misconduct against (her) when she went to him for counseling at 15,” according to the KC Star.

“Archie is co-founder and senior pastor of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church at 4509 Troost Ave. in Kansas City. The lawsuit is the second in a year alleging sexual misconduct against Archie,” the Star reports.

We beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rev. Archie's crimes to come forward immediately and help this brave young woman expose a dangerous predator.

We were disturbed by Rev. Archie's initial public response to allegations that he sexually exploited a church member. He claimed that a church investigation cleared him, but gave no details.

It's disingenuous to claim that a church investigates its own pastor and that some other anonymous body allegedly did so too. Why refuse to name the organization that supposedly checked out the accusations? Because Rev. Archie's denial of sexual misconduct is so vague and is issued through his lawyer, it rings hollow.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Jul. 29, 2014

MILWAUKEE
The Milwaukee archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy, but is it too broke to pay its legal bills?

Currently, the archdiocese has paid or owes just shy of $14 million in legal and professional fees related to the bankruptcy. As the debtor, the archdiocese is required by federal law to pay the legal expenses of those who have filed claims as well as its own lawyers. Lawyers for the archdiocese filed a 63-page statement to back up a $204,451 bill for the month of June alone.

The legal bills are far greater than the $4 million the archdiocese offered survivors of sex abuse before filing for bankruptcy on Jan. 4, 2011. That prompted Peter Isely, the Midwest director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and one of the Milwaukee claimants, to question whether the archdiocese's actions are consistent with what Pope Francis has said.

"Although it is unclear what this pope is doing or not doing on the issue, one thing that is perfectly clear is that paying lawyers three to four times what they have offered victims is directly opposite to this pope's pontificate," Isely said. "He has said that victims have a right to and must be justly compensated."

James Stang, a lawyer representing the committee of creditors, most of them survivors of sexual abuse, says professionals on his side of the case were owed more than $2.3 million as of July 1. He asserts the archdiocese has the money to pay its bills but suggested the diocese is holding back payment in an effort to force a settlement. Stang has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley to reconsider her order that put payments to lawyers on hold nearly 18 months ago.

OHIO
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 29, 2014

TOLEDO, Ohio — An Internet site devoted to selling memorabilia from notorious killers is selling dirt said to be from the gravesite of a Roman Catholic priest convicted of killing a nun in Ohio.

The lot for sale on a website also includes a photo of the Rev. Gerald Robinson in his coffin.

Robinson was serving a life prison sentence for strangling Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980 at a hospital where they worked. He died July 4 and was buried in his Toledo hometown.

A Toledo man says he took the photo of Robinson at his funeral and then struck a deal to sell it on a website called serialkillersink.net.

MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A former Michigan Christian radio host is set to plead guilty to making and possessing child pornography. We hope he gets the toughest sentence possible.

John Balyo was charged with taking pornographic images of a 12 year old boy and possession of child porn. We urge the judge in his case to sentence him to the maximum sentencing, which is 50 years in jail. This is a dangerous predator and he should be kept away from children for as long as possible.

We also urge parents and officials in Kalamazoo County who may have had contact with Balyo to share any suspicions they have and talk to their children. Every church or school group where Balyo spoke or spent time with should also do aggressive outreach to find others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.

Finally, we urge law enforcement officials to keep digging. Very often, in crimes like this, others in leadership positions ignored or concealed the wrongdoing. They should be identified, exposed, prosecuted and punished too, so that future cover ups are deterred.

PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A Pennsylvania youth minister has been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse and has admitted abusing her for several months. We are grateful to the witnesses who came forward with their suspicions and urge anyone else with information to come forward to police.

Brian Keith Smith was the youth minster at Journey by Grace Church and led their youth program, The Joshua Project. The victim is a 15 year old girl who joined the youth group in 2013.

We urge officials at Journey by Grace to reach out to all congregants urging them to speak up if they suspect anything and to talk to their children. They should urge anyone who saw, suspects or suffered abuse to report to police. It is possible that there are more victims suffering in silence and self blame.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A 33-year-old youth pastor in Pennsylvania has been arrested after he was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at his church.

Court documents filed by Rostraver Police accused Journey By Grace Church’s Brian Keith Smith of felony indecent assault of a minor younger than 16, felony possession of child pornography and several other misdemeanors, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The criminal complaint stated that the Smith recruited the girl to join his youth group, The Joshua Project, in September of 2013.

“At this point in time, the victim reported that the defendant began driving her home from church after youth group meetings,” the complaint said. “The victim stated in late fall of 2013 they began to frequently send text messages to each other. Victim stated that soon after the frequent text messages, the defendant would drive her home. While driving, the defendant would stroke the victim’s face which encouraged intimacy.”

Smith is accused of first kissing the victim in February of 2014. By mid-July, the assault had escalated to penetrating her with his fingers, exchanging oral sex, and other sexual contact, according to police.

DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbruecker Zeitung

[Summary: A Lebacher priest in July 2012 was accused to attempting to sexually abuse a 15-year-old. The prosecution closed the case in March so the Trier diocese has restored the priest to service. The 68-year-old priest is retired.]

Lebach/Trier. Das Bistum Trier hat die Beurlaubung eines ehemaligen Pfarrers von Lebach aufgehoben, der wegen des Verdachts des sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Minderjährigen seine Ämter hatte niederlegen müssen. Das kirchenrechtliche Verfahren sei zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass dem Priester „kein strafrechtlich relevantes Vergehen im Sinne der Leitlinien der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz für den Umgang mit sexuellem Missbrauch Minderjähriger“ nachgewiesen werden könne, teilte das Bistum mit. Der 68-jährige Pfarrer ist inzwischen im Ruhestand, ist aber dem Bistum zufolge bereit, „nach Kräften“ Aushilfen und Vertretungen zu übernehmen. Es sei jedoch mit Bischof Stephan Ackermann vereinbart worden, dass er sich von der Pfarreiengemeinschaft Lebach fernhalten werde. Nur so sei nach den „für alle Beteiligten belastenden“ Monaten eine „ungestörte pastorale Arbeit“ möglich.

MISSOURI
KSPR

TANEY COUNTY, Mo. -
The latest civil suit against Kanakuk Ministries is claiming that the organization allowed Peter Newman to violate its rules and regulations at their camp and did not take any disciplinary actions.

According to documents in the 46-page-long suit filed on behalf of "John Doe II", Newman was naked in front of under-aged boys who were also naked during activities at the camp.

A mother of one of the campers reported the incident to organizers of Kanakuk by the lawsuit claims Newman was never punished. It goes on to claim that Newman was promoted to a higher position after the allegations surfaced several years ago.

The following is from a KSPR report written in July of 2011:

Taney County, Mo — The family of a former camper that is suing Kanakuk Kamp is asking a judge for a restraining order against the camp, it’s CEO Joe White and former director Pete Newman. Since appearing in the case, the family says Joe White and the camp have contacted them by mail, telephone and email despite repeated requests to not contact them. The family is suing the camp because they say camp leaders failed to prevent the molestation of their son even though there were warning signs. They are suing under the names John and Jane Doe.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By CHRISTINE MAI-DUC

Buddhist teacher Joshu Sasaki Roshi, a leading figure in Zen Buddhism in America whose legacy was later complicated by allegations of sexual abuse, has died. He was 107.

Roshi died Sunday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Gento Steve Krieger, head monk at Rinzai-ji, also known as the Cimarron Zen Center, in Jefferson Park. He died of complications of old age, Krieger said.

Roshi arrived in Los Angeles more than 50 years ago and was among a wave of Japanese teachers to tailor Zen Buddhism teachings to westerners. He once pledged to students that he would not die “until Zen is born in America.”

“He was a Zen master,” Krieger said. “I don’t know anybody else who lives that completely and that fully. When you meet somebody like that, it changes your opinion of what a human being is.”

He opened dozens of Zen centers, including one on Mt. Baldy known for its rigorous training regimen.

Decades later, allegations from dozens of former students that he had sexually abused them surfaced. The allegations included molestation and rape, and some had been reported to the Rinzai-ji board, which never took effective action, according to an investigation by an independent council of Buddhist leaders.

The council's report suggested he may have abused hundreds. "We see how, knowingly and unknowingly, the community was drawn into an open secret," the council wrote. "We have reports that those who chose to speak out were silenced, exiled, ridiculed, or otherwise punished.”

CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

LISA GREGOIRE

The fate of thousands of pages of testimony about physical, sexual and psychological abuse at Canada’s notorious residential schools now lies with Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell, but at least one residential school survivor hopes they are not destroyed.

Piita Irniq, who attended three residential schools, including Chesterfield Inlet’s Joseph Bernier School and its notorious Turquetil Hall residence, and who publicly, and repeatedly, disclosed the extent of abuse he suffered there, said July 28 that destroying those documents would be a grave injustice.

“If that happens, then you’re destroying the words of healing, you’re destroying the experience,” Irniq said.

“Were the Jews’ statements about the Holocaust destroyed too? If you destroy them, you destroy the history of Aboriginal people. The pain and the healing would go away.”

OHIO
NBC 24

by Angi Gonzalez

TOLEDO -- A Toledo man is behind a new online auction of items with a connection to one of the Glass City's most notorious murder cases.

Dan Clay teamed up with the owner of Serial Killers Ink, Eric Holler, to sell a small group of items he collected following the recent passing of Father Gerald Robinson.

Earlier this month, Robinson passed away while serving time for a murder conviction in the stabbing death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

"The entire lot is the picture of Father Robinson, the four ounce vile of dirt [from Robinson's grave], his funeral obit card, and copy of The Blade that details the funeral," Clay said of collection priced at $350.

The picture of Robinson, which NBC24 has decided not to include in this story, shows the Toledo priest in an open casket and wearing what appears to be clerical garments.

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (posted 28 July 2014)

Police allege that a Christian Brother, William Edwin Marchant, sexually abused a seven-year-old child who was visiting a Catholic school in Western Australia in the 1970s. Marchant, who is no longer a member of the Christian Brothers, made a brief appearance in Broome Magistrates Court on 28 July 2014.

Marchant, now aged 77, is accused of indecently dealing with a boy at the Christian Brothers Agricultural School near Tardun in Western Australia's mid-west.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between 1970 and 1971 when the seven-year-old boy regularly attended social events at the school.

Police allege that, during these events, the boy was indecently assaulted by Marchant, who was a Christian Brother at the time.

Marchant is facing two counts of indecently dealing with a boy under 14 years.

AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

July 29, 2014

David Ellery
Reporter for The Canberra Times.

The Marist Brothers may have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional damages to victims of serial paedophile and former Marist College Canberra teacher Kostka (John) Chute.

Jason Parkinson of Porters Lawyers, who has already recovered millions of dollars in compensation for victims, said some of his past clients may have received less than they were entitled to because Marist Brothers had denied prior knowledge that Chute was an abuser.

Additional victims, who had not previously sought redress, have come forward as a result of recent publicity about Chute’s activities in the ACT and elsewhere.

Last month’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse hearing in Canberra was told the Marists had known that Chute was an abuser as early as 1960.

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Claire Moore
theguardian.com, Tuesday 29 July 2014

In November 2012 Julia Gillard, Jenny Macklin and Nicola Roxon announced the establishment of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The Labor government believed that heartbreaking allegations of child sexual abuse justified a royal commission. We also believed that the government must do everything it can to make sure what has happened in the past is never allowed to happen again.

Since it was established in January of last year, the royal commission has interviewed over 1,600 survivors of child sexual abuse, and received a similar number of written accounts of abuse. It made clear in its interim report out last month that if its reporting date is not extended by two years, then many survivors will be denied the opportunity to report their experiences, in particular those from vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups.

We are still waiting for the Abbott government to respond to that request.

In its interim report, the royal commission said this extension is essential for it to complete the public hearings to fulfilling its terms of reference. I am not surprised – the inquiry opened a floodgate. Courage begets courage. Initial public and private hearings encouraged others to come out of the silence. Around 3,000 people are on a waiting list to give evidence in closed session.

OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY TK BARGER
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

A Toledo man who organizes tours of local crime scenes and gravesites has collected memorabilia of Gerald Robinson — including dirt from the priest’s grave and a photograph of him in his coffin — to sell online for $350.

On Monday, the Web site serialkillersink.net offered items related to Robinson’s burial as a one-time lot. Robinson was the Roman Catholic priest who was convicted in 2006 of the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl and died in prison July 4.

Dan Clay of East Toledo had taken a photo of Robinson in his casket, dressed in priestly vestments, at the funeral home and collected dirt from Robinson’s grave, where he was buried next to his parents in Calvary Cemetery.

Along with those items, Mr. Clay is offering a memorial card from Robinson’s funeral and The Blade’s July 12 front page that includes an article on the funeral. He does not have Blade permission to reprint or resell the newspaper.

OHIO
WSPD

Posted Tuesday, July 29th 2014 @ 6am by Michael Miller

The “true crime collectables” website Serial Killers Ink is offering a set of items related to Toledo priest Gerald Robinson’s funeral. Toledo Free Press reports the one-time lot, priced at $350, includes a photograph of Robinson in his casket, soil from Robinson’s burial plot, a memorial card from Robinson’s funeral and a copy of the July 12 Blade featuring an article about the funeral. The webste is brokering the items on behalf of Toledoan Dan Clay, founder of Grave Fixations, which offers local crime scene and graveyard tours. Robinson died July 4. He was serving a sentence of 15 years to life for the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, for which he was convicted in 2006.

VATICAN CITY
Rorate Caeli

Marco Tosatti
senior religious correspondent for La Stampa

It is difficult to write about something that is vague and has indistinct contours as in an interview with seeming contradictions, but not contradictory in a general sense, such as the latest interview between Eugenio Scalfari and the Pope. But there is an aspect of the conversation that merits attention, because it poses questions of great weight. One of these questions concerns sexual abuse by clerics. At a certain point, in his reconstruction of the conversation, Scalfari writes that he asked how widespread this phenomenon is. The Pope responded, according to Scalfari, in this way:

“Many of my consultants who are in this struggle with me assure me on the basis of reliable data that they estimate that pedophilia in the Church is at the level of two percent. This should have reassured me, but I must say to you that it did not reassure me at all. I consider it on the contrary a most grave matter. The two percent of pedophiles are priests and even bishops and cardinals. And others, even more numerous, know but are silent, they punish but say nothing about the reason for the punishment. I find this state of things unsustainable, and it is my intention to confront it with the severity that it demands.

The sentence ends this way, without the closing quotations marks.

But it is the figure of two percent reported by Scalfari that creates a great deal of perplexity. And one must ask: a) if the Pope really said that; b) who gave him these figures? c) did Scalfari report this correctly? There are 410,000 priests in the world. Two percent of these comes to eight thousand. This is data that contrasts with that which has been accepted heretofore.

UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
July 28, 2014

The Italian journalist Vittorio Messori has made a career of interviewing popes. So it's no surprise that he was recently asked to comment on another one of Eugenio Scalfari's controversial "interviews" with Pope Francis. Once again, Scalfari has reconstructed a conversation he had with the pope without the benefit of a recording or notes. And once again the Vatican has had to offer a clarification of the pope's alleged remarks--because, according to Scalfari, Francis told him that 2 percent of the world's priests, including bishops and cardinals, are pedophiles.

That's a lot of pedophile priests--about one in fifty. If the pope really said that (and it's not clear that he did), where did he get that figure? The traditionalist Catholic blog Rorate Caeli recently translated a report claiming that about .08 percent of abuse cases handled by the Vatican involve pedophile priests. The piece cites a couple of Vatican insiders who note that of all the abuse cases that make it to Rome only about 10 percent involve pedophilia.

About a week later the blog translated another Italian news item--this time an interview with Messori. In that conversation, the veteran Italian journalist was asked whether relaxing the celibacy rule would address the abuse crisis. His response makes you wonder whether he's been paying much attention to the scandal:

Nearly all of the cases of sexual abuse that have been investigated as having been committed by those in consecrated life were not committed on prepubescent children but on adolescents. All of these were male.

Bishop Charles Scicluna used to serve as the Vatican's chief prosecutor of abuse cases. He has said that 30 percent of the cases forwarded to Rome--and it's important to note that not all cases of accused clerics have been adjudicated by the Vatican--involved heterosexual abuse. I haven't seen it reported that every single postpubescent victim was male. In fact, there is no data on the pubescence of victims of clerical sexual abuse.

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O'Brien

Catholic World News reports that the Vatican has suspended all priestly ordinations in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

If this is true, it's an indication that something far more sinister has been brewing down there than just the elevation of an alleged child molesting homosexual cult leader to the position of Vicar General. This, after Bishop Martino of Scranton, PA made it clear that this man (Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity), who had been operating in his diocese, was not fit for ministry. The Diocese of Scranton states (my emphasis) ...

Bishop Martino clearly expressed his reservations concerning Father Urrutigoity, who was identified as posing a serious threat to young people. Bishop Martino also carefully and consistently expressed his grave doubts about this cleric’s suitability for priestly ministry and cautioned the Bishop of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay to not allow Father Urrutigoity to incardinate into his diocese. Despite these serious cautions, Bishop Rogelio Livieres informed the Diocese of Scranton that he was allowing Father Urrutigoity to incardinate into his Paraguay diocese.

... and not only to incardinate (to be given the permission and the faculties to function as a priest there), but also to function as Vicar General in the diocese, becoming Bishop Livieres right-hand man.

Urrutigoity was kicked out of an SSPX (schismatic) seminary because of his sexual perversions, but then ran the Society of St. John in Scranton, where he slept with boys as a form of "spiritual direction". Back in 2002 Scranton's Independent Review Board suggested that Urrutigoity

should be removed from active ministry; his faculties should be revoked; and he should be asked to live privately.

For some reason Bishop Lvieres (a member of Opus Dei) ignored this.

TEXAS
KXAN

By Angie Beavin
Published: July 28, 2014

GEORGETOWN, Texas — For the first time, supporters of the victim in the Greg Kelley case in Williamson County are making their voices heard, adding to the growing community outrage.

The 19-year-old was sentenced earlier this month to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child. The sentence came as a punishment agreement between prosecutors and Kelley’s defense. The jury found him guilty of the crime and could have given him anywhere from 25 years to life in prison. The agreement to 25 years also meant he couldn’t appeal.

Monday, supporters of Kelley and his innocence wore orange, and they sat in silence outside of the Williamson County Jail. ...

Across the parking lot, people dressed in teal were supporting the victim in the case.

Janet Heimlich is the director of the Child-Friendly Faith Project, a group that advocates for victims of such abuse. She did not go to the demonstration Monday night, but says demonstrations like that of the Kelley’s supporters, especially when members of a church or faith community are involved, are harmful to victims.

“I think that maybe they don’t have a full appreciation of what kind of impact that can have when you have very public rallies in support of someone who has been convicted of sexually abusing a small child,” said Heimlich.

IRELAND
Irish Times

Vincent Twomey

Tue, Jul 29, 2014

According to the Government’s inter-departmental group, the proposed commission of investigation on mother and baby homes, the commission should be different from previous inquiries into child abuse and neglect: “The particular social and historical issues which the commission of investigation will be asked to explore are likely to distinguish the nature of its investigations from those of many other commissions.”

The report illustrates this by giving an impressive sketch of recent historical studies into the various issues raised by the treatment of unmarried mothers and their children in Ireland.

All this appears to stress an important difference between issues of criminality and neglect central to previous inquiries, and questions of social change and cultural change at the heart of our debate about mother and baby homes.

Former minister for health James Reilly seemed to take a similar approach. The goal of the commission, he announced in the Dáil (July 17th, 2014) was “to bring a true and clear picture of this part of our history into full public view.”

PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

Ross Guidotti

ROSTRAVER (KDKA) – A youth pastor in Westmoreland County has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

According to the criminal complaint, Brian Keith Smith, 33, of Belle Vernon, was arraigned on July 25.
As a youth pastor, Smith was supposed to show teens the value of faith and prayer, but police say he was a sexual predator.

“He was in a position of trust,” said Rostraver Police Chief Greg Resetar. “He should have discouraged activity like this as we know now he went to a different direction.”

Smith admitted to police that he and the girl engaged in sexual activities on multiple occasions inside the Journey By Grace church in Rostraver.

“Both of us knew it was wrong,” Smith told police.

The two also exchanged sexually explicit photos via text messages. Smith said the inappropriate contact began in February.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

July 28, 2014

By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A youth minister for a Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, church is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison after his arrest Friday for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl in his youth group.

Brian Keith Smith, 33, has been charged with the felonies of aggravated indecent assault of a minor younger than 16 and possession of child pornography, and with the misdemeanors of indecent assault of a minor younger than 16 and corruption of minors, for sexual acts with the girl at Journey By Grace Church on Route 51, according to a Rostraver police criminal complaint.

Mr. Smith and the victim began meeting at the church after the girl, who has not been identified, joined the church's youth group, The Joshua Project, in September 2013, the complaint states.

Mr. Smith, of Belle Vernon, told police he first kissed the teen in or around February 2014, and that between February and mid-July he penetrated her sexually with his fingers on several occasions, exchange oral sex with her on several occasions, and had other sexual contact on at least three occasions in a back room of the church, according to the criminal complaint.

MICHIGAN
WZZM

Gregory Ghering, WZZM July 24, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) -- US Attorney Patrick Miles has announced that John Balyo, a former host on a Christian radio station, is scheduled to plead guilty to federal charges related to child sexual exploitation.

The US Attorney's Office on Wednesday filed two counts against Balyo. The first one charged him with sexually-exploiting a 12-year-old boy to create child porn. The second count charged him with possessing child porn.

Under the plea deal reached Thursday, Balyo will plead guilty to both felonies and will forfeit "computers, photographic equipment, and material used to sexually abuse or exploit children," according to the US Attorney's statement, which also said the US Attorney will not seek more charges from a federal grand jury.

Balyo is scheduled to be arraigned and enter his guilty plea before US Magistrate Judge Ellen S. Carmody on July 29.

MICHIGAN
MLive

By Angie Jackson | ajackso3@mlive.com
on July 24, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- John Balyo, the former Christian radio host accused of creating pornographic images of a 12-year-old boy, is scheduled to plead guilty to federal charges.

Balyo, 35, of Caledonia, on Wednesday was charged with sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. Balyo on Thursday, July 24, agreed to plead guilty to both counts, records show.

As part of the plea, Balyo will forfeit his computers, photographic equipment and material used to sexually abuse or exploit children. The U.S. Attorney's Office will not seek additional charges.

The former morning show host for WCSG, a Christian station based in Grand Rapids, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 50 years. He will be arraigned and enter the guilty plea July 29.

MICHIGAN
SF Gate

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A former host at a popular Christian radio station in western Michigan is expected to plead guilty in a child pornography investigation.

Prosecutors say John Balyo is due in Grand Rapids federal court Tuesday, just weeks after his arrest on state charges at a Christian music festival in Gaylord.

The 35-year-old Balyo is charged with sexual exploitation and possessing child pornography. His signed plea deal was filed in court Thursday.

AUSTRALIA
Central Telegraph

A FOUR-year investigation by the ABC has uncovered shocking claims of abuse and torment in relation to NSW-based registered charity and religious group Christian Assemblies International (CAI).

Four Corners has revealed that self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams was using his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.

Courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a Christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.

The ex-members have remained in the shadows until now out of fear and shame, ABC News reports.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Fiona Henderson July 29, 2014

HORRIFIC claims of sexual and physical abuse by a former Ballarat teacher who founded religious cult Christian Assemblies International (CAI) have been unveiled by the ABC's Four Corners program.

Pastor Scott Williams, now 70, is also accused of misusing vast amounts of money donated by CAI members and building up a worldwide multi-million dollar property portfolio.

Mr Williams taught at Ballarat East High School in the 1970s before heading to Germany, where he worked in Feldafing as a pool attendant at a military school for young men.

In the late 70s, he began recruiting German teenagers and young adults to CAI, claiming he was The Anointed One, filled with the Holy Spirit and a gifted healer.

However, Four Corner's four year investigation showed Williams also carried out bizarre sexual rituals on males, including mass massage sessions and forcing men to perform sex acts on him, while financially, physically, verbally and spiritually abusing his members, particularly women and children.

AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Indrani Bhattacharyya | July 29, 2014

At the end of an investigation which took four long years, ABC News has found out painful details of incidents that used to take place within a NSW-based registered charity and religious group named Christian Assemblies International (CAI).

Four Corners brought out the truth to show that the self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams used his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a secret homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing enormous amount of member donations for personal purpose.

Heart wrenching true stories of abuse saw day light as former members decided to open up about the years of torment they went through at the hands of their 'cult leader'.

A young woman named Emily Wassmann shared the devastating experience of being born into and growing up in a twisted religious cult.

The women were mostly treated as slaves and suffered both physical and verbal abuse in the hands of men members. They were monitored at every step of life.

PENNSYLVANIA
Morning Times

Associated Press

ROSTRAVER, Pa. (AP) — A youth pastor has been fired by a western Pennsylvania church and jailed on charges he performed sex acts with a 15-year-old girl in their church building.

According to a criminal complaint, 33-year-old Brian Keith Smith told Rostraver Township police he and the girl "knew it was wrong." Smith is charged with aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and possession of child pornography — stemming from explicit cellphone pictures he received from the girl.

Journey By Grace Church Pastor Bill Bailey says church officials contacted police when they learned of the relationship earlier this month and fired Smith.

Smith's attorney didn't immediately return a call for comment Monday.

NIGERIA
allAfrica

Vanguard

A 53-year-old man who claims to be a Pastor, has been arrested by the Police in Nsukka, Enugu State, for allegedly impregnating married women and young girls in his church.

The Pastor, identified as Timothy Ngwu, is the General Overseer of Holy Trinity Ministry popularly called Vineyard Ministry in Umudikwere Community in the University town. Ironically, police sources said the suspect claims he was directed by the Holy Spirit to sexually abuse female members of his church in the name of God.

How he was exposed Crime Guard gathered that the alleged sexual exploits of the self-acclaimed man of God was blown open by his estranged wife, Veronica Ngwu, who hails from Udi Local Government Area in Enugu State.

The wife who has three children for the pastor was reportedly not comfortable with the ugly development and she lodged a complaint at the Anti-Child Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department, CID, Enugu.This led to the arrest of the pastor.

PARAGUAY
UCA News

Catholic World News/CatholicCulture.org Paraguay July 29, 2014 The Vatican has suspended priestly ordinations in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, according to multiple media reports.

Following an investigation of the diocese led by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, ordinations have been suspended until Pope Francis resolves difficulties in the diocese, reports indicate.

No public announcement has been made about the reason for the action. The Vatican ordered an investigation of the diocese following the revelation that a priest who was accused of sexual abuse while serving in the US was serving as vicar general in Ciudad del Este.

That report brought to a head tensions between the diocesan leader, Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, and other bishops in Paraguay, and complaints from lay activists about alleged irregularities in diocesan affairs.

The accused priest, Father Carlos Urrotigoity—who is identified by the Scranton, Pennsylvania diocese as a “serious threat to young people”—was reportedly removed from his post as vicar general earlier this month, at the request of the apostolic nuncio in Paraguay, Archbishop Eliseo Ariotti.

However, Bishop Livieres has defended Father Urrotigoity in the past, saying that thc charges against him are unproven.

LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY R. STEPHANIE BRUNO
SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE

In Gregory Alexander’s novel, “The Holy Mark: The Tragedy of a Fallen Priest,” Joseph Broussard is a lot like other boys growing up in New Orleans in the mid-20th century. He comes from a large Catholic family, he spends free time exploring with his cousins and he develops both rivalries and alliances with these other children that foreshadow his future.

The only obvious difference between Joe and his cousins is the “holy mark” on his scalp, or “segno sacro” as his Italian grandmother calls the red, chalice-shaped birthmark. To her, it is a sign that Joe is destined to become a priest, an ambition she has long harbored for one of her male descendants. But as the story unfolds, the reader comes to understand that the birthmark represents something chillingly sinister rather than holy and divine.

Alexander writes with pinpoint accuracy about the world that Joe (later Father Tony) inhabits, having experienced much of it himself. The author was born in New Orleans, lived here most of his life, and had an Italian great-grandmother who never learned to speak English. He attended Catholic schools and, after earning degrees in psychology and English, taught for 12 years at Cabrini and Jesuit high schools. Alexander’s life experiences have offered him a vantage point from which to observe first-hand the complex relationships that can sometimes arise in large families, as well as the political inner-workings of the Catholic Church.

More important to the theme of the novel, however, is the psychological portrait he paints of Father Tony, the “Fallen Priest” referenced in the novel’s subtitle.

Father Tony casts himself as mistreated by the Catholic hierarchy and grossly misunderstood, a priest following “in the footsteps of Jesus.” Moved from post to post because of his improprieties with teenaged boys in his care, he blames the politics of the Church, the rivalries in his family, and everyone but himself for his situation.

In his narcissistic world view, the Church and his conniving family are the ones responsible for his fate.

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Martin Marty

Posted: 07/28/2014

This post originally appeared in Sightings, an online publication of the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School.

GRACE acronates "Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment." Its story is well told in Kathryn Joyce's "By Grace Alone," an article in American Prospect (May/June; see "Sources," below). Please read it, since it offers background and details vital to the questions of "abuse."

I get asked, "Why doesn't Sightings do more with the Catholic priest abuse story?" (It's often blurted out as "Catholicpriestchildsexualabuse.") Why doesn't it? First, we don't overdo overly-familiar stories. This one dominates elsewhere annually. Also, we are not anti-Catholic, so we don't need it as an anti-Catholic pitch. In any case, the most persistent critics on this Catholic issue are themselves Catholics, wounded victims of abuse who hope to effect change.

Note, however, that the link "abuse=Catholic" obscures many realities, particularly accounts of abuse by perpetrators within other communions or movements. This week, inspired by the Joyce story, we focus on the non-Catholic world of Evangelicals and Fundamentalists.

We are not dealing with evangelical or fundamentalist outliers. The head of GRACE is Boz Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, There's no marginal evangelicalism in his family line! And note that Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell, is the school at which tireless Tchividjian teaches law. Also central to the Joyce story is Bob Jones University, the "mother ship" to some schools of fundamentalism.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just as Jesus commanded pastors to leave their flock to find the lost sheep, the church must set out in search of all those who have been abused by clergy and offer them help, said one abuse survivor.

Victims of abuse should be the focus of a new pastoral ministry since they are isolated, hurting, vulnerable to self-harm and suicide, and in need of Christ's true healing, said Mark Vincent Healy, one of the six abuse survivors who met Pope Francis at the Vatican July 7.

In his private meeting with the pope, Healy said, "I needed to tell His Holiness just how awful it is when there is no justice, no one listening on a humanitarian level," and how all that isolation and guilt push people to suicide or self-harm and addictions.

He also told the pope how much spiritual help both survivors and the church need. Healy spoke with Catholic News Service by telephone from Ireland July 25.

PARAGUAY
GlobalPost

Alex Leff
July 28, 2014

The Vatican has ordered a church in eastern Paraguay to dismiss a priest accused of sexually abusing young men in the United States, according to Paraguayan press reports.

The Ciudad del Este diocese’s reported firing of Argentine priest Carlos Urrutigoity followed a recent investigative report by GlobalPost into his rise to power in the South American city, despite a string of molestation allegations against him.

The reporting, and local media coverage that followed, unleashed a flood of controversy over the priest’s continued work in the church — which had promoted him to the No. 2 post of vicar general.

According to legal documents reviewed by GlobalPost, seminarians in Minnesota and Pennsylvania made allegations against Urrutigoity that included his touching one young man’s genitals and asking another to insert anal suppositories in front of him. Clergy members from Switzerland to Scranton have issued warnings that the Argentine is “dangerous” and “a serious threat to young people.”

Urrutigoity has denied the allegations and never been criminally charged for them. But US activists have campaigned for him to be punished. That movement has gained fierce voices in Paraguay — and it appears to have gotten an answer from the pope.

UNITED STATES
Our Stories Untold

By STEPHANIE KREHBIEL on Jul 24, 2014

This is a strange time to be writing about Mennonites and sexuality. In less than a year, I’m scheduled to defend my dissertation on sexual diversity, LGBTQ Anabaptist activism, and the effects of heterosexism in Mennonite institutions. And just following the news cycle is keeping me so busy that I have to force myself to write.

Anyone who reads this blog is probably aware of all the things that have been happening in the Mennonite Church USA lately that both challenge and reaffirm the dominant heterosexist practices of its institutions and communities. What I’d like to talk about here is how those practices intersect with the enormous and still largely unrecognized problem that Mennonites have with sexualized violence.

You might be nodding now, if you know from experience how bad that problem is. Or you might be wondering, “Is it really as bad as all that?” Or—the question I sometimes get when I tell Mennonites about my research—“Are Mennonites really any worse than anybody else?”

Here’s how I want to respond, sometimes: Are you asking because you don’t believe there’s anything interesting to say about Mennonites on this subject, or because you’d rather that people who write about Mennonites restrict themselves to topics that make Mennonites look good?

PARAGUAY
El Nuevo Herald

EFE

ASUNCION -- El enviado del Papa en Paraguay, el cardenal Santos Abril y Castelló, anunció el sábado la suspensión de ordenaciones sacerdotales en el seminario de la Diócesis de Ciudad del Este, donde el ejercicio de un cura argentino acusado de abusos sexuales motivó un duro enfrentamiento dentro de la jerarquía local.

Durante una rueda de prensa ofrecida en la Nunciatura Apostólica de Asunción, el cardenal español declaró que la medida fue tomada por el Papa y dijo desconocer hasta cuándo será efectiva.

Abril y Castelló, que llegó hace una semana a Paraguay acompañado de Milton Luis Tróccoli Cebelio, obispo auxiliar de Montevideo, se negó a comentar los resultados de su investigación en la Diócesis, a donde fue enviado por el Papa para desempeñar una “tarea eclesial y pacificadora”.

PARAGUAY
Catholic Culture

The Vatican has suspended priestly ordinations in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, according to multiple media reports.

Following an investigation of the diocese led by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, ordinations have been suspended until Pope Francis resolves difficulties in the diocese, reports indicate. No public announcement has been made about the reason for the action.

The Vatican ordered an investigation of the diocese following the revelation that a priest who was accused of sexual abuse while serving in the US was serving as vicar general in Ciudad del Este. That report brought to a head tensions between the diocesan leader, Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, and other bishops in Paraguay, and complaints from lay activists about alleged irregularities in diocesan affairs.

The accused priest, Father Carlos Urrotigoity—who is identified by the Scranton, Pennsylvania diocese as a “serious threat to young people”—was reportedly removed from his post as vicar general earlier this month, at the request of the apostolic nuncio in Paraguay, Archbishop Eliseo Ariotti. However, Bishop Livieres has defended Father Urrotigoity in the past, saying that thc charges against him are unproven.

OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 28, 2014

Statement by Claudia Vercellotti of Toledo, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 419 345 9291, SNAPtoledo@aol.com )

A Toledo man is trying to profit from the brutal slaying of a nun by selling paraphernalia related to the convicted murderer, a Toledo priest who has also been accused of molesting a child.

Shame on him. Shame on anyone who bids on or buys this material.

Our hearts ache for anyone who was hurt by Fr. Gerald Robinson, especially the family of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl, who was stabbed repeatedly and killed by Fr. Robinson. There seems to be no end to the suffering that callous individuals are willing to heap on this wounded family.

Most recently, it was Toledo Catholic officials who rubbed salt in their wounds by burying Fr. Robinson as a priest in good standing.

Before that, it was Vatican officials who refused to promptly defrock a convicted murderer.

And now, an entrepreneur seeks to make money off of this grisly crime.

Shame on everyone involved.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat

BY JIM SALTER
Associated Press
July 28, 2014

ST. LOUIS — A minister is taking his own denomination to task, claiming in a lawsuit that the Presbyterian Church was partly responsible for sexual abuse he suffered as a teenager.

The Rev. Kris Schondelmeyer, a youth minister in Toledo, Ohio, is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit he filed against Louisville, Kentucky-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the First Presbyterian Church of Fulton, Missouri; the Missouri Union Presbytery in Jefferson City; and his alleged abuser, Jack Wayne Rogers.

Schondelmeyer, 31, a native of Sedalia, Missouri, said he was sexually abused at a youth conference in Maryland in 2000. At the time, Rogers was a lay pastor in Montgomery County, Missouri. The suit alleges Presbyterian officials allowed Rogers to work as a chaperone despite Rogers' 1992 conviction for child pornography.

An attorney for the denomination declined comment, citing the pending litigation. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Aug. 18 in Fulton. Rogers, 69, does not have a lawyer in Schondelmeyer's lawsuit.

Rogers has a long criminal history. In 2004, he pleaded guilty in Missouri for practicing medicine without a license and assault for cutting off a man's penis as part of a makeshift gender reassignment surgery at a hotel in Columbia, Missouri. That same year, he was convicted of federal child pornography and obscenity charges.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY DAVID FALCHEK
Published: July 28, 2014

A Roman Catholic priest, who landed a powerful position in the diocese in Paraguay after being accused of molesting students at St. Gregory’s Academy in Elmhurst in 2002, has been removed from that post by Vatican envoys.

The news came during a visit by a delegation of Vatican officials to the Diocese of the Ciudad del Este in Paraguay that Rev. Carlos Urrutigoiti was relieved of his duties as vicar general of the diocese by Apostolic Nuncio Antonio Eliseo Ariotti.

According to media reports in South America, Vatican officials declined comment on the nature of the removal.

GUAM
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 28, 2014 i

I know it’s been a little quiet here at The Worthy Adversary. I have been pounding away at the manuscript for The Well-Armored Child (found a publisher!), and it’s summer, so there’s not a lot of quiet time around the house.

But things have not been quiet in the Archdiocese of Hagatna, Guam. And every time I think that things are winding down, something new happens.

Here’s the low-down:

Fr. John Wadeson is a twice-accused priest who was banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. A former member of the Divine Word Missionaries, Wadeson bounced around (New York, Trenton, LA, San Francisco, and Portland) until he found a home on Guam.

Although his past was well-known and posted on the internet, Guam Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron allowed the priest to live and work in the diocese. Apuron even made Wadeson a part of his inner circle, taking the priest to Honolulu to celebrate Apuron’s 30th anniversary.

Then word got out. Local Catholic blogger and whistleblower Tim Rohr started posting information about Wadeson’s past. Other Guam Catholics joined him in his outrage. Why was a twice-accused priest allowed to live and work on Guam? What about zero tolerance? Why was Apuron allegedly punishing whistleblowing priests, but protecting known predators.

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O'Brien

My readers complain a lot about SNAP - the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - but here's their press release on a situation in Pennsylvania and Paraguay that some of my friends and I have been following for a long time.

This press release, if anything, is restrained. The level of indignation could be much higher. I am posting it here because the final paragraph (which I have highlighted in bold) is especially accurate and sums up where things are at with the scandal.

***
For immediate release: Monday, July 28, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

A controversial Catholic priest who has been accused of molesting boys in the US and had been second-in-command of a diocese in Paraguay has now allegedly been removed from ministry. [MY NOTE: Actually, the link here indicates that Fr. Urrutigoity has been removed as Vicar General of the diocese in Paraguay; it does not appear (from what I can tell with the help of Google Translator) that he has been removed from ministry.] If this is true, we are glad that this action has been taken but it should have happened months ago and he should never have been put back on the job, much less won a promotion.

Catholic officials let Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity move from Pennsylvania to the South American country even though a therapist recommended that Fr. Urrutigoity "be removed from active ministry; his faculties should be revoked; he should be asked to live privately," because of "the credible allegation from (a victim)" and the priest's "admitted practice of sleeping with boys and young men." ...

In a global institution, the real way to protect kids is to make sweeping reform, not to take individual half-measured steps, in case after case after case, and only when forced to do so by public pressure. That suggests a self-serving pre-occupation with public relations, not a genuine commitment to children's safety.

MINNESOTA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on yesterday’s editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune seeking the ouster of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt:

He has been charged with offenses and found innocent. He has broken no law. He is the subject of unsubstantiated accusations. Most of his accusers remain anonymous. He has triggered several investigations of himself seeking exoneration. Why, then, has he angered so many people? Largely because he believes in marriage between a man and a woman. Make no mistake about it: if Nienstedt were perceived to be a friend of gay marriage, the campaign against him would not be happening.

Now the Star Tribune has jumped on the bandwagon. The editors know they are fishing in foreign waters. “We’ve been hesitant to make this call until now for two reasons. We consider it presumptuous for a secular news organization to advise a church about internal matters. And just two years ago, the Star Tribune Editorial Board and Nienstedt openly quarreled about the ballot question that would have constitutionally banned same-sex marriage in this state.”

The Star Tribune is twice right: it is presumptuous of a secular newspaper to busy itself in the internal affairs of any religious institution. If it were reversed, if Archbishop Nienstedt called for an editorial board member of the Star Tribune to step down, the word “presumptuous” would not be chosen: a word such as “obscene” would roll off their lips. And as indicated, it is simply impossible to understand this attempt to steamroll Nienstedt absent his embrace of marriage, properly understood. So it is hardly suprising that this newspaper would now choose to pile on.

UNITED KINGDOM
Isle of Wight County Press

Maxwell Crosby Halahan, 84, committed a series of sex offences against the boy between 1974 and 1977, while he was the parish priest at St Faith's Church, Cowes.

He was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday to 21 months in prison.

Richard Powell, senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Wessex Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, said after the sentencing: "Maxwell Halahan abused his position of authority as vicar in his parish. He abused the boy, who is now an adult but was only 13 years of age when the abuse started.

"Halahan had already been convicted of similar offences in 2011. There is no doubt he is a sexual predator who did not hesitate to take advantage of his position as a 'pillar of the society’ at the time to abuse young boys.

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 28, 2014

Statement by Amy Smith of Dallas, SNAP leader (281 748 4050, watchkeepamy@gmail.com)

Supporters of a convicted child sexual predator are holding a rally today to support him. We hope they will change their minds and cancel the event. We also urge officials at a Leander church to cancel a similar event set for Aug. 10.

This month, a jury found Greg Kelley guilty of sexually abusing a four year old boy. Before sentencing, Kelley voluntarily accepted a plea deal in which he admitted guilt. Two young boys testified against him. One mom testified that her son told her Kelley had molested him.

People who want to support a convicted and admitted predator should do so privately, not publicly. To hold rallies for a convicted and admitted predator endangers kids by making it harder for those who see, suspect and suffer child sex crimes from speaking up.

Those who believe Kelley is innocent should visit him, pray for him, write to him and help his family. But they should do so in ways that do not scare other victims of other predators into staying silent.

By mounting public displays of support for a convicted and admitted predator, these misguided individuals are rubbing even more salt into the already - deep and still - fresh wounds of abuse victims and making it harder for police, prosecutors and employers to catch and oust child molesters.

Adults must learn to accept a disturbing truth: child molesters don't have forked tongues or devil’s tails or horns on their heads. They are usually not "creepy" people who give us "the willies" or seem socially inept. They are usually charming and charismatic and outgoing. That is often how they are able to gain the trust of children and adults.

PARAGUAY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 28, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A controversial Catholic priest who has been accused of molesting boys in the US and had been second-in-command of a diocese in Paraguay has now allegedly been removed from ministry. If this is true, we are glad that this action has been taken but it should have happened months ago and he should never have been put back on the job, much less won a promotion.

Catholic officials let Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity move from Pennsylvania to the South American country even though a therapist recommended that Fr. Urrutigoity "be removed from active ministry; his faculties should be revoked; he should be asked to live privately," because of "the credible allegation from (a victim)" and the priest's "admitted practice of sleeping with boys and young men."

SNAP has been demanding that this dangerous predator be ousted since March.

Instead, Catholic officials let a credibly accused child molesting cleric move abroad, live and work among unsuspecting families and potentially hurt more innocent kids.

Transferring predator priests to different dioceses or countries is dreadfully irresponsible. It is a dangerous and self-serving practice that two United Nations Committees have condemned. An investigation should be done to determine which Catholic officials were involved in this recklessness and they should be publicly and severely punished.

In a global institution, the real way to protect kids is to make sweeping reform, not to take individual half-measured steps, in case after case after case, and only when forced to do so by public pressure. That suggests a self-serving pre-occupation with public relations, not a genuine commitment to children's safety.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Berlin Daily Sun

Frank J LaFerriere: Pope Francis asked priest abuse victims for forgiveness

Frank J LaFerriere
Gorham

Not so long ago, Pope Francis asked priest abuse victims for forgiveness.

Yet how do those of us, whom were raped and had our souls stolen from us, whom committed suicide because of it, can give him forgiveness, or any of us so harmed, when he refuses to clean house of all the Cardinals, Bishops and Archbishops whom covered up these evil crimes and are still sitting in the positions that they are in?

How can Paul Anthony Carson, whom upon seeing the priest whom raped him walking down the street and then going home and hanging himself, being found by his parents, forgive him?

How can Emma Foster, whom was raped by Father Kevin O'Donnell, while at a primary school whom committed suicide because of it, forgive him?

How can Daniel Neill, whom committed suicide because of his rapist priest, Joseph Gallagher, forgive him?

How can the 30 boys raped at the St Alipius primary school, whom committed suicide forgive him for their rapes?

None of them can. Matter of fact, they are supposedly in hell, burning for all eternity, because the pain and suffering brought on by their rapes by Roman Catholic priests, committed suicide, which the RC teaches that if you do commit suicide, then you will burn in hell for eternity.

No Pope Francis, until you do what you have promised us you would do. Clean house, stop fighting us victims when we seek justice for the crimes committed against us, with the church lawyers getting our cases dismissed using the statues of limitations.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

(An edited version of this Op Ed appeared in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Your Views”.)

War over Weakland is over

By Peter Isely

There was a weird phenomenon that persisted for decades after the surrender of imperial Japan to the allies in 1945 that became known in popular Japanese culture as “nipponhei” or “holdouts”.

Naponhei were Japanese soldiers who either adamantly refused to believe that Japan had lost the war and continued to fight, or were so cut off from communications on remote islands in the Pacific that they never received the news. The last confirmed nipponhei was one Hiroo Onodoa who lived in the jungles of the Philippines were he successfully evaded what he thought was capture for almost 30 years. When Onodoa finally marched out of the jungle and formally surrendered he was wearing an immaculately kept dress uniform. He was age 52.

As a survivor of childhood sexual assault by a priest of the Milwaukee archdiocese, it is astonishing to read Todd Robert Murphy’s strange nipponhei like revisionist history of Archbishop Rembert Weakland (“A reappraisal of Archbishop Rembert Weakland”).

No one seems to have told Murphy that for nearly 25 years Weakland planned, directed and implemented a wide spread and systematic cover up of sex crimes against children by dozens of Catholic priests and religious clerics. Weakland’s record is one of the best documented in the entire history of the now global sex abuse crisis in the church, including tens of thousands of pages of recently court ordered released pages of internal church files, hundreds of hours of depositions of top church officials (including Weakland) and serial offenders, and the direct testimony, reports or admissions of what must now be well over 1,000 victims, among them 200 deaf youngsters by the infamous Fr. Lawrence Murphy. That number is likely a fraction of the actual total, since most victims of childhood rape and sexual assault never come forward and report the crime.

A few years ago, I received a call from a survivor of one of these predator priests that Weakland shuffled and sheltered around the archdiocese. He had a brother, let’s call him Michael, who was also molested by the same priest. Michael had just gone to the local Catholic cemetery to visit his mother’s grave. Michael also took his grandfather’s shotgun with him. He took his life, on his mother’s grave. The body, I was told, could only be identified because a business card from the archdiocese was found on his person. Michael, for whatever reason, had seeking some kind of help or relief from the archdiocese. The priest who assaulted Michael was known by Weakland and his second in charge, Bishop Richard Sklba, to have been a child sex offender.

GUAM
KUAM

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Father James Wadeson paid for an advertisement in the Archdiocese of Agana's weekly newspaper to respond to what he says are defamatory accusations that appeared in the blog Jungle Watch written by Tim Rohr. Archbishop Anthony Apuron a week ago removed Father Wadeson from active and public ministry after the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests expressed their concerns about the priest being on Guam because he was twice accused of child molestation in California. The day after his removal, Father Wadeson left Guam. In the Sunday Catholic Paper, the priest defended his reputation and also threatened to sue anyone who wishes to reiterate false accusations about him.

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Monday, 28 July 2014

A Catholic priest who possessed child pornography bought some material to understand the concept of paedophilia, an Adelaide court has been told.

Sophie David, for Father Stanislaus Hogan, also said two of the five videos seized from her client were taped from SBS educative TV programs, but were classified by authorities as being in the most serious child pornography category.

Hogan, 69, has pleaded guilty to an aggravated count of possessing child pornography and a count of using a carriage service to access child pornography at Athelstone between April 20 and June 10 2012.

The 1555 images were found in his bedroom at St Ignatius' College, where police also located magazines and videos which Ms David said were bought legally in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The ages of the children ranged between three and 16 years.

More than 70 per cent of the images were in the least serious category involving no sexual activity, but five images and two videos were in category five, the most serious.

PARAGUAY
The Eponymous Flower

The first step has been reached after the apostolic visit to the Paraguayan diocese. Francis will soon decide the future of Bishop Rogelio Livieres

The following is part of a report by Andres Alvarez at the Neocatholic Vatican Insider at Italy's anti-Clerical La Stampa. There's no discussion that the courageous Bishop Livieres' accusations of aberrosexuality on the part of one of his brother bishops, or his denunciations of Liberation Theology had anything to do with this as reported earlier here. Surely there are worse Diocese in Paraguay who produce no vocations, house Old Liberal Bishops and confuse the faithful endlessly with their heterodoxy? Nope, sorry, too much Catholicism it seems.

[VATICAN CITY, Vatican Insider] An immediate and forceful measure was undertaken in the Paraguayan Diocese of Ciudad del Este. In recent days two envoys of the Pope to the government conducted an audit of Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano and, before leaving the country, dropped a bomb: Francis has [stopped] all sacerdotal and diaconal ordinations in the diocese. So far no one has reported on the reasons for the freeze, but it clearly responds to a serious situation in the local seminary. [Like too much Catholicism, Latin, apostolic charity...]

The news was reported by the apostolic visitors, Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló and Milton Luis Troccoli, Auxiliary Bishop of Montevideo (Uruguay). They concluded their investigations "in loco" on Saturday July 26. Investigations conducted during intense week, in which they passed around. It included fainting and subsequent hospitalization of the cardinal.

According to the practice of the Holy See, the apostolic visits are usually reserved audits are often carried out in absolute discretion. But the case of Ciudad del Este was different. First of all because the conflict between its bishop and other members of the Paraguayan Bishops is public domain several years ago.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Theresa May faced calls last night to appoint a self-described “radical lawyer” as chairman of the public inquiry into high-profile child abuse cases.

A group of abuse survivors, lawyers and care professionals wrote an open letter to the Home Secretary calling for Michael Mansfield, QC, to be selected to lead the inquiry.

PARAGUAY
Ultima Hora

[Summary: Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello urged the faithful to respect and obey the decisions taken by Pope Francis for the good of the church in his final report to the Ciudad del Este diocese. The apostolic visit culminated yesterday with a short meeting of the cardinal and Auxiliary Bishop Luis Troccoli of Montevideo, Uruguay, with Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este.

The bishop confirmed that Argentine priest Carlos Urrutigoity, who was accused of child abuse in the United States, was removed from his post as vicar general two weeks ago at request of Apostolic Nuncio Eliseo Ariotti. Urrutigoity spoke with Cardinal Abril y Castello for 15 minutes of Thursday. Issues were clarified but there currently is no accusation against him. The diocese yesterday published a document in which Maria Graciela Vera Colman, a district attorney, requested dismissal of the indictment aagainst Urrutigoity for lack to evidence. There are no charges against him at the Vatican.]

Por Wilson Ferreira

CIUDAD DEL ESTE

El cardenal Santos Abril y Castelló instó a la feligresía a respetar y obedecer las decisiones que adopta el papa Francisco para el bien de la Iglesia, durante su mensaje final a la diócesis de Ciudad del Este. Las palabras del cardenal se dieron al despedirse de los católicos del Este, durante la bendición final de la misa multitudinaria del jueves.

Pero la visita apostólica en la diócesis de Ciudad del Este culminó ayer con una breve reunión del cardenal Santos Abril y Castelló y el monseñor Milton Luis Tróccoli, con el obispo Rogelio Livieres Plano en la sede del Obispado.

La visita de los enviados del papa Francisco se inició el lunes con una recolección de datos y culminó ayer viernes con una última visita realizada por el obispo Tróccoli al Instituto de Formación Sacerdotal San Ireneo, que funciona en la parroquia Espíritu Santo.

Desde muy temprano se instaló allí para luego, a las 10.00, sumarse al cardenal para una última reunión con Livieres en el Obispado y luego partir rumbo a la capital del país.

AUSTRALIA
ABC - Four Corners

[with video]

By Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Janine Cohen

Monday 28th July 2014

He is a self-styled evangelist who told his followers he was The Anointed One, chosen by God to convert the world to his beliefs.

Anyone who didn't follow his word was told they would burn in hell, that he held the key to their salvation on judgement day.

In reality, Scott Williams was a cult leader who used his own brand of religion to warp biblical scripture in the pursuit of sex, money and power.

Scott Williams left Australia 38 years ago, converting hundreds of young people throughout Europe. On the outside, life appeared happy. But now, former cult members reveal to Four Corners a lifetime of secretive abuse, misplaced worship and horrifying punishments carried out under the guise of obedience to 'The Overseer', Scott Williams. Their stories are so shocking, their brainwashing so profound, it is almost unbelievable. As one former member explained:

"It's not simple to walk out. No. I wish I could. I tried. I tried a few times. It's a curious web and it was like he's the spider and he's got you there and you can't get out of the bloody spider web."

This week, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna investigates the rise of Scott Williams and his incredible path around the world and back to Australia, exposing how he created a hell on earth for many followers. Controlling almost everything they did, members say they were threatened, beaten, subjected to horrifying and bizarre sexual rituals - and even their children were taken away and given to others to raise for a time.

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Manipulated, sexually abused and hidden in plain sight: Victims reveal the unspeakable horror of secret Australian cult 'The Assembly'

By EMILY CRANE

Shocking claims of abuse within a secret NSW-based religious group have come to light after former members revealed the years of torment they endured at the hands their 'cult leader'.

Self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams allegedly used his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a secret homosexual sex ring while misusing huge amounts of member donations for his own personal use.

The claims of horrific abuse alleged to have occurred within Mr Williams' NSW-based religious group, Christian Assemblies International (CAI), were uncovered during a four-year investigation by the ABC's Four Corners.

Dozens of former members said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by Mr Williams, who had been given authorisation by God to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and train his male member to be sexually obedient.

The abuse detailed by the men and women, who until now have remained silent out of fear and shame, ranged from spiritual, financial, verbal and physical abuse to sexual abuse of adult male members.

'I haven't come across anything like it,' Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna told Daily Mail Australia ahead of the episode going to air on Monday night.

'Former members describe it as a cult.'

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Four Corners reporter uncovers a secret religious society accused of physical and mental abuse

TOTAL control over every aspect of life. Alleged physical and mental abuse. Bizarre and depraved sexual rituals. A man who claims he speaks directly to God.

This was the way of life for hundreds of members of a secret religious group that started in a beach town in northern New South Wales and spread across the world.

Tonight, ABC journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna’s four-year investigation will expose the Assembly and its founder, Scott Williams.

Her Four Corners report hears from those who’ve escaped the group, plots the journey of Williams over nearly four decades and uncovers the vast fortune he has siphoned from loyal followers.

“I began looking at this story back in 2010 and have been following it since, but it wasn’t until this year that two key former members told me they were ready to go public,” Meldrum-Hanna said.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Fr Brian D'Arcy: My battle with cancer, the Catholic Church and how my faith survived trauma of being abused as a boy of 10

Fr Brian D'Arcy is one of Ireland's best-known clerics – controversial and frank. He speaks to Adrian Rutherford about the future of the Catholic Church and how his faith survived the trauma of being abused as a boy of 10 in Omagh.

8 JULY 2014

Q. You are one of Ireland's best-known priests, but was religion always a part of your life?

A. I was born in 1945 and, growing up in the 1950s and 60s, not many families weren't religious. By modern standards, there were exceptionally religious families back then.

It was a culture. It didn't matter what religion you were, you went to church on Sunday, you had respect for your parents, the law and your community.

We weren't a family that was always in church or highly religious. We were a very normal family.

We were highly involved in GAA affairs – my father was a famous footballer – and that was almost as big a religion as Catholicism.

Did we believe in a God, did we pray, did we keep the Commandments? Yes, we did that as simply as you breathed because there was no other way of life. ...

Q. You were abused as a child – did that shake your faith?

A. I was abused when I was 10 and at school in Omagh. I didn't realise what was happening at the time, but I still knew it was wrong. It had a great effect on me. It made me very nervous and insecure, unsure of what religion was or wasn't because it was a religious brother who abused me for almost a year.

As a teenager, after I entered the priesthood, a priest tried to involve me in abuse as well.

I had more sense at that age and was able to get out of the situation much quicker.

I hadn't the wit to tell my superiors because he told me that if I ever told anyone I would never be ordained.

It was only 35 years or so afterwards that I was even able to think about it.

Abuse affects you to the day you die. It leaves you very insecure, very hurt. You never actually get over it. You have to live with it.

Q. You could never imagine it had been so widespread in the church?

A. I thought I was the only child in the country that it had happened to. I genuinely thought that, which is why I convinced myself I wouldn't be believed.

It was such a uniquely awful experience. Being abused by an adult who you trusted, especially by someone in religion, destroys your relationship with people, it destroys your relationship with others and it threatens to absolutely destroy your relationship with God.

Q. Pope Francis recently said he believes one in 50 priests is involved in child abuse – do you think that's accurate?

A. He is underestimating it. It is more than that. At the very minimum, I would say three to five per cent, and I would say nearer 5%. But that is only the reported cases – I would contend that less than 50% of cases are ever mentioned or reported. So what is the real figure? It's probably nearer 8% – about one in 12 priests. Certainly one in 15 have either abused, assaulted or had dysfunctional sexual relationships.

Q. It has been very damaging for the Catholic Church.

A. It has, but I would rather have the church now, with its less arrogant, less perfectionist attitude than a church which said there is no room for sinners.

You always have to accept that you have to live with sin, not necessarily in sin, but with sin.

Q. Do you think it will ever recover its old image?

A. I hope not, because when its image was best, its sinfulness was greatest. Its image now is far more healthy because the good will survive and the hypocritical will perish.

ZAMBIA
Zambia Daily Mail

THE calls by many sections of the Zambian society for the government to apply stricter controls on the proliferation of churches are justified.

It will help curb the sexual abuse of unsuspecting female members by immoral clergymen.

In the last two years the country has seen an increase in the number of pastors and ‘prophets’ involved in criminal and immoral activities.

The men of the cloak are using their influential and privileged positions to prey on desperate women and girls under the guise of the so-called deliverance.

The rate at which churches are emerging, especially in densely populated communities and rural areas, is alarming.

As members of these communities grapple with various personal and social challenges, they are seeking help from the men of God.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Caro Meldrum-Hanna

A four-year investigation by the ABC has uncovered shocking claims of abuse and torment in relation to NSW-based registered charity and religious group Christian Assemblies International (CAI).

Tonight's Four Corners reveals that self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams was using his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.

Courageous former members break their silence and tell of their torment living inside the group, which they say is not a Christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.

The ex-members have remained in the shadows until now out of fear and shame. They detail shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.

They say bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by Williams, who described himself as "The Anointed One" with the Lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Guardian

Monday, July 28, 2014

Anna Lisa Paul

Hours before he met with investigators probing the allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the St Michael's School for Boys, Diego Martin, the abused teenager who confirmed the wrongdoing by staff members said he was now "in a better place" after having gone public with his story. The teenager, 19, who lives in Port-of-Spain, made the statement as he waited to meet with police last Friday. The teenager was met at the Guardian Media Ltd office by three officers from the Western Division.

He and his boss were later taken to an undisclosed in Port-of-Spain for the interview, which lasted close to three hours. In a phone interview yesterday, the teenager confirmed that he had given police a sworn statement and was ready and willing to meet with police again any time. Asked yesterday if he was having second thoughts about revealing the abuse he suffered during his year at the school, or about meeting with police, the teenager replied, "No, I'm good."

Investigators were eager to meet with him, as he is the first person thus far to come forward and testify about the kind and level of abuse he suffered while at the school. The investigation was launched after Attorney General Anand Ramlogan revealed the findings of a committee appointed to probe the death of Brandon Hargreaves. Hargreaves, 14, of Cascade, died on April 8, after he suffered a head injury. Initial reports said he was injured while trying to drop-kick another child.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Click here for the story.

Guam - Los Angeles Archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan says the LA Archdiocese told Guam church officials about the sexual abuse accusations against Father John Wadeson in 2011, according to a report on the ABC News website.

The ABC report also cites a 2004 Los Angeles archdiocese report which says "Wadeson was credibly accused in two cases between 1973 and 1977." Between 1972 and 1985 Wadeson worked at Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles. Verbum Dei is an all-male Catholic high school school.

The "Survivors Network Against those Abused by Priests" [SNAP] has previously reported that Father Wadeson was named in Los Angeles Archdiocese records from the early 1990's, and in LA news reports, as having been accused on 2 occasions of being a predator priest. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has barred Father Wadeson from ministry in LA. The accusations against Father Wadeson were never brought to trial.

Father Wadeson was incardinated on Guam by Archbishop Apuron in 2000. Archbishop Apruon removed Father Wadeson from "active and public ministry" on Guam this past Tuesday, 4 days after SNAP issued a release calling attention to the decades old accusations against Father Wadeson.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Adrian Rutherford
Published 28/07/2014

One of Ireland's best known priests has revealed he is fighting cancer.

Fr Brian D'Arcy said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year.

The 69-year-old, who is also a prominent columnist and broadcaster, said he is overcoming the illness and is feeling "fine".

"I was diagnosed earlier this year, but I don't really like saying too much about it," Fr D'Arcy told the Irish Independent.

"It's prostate cancer, which any man can get at any stage.

"I haven't said much about it because it's putting yourself in the limelight, but thankfully I'm overcoming it."

Some of the issues the Enniskillen-based priest discussed during the wide-ranging interview were:

* He disputes claims by Pope Francis that one in 50 priests are paedophiles, believing the true figure is actually closer to one in 12.
* The Pope would be wasting his time coming to Ireland.
* The priesthood must review its position on male celibacy if it is to survive for future generations.

Fr D'Arcy entered the priesthood when he was 17 and is rector of St Gabriel's Retreat in the Graan, near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Under the banner headline, “To heal church, Nienstedt must go,” the Editorial Board of the Minneapolis StarTribune Sunday called for the resignation of embattled Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt.

“Signs abound that the leadership crisis sparked by priest abuse of children in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has come to a breaking point, the editorial stated. Consider these developments just this month:

• A judge in St. Paul — a city whose history and culture are inseparable from the Roman Catholic Church — refused to set aside a lawsuit’s claim that the Twin Cities archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona had created a public nuisance with their handling of abusive priests. District Judge John Van de North said he is seeking more information on that charge as he allowed a suit to go forward on claims of negligence.

• An affidavit by former archdiocesan canon law chancellor Jennifer Haselberger reported a “cavalier attitude about the safety of other people’s children” at the archdiocese’s top levels, leading to lax investigations and continued priestly service by suspected abusers. Haselberger resigned from her post in 2013 because, she said, she could no longer work for an organization that was not fully cooperating with an investigation of illegal activity within it.