August 31, 2005

Lobby group set to sue over religious accused

IRELAND
One in Four

A lobby group representing religious, who say they have been falsely accused of sexually abusing children, is planning to take legal action against the State on behalf of those "falsely accused" before the Residential Institutional Redress Board (RIRB).

The Love (Let Our Voices Emerge) group, said yesterday it was calling on "all of our members who are going through or have gone through the RIRB" to get in contact "if they want to take part in our seeking legal help in getting an apology and/or compensation".

Love describes itself as a charity dedicated to providing "support for all people, including the religious, of integrity who state that they are innocent of allegations of child abuse being made against them".

The lobby group says it has cases the State must address. It goes on to cite cases in Novia Scotia in 2002, where the Canadian state offered 179 employees of youth detention centres, who had been cleared of child abuse allegations, settlements of between $5,000 (€4,925) and $40,000 (€32,735) each. The offers were made to staff accused of child abuse but cleared by tribunal.

Posted by kshaw at 06:13 PM

Jury Finds Priest Guilty Of Child Molestation

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KSDK

(KSDK) - A jury has found Father Thomas Graham guilty of molesting a teenage boy at the Old Cathedral. Graham was accused of repeatedly molesting the boy starting in the 1970s.

The jury of 10 women and two men took less than two hours to decide a verdict.

Opening statements wrapped up in Tuesday morning. Graham testified Wednesday morning and the case went to jury at 1:30 p.m.

The alleged victim was the first person to take the stand Tuesday. He is now 43 years old and lives in St. Louis. He says the sexual abuse by Father Graham began when he was a young boy in St. Mary's where Father Graham was an Associate Pastor at the time.

The alleged victim described in detail to the court how Graham allegedly fondled him on several occasions as a young boy while riding in a car and again at the Old Cathedral years later when he was a teenager. He described Father Graham as a close family friend.

Posted by kshaw at 06:07 PM

Priest faces life in prison

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

By Robert Patrick
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/31/2005

The Rev. Thomas Graham was found guilty of a decades-old sodomy charge by a St. Louis jury Wednesday afternoon, meaning the 71-year-old now faces up to life in prison.

When Circuit Judge Angela Turner Quigless read the verdict, Graham showed little response. Several of the group of Graham’s friends, family and parishioners that had been in court all week hung their heads.

The victim’s family cried and hugged each other.

Jurors deliberated a little over two hours before finding Graham guilty.

Posted by kshaw at 05:59 PM

Topekan files claim against diocese

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Topeka Capital-Journal

The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two men have filed lawsuits alleging a late Roman Catholic priest sexually abused them in the 1950s.

Gary Lee Smith, of Topeka, and Hank Talbot, who lives in northwest Missouri, made the allegations against the Rev. Sylvester Hoppe in lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph last week in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The lawsuits, which seek unspecified monetary damages, claim that the diocese "ignored, covered up and concealed" Hoppe's behavior. He died in 2002.

The diocese had no record of complaints from the men, said the Rev. Robert A. Murphy, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, in a written statement released Monday afternoon.

Posted by kshaw at 06:22 AM

Woman testifies against diocese

FARGO (ND)
The Forum

By Dave Forster, The Forum
Published Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Six years after the Catholic Diocese of Fargo fired her, Melissa Enebo said she still feels embarrassed, insecure and constantly worried about losing her next job.

“Everyone wants to know what awful thing you did to get fired from a church,” she said Tuesday.

Enebo, 40, testified during the first day of her Cass County trial against the diocese. She claims the diocese discriminated against her because of her gender, pregnancy and marital status when it fired her in 1999 after she gave birth out of wedlock.

Benjamin Thomas, the attorney for the diocese, had only about 15 minutes to cross-examine Enebo Tuesday. But in that time, he made it clear that Enebo, a Lutheran, knew about the diocesan policy regarding behavior inconsistent with Catholic teaching.

The diocesan handbook says actions that can lead to firing include “conduct that is not harmonious with the teaching of the Catholic Church.” Enebo said one of her duties as a finance assistant was to make sure each new employee received that policy.

Posted by kshaw at 06:18 AM

Charges say Army chaplain sexually assaulted Marines

OWENSBORO (KY)
Courier & Press

By PHILIP ELLIOTT Courier & Press staff writer 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com
August 31, 2005

A Diocese of Owensboro, Ky., priest faces charges he sexually assaulted three Marines in Qatar and Germany, where he serves as an Army chaplain.

The Rev. Gregory Arflack, a captain with the 279th Base Support Battalion in Bamberg, Germany, remains on administrative leave from his chaplain duties while military prosecutors decide if they will court-martial the 44-year-old priest.

The Army lists the charges as three counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of indecent acts, two counts of fraternization with enlisted servicemen, two counts of disobeying orders, one count of indecent assault and one count of conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Military prosecutors say the events took place March 21, 2004, in Doha, Qatar, and July 29 and 30 of this year in Bamberg. Prosecutors filed a preference for charges - similar to an indictment in civilian court - on Aug. 11.

"All of Father Arflack's duties have been relieved," said the Most Rev. John Kaising, auxiliary bishop for chaplains with the Archdiocese of the U.S. Military.

An officer has been assigned to conduct a pretrial investigation, which is comparable to a civilian grand jury hearing, to determine if officials have enough evidence to recommend a court-martial.

Posted by kshaw at 06:16 AM

FARGO DIOCESE: Attorney in diocese lawsuit seeks to introduce priest allegations

FARGO (ND)
Grand Forks Herald

Associated Press

FARGO - The attorney for a woman accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese here of discrimination is seeking to introduce the issue of priest misconduct during the trial in her case.

Robert Schultz, the lawyer for Melissa Enebo, a former secretary for the diocese, said he wants to include evidence of misconduct by priests to show the diocese treated them differently from Enebo.

In her gender discrimination lawsuit, Enebo says she was fired in 1999 for getting pregnant outside of marriage.

Benjamin Thomas, the diocese attorney, told East Central District Judge John Irby at a pretrial hearing Monday that allowing allegations of priest misconduct as evidence would confuse jurors and "invite a media circus."

Posted by kshaw at 06:09 AM

Roman Catholic military chaplain charged with sexual assaults

WASHINGTON (DC)
Grand Island Independent

JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — The Army is investigating a Roman Catholic military chaplain on multiple charges of forcible sodomy and assault.

Capt. Gregory Arflack was suspended both by the Army and his dioceses pending the results of the investigation.

Arflack, 44, is a chaplain with the 279th Base Support Battalion. The unit performs administrative functions at its post in Bamberg, Germany, which also houses the 1st Infantry Division.

The Army is investigating 12 charges: three counts each of forcible sodomy and indecent acts, two counts each of fraternization with enlisted service members and disobeying orders, and one count each of indecent assault and conduct unbecoming an officer, said Maj. Bill Coppernoll, a 1st Infantry Division spokesman.

The Army did not discuss specifics about the alleged assaults, except to say they occurred while Arflack was stationed in Doha, Qatar, in March 2004 and in Bamberg on July 29 and 30 of this year.

Posted by kshaw at 06:01 AM

Sex abuse and accountability

PHILIPPINES
Philippine News

Ludy Ongkeko, Aug 31, 2005
Before proceeding any further, I would like to make this clear: I am a Catholic.
Therefore, this columns is not one meant to put down the faith nor the creed all practicing Catholics are bound to uphold.

Since the sex abuse “scandals” broke out, I have been asked to write about the controversy facing my Church, and causing divisions among my friends. One Catholic I know now calls himself a “dropout,” no longer “practicing,” and thinks the cover-ups are “unacceptable.” Another Catholic who remains a “practicing follower” said the sex abuse behind the pulpit has a history that goes back centuries ago.

Some of my relatives have fallen off the wayside, so to speak. They proclaim themselves “no longer practicing Catholics.” Although I was initially appalled by their disclosures, I respect their belief and decision. Until the Church accepts full accountability for all its offenders, the issue will not disappear, they say.

I believe that “accountability” should extend to those who have stood by silently and knowingly and not done anything. The news stories about the “good ol’ boys’ cover-up” are totally inexcusable; it has caused untold suffering for the many scarred victims.

The amounts of “settlements” the Catholic Church has had to cough up have been staggering, and yet they can never erase the emotional and psychological trauma suffered by the victims. Those diocesan headquarters whose priests lost their cases had to make payments, no matter what their financial situation is. It was pathetic to see old churches and rectories close down because money had ran out.

Posted by kshaw at 05:59 AM

Former pastor, church face civil lawsuit from sexual abuse victim

ROCKFORD (IL)
Rockford Register Star

By CORINA CURRY, Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD -- A civil lawsuit has been filed against a pastor who had a sexual relationship with a teenage girl in his youth group. The suit also names the church's senior pastor and the church as defendants.

The Winnebago girl, who is now an adult, claims that her former youth pastor, Bradley Bounds of Rockford, "exploited and perverted his position of trust" by engaging in a consensual romantic and sexual relationship with her when she was 17.

Bounds, then 28, was married with a 2-year-old son.

She also claims that Rock Church, the Rockford church that she attended from age 7 to 17, and the church's senior pastor, John Sprecher, did not do enough to protect her from Bounds and was negligent in hiring and training him.

Posted by kshaw at 05:56 AM

Testimony in Clergy Sex Cases to Be Made Public

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony failed Tuesday to persuade a judge to seal sworn testimony by priests and other witnesses about allegations of decades-old child molestations by Roman Catholic clergy.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz overruled arguments from Mahony's lawyers that the release might prejudice potential jurors against the church.

"Allegations of clergy abuse have given rise to much anguish in the community," the judge wrote. "This anguish has been exacerbated by allegations that the church concealed information relating to the abuse. Further concealment of information from the public is thus ill-advised."

The first of the testimony over the last four months about hundreds of claims that Los Angeles priests abused children could become public in the next few weeks. In one deposition, an accused priest testified that his religious order transferred another priest at least twice after he too was accused of molesting children, Santa Barbara attorney Tim Hale, who represents alleged victims, said in court Tuesday.

Critics have contended that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles covered up the alleged abuse by shuffling accused priests from parish to parish, without notifying church members or calling law enforcement authorities.

Talks are continuing in attempts to settle more than 500 negligence suits filed against the archdiocese over the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

Posted by kshaw at 05:53 AM

Priest testifies in his defense

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

By Robert Patrick
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/30/2005

The Rev. Thomas Graham testified Tuesday that he "fell apart" when officials of the Archdiocese of St. Louis told him in 1994 that he had been accused of sexually abusing a young boy.

"I knew my life was over with because of this allegation," Graham told St. Louis Circuit Court jurors in his criminal trial.

Church officials investigated the allegation and "based on available information, did not find it to be substantiated," according to a statement released Monday.

But they removed Graham from active ministry in 2002 after he was indicted by a grand jury on a single charge of sodomy.

Posted by kshaw at 05:50 AM

Lawsuit accuses ex-local priest of repeatedly abusing altar boy

EVANSVILLE (IN)
Courier & Press

By PHILIP ELLIOTT Courier & Press staff writer 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com
August 31, 2005

A Vincentian priest who once worked with Evansville's Daughters of Charity faces a civil suit alleging he sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy while serving in Hong Kong two decades ago.

The Rev. Thomas S. Cawley, of Independence, Mo., cared for elderly and sick Evansville sisters in 2002 and 2003. He now is accused of molesting the youth while assigned to missionary work in 1979.

"Cawley told the plaintiff that the sexual abuse was a form of God's punishment that the young boy needed," according to the court filing.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in St. Louis County Circuit Court, also names the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong and the Congregation of the Mission, Midwest Province, commonly known as the Vincentians.

Because the order is based in St. Louis, the suit was filed there, said Rebecca Randles, an attorney for plaintiff Michael Johnson of Kansas.

Cawley was assigned to a parish in Johnson County, Kan., where Johnson had begun attending services and recognized Cawley, Randles said.

Posted by kshaw at 05:48 AM

Holy Cross is asked to remove a plaque

WORCESTER (MA)
Boston Globe

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | August 31, 2005

At 52, Patricia Cahill hopes she can finally get past the years of sexual abuse she said she endured as a young girl.

But to start her recovery, Cahill said she needs something she cannot get from therapy. She wants the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester to take down a plaque on campus bearing the name of her alleged abuser, her uncle, the late Rev. Daniel Millard.

Yesterday, Cahill's supporters gathered outside the college with leaflets and posters calling on college officials to rename an art studio now known as the Millard Art Center. School officials have refused to change the name because Cahill's relatives dispute her allegations of abuse. Millard, who was in his late 40s when he died in 1973, was never charged with abusing Cahill.

''I just want to get back to living a normal life," said Cahill, who lives in Lancaster, Pa., and did not attend yesterday's small protest because of lingering health problems she blames on the abuse.

''I don't even know what a normal life is," she said.

Cahill said Millard sexually abused her from the time she was 5 until she turned 13. She said the abuse, which allegedly occurred in New Jersey, was so traumatizing she became dependent on alcohol and drugs. Cahill said she even contemplated suicide.

Posted by kshaw at 05:42 AM

Law’s Rome secretary on archdiocese payroll

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - Updated: 02:44 AM EST

The Boston Archdiocese is still paying one of Cardinal Bernard Law's closest friends to study church law and serve as Law's secretary in Rome.

Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, who took over Law's post after he resigned in 2002 at the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, mentioned Monsignor Paul B. McInerny's appointment in the April 1 edition of The Pilot, the archdiocese's weekly newspaper – but not that McInerny would remain on the payroll.

Asked why the archdiocese is paying one of its priests to be secretary to the disgraced ex-archbishop, archdiocese spokesman Terrence C. Donilon said, ``I would only deduce nothing more than monsignor's desire to resume his studies in Rome and the fact he has worked with the cardinal previously.''

O'Malley is closing roughly one-quarter of the archdiocese's parishes because of a shortage of priests and a financial crisis caused by plummeting donations in the scandal's wake.

Posted by kshaw at 05:06 AM

Abuse records ordered opened

SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino Sun

Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Testimony in clergy sexual-abuse lawsuits here and in the Inland Empire was ordered unsealed by a judge Tuesday, despite the Roman Catholic Church's argument that doing so would undermine its defense.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz ruled against keeping depositions of 13 witnesses sealed, saying "there is a great deal of public interest' in the hundreds of cases against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the dioceses of San Bernardino and San Diego.

Evidence should not remain secret, he said, whether it supports someone claiming abuse or exonerates an accused priest.

But an attorney for the archdiocese decried releasing witness statements and "discussing evidence in the press.'

"They are trying to influence the jury pool and maintain a level of anger in the community that is inappropriate in civil proceedings,' said Donald Woods, an attorney for the archdiocese.

Fromholz did not specify when the witnesses' statements will be released. Names will be redacted from the documents.

Posted by kshaw at 05:03 AM

Pickets pressure Holy Cross to rename its new art center

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com

WORCESTER— The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, a Catholic priest from New Jersey, and three local people quietly demonstrated and handed out leaflets yesterday morning in their quest to have the College of the Holy Cross rename its Millard Art Center.

The demonstration, which involved holding signs and handing out leaflets, was held on behalf of Patricia A. Cahill of Lancaster, Pa., who said she was sexually abused by the priest for whom the center was named. Ms. Cahill received a settlement for counseling from the Camden, N.J., diocese after she reported the alleged abuse by the Rev. Daniel F. M. Millard, who was her uncle.

Joining Rev. Hoatson in front of the main gate with signs were George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, an alleged victim of the Rev. Thomas Teczar; Daniel E. Dick of Worcester, victim support coordinator for Worcester Voice of the Faithful; and Richard Chesnis of Worcester, who has alleged his son was sexually abused by the Rev. John Szantyr.

Ellen M. Ryder, spokesman for Holy Cross, said the college will not comment on the demonstration other than what officials there have said in the past.

The Holy Cross administration, after speaking with other members of the Millard family, said recently that the college takes seriously allegations of sexual abuse, but they will not change the name. The priest’s brother, the late Charles E. F. Millard, and family members, donated money for the building. Other members of the family have denied Ms. Cahill’s assertion that she and other family members were abused by Rev. Millard, who died in 1973.

The demonstration “went very well,” Rev. Hoatson said. They had a number of “thumbs up” signs from workers going onto the Holy Cross campus, he said. Founder and president of Rescue & Recovery International, Rev. Hoatson said he expects to be at the college each week until the name of the art center is changed.

Rev. Hoatson, who said he was sexually abused by two Irish Christian Brothers, drives weekly from New Jersey to Boston where he has been supporting people who say they were sexual abused by Monsignor Frederick J. Ryan when they were students at Catholic Memorial High School. He also stopped Monday night in Northampton to deliver a check to a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and regularly visits with a clergy abuse survivor who is currently incarcerated at the federal prison at Devens. The organization provides direct support to survivors, he said.

Rev. Hoatson worked at Catholic Memorial before entering seminary when he was in his 40s. Monsignor Ryan was a chaplain at the school. Now a priest of the Newark, N.J., diocese, Rev. Hoatson holds a Ph.D. from Fordham University.

“Why do they allow themselves to be embarrassed like this?” Mr. Dick said of the college administration as he sat on the sidewalk outside the main gate. He said changing the name would be the proper thing to do. Mr. Shea said he was impressed that a priest was willing to “stand with the victims,” which brought him out in support of the attempt to change the name of the art center.

“It’s a huge sign of hope to me,” he added.

Ms. Cahill could not attend yesterday but in a statement said survivors of clergy abuse “want justice, restorative justice” and justice is born of truth.

“As long as the Catholic Church refuses to make amends to the survivors of sexual abuse by their priests and nuns, restorative justice is denied the survivors and the abuse is continued. Holy Cross is a perfectly imperfect example of this type of re-victimization,” she said.

Speaking out on the issue has been “a terrifying experience,” she said. But she hopes if her efforts can influence “just one nun, or one priest to keep their hands to themselves and maybe one child will be spared. I wish someone had done this for me.”

John Aretakis of Albany, N.Y., who is Ms. Cahill’s lawyer, said since Massachusetts is considered to be “ground zero” in the clergy sexual abuse scandal, Holy Cross needs to show more sensitivity to victims and be “on the side of the victims.”

Posted by kshaw at 04:59 AM

August 30, 2005

Testimony Begins In Priest Sex Abuse Trial

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KSDK

By Erin O'Neill

(KSDK) - Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial of a former Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting a teenage boy at the Old Cathedral. Thomas Graham is accused of repeatedly molesting the boy starting in the 1970s.

The jury consists of 10 women and two men. Father Graham was in the courtroom seated next to his attorney. He was wearing a black suit with a blue shirt.

Opening statements wrapped up in the morning. The alleged victim was the first person to take the stand. He is now 43 years old and lives in St. Louis. He says the sexual abuse by Father Graham began when he was a young boy in St. Mary's where Father Graham was an Associate Pastor at the time.

The alleged victim described in detail to the court how Graham allegedly fondled him on several occasions as a young boy while riding in a car and again at the Old Cathedral years later when he was a teenager. He described Father Graham as a close family friend.

Posted by kshaw at 06:44 PM

Albany Prosecutor Was Right; Underage Rape Case Unprosecutable

ALBANY (NY)
The Empire Journal

By June Maxam

If Peter Torncello was still an assistant prosecutor in the Albany County District Attorney’s office, maybe DA David Soares and the office would have a different perspective about the case of the ex-Christian Brothers Academy teacher charged with having sex on several different occasions with a 16-year-old male student.

Soares has charged Sandra ‘Beth’ Geisel with third degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.

The charges are never going to hold up in court and that’s why Soares hasn’t taken the case to a grand jury. His star witness—the 16-year-old male student----can’t stand the scrutiny and will be easily impeached should the case ever go to trial, a highly unlikely event.

On Thursday, 23-year-old trucker James Bradley who had also been charged with third degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child for traveling cross-country with a 15-year old California girl, was acquitted of all charges in Albany County Court.

That should have sent a real strong message to Soares.

Posted by kshaw at 06:14 PM

Priest Resigns Amid Investigation

ELLWOOD CITY (PA)
KDKA

Aug 29, 2005 4:08 pm US/Eastern
Elwood City (KDKA) An Ellwood City priest has resigned while authorities are investigating serious allegations into his conduct.

The Rev. Mauro Catuela, former pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish, is facing allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy, and spent thousands of dollars of church money on gambling and buying pornography.

The Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese contacted the Lawrence County District Attorney's office as soon as they received the allegations, according the Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the Diocese.

"People made the allegations, we met with them, we met with father Cateula who denied all of the allegations, and then we turned the matter over to the district attorney, and then we began our own process to determine suitablility," Lengwin said.

The case is now in the hands of state police and the Lawrence County District Attorney's Office.

The diocese is doing its own investigation as well to ascertain whether Catuela is "suitable" to pastor at another parish, according to Lengwin.

Posted by kshaw at 10:37 AM

Catholic diocese on trial

NORTH DAKOTA
The Forum

By Dave Forster, The Forum
Published Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The Catholic Diocese of Fargo could face “devastating” allegations of priest misconduct this week at a trial for employee discrimination, its attorney said Monday.

The lawyer for Melissa Enebo, a former secretary for the diocese, said he wants to include evidence of misconduct by priests to show the diocese treated them differently than Enebo. Enebo claims gender discrimination in her lawsuit because she said she was fired in 1999 for getting pregnant outside of marriage.

Benjamin Thomas, the diocese attorney, argued at pretrial motions Monday in Cass County District Court that priests aren’t considered employees of the diocese.

Only the Vatican can appoint and remove priests, Thomas said. Also, it is the Code of Canon Law, not state labor laws, that dictate how priests are disciplined, he said. Therefore, priests don’t provide a fair comparison in Enebo’s case, Thomas said.

Enebo’s attorney, Robert Schultz, pointed out later that some priests are considered employees of the diocese and are under the bishop’s oversight.

Posted by kshaw at 08:01 AM

Druce lawyer, DA seek copies of macabre tape

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - Updated: 06:10 AM EST

Prosecutors and defense lawyers were flabbergasted yesterday to learn of an explosive prison video in which grandstanding killer Joseph L. Druce pantomimes the brutal 2003 murder of an infamous pedophile priest.

But a Department of Correction official said his agency does not have the video, images from which appeared in yesterday's Herald.

``We are looking into the matter of the tape being released,'' said DOC spokesman Paul Henderson.

Druce's defense attorney, John H. Lachance, and Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte both said they would demand copies of the macabre video from the DOC.

Conte said he had not seen the tape, and asked DOC officials about it yesterday. ``Our office has certainly not seen it,'' he said. ``Basically, we just want to get this case to trial. That has been our purpose for quite a while now.''

Druce, who is serving life in an unrelated case, is expected in court Thursday for a hearing in the murder of John J. Geoghan, the defrocked Weston pastor accused of abusing scores of young children. Lachance said yesterday he plans to file a motion today aimed at obtaining the Druce video, and would argue that motion at the hearing Thursday.

``I don't have that tape,'' he said. ``All I have seen of that is what is in the newspaper.''

Posted by kshaw at 07:56 AM

Whistleblower priest's lawsuit dismissed

MIAMI (FL)
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
August 29, 2005

A May 2005 lawsuit filed on behalf of the Rev. Andrew Dowgiert against the Archdiocese of Miami was dismissed on August 25. The suit alleges that Dowgiert was terminated for complaining to the archdiocese about sexual and financial improprieties allegedly committed by certain archdiocesan clergy.

To read the text of the lawsuit, click on the following link: http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/050521.

Sharon Bourassa, an attorney representing Dowgiert, sent the following e-mail on August 29 to the priest's supporters (slightly edited):

"At the hearing ... the court dismissed Fr. Dowgiert's case against the archdiocese. The court said that it did not want to get involved in a Church dispute. This means that Fr. Dowgiert will have to make the decision to appeal the lower court's ruling.

Posted by kshaw at 07:49 AM

Victim hopes sex case changes church

CANADA
London Free Press

COLIN PERKEL, CP 2005-08-30 01:48:54

TORONTO -- A Jehovah's Witness who sexually abused his daughter was sentenced yesterday to two years less a day, to be served in the community, in a case that cast a spotlight on how the church handles sex-abuse complaints within its ranks.

The victim, Vicki Boer, said the sentencing of her father validates her allegations and should force the church to face up to its shortcomings in handling her abuse complaint.

"For the first time, somebody believed me," Boer said of the judge.

"It makes (the elders) accountable. They've never had to be accountable," she said in an interview from Fredericton.

In June, Gower Palmer pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in Ontario Superior Court in Orangeville, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Posted by kshaw at 07:37 AM

Carolyn Disco: NH bishops - Forgive us, father, for mistakes were made

NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader

By CAROLYN DISCO
Guest Commentary

THE INTERCESSIONS published on the Diocese of Manchester's Web site for Mass this past Sunday asked Catholics throughout New Hampshire to pray for reconciliation with those "who have been in leadership roles and have unwittingly allowed" sexual abuse to happen — a thinly veiled reference to Bishop John McCormack and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian.

Slipped in amongst mention of those who were abused and those who were the abusers, this clever effort to exonerate our bishops of their shameful records deserves rebuttal.

"Bless me Father, for mistakes were made" is their version of confession instead of "Bless me Father, for I have lied, deceived, covered up sexual abuse, and endangered children." Bishop McCormack's habitual turn to euphemisms about "mistakes and inadequacies" cannot obscure the plain, simple truth. What they say now about what they did then reveals a clerical mindset bent more on damage control than honesty. The continuing spin, like these intercessions, is what is so wounding to the Body of Christ. Where are the bishops who speak truth from the heart and do not practice deceit?

The documents exposed by legal order make clear the bishops were hardly oblivious. While they pretend they have done nothing legally or morally wrong, they have left behind countless children who were abused in body and soul. It just happened. It was "unwittingly allowed." From the chancery there is no mention of criminal negligence that endangered minors, no obstruction of justice, no accessory after the fact, no failure to report abuse, no perjury. Statutes of limitations, weak laws and a plea bargain kept them from criminal prosecution, so they can boast of no indictments.

Posted by kshaw at 07:27 AM

Ellwood priest resigns

ELLWOOD CITY (PA)
Beaver County Times

Mary Anne Caputo, Calkins Media
08/28/2005

The Rev. Mauro Cautela has resigned as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish, Ellwood City, amidst serious allegations of impropriety.

According to the Rev. John R. Rushofsky, director of clerical personnel for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Cautela has been placed on administrative leave, though he would not say what the allegations against Cautela are.

The official statement from the diocese was read at the 6 p.m. Mass Saturday in Holy Redeemer Parish and was to be read after all Masses today.

Additional diocesan personnel will be on hand after the noon Mass today at the church to answer any questions they can within the confines of the confidential nature of the matter.

The statement made no further reference to the specifics of the allegations, but said, "When allegations of this nature have been made, church law mandates that specific procedures must be followed. In response to this requirement, a preliminary investigation has already begun. This action does not imply guilt but is intended to find the truth while preserving the rights of everyone involved, including both the person against whom an allegation has been made and the alleged victim.

Posted by kshaw at 07:06 AM

Parishioners seek answers about priest

ELLWOOD CITY (PA)
Beaver County Times

Michael Pound, Times Staff
08/29/2005

ELLWOOD CITY - Sunday's noon Mass at Holy Redeemer Parish in Ellwood City was like a noon Mass on any other Sunday.

But after Mass at Blessed Virgin Mary Church, was completed, about 120 parishioners stayed behind, hoping to hear more about the accusations that led the Rev. Mauro Cautela, pastor of the Ellwood City parish, to resign last week.

And although officials from the Diocese of Pittsburgh met with parishioners for about an hour Sunday afternoon, there were few new details about Cautela and his future with the church.

The diocese announced at services Saturday that Cautela had been placed on administrative leave by the diocese earlier last week. Cautela resigned from his position on Wednesday, so a new pastor could be appointed before the lengthy investigation was complete.

After the post-Mass meeting, some parish members said they were disappointed by the lack of information.

"They didn't tell us a whole lot that we didn't know already," said John Takacs, an Ellport resident. "We're going to have to wait and see what happens like everyone else."

Posted by kshaw at 07:04 AM

Lawrence County priest removed

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Rev. Mauro Cautela, a parish priest in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh since 1974, has been removed from public ministry while state police investigate what the diocese termed "serious allegations of improprieties."

While details are unavailable, the allegations appear to be both financial and sexual in nature.

Cautela, 57, had been pastor of Holy Redeemer in Ellwood City since 1992 and served as dean of all Lawrence County parishes. According to the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, allegations were first brought to the diocese Aug. 17. On Wednesday, Cautela was placed on administrative leave and resigned as pastor of Holy Redeemer, and diocesan officials gave the allegations to Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew Mangino.

"The diocese came to us and we have asked the state police to look into the matter," Mangino said yesterday.

The state police would not comment because they said the investigation was ongoing.

Posted by kshaw at 07:01 AM

Jury selection opens in Catholic priest's sexual abuse trial

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

By Robert Patrick
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/29/2005

The criminal prosecution of a Catholic priest charged with performing oral sex on a teenage boy in the Old Cathedral more than 25 years ago started Monday in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The prosecution of the Rev. Thomas Graham, 71, is being seen by some Missouri prosecutors as the test case that will determine if they can pursue decades-old sex charges.

Graham is being prosecuted under a 1969 law that did not provide a statute of limitations for "abominable and detestable crimes against nature."

If convicted of sodomy, Graham could face up to life in prison.

Posted by kshaw at 06:58 AM

Children's home marks 75 years

TORRINGTON (WY)
Star-Tribune

By DENISE HEILBRUN
Star-Tribune correspondent Tuesday, August 30, 2005

TORRINGTON -- What began in 1930 as an orphanage, and is now operated as a treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children, is celebrating 75 years of service to Wyoming youth.

St. Joseph's Children's Home will hold an open house and tour on Thursday to enable the public to see what is "behind those walls."

"I think there's a mystery of the institution when people drive by," said Bob Mayor, executive director of St. Joseph's. "There's a curiosity of people of 'What are these new buildings like, what are the old buildings like? What do they really do back there?'" ...

The youth home was in the headlines last week after a victims' advocacy group called for the name of retired Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Hart to be removed from a residence hall, the Hart Children's Center. Three lawsuits have been filed against the bishop alleging sexual abuse in the 1970s in Kansas when he was a priest.

That request was rejected by Bishop David Ricken, who noted that Hart was president of the youth home's board of directors for 25 years and that the accusations against him have not resulted in criminal charges.

Posted by kshaw at 06:57 AM

New lawsuits allege 1950s sexual abuse by priest

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By KEVIN MURPHY
The Kansas City Star

Two men have sued the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, contending they were sexually abused in the 1950s by the Rev. Sylvester Hoppe, who died in 2002.

Gary Lee Smith of Topeka and Hank Talbot, who lives in northwest Missouri, filed lawsuits late last week in Jackson County Circuit Court. The lawsuits said the diocese “ignored, covered up and concealed” Hoppe’s behavior.

In a written statement released Monday afternoon, the Rev. Robert A. Murphy, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said the diocese had no record of complaints from Smith or Talbot.

Still, he expressed regret for the harm done by a few priests. “The diocese is deeply sorry for what has happened to innocent children due to the abuse perpetrated by some priests,” Murphy’s statement said.

Posted by kshaw at 06:53 AM

Pope "considering gay priest ban"

VATICAN
Gay.com

Eric Johnston, Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network
Tuesday 30 August, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be considering a controversial new policy of excluding gay men from becoming priests.

News of the possible policy change came from the Observer newspaper and sources close to the Vatican.

According to the report, the pope is currently reviewing a draft report produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, which includes a recommendation that gay men should be excluded from entering seminaries where priests are trained. The policy would also raise questions about how to determine who is gay and who is not.

According to the Observer, the proposed document was drawn up in response to the sexual abuse scandal involving priests in the United States, which included allegations of sexual harassment of priests by their superiors.

Posted by kshaw at 06:49 AM

August 29, 2005

Priest's trial could serve as test case on old abuse charges

ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS - A trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of sodomizing a teenage boy in the 1970s began Monday in a case that could test how well sexual abuse charges hold up decades after the alleged crime.

Rev. Thomas Graham, 71, faces one count of sodomy against a teenage boy at the rectory of St. Louis' Old Cathedral in the late 1970s.

Graham is being tried in St. Louis court. The St. Louis Archdiocese said it investigated the allegation in 1994 but could not substantiate it based on the information it had.

Graham has maintained the charge is untrue, the archdiocese said, but he was removed from active ministry when charged in November 2002. He has been living in a monitored residence.

Many Missouri prosecutors think the case could show the effectiveness of a sodomy charge decades after an alleged sex abuse crime. Standard child molestation laws require charges to be filed relatively quickly.

Posted by kshaw at 06:42 PM

Vatican Prepares To Ban Gay Priests

VATICAN CITY
365Gay.com

by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief

Posted: August 28, 2005 4:00 pm ET

(Vatican City) The Vatican is preparing to bar gays from entering the priesthood and is considering removing those gays who are already priests.
The new regulations for the priesthood were prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries - the body that oversees all Catholic seminaries.

The document was delivered to Pope Benedict earlier this month but was not made public because the Vatican did not want it to conflict with the papal visit to Cologne.

It is the latest attempt to lay blame for the child abuse scandal that for the past several years has rocked the church, particularly in America, at the feet of gays.

In the past the church has been silent on the issue of gay priests, believing the vow of celibacy that all priests take, was sufficient.

Posted by kshaw at 06:35 PM

Church: Accused Bishop's Name To Stay On Children's Home

CHEYENNE (WY)
KGWN

Cheyenne, Wyo
Associated Press

A residence hall at the Saint Joseph's Children's Home in Torrington will continue to bear the name of former Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart.

That's the word from current Bishop David Ricken. He says accusations made last week in a lawsuit against Hart are not enough by themselves to warrant taking Hart's name off the youth center.

Last week, a former parishioner of Hart filed a lawsuit in Missouri, alleging that Hart had molested him when he was 12 years old. It was the fifth such lawsuit against Hart.

Hart has not responded to this most recent allegation, but has repeatedly denied any sexual misconduct.

Posted by kshaw at 06:31 PM

Dallas Theological Seminary, molestation victim reach settlement

DALLAS (TX)
Forth Worth Star-Telegram

By Martha Deller
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

On the eve of what could have been an emotional trial, Dallas Theological Seminary reached a out-of-court settlement with a Trophy Club resident who blamed the seminary for his abuse by one of their graduates.

Jury selection was set to begin Monday in Tarrant County's 17th District court in Aaron Babb's lawsuit against the seminary, where a man now imprisoned for molesting Babb graduated in 1992.

But attorneys for Babb and the seminary said Monday the case was settled late Friday, with all terms to remain confidential.

"Our client is pleased with the terms of the settlement," said Babb's attorney, Thomas McElyea. "He was prepared to go to trial, but we believe it is in the best interest of all parties to solve the lawsuit amicably."

Thomas Brandon Jr., who represented the 80-year-old nondenominational seminary, agreed.

"The matter was settled to the satisfaction of all parties involved," Brandon said. "My personal hope is that this will help promote healing for Mr. Babby and for the seminary."

Posted by kshaw at 06:28 PM

Diocese to appeal bankruptcy court decision that parishes are assets

SPOKANE (WA)
Catholic News Service

By Catholic News Service

SPOKANE, Wash. (CNS) -- Citing the "national consequences," Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane said he will appeal a federal bankruptcy court's ruling that parish properties must be included in the Spokane diocesan assets used to settle millions of dollars in clergy sex abuse claims.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams of Spokane ruled Aug. 26 that civil property laws prevail in a bankruptcy proceeding despite any internal church laws that might bar a bishop from full control over parish assets. Diocesan lawyers had argued that in church law parish assets belong to the parish itself, not to its pastor or to the bishop. They said that, while the diocesan bishop was nominally the owner in civil law, even in civil law he only held those properties in trust for the parishes themselves.

"It is not a violation of the First Amendment," Williams wrote, "to apply federal bankruptcy law to identify and define property of the bankruptcy estate even though the Chapter 11 debtor is a religious organization."

Her ruling, if upheld, would vastly increase the diocesan assets subject to the abuse claims and would up the ante nationwide for any other diocese considering that approach to resolving sexual abuse claims against its clergy.

Posted by kshaw at 06:23 PM

County must pay back property taxes to Catholic foundation

TUCSON (AZ)
KVOA

In the settlement of a lawsuit, the Pima County Assessor's Office must give back all but $5,000 of the nearly $50,000 in property taxes that had been paid on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's downtown headquarters in the 2004 tax year.

The lawsuit was filed last year by the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Tucson, which argued that as a charitable entity it should be completely exempt from paying property taxes on the headquarters.

The settlement was signed by Pima County Superior Court Judge Carmine Cornelio late last month.

Under state law, properties of charitable institutions are exempt from taxation if the institutions and property aren't used or held for profit. ...

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last year in the face of 22 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by local clergy.

Posted by kshaw at 10:47 AM

Priests ask Massgoers how best to compensate victims of clerical abuse

NORTHERN IRELAND
One in Four

MASSGOERS were yesterday asked to participate in a survey to assess views on how their parish should contribute to the compensation fund for victims of clerical sex abuse.

The request was made by the Administrator of St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry, Fr Michael Canny, who said that the survey would be conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Ulster.

Earlier this year the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, said the diocese was committed to paying £1m (€1.46m) over a five-year period to the Stewardship Trust Fund, which was set up by the Catholic Church in Ireland to pay compensation to people who were sexually abused by priests.

Fr Canny said that his parish's commitment to the fund was £8,000 (€11,700) a year for five years.

Posted by kshaw at 09:04 AM

Visitors to Holy Cross to receive leaflets on pedophile issue

WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice

Tuesday morning August 30, The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, a Catholic priest from New Jersey and supporters of clergy abuse victim Patricia A. Cahill will assemble to provided leaflets to visitors at the main gates of the College of the Holy Cross.

Ms Patricia A. Cahill, a Lancaster, Pa., resident and the niece of the late Rev.Daniel E. Millard, a 1947 Holy Cross graduate for whom the Millard Art Center is named, alleged that her uncle sexually abused her when she was between the ages of 5 and 13. She said the abuse occurred during the 1950s while she was growing up in New Jersey.

The Millard Art Center was dedicated in 1993 and the building contains a bronze plaque bearing the name and a likeness of Rev. Millard. A major benefactor was Mrs. Ferrara's father, Charles Millard of the class of 1954. The former
president, CEO and chairman of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York died in 2003 after a lengthy term as a Holy Cross trustee.

Posted by kshaw at 08:43 AM

Sex-abuse mediations shadowed by suicides

OREGON
The Oregonian

Monday, August 29, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
A week before he died, Larry Lynn Craven called his lawyer, as he often did, to say that he could no longer live with the demons of his childhood sexual abuse.

"He had called me, crying and depressed and saying that he wanted to commit suicide," Daniel J. Gatti recalls. "I kept saying, 'God will get us through this.' "

A week later, on July 21, the Brooks man was dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, making him the third clergy sex-abuse plaintiff to commit suicide or apparent suicide in the past nine months.

The deaths are a disturbing undercurrent in the crucial mediations now under way between 66 sex-abuse plaintiffs and the Archdiocese of Portland, and they have prompted Gatti to ask a federal judge for help in preventing more suicides.

"Over the past several months," Gatti wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland, "I have fielded several calls from clients who, with a drink in one hand and a gun in the other, have threatened to commit suicide, and, but for divine intervention and a great deal of talk, I believe that they would have, in fact, committed suicide."

The mediations have stirred up dormant emotions that are rooted in abuse that plaintiffs say took place decades ago.

Posted by kshaw at 08:16 AM

Catholics Disappointed With Court Ruling

SPOKANE (WA)
KXLY

Local churches are reacting to a federal ruling that could force the Spokane Catholic Diocese to sell churches, schools and all parish property to pay victims of priest sexual abuse.

The ruling came Friday, after the diocese began seeking Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, saying it could only pay $10 million for victims of priest abuse. Victims argued the diocese could pay more if the church sold schools and other parish property.

Local Catholics News4 spoke with are upset and sad. Before the 11am mass at the Cathedral of our Lady Lourdes, a few Catholics said they understand the victims have suffered, but they don't think they should too. One women says she does not want the current Catholic population to pay for sins that happened decades ago.

Victims of clergy abuse have said they do not want to see churches or schools sold, they just want a resolution and the church to be held accountable.

Posted by kshaw at 08:12 AM

Judge: Diocese's assets to pay sex-abuse victims

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent | August 29, 2005

A decision by a federal bankruptcy judge in Spokane, Wash., who ruled that the assets of the Catholic diocese could be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests, could have far-reaching implications for dioceses across the country, including in Boston, leaders of two lay reform groups said yesterday.

Peter Borre, cochairman of the Council of Parishes, a group that is assisting parishioners who oppose the closing of their parishes, said he believes the ruling might encourage more victims of clergy sexual abuse to come forward and file suit against church officials, two years after about 550 parishioners in Boston settled their claims with the archdiocese.

''We are going to see a significant surge in claims because, to put it a bit crassly, sexual-abuse victims and their attorneys will now see much larger sums of money available for settlement," he said. ''Everything within the diocese is now potentially on the table if it comes to Chapter 11 proceedings."

Terrence C. Donilon, spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese, said he did not want to comment directly on the ruling because church lawyers have not had a chance to review its details. But he said he wanted to point out differences between the Boston Archdiocese and the Diocese of Spokane, which filed for bankruptcy in December, claiming assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million. Most of those liabilities were sexual-abuse claims.

''We're not in bankruptcy, we're in a process of reconfiguration, so we're in a significantly different environment from Spokane," Donilon said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:09 AM

Parishioners surveyed on abuse fund

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Sarah Brett

29 August 2005
A priest in Londonderry is surveying his parish on how cash should be raised for a controversial fund which compensates victims of paedophile priests.

Father Michael Canny has asked a team of researchers from the University of Ulster to confidentially canvass those who worship in and financially support St Eugene's Cathedral on how the parish might "meet its obligation" to the Stewardship Trust Fund.

The move follows a double scandal in the diocese earlier this year when it emerged that Dungiven curate Fr Andy McCloskey was allowed to become a sex abuse counsellor despite facing two serious sexual allegations and paying a £19,000 out of court settlement to an alleged victim.

Within weeks it was also revealed that Bishop Of Derry Seamus Hegarty had on one occasion channelled money from parish contributions into the Stewardship Trust Fund without telling parishioners.

Posted by kshaw at 08:07 AM

Law's validity, attempt to prove cover-ups of abuse are at issue

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 29, 2005

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and for people who say they were abused by priests are using a case in San Diego federal court to do what they can't do in state court.

Church officials are trying to invalidate the 2002 state law that lifted the statute of limitations for bringing decades-old civil claims of sexual abuse.

The lawyers for people who say they are victims are using it to expose sometimes graphic allegations of abuse and what they call cover-ups in a series of recent declarations.

Such arguments can't be made in state court because lawyers on both sides agreed to seek mediation for about 140 lawsuits filed against the church in San Diego after a nationwide scandal prompted the change in the law.

None of the cases filed in San Diego has gone to trial.

Posted by kshaw at 07:58 AM

August 28, 2005

Pope studying document on gay priests

VATICAN CITY
Science Daily

Vatican City, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI reportedly is now studying a proposed instruction that would ban the ordination of homosexuals as Roman Catholic priests.

The Observer said that the instruction written by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries would, for the first time, make heterosexuality a requirement in selecting candidates for seminaries. In the past, because all priests take vows of celibacy, sexual orientation was not an issue.

The instruction has gone through three drafts without being released, and the pope could still decide to withhold it. Barring homosexuals from the priesthood could lead to an even greater shortage of candidates in the church. ...

The document is a response to the scandal about sexual abuse in the United States, because, in addition to complaints of pedophiliac priests, some priests claimed they had been abused or sexually harassed by superiors.


Posted by kshaw at 02:41 PM

"Twist Of Faith"

MISSOURI
Times Newspapers

by Don Corrigan

"Twist of Faith" follows the story of a Toledo firefighter who is forced to confront earlier years of sexual abuse.

An award-winning documentary on clergy sexual abuse and a panel exploring such crimes "happening in our own backyard" is slated for 8 p.m., Aug. 31, at Webster University's Moore Auditorium.

"The film is quite powerful," said David Clohessy, who will represent Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) on the panel following the film. "It's great that St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer Joyce will be on the panel.

"Her presence can remind us that clergy abuse is a serious crime," said Clohessy. "It needs to be brought to the police. Most Catholics agree that this stuff should not be covered up; it should not be swept under the rug. It needs to be cleaned up."

The film, "Twist of Faith," follows the psychological journey of Tony Comes, a firefighter from Toledo, Ohio, who has buried his past of being abused by a priest. A constant barrage of news related to sexual abuse, coupled with a disturbing discovery in his personal life, forces Tony to confront his demons.

"The film is important because it shows what the pain is about, what the aftermath of clergy abuse is all about," said Clohessy. "Here is a fireman, Tony, who buys his dream house for his family, only to find that the priest who molested him lives down the street."

Posted by kshaw at 11:09 AM

Victim works to halt abuse

PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Item

By Bevin Milavsky
The Daily Item

A woman who was sexually abused as a child is working for legislative change to stop the cycle of abuse and bring justice to others who have been victimized.

Tammy Lerner, of New Tripoli, is co-director of the Lehigh Valley chapter of SNAP (Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests), and for the past three years her main focus has been serving as legislative director.

Ms. Lerner's abuse began when she was 4 or 5 and growing up in Mifflinburg. She said the abuse was committed by two members of her extended family.

Ms. Lerner's grandfather was a non-denominational minister who held church services in his home every Sunday.

Although her grandfather was in no way involved in her abuse, she said the very strict, conservative nature of the religion engendered secrecy, much like what shrouded the Catholic clergy abuse scandals.

Posted by kshaw at 11:07 AM

Priest abuse panel puts off ruling

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

Saturday, August 27, 2005
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
A lay-dominated review board that advises Archbishop Alfred Hughes said it does not have enough information to evaluate a Harvey man's allegation that a Marrero priest molested him as a child, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans said Friday.

"The data available to the review board is not sufficient at this time for the board to render a judgment," said archdiocesan spokesman the Rev. William Maestri.

The archdiocese, as distinct from its advisory panel, continues to believe that Monsignor Raymond Hebert is a victim of mistaken identity, Maestri said.

The review board sent the complaint back for more investigation and asked that it not be resubmitted until a fuller picture is available, he said.

The decision means that Hebert may continue his 53-year career in public ministry.

Posted by kshaw at 09:49 AM

Judge: Diocese owns assets, not parishes

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Marie Szaniszlo
Sunday, August 28, 2005

A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that churches, parochial schools and other assets belong to a diocese, not to individual parishes and trusts - a major victory for clergy sexual abuse victims suing for damages, and a potential blow to Boston-area parishioners suing to reopen closed churches.

By rejecting its argument that the assets of parishes belong not to the diocese but to parishioners, Judge Patricia Williams undermined the Spokane, Wash., diocese's attempt to limit the assets creditors could seize to settle lawsuits brought by 58 people who say they were abused by priests.

The diocese plans to appeal. But if the ruling is upheld, it could have broad implications for dioceses attempting to fend off lawsuits by sex-abuse victims by claiming that parish assets belong to parishioners.

It would likewise affect the Boston Archdiocese, which is making a mirror-image attempt to foil lawsuits by parishioners at churches it has closed by claiming parish assets belong to the archdiocese.

``If this decision is upheld after appeals, it is of landmark importance for the Catholic Church in America,'' said Peter Borre, a spokesman for the Council of Parishes, a group opposed to Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's decision last year to close roughly one-quarter of the archdiocese's 357 parishes, largely due to dwindling donations in the wake of the clergy sex-abuse scandal.

Posted by kshaw at 09:38 AM

Mass-goers quizzed on abuse fund

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

One of Londonderry's Catholic parishes has started consulting on how to meet its commitment to a fund compensating victims of clerical sex abuse.

Mass-goers who attend St Eugene's Cathedral are being asked to give their views on how the parish should raise £40,000 for the Stewardship Trust Fund.

Fr Michael Canny, the administrator, said it was important the University of Ulster survey was independent.

He said he was "prepared to abide" by whatever the findings were.

"The university are asking them (the Mass goers) on my behalf to express their preferences as to how we might meet our commitments," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:30 AM

Another suit is filed against former priest

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A former student at New Haven High School has filed a civil lawsuit against former St. Louis priest James Beine in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The former student, called John Doe in the lawsuit, said he was sexually abused by Beine several times beginning in 1978 at the high school, where Beine was a counselor. The lawsuit, filed Friday, also named the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, Archbishop Raymond Burke and the school district.

The suit was the second filed against Beine in as many days. On Thursday, a Florida man, now 53, filed a civil lawsuit saying he was abused by Beine at St. Monica Catholic School in Creve Coeur when he was in the sixth and seventh grades.

Posted by kshaw at 09:28 AM

Center will keep Bishop's name

CHEYENNE (WY)
Star-Tribune

By ROBERT W. BLACK
Star-Tribune capital bureau Sunday, August 28, 2005

CHEYENNE -- A victims' advocacy group has been rebuffed in its attempt to have the name of retired Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Hart removed from a residence hall at a Torrington youth home.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, based in Chicago, on Wednesday urged Wyoming Catholic leaders to strip Hart's name from a building at St. Joseph's Children's Home, which is affiliated with the church.

The request came following the third lawsuit filed against the bishop alleging sexual abuse in the 1970s when he was a priest.

Bishop David Ricken, who succeeded Hart as spiritual leader of Wyoming's Catholics in 2001, issued a statement Friday saying there was no reason to change the name of the Hart Children's Center.

"In this wonderful country, a person is innocent until proven guilty," Ricken said. "I am sure any one of us would welcome the protection of the law and the presumption of innocence if we had been accused.

Posted by kshaw at 09:25 AM

Local Catholic churches, schools may be at risk after ruling

WASHINGTON
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

By Union-Bulletin staff with Associated Press reports

A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests.

The decision - which includes six parishes in Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla counties and two Catholic schools in the region - may prompt other dioceses across the nation to avoid filing for Chapter 11 protection.

But Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he will appeal the decision announced Friday.

``We appeal this decision because we have a responsibility, not only to victims, but to the generations of parishioners...who have given so generously of themselves in order to build up the work of the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington,' Skylstad said in a prepared statement.

``Let me assure everyone that ministry will continue in Eastern Washington,' he said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:24 AM

Column on 'Twist of Faith' stirs reader's anger

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

Russ Lemmon

A hand-written letter — a true rarity these days — caused me to change plans for today's get-together.

Originally, I was not going to write about Twist of Faith, the Oscar-nominated documentary set in Toledo. After all, I had mentioned it the three previous weeks.

But I was taken aback by the tone of Martin's one-page correspondence. I've received my share of "hate mail" through the years, but his ranks among the most vile.

In this space two weeks ago, I said we were small-minded because Twist of Faith couldn't get a public screening here. If I were to build a case in support of my statement, Martin's letter would be Exhibit A.

The film chronicles the life of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes around the time he went public with allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest, Dennis Gray. I don't see how it's possible to watch it and not have heartfelt sympathy for Mr. Comes.

Martin, however, might be the exception.

"Media creep, phony Tony Comes, the $50,000 Hollywood crybaby, has gotten enough out of this," he wrote, making reference to the $50,000 settlement Mr. Comes received from the Toledo Catholic diocese.

All I could do is shake my head over his astonishing lack of compassion.

Martin wasn't finished. He spewed his remaining venom at me.

Posted by kshaw at 09:19 AM

Vatican papers spark debate

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com

WORCESTER— The 1962 Vatican document called Crimen Sollicitationis that first surfaced in Worcester two years ago has made its way around the world, causing controversy and sparking debate on whether the Roman Catholic hierarchy intended this document as a plan to hush up sexual abuse of children.

The name is taken from the first words of the original Latin version, which mean “crime of solicitation.” It outlines procedures to be followed when a priest is accused of sexual abuse. Houston lawyer Daniel J. Shea said the document is relevant because it shows that the church hierarchy has conspired to keep quiet child abuse.

Reading through the Crimen protocol for handling abuse cases, Mr. Shea said, it is evident that the intent is to absolve the offending priest and send him on what the document calls a “pious pilgrimage” but what he called a “vacation,” and to shut up the complainant.

He and other civil lawyers in this country are also introducing the document into lawsuits in an attempt to show that an international conspiracy is involved in covering up abuse by priests.

He went to the gates of the Vatican two weeks ago to press his argument that Pope Benedict XVI has actively conspired to keep cases of clergy sexual abuse under wraps. He bases his claim on the Crimen document and a letter that the pope wrote in 2001, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, instructing church officials on how to handle these cases. Crimen was footnoted in the 2001 document.

Crimen Sollicitationis has also shown up in Louisville, Ky., where the Vatican has been named in a lawsuit filed by men alleging clergy sexual abuse.

Mr. Shea, who also practices in Massachusetts, settled several sexual abuse cases in Worcester Superior Court, but has named the pope in a lawsuit he is handling for three men in the Houston area who said they were sexually abused by a priest there who later fled back to his native Latin America.

Crimen was introduced into a court suit in Springfield brought by Jane Martin, who said she was sexually abused as a child by the Rev. Robert E. Kelley, a priest of the Worcester Diocese. The judge did not allow introduction of the document because it had not been authenticated and was not seen as being relevant.

Mr. Shea’s campaign has attracted public notice. Articles about his quest have appeared in newspapers in Britain, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, the canon lawyer who first called attention to the burgeoning sexual abuse scandal in the church in the mid-1980s, said he understands that an even earlier document dealt with how to handle clergy sexual abuse issues, but he has been unable to find the entire document. Dated June 8, 1922, it is written in Latin and called “De modo procedendi in causis sollicitationis.”

Rev. Doyle does not agree with Mr. Shea that the 2001 memo implicates the pope in obstruction of justice. The memo was intended to be an internal church document and no one at the Vatican at the time was thinking in terms of obstructing justice. He does not believe that Crimen Sollicitationis was an intentional act by the church hierarchy to cover up abuse but said it shows a 1960s “mindset” of the hierarchy, which intended these things to be kept confidential.

The document, which was marked “confidential,” was drawn up by Cardinal Alfred Ottaviani and approved by Pope John XXIII. Rev. Doyle said the pope may not have read the document presented to him for approval by the cardinal, but he would have known of its existence. According to the preamble to Crimen, it was to be “diligently stored in the secret archives of the Curia as strictly confidential.”

Rev. Doyle, as a canon lawyer, worked at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., during the 1980s and a lot of church documents involving allegations of clerical sexual abuse crossed his desk. This is where he got his first inklings of the scope of the problem, which until recently remained largely hidden. He has also served as an expert witness in civil lawsuits involving allegations of sexual abuse by priests and has seen even more documents.

He said that although Crimen does not appear to be operational in all Catholic dioceses, he has seen documents that show it was used in some of them.

He believes the American bishops, none of whom would have been involved in the writing of Crimen Sollicitationis, from the mid-20th century onward turned their energies to sending offending priests to treatment places. The first such retreat was operated by the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico, he said. In the late 1940s and 1950s, the founder of that order was warning bishops that none of the priests sent to “the Paracletes should be in active ministry,” he said. The bishops did not heed that warning, he said.

The House of Affirmation in Whitinsville, which was opened in the 1970s, received a number of offending priests, but experts in the treatment field had told Rev. Doyle that they did not believe the House of Affirmation was equipped professionally to treat sexually abusive priests. “But bishops continued to send priests to the House of Affirmation,” he said. The House of Affirmation closed in the late 1980s amid a financial scandal.

Rev. Doyle said Catholics in general understand that the hierarchy needs to take a good look at how they operate if there is to be an end to clerical sexual abuse. He said he was recently involved in a court case in which a bishop, whom he declined to name, did not tell the truth about destruction by his diocese of subpoenaed documents, although the bishop had knowledge that his predecessor had the documents destroyed. “He violated a court order and he violated an oath,” Rev. Doyle said.

Bishops react as organizations react, he said. “They come to see their needs as the needs of the institution,” he said. Rev. Doyle added that the church will not come to grips with the sexual abuse problem unless it takes a look at its own views on sexuality. Rev. Doyle said he has seen files on many abusive priests and was struck by how sexually immature they were. “In seminary, you did not talk about sex. It was a sin,” he said.

Rev. Doyle added that the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was approved by the American bishops, is not the panacea that many hope it is. “I have a lot of issues with the charter,” he said. For one thing, he said, he does not believe the church can “self-audit” compliance with the charter. The language of the charter is so broad that abuse can be construed in many different ways.

Other people interviewed recently had a variety of views on the documents and what needs to be done to deal with the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

Gerald Renner of Connecticut, a retired religion writer for the Hartford Courant who with Jason Berry wrote “Vows of Silence,” has investigated the allegations that Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legion of Christ, had sexually molested boys and that the Vatican hushed it up.

Mr. Renner said he believes the “resurrection” of Crimen after more than 40 years is “not a blueprint for a cover-up regardless of what Mr. Shea or others say.” He said it is an internal church document “that applies to ecclesiastical law, not to the broader civil law in the U.S. or anywhere else. It is a straw which civil lawyers have grasped to open the Vatican to liability for the cover-up.”

Timothy P. Staney, a former Worcester resident who now lives in the Tampa, Fla., area, has made the Crimen available to anyone who want to download it from the Internet. He got a copy of the document, which is more than 30 pages long, and put it on his Web site. It got 800 hits the first week and the document then began to appear on other sites. A Google search shows the file, criminales.pdf, showing up in more than 90 sites. References to Crimen show up in more than 650 places on the Web and articles about it appear in a number of different languages, showing a worldwide reach.

Crimen deals with how the hierarchy should act if a priest is turned in for sexual abuse. The answer is, “It never happened,” Mr. Staney said.

Mr. Staney, who settled a lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused by the Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon and Raymond Tremblay, a former religious education teacher, said he believes it is unimportant whether Catholics view the document as irrelevant or an urgent directive of protocol. “It is indisputable that this document was released to the highest ranks of the church under the secret of the Holy Office with draconian security instructions and was never meant to fall into the hands of lay people, moreover the media,” he said.

Mr. Staney sees Crimen as a “smoking gun” of a cover-up and noted the language of the document is “concisely sexual.” While some argue the document refers only to sexual abuse involving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Mr. Staney questions why it makes reference to sexual acts involving “brute animals.”

“They were obviously concerned about something more than sacramental protocol,” he said.

Daniel E. Dick, victim support coordinator for Worcester Voice of the Faithful, said he believes Crimen was used by the bishops “and those above them in rank” to avoid having to face their role in the “whole, awful mess of sexual abuse by any and all church personnel.”

“The release of Crimen Sollicitationis in 1962 was originally limited to cover only improper advances a confessor might make to a young male in the confessional. Supposedly, according to its canon lawyer defenders, the intent of Crimen Sollicitationis was later expanded to convey the church’s recognition that the abuse of another person by a member of the clerical caste was also a crime. This covers (religious) such as deacons, brothers and sisters in religious orders, seminarians, priests, bishops and archbishops, cardinals, and popes who have been guilty of sexually soliciting and abusing another person,” Mr. Dick said.

“The document does not cover those who aid and abet in the crime of obstructing justice,” he said. A person who knowingly puts a child molester in a position to abuse more children “is also aiding and abetting a crime,” Mr. Dick said.

“The most notorious example of such an exclusion is the horrific record of Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston who did knowingly and habitually shield and transfer many, many pedophile clergy and religious from one post to another where they could continue their criminal ways. His case was considerably compounded by the actions of both Pope John Paul II and then Cardinal Ratzinger who had Law whisked away to Rome where they ensconced him in a cushy pastorate of a wealthy church there. Then, after being elected pope, Rev. Ratzinger had the further gall to invite Law to say the Mass of mourning for the late John Paul II,” Mr. Dick said.

Pauline Salvucci of Maine, a former religious sister who now advocates for church reform and accountability through Voices of Outrage, said the document may be controversial but she would rather see people focus their energies on bringing real reform to the Catholic church and to begin to prosecute those of the church hierarchy who have shielded priests.

“The way to change the church won’t be through this document from Rome, but rather through a grass-roots political movement in truth and justice,” she said. She sees the goals as changing the statutes of limitations to hold priests and bishops accountable for sexual abuse, holding Congressional hearings into diocesan cover-ups that have been documented around the country, removing the non-profit status of churches and dioceses that refuse to cooperate with investigations and having a federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) investigation into the cover-ups.

George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, who settled a suit alleging abuse by Rev. Thomas H. Teczar, said it is “hard to believe” there was not an active conspiracy with orders from Rome. He referred to a recent suit against the Fort Worth, Texas, and Worcester dioceses by two men who said they were abused by Rev. Teczar, who migrated to Texas from Worcester. “It was evident in the letters between Worcester and Fort Worth, where (the late) Bishop (Joseph Patrick) Delaney assumed all legal and financial responsibility for Father Teczar if he was to be sent there. He knew the risks. He jeopardized the safety of those children,” he said. “Clearly, the results of the recent lawsuits have proven that. Yet publicly he denied everything.”

George Shea said that Cardinal Law knowingly moved abusive priests “while publicly denying it.” Mr. Shea, who is not related to the Houston lawyer, said, “The fact that two leaders of the church, 2,000 miles apart, exhibiting the same behavior and responses to the crisis, leads one to believe they are taking the same orders.”

The Rev. Bruce Teague, a College of the Holy Cross graduate who is a priest of the Springfield Diocese, said bishops attempted to avoid scandal, particularly at the local level, and did not need Crimen to do it. “Most American bishops, unless they were canon lawyers, would not understand Crimen. It would have had to be interpreted to them by their chief canon lawyers,” he said.

Rev. Teague said bishops did not view sexual abuse of minors as a criminal issue but thought it was best handled by sending the priest to treatment. “Their behaviors were similar to Nixon in Watergate and Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky case. Their efforts and their diagnosis proved to be disastrous and destructive to victims and the church,” he said.

Canon law dealt with the issue of abusive priests, but American bishops did not even follow church law, Rev. Teague said. He said bishops still fail to hold themselves accountable for the harm they caused. “Unlike, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Dallas norms fail to hold bishops accountable themselves,” he said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:13 AM

August 27, 2005

Vatican plan to block gay priests

VATICAN
The Observer

Jamie Doward, religious affairs correspondent
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer

The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests.

The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.

It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week.

The document expresses the church's belief that gay men should no longer be allowed to enter seminaries to study for the priesthood. Currently, as all priests take a vow of celibacy, their sexual orientation has not been considered a pressing concern. ...

The instruction was drawn up as part of the Vatican's response to the sexual abuse scandal that surfaced in the American church three years ago, which has seen hundreds of priests launch lawsuits against superiors whom they accuse of abusing them.

As the former head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body charged with looking into the abuse claims, Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was made acutely aware of the scale of the problem. He is thought to have made clearing up the scandal one of the key goals of his papacy.

Posted by kshaw at 08:59 PM

Spokane churches can be sold to pay debt, judge rules

WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times

By Janet I. Tu and Jonathan Martin
Seattle Times staff reporters

A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday ruled that churches and schools in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane are owned by the diocese and can be sold to pay settlements to sex-abuse victims, a decision that evoked both triumph and disappointment.

The decision — the first of its kind in the nation — is considered a victory for victims and a loss for the diocese and its 80-plus parishes, which had argued that the properties belong to individual parishes, not to the diocese, and therefore were not subject to liquidation.

The ruling likely will be watched closely by other dioceses around the country as they, too, resolve claims of people who were sexually abused by priests.

"This is a big victory," said attorney Michael Pfau, who represents many of the plaintiffs in Spokane, where one in five residents is Catholic. "It's simply a devastating ruling for the diocese."

Posted by kshaw at 09:23 AM

Lawsuit alleges sex abuse at Chaminade

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

An Indiana man filed suit in St. Louis against the Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur and a former teacher Friday, alleging that he had been sexually abused by a teacher when he was a student there in 1996.

The suit says that Father Daniel A. Triulzi fondled the student on "many occasions" at Chaminade. The suit names Triulzi and the Marianist Province of St. Louis.

The Rev. Ralph Siefert, Chaminade's president, said he was not aware of any allegations or complaints against Triulzi.

"I have never heard anything that would even make me suspicious," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:17 AM

Archdiocese, abbey settle abuse claims

SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

By The Associated Press

The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and an abbey in Kansas have settled seven decades-old sex-abuse claims against the late Rev. John Forrester for a total of $2.6 million.

Forrester, a priest of St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kan., died in 2002. He served in the Seattle archdiocese at Holy Rosary in Seattle from 1974-75 and at All Saints in Puyallup from 1975-78.

Posted by kshaw at 09:07 AM

Church could have prevented molestations, lawsuit claims

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By SHEILA B. LALWANI
slalwani@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 26, 2005
A year after a convicted child molester was sentenced to prison again for molesting two girls that he met through a church, the victims have filed a lawsuit, claiming the crime could have been prevented by the church, its pastor and members of its board of directors.

In a case that could turn the legal focus on the responsibilities churches have to protect members, Apostolic Faith Church in Caledonia is accused of failing to warn congregants that former Sunday school teacher assistant Timothy P. Gregory was a convicted child molester. The lawsuit says Gregory helped his wife, Kimberley A. Gregory, teach Sunday school at the church, where the plaintiff were members.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Gregory is serving a 150-year prison sentence at the Green Bay Correctional Institute for molesting two sisters. Apostolic Faith disputes the claims of the lawsuit and says the parents failed to supervise their children. The lawsuit filed in the Racine County Circuit Court alleges members of Apostolic Faith first met Gregory as part of the church's prison ministries around 1990 when he was serving time in the Racine Correctional Institute. Members of the church continued to minister to Gregory until he was released in 1993 and helped him lease an apartment.

The lawsuit alleges that some members of the church knew of Gregory's past but failed to inform the congregation that Gregory was convicted in 1987 for molesting a girl in Outagamie County.

Posted by kshaw at 09:02 AM

By Sam Verhovek and Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writers

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

12:25 AM PDT on Saturday, August 27, 2005

By SONJA BJELLAND / The Press-Enterprise

A former youth pastor and onetime volunteer coach for Corona Centennial High School will get a new trial after a judge said his attorney was "hopelessly unprepared."

A Riverside County jury convicted Joseph Mario Arredondo Jr., 30, in March of 15 felony counts that involved sexual abuse of two teenage girls who were members of Norco's New Beginnings Christian.

Superior Court Judge Russell Schooling said he did not want to put the victims through the pain of testifying again but felt there was no other solution. After 30 years on the bench, Schooling said, he could not remember ever granting a motion to a new trial.

"We can go on with a litany of the ways that he failed to represent his client," Schooling said. "... I've never seen such an egregious lack of representation by an attorney before me."

After the hearing, Arredondo's friends and family who had filled half the courtroom cried and hugged each other.

Posted by kshaw at 09:00 AM

Spokane Judge Lifts Diocese's Bankruptcy Shield

WASHINGTON
Los Angeles Times

By Sam Verhovek and Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writers

SEATTLE — Handing a major legal victory to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, a federal bankruptcy judge said Friday that churches, parochial schools and other assets belonged to a diocese — not individual parishes or trusts — and thus could be liquidated if necessary to pay victims.

The ruling applied specifically to the bankrupt Diocese of Spokane, Wash., which is facing settlement of lawsuits brought by 58 people who said they were sexually abused by priests.

The diocese said it would file an immediate appeal. But if the ruling is upheld, it could have broad implications for other dioceses staggering under the weight of sexual-abuse lawsuits, because it undercuts the Roman Catholic Church's claim, reiterated in a Vatican finding this month, that most assets in individual dioceses cannot be put up for sale to settle claims.

The Vatican said investments and real estate such as churches and schools belonged to individual parishes.

But in Friday's ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams of Spokane appeared to take issue with that claim.

Posted by kshaw at 08:57 AM

Diocese plaintiffs win ruling on assets

OREGON
The Oregonian

Saturday, August 27, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
In a decision with potentially major implications for Roman Catholics in Western Oregon, a Spokane bankruptcy judge made 32 Eastern Washington parishes available to pay off clergy sexual-abuse claims against the Diocese of Spokane.

If the Archdiocese of Portland is hit with a similar ruling, Catholic churchgoers in 124 Oregon parishes could see more than $500 million in parish assets opened up to claims from sex-abuse plaintiffs seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

"It is a difficult decision for any Catholic parishioner to read," said Portland lawyer Douglas R. Pahl, who represents parishes, parishioners and others who claim a stake in parish property in Western Oregon. "It expressly rejects many aspects of Catholic faith that Catholics have come to rely on for generations."

Posted by kshaw at 08:50 AM

Bankfrupt diocese could sell churches; Judge in Spokane case says property can be sold to pay abuse victims; bishop plans to appeal

SPOKANE (WA)
King County Journal

2005-08-27
by Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press

SPOKANE -- A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests, a decision that may prompt other dioceses across the nation to avoid filing for Chapter 11 protection.

Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who had argued that he did not control and could not sell individual parishes to pay victims, said he will appeal.

``We appeal this decision because we have a responsibility, not only to victims, but to the generations of parishioners ... who have given so generously of themselves in order to build up the work of the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington,'' said Skylstad, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

``Let me assure everyone that ministry will continue in Eastern Washington,'' Skylstad said in a statement.

The Spokane Diocese serves about 90,000 Catholics in 13 Eastern Washington counties, from Metaline Falls on the Canadian border to Walla Walla on the Washington-Oregon line. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in December, listing assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million. Most of the liabilities are sexual abuse claims.

Posted by kshaw at 08:48 AM

Bill Aims To Extend Statute Of Limitations In Child-Sex Case

DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

POSTED: 11:05 am MDT August 26, 2005

DENVER -- Amid molestation allegations against a former priest, at least two state lawmakers are drawing up bills that would extend or eliminate the statute of limitations in cases of alleged sexual abuse of children.

State Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, the Senate president, plans to introduce a bill next year to give adults victimized as minors more time to file civil lawsuits.

State Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver, said she will introduce a bill to eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal charges involving sexual offenses against children.

Both said they were motivated by a clergy sexual-abuse scandal that has plagued U.S. Catholic dioceses since 2002.

Posted by kshaw at 08:42 AM

Church settles with more abuse accusers

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By TRACY JOHNSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Seven men have reached a $2.6 million settlement with the Seattle Archdiocese and a Kansas religious order over accusations that a priest sexually abused them in the 1970s when they were altar boys.

The Rev. John Forrester was accused of molesting four of the boys while he was serving at Holy Rosary in Seattle and the other three while serving at All Saints in Puyallup, according to their attorneys.

The settlement is believed to wrap up all known allegations involving Forrester, who is dead, though the Seattle Archdiocese still faces dozens of other sexual abuse claims.

The Seattle Archdiocese has now settled 197 such claims for $19.6 million since the late 1980s, according to its attorney, Michael Patterson.

Posted by kshaw at 08:39 AM

August 26, 2005

Judge: Spokane diocese to pay victims

SPOKANE (WA)
Macon Telegraph

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. - A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The decision, expected to have ramifications for dioceses across the nation, is a major defeat for Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who had argued he did not control individual parishes and thus they were not available to cover settlement costs.

"It is not a violation of the First Amendment to apply federal bankruptcy law to identify and define property of the bankruptcy estate even though the Chapter 11 debtor is a religious organization," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams wrote.

Skylstad said he will appeal the decision "because we have a responsibility, not only to victims, but to the generations of parishioners ... who have given so generously of themselves in order to build up the work of the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington."

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the decision should make other bishops think twice about trying to protect assets by filing for bankruptcy.

Posted by kshaw at 09:14 PM

Man arrested on pornography charges

FLORIDA
Tallahassee Democrat

The Leon County Sheriff's Office assisted the Bradford County Sheriff's Office in arresting Aaron D. West, 49, a former pastor of the Faith Baptist Church in Lawtey, for possessing or transmitting pornography to a minor.

West had relocated to Tallahassee approximately one year ago and was working at the Wal-Mart on Thomasville Road at the time of his arrest.

Bradford County investigators received information from Wisconsin authorities that a person in their area was sending pornography to minors since 2002. A search warrant was obtained identifying West as the suspect. Investigators interviewed West and he admitted to the allegations. Investigators also have information West collected child pornography. West allegedly told investigators he had attempted to meet with the children he communicated with but no such meeting took place.

Posted by kshaw at 09:04 PM

Pastor pays woman compensation for sexual abuse

JAPAN
Japan Today

Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 07:15 JST
NARA — A 55-year-old pastor has paid 5 million yen in compensation to a 33-year-old woman for childhood sexual abuse in accordance with a court ruling, her lawyer said Friday.

The Osaka High Court ordered the pastor in March to pay the money to the woman, overturning a lower court rejection of the compensation. The high court ruled that she has developed posttraumatic stress disorder from the abuse from when she was a fourth-year elementary school student through the years until she graduated from junior high school, the lawyer said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:00 PM

Judge Rules Against Diocese, Church Promises Appeal

SPOKANE (WA)
KXLY

Spokane Bishop William Skylstad says he will appeal a bankruptcy judge's decision that he controls all the parish churches and Catholic schools in the Spokane Diocese.

Skylstad said he has an obligation to generations of parishioners to protect the assets they have built.

A judge in Spokane Friday ruled that all the parish churches and other assets of the Spokane Diocese are available to be sold to raise money for victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Advocates for victims hailed the decision.

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says the decision should make other bishops think twice about trying to protect assets by filing for bankruptcy.

With many Catholic dioceses across the nation facing lawsuits from victims of sex abuse, this decision was being closely watched.

Posted by kshaw at 08:55 PM

Double shot at judge

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By CHRISENA COLEMAN
and ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The bottle let Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills down twice yesterday - as a state panel censured her for drinking and driving and her boyfriend was labeled an irrational drunk by his own lawyer.

The Rev. Lawrence Craig was arraigned yesterday on charges that he barged into a Bronx apartment over the weekend and tried to snatch a 4-year-old boy. But his lawyer argued Craig was "obviously drunk or high."

"He appeared to be drunk and didn't know what he was doing," attorney Steven Young said in Bronx Criminal Court, where Craig stood quietly with a clerical collar around his neck and his hands behind his back. ...

His attorney claimed yesterday that Craig went to the home because he needed help and was drawn to the cross on the door.

The $2,500 bail outraged the Bronx boy's father, especially since Craig has a prior sexual assault conviction for fondling a Wisconsin girl in 2000.

"All his cases, he's been fined and gotten off," said Richard Lewis, 38. "I don't think he was here just by accident. There were kids running around here all day. I really think this guy's a sexual predator."

Posted by kshaw at 08:48 PM

Judge Rules Parishes, Other Assets, Available To Abuse Victims

SPOKANE (WA)
KOMO

August 26, 2005

By KOMO Staff & News Services

SPOKANE - A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests.

The decision, expected to have ramifications for dioceses across the nation, is a major defeat for Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who had argued that he did not control individual parishes and thus they were not available to cover settlement costs.

"It is not a violation of the First Amendment to apply federal bankruptcy law to identify and define property of the bankruptcy estate even though the Chapter 11 debtor is a religious organization," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams wrote in a 50-page decision.

"The disputed real property constitutes property of the estate," she wrote.

Posted by kshaw at 04:37 PM

Another victim of clerical abuse

CALIFORNIA
Press-Telegram

In his 2004 book, "The Church That Forgot Christ,' Jimmy Breslin pays homage to some "good' priests. One thing that made them good was the fact that they were not real.

Breslin was referring to movie priests; Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in "Going My Way,' Pat O'Brien as Father Duffy in "The Fighting 69th,' Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan in "Boys Town.'

These films played in that seemingly innocent era when priests were revered and pedophilia was a word many of us could not begin to define. Later, we learned the era was not all that innocent. Children were being molested in parish after parish by men capitalizing on the trust that comes with wearing a clerical collar.

The film priests, however, did no wrong. Sure, Padre Flanagan once resorted to fisticuffs, but his antagonist had it coming. And, yes, Father Fitzgibbon, the elderly pastor played by Barry Fitzgerald, did keep a hidden "drop o' the crature.' But that was for medicinal purposes and to help put him to sleep as Bing sang, "Toora Loora Loora.' Father Good Guy

Breslin's book was much as I had expected; a chronicle of real-life stories in which priests violated their young charges. But what brought me up short was his contrasting portrait of a Brooklyn priest named Father John Powis.

Reading Breslin's sketch of Powis, I kept waiting for the priest to fall as so many others in the book had fallen. But he did not fall. ...

In short, Powis did all the things priests did back when there were three or four of them per parish. And did them in a diocese reduced to 187 priests for 217 parishes.

Reading that touching portrait of Powis, it came to me that there were two sets of victims in the scandal that has rocked the Catholic church over the last decade. The first victims, of course, were those who were violated, plus their families who lived through those horrors.

The other victims were the "good' priests, now viewed with suspicion because of the crimes of others. One warning now passed among Catholics is: "Never leave your child alone with a priest.' It has come to that.


Posted by kshaw at 02:01 PM

Former Lawtey Pastor Accused Of Sending Porn To Teen Girls

FLORIDA
News4Jax

POSTED: 11:34 am EDT August 26, 2005

A former pastor of the a Lawtey church was arrested Friday for allegedly possessing or transmitting pornography to a minor.

Aaron D. West, 49, was arrested at a Tallahassee Wal-Mart, where he was working after relocating from Bradford County.

Bradford County Sheriff Bob Milner said West had been communicating with two girls ages, age 14 and 15, in Manitowoc, Wis., since late in 2002. He was pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Lawtey at that time.

Deputies began investigating West after a detective from Wisconsin notified them that someone from the area was sending nude photos of a man and regularly communicating with the girls.

Posted by kshaw at 01:33 PM

Sarnia police investigate retired priest

CANADA
London Free Press

KELLY PEDRO, Free Press Crime Reporter 2005-08-26 02:16:32

An 82-year-old retired priest, who has been charged in Chatham with sex offences dating back 30 years, is at the centre of a probe by Sarnia police after four similar complaints.

Chatham-Kent police charged Charles Henry Sylvestre of Belle River in July with three counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of sexual intercourse with a female under 14. Rape is a Criminal Code charge that was replaced by sexual assault.

Sarnia police said they have received four to five allegations dating back to the late 1950s and early 1960s involving young females. The complaints were made to police after media reports about the Chatham charges, he said.

"Occasionally we get historical complaints. It is kind of unique," said Const. Bill Baines.

He said investigating a complaint dating back 50 years can be "very difficult."

Posted by kshaw at 08:17 AM

Former priest says molestation allegations have "half-truths"

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By The Denver Post

A former Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting boys across the Denver Archdiocese told a Denver TV station Wednesday that there were "half-truths" in the allegations and suggested that his accusers' attorneys are out for money.

In an interview with KCNC- Channel 4 outside his Denver apartment, Harold Robert White said he felt bad upon learning about the allegations against him. In the past month, 17 men have told The Denver Post that White molested them from the early 1960s to early 1980s.

"I'm just sorry that these guys are all going through this right now," said White, 72. "I feel they might be just doing it to themselves. Or their lawyers are doing it because lawyers are all out for money, and I don't have any money."

Posted by kshaw at 08:08 AM

Archdiocese is named in 2 sex abuse suits

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

A Florida man filed a civil lawsuit in St. Louis circuit court against former St. Louis priest James Beine on Thursday. The man, 53, who filed his lawsuit as "John Doe," said he was abused by Beine at St. Monica in Creve Coeur when he was in the sixth and seventh grades. The lawsuit also named the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke.

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Beine released from prison in June after overturning an indecent exposure conviction. The archdiocese recently said it has settled nine civil lawsuits for more than $400,000 alleging sexual improprieties or abuse by Beine.

A 56-year-old California woman also filed a lawsuit in St. Louis circuit court Thursday against the archdiocese and Burke. Peggy Nicholson said she had been abused at Holy Guardian Angels Church by the Rev. William Poepperling for four years beginning when she was 4 years old, according to the lawsuit.

Posted by kshaw at 08:00 AM

Boy Sex Victim: "Gilpin Abused Me"

MANATEE (FL)
NewsManatee

~ Part Two ~

(Part One can be found on our Past Headline News page)

"Mr. Gilpin invited myself and my older brother to his house for an overnight visit. We were no sooner through the door when he offered us something to drink. I am not sure what the libation was (usually Bacardi and Coke), but it was certainly something off limits for adolescents. Feeling like big shots, we drank with him. My brother got so drunk that he burned a hole in his couch while playing with a candle. Mr. Gilpin put my staggering brother to bed in one room, and guided me into the other room. Evidently, he and I were going to share a bed. I went to bed wearing only my underwear, and cannot recall whether he had his on to start or not. Regardless, in short order, we were naked. I will not describe what went on after that.

Suffice it to say that you cannot overuse your imagination. These types of things occurred with great frequency over the course of his time in Maine. Today I would think it strange that a not small container of Vaseline was on the night stand, but at the time I thought nothing of it.

The house was a small beachfront cottage of less than 1000 square feet, with the kitchen directly in front of the door from the drive, which was to the left of the house as one drove in. There was a waist high dividing wall between the kitchen and the living room, on the left of the front door. The bedrooms were at the opposite corners, both left and right as you stand in the doorway. There were French doors that opened from the living room onto the beach, facing Monument and Wood Islands. The heating system consisted of a below-floor unit that had a large grate, situated in the living room near the bedrooms. I thought this was neat as I had never seen one before, and hence never forgot it.
For the complete story, logon to NewsManatee.com

Posted by kshaw at 07:50 AM

Argentine cleric caught on tape

ARGENTINA
Chicago Tribune

By Colin McMahon
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published August 26, 2005

BUENOS AIRES -- Part morality play, part conspiracy tale and part soap opera, the resignation of a Roman Catholic bishop over his sexual encounter with a young man has Argentines both dismayed and riveted.

The scandal broke over the weekend with newspaper reports that the Vatican had received a copy of a videotape showing Juan Carlos Maccarone, 64, the bishop of the poor northern province of Santiago del Estero, having "intimate relations" with a 23-year-old chauffeur.

Now Maccarone and other church officials say the bishop was set up. They suspect Maccarone was targeted for his work on behalf of the poor and his opposition to the clan of a former governor who ran the province much like a private fiefdom for nearly 50 years.

"Everything points to . . . political revenge," said Rev. Guillermo Marco, a spokesman for the Buenos Aires archbishop.

The chauffeur, Alfredo Serrano, said he made the video to get back at Maccarone for failing to help his family and find the young man a good job.

At first Serrano said he was not paid for the cassette but then he said a television station had paid for it. He won't say how much. In various interviews with Argentine media, Serrano's versions also vary of how long he and Maccarone had been sexually involved, from a few years to as many as five.

Posted by kshaw at 07:41 AM

Jury finds ex-coach guilty of raping girl

NEW BLOOMFIELD (PA)
The Patriot-News

Friday, August 26, 2005
BY JOE ELIAS
Of Our Carlisle Bureau
NEW BLOOMFIELD - The jury foreman recited "guilty" 14 times in the Perry County Court case against a self-described church evangelist and former gymnastics coach accused of raping and sexually assaulting a girl over a period of more than 12 years.

Anthony P. Engelke, 39, of Miller Twp., was found guilty on three counts of rape and other charges including simple assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault and corruption of minors.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for three hours before returning the verdicts.

Posted by kshaw at 07:35 AM

St. Mary’s School goes public with advertising

ONEONTA (NY)
Daily Star

By Jake Palmateer
Staff Writer

ONEONTA — St. Mary’s School in Oneonta’s East End is, like other area schools, getting ready for the return of students.

Classrooms have been decorated, the halls are spotless, and a janitor was making final adjustments Thursday.

But as summer recess comes to a close, St. Mary’s, which has 180 students in preschool through eighth grade, is doing something a little different to help drum up school pride and attract students.

A short distance from the private Catholic school on busy state Route 7, a large billboard promoting the 81-year-old institution will greet westbound travelers for the next month. ...

She said the billboard idea was conceived in part because of the clergy sexual abuse controversy within the Roman Catholic Church.

LaMonica said a small minority of priests nationwide had damaged the credibility of the church and its affiliated parochial schools.

Posted by kshaw at 07:31 AM

Three more lawsuits filed against retired priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Three more lawsuits have been filed claiming sexual abuse by a retired priest who is a defendant in three other lawsuits filed last year.

The plaintiffs, two of them anonymous, sued the Rev. Thomas J. O'Brien and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Wednesday. The lawsuits, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, claim the diocese knew as early as 1969 that O'Brien was prone to abuse but did nothing to keep him from working with children.

No damages were specified in any of the actions.

The two anonymous plaintiffs claim they were molested by the priest at his cottage northeast of Kansas City. Craig Wilkerson, of St. Joseph, alleges that O'Brien began molesting him in 1979, when he was 12.

One anonymous plaintiff's lawsuit claimed he was molested from 1971 to 1975, that O'Brien gave him marijuana and other drugs and that the priest shared his bed at the cabin with a number of boys.

Posted by kshaw at 07:25 AM

Three men sue retired priest, alleging sexual abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By KEVIN MURPHY
The Kansas City Star

Three men have filed lawsuits in Kansas City alleging that a now-retired priest, the Rev. Thomas J. O’Brien, sexually abused them in the 1970s and gave them alcohol and pornography.

Craig Wilkerson of St. Joseph and two anonymous plaintiffs separately sued O’Brien late Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, seeking unspecified damages. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was named as co-defendant.

Wilkerson alleges O’Brien sexually molested him starting in 1979 when he was 12 and worked at the rectory of St. Elizabeth Parish in Kansas City.

Plaintiffs identifying themselves as John Doe H.G. and John Doe L.T. said O’Brien molested them on trips to a cottage O’Brien had at Lake Viking, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City.

O’Brien also is accused of sexual abuse of minors in three lawsuits filed in 2004. Those cases are pending.

Posted by kshaw at 07:13 AM

Millard accusers plan HC protest

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com

WORCESTER— The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, a Catholic priest from New Jersey, will lead leafleting and a small demonstration Tuesday on public property outside the main gates of the College of the Holy Cross.

He expects to be at the main gate by 9 a.m. and will pass out leaflets throughout the day. Rev. Hoatson said he also expects to be joined by representatives of Voice of the Faithful, including Daniel E. Dick and Marjorie Dick of Worcester, and George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, a clergy abuse survivor.

Rev. Hoatson said David A. Lewcon of Uxbridge, a clergy abuse survivor, may attend with his “Cross of Shame,” a large wooden cross that bears the names of area priests accused of sexual misconduct and others that Mr. Lewcon believes covered up or enabled abuse.

The issue is the college’s refusal to rename the Millard Art Center on campus; Rev. Hoatson and a Lancaster, Pa., woman say the art center is named for who they called a “serial pedophile.”

Patricia Anne Cahill, a niece of the late Rev. Daniel F. M. Millard, has said she was sexually abused repeatedly by the priest when she was a child. She received $6,000 for counseling from the Diocese of Camden, N.J., after reporting the alleged abuse. Ms. Cahill is ill and will not attend the demonstration, Rev. Hoatson said.

Members of the Millard family deny that Rev. Millard abused Ms. Cahill and they have declined to rename the art center. The college, after consultation with the Millard family, said that while the college takes allegations of sexual abuse seriously, the name will remain the same. Ellen M. Ryder, spokeswoman for the college, said yesterday they would not comment at this time on the planned demonstration.

Rev. Hoatson, who said he was sexually abused as a young man by two members of the Irish Christian Brothers, said his impetus for holding the demonstration for Ms. Cahill is that he is founder and president of Rescue & Recovery International Inc., a nonprofit organization which provides assorted direct services to survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

The intent of standing outside the gates of Holy Cross is to make returning students and their parents aware of the issue involving the art center, he said. “They should know that the building is named for a serial pedophile,” he said.

Rev. Millard, who has been dead for more than 30 years, is a Holy Cross graduate. The Millard family, including the late Charles E. F. Millard, the priest’s brother, were benefactors of the art center. Mr. Millard was at one time a Holy Cross trustee. The building contains a bronze plaque with the likeness of Rev. Millard. Ms. Cahill said the college should at least remove the plaque if it does not want to change the name.

Posted by kshaw at 07:09 AM

Ex-altar boy struggles to cope

DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
August 26, 2005

As a former altar boy walked up the steps of a Denver home Thursday to pass out fliers about clergy abuse, he also took the first strides to accepting his past.

"This is a start," said Frank, who says he was a victim of Harold Robert White and who asked that his last name not be used. "You don't know where to go until you find people who have been in your shoes."

Frank, with the help of a group that supports victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, took to the streets of White's former Catholic church's neighborhood to encourage people to speak out about sexual assaults by priests.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) handed out fliers near Good Shepherd Catholic Church, telling potential victims how to find help and report abuse.

Five lawsuits have been filed recently against the Archdiocese of Denver for covering up White's alleged actions while he was a priest at several Colorado parishes.

The lawsuits accuse White, 72, of molesting more than a dozen boys over a 20-year period.

Posted by kshaw at 07:00 AM

Giving justice time

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer

As allegations of child sex abuse build against a former priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, at least two Colorado legislators are crafting bills that would loosen or do away with statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse.

Democratic State Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, the Senate president and a Catholic, has filed paperwork to introduce a bill in 2006 that would give adults victimized as minors more time to file civil lawsuits. One strong possibility, she said, is legislation mirroring a California law that opened a one-year window for child sex-abuse lawsuits regardless of how long ago the incidents took place.

State Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver, said she will introduce a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal charges involving sexual offenses against children. Courts have held that such laws can apply only to future cases and not be retroactive, so victims from decades ago would not be able to bring charges.

Both legislators said they were motivated by the clergy sexual-abuse scandal that has plagued U.S. Catholic dioceses since 2002. In Colorado, 17 men have told The Denver Post in recent weeks that former priest Harold Robert White molested them over a 20-year period beginning in the 1960s. Evidence has surfaced showing the Denver archdiocese knew about complaints and continued to move him from parish to parish.

Posted by kshaw at 06:54 AM

August 25, 2005

Protecting children a priority at parishes, schools, seminaries

PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

08/25/2005 Archbishop John Vlazny

This past June at the spring assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was promulgated in 2002, was updated based on the experiences of dioceses across the country over the past three years.

Here in the Archdiocese of Portland we have been greatly challenged by the multiple allegations of child sexual abuse by some of our own priests in years past and our ongoing efforts to reach a resolution to these claims, now with the help of the bankruptcy court. These crimes have alienated many people, and true reconciliation will be achieved only with the help of prayer and God’s grace. But we must do our part by compensating victims for their suffering and supporting them by our prayers and care.

The revised Charter also commits us to creating a safe environment within our church for people and young people. This is a responsibility we have taken seriously. Our archdiocese continues to implement the Charter more fully and has been found in full compliance during the previous audits of October 2003 and October 2004. Another on-site audit is scheduled for late October and early November of this year.

Our Ministry Review Board meets regularly and has advised me on a variety of issues related to archdiocesan policies and practices concerning child abuse and the assurance of a safe environment for all in our churches and schools. By way of example, recently we received some warnings about predators in churches from Washington County authorities. In response to a suggestion from the Review Board, we sent notice to every parish to monitor its restrooms and to encourage parents to accompany their children to the restrooms, even if that meant some disturbance to church services.

Posted by kshaw at 07:23 PM

Support group asks victims to speak out

COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News

By Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
August 25, 2005

A group that supports victims of sex abuse by clergy took to the streets of Harold Robert White's former Catholic church's neighborhood this morning to encourage people to speak out about sexual assaults by priests.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) handed out flyers near the Good Shepard Catholic Church telling potential victims how to reach out for help and to report abuse.

The effort comes on the heels of five lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Denver in recent weeks against White, who was a former Catholic priest at the church. The lawsuits accuse White of molesting more than a dozen boys over a 20-year period.

SNAP suggests people talk about their experiences with family, friends and police, but not members of the church. It does not matter how long ago the assaults occurred.

Posted by kshaw at 05:19 PM

Catholics: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - A Public Forum

BROOKLINE (MA)
ArriveNet

A public forum for Catholics and other interested parties will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 at the Holiday Inn, 1200 Beacon Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, on the outskirts of Boston proper. Its purpose will be to review Canon Law (the body of laws of the church), especially those relating to celebrating Mass. It will explore the alternate worshipping styles that have taken place for many Catholics who no longer attend Sunday Mass in a traditional church building. There will also be a discussion regarding one's spiritual growth in the face of a crisis in faith.

CITI Ministries/Rentapriest.com, a free referral service of married Catholic priests, is sponsoring the day that will feature as keynote speaker, Fr. Tom Doyle, a Canon Lawyer and recent recipient of several Priests of Integrity awards for his many years of work in behalf of clergy sexual abuse victims. Fr. Doyle's topic will be, "Canon Law: Whom does it work for in today's church?"

Posted by kshaw at 05:16 PM

Signorile Views: A Monsignor’s Closet

NEW YORK
Windy City Times

by Michelangelo Signorile
2005-08-24

When last we heard from the rector at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Monsignor Eugene Clark, it was April of 2002, when he made headlines amid the priest sexual abuse scandal, practically calling for a new Spanish Inquisition, this time directed solely at homosexuals.

Standing in one Sunday for the befuddled and hiding Cardinal Egan—under attack for having ignored abusive priests—Clark, rector at what is arguably the seat of the Catholic Church in America, ranted that homosexuality is a “disorder” and said it was a “grave mistake” to allow gays into the priesthood, blaming them for the sex abuse scandal. Clark has long upheld the Vatican belief that homosexuals—and the liberals who support them—are bringing down society, and, of course, want to destroy the institution of marriage. He also attacked those who are critical of celibacy.

Now here is Monsignor Clark, three years later, at the age of 79, exposed as engaging in an adulterous affair with a married women 30 years younger, proving that the greatest threat to marriage is in fact pompous, hypocritical, heterosexual men who can’t keep their dicks to themselves even as they become octogenarians.

There is a God!

Posted by kshaw at 01:31 PM

Boys ranch sued over abuse

SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Morning Star Boys' Ranch, a Catholic-run institution for troubled boys, is being sued by two former residents who claim they were sexually abused by counselors.

The lawsuit filed in Spokane County Superior Court on Wednesday contended that in one incident, two counselors forced several boys to pose for photographs with flowers protruding from their rectums.

The lawsuit, the latest in a string of abuse allegations against the ranch, said those photographs were circulated among the staff and residents at Morning Star, and were kept in the desk of the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, the ranch's revered director.

"It was a joke to them," the former resident, identified in court documents as W.K., said in a July interview with The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

Posted by kshaw at 01:29 PM

Settlement Reached in Church RICO Case

UNITED STATES
The Conservative Voice

By Matt C. Abbott

August 25, 2005 11:39 AM EST

In July 2004, former seminarian Philip Hower filed a RICO suit against several Catholic bishops and dioceses, alleging that his ordination was blocked because he had blown the whistle on the activities of certain corrupt clergy.
(See: http://www.cruxnews.com/rose/rose-23july04.html)

A settlement in this case was reached on August 18, 2005. The exact terms of the settlement have not been released.

Hower's attorney, Ivan Abrams, issued the following statement (edited):

"After years of litigation, opposition, and frustration, plaintiffs Philip A. Hower and his mother, Meta Hower, settled their racketeering (RICO) lawsuit against the Dioceses of Tucson, Harrisburg, Columbus, and others, as well as against a number of prominent bishops, including Keeler and Kicanas.

"The suit alleged that the Roman Catholic Church in North America has conducted itself for years through a pattern of racketeering activity based upon fraud and obstruction of justice. These activities were designed according to the suit, to protect the Church from the ramifications of the sexual perversions and assaults committed by some of its priests. Documents filed in court set forth a scheme where pervert priests were transferred from diocese to diocese, provided with stipends and never turned over to the police or civil authorities.

Posted by kshaw at 11:16 AM

Boy Sex Victim: "Gilpin Abused Me"

BRADENTON (FL)
News Manatee

BRADENTON, Florida [NMT] -- Joseph Gilpin was the Assistant Principal of Manatee County's Haile Middle School and a long-term school district employee. He resigned last year amid allegations of sexual abuse by the man whose story you are about to read and of students here in Manatee County. A complaint was filed with the Sheriff's Office at one point. The school district already knew of Gilpin's alleged past.

"In February 2002, then Superintendent Dan Nolan and school district attorney Rob Shapiro were informed of a civil suit filed in Massachusetts alleging the former Haile assistant principal molested a boy while he was a Catholic seminarian in the late 1960s," two staff writers for Bradenton's Herald Today wrote earlier this year. The paper was then called The Bradenton Herald.

But the Manatee County students who were allegedly molested and the man who filed the Massachusetts civil suit aren't the only ones to complain about Gilpin.

Around the year 1967-68, when Gilpin was still a seminarian, he was transferred from Boston to St. Mary's Parochial School in Biddeford, Maine. According to one person, now a man of 50 years, but then only 12, Gilpin was teaching students of the 5th grade at the school when he allegedly became "friendly" with the young boy whose younger brother was in Gilpin's 5th grade class.

Harvey Rene' Paul was young and pretty. And, he was an altar boy. He was a perfect victim for sexual abuse by a member of the clergy so inclined. This is Harvey Rene' Paul's story, in his own words, as told exclusively to NewsManatee. Unwilling to come forward before, he now tells all. Nothing has been edited out. Nothing has been added. It is long enough to tell in two parts. This is Part One. It is not salacious, but it is open and frank -- nothing was held back.
To read the full story, logon to NewsManatee.com

Posted by kshaw at 09:32 AM

Montoya guilty

OGDEN (UT)
Standard-Examiner

Thursday, August 25, 2005

By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau

OGDEN -- Several jurors wiped away tears as the court clerk read four guilty verdicts Wednesday, bringing to an end an eight-month case against Aaron Marcos Montoya, a former LDS Primary teacher.

Montoya, 33, of Syracuse, was visibly shaken as bailiffs took him into custody following the verdicts that took four men and four women three hours to reach Wednesday at Ogden's 2nd District Court.

Montoya was charged with four counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Three girls took the stand during the two days of testimony and said Montoya inappropriately touched them while they prayed or colored pictures in 2004 in a Syracuse Primary class for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"This is certainly a victory. It got a serial pedophile off the streets," the father of one of the girls said after the hearing.

Posted by kshaw at 08:27 AM

Ex-Primary teacher guilty of sex abuse

OGDEN (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Joseph M. Dougherty
Deseret Morning News
OGDEN — An eight-person jury found Aaron Marcos Montoya guilty Wednesday of four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child to conclude a three-day trial where the children testified they were abused in their church Primary class.
The former Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office employee was taken into custody after the four men and four women returned the guilty verdict. Montoya now faces a five years to life prison sentence, which is standard for a first-degree felony conviction.
2nd District Judge Thomas Kay scheduled a sentencing on Sept. 26 after Montoya's wife, Angela, stood and asked the judge to change an earlier date so the sentencing wouldn't take place on their son's birthday.
Meanwhile, sobs and gasps came from Montoya's family members after the verdict was read.

Posted by kshaw at 08:24 AM

Church teacher guilty of fondling

OGDEN (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Kristen Moulten
The Salt Lake Tribune

OGDEN - Aaron Marcos Montoya, his face ashen and body stiff, would not turn and face his former fellow LDS ward members Thursday as he was handcuffed and led from the courtroom after being convicted of fondling their young daughters in primary class.
Montoya, who exchanged a long look with his crying wife, Angela, was shocked by the jury's verdict after just three hours of deliberation, said his attorney, Ed Brass. "He's not doing real well."
Montoya, 33, faces as much prison time as he would if he had committed murder. The 10-year employee of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is to be sentenced Sept. 26 in Farmington's 2nd District Court on four counts of aggravated child sexual abuse.
The former court bailiff also faces six counts involving other alleged victims in Davis and Weber counties. At least five girls ranging from 4 to 11 were abused over the past five years, charges filed in those cases allege.
Detective Sgt. Mark Sessions, of Syracuse, said he hopes Montoya will plead guilty to the other charges and spare the girls from testifying.

Posted by kshaw at 08:22 AM

Former choir director charged after being seen with children

FLORIDA
Sun Herald

A former Port Charlotte church choir director, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1993 for sexually abusing a boy, was arrested Tuesday after being seen around children at an amusement park.

Richard James Trepinski, 68, 4437 Parmely St., Charlotte Harbor, was charged with violating conditions of his probation by being found in an area where children congregate when someone reported seeing him at Kid Star Park on Aug. 19.

Trepinski, the former choir director at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, pleaded no contest to molesting at least two children in the choir in April 1993. He received a 20-year prison sentence, but was released in April 2001.

Trepinski was charged with molesting one boy during a choir trip through the western United States in the summer of 1991. Following the trip, Trepinski continued molesting the boy until he threatened to tell a year later, according to court records.

Posted by kshaw at 08:19 AM

White: Sex Abuse Allegations Contain 'Half-Truths'

DENVER (CO)
CBS 4

(CBS4) DENVER Harold White, once a member of the Denver archdiocese and now the focus of lawsuits by five men contending they were sexually abused, spoke exclusively to CBS4 News on Thursday and said he feels "rotten."

White still wears a St. Christopher medal around his neck. He has a clock in his family room that chimes like church bells on the hour. The lawsuits seek damages from the Denver Archdiocese, not White. The alleged victims contend church leaders knew White molested children and did nothing to stop him.

White, who cannot face criminal charges because the statute of limitations for any crimes he may have committed has expired, spoke to CBS4 against the advice of his attorneys. While he didn't deny the allegations against him, he did say the lawsuits contain half-truths.

"I don't want to say lies, but...." Harold Robert White said as CBS4's Katherine Blake stood outside his open apartment door. "There's a lot of, half truths.

Posted by kshaw at 08:17 AM

Accused priest: 'I feel rotten'

DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
August 25, 2005

Harold Robert White, a former Catholic priest who has been accused of molesting more than a dozen boys in his parishes over a 20-year period, said he is upset over the allegations raised in lawsuits filed by some of the victims in the past week.

"I feel rotten," he told CBS 4 News on Wednesday, while standing behind the front door to his apartment.

When asked if he felt if he was wrongly accused, White said, "There's a lot of half-truths and, I don't want to say, lies, but . . . "

White apparently took issue with some of the statements that attorneys for the victims made about the timeline of the cases.

"This all ended in 1981," he told CBS 4 News, but declined to explain what "this" meant.

White also appeared to be puzzled about why the allegations are surfacing at this time.

Posted by kshaw at 08:14 AM

The Drive to Create Pedophile-Free Zones: Why It Won't Work - And What Will Work

UNITED STATES
FindLaw

By MARCI HAMILTON
hamilton02@aol.com

Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005

Towns in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere are currently considering whether to create what I will call "Pedophile-free Zones." The usual gambit is to prevent convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 or even 2,500 feet of a school, playground, or other area where children might be.

The lawmakers' motives are pure, but this approach will not work. Indeed, it would create the dangerous illusion of safety, while leaving our children right where they are now - at an unacceptable level of risk. Fortunately, however, there are other, far more effective means of protecting our children. ...

There are ten legal reforms that need to be put into place if we are to ensure that children will be safer tomorrow than they are today, and they have nothing to do with zoning. They are as follows:

1. The law should require that professionals with access to children turn abusers in. We must make all professionals (doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, teachers, and clergy) strictly liable - that is, subject to liability regardless of proof of fault -- if they fail to report suspected child abuse.

While the rest of us were ignorant of the scope of childhood sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and other congregations, the religious leaders were lobbying to be exempt from reporting child abuse. Now that we know the facts, it is irresponsible for any state to exempt clergy from these reporting requirements: They are often the only ones who know about child abuse, and, it turns out, are utterly ineffective in stopping it; indeed, they may end up acting to, in effect, shield the perpetrator, allowing him to strike again and again. It cannot be said often enough: Self-policing does not work.


Posted by kshaw at 08:11 AM

6 allege abuse at Catholic home

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

Thursday, August 25, 2005
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
Half a dozen men have filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually molested, beaten and frequently humiliated 40 years ago by nuns, priests and civilian staff members at Madonna Manor, a Catholic home for troubled children in Marrero.

The six lawsuits represent the largest concentration of complaints involving a single institution or individual in the Archdiocese of New Orleans' three-year experience in dealing with complaints of past sexual abuse.

The suits are based on plaintiffs' experiences between the ages of 4 and 14. In many cases they name staff members and recount specific beatings or episodes of rape or sexual molestation.

A few also allege abuse by adult strangers whose identities the plaintiffs hope to learn as the lawsuits' investigative process unfolds. Other complaints are more generalized, describing a climate of physical and psychological abuse in which nuns beat them severely and told them they were worthless, or that no one loved them.

In response, the archdiocese has been poring over old records to reach its own assessment of conditions at Madonna Manor during the 1960s, when the allegations are clustered, said the Rev. William Maestri, the archdiocese's spokesman.

Posted by kshaw at 07:55 AM

Frail priest accused of rape to know his fate

SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

Tania Broughton

August 25 2005 at 08:58AM

An elderly Roman Catholic priest, who is accused of raping a child more than 25 years ago, will know in October whether or not he will have to stand trial.

And should the trial proceed, there were indications on Wednesday that one of the witnesses could be Cardinal Wilfrid Napier himself.

The Durban priest, 76, who cannot be named until he formally pleads to the rape charges, made an application in the Durban magistrate's court more than a year ago for a stay of prosecution, arguing prejudice should he be forced to answer to the charges.

The application, made by advocate Rob Mossop, has been postponed several times because the priest has been too ill to come to court. It is believed he recently had heart surgery.

Posted by kshaw at 07:47 AM

Sexual abuse suit filed against former KC priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By STEVE ROCK
The Kansas City Star

A Kansas City-area man on Wednesday filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against a former local priest, calling the priest’s alleged actions “utterly repugnant.”

The plaintiff, identified in court papers as “John Doe E.K.,” alleged he was sexually abused by the Rev. Joseph Hart on at least two occasions in the early 1970s at St. John Francis Regis church.

The suit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Hart, who served at several parishes in Kansas City, is now a retired bishop in Wyoming. Hart’s attorney, Larry Ward, said Wednesday he had not read the lawsuit but that Hart “absolutely, categorically” denied any wrongdoing.

The lawsuit was revealed at a sidewalk news conference just outside the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph chancery in Kansas City. The news conference was organized by a Chicago-based organization called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Posted by kshaw at 07:43 AM

Retired bishop faces new allegation

CHEYENNE (WY)
Star-Tribune

By ROBERT W. BLACK
Star-Tribune capital bureau Thursday, August 25, 2005

CHEYENNE -- Following new allegations of sexual abuse by now-retired Bishop Joseph Hart, a support group for victims of clergy abuse on Wednesday asked Roman Catholic Church officials in Wyoming to remove Hart's name from a wing at St. Joseph's Children's Home in Torrington.

"It sends the wrong message when we name an institution like that after someone like Bishop Hart," said Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which is based in Chicago.

She also called on Bishop David Ricken, leader of Wyoming's 50,000 Catholics, to work harder to reach and help anyone who might have been assaulted by Hart.

"We are extremely concerned for other victims who are out there and other children who may be at risk in the state of Wyoming," she said.

Five people have now filed suit against Hart, who has repeatedly and adamantly denied the prior accusations. Attempts to reach him and his attorney Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Posted by kshaw at 07:35 AM

Diocese settles sexual-abuse lawsuit

PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

Thursday, August 25, 2005
BY MARY WARNER
Of The Patriot-News
An $18,000 settlement has ended a federal suit in Arizona that accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg and 23 other defendants of protecting sexual abusers.

The diocese was ready "to defend vigorously against this lawsuit," said the Rev. William King, judicial vicar, but "it would be more costly to pursue even a pretrial dismissal" than to join the settlement. The diocese's contribution was $4,500.

In the 2004 suit, Philip Hower, 46, of Tucson, claimed that he was blocked from the priesthood for reporting priests' sexual advances toward him and to others in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Six dioceses and 18 clergy were defendants -- including Cardinal William Keeler and Bishop Wilton Gregory, former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Most of the suit involved the Tucson diocese.

Posted by kshaw at 07:31 AM

August 24, 2005

Church founder admits to 22 counts of rape

JAPAN
Mainichi Daily News

KYOTO -- Tamotsu Kin, a Kyoto Prefecture church founder facing charges of raping and indecently assaulting young girls at the church admitted to the charges against him as the second hearing in his criminal trial opened in the Kyoto District Court on Tuesday.

Kin faces charges of violating seven young girls in 22 incidents, including one attempted incident, between March 2001 and September 2004, in locations including the pastor's office at the Seishin Chuo Kyokai church in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture.

Questioning Kin over the attacks, Presiding Judge Takeshi Uegaki asked him, "Is it right you are not going to argue about the 22 incidents and the seven (victims)?" Kin replied, "Yes."

In the opening hearing of his trial on June 21, Kin would neither deny nor confirm the facts of the charges against him.

Posted by kshaw at 08:36 PM

Pastor Indicted on Child Sexual Assault Charges

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
WOAI

LAST UPDATE: 8/24/2005 7:40:04 PM
Posted By: Maritza Nunez

A former San Antonio pastor convicted of having sex with a minor was indicted on similar charges early this month. The accusations involve a different woman who was a child at the time of the alleged assault.

Just three months ago, former Alpha Joy Temple pastor Duane Hammons was convicted of sexual assault of a child. The incident happened in 1993, when his victim was only 15 years old.

She says Hammons would make her skip school and would take her to motel rooms to have sex.

Posted by kshaw at 08:26 PM

Man sues seminary that graduated pastor later convicted of molestation

DALLAS (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By Darren Barbee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Aaron Babb believes a single phone call to police 17 years ago would have changed his life: he might never have been sexually abused, attempted suicide or been awakened by his own screams.

If Dallas Theological Seminary officials had alerted authorities in 1988 -- when they learned that one of their students, Jon Gerrit Warnshuis, was accused of sexually molesting a 12- or 13-year-old boy -- Warnshuis might have gone to prison then.

Instead, Warnshuis was allowed to graduate from the seminary in 1992 and later became pastor of an Argyle church. In 2001, he was sentenced to prison for molesting Babb and other boys for years at Oak Hills Evangelical Free Church.

On Monday, Babb, 22, will seek to hold the seminary accountable in a Fort Worth courtroom. The case will test whether an institution that knew of his past abuse but granted Warnshuis a master's degree in theology is responsible for his actions.

Posted by kshaw at 08:22 PM

Youth pastor pleads not guilty to molesting boys

CALIFORNIA
The Daily Journal

By Michelle Durand
The former Redwood City youth pastor accused of molesting two teenage boys earlier this summer pleaded not guilty yesterday to five felony charges of molestation and returns to court next month to set a preliminary hearing date.

Christopher Fouts, 26, waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing and returns Sept. 22 to pick a date.

Fouts, free from custody on a $100,000 bail bond, is also linked to at least two other victims but they are outside the jurisdiction of San Mateo County prosecutors.

The charges stem from two boys, ages 13 and 14, that Fouts allegedly met through his role as director of Middle School Ministries at Peninsula Covenant Church on Farm Hill Boulevard in Redwood City. The incidents occurred between January and June, according to the prosecution.

If convicted of just the five current felonies, Fouts faces a maximum of 13 years and four months in prison. No prior convictions are alleged against him. Fouts would also be required to register as a convicted sex offender.

Posted by kshaw at 08:20 PM

Don’t blame church for hiring convicted child molester

BERMUDA
Royal Gazette

By Tricia Walters

A victim of paedophile Christopher Winslow Darrell has spoken out in defence of the church that hired the convicted child molester.
The mother of two, who did not want to be identified, said yesterday that if it had not been for the church, she would never have recovered from the traumatic and horrific rape in 1999 – when she was only 16.
In recent weeks, Darrell made headlines after he was hired by Bright Temple AME Church in Warwick as a musical director.
The church gave Darrell the position even though it was aware of his previous convictions because the pastor wanted to give Darrell a “second chance”.
He was given the position with restrictions to stay away from the girls in the church because of his history of molesting young girls.
However, in June Darrell fondled a 13-year-old boy during a music lesson and was subsequently arrested.
The pastor was quoted in the Press as saying that it was hoped the Lord would step in and help Darrell change his ways, but everyone understood now that it was hard for someone like Darrell to control themselves around children.

Posted by kshaw at 07:27 PM

Christian pastor admits to rape and indecent assault

JAPAN
American Chronicle

By Newswire Services
August 23, 2005
The Japanese founder of a church has admitted to charges of raping and indecently assaulting young girls, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday.

Tamotsu Kin faces charges of violating seven young girls in 22 incidents, including one attempted incident, between March 2001 and September 2004, in locations including the pastor's office at the Seishin Chuo Kyokai church in Yawata, Kyoto prefecture.

Questioning Kin over the attacks, the presiding judge in Kyoto District Court asked, "Is it right you are not going to argue about the 22 incidents and the seven (victims)?" Kin replied, "Yes."

In the opening hearing of his trial June 21, Kin would neither deny nor confirm the facts of the charges against him.

Posted by kshaw at 07:20 PM

Pastor arrested over urine test

FORT WORTH (TX)
WFAA

10:01 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 23, 2005

By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

An Arlington pastor accused of sexually assaulting three women was arrested again last week after failing to provide a urine test.

The Rev. Terry Hornbuckle, who founded the Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Arlington, was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on Friday.

Mr. Hornbuckle was indicted in March on four counts of sexual assault. Two of the women, one of whom was 17 at the time, said Mr. Hornbuckle gave them a date-rape drug.

Posted by kshaw at 07:19 PM

Two Church Congregations Deal with Allegations

SOUTH CAROLINA
WLTX

Two Midlands church congregations are dealing with allegations that some may say are hard to believe.

Theodore Myers, Pastor of Bible Way church in Gadsden is charged with inappropriately touching and exposing himself to a seven-year old girl. Earlier this month, Kenneth Atkinson III, a youth minister at First Baptist Church in Columbia was charged in the alleged rape of a teenaged girl in 2002.

Many may be wondering when something like this happens to a church how does the congregation survive?

Dr. Roy King from Columbia International University has spoken to more than 600 churches across the nation dealing with hurt and betrayal. He says it takes time and that congregations should allow themselves time to accept the situation and grieve.

Posted by kshaw at 07:16 PM

Ex-CBA Teacher Geisel Waives DWI Hearing, In Jail

ALBANY (NY)
The Empire Journal

The former Christian Brothers Academy instructor charged with the rape of a 16-year old student waived her right to hearing Tuesday on the findings of the breathalyzer test which sent her back to jail Friday after Albany police charged her for driving while intoxicated.

Sandra ‘Beth” Geisel, 42, had been free on $20,000 on charges of felony third degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly having sex several times with a 16-year-old CBA student including once in the press box at the school.

Geisel had been scheduled to appear in Albany Police Court Tuesday morning for a review of the alcohol test results but her attorney, Donald T. Kinsella, notified the court that she was waiving her right to the hearing.

Her bail had been revoked after arrest on Friday and she is incarcerated at the Albany County Jail. Albany District Attorney David Soares has stated that he will oppose any new bail application by Geisel.

Posted by kshaw at 04:21 PM

Primary Teacher Denies Inappropriate Touching of Girls

OGDEN (UT)
KSL

August 24th, 2005 @ 7:41am
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Aaron Marcos Montoya took the stand and denied putting his hand up the dresses of three young girls in his church Primary class.

Montoya, 33, of Syracuse, was the last witness to testify on the second day of his trial in 2nd District Court on four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. The charges stem from allegations about his actions in a Syracuse Primary class for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2004. He faces additional charges involving alleged misconduct on outings and at his home.

Montoya said he and his wife, Angela, were asked by church leaders to teach the class of 5- and 6-year-olds, and they took turns teaching.

"I didn't think I was a very good teacher," Montoya said.

The last class he taught was on Dec. 12, 2004. Montoya said he tied the bow on the dress of one of the two girls in class that day. Earlier in the year, he grabbed the ankle of another girl and put her foot on the floor because she had her feet on her chair, making her underwear visible, he said.

Posted by kshaw at 12:35 PM

Former priest abused minors, investigation finds

MARQUETTE (MI)
Detroit Free Press

August 24, 2005, 10:30 AM

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) -- An investigation has determined that a longtime Upper Peninsula priest who died five years ago sexually abused minors, the Catholic Diocese of Marquette said.

A review board validated allegations regarding the Rev. Clement LePine, the diocese said in a statement this week. It said members of St. Joseph Parish in Ishpeming, where LePine was pastor for nearly 30 years, were informed of the findings after masses last weekend.

Two women reported earlier this year that LePine had abused them as young children during the 1960s and 1970s, the statement said.

The Diocesan Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People assisted Bishop James Garland in studying the complaints. The board is composed of two priests and six lay persons, including three social workers and a psychiatrist.

Posted by kshaw at 12:31 PM

Pay to Pray

CALIFORNIA
East Bay Express

By Chris Thompson

Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Thank God for child-molesting priests, I always say. On August 5, the Oakland diocese of the Catholic church announced it will pay $56.3 million to victims of sexual abuse, and sell $25.3 million in property to finance the deal. All that land will go back onto the tax rolls -- and it's about damn time. Ever since the founding of the republic, religious groups have ducked paying their fair share of property taxes, forcing the rest of us to carry those pious pikers. All you taxpayers sick of shelling out dough for cops and firefighters while bishops and ministers laugh all the way to the bank finally get a little payback.

Let's say all the land about to be sold were located in Oakland, which just barely avoided firing librarians and park rangers to settle a $32 million budget shortfall. That would score the city an extra $330,000 in annual property taxes, enough to hire a fleet of librarians. Or take Acts Full Gospel, the largest church in the East Bay, whose Oakland headquarters is assessed at $4,579,330. Two years ago, Bishop Bob Jackson led a mob down to City Hall and demanded the city do something about the homicide epidemic. If his church had paid the same taxes we all pay, Oakland would have about $59,000 in extra cash every year -- roughly a police officer's salary. Instead, Acts Full Gospel pays just $1,270 in parcel taxes and special assessments.

Hey, we could go down the list all day. Berkeley's Congregation Beth El, which is about to move into a new home on Oxford Street, should be paying more than twenty grand. It pays $1,478. Have I mentioned that Berkeley faced a $10.5 million deficit this summer? The headquarters of Concord's Calvary Temple megachurch is valued at $9,502,310, which should put church leaders on the hook for $105,790. They pay only $13,492.

Posted by kshaw at 12:16 PM

Sex-abuse lawsuits multiply

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer

Three more men filed lawsuits Tuesday alleging that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver covered up for former priest Harold Robert White despite being warned that he had been accused of molesting boys.

At a news conference across from archdiocesan headquarters, Brandon Trask's hands shook as he recounted how difficult it was to break 30 years of silence and publicly accuse White. He and another man, identified only as John Doe, filed a complaint in Denver District Court against the archdiocese for unspecified damages.

Earlier Tuesday, a Miami lawyer filed a $10 million lawsuit on behalf of 52-year-old Greg Roberts of Fort Collins. The former altar boy says he was 14 or 15 when White molested him at church and a social hall in the mid-1960s.

So far, five men have filed lawsuits against the archdiocese for its handling of White, who in less than a month has become the archdiocese's biggest challenge involving clergy sex abuse since the U.S. church was struck by scandal in 2002.

"We take these suits very, very seriously," said Fran Maier, chancellor of the Denver archdiocese. "We take the claims seriously and the people behind them very seriously. We're committed to the safety of our families, and we are also committed to pursuing the life of the church, and one is not going to interfere with the other."

Posted by kshaw at 08:38 AM

Church in a state

ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Herald

The downfall of Santiago del Estero Bishop Juan Carlos Maccarone should be seen firmly within the context of a problem affecting the Church around the world. Some attempts to substitute the religious for the political standpoint almost turn out making the erring bishop seem a martyr but nothing can justify the basic inconsistency between his calling with its vows of celibacy and his conduct. Pleading a sinister political manoeuvre by the Carlos Juárez clan in Santiago del Estero to entrap the progressive bishop; making the right to privacy the issue; arguing that the virtues of his pastoral work over the past six years in that backward province outweigh his vices; saying "To err is human"; pointing to double standards if the judge Norberto Oyarbide retains his bench to this day after a very similar video of sex with a youth — none of this alters the basic fact that Maccarone has lost all his credibility to continue as a bishop (as he himself recognized).

Posted by kshaw at 08:30 AM

Sex abuse at orphanage

INDIA
Hindustan Times

Sanjeev K Ahuja

Gurgaon, August 23, 2005

The Deepashram orphanage at Gurgaon — for mentally and physically challenged children — has found itself in a controversy after an Italian neurologist complained to the Vatican Embassy about sexual abuse of children at the home.

The neurologist, Dr Franco, had worked as a volunteer at Deepashram, established by Mother Teresa in 1995, for six months a couple of years ago. Brothers Contemplative — the male wing of Missionaries of Charity — manages the home, which has 66 boys aged between 12 and 26.

Franco registered his complaint at the Apostolic Nunciature, Chanakyapuri. Second secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature, Father Tomasz Grysa, said they received the “communication from Dr Franco” in February this year. The case has been referred to the hierarchical superiors of the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, Father Grysa said.

At the orphanage, volunteers did not rule out the possibility of sexual abuse of younger inmates by the older ones. Brother Benedict, a volunteer from Rome, said: “If any case of this kind is reported to us, the guilty boys are punished.”

Posted by kshaw at 08:27 AM

Suit claims abuses at former school

CANADA
Whitehorse Daily Star

By Candice O'Grady

A member of Teslin Tlingit First Nation is bringing the Anglican Church and the federal government to court for sexual, mental and physical abuse he says he suffered at a former residential school in Carcross.
The school was run by the Anglican Church, specifically the Diocese of the Yukon, under contract from the federal government.
The student was emotionally, mentally, physically and sexually abused by staff and clergy who were there to “care for and educate” the native children placed at the Carcross school, he alleges.
There is currently at least one other suit filed in the Yukon Supreme Court against the Anglican Church and the Government of Canada for alleged abuse at the residential school in Carcross.
The other suit claims the plaintiff was forced to do unpaid work, which “amounts to slave labour.”
This suit does not name labour without pay; however, the plaintiff in this case says he was sexually assaulted throughout his time at the school.

Posted by kshaw at 08:15 AM

Tucson diocese nears start of claim settling

TUCSON (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

Associated Press
Aug. 24, 2005 12:00 AM

TUCSON - Victims of sexual abuse by clergy could start receiving settlement checks from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson as early as October, attorneys said Tuesday.

The payments stem from the diocese's bankruptcy case and will be limited to victims whom a bankruptcy judge had previously authorized to receive them.

During a brief court hearing Tuesday, Judge James Marlar approved previously announced settlements totaling more than $5 million from three insurance companies and $2 million from the diocese's parishes. advertisement

The money will go into a pool of more than $22 million that the diocese will make available to cover claims under its reorganization plan finalized in July. The diocese was the second in the nation to file for Chapter 11 protection in the face of litigation stemming from alleged sexual abuse by priests.

Marlar entered a written order Aug. 1 approving the reorganization plan and settlements, and the soonest that checks could be issued would be 60 days later.

Posted by kshaw at 08:12 AM

More Allegations Made Against Denver Archdiocese

DENVER (CO)
CBS 4

(AP) DENVER Attorneys for a man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest said Tuesday they will file another multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Denver.

It would be the third lawsuit claiming the archdiocese knew of allegations that the priest, Harold Robert White, was sexually abusing young boys but only transferred him to different parishes. White has since left the priesthood.

The latest suit will allege that White abused Greg Roberts of Fort Collins beginning in the late 1960s while Roberts was an altar boy at a Roman Catholic Church in Sterling, according to a draft of the suit provided by Herman & Mermelstein, a Miami-based law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases.

Posted by kshaw at 08:07 AM

3 more sue, alleging priest abuse

COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News

By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
August 24, 2005

Three men who say they were sexually abused by a former priest when they were youths have joined two others in suing the Archdiocese of Denver.

Brandon Trask, now 49 and living in California, and another 49-year- old man identified as "John Doe" filed separate lawsuits in Denver District Court on Tuesday, alleging they were molested by the priest, Harold Robert White.

Another new suit alleges that White abused Greg Roberts of Fort Collins beginning in the late 1960s while Roberts was an altar boy at a Catholic church in Sterling, according to a draft of the suit provided by a Miami-based law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases.

Lawyers for Trask and Roberts released their names in news releases.

Posted by kshaw at 08:03 AM

Abuse and accountability

SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

By Norton R. Nowlin
Special to The Times

The trust of a child is a very delicate matter, creating a tremendous burden of responsibility for the adult caregiver. This burden is also an explicit duty, both moral and legal, to assure that the child's trust is not misplaced by allowing a sexual predator to covertly abuse that boy or girl.

Of all the places you would not expect to find such people lurking, waiting for an opportunity to molest, is a Christian church where the words of Jesus are commonly enshrined, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven."

But there are presently some religious denominations whose ecclesiastical policies inadvertently permit supposedly repentant pedophiles to repeat their dirty work under a shield of the priest-counseling privilege. Why these churches routinely protect their identity is incomprehensible.

These allegedly penitent sex offenders satisfy their cravings until their young victims finally cry abuse to their parents. In most cases, these confused pre-adolescents seriously believe they are the ones to blame and continue into adulthood laboring under a severe burden of guilt.

Posted by kshaw at 08:01 AM

A 'voice for social justice' dies

LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

By Paula Burba
pburba@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan, a well-known Louisville human-rights advocate and founding president of what is now Bellarmine University, died yesterday after a long illness at age 90.

Horrigan lived his last days at Nazareth Home, a healthcare facility overlooking the Bellarmine campus that he nurtured from its founding in 1949 as an all-male Catholic university and led for the next 23 years as president. ...

Horrigan did draw some criticism after the sexual-abuse scandal erupted in the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2002 -- well after his retirement. Horrigan testified in a deposition then that he took no action against a priest accused of molesting a girl.

He acknowledged that the girl's parents had accused the Rev. Kevin Cole, then a Bellarmine professor, of molesting their daughter in the early 1960s and that he took no action after Cole assured him that he had an appointment with a psychiatrist. Cole went on to molest at least four other girls, according to lawsuits filed against the archdiocese. Cole died in 1991.

Posted by kshaw at 07:58 AM

Jesuits review abuse claims

FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

The priest in charge of the Jesuit ministry in Alaska said the order will conduct its own investigation of allegations the former pastor of Immaculate Conception Church sexually abused minors while serving in Alaska.

If the claims are credible, the Rev. Richard McCaffrey would be permanently removed from of all priestly ministry for the rest of his life.

"We take very seriously any allegations like this and make sure everyone is given just treatment, including Father McCaffrey," said the Rev. John Whitney, provincial of the Oregon Province.

McCaffrey is in residence and under restriction at the Portland, Ore., Jesuit community until three recent claims of sexual misconduct can be sorted out.

Fairbanks Diocese Catholic Bishop Donald Kettler put McCaffrey on administrative leave in May after a woman came forward saying the priest molested her about 25 years ago when she was 10 years old and living in western Alaska. Kettler removed McCaffrey from ministry in the Fairbanks diocese last week, a move he announced to the diocese in a letter read during Sunday services.

Posted by kshaw at 07:49 AM

August 23, 2005

Jewish groups wary of disclosure bill

MASSACHUSETTS
The Jewish Advocate

BY TED SIEFER - Tuesday August 23 2005

BOSTON – Synagogue leaders are expressing alarm over a bill debated at a State House hearing last week that would require churches and synagogues to make the same public financial disclosures required of nonprofit charities.

Jewish groups have yet to take an official position on the bill, although the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts shares many of the concerns raised at the Aug. 10 hearing by leaders of Protestant churches. They argued that the bill stems from specific disputes with the Catholic Archdiocese and would impose an unfair administrative burden on smaller, independent religious denominations and would encroach on freedom of religion.

Posted by kshaw at 05:53 PM

Vatican Investigation of US Seminaries to be Led by Strongly Pro-Life Bishop

WASHINGTON (DC)
LifeSite

WASHINGTON, August 23, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic News Service has announced that Rome is set to start its long-awaited "apostolic visitation," or systematic investigation and evaluation of the formation offered to prospective priests in seminaries. With many bishops studiously ignoring what has become the ecclesiastical equivalent of the elephant in the drawing room, Rome may be planning to force the issue at last.

The last Vatican-led visitation was seven years in duration beginning in 1981. The report given to Pope John Paul II, according to some observers, amounted to a whitewash in which the theological and moral dissent being taught was deliberately ignored or hidden.

This time, after years of mounting sexual abuse scandals in which certain bishops were implicated in a massive cover-up, and after some dioceses have declared bankruptcy and closed parishes to pay off settlements, Catholics may be hopeful that the real issues will at last be addressed. The Vatican has named Edwin F. O'Brien Archbishop for the Military Services as the coordinator for the project.

Posted by kshaw at 05:51 PM

Another lawsuit for archdiocese

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Erin Gartner
The Associated Press

Denver - Attorneys for a man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest said today they will file another multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Denver.

It would be the third lawsuit claiming the archdiocese knew of allegations that the priest, Harold Robert White, was sexually abusing young boys but only transferred him to different parishes.

White has since left the priesthood.

The latest suit will allege that White abused Greg Roberts of Fort Collins beginning in the late 1960s while Roberts was an altar boy at a Roman Catholic Church in Sterling, according to a draft of the suit provided by Herman & Mermelstein, a Miami-based law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases.

Posted by kshaw at 05:47 PM

Former Priest, Denver Archdiocese Face More Sex Abuse Lawsuits

DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

DENVER -- Three more men are coming forward with sexual abuse allegations involving the Archdiocese of Denver, and defrocked priest Harold Robert White.

A news conference is set for Tuesday outside church headquarters regarding a civil lawsuit two of the alleged victims plan to file. A Miami firm representing the third man said it'll also sue.

All three claim White sexually abused them as children in Sterling, Loveland and Eagle, and that church officials who knew about such incidents simply moved him from parish to parish.

Posted by kshaw at 05:43 PM

Another lawsuit planned against Archdiocese

DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Rocky Mountain News
August 23, 2005

Three men who say they were sexually abused by a former priest when they were youths have joined two others in suing the Archdiocese of Denver.

Brandon Trask, now 49 and living in California, and another 49-year-old man identified as "John Doe" filed seperate lawsuits in Denver District Court Tuesday, alleging they were molested by the priest, Harold Robert White.

And another man who claims he was abused by White also is suing the archdiocese. That suit alleges that White abused Greg Roberts of Fort Collins beginning in the late 1960s while Roberts was an altar boy at a Roman Catholic Church in Sterling, according to a draft of the suit provided by Herman & Mermelstein, a Miami-based law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases.

Archdiocese chancellor Francis Maier said he could not comment because church officials had not seen the complaints.

"The plaintiffs have put us in a position where they know we can't say anything," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 05:39 PM

Diocese Criticized for Sex Abuse Pamphlets

ROCKFORD (IL)
WREX

Author: Marissa Alter
Posted On: Monday, August 22, 2005

Rockford--A national group speaks out against a pamphlet the Rockford Catholic Diocese gives to employees and volunteers. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is outraged over the diocese's guidelines on how to report suspicions of sex abuse. Diocese administrators argue the people who got the pamphlet already know the proper procedures.
The document spells out how Rockford Diocese workers should report suspicions of sex abuse. While it provides a diocese's phone number and mailing address, there's no mention of calling the police. David Clohessy, theAbuse Tracker Director of SNAP says, "It looks like one more attempt by Catholic Church officials to handle sex crimes in-house instead of turning to the independent professionals in law enforcement."

But Owen Phelps, the Diocese's Communication Director, argues that's not the case. Phelps says the pamphlet was sent as supplemental material to volunteers and staff. Those people were previously briefed and know they're supposed to report all incidents of sexual abuse to legal authorities. Clohessy says, "Whatever else might be written in some other publication or said in some other format, there's no excuse for not having it in the official diocesian written sex abuse material, the strong admonition to call police and prosecuters. There's no excuse for that."

Posted by kshaw at 05:28 PM

Abuse victims should get Tucson Diocese checks before year's end

TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD

TUCSON, Ariz. Attorneys in the Tucson Roman Catholic Diocese's bankruptcy say victims of priestly sex abuse authorized to receive payments should get their checks between October and year's end.

At a brief hearing, Bankruptcy Court Judge James Marlar approved previously announced settlements totaling more than 5 (m) million dollars from three insurance companies and 2 (m) million dollars from the diocese's parishes.

They'll go into a pool of more than 22 (m) million dollars that the diocese will make available to cover claims under its reorganization plan finalized in July.

Marlar entered a written order Aug. 1 approving the reorganization plan and settlements. The soonest checks could be issued would be 60 days later.

Posted by kshaw at 05:24 PM

Keeping faith in troubled times

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Denis Hamill

Take a hike.

This is a story about a Brooklyn guy who will take a 33-mile hike from one end of Fire Island to the other on Saturday to raise money for the sick children helped by Make-a-Wish Foundation of Metro New York.

I read the E-mail about this noble trek just minutes after I'd read one from a guy responding to a column I'd written about yet another priest scandal. The former wondered rhetorically how one was to keep his spiritual life alive amid the collapse of our religious institutions.

Listen, I'm the last guy anyone should consult on matters of faith and morals. My closet has more skeletons than Green-Wood Cemetery.

I only care that these scandalous headlines may cut off the flow of money to great Catholic charities that help the poor, the sick, the infirm, the hungry, the homeless, the mentally challenged, the orphaned and the forgotten.

Some people think Msgr. Eugene Clark should turn in the collar. I don't. I think maybe he should see a priest, fess up and as penance go take a hike.

He should go take a hike like a guy named Theo Davis, a lawyer from Park Slope, who in the predawn hours this Saturday will be ferried to the eastern tip of Fire Island at the Moriches Inlet, where he will paddle an inflatable dinghy to shore in the first rumor of dawn.

Posted by kshaw at 08:32 AM

Man sues archdiocese and defrocked priest

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

A Missouri man filed suit against a former Catholic priest, the St. Louis Archdiocese and Archbishop Raymond Burke late Friday, claiming a priest sexually abused him almost 20 years ago.

The suit says Donald Straub fondled the plaintiff from about 1977 to 1978 while Straub worked at St. George Parish in Affton.

The man has suffered emotional distress, trauma, depression and other effects of the abuse, the suit says.

The Vatican defrocked Straub in January. He was ordained in 1975.

Posted by kshaw at 08:29 AM

Church lady to see kids

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BARBARA ROSS and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The leggy church lady mired in a St. Patrick's Cathedral sex scandal was granted permission yesterday to visit her children, but she and her estranged husband must first undergo alcohol and drug testing.

Laura and Philip DeFilippo sat 6 feet apart and never looked at each other during yesterday's hearing in Westchester Family Court.

It was the first time the couple had been in the same room since he had her barred from their Eastchester home for threatening to stab him when he confronted her about an alleged affair with St. Patrick's rector Msgr. Eugene Clark.

Laura DeFilippo worked as Clark's secretary, reportedly earning as much as $100,000 a year.

Philip DeFilippo served his 46-year-old wife with divorce papers earlier this month after he had a private eye videotape her and the 79-year-old priest entering and leaving a Hamptons motel.

Posted by kshaw at 08:21 AM

Allegations of affair with priest hang over custody battle

WHITE PLAINS (NY)
The Journal News

By BILL HUGHES
whughes@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: August 22, 2005)

WHITE PLAINS — A Family Court judge partially lifted an order of protection against the Greenburgh woman at the center of a bitter divorce case involving allegations that she had an affair with the former rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Laura DeFilippo had been barred from entering the home she shared with her husband, Philip, and seeing the couple's two children after he filed court papers earlier this month claiming she threatened him after he told her he had videotaped her and the priest at a motel together.

Family Court Judge Kathie Davidson modified the order she issued, saying a court appointed law guardian had met with the couple's children and had approved limited visitation for Mrs. DeFilippo. Davidson also awarded temporary custody to Mr. DeFilippo and ordered both parents to refrain from discussing each other and their divorce case with their children.

Monsignor Eugene Clark, a 79-year-old Catholic priest and former pastor of the Yonkers church where the couple married, stepped down from his post as rector of the most influential parish in the country in the wake of the scandal. Both Clark and Mrs. DeFilippo have released statements denying that they had an affair.

Posted by kshaw at 08:18 AM

Girl takes stand, alleges sex abuse

OGDEN (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Elizabeth Neff
The Salt Lake Tribune

OGDEN - Furrowing her brow and pausing, the tiny, blond 6-year-old said she was coloring a picture of Jesus when it happened.
Her Mormon church teacher, she said, came up from behind and touched her "privates."
Although it made her feel "mad," she said she didn't tell anyone about the abuse. When she eventually did, her frantic mother drove to the home of a friend and then to the home of another girl who made the same claim. On the drive over, she pulled the car over to pray for guidance.
The first day of trial for a former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teacher accused of child sexual abuse began Monday against a backdrop of religion and sin in the small community of Syracuse.
Prosecutors argue Aaron Marcos Montoya fondled three kindergartners in a church class he taught with his wife. Two of the three girls testified Monday, sitting on top of a folded blanket so those in the packed courtroom could see their faces above the witness box. The alleged abuse might never have come to light had it not been for the older brother of the first girl to testify.
The 12-year-old boy said he told his mother he had overheard his sister and a friend talking about "something serious" on the school bus.
The boy testified a girl who had recently moved into the neighborhood asked his sister, "Does he touch you like this?" and grabbed her crotch. His sister, he said, replied affirmatively.

Posted by kshaw at 08:14 AM

Swaying the masses

ROME
Daily News

August 23, 2005

Benedict XVI passes his first big test, but internal reform matters more than drawing crowds, writes Damian Thompson in London.

By attracting a million people to his open-air Mass outside Cologne - and effortlessly holding their attention - Pope Benedict XVI has passed the first big test of his pontificate. But this public relations triumph probably matters far less to him than the task of internal reform that lies ahead.

He knows how stage-managed these events are - and he has no intention of attending as many of them as John Paul II. Underlying this pope's quiet charisma is a determination to rejuvenate an institution that, throughout the West, has been gravely damaged by sexual scandal, episcopal incompet-ence, ugly services and falling mass attendance.

Hence his admission at a prayer vigil on Saturday night that there was "much that could be criticised'' in the church. "We know this and the Lord himself told us so: it is a net with good and bad fish,'' he said.

The worst of those bad fish are, of course, sexual abusers. Will Benedict deal with claims of abuse more swiftly than John Paul?

"We shall soon find out: sitting on the Pope's desk is a file of allegations against Fr Marcial Maciel, 85, Mexican founder of one of the most powerful new orders in the church, the conservative Legionaries of Christ.

If Maciel is found guilty and the Pope immediately punishes him, the shock to the church will be immense.

Posted by kshaw at 08:11 AM

Representative seeks to get deal on sex-abuse law

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU

COLUMBUS - Both sides of a controversial bill allowing victims of child sexual abuse as long as 35 years ago to file lawsuits have been meeting over the summer in an attempt to hammer out a compromise.

But both sides so far appear to be firm in their positions on the most controversial aspect of the bill which, although affecting all forms of sexual abuse, is squarely aimed at the Catholic Church.

Rep. John Willamowski (R., Lima), chairman of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, said he doesn't plan to hold hearings on the bill until he believes the talks have gone as far as they can.

"I don't want to bring emotion into it until it's time to bring emotion in," he said. "As soon as we start having hearings, sides will be drawn, and we won't make progress."

The Senate unanimously approved the bill in March following emotional testimony in committee by victims of past abuse. This occurred in a Republican-controlled chamber that has moved in recent years to close the door to litigation, not open it.

The bill would extend the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits involving all child sex abuse cases to 20 years beyond the point at which the victim turns 18. The current limit is two years.

Posted by kshaw at 08:08 AM

Fairbanks Diocese calls abuse claims ‘credible’

ALASKA
KTUU

by Sean Doogan - Monday, August 22, 2005 Send to a friend | Print this article
Anchorage, Alaska - Bishop Donald Kettler, the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, said accusations of abuse against one of the Interior priests are credible. The priest has been removed from the Fairbanks diocese. Three women claim they were abused by Rev. Richard McCaffrey when they were children.

A civil suit has been filed by one of the women in Bethel district court. During Monday’s announcement, Kettler said the Fairbanks sexual abuse review board had been working with retired Alaska State Trooper investigator Jim McCann to review the claims.

“I have determined that they were credible, I have taken away what we call the faculties from Father McCaffrey, that he cannot function as a priest in our diocese, everything else now rests in the hands of the Jesuits,” said Kettler.

Kettler says officials with the Diocese of Portland know of McCaffrey's presence there, and say he won't be allowed contact with the public during his stay at the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province.

Posted by kshaw at 08:02 AM

ARGENTINE BISHOP RESIGNS AMID REPORTED SEX SCANDAL

ARGENTINA
ANTARA News

Aug 23 12:37

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ANTARA News) - A prominent Argentine Roman Catholic bishop has resigned amid media reports that he was involved sexually with a young man, the latest in a series of such scandals involving church officials.

The Argentine Episcopal Conference, the governing body of the church in this predominantly Catholic country, said Juan Carlos Maccarone, 64, bishop in the northwestern province of Santiago del Estero, had stepped down.

The statement, issued on Monday, did not give the reason.

La Nacion and Clarin newspapers said Maccarone had resigned because of a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old man which had been captured on videotape.

Clarin said Maccarone asked his closest collaborators to forgive him "for damage inflicted on the Church."

Repeated calls to Maccarone`s office went unanswered.

Posted by kshaw at 07:59 AM

Suits filed against priest

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican

Tuesday, August 23, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - A Westfield man who was barred from serving as a Catholic priest after being accused of sexually abusing minors in three dioceses has been accused of sexually abusing four minors in Vermont in the 1970s in suits filed recently in Chittenden County Superior Court in Burlington.

Edward O. Paquette Jr., of Belleview Drive, who was previously accused by two men of abusing them as minors in Vermont in suits filed in 2004, refused comment yesterday on the recently filed suits.

In all the suits, the plaintiffs have listed the Diocese of Burlington as defendants.

Posted by kshaw at 07:55 AM

Bishop says no ministry for priest

FAIRBANKS (AK)
Anchorage Daily News

The Associated Press

Published: August 23rd, 2005
Last Modified: August 23rd, 2005 at 02:07 AM

FAIRBANKS -- A priest accused of sexual abuse was removed from ministry in Fairbanks, according to a letter read at Sunday services to parishioners throughout the diocese.

The reading of the letter announcing the removal of the Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey from Immaculate Conception Church was followed by absolute silence, said Donna Gavora, a 45-year member of Immaculate Conception and its organist.

"It was a very sad moment. It was hard on people," Gavora said. "Some people are very upset. I am really disappointed too."

Bishop Donald Kettler read his letter to the congregation there, and priests read the message at other churches around Fairbanks.

Kettler said in the letter that he made the decision after reviewing the diocese's internal investigation, which included testimony from McCaffrey.

Posted by kshaw at 07:51 AM

McCaffrey denies abuse

FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

The former pastor of Immaculate Conception Church continues to deny any sexual abuse misconduct, his Jesuit superior said Monday.

The Rev. John Whitney, provincial of the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, said the Rev. Richard McCaffrey denies all allegations leveled against him.

McCaffrey was recently removed from ministry in the Fairbanks Diocese by Bishop Donald Kettler, who made his decision known in a letter read to parishioners Sunday at churches around the diocese.

Whitney said he has not yet received any of the materials related to the diocese's investigation of sexual abuse allegations made against McCaffrey by three people who claim they were molested in the 1970s and early 1980s. One of those people has filed a civil suit against the priest, the diocese and the Jesuits.

"I know the bishop believes that these are appropriate charges at this point. I trust him and he has the authority to do this," Whitney said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:47 AM

August 22, 2005

Abrupt Resignation Of Bishop Rocks Argentine Catholic Church

ARGENTINA
All Headline News

August 22, 2005 3:00 p.m. EST

Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Buenos Aires, Argentina (AHN) - The resignation of bishop Juan Carlos Maccarone, shakes Argentina's church hierarchy after a published report alleges the move was triggered by an improper relationship.

church officials reported the resignation on Friday, but did not give a reason why Maccarone was leaving the central Argentinean diocese.

On Sunday, the major newspaper Clarin ran a front-page story citing sources, which say a video containing "compromising images" has been received by church officials, linking the bishop to a 23-year-old man.

The paper says its report is based on authoritative sources it did not identify by name. Church officials have no immediate comment on the report.

Local news agency Diarios y Noticias say the local church denies the report and claim health reasons as the motive for the bishop's departure.

The 64-year-old has not been seen in public since the announcement Friday, and he has not offered a reason for his resignation.

Posted by kshaw at 09:23 PM

Argentine bishop resigns amid reported sex scandal

ARGENTINA
Leading the Charge

Staff and agencies
22 August, 2005

By Kevin Gray 45 minutes ago

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A prominent Argentine Roman Catholic bishop has resigned amid media reports that he was involved sexually with a young man, the latest in a series of such scandals involving church officials.

The Argentine Episcopal Conference, the governing body of the church in this predominantly Catholic country, said Juan Carlos Maccarone, 64, bishop in the northwestern province of Santiago del Estero, had stepped down.

La Nacion and Clarin newspapers said Maccarone had resigned because of a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old man which had been captured on videotape.

Clarin said Maccarone asked his closest collaborators to forgive him "for damage inflicted on the Church."

In 2002, Argentine courts opened an investigation of a leading priest on charges of sexual abuse of minors after a book linked him with several cases. Archbishop Edgardo Gabriel Storni denied the charges, but the investigation continues.

Posted by kshaw at 09:16 PM

Paper: Bishop resigns over 'compromising images'

ARGENTINA
CNN

Monday, August 22, 2005; Posted: 8:17 p.m. EDT (00:17 GMT)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- The resignation of a leading bishop, Juan Carlos Maccarone, shook Argentina's church hierarchy as a published report alleged his departure was triggered by an improper relationship.

Church authorities on Friday reported the resignation of the bishop of Santiago del Estero, but did not give a reason why he was leaving his diocese in central Argentina.

On Sunday, the prominent newspaper Clarin ran a front-page story citing sources as saying a video containing "compromising images" had been received by church officials that purportedly linked Maccarone to a 23-year-old man.

The paper said its report was based on authoritative sources it did not identify by name. Church officials had no immediate comment on the report.

Local diocesan church authorities have denied the report and said the churchman was leaving due to health reasons, local news agency Diarios y Noticias reported.

Posted by kshaw at 09:14 PM

Pastor arrested again

FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram

By Anthony Spangler
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH _ Bishop Terry Hornbuckle is being held without bail, accused of violating conditions of his release for a second time since his arrest in March on sexual assault charges.

Hornbuckle, 43, is accused of sexually assaulting five parishioners of Agape Christian Fellowship in Arlington, where he serves as senior pastor. On Friday, he was arrested at his Colleyville home late Friday by Tarrant County sheriff's deputies.

``We were given arrest warrants for violations of his bond, but I cannot say anymore about it because of the gag order issued in the case,'' said Terry Grisham, spokesman for Tarrant County Sheriff's Department.

It is the fourth time Hornbuckle has been arrested.

Posted by kshaw at 08:47 PM

Trial Begins for Sunday School Teacher Accused of Sex Abuse

OGDEN (UT)
KSL

August 22nd, 2005 @ 5:19pm
Sandra Yi Reporting

The trial began today for the Sunday school teacher accused of sexual abuse. The man was a primary teacher in his LDS congregation. Today the young victims testified in court.

A six-year old girl who was in kindergarten when the alleged abuse happened last year, told the court her primary teacher touched her in class while she was coloring a picture of Jesus. She said her teacher, Aaron Montoya, came up behind her and put his hand under her skirt and touched her privates. She used a doll to show the jury how he did it.

She said Montoya touched her a lot of times in the church classroom. Prosecutors asked, "Are you here because he really did or because someone told you to say that?" "He really did," she said.

The girl's brother also testified. He said he overheard his sister and another little girl talk about the alleged abuse while on the school bus. The boy then told his mother.

Posted by kshaw at 07:16 PM

Pastor accused of sexual abuse is removed from ministry

FAIRBANKS (AK)
Anchorage Daily News

The Associated Press

Published: August 22nd, 2005
Last Modified: August 22nd, 2005 at 11:25 AM

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - A priest accused of sexual abuse was removed from ministry in Fairbanks, according to a letter read at Sunday services to parishoners throughout the diocese.

The reading of the letter announcing the removal of the Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey from Immaculate Conception Church was followed by absolute silence, said Donna Gavora, a 45-year member of Immaculate Conception and its organist.

"It was a very sad moment. It was hard on people," Gavora said. "Some people are very upset. I am really disappointed, too."

Bishop Donald Kettler read his letter to the congregation at Immaculate Conception and priests around Fairbanks read the bishop's message at other churches.

Kettler said in the letter that he made the decision after reviewing the diocese's internal investigation, which included testimony from McCaffrey.

Posted by kshaw at 07:11 PM

Catholic Diocese Confirms Priest Sex Abuse

MICHIGAN
WLUC

The Catholic Diocese of Marquette has validated charges of sex abuse against an Ishpeming priest who died five years ago.

The complaints against Father Clement Lepine date back more than 30 years. The abuse was committed against two females, whose names were not released.

The charges have been under investigation for months.

Father Lepine served as pastor at St. Josephs from 1957 to 1986.

At the request of the victims, the priest's name and picture have been removed from the church's main hallway. "If there are any other victim survivors of sexual abuse by a church officials out there, we want them to come forward also," says Loreene Zeno Koskey of the Diocese.

Posted by kshaw at 07:08 PM

Argentine bishop resigns amid reported sex scandal

ARGENTINA
Reuters

Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:39 AM BST

By Kevin Grey

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - A prominent Argentine Roman Catholic bishop has resigned amid media reports that he was involved sexually with a young man, the latest in a series of such scandals involving church officials.

The Argentine Episcopal Conference, the governing body of the church in this predominantly Catholic country, said Juan Carlos Maccarone, 64, bishop in the northwestern province of Santiago del Estero, had stepped down.

The statement, issued on Monday, did not give the reason.

La Nacion and Clarin newspapers said Maccarone had resigned because of a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old man which had been captured on videotape.

Clarin said Maccarone asked his closest collaborators to forgive him "for damage inflicted on the Church."

Repeated calls to Maccarone's office went unanswered.

Posted by kshaw at 06:58 PM

Apostolic visitation of all U.S. seminaries to start this fall

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Vatican-run apostolic visitation of U.S. Catholic seminaries and houses of priestly formation will begin late this September.

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, who will coordinate the visits, announced details of the plan Aug. 19.

Sparked by the sexual abuse crisis that hit the U.S. church in 2002, the visitations will pay special attention to areas such as the quality of the seminarians' human and spiritual formation for living chastely and of their intellectual formation for faithfulness to church teachings, especially in the area of moral theology.

The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, which oversees seminary formation around the world, has appointed 117 bishops and seminary personnel as visitors. They are to visit each college- or theology-level institution, working in teams of three for smaller programs or four for the larger ones.

Posted by kshaw at 06:55 PM

Lawsuit against now Pope Benedict XVI, waiting to proceed.

WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice

In an unprecedented move, Attorney Daniel Shea, of Huston Texas went to Rome this week in an attempt to move the prosecution of Joseph Ratzinger (in his individual capacity) forward.

The three boys, identified in court documents as John Does I, II and III, allege that a Colombian-born seminarian on assignment at St. Francis de Sales Church in Houston, Juan Carlos Patino-Arango, molested them during counseling sessions in the church in the mid-1990s.

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who headed the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before becoming pope, was involved in a conspiracy to hide Patino-Arango’s crimes and to help him escape prosecution.

Attorney Shea at his press conference gave a slide presentation of 38 pages outlining the events surrounding the sexual abuse of children.

The slide presentation is now available in PowerPoint version.

Posted by kshaw at 06:52 PM

Court call for mom in scandal

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BARBARA ROSS and ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The nasty divorce case that exposed an alleged romance between the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral and his married secretary will be back in court today.
A court-appointed law guardian is set to tell a Westchester Family Court judge whether secretary Laura DeFilippo should be let into her home and allowed to see her kids.

DeFilippo, 46, was caught on tape last month spending 51/2 hours at a Hamptons motel with her boss, Msgr. Eugene Clark, 79. They have denied having an affair, but soon after the video became public, Clark resigned his post running St. Pat's.

DeFilippo's estranged husband, Philip, filed for divorce this month. He also got an order of protection barring her from their Eastchester home after telling cops that she threatened to stab him when he confronted her about the tape.

Posted by kshaw at 07:42 AM

Trial starts in Montoya case

OGDEN (UT)
Standard-Examiner

Monday, August 22, 2005

By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net

OGDEN -- A weeklong Davis County trial, with a Davis County judge, Davis County prosecutors and Davis County witnesses, begins today in Weber County.

A jury pool of 70 Weber County residents will be whittled down to eight people, with one alternate, to decide the fate of Aaron Marcos Montoya, 33, of Syracuse.

Montoya is charged in Davis County with eight counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and with two counts of the first-degree felony in Weber County. He will be tried this week on four of the Davis County charges, which involve three girls and stem from incidents prosecutors allege occurred while Montoya taught a Syracuse Primary class for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Posted by kshaw at 07:32 AM

Anti-gay priest resigns in disgrace

NEW YORK
Houston Voice

By JAMES WITHERS | Aug 21, 8:22 PM

The Catholic Church leader who once blamed Hollywood and gays for the country’s supposed moral decay is accused of not practicing what he’s been preaching.

A series of articles in the New York Post and elsewhere have turned into a public relations nightmare for Monsignor Eugene Clark. The 79-year-old rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral is accused of having an affair with his secretary, 46-year-old Laura DeFilippo.

Her husband, Philip DeFilippo, gave news outlets a video tape taken on July 21. It shows Clark and Laura DeFilippo entering into a motel on the East End of Long Island and leaving five hours later wearing different clothes. In court papers filed Aug. 8, Philip DeFilippo said the relationship between the monsignor and his wife is one of the reasons why he wants a divorce.

Clark and his secretary have both denied the charges; however, Clark resigned as rector of St. Patrick’s on Aug. 11, apparently as a result of the allegations. Many have also questioned Clark’s owning a house in Amagansett, one of the most expensive communities in the Hamptons and reportedly valued at $2 million.

Posted by kshaw at 07:24 AM

Fired pastor sues church and sibling

LAGUNA BEACH (CA)
Science Daily

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The former pastor of Calvary Chapel of Laguna Beach is suing his brother and former church for defamation.

Pastor Joe Sabolick was fired by his handpicked church board, which included his older brother, amid allegations that he embezzled money and was "fixated" on the wife and daughter of an assistant pastor, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sabolick and the assistant pastor now oversee a Calvary Chapel in Northern California, and are suing Sabolick's brother and the church, claiming that church officials spread false rumors of wife-swapping and pedophilia.

Posted by kshaw at 07:22 AM

Pastor removed from ministry

FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

Catholic Bishop Donald Kettler announced Sunday he has removed the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church from ministry in the Fairbanks diocese following an investigation of sexual abuse allegations.

Kettler read a letter about the removal of the Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey to Immaculate Conception parishioners at both services Sunday morning. Priests around Fairbanks read the letter at other churches.

Donna Gavora, a 45-year member of Immaculate Conception and its organist, said Kettler's reading was followed by absolute silence in the church.

"It was a very sad moment. It was hard on people," Gavora said. "Some people are very upset. I am really disappointed, too."

Kettler did not return phone calls but has scheduled a news conference at 2 p.m. today. He said in the letter that he made the decision after reviewing the report of an investigation conducted by former Alaska State Trooper James McCann, which included testimony from McCaffrey.

Posted by kshaw at 07:12 AM

August 21, 2005

Pedophile transfer defended

AUSTRALIA
Queensland Sunday Mail

21aug05
A NOTORIOUS pedophile who moved from Western Australia to Victoria under a parole transfer scheme will be carefully monitored, Corrections Commissioner Kelvin Anderson said today.

Charles Alan Smith, now in his 70s, was released from a Perth jail in February after serving less than eight years of a 15-year sentence. He was convicted of 39 sexual offences against boys aged 10 to 17 between 1964 and 1978.

The move, which has raised the ire of Victoria's opposition, comes just a week after revelations another convicted pedophile from WA, Otto Darcy-Searle, was paroled to live with relatives in the northern NSW town of Banora Point, after serving five years of an 11 year term.

The case sparked a major row between the New South Wales and WA governments, and in the outcry that followed, Darcy-Searle volunteered to return to WA where he is now back in jail while the parole board is reviewing his future.

The Smith and Darcy-Searle cases followed the release of convicted serial child rapist Brian Keith Jones, known as Mr Baldy.

Jones, 58, was electronically tagged and subjected to strict parole conditions when he was released last month, including a curfew and a ban on contact with children. On August 8, Jones agreed to a court-imposed 15-year extended supervision order.

Smith, a former Salvation Army major who ran a house for homeless boys, had earlier pleaded guilty to a further 76 charges relating to offences committed between 1958 and 1977.

Commissioner Anderson has confirmed Smith's parole was transferred to Victoria from WA earlier this year. Reports suggest he may have moved in with his son and daughter-in-law.

Posted by kshaw at 08:25 PM

Child sex fiend to stay

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Peter Mickelburough, state politics reporter
22aug05

A SEX predator sent to live in Victoria from interstate to serve out his parole will not be sent home.

Corrections Commissioner Kelvin Anderson said he had no plans to ask West Australian authorities to take back notorious Perth pedophile Charles Alan Smith.

Last week another WA pedophile, Otto Darcy-Searle, 63, was sent back to Perth after community outcry over his transfer on parole to live with his family in NSW.

Smith, 72, arrived in Victoria in May to live with his daughter after the sister he had been living with in the west since being paroled in February was diagnosed with cancer.

The former Salvation Army major was released after serving less than eight years of a 15-year sentence for 39 offences against boys aged 10-17 between 1964 and 1978.

Corrections Minister Tim Holding, who turned 33 yesterday, was unavailable for comment, sparking Opposition claims he was in hiding after last week's police files fiasco.

Posted by kshaw at 08:19 PM

Anger as another pedophile moves states

AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

By Natasha Robinson and Amanda Banks
August 22, 2005

THE Victorian Government yesterday admitted it could not guarantee children would be safe from one of the nation's worst serial child-sex offenders who has been allowed to relocate from Western Australia to Victoria.

Former Salvation Army captain Charles Alan Smith's Perth-based relatives, who believe he is still a danger, have warned he is even more likely to reoffend since being allowed to move to Victoria under a parole transfer scheme.

"He is such a slimebucket," said one relative, who refused to be named.

Smith, now in his 70s, was released from a Perth jail earlier this year after serving less than eight years of a 15-year sentence for 39 sex offences committed against boys aged 10 to 17 between 1964 and 1978.

Victoria's Corrections Commissioner Kelvin Anderson acknowledged there was no certainty the pedophile would not reoffend.

Posted by kshaw at 08:17 PM

SNAP protest continues for 14th week

ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9

8/21/2005 12:42 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

For the 14th week in a row, advocates for victims of clergy abuse gathered in front of the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Albany.

Members of the group SNAP -- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- are calling for the removal of Father Daniel Maher. Father Maher has been accused of sexually abusing two church members.

Bishop Howard Hubbard has refused to remove Father Maher as pastor. SNAP said that because of the bishop's decision, children in the parish are now in danger.

Posted by kshaw at 05:12 PM

CAN WE TALK?

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

By Deb Peterson
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/21/2005

Look for St. Louis' top prosecutor, Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, to be among those who will join therapist Mike Pollard and the Rev. Steve Robeson, pastor of St. Simon of Cyrene Catholic Church, at a panel discussion after a screening of Kirby Dick's Academy Award-nominated documentary "Twist of Faith," on Aug. 31 at Webster University. The film tells the story of a Toledo, Ohio, firefighter who confronts the trauma of boyhood sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. St. Louis members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including national director David Clohessy, make brief appearances in the film.

Posted by kshaw at 05:09 PM

As lawsuit looms, Catholic Church transfers ownership of properties

TENNESSEE
Tennessean

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

The Catholic Church has shifted ownership of nine Midstate properties, an action critics say was calculated to protect assets from the kinds of huge settlements that have been awarded to victims of priest abuse.

Diocese of Nashville officials filed paperwork so that eight churches and one school would be owned by the parishes or school instead of the bishops who had owned the properties for decades.

The diocese is being sued for $68 million by two victims of abuse. The parishes are not named as defendants.

The lawsuits were filed in January 2000 and later merged, and the nine property transfers all have taken place since.

Seven of them happened in the past 15 months, during which time the state Supreme Court was considering reviving the lawsuit, which had been dismissed by a lower court. The suit was revived in January.

Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville say the church is not doing anything untoward. They say the diocese has been engaged in an effort to ensure that property deeds accurately reflect the true owners of the property.

Posted by kshaw at 08:56 AM

Priest affair? Yes, I do care

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Denis Hamill

Who cares?

That was my first reaction to "The Beauty and the Priest" sex scandal between Msgr. Eugene Clark, the rector of St. Patrick's, and Laura DeFilippo, his "leggy," "shapely," "attractive" - take your pick, dudes - secretary.

Whatever happened between DeFilippo and Clark, at least it was between consenting adults, and not another 11-year-old altar boy rape story.

Still, I was curious about how Clark came to own a $2 million home in Amagansett while I'm still taking my kid down Coney. But the church has taken a vow of silence on this one.

But, hey, Clark isn't the first clergyman to get rich. God works in mysterious ways. Cardinal Law of Boston, who covered up for child rapists, was punished for his sins with a life sentence in a luxury condo on St. Peter's Square, where he was allowed to say Mass at the Pope's funeral. Bishop Thomas Daily, who also had a veiny hand in the Boston coverup, was given a fine stone house in Brooklyn, where he smugly presided over the collapse of the Catholic school system.

Talk about ash and sackcloth.

Posted by kshaw at 08:52 AM

Book Review: Opus Dei by John L. Jr Allen

Monsters and Critics

By Kirkus Aug 20, 2005, 23:00 GMT

Its defenders characterize Opus Dei, that ultra-Catholic movement, as a knitting circle, its detractors as a dangerous cult. Allen, Vatican correspondent forAbuse Tracker ,finds middle ground.

Opus Dei, or "God's Work," a conservative service organization founded in 1928 by the Spanish cleric (and now saint) Josemaría Escrivá, is resolutely closed to outsiders, and it takes work indeed to get in. Allen, whose Conclave (2002) was a prescient guide to the recent papal election, likens the organization to Guinness Stout in a world of Bud Lite, inasmuch as "it makes no apologies for either its many calories or its high alcohol content." Critics hold that its doctrine can be a little content-free, mistrustful of ideas and long on pat solutions, and, thanks at least in part to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei has a slightly sinister connotation to outsiders. Several controversies surround it. Does Opus Dei recruit? Do its leaders demand blind allegiance? Does it have an anti-Semitic element?

Allen wanders through the orbits of the faithful and some of the fallen away to address such questions, chalking up good points (for instance, no Opus Dei priest has ever been accused of sexual abuse) while assessing weaknesses, including a body of doctrine that can seem confused, as when Escrivá declared in a homily that freedom entails absolute devotion "to the service of the truth which redeems, when it is spent in seeking God's infinite love which liberates us from all forms of slavery."

Posted by kshaw at 08:41 AM

Woman says church warned

VIRGINIA
The Roanoke Times

By Laurence Hammack
981-3239
The Roanoke Times

Eleven years ago, a parishioner accused a Catholic priest of sexually abusing her in the confessional of their Covington church.

Earlier this year, Moran was leading another parish - and facing another allegation of sexual misconduct.

Although both cases involve adult victims and murky details, some say these incidents mirror the way the Roman Catholic church has handled priests who molested children, which sparked a national controversy.

David Clohessy of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a Chicago-based victims advocacy group, said Moran's case appears to fit the pattern: priests accused of sexual abuse being moved from one parish to another by a church unwilling to recognize the scandal's wide scope.

"I warned them, and now there's another victim," said the woman who accused Moran of assaulting her at the Covington parish. "If they had done what they promised to do, that person would not have been victimized."

In March, Moran was temporarily suspended from the ministry for sexual misconduct with an adult woman, said Steve Neill, spokesman for the Cath
olic Church's Diocese of Richmond. Moran could not be reached.

Posted by kshaw at 08:35 AM

Accused priest was frequently reassigned

INDIANA
Northwest Indiana Times

BY MARC CHASE
mfitton@nwitimes.com
219.662.5330

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, August 21, 2005 12:53 AM CDT

Reviewing the work history of a region priest accused of sexual abuse, two former Catholic monks turned victims advocates and one priest turned whistle-blower said they picked up on a familiar set of patterns.

A timeline compiled by The Times of the Official Catholic Directories during the Rev. Richard A. Emerson's 26-year career in the priesthood shows nine different moves to various parishes or other diocesan assignments, an average of about one move every three years.

Emerson's timeline shows extensive contact with youth during his career, including four years as head administrator of Schererville's Hoosier Boys' Town -- a home for troubled youth now called Campagna Academy -- and six years as the Diocese of Gary liaison for the Boy Scouts.

And throughout his career, Emerson has held high positions of authority within the Diocese of Gary, including a three-year stint at the diocesan chancellor -- or chief administrator -- and as a consultant on policy to the diocese and its bishop.

Posted by kshaw at 08:31 AM

Shepherd of the diocese

MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
aalter@herald.com

Monsignor John Gerard Noonan -- prankster priest, seminary rector and the next auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Miami -- seems more like your favorite uncle than a No. 2 man at the Archdiocese.

He cleans up the cafeteria alongside his students at St. John Vianney College Seminary, brings coffee to his secretary and often stashes his white plastic priest's collar in his shirt pocket, complaining it's too stuffy.

''He sweats the big stuff; he doesn't sweat the small stuff,'' said the Rev. José Alvarez, dean of students at St. John Vianney. ...

Q: What should the archdiocese do in the wake of the scandal to regain lay people's trust?

A: The biggest thing I can do right now is to make sure these young men are prepared to be good priests and to let them know the church can't tolerate anything like this anymore. . . . For a young man to come into the seminary, there's a whole barrage of psychological testing.

It's not that we have all the answers, but we have a lot more checks and balances, a lot more education. . . . We were probably very nave across the board. Things happened that should never have been allowed to happen.

Q: What has the archdiocese done to ensure that abuse gets reported and pedophile priests are removed?

A: All those guidelines come from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. We're evaluated on those things; we have no choice.

Posted by kshaw at 08:29 AM

August 20, 2005

Msgr. got 280G for a side job

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BARBARA ROSS
and ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The motel-hopping monsignor of St. Patrick's Cathedral had a full-time job running the nation's most prominent church - but he also got a little something on the side.

Former Msgr. Eugene Clark made $280,000 in the last six years as vice president of the Homeland Foundation, an upstate charity that gives grants to Catholic causes, according to the foundation's tax returns.

Clark's married secretary, Laura DeFilippo, with whom he is accused of carrying on a long affair, also did work for the Homeland Foundation - making up to $15,000 a year, a foundation source said.

DeFilippo's estranged husband has said she earned $70,000 to $100,000 per year, supplementing her church salary with payments from the Homeland Foundation and other nonprofit groups connected to Clark.

The 79-year-old Clark resigned from St. Pat's in disgrace Aug. 11 as allegations emerged about his relationship with DeFilippo, 46.

They have denied having an affair, but a private eye caught them on video checking into a Hamptons motel, then emerging 5 1/2 hours later in different outfits.

Posted by kshaw at 09:47 AM

Doctrine watchdog hounded by lawsuit

PORTLAND (OR)
Religion News Service

By William Lobdell
Religion News Service

In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the Oregon archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a parish.
In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a priest in Whittier, Calif., the child's mother had engaged ''in unprotected intercourse . . . when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy,'' the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.
The legal proceeding got little attention at the time. And the fact that the church - which considers birth control a sin - seemed to be arguing that the woman should have protected herself from pregnancy provoked no comment. Until last month.
That's when the woman, Stephanie Collopy, went back into court asking for additional child support. A Los Angeles Times article reported the church's earlier response. Now liberal and conservative Roman Catholics around the United States are decrying the archdiocese's legal strategy, saying it was counter to church teaching.

Posted by kshaw at 09:42 AM

Nearly naked inmates move to new jails

ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

Carrie Watters
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 20, 2005 12:00 AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and hundreds of deputies on Friday moved 3,400 inmates who wore nothing but flip-flops and county-issued pink boxers.

Arpaio said the move was the largest in state history. The inmates are moving from other jails into the Fourth Avenue and Lower Buckeye jails, the two newest facilities.

The Estrella jail now houses only women. advertisement

The nearly naked men faced seven TV cameras as they got off a bus at the Fourth Avenue Jail. Some inmates reacted with a grin. Others tried to turn away.

An administrator with the County Attorney's Office blasted Arpaio's unusual methods and suggested he could potentially hinder extradition of criminals to the Valley. The Irish courts cited a similar inmate move by Arpaio in April as one of the reasons they refused to return Catholic priest Patrick Oliver Colleary to Arizona to face charges of sexual misconduct.

"If pink underwear is going to hinder international law, than something is wrong," Arpaio said Friday.

Posted by kshaw at 09:39 AM

Minister guilty of sex assault

PAXTON (IL)
Bloomington Pantagraph

By Dave Hinton
dkhinton2003@yahoo.com

PAXTON -- A former Gibson City minister accused of molesting a woman for more than six years was convicted Friday in a Ford County jury trial.
The Rev. Danny Hill, 54, of 614 S. Lott Blvd., former pastor of First Baptist Church, Gibson City, was convicted of two counts of criminal sexual assault.

He faces four to 15 years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine for each count when he is sentenced Sept. 26.

Jurors heard recordings police made of telephone calls between the victim, now 22, and Hill. In the calls, she confronted Hill and he appeared to admit his guilt.

Posted by kshaw at 09:33 AM

Suicides raise alarm in diocese abuse cases

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

August 20, 2005

In the 13 months since the Archdiocese of Portland declared bankruptcy, it has run up millions of dollars in legal fees. Its bill since then for counseling victims of clergy sex abuse: zero.

That's because the archdiocese needs the bankruptcy court's permission now to take on certain expenses. Although the legal situation is murky, bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris must find a way to allow the church to resume its former practice of providing counseling for some people who have filed sexual-abuse claims against the church.

In the past few months, three sexual-abuse plaintiffs have committed suicide. The most recent was a 49-year-old Marion County man whose case was to come up for mediation late this month. A 44-year-old Portland man who received a $1 million settlement killed himself in February. A 43-year-old Portland plaintiff committed suicide in December.

Would a trained counselor have made a difference for any of these men? There is no way to know, but if credible victims are distraught and unable to afford mental-health care, the court must see that they get it.

Posted by kshaw at 09:29 AM

Law And Order: Man sues archdiocese, claims sex abuse in '60s

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS

A Virginia man sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis Friday, claiming a priest sexually abused him in 1962 and 1963 under the guise of talking to him about joining the priesthood.

The suit says Rev. Norman H. Christian took the then-youth into the basement of St. Peter's Church in Kirkwood in the fall of 1962, showed him pornography then fondled him.
Advertisement

The abuse continued through the spring of 1963, the suit says.

Posted by kshaw at 09:27 AM

Attorney, Group Blast Bishops over Sex Ed

ARIZONA
The Conservative Voice

By Matt C. Abbott

August 19, 2005 10:53 AM EST

Since the onset of the clergy sex abuse scandal, there has been much debate in certain circles over "safe environment" programs for children -- something critics assert is nothing more than immoral sex education.
Catholic attorney Sheila Parkhill and the Tucson, Ariz.-based Holy Family Society have written a lengthy letter to Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas and the USCCB, critiquing the "safe environment" programs and criticizing the bishops who support them.

Posted by kshaw at 09:25 AM

Video lecture at Millette Manor

NASHUA (NH)
Nashua Telegraph

“Clericalism and Catholicism,” a video lecture by the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle O.P., JDC will be the subject of the monthly meeting of The Voice of the Faithful at 7 p.m. Thursday at Millette Manor, 72 Vine St., Nashua.

Fr. Doyle is a Catholic priest and cannon lawyer who has extensive experience in the problems of sexual abuse, its effect on the survivors and its effect on the Catholic church. Doyle sacrificed a diplomatic career with the Vatican to seek justice for sex-abuse victims. Over a period of 20 years, he was there, writing reports, warning bishops, briefing cardinals, standing up for values of justice, then casting his lot with victims of sexual of abuse and their attorneys, helping journalists and in the process, rewriting the meaning of his life.

Posted by kshaw at 09:21 AM

August 19, 2005

Sex-Abuse Case Used as Ploy to Downgrade Vatican Status at United Nations

ROME
LifeSite

ROME, August 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A US lawyer, Daniel Shea, is leading an effort to have the US State Department diplomatically de-recognize the Holy See using a sex-abuse lawsuit. The suit names then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the time head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, accusing him of involvement in a conspiracy to cover up the sexual assault against three boys by a seminarian in Texas in the mid-1990's.

Shea, himself a former seminarian educated in law at Catholic University of America, has demanded that the US waive the Pope's diplomatic immunity as head of state in the suit, a move that has been characterized as absurd by international legal experts.

He told reporters in Rome that, should the Bush administration decide to "grant" the Pope immunity, he would launch a constitutional challenge to have the US de-recognize the Holy See as a sovereign state. Shea's anti-Catholic biases were revealed at the press conference at which he made this announcement which was held under the aegis of the Italian Radical Party, a branch of one of Europe's most openly anti-Catholic organizations.

Posted by kshaw at 09:08 PM

Paedophile plans to sue church over priest abuse allegations

BRITAIN
Scotsman

STEPHEN MCGINTY

A CONVICTED paedophile is to sue the Catholic Church in England and Wales for thousands of pounds in damages, claiming that the abuse he suffered as a teenager at the hands of a priest turned him into a sex offender.

In a civil case which will be the first of its kind in Britain, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is blaming the Church for beginning a cycle of abuse that led to him being sentenced to five years for sexually abusing three children.

If successful, the legal action could set a precedent, and open the doors to other lawsuits. In recent years the Catholic Church in England and Wales has paid out over £1 million in compensation to the victims of sexual abuse by priests.

However the Church has dismissed the threat of legal action and insisted that a police investigation into the man's claims was dropped following a four-month inquiry. The priest also was subject to a risk assessment by the diocese where he is still performing his duties.

The convicted paedophile said: "I too had become an abuser of the worst kind - a paedophile. I groomed my victims in the same way as a Catholic priest groomed me. I know that this man has other victims simply because I'm a paedophile, just like he is."

Posted by kshaw at 09:05 PM

Cases in Spokane, Portland could influence church abuse lawsuits in Denver

DENVER (CO)
KGW

08/20/2005

By COLLEEN SLEVIN / Associated Press

With two sexual-abuse lawsuits already filed against the Archdiocese of Denver and more threatened, church leaders and the alleged victims will likely take an interest in the legal wrangling over financial assets that followed similar abuse allegations in Portland, Ore., and Spokane, Wash., church observers said Friday.

Two men filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Denver this week, with one seeking at least $10 million, and their attorneys said more were likely to come. Both men claim they were abused by former priest Harold Robert White and that the archdiocese knew about other victims at the time but protected White by shuffling him around between parishes.

The Denver archdiocese has declined to comment on the cases, the first it's faced since the sexual abuse scandal broke in 2002.

Since then, church officials in Portland, Spokane and Tucson, Ariz., have filed for bankruptcy protection because of sex abuse claims. Tucson reached an agreement with the alleged victims but the cases in Spokane and Portland are still pending, with parishes in Oregon trying to limit the claims of the alleged victims by arguing that their assets don't belong to the archdiocese.

It is an argument likely to come up in Denver if the lawsuits are successful: What church assets are at stake? Does a diocese own all its individual churches and related property or just a few buildings and bank accounts?

Posted by kshaw at 08:59 PM

Departed archbishop served with subpoena

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Friday, August 19, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
For the second time in less than a week, the Vatican's top-ranking American has been served a subpoena commanding him to testify in cases involving the Archdiocese of Portland.

On Saturday, a process server dressed in a borrowed Armani suit sneaked past police and protesters into a celebrity-studded tribute dinner for Archbishop William J. Levada in San Francisco. His goal: to hand Levada legal papers calling for his deposition in January in a case alleging, among other things, intentional infliction of emotional distress by a Portland parish priest and a parish school principal.

In that case, Paul and Deborah DuFresne allege they and their son, a former student at St. Thomas More School in Southwest Portland, suffered emotional distress because of "secret meetings" the Rev. Michael Johnston held with him. They feared the potential for child sexual abuse, according to their lawsuit.

Archdiocese lawyers have said the boy was expelled from school for bullying other students.

The DuFresnes' suit was frozen when the Portland archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2004. Earlier this month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris granted the Du- Fresnes' request to depose Levada.

On Saturday, the DuFresnes' process server, Chris Williamson, said he bought a $150 dinner ticket and, after listening to three hours of accolades for Levada, quietly handed him the subpoena.

Posted by kshaw at 12:51 PM

Breaking the silence

COLORADO
The Aspen Times

By Roger Marolt
August 19, 2005

The recent spate of molestation charges around the state against Father Robert White are more than allegations to me. As teenagers here, five friends of mine and I lived perilously close to being pulled through the thin, dark veneer that hid his sphere of horror for decades.

As the story broke in The Denver Post last month, I read with eerie recognition. Victims told of being groped by Father White while wrestling. They recounted sexual encounters during ski trips with the priest to his cabin in Frisco and youth group swim outings to the Glenwood Hot Springs. They told of Father White allowing them to drive his new Buick while he slid his hand along their thighs from the passenger seat, and much worse. It was a synopsis of our own local youth group under his purview.

There were signs about his perverse proclivities early on. Once, we missed Sunday Mass due to a weekend camping trip. Father White offered to say a special "makeup" Mass for us. During the offering of peace, Father White hugged me tightly for a long time while rubbing his hand up and down my back. It felt wrong.

Afterward, we boys reservedly talked about it. We hashed out the "creepy" feeling it gave us. We decided that Father White was just a "touchy-feely" kind of priest. It never occurred to us that he might be a pedophile.

Posted by kshaw at 07:43 AM

Paedophile sues Catholic Church

BRITAIN
BBC News

A convicted paedophile is taking legal action against the UK Catholic Church, claiming abuse he suffered from a priest turned him into a sex offender.

The man, who was jailed for five years for abusing three children, says he was abused by a priest in the early 1970s.

He said this abuse left him sexually and mentally damaged. Police dropped a criminal investigation into the claims following a four-month inquiry.

The Church denies wrongdoing, saying officials followed correct procedures.

It is believed the priest was allowed to remain in the clergy after a risk assessment.

Posted by kshaw at 07:41 AM

Sex-abuse case focuses on name

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer

The man who claims the Rev. Raymond Larger abused him when he was a child asked a judge Thursday to punish the priest's lawyer for revealing his name.

The accuser used the name "John Doe" when he filed his lawsuit last month against Larger and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a common practice in clergy abuse cases.

But when Larger filed a counterclaim a few weeks later, his lawyer used the accuser's real name several times. Larger contends the man is lying about the abuse in hopes of winning a settlement payment from Larger and the church.

"The plaintiff's complaint is frivolous, without merit and filed against this defendant solely for the intentional purpose of extorting money," Larger stated in his claim.

Larger's lawyer, Bruce McIntosh, could not be reached Thursday. But the accuser's lawyer, David Washington, asked a judge to throw out Larger's claim and fine McIntosh for revealing the name.

Posted by kshaw at 07:36 AM

Denver man sues ex-Catholic priest for abuse

DENVER (CO)
Reuters

Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:44 PM ET

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - A man who says he was sexually abused by his godfather, a now-defrocked Catholic priest, sued the Archdiocese of Denver for $10 million on Thursday, claiming that church officials covered up three decades of sexual misconduct by the man.

Delbert C. Nielsen III, 52, alleges that Harold Robert White molested him multiple times over several years, beginning in 1963. White, 72, is not named as a defendant in the Denver District Court lawsuit.

Nielsen's attorney, Jeffrey Herman, said the archdiocese shuffled White around to various parishes even though complaints about him surfaced shortly after he became a priest in 1960 and continued until he was removed from active ministry in 1993.

"The archdiocese knew Father White was a child molester and instead of protecting the children, they provided a safe haven so this could happen again and again," Herman said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:28 AM

Suits claim sex abuse by priest

COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News

By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
August 19, 2005

Two men who grew up Catholic in Colorado sued the Archdiocese of Denver on Thursday, contending a priest sexually abused them for years when they were children in the 1960s and that church officials knew he was a child molester.

Delbert C. Nielsen III, now in his 50s and living in New Mexico, and Tom Koldeway, now in his 40s and living in Alaska, filed their separate lawsuits in Denver District Court.

They accuse the archdiocese of covering up the activities of the priest, the Rev. Harold Robert White, for decades by repeatedly transferring him from parish to parish after receiving complaints that he had molested children.

Both lawsuits said the archdiocese kept its knowledge about White secret in order to protect itself from liability.

"We obviously do not comment on issues that are under litigation or pending litigation and at the moment we haven't even had an opportunity to read the complaint," said Fran Maier, chancellor for the Denver archdiocese.

"That's the only response we're going to be making today."

White, ordained in 1960, was removed from the priesthood last year.

Posted by kshaw at 07:25 AM

Man sues Denver Archdiocese

DENVER (CO)
The Aspen Times

By Colleen Slevin
The Associated Press
August 19, 2005

DENVER - A man who alleges he was sexually abused by a Denver priest who spent time in Aspen filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking more than $10 million from the Archdiocese of Denver, claiming officials knew about other allegations against the priest but only transferred him to new parishes.

Delbert Nielsen III, 53, of Carlsbad, N.M., alleges that Harold Robert White abused him during the 1960s. He is among 15 men who have told The Denver Post they were abused by White from the early 1960s through the early 1980s.

"It's just horrifying that the archdiocese would know this and continue to give him a fresh start with new victims," said Jeffrey Herman, Nielsen's attorney. Herman, based in Miami, specializes in representing sexual assault victims.

White, a former pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church in Aspen, was in Aspen from 1978 to 1981, according to a timeline published recently in The Denver Post.

Posted by kshaw at 07:23 AM

Victims’ group targets retired bishop

RENO (NV)
Reno Gazette-Journal

Martha Bellisle RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 8/19/2005 12:40 am

Members of a group that supports people who have been sexually abused by priests delivered a letter Thursday to the office of retired Reno Bishop Phillip Straling, calling for him to “come clean” about abuse by clergy he worked with in Southern California.
“We are very disturbed by the sheer number of sex abuse cases to which Bishop Straling is linked,” members of the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said in their letter.
“We are also upset that, in spite of a troubling track record on abuse, the bishop has publicly patted himself on the back for allegedly ‘aggressive steps’ he has taken on this issue, while at the same time, refusing to publicly discuss his involvement in or knowledge of sex crimes by some of California’s most notorious predator priests.”
Straling was not at the diocese office but is attending the World Youth Day celebrations with Pope Benedict XVI in Cologne, Germany, said Brother Matthew Cunningham, diocese chancellor.

Posted by kshaw at 07:20 AM

"Twist of Faith": Facing the demons of clergy abuse

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

The painful documentary "Twist of Faith" follows Tony Comes of Ohio as he confronts the priest who sexually abused him as a child.

"Twist of Faith," Kirby Dick's devastating documentary about one man's struggle to come to terms with childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest, is only at the Grand Illusion for two days, presumably because it's been shown (and will be repeated) on HBO. But if you haven't caught it on cable (or in its local premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival earlier this summer), it's worth making the time this weekend: Dick's film puts a human face on a churchwide scandal that sometimes seems too big to comprehend.

That face belongs to Tony Comes, a sad-eyed firefighter in his early 30s who lives with his wife and small children in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. He's a gentle man, with a sweet rapport with his children, and as Dick began his filmmaking, Comes had just made a soul-wrenching decision: to go public as part of a lawsuit against the Toledo diocese, one of many sexual-abuse complaints filed against a local priest named Dennis Gray.

Posted by kshaw at 07:15 AM

Lawsuit claim: Church knew of sex abuse back in 1950s, '60s

DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Rieger

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
August 19, 2005
Despite Dubuque Catholic officials' adamant claims that the archdiocese had no reports until the 1990s of a former chancellor's sexual misconduct, court documents reveal that priests and former seminarians told other priests in the 1950s and '60s they had been assaulted by the chancellor.

The Rev. William Roach, who served as chancellor and vicar general of the archdiocese, and lived for a time in the home of Archbishop Leo Binz, is the subject of a lawsuit against the archdiocese.

Several early reports of sexual misconduct and sexual assault are summarized in court documents filed this week by attorneys for James Cummins, a Dallas, Texas-based correspondent for NBC News. Last year, Cummins sued the archdiocese, alleging he was sexually assaulted by Roach when he was 17 in the early 1960s and an altar boy at Immaculate Conception church in Cedar Rapids.

Roach retired from active ministry in 1990 and died in an alcohol-related car accident in 1997. At the time, archdiocesan documents show church officials couldn't suppress reports that Roach "was over the legal limit of alcohol" at the time of the crash.

Posted by kshaw at 07:12 AM

Paedophile sues Catholic Church for abuse

BRITAIN
The Times

By Sam Knight, Times Online

A convicted paedophile is suing the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales, claiming that he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a priest more than thirty years ago.

The paedophile, who has not been named, claims that his life was ruined and his own crimes were shaped by the abuse that was inflicted on him by a Catholic priest, who he says is now a senior figure in the Catholic Church with responsibilities for child protection.

The case will be the first brought against the Catholic Church by a convicted sex offender.

The Catholic Church has denied the allegations in strong terms. A statement from the Diocese where the priest currently works and issued by the Church's solicitors said: "These allegations are untrue and are totally denied."

The paedophile decided to bring his case in the civil courts, where the burden of proof is lower, after a four-month police inquiry collapsed last year because the alleged offences were committed so long ago. The paedophile said he initially sought an apology from the Catholic Church, but was never given one.

Posted by kshaw at 07:06 AM

August 18, 2005

Lawsuit will claim church coverup

COLORADO
Denver Post

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer

The godson of former Catholic priest Harold Robert White intends to file a lawsuit today seeking more than $10 million in damages from the Archdiocese of Denver, the first legal volley since child-molestation allegations against White were made public last month.

In a copy of the complaint to be filed in Denver District Court, Delbert C. Nielsen III alleges that the archdiocese knew about abuse claims against White in the 1960s and chose secrecy over protecting children.

"Somebody's got to be accountable for their actions," Nielsen, 52, of Carlsbad, N.M., said Wednesday. "I'm a little upset with the archdiocese and the fact that all they've ever done is sweep it under the carpet and move him from place to place."

Nielsen is among 15 men who have told The Denver Post that White fondled or molested them between the early 1960s and early 1980s. Between his 1960 ordination and 1993, White served in 11 parishes across the state.

Posted by kshaw at 07:56 PM

Newark Episcopal Diocese Settles Sex Suit

NEWARK (NJ)
1010 WINS

Aug 18, 2005 4:25 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEWARK) The Episcopal Diocese has agreed to pay $80,000 to two female employees who claimed the diocese failed to address their complaints that they were repeatedly sexually harassed by a priest.

The diocese did not admit any wrongdoing, but agreed to create policies on discrimination and retaliation, as well as complaint procedures, under a settlement announced Thursday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed in March by the EEOC on behalf of Michelle Wilson and Maxine Gooden charging that the Rev. Dana Rose regularly made ``sexually explicit, insulting and derogatory'' comments to the women.

The suit also charged that Rose, who was a vicar of Trinity Church in Irvington at the time, would attempt to grab the women by their arms, waists or breasts.

Posted by kshaw at 07:50 PM

Advocacy group wants more information on Straling's role in abuse cases

RENO (NV)
KRNV

Aug 18, 2005, 08:37 PM

An advocacy group is demanding action from the Reno Catholic Church regarding sex abuse.

The group is called "SNAP," The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

There are two things SNAP is trying to accomplish. It's trying to get officials with the Reno Catholic Church to be proactive in finding molestation victims. They also want the church to come clean about retired bishop, Phillip Straling and his alleged role in dozens of abuse cases in California.

Thursday, SNAP members hand delivered a letter to church officials at the diocese headquarters in Reno, requesting just that.

According to a report published in the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier this month, Straling has been named as a key witness in more than 150 lawsuits in Southern California against priests accused of molesting children.

The suits allege Straling should have known that some of the priests were having sex with children. Leaders of SNAP believe action on the part of the church could help victims heal and make kids in today's church safer.

Posted by kshaw at 07:41 PM

Former Priest's Godson Sues Denver Archdiocese

DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

POSTED: 11:37 am MDT August 18, 2005
UPDATED: 12:48 pm MDT August 18, 2005

DENVER -- A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Denver by the godson of a former priest.

Delbert C. Nielsen III, 53, is seeking $10 million, claiming that the archdiocese covered up allegations against Rev. Harold Robert White for years.

The archdiocese said it cannot comment on pending litigation.

According to Nielsen's attorneys, White began to sexually abuse Nielsen in 1963, when he was just 10 years old.

Nielsen is among 15 men who have told The Denver Post that they were abused by White from the early 1960s through the early 1980s.

Posted by kshaw at 02:43 PM

Anti-Gay St. Patrick’s Rector Resigns in Sex Scandal

NEW YORK
Gay City News

By ANDY HUMM

Schadenfruede was at high tide, especially in the gay community, after Monsignor Eugene V. Clark, 79, rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and longtime grand inquisitor of the Archdiocese of New York, resigned after being named as the “other man” in a divorce suit.

Clark, who in 2003 famously blamed the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic priesthood on gay people, was alleged to be having an affair with his $100,000-a-year secretary, Laura DeFillippo, 46, married and the mother of two.

In divorce papers, Phillip DeFillippo, her husband, includes an affidavit from their 14-year old daughter who wrote that she “found my mom and her boss [Clark] together on the couch, her sitting on his lap wearing a satin teddy with her arms around him making out.” Mr. DeFillippo also had the couple trailed by a private investigator who caught them on videotape entering a motel room at midday in the Hamptons and exiting five hours later wearing different clothes.

Clark and Mrs. DeFillippo deny, through their lawyers, having a sexual relationship. And they are charging that Mr. DeFillippo threatened to expose the affair if his wife did not agree to his terms in their divorce settlement.

But from all appearances, Clark and his secretary had a close personal relationship that included taking vacations together in St. Bart’s and weekends at the priest’s $2 million home in Amagansett in Eastern Long Island. As a diocesan priest, Clark is entitled to keep any personal fortune he has, but all Catholic priests promise to be celibate, which strictly speaking means remaining unmarried. Clark has repeatedly preached on the value of celibacy and chastity from the pulpit of St. Patrick’s and on the Eternal Word Television Network.

Posted by kshaw at 02:41 PM

Should the cabinets be kept shut?

FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram

By Linda P. Campbell
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Could the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth have chosen a more ironic argument for keeping secret the files concerning eight priests accused of sexual abuse than this: the victims' privacy is at stake?

Certainly, those who accused the priests have a privacy interest in records that a Tarrant County court might make public. But forgive me for wondering whether the diocese ought to be entrusted with protecting the best interests of those individuals.

During a hearing last week, lawyers representing the diocese, one of the priests and the Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News debated whether the files should be made open to the public -- a ling-ering issue in a lawsuit that the diocese settled in the spring for $4.15 million plus $994,000 in legal fees.

Paul Watler, representing the newspapers, made several legal arguments on which the case might turn.

For instance, privacy rights belong person-ally to individuals. As such, the diocese has no legally recognized privacy rights of its own, and it has no legal standing to argue for protecting the privacy rights of others, either the victims or the priests. Besides, he said, the newspapers aren't interested in the victims' identifying information, just other details in the documents.

Posted by kshaw at 11:23 AM

Priest's case adjourned to Sept. 15

ROCHESTER (NY)
Catholic Courier

By Rob Cullivan/Catholic Courier

ROCHESTER -- The case of Father Dennis R. Sewar, who has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, has been adjourned to Sept. 15, according to the priest's attorney, John F. Speranza.

Father Sewar, a diocesan priest who has been on administrative leave since mid-June, was arrested on the charges July 22.

Following Father Sewar's Aug. 17 appearance before City Court Judge John E. Elliot, Speranza said he plans to file various legal motions before the priest's next court appearance.

According to court documents, the alleged incidents of abuse took place between the end of October 1999 and August 2001, during which time Father Sewar was pastor of Rochester's Church of the Annunciation. Court documents state that the alleged victim was a teenage boy who claimed the priest repeatedly touched him in an inappropriate manner and that the alleged abuse stopped when the boy turned 16.

In a July 24 statement, the diocese said it had received information in late April about the alleged incidents and immediately notified the Rochester Police Department in accordance with sexual-abuse guidelines set forth by the diocese and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Per its policy, the diocese has declined to comment on the case while it is pending.

Posted by kshaw at 11:22 AM

CBS 2 Exclusive: The Monsignor's Side Of The Story

NEW YORK
CBS 2

Tony Aiello
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK CBS 2 has learned exclusive details of what may have happened between a high-profile monsignor and his secretary at a Long Island motel.

Monsignor Eugene Clark has kept a low profile since the scandal broke last week, but now says nothing improper happened in that hotel room.

You'll recall that Clark, the former rector at St. Patrick's Cathedral, is accused of having a long-running affair with his secretary, Laura DiFilippo.

In July, the two of them spent five hours together at the White Sands Motel in Amagansett, caught on video by a private eye hired by Laura's husband. But a source tells CBS 2's Tony Aiello that Clark insists nothing improper went on, saying they merely stopped to rest after a long lunch before the drive back to Manhattan.

The source says they wanted to catch some rays at the motel's private beach, but were told they had to register to use it, so they did just that.

Clark disputes a report he registered using a phony name.

He says DeFilippo worked on her tan and napped outside, while he worked on some papers. Clark claims he spent only a few minutes inside the room with his secretary.

Posted by kshaw at 11:18 AM

Priest drugged and raped boy in 1960s, lawsuit agains Miami archdiocese alleges

FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Sun-Sentinel

By Ginelle G. Torres
Miami Bureau
Posted August 18 2005

A Fort Lauderdale man has accused the Rev. Neil Doherty of drugging and raping him several times in the late 1960s when he was about 11, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Miami.

The man, referred to as John Doe No. 21, met Doherty while receiving counseling through the Catholic Welfare Bureau, the lawsuit said.

"It's been difficult my entire life living with this," the man said via speakerphone at a news conference.

"I cannot imagine how he was not stopped from doing this to other people."

According to the suit, Doherty took the boy to numerous houses in Broward County and to his mother's home in Palm Beach County, where the priest took other boys.

Posted by kshaw at 08:32 AM

'Faith' filmmakers say church rebuffed them

SEATTLE (WA)
Post-Intelligencer

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

In 2002, when news stories broke detailing a decades-long coverup of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, Kirby Dick, a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles, felt many things, among them exasperation.

News coverage concentrated on accountability and blame and, eventually, lawsuits. But rarely did he read anything that exposed the emotional reality of victims. "Twist of Faith," Dick hopes, will redress that.

In an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt discussed their search for an appropriate subject to tell this story and described church reaction in its aftermath.

Posted by kshaw at 08:24 AM

Pope Sued, Accused Of Sex Coverup

ROME
CBS News

(AP) A lawyer who's suing Pope Benedict for allegedly covering up the sexual abuse of children by a seminarian says he'll challenge U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Vatican if the pope is given immunity as a head of state.

In the Texas civil lawsuit, Joseph Ratzinger -- now Pope Benedict -- is accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse of three boys during the mid-1990s.

Attorney Daniel Shea, who's representing one of three boys suing the pope, told reporters in Rome that President Bush should ignore a Vatican request to confirm Benedict's immunity.

Posted by kshaw at 08:22 AM

David A. Mittell Jr.: Keep pols out of church's crisis

BOSTON (MA)
Providence Journal

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 18, 2005

BOSTON

STATE SEN. Marian Walsh (D.-Dedham) has filed legislation requiring churches in Massachusetts to submit annual reports to the state detailing their collections, expenditures, funds on hand, investments, real-estate holdings, etc.

The proposed law would apply to all religions, and their churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, tents or storefronts. But the clear impetus for the bill was two cataclysmic events in the Roman Catholic Church: the long-running sexual-abuse scandal and the closure of many venerable parishes in the Boston Archdiocese.

Senator Walsh is herself a devout pro-life Catholic (although she favors same-sex marriage). As one of the faithful, she has been outraged by the betrayal of trust by the leadership of the church under Boston's former archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law. While expressing pious shock at learning about the sexual abuse of children by priests, the cardinal spent nearly 20 years dealing with such priests by shuffling them from parish to parish.

Senator Walsh may also be indignant that a parish in her district -- St. Susanna's, in Dedham -- was among those designated to close. St. Susanna's is of relatively recent vintage, having opened in 1961. It sits on prime real estate, near the Great Plain Avenue exit of Route 128. It is well subscribed and its finances are said to be sound. The archdiocese denies it, but the suspicion among parishioners is that the real reason the parish was to be erased is the value of its land. (Belatedly, the Church gave St. Susanna's a three-year rerprieve before deciding its final fate.)

Posted by kshaw at 08:21 AM

Pope Returns To Germany

GERMANY
CBS News

(CBS/AP) Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Germany on Thursday for his first foreign trip as pope, a journey that will emphasize outreach to Jews and Muslim and evangelizing a Europe that has drifted from its Christian heritage.

About 325,000 flag-waving and hymn-singing pilgrims had arrived by Wednesday for the Roman Catholic Church's 20th World Youth Day, awaiting the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, organizers said, with up to a million people from 184 countries expected by the time Benedict celebrates a closing Mass on Sunday. ...

As the pope left Rome to begin his four-day German visit, the Vatican was reacting to two major news events: the murder of the 90-year-old founder of the Taize Ecumenical Community of monks in France, by a woman suspected to be mentally ill, and a lawsuit filed against the pope.

The slain monk, Brother Roger Schutz, was internationally famous for his philosophy and deeds, including the harboring of Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of France. The pope, who knew him, called the killing "very sad and terrifying news." Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England, called it "an indescribable shock."

The lawsuit, filed by an American lawyer on behalf sex abuse victims, accuses the pontiff of covering up sexual abuse of children when he was the high-powered Vatican official known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The pope's lawyers have asked President Bush to certify Benedict's immunity from liability in the civil lawsuit since he is a head of state - the Vatican city-state.

Posted by kshaw at 08:17 AM

Sex-abuse claimant from Marion County kills himself

OREGON
Statesman Journal

The Associated Press

August 18, 2005

A man whose sexual-abuse claim against the Archdiocese of Portland was scheduled for mediation later this month shot himself to death, the third suicide among sexual-abuse plaintiffs since December.

Larry Lynn Craven, 49, of Marion County had been identified in court records only as L.C. or John Doe. He died July 21, according to the county's vital statistics office.

Craven had sought more than $2 million in his claim against the archdiocese. He accused the Rev. John MacNaughton of molesting him in 1967. He was one of 66 claimants now in mediation with the archdiocese.

The death prompted Craven's lawyer, Daniel Gatti, to ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court the let the archdiocese pay for counseling for any claimants who need emergency counseling.

Gatti said the archdiocese, before its July 2004 bankruptcy filing, provided 10 weeks of free counseling to people with credible claims of abuse.

However, his legal filing states, the archdiocese rightfully stopped making payments for counseling services because it needed the bankruptcy court's permission to make certain expenditures.

Posted by kshaw at 08:13 AM

Police: Coach filmed teens in locker room

POTTSTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

By Chris Parker
Of The Morning Call

A longtime track and field coach at Nativity BVM High School in Pottsville has been charged with secretly videotaping two 17-year-old girls and an 18-year-old woman while they were partially clad in the school's locker room.

Daniel M. Shields, 61, of 30 Bryn Mawr Ave., Pottsville, allegedly taped the Nativity students in April and May.

He was charged with sexual abuse of children, corruption of minors, and invasion of privacy, arraigned late Tuesday by District Judge James K. Reiley, Pottsville, and released on $50,000 bail.

''Nativity High School is cooperating fully with the Pottsville Police Department and the Schuylkill County district attorney's office,'' said Allentown Diocese spokesman Matt Kerr. ''On Monday, as soon as the school became aware of the allegations against Mr. Shields, he was immediately suspended from employment and all extracurricular positions.''

Posted by kshaw at 08:09 AM

Names added to priest abuse lawsuit

ALASKA
KTUU

by Megan Baldino - Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Anchorage, Alaska - Three men and one woman have added their names to a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by two priests in rural Alaska villages.

According to the complaint, Father Segundo Llorente and Father Francis Nawn are accused of abusing 10 children. The latest victims include Jack Doe VII, who claims Father Nawn sexually abused him in Scammon Bay.

Jack Doe VIII and Jackie Doe I claim Nawn abused them in Sheldon’s Point, Alaska. And Jack Doe IX claims Father Segundo Llorente sexually abused him in Sheldon’s Point.

Ken Roosa, the plaintiffs’ attorney, says the amended complaint is significant.

Posted by kshaw at 08:07 AM

Priest who served in Lexington diocese accused of sex abuse

LEXINGTON (KY)
Herald-Leader

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A priest who once served two parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington has been accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, the diocese said yesterday.

The diocese identified the priest as Father Pete Richardson, who was pastor at parishes in West Liberty and Owingsville from July 1994 to January 2004.

Yesterday, the diocese received a letter dated Aug. 11 to Lexington Bishop Ronald Gainer from Father Dan Dorsey, the president of the Cincinnati-based Glenmary Home Missioners.

Richardson now is the director of Glenmary's department of pastoral services, which is in Nashville.

The letter said the allegations were made Aug. 8, diocesan spokesman Tom Shaughnessy said, and that Dorsey had contacted the alleged victim and his parents as well as the county attorney for Morgan County in Kentucky.

Posted by kshaw at 08:05 AM

Priest denies sex abuse

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

By Jane Prendergast, Enquirer staff writer and the Associated Press

A Cincinnati-based mission priest who once served two parishes in the Lexington diocese will stay at Glenmary Home Missioners while he awaits the outcome of sexual misconduct allegations.

The Rev. Pete Richardson was pastor at parishes in West Liberty and Owingsville from July 1994 to January 2004. He was accused of misconduct with a minor. He denied the allegations in a meeting Aug. 8 with the executive council of Glenmary, an organization whose mission is to spread Catholicism in small towns and in rural America.

Richardson is the director of Glenmary's department of pastoral services, which is in Nashville, Tenn. He has moved to Glenmary's headquarters while the allegations are investigated, said Karen Hurley, spokeswoman for the organization.

"That's really all we feel we can say at this point," she said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:01 AM

An abuse survivor's quest for closure

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

An unfortunate truth about media coverage is that often the more headlines a story generates, the more desensitized its readers become.

News that Catholic priests around the country had sexually assaulted thousands of children generated an outpouring of rage when first reported, but much of that reaction has since downshifted to boredom, even irritation, at grown survivors' inability to move on.

"Twist of Faith," a documentary screening at Grand Illusion Cinema this weekend, shows why so many can't.

Film director Kirby Dick follows Tony Comes, a 33-year-old firefighter from Toledo, Ohio, as he grapples with the emotional fallout from decades-old violations, the circumstances of which -- from weekend trips with the priest, to his befriending of Comes' family -- will be eerily familiar to abuse survivors here.

Posted by kshaw at 07:58 AM

August 17, 2005

Creep of the Week: Monsignor Eugene Clark

NEW YORK
PrideSource

By D'Anne Witkowski
Originally printed 8/18/2005 (Issue 1333 - Between The Lines News)

Monsignor Eugene Clark

There's a saying religious folks use to keep each other from getting too high and mighty. In fact, Jesus first said it to a group of townsfolk all hot to stone a woman accused of adultery. When Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," the mob backed off. It's one of the many teachings of Jesus that right-wingers who call themselves Christian seem to frequently, and conveniently, forget.

This week's Creep, and Division I Stone Casting Champ, is Monsignor Eugene Clark, former rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Clark has made a career out of flinging stones with one hand while, well, banging his secretary with the other (metaphorically of course). But hey, when you're a Catholic Priest, you live by rules which can be summed up in layman's terms using MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This."

Posted by kshaw at 05:59 PM

FALSE MEMORY OR THE REAL THING? DEBATE SWIRLS OVER POSSIBLE FALSE ACCUSATIONS

UNITED STATES
Spirit Daily

There were quite a few reactions on both sides of the debate when it came to our recent concern that at least some of the abuse claims against Catholic priests may be false. We hold this concern at a time when the devil is very active (and certainly likely to target priests before anyone).

This would be in keeping with persecution. And if only five or ten percent of the abuse charges are false (or exaggerated), it's certainly worth bringing to light. Can you imagine being a priest for fifty years and then having someone come out of the blue to say that you abused him or her three decades before -- and you didn't?

It certainly is enough to keep men out of the seminary.

But that's hardly to downplay the crisis. Not since the Middle Ages (or the Russian Orthodox Church during Communist rule) has the Church seen such a demonic infiltration. That's the other way the devil has worked -- infiltration -- and for five years now, we have carried as many stories about such abuse charges as nearly any major Catholic news site. We have not tried to hide it.

For it has been nothing short of a disaster. And it keeps rolling on. Just last month, 44 priests were implicated in the Philadelphia area (of events since the 1950s) and this month Oakland had to shell out $56 million in claims -- about half what some dioceses elsewhere have had to pay.

Posted by kshaw at 05:54 PM

Coach charged with videotaping girls in school locker room

POTTSVILLE (PA)
phillyburbs.com

The Associated Press

POTTSVILLE, Pa. - The Roman Catholic Diocece of Allentown has suspended a high school gym teacher charged with videotaping partially clad teenage girls in the school locker room.

Daniel M. Shields Jr., a longtime teacher and track coach at Nativity BVM High School in Pottsville, was charged Tuesday after police received a videotape that showed three Nativity students in various stages of undress.

The tape had Shields' handwriting on it, and was labeled with the names of the girls and dated "5/25/05," according to police.

Detective Steven Guers told a district judge at Shields' arraignment Tuesday that the tape was made "surreptitiously" and had both Shields' voice and image on it.

One of the girls on the tape told about it when she learned of its existence, according to court papers.

Posted by kshaw at 05:52 PM

Pope immunity request won't stop abuse case-lawyer

ROME
Reuters

Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:55 PM ET

By Shasta Darlington
ROME (Reuters) - A U.S. lawyer said on Wednesday he will press ahead with a lawsuit alleging Pope Benedict conspired to cover up the abuse of three boys by a seminary student in Texas, despite the Pontiff's request for diplomatic immunity.

"This diplomatic move has stopped the suit right in its early stages," Daniel Shea, who represents one of three plaintiffs in the unprecedented civil suit, told Reuters.

"But there are various avenues we can go down depending on what the (U.S.) State Department does next," he said, adding that he hoped to take a deposition from the Pope as early as the end of this year.

The Vatican's embassy in Washington filed a request in May for the U.S. government to declare immunity for Pope Benedict as a head of state, according to documents provided by Shea.

Shea called a news conference in Rome on Wednesday to announce that he would pursue the case. On Tuesday, he took part in a demonstration organized by Italy's Radical Party urging President George W. Bush to refuse the Pope's immunity request.

Posted by kshaw at 05:45 PM

Ex-priest is indicted for sex abuse

MENDHAM (NJ)
Observer-Tribune

By MARIA VOGEL-SHORT Staff Writer 08/17/2005

MENDHAM —- The lawyer for an indicted ex-priest said charges against his client of child abuse and endangerment have been “misinterpreted,” while the head of the Daytop drug treatment program where the priest was employed said Monday he is grateful the former cleric was “stopped in his tracks.”

The former priest, the Rev. Richard Mieliwocki, 58, was indicted by a Morris County grand jury in Morristown on Tuesday, Aug. 9, for criminal sexual contact and child endangerment at Daytop Village between March and December of 2004.

The indictment alleges that Mieliwocki abused four male residents of Daytop, age 16 to 18. Daytop is a residential drug rehabilitation program in Mendham.

Mieliwocki was arrested on Dec. 28, 2004, after Daytop director the Rev. Joseph Hennen notified the Morris County Prosecutor’s of alleged improper behavior by Mieliwocki during counseling sessions..

Mieliwocki had been suspended from his priest post almost two years ago by the Archdiocese of Newark after allegations of sexual abuse were made, dating back to 1994, according to a spokesman for the Newark archdiocese.

The state Department of Community Affairs suspended his license as a social worker for alleged improper behavior in 1999 at Clifton Mental

Posted by kshaw at 05:39 PM

Seeking justice, closure

LINCOLN CITY (OR)
The News Guard

Published: August 16, 2005

By JOE HAPP
The News Guard

"I'm not trying to bring down the church," said Tidewater resident Peter Carlich. "I'm looking for closure, for justice."

Carlich, 59, is one of 68 men currently making claims of sexual abuse by priests against the Archdiocese of Portland. He is seeking $10.2 million in damages and alleges he was molested as a sophomore at the now-defunct Tillamook Catholic High School by the late Rev. Gerald Dezurick, a local parish priest. The claims are now in crucial settlement talks that are expected to run through the middle of September.

Carlich's lawsuit was merged with the others after the archdiocese declared bankruptcy in July of 2004.

"We're not even litigants any more; we're creditors," he said, with a note of bitterness creeping into his voice.

Carlich said he decided to sue the archdiocese after sex abuse charges against priests in the Boston Archdiocese surfaced a few years ago. Unlike many men he knows who have similar histories, he said he has no trouble being open about it.

Posted by kshaw at 03:16 PM

Father Sewar back in court

ROCHESTER (NY)
NBC 10

8/17/05

A Rochester priest charged with sexual abuse involving a child returned to court Wednesday. Father Dennis Sewar and his attorney John Speranza asked a judge to adjourn the case. Speranza also says he needs more time to file motions. Court papers show that the accuser says Father Sewar placed his hand on and near the accuser's genital area. Sewar's accuser says the incidents happened between 1999 and 2001 while Sewar served at the Church of Annunciation in Rochester.

Posted by kshaw at 03:14 PM

Albany Diocese Comes Under Fire

ALBANY (NY)
WTEN

(posted: August 16th, 8:00pm) The Albany Catholic Diocese is defending itself for providing pensions and health benefits to priests removed from ministry because there was evidence they abused children.

Thirteen priests who have been removed from the ministry are being supported by pensions funded by donations from Catholics. The diocese has said retired priests collect $1500 a month in pension benefits. Over the course of a year that means $234,000 out of the diocese's pockets, not including health benefits. A statement released Tuesday does not reveal the total value of pension and benefits for the defrocked priests.

Posted by kshaw at 08:42 AM

Ex-Redemptorist priest is accused of sex abuse

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

A Missouri man sued the St. Louis Archdiocese and a former Redemptorist priest Tuesday, alleging he was sexually abused and given a sexually transmitted disease at a St. Louis church when he was a boy.

Suing as "John Doe," he says in the suit that the Rev. James Thiel sodomized him repeatedly at the St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, 1118 North Grand Boulevard, from 1974 to 1979. The plaintiff, now 42, discovered the disease in high school and was successfully treated, said Susan Carlson, one of his lawyers.

The suit claims the church and the Redemptorists' Denver Province concealed prior abuse accusations against Thiel.

The archdiocese said it was told by the Redemptorists years ago that the Vatican removed Thiel from the order, thus forbidding him from functioning as a priest. The lawyer for the Redemptorists, based in Colorado, could not be reached.

Posted by kshaw at 08:35 AM

Lawsuit names dead priest

GREENSBURG (PA)
Tribune-Review

By David Hunt
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 17, 2005

A priest who died more than a decade ago is at the center of another lawsuit facing the Diocese of Greensburg.

Altoona lawyer Richard M. Serbin filed the 33-page civil action in Westmoreland County court on behalf of an unidentified man referred to as John Doe. A signed affidavit filed with the paperwork indicates the man wants to keep his identity from the public record. Named as defendants in the suit are the diocese and retired Bishop Anthony G. Bosco.

According to the suit, Doe was a parishioner of St. Stanislaus Church in Calumet when he was sexually abused by the Rev. Francis Lesniak. Doe was between 12 and 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and is now 52. Lesniak died in 1991.

In the mid-1960s, the suit states, Doe was invited to stay overnight at the rectory when Lesniak was transferred from St. Stanislaus to St. Anne Church in Rostraver Township. The court document says Doe woke up while Lesniak fondled him. The priest allegedly then forced the boy to fondle him in return, according to the lawsuit.

Posted by kshaw at 08:28 AM

Bamberg chaplain suspended during sexual assault probe

GERMANY
Stars and Stripes

By Steve Liewer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, August 17, 2005

A military chaplain in Bamberg, Germany, has been suspended from his duties while the Army looks into allegations that he forced himself sexually on soldiers, a 1st Infantry Division spokesman said Monday.

Military prosecutors preferred charges last week against Capt. Gregory Arflack, 44, a Roman Catholic priest with the Bamberg-based 279th Base Support Battalion, in connection with incidents that took place March 21, 2004, in Doha, Qatar, and July 29 and 30, 2005, in Bamberg, said Maj. Bill Coppernoll.

The accusations include three counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of indecent acts, two counts of fraternization with enlisted soldiers, two counts of disobeying orders, one count of indecent assault, and one count of conduct unbecoming an officer, according to a 1st ID news release.

Coppernoll said Arflack is accused of fraternizing and other rules violations with three male enlisted Marines last spring in Qatar. The Bamberg incidents in July involved alleged acts of forcible sodomy with three male enlisted soldiers, one of whom reported them to his chain of command.

Posted by kshaw at 08:26 AM

Man sues Greensburg diocese over alleged abuse 40 years ago

GREENSBURG (PA)
Times-Leader

Associated Press

GREENSBURG, Pa. - A man has accused a priest who died more than a decade ago of sexually abusing him, according to a lawsuit filed against a diocese and a retired bishop.

The 52-year-old man, whose name wasn't revealed in the lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County court, accused the late Rev. Francis Lesniak of abusing him in the mid-1960s, when the man was a 12- or 13-year-old boy.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse happened when Lesniak worked at the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg's St. Stanislaus Church in Calmut and the boy was a parishioner.

The boy was invited to stay overnight at the rectory, and Lesniak allegedly fondled him while he slept, the lawsuit said. When the boy woke up he was allegedly forced to fondle Lesniak in return, according to the lawsuit.

Lesniak died in February 1991.

Posted by kshaw at 08:23 AM

Diocese Reaches Settlement In Priest Abuse Claim

PORTLAND (ME)
WMTW

POSTED: 5:44 am EDT August 17, 2005
UPDATED: 6:17 am EDT August 17, 2005

PORTLAND, Maine -- A lawsuit by a Sidney man who claimed he was abused by a priest over a seven-year period starting at age 13 has been settled. Terms of the settlement between Maine's Roman Catholic diocese and Michael Fortin, 34, were not made public, and neither Fortin's lawyers nor the Diocese of Portland would elaborate.

In a brief written statement, Fortin and Bishop Richard Malone said confidentiality was neither required by the diocese nor requested by Fortin. It added, however, that both parties want to put the matter behind them and agreed to let the statement stand without further comment.

The lay Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful in Maine praised the diocese for coming forward to reach a settlement, calling it a welcome change from legal tactics of the past that added to the suffering of innocent victims and abuse survivors.

Posted by kshaw at 08:20 AM

Diocese settles priest abuse claim

PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

By TREVOR MAXWELL, Portland Press Herald Writer

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has settled a lawsuit by a man from Sidney who claimed that church leaders failed to protect him from abuse.

Terms of the settlement, announced Tuesday by the law firm representing Michael Fortin, were not disclosed. While neither side signed a confidentiality agreement, they withheld public comment except for a brief statement.

"Both parties have agreed that it is in their interests to put this matter behind them," said part of the statement from Lipman, Katz & McKee of Augusta. "They have achieved a compromise that will enable them to move forward without the burden of further litigation."

The settlement ends a four-year court saga that reached the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and set a legal precedent.

Posted by kshaw at 08:17 AM

Lawyer asks for church counseling aid after third suicide by sex-abuse claimant

OREGON
The Oregonian

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
One of the 66 clergy sexual-abuse claimants now in mediation with the Archdiocese of Portland shot himself to death, prompting his lawyer to ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to free up money for emergency counseling for the others.

Larry Lynn Craven, a 49-year-old Marion County man who had been identified in court records only as John Doe or L.C., died on July 21, according to the county's vital statistics office. Daniel J. Gatti, his lawyer, said he shot himself.

Craven's case was scheduled for mediation Aug. 29.

"This isn't a case about money," Gatti said. "It's a case about healing."

Craven's suicide is the third among sexual-abuse plaintiffs in recent months. Peter Ryan, 44, of Portland, who received a $1 million settlement for abuse by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond, committed suicide in February. Steven D. Colvin, 43, of Portland, who had accused the Rev. Michael Sprauer of abusing him when he was a teenage inmate of MacLaren School for Boys, killed himself in December.

Gatti's motion asks U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris to allow the archdiocese to pay for counseling for any claimants who are at risk for harming themselves or others.

Posted by kshaw at 08:13 AM

Vatican rules on parish assets

OREGON
The Oregonian

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
In a preliminary decision with overtones for the Catholic Church in Western Oregon, the Vatican has told the Archdiocese of Boston that it had erred in seizing and selling hundreds of millions of dollars in parish assets.

The recent decision, in essence, means that the Vatican considers parish real estate and investments to belong to the parishes, not the archdiocese.

The Vatican's finding echoes the argument used by the Archdiocese of Portland to protect parish property from being sold to pay off millions of dollars in child sexual-abuse claims. The dispute over Western Oregon's parish property is being fought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, where 124 parishes and nearly 400,000 parishioners have found themselves named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit to determine property ownership.

"We have not seen (the) decision from the Vatican," the Portland archdiocese said in a statement, "so we are unable to specifically comment on it. However, as Archbishop (John G.) Vlazny stated on July 6, 2004, 'under canon law, parish assets belong to the parish. I have no authority to seize parish property.'

"This is what we have stated all along in the bankruptcy proceedings."

As a practical matter, it remains to be seen whether the Vatican action has any impact on the Portland proceedings.

Posted by kshaw at 08:10 AM

Bishop grants mercy to disgraced

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, August 16, 2005

ALBANY -- Three years after the clergy sex abuse scandal exploded into the public consciousness, dozens of priests have finally been stripped of their duties by the Vatican in recent months.

Those defrocked, which means they cannot act as a priest or receive financial support from the church, include four clergy in Boston, six from the Rockville Center Diocese downstate and another nine in Philadelphia.

But here in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, none of the 13 surviving priests of the 20 removed from ministry will have his case reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bishop Howard Hubbard contends that laicization is too harsh. His decision means the men will continue to draw pensions and health insurance benefits until they die.

"I believe, after reflection and consultation with the misconduct board and my canonical advisers, that the formal and public removal from ministry is sufficient punishment for the priest and adequate protection for the community," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:05 AM

Bishop defends policy

ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9

Updated: 8/16/2005 10:32 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

Thirteen priests removed from ministry after allegations of sexual abuse are still receiving pension and healthcare -- courtesy of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

The Diocese stands by its decision, and points out that Bishop Howard Hubbard hasn't waivered from his Zero Tolerance policy in clergy abuse cases.

A statement released by the Diocese said "Formal and public removal from ministry is sufficient punishment for the priest and adequate protection for the community."

Critics, including a local attorney who represents dozens of alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, said not enough is being done.

Attorney John Aretakis said, "If these men were in any other industry in the country, and had sex with children, on the job, I'm sure they would not only be terminated, but lose their pensions, their fringes, and any other benefits they accrued."

Posted by kshaw at 08:02 AM

Bishop defends policy

ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9

Updated: 8/16/2005 10:32 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

Thirteen priests removed from ministry after allegations of sexual abuse are still receiving pension and healthcare -- courtesy of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

The Diocese stands by its decision, and points out that Bishop Howard Hubbard hasn't waivered from his Zero Tolerance policy in clergy abuse cases.

A statement released by the Diocese said "Formal and public removal from ministry is sufficient punishment for the priest and adequate protection for the community."

Critics, including a local attorney who represents dozens of alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, said not enough is being done.

Attorney John Aretakis said, "If these men were in any other industry in the country, and had sex with children, on the job, I'm sure they would not only be terminated, but lose their pensions, their fringes, and any other benefits they accrued."

Posted by kshaw at 08:01 AM

Retired bishop faces allegation

IOWA
Quad-City Times

By Barb Ickes

A long-time Catholic priest who served for more than 15 years in the Quad-City area before being named bishop of the Sioux City Diocese is being sued for the second time in three months under sexual abuse allegations.

The Catholic Diocese of Davenport and a Catholic high school in Iowa City also are named in a seven-count lawsuit filed this week in the Iowa District Court for Scott County by Dennis Allen, identified only as a resident of Iowa.

In the lawsuit, Allen claims he was the victim of the Rev. Lawrence D. Soens, who used his principal's office at Iowa City Regina High School to sexually abuse male students.

A Florida man filed a similarly worded lawsuit in June, alleging sexual abuse by Soens and naming the Davenport Diocese and Regina High as co-defendants.

Posted by kshaw at 07:58 AM

Davenport bishop sued for sexual abuse of boys

IOWA
Quad-Cities Online

The former bishop of the Sioux City Diocese was accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually abusing boys while holding several Catholic offices, some in Davenport.

Retired Bishop Lawrence D. Soens has been accused of "harmful, illegal, immoral and sadistic sexual contacts with numerous minor aged boys attending Iowa City Regina High School," according to the seven-count lawsuit filed Monday in Scott County District Court.

Attorneys Craig Levien of Davenport and Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn., filed the lawsuit against Bishop Soens, Iowa City Regina High School and the Diocese of Davenport on behalf of their client, Dennis Allen of Johnson County, Iowa. The two attorneys have filed other sexual abuse lawsuits against the Diocese.

The lawsuit alleges the abuse began in 1966, when Bishop Soens was principal at Regina High, a Roman Catholic high school under the direct supervision of the Davenport Diocese.

According to the lawsuit, Bishop Soens engaged in "repeated harmful and illegal sexual contact" with Mr. Allen while fondling him in the principal's office as reprimand for Mr. Allen's alleged misconduct.

Posted by kshaw at 07:56 AM

Another lawsuit accuses former Sioux City bishop of sexual abuse

IOWA CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- A former student at a Roman Catholic high school in Iowa City filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the former principal, who later became bishop at the Sioux City diocese, of sexual abuse.

The lawsuit marks the second time this year that former Bishop Lawrence Soens has been accused of molesting students during his tenure as principal at Regina High School in Iowa City.

The lawsuit also names the high school and the Davenport Diocese. The diocese oversees the school and last fall paid $9 million to settle 37 lawsuits that accused several of its priests of molesting children at parishes across eastern Iowa in the last 50 years.

Soens is accused of ordering the student, who at the time was under 18, to report to a private meeting at the principal's office, where the improper sexual conduct occurred.

The lawsuit claims Soens arranged the meeting because he was investigating an incident of student misconduct, a similar claim made in the first lawsuit naming Soens.

Posted by kshaw at 07:54 AM

A roundup of news from across Iowa.

IOWA
Des Moines Register

A Johnson County man has filed a lawsuit against retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens, Iowa City Regina High School and the Davenport Diocese, alleging that Soens subjected him and other male students to repeated sadistic sexual acts.

Dennis Allen alleges that the abuse began in 1968, when Soens was principal of the Catholic high school.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Scott County District Court, Soens called Allen to his office using the false pretext of discipline and abused the boy while berating him for nonexistent misconduct.

Soens' lawyer, Timothy Bottaro, declined to comment Tuesday.

Posted by kshaw at 07:53 AM

Four more say they were abused by priests

ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News

By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 17th, 2005
Last Modified: August 17th, 2005 at 04:45 AM

Three more men and a woman say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests in Western Alaska, joining a lawsuit filed in December in Bethel that accuses the Revs. Francis X. Nawn and Segundo Llorente of abuse.

Both men spent years as priests in rural Alaska and are deceased. Llorente also served a term in the Alaska Legislature.

The plaintiffs aren't named. The new ones, added Tuesday, are called only Jack Doe 7, 8 and 9, and Jackie Doe 1.

One man remembered attending Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Scammon Bay in 1971 and 1972 when he was age 5 to 7. Nawn sexually abused him when he was a first-grader and then gave him hard candy as a treat, the suit filed by Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:50 AM

More victims added to priest abuse lawsuit

ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

A lawyer has filed four more civil sexual abuse lawsuits against two now-deceased Catholic priests who served in Western Alaska, bringing the total to 10 complaints.

One plaintiff, a man, filed an abuse claim against the Rev. Segundo Llorente, while two men and a woman filed claims accusing the Rev. Francis Nawn of molestation. Llorente and Nawn were both Jesuit priests.

The latest legal paperwork, filed Tuesday in Bethel Superior Court, pushes the total number of complaints to more than 85 that have been filed in little more than two years against Catholic clergy and affiliated staff by Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa.

Two of the men and a woman accuse Nawn of molesting them as children during the 1960s and '70s in Sheldon Point, now known as Nunam Iqua, or in Scammon Bay.

The amended complaint now lists 10 plaintiffs--Jack Doe 1-9 and Jackie Doe 1--two with allegations against Llorente and nine against Nawn.

Posted by kshaw at 07:47 AM

August 16, 2005

Pope Lawyer Seek Immunity in Texas Case

VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY -- Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.

The Vatican's embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20 requesting the U.S. government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope's lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas in Houston.

Joseph Ratzinger is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. Now Benedict XVI, he's accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse during the mid-1990s. The suit is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Gerry Keener, said Tuesday that the pope already is considered a head of state and automatically has diplomatic immunity. Keener said Benedict doesn't have to ask for immunity and Bush doesn't have to grant it.

International legal experts said Tuesday it would be "virtually impossible" for the case to succeed because the pope, as a head of state, had diplomatic immunity. "There's really no question at all, not the vaguest legal doubt, that he's immune from the suit, period," said Paolo Carozza, an international law specialist at the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Nevertheless, lawyers for abuse victims say the case is significant because previous recent attempts to implicate the Vatican, the pope or other high-ranking church officials in U.S. sex abuse proceedings have failed -- primarily because of immunity claims and the difficulty serving top Vatican officials with U.S. lawsuits.

"It has gone further than any suit before, and it should be instructive to the church that if evidence of their continued handling of these matters keeps coming to light and is inconsistent with fair play, that lawyers are going to pursue it," said Stephen Rubino, a New Jersey lawyer who is not involved but has handled hundreds of other cases of church sex abuse.

Posted by kshaw at 06:41 PM

Abuse charge in Teresa home

INDIA
The Telegraph

OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Aug. 16: At a Gurgaon orphanage founded by Mother Teresa, children are tortured by monks and sexually abused by older inmates, the Vatican has been told.

Italian neurologist Dr Franco, who worked as a volunteer at the home, has attached photographs that show the alleged abuse with his letter to the Pope’s office and the Apostolic Nunciature in New Delhi, the Vatican’s embassy.

The orphanage, Deepashram, is managed by the Missionaries of Charity’s male wing, Brothers Contemplative. It is home to over 75 mentally challenged orphans of various ages from across India.

“Teenage inmates of the ashram are put into hardship by the friars (and) the elder (children) in the ashram are also involved in sexual activities with (younger) children, who are helpless in retaliating,” Dr Franco’s complaint says.

“This fact was known to Father Damien, the in-charge of the ashram.”

Posted by kshaw at 06:32 PM

Ellicott Creek exposure: Waclawek pleaded guilty

NEW YORK
Tonawanda News

Mark Lindsay
Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Calling his actions “a terrible mistake,” Newfane Middle School Principal Frank Waclawek Jr. elected for a quick end to criminal charges stemming from an undercover sting in Ellicott Creek Park. He also chose to end his 10-year reign as principal.

Waclawek pleaded guilty Monday morning in Tonawanda Town Court to reduced charges of second-degree harassment and exposure, both violations, and, through his attorney, announced that he would be resigning his administrative position with the district.

Waclawek, 46, 5216 Randolph St., Sanborn, was arrested and charged July 26 by Town of Tonawanda Police with third-degree sexual abuse and public lewdness after police said he exposed himself to an undercover police officer and then grabbed him in the groin area while the two were in a bathroom at the park.

Waclawek was a eucharistic minister, sat on the parish council and served as an elector for St. Christopher’s Roman Catholic Church in Tonawanda.

Posted by kshaw at 06:27 PM

Another lawsuit accuses former Sioux City bishop of sexual abuse

IOWA CITY (IA)
KWQC

IOWA CITY, Iowa A former student at a Roman Catholic high school in Iowa City filed a lawsuit today (Tuesday) accusing the former principal of sexual abuse.

The lawsuit marks the second time this year that Lawrence Soens has been accused of molesting students during his tenure as principal at Regina High School in Iowa City.

The lawsuit also names the high school and the Davenport Diocese.

The diocese oversees the school and last fall paid nine-(m)-million-dollars to settle 37 lawsuits that accused several of its priests of molesting children at parishes across eastern Iowa in the last 50 years.

The lawsuit was filed in Scott County District Court. It accuses the diocese and church officials of failing to take proper disciplinary action against Soens and engaging in a pattern of covering up the improper conduct of priests.

Posted by kshaw at 06:24 PM

I-Team: Diocese Requests Background Checks On Employees

PROVIDENCE (RI)
NBC 10

POSTED: 6:16 pm EDT August 16, 2005
UPDATED: 6:39 pm EDT August 16, 2005

The NBC 10 I-Team has learned that criminal background checks have been requested for more than 10,000 employees of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, including priests.

In addition, the I-Team has uncovered a new allegation of sex abuse of a minor by a Catholic priest.

Following the most recent Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas in June, sweeping changes were made for checking the criminal backgrounds of priests.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence is the second-largest private employer in the state, with more than 10,000 workers, including priests and deacons. For the first time, men of the cloth will be checked for previous crimes.

"Article 13 of the charter expanded that also to include priests and bishops and deacons," Providence Diocese Monsignor John Darcy said.

Darcy said following the sex abuse scandals of the past -- especially in Boston and Providence -- the criminal background checks will go a long way to restore the faith of the doubting faithful in their priests and deacons.

Posted by kshaw at 06:09 PM

Hubbard decides not to defrock abusive priests

ALBANY (NY)
WNYT

ALBANY, Aug. 16
By ABIGAIL BLECK

A group that calls itself the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests ( SNAP) is demanding the Vatican -- not the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany -- determine the future of local priests accused of sexual misconduct.

Eighteen priests have been removed from ministry in the Capital Region. They aren't allowed to be active in the Church but will receive pensions and health insurance benefits until they die.

That's not the case in other parts of the country.

The laicization process utilized by other dioceses completely secularizes a priest found guilty of abuse, taking away all ecclesiastic control and benefits. In other words he would no longer be a priest.

The Albany Diocese calls its discipline measure one step below laicization. It removes offending priests from Church service requiring them to live a withdrawn life of penance and, says Bishop Howard Hubbard, is "adequate protection for the community."

Posted by kshaw at 06:03 PM

Diocese reaches settlement in priest abuse claim

PORTLAND (ME)
Boston.com

August 16, 2005

PORTLAND, Maine --Maine's Roman Catholic diocese has agreed to settle a lawsuit by a Sidney man who claimed he was abused by a priest during a seven-year period beginning at age 13, the two sides announced Tuesday.

The terms of the settlement with Michael Fortin, 34, were not made public and neither Fortin's lawyers nor a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portland would elaborate.

In a brief written statement, Fortin and Bishop Richard Malone said confidentiality was neither required by the diocese nor requested by Fortin.

However, it added, "... both parties have agreed that it is in their interests to put this matter behind them, and both sides, therefore, have agreed to let this statement stand without further elaboration as their only public comment on this matter."

The Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful praised the diocese for coming forward to reach a settlement, calling it a welcome change from legal tactics of the past that added to the suffering of innocent victims and abuse survivors.

Posted by kshaw at 06:01 PM

Former priest jailed for child pornography offences

AUSTRALIA
The Age

By Stephen Moynihan
Magistrates Court Reporter
August 17, 2005

A former Anglican parish priest was yesterday sentenced to at least seven months in jail after he pleaded guilty to child pornography offences.

John Martin Crump, 59, of Mount Waverley, appeared in Ringwood Magistrates Court to face two charges of producing child porn and one of possessing child porn.

Crump was the vicar of St Philip's Anglican church in Mount Waverley when he was arrested and charged by police last September during the nationwide Operation Auxin, targeting child porn producers and users.

After his arrest Crump made full admissions, resigned from the church and is now working as a truck driver.

Posted by kshaw at 11:17 AM

Racketeering claim dismissed against priest and diocese

UTICA (NY)
Newsday

August 15, 2005, 6:06 PM EDT

UTICA, N.Y. -- A federal judge has dismissed racketeering claims against an upstate priest, Bishop Howard Hubbard and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany by a man who claims the priest sexually abused him.

U.S. District Judge David Hurd ruled Monday that Steven Hall failed to prove a pattern of extended racketeering activity that caused him injury. The suit also named a state trooper, two attorneys and the priest's secretary.

Hall, who described himself as a former homeless drug addict, had accused the Rev. David Tressic of molesting him several times over four years when he worked as a church custodian.

Tressic, who has denied the allegations, served at Sacred Heart Church in Gloversville, 40 miles northwest of Albany. The priest, then 60, took a leave of absence in August 2003 after the allegations were made public.

Hall was indicted on an extortion charge two months later. Fulton County Court Judge Polly Hoye threw out the felony count, saying no money was extorted. She also wrote that the evidence was not overwhelming.

Posted by kshaw at 11:15 AM

Pastor gets 15 years for rape

SOUTH AFRICA
Sunday Times

Tuesday August 16, 2005 06:01 - (SA)

A pastor from the Revival of Faith congregation in Hammanskraal has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for raping a member of his flock three times in one night.

The 21-year-old woman claimed her pastor promised her a Bible if she kept quiet about the incident which happened in 2002 at his Hammanskraal home.

The 28-year-old pastor, Elias Manamela, admitted to having sex with the woman but he said she gave consent.

The woman earlier testified that she was visiting Manamela and she was in his bedroom, when he pulled her onto the bed and raped her. She insisted that she did not give consent, although she did not shout for help. She said she trusted her pastor and told him she was tired and that she wanted to go home.

Posted by kshaw at 07:08 AM

ST. PAT EXTORT TWIST

NEW YORK
New York Post

August 16, 2005 -- EXCLUSIVE

Lawyers for the reputed randy rector of St. Patrick Cathedral's and his sexpot assistant were set to meet with Manhattan prosecutors to file a criminal extortion complaint against her jealous hubby over his alleged threat to disclose a video of the pair at a Hamptons motel, sources said yesterday.

But the pair's proposed preemptive strike to go to the Manhattan DA was ditched after their lawyers learned that the husband had shown reporters the video.

The complaint — by Monsignor Eugene Clark and his aide, Laura DeFilippo — would have detailed how Laura's husband, Philip, allegedly threatened to release the video if his wife didn't cave in to his financial demands as part of a divorce settlement.

Philip DeFilippo, 46, wanted the family house, full custody of their two children, alimony and other monetary considerations, the sources said.

Philip DeFilippo first issued his threat soon after a private eye working for him shot a video of Laura, 46, and her 79-year-old boss, Clark, entering the cozy Amagansett motel on July 21, several sources said. The pair also was filmed leaving almost six hours later wearing different clothes.

After Laura rebuffed his threat, Philip allegedly contacted Clark and threatened to tell his boss, New York Archdiocese chief Edward Cardinal Egan, and the media about the video if he did not pressure Laura to meet his demands, the sources said. Clark also refused to bow to the threat.

Posted by kshaw at 07:01 AM

Priest jailed for rape

SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

Zelda Venter

August 16 2005 at 09:28AM

Clutching his Bible in cuffed hands, a Hammanskraal priest on Monday walked down to the holding cells at the Pretoria High Court to start serving his 15-year jail term for raping a member of his flock three times in one night.

But there may be hope for the 28-year-old Elias Manamela after Judge NK Ranchod gave him leave to appeal against his triple rape conviction. It emerged during the trial that the night in question was not the first time in which the 21-year-old victim and her pastor had sex. The victim, however, persisted that she did not give Manamela permission to have sex with her in 2002.

She also said he offered her a Bible to keep quiet.

Manamela, a priest at the Revival of Faith Congregation in Hammanskraal, said the sex took place with her consent. He had even walked her home later that night to ensure her safety. But a victim impact report stated that she was traumatised.

Posted by kshaw at 06:56 AM

Details of clergy abuse case revealed

UNITED STATES
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
August 16, 2005

The following are reprints of two recent articles from a publication titled Concerned Catholics Courier. They were written by Diane Levero, who can be reached at CatholicCourier@aol.com.

Posted by kshaw at 06:41 AM

August 15, 2005

Egan skips Mass

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By NICOLE BODE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Edward Cardinal Egan skipped Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday, staying out of the public eye amid the resignation of scandal-scarred rector Eugene Clark.

Egan "did not celebrate a public Mass. He celebrated privately," his spokesman Joseph Zwilling said yesterday, adding, "He is in New York."

New York's top Catholic cleric has remained mum about Msgr. Eugene Clark, 79, who stepped down as St. Patrick's rector on Friday following allegations he had an affair with his secretary, Laura DeFilippo, 46.

Clark has denied the affair despite being caught on tape last month ducking into a Hamptons motel with the married mother of two. The duo emerged hours later wearing different outfits. Through her lawyer, DeFilippo also has denied any hanky-panky.

By yesterday's Mass, Clark's name had been stripped from the church's welcome signs. Egan has not given any public indication of whom he would appoint to take Clark's place.

Posted by kshaw at 07:14 AM

Priests fall from grace if their pride gets too big

NEW YORK
Newsday

Sheryl McCarthy

Aug 15, 2005

Once again the mighty have fallen with a big ugly splat. If there ever was a case of poetic justice in the tumbling to Earth of a powerful guy, it was in the crash of Msgr. Eugene Clark, the rector of New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral and Cardinal Edward Egan's right-hand man.

Clark's career imploded in an extramarital sex scandal after a wily husband caught him on tape, having an alleged sexual tryst with the man's wife. In pictures plastered all over the news, the portly, 79-year-old priest was seen entering and leaving a motel in the Hamptons with his much younger secretary, giving further credence to the saying that there's no dog like an old dog.

And there was the irony of it all. Clark was a grandstanding, judgmental, self-righteous man who blamed the recent sex scandal of the Catholic Church not on its own arrogance, self-servingness and immorality, but on homosexuals, a sex-saturated culture and liberals who campaign against celibacy. Yet here he was preaching one thing and apparently doing another. When the Bullies of Morality are brought down by their own vices, they deserve whatever public flogging they get.

Clark's outing as a hypocrite is a continuation of the Catholic Church's priest sex scandals. Pedophiles were allowed to prey on the innocents of the church because of a culture of priestly infallibility, institutional arrogance and contempt for ordinary believers. But these were mostly ordinary parish priests - sad sacks like Revs. John Geoghan and James Porter. Msgr. Clark isn't accused of molesting children, but belongs to a long line of priests who've had illicit sexual affairs with women. And he's a really big fish, who ran the most prestigious Catholic cathedral in the country.

Posted by kshaw at 07:06 AM

Apply, interview, fingerprint

UNITED STATES
Wisconsin State Journal

00:00 am 8/15/05
Gary Fields The Wall Street Journal

The green light on the fingerprint scanner glows, indicating it's time to place Kelli Mattingly's right hand on the glass. The procedure is repeated with her left hand. In less than a minute, her prints are ready to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a criminal- background check.

Mattingly is a would-be volunteer for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which anticipates no problems in taking her on. Rather, the archdiocese, based in Hyattsville, Md., is one of many private employers trying to comply with a patchwork of new state and federal laws requiring background exams with fingerprint checks.

Once a rarity for job applicants, fingerprints are now required in myriad locales for those seeking positions in a host of fields. Applicants for the janitor's job at Bruggenmeyer Memorial Library in Monterey, Calif., must be screened with prints, as must liquor-store owners in Telluride, Colo., and school-bus drivers throughout Illinois. What's more, insurers are requiring some companies to conduct background checks, including fingerprints, of workers.

The laws requiring fingerprints have spawned a cottage industry of electronic fingerprint capturers, companies that gather prints by computer or those that convert the old-style fingerprint cards to electronic images. Once taken, most of the prints are sent to state authorities, which pass them on to the FBI fingerprint center in Clarksburg, Va. Last year, the FBI performed 9 million checks for private employers, up from 3.5 million in 1992. In fact, half of the FBI's fingerprint checks today are employment-related.

Posted by kshaw at 06:59 AM

15-August-2005 - Clergy crowd sexual misconduct seminars

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Site

When she speaks, they listen - Jenni Woodhouse along with Lisa Watts handing out essential advice to Sydney ministry workers on how to keep children safe from the perpetrators of sexual abuse.

As chaplain of the Archbishop's Professional Standards Unit (PSU), Jenni Woodhouse has already spoken to almost all of Sydney's Anglican clergy at meetings across the diocese, including the one held at St James', Croydon yesterday.

The event was one of 13 seminars taking place between May and September alerting clergy and ministry workers to the importance of the Faithfulness in Service code.

The national code, outlining appropriate behaviour for those in pastorial ministry, has been adopted by the Sydney and General Synods.

PSU director Philip Gerber is pleased with the overwhelming response of Sydney's ministry workers to the seminars.

'With three to go, well over 95 per cent of clergy have already attended,'Mr Gerber says.

Posted by kshaw at 06:56 AM

Boston Catholics Learn a Few Lessons

BOSTON (MA)
Washington Post

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 15, 2005; Page A03

BOSTON -- Lessons of 11 months of sanctuary sit-ins: The altar boys' room makes an excellent office. A confessional booth can be turned into a spacious linen closet. It is not comfortable to sleep on a pew.

And now, an especially surprising lesson. The leaders of the Archdiocese of Boston -- which once dominated the moral and political life of this heavily Catholic city -- will reverse themselves, if you are willing to sit still long enough to make them.

Since last spring, three churches slated for closing and occupied by protesting parishioners have won reprieves. Another was spared by the archdiocesan leadership after its members threatened to hire a married priest. ...

It was not the best timing. The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, O'Malley's cabinet secretary for social services, said that the church had eroded trust among Catholics during the sex abuse scandal -- and then asked them to trust that it was doing the right thing by closing churches.

"Closing a military base is a piece of cake compared to closing a parish," Hehir said. "Nobody gets buried in a military base."

Maria DelVecchio has slept among the statues in Boston's Our Lady of Mount Carmel church to keep the vigil going and the parish open. (Photos By David A. Fahrenthold -- The Washington Post)
O'Malley had not been archbishop at the height of the scandal. He replaced the imperious Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who resigned during the backlash from many parishioners, and O'Malley quickly won praise from victims' advocates for his responsiveness. Still, the laity had a different view of the hierarchy after the scandal, and when O'Malley announced the parish closings, there was a new willingness from people in the pews to push back.

Posted by kshaw at 06:54 AM

Levada Supporters, Opponents at Dinner

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KRON

Posted August 14, 2005 at 10:10 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- While 2,300 Catholic and other civic leaders took part in a weekend dinner to honor San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, a small group of protesters rallied outside the San Francisco Marriott.

Levada is leaving San Francisco to become the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. That's one of the highest ranking Vatican jobs. His predecessor in the position is now the Pope.

The protesters say they believe the Archbishop is hiding information about priest sexual abuse cases. Levada told reporters he believes the Church is handling the situation appropriately.

"By and large the people in our parishes," Levada said, "the priests tell me they think that the steps the Bishops of this country have taken have done a great job and are meeting the crisis. We're doing a great educational outreach program trying to prevent abuse by clergy or anyone else."

Posted by kshaw at 06:44 AM

Abuse suit deadline today

MISSISSIPPI
The Clarion-Ledger

By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com

Mississippi may soon hold its first civil trial against the Catholic Church in connection with alleged sexual abuse by priests, an attorney for plaintiffs says.

Two Hinds County Circuit judges, in separate cases, have set deadlines for the Diocese of Jackson to exchange evidence with the plaintiffs' attorneys.

"Once we get the documents, we will then take depositions and then, hopefully a trial date will be set," said attorney John Hawkins, whose firm represents plaintiffs in both lawsuits.
One deadline is today and the other is Sept. 1.

"The Catholic Diocese of Jackson is fully complying with all trial court and Supreme Court orders concerning discovery of documents and information in the Morrison lawsuit as well as other pending lawsuits," the diocese said in a statement.

Posted by kshaw at 06:42 AM

Conscience clear, Levada heads to Rome

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, August 15, 2005

Archbishop William Levada said he will leave San Francisco for the Vatican with a clear conscience.

He believes that he was able to restore order and direction to an archdiocese that was reeling from church closures and clergy misbehavior. He defended his handling of sexual abuse cases and is proud of having reopened some closed parishes and reconfigured others.

"I wasn't filled with dread when I came here but I knew there were problems I would have to address," Levada said. "I knew I was going into a very concentrated center that had some hot-button issues."

He also acknowledged areas where he would have liked to have spent more time, notably visiting with priests and parishioners.

Levada, a fourth-generation Californian named archbishop of San Francisco 10 years ago, will resign on Wednesday to become the highest-ranking American in Vatican history. He will be in charge of resolving questions around faith and morals for the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

Posted by kshaw at 06:40 AM

Religious scandals come in many colors

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

BY BILL TAMMEUS
Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT) - Now and then I want to take some people of faith and slap them around. What in God's name can they be thinking?

This angry thought occurred to me again recently as I read an account of what one writer called "a gaudy explosion of scandal" that has rocked the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens and Jerusalem in the last year or so. As an Athens newspaper said in an editorial, "The Greek public can only watch dumbfounded as the country's bishops humiliate themselves on television, tossing barbs at each other and trading accusations of forgery, blackmail, dissolute living, even drug trafficking."

If that's reality TV in Greece, it sounds more interesting than what America has.

One bishop in Greece has been charged with embezzling about $376,000 from a monastery. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the peers of the Greek Orthodox patriarch there have voted him out of office for unauthorized real estate dealings, but he has refused to leave. The church's synod were to meet in Jerusalem on Monday to elect a new patriarch. What a holy mess.

The Greeks, of course, are not alone in producing religious scandal. The Catholic church in America continues to struggle to find its sea legs after the disgusting scandal over priests sexually abusing children and the further outrage of some bishops covering that up at the expense of the victims.

It was a breathtaking example of a faith community's leaders losing their way and intentionally wounding the very people they were sworn to protect.

Posted by kshaw at 06:36 AM

August 14, 2005

POPE BENEDICT XVI INDICTED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE VATICAN COVER UP OF THE CLERICS WHO COMMITTED SEXUAL ABUSES IN PARTICULAR AGAINST MINORS

ROME
Vaticano/Anticlericale.net

Rome, August 14, 2005 – The scandal exploded only during the 2003 summer when the US daily Worcester Telegram & Gazette obtained a copy of a document that for 40 years had been kept as “strictly confidential” in the secret archives of the Holy See that describes the story of a lawyer from Boston, Carmen Durso, who filed a complain with the Prosecutor Michel J. Sullivan containing a copy of the 1962 Instruction “Crimen Sollicitationis” and asking to verify if, within the federal jurisdiction, would have been possible to prosecute the Vatican hierarchies that he claimed were guilty of deliberately covering from the US authorities the sexual abuses committed by members of the clergy.

At the same time, another letter signed by Daniel Shea, a lawyer and former seminarist who discovered the 1962 document and gave a copy of it to the Boston daily and to Mr. Durso, reached the desk of the Prosecutor. The document, said Shea in the letter, is quoted as still applicable in a note of the epistle "De Delictis Gravioribus" of 18 May 2001 that the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger, delivered to the bishops and other ordained and members of the ecclesiastic hierarchy.

This episode was brought to the attention of the international public opinion by the US Television CBSand the Vatican hierarchies replied by stating that the norms contained in the 1962 document could not be anymore considered as binding after the entry into force of the 1983 reform of the Codice di Diritto Canonico, despite the fact that the Ratzinger letter did not support this; in fact, the current Pope Benedict XVI in such letter not only recalled the instruction “Crimen Sollicitationis”, but concerning the “crimes under the jurisdiction of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” states that “In the Tribunals set up upon the ordained or the members of the Catholic hierarchies only priests can validly carry out the function of judge, justice promoter, notary and counsel for the defence” and it restates that “the trials of this kind are the subject of papal secret”.

Over the last two years the US judiciary has continued the investigations and since January 2005, a prosecution against Joseph Ratzinger is taking place at the District Court of Harris County (Texas).

Posted by kshaw at 08:11 PM

Scandal lingers over St. Pats mass

NEW YORK
New York Newsday

BY JOSHUA ROBIN
STAFF WRITER

August 15, 2005

Rev. Msgr. Eugene Clark's name was absent from the welcome placards at St. Patrick's Cathedral and was not mentioned in the Sunday homily.

Still, the specter of the scandal-sullied priest hung over Sunday's mass -- the first since Clark resigned last week as the cathedral's rector amid charges he was having an affair with his secretary.

Three gay-rights protesters stood outside the church's doors, demanding Clark apologize for his previous statements attacking homosexuality, including suggesting it was behind the recent priest abuse scandal.

And many Catholic congregants attending services said that Clark's relationship -- which he maintains was entirely platonic -- was nonetheless a sign that significant changes are needed within the Church, including allowing greater roles for women, married men and openly gay people.

The church can no longer expect all its leaders to remain celibate, they said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:17 PM

Pope defrocks priest accused of assault

CONCORD (NH)
Concord Monitor

By LISA ARSENAULT
Monitor staff

August 13. 2005 8:00AM

Father Paul Aube, a New Hampshire priest repeatedly accused of sexual abuse dating back to the early 1970s, has been defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI.

Aube, 64, is only the second New Hampshire priest to be defrocked since the clergy sexual abuse scandal was uncovered in early 2002. The decision by the Pope is the highest form of punishment for priests, completely removing Aube from the priesthood and stripping him of both his right to minister to people and any financial support from the church.

The Archdiocese of Manchester announced Aube's defrocking yesterday, nearly three months after the Pope made the decision on May 20.

"By virtue of this decree, Paul Aube is no longer bound to the obligations of the sacred priesthood, has no faculties to act as a priest, and has been returned to the lay state," according to a two-sentence press release put out yesterday by the Archdiocese of Manchester.

The Archdiocese declined to comment further. Aube does not have a listed telephone number and could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Posted by kshaw at 03:14 PM

HUSBAND'S NO SAINT, EITHER

NEW YORK
New York Post

By SUSAN EDELMAN, HEATHER GILMORE and BRAD HAMILTON

August 14, 2005 -- The man accusing his wife of having a torrid affair with St. Patrick's Cathedral rector Eugene Clark has fibbed about his work history, quit a job as a cop after three days, sued NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, and gotten hauled into court on charges he swiped a toaster.

And when Philip DeFilippo — who showed his face yesterday for the first time since the scandal broke — needed work as a private eye, he turned to the high-profile priest he now claims bedded his wife.

DeFilippo used Clark in a NYPD gun-permit application when he wanted to expand his business, Revelation Investigations, into New York City. The monsignor vouched for DeFilippo, his secretary's husband, saying in a letter that he had hired him in his parishes.

But the NYPD didn't buy it, saying there "wasn't sufficient need" for a gun-toting investigator in the church.

DeFilippo, 46, also told the NYPD, "I am a former Connecticut police officer."

The Post learned he was employed as a cop in Norwalk, Conn., for just three days.

Posted by kshaw at 08:39 AM

The father and the bride

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Here is the exclusive photo from 20 years ago, when Laura DeFilippo was a blushing bride and Msgr. Eugene Clark was presiding over her wedding to Philip DeFilippo - not allegedly trying to break up their marriage. Radiant in white and flushed with love for her handsome beau, DeFilippo looks up in gratitude at Clark, who is uniting them in holy matrimony at Annunciation Church in Yonkers.

It was DeFilippo's second try at matrimony - Clark pulled some strings to get her first unhappy union annulled, sources say. But she looks as eager as any first-time bride, and her future husband beams at the beauty who will take his name and bear their two children.

Posted by kshaw at 08:26 AM

Men (of cloth) will be men But I can't join in the kicking

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Neil Steinberg

A bad week for local adulterers. New York-born four-star Gen. Kevin Byrnes was kicked out of the Army, months before retirement, for an affair with a civilian. Laura DeFilippo, the married secretary of Msgr. Eugene Clark, saw her life go splat all over the front pages. And Clark, who insists he's innocent, is quitting St. Patrick's anyway, to ... ah ... avoid the taint of ... ummm ... a wrongly accused man.

A good week, however, for the media jackal pack. We thrive on this sort of thing. My role, at this point in the scandal, would be to try to find an unbruised spot on the monsignor's reputation so I could deliver a fresh kick - my inclination would be to wonder just how a priest ends up with a $2 million vacation home in Amagansett, L.I., which seemed to have slipped under the outrage radar (ignoring the vow of poverty just doesn't raise eyebrows the way ignoring the vow of chastity does).

But frankly, my heart isn't in it. A complex mechanism, the human heart, and not just because it has all those valves and chambers. Things happen. Mistakes are made.

The strict no-fun clauses of Catholic doctrine - no contraception, no marriage for priests, no foolin' around for everybody else - is normally ignored or mocked in the media. But let a priest stray from holy writ, and suddenly we're the Spanish Inquisition, checking souls and passing judgment. It doesn't make sense.

Posted by kshaw at 08:24 AM

For this actor, 'The Tricky Part' is learning to accept and forgive

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Louise Kennedy, Globe Staff | August 14, 2005

Martin Moran radiates an almost palpable light. He seems filled with joy, with generosity, with what a person from his Catholic schooling can only call grace. And he seems this way even as he is talking about the most torturously complex events of his life: the three years, beginning when he was 12, when he was sexually involved with a Colorado camp counselor named Bob, who was more than twice his age.

In a memoir recently published by Beacon Press and in a play that opens at Shakespeare & Company on Tuesday -- both called ''The Tricky Part" -- Moran talks about the damage this relationship caused, the kind of damage that has received wide attention with the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. But he also explores the ways in which, even as it wounded him, it shaped him into the person he is now.

The play -- like the story, the history, the life itself -- is complex. And in its complexity lies a deep and troubling kind of truth.

''The journey toward trying to figure it out is the complicated journey toward forgiveness," Moran says. Then he offers a definition of forgiveness that he heard somewhere along the path of his own journey: ''Forgiveness is the complete letting go of the hope of having had a different or a better past."

Posted by kshaw at 08:19 AM

Mayor Rings Farewell Tribute To Archbishop Levada

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KTVU

POSTED: 1:03 am PDT August 14, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- Indicating a cable car bell he was offering as a gift, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told outgoing Catholic Archbishop William Levada Saturday night to think of the City by the Bay whenever he hears the bells of St. Peter's in Rome.

The mayor was one of some 2300 admirers gathered for a final tribute dinner in a ballroom of the Marriott Hotel to wish Levada farewell before he leaves to become the highest-ranking American ever at the Vatican. Videotaped messages included tributes from President Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Levada, 69, will leave this month for his new appointment as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the octrine of the Faith, the post held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was elected Pope Benedict XVI. In his role, Levada will help shape Catholic doctrine and play a major part in determining the church's response to claims of sexual abuse by priests.

The sold-out fundraising dinner cost patrons $150 a plate. The proceeds will go to the Alliance of Mission District Catholic Schools.

Protesters held a brief press conference outside to demand Levada reveal the identities of clergy members accused of sexually abusing children.

Levada said before the dinner that most Catholics were pleased with the way the archdiocese has handled sex abuse allegations. "On the whole, I can leave San Francisco with a good conscience," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:16 AM

San Francisco archbishop prepares for Vatican post

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
RedNova

By Leonard Anderson

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Archbishop William Levada bid goodbye to San Francisco on Saturday as he heads for Rome, where he will take over the No. 2 post in the Roman Catholic Church, while victims of sexual abuse by priests called for action against clergy facing abuse lawsuits.

Outside the San Francisco hotel where Levada was to be feted by 2,300 guests at a $150-a-plate dinner, a small group of protesters from SNAP, a U.S. sexual abuse victims group, urged Levada to show that he wants to protect children from abuse.

"We have done our best to reach out" to the victims of abuse, Levada said at news conference before the dinner, praising the work of his diocese staff. "I leave San Francisco with a good conscience."

Posted by kshaw at 08:14 AM

Tax exemptions face challenge

MASSACHUSETTS
Republican

Sunday, August 14, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
Local assessors may join counterparts from the eastern part of the state in levying taxes on unused Catholic Church-owned properties, saying they no longer qualify for tax-exempt status because they aren't being used for worship or religious instruction.

The move represents just one of two financial challenges the church faces. The Legislature on Wednesday began considering a bill that would remove existing religious exemptions in the state laws governing charities and require all churches to file annual financial reports and a list of real estate holdings as about 300,000 other charities are required to do.

John M. Bowen of Longmeadow, who heads the East Longmeadow affiliate of the Voice of the Faithful, testified before the Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the Catholic Church needs state oversight because it continues to operate in secrecy despite its claims of transparency.

Posted by kshaw at 08:12 AM

Toledo film needs a Toledo showing

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

Article published Sunday, August 14, 2005

Russ Lemmon

Five super-size Lemmon Drops:

It's an Oscar-nominated documentary set in Toledo, yet no local theater will show it.

If I hadn't seen the story unfold with my own eyes (via reports in the local media), I wouldn't believe it.

People in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Tucson, and Portland, Ore., have had the opportunity to see it. And before the end of the month, so will those in Seattle, St. Louis, and Indianapolis.

Amazingly, Twist of Faith can't get a public screening in northwest Ohio.

Could we be any more small-minded?

Twist of Faith chronicles the life of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes around the time he went public with allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest, Dennis Gray. It has drawn rave reviews from film critics across the country.

If the Maumee Indoor Theater refuses to show it, then it behooves the Toledo Catholic diocese to do so.

The diocese should follow the lead of the Rev. Chris Carpenter, who showed Twist of Faith inside Christ the King Catholic Church in Mesa, Ariz. It was one of seven works he recruited for the first Catholic Film Festival, held May 20-21 in the Phoenix suburb.

Posted by kshaw at 08:07 AM

August 13, 2005

Challenge stalls diocese dispute

FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram

By Ellena F. Morrison
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH _ An effort to unseal records of Fort Worth Diocese priests accused of sexual misconduct stalled Friday after an attorney for one of the priests challenged the request.

The Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News filed a court motion this spring seeking the names of eight priests and related documents that had been sealed by a judge as part of a lawsuit against the Fort Worth Diocese.

The files of one of the priests, the Rev. Thomas Teczar, have already been made public as part of the sexual abuse lawsuit, which the diocese settled for $4.15 million.

State District Judge Len Wade heard arguments from both sides Friday, but delayed making a decision until H. Allen Pennington Jr. of Fort Worth, attorney for the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen, can present evidence. A date for that hearing has not yet been set.

Tu, a Dominican order priest in Houston, is the only one of the eight priests who is still in active ministry. ``All 16 pages constitute medical, personnel and employment records that anyone would assume were private,'' Pennington told the judge Friday in arguing that Tu's files should remain sealed.

Posted by kshaw at 06:09 PM

Truth and Polygraphs, Yes! Confidentiality Agreements, NO!

NEW YORK
The Conservative Voice

By Michael J. Gaynor
August 13, 2005 03:25 PM EST

Section 2489 of The Cathecism of the Catholic Church, pertaining to respect for the truth, states:

"Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not to be known or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it."

BUT, one IS bound to reveal the truth to someone who DOES have the right to know it.

For example, when a cleric has sexually abused a child, or had an illicit relationship with a subordinate or a parishioner, or an employee of a Church institution or agency has sexually abused a child or sexually harassed a co-employee, there ARE people who DO have a need and a right to know, particularly those in a "zone of danger" and prospective employers.

What the Church needs to do is to ascertain the truth in much the same way as a court does, without prejudgment and with respect for safeguardd, such as the right to confront an accuser, and then reveal it appropriately rather than to disregard it as long as possible and then quietly accept and/or force resignations and agree to cover up as fully as possibly.

Monsigneur Eugene Clark, 79, and suddenly suspected of an illicit relationship with his attactive and much younger secretary, a married woman and mother of a 14-year old daughter, issued the following statement through his attorney:

"It appears to me that events and circumstances have been portrayed in such a false and sensational manner that I will no longer be able to effectively serve the archdiocese."

"Consequently, I have submitted my resignation [as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral]. I thank all the many people who continue to offer me their prayers and consoling messages."

Posted by kshaw at 04:32 PM

Pope defrocks abusive priest

DOVER (NH)
Foster's Daily Democrat

By BRUNO MATARAZZO Jr.
Democrat Staff Writer
bmatarazzo@fosters.com

DOVER — The Roman Catholic Church has defrocked Rev. Paul Aube, the former priest with ties to Rochester who nearly 30 years ago was caught by Nashua police while engaging in a sex act with a teenage boy in a car.

The Manchester Diocese announced in a two-sentence press release on Friday that Pope Benedict XVI dismissed Aube from the priesthood back in May. It's unclear exactly what led the pope to dismiss the former longtime priest. Neither Bishop John McCormack nor other diocese representatives could be reached for comment.

The move brings an end to the career of a priest who ended up helping the state Attorney General's Office in its investigation into the diocese's mishandling of clerical sex abuse cases.

In 2002, Aube made himself available to the Attorney General's Office and was a key witness in exchange for limited immunity from prosecution.

"I'm willing to die for the church," Aube told The Associated Press in 2003, "but I had a moral responsibility, as the church teaches, to cooperate. I had a moral responsibility to participate with the civil authorities and that's what I did."

Posted by kshaw at 07:33 AM

Monsignor & Missus lying low

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By BARBARA ROSS
and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The beauty and the Priest went underground yesterday and tried to ride out the storm over their alleged affair.

Accused adulteress Laura DeFilippo was at her dad's pad in the Bronx. And a day after he resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, her alleged lover, Msgr. Eugene Clark, was lying low in the parish rectory.

"He's not available," the receptionist said.

The Archdiocese of New York drew a veil over the priest and his reputed paramour, who deny any affair even though they were videotaped checking into a Hamptons motel.

Spokesman Joseph Zwilling would not answer how long the 79-year-old priest would be allowed to live at the Madison Ave. rectory. Nor would he elaborate on the church probe of the alleged affair.

"I said yesterday that we're going to get to the bottom of this and I'm not commenting beyond that," Zwilling said.

As for whether DeFilippo, a 46-year-old mother of two, would be allowed to keep her job as Clark's secretary, Zwilling said, "I don't comment on the status of the lay employees in the 413 parishes of the archdiocese."

Posted by kshaw at 07:26 AM

Mass. lawmakers press Church to open books

BOSTON (MA)
RedNova

By Jason Szep

BOSTON (Reuters) - A group of Massachusetts lawmakers are trying to force the Catholic Church to open its financial books, an unprecedented step in a state at the heart of a scandal over pedophile priests.

Under the proposed law, the state's churches would need to disclose the health of their finances, a move resisted by religious leaders who say it contravenes the separation of church and state enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

The proposal, debated this week in the chambers and corridors of Boston, the state capital, follows a sexual abuse crisis that erupted in 2002 when many U.S. bishops were found to have moved priests known to have abused minors to new parishes instead of defrocking them or reporting them to authorities.

Since then, some U.S. dioceses have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits by abuse victims seeking millions of dollars.

The Boston Archdiocese, squeezed by the cost of settlements with nearly 1,000 sex-abuse victims, has shut more than 60 churches to raise money, triggering protests by churchgoers and raising questions over how the Church is using its donations from Sunday Mass and other sources.

"We want to know what they do with the donations, what property they own, and what is their debt?" Marian Walsh, a lawmaker who drafted the proposal, told Reuters on Thursday, a day after presenting it to the state's legislature.

Posted by kshaw at 07:21 AM

Ex-Evangelist Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse of Boy

BARTOW (FL)
The Ledger

By Jason Geary
The Ledger

BARTOW -- A former Wahneta evangelist pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing a 6-year-old Polk County boy in 1996.

With his trial looming Monday, Robert Enersen, 54, accepted a deal with prosecutors.

Enersen pleaded guilty to three counts of lewd molestation in exchange for 18 years in prison and 10 years' sex-offender probation. Enersen also would be declared a sexual predator.

Judge Roger Alcott scheduled sentencing for Aug. 19.

In December, Enersen was arrested in Arizona after the Polk County boy, now 15, told sheriff's detectives about the abuse. The boy told detectives that he was molested multiple times in late 1996.

At that time, Enersen was serving about two months as an evangelist at New Life Assembly of God in Wahneta.

"It just blew us away," said Sonja Farrer, the church's business administrator. "We could not believe that it happened."

Posted by kshaw at 07:10 AM

Molesting NH priest defrocked by Pope

MANCHESTER (NH)
The Union Leader

By MARK HAYWARD
Union Leader Staff

MANCHESTER — Roman Catholic priest Paul L. Aube, who gave special crucifixes to boys he sexually assaulted, has been defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI, church officials announced yesterday.

Aube is the second diocesan priest to lose his collar in light of the priest sex-abuse scandal in New Hampshire. The decision means Aube is no longer bound to the obligations of the priesthood, cannot act as a priest and has been returned to the lay state, the diocese said in a press release.

In 1994, Bishop Leo E. O'Neil permanently removed Aube from ministry, but Aube still kept his status as priest until the Vatican's action, which took place on May 20.

"He was one of the bad ones. He was one of the targets of the Attorney General's investigation," said Peter Hutchins, a Manchester lawyer who sucessfully sued the Manchester diocese on behalf of dozens of clients.

Four of his clients — three males and one female — were abused by Aube, Hutchins said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:06 AM

Priest to get day in court first

EVANSVILLE (IN)
Courier & Press

By PHILIP ELLIOTT and BRYAN CORBIN Courier & Press staff writers 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com
August 13, 2005

The Diocese of Evansville will wait until accusations against a suspended priest are resolved in criminal court before taking any further action.

The Rev. Wilfred "Fred" Englert, 52, of Jasper, Ind., is accused of sexually molesting a 19-year-old mentally disabled man. Englert, the priest at Jasper's St. Joseph Catholic Church, has been suspended with pay by the Diocese of Evansville. It remains unclear what the diocese's next step will be, given new church rules on abuse and the criminal case unfolding in court documents. In the criminal case, Englert faces charges of engaging in sex acts with the mentally-disabled man between April and July. Court documents cite a mental-health expert who evaluated the young man and concluded that because of retardation, the 19-year-old has the academic functioning of a 9-year-old. Prosecutors thus contend the young man could not legally give consent to sex, despite his age.

When questioned by an Indiana State Police investigator, Englert reportedly admitted some of the man's allegations of sexual contact.

Prosecutors in Dubois and Orange counties filed formal charges against Englert on Tuesday. Englert turned himself in Thursday, posted bond and was released.

Posted by kshaw at 07:03 AM

Lawyer: Church knew of danger

MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@herald.com

A 38-year-old Broward County man, who says a Catholic priest raped him when he was a young illegal immigrant, has obtained church records that he claims will bolster his bid for punitive damages against the priest and the Archdiocese of Miami.

''Juan Doe'' sued the Archdiocese and the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio in 2002, claiming the one-time pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater raped him once in 1984.

Garcia-Rubio was defrocked in the late 1990s after allegations that he had raped a young parishioner and sexually abused four Central American refugees.

Last year, the Archdiocese agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle almost two dozen lawsuits against various priests, including Garcia-Rubio. But the Juan Doe case is still being fought in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

In court papers filed Friday, Fort Lauderdale lawyer Russell Adler claims that he has obtained documents that now prove the Archdiocese knew Garcia-Rubio was a danger to young boys many years earlier and did nothing to stop it.

He argued that the evidence, including a letter written 36 years ago, enables his client to seek punitive damages.

Posted by kshaw at 07:00 AM

Former Nashua priest removed

NASHUA (NH)
Nashua Telegraph

By ANDREW WOLFE, Telegraph Staff
wolfea@telegraph-nh.com

Published: Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005

A former pastor at St. Louis de Gonzague Church has become the second New Hampshire priest to be defrocked as a result of his role in the church’s sex abuse scandal.

The Diocese of Manchester’s Office of Canonical Affairs and Tribunal announced the action against the former Rev. Paul Aube on Friday.

“On May 20, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI decreed that Paul Aube was dismissed from the clerical state,” the announcement states. “By virtue of this decree, Paul Aube is no longer bound to the obligations of the sacred priesthood, has no faculties to act as a priest, and has been returned to the lay state.”

The diocese stated that officials would make no comment beyond the written announcement. Aube is not listed in New Hampshire, and could not be reached Friday.

Two months ago, the diocese announced that Pope John Paul II had defrocked Ronald Corriveau on March 21, just 12 days before the pontiff died. Corriveau served seven parishes in 28 years before he was put on leave in 2002, following allegations of sexual abuse.

Posted by kshaw at 06:56 AM

Diocese faces another abuse suit

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Post-Crescent

The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — A man who claims he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest for six years sued the Milwaukee Archdiocese for fraud Thursday.

It was the latest attempt by victims to overturn Wisconsin’s ban on lawsuits against religious groups.

Wisconsin courts have upheld a decade-old ruling that prevents alleged victims from seeking damages. It is the only state with such a law.

Victims’ groups hope evidence obtained in a recent suit in California might persuade a judge to hear the case.

The man, now 44 and identified in court records only as John Doe, claims high-ranking officials in the archdiocese knew that the Rev. Siegfried Widera was sexually abusing children, yet transferred him to cover it up.

Posted by kshaw at 06:46 AM

August 12, 2005

Church Abuse Liens

VERMONT
TheChamplainChannel.com

Friday, August 12, 2005

There’s a problem…but this isn’t the answer.

Priests, sexual abuse, the Catholic Church…those words are lumped together far too often. That's true in Burlington, as well as elsewhere. The diocese has settled some, and is dealing with others.

One attorney---Jerome O'Neill---has ten clients suing the Burlington diocese. And he wants court action before their cases are even heard.

He's asking the court to put liens on church property. His theory: His clients could get so much money the Church wouldn't have the cash to pay up. The property is like insurance....his clients are covered.

We say…stop.

Posted by kshaw at 07:20 PM

Lawyers for Spokane Diocese cheered by Vatican ruling

SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post Intelligencer

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A recent Vatican ruling that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is not automatically entitled to the assets of closed parishes is being closely watched in Spokane, where sex abuse victims are demanding the church sell parishes to pay claims.

Spokane Bishop William Skylstad has argued in court that he does not control individual parishes within the Diocese of Spokane, and cannot sell them to raise money for people who were molested by priests.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams is expected to rule by Sept. 1 on whether the parishes belong to the diocese, but the Vatican decision is encouraging, said Shaun Cross, an attorney for the Spokane Diocese.

"It reaffirms the position of Bishop Skylstad in that he does not own the parishes," Cross said. "He has no unfettered discretion to deal with parish assets."

Posted by kshaw at 07:11 PM

Parishes told to protect rights

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | August 12, 2005

One day after the Archdiocese of Boston acknowledged that it had erred in attempting to take the property of closed parishes, parishioners, pastors, and reform groups attempted to take stock of the implications of the unexpected development for parishes that have already closed and those that might close in the future.

The lay reform organization Voice of the Faithful issued a statement calling on all parishes around the country to appeal any closing decisions to the Vatican, warning that one lesson of the Boston situation is that parishes need to file appeals to protect their rights.

A lawyer representing three parishes that have sued the Archdiocese of Boston over closing decisions said the development bolsters those suits, in which parishioners made the argument that the archdiocese did not have the right to take the assets of their closing churches.

In a positive development for the archdiocese, a pastor contacted by the Globe said he expected to voluntarily turn over the assets of a closing parish -- worth millions of dollars in his case -- to the archdiocese.

Posted by kshaw at 07:07 PM

Rites & wrongs

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Msgr. Eugene Clark, still denying allegations that he has been canoodling with his longtime secretary, Laura DeFilippo, nevertheless did the right thing yesterday and resigned from his post as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Neither will he celebrate Mass nor the sacraments in public, according to the Archdiocese of New York.

This is as it should be; a monsignor is someone around whom there ought not be even a whiff of scandal. But this particular monsignor's conduct - at best, questionable - has invited the heaping of scandal upon his head and that of the church. Scandal and mockery.

That is what happens when a 79-year-old cleric checks into a motel with his much younger, married female employee and spends more than five hours there, with both emerging wearing different clothes than when they went in, and then claims the only reason all this happened was that the lady was a bit sleepy. (Hey, c'mon, anything is possible.)

Posted by kshaw at 07:02 PM

Defiant Msgr. steps down

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By BARBARA ROSS
and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Laura DeFilipo's motel moment with Clark means he may have presided at his last Mass at St. Pat's.

The motel-hopping monsignor accused of having an affair with his married church secretary resigned in disgrace yesterday as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

But Msgr. Eugene Clark didn't admit to an affair with Laura DeFilippo - even after a videotape showed them checking into a Hamptons motel.

"Although Msgr. Clark continues to deny the allegations against him, he offered his resignation for the good of St. Patrick's and the archdiocese," archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said in a statement.

Clark was not defrocked, but Zwilling said the 79-year-old priest would "not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved."

The Eternal Word Television Network also pulled the plug on Clark's weekly "Relationships" television show. During the half-hour broadcast, Clark often lectured about marital fidelity and railed against Hollywood, homosexuals and others he deemed "the enemy of Christian marriage."

Posted by kshaw at 07:00 PM

He's gone, sex debate lingers

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By RICH SCHAPIRO and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

As news of a scandalous resignation circulated about St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday, Msgr. Eugene Clark's presence still loomed large.

Visitors entering the famed cathedral saw that Clark's name still graced two welcome boards in the foyer - a visceral reminder of the latest scandal to rock the Catholic Church.

"Before you cast stones you better be damn sure you're doing the right thing," parishioner Dorothy Clune, 50, of the Bronx, said of the silver-haired Clark, who has railed against the immorality of "liberal America."

But visitors to the landmark church suggested the litany of libido-driven scandals in the Catholic Church would end if priests were given the green light to have sex and marry.

"I think something's going to have to change and until that time I think this nonsense is going to keep happening," said Clune.

Posted by kshaw at 06:51 PM

New Safe Touch program will ‘empower students’

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

by Barbara Watkins, Review Staff Writer

Beginning this fall, local Catholic elementary schools and parish schools of religion will implement Safe Touch, a program to educate their students about child sexual abuse.

The goal is to teach children the difference between safe and unsafe touching and to let children know that if anything happens that makes them feel uneasy, they should tell another adult, said Thomas Lemp, one of the program’s creators.

"It is about children learning that it is their body and they can set the boundaries about how their body is touched and dealt with," Lemp said. "And if there is a problem, let somebody know, and we will make sure it stops."

Lemp and Saundra Barker, both of Catholic Family Services, developed Safe Touch in conjunction with the Archdiocesan Child Safety Committee and the Catholic Education Office.

Posted by kshaw at 05:11 PM

Catholic Church Another scandal

NEW YORK
Morocco Times

Morocco TIMES 8/12/2005 | 5:45 pm

The high-profile Roman Catholic priest, allegedly romanced his married secretary, resigned in disgrace Thursday as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

Philip DeFilippo, the secretary's husband, who filed for divorce, accused Monsignor Eugene Clark of having an affair with his wife, Laura DeFilippo, 46. The priest has denied the allegations.

DeFilippo, in his filings, says he has a videotape provided by a private detective showing the priest and DeFilippo's wife at a Long Island hotel.

"Although Msgr. Clark continues to deny the allegations against him, he offered his resignation for the good of St. Patrick's and the archdiocese," archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said in a statement, reported NY Daily.

Posted by kshaw at 05:09 PM

REV.'S SECRET 'LOVE' SHACK

NEW YORK
New York Post

By SELIM ALGAR, JENNIFER FERMINO and DAN MANGAN

August 11, 2005 -- St. Patrick's Cathedral's top priest and his longtime leggy assistant turned a quaint Hamptons hideaway hotel into their personal love nest — keeping their tryst so hush-hush, they didn't even use their own names in the registry, sources told The Post yesterday.

An employee of the White Sands Resort Hotel, a secluded oceanfront inn nestled in the dunes, said neither Monsignor Eugene Clark, 79, nor his married gal pal, Laura DeFilippo, was listed as a guest on July 21.

That's when the two were secretly videotaped entering the hotel to rent a room in the early afternoon. They left about 51/2 hours later with their heads bowed, wearing different clothes — she in sexy short-shorts.

The videotape was shot at the behest of her private-eye husband, Philip, who was collecting evidence for a bitter divorce battle in which he charges his wife had a long-term affair with the respected monsignor.

A clerk at the upscale, 20-room hotel said it's no wonder a couple would choose to canoodle there. Its seclusion and don't-kiss-and-tell policy make it very popular with celebrities.

Posted by kshaw at 04:28 PM

'RANDY' REV CASTS HIMSELF OUT

NEW YORK
New York Post

By JEANE MacINTOSH, HEIDI SINGER and DAN MANGAN

August 12, 2005 -- The monsignor at the center of a steamy sex scandal stood by his woman yesterday — resigning his high-ranking post at St. Patrick's Cathedral after the church told him to fire his leggy longtime assistant, The Post has learned.

Clark, 79, thumbed his nose at Edward Cardinal Egan's request Wednesday to relieve Laura DeFilippo, the $100,000-a-year secretary with whom he was videotaped checking into a secluded and romantic Hamptons motel, an insider said.

Sources said the Catholic cleric then abruptly quit after realizing the scandal made it impossible to continue running St. Pat's, a source familiar with the situation said.

The source said, "He wouldn't fire her because he claimed he didn't do anything" with her at the motel in Amagansett, where the two were videotaped July 21 at the behest of DeFilippo's husband.

In a statement issued by his lawyer, Laura Brevetti, Clark said, "It appears to me that events and circumstances have been portrayed in such a false and sensational manner that I will no longer be able to effectively serve the archdiocese."

Posted by kshaw at 04:23 PM

Clark remains a priest - but likely in name only

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By CHARLES W. BELL
DAILY NEWS RELIGION EDITOR

Msgr. Eugene Clark is still a priest with all the rights and duties of the office, and will remain one until the Vatican decides otherwise.

His resignation yesterday means he will not publicly celebrate Mass or carry out of the other sacramental duties of priests, among them hearing confessions, conducting baptisms and marriages, and anointing the sick.

Theologians said yesterday there is no barrier - except perhaps orders by Edward Cardinal Egan or higher church officials - to Clark's performing those rites privately, but it's highly unlikely he will do so.

Once ordained, a priest is a priest for life, and under all circumstances, unless the Pope returns him to the status of a layman, a process called laicization and sometimes called defrocking by rank-and-file Catholics.

More likely, theologians said, because Clark is 79 and four years past the church's retirement age, the Vatican will immediately accept his retirement.

Posted by kshaw at 08:10 AM

Rector's reckoning

NEW YORK
Newsday

BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER

August 12, 2005

The high-profile Roman Catholic priest accused in court papers of having an affair with his married secretary resigned yesterday as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan.

Msgr. Eugene Clark becomes the third top archdiocesan official in three years to resign or be forced out as a result of sexual allegations. The others were Bishop James McCarthy, who resigned in June 2002 after admitting to several affairs with women, and Msgr. Charles Kavanagh, who was suspended in May 2002 after allegations made by a former seminarian.

"Although Msgr. Clark continues to deny the allegations against him, he offered his resignation for the good of St. Patrick's and the archdiocese," archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said in a statement. "He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved."

Clark, who has overseen the most influential pulpit in New York since 2001, was named last week in divorce papers filed in Westchester Family Court by Philip DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, who accuses the priest and his wife, Laura, of adultery.

DeFilippo's allegations that the 79-year-old priest and his 46-year-old wife have used the cloak of work - as well as an East End motel - to conduct an adulterous affair have become grist for the tabloid mill since DeFilippo's attorney made copies of a private investigator's videotapes available to some New York media earlier this week. The tape shows the priest entering the White Sands Motel in Amagansett wearing one shirt and leaving wearing another a few hours later. DeFilippo also claimed that the DeFilippos' teenage daughter was exposed to the relationship. The lurid allegations include signed statements that the daughter saw her scantily dressed mom sitting on the priest's lap in a Jacuzzi in the priest's Amagansett home.

Posted by kshaw at 08:07 AM

Priest cited in Eastchester divorce case resigns as rector

NEW YORK
The Journal News

By RICHARD LIEBSON
rliebson@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: August 12, 2005)

NEW YORK — Monsignor Eugene Clark resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday amid claims by an Eastchester man that the 79-year-old Roman Catholic cleric had an affair with his wife.

"It appears to me that events and circumstances have been portrayed in such a false and sensational manner that I will no longer be able to effectively serve the Archdiocese," Clark said in a statement released yesterday afternoon by his lawyer, Laura Brevetti. "Consequently, I have submitted my resignation. I thank all the many people who continue to offer me their prayers and consoling messages."

Earlier in the day, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed that Cardinal Edward Egan had accepted Clark's resignation.

"Although Monsignor Clark continues to deny the allegations against him, he offered his resignation for the good of St. Patrick's and the Archdiocese. He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved," spokesman Joseph Zwilling said in a statement.

Posted by kshaw at 08:04 AM

Accuser in priest scandal admits fraud

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Friday, August 12, 2005
NOELLE CROMBIE
Thomas Edward Smolka met with a prominent Portland attorney last year, describing how molestation at the hands of a priest in the 1950s drove him to alcohol and how he'd never disclosed the painful secret.

Smolka, federal prosecutors say, had done his homework before the meeting with attorney David Slader. He knew all about the Rev. Maurice Grammond, Oregon's most notorious priest pedophile. And he wanted Slader's help in getting $1 million from the Archdiocese of Portland.

Turned out Smolka was lying, and in U.S. District Court Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with his scam to defraud the Roman Catholic archdiocese.

He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number. He used a dead man's name to open a line of credit and obtain a credit card at Umpqua Bank.

Prosecutors will ask the judge to sentence Smolka to 37 months in prison.

Posted by kshaw at 07:55 AM

Diocese won't add ruling by Vatican to case

SPOKANE (WA)
Spokesman-Review

Tom Sowa
Staff writer
August 12, 2005

A lawyer defending Spokane's Roman Catholic diocese from lawsuits filed by alleged sex-abuse victims said Thursday a recent Vatican statement vindicates the diocese's position that it doesn't own Spokane parishes.

But the attorney representing those victims against Spokane's diocese disagreed, saying the Vatican statement – telling the Archdiocese of Boston that it has no claim on its parish assets – has no bearing in a high-stakes legal battle about to be decided by a Spokane federal bankruptcy judge.

Shaun Cross, the Spokane attorney representing the Spokane diocese, said the Vatican statement is relevant, but he also said it won't affect the legal case.

"We have no current intention to take the step" of adding the Vatican statement to the legal case, Cross said.

Vatican officials told church leaders in Boston they have no authority to claim the assets of several parishes being closed there by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

Posted by kshaw at 07:50 AM

Jasper, Ind., priest placed on leave pending charges of sexual battery

EVANSVILLE (IN)
The Gleaner

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Courier & Press staff 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com
August 12, 2005

EVANSVILLE -- A Diocese of Evansville priest faces charges he sexually molested a 19-year-old mentally disabled man and could face more than 30 years in prison if convicted.

The Rev. Wilfred "Fred" Englert, 52, of Jasper, Ind., faces four counts of sexual battery and one count of deviant sexual conduct. He has been placed on paid administrative leave from his diocesan duties.

Indiana State Police say Englert, of Jasper's St. Joseph Catholic Church, befriended the accuser during the past year and repeatedly molested him from April to June. The accuser said the priest did so while they camped at Patoka Lake and in a residence in Dubois, Ind.

The accuser, who lives with his parents who have legal guardianship over him, called state police July 18 and the resulting investigation prompted police to arrest Englert on Thursday. He turned himself in at Dubois Circuit Court in Jasper, where he was arraigned. He later faced additional charges in Orange County, where Patoka Lake is located.

Posted by kshaw at 07:48 AM

Arrest crushes dream of career in ministry

SOUTH CAROLINA
The State

By LAUREN LEACH
Staff Writer

Until recently, Kenneth “Tripp” Atkinson III planned to spend his life as a church minister.

But a rape allegation has destroyed the future of the 31-year-old student minister at First Baptist Church in Columbia, his attorney, Mike Grammer of Myrtle Beach, said.

“He has a four-year degree in religious studies. His whole plan was to be a minister. I can’t imagine what could happen to get that back,” Grammer said.

Atkinson surrendered Wednesday at the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, where he served as a reserve deputy from January 2002 until May 2004. He was charged with raping a 13-year-old Surfside Beach girl three years ago when he was the youth minister at Pawleys Island Community Church. He was released on $30,000 bail and ordered not to contact the girl.

Posted by kshaw at 07:42 AM

5th person sues archdiocese in clergy abuse

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By BOB PURVIS
bpurvis@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 11, 2005
A fifth person alleging sexual abuse by clergy has sued the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The plaintiff, referred to as John Doe 5, alleges in a civil complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court that the archdiocese allowed Father Siegfried Widera to have unsupervised and unlimited access to the boy and other children while knowing he was a pedophile, and failed to tell parents he had been previously convicted of sexually molesting a child, effectively allowing him to molest again.

According to the complaint, Widera sexually abused the boy from 1969 to 1976, a period in which he served at four parishes in the diocese: St. John de Nepomac in Milwaukee from 1967 to 1969; St. Mary Help of Christians in West Allis from 1969 to 1972; St. Mary's in Port Washington from 1972 to 1973; and St. Andrew's in Delavan from 1973 to 1976.

Attorneys representing four others are appealing a decade-old ruling that has prevented victims in Wisconsin from seeking damages from the archdiocese.

Posted by kshaw at 07:39 AM

Accusation of an Affair Leads Priest to Resign

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: August 12, 2005
The rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Msgr. Eugene V. Clark, resigned yesterday amid accusations that he was having an affair with his longtime personal secretary, a married woman who is 33 years his junior.

"It appears to me," he said in a statement released by his lawyer, "that events and circumstances have been portrayed in such a false and sensational manner that I will no longer be able to effectively serve the archdiocese."

Monsignor Clark's employer, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, said in a statement that he had resigned "for the good of St. Patrick's and the archdiocese."

On Monday, Philip DeFilippo, who is married to Monsignor Clark's secretary, Laura DeFilippo, filed court papers alleging the relationship as part of his divorce case against his wife, who has worked for Monsignor Clark for more than 25 years. Since then, newspapers and newscasts have carried videotape images provided by Mr. DeFilippo that show Monsignor Clark, 79, and Ms. DeFilippo, 46, entering a motel in the Hamptons last month and walking out five hours later in different clothing.

Posted by kshaw at 07:36 AM

Jasper priest accused of molesting disabled man facing criminal charges

JASPER (IN)
Princeton Daily Clarion

Posted: Friday, Aug 12, 2005 - 12:07:30 am EST

JASPER-A 52-year-old Roman Catholic priest from St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jasper, was arrested Thursday afternoon by the Indiana State Police and faces five criminal charges after being accused of molesting a 19-year-old mentally disabled man.

According to an ISP press release, Father Wilfred L. Englert, pastor of the Jasper church, turned himself in at Dubois County Circuit Court, in Jasper, after an almost month-long investigation by the ISP following allegations of sexual abuse by a 19-year-old mentally disabled man.

A criminal investigation began on July 18 after the alleged victim told police that Englert had abused him several times between April and June 2005, according to police.

The alleged molestations took place while Enlglert and the disabled man, whom police said had been friends for about a year, were camping at Patoka Lake in Orange County and at other times at a Dubois County residence.

Posted by kshaw at 07:32 AM

Brother of pedophile priest fears for day of release

SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
Daily Bulletin

By Brad A. Greenberg
Staff Writer

Tom Rodrigue fears for the children of San Bernardino County. Here he expects his brother, a defrocked Catholic priest and convicted child molester, to return after his release from prison.

That day is coming soon.

Edward Anthony "Tony" Rodrigue was sentenced in February 1998 to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old developmentally disabled boy in Highland. Rodrigue could be released as soon as January for good behavior, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

"He will always be a pedophile. I have no doubt that when he gets out he will recommit as sure as the sun will rise," Tom Rodrigue, 66, said Thursday by phone from his Reno, Nev., home.

Once a priest in Barstow, Loma Linda and Ontario, Tony Rodrigue this week confessed in court papers his sexual sins since the 1960s. His admissions were filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in support of the children who claim he abused them.

Posted by kshaw at 07:29 AM

Take abuse claims seriously

COLORADO
Denver Post

It's taken more than 20 years for the dozen or so men allegedly molested by a former Catholic priest in Colorado to come forward and make their horrific stories public. It took courage, and our hearts go out to them.

Notable as the stories have unfolded in recent days is the apparent shift in the church's response. The archdiocese of Denver was first told about some of the alleged abuses by Harold Robert White more than 30 years ago but inexcusably did nothing about it, allowing him to continue serving and moving him from parish to parish.

A past complainant told The Denver Post that White received a terse response from the church. But one victim who reported his abuse to the church in 2003, many years after it occurred, said he received an apology from Archbishop Charles Chaput along with a welcome offer of counseling.

It is absolutely critical that current church leaders take these allegations seriously and follow current church guidelines in reporting the incidents to authorities.

Posted by kshaw at 07:26 AM

The Rev. Liberatore apologizes to victim in Manhattan courtroom

NEW YORK
The Citizens Voice

By Chris Birk, Staff Writer 08/12/2005

The Rev. Albert M. Liberatore offered an apology Wednesday in a New York City courtroom before receiving another probationary sentence stemming from his sexual relationship with a former altar boy, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Issued about 10 weeks after he pleaded guilty to a felony count of attempted sexual abuse, the sentencing marks the end of criminal proceedings against the Diocese of Scranton priest, clearing the path for one last legal battle - resolution of a federal civil suit filed by the victim and his family in November.

The suit, which names Liberatore, the Diocese of Scranton and a host of diocesan officials as defendants, could determine whether the diocese should be held accountable for the abuse.

Liberatore had faced three first-degree felony counts in New York, including sodomy and sexual assault, by far the most serious charges filed against the 41-year-old priest.

He admitted in May to initiating sexual contact with the victim during an overnight trip in a Greenwich Village hotel room.

He was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years' probation. He has to register as a sex offender in New York and cannot have unsupervised contact with minors.

Posted by kshaw at 07:23 AM

Case challenges ban on suing religious groups

WISCONSIN
Pioneer Press

BY JULIET WILLIAMS
Associated Press

A man who claims he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest for six years sued the Milwaukee Archdiocese for fraud Thursday in the latest attempt by victims to overturn Wisconsin's ban on lawsuits against religious groups.

Wisconsin courts have upheld a decade-old ruling that prevents alleged victims from seeking damages. It is the only state in the country with such a law.

Victims' groups hope evidence obtained in a recent suit in California might persuade a judge to hear the case.

The man, now 44 and identified in court records only as John Doe, claims high-ranking officials in the archdiocese knew for years that the Rev. Siegfried Widera was sexually abusing children, yet transferred him between schools to cover it up.

The archdiocese transferred Widera in 1976 to the Diocese of Orange in California, where Widera acknowledged molesting at least 10 boys, according to a psychological evaluation there.

Posted by kshaw at 07:20 AM

Top NYC Catholic Leader Named in Divorce

NEW YORK
Washington Post

NEW YORK -- A Roman Catholic monsignor resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral after being accused of having an affair with a married woman.

Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark's resignation Thursday despite the 79-year-old Clark's denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the New York archdiocese said.

"He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick's and the Archdiocese," the church said in a statement. "He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved."

Clark has been rector of St. Patrick's in midtown Manhattan since 2001 and has often celebrated Mass there when the cardinal was away. A strong proponent of traditional morality, he blamed the church's sex-abuse scandal in 2002 on "the campaign of liberal America against celibacy."

Posted by kshaw at 07:18 AM

August 11, 2005

Clergy victims group tries again for civil suits against dioceses

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Janesville Gazette

(Published Thursday, August 11, 2005 06:38:53 PM CDT)

By Juliet Williams
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - A man who claims he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest for six years sued the Milwaukee Archdiocese for fraud Thursday in the latest attempt by victims to overturn Wisconsin's ban on lawsuits against religious groups.

Wisconsin courts have upheld a decade-old ruling that prevents alleged victims from seeking damages. It is the only state in the country with such a law.

Victims' groups hope evidence obtained in a recent suit in California might persuade a judge to hear the case.

The man, now 44 and identified in court records only as John Doe, claims high-ranking officials in the archdiocese knew for years that the Rev. Siegfried Widera was sexually abusing children, yet transferred him between schools to cover it up.

Posted by kshaw at 08:43 PM

Vatican: Diocese Can't Automatically Seize Parish Assets

BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com

POSTED: 11:43 am EDT August 11, 2005
UPDATED: 6:22 pm EDT August 11, 2005

BOSTON -- Opponents of the church closing plan in the Archdiocese of Boston have found an unlikely ally -- the Vatican.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Thursday that a ruling from Rome said Archbishop Sean O'Malley does not have the authority to seize financial assets from churches he's shut down.

Mt. Carmel Church in East Boston has been in vigil since last October. An appeal to the Vatican is pending, following an order from the Archdiocese of Boston to shut down and send its members to Sacred Heart Parish about a mile away.

Members say the Vatican's declaration that millions of dollars in assets from certain parishes that have been ordered closed cannot be taken by the archdiocese is a decision that should apply to Mt. Carmel.

Posted by kshaw at 08:29 PM

St. Patrick's rector, named in divorce case, resigns

NEW YORK
Newsday

August 11, 2005, 2:42 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) _ A 79-year-old monsignor named as "the other man" in a Westchester County divorce case resigned Thursday as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the New York archdiocese said.

Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark's resignation despite Clark's denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the church said.

"He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick's and the Archdiocese," the statement said. "He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved."

Clark was named in divorce papers filed in Family Court in White Plains by Philip DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, who claimed that a private investigator taped his wife, Laura, and the monsignor entering and leaving a hotel in Amagansett, on Long Island. The videotape was shown Monday to New York City newspapers.

DeFilippo also claimed that the DeFilippos' teenage daughter was exposed to the relationship.

Posted by kshaw at 06:03 PM

Vatican stops diocese in taking parish assets

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | August 11, 2005

The Vatican, in a blow to the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has concluded that archdiocesan officials erred in claiming the financial assets of closing parishes and must now ask pastors to voluntarily turn over millions of dollars in bank accounts and real estate holdings that the archdiocese had planned to take.

The archdiocese said yesterday that it is working with the Vatican and with local priests and finance council members to limit the repercussions of the development and said the Vatican is otherwise supportive of the process of closings pursued by the archdiocese and of the individual closing decisions made by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley. But the archdiocese acknowledged that the decision is unwelcome and poses a complication in O'Malley's effort to restore the troubled archdiocese to financial health.

Critics of the parish closing process said the development vindicates their argument, put forward in several lawsuits in civil courts, as well as in appeals to the Vatican, that the archdiocese has mishandled the overall closings process and is violating church and civil law by taking as much as several hundred million dollars in cash donated and real estate funded by faithful Catholics over many generations.

The archdiocese acknowledged the Vatican's decision in response to questions from reporters. ...

Three American dioceses -- Portland, Ore., Spokane, Wash., and Tucson -- have filed for bankruptcy and have tried to limit the assets that can be claimed by creditors by arguing in court filings that the assets of parishes belong to parishioners and not to the dioceses. Several Boston-area parishes sent appeals to the Vatican, arguing that it was unreasonable for O'Malley to claim ownership of parish assets at the same time Western bishops were claiming they don't control parish assets.

It is not clear whether a desire to help protect the bankrupt dioceses prompted the Vatican to insist that the Archdiocese of Boston does not control the assets of its closed parishes, but Boston church officials and pastors said that, in the past, the archdiocese here has closed parishes and taken their assets without objection. They also said the Vatican has helped design the solution of asking pastors to sign money over to the archdiocese, which would comply with canon law but also allow the archdiocese the use of the funds.


Posted by kshaw at 10:16 AM

Motel hoppin' in Hamptons

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BARBARA ROSS, ADAM LISBERG and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The Beauty and the Priest insist they did not have sex, but she appears to have told at least one lie - and there's a damning videotape to prove it.

On the day Laura DeFilippo was caught on camera with Msgr. Eugene Clark at a Hamptons motel, she allegedly had told her husband they were heading to a storage facility 30 miles away in Riverhead, L.I., to sort through some books.

Instead, the telltale tape made by her husband's private eye reveals DeFilippo picked Clark up at the St. Patrick's Cathedral rectory - and drove to the White Sands Motel in Amagansett, L.I., on July 21.

They made only one stop - to pick up some fast food for the road, the investigator told the Daily News.

When they got to the motel at 11:07 a.m., the tape showed the 79-year-old rector of St. Pat's walking into the motel office while his leggy companion sat in the van and reapplied her lipstick.

Posted by kshaw at 07:19 AM

Suspended priest charged with molesting four boys

MENDHAM (NJ)
The Morning Call

MENDHAM | A priest who was suspended after allegations he molested two youths in the 1980s and 1990s faces new charges of molesting four boys at a drug treatment program where he became a counselor.

The Rev. Richard Mieliwocki, 58, was suspended nearly two years ago by the Archdiocese of Newark. Arrested in December, he was indicted Tuesday on charges of child endangerment and criminal sexual contact.

Authorities said he improperly touched and made sexual comments to the boys, ages 16 to 18, during therapy sessions at Daytop Village last year.

''I'm very happy they indicted him,'' said the Rev. Joseph Hennen, Daytop's executive director. ''That kind of conduct is absolutely intolerable.''

Posted by kshaw at 07:11 AM

Priest is 1 of 9 arrested in sting

NEWBURGH (IN)
Indianapolis Star

Associated Press

NEWBURGH, Ind. -- Police officers arrested nine men, including a Roman Catholic priest, during an undercover operation at a public bathroom in a park overlooking the Ohio River.

The Rev. Ralph E. Patterson, 47, associate pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in nearby Henderson, Ky., was among eight men arrested last week by undercover officers. A ninth man was arrested Tuesday on a charge of public indecency.

Five of the men, including Patterson, were charged with public indecency and four with battery. The men charged with battery touched the undercover officers in a sexual manner, said Warrick County Sheriff Marvin Heilman.

Heilman said Newburgh Locks and Dam Overlook has become a destination for men seeking sex with other men, but the problem has grown out of control.

Posted by kshaw at 07:09 AM

Accused EWTN priest stays on air

ALABAMA
Birmingham News

Thursday, August 11, 2005
GREG GARRISON
News staff writer

An Alabama-based worldwide Catholic television network has no plans to drop a program hosted by a New York priest who has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a married woman.

Monsignor Eugene V. Clark, the pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, has a program on Irondale-based EWTN called "Relationships."

Clark, 79, has been having an affair with his longtime personal secretary, Laura DeFilippo, 46, according to her husband, Philip DeFilippo. Stories in several New York newspapers have carried accounts of DeFilippo's accusations in his divorce filing.

Posted by kshaw at 07:06 AM

Parishioners defend, support priest

MICHIGAN CITY (IN)
Post-Tribune

Aug. 11, 2005

By Mary Fox / Post-Tribune correspondent

MICHIGAN CITY — Some parishioners from the Rev. Richard Emerson’s former church think the priest’s reputation is being tarnished in the media.

They’re also supporting him financially even in the wake of a new allegation announced Sunday.

Nancy and Tom Henry are among Notre Dame Church parishioners who are still in Emerson’s corner, despite the allegations against him.

On Sunday, new allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor were deemed credible, according to the Diocese of Gary.

Emerson has been on administrative leave since December, after charges by a Florida man were deemed credible.

Posted by kshaw at 07:05 AM

Priest accused of affair with aide

WHITE PLAINS (NY)
The Journal News

By JONATHAN BANDLER
jbandler@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: August 11, 2005)

WHITE PLAINS — The rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral is embroiled in a Westchester divorce case, as an Eastchester man alleges that his wife had an affair with the 79-year-old Roman Catholic priest while working as his secretary.

Philip DeFilippo filed for divorce from his wife, Laura, in Westchester Family Court, and claimed in court papers that she was romantically involved with Monsignor Eugene Clark, a longtime family friend who married the couple two decades ago, when he was rector at the Church of the Annunciation in Yonkers. Both DeFilippos are 46, and they have two children.

DeFilippo alleges that a private investigator captured his wife and the priest on videotape entering and leaving a hotel on Long Island and that his wife frequently vacationed with Clark.

The allegations have stunned parishioners from some of the many stops of Clark's career.

"Not the Monsignor Clark that I know. I would never expect that from him. I would never expect for him to do something like that," said Diane Vezza, a longtime Annunciation parishioner who recalled Clark as a "spectacular" rector. "The priest I know is an upstanding man."

Posted by kshaw at 07:01 AM

No on church disclosure bill

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John Garvey | August 11, 2005

CATHOLICS in Boston have had a hard time the last few years. The clergy sexual abuse scandal and the parish closings have involved a lot of heartbreak. And a lot of money. The abuse settlement cost $85 million. The parishes scheduled for closing are worth more than that. Some Catholics are unhappy with the church's handling of these matters. Some blame the closings on the abuse settlement. (Not so. It was paid for by sale of the church's Brighton headquarters.) Others contend that the wrong parishes were slated for closing. The archdiocese tried to anticipate these concerns by involving the laity in the initial closing recommendations. And canon law allows people to appeal closings within the church's legal system. Some have already done this.

State Senator Marian Walsh of West Roxbury has proposed a law that would enlist the attorney general on the side of unhappy Catholics. The law would require religious organizations to file detailed financial statements with the Division of Public Charities. The statements would include sources of income, expenses, bank accounts, real estate, compensation paid to employees and professional consultants, and so on.

Churches have never been required to file such statements, though other charities do. Walsh maintains that the law would equalize their treatment. Besides, she argues, her constituents have given donations to their churches, and they are entitled to see that their money is wisely spent.

The attorney general has expressed some skepticism about the proposal. And well he might. The Division of Public Charities (a branch of his office) performs a useful service in supervising charities -- seeing that they meet donors' expectations, and that charity officials are loyal and careful in the management of charitable assets

Posted by kshaw at 06:55 AM

11/08/2005 | VATICAN/ANTICLERICALE.NET: DEMONSTRATION FOR SEXUAL AND CONSCIENCE LIBERTY

ROME
Radicalparty.org

Rome, 10 august 2005 - During the week long celebration of World Youth Day in Cologne, the Radical Association Anticlericale.net will organise a demonstration to take place on the at 8 p.m. on 16th August in S. Peter Square. Anticlericale.net has been at the forefront in the struggle for a secular state and institutions, and for religious freedom, primarily for Catholics. This demonstration will support sexual freedom and freedom of conscience and denounce paedophiles, corrupt priests and paedophilic organisations.

By taking advantage of the status of sovereign state enjoyed by the Vatican City since 1962, the highest Vatican hierarchies have planned and carried out something whose true magnitude has been revealed only today: a protective cover for paedophilic priests which allows the diffusion and, for many of them, the repetition of offences perpetrated for years in absolute impunity. The Vatican is well aware of the existence and spread of such crimes, and so has approved new strict provisions with a view to "governing" the scandal - by means of an Instruction issued by the Supreme Holy Congregation of the Saint Office. In order to avoid that the facts to become public, excommunication is possible. Such provisions were confirmed in 2001 by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Joseph Ratzinger at the time, Pope Benedict XVI today.

Posted by kshaw at 06:52 AM

Archdiocese skips hearing, stirs ire

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent | August 11, 2005

No one from the Boston Archdiocese spoke at a packed Beacon Hill hearing yesterday on legislation that would force all religious groups to open their books to the public. The absence angered lawmakers who said they had hoped to discuss the Catholic Church's finances, real estate holdings, and efforts to restore parishioners' confidence.

To cheers from the audience, Republicans and Democrats voiced their support for the bill in forceful, often emotionally charged testimony that touched on the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the rebellion over parish closings in Greater Boston.

The hearing was an extraordinary demonstration of shifting attitudes on Beacon Hill, as lawmakers who had stood with the Catholic Church on issues such as abortion criticized its treatment of lay Catholics during the abuse scandal and its plan to close nearly one fourth of the parishes in the archdiocese. Years ago, ''we were fearful of bringing issues of this nature up," Thomas P. O'Neill 3d, a former lieutenant governor and state representative, told members of the Judiciary Committee. ''It is historic."

Posted by kshaw at 06:49 AM

Tampa school gets another sexual abuse suit

TAMPA (FL)
St. Petersburg Times

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 11, 2005

TAMPA - Joining a string of other allegations in three years against Tampa's Mary Help of Christians School, a former student sued the school Wednesday, saying he was sexually abused by two Salesian brothers while he was a seventh-grader in 1982.

The suit is the sixth since 2002 accusing a priest or teacher at the school of sexually molesting a boy in his care.

The school at 6400 E Chelsea St., which stopped housing residential students in 1996 and became coed in 2000, is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order. The order is devoted to helping children, especially the poor and disadvantaged, according to its Web site.

The suit says that the plaintiff, born in 1969, was enrolled at the Catholic boarding school as a seventh-grader in 1982 because he had failed seventh grade at his other school. His mother, the suit says, hoped the Salesians who operated Mary Help of Christians School could help instill the discipline and structure the victim needed at that point in his life.

Posted by kshaw at 06:44 AM

Incoming Rome Prefect Agrees to Deposition

PORTLAND (OR)
Los Angeles Times

From Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Archbishop William Levada agreed Wednesday to waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests after he takes over as the church's guardian on doctrine — the Vatican post formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI.

Levada, 69, who officially steps down as archbishop of San Francisco next week, is heading to Rome to take over as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger held the post for 24 years before he became pope in April; he appointed Levada to his old job a month later.

During a farewell Mass on Sunday in San Francisco, Levada was served with a subpoena to be deposed on Friday. But with his agreement to accept the jurisdiction of U.S. courts — amounting to a waiver of diplomatic immunity — Levada will now be deposed in January. He had previously refused to agree to jurisdiction and other conditions.

Lawyers for abuse victims want to question Levada as part of the bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of Portland. Last year, Portland became the first Roman Catholic diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages.

Levada led the Portland Archdiocese from 1986 to 1995, when he became the archbishop of San Francisco.

"He now has personally signed acceptance of receipt of the subpoena and he has agreed that U.S. courts will have jurisdiction and that the subpoena will be legally enforceable," said Eric Olson, a lawyer representing abuse victims.

Posted by kshaw at 06:41 AM

How Senator Rick Santorum, In Acting for His Church, Persistently Fails to Consider the Larger Public Good

UNITED STATES
FindLaw

Senator Rick Santorum has been in the news recently, touting his faith-based views on public policy. (Santorum's faith is Roman Catholicism).

In my recent book, God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law, I document the harm that comes from elected representatives acting according to the dictate of religious lobbyists, without consideration of the larger public good. This is a severe defect in our representative government -- and Santorum is the best modern example. ...

There was an abiding belief, at the Convention and among the Framers, that representatives should be "filters" of factions -- including religious factions, of which there was quite a variety at the time of the framing -- within the society, not simply stand-ins for such interests. The Framers' view was that only if factions, including religious factions, were filtered -- refocusing all requests to encompass serious inquiry into the public good -- could the system produce good laws and good government.

Rick Santorum is no filter, as the following concrete examples will illustrate.

The Roman Catholic Clergy Abuse Crisis in Boston

Across the country, the Roman Catholic Church has been under fire from prosecutors, litigators, and childhood sexual abuse victims for its "handling" of its pedophile clergy. It is now well-documented that bishops, archbishops, and cardinals did not report known pedophiles to police. Instead, they moved pedophiles between parishes within their dioceses, or traded these men between dioceses - not only allowing the abuse to continue, but ensuring that pedophiles could start afresh with new trusting parents, and new potential child victims.

An uncontroverted fact is that the failure to report the abuse meant that the vast majority - 98% of the predators - avoided conviction due to the short statutes of limitations. In most cases, by the time the victims were ready to come forward, in adulthood, the limitations periods, set by the various state statutes of limitations, had long passed. Imagine how different the world would have been, had the Church timely reported these terrible crimes to the police, as soon as it learned of them.

Posted by kshaw at 06:39 AM

Ex-youth minister accused of molesting teen girls

SHREVEPORT (LA)
Shreveport Times

By Francis McCabe
francismccabe@gannett.com

A former youth minister at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shreveport is accused of inappropriately touching girls ages 15 and 16 when he worked at the church at Patton at Anniston avenues in 2003 and 2004, police said.

And investigators believe there may be more victims out there, Caddo Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland said.

Antonio J. Rizzo, 30, of Lafayette was arrested in Lafayette and brought back to Shreveport late Tuesday, where he was booked into Caddo Correctional Center on two counts of molestation of a juvenile, police spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said. His bond is set at $70,000.

This is not the first time Rizzo has caught the attention of law enforcement. In March 2004, he was arrested on three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile for allegedly giving alcoholic beverages to teen girls and making sexual advances toward them.

Posted by kshaw at 06:31 AM

Ex-priest's words could aid lawsuits

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

12:50 AM PDT on Thursday, August 11, 2005

By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise

Former Inland priest Edward Anthony Rodrigue said he met with San Diego's bishop in 1976 to discuss a letter from 10 parents who accused the parish cleric of sexually abusing altar boys, according to papers filed in federal court this week.

Rodrigue, a twice-convicted child molester, said in a sworn declaration from state prison in Corcoran that he and Bishop Leo Maher, now deceased, discussed the complaints before Rodrigue was briefly reassigned to Our Lady of Soledad Church in Coachella in 1976. Rodrigue was then sent to a Massachusetts treatment center for troubled clergy members.

In the court papers, Rodrigue, 68, said the San Diego Diocese and, later, the San Bernardino Diocese, paid for his therapy for years as he was transferred to treatment centers in Massachusetts, New Mexico and Cherry Valley in between his assignments at churches in Ontario and Loma Linda.

The declaration is among court papers filed Tuesday by attorneys who are trying to show that the San Diego Diocese knowingly transferred abusive priests among parishes. The court documents mention Rodrigue and three San Diego-area priests.

Posted by kshaw at 06:20 AM

North Jersey ex-priest faces sex-abuse charges

MENDHAM (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Associated Press

MENDHAM, N.J. - A priest officially suspended nearly two years ago on allegations that he molested two boys in the 1980s and 1990s faces charges of molesting four teens at a drug-treatment program in Morris County where he became a counselor.

Arrested in December, the Rev. Richard Mieliwocki, 58, was indicted Tuesday on charges of child endangerment and criminal sexual contact. Authorities said he improperly touched and made sexual comments to four males, ages 16 to 18, during therapy sessions last year at Daytop Village in Mendham.

"I'm very happy they indicted him," said the Rev. Joseph Hennen, Daytop's executive director. "That kind of conduct is absolutely intolerable."

The priest's lawyer, Thomas C. Pluciennik, said Mieliwocki might have employed "cutting-edge" therapy techniques but was not guilty of a crime.

Mieliwocki was removed from his priestly duties in February 1994 after church officials said they found evidence to support the claims of two men who said he had abused them at Our Lady of Sorrows in South Orange, N.J., beginning in 1988.

Posted by kshaw at 06:17 AM

Defrocked priest says church covered up molestations

CALIFORNIA
Daily Bulletin

By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer

A defrocked Catholic priest who served in Loma Linda and Ontario claims church leaders protected his pedophilic behavior by passing him among parishes.

Edward Anthony Rodrigue, an admitted serial molester, claims in court papers that he was allowed to continue working at churches despite numerous complaints of sexual abuse.

His statements were filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Another declaration by a former police officer claimed the Rev. John Daly was moved to San Bernardino County in exchange for prosecutor’s keeping secret his sexual indiscretion.

Both statements, and those made by countless people who claim they were sexually abused, support lawyers’ claims that, for decades, Catholic bishops have protected deviant priests, further endangering children.

J. Michael Hennigan, lawyer for the San Diego diocese, said Rodrigue’s statements were disturbing and cast a pall over former Bishop Leo Maher, who died in 1991.

Posted by kshaw at 06:15 AM

Catholic priest sentenced to probation for attempted sex abuse

NEW YORK
Times Leader

Associated Press

NEW YORK - A Pennsylvania priest who pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse for groping a former altar boy on an overnight trip to New York City was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation, authorities said.

Albert Liberatore Jr., of Scranton, Pa., admitted groping the boy in a hotel room in May 2002.

The Roman Catholic priest had earlier pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to sexually assaulting the same boy and was sentenced in June to five years probation.

The victim told police he became involved with the priest when he was an eighth-grade altar boy at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea, Pa. Investigators said the victim said he met the priest for dinners, slept at the rectory and went with him on trips to New York.

Posted by kshaw at 06:12 AM

Archbishop set to give answers on sex abuse

PORTLAND (OR)
Detroit Free Press

August 11, 2005

BY WILLIAM McCALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORTLAND, Ore. -- PORTLAND, Ore. -- Archbishop William Levada agreed Wednesday to waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about sexual abuse by Catholic priests after he takes over as the church's guardian on doctrine -- the Vatican post formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI.

Levada, 69, who will officially step down as archbishop of San Francisco next week, is heading to Rome to take over as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger held the post for 24 years before he became pope in April; he appointed Levada to his old job a month later.

Attorneys for abuse victims want to question Levada as part of the bankruptcy case involving the Archdiocese of Portland. Last year, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy, citing sexual-abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages. Levada led the archdiocese from 1986 to 1995, when he became the archbishop of San Francisco.

Posted by kshaw at 06:08 AM

August 10, 2005

Priest gets probation for groping ex-altar boy

NEW YORK
New York Newsday

BY KAREN FREIFELD
STAFF WRITER

August 11, 2005

A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation for taking a 17-year-old former altar boy to a Greenwich Village hotel and groping him.

The Rev. Albert Liberatore, 41, of Lackawanna, apologized in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and accepted responsibility for inappropriate behavior, his attorney, Robert Gottlieb, said Wednesday.

"He admitted he knew he crossed the line," Gottlieb said. "He cared very much for and about the boy and his family."

In June, Liberatore pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse and admitted he groped the boy at the Washington Square Park Hotel in May 2002

Liberatore, who has been suspended as a priest, was charged with first-degree sodomy and sexual abuse. He could have received 15 years in prison if convicted at trial.

Posted by kshaw at 10:03 PM

Shock, charges of hypocrisy as priest accused of affair

NEW YORK
New York Newsday

August 11, 2005

LUIS PEREZ, JEFF KEARNS, JENNIFER KELLEHER and CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITERS

He is a conservative stalwart -- a priest who could be counted upon to preach orthodoxy from the city's highest-profile Roman Catholic pulpit. He has condemned gay relationships as "truly sinful," railed against a "sex saturated" culture and defended priestly celibacy.

So the accusation that Msgr. Eugene V. Clark, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, has been having a longterm affair with his married secretary has exploded like a bomb on scandal-weary Catholics, who thought they were hardened against such revelations. The charge comes from the woman's husband as part of an ugly divorce.

"This is devastating not just because he's a power player in the Catholic community, but because he's such a well-known champion of orthodoxy," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York confirmed Wednesday that it is investigating the claim of a sexual relationship between Clark, 79, and his longterm secretary, Laura DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, made in court papers recently filed by DeFilippo's husband, Philip, in Westchester County Family Court.

The spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said Clark denied the allegations to senior archdiocesan officials in conversations over the past 24 hours. He declined to say whether Cardinal Edward Egan, who made Clark rector of St. Patrick's four years ago, had spoken directly with the priest.

Posted by kshaw at 10:01 PM

New bishop likely to keep files of accused priests sealed

FORTH WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram

By Darren Barbee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH -- Newly ordained Bishop Kevin W. Vann, leader of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese, signaled during a recent interview that he will continue efforts to keep sealed the files of eight clerics accused of sexual misconduct with children.

A hearing is scheduled Friday in state District Judge Len Wade's Fort Worth courtroom on whether the records should be made public.

Sex abuse victims have said the information in the files could be crucial to their healing. Vann said in a July 27 interview that he had been briefed on the files but had not reviewed them.

"At this point, being brand new here, I'll just work closely with the attorneys and the advice I'm given on all this," said Vann, who was ordained July 13.

Vann declined to say specifically whether he would change course on the release of the files. But he will be out of the country on Friday when Wade hears arguments on the matter.

Posted by kshaw at 09:59 PM

ST. PAT'S SHOCK

NEW YORK
New York Post

By DAN MANGAN

August 10, 2005 -- A Westchester man has accused the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral with having an affair with his wife, who has worked as the clergyman's longtime personal secretary, The Post has learned.

Philip DeFilippo says his wife, Laura DeFilippo, and the rector, Eugene Clark, have spent many weekends together at the cleric's Amagansett, L.I., home and exposed his 14-year-old daughter to their romantic relationship.

DeFilippo has sued his wife for divorce in Westchester Family Court and has produced photos that show Clark, 79, and Laura DeFilippo, 46, entering a Hamptons motel together, then leaving together a few hours later.

Time stamps on the photos, obtained by The Post, indicate they were taken July 21, with Clark and DeFilippo going into the motel at about 1:30 p.m. and leaving at about 7:03 p.m.

By the time the pair had left, the priest had changed his shirt.

Clark is the former rector of the Church of the Annunciation in the Westchester community of Crestwood — where he married the couple 20 years ago.

His boss, Edward Cardinal Egan, was told Monday night about the photos.

Posted by kshaw at 06:04 PM

Sex scandal for NYC priest, secretary

NEW YORK
The Washington Times

Aug. 10, 2005 at 11:16AM
Allegations a senior 79-year-old New York City priest had an affair with his 46-year-old secretary have rocked the Archdiocese of New York.
Police and court records say Monsignor Eugene Clark of St. Patricks Cathedral allegedly romanced Laura DeFilippo at his Hamptons home and a Long Island motel, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.
The accusations against Clark were brought by DeFilippo's husband, Philip, who had an investigator tail the duo to a Hamptons motel. He videotaped them last month arriving together and then checking out five hours later wearing different clothes.

Posted by kshaw at 05:59 PM

Church deacon assaulted boy on a regular basis, indictment says

HAWAII
The Maui News

WAILUKU – An unsealed criminal indictment charges that Deacon Ron Gonsalves began to sexually assault a boy in June 2002 with the assaults occurring at least once every month until May 2004 and continuing intermittently until June.

Gonsalves, 68, of Wailuku is charged with 62 counts of sexual assault while he was administrator of St. Ann Church in Waihee. He was placed on administrative leave June 22.

The indictment was unsealed last week after the name of the victim was blackened out with a marking pen. Prosecution and the defense attorneys had asked that the boy’s name be omitted as well as the specific sexual acts alleged.

Gonsalves pleaded not guilty to 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault and two counts of first-degree attempted sexual assault. Gonsalves’ trial is scheduled for Nov. 14.

He was released from jail Aug. 1 after posting $100,000 bail.

Posted by kshaw at 05:48 PM

Levada agrees to federal jurisdiction in deposition

PORTLAND (OR)
San Luis Obispo Tribune

WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. - San Francisco Archbishop William Levada agreed Wednesday to waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests after he takes over the Vatican post formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI.

Levada, 69, is heading to Rome to take over as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the official guardian of Catholic doctrine. He replaces German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who held the post for 24 years before he became pope in April.

During a farewell Mass last Sunday in San Francisco, Levada was served with a subpoena to take his deposition on Friday.

But Erin Olson, a Portland attorney who represents Oregon victims of alleged priest sex abuse, said Wednesday that Levada has agreed to accept U.S. Bankruptcy Court jurisdiction over his deposition after he assumes his Vatican post.

Posted by kshaw at 05:43 PM

Former youth pastor arraigned on child porn charges

YAKIMA (WA)
KGW

08/10/2005

Associated Press

A former youth pastor was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Yakima on child pornography charges.

James Cannel, 45, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in May. The indictment includes charges that Cannel received and distributed child pornography and received and distributed obscenity.

A third count seeks the forfeiture of a camera, computers, and compact discs sized from Selah Covenant Church when Cannel was arrested by Seattle police on Feb. 25.

Each count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Cannel worked at the church for about four months but resigned shortly after his February arrest. Officers said he used a church computer to try to arrange sex with a detective posing as a 12-year-old boy.

Posted by kshaw at 05:41 PM

Ex-priest indicted in Daytop sex abuse

NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD

A former Roman Catholic priest whose whereabouts were unknown to the Archdiocese of Newark for a decade was indicted Tuesday on charges of sexual misconduct with four male teenagers he counseled as a social worker last year at Daytop-NJ in Mendham.

A Morris County grand jury handed up an indictment that charges Madison resident Richard J. Mieliwocki, 58, with three counts of child endangerment and five counts of criminal sexual contact that all relate to alleged sexual interaction Mieliwocki had with four youths between the ages of 16 and 18 at the prestigious, in-patient substance abuse rehabilitation facility.

While entrusted with counseling the youths -- including three who were on court-ordered probation -- Mieliwocki asked three about the size of their genitals and whether they masturbated. He allegedly touched the buttocks of one youth, the genitals of a second, and got a third teenager to remove his clothing and then spanked the boy's bare buttocks, court documents state.

The encounters spanned from March 8 to Dec. 6, 2004. Mieliwocki was arrested on Dec. 28 after Daytop's vice president and Executive Director, Rev. Joseph Hennen, personally called Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio to report information about inappropriate conduct by Mieliwocki during one-on-one counseling sessions.

Posted by kshaw at 09:08 AM

Expert on love & marriage

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

It's not the sex, it's the hypocrisy.

It's not whether Msgr. Eugene Clark had an affair with his married secretary.

It's whether he did so even as he sought to blame the decline in marital fidelity largely on a Hollywood he imagines to be dominated by gays and those who tolerate them.

"A whole generation of Americans has been solicited...by American popular culture which is Hollywood and the media, Hollywood taking the most advanced step in this," Clark says in one of a series of radio talks titled "Relationships with Monsignor Eugene Clark."

The priest who currently is the rector at St. Patrick's Cathedral goes on, "Hollywood is not a Christian place at all, at all, at all. Most of the writers, the creative people are homosexually inclined or homosexually recruited."

Clark declares these homosexuals and their recruits to be "the enemy of Christian marriage and Christian falling in love and all the tenderness that goes with that....They are saying, 'Don't pay attention to that business of permanence and fidelity.'"

Posted by kshaw at 06:50 AM

Priest among arrested

INDIANA
Courier & Press

By JIMMY NESBITT Courier & Press staff writer 464-7501 or nesbittj@courierpress.com
August 10, 2005

The Newburgh Locks and Dam Overlook is known for its scenic view of the Ohio River and secluded trails. In cyberspace, the Overlook's public bathrooms and dense woodland are known as a destination point for men seeking random and often unprotected sex with other men, Warrick County Sheriff Marvin Heilman said. Last week, undercover officers arrested eight men in the park, including a Henderson, Ky., minister. A ninth man, 51-year-old Roger Rice of Newburgh, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of public indecency. The problem is out of control, Heilman said. "For years, it's had a reputation of a place where gay men congregate and engage in sexual misconduct," he said.

"It's meant to be a wonderful place for people to enjoy with families. Unfortunately, it's grown into a place I certainly wouldn't ... want to take my family." Ralph E. Patterson, 47, an associate pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Henderson, was charged last week with public indecency. Police say he exposed himself after a conversation with an undercover officer. Also arrested in the Aug. 1-2 sting were Edwin Odom, 54, of Owensboro, Ky., on a charge of public indecency; Kim Myrick, 49, and Richard Baumberger, 41, both of Newburgh on charges of public indecency and resisting arrest; Michael Derr, 62, James Gregory, 46, Raymond Reising, 45, all of Evansville, and Clay Volkmann, 42, of Newburgh on charges of battery. The men charged with battery touched the undercover officers in a sexual manner, Heilman said. The park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The bathroom is located near a gazebo, swings and a slide where children frequently play. The Newburgh McDonald's had its summer picnic at the Overlook on Tuesday. "We haven't had any problems," said Shirley Regener, restaurant manager.

Posted by kshaw at 06:47 AM

Leading voice of orthodoxy

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Three years ago, Msgr. Eugene Clark denounced "the campaign of liberal America against celibacy" from the pulpit and called the U.S. "probably the most immoral" country in the Western Hemisphere.

Now the 79-year-old archconservative Catholic cleric stands accused of breaking his own priestly vow of celibacy - and with a married woman, no less.

Clark - who frequently stands in for Edward Cardinal Egan at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and who has been a political power in the New York Archdiocese for decades - denied the claims yesterday.

New York born and bred, Clark, who said he was called to the priesthood as a child, was trained at St. Joseph's, the archdiocesan seminary in Yonkers. He was ordained in 1951 at age 26.

Rising rapidly through the clerical ranks, Clark was tapped to be the private secretary to Francis Cardinal Spellman, and then the official spokesman for Terence Cardinal Cooke and John Cardinal O'Connor.

Posted by kshaw at 06:41 AM

Affair charge rocks cleric

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY BARBARA ROSS, ADAM LISBERG and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The Archdiocese of New York is looking into explosive allegations that a top priest who publicly railed against our "sex-saturated society" had a long-term affair with his married church secretary.

Msgr. Eugene Clark allegedly romanced 46-year-old Laura DeFilippo at his Hamptons home and a Long Island motel, according to police and court records.

Questioned yesterday by a Daily News reporter at a Montauk restaurant where Clark and DeFilippo have been seen noshing, the 79-year-old rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral denied he and DeFilippo were lovers.

"Not true," Clark said outside the Surfside Inn.

The accusations against Clark were brought by DeFilippo's husband, Philip, who had an investigator tail the duo to a Hamptons motel - videotaping them last month arriving together and then checking out several hours later.

Posted by kshaw at 06:38 AM

Attorney: Priest is 'hiding from us’

GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune

Aug. 10, 2005

By Jon Seidel / Post-Tribune staff writer

A Florida attorney who has filed a civil lawsuit against a Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary priest has tried to serve him with papers for months.

The Rev. Richard Emerson, however, can’t be found.

“He’s hiding from us,” Joseph H. Saunders said.

Saunders represents an unidentified Florida man who says Emerson sexually assaulted him when he was a minor in Florida.

Emerson served temporarily as a priest at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Orlando.

The lawsuit was filed in January, and Saunders has been trying to serve Emerson ever since.

“It’s kind of silly,” Saunders said. “They’re playing games with us. He was the chancellor. I can’t believe they don’t know where he is.”

Posted by kshaw at 06:32 AM

Civil suit alleges Fairbanks pastor molested 10-year-old

ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

A woman raised in Tununak, a village on Nelson Island, filed a civil lawsuit against a Jesuit priest Tuesday, saying he molested her several time over a yearlong period starting in 1978 when she was 10 years old.

The lawsuit, filed in Bethel Superior Court under the name June Doe, names the Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey as the molester.

McCaffrey, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Fairbanks, was named publicly and put on administrative leave more than two months ago by Bishop Donald Kettler, head of the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, in response to a different allegation that McCaffrey sexually abused a minor about 25 years ago.

At the time, the bishop said suspending McCaffrey from pastoral duties is required when a cleric is accused of abuse.

Posted by kshaw at 06:30 AM

Let the sun shine in

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Thomas P. O'Neill III and Steven Krueger | August 10, 2005

''SUNLIGHT IS the best disinfectant" is a credo that has shaped public policy over the past century, primarily in the private sector and most recently with the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. Following that trend, last year Congress held hearings to curb abuses in the charitable services sector. Ultimately, sunlight protects constituents of an organization from breaches of trust that will inevitably occur through human administration, from Enron to the Catholic Church. Legislation proposed by state Senator Marian Walsh of West Roxbury seeks to provide that sunlight, and, in the end, protection for donors of religious organizations.

The legislation would require tax-exempt religious organizations to meet the same reporting requirements, filed with the attorney general's office, as all other charitable organizations -- from the American Cancer Society to your local Little League. This change to the existing law does not increase the regulatory authority the attorney general currently has in protecting the legitimate interests of donors to religious organizations, and is, in effect, neutral in its treatment of them. Additionally, it would require that all nonprofit tax-exempt organizations disclose their real estate holdings. The legislation does not, however, regulate in any way the religious freedom of religious organizations.

The need for financial transparency in religious organizations is becoming apparent -- the financial crisis that the Catholic Church faces both in Massachusetts and nationwide is only the most recent example of questions connected to the temporal affairs of a religious institution. Over a decade ago, scandals connected to the misappropriation of funds brought down prominent tele-evangelists. More recently, the financial relationship between Islamic charities and terrorist networks were called into question.

As these examples demonstrate, the potential for financial mismanagement -- or worse - within religions is inherent to all religious institutions since they are -- after all -- human institutions in the exercise of their administrative affairs.

The financial crisis confronting the Catholic Church demonstrates the negative consequences of the current exemption for religious organizations. The clergy sexual abuse crisis shined a light on the ruinous consequences of secrecy. Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston have curtailed giving to the Church because they feel they can no longer trust the institutional management and hierarchy. Moreover, in the past year, we have witnessed a questionable downsizing of parishes for financial reasons never disclosed and against the intent of generations of donors, as well as legitimate questions concerning the disposition of donations to the clergy retirement fund.

Posted by kshaw at 06:26 AM

Former priest says he was shuttled around after abuse allegations

SAN DIEGO (CA)
San Luis Obispo Tribune

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - A former Roman Catholic priest claims church officials shuttled him to new parishes after he was accused of molesting children in the 1970s, according to a newly filed court document.

The declaration by Edward Anthony Rodrigue supports allegations that bishops knew priests were molesting children but covered up the crimes by shifting accused clergy elsewhere. Rodrigue has been convicted of molestation twice and is serving a 10-year term at Corcoran state prison.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the church was well aware of the sexual misconduct of these priests," said Raymond P. Boucher, lead attorney for hundreds of people who are suing the church.

J. Michael Hennigan, the attorney for the San Diego diocese, said it's difficult to evaluate old claims.

"We're not contending that it's impossible," Hennigan said. "Do I have to take the word of a convicted felon?"

Posted by kshaw at 06:23 AM

Suit alleges former Alaska priest molested girl in '70s

ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News

By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 10th, 2005
Last Modified: August 10th, 2005 at 01:49 AM

The Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey, a Catholic priest who served decades in Alaska, is accused of sexually abusing a girl in the village of Tununak in 1978 and 1979, when she was 10 and 11.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Bethel Superior Court names as defendants McCaffrey as well as the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province. The church organizations knew or should have known about McCaffrey's sexual misbehavior and hid his acts from scrutiny and investigation, the suit filed by Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa contends.

The priest invited the girl, identified in the suit only as June Doe, into his sleeping quarters, took off her clothes and had her masturbate him, the complaint alleges.

"During this molestation, Father McCaffrey would tell Plaintiff that their actions were 'pure,' like those acts of Adam and Eve, in order to make Plaintiff believe that this molestation was normal," the suit states.

June Doe is now married with a family in Western Alaska, Roosa said. She has suffered great pain, humiliation, spiritual theft, lost of trust in priests and other troubles, the suit said.

Posted by kshaw at 06:20 AM

Molester Says Church Shifted Him to Other Parishes

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer

A former Roman Catholic priest said San Diego church officials transferred him to other parishes after parishioners complained that he had molested altar boys and other youth in the 1970s, according to newly filed court documents.

Edward Anthony Rodrigue was convicted in 1979 of sexually assaulting two boys in Ontario. Rodrigue made the statements in a court declaration at Corcoran state prison, where he is serving 10 years on a second molestation conviction.

The declaration, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, supports one of the main allegations in the clergy sexual abuse scandal: that bishops knew priests were molesting children, but covered up by shifting them elsewhere.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the church was well aware of the sexual misconduct of these priests," said Raymond P. Boucher, lead attorney for hundreds of people who are suing the church.

Attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who is representing the San Diego diocese in this case, said he did not know whether officials covered up for those priests. The issue, he said, is whether the church can properly investigate claims after so many years.

Posted by kshaw at 06:14 AM

Churches and state to face off over finances

MASSACHUSETTS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com

The churches are being asked by some legislators to render unto Caesar, and they are not happy about it.

Representatives of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which represents the four Massachusetts bishops, and the Massachusetts Council of Churches, which represents mainline Protestant churches and the Eastern Orthodox churches, plan to attend a hearing at 1 p.m. today at the Statehouse to oppose a bill that would require them to file public financial reports similar to what is required of the state’s nonprofit charities.

The bill would also require that churches make public their real estate holdings.

The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Marian D. Walsh, D-Boston; the 32 co-sponsors include Sens. Robert A. Antonioni, D-Leominster, and Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, who are Catholics.

The bill has the support of Secretary of State William F. Galvin, also a Catholic, who is expected to testify today. Gov. Mitt Romney, a former leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said on Monday he would consider the bill if it passes.

Timothy L. Lyons, spokesman for Ms. Walsh, said yesterday that the bill is an offshoot of the clergy abuse scandal that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church, but the legislation would require the same reporting of all religions in the state.

Ms. Walsh, a graduate of Newton College of the Sacred Heart, filed the bill after she was contacted by parishioners from St. Susanna Parish, Dedham. Their parish was one of many in the Boston Archdiocese being closed while money was needed to pay settlements to victims of clergy sexual abuse, Mr. Lyons said Ms. Walsh told him. They were seeking greater financial openness, he said.

Among those expected to testify for the bill are members of Voice of the Faithful, a group of Catholics that formed in the Boston area as the sex abuse scandal began to unfold in 2002. One of the group’s goals is financial openness within the church.

Laura Everett, program associate for the Massachusetts Council of Churches, said in a statement that she will testify for the council. She will discuss what she sees as impropriety in using legislation “to deal with a recent internal dispute in one denomination, in this case the Roman Catholic Church.”

Ms. Everett said some people believe the bill would affect only one religious tradition, but the legislation will “affect every synagogue, mosque, church and other religious institutions in the state.”

Edward F. Saunders, who heads the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said he will attend the hearing but is not expected to speak. None of the Massachusetts bishops are expected to be there. The “lead testifiers” will be from the Massachusetts Council of Churches, he said.

The organizations believe requiring public reporting of church finances paves the way for further intrusion into religious matters by government.

“It breaks down separation of church and state,” Mr. Saunders said yesterday. He said passage of the legislation — Senate Bill 1074 — would further allow the state’s attorney general to intervene in church issues and go to court to get church documents.

He believes the bill to be unconstitutional because it tinkers with First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion, free of government intrusion. The churches, now exempt from reporting requirements required of the state’s charities, are different from these other charitable organizations, Mr. Saunders said. He believes the legislation was put in place to monitor fund raising by organizations that may or may not be charities.

Mr. Saunders added that churches have their own committees and subcommittees that monitor finances and the information would be available internally to those who were seeking it, he said. “The transparency does exist,” he said.

According to information from Ms. Walsh’s office, the bill is constitutional and does not interfere with separation of church and state but would bring about financial openness. Having to file the required forms would not burden small religious communities and would not create a hardship. A hierarchal church, such as the Catholic church, would need to file only one form for the diocese, and each parish will not be required to file.

The change in the law is not aimed at setting the religious groups up to later pay taxes, she said.

Posted by kshaw at 06:10 AM

Priest sentenced for embezzlement

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Chris Parker
Of The Morning Call

A Schuylkill County Catholic priest who admitted owning hundreds of child pornography movies and photos and embezzling more than $23,000 from a church has been sentenced to three to 23 months in prison and 10 years' probation.

As a sex offender, the Rev. Ronald J. Yarrosh, 57, will have to register his address with state police for 10 years after he is released from prison under Megan's Law. If he had been found to be a sexually violent predator he would have had to register with police for the rest of his life.

But Yarrosh can never have another church assignment, Allentown Diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said.

''He will never be in active ministry again,'' Kerr said.

Any action to remove Yarrosh from the priesthood would have to be made by the Vatican, Kerr said.

Yarrosh was sentenced Monday by Schuylkill County President Judge William Baldwin and immediately taken to county prison.

Posted by kshaw at 06:00 AM

Life or meth

PALM SPRINGS (CA)
The Press-Telegram

By Jenny Marder
Staff writer

PALM SPRINGS — David Guerrero sucks in a shallow gasp as the ground rapidly recedes below him.

The 37-year-old Long Beach man is inside an aerial tramway, 3,000 feet above Palm Springs, and he's starting to panic. He grabs a waist-high rail with one hand and a metal pole with another. He turns away from a window that frames the tiny buildings below.

"I can't look back," he says.

Around him, couples and families huddle, taking in the scenery. Outside, a Sonoran desert cliff gives way to a sheer granite face.

The tram is halfway up the mountain, but Guerrero has seen enough.

Shakily, he lowers his 5-foot-11 frame onto the floor and eases into a cross-legged position. The trolley jolts and shudders as it hits a bump in the rails.

"Oh my God," he whispers, and reaches again for something to hold onto. ...

Addiction ran in Guerrero's family. His father was a heroin addict and his grandfather an alcoholic. But it was being repeatedly molested by his priest when he was 9 that he says most likely pushed him over the edge. The priest was later convicted of child molestation and committed suicide. The whole experience, Guerrero said, left him hollow, and looking for something to fill the void.


Posted by kshaw at 05:58 AM

Husband of Priest's Aide Accuses Her of an Affair

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: August 10, 2005
A Westchester County man claims in court papers that the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown has been having an affair with his wife, the rector's longtime personal secretary.

The man, Philip DeFilippo, says that his wife, Laura DeFilippo, and the rector, Msgr. Eugene V. Clark, have taken many vacations together, spent many weekends at Monsignor Clark's house on the South Fork of Long Island and exposed the couple's teenage daughter to their romantic relationship.

The claim of a sexual relationship is contained in an application for a temporary order of protection filed in Westchester County Family Court, where Mr. DeFilippo sued for divorce last week. The protection order application claims that Ms. DeFilippo has threatened her husband and seeks to bar her from the family home. Mr. DeFilippo said that a judge granted the order on Monday.

Mr. DeFilippo, in his filings, says he has a videotape showing Monsignor Clark, 79, and Ms. DeFilippo, 46, at a Long Island motel.

Posted by kshaw at 05:41 AM

Editorial: Opacity lingers in church’s abuse policy

PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Times

Adults who were sexually abused by priests when they were children have maintained in civil lawsuits and through support groups that officials in the Roman Catholic Church are, in essence, conspirators in the crimes because they covered them up. More to the point, church officials have long handled abuse complaints internally.

In the past, they apparently transferred priests out of the parishes where they were accused of abuse to another assignment where they often would still have access to children. Sometimes they sent them to the church’s own treatment facilities with the false hope that these pedophiles would be cured.

What church officials apparently did not do, is tell parishioners why their priests were being transferred nor did they report the accused abusers to law enforcement authorities.

The futility of this approach was painfully illustrated recently when a Philadelphia newspaper reported that, in the early 1980s, a priest claims he was instructed by officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to remain silent when he informed them that another clergyman was molesting boys in Northeast Philadelphia. They said they would take care of it.

Posted by kshaw at 05:31 AM

Church settles abuse lawsuit

OAKLAND (CA)
The Argus

By Jonathan Jones, STAFF WRITER

Less than three months after the Diocese of Oakland found "insufficient evidence" to support allegations of sexual abuse against a former Union City priest, the diocese agreed to pay $600,000 to the plaintiff who accused him, according to attorneys involved in the case.

The Diocese of Oakland agreed to settle the case against the Rev. George Crespin last week as part of a $56.4 million "global settlement" with victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests.

Despite the settlement, church officials said this week that the 69-year-old Crespin, who is now in retirement, is permitted to celebrate Mass and hear confessions at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley, where he has lived and worked for 24 years.

"The decision was made when the person decided to go ahead and sue after the diocese and a third party determined there was insufficient evidence to remove Father Crespin," said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, a diocese spokesman. "The bishop was interested in reaching a global settlement. ... It wasimportant to settle these cases for the victims."

Posted by kshaw at 05:26 AM

August 09, 2005

Emotions high as archdiocese, 68 plaintiffs begin crucial talks

OREGON
The Oregonian

Monday, August 08, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
James Devereaux, then a 13-year-old altar boy in Oakridge, says the late Rev. Maurice Grammond coerced him 40 years ago into engaging in various sexual acts, including oral sex. Devereaux is suing for $25.8 million.

Kenneth Nail, then a 16-year-old inmate at what was then known as the MacLaren School for Boys, says the late Rev. Remy Rudin forced him to have anal intercourse. Nail is suing for $10.8 million.

And Peter Carlich, then a 16-year-old altar boy in Tillamook, says the late Rev. Gerald Dezurick molested him in about 1960, then fabricated a story that persuaded his parents to commit the boy to a mental institution to cure homosexuality. Carlich is suing for $10.2 million.

Today, Carlich, a 59-year-old marine contractor from Lincoln County, echoes other plaintiffs when he says it's not about the money.

"I seek justice, a closure," says Carlich, who recently decided to go public with his 45-year-old secret. "Yes, I know there will be some money out of it. But at this point in my life, that's not a huge deal.

Posted by kshaw at 08:25 PM

Man wants priest abuse lawsuit opened up

JOLIET (IL)
Daily Herald

By Christy Gutowski and Tia Jones
Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted Tuesday, August 09, 2005

A Glen Ellyn man’s lawsuit against the Diocese of Joliet alleging a priest molested him decades ago has survived the usual legal death knell sounded in such cases and is forcing church leaders to take notice.

For at least the second time in 26 years of leading the diocese, Bishop Joseph Imesch will be deposed Thursday in a videotaped interview as part of the lawsuit.

The deposition will be held behind closed doors, which is routine, but the accuser and his advocates argue church records and related evidence, such as the videotape, should be open for public inspection.

On Monday, DuPage Judge Stephen J. Culliton ruled he will evaluate each piece of evidence individually rather than issue a blanket edict. The diocese had requested the court file be sealed from public view — a move that prompted criticism.

Posted by kshaw at 08:22 PM

Judge orders review of Church files

WHEATON (IL)
The Herald News

By Ted Slowik
STAFF WRITER

WHEATON — A judge will review documents concerning sexual abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet before deciding whether to make the information available to the public.

DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton on Monday granted the diocese's request for a protective order, but indicated that he would enforce it at his discretion. Culliton said he would personally inspect all documents related to a lawsuit against the diocese and former priest Ed Stefanich.

Culliton said he would place documents in the case's public file, but still take steps to shield the identities of alleged victims and respect others who had an expectation of privacy.

"I will decide what or what not will be part of the public record," Culliton said in court. "I see a distinction between materials disclosed to another party and things filed on the record.
"
"(The protective order) won't be a blanket one, but there may well be portions (of documents) deleted," he said.

Posted by kshaw at 05:39 PM

Deadline set for abuse claims

COVINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Post

By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter

Those who were abused by priests or other workers in the Diocese of Covington over the past 50 years have until Nov. 10 to make their claim, according to official claim forms now available.

Anyone who fills out the form will be added to a class-action lawsuit settlement reached after years of negotiations with the diocese.

The settlement calls for claimants to be paid up to at least $40 million - and up to $120 million if the diocese is successful in a lawsuit seeking to make its insurance carriers responsible for damage claims.

The forms, available online or by mail, ask people to name their abuser, and when and where the abuse occurred. Attorneys for the class stress that the information will remain confidential.

They also stress, however, that simply filing out the form will not guarantee a person will receive money from the settlement.

Posted by kshaw at 05:36 PM

Priest sentenced to three to 23 months for embezzlement

PENNSYLVANIA
NEPA News

The Associated Press August 09, 2005

A Roman Catholic priest who acknowledged owning hundreds of child pornography photos, magazines, videotapes and DVDs _ as well as embezzling more than $23,000 from the church _ was sentenced Tuesday to three to 23 months in jail on the theft charge.

The Rev. Ronald J. Yarrosh, 57, formerly an assistant pastor at St. Ambrose Church in Schuylkill Haven, will also serve 10 years' probation on the child sex abuse charges.

Yarrosh pleaded guilty in April to charges of theft, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility and three counts of sexual abuse of children. He was also ordered to pay $23,629 in restitution.


Posted by kshaw at 05:31 PM

Catholics struggle to get house in order

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Steve Duin

The chief executive is on vacation and can't be reached for comment. The lawyers and PR guys insist he never saw the incriminating document issued under his name. There's a confidentiality agreement to ensure that the sordid details never see the light of day.

Another Enron brief? Another corporate scandal update from WorldCom?

No, just a telling glimpse of Archbishop William J. Levada, recently tapped by Pope Benedict XVI as chief defender of Catholic doctrine worldwide.

Eleven years ago, Levada, then the archbishop of Portland, tendered a logical, rational response as to why his archdiocese should not be liable to pay child support for a kid fathered by a seminarian in the Holy Redeemer parish.

The foolhardy mother, Levada's minions argued in a court brief, had participated "in unprotected intercourse . . . when (she) should have known that could result in pregnancy."

That argument is petty and self-serving, to be sure, but understandable . . . except for one damning detail. Levada is a standard bearer of a church that holds that the preventive measures the legal brief was advocating for responsible sex partners are "intrinsically evil."

Posted by kshaw at 05:28 PM

Lawyer asks bishop to let lawsuit proceed

PENSACOLA (FL)
News Journal

Kristen Rasmussen
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

An attorney for a Pensacola man who claims he was abused by a priest more than 30 years ago asked Bishop John Ricard on Monday to restore his client's faith by allowing a lawsuit to proceed despite the statute of limitations running out.

The Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and Ricard filed a motion on Aug. 2 to dismiss a civil lawsuit brought by Pensacola resident Paul Tugwell, who claims he was abused by Monsignor Richard Bowles in 1971.

But in a direct appeal to Ricard on Monday, Tugwell's attorney, Joseph Saunders of Pinellas Park, asked the bishop to "repudiate" the motion, which argued that the case should be dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.

Saunders wrote Ricard that the bishop was "charged with the care of souls,'' including the soul of Tugwell whose faith was "shattered'' after he was abused "by a priest whom he admired and trusted.''

Posted by kshaw at 05:25 PM

Schuylkill priest gets 23 months in child porn case

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

A Schuylkill County Catholic priest who admitted owning hundreds of child pornography photos, magazines, videotapes and DVDs, and embezzling more than $23,000 in church money will serve up to 23 months in jail on the theft charge and pay $23,629 in restitution.

He will also serve 10 years of probation on child sex abuse charges.

But, despite the volume of child pornography that the Rev. Ronald J. Yarrosh possessed, he was determined to not be a sexually violent predator by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, said District Attorney Frank R. Cori.

Posted by kshaw at 05:22 PM

Lawmakers pick fight with Catholic church over financial records

BOSTON (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By THEO EMERY
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON— When the clergy sexual abuse scandal broke in early 2002, lifelong Roman Catholic Don Pachuta told himself he wouldn't give another nickel to the Boston Archdiocese until the church opened its books and showed him where his money had gone.

More than three years later, he's still waiting.

An increasing number of Catholics like Pachuta, as well as members of other religious denominations, are backing a legislative proposal to make churches, mosques and synagogues in Massachusetts subject to the same reporting requirements as secular charities and non-profits.

And in a sign of the shift in influence by the once-powerful Catholic church in a heavily Catholic state, some lawmakers appear more willing to force reforms on the archdiocese.

The measure, which is backed by about 30 lawmakers, would require most churches and religious institutions to file the same annual reports with the attorney general's office as other charities and nonprofit organizations.

They would also have to report their real estate holdings, and the rules would also apply to related organizations and businesses that they own, whether for-profit or nonprofit. Most states with reporting requirements exempt churches, but some do require religious institutions to file financial information.

The Roman Catholic Church, as well as Protestant and Orthodox denominations, are lining up to oppose the legislation, saying that it would allow the government to intrude on private affairs of the church.

Posted by kshaw at 05:17 PM

Alleged sex acts occurred monthly

HAWAII
Honolulu Advertiser

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — A recently unsealed criminal indictment against a Roman Catholic deacon states that the 68-year-old man engaged in monthly sex acts with a boy during a two-year period, and that alleged assaults took place over a three-year period.

James "Ron" Gonsalves, who is on leave as deacon and administrator at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, has been charged with 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault and 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault.

Gonsalves also is accused of two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault.

Gonsalves has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He remains free on $100,000 bail while awaiting a Nov. 14 trial.

The indictment, unsealed Friday, alleges that Gonsalves had "sexual contact" with the boy at least once a month between June 2002, when the boy was 12, and May 2004.

Posted by kshaw at 09:06 AM

Sex abuse answers needed

NEVADA
Reno Gazette-Journal

Editorial RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 8/8/2005 10:34 pm

What can be done to ensure that sexual offenders don’t have the chance to create new victims?

Answering that long-standing, extremely difficult question has become critical in recent months as a series of high-profile cases around the nation — including a kidnapping in Fernley — has raised new concerns about our ability to protect ourselves and, more important, our children from sexual predators.

That’s why a summit planned by area law enforcement agencies in October is so important. Meeting in Reno, the groups hope to discuss what is and isn’t working and to brainstorm ideas for making the system better. It’s a worthwhile undertaking. Everyone should hope that they can develop workable strategies for dealing with this tough, increasingly troubling problem.

For many, the answer is simple: One strike and you’re out.

Posted by kshaw at 09:04 AM

Pedophile posed as psychiatrist

AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

By Kevin Meade
09aug05
VINCENT Berg, the bogus psychiatrist employed by Queensland Health for 12 months at the Townsville Hospital, is a convicted pedophile.

The imposter, whose phony medical qualifications were exposed at the Morris inquiry last week, was sentenced to three years' jail in the Soviet Union in 1987 for indecent dealing with boys.

Berg was also deported from the US in the early 1980s after he was accused of stealing church ornaments. He was later defrocked in his home country as a Russian Orthodox priest, according to a Russian newspaper report.

Berg was convicted in the People's Court in Kaluga, Russia, of indecent dealing with children in February 1987 and sentenced to three years' jail with hard labour. He was released after serving nine months in prison.

Posted by kshaw at 08:59 AM

‘Sadhu’ held for rape of minor

INDIA
The Times of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, AUGUST 08, 2005 11:24:21 PM ]

SURAT: A man who posed as ‘sadhu’ of a temple at Reliance Nagar at Katargaam in Surat was arrested by the Bhavnagar police for allegedly raping a minor girl and having sexual relationship with her elder sister. The minor subsequently got pregnant.

The accused allegedly committed the act with the consent of the girl’s parents, who were also arrested. The three were transferred to Surat city police and a case was registered at Katargaam where the incident had occurred. According to the police,Gopal Moradia,a diamond worker and father of the two girls, had left her daughters in the custody of Himmat Rajput (27), as an ‘offering’. The accused, Rajput, was a priest at Reliance Nagar then. Police said residents had recently evicted Rajput and the two girls from the colony as the suspected something fishy. The three ran away to the residence of Moradia in Bhavnagar.

Posted by kshaw at 08:55 AM

Convicted Pedophile From Russia Bluffs His Way Into Australian Psychiatry — Report

AUSTRALIA
MosNews

Created: 09.08.2005 11:44 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:44 MSK, 6 hours 2 minutes ago

Queensland police are investigating allegations a Russian refugee Vincent Berg who faked his qualifications to work as a psychiatrist is also a convicted pedophile, the Australian daily reports.

Police investigators last week heard Vincent Berg forged qualifications to work for a year at Townsville hospital in 2000 and that Queensland Health had covered the matter up.

The Australian, has reported Vincent Berg was allegedly convicted as a pedophile in the Soviet Union, deported from the United States for stealing church ornaments and de-frocked as a Russian Orthodox priest.

Posted by kshaw at 08:49 AM

Feeney dismissed from clerical state

GREEN BAY (WI)
Press-Gazette

Former priest John Feeney, who was sentenced to a 15-year prison sentence in 2004, has been officially dismissed from the clerical state, according to Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.

Zubik announced Monday that he had received official word from the Vatican. The decision is in response to a request filed in 2004 by Zubik.

In April 2004, Feeney received a 15-year prison sentence in Outagamie County Court for sexual assault of a child in the late 1970s.

Posted by kshaw at 08:46 AM

Eliminating sexual abuse is top priority

RENO (NV)
The Reno Gazette-Journal

Reverend Phillip F. Straling SPECIAL TO THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 8/8/2005 10:37 pm

I will not question the motives behind the article published on July 31 [“Bishop Straling and the Catholic Church abuse scandal,” Page A1] but rather, in the interest of fairness, will utilize this space to address the aggressive steps I have taken in the Diocese of Reno to protect against child abuse by diocesan personnel and volunteers.

Perhaps the most troubling element of your story was that local readers might have reached an incorrect conclusion — by unsubtle insinuation — that I have ever been ambivalent about abusive behavior. That is absolutely not true.

I like to think of myself as a patient man. However, the article admittedly tested that patience. It also strengthened my resolve. As I have always counseled others, the healing process requires openness, transparency and honesty.

Child abuse is wrong. Sexual misconduct is wrong. Both are sins. Both are crimes. Once again, I will address this vitally important issue of the day and call upon all of us to protect our children. As a starting point, let us review what we have done to create a safe environment in the Diocese of Reno

Posted by kshaw at 08:06 AM

Diocese will pay settlement with loan

OAKLAND (CA)
Contra Costa Times

By Randy Myers
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The Oakland Diocese will borrow to pay its portion of a $56.3 million settlement of 56 sex abuse lawsuits, a church spokesman said Monday.

On Friday, the diocese announced it had reached a settlement in the mostly decades-old cases involving 13 diocesan priests, seven of whom are dead.

It was one of the largest settlements in the nation, but fell short of the $100 million awarded in 2004 by the Diocese of Orange to settle 87 cases and the $90 million the Archdiocese of Boston paid in 2003 to settle 550 plaintiffs' claims.

The diocese will be responsible for paying $25.3 million with insurance carriers covering the rest, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, Oakland Diocese spokesman.

Posted by kshaw at 08:00 AM

Priest faces new molestation claim

ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

The Associated Press
Posted August 9, 2005

A Catholic priest accused of molesting a boy in Orlando more than a decade ago has been named in a second credible allegation of sexual misconduct, officials in Indiana said.

Officials wouldn't say whether the second alleged incident happened in Florida or Indiana, where the Rev. Richard Emerson most recently served.

The new allegation against Emerson was found to be credible, prompting the Diocese of Gary to notify his former northwest Indiana parishes last week, along with law-enforcement authorities, diocesan spokesman the Rev. Brian Chadwick said.

"It's not a finding of guilt," he said.

The alleged victim was a minor, Chadwick told the Herald-Argus of LaPorte for a story published Monday.

Posted by kshaw at 07:55 AM

Indictment Against Deacon Unsealed

HAWAII
KGMB

Alan Lu - alu@kgmb9.com

For three years, a Maui Catholic church deacon allegedly abused a boy again and again. The accusations were part of an unsealed indictment that contained graphic details.

The indictment, released Friday, claims the abuse began when the child was under the age of 14. In June 2002, deacon James Gonsalves allegedly began having "sexual contact" with the boy, including oral sex.

Maui prosecutors said the assaults continued for the next three years and the boy was molested almost every month.

Posted by kshaw at 07:52 AM

Ex Catholic charity boss charged in Zagreb paedophile scandal

CROATIA
WebIndia

Zagreb | August 09, 2005 10:55:13 AM IST

A senior member of the catholic charity Caritas was indicted Monday by a Zagreb court for covering up sexual abuse of children in orphanages.

Croatian news agency HINA said Monday that Zagreb County prosecutor charged Jelena Brajsa, head of the charity's Zagreb branch, with "obstruction of collecting evidence", relating to sexual and physical abuse of children in Zagreb's Brezovica orphanage. If found guilty, she faces one year in jail.

Posted by kshaw at 07:48 AM

Romney backs church disclosure

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | August 9, 2005

Governor Mitt Romney promised yesterday to give close consideration to a controversial bill that would require the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and other churches in Massachusetts to make their financial statements public. During a press conference, Romney stopped short of endorsing the bill, but called it a ''very important area of inquiry."

Romney's comments, coming before a legislative hearing on the measure tomorrow, could boost its chances of passage.

Romney said that he strongly believes that nonprofit organizations should be required to disclose their assets and financial details and indicated he was open to arguments that religious organizations should be subject to the same requirements as charities overseen by the attorney general's office.

''Clearly, nonprofit organizations should be subject to a level of disclosure which is consistent with the tax treatment they receive," Romney said. He said the filings, made to the attorney general's office, allow the public to ''make sure that money is being properly spent." ...

The proposal is driven in large part by lawmakers' frustrations with the Catholic Church, which has for several years been dealing with the fallout from the clergy sexual abuse crisis and now faces protests over church and school closings. Many see the Walsh bill as a test of how much clout the archdiocese retains among the state's political establishment.


Posted by kshaw at 07:46 AM

New Code Of Conduct Established For Archdiocese

SANTA FE (NM)
TheNewMexicoChannel.com

POSTED: 1:27 pm MDT August 8, 2005

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has a new code of conduct.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan said the code improves a simplified code that was written in 1993 to deal with a sexual abuse scandal that involved priests.

The Albuquerque Journal reported Monday that the new code advocates mentorship of newly ordained priests.

The code also encourages striving to live chastity and celibacy to the full. And the code calls for "fraternal correction," meaning priests must be attentive to the needs of fellow priests.

Posted by kshaw at 07:36 AM

New Code Of Conduct Established For Archdiocese

SANTA FE (NM)
TheNewMexicoChannel.com

POSTED: 1:27 pm MDT August 8, 2005

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has a new code of conduct.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan said the code improves a simplified code that was written in 1993 to deal with a sexual abuse scandal that involved priests.

The Albuquerque Journal reported Monday that the new code advocates mentorship of newly ordained priests.

The code also encourages striving to live chastity and celibacy to the full. And the code calls for "fraternal correction," meaning priests must be attentive to the needs of fellow priests.

Posted by kshaw at 07:36 AM

A HUDDLE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS by Marsh Reggie White

UNITED STATES
The Open Press

(OPENPRESS) August 9, 2005 -- It seems whenever we turn on our televisions, we are bombarded with stories about the sexual abuse and/or misconduct of a priest and clergyman against innocent victims. Due to the number of abuse cases being reported today, US religious leaders are going through one of the most traumatic periods in religious history. In his timely new novel, A Huddle for Righteousness (AuthorHouse, May 2005, $12.95 paperback, 1-4208-1587-3), Marsh Reggie White presents a dramatic and creative story involving a Priest’s fall from grace and God’s justice for him and, ultimately, for us all.

A Huddle for Righteousness is a narrative taken from the lives of biblical characters from Hebrews Chapter 11, and the hall of fame of faith. It involves a court room scene played out in heaven whereby Joshua, a High Priest, has been caught in a sinful act by Satan. God presides over the proceedings, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, and the Angel of Jehovah is the defense counsel. As both attorneys give moving and challenging arguments for and against Joshua, there is a “huddle for righteous” as the audience sits patiently awaiting God’s verdict for Joshua; a verdict which in essence will affect the lives of all mankind.

Earthy and spiritual in style, Marsh Reggie White’s writing seeks to bring a new perspective and enlightenment on teachings from the Bible.

Posted by kshaw at 07:33 AM

Defrocked priest still saying mass

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

August 9, 2005

BY DAVID CRUMM and PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Wayne County prosecutors began investigating Monday how a former Detroit Catholic priest, convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s, wound up celebrating mass recently for a gay-rights group in Virginia.

Prosecutors are concerned that Harry Benjamin might have come into unsupervised contact with minors, a potential violation of the terms of his probation in Michigan.

Benjamin's return to the altar, though not sanctioned by the Catholic Church, underscores the difficulty of monitoring hundreds of men accused of sexual misconduct and removed from the ministry, including more than 40 in Michigan since 2002.

Prosecutors and church officials say they didn't expect a defrocked priest to resurface celebrating mass for Dignity-USA, the leading Catholic gay-rights group that often operates outside church rules and, in Virginia, worships in an Episcopal church.

On Monday, Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said, "We're investigating what he has been doing in terms of his activities with Dignity, whether he's been conducting masses and is in the presence of minors."

Posted by kshaw at 07:29 AM

Judge seals sex abuse case files

ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

August 9, 2005

BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter

Documents filed in a civil lawsuit accusing a former suburban priest of sexually abusing a teenage boy more than 30 years ago won't be made public unless a judge agrees first to release them.

The ruling by DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton saddened the 48-year-old suburban man who filed the suit in 2003, alleging he had been sexually abused by a priest at his Lombard parish while a teenager in 1970.

"It was a little bit of a disappointment,'' the alleged victim said of the ruling.

Posted by kshaw at 07:25 AM

Pope removes Feeney from the priesthood

GREEN BAY (WI)
The Post-Crescent

GREEN BAY — Pope Benedict XVI officially has dismissed a former Freedom priest from the clerical state because of the ex-priest’s conviction for child sexual abuse.

John P. Feeney, 78, whose most recent address was Los Angeles, was sentenced in April 2004 to 15 years in prison for three counts of attempted sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child. He is being held at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution.

The charges stemmed from Feeney’s tenure as pastor of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom in 1978.

The victims, two brothers, were 12 and 14 years old at the time.

Green Bay Bishop David Zubik announced Monday that he has received official word from the Holy See that Feeney has been dismissed from the clerical state.

Posted by kshaw at 07:20 AM

August 08, 2005

Bill would force church to disclose its finances

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | August 8, 2005

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, still dealing with the fallout from the clergy abuse crisis and upheaval over church closings, faces a major battle on Beacon Hill this week as lawmakers push for an unprecedented measure to force the church to open its books to the public.

The legislation, authored by state Senator Marian Walsh and backed by 32 other lawmakers, is being considered at a time when the church faces deep skepticism and in some cases open hostility from politicians on Beacon Hill and at City Hall. Some lawmakers who champion the bill, which will be brought up at a hearing Wednesday, previously stood side by side with church leaders on policy issues like abortion.

The legislation, which would require all religious organizations to file annual financial reports and a list of real estate holdings with the attorney general's charities division, is opposed by the Catholic Church and major mainline Protestant denominations. It is being watched as a test of how much clout the archdiocese still retains with the state's political establishment.

Posted by kshaw at 12:37 PM

Priest: Church silenced abuses

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Centre Daily Times

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- A Roman Catholic priest who reported to a church official in the early 1980s that a fellow priest was molesting boys said he was told that the Philadelphia Archdiocese's "highest authority" warned that he should keep quiet.

The Rev. James Gigliotti told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Sunday's edition that he received a stern warning after he reported the accusations against the Rev. James J. Brzyski.

"This comes from the highest authority: You're to keep your mouth shut," Gigliotti said an assistant chancellor told him.

Gigliotti is the first priest to say publicly that the archdiocese told him to keep quiet.

"I take full responsibility for this, but those words, 'You're to keep your mouth shut,' made a big impression on me because it came from high authority," said Gigliotti, 57, who now leads a parish in Arlington, Texas.

Gigliotti identified the man who warned him as the Rev. John W. Graf, an assistant chancellor under then-Cardinal John Krol.

Posted by kshaw at 07:14 AM

Levada says farewell at Mass

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, August 8, 2005

Thousands of the faithful filled St. Mary's Cathedral on Sunday to hear the last Mass offered in San Francisco by Archbishop William Levada before he becomes the highest-ranking American in Vatican history.

Levada, a fourth-generation Californian appointed to the San Francisco post 10 years ago in October, plans to resign Aug. 17. He will be in charge of resolving questions around faith and morals for the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

Levada's farewell celebration at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption was marked by the adoration of hundreds who waited in long lines for a brief individual blessing from Levada. In his homily, Levada spoke lovingly about San Francisco, from its poorest residents to those with the most.

The occasion was tempered by a silent vigil for those who have been abused by priests. Dozens of protesters, standing in a long line in front of the church on Geary Boulevard, wore T-shirts that read, "It's a Sin. Stop the Coverup."

Posted by kshaw at 07:12 AM

New motion planned in pastor's child molestation case

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By DAVID SIMPSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/08/05

Lawyers for Troy Brown plan to file a motion today to try to restore a short-lived appeals court victory for the Lithonia minister, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for molesting a 15-year-old boy.

A three-judge panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed Brown's conviction on July 8, but the same judges reconsidered the case and upheld the conviction July 28.

Defense lawyer Greg Lohmeier said Brown will ask the court to consider the case for a third time in a motion today. If that motion fails, Brown will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, Lohmeier said.

The Court of Appeals rulings hinged on the testimony of a witness who said Brown sexually assaulted him when he was 15 in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1996. The man was one of four who accused Brown of abuse and were called by prosecutors to support the claim of the 15-year-old in the 2002 trial.

Defense lawyers argued Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker should not have prevented them from cross-examining the witness about whether he might have lied about Brown to cover up a prior homosexual relationship. Becker ruled such questions were barred by Georgia's rape shield law, which prevents the use of the sexual history of rape victims.

Posted by kshaw at 07:07 AM

Becoming a volunteer not easy

KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer

By William Croyle
Enquirer staff writer

Public and private schools in Kentucky and Ohio need and want parents to volunteer in classrooms, as coaches and as chaperones.

But for a parent to just show up at school one day and expect to help immediately oftentimes isn't going to happen.

"Every district has its own policies on what has to be done before you can volunteer," said Shirley Henderson, past president of Kentucky Coalition of School Volunteer Organizations. "You're better off to get on a school's volunteer approved list as soon as possible." ...

The Diocese of Covington requires every volunteer to go through a three- to four-hour class, known as Virtus (a Latin word meaning "moral strength"), on how to prevent child sexual abuse. Those classes are generally offered a couple times a month.

This has been a requirement since 2002, after the priest sex abuse scandal was addressed at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Volunteers must also read monthly electronic newsletters on preventing child sex abuse and undergo a background check like the public school volunteers in Kentucky.

Posted by kshaw at 06:57 AM

Priest-abuse allegations build

INDIANA
Post-Tribune

Aug. 8, 2005

By Jon Seidel / Post-Tribune staff writer

The Rev. Richard Emerson of Michigan City is facing further allegations of sexual misconduct.

New claims have been made against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary priest who is already facing an investigation by the Catholic Church, the Rev. Brian Chadwick, the diocese’s spokesman, said.

The allegations have been found to be credible, Chadwick said, and therefore the parishes Emerson has served were notified this weekend, as have the police.

“This is not a finding of guilt,” Chadwick said.

Chadwick said he did not know where the incident purportedly occurred nor whether the victim was a minor.

The Rev. Michael Yadron on Sunday, though, passed along information about the accusations to his congregation at St. Thomas More in Munster.

Posted by kshaw at 06:54 AM

Protesters rally as archbishop leads final Mass in S.F.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Mercury News

By Julie Sevrens Lyons
Mercury News

Just 10 minutes before Archbishop William J. Levada gave his farewell Mass in San Francisco on Sunday, about 3,000 supporters loaded their cameras with film and eagerly filled up every one of the more than 200 pews in St. Mary's Cathedral.

Outside, his detractors staged a silent vigil, and one helped serve the embattled church head with a subpoena -- ordering him to appear in a Hayward law office on Friday to discuss his handling of sex abuse cases involving clergy members while he was the archbishop of Portland, Ore.

The end of Levada's 10-year reign as the leader of the San Francisco Archdiocese did nothing to end the controversy that has swirled around the man who goes to Rome later this month to fill the highest Vatican position ever held by an American.

Posted by kshaw at 06:52 AM

Protest over sexual abuse clouds bishop's departure

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
The Desert Sun

Garance Burke
The Associated Press
August 8, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Roman Catholic Archbishop William Levada, soon to be the highest ranking American at the Vatican, celebrated his last Sunday Mass here before thousands of admiring parishioners.

But the event also drew critics. And minutes before Levada began the procession to the altar at St. Mary's Cathedral he was handed a subpoena to testify concerning sex-abuse cases again clergy members.

Levada, a native of Long Beach, will leave later this month for his new appointment as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the post held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Posted by kshaw at 06:50 AM

Protests and Praise Mark Archbishop's Departure

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Newsday

By Donna Horowitz
Special to The Times

August 8, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop William Levada said goodbye Sunday to 3,500 enthusiastic supporters who filled St. Mary's Cathedral while more than 100 clergy sexual-abuse protesters stood vigil in front of the church.

Levada, 68, is heading off this month to become the chief guardian of Catholic doctrine for Pope Benedict XVI, the highest post to be held by an American at the Vatican.

Although this was supposed to be a day of celebration, a drama quietly played itself out behind the scenes before Levada celebrated his farewell Mass in the archdiocese.

Levada was served with a subpoena ordering him to be deposed on behalf of about 250 plaintiffs in sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Portland Archdiocese in Oregon.

When Levada balked at accepting the subpoena, Cookie Gambucci, who runs a court support services company in nearby Martinez, said she told him he could receive it then or that it would be served on him at the altar during the service.

She said Levada accepted the subpoena, but told her: "This is a disgrace to the church."

Posted by kshaw at 06:48 AM

August 07, 2005

Behind a Priest's Suicide

SAN JOSE (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Glenn F. Bunting, Times Staff Writer

SAN JOSE — On the day he was to report for jury duty, Father James Chevedden said the 11 a.m. Mass at the Sacred Heart chapel in Los Gatos before catching a ride downtown.

Shortly after jurors were dismissed on that breezy spring afternoon, security guards at a nearby transit authority building saw something falling from the six-story courthouse parking garage in San Jose.

At 4:48 p.m., paramedics found Chevedden's body face up on a patch of dirt. He died on his 56th birthday.

Although no suicide note was found, authorities say the Jesuit priest took his own life. He had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and he had severely injured himself at least once before.

An obituary in theAbuse Tracker Jesuit News reported that Chevedden jumped to his death May 19 last year "after a long struggle with mental illness."

His fatal leap "was not an act of a person in possession of his rational capacities," wrote Father John Martin, Chevedden's superior at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center.

But his therapist and distraught family members were puzzled. Chevedden seemed to be functioning well with prescribed medications and regular psychiatric treatment. He was active in the Bay Area, teaching catechism to children, leading Bible study groups and happily studying Judaism, Hebrew and Eastern Christianity.

It wasn't Chevedden's illness that had precipitated his death, they decided; it was something that had happened to him at Sacred Heart.

Posted by kshaw at 02:50 PM

Return of rapist pastor unsettles Tokelauans

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

08.08.05

By Angela Gregory

A Tokelau church pastor who admitted raping his stepdaughter but was never charged is now under scrutiny after intervention from New Zealand.

Pastor Iosua Faamoni sexually abused the 12-year-old while she was living with him on the Atafu atoll in the Tokelau group in 1992.

The girl spoke out about the offence six years later, although she never made a formal complaint, and Faamoni fled to Australia.

But he has since returned to Atafu and shocked some of the small community of about 500 when he resumed preaching and started asking for girls to be sent to live with him.

A New Zealand doctor who had worked in Tokelau, Peter Adam, told the Herald he was horrified when he returned last September to discover Faamoni back on the atoll.

Dr Adam said he knew the pastor's history of sexual abuse as the victim, who now lives in Australia, had first complained to the wife of a friend of his.

Posted by kshaw at 02:38 PM

Law lags in tackling sex abuse in schools

NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal

The Associated Press

ALBANY — Nicholas Provanzana was the kind of teacher administrators, fellow teachers and students at Washingtonville High School loved — "the coolest teacher alive," according to one music student's Internet posting in 2003.

They didn't know he had pleaded guilty to "offensive touching" of a minor in New Jersey after a night of heavy drinking and sex games in 2000 with two female students, according to New York state records. He served 60 days in jail and was on five years probation when he began teaching at Washingtonville, Orange County, state education records revealed.

Provanzana was among at least 77 men and women school employees, from New York City to the smallest rural districts, who lost their licenses over the past five years for sexual misconduct involving students, according to records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law. ...

Last week, a former English teacher at the all-boys Christian Brothers Academy in Albany was charged with rape for allegedly having sex with a student. Sandra Geisel, 42, was charged with two counts of third-degree rape and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

Educator abuse in public schools costs taxpayers millions of dollars in lawsuits and settlements — New York City alone paid $18.7 million in five years ending in 2001 to sexually abused students.

Posted by kshaw at 08:46 AM

Child molesters aren't necessarily strangers

FLORIDA
St. Petersburg Times

By KATHERINE SNOW SMITH, Times Correspondent
Published August 7, 2005

I'd been dreading the required training for close to a year.

Though I actually had conflicts every time the three-hour class was offered, I also thought it was a huge waste of time. Why did I need to take a class about sexual child abuse awareness? I certainly have no tendencies toward such horrible actions, and I seriously doubt that any of the other volunteers at our church do either. Furthermore, if my children were ever targeted by a molester, they would tell me right away, and that would be the end of it.

I thought the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida was being overly paranoid to require the course for any church member who teaches or comes into regular contact with children. But when I finally took the class on a recent Saturday morning, I actually found it eye-opening.

Sadly, I learned, a cute, normal-seeming 15-year-old volunteer or the beloved, longtime youth director can be the child molester we all fear but picture more as the creep hanging out at the park.

Research shows that only 10 percent of abuse is perpetrated by strangers, 30 percent is by a family member and 60 percent is someone else who the child and often the family knows. Furthermore, even the best parent-child relationship can be compromised by a cunning abuser who learns to gain children's trust and control them or threaten them to keep them from blowing the whistle.

Posted by kshaw at 08:37 AM

Child slavery, no less

MALTA
Malta Independent

by Marisa Micallef

In the 1950s and 1960s, difficult as it may seem to us parents now, hundreds of Maltese children (not orphans as I had previously thought) were sent to Australia to be educated by the so called Christian Brothers. Instead, these children were exploited, made to work for 14 hours a day, suffered terrible emotional and sometimes sexual abuse, and generally received no education at all. But more about their ordeal later.

This group of children, now adults, who suffered so abominably, are asking that Malta commemorates their plight with the following proposed wording inscribed on a plaque:

“This plaque commemorates the 310 child migrants who travelled to Australia in search of a better life between 1950 and 1965

We respect their achievements. We rejoice in their success. We regret any unintended consequences of child migration.”

They're not asking for much are they? It’s hardly asking us to go down on bended knee in shame for the crimes of our predecessors. Why do we find it so easy to praise ourselves but never to say sorry? This county is littered with plaques of various politicians opening up this, that and the other with our taxes. This country is littered with plaques, statuettes and God knows what else celebrating the achievements of our political classes and their sycophants. As a country we delight in composing self-congratulatory prose and text. Why is it so difficult to commemorate real suffering and sacrifice? Why is it so difficult for both the Church and the State to make an apology on behalf of their predecessors? None of the people involved are in power now so there should be no reluctance at all in this matter! But then this is a country where the freezing of two fused cells in a test tube creates more, or as much, moral outrage as children allegedly being abused by priests in Church homes, by millions of children starving to death in Africa, or any of the real problems children face here and elsewhere.

Posted by kshaw at 08:31 AM

Diocese needs to do more than promise

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

Five super-size Lemmon Drops:

I watched Twist of Faith again last week.

After reading the article in last Sunday's paper about the Toledo Catholic diocese working with law enforcement to conceal sex-abuse cases for 50 years, I felt compelled to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary a second time.

For those not familiar with Twist of Faith, it chronicles the life of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes around the time he went public with allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest, Dennis Gray.

My reaction after watching it on HBO in June: It's a shame what the leadership of the diocese has put Mr. Comes through in recent years.

My reaction after watching it on tape last week: It's a damn shame what he's been put through.

The diocese's leaders seem incapable of owning up to what took place.

Their stall-and-deny strategy, as detailed in the documentary, left me with a profound sense of sadness. It's not something you would expect from one of society's pillars.

Posted by kshaw at 08:27 AM

Sex, age consent and the courts

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer
First published: Sunday, August 7, 2005

In Vermont, Sandra Beth Geisel would not be a rape suspect. Sex there between an adult and a 16-year-old is not considered a crime.
Advertisement

But in New York, the former teacher faces up to four years in a state prison if convicted of third-degree rape for having sex with a Christian Brothers Academy student.

The explosive revelation that Geisel, the estranged wife of a prominent local banker, allegedly had sex with at least four teenage students shines a light on a controversial area of law and social norms.

Rape laws presume teens under a certain age which varies from state to state can't offer informed consent. In New York, teens younger than 17 are victims of rape if they have sex with someone older than 21, regardless of whether it is forced, coerced or desired.

Such laws are necessary, prosecutors assert, because such encounters are inherently traumatic and are likely to cause long-term harm to the underage victims.

But interviews with experts, research on adult-teen sex and the facts of the Geisel case itself complicate that analysis, raising questions about the appropriateness of the very words at the heart of the case: rape, abuse, trauma, victim.

The case comes at a time when the issue of priest sex abuse has focused attention on pedophilia, even as criminologists report that the frequency of child sex abuse is decreasing.

Posted by kshaw at 08:25 AM

Priest: Silence ordered on abuse

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Nancy Phillips, Mark Fazlollah and Craig R. McCoy
Inquirer Staff Writers

When the Rev. James Gigliotti told church officials in the early 1980s that a Northeast Philadelphia priest was molesting boys, he remembers receiving a stern warning.

"This comes from the highest authority: You're to keep your mouth shut," Gigliotti said an assistant chancellor told him.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese quickly removed the accused priest, the Rev. James J. Brzyski, from his parish in the Fox Chase section.

But the archdiocese did not tell parishioners the reason. Nor did it report Brzyski to police.

With his conduct a secret, Brzyski remained a welcome guest in parishioners' homes. A former altar boy said this meant Brzyski kept abusing him - for years.

Posted by kshaw at 08:20 AM

August 06, 2005

Arrest Shocks Catholic School

LAKELAND (FL)
The Ledger

By Diane Lacey Allen
The Ledger

LAKELAND -- News that Santa Fe Catholic High Principal Anthony Michael Iazzetti has been charged with soliciting two men to commit lewdness shocked the school's community Friday.

Iazzetti, a 61-year-old Marist Brother who took over the Crimson Hawks' helm last year, was arrested Thursday at Saddle Creek Park, which is located down the road from the high school on U.S. 92.

Iazzetti solicited two male undercover detectives to commit a lewd act on each other, a misdemeanor, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. He was released Friday on a $250 bail.

Iazzetti's arrest comes as the school appeared to be bouncing back from troubles in 2003, when the Diocese of Orlando threatened to close Santa Fe because of low enrollment and low funds.

Posted by kshaw at 09:10 AM

Some major settlements in Catholic clergy sex abuse cases

UNITED STATES
KUTV

Saturday August 06, 2005
Sexual abuse by U.S. Roman Catholic priests has cost the church more than $1 billion. Some of the largest known payouts to victims in the past three years:

Jan. 29, 2002 Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., pays an estimated $15 million to settle 11 lawsuits. Declares bankruptcy two years later in the face of more claims.

Sept. 9, 2002 Diocese of Providence, R.I., pays $13.5 million to settle 36 claims.

Sept. 19, 2002 Boston Archdiocese settles with 86 victims of former priest John Geoghan for $10 million.

Posted by kshaw at 09:01 AM

Deacon’s alleged sex acts revealed

HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin

By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com
WAILUKU » A Catholic deacon charged with 60 counts of sexual assault of a minor allegedly had oral sex with a boy nearly once a month for more than two years, according to an indictment that was unsealed yesterday.

James Ronald Gonsalves, 68, is accused of 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault for the alleged oral sex incidents, and 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault, which are described in the indictment only as sexual contact with the boy.

He is also accused of two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assaults for alleged incidents in 2002 and 2003, according to the grand jury indictment.

Gonsalves, who is on leave as a paid deacon and administrator at St. Ann Church in Waihee, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He has been freed after posting $100,000 bail pending trial on Sept. 26 and must remain in his Wailuku home except when visiting his attorney's office or his mother, a patient at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Details in the indictment were scant but indicated that the alleged first- and third-degree sexual assaults occurred nearly once a month from June 2002 until last December. The indictment also alleges he had oral sex with the boy twice this year, the last time on June 14.

Maui police have alleged that the June 14 assault occurred at St. Ann Church and that the assaults happened when the boy was ages 12 to 15.

Posted by kshaw at 08:56 AM

Out of the shadows

DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times

By Ann McGlynn

He grew up a block-and-a-half away from Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, the oldest of 12 from a Catholic family in a neighborhood of Catholic households.

He was baptized and confirmed at the church, served as an altar boy and attended the parochial school there. He began early in his childhood to dream of becoming a priest.

The reality is that Michl Uhde, now 55, is in his third marriage.
He works in sales.

And he is the victim of a pedophile priest, the Davenport resident said.

Uhde is the second person to file a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport since its settled with 37 sexual abuse victims for $9 million in October.

His lawsuit states that he suffered sexual and physical abuse for years at the hands of Monsignor Thomas Feeney, a priest who rose to the post of vicar general, or second-in-command of the diocese, before dying in 1981.

Posted by kshaw at 08:51 AM

Oakland diocese settles sex suits

OAKLAND (CA)
Oakland Tribune

By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to a $56.4 million settlement with 56 childhood sexual abuse survivors, capping three years of litigation and four months of intense negotiation.

This ranks among the largest settlements reached by U.S. dioceses in the abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.

The Oakland Diocese — serving half a million Catholics in Alameda and Contra Costa counties — will pay about $25.3 million itself, with the rest covered by its insurers, to end all existing sex-abuse lawsuits naming it as a defendant.

Bishop Allen Vigneron issued a statement expressing his "heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing."

He and all East Bay priests will do all they can to make it so, he added, renewing his apology to victims and his commitment to ensuring children's safety.

Posted by kshaw at 08:47 AM

Diocese settles abuse suits

OAKLAND (CA)
Mercury News

By Bruce Gerstman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland announced Friday that it had settled lawsuits with 56 victims of sex abuse for a total of $56 million.

The settlements come after about four months of negotiations and ends all such suits against the diocese.

"My clients are relieved that they can finally bring this to closure," said attorney Rick Simons, who represented about half of the plaintiffs. "They can be satisfied that they have done something concrete to make sure the sex abuse they experienced is never repeated."

The individual settlements range from $200,000 to more than $2 million, Simons said.

The Oakland diocese, which encompasses churches in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is tied to about a third of Northern California sexual abuse cases, involving 24 priests. Northern California dioceses have been involved in more than 150 sex abuse lawsuits.

Posted by kshaw at 08:41 AM

Priest tells of a 'surreal ordeal'

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Anita Guidera

06 August 2005
An Irish priest who has successfully challenged extradition proceedings against him in the USA to face child sex abuse charges is protesting his innocence - but he has admitted that his life as a priest is over.

Fr Pat Colleary (55), a native of the village of Curry in Co Sligo, was facing two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of attempted sexual conduct with a 10-year-old altar boy in Phoenix, Arizona, where he had worked as a priest since his ordination in 1974.

Colleary returned to Ireland in January, 2003, on legal advice after a warrant had been issued for his arrest by the Maricopa County Attorney's office and later became the subject of extradition proceedings.

But last week he won a High Court case in which he challenged those proceedings on the grounds of the time delay in reporting the alleged offence and the bail regime in Arizona which the High Court ruled would amount to an infringement of his constitutional right to liberty.

Speaking to the Sligo Champion newspaper from his rural south Sligo home near the Mayo border, Colleary praised the local community which had supported him throughout what he described as "a surreal ordeal".

Posted by kshaw at 08:39 AM

Calif. Church Settles Abuse Suits for $56M

CALIFORNIA
Norman Transcript

By KIM CURTIS
The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO —

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the diocese said.

The agreement is a series of individual settlements with each remaining victim who alleged abuse by Oakland priests, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. Negotiations took more than four months and were overseen by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

The diocese did not say how much each alleged victim would receive.

"It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing," Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron said in a statement Friday.

Posted by kshaw at 08:37 AM

August 05, 2005

Man Warns Neighbors of a Pedophile

DAVENPORT (IA)
WHBF

Defrocked Davenport Priest James Janssen was found guilty of sexually abusing his nephew, James Wells, in a civil court in May. But since Janssen was found guilty in a civil court and not on criminal charges, his name isn't on the sex offender registry. On Thursday Wells went out to warn Janssen's neighbors that they are living next to a pedophile. But the reaction Wells got from neighbors and Janssen himself was more explosive than he imagined.

Seventeen-year-old Paula Lisenbee was upset when she went out to her car an saw a flyer on her windshield claiming that her neighbor, James Janssen, was a pedophile.

"I mean who wants to wake up in the morning, got out to their car and see this (flyer of Janssen) is a sexual predator? You need to protect your children?" says Lisenbee.

Paula Lisenbee has lived in the same building as Janssen for three years. She says he's always been a gentlemen and that posting notices saying he's a sexual predator is nothing but a glorified witch hunt. James Janssen himself promptly started taking fliers, displaying his face, off of cars.

Posted by kshaw at 09:26 PM

Parishioners React To Vosen Verdict

WISCONSIN
WKOW

Fri 08/05/2005 -

At Saint Joseph's Catholic Church parishioners say they have nothing to celebrate.

Their cherished priest, Father Gerald Vosen, once stood at the pulpit there, but now they say their priest is being crucified by false accusations of sexual abuse.

"There are not enough good words to describe him", said parishioner Laura Stanek. "He is a holy man a wonderful man, nothing but goodness", she added.

Laura Stanek's eyes fill with tears as she talked about her friend and priest.

She says this church is not the same without him.

A Rock County jury ruled against Vosen in a defamation lawsuit this week, believing the accuser over the priest.

That accuser, 26 year old peter arnold, says Vosen raped him when he was an altar boy more than 15 years ago. Vosen was a priest in Janesville at that time.

Posted by kshaw at 09:23 PM

Compo for abuse victim

AUSTRALIA
The Border Mail

Sat, Aug 06, 2005

THE Anglican Church has offered a six-figure compensation deal to the woman whose claims of child sexual abuse against a priest brought down a governor-general.

Beth Heinrich, now aged in her 60s, says she was sexually assaulted by Anglican priest Donald Shearman while a 15-year-old school girl boarder at a hostel at Forbes in the 1950s.

Just before his appointment as governor-general, Ms Heinrich approached then Brisbane Anglican archbishop Peter Hollingworth for help.

Posted by kshaw at 09:20 PM

Jury Decides Against Priest In Defamation Case

JANESVILLE (WI)
TheMilwaukeeChannel.com

POSTED: 6:56 pm CDT August 5, 2005
UPDATED: 7:01 pm CDT August 5, 2005

JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Jurors in Rock County have decided against a Catholic priest who said he was falsely accused of sexual abuse by a former altar boy.

After two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected claims that the 26-year-old man had concocted the story and that he had defamed Father Gerald Vosen, of Baraboo.

Vosen had sued the man claiming the allegations were false. His attorney asked jurors to award the priest more than $1 million in punitive damages.

Posted by kshaw at 09:16 PM

Oakland diocese to settle abuse cases for $56 mln

CALIFORNIA
Reuters

Fri Aug 5, 2005 9:28 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, agreed on Friday to pay $56.3 million to settle 56 cases of sexual abuse of children by priests from 1962 to 1985, lawyers and the church said.

Plaintiffs' lawyer Rick Simons said the settlement represented all abuse cases against the Oakland diocese, with the amounts per victim ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $2 million.

"This news is a great relief to those Catholic children who silently suffered for years with the pain and harm of sexual abuse by their priest," he said.

The Catholic Church in the United States has faced hundreds of lawsuits in recent years involving charges of pedophilia by some priests.

Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron again expressed his regret about the crimes dating back decades.

"I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors," he said in a statement. "It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing."

Posted by kshaw at 09:09 PM

Father Sewar pleads not guilty to charges

ROCHESTER (NY)
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 08-05-2005)

By Rob Cullivan/Catholic Courier

ROCHESTER -- During an Aug. 2 arraignment in City Court, Father Dennis R. Sewar pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to court documents, the alleged incidents of abuse took place between the end of October 1999 and August 2001, during which time Father Sewar was pastor of Rochester's Church of the Annunciation. Court documents state that the alleged victim was a teenage boy who claimed the priest repeatedly touched him in an inappropriate manner, and that the alleged abuse stopped when the boy turned 16.

Father Sewar, a diocesan priest who has been on administrative leave since mid-June, was arrested on the charges July 22.

City Court Judge John E. Elliott ordered Father Sewar to have no contact with his accuser. The priest is slated to appear in court again on Aug. 17. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison on each charge, according to his attorney, John F. Speranza.

Posted by kshaw at 09:04 PM

Trial Date Set for Maui Deacon

HAWAII
KHNL

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) -

Trial for a Roman Catholic deacon on Maui accused of sexually assaulting a boy has been rescheduled to November 18th.

James "Ron" Gonsalves has pleaded innocent to 62 counts of first- and third-degree sexual assault of a minor.

Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto also granted a defense motion yesterday to allow the 68-year-old Gonsalves to visit his mother at Maui Memorial Medical Center with an escort from his attorney's office.

Gonsalves was released Monday, after posting $100,000 bail under provisions that kept him confined to his home in Wailuku, except when visiting his attorney's office.

Posted by kshaw at 09:01 PM

Oakland diocese settles remaining suits with victims alleging abuse

OAKLAND (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

By KIM CURTIS, Associated Press Writer

Friday, August 5, 2005

(08-05) 16:28 PDT San Francisco (AP) --

The Oakland diocese has agreed to settle its remaining lawsuits filed by more than 50 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the plaintiffs' lawyers announced Friday.

The settlement — no dollar amount was released — is a series of individual settlements with each remaining victim who alleged abuse by Oakland priests, according to a press release from the lawyers. The negotiations took more than four months and were overseen by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

Messages left seeking comment Friday from a diocese spokesman were not immediately returned.

"There is no amount of money that can ever bring back the stolen innocence and destroyed faith that sexual molestation by a child's priest causes," said Larry Drivon, a Stockton lawyer who represents half of the alleged victims. "These settlements are adequate and fair."

The settlements mean at least 15 trials set to begin in upcoming months were canceled, the lawyers said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:53 PM

Oakland diocese settles with 56 victims of clergy sexual abuse

OAKLAND (CA)
Mercury News

By Dan Hull
Mercury News

The Diocese of Oakland has agreed to settle with 56 survivors of sexual abuse by its priests, ending four months of intense legal negotiations that were supervised by Alameda County Superior Court Judge David Hunter.

The $56 million settlement, announced today, is remarkable because each individual case was negotiated separately.

Posted by kshaw at 08:49 PM

Gonsalves trial set for Nov. 14

HAWAII
The Maui News

WAILUKU – A Nov. 14 trial was set in 2nd Circuit Court for Deacon Ron Gonsalves, who is charged with sexual abuse of a boy over a three-year period.

Gonsalves, 68, has pleaded not guilty to 62 counts of sexual assault.

He was released from jail Monday after posting $100,000 bail.

As a condition of his release on bail, Gonsalves has been ordered not to go within one mile of St. Ann Church in Waihee and to have no contact with minors.

Posted by kshaw at 08:44 PM

New Reports Of Abuse Against Former Colorado Priest

DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

POSTED: 4:58 pm MDT August 5, 2005

DENVER -- A former Roman Catholic priest now living in Denver faces a growing number of claims he sexually abused boys when he served in Colorado parishes between 1960 and 1993.

Twelve men so far this year have told The Denver Post they were abused by H. Robert White, 72, when they were children. Some told the newspaper they reported the allegations as early as the 1960s, only to watch White move to other parishes.

Lynn Boersma of Steamboat Springs said Friday that her brother, Marlin Black, was a 13th victim who was abused in the early 1960s when White was a pastor in Denver. Black died last year.

White could not be located for comment; there is no telephone listing for him and a woman reached at a home where he had been living said he had left. He has told the Post he does not remember the alleged victim who was the first to speak with the newspaper, and has declined to answer whether he was ever accused of abuse.

The Archdiocese of Denver does not comment on assault allegations, but has said it addresses complaints seriously, offers counseling and reports cases to law-enforcement officers. White has not been a priest since 1993, a decade before the nation's priest abuse scandal erupted.

Posted by kshaw at 08:41 PM

Group: Take priest off bulletin

GREAT NECK (NY)
Newsday

BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER

August 5, 2005

A Catholic lay group is asking Bishop William Murphy to remove the name of Msgr. Alan Placa, a suspended priest at the center of diocese's abuse scandal, from the parish bulletin of St. Aloysius in Great Neck.

Listing Placa as "in residence" implies he is a priest in good standing, charges a letter sent yesterday to the Diocese of Rockville Centre by Voice of the Faithful. The group said Murphy is not honoring his promise that no priest with a credible allegation of sexual abuse would serve in pastoral ministry.

Sean Dolan, a spokesman for Murphy, said Placa was abiding by the terms of his suspension by not celebrating Mass in public or wearing his Roman Catholic collar. "He is not presenting himself as a priest in public," Dolan said. He noted that the bishop has given Placa permission to say some funeral Masses.

However, Voice of the Faithful argues the front-page listing, with a phone number under his name, invites the public to contact him. "How is that not representing himself as an active priest and how is that not representing himself as being active in ministry?" said Dan Bartley, the group's co-director.

Placa, a former vice chancellor, founded the "intervention team" that handled the internal investigations of complaints against priests. A 2003 Suffolk County grand jury report said he was the architect of a scheme to shuffle offending priests and trick victims into keeping quiet. Placa, who has denied any wrongdoing, was unavailable for comment, as was Msgr. Brendan Riordan, pastor of the parish where Placa lives in the rectory.

Posted by kshaw at 08:40 AM

Ex-town priest admits sex assault charges

BRITAIN
Times & Star

Published on 05/08/2005

FORMER Workington priest Father Gregory Peter Carroll has admitted 15 charges of indecent assault and five counts of gross indecency.

The victims were all under 14 at the time and were connected to private school Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, where Fr Carroll was based between 1973 and 1983.

Fr Gregory spent 14 years at Workington’s Our Lady and St Michael’s Church from 1987.

The charges were brought after a 12-month police probe into Ampleforth Abbey, attached to an independent school run by Benedictine monks.

Fr Gregory appeared at York Crown Court and he pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced on September 19.

Posted by kshaw at 08:16 AM

Priest used lurid advances ‘to put men on the right path’

CYPRUS
Cyprus Mail

By Leo Leonidou

A PRIEST has landed himself in hot water after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young men, in which he allegedly expressed his willingness to provide them with any sexual services they wanted.

According to Phileleftheros, the propositioning would be expressed through phone calls and text messages in which the priest would go into sordid sexual details.

When asked why he had behaved in this manner, the priest apparently told the newspaper, “I did it with the aim of bringing the men closer to the Church.”

Posted by kshaw at 08:11 AM

Diocese won't comment on Vosen verdict

JANESVILLE (WI)
Janesville Gazette

(Published Friday, August 5, 2005 07:41:07 AM CDT)

By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff

Because the Rev. Gerald Vosen soon will be tried by the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Madison, the diocese's leader, Bishop Robert Morlino, said he was not allowed to comment on a verdict reached Thursday afternoon in Rock County.

A Rock County jury unanimously decided in a civil trial that accusations of sexual abuse against Vosen were true.

Morlino issued a press release soon afterward to say he was barred from comment.

Addressing the case's background, the bishop said:

"With the advice of the diocesan review board, I placed Father Vosen on administrative leave and reported the matter to the Holy See (Vatican) in accord with church law. The Holy See has instructed that a canonical (church) trial take place to determine Father Vosen's guilt or innocence. Thus any personal judgment in the matter is of no consequence because the matter will be resolved by a canonical tribunal of which I am not a member.

Posted by kshaw at 08:06 AM

Diocese Wants To Sell Senior Mobile Home Park

CITRUS HEIGHTS (CA)
KCRA

POSTED: 8:33 am PDT August 4, 2005
UPDATED: 8:45 am PDT August 4, 2005

CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. -- Strapped by a recent $35 million sexual abuse settlement, the Sacramento Catholic Diocese has come up with a plan to raise some money that has some seniors outraged.

The diocese wants to sell the 130-acre Lakeview Village mobile home park in Citrus Heights.

Park residents were recently mailed a letter notifying them of the possible sale, which has many of them concerned.

"The biggest concern is that it would be sold to some organization who would want to convert it to something completely different than a mobile home park ... lord only knows what," resident Bill Sweeney said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:04 AM

Group seeks resignation of 2 over diocese abuse cover-up

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

The leader of a local victims' advocacy group is urging Bishop Leonard Blair of the Toledo Catholic Diocese to ask for the resignations of Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly and the Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar, for allegedly concealing crimes of child sexual abuse by priests.

"We believe that you will never be viewed as an agent of healing and change while you are surrounded by the very same leadership who actively participated in the concealing of these crimes from the court system," Claudia Vercellotti said in a letter to Bishop Blair.

She also asked Bishop Blair to end the diocese's business relationship with the law firm of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick.

Ms. Vercellotti, local co-coordinator of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she faxed the letter to the Catholic Center yesterday, but as of 6:30 last night, it had not arrived at Bishop Blair's office, according to Sally Oberski, director of communications for the diocese.

"The bishop cannot respond to a letter that he has not read yet," Ms. Oberski said.

The SNAP letter was sent four days after The Blade published an article detailing cases dating back 50 years in which the diocese worked with law-enforcement officials to conceal sex-abuse crimes by priests.

Posted by kshaw at 08:01 AM

Former altar boy speaks out about sex abuse

DAVENPORT (IA)
WQAD

By Kelly Hessedal

DAVENPORT - Tonight a Davenport man relives painful memories of a former pastor he says abused him when he was a child.

Michael Uhde recently filed a lawsuit against the Davenport Diocese and Msgr. Thomas Feeney. He says the abuse began while he was an alter boy at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. He says Feeney took him on bird watching outings at Credit Island Park and molested him.

"I'd buried it, put it away for all those years," said Uhde. "It's ruined my life in a lot of ways, robbed my childhood innocence, my dreams."

"It's a very painful thing for anyone to go through," he added.

Painful - even though Feeney passed away in 1981-and Uhde's now 55 years old. He says he filed a lawsuit against the diocese after he requested an independent investigation into Feeney's career and was denied. He says he's looking for answers to many questions.

Posted by kshaw at 07:49 AM

Group warns: Defrocked priest living in the area

DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times

By Thomas Geyer

He only has lost a lawsuit in civil court and is not required to register as a sex offender in Iowa.

But a group known as Catholics for Spiritual Healing distributed fliers Thursday evening in the 400 block of West Columbia Avenue in Davenport to warn people that defrocked priest James Janssen is allegedly living nearby.

Janssen's nephew, Jim Wells, who won a $1.89 million judgment in May against his uncle for nine years of sexual abuse that ended in 1962, was among the group. "This is not revenge," Wells said. "If we can protect one child, this was well worth the effort."

About 12 people went door to door in the area putting the fliers on car windows and front doors or handing them to area residents. Janssen came out of one of the apartment buildings and took at least one flier off a car window.

The Rev. David Hitch, a member of the group, tried to talk to Janssen. He later said Janssen merely said to him, "How can you be so cruel," before heading back indoors.

Posted by kshaw at 07:47 AM

Priest loses defamation litigation

JANESVILLE (WI)
Appleton Post-Crescent

The Associated Press

JANESVILLE — A jury on Thursday decided against a Catholic priest who said he was falsely accused of sexual abuse by a former altar boy, concluding the allegations were substantially true.

After two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected claims the 26-year-old man had defamed the Rev. Gerald Vosen of Baraboo by concocting the story of abuse to explain to his parents why he was gay.

John Casey, the man’s attorney, said his client’s credibility was attacked for more than a year, but it took a jury only two hours to substantiate his claims that the priest abused him while an altar boy and student at a Catholic elementary school in Janesville.

“My client has been vindicated. Now the public knows he is not a liar,” Casey said.

Vosen, 71, had sued the man last year claiming the allegations were false. His attorney asked jurors to award the priest $1.1 million in punitive damages. Vosen’s attorney, Patrick McDonald, said the jury may have been prejudiced by news coverage of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal.

Posted by kshaw at 07:44 AM

Suit claims sexual abuse of priest in Los Gatos

LOS GATOS (CA)
Mercury News

By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News

The family of a Jesuit priest who committed suicide last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that his religious superiors failed to protect him from sexual abuse at a Los Gatos residential center for retired clergy.

Jesuit officials have denied the allegations in the suit. But the case raises echoes of a scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic religious order three years ago, when the Jesuits paid $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two developmentally disabled men who were molested by two members of the order while living at the same facility.

Now the family of the late Rev. James Chevedden says that one of the same molesters groped Chevedden's genitals while he was in a wheelchair recovering from an earlier suicide attempt.

``They didn't protect this guy,'' said Robert L. Mezzetti II, a San Jose attorney who represents Chevedden's family. ``They put an invalid who had mental and emotional problems in the custody and care of a sex offender.''

The order's top official for California, the Rev. Thomas Smolich, refused to discuss the lawsuit's specific allegations. While expressing sympathy for Chevedden's family, Smolich called the lawsuit ``groundless and without merit.''

Posted by kshaw at 07:41 AM

Jury rules against Vosen

JANESVILLE (WI)
Baraboo News Republic

By Ryan J. Foley (Associated Press) and Molly Borgstrom (News Republic)

JANESVILLE - Supporters of suspended Baraboo priest Gerald Vosen cried and took turns hugging him in back of the courtroom Thursday after Vosen lost a defamation suit against a man who claims the priest sexually abused him as a child.

Vosen said he does not know what to do now that his attempt to clear his name in court failed.

"I'm just very surprised and very disappointed," he said.

The priest didn't react during the reading of the verdict but seemed shaken as he stood among his attorney and supporters for about 15 minutes afterward.

The decision also stunned Vosen's supporters, who had attended the four-day trial in support of the long-time priest. They filled the courtroom to stand behind the man they described as gentle and caring.

Posted by kshaw at 07:38 AM

Church victim offered compensation

AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

05aug05
THE Anglican Church has offered a six-figure compensation deal to the woman whose claims of child sexual abuse against a priest brought down a governor-general.

Beth Heinrich, now aged in her 60s, says she was sexually assaulted by Anglican priest Donald Shearman while she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl boarder at a hostel in Forbes, western New South Wales in the 1950s.

Ms Heinrich approached then Brisbane Anglican Archbishop Peter Hollingworth for assistance, just prior to his appointment as governor-general, but he apparently fobbed her off, suggesting she had in fact instigated the abuse.

Dr Hollingworth's comments led to public outcry, a church inquiry and his subsequent resignation in 2003.

Law firm Slater and Gordon, acting for Ms Heinrich, confirmed a six-figure offer had been offered, and was expected to be formalised very soon.

Posted by kshaw at 07:36 AM

Priest called actions "the will of God," godson says

COLORADO
Denver Post

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer

Harold Robert White invited many Catholic boys to his family's cabin in Grand Lake over the years. Delbert C. "Skip" Nielsen III was among the chosen ones.

Nielsen was no ordinary parishioner, either. He was White's godson.

He went alone with White to the mountains and no one gave a thought to it. He was 10 or 11.

On that night in the mid-1960s, Nielsen said, his godfather the Roman Catholic priest crawled into bed with him.

"He groped me, fondled me, told me it was the will of God," Skip Nielsen told The Denver Post this week. "He said that he was one of God's disciples, that it was OK, that it was normal."

White did not respond Thursday to messages seeking comment. He has previously refused to answer questions about allegations of child sexual abuse against him.

Posted by kshaw at 07:33 AM

August 04, 2005

Judge dismisses suit against man's parents

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

(Published Thursday, August 4, 2005 10:53:53 AM CDT)

By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff

The defamation lawsuit filed by a Catholic priest against the parents of a young man who accused the priest of sexual abuse was dismissed early Wednesday afternoon.

However, the civil trial against the young man continued and was to resume this morning.

Judge John Roethe granted defense attorney John Casey's motion for a directed verdict of dismissal. Roethe found that the parents had acted within the conditional privileges allowed by the law to make defamatory statements.

In his suit, the Rev. Gerald Vosen alleged that the 26-year-old Milwaukee man and his parents, who are Janesville residents, made false and defamatory statements to the Diocese of Madison that Vosen had sexually assaulted the man when he was a student at St. John Vianney School and Vosen was pastor of the parish.

After Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald of Janesville, rested his case, Roethe ruled in the parents' favor.

Roethe explained that people are allowed to make defamatory statements under certain conditions, such as reporting sexual abuse, because in those circumstances the statements could be made for some higher purpose, such as protecting society.

Posted by kshaw at 12:35 PM

Young man's claims 'devastating': Priest

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

(Published Thursday, August 4, 2005 10:53:51 AM CDT)

By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff

A young man's allegations of sexual abuse were devastating, said the Catholic priest against whom the charges were made.

"It was very devastating to realize that your name, your person was now mired in the deplorable situation within the church of clergy sexual abuse. It's hard to put into words," the Rev. Gerald Vosen said Wednesday in Rock County Court.

Vosen is suing the 26-year-old Milwaukee man and his parents for allegedly making false and defamatory statements about him to the Diocese of Madison.

The man reported to diocese officials that Vosen repeatedly sexually assaulted him during 1990-'92 when he was 11 and 12 years old and in the fifth and sixth grades at St. John Vianney School in Janesville.

Vosen was then pastor of the parish.

Posted by kshaw at 12:34 PM

Attorney says abuse claims concocted to justify sex orientation

JANESVILLE (WI)
Duluth News Tribune

RYAN FOLEY
Associated Press

JANESVILLE, Wis. - A 26-year-old man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest when he was an altar boy concocted the story to explain to his parents why he was gay, the accused priest's attorney argued Thursday.

Attorney Patrick McDonald urged Rock County Circuit Court jurors to award compensatory and punitive damages to the Rev. Gerald Vosen, for what McDonald said were the false accusations made by the man.

In a two-hour closing argument, McDonald said the Milwaukee man made up the story about being abused in fifth and sixth grade at St. John Vianney School in Janesville to justify to his parents his sexual orientation.

"That's why he made up this lie," McDonald said. "Little did he suspect this was going to mushroom and have a devastating effect on so many lives."

McDonald said the man's parents quickly reported the allegations against Vosen to the Diocese of Madison, and that the man was forced to stand by what he had said.

Posted by kshaw at 11:42 AM

Victims' group calls on diocese to explain cover-up with police

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By JOE MAHR
BLADE STAFF WRITER

After revelations the Catholic diocese worked with law enforcement to conceal sex-abuse cases for 50 years, a priest and a local victims' advocacy group are demanding church leaders answer questions about the diocese's role in the cover-up.

The local chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests plans to deliver a letter to church headquarters today, calling on Bishop Leonard Blair and others to explain, in a public forum, how the diocese handled the sexual-abuse crisis.

"We think he owes us - all of us - nothing less than the full, unabridged truth, from start to finish, and we haven't gotten that," said Claudia Vercellotti, co-leader of the Toledo SNAP chapter.

The Rev. Stephen Stanbery, a past critic of the diocese's handling of the sex-abuse crisis, singled out Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly and the Rev. Michael Billian, the Episcopal Vicar for Administration, for their handling of the case of former priest Dennis Gray, accused by a dozen boys of raping and abusing them in the 1980s.

"If they're not prepared to submit to questions, they should resign," said Father Stanbery, who called previously for the pair's resignation after revelations of what the diocese knew about the Gray case.

Posted by kshaw at 10:39 AM

Local says he was molested by priest

ASPEN (CO)
The Aspen Times

By John Colson
August 4, 2005

A former priest who is being investigated over allegations that he molested minors in various Colorado parishes has been accused of molesting at least one boy in Aspen while working here.

That alter boy, who is an adult working in Aspen today and asked not to be identified, confirmed this week that the Rev. Harold Robert White came to his house one day while working as pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church in Aspen and "inappropriate behavior" took place.

"I'd rather leave the details out of it," said the man, who was in his late teens at the time the incident took place.

The victim, who still is a Catholic, said he told his parents immediately and that his parents talked with other parishioners about the matter then contacted the Denver Archdiocese to report the incident.

"He was gone within the week," the man said of White. "I never saw him again. For me, it's never been a big deal. I'm not going to sue the church for millions."

Posted by kshaw at 08:06 AM

Lawmaker pushes to end statute of limitations in sex abuse of minors

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | August 4, 2005

Frustrated that the Legislature has yet to act in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, state Senator Steven A. Baddour and 10 Merrimac Valley residents launched an effort yesterday for a 2006 ballot referendum that would abolish the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sexual abuse of minors.

Baddour, a Methuen Democrat, said the abuse allegations that rocked the Catholic Church in 2002 demonstrated that current laws, which limit the time victims have to file criminal charges and civil claims, often allow pedophiles to escape accountability.

''They shouldn't be able to hide behind the statute of limitations," Baddour said. ''In the Catholic Church scandal, they scared these kids for decades."

State Representative Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, filed a similar bill in December 2003, but it went nowhere. It was filed again in December 2004 but has yet to get a hearing.

For the measure to appear on the ballot, backers must gather roughly 66,000 signatures this fall. If the Legislature doesn't approve it by May 2006, supporters would have to gather about 11,000 additional signatures for it to appear on the ballot that November.

Posted by kshaw at 08:02 AM

Former area priest pleads not guilty

WATERLOO (NY)
Finger Lakes Times

By CRAIG FOX
Finger Lakes Times
cfox@fltimes.com

WATERLOO — A former St. Mary’s Church priest plans to fight allegations that he sexually abused a teenage boy 50 times over two years while the two watched baseball in the rectory of a Rochester church.

The Rev. Dennis Sewar, 54, who served at St. Mary’s in 1997 and 1998, pleaded not guilty in Rochester City Court Tuesday to misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child for the alleged incidents at the Church of the Annunciation in northeast Rochester.

Court records say the incidents occurred between 1999 and 2001 while the boy visited the rectory to watch baseball on a big-screen television in the priest’s private living quarters.

The documents say the two sat in a double-size reclining chair and that the incidents began with Sewer holding the boy’s hands. The victim’s deposition says Sewar ultimately touched his genital area “on 50 different occasions over the two years.”

“I was uncomfortable with this, but I was afraid to tell him to stop,” the victim says in his deposition.

Posted by kshaw at 07:59 AM

Don't Cover Up Abuse of Children

TOLEDO (OH)
The Intelligencer

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of reports that Toledo police helped the Catholic Church cover up allegations of sexual abuse by priests is the appearance that, for many years, the nauseating practice had widespread acceptance.

From the 1950s through at least 1984, police helped the Catholic Diocese of Toledo cover up sexual abuse of boys by a few priests, the Toledo Blade reported. In at least five situations, police refused to even investigate complaints that priests were abusing children.
Toledo police officials and the diocese say that priests no longer receive any preferential treatment. That's good - but it is long, long overdue. No one who molests children should escape punishment.

According to the Blade's investigation, Anthony Bosch, who served as Toledo police chief from 1956 to 1970, had an "unwritten rule" that priests would not be arrested. But failure to protect young victims appears in some ways to have been part of the police department's basic culture for many years. One officer who arrested a priest for sexually abusing a boy in 1984 said that, after breaking the "unwritten rule," he received harrassing telephone calls from other officers.

Posted by kshaw at 07:57 AM

Editorial | Grand Jury Report on Predator Priests

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelpia Inquirer

The kids are not all right. And it's the grown-ups' fault.

In the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, many children were abused by predators into whose pastoral care they were placed.

Then the children were failed by church higher-ups who ignored and, in some instances, helped hide reports of abuse by moving clergy without alerting authorities.

Now it appears that these victims have been failed by the legal system.

That's the disheartening disclosure from a Philadelphia grand jury investigating sex abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.

As reported yesterday by The Inquirer, the grand jury - following nearly three long years of work - will detail abuses by more than 50 priests. Out of all those cases, though, not one new criminal charge will be pursued.

The grand jury report by District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's staff won't be out for some weeks. It's important to reserve judgment until then on whether the decision to file no charges was sound.

To the extent that the grand jury report may document how church officials shielded abusers, and blast them for that, it could provide some justice for sex-abuse victims. Goodness knows, those victims are due at least that vindication.

Posted by kshaw at 07:56 AM

Philly archdiocese escapes charges

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Centre Daily Times

By Maryclaire Dale
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- After hearing from hundreds of witnesses, a grand jury reportedly will conclude that no criminal charges can be brought against the Philadelphia Archdiocese for its supervision of Roman Catholic priests who sexually abused children.

The grand jury's report documents assaults on children by more than 50 priests, but state laws, including legal time limits, prevent prosecutors from filing charges, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, the message the church receives by no indictments is that they're above the law," said nurse Diane Freedman Drinker, 45, of Conshohocken, who told the panel she was sexually assaulted by a Philadelphia-area priest from the age of 10 until she was 16.

At least 11 grand juries nationwide have completed investigations of dioceses in the last three years, but none resulted in criminal charges against bishops concerning their management of priest-abuse cases. They include panels in Los Angeles, Boston and Arizona.

Posted by kshaw at 07:54 AM

Sex abuse charges: Curry priest says he's innocent

IRELAND
Sligo Champion

The Sligo priest who has won a High Court challenge against his extradition to Arizona to face sexual abuse charges has proclaimed his innocence but has said he is resigned to the fact that his life as a priest "is over".

Exclusive by Jim Gray

In an exclusive interview with The Sligo Champion, Fr. Pat Colleary, also told how the support and prayers of his family and community in the tightly-knit South Sligo area of his native Curry helped him through what he described as a "surreal ordeal".

"I am absolutely innocent, and my knowledge of that innocence has helped to keep me going through this.

"I have also been greatly strengthened by the support of my family and the local community in Curry, particularly the local GAA club. I have never been ostracised from the community, I have been made to feel part of it. That support, that belief in my innocence, has helped me through.

Posted by kshaw at 07:52 AM

August 03, 2005

Attorneys Seek Change Of Venue In Church Abuse Case

AMITE (LA)
TheNewOrleansChannel.com

POSTED: 11:33 am CDT August 3, 2005
UPDATED: 12:33 pm CDT August 3, 2005

AMITE, La. -- Attorneys for two men charged with raping children are asking for access to the evidence against their clients and a change of venue because of pretrial publicity in the case against the Hosanna Church members.

The judge in the case has not ruled on those requests, but did set bond at $350,000 for Austin Bernard. The other accused man appearing in District Judge Doug Hughes' courtroom, Allen Pierson, was released last week after posting $300,000 bail.

Attorneys for both men indicated that their request to change the location of the trial because of the intensive media coverage of the investigation is premature, but they asked the judge to take the request under consideration.

Posted by kshaw at 07:14 PM

Priests lose appeal

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

04 August 2005

Former St John of God brothers fighting prosecution for child-sex abuse have lost their Supreme Court bid to have the charges thrown out.

Bernard Kevin McGrath and another former Catholic priest with name suppression appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn charges, alleging the evidence against them was too old to allow them a fair trial, a court judgment said.

But Supreme Court Justices Gault and Tipping said the men must go to trial before they could appeal against any charges.

The former priests were committed to trial on numerous charges of sexual offending against boys aged under 16 between 1968 and 1977, according to the Supreme Court judgment.

Appeals by the men relating to the age of evidence in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal were dismissed before they made their plea to the Supreme Court.

Posted by kshaw at 07:07 PM

PHILLY D.A. RIPS OFF CHURCH AND TAXPAYERS

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic League

August 3, 2005

In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, there is a front-page story on the release of a 500-page report by a grand jury investigation looking into sexual abuse charges that have taken place over the last few decades by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Catholic League president William Donohue addressed this issue today:

“Philadelphia D.A. Lynn M. Abraham has managed to abuse her office in two ways simultaneously: a) she launched a witch-hunt against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia three years ago and b) she ripped off the taxpayers in Philadelphia by having them pay for her wild-goose chase. Now the final tally is in, and not one criminal charge has been recommended by Abraham’s office. That’s because the statute of limitations has run out on any alleged cases of abuse, something Abraham knew from the very beginning. And for all her work, she winds up with one arrest.

“How disappointing it must be for Abraham to learn that the grand jury investigation could not find a single instance where the Archdiocese transferred a known abuser to another parish. Literally three months after the news stories broke in January 2002 on the sexual abuse scandal in Boston, Abraham began her crusade in Philadelphia. And at the time, she had the audacity to say that she would investigate ‘all allegations involving priests whether they are dead, dismissed or retired.’ The woman has no shame nor sense of fairness.

Posted by kshaw at 07:05 PM

Abuse claimant tells of deprivation

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

04 August 2005

A woman suing Catholic authorities for $550,000, alleging a deprived and abusive upbringing, was also a debutante who wore stolen knickers, a court has been told.

"Fancy being presented as a debutante when no one wants you," she laughed in the High Court at Wellington yesterday. And then she began crying. "And I am doing it so my brothers and sisters could be together."

Catholic Social Services paid for the dress and ticket and she and her foster family shared the cost of a pre-ball party. She and her six siblings were reunited for the occasion, she said.

Four Catholic organisations are denying her claims of physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The children were placed in care after their parents separated. Nuns mistreated and assaulted her and several men, including a priest, sexually abused her, she said.

Posted by kshaw at 01:04 PM

Priest's accuser tearful on stand

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

(Published Wednesday, August 3, 2005 11:05:09 AM CDT)

By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff

The man being sued for allegedly defaming a Catholic priest by charging him with sexual abuse wept on the witness stand Tuesday.

The priest's attorney, Patrick McDonald of Janesville, was questioning the 26-year-old man, who now lives in Milwaukee, about how he has felt threatened by the priest, the Rev. Gerald Vosen.

"I've been harmed more now in so many ways by this than when it actually occurred," the man said, referring to the lawsuit in a breaking voice.

McDonald asked the man why he felt more harmed by the trial than the assaults.

"Because now my parents are going through it with me," the man replied, tears running down his cheeks. "Before it was just me. Now I see them in pain."

Posted by kshaw at 01:03 PM

Faithful Furious Over Tactic

OREGON
Los Angeles Times

By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer

In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland, Ore., parish.

In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a Whittier priest, the child's mother had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.

The legal proceeding got little attention at the time. And the fact that the church — which considers birth control a sin — seemed to be arguing that the woman should have protected herself from pregnancy provoked no comment. Until last month.

That's when Stephanie Collopy went back into court asking for additional child support. A Times article reported the church's earlier response. Now liberal and conservative Catholics around the country are decrying the archdiocese's legal strategy, saying it was counter to church teaching.

"On the face of it, [the argument] is simply appalling," said Michael Novak, a conservative Catholic theologian and author based in Washington, D.C.

Posted by kshaw at 09:38 AM

Former church leader sentenced to 30 years for abusing boys

HOUSTON (TX)
ABC 13

By The Associated Press
(8/03/05 - HOUSTON) — A former Catholic Church choir director was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three brothers over the past decade.

Stuart Murphy, 57, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five felony sexual abuse charges.

The judge sentenced Murphy to 30 years on each of two aggravated sexual assault charges and 20 years on each of three indecency with a child charges. He will serve the sentences concurrently and will be eligible for parole after 15 years.

Murphy met the victims at Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston, where he began working in 1993. He befriended the boys and their family and began molesting the oldest child 10 years ago when he was 12 and the youngest when he was 6, prosecutor Denise Oncken said.

Posted by kshaw at 09:24 AM

How Other Cities' Probes Ended

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Around the nation, prosecutors have wrapped up inquiries similar to Philadelphia's by issuing scathing grand-jury reports on clergy sexual abuse of minors without bringing criminal charges. In three cases, however, prosecutors extracted admissions from church leaders in court.

Here is how several of the probes ended:

In 2003, following a 16-month inquiry, prosecutors investigating the Boston Archdiocese issued a 76-page report that said 250 priests and church workers had abused at least 789 children. But they did not indict Cardinal Bernard F. Law or any other church officials.

Investigators in Long Island and New York City concluded that too much time had elapsed since the abuse to prosecute - but criticized the church for shielding abusers.

Cincinnati's archbishop appeared in court in November 2003 to plead no contest on behalf of his diocese to five misdemeanor counts of failing to report abuse to authorities.

Posted by kshaw at 09:20 AM

Diocese sale worries residents

SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacaramento Bee

By Will Evans -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee

Gayle Clark's late husband had told her it would be a great place to live if she were left alone.

Everyone said not to worry about the future of the Lakeview Village mobile home park in Citrus Heights. The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento owns it.

But the diocese notified residents last weekend that it intends to sell the upscale 130-acre park to help pay for the $35 million settlement it reached in June on 33 claims of sexual abuse by priests.

Posted by kshaw at 09:17 AM

Gallup Diocese publishes updated list of sexually abusive priests

GALLUP (NM)
Independent

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The Gallup Diocese has published an updated list of priests associated with the diocese who have credible allegations of clergy sexual abuse; however, the updated list omits two names of men who have been publicly identified in the past as abusers.

When Joseph Baca of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met with Bishop Donald E. Pelotte of the Diocese of Gallup in May 2005, he presented the bishop with a list of 18 names of priests who had been associated with the diocese and were thought by SNAP to be possible abusers.

Pelotte agreed to print the names of priests with credible allegations.

In the June 2005 issue of The Voice of the Southwest, the official diocesan newspaper, ten of those names were listed as men with credible clergy abuse allegations. Nothing was said about the omitted names. And surprisingly, one of the omitted names was of a priest who had been publicly identified by the diocese as an abuser and whose alleged victim was paid a substantial settlement in the 1990s.

Posted by kshaw at 09:11 AM

Group complains Idaho Catholic Church uses lawyer to counsel abuse victims

BOISE (ID)
Corvallis Gazette-Times

By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press writer

BOISE, Idaho — An advocacy group for victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy has criticized Idaho's bishop, saying he didn't adequately disclose that a church official responsible for helping potential victims is also a lawyer.

Bobbi Dominick, the lawyer, has worked as the Catholic Diocese of Boise's victim assistance coordinator for children, youth and adults, as well as being the diocese's human resources director, for two years, church officials said.

The group, Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Bishop Michael Driscoll's decision to have a lawyer work with potential victims violates the trust of those seeking help because some fear she'd share what she learns with other church lawyers to help them defend the church against potentially costly lawsuits.

"Victims need and deserve to speak with a compassionate, pastoral person, not a defense lawyer, when they're first disclosing and dealing with horrific childhood abuse and potentially dangerous predators,'' said David Clohessy, SNAP national director in St. Louis. "When victims call expecting to talk with a counselor or social worker, and end up with an attorney, that makes already wounded victims feel hurt and betrayed again.''

Posted by kshaw at 09:08 AM

Priest pleads innocent to sexual abuse charges

ROCHESTER (NY)
Star-Gazette

August 3, 2005
By JEFFREY BLACKWELL
Gannett News Service

ROCHESTER - A suburban Rochester priest is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy 50 times over nearly two years while he was a pastor at the Church of the Annunciation in northeast Rochester.

The Rev. Dennis Sewar, 54, of Spencerport, pleaded innocent Tuesday in Rochester City Court to misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. Sewar declined comment following the hearing.

But John Speranza, his attorney, said he will investigate the charges and intends to mount a defense to clear his client.

"He is strong," Speranza said of Sewar. "He denies the charges in that they never happened."

The alleged abuse occurred between October 1999 and August 2001, according to court documents. The young man told police that he and Sewar would watch baseball on Sewar's big-screen television in his private living quarters at the church rectory.

Posted by kshaw at 09:03 AM

Grand jury: No clergy abuse charges

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Nancy Phillips, Mark Fazlollah and Craig R. McCoy
Inquirer Staff Writers

The grand jury investigating sex abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese has prepared a report that documents decades of assaults on children by more than 50 priests - but calls for no new criminal charges.

The report, more than 500 pages long, harshly criticizes church leaders for shielding abusers.

Drafted by prosecutors in District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's office, the report is now in the hands of the Common Pleas Court judge overseeing the secret probe.

The report is expected to be made public next month, completing the nation's longest-running investigation into clergy sex abuse.

Prosecutors and grand jurors have spent more than three years gathering evidence and hearing often-wrenching testimony from hundreds of witnesses. They also heard from priests and church leaders, including Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, who headed the archdiocese from 1988 to 2003.

To date, the probe has resulted in a single arrest: that of a priest who pleaded guilty this year to repeatedly assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Detectives from the District Attorney's Office fanned out across the region on Friday, delivering letters to alleged abusers, alerting them that the report would soon make public accounts of their alleged attacks on minors, and giving them a chance to challenge the grand jury's account.

Posted by kshaw at 09:01 AM

Priest pleads not guilty to sexual abuse of boy

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

Jeffrey Blackwell
Staff writer

(August 3, 2005) — A Spencerport priest is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy 50 times over nearly two years while he was a pastor at the Church of the Annunciation in northeast Rochester.

The Rev. Dennis Sewar, 54, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Rochester City Court to misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Sewar declined comment after the hearing. But John Speranza, his attorney, said he will investigate the charges and intends to mount a defense to clear his client.

"He is strong," Speranza said of Sewar. "He denies the charges in that they never happened."

The alleged abuse occurred between October 1999 and August 2001, according to court documents. The alleged victim told police that he and Sewar would watch baseball on Sewar's big-screen television in his private living quarters at the rectory on Norton Street.

Posted by kshaw at 08:54 AM

Transparency still lacking in Catholic sex-abuse scandal

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By Terrence Carroll
Special to The Times

Having completed service last year as chairman of the Archdiocese of Seattle board that reviewed allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, I remain concerned about the direction of matters since our case-review board's report was made public last fall.

I write in the hope that the bold promises of the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People — published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and containing the guidelines that led to the creation of case-review boards across the country — are completely realized.

I acknowledge the progress that has been made by our archdiocese, but believe that more needs to be done.

To begin with, secrecy continues to shadow the process we were led to believe would be open and transparent. Some cases reviewed by the Seattle board in 2003 still have no final resolution. Because the archdiocese has decided to wait on these cases until the Vatican acts (whenever that might be, and behind closed doors), the victims who came forward and all parishoners must continue to wait.

Posted by kshaw at 08:43 AM

Bishop turns 75 today, submits resignation

BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press

Published: Wednesday, August 3, 2005

By Andy Netzel
Free Press Staff Writer

Roman Catholic Bishop Kenneth Angell will turn 75 years old today, and in accordance with church law he will submit his resignation to the pope.

Angell, whose Burlington diocese covers Vermont, will remain bishop until Pope Benedict XVI accepts the resignation. That could be as soon as weeks or as long as years.

The Rev. Wendell Searles, vicar general of the diocese, said the workings in Vatican City are unknown.

"There's no way of knowing what the timeline is apt to be," he said.

Searles said Tuesday that the bishop was in good spirits as he prepared to submit his letter of resignation.

Angell has served the diocese since 1992. He has led Vermont's 148,000 Catholics through the sexual abuse scandals and the creation of civil unions.

Posted by kshaw at 08:41 AM

Blind eye toward abuse

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

WEEKS after he was appointed Toledo police chief in June, 1956, Anthony A. Bosch got a respectful gift from fellow members of the local Knights of Columbus council - a specially designed solid-gold badge, emblazoned with his name and a three-quarter carat diamond. Three years later, the state council of the Catholic fraternal organization, of which he was an officer, gave him a new Cadillac.

These incidents help explain why Chief Bosch, a devout Catholic who headed the police department for 14 years, turned a blind official eye to continued sexual abuse of children by Toledo-area priests, as documented in a report Sunday by Blade reporters Mitch Weiss and Joe Mahr.

This was not, by any means, a policy of benign neglect, no matter how Chief Bosch, who died in 1982, may have rationalized it in his own mind. Rather than prosecuting criminal acts by priests, police and other civil authorities quietly and systematically shuffled aside cases of abuse, leaving them to be dealt with by the church.

The church hierarchy, in turn, did its utmost to keep the abuse quiet, usually by sending offenders away for "treatment" or - worse - transferring them to another, unsuspecting, parish, where they were free to molest more children.

As we know now, this conspiracy of silence only magnified, inflamed, and perpetuated a malevolent cycle of abuse, denial, and grudging acceptance of responsibility by the church for wrongdoing committed by its messengers of God.

Posted by kshaw at 08:35 AM

Vosen suit continues

WISCONSIN
Baraboo News Republic

JANESVILLE - Father Gerald Vosen's defamation of character suit against a Janesville man and his family over sexual abuse allegations is expected to continue through Thursday, Rock County Circuit Court staff said.

Vosen, former pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Baraboo, is suing Peter L. Arnold and his parents, Leland and Nancy Arnold. They told church authorities in 2003 Vosen abused Peter in 1989-1991 while Vosen was pastor at Janesville's St. John Vianney Catholic Parish.

Vosen says in court documents he never had sexual contact with Peter Arnold.

Posted by kshaw at 08:33 AM

The Morning Read: Revealing secrets

CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

By CHRIS KNAP
The Orange County Register

In bright sunlight, Patrick Wall walked in darkness.

Lost in the secular world.

After 11 years as a Benedictine monk - six as a priest - he had renounced his vows and left St. John's Abbey.

Disheartened by sexually abusive monks, restricted by rigid superiors and convinced his vow of celibacy would fail, Wall finally won his freedom from the Rule of Benedict.

It was the scariest possible outcome for a man who once considered the abbey his life.

At St. John's, everything was provided: food, clothing, health care, cars. Now he had none of those.

His training was in Latin and Italian, in divine texts and church history. Now, it seemed of little use.

"When you leave the monastery you are completely disconnected," Wall says. "You have no idea where you are going to go, what you are going to do or even if you can fit in."

At first, he wiped bottoms in a Minnesota hospital. He came to California and shuffled paper in a county office.

One Sunday, Wall read a newspaper commentary by a lawyer who had won a $5 million sexual-abuse settlement from the Diocese of Orange.

Attorney John Manly blasted Catholic bishops for "act(ing) more like the tobacco industry than like the successors to the apostles that they are supposed to be."

The next day, Wall called Manly's office, introduced himself as a former priest and offered to help penetrate the secrecy of the church.

Manly did not call back.

Posted by kshaw at 08:29 AM

Newspaper: Report documents assaults on children by priests

PENNSYLVANIA
NEPA News

The Associated Press August 03, 2005

A grand jury documented assaults on children by more than 50 priests, but, hampered by legal issues, called for no new criminal charges, a published report said.

The more than 500-page report, now in the hands of a Common Pleas judge overseeing the secret probe, harshly criticized church leaders for shielding abusers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.

The decision not to recommend criminal charges reflected legal and factual hurdles facing prosecutors, including the expiration of the statute of limitations in virtually every case, the newspaper said.

The report, drafted by prosecutors in District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's office, is expected to be made public next month. People named in the report will have until Aug. 31 to write a rebuttal, and the archdiocese also has been given a chance to respond before the report becomes public.

A spokeswoman for Abraham declined to comment Tuesday, citing grand jury secrecy. An attorney for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, C. Clark Hodgson Jr., also declined to comment.

Posted by kshaw at 08:23 AM

Nuns may sue RTE over sex abuse claim on radio show

IRELAND
Irish Independent

AN order of nuns is considering suing RTE after the Vincent Browne show carried an interview with a woman who claims to have been physically and sexually abused while in a Magdalene laundry, a claim denied by the order in question.

The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity has confirmed that it has asked lawyers to examine the transcript of the interview with Vincent Browne as well as the contents of the book, 'Kathy's Story', on which the interview is based.

Meanwhile, it has forwarded a complaint about the interview to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.

The move by the order is the latest in a series of disputes it has had with Ms Kathy O'Beirne (45) who says she was in the order's now closed Magdalene laundry at High Park, Dublin, from the age of 12 to 14.

Ms O'Beirne has said that while in the laundry, she was repeatedly raped and became pregnant. She claims she was also resident at a Magdalene laundry on Sean McDermott St.

Posted by kshaw at 08:18 AM

August 02, 2005

Accused deacon has bail reduced

HAWAII
The Maui News

LILA FUJIMOTO, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – With dozens of parishioners of St. Ann Church in Waihee filling a courtroom gallery Monday, a judge reduced bail to $100,000 for Deacon Ron Gonsalves, who is charged with multiple counts of sexually abusing a boy.

“He has tremendous support in the community, as evidenced by many members of the congregation of St. Ann’s here today who love him and care for him,” said defense attorney Philip Lowenthal, who argued for bail to be reduced from $790,000.

He said Gonsalves’ family was prepared to post $100,000 in cash bail.

Following the court hearing, Gonsalves, 68, was released on bail from the Maui Community Correctional Center. He had been jailed since his arrest Wednesday, when he turned himself in at the Wailuku Police Station.

The Wailuku resident has pleaded not guilty to 62 counts of sexual assault of the boy over a three-year period ending in June. The boy was 12 when the alleged sexual assaults began, occurring at Gonsalves’ home and at the church, police said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:51 PM

Priest Says Abuse Never Happened

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM

Chalonda Roberts (Rochester, NY) 08/02/05 - Reverend Dennis Sewar says he is not guilty in the charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, and offered no comment as he left court Tuesday. His attorney said the charges of sexual abuse will be defended vigorously.

Sewar’s attorney John Speranza said, "He denies the charges…indicates that they never happened."

In court documents, the teen boy claims he met Sewar while Sewar was a priest at the Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street in Rochester. He said they became friends during a church trip to the Hard Rock Cafe in Canada.

The teenager claims that after the trip, Sewar invited him to his room in the rectory.

In a statement to police the accuser wrote: “After a few weeks Fr. Dennis would rub my hand as we sat on a double sized recliner. At first I felt okay but after a couple of weeks I became uncomfortable with this and would pull my hand away from him. Sometimes he would let me be, but other times he would grab my hand back and continue to rub it.” The youth went on to say that later in the year Sewar fondled him.

Sewar's attorney questions why the alleged victim took so long to come forward.

Posted by kshaw at 08:49 PM

Santa Fe code of conduct urges 'fraternal correction' among priests

NEW MEXICO
Catholic News Service

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CNS) -- A new code of conduct for the priests of the Santa Fe Archdiocese encourages them to use "fraternal correction" to help fellow priests overcome personal problems hindering their ministry.

The code also encourages newly ordained priests to seek a mentor in an older priest who can help them develop the personal and pastoral skills needed to deal with people.

The code, dated Aug. 1, was drafted by the archdiocesan priests' council and approved by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe. This document is in addition to the archdiocese's written policy on sexual misconduct and harassment by clergy and church employees.

Posted by kshaw at 08:47 PM

Portland Archdiocese Names Parishioners As Defendants In Sex-Abuse Bankruptcy Case

PORTLAND (OR)
Life Site

PORTLAND, Ore., August 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a rare legal maneuver the Portland Archdiocese has named 389,000 registered lay Catholic parishioners as defendants in its ongoing bankruptcy case.

The Portland diocese was the first in the United States to file for bankruptcy protection after facing hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits. In its bankruptcy petition the diocese claimed a likely $400 million in legal damages while listing only $19 million in assets.

The lawyers of the sex-abuse victims, however, are arguing that the diocese owns the property and buildings of its 124 parishes, estimated at a worth of $600 million. The diocese, on the other hand, claims that the church property belongs to the parishioners and the parishes and not the diocese as a whole.

If the court finds that the Portland parishes do belong to the diocese then the diocese may become the latest of the US dioceses forced to sell and close parishes and schools to pay legal settlements. The Portland bankruptcy court agreed to allow the nearly 400,000 parishioners to serve as defendants in the hope that it could settle once and for all the disputes over the ownership of the diocese’s parishes.

Posted by kshaw at 08:44 PM

I'm staying in US, says priest accused of abuse

BRITAIN
ic Birmingham

Aug 2 2005

By Emma Pinch, Religious Affairs Reporter

West Midlands Police is to consider extraditing a priest accused of abusing children after he snubbed a request by the Archbishop of Birmingham to return to Britain.

Father James Robinson moved to the US in 1985 amid allegations he had abused several young boys during the 70s and 80s.

He was alleged to have systematically abused youngsters while training at Oscott College, Sutton Coldfield, as parish priest at St Elizabeth's in Foleshill, and then again at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cradley Heath.

It has emerged that three Midland men are now suing the Archbishop of Birmingham and the archdiocese's trustees in the High Court for failing to protect them against Robinson.

Posted by kshaw at 01:04 PM

Minister Misconduct?

MEMPHIS (TN)
WREG

Memphis, TN -- The woman accusing a Memphis Minister of trying to hypnotize her into performing sex acts is speaking out to News Channel 3. She agreed to talk with us as long as we hide her identity.

Jane, as we'll call her, says she sought counseling from Minister Charles Howard of Broadmoor Baptist Church. She says she met up with him at a Germantown Waffle House to speak about her marriage problems. "I went to him because I was having problems, not to add them," she says.

Jane says Howard asked her to sit in his car after they ate dinner. She agreed, and once inside the car she says he tried to hypnotize her, telling her to be still and to listen to God. "When he would put his hand on my shoulder, even though it would be him talking, it would be God's voice I would be hearing, and I would obey all the commands given to me," she says. Jane says one of Minister Howard's commands was to touch him after he unzipped his pants. "I know that if he did that to me, as smooth and as practiced as he is, I'm not the only one."

Posted by kshaw at 12:58 PM

Maui deacon released on $100,000 bail

HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin

By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com
WAILUKU » The Catholic deacon accused of sexually assaulting a male minor on Maui was released yesterday after posting $100,000 bail.

James Ronald Gonsalves, 68, of Wailuku will be required to stay within his home in Wailuku, except when making authorized visits to his attorney's office, under a court order issued by Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto.

Raffetto reduced Gonsalves' bail yesterday to $100,000 from $790,000.

Gonsalves, 68, was arrested Wednesday after a Maui grand jury indicted him on 62 charges, including 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault involving a male juvenile.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

At the request of Deputy Prosecutor Robert Rivera, Raffetto also ordered Gonsalves to remain away from minors and a mile from St. Ann Church in Waihee, where he served as the administrator.

Gonsalves family and scores of church members who supported him attended the bail hearing yesterday in Maui Circuit Court in Wailuku.

Posted by kshaw at 12:53 PM

Priest's lawyer points out inconsistencies

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

(Published Tuesday, August 2, 2005 11:15:06 AM CDT)

By Mike DuPre'
Gazette Staff

The Rev. Gerald Vosen is trying to prove in Rock County Court that a 26-year-old Janesville man's accusations of sexual assault were false and defamed him.

On Monday, Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald of Janesville, tried to point out inconsistencies between earlier letters and sworn statements made by the man's parents and their testimony in court before Judge John Roethe and a jury of 13, one of whom is an alternate.

McDonald is a parishioner at St. John Vianney Church, the Roman Catholic parish where Vosen was pastor and where the boy and his family were deeply involved in parish life.

Posted by kshaw at 12:50 PM

Priest pleads not guilty to sexual abuse of 14-year-old boy

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

Jeffrey Blackwell
Staff writer

(August 2, 2005) — A Spencerport priest was arraigned this morning on charges that he sexually abused a 14-year-old boy while he was a pastor at the Church of the Annunciation in northeast Rochester.

The Rev. Dennis Sewar, 54, was arraigned in Rochester City Court this morning on misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Sewar declined comment this morning. John Speranza, his attorney, said he will investigate the charges and intends to mount a defense for his client.

"He is strong," Speranza said of Sewar. "He denies the charges in that they never happened."

Posted by kshaw at 11:27 AM

Bail posted in Maui deacon's sexual assault case

HAWAII
KPUA

By Associated Press

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) _ A Roman Catholic deacon on Maui who is accused of sexually assaulting a boy posted bail today.

James ``Ron'' Gonsalves was freed after Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto reduced the bail amount from 790-thousand dollars to 100-thousand dollars.

Members of James ``Ron'' Gonsalves' family and parishioners from St. Ann Church were in court as a show of support when Raffetto imposed a number of bail conditions.

The 68-year-old Gonsalves is required to stay inside his home, except when he's authorized to visit his attorney's office. He must stay away from minors and at least one mile away from the church.

Posted by kshaw at 11:25 AM

Lay Group Says Diocese Not listening On Sex Abuse Issue

EAST LYME (CT)
The Day

By BETHE DUFRESNE
General Assignment Reporter/Columnist
Published on 8/2/2005

East Lyme — Charging that their bishop won't listen to them, Voice of the Faithful members went public Monday to declare their unhappiness with the way the Roman Catholic Diocese is protecting children from sex abuse, and to present their own plan.

Safeguards promised in the wake of a nationwide scandal over sex abuse by priests and church coverups have not been fully implemented here, Robert Marrion of East Lyme said at a press conference called by the southeastern Connecticut chapter of VOTF.

Marrion said VOTF had tried and failed to engage the Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich, on this issue and concluded that “the Bishop's lack of leadership in making this crisis a top priority is clear.”

An example was cited by Kay Isleib, a child advocate for the St. Agnes parish in Niantic, who said some parishes have gotten exemptions from providing sex abuse prevention programs. Instead, said Isleib, parishes have been allowed to turn that responsibility over to public school programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE.

What's missing, said Grace Marrion, Robert's wife, is the Christian imperative. Public schools can't include prayer, she said.

Posted by kshaw at 08:31 AM

Parishoners at Maui church attend first mass after deacon arrest

HAWAII
KPUA

By Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) _ Parishoners at Saint Ann's Church outside Wailuku today attended their first mass without Deacon James ``Ron'' Gonsalves since he was arrested for sexual assault last week.

Gonsalves remains in jail on charges he sexually assaulted a boy for three years starting from when the child was 12 years old.

He pleaded innocent last week to 62 counts of first- and third-degree sexual assault.

Parishioner Agnes Cocke says she wholeheartedly supports Gonsalves.

She says he's a wonderful person with a big heart and she couldn't understand how anyone could accuse him of such crimes.

Kahele Apo, who worships at the church, says it would be up for the Lord to judge Gonsalves.

The indictment alleges Gonsalves sexually abused the boy from June 2002 until last month at church and at Gonsalves' home.

Posted by kshaw at 02:33 AM

Maui Deacon Accused Of Molesting Boy Bails Out

HAWAII
TheHawaiiChannel.com

POSTED: 11:46 am HST August 1, 2005
UPDATED: 2:43 pm HST August 1, 2005

HONOLULU -- A Maui judge Monday reduced the bail amount for a Roman Catholic church deacon charged with sexually assaulting a boy.

Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto Monday decreased the bail for James "Ron" Gonsalves to $100,000, down from $790,000.

The judge also imposed several conditions if Gonsalves is released on bail. Gonsalves would be required to stay within his home except when he is authorized to visit his attorney's office. He was also ordered to stay away from minors and one mile away from St. Ann Church, which he administered until June 22, when he was placed on administrative leave.

"He has tremendous support in the community as evidenced by many members of the congregation of St. Ann's here today, who love and care for him," defense attorney Philip Lowenthal said in court.

Gonsalves pleaded not guilty last week to 62 counts of first- and third-degree sexual assault. He's accused of sexually assaulting the boy for three years starting when the child was 12 years old.

The most recent count allegedly happened in June.

Posted by kshaw at 02:30 AM

Judge Reduces Bail for Deacon

HAWAII
KGMB

Alan Lu - alu@kgmb9.com

Wearing a prison outfit and handcuffs, Catholic church Deacon James Gonsalves looked very much alone in a Maui Circuit Court room Monday.

However, the 68-year-old administrator of St. Ann Church in Waihe`e, Maui was not alone. Dozens of supporters sat in the audience to watch the proceeding.

Gonzalves is charged with 62 counts of sexual assault against a teenage boy.

"The last charge occurred at St. Ann Church right there on the premises on June 14th of this year," claimed deputy prosecutor Robert Rivera.

Gonsalves has pleaded "not guilty" and asked a judge to lower his bail from $790,000 to $100,000.

"He's not a flight risk or a danger to the community and the amount of cash that can be posted is up to $100,000, which is a huge amount of money," said defense attorney Philip Lowenthal.

Posted by kshaw at 02:28 AM

Accused Priest Sues Alleged Victim For Defamation

WISCONSIN
NBC 15

Updated: 6:43 PM Aug 1, 2005
Zac Schultz

Janesville: Father Gerald Vosen looked on calmly, backed by a courtroom full of supporters bussed in from his former parishes in Reedsburg, Janesville and Baraboo.

"I really believe our presence here as a group is a very large prayer," says supporter Gretchen Roltgen.

Roltgen was the music director under Father Vosen for 9 years at St. Joseph's in Baraboo. "We firmly believe in Father Vosen's innocence. We believe that truth and justice need to be served."

Vosen was first accused of sexually abusing a child in September of 2003. Soon after, two other former alter boys came forward alleging abuse.

Vosen has been on administrative leave since then, and the Catholic Diocese is in the middle of a confidential internal investigation.

The man Father Vosen is suing brought his allegations to the Diocese of Madison. NBC 15 is not revealing his identity due to the unproven nature of the allegations. The defendant told the church that Father Vosen molested him from 1990 to 1992, when he was an alter boy in Janesville.

Posted by kshaw at 02:24 AM

Ridsdale faces charges

AUSTRALIA
Wimmera Mail-Times

Tuesday, 2 August 2005

FORMER Wimmera priest Gerald Ridsdale faced 63 new child abuse charges in Ballarat Magistrates Court last week.

The 71-year-old convicted paedophile faced 59 counts of indecent assault and four counts of buggery allegedly committed against nine victims during the 1970s and 1980s.

Ridsdale appeared by video link from Ararat prison.

Posted by kshaw at 02:16 AM

Convicted priest moves back to Ohio

WYOMING
Billings Gazette

CASPER - A Catholic priest who was sent to prison for molesting a child in Guernsey has moved back to Ohio to live with a lay religious order he founded more than a decade ago.

Anthony Jablonowski, 68, has registered as a sex offender in Waterford, Ohio, according to the state's Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification Web site. The address listed is the same as that of the Carmelite Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, a group Jablonowski founded in Wyoming, then moved to Ohio.

A man who answered the phone at the Carmelite Missionaries on Monday would not give his name. He confirmed that Jablonowski was on the premises, but would not say whether Jablonowski lived there.

Jablonowski was released two weeks ago from the Wyoming Honor Farm, a minimum-security facility where he was held for 15 months after he pleaded no contest in April 2004 to taking indecent liberties with a 17-year-old boy.

Posted by kshaw at 02:15 AM

Peek at file guides inquiry

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

11:51 PM PDT on Monday, August 1, 2005

By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County prosecutors said Monday that they intend to seek documents from a defrocked priest's personnel file, which they examined last month as part of an agreement with the Diocese of San Bernardino.

The file, which remains sealed before a Riverside County judge, was confiscated Jan. 25 when authorities served a search warrant at the diocese's San Bernardino headquarters as part of an investigation into Jesus Armando Dominguez, a former priest now facing 58 child-molestation charges. The diocese encompasses Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The search has been challenged by the diocese, which described some of the seized records as privileged and confidential.

The district attorney's office and diocesan officials acknowledged Monday that they had struck an accord that allowed prosecutors to review Dominguez's file on July 12 to see what, if anything, might be useful in locating the former priest, now believed to be Mexico, or prosecuting him.

Both sides had previously declined to discuss the agreement.

Posted by kshaw at 02:13 AM

Local Attorney's Lawsuit Against Vatican Has Another Hurdle To Clear

LOUISVILLE (KY)
WAVE

By David McArthur

(LOUISVILLE) -- A Louisville attorney and the Vatican are at odds the over Catholic sex abuse crisis. Late Monday afternoon Bill McMurry filed his response to the Vatican. The church wants the court to drop his class action lawsuit. WAVE 3's David McArthur investigates.

Abused in the parish, covered up in the diocese, but linked to one ultimate authority -- that's the case attorney Bill McMurry wants to argue in U.S. Federal Court against the Vatican.

"I think the Vatican was well aware of Father Louis Miller's pedophilia," McMurray, said, and he believes it is ultimately responsible for the actions of Father Miller and all abusive priests.

McMurray filed the lawsuit in June 5th, and since then attorneys for the Catholic church have argued that the case is flawed, saying the Vatican is a sovereign nation, and that the lawsuit was not properly filed.

Vatican officials have also raised questions about the translation of the lawsuit into Latin, but McMurry says the message is clear. "We are convinced the condition in this country, the pervasive child sexual abuse problem within the Roman Catholic Church, came about as a result of the directive of the Pope to U.S. Bishops to keep this contained."

Posted by kshaw at 02:08 AM

Sex abuse victims meet with Gallup's review board

GALLUP (NM)
Independent

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Two representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met on Saturday for the first time with members of the Gallup Diocesan Review Board for Juvenile Sexual Abuse.

Steve M. Rabi, director of New Mexico SNAP, and Joseph Baca, director of Northern Arizona and Western New Mexico SNAP, met with the review board at the chancery office of the Gallup Diocese.

Rabi, of Albuquerque, N.M., is not a sexual abuse victim from the Diocese of Gallup. According to Rabi, he was abused in his home state of New Jersey, but he has been a New Mexico resident for many years. He retired from the Bernalillo Sheriff's Department, he said, after a career in law enforcement.

Baca, of Phoenix, Ariz., says he was sexually abused in the early 1970s in the Diocese of Gallup by the late Father Clement A. Hageman, who was then assigned to a parish in Winslow, Ariz. Baca has received a settlement from the Gallup Diocese, but he and diocese officials have declined to share with The Independent the amount or details of that settlement.

According to Rabi and Baca, review board members in attendance at Saturday's meeting included Board Chairwoman Margie Trujillo of Farmington, N.M. and members Floyd Kezele and Dr. Steve Heath of Gallup, and Father Jerry Herff of Kayenta, Ariz.

Posted by kshaw at 02:06 AM

Bishop silent as priest's suit goes to trial

MADISON (WI)
The Capital Times

By Cristina Daglas
August 1, 2005

As parishioners filed out of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in downtown Madison on Sunday, they were handed leaflets detailing a trial that was beginning in Janesville today in which a priest is suing a 26-year-old man for defamation.

The man has accused the Rev. Gerald Vosen of sexually abusing him as a boy when Vosen was pastor at St. John Vienny parish in Janesville. Vosen, who is on administrative leave from his job as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo, says the allegations are false and, in an unusual move, has filed suit against his accuser and his accuser's parents.

"I hope to get my name cleared," Vosen told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his Merrimac home.

The family's attorney, John Casey of Milwaukee, recently told the Baraboo News Republic the jury will find the man's testimony believable enough to rule in the family's favor. Casey did not return a call for comment Saturday from the AP.

Posted by kshaw at 02:04 AM

Defamation lawsuit under way

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

(Published Monday, August 1, 2005 10:57:06 AM CDT)

By Sid Schwartz
Gazette Staff

A Rock County jury will be asked to decide this week whether a former Janesville priest sexually assaulted a former altar boy between 1989 and 1991.

The Rev. Gerald Vosen in March 2004 filed a defamation lawsuit against a Janesville man, now 26, who told Catholic Church authorities that Vosen sexually assaulted him when he was in fifth and sixth grade at St. John Vianney Catholic School in Janesville.

Vosen, 71, was pastor at St. John Vianney from June 1989 to December 1994.

A three-day jury trial on Vosen's lawsuit was scheduled to start this morning in front of Rock County Judge John Roethe.

Posted by kshaw at 02:02 AM

Archbishop Levada deposition postponed until January

PORTLAND (OR)
KGW

08/01/2005

By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER / Associated Press

A federal bankruptcy judge has agreed to postpone the deposition of Roman Catholic Archbishop William Levada in the Portland Archdiocese sex abuse bankruptcy case until January.

Levada was the Archbishop of Portland from 1986-1995.

He now heads the Vatican-based Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which enforces Catholic doctrine. It is the post held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his election as Pope Benedict XVI.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris, in an order signed last Friday, agreed to allow Levada to give a deposition in Portland Jan. 12, 2006, rather than this month.

Court papers stipulate that Levada agree to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court and to waive any diplomatic immunity he may have or acquire because of his elevated status in the Vatican, a sovereign state.

Posted by kshaw at 01:58 AM

Woman collapses in witness box during sex abuse case

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

02 August 2005

A woman suing the Catholic church over alleged physical and sexual abuse collapsed in the witness box at the High Court in Wellington today, halting the hearing.

Earlier the woman hurled a folder of documents toward a lawyer and screamed, swore and cried under questioning.

The 45-year-old woman is claiming $550,000 in a civil suit against the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese, Catholic Social Services, The Sisters of Mercy (Wellington) Trust Board, and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust Board over alleged abuse.

The respondents' lawyer had been questioning her about her alleged rape by a male member of a foster family approved by the church, she had stayed with in the mid-1970s.

The woman began screaming when asked when and where she stayed with the family,

She yelled: "Jesus ... I'm not an animal."

Posted by kshaw at 01:56 AM

August 01, 2005

Priest sentenced for sex abuse back in Ohio

WYOMING
Caspter Star-Tribune

By TOM MORTON
Star-Tribune staff writer Monday, August 01, 2005

A Catholic priest recently released from prison after serving time for molesting a child in Guernsey in the 1980s has returned to Ohio as he intended, his attorney said last week.

Anthony Jablonowski, 68, was released from the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton two weeks ago after serving the lower end of a 15-month to seven-year prison sentence, his attorney Dallas Laird said.

In April 2004, Jablonowski pleaded no contest to taking indecent, immodest or immoral liberties with a minor who was a 17-year-old boy in the 1980s.

In February, he waived a scheduled parole hearing.

In March, another man filed a civil lawsuit against Jablonowski alleging he sexually abused him as a teen.

After his release two weeks ago, Jablonowski registered as a sex offender in Wyoming and in Ohio, Laird said.

Posted by kshaw at 07:16 AM

Abuse lawyer seeks lien on church property

BURLINGTON (VT)
Boston Globe

By Associated Press | August 1, 2005

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A lawyer representing 10 new clients who say they were sexually abused by priests wants the court to place liens on $30 million worth of church property.

Jerome O'Neill, a former federal prosecutor, settled two cases with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington last year. Those cases ended with the diocese agreeing to cash payments of $150,000 and $120,000.

This time O'Neill is asking the court for a legal claim to diocesan buildings and land in case the diocese can't come up with cash.

''We expect to seek attachments in the $2.5 million range in all of the cases we have filed, for a total of around $30 million," O'Neill said.

If successful, O'Neill's clients would have a claim on church holdings if the diocese couldn't pay court judgments.

''We believe the information we have is sufficiently compelling that seven-figure verdicts are quite likely," O'Neill said. ''We want to make sure that there are sufficient assets available if we are successful in our actions. The diocese doesn't have insurance, but it has $65 million of appraised property in the city of Burlington alone."

Posted by kshaw at 07:14 AM

SNAP Petitions Parishioners

MADISON (WI)
WKOW

Sun 07/31/2005 -

A Madison survivors group is urging the bishop to stop one of his priests from going to court.

The group SNAP, which stands for Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests handed out fliers outside of St. Patrick's church Sunday, urging parishioners to contact Bishop Robert Morlino. They're upset that Father Vosen, who had been removed from his post for allegations of sexual abuse, is counter-suing a victim for defamation. The group says the Bishop should stop this lawsuit because it could discourage victims from coming forward

Posted by kshaw at 07:07 AM

Priest, accuser head to trial

MADISON (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Associated Press
Posted: July 31, 2005
Madison - A Catholic priest's defamation lawsuit against a man who says the priest abused him as a boy heads to trial today in Janesville.

The case will pit supporters of the priest, Father Gerald Vosen, against advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse who say the lawsuit is retaliation against a victim.

Although hundreds of people have sued priests during the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis over the past few years, observers say it's unusual for a priest to sue - especially when a church investigation has called the allegation credible.

Vosen, on administrative leave from his job as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo, and his supporters have disputed the abuse allegation and say they look forward to proving it false in court. The lawsuit names the man and his parents and says their allegation ruined his reputation.

"I hope to get my name cleared," Vosen told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his Merrimac home.

Posted by kshaw at 07:04 AM

Enough is enough: Catholic Church needs to heal itself

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Jim Spencer
Denver Post Columnist

Scandalous. That's what a former superior of the Rev. Harold Robert White called Eric Gorski's reports.

Last week, Gorski, The Denver Post's religion writer, revealed alleged sexual assaults by White on a series of young parishioners roughly 40 years ago.

Gorski also detailed what appear to be failures of Denver's Roman Catholic Archdiocese to properly react when told of White's supposed abuse.

Several alleged victims say they complained to church authorities, but church officials let White continue to minister.

Scandalous. No question about it. It makes members of the church hierarchy accomplices after the fact to felonies.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the scandal the Rev. James E. Kane saw when he talked to Gorski last week.

"I am a good friend of Father White's," Kane told Gorski. "And I personally like Father White, and I personally think this publicity is scandalous because I feel if a person has an illness, whatever it should be, what we should do for these people is pray for them and not criticize them."

Posted by kshaw at 07:01 AM

Latest resolved complaints dealt with by the PCC

BRITAIN
HoldtheFrontPage

By HoldtheFrontPage staff
The majority of complaints made to the Press Complaints Commission, which raise a possible breach of the Code of Practice, are resolved directly between the Commission's staff, editors and complainants.

These are either settled to the express satisfaction of the complainant following some remedial action by the editor or are not pursued by complainants following an explanation or other response from the publication. ...

Express and Echo (Exeter)
Peter Richards of Kent complained that an article had inaccurately portrayed his deceased father who was a witness in the trial of a priest convicted of sexual abuse against children. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved when the newspaper published a second article which made clear that the complainant’s father was not at fault.

Posted by kshaw at 06:51 AM

Santorum blasts Mass. senators over church scandal

WASHINGTON (DC)
Boston Globe

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | August 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, yesterday alleged that Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts ''did nothing" about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002.
''They spoke nothing. They sat by and let this happen," Santorum said.

Kennedy and Kerry blasted Santorum's comments in statements issued by their aides. Santorum's comments yesterday escalated the controversy about a 2002 article he wrote saying it was ''no surprise" that the abuse scandal occurred in what he called the liberal bastion of Boston.

''Senator Santorum's partisan, hate-filled comments do a disservice to the victims of abuse," said Kerry spokeswoman April Boyd. ''He's never failed to inject politics into these deeply personal and trying issues for Catholics everywhere. He owes an apology to the families of abuse victims and to the faithful who fill the pews of Massachusetts churches every Sunday."

Kennedy spokeswoman Laura Capps said of Santorum: ''First, he blames the people of Boston, and now he blames the senators from Massachusetts. When is he going to realize that while attempting to score political points, he causes further damage to the thousands of families across the country who have suffered enough from these tragic crimes?"

The spokeswomen for Kennedy and Kerry said the senators would not go beyond their prepared statements in responding to Santorum's accusation that they ''did nothing."

Posted by kshaw at 06:48 AM

Former San Bernardino bishop named in sex-abuse lawsuits

RENO (NV)
The Desert Sun

The Associated Press
August 1, 2005

Former Bishop Phillip Straling of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno has been named as a key witness in more than 150 lawsuits in Southern California against priests accused of molesting children, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The suits allege Straling should have known that some priests were having sex with children in his former Diocese of San Bernardino but did nothing to stop them, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Some suits accuse Straling of negligence but don't identify him by name, saying only that the bishop either knew or should have known about the abuse and failed to act.

"We don't know if Straling knew anything, but as leader, all knowledge of employees is imputed to him," said William Light, a Riverside lawyer who's handling some of the suits.

Posted by kshaw at 06:42 AM

Mixed Reviews on Area Church Reconciliation

WASHINGTON (DC)
WJLA

Monday August 01, 2005 7:14am

Capital area dioceses say they have done their best to respond to the Catholic church's three-year-old charge to reconcile with sexual abuse victims.

Some say church leaders need to do more.

The Arlington diocese's victim assistance coordinator Patricia Mudd tells the Washington Post that Arlington has celebrated ten masses over the past year where priests publicly atone on behalf of the church.

But victims-group leader Bill Casey says the diocese only announces the masses in the diocesan newspaper, which doesn't reach enough victims.

Washington's Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has reportedly met one-one-one with abuse victims.

Posted by kshaw at 06:39 AM