- Nieuws GOG Kerken Buitenland -
Warren woman exposes Church cover-up on film
Barrington
Times
WARREN -
After refinancing her house to free up funds, and spending five years
conducting research and interviews, Warren
resident Mary Healey-Conlon has at long last completed her documentary, "Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in
the Catholic Church." The hour-long film will debut for the general
public at the Coolidge Corner Movie Theater in Brookline, Mass., on Monday,
Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Because she is a Roman Catholic, her work is not
finished, said Ms. Healey-Conlon. She is only just beginning the painful
process of reconciling her discoveries with past assumptions about faith and
the Church. Years before investigative journalists at The Boston Globe
propelled the problem of sexual abuse by priests into the national spotlight,
Ms. Healey-Conlon was working with a team of Rhode Island attorneys who
believed the Diocese of Providence had knowingly moved priests who had
committed acts of sexual abuse against minors from parish to parish. As a legal
assistant, she met abuse victims who had been pursuing cases against the
Catholic church for years. She even learned she knew one of the accused priests
whom her grandfather had served alongside as a deacon years before. Fearing
lawyers for the church might stall forever, she resolved to document victims'
stories. In 1999, she picked up a video camera and began filming. "It's
not like I started out with a specific vision of what the film would be,"
said Ms. Healey-Conlon, who has a master's degree in television production from
Emerson College. "I started out wanting to document the stories of some
Rhode Island survivors."
Nun named in abuse lawsuit by 5 men
December 31, 2004
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A former nun
who taught at a Catholic school in
Holyoke during the 1970s is one of four clergy members and a Boy Scout
leader named in a sex abuse lawsuit filed by five men. One of the plaintiffs -
all of whom filed the suit anonymously under the name John Doe - says he had a
two-year sexual relationship with ex-nun
Mary Jane Vidnansky. The man says
she told him she became pregnant and had an abortion during their
relationship. Vidnansky, who was once a
member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph,
taught at Mater Dolorosa School in
Holyoke.
The Legal System and Clergy Abuse in 2004: Reasons for
Victims to Be At
Least Somewhat Optimistic
FindLaw
December 30, 2004
At the beginning of 2004, the legal system seemed to offer little, if any,
recourse for clergy abuse victims. However, I am happy to report that,
over the course of the year, the legal
situation changed, at least to some
extent - leaving victims with genuine reasons for optimism about the future.
Sex abuse training program raises eyebrows
Religion News Service
December 29, 2004
In the aftermath of the priest sexual abuse scandal--in which the Brooklyn
Diocese was hit with a $300 million sex abuse lawsuit--the Catholic Church
is implementing the sexual abuse
prevention training, called Virtus, in
Brooklyn and 94 other dioceses across the country. The Virtus training is part
of
reforms adopted by Catholic bishops in 2002, which include establishing
"safe environment" education programs. While Virtus is the most
popular, some
dioceses have created their own training sessions or bought other programs
elsewhere. Church leaders say the video and training have been received
favorably. But they have also sparked indignation, disgust, even painful
disclosures by audience members who were victimized in their youth.
Victims groups welcome the training, but also say it is fundamentally a move to
protect the Catholic Church from financial liability. Others cast doubts
on whether it will have much effect.
Roman Catholic Order Will Pay $6.3 Million In Molestation
Cases
December 25, 2004
Associated Press
A Roman Catholic religious order has
agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle
lawsuits brought by three former students who were sexually abused by
counselors and teachers at an elite private school in the late 1970s and
early 1980s. The largest of the three settlements, at $4 million, would be one
of the biggest in California for a plaintiff in a clergy sexual abuse case,
attorneys and victims advocates said Friday.
Pope defrocks priest shot by alleged victim
December 24, 2004
Associated Press
BALTIMORE - A priest facing trial next month for allegedly molesting a
former altar boy who later shot him has been defrocked by Pope John Paul II, The
Associated Press has learned. Maurice
Blackwell 58, is scheduled to go on
trial Jan. 3 on four counts of child sexual abuse against Dontee Stokes.
Blackwell was shot by Stokes in May 2002, in the midst of the national
scandal involving Catholic priests. In the aftermath, Baltimore prosecutors
reviewed Stokes' allegations and charged the priest with molesting Stokes.
$6.3 Million to Be Paid to Settle Abuse Case -- December 25, 2004 – New York Times -- By NEELA BANERJEE -- The Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic
religious order, agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle lawsuits brought by three former students who were sexually
abused by faculty members at an elite boys school the order runs in Northern California,
the plaintiffs' lawyers and a victims advocacy group said yesterday. The
largest of the three settlements, at $4 million, would be among the biggest so
far to be negotiated in California for a plaintiff in a sexual abuse case
involving clergymen, the lawyers and victims advocates said. In early December,
the Diocese of Orange County reached a settlement with 87 victims of abuse by
priests and lay employees and agreed to pay at least $100 million, or a bit
more than $1 million for each plaintiff. An
additional 900 or so alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen and
lay people in California await resolution of their suits, plaintiffs'
lawyers said. The high number of such cases in California is the result of a
state decision in 2002 to lift for a year its statute of limitations on sexual
abuse cases involving the clergy. The Christian Brothers settlement, reached
earlier this week, may have raised the bar for many of those plaintiffs, said David Clohessy, national director of the
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support and advocacy group.
"Each case is different, each diocese is different and the degree of
insurance coverage varies," Mr. Clohessy said. "Still, it can
encourage victims to hang in there longer during a very painful process."
A lawyer for the Christian Brothers could not be reached for comment. The three
men who sued the Christian Brothers in December 2003 said they were abused by
members of the order when they were students
at the De La Salle Institute in Concord, Calif., in the 1970's and 1980's.
The three molesters plied victims with drugs or alcohol before and during the
attacks, which occurred at school and on trips, said Laurence Drivon, a lawyer
for the plaintiffs. The settlement was first reported on Friday in The San
Francisco Chronicle. As part of the settlement, the Christian Brothers agreed
to disclose what happened, although it has yet to release the names of the
faculty members involved. Still, its efforts included turning over documents
from 1968 that showed that one of the attackers had been accused of molesting
children 12 years before he abused a plaintiff in the 2003 case. That man has left the order, another is in
a Catholic church facility that works with pedophiles and the whereabouts of
the third are unknown, Mr. Drivon said. Mr. Clohessy said he believed that
a smaller proportion of sexual abuse incidents by members of Catholic orders
had been reported so far, compared with what had been revealed about abuse by
parish priests. That stemmed in part, he said, from the fact that members of
orders move around more than parish priests and that victims and their families
often do not know where to report abuse.
MARYLAND: VATICAN DEFROCKS PRIEST CHARGED WITH ABUSE
– December 23, 2004 – New York
Times -- A priest who was shot and wounded by a former altar boy he was accused
of molesting more than a decade ago has been defrocked by Pope John Paul II. The pope decided in October to dismiss the priest, Maurice Blackwell, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore received
the official paperwork this month from the
Vatican, an archdiocese spokesman said. Mr. Blackwell, 58, left, is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 3 on four
counts of child sexual abuse against Dontee Stokes. After Mr. Stokes shot Mr.
Blackwell three times in 2002, Baltimore prosecutors reviewed Mr. Stokes's
accusations and charged Mr. Blackwell. Mr. Stokes, now a barber in Baltimore,
was acquitted of attempted murder in December 2002 but was convicted on gun
charges. (AP)
Cardinal Subpoenaed in Priestly Abuse Lawsuit --
December 22, 2004 – New York Times
-- For the first time since becoming archbishop
of New York in 2000, Cardinal Edward
M. Egan is expected to testify as a witness in a civil lawsuit alleging
sexual abuse by a priest, the cardinal's spokesman and lawyers involved in the
case confirmed yesterday. Lawyers for the plaintiff, identified as John Doe in
court documents, told Judge Chase Rogers of State Superior Court in Stamford,
Conn., last week that they needed the cardinal to testify to ensure that the
cardinal's comments about the case would be available before the case goes to
trial, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 11. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the
Archdiocese of New York, said he fully expected the cardinal to cooperate with
the subpoena, as did two lawyers involved in the case. The issuance of a
subpoena calling upon him to testify was first reported by The Greenwich Time
yesterday. Mr. Zwilling said that it was not the first time that Cardinal Egan
had been deposed about alleged sexual misconduct in the church, though it would
be the first time since he left Bridgeport to become archbishop of the New York
archdiocese in June 2000. He became cardinal in February 2001. The lawsuit was
brought by a Bridgeport man who said
he was molested as an altar boy in 1991 and 1992 by the Rev. John Castaldo, then
an associate pastor at St. Teresa's Church in Trumbull. The plaintiff
alleges that the abuse occurred at the church and on a trip to Disney World in
August 1991, when he was made to share a bed with Father Castaldo. He had just turned
14. Father Castaldo was transferred the next year to a Stratford church by Cardinal Egan, then a bishop, and eventually
served in New Fairfield, Newtown and Stamford as well. In 2001, he pleaded
guilty in New York to a felony after engaging in a sexually explicit chat over
the Internet with someone he thought was a minor. He was sentenced to one
weekend in prison plus probation. Both he and the Bridgeport diocese are
defendants in the lawsuit. Mr. Zwilling said that during the time addressed by
the lawsuit, "There was never any indication of any sexual misconduct on
the part of the priest in question." To prove otherwise, Paul A. Slager,
one of the plaintiff's lawyers, told the court last week that he wanted to
question the Rev. Kevin Mackin on why Father Castaldo was ousted from the
seminary in East Aurora, N.Y., that Father Mackin ran in 1985 with a
recommendation that he not become ordained.
Appeals court: Statute of limitations expired on church sex
abuse case
December 22, 2004
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan Court of Appeals has thrown out a
sexual abuse lawsuit involving the
Archdiocese of Detroit, saying the statute of
limitations on the case has expired. The Wayne County case, filed by a
plaintiff identified in court records as John Doe, stemmed from
allegations of sexual abuse from 1972 to 1976 against former Roman Catholic priest Robert
Burkholder. The case later was amended to cover another claim of sexual
abuse from 1983 in Hawaii.
Court wants Egan subpoena enforced
Greenwich Time
December 21, 2004
A Connecticut court has asked New York authorities to enforce a subpoena
against Cardinal Edward Egan, of the
Archdiocese of New York, ordering him
to answer questions under oath in a sexual abuse case involving a former
Stamford priest. Judge Chase Rogers, of state Superior Court in Stamford,
issued
the request last week in response to a motion from a Stamford lawyer whose
client, identified in court papers as "John
Doe," claims he was molested in the
early 1990s by the Rev. John J. Castaldo
while Castaldo was a priest at St.
Teresa Church in Trumbull. Rogers also asked New York authorities to
enforce a
subpoena against the Rev. Kevin Mackin,
of
Victims divided over public tactics of clergy abuse support
group
Associated Press
December 18, 2004
CORONA, Calif. -- The leafletting outside St. Matthew Catholic Church
started well, with parishioners accepting the brochures about clergy abuse
being
handed out by alleged molestation victims. Then a woman standing on a
church balcony screamed "You're evil!" at protesters and a man made
an obscene
gesture. The parish called police, who told the protesters they couldn't
leaflet without a city permit. The angry reaction came as no surprise to
members of the Survivors Network of
Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
Since the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Catholic church blew up in 2002,
SNAP
has sought the spotlight by publicly portraying itself as the official voice
of thousands of victims. While those victims embrace SNAP as a support group
and a means to win long-overdue justice, its tactics have alienated many
practicing Catholics and even some of the very people it hopes to help.
Clergy Abuse Victims Divided Over Tactics -- December 18, 2004 -- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS -- CORONA, Calif. - The
leafletting outside St. Matthew Catholic Church started well on a recent
Sunday, with some parishioners accepting the brochures about clergy abuse being
handed out by people who said they were abused by priests. Then one woman
standing on a church balcony screamed at the demonstrators ``You're evil!'' and
a man made an obscene gesture at them. The parish called police, who told the
protesters they couldn't leaflet without a city permit. The angry reaction came
as no surprise to members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests,
or SNAP. Since the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Roman Catholic church blew
up in 2002, SNAP has often stepped forward to speak for victims. While many
victims have embraced SNAP as a support group and a means to win long-overdue
justice, the group's tactics have alienated other Catholics and even some of
the very people it hopes to help. Some abuse victims say the group is too angry
and confrontational, while others insist it's not activist enough. Still others
fault SNAP for its close relationship with clergy abuse attorneys, saying the link
fuels perceptions that victims are only after the church's money. The attitudes
reflect deep divisions among victims over how to proceed now that the first
wave of the scandal has subsided. The question has profound significance for
victims, many of whom will never see their molesters prosecuted because of
statutes of limitations. ``This issue drives to the core of who you are -- it's
not like anything else in the world,'' said Mary Ryan, an alleged abuse victim
from Rhode Island. ``It's messy.'' SNAP was started by Chicago social worker
and abuse victim Barbara Blaine in 1989 and had 1,800 members, six active
chapters and an annual budget of $2,000 until early 2002, when the clergy sex
abuse scandal exploded in Boston and spread across the nation. The group now
has 5,000 members, 60 active chapters and an annual budget of $250,000, with
five paid staff members. The growth gave SNAP clout in the national discourse
on clergy abuse. Among other actions, SNAP has demonstrated each of the last
three years outside a hotel in Washington, D.C., when bishops held their annual
meetings there. Members routinely picket diocesan headquarters and leaflet
churches to spread the word about abuse. Mary Grant, who coordinates SNAP
actions across Southern California, said the group's activism has helped
identify and remove molester priests. For example, she said, alleged victims of
two Los Angeles priests who now face criminal investigations came forward after
hearing about SNAP in the news. ``Some don't want to be public and that's
fine,'' Grant said. ``But we've literally found thousands of victims by
standing outside parishes.'' SNAP members said they want accountability and
healing and believe their approach is the best way to achieve that. Their
strategy is different from other support groups such as The Linkup, which has
reached out to bishops and religious orders on addressing abuse. Ninety percent
of SNAP's work goes on behind closed doors, its leaders say. Through group
sessions coordinated by SNAP, 45-year-old Esther Miller met another alleged
victim of the same priest after thinking for years that she was his only
target. Learning she wasn't alone made her realize ``I wasn't really crazy and
I wasn't making this up,'' said Miller, a contract administrator from Seal Beach.
The group's public tactics, however, have irked some victims and led the Rev.
Joseph Alzugaray, a pastor in Napa, to file a libel lawsuit. SNAP had
circulated pamphlets alluding to the fact that Alzugaray was under
investigation for alleged molestation. He denied the allegations and no
criminal charges have been filed. In his lawsuit, Alzugaray said SNAP funnels
potential plaintiffs to a handful of lawyers who donate tens of thousands of
dollars to the organization. A judge threw out the suit, but it fueled quiet
criticism of the group. ``I would say there's inappropriate use of all the
victims,'' said Chris Logue, a Boston clergy abuse victim who left SNAP to join
Male Survivors. ``These lawyers are only out for themselves. ... They never do
nothing unless you have a case they can make money off.'' David Clohessy,
SNAP's national director, acknowledged that several of the highest-profile
plaintiffs' attorneys in the nation have ponied up ``probably the largest
non-survivor donations we've gotten'' -- between $10,000 and $20,000 each
annually. But Clohessy said SNAP does not direct clients to lawyers who donate.
He said many members wind up with the same attorneys simply by word of mouth.
Other critics said they are more bothered by what they called SNAP's
anti-Catholic stance. Paul Schwartz, of Wichita, Kan., attended the group's
meetings but decided he wasn't being helped. ``Every conversation I've ever had
with SNAP is 'Oh, we're going to bring (the church) down. How's that going to
help me?'' Schwartz said. ``The Catholic church did not cause my anger and
rage, the abuse did.'' Others said fueling that anger is the only way to
prevent future clergy abuse. They have formed other groups, such as Speak Truth
to Power, and say SNAP isn't activist enough. ``I understood that SNAP members
were trying to reach the mainstream type of thinking and not alienate
Catholics. But I didn't care about alienating. I want the truth out,'' said
Susan Renehan, 56, an alleged abuse victim from Worcester, Mass., and a board member
of Survivors First. ``This thing is not going away -- it's going out of
fashion, but it's not going away.''
SNAP: http://www.snapnetwork.org
Catholic Church fights for shield
December 5, 2004
NJ.com
Leaders of the Catholic Church in New
Jersey have been lobbying state
legislators to amend a bill that would eliminate charitable immunity as a
legal defense in cases where nonprofit organizations negligently employ
child molesters. The New Jersey Catholic
Conference (NJCC), the lobbying arm of
the state's Catholic bishops, is urging lawmakers to set time limits on how
far back the legislation would apply retroactively.
Diocese's deal raises the bar
December 4, 2004
Los Angeles Times
The agreement by the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Orange to pay $100 million
to settle 87 sex-abuse claims
against priests is likely to set a standard
that will profoundly affect hundreds of cases in California and nationwide,
lawyers familiar with the litigation said Friday. Although final terms of the
settlement remain undisclosed under the terms of a gag order, sources on
all sides of the complex case confirmed the overall settlement figure, which
would be a record payment by a Catholic diocese in the United States.
A Bishop's Bold Move
December 5, 2004
Los Angeles Times
One is the shy, mild-mannered Roman Catholic bishop of Orange. The other
is a prince of the church, the cardinal archbishop of Los Angeles, who has been
unhesitant in using the power of his office to both bless and cajole. But
the record $100-million settlement reached last week by Bishop of Orange Tod
D. Brown with 87 sexual abuse victims brought the prelate out of the shadow
of his former seminary classmate, Cardinal
Roger M. Mahony. Brown is now the
bishop in the national spotlight. His decision to approve the massive
payout, the way he was embraced by sobbing victims the night of the settlement
and
his decision not to fight the release of internal church documents have
highlighted the two men's differences in method and tactics.
California Diocese
Settles Abuse Cases; Record Sum Is Seen -- December 4, 2004 – New York Times -- By JOHN M. BRODER -- LOS ANGELES
- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
County has reached a record settlement with 87 victims of abuse by priests
and lay employees, agreeing to the largest payment ever made by the church in
cases involving sexual misconduct, parties involved in the talks said. The
payment is at least $100 million, exceeding the $85 million agreed to by the Archdiocese of Boston last year,
said a participant in the discussions who could not be named because of a
judicial order against speaking to the news media. Other terms of the
settlement, reached late Thursday night in a Los Angeles courtroom, were not
disclosed, although lawyers for the plaintiffs said thousands of pages of
documents chronicling decades of abuse by members of the clergy and others
would be released in the coming months. In a statement, Bishop Tod D. Brown, who participated in the marathon negotiations
at the Los Angeles civil courthouse, said the settlement was "both fair
and compassionate" and would not force the church to close any of its
schools and parish churches. He said he would send a penitential letter to each
victim. The record settlement averaging more than $1 million per victim raises
the stakes for other dioceses facing lawsuits arising from accusations of child
molesting by priests, lawyers and outside experts said. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the
nation's largest, alone faces 500 claims of abuse. Its leader, Archbishop Roger Mahony, is engaged in a bitter legal
battle with plaintiffs' lawyers seeking monetary damages. All of the claims
settled in the Orange County case arose from abuse committed before Bishop
Brown took over the diocese in 1998. The suits alleged misconduct by 30 priests, 11 lay employees and 2 nuns. "I want
to take this opportunity to again extend on behalf of the Diocese of Orange and
myself, a sincere apology, a request for forgiveness and a heartfelt hope for
reconciliation and healing," Bishop Brown said. He emerged from talks
Thursday night to speak with about two dozen abuse victims who had waited for
hours in the hall for word of a deal. The Diocese of Orange serves more than
one million Roman Catholics, in the sprawling and diverse county. It split off
from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1976 and is now the 10th-largest Roman
Catholic diocese in the United States. A
spokesman for the Orange County Diocese, the Rev. Joe Fenton, said that the
award would be paid from existing church assets and from the diocese's
insurance policies. He said that none of the diocese's pastoral, educational or
charitable activities would be affected. At the end of 2003, the diocese had
$23 million in cash and $171 million in investment accounts, according to
public financial records. Father Fenton said insurance coverage represented a
"significant portion" of the settlement amount. Joelle Casteix was
one of the victims whose suit was settled on Thursday and who camped out in the
hallway at the request of the arbitrator hearing the case, Judge Owen Lee Kwong
of Superior Court. Ms. Casteix, 34, was repeatedly sexually abused and became
pregnant by a lay teacher at Mater Dei
High School in Santa Ana when she was a teenager in the 1980's. She said
she was gratified that the church was finally coming to grips with the scandal.
She said that when lawyers emerged from the courtroom Thursday night, victims
cried and embraced each other and Bishop Brown.
Ms. Casteix
said that the money was a welcome sign of the church's admission of error but
that the church would have to do more to win forgiveness. "Forgiveness requires not only the 'I'm sorry' from the bishop,
but accountability and a sincere effort to ensure the crime will never happen
again," she said. "We have
the apology and now the accountability in the form of the financial settlement.
But for the final step in forgiveness, there has to be that continued vigilance
to make sure it never happens again." Settlement talks among
plaintiffs' lawyers, the diocese and its insurance companies have stretched
over two years and reached an impasse in June, when the plaintiffs rejected a
settlement offer of $40 million. But the stalemate was broken this week after
Judge Kwon summoned the parties and kept them talking late into the night all
week. Raymond P. Boucher, a Beverly
Hills lawyer who represented many of the victims, said the settlement
brought relief and some compensation but fell short of full justice. "From
the standpoint of these young men and women who lost so much of their lives to
this horror and this nightmare, they will have a chance for a new
beginning," Mr. Boucher said. "Obviously there's no amount of money,
no amount of revelations from the documents that can ever fill the chasm that
has been created in them. From that standpoint, it's an imperfect
justice." He praised Bishop Brown for his cooperative approach to the
litigation: "From the beginning Bishop Brown has attempted to reach out,
he has taken positive steps, put his neck on line, taken the heat from other
bishops. He has tried to do the right thing." Another of the plaintiffs'
lawyers, Katherine K. Freberg, said that because claims against the Roman Catholic Church in California
had been consolidated into a limited number of cases for trial or negotiation,
some victims would be satisfied by the agreement while others might feel
slighted. Some early individual cases in the state had been settled for as much
as $5 million. "Some victims will say they got their justice," Ms.
Freberg said. "Others will say that there were so many victims they were
caught up in this quagmire of having to litigate their cases not individually
but as a coordinated action." The
Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of America, a Catholic magazine, said that the
Orange County settlement may or may not prove a template for other dioceses
facing similar suits. While Orange County has the assets to cover the
settlement, poorer areas may not be able to afford such compensation and may
choose, or be forced, to take their cases to trial. Father Reese also said that
such settlements created a new class of victims - those who will not receive
the scholarships, shelters, counseling services, legal aid or food programs
that would have been provided by the money paid to abuse victims. "Sooner
or later we're going to see a cut in services and problems all the way along
the line, and down into the parishes," he said. "We saw it in Boston
and we're going to see it everywhere else."
Misguided uproar over 7 priests
San Francisco Chronicle
December 3, 2004
The disclosure this week that seven wayward priests are living at an
Oakland seminary either served a vital public service or was something like a
17th
century witch hunt, depending on one's perspective. The specific complaint
is aimed at St. Albert's Priory in the
city's Rockridge district, which moved
priests with a history of sexual abuse onto the 5-acre facility without
public notification. Carla Hass, a
spokeswoman for the Dominican Order that
operates the facility, said public notification was made, but not by the
Dominicans
or the Diocese of Oakland, which also knew about the situation.
Related story:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/10306611.htm
Nun denied academy honor
Hartford Courant
December 2, 2004
The name of a Catholic nun accused
of sexually abusing a former student in
Hamden has been removed from a list of honorees in New Jersey following a
complaint by a national advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse. Sister
Linda Cusano was listed as a 2002 "Hall of Fame" honoree at the Immaculate
Heart Academy in New Jersey until the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests called on the school to remove the award from its website.
Cusano's name was stricken from the school's Hall of Fame website the day of
the
complaint, Nov. 24.
Catholic journalist probes dark side of church
Associated Press
November 30, 2004
The stories, and faces, of molested altar boys and abused seminarians seem
to dart and flicker like lightning bugs on a summer's night on the broad face
of Jason Berry -- the reluctant
muckraker who took on the Vatican and his own
faith. It all started 20 years ago when Berry,
a freelance journalist,
became one of the first writers to yank the cloak off one of the Roman Catholic
Church's darkest secrets: That there were pedophiles in the ranks of
priests. But despite the awards, TV appearances, talks at universities, praise
and
accolades heaped on his work, Berry is a victim of his success, of his
journalistic scoops.
Activists: Tone down support for priest
New Orleans Times-Picayune
November 20, 2004
A victims advocacy group asked Archbishop Alfred Hughes on Friday to help
tone down Belle Chasse parishioners' support for a former pastor accused of
sexually abusing two teenagers. They said the parishioners' spontaneous
campaign sends a message to children being abused in secret now that no
one will believe them if they speak up. However, Hughes will not ask
supporters of the Rev. Patrick Sanders to take down the blue ribbons on their
porches
and mailboxes that signal their belief in Sanders' innocence, said Hughes'
spokesman, the Rev. William Maestri.
Victims: Abuse help is slow
New Orleans Times-Picayune
November 19, 2004
Nearly a year and a half after Catholic bishops pledged to reach out in
good faith to victims of clerical sex abuse, relations between many victims and
the church -- including the Archdiocese of New Orleans -- are still marred by
frustration and hard feelings. Among victims who have associated with the
local chapter of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, the
perception is that dealings with the archdiocese are marked by delay,
skepticism and a minimalist approach to offering concrete resources to
victims struggling with depression, SNAP spokeswoman Lyn Taylor said. By
contrast,
the archdiocese believes it has tried to meet victims' needs at every turn,
said the Rev. William Maestri, archdiocesan spokesman. Although he could not
provide a figure, Maestri said Archbishop Alfred Hughes has had numerous
one-on-one meetings with victims and has seen some more than once.
Apology set for alleged sexual abuse
Contra Costa Times
November 19, 2004
The Diocese of Oakland's top prelate will visit a Byron parish Sunday to
apologize for the alleged sexual abuse by a former priest a decade ago.
Bishop Allen Vigneron will preside over what the diocese is calling an
"apology
service" at St. Anne Church, the last post that Robert Ponciroli held
before he was defrocked in 1995. The 7:30 p.m. gathering will start with prayer
and Scripture readings, after which Vigneron will address the congregation
with a message of contrition.
Lanner seeking new trial
New York Jewish Week
November 19, 2004
The lawyer for Baruch Lanner, the Orthodox rabbi convicted of sexually
abusing two girls in his New Jersey religious school, presented arguments to
that
state's Appellate Division of Superior Court this week that the verdict
should be thrown out and a new trial ordered because the judge gave improper
directions to the jury and should have separated the two cases.
Duitse sekteleider schuldig aan seksueel misbruik
--
18 november 2004 -- planet.nl --
SANTIAGO - Een Chileense rechter heeft een
voortvluchtige Duitse sekteleider woensdag schuldig bevonden aan seksueel misbruik van 26 kinderen. Dat
heeft een raadsman van Chileense regering woensdag laten weten. Het proces
tegen Paul Schaefer en andere leden
van de sekte heeft acht jaar geduurd. Schaefer is al jaren voortvluchtig.
Volgens de Chileense wet kan de strafmaat pas worden bepaald als de veroordeelde
weer is opgespoord. Wel hebben 22
Chileense en Duitse leden van de sekte straffen tot vijf jaar cel gekregen
omdat ze het misbruik verborgen hebben gehouden en de rechtsgang hebben
gehinderd. Seksueel
misbruik: De inmiddels 81-jarige Schaefer stichtte 43 jaar geleden
met een aantal Duitse families in het zuiden van Chili een kolonie. In
Duitsland werd hij toen al gezocht wegens aanranding van jongens. Op Colonia Dignidad (Kolonie Waardigheid)
ging Schaefer opnieuw in de fout en vergreep zich in de loop der jaren aan
zeker 26 Chileense jongens die op de kolonie werkten. Schrikbewind: Daarnaast is
Schaefer er herhaaldelijk van beschuldigd een schrikbewind te hebben gevoerd.
Oud-leden verklaarden eind jaren tachtig tegen een commissie van het Duitse
parlement dat sekteleden werden gemarteld. Zij zaten tegen hun zin vast en
kregen elektrische schokken en injecties
totdat zij zich hadden aangepast. Ook onderhield de sekteleider goede banden
met het bewind van de toenmalige Chileense dictator Augusto Pinochet. De
Chileense geheime dienst zou op het terrein van de kolonie politieke gevangenen
hebben gemarteld.
Omsteden
Poolse priester ontslagen – 18 november 2004 – Volkskrant – WARSCHAU – De aartsbisschop van Gdansk heft de
omstreden priester Henryk Jankowski
ontslagen als hoofd van de Sint-Brygida-parochie. Als vertrouweling van Lech
Walesa was Jankowski in de jaren tachtig een boegbeeld van het verzet tegen het
communisme. Maar de voorbije jaren kwam de van pedofilie beschuldigde priester
vooral in het nieuws wegens antisemitische uitspraken.
Bishops OK support for abuse reforms
Associated Press
November 18, 2004
Roman Catholic bishops have spent more than two years trying to convince
parishioners and the public that church leaders have learned the painful
lessons from the crisis over clergy sex abuse. At this week's meeting of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, some victims and lay people said they
saw evidence that the bishops were committed to their reforms, although lay
advocates cautioned more changes were needed. The bishops voted Wednesday
to authorize a third round of audits of every U.S. diocese to determine
whether they had put in place mandatory safeguards for children and discipline
plans for guilty priests. The bishops also approved collecting data on new
abuse
claims, litigation and related costs, as a follow-up to their
unprecedented statistical accounting on 50 years of abuse cases nationwide that
was
released earlier this year.
Committee recommends abusive clergy ban
Associated Press
November 17, 2004
WASHINGTON - A committee overseeing a review of the child protection plan
adopted by Roman Catholic bishops has recommended preserving a ban on
church work for clerics who molest young people, according to a document the
panel has sent to all U.S. bishops. Victims and lay advocates have been worried
that the bishops would gut that provision, which was adopted under intense
public pressure during the bishops' June 2002 meeting in Dallas at the height
of
the abuse crisis.
Catholic bishops opt for diocesan abuse questionnaire
Knight-Ridder
November 17, 2004
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - America's Roman Catholic bishops decided Wednesday to
scale back their method of sex-abuse compliance audits, replacing the
independent field investigators that have visited dioceses for the last
two years with a self-reporting system in which dioceses fill out
questionnaires. The system, which will take effect next year, was presented by
a bishops'
committee as one of several "tweaks and fine-tunings" in the
implementation of the child-protection charter adopted in 2002. But advocates
for abuse
victims quickly criticized the move.
New head of bishops gets mixed reaction
New Jersey Star-Ledger
November 16, 2004
Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., who has been praised by some
for his handling of the clergy abuse scandal but criticized by others for
protecting at least one accused priest, was elected yesterday as president
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The 70-year-old Skylstad, whose
diocese is about to declare bankruptcy in the wake of the abuse scandal,
was elected with 52 percent of the vote. He will succeed Bishop Wilton
Gregory, the first African-American and first Catholic convert to lead the
conference. Gregory's three-year term ends Thursday.
Vergoeding voor duizenden
Ierse slachtoffers kindermisbruik – 16 november 2004 – Telegraaf
-- DUBLIN - De Ierse overheid
heeft tot dusver ongeveer 150 miljoen euro uitgekeerd aan slachtoffers van kindermisbruik in rooms-katholieke instellingen en
verwacht nog veel meer te moeten uitkeren. De commissie die zich over de misstanden in weeshuizen, kindertehuizen
en scholen buigt, heeft dit dinsdag bekendgemaakt. De in 2001 opgerichte
commissie (The Residential Institutions Redress Board) onderzocht klachten over fysiek, psychisch en seksueel
misbruik van de jaren '40 tot de jaren '80. Er werden tot dusver 1.939
gevallen onderzocht. De uitkeringen bedroegen per persoon gemiddeld 77.000 euro
en er waren elf gevallen waarin ruim 200.000 euro werd betaald. Het onderzoek
in ruim tweeduizend zaken loopt nog. De verwachting is dat het aantal zaken
uiteindelijk zal oplopen tot zeker zevenduizend en dat rond 650 miljoen euro
moet worden uitgekeerd. De tehuizen, waarvan de meeste in de jaren '80 werden
gesloten, stonden onder supervisie van verscheidene rooms-katholieke
instellingen. De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk
kwam in 2002 met de regering overeen om als tegemoetkoming 127 miljoen euro te
betalen, meest in de vorm van onroerend goed. De kerk verwierf met deze
afkoopsom ook geheimhouding en immuniteit, hetgeen later door slachtoffers en
politici van de oppositie hevig werd bekritiseerd. De kerk kan nog wel vervolgd worden door slachtoffers van geestelijken
die niet in jeugdtehuizen werkzaam waren. Alleen in het aartsbisdom Dublin
lopen al ruim vijfhonderd van dergelijke zaken. Op internet: http://www.rirb.ie/
Spokane diocese to file for bankruptcy
Associated Press
November 11, 2004
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, unable to settle sexual abuse
lawsuits, will file for bankruptcy at the end of the month, the bishop said
Wednesday. In a recent letter to parishioners, Bishop William Skylstad said the
total
amount of sex abuse claims ''is in the tens of millions of dollars and far
exceeds the net worth of the diocese.''
Lawmakers to debate "Charitable Immunity Act"
Today's Sunbeam (NJ)
November 7, 2004
Lawmakers on Monday are scheduled to debate a measure that would strip
non-profit groups of so-called charitable immunity, a 1958 law detractors
contend has been a roadblock to victims of clergy sexual abuse in the
Roman Catholic Church. New Jersey's "Charitable Immunity Act," one of
only nine
laws in the nation protecting charities from members' suits, is tantamount to
government protection of abusers, according to those looking to reverse
it. Under a plan set to go before members of the Assembly Banking and
Financial Services on Monday, sexual abuse would nullify any legal protection.
Abuse victims want priests' names released
Associated Press
November 5, 2004
Reacting to a recent court order, victims of clergy sexual abuse called on
Roman Catholic dioceses throughout California to release the names of
accused priests. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests sent a letter
to
every bishop in the state asking them to publish the names of known and
suspected abusive priests on their diocesan Web sites and in their
newsletters and parish bulletins. ''It's a simple, inexpensive, but imperative
step,''
the letter said. ''We can only protect the vulnerable from the dangerous if we
know who the dangerous are.''
Survivors Network leaders urge Dolan to remove name
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
November 5, 2004
Two national leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
called Friday for Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to withdraw his
name as one of 10 candidates for election to president and vice president of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP's
national director, and Barbara Blaine of Chicago, its president and
founder, said Dolan has not done enough to heal victims and protect the public
here. They say they want Dolan to deal "fairly with victims of clergy
abuse in
group mediation, add religious order perpetrators to a public list of sex
offenders, identify the locations of all known clergy sex offenders and support
changes in state laws which discriminate against clergy abuse survivors."
Related story:
Cardinal George considered top candidate for U.S.
Conference of Catholic
Bishops
Lawyer
to post list of accused priests online
Associated
Press
DALLAS (AP) -- A lawyer has compiled a
list of 2,600 Roman Catholic
priests nationwide who have been accused of sexual misconduct against
children and
plans to post it online by early next year. Sylvia Demarest, a Dallas
lawyer, and her staff spent 11 years on the list, which a victims' rights
advocate
says may encourage those who were abused to come forward. "This is just a
huge public service," said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests. "I'm thrilled it will be in good hands
and
will be accessible, and won't sit idly on a shelf."
Ousted priest also stole, church says
Associated
Press
SEATTLE -- A former Roman Catholic
priest ousted from ministry for
molesting boys diverted thousands of dollars of church money for personal
expenses – in some cases showering his alleged victims with cash, gifts and
vacations,
according to a Seattle archdiocese investigation. John Cornelius, who was
permanently dismissed from priesthood in September, paid the money back,
and the archdiocese later curtailed his ability to deal with parish finances,
said Patrick Sursely, financial director of the archdiocese.
Victims: Diocese has finally taken responsibility
Quad City
Times (Iowa)
Victims of sexual abuse by priests in the
Catholic Diocese of Davenport
reacted to ThursdayÍs settlement with mixed hearts. They cheered a
monumental day for what they called the first time the diocese has taken
responsibility for what happened to them. But they tempered that with the work
that still
remains in making sure the diocese properly handles future allegations of
sexual abuse by priests. I should be happy and overjoyed, but I’m not,
said Mike Hitch of Oklahoma, who filed a lawsuit alleging abuse by former
priest James Janssen.
Key changes in bishop's abuse policy review board
National
Catholic Reporter
More than two years after the U.S.
bishops appointed a lay-run board to
oversee implementation of their child-protection plans and investigate the
causes of the clergy sex abuse crisis, it is transition time. Key members
are leaving the panel, which since its inception has tried to balance its need
for information and cooperation from bishops with its desire to be
independent.
Ala. archdiocese subpoenas advocate for abused
Louisville
Courier-Journal
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Mobile, Ala., has subpoenaed documents
from an Alabama representative of a Kentucky-based group that advocates for
victims of sexual abuse. Sue Archibald,
president of The Linkup group, is urging
the archdiocese to reconsider, but a church official said it plans to proceed.
The archdiocese has subpoenaed any documents containing communications between
Honey Weiss, a Mobile representative of The Linkup, and Linda Ledet, a
woman suing the archdiocese, alleging sexual misconduct by a priest. Archibald
said she believes Weiss will comply with the subpoena if necessary,
acknowledging that support-group members do not have the confidentiality
protection that
exists in doctor-client or lawyer-client communications.
Victims group denied role in diocese case in Tucson
Associated
Press
TUCSON - A federal bankruptcy judge denied a request Monday to allow a
national advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse to represent future
claimants against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. "My answer is 'No
way,' " U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Marlar told Barbara Blaine, national
president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
The judge held a hearing Monday to discuss the appointment of lawyers to
represent various present and potential claimants in the diocese's bankruptcy
reorganization.
Nigerian priest denied bail by Clocolan court – October 26,
2004 – iol.com – “A Nigerian priest,
facing seven charges of rape, was denied bail in the Clocolan magistrate's court on Tuesday, Free State police said.
Police spokesperson Constable
Christopher Mophireng said the priest was remanded. The 40-year-old priest was arrested on October 7 after six
schoolgirls alleged that he raped them at his
mission in Hlohlolwane. A seventh girl, who gave birth to a baby girl a few
weeks ago, alleged that the priest was the father. Police started to
investigate the allegations after the girls reported the incidents to their
school principal. He then phoned the police. In an incident in March, a
14-year-old girl alleged she was raped by the priest in his bedroom after he
showed her a pornographic video. The next day the girl, who slept at the
mission with her parents' permission, was allegedly given R20, sent home, and
told not to tell anyone about the incident. However she told her mother about the
incident. She took the girl for a medical examination. Mophireng said the
mother did not report the matter to the police. In another incident in
September a 13-year-old girl visited the mission to look for a friend. The
priest allegedly asked her to go to his room where she was ordered to undress
and then raped. She was apparently also given R20 to keep quiet. Mophireng said on Tuesday the case was
postponed to November 4. – Sapa” Zo bericht iol.com.
Nun still working for order despite abuse accusation
Gannett New
Jersey
Patricia Cahill says she was sexually abused by a nun when she was a
child. As an adult, she says she went to at least a couple of officials with the
Morris Township-based Sisters of Charity and told them about the abuse. She
says
nothing happened for a couple of years. Then she called a lawyer. More
than 10 years after the Sisters of Charity paid her $70,000 in an out-of-court
settlement, Cahill said she still is trying to come to terms with her
alleged abuse. She said she has battled drug and alcohol addictions much of her
life but has been sober for the past year. She has been out of work for the
past three years. "My life has been in a spiral," said Cahill, 52,
who now
lives in Lancaster, Pa. Eileen Shaw, the
nun who allegedly abused her, was removed
as principal of a Catholic elementary school in Paramus 10 years ago when the
Sisters of Charity say they became aware of the allegations. At first, the
order's officials would not say last week what happened to Shaw after that
until it was pointed out to them that her job description is on their Web
site. Shaw, 71, is listed as
administrator of the Caritas Community in
Jersey City, a retirement home for nuns.
National
Review Board gets new chair, 5 new members
The Tidings
Online
The president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops has appointed a
new chairman and five new members on the
National Review Board for the
protection of children. The USCCB
president, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville,
Ill., announced the appointments in Washington Oct. 15. He named Nicholas
P. Cafardi, dean of the law school of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and
a
charter member of the two-year-old board, as chairman. He will serve
through the conclusion of his term on the board in June 2005.
Priest held over 12-year-old's alleged rape
October 20, 2004
Bloemfontein police have arrested a priest for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl while
she was home alone, Free State police
said on Wednesday. Spokesperson
Constable Thandi Mbambo said the priest apparently arrived at the house in
Rocklands and found the girl, who had just returned from school, alone. Her
mother was said to be running errands in town. Mbambo said the girl was not alarmed by the priest's visit because the family was a
member of his congregation and he was regarded as a family friend. The
police said the charge was that after the priest read from the Bible he forced
the girl into a bedroom and raped her. Mbambo said the child was initially
referred to the National Hospital in
Bloemfontein after the case was reported to police. However, she was later
transferred to the Pelonomi hospital
after it was discovered that she had injuries to her private parts. Mbambo said
the priest would appear in the
Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Thursday on a charge of rape. - Sapa
Attorney files complaint against Clyne
Capital 9
news (Albany, NY)
A local attorney said Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne
alienates
victims of alleged clergy sex abuse. John
Aretakis filed a formal
complaint against Clyne over his handling of reported church sexual abuse.
Aretakis
said that when victims went to the DA's
office to report a complaint, Clyne
would tell them to call the diocese office. Aretakis believes that was wrong,
and he's urging voters not to re-elect Clyne. Aretakis said, "If you vote for
Paul Clyne, you are voting for a prosecutor who will continue to give Bishop
Hubbard and pedophile priests in this area and surrounding areas a free
pass to commit their violent, vicious sexual crimes."
Group keeps sounding alarm about former Hoosier priest
Indianapolis
Star
Paul Kendrick stood outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate
Conception in Lafayette for two hours Sunday. He and six other protesters
quietly passed out hundreds of leaflets. For the most part, they endured
the indifference or even hostility of fellow Catholics. Kendrick can stand
that -- he didn't even mind that somebody called the police on him and members
of
the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests. That's because the
55-year-old stockbroker from Portland, Maine, sees himself as practicing the
tough
social justice he learned years ago at his Jesuit prep school and college. He
is
living out the Jesuit motto of "being men and women for others," he
says,
by trying to educate Catholics, and yes, alarm them, about a former Indiana
priest now living in Haiti -- and
the role of bishops in protecting
certain priests and ex-priests.
Activists warn neighbors of priest accused of rape
Leaf-Chronicle
(Tenn.)
Residents of a Clarksville subdivision
are worried about the safety of
their children after learning a former
Catholic priest accused of child
molestation has moved into their neighborhood. A former priest, David Kelley, moved to
the Hunters Point neighborhood off Tiny Town Road in February after being
removed from the priesthood by the
Diocese of Cincinnati. "It scares the daylights
out of me," said Rhonda Greene, a mother of children ages 3 and 5 who
lives
down the block from Kelley. "We don't want him here."
Clash over whether priests' file should be public
October 2004
Associated
Press
OAKLAND - "The personnel files of Roman
Catholic priests should be made
public only if they are introduced as evidence in the consolidated sex-abuse
case
targeting Northern California dioceses,
church attorneys argued Wednesday.
Those files should remain confidential during the discovery process in
which attorneys for the dioceses and plaintiffs exchange information, attorney
James F. Sweeney said. Sweeney, representing the Diocese of Sacramento, made his
comments during a hearing to determine what information in the case should
be released to the media. Do they have right of access to everything at this
very second? he said. This is not a forum for investigative reporting.
US Bishops reviewing sex abuse policy
Associated
Press
Church memos called proof
Cincinnati
Enquirer
A victim-advocacy group accused Hamilton
County prosecutors Tuesday of
ignoring documents that prove the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati protected
sexually abusive priests. Leaders of the
Survivors Network of Those Abused by
Priests said memos written by church officials in 1986 show they were aware
of
abuse allegations and concealed them from the public. "It's catastrophic
that
they would have put more children in harm's way," said Christy Miller,
president of SNAP in Cincinnati. "They were lying then and they're
still lying now."
Priest testifies in Oklahoma slander lawsuit
Associated
Press
TULSA, Okla. -- A Roman Catholic priest
accused of molesting two boys 25
years ago denied the allegations Tuesday as testimony began in his slander
lawsuit against his accusers. "I have never, ever in my life sexually
abused any
person, any child, adult, infant," the Rev. Paul Eichhoff testified. Kelly
Kirk, 36, accused Eichhoff of molesting him and an unnamed boy twice in
the late 1970s when they were students at the
Catholic school in St. Mary's
parish, where Eichhoff was associate pastor. Kirk claims the molestation,
which he says was a repressed memory that resurfaced in 2000, has led to a
life riddled with unstable relationships and alcohol and drug abuse.
Eichhoff sued Kirk and his father, Gordon Kirk, for libel and slander in August
2002 when the allegations led the
Catholic Diocese of Tulsa to suspend Eichhoff
as pastor of a Claremore church. Kirk filed a counter lawsuit more than a
month later.
Nuns group hears abuse accounts
October, 2004
Washington
Post
Officials of a Silver Spring-based
organization that represents about
75,000 Catholic nuns have held a private meeting with four women and a man
who allege that they were sexually
abused by nuns. It was the first time that officials of the Leadership Conference of Women
Religious, an association of about 1,000 leaders of women's religious
orders, formally met with members of Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests to hear their personal stories. The
two-hour meeting, which took place Sunday in Chicago, was organized after group
members and their supporters protested outside the conference's offices in
July, demanding that they be allowed to address the organization's national
convention in Texas in August.
Clocolan priest facing further rape charges
– 12 oktober 2004 -- iol -- “A 16-year-old girl who recently gave birth
has laid a rape charge against a
Clocolan priest already facing several other such charges, Free State police said on Tuesday.
Police spokeswoman Captain Motarafi Ntepe said the girl gave birth on Sunday
and laid the charge on Monday. The Nigerian priest appeared in the Clocolan
magistrate's court on Monday on six charges of rape and one of indecent
assault. However he did not plead. The case was postponed to October 26 for a
formal bail application. The girl's mother noticed in April that she was
pregnant Ntepe said the 16-year-old
farm girl allegedly stayed at the priest's mission during January and April
this year while attending school at Hlohlolwane, near Clocolan. The girl's
mother noticed in April that she was pregnant. When asked about the pregnancy
the girl apparently told her mother that the priest was the father of the baby,
Ntepe said. Police said the mother allegedly confronted the priest but he
denied the allegations. Ntepe said a DNA test would be conducted as part of the
investigation into the latest case.” Zo bericht iol.
Judge sets six-month deadline for abuse victims
Associated
Press
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A federal
bankruptcy judge set a six-month
deadline
Thursday for victims of sexual abuse to come forward with claims against
the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James
Marlar
gave victims until April 15 to file claims with some exceptions. The
diocese had sought a 90-day deadline to enable it to put together a complete
list
of creditors so that it can resolve its bankruptcy reorganization case.
Victims and victims' advocates objected
to setting a deadline, and Marlar allowed
three people who identified themselves as clergy sex abuse victims and one
suing as a whistleblower to address the court.
Archdiocese settles with nine who alleged abuse
Newsday
The Archdiocese of Newark has agreed
to pay $1.1 million to nine people
who sued the diocese over alleged sexual abuse by priests. The settlement,
announced Friday, carries no admission of wrongdoing on the part of the
archdiocese or any priest. Mark Serrano,
a board member of Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests, said he was disappointed that church
officials
did not apologize. "I hardly think the archdiocese would offer a
settlement if
there was no guilt," he said.
Defrocked priest attends foster parent training
Des Moines
Register
James Janssen, a former Davenport priest
who was removed from the
priesthood for allegations of sexual abuse of children, has attended a training
session for foster and adoptive parents. "Why James Janssen would be
interested in
that type of training is beyond me, but it certainly isn't a good thing as
far as we're concerned," Davenport
diocese attorney Rand Wonio said Wednesday.
The Rev. David Brownfield of Grand Mound, another diocese priest who has cared
for children as a licensed foster parent, attended the meeting and said the
instructor repeatedly referred to Janssen as Reverend while addressing the
class of about 12.
Spijtbetuiging Anglikaanse kerk Australië – 7 oktober 2004 – Metro – De kerk heeft
spijt dat zijn instituut en personeel niet altijd de juiste omgeving
verschaften waarin kinderen werden beschermd. Aartsbisschop Peter Carnley biedt namens de Anglikaanse Kerk in Australië aan honderden kinderen die
seksueel zijn misbruikt in instellingen van de kerk zijn excuses aan.” Zo bericht Metro.
Bisschop – 6
oktober 2004 – De Telegraaf – “Bisschop
Küng van Feldkirch volgt in St. Pölten (Oostenrijk) bisschop Krenn op, die aftrad als gevolg van het seksschandaal in
zijn bisdom.” Zo bericht De Telegraaf.
Priester naar klooster gestuurd wegens betasten van
peuters – 4 oktober 2004 –
Actueel.nl – “De door schandalen achtervolgde rooms-katholieke kerk in Oostenrijk is een onderzoek begonnen naar
beschuldigingen dat een priester halverwege de jaren '90 jongetjes onzedelijk
heeft betast. De ouders van de jongens, toen in de peuterleeftijd, hebben daar
drie maanden geleden aangifte van gedaan. De priester is vorige maand uit zijn parochie, Annaberg-Lungoetz, verwijderd
en naar een klooster gestuurd. Hij mag daar geen contact met kinderen hebben.
De politie heeft ook een onderzoek ingesteld, maar de priester is niet in staat
van beschuldiging gesteld.” Zo bericht
Actueel.nl.
Focus on priest
abuse widens to include nuns
By MEGAN
TWOHEY
mtwohey@journalsentinel.com
Her eyes
filled with tears as Grace Duckert
explained how it felt when she remembered being molested as a child by a nun at a Catholic elementary school in Dodge
County. She was watching television one day in the early 1990s, and Oprah
Winfrey was interviewing men from Boston who had been abused by priests. Mary Guentner, 46, says she was abused
by a nun at Pius XI High School and
will speak at the religious conference in Chicago. "It was like being
struck by lightning," said Duckert,
82, who was paid nearly $2,000 by the
School Sisters of St. Francis for therapy after she reported the abuse.
"I was overwhelmed by sadness." Mary Guentner suffered at the hands
of a nun while at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee. "I felt like damaged
goods," recalled Guentner, 46, who received close to $10,000 from the
School Sisters for her therapy after she reported her abuse in the mid-1990s. Since it first began unfolding a decade
ago, the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has focused on
priests. But now, that may be changing. In recent years, growing numbers of men
and women who say they were abused by nuns have turned to therapists, attorneys
and advocates for help. Nationally, more than 100 - including five from the
Milwaukee area - have been identified by the Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests, a national organization for victims. The number of cases so far
is small, and even victims acknowledge that abuse by nuns was probably less
widespread than abuse by priests. But victims and their advocates say that,
just as in the early days of the priest scandal, there likely are more victims
than have come forward. They also argue that even if the numbers are small, the
public needs to know. The Milwaukee
archdiocese concedes abuse by nuns happens but would not comment on the
extent of the problem. "People from all walks of life have substantiated
allegations of sexual abuse," spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl said. "Women
religious would not be immune to that." Duckert, Guentner and three other
victims will tell their stories in Chicago today when they meet with leaders of
the country's largest organization of women's
religious orders. In the first meeting of its kind, they will ask the Leadership Conference of Women Religious
to encourage members to make cases of abuse public. They want the religious
orders to adopt uniform policies on how to handle allegations and begin
outreach to victims. Guentner plans to take the requests to orders of nuns in
the Milwaukee area. But uncovering the extent of abuse by nuns may be
difficult. The Leadership Conference has not tracked such cases, said Annmarie Sanders, the organization's spokeswoman.
The School Sisters of St. Francis, which has its headquarters in Milwaukee,
declined to provide information on the number of allegations. Like other
dioceses in the United States, officials of the Milwaukee archdiocese say it
neither tracks nor takes responsibility for sexual abuse in women's religious
orders that operate in the diocese. Allegations are referred to the appropriate
women's religious orders, and, since 2002, to local law enforcement, Hohl said.
Abuse by women less likely. While it has not kept track of cases of sexual
abuse by nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious believes they are
rare, Sanders said. Research shows that women are less likely than men to
commit sexual assault. Females make up
only 10% of arrests for sexual assault and rape crimes, said Sarah Graham
Miller, spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Some say the problem is bigger.
"Statistically, it's less frequent than sexual abuse by priests, but
sexual abuse by nuns has been a real problem," said Jeff Anderson, a
Minnesota-based attorney who has helped 10 victims secure settlements with
women's religious orders over the past 15 years. He is negotiating
settlements for three other victims. In September, a former nun who taught at a
Catholic school in Virginia Beach
more than 30 years ago was sentenced to six months in jail for molesting a male
student. In Boston, 18 people have filed lawsuits this year alleging they were
sexually and physically abused by nuns at a
Catholic school for the deaf. And more than 40 people are suing an order of
nuns in Louisville that staffed an orphanage where plaintiffs say they were
sexually abused. Victims of abuse by nuns in Wisconsin might be stymied in the
courts. A 1995 state Supreme Court decision protects churches and religious
orders from lawsuits. Duckert and Guentner secured settlements with the School
Sisters of St. Francis before the ruling. Duckert was 5 years old when a nun
took her to the attic of her elementary school and molested her, she said.
Duckert reported the abuse to her mother, and the nun was removed from the
school. After that, neither Duckert nor the family spoke of it. As Duckert grew
up, she pushed the nun from her memory and remained a devout Catholic. After
becoming a teacher, she worked in a Catholic school. But when the memories came
flooding back 60 years later, it left her world, and her faith, shattered. She
realized it had made her incapable of having a truly intimate relationship with
her husband and honest conversations about sex with her children. When she told
them what had happened, the entire family stopped going to church. Even with therapy, Duckert struggled to
come to terms with the abuse, which she said she carries with her every day
"like a heavy weight." Prior to the 1990s, religious orders had
no specific policies on how to deal with the problem. As stories of sexual
abuse by priests exploded in the media, the Leadership Conference encouraged
members to adopt new policies aimed at healing for victims and perpetrators
outside the legal process, Sanders said. The organization cannot force members
to take action, but its leaders are going into Sunday's meeting with victims
with open minds, Sanders said. "We'll hopefully incorporate their wisdom
into our future work," Sanders said.
A Rabbi Accused of Sexual Abuse Seeks to Reinvent Himself
Jewish
Journal of Greater Los Angeles
Is there a statute of limitations for rabbis accused of abuse and should
there be? How does the community determine when someone has done teshuvah,
or repentance, as claimed? Can rabbinic ordination be revoked? And when, if
ever, do persistent rumors and allegations over a period of years add up to a
legitimate story? Prompting these thoughts in this season of repentance
and forgiveness is the continuing saga of Rabbi
Mordechai Gafni, 43, who in
recent years has become an increasingly
influential leader of the Jewish Renewal
movement.
Bishop indicted on child rape
charges
Associated
Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. "Bishop Thomas
Dupre, the former head of
the Springfield Diocese, was indicted Monday on child rape charges, accused
of
molesting two boys in the 1970s, the county prosecutor said. He becomes the
first Roman Catholic prelate indicted in the sex abuse scandal within the
American church. Dupre, 70, resigned
Feb. 11 after nine years as head of the
diocese, one day after The Republican newspaper of Springfield confronted him
with allegations he abused two boys while he was a parish priest. Dupre cited
health reasons for his departure. He retains the title of bishop.
Related story:
DA won't prosecute
SPRINGFIELD,
Mass. " A district attorney said Monday that he
would not prosecute Roman Catholic
Bishop Thomas Dupre on child rape charges
because the statute of limitations has expired in the case. In an indictment
unsealed Monday, Dupre was charged with molesting two boys in the 1970s,
becoming the first Roman Catholic bishop
to face criminal charges in the sex
abuse scandal that has rocked the American church.
Victims of clergy abuse
hold conference
Newsday
NORWALK, Conn. -- The first statewide
conference of survivors of clergy sexual
abuse in Connecticut has been told that the work of holding members of the
clergy accountable continues. The daylong seminar was hosted Saturday by SNAP,
the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Since February, two
Connecticut SNAP chapters were formed in Bridgeport and East Hartford.
Archdiocese hired lawyer
to reach out to accusers in sex scandal
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
While a tidal wave of sexual-abuse lawsuits and legal threats cripples Roman
Catholic dioceses across the country, Seattle appears to exist in a rare
state
of grace. Multimillion-dollar settlements with victims of priest abuse have
forced bishops to sell church property, dip into emergency accounts or declare
outright bankruptcy. But Seattle has
escaped such dire scenarios, paying most
claimants about $50,000 each -- a fraction of the average of $400,000 per
agreement in Portland, where the church filed for Chapter 11 in July. The
Seattle Archdiocese, which was first
in the nation to hire someone
specifically charged with reaching out to victims, trumpets its proactive,
mediation-based approach as the key to keeping costs down. But many of those
who report their painful, humiliating stories to Jessie Dye have no idea that
the church's pastoral outreach coordinator is also a lawyer.
Ex-pastor convicted of raping girl
Associated
Press
POCAHONTAS, Arkansas (AP) -- A former
pastor was sentenced to 35 years in
prison for raping a young girl who said the man had told her that God approved
of their sexual relationship. A jury convicted Donald Lee Flanery, 46, on
Friday, and recommended the sentence that Circuit
Judge Harold Irwin imposed
later that day in Randolph County, in northeastern Arkansas. Prosecutors said
Flanery, of Ravenden Springs,
assaulted the Maynard girl nearly three dozen
times, beginning when she was 11 and ending when she was 13.
Bisschop in opspraak
geraakt priesterseminarie in Oostenrijk vertrekt – 29 september 2004 – Actueel.nl – “De Oostenrijkse bisschop Kurt Krenn, die
de leiding heeft over het in juli door een pornoschandaal in opspraak geraakte priesterseminarie St. Pölten, is
woensdag afgetreden. Dat hebben Oostenrijkse nieuwsmedia gemeld. Volgens de
Oostenrijkse radio heeft de 68-jarige
Krenn een brief gestuurd naar paus
Johannes Paulus II, waarin hij hem op de hoogte stelt van zijn besluit. In
de donderdageditie van de toonaangevende Oostenrijkse krant Der Standard zei
Krenn: "Ja ik neem met onmiddellijke ingang ontslag als bisschop van St.
Pölten.". Het priesterseminarie van St. Pölten kwam afgelopen zomer in
opspraak toen de Oostenrijkse autoriteiten er op computers ruim veertigduizend
pornografische foto's vond, waaronder kinderporno. Er waren ook foto's bij
waarop te zien was hoe priesterstudenten elkaar en hun leraren kusten en
streelden. De foto's, waarvan een aantal werd gepubliceerd in de pers, schokten
Oostenrijkse katholieken dusdanig dat zo'n tienduizend gelovigen de kerk de rug
toekeerden. Het Vaticaan stelde de
Oostenrijker Klaus Küng aan als apostolisch bezoeker om het schandaal op het
seminarie te onderzoeken. Het Vaticaan benoemt een apostolische bezoeker als er
sprake is van "ernstige onregelmatigheden" in een kerkelijke
instelling of bisdom. Küng liet het seminarie vorige maand sluiten. De politie
is daarnaast bezig met een strafrechtelijk onderzoek naar de op het seminarie
gevonden foto's. Krenn, die dertien jaar bisschop was in St. Pölten, viel in
het schandaal in negatieve zin op omdat hij het downloaden van porno op de
computers op het seminarie hardnekkig bleef afdoen als een uit de hand gelopen
studentengrap. Het was ook niet de eerste keer dat Krenn slecht in het nieuws
kwam. In 1998 maakte hij zich al onbemind omdat hij kardinaal Hans Hermann Grör de hand boven het hoofd hield. Grör
werd ervan beticht in de jaren '70 in een klooster jongetjes te hebben
aangerand.” Zo bericht Actueel.nl.
Amerikaanse ex-bisschop
niet vervolgd wegens misbruik kinderen – 27
september 2004 – Actueel.nl -- ´De voormalige
bisschop van Springfield in de Amerikaanse
staat Massachusetts, Thomas Dupre,
die was aangeklaagd wegens jarenlang seksueel misbruik van twee jongens toen
hij nog parochiepriester was in de jaren '70, wordt niet vervolgd omdat zijn
misdaden zijn verjaard. Dat heeft de officier
van justitie van Hampden County maandag bekendgemaakt. Dupre (70) zou de eerste rooms-katholieke prelaat zijn die in het
seksueel-misbruikschandaal in de Amerikaanse kerk vervolgd zou worden. Maar de
jury in het proces tegen hem stelde dat de openbaar aanklager hem alleen mag aanklagen
wegens het kindermisbruik en niet wegens zijn pogingen dat misbruik te
verhullen. De gevallen van kindermisbruik alleen zijn echter verjaard, waardoor
de voormalige bisschop vrijuit gaat. Dupre diende, na negen jaar aan het hoofd
van het bisdom te hebben gestaan, in februari zijn ontslag in. Dat gebeurde een
dag nadat een krant hem met de beschuldigingen van seksueel misbruik had
geconfronteerd. Dupre gaf toen voor zijn aftreden gezondheidsredenen op. Hij
zit nu in een particuliere katholieke
psychiatrische kliniek waar veel priesters met emotionele, gedrags- en
psychologische problemen worden behandeld. De
opvolger van Dupre, Timothy McDonnell, beloofde bij zijn aantreden in april
de door het schandaal geslagen wonden te zullen helen. Inmiddels heeft het
bisdom zeven miljoen dollar betaald aan 46 personen die zeggen door priesters
te zijn misbruikt. Er lopen zeker twaalf onderzoeken naar de manier waarop
bisschoppen met beschuldigingen van misbruik zijn omgegaan. Vier andere
bisschoppen zijn afgetreden nadat zij zelf van seksuele misdragingen waren
beschuldigd. De beweerde slachtoffers van Dupre voeren nog civiele procedures
tegen de bisschop en de kerk. Zij zeggen dat hij hun had gevraagd over het
jarenlange misbruik te zwijgen toen hij in 1990 tot hulpbisschop werd benoemd.
Een van de mannen, die homoseksueel is, trad met de beschuldigingen in de
openbaarheid toen hij hoorde dat Dupre zich uitsprak tegen het homohuwelijk.´ Zo bericht Actueel.nl.
Nuns asked to stop the "hardball"
Cincinnati
Enquirer
Villa Madonna Academy and St. Walburg
Monastery in Covington should "stop
playing legal hardball" in fighting a lawsuit filed by a former student
nun, a
national support group for clergy molestation victims has urged. Emily
Feistritzer, 63, of Washington, D.C., filed suit in 2002 against the school
and monastery, formerly known as St.
Walburg Convent, alleging nuns sexually
abused her in the 1950s and '60s. "This brave and wounded victim, Emily
Feistritzer, deserves compassion, not combativeness," said David Clohessy, the
St. Louis-based national director for Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests (SNAP).
Rooms-katholieke kerk Oostenrijk loopt leeg na
pornoschandaal – 24 september
2004 -- Actueel.nl -- WENEN – “Een pornoschandaal in een priesterseminarie
en de onthulling dat een vooraanstaande geestelijke zich in het verleden aan
jongeren heeft vergrepen, leiden tot een leegloop van de rooms-katholieke kerk in Oostenrijk. In juli schoot het aantal
uitschrijvingen in het bisdom Wenen met 36 procent omhoog en in augustus nog
eens met 40 procent. Het hoofd van de kerk, kardinaal Christoph Schönborn, zegt in een commentaar dat zondag in
een kerkblad verschijnt dat hij het de mensen niet kwalijk kan nemen dat zij de
kerk willen verlaten nu er deze zomer op computers van het seminarie in St.
Pölten zo'n 40.000 bladzijden pornografisch materiaal is ontdekt, waaronder
kinderporno. Deze maand kwam daar nog een tweede schandaal overheen. De kerk
kondigde een onderzoek aan tegen een van
de bekendste priesters van het land, omdat hij er door meerdere mensen van
werd beticht hen twintig jaar geleden, toen zij tieners waren, te hebben
misbruikt. "We hebben de hele zomer ijzige regens gehad, schandaal op
schandaal, negatieve verhalen in de krant en veel mensen die zeiden "we
hebben er genoeg van'," schrijft Schönborn. Acht op de tien Oostenrijkers
is rooms-katholiek. Wie gedoopt is blijft automatisch lid van de kerk en
volgens een wet die onder de Duitse bezetting is aangenomen kun je alleen
worden uitgeschreven na een schriftelijk verzoek aan de overheid. Voor vertrek
moet eventuele nog openstaande kerkbelasting worden voldaan. De hoogte van de
belasting - 250 tot 300 euro per jaar - was tot voor kort de voornaamste reden
om zich uit te laten schrijven. De nieuwe exodus komt op een moment dat de
'gewone' leegloop van de kerk juist een beetje aan het afnemen was, zei een
woordvoerder van het aartsbisdom Wenen. De
in opspraak geraakte priester,
August Paterno, is vorige week met pensioen gegaan. Paterno, bekend van
krantencolumns en een door hem gepresenteerde televisieserie over religie,
ontkent de aantijgingen tegen hem. Het seminarie is vorige maand gesloten op
last van bisschop Klaus Küng, die
door het Vaticaan was aangesteld om
de zaak te onderzoeken. Veel Oostenrijkers vinden dat de bisschop die aan het
hoofd stond van het seminarie, Kurt
Krenn, moet worden afgezet omdat hij het schandaal hardnekkig blijft afdoen
als een uit de hand gelopen studentengrap. Op de computers stonden ook foto's
van seminariestudenten en leraren in compromitterende poses. In 1998 maakte
Krenn zich al onbemind omdat hij kardinaal
Hans Hermann Grör de hand boven het hoofd hield. Grör werd ervan beticht in de jaren '70 in een klooster jongetjes
te hebben aangerand. Hij werd gedwongen zijn functies neer te leggen en
naar Duitsland gestuurd, waar hij vorig jaar overleed.” Zo bericht Actueel.nl.
Church filing worries
abuse victims
Arizona
Republic
In spite of the apologies, sexual-abuse victims say the Catholic Diocese of
Tucson still sees them as adversaries bent on ruining the church. An attorney
without a role in the bankruptcy proceeding said the Chapter 11 reorganization
plan filed Monday in the diocese's bankruptcy case "in some respects
steamrolls victims." After Tucson became the second diocese in the United
States to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, details became clearer to
attorneys and to sexual-abuse victims.
Priest's libel suit is
thrown out by judge
September, 2004
Los Angeles
Times
A judge Monday threw out the libel lawsuit of a Roman Catholic priest against
a lawyer who had named him in a complaint about an alleged decades-old child
molestation. Attorney Raymond P. Boucher acted within the law when he named
Msgr. Joseph F. Alzugaray in the earlier lawsuit and then posted a copy of the
sexual abuse complaint on his law firm's website, the judge ruled.
Ex-nun sent to jail for molesting child 35 years ago
Hampton
Roads Gazette
VIRGINIA BEACH " Eileen M. Rhoads,
a 65-year-old former nun, was described in
court Wednesday as a demon, a sexual deviant who preyed on elementary school
children more than 30 years ago. Judge, you have before you the face of
evil, testified one victim, now a
45-year-old man, who was molested by Rhoads
in 1969 and 1970. And I ask for the most severe sentence that you could
impose. Moments later, Circuit Judge
Edward W. Hanson Jr. sentenced Rhoads to
six months is jail for two felony sexual crimes. She pleaded no-contest to the
charges in July. Hanson also gave Rhoads a
10-year suspended prison sentence.
Rhoads will not serve any prison time if she remains on good behavior for 10
years after her release from jail.
Pastoor voor rechter wegens massamoord – 20 september
2004 – Het Parool – ARUSHA - ´Een rooms-katholieke
pastoor moet zich vanaf vandaag voor het
Rwanda-tribunaal verantwoorden voor de moord
op ruim 2000 van zijn parochianen in 1994. Ruim 2000 Tutsi´s hadden in
april 1994 toevlucht gezocht in zijn kerk, toen de priester opdracht gaf het volgepakte
gebouw met de grond gelijk te maken.´ Zo bericht Het Parool.
Bisschop
ontkent aftreedplannen – 17 september
2004 – De Gooi en Eemlander – WENEN - ´De Oostenrijkse bisschop Kurt Krenn ontkende gisteren dat hij van plan
is af te treden. Vorige week meldde het persbureau Kathpress dat de bisschop van St. Pölten is verzocht
´om gezondheidsredenen´ af te treden. Krenn staat onder druk na onthullingen
over seksschandalen op het priesterseminarie in zijn bisdom St. Pölten. In het
seminarie werden duizenden pornografische afbeeldingen gevonden.´ Zo bericht De Gooi
en Eemlander.
Victims' group calls for direct reporting of abuse
allegations
September 15, 2004
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - A national group
representing victims of sexual abuse by priests
asked the Roman Catholic bishop of
Cleveland on Wednesday to expand abuse
reporting methods. A law-enforcement abuse hot line number should be posted in
churches and parochial schools, said David
Clohessy, national director of the
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It needs to be treated
as a
crime," Clohessy said.
Abusive priest has parole rehearing
September 15, 2004
Albuquerque Tribune
A Roman Catholic priest sentenced to
55 to 275 years in prison for molesting
eight boys got another chance at parole today. The parole board for the Rev.
David Holley made a decision this morning, but it won't be released to the
public until Holley is notified in writing, said Cindy Aragon, chairwoman of
Holley's parole board today. Aragon said that is standard procedure, and
the
decision would likely be public by Monday. Victims of Holley here and across
the country said Monday they planned to do everything they could to stop his
parole.
Pastor in abuse case decides to retire
September 13, 2004
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The pastor of a Port Washington Catholic
church who was investigated on
allegations of sexual abuse has retired and agreed not to return to any parish
ministry even though an archdiocesan board concluded that the accusations are
not substantiated. The decision of Father
Joseph Haas, 71, and the conclusion
of the Diocesan Review Board were
announced to staff members and parishioners
at St. Peter of Alcantara Church
last weekend.
Camp Hill congregation surprised by pastor's sex abuse
conviction
September 12, 2004
Associated Press
CAMP HILL (AP) " The Rev. Signard
Dennis Hale said he resigned as pastor when
members of his congregation learned about the child sex conviction that he
described as a "skeleton in my closet." Members of the First Universalist
Church of Camp Hill were to meet today to consider Hale's resignation.
"Personally, I feel that he has paid his debt to society and has tried to
atone by living the right kind of life since," said church president Barbara
Taylor. She said the church has grown under his leadership. In 1995, Hale
sexually abused a 6-year-old girl in
Auburn. He pleaded guilty to sexual abuse
in the first degree, and served two years in state prison, the Opelika-Auburn
News reported in Saturday's editions.
'Vaticaan wil Oostenrijkse bisschop weg' – 10 september 2004 – De Telegraaf --
WENEN - ´Het Vaticaan heeft de Oostenrijkse bisschop Kurt Krenn,
wiens bisdom St. Pölten in opspraak
is geraakt door een seksschandaal in een priesterseminarie, gevraagd om op te
stappen. Dat berichtte het katholieke
persbureau Kathpress vrijdag. Volgens Kathpress heeft het Vaticaan bisschop
Krenn, die in Rome is voor gesprekken, de suggestie gedaan om "wegens
gezondheidsredenen" af te treden. Het persbureau beriep zich op
"kerkelijke bronnen in Rome". Krenns woordvoerder was niet
beschikbaar voor commentaar.´ Zo bericht De
Telegraaf.
Judge rules Mahony must provide files
September 9, 2004
Los Angeles Times
A state judge, rejecting claims by Cardinal
Roger M. Mahony that the
Constitution gives the Roman Catholic
Church a right to withhold personnel
files, on Wednesday ordered the Los
Angeles archdiocese to turn over
confidential records of two former priests accused of sexually abusing
children. Prosecutors have sought the files for 27 months, part of a county
grand jury investigation of allegations that the two priests molested
children. Citing grand jury secrecy, prosecutors have declined to name the two
priests or say how many children were allegedly molested.
Former pastor gets 6 1/2 years
September 8, 2004
Bremerton Sun (Wash.)
The judge who sentenced former Eglon
Community Church pastor Scott Roberts for
molesting two little girls chose accountability over treatment and Tuesday
gave him 6-1/2 years in prison for his crimes. "My decision in this case
ultimately comes down to trust and the abuse of that trust," Kitsap Superior
Court Judge Leonard Costello said of Roberts'sexual exploitation of two
little
girls. The girls, both younger than 12, are daughters of a church member and
longtime friend whose family regarded Roberts as one of its own.
Related story:
http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2004-09-08/local/200409088902.shtml
Abuse case puts diocese on deadline
September 7, 2004
Arizona Daily Star
YUMA - A gravely ill 44-year-old mother of six here is playing a prominent
role in the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Tucson's decision over whether to file
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A sexual abuse lawsuit against the
diocese filed by Anita Rodriguez, her husband and three of her sons - two
of
them still under age 18 - is set to go to trial here Sept. 29, imposing a
deadline on Tucson Bishop Gerald F.
Kicanas as he weighs bankruptcy in the
face of a potentially embarrassing and expensive trial. Kicanas has said he
will announce a decision on bankruptcy before the Rodriguez trial begins.
The deadline is also crucial for Rodriguez, who is in need of a liver
transplant and fears she will not live to see her sons' civil case to its end.
Orange Diocese Settles Molestation Suit; Priest Still in
Post
September 4, 2004
Los Angeles Times
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
quietly paid $500,000 late last year to
settle a molestation lawsuit against a
high-ranking priest who, nine months
after the payout, remains the official
pastor of a Newport Beach parish.
Although Msgr. Daniel Murray of Our Lady
of Mount Carmel Church has been on
paid leave since last September when the allegations first surfaced, Bishop
Tod D. Brown will wait until an internal investigation is complete before
deciding whether to remove the cleric from his post, church officials said.
Abuse awareness group plans vigil for Meza children
September 2, 2004
Rock Hill Herald (SC)
A group devoted to protecting abused
children will spread its message in Rock
Hill next week, one month to the day after three Hispanic children were killed
in their home, presumably by one of their parents. Silentlambs, a national
support group for Jehovah's Witnesses who are victims of abuse, will hold a
candlelight vigil Sept. 9 at the National Guard Armory on Museum Road. The
group wants to bring more attention to the deaths of Jayro, Denise and Denia
Meza, who were found dead with their throats cut after a fire destroyed their
Crestview Drive home Aug. 9.
Authorities say the crime was carried out by one
of the parents, Joe "Denis" and Marbely Meza, who also died in the
blaze. All
belonged to a local Jehovah's Witness
church. Authorities also say Denia was
sexually abused within five days of her death. Her father had been arrested a
few weeks before on charges he molested her.
Former Sutton minister acquitted of sexual assault
September 2, 2004
Associated Press
WORCESTER, Mass.- A Protestant minister
who was once the pastor of a Sutton
church has been acquitted of molestation charges. The Rev. Andrew J. Bierkan,
54, former pastor of the First Congregational Church of Sutton, was
found
innocent Wednesday on charges of unnatural rape of a child and posing a child
in a state of nudity after a trial in Worcester
Superior Court. During the
trial, the alleged victim testified that Bierkan, who now lives in Ohio,
molested her on three occasions between 1989 to 1992 at various locations in
the Sutton church, beginning when she was 6 years old. She also said Bierkan
took photographs of her while she was partially nude. The woman, now a
20-year-old college student living in Tennessee, did not report the
allegations to police until 2002. She testified that she came forward after
she attended a National Honor Society banquet at a church and then began
having nightmares and flashbacks related to the assaults.
'Celibaat is vorm van seksueel misbruik' -- 30 augustus 2004 – Volkskrant --
WIESBADEN – “Het verplichte celibaat voor priesters in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk is een vorm van
seksueel misbruik. Het kerkelijk gezag misbruikt zijn macht door het seksuele
leven van priesters aan banden te leggen. Dat stelden deelnemers aan een bijeenkomst van de Noord-Atlantische
federatie voor een vernieuwd katholiek priesterschap in het Duitse Wiesbaden maandag in een verklaring.
Die pleit onder meer voor opheffing van het verplichte celibaat, openstelling
van alle kerkelijke ambten voor vrouwen, een positieve waardering van duurzame
homoseksuele relaties en het 'Godgegeven' recht van de gelovigen om zelf te
beslissen over seksualiteit en geboortebeperking. 'Als het kerkelijk gezag
zoveel macht over priesters heeft, kun je dat misbruik noemen', zei W. van der Velden uit Zevenbergen, een
van de acht Nederlandse deelnemers aan de bijeenkomst. 'Zoiets mag je niet van
mensen vragen.' Aan de bijeenkomst namen mensen uit tien landen deel. In
Nederland is de Vereniging van Gehuwde
en Ongehuwde Priesters (GOP) lid van de federatie.” Zo bericht de VK.
Rabbinic
council probes sexual harassment claims
Ha'aretz
August 31, 2004
The main union of Modern Orthodox rabbis
is investigating allegations of
sexual harassment against the scion of a
prominent rabbinic family, the
Forward has learned. Officials at the
Rabbinic Council of America,
an organization representing more than 1,000 Orthodox clergymen, confirmed
that the organization is examining sexual harassment allegations against Rabbi
Mordecai Tendler. He is a son of
Yeshiva University professor Rabbi Moshe
Tendler, a leading Orthodox arbiter of bioethical issues, and a grandson of
the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Orthodox world's most respected religious
arbiter for much of the 20th century.
Church hotline furor
New York Post
August 30, 2004
Parishioners calling a new Brooklyn
Diocese hotline to report pervert priests
will now talk to a lawyer instead of a well-regarded therapist who once took
such calls. Abuse victims are accusing the diocese of intimidation with false
promises of help. "We think it's just abominable," fumed David Clohessy of the
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "Victims are hurting,
frightened
people who need sensitive skilled mental-health professionals to help them
"
not a lawyer to intimidate them."
Calif. Church May Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Claims
-- By REUTERS -- August 29, 2004 -- LOS ANGELES - People who say they were
sexually abused by priests could receive more than $1.5 billion in damages from
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los
Angeles -- more than any other U.S.
diocese has paid, an attorney for more than 100 alleged victims said on
Sunday. The settlement figure is based on a request by the lead attorney for
hundreds of plaintiffs who live within the most populous U.S. archdiocese that
Church officials set aside $3.1 million for each claimant in Los Angeles and
the adjacent Diocese of Orange County
just south of Los Angeles, attorney
Kathy Freberg told Reuters. The church in Los Angeles faces about 493 child
molestation claims, Freberg said. The Orange County diocese faces 63 similar
claims. The combined number of claims in both dioceses is greater than in any
other diocese, she said. Raymond
Boucher, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Los Angeles Times
in a report published on Sunday that the requested amount was in line with what
a judge proposed during a secret, two-day hearing earlier this year. In court
papers, Boucher said the church had $10 billion in liability coverage. At least
20 insurance companies are involved in litigation on behalf of the church. Most
of the suits have been consolidated into a single case in Southern California,
which includes alleged incidents dating back to the 1950s. An attorney for the
archdiocese told the Times he thought the $1.5 billion figure was too high. A
spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese was not immediately available for
comment. Last year, the Archdiocese of
Boston agreed to settle lawsuits by 544 plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse by
clergy for $85 million. The archdiocese paid out the entire settlement amount
and is now suing an insurance company in an attempt to recover some of the
loss. Freberg said that the settlement in Boston was lower than the amount
requested in California because Massachusetts law puts a cap on claims on
charitable organizations. ``Boston was different,'' Freberg said. ``Victims
were concerned about getting their cases dismissed based on (expired) statutes
of limitations so they thought it would be better to take this lesser dollar
amount than risk getting nothing. We don't have those concerns or restrictive
laws in California.'' ``Jury verdicts historically say that these dollar
amounts that are being discussed (in Los Angeles) are right on point,'' she
said. The church abuse scandal erupted
in dioceses throughout the United States two years ago when files released in
the case of defrocked priest John Geoghan showed that church leaders knew about
the clergyman's behavior but chose to shuttle him from parish to parish.
Rabbi sentenced for sexually abusing students --
Jerusalem Post -- Aug. 27, 2004 -- Rabbi
Nachmann Weisfeld (47), wurde wegen sexuellem Übergriff an 7 Kindern durch den Haifa District Court zu viereinhalb
Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt. Er unterrichtete an einer ultra-orthodoxen Religionsschule. Die missbrauchten Kinder waren
zwischen 4 und 6 Jahre alt. Er hatte den Kindern mit Strafen und Vergeltung
gedroht, wenn sie ihren Eltern etwas von dem erzählen würden, was er mit ihnen
trieb. Der Anwalt des Täters versuchte
vergeblich geltend zu machen, dass Körperstrafen an ultra-orthodoxen Schulen
ein erlaubtes Erziehungsmittel darstellen.
Literaturhinweis: Charlotte Rolnick Schwab: Sex, Lies and
Rabbis: Breaking a sacred trust. Charlotte Schwab, Bloomington, 2002.
Ex-priest: I admitted abuse to bishop in 1984
August 27, 2004
NJ.com
Former priest James Hanley admitted
he molested at least 16 boys at three
Catholic churches in Morris County, and said he told former Paterson Bishop
Frank Rodimer about 12 of them in 1984, long before his formal removal from
the ministry last year.
Archdiocese of St. Louis to pay $2 million in
sex cases
August 26,
2004
ASsociated Press
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St.
Louis said Thursday it will pay $2
million to settle 18 claims of sexual abuse against five priests and a nun.
The archdiocese said it hopes to settle 16 more cases. About one-third of the
$2 million will be paid by insurance, the rest from archdiocese reserve funds,
said Bernard Huger, an attorney for the archdiocese. Under the settlement,
which involved allegations of misconduct during the 1970s and '80s, the
archdiocese also agreed to educate children about what is appropriate
touching, tell employees how to recognize child sexual abuse, and post the
state child abuse hot line number in all church workplaces.
Retroactive sex abuse suits barred by Cook County judge
August 25, 2004
Chicago Sun-Times
A Cook County judge ruled Tuesday that a
state law extending the statute of
limitations for lawsuits in cases of sexual abuse of children cannot be
applied retroactively to cases filed before July 24, 2003. Cook County
Judge
Diane Joan Larsen said it was not the intention of Illinois lawmakers to apply
the new statute of limitations retroactively. To support her decision, the
judge quoted remarks by state Rep. Jim Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park), sponsor
of the bill, on the floor of the state House last year.
Pastor failed to register as sex offender
August 24, 2004
KLAS (Nevada)
Eyewitness News was the first to
report the new twist in the case involving a
local pastor fighting to preach at a local valley church. Officers arrested
Pastor Gary Hunter on charges of
failing to register as a sex offender shortly
after an unrelated court hearing. Hunter was evicted from the Greater Saint
James Baptist Church earlier this month on allegations of theft and sexual
harassment. Authorities say he failed to register as a sex offender in the
State of Nevada. Hunter is running
for a school board seat in the primary
election.
'Vaticaan wist van misstanden Oostenrijks seminarie' -- 20
augustus 2004 – Volkskrant -- BERLIJN – “Het Vaticaan was al meer dan twee jaar op de hoogte van de homoseksuele
uitspattingen op de priesteropleiding
van het Oostenrijkse bisdom St. Pölten. Dat blijkt uit een reportage die het eerste Duitse
televisienet zondag uitzendt. Op basis van diverse bronnen concluderen de
programmamakers dat de aartsconservatieve
bisschop Kurt Krenn van St. Pölten, de Oostenrijkste bisschoppenconferentie en
het Vaticaan al ruim twee jaar wisten dat de leiding en de studenten van het seminarie homoseksuele relaties
onderhielden. Die praktijken kwamen vorige maand in de openbaarheid. Ook
ontdekte de politie duizenden pornografische afbeeldingen van voornamelijk
kinderen die een Poolse ex-student naar een computer van de priesteropleiding
had gedownload. Het Vaticaan heeft de opleiding vorige week in verband met het
schandaal gesloten. Een naaste medewerker van Krenn heeft volgens de reportage
in een brief gewaarschuwd tegen de misstanden. Het seminarie was verworden tot
een 'huis van plezier voor homoseksuelen', aldus de man. 'De rector van het seminarie heeft gemiddeld drie tot vier homoseksuele
relaties en zijn adjunct gemiddeld één', schreef hij. De documentaire laat
ook een student aan het woord, die gewag maakt van verscheidene 'seksfeesten'
in het seminarie. De rechtbank in St.
Pölten veroordeelde de Poolse ex-student van het seminarie vorige week tot
een half jaar voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraf met een proeftijd van drie jaar
wegens het bezit van kinderporno. De rector en plaatsvervangend rector van de
opleiding zijn wegens de affaire inmiddels opgestapt.” Zo bericht de Volkskrant.
Detroit diocese begins church trials for those accused of
molestation
August 16, 2004
Associated Press
The Archdiocese of Detroit said Thursday
it has begun church trials for three
priests accused of molesting children and is about to start proceedings for a
fourth, as the Roman Catholic Church
works through a backlog of hundreds of
abuse claims against clergy nationwide. The archdiocese did not release the
names of the four priests or any
details of the accusations. Detroit
Auxiliary
Bishop Walter Hurley said judges met last week to start the closed-door
hearings, which will determine whether the men can remain priests.
Seminariestudent Oostenrijk veroordeeld wegens kinderporno
--
13 augustus 2004 – Acuteel.nl -- “Een
27-jarige Poolse student van het
omstreden priesterseminarie in het Oostenrijkse St. Pölten is donderdag
veroordeeld tot zes maanden voorwaardelijk wegens het bezit van kinderporno. Piotr Z. riskeerde twee jaar
gevangenisstraf, maar de Oostenrijkse rechter was coulant omdat hij een
volledige bekentenis heeft afgelegd en een blanco strafblad had. De man gaf toe
dat hij het verboden materiaal had gedownload, maar zei dat hij dat in Polen
had gedaan, in tegenstelling tot wat de politie beweerde. De Pool werd opgepakt
naar aanleiding van het schandaal over het seminarie, waar op computers zo'n
veertigduizend foto's en talrijke video's werden aangetroffen met onder meer
kinderporno en beelden van
priesterstudenten en hun docenten in compromitterende poses. Piotr Z. had
zeventienhonderd foto's op zijn computer staan, voornamelijk kinderporno.
Donderdag sloot de pauselijke gezant
Klaus Küng het seminarie, nadat eigen onderzoek "zeer pijnlijke
onthullingen over seksuele misdragingen" had opgeleverd.” Zo bericht
Actueel.nl.
Oostenrijks seminarie dicht na seksschandaal – 12 augustus 2004 – Volkskrant -- WENEN –
“De
priesteropleiding van het Oostenrijkse
bisdom St. Pölten is met onmiddellijke ingang gesloten in verband met het
seksschandaal dat daar vorige maand aan het licht kwam. Dat heeft bisschop Klaus Küng van Feldkirch, die
in opdracht van paus Johannes Paulus II
het schandaal onderzoekt, donderdag laten weten. Justitie in St. Pölten heeft vorige maand een Poolse oud-student
van het seminarie aangeklaagd voor het bezit van kinderporno. Hij zou ongeveer 10.000 pornografische afbeeldingen
van voornamelijk kinderen naar een computer van de priesteropleiding hebben
gedownload. De rector en
plaatsvervangend rector van de opleiding zijn wegens de affaire inmiddels
opgestapt. Het seminarie heeft zich volgens Küng in de afgelopen jaren te
weinig gelegen laten liggen aan de strenge selectiecriteria voor
priesterstudenten. 'Helaas waren er ernstige misstanden, die in laatste
instantie duidelijk werden door de pornografische foto's die diverse studenten
bijna als verslaafden van het internet gedownload hebben', aldus de bisschop.
'Het was ook erg pijnlijk voor mij om vast te stellen dat zich homoseksuele
relaties ontwikkelden.' Küng zei verder dat nog niet besloten is wanneer de
priesteropleiding weer opengaat. De huidige studenten moeten opnieuw een
toelatingsprocedure doorlopen en kunnen, als zij geschikt worden bevonden,
waarschijnlijk in andere Oostenrijkse seminaries verder studeren. Op het
seminarie in St. Pölten waren ook foto's opgedoken waarop priesterstudenten en
de leiders van de opleiding te zien zijn terwijl ze elkaar zoenen en onzedelijk
betasten. De aartsconservatieve bisschop
Kurt Krenn van St. Pölten heeft die afgedaan als kwajongensstreken en
weigert af te treden. Het Vaticaan legde
hem vorige maand een spreekverbod op. Küng wilde niets zeggen over Krenns
toekomst omdat zijn onderzoek nog loopt.” Zo bericht de Volkskrant.
Nuns' group won't listen to abuse victims at conference
August 11, 2004
Washington Post
A Silver Spring-based organization
representing Roman Catholic nuns has
declined to allow several people who say they were sexually abused as children
by nuns to address a national gathering of sisters. The Leadership Conference
of Women Religious, an association of about 1,000 leaders of women's
religious
orders, said its annual convention Aug.
19 to 22 in Fort Worth would not be
"an environment conducive for listening and dialogue." Instead, it
offered to
have four of its senior officials meet with the victims' group for "a
productive discussion focused on critical issues relevant to supporting
survivors and preventing further sexual abuse," according to a statement
released yesterday by Sister Constance
Phelps, conference president.
FEMALE
OFFENDERS – Nonnen – 10 augustus 2004 – De Telegraaf – “In
de crisis binnen de rooms-katholieke
kerk naar aanleiding van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken zijn inmiddels
ook verscheidene rechtszaken aangespannen
tegen nonnen. Zo hebben vorige maand in
Louisville, Kentucky, zeven mensen klachten ingediend tegen de Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, een
orde die onder meer een weeshuis
leidde.” Zo bericht De Telegraaf.
FEMALE OFFENDERS - Abuse claims now include nuns
August 6, 2004
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The sexual abuse
crisis in the Roman Catholic Church has
focused primarily on molestation by
priests, but in Louisville, two dozen
people are now suing an order of nuns that staffed an orphanage decades ago.
The allegations include some accusing
nuns of molestation as well as charges
against a now-deceased priest. While experts agree the incidence of abuse by
nuns has been much less frequent than assaults by male clergy, the phenomenon
has gained some attention recently. The initial Kentucky lawsuit against the
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth was
brought by seven plaintiffs July 15, just
over a year after 243 people reached a $25.7 million abuse settlement with the
Archdiocese of Louisville.
Group asks church to absolve victims of blame
August 6, 2004
Longview Daily News
PORTLAND -- Victims of priest abuse are made to feel guilty for bringing
financial troubles to the Catholic Church through lawsuits, so diocese
officials should remind lay members that victims are not "enemies of the
church," a victims rights group said Thursday. Barbara Blaine, founder of the
group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, hand-delivered a letter
to
the archdiocesan headquarters in Portland Thursday, asking that it be
published in the Catholic Sentinel
newsletter read by an estimated 16,000
parishioners, and posted on a church web site.
Related stories:
Parishioners spurn picketing abuse victims
Bankruptcy seen as diocese's shelter
Vatican defrocks two former Tucson priests
August 5, 2004
Tucson Citizen
Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas Monsignior
Robert Trupia and Rev. Michael Teta
have been removed from the priesthood by
the Pope, Fred Allison,
communications director of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, said this
morning. Both were priests in the diocese. Allison said the action means
neither priest can wear clerical garb, perform the functions of a priest or
collect further monies from the diocese. Both men were receiving what the
diocese calls "sustenance payments" after being suspended by the
diocese after
what Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas called credible allegations of sexual
misconduct involving children.
Dominee krijgt levenslang voor sms'jes
-- 31
juli 2004 – NRC – UPPSALA - Een Zweedse
dominee is gisteren in Uppsala tot
levenslang veroordeeld wegens het sturen
van sms'jes namens God. Daarmee heeft Helge
Fossmo zijn kindermeisje aangezet tot moord, zo oordeelde de rechter. Kindermeisje Sara Svensson is schuldig
bevonden aan de moord op de vrouw van de dominee en poging tot moord op de
buurman. Ze is veroordeeld tot opname in een psychiatrische instelling. Met de
uitspraken is een eind gekomen aan een voor de Zweden fascinerend drama. De combinatie
van seks, moord en het feit dat de dominee behoorde tot een geïsoleerde
Pinkstergemeente in het dorpje Knutby
(73 kilomter ten zuidoosten van Stockholm), hield het land al vanaf januari
in zijn greep. Op 10 januari werd de
23-jarige Alexandra Fossmo, de tweede vrouw van de 32-jarige dominee, in
haar bed doodgeschoten. Haar buurman
Daniel Linde werd even later zwaargewond aangetroffen in zijn slaapkamer,
na een kennelijk mislukte poging hem te vermoorden. De zaak leek gesloten toen
kindermeisje Sara (27) bekende. Maar al spoedig werd bekend dat de dominee een
relatie had met haar én met de vrouw van zijn buurman. Hij bleek bovendien
samen met zijn zus - die zich ,,de bruid van Christus'' noemt - op sektarische wijze een
Pinkstergemeenschap te leiden, en de
gelovigen door manipulatie en seks in het gareel te houden. Daarbij had hij
het meisje sms-berichten gestuurd die volgens de dominee ,,van God'' waren en
die haar opriepen te doden. ,,Ik was als
een robot, geprogrammeerd om te doden'', zo zei Sara Svensson tijdens de
rechtszaak. Volgens de advocaat van de dominee heeft Svensson de berichten
gewoon ,,verkeerd begrepen''. De berichten waren bedoeld om het kindermeisje te
helpen bij het vinden van haar weg als gelovige. De politie denkt dat de
dominee een nieuw leven wilde beginnen met de vrouw van de buurman. Daarvoor
moesten eerst zijn tweede vrouw, de buurman én zijn minnares uit de weg worden
geruimd. Fossmo ontkent, en kondigde aan in hoger beroep te gaan. Levenslang is in Zweden overigens tien tot vijftien
jaar gevangenisstraf. Na al het nieuwe bewijs heropende de politie de zaak
en onderzocht ook de dood van de eerste
vrouw van Fossmo, Helena. Zij werd in 1999 levenloos in bad aangetroffen
nadat ze met haar hoofd op de badrand was gevallen. De rechter achtte echter
niet bewezen dat de dominee zijn eerste vrouw had vermoord.” Zo bericht het NRC.
Flora's War
Los Angeles Times
July 30, 2004
You have to go out of your way to find the place Flora Jessop once called
home. Colorado City, Ariz., and the adjoining, indistinguishable town of
Hildale, Utah, are perched in a remote valley divided by the dry wash of
Short
Creek. The towering vermilion edifice of Canaan Mountain is just to the north,
the gaping abyss of the Grand Canyon to the south. The only way into this
valley is a lonely two-lane blacktop. Getting out, some say, is even harder to
do. Almost all of Short Creek Valley's residents are members of a
fundamentalist Mormon church that controls how they live and where they
believe they'll go after they die. Jessop
grew up in Hildale, one of 28
children whom her polygamous father had with the first two of his three wives.
At 16, she became one of the few teenage girls to escape the church,
running
away after marrying a cousin. Now 35, this wiry, waif-like woman lives 350
miles from Colorado City with her second husband, a former Marine, and two
teenage daughters in a scruffy Phoenix home. But she has not left the church
far behind. In fact, she devotes almost every waking moment to exposing the
church as a hotbed of child abuse and helping the community's girls and women
escape from the polygamous life she fled.
Abusive priest up for parole
Associated Press
July 29, 2004
Wichita " Victims of a defrocked
Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to
molesting four young men vowed to fight his release from prison. Today, Robert
Larson is scheduled to go before the Kansas
Parole Board -- the same body that
refused him early release from Lansing Correctional Facility nearly two years
ago. Larson was a priest in the Diocese
of Wichita for 30 years before being
removed in 1998 under allegations of misconduct. Three years ago, he admitted
molesting three altar boys and a teenage
boy at St. Mary's Catholic Church in
Newton. He was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
Sex abuse attorneys grapple over statute of limitations
Chicago Sun-Times
July 28, 2004
In a Chicago courtroom Tuesday, 15 attorneys took turns arguing the use and
misuse of a year-old Illinois law that has extended the statute of limitations
for civil lawsuits involving childhood sexual abuse. Among the gaggle of
lawyers were representatives of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and
the Jesuit, Augustinian and Christian Brothers religious orders who are all
defendants in civil lawsuits over alleged clergy sex abuse of minors.
Group: Calvert Hall memorials must go
Booster.com
Francis Bacon said the sexual abuse
he suffered as a high school student
was
horrific enough. Honoring the man he alleges was responsible adds insult to
injury. So Bacon, a member of the Calvert
Hall College High School Class of
1948, joined a group of about 20 protesters in front of his alma mater July
14
and again July 20. The group of men and women, members and supporters of
Abused by Calvert Hall Educators (ACHE)
and the local chapter of Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), want the school to stop
memorializing Brother Xavier Langan,
whom Bacon and another man both say
abused them while they were students at the school.
Wanted in Canada, friar lives quietly in U.S. mission
Toronto Globe and Mail
July 27, 2004
At first glance, Brother Gerald
Chumik would not seem out of place at the
Santa Barbara Franciscan mission.
The elderly friar tends to his herb garden
and prays constantly. But the ailing 69-year-old
never leaves the historic
Catholic mission alone. He's
essentially under house arrest, according to
church officials, and is wanted in Canada on
charges of molesting a teen three
decades ago in Newfoundland. The case of Brother Chumik has sparked angry
calls on both sides of the border for his
return to Canada, where he is wanted
on a warrant for two charges of gross indecency against a teenage boy dating
back to the 1970s.
The Vatican's big secret
July 23, 2004
The Australian
The Vatican has never been ashamed about keeping secrets - after all, its
repository of confidential documents is called the Vatican Secret Archive.
Housing almost the entire history of the Western church - with the exception
of pre-8th century heretical texts that at some point mysteriously
disappeared, Name of the Rose-style - the library has 50km of shelves with
more than 35,000 volumes on an incomplete catalogue. Its name is largely
historical and it has been guardedly open to accredited scholars since the
19th century, but there's no browsing in this library. Researchers have to
know in advance which document they want to see and even whether it exists at
all. Many volumes are simply lost. In
August last year, a German-based
chaplain with close ties to the Vatican found and leaked a 42-year-old papal
instruction to US lawyers who say it is explosive evidence of a Vatican
"ratline" to shield accused child abusers. (..). Alarmingly, the 69-page instruction
spells out procedures for shifting
accused clerics to new postings.
Priest gets five years' probation
July 22, 2004
Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTON, Ohio - Saying she saw no remorse, no acknowledgement that he had done
anything wrong, a judge sentenced the Rev.
Thomas Kuhn to spend five years on
probation and pay a $10,500 fine. Kuhn,
63, was convicted last month for
providing alcohol to minors and engaging
in public indecency at his home in
suburban Dayton. Probation was better than the alternative sentence - a
maximum of 18 months in jail - because authorities could keep a closer eye on
Kuhn and force him to seek treatment, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge
Mary Katherine Huffman said.
Court Ruling Could Allow More Child-Sex Abuse Charges
July 19, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Victims of child-sex abuse applauded a St. Louis judge's
recent ruling that would allow older cases to be brought to trial. Supporters
of the judge's ruling gathered on the lawn of the Jackson County Courthouse
Monday. Many said they had survived abuse or knew of someone who had.
Advocates for victims and their families
believe the ruling could result in
many new filings against Kansas
City-area priests, KMBC's Bev Chapman
reported.
Bisschop Oostenrijk: Vaticaan, grijp in
– 16 juli 2004 – Nederlands Dagblad
– WENEN – “De Oostenrijkse bisschop
Alois Schwarz heeft gisteren het
Vaticaan opgeroepen snel in te grijpen in een seksschandaal op de priesteropleiding
van het bisdom St. Pölten. In het
seminarie heeft de politie duizenden pornografische foto’s en films, waaronder
ook kinderporno, in beslag genomen. Bisschop
Kurt Krenn van St. Pölten heeft de foto’s afgedaan als ‘stommiteiten van
kwajongens’ en weigert af te treden. Zijn collega Schwarz van Gurk-Klagenfurt
vindt de affaire een zaak voor het Vaticaan, omdat alleen de kerkleiding in
Rome een bisschop kan straffen of ontslaan. “Net als veel mensen in Oostenrijk
sta ik versteld van de getoonde gebeurtenissen in het priesterseminarie in St.
Pölten. Ik hoop op snelle beslissingen die geen vragen onbeantwoord laten” zei
Scharz. Hij vreest “een weerslag op de kerk in heel Oostenrijk”. Ook twee
lekenorganisaties hebben het aftreden van Krenn geëist.” Zo bericht het ND.
Restricted Catholic priest has started new ministry
July 16, 2004
Duluth News Tribune
MILWAUKEE - A Roman Catholic priest
"restricted from all priestly ministries"
after an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse, has opened an
Independent Evangelical Catholic Church congregation in the town of Sullivan.
The Rev. S. Joseph Collova, 56, was
among 43 priests listed last week by the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee as having
been restricted. The Rev. James Alan
Wilkowski, who says he's the bishop for the evangelical church's northwest
diocese, said Collova contacted him 1 1/2 years ago seeking to start a church
near his residence in a mobile home park along the Waukesha-Jefferson county
line, Collova, 56, was formally
accepted as a priest of that denomination,
June 26.
Sex abuse victims' group
asks LCWR to address abuse by nuns
Catholic News Service
July 15, 2004
Saying it has more than 100 members
who were sexually abused by nuns, the
Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests has asked the Leadership
Conference of Women Religious to hear from abuse victims during the annual
LCWR assembly in August. More than a dozen SNAP members held a press
conference July 13 outside LCWR headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., followed
two hours later by another press conference outside the headquarters of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in
Washington.
Abuse victims say church offer to pay for therapy has
strings
Associated Press
July 15, 2004
Almost a decade after he was allegedly sexually abused by a priest at his
Roman Catholic high school, Arthur Baselice hoped he was on the way
to
recovery when church officials sought him out, apologized, and offered to pay
for him to see a therapist. But within months, Baselice said he began to see
strings attached to the offer. The Archdiocese
of Philadelphia asked him to
select his therapist from a list approved by the church. He was told to sign a
waiver authorizing his caregivers to discuss his progress with a church
administrator. Finally, Baselice said he was pressured to settle all legal
claims against the church for $50,000. Instead of signing, Baselice sued,
claiming that the counseling offer was a thinly veiled attempt to buy his
silence.
Group wants friar out of church housing
Associated Press
July 14, 2004
LOS ANGELES - Church abuse survivors called on Cardinal Roger Mahony to remove
an elderly friar from the Santa Barbara
Mission who is accused of molesting a
teen in Canada. Holding signs
reading, "Listen to The Victims" and "Protect
The Children," members of the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests
demanded Tuesday that Franciscan friar
Gerald Chumik, 69, be sent back to his
native Canada.
Former Hopewell priest defrocked
Hopewell News
One local resident who wished to remain anonymous said she was shocked when
she learned that Andrew Krafcik, a
former St. James Catholic Church priest,
had been defrocked by the Vatican
for abuse charges from nearly 20 years ago.
"I was just flabbergasted," said the resident. "My sons used to
be altar boys
while he was here." Krafcik served as an associate priest at St. James from
1968 to 1970. According to an Associated Press story, the Vatican defrocked
the 76-year-old priest who was
charged with child abuse two decades ago and
afterward served for nearly a dozen years at a Fairfax parish. Krafcik, who
was charged with child abuse in Henrico County in 1984, was "dismissed
from
the clerical state" Saturday, according to Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde.
Related story:
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/apmethods/apstory?urlfeed=D83PGVMG1.xml
Silenced by shame
Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal
July 14, 2004
The pressure Caleb's family felt to
deny abuse is not unique. Almost every
victim of child abuse who spoke to the newspaper talked about pressure by
family members and Mennonite and Amish church leaders to deny or minimize
the
abuse once the victim spoke up.
Engelse rk kerk: aanpak
misbruik werkt -- 14 juli 2004
-- Trouw -- AMSTERDAM – “Tegen ruim
honderd rooms-katholieke priesters in Engeland en Wales zijn vorig jaar aanklachten ingediend wegens
seksueel misbruik of 'ongepast gedrag' jegens kinderen. Tot dusver loopt er
één strafzaak, één geestelijke is uit het ambt gezet, één heeft ontslag
genomen. Onderzoek tegen enkele tientallen loopt nog en bij een aantal lichtere
gevallen is in overleg met de politie de zaak intern afgehandeld. Vier
priesters mogen niet meer met kinderen werken. Een en ander is bekendgemaakt
door het rk bureau voor de bescherming
van kinderen en kwetsbare volwassenen, Copca genaamd. Het bureau meldt dat in 2002 er klachten waren over 148
priesters. Copca-directeur Eileen
Shearer spreekt van een ommekeer in de manier waarop de rk kerk in het land
meldingen van seksueel misbruik door priesters behandelt. De kerk is volgens
haar goed op weg om zichzelf tot een zo veilig mogelijke plek voor kinderen te
maken. Copca-voorzitter aartsbisschop
Vincent Nichols van Birmingham leest in het rapport van het bureau dat zijn
kerk de bescherming van kinderen 'systematisch' aandacht begint te geven. Net als in vooral andere Angelsaksische
landen heeft rk Engeland in de afgelopen jaren te kampen gehand met schandalen
rondom pedoseksuele geestelijken en met ernstige tekortkomingen van de kerk in
de behandeling van dat soort zaken. De werkzaamheden van Copca zijn een
uitvloeisel van de meer dan tachtig aanbevelingen die de commissie van voorzitter Lord Nolan in 2001 heeft gedaan ten
behoeve van een adequate kerkelijke aanpak van het misbruik. Copca maakt
zichzelf overigens niet wijs dat hiermee alles op tafel ligt. ,,We schatten dat
een op de drie jonge slachtoffers van misbruik er nooit iets over vertelt.'' Het bureau is niet ontevreden met zijn
succes, maar onderstreept dat er in de kerk nog veel te doen is.” Zo bericht Trouw.
Onderzoek naar seksschandaal
– 13 juli 2004 – AD -- “De
Oostenrijkse bisschoppenconferentie
wil dat het seksschandaal op de
priesteropleiding van het bisdom St. Pölten tot op de bodem wordt
uitgezocht. De bisschoppen zullen zich niet ,,achter de problemen verstoppen'',
verzekerde plaatsvervangend voorzitter
Egon Kapellari, bisschop van Graz, dinsdag in het dagblad Die Presse. In het seminarie heeft de politie in de
afgelopen weken duizenden pornografische
foto's en films, waaronder ook kinderporno, in beslag genomen. Ook zijn foto's
opgedoken waarop zoenende priesterstudenten te zien zijn en het hoofd van de
priesteropleiding die studenten onzedelijk betast. De plaatsvervangende rector
van het seminarie is inmiddels opgestapt. De aartsconservatieve bisschop Kurt Krenn van St. Pölten
denkt niet aan aftreden. Krenn heeft de seksuele handelingen van de
priesterstudenten en het hoofd van het seminarie die op de foto's te zien zijn,
afgedaan als ,,stommiteiten van kwajongens'' die niets met homoseksualiteit te
maken hebben. Volgens Kapellari mag de bisschop van St. Pölten het schandaal
echter niet bagatelliseren. Voor hem staat vast dat het bisdom St. Pölten niet
voldoet aan de hoge normen die de Oostenrijkse
RK-Kerk aan de opleiding van priesters stelt. ,,Pornografie en
gepraktiseerde homoseksualiteit mogen in geen enkel priesterseminarie worden
geduld.'' Kapellari omschreef het schandaal in St. Pölten als een ,,moeras''
dat zo snel mogelijk moet worden drooggelegd. Spoedige opheldering kan er
volgens hem toe bijdragen dat de gedragingen van de seminariestudenten niet
alle priesterkandidaten in een kwaad daglicht stellen. Een eerder seksschandaal
rond de voormalige aartsbisschop van
Wenen, Hans-Hermann Groër, stortte de Oostenrijkse RK-Kerk in 1995 in een
diepe crisis. Groër trad in dat jaar af als aartsbisschop nadat oud-leerlingen
van het seminarie waar hij in de jaren zeventig doceerde, hem van seksueel
misbruik hadden beschuldigd.” Zo bericht het AD.
Bankruptcy challenges Portland archdiocese
Associated Press
July 11, 2004
PORTLAND, Ore. - When Archbishop John
Vlazny was transferred here from
Minnesota in 1997, he thought he was coming to a diocese where he wouldn't
have to deal with allegations of sexual abuse by priests. "Actually, I
thought
the problem had been dealt with here," Vlazny said Friday in an interview
with
The Associated Press. "There was none of this concern, no cases coming
forward." Two years later, allegations surfaced that a Portland priest had
molested more than 50 boys starting in the 1950s and through the 1980s. This
past week, with more than $53 million paid in court settlements and roughly 60
lawsuits still pending, Vlazny decided the archdiocese had to file for
bankruptcy - the first in the nation to do so.
Teacher fired for
keeping quiet about abuse by priest
Chicago Daily Herald
July 8, 2004
The Rockford Diocese fired a veteran teacher Wednesday for not
reporting
allegations of sexual abuse against Mark
Campobello -- two weeks after a
published report in which she described her struggle to come to terms with not
going to authorities. "I have always been an advocate for the kids,"
said the
teacher, Alison Ward. "I made one grievous error." Though many
said they
understood the diocese's decision, they also questioned whether Ward was being
treated unfairly and whether consequences from the handling of the allegations
would move further up the ladder. "It seems somewhat scapegoating to
remove
the teacher and not the principal, and not the pastor, and not the bishop
himself," said Barbara Blaine,
president of the Chicago-based Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests.
What happens when a church goes bankrupt
Christian Science Monitor
July 8, 2004
When the Roman Catholic archdiocese
in Portland, Ore., declared bankruptcy
this week, it began a new phase in the church's effort to put the sexual abuse
scandal behind it. Other dioceses - finding themselves with not enough
financial assets to settle the legal claims of the victims - may well follow
suit. But beyond the millions of dollars and hundreds of claims involved, this
latest chapter in a story of sexual abuse and coverup could also open the
church to greater scrutiny of its finances, facilities, and programs around
the country, experts say. More significantly, it could eventually involve
federal courts in the weighing of important church-state issues, as well as
the authority of centuries-old canon law.
Church denied request for summary judgment in abuse case
Associated Press
July 8, 2004
A Hinds County (Mississippi) judge
has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against
the Catholic Diocese of Jackson in a
lawsuit filed by two men who alleged they
were sexually abused by Father James
Kircher. Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter
said in Wednesday's order that the victims, identified only as John Does 6 and
7, want accountability for all church officials "responsible for the
incalculable emotional and psychological damage ... they will continue to
suffer for the remainder of their lives. The suit brought against the Diocese
not only targets Kircher for allegedly molesting young boys, but the church
hierarchy who "were involved in a cover up of massive proportions,"
the order
said.
Church critics pressure
LA cardinal
Associated Press
July 7, 2004
Church Critics Pressure L.A. Cardinal
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Alleged victims of clergy sex abuse have asked Roman
Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony to step up efforts to find possible victims
of
a Mexican priest who previously worked
in two Los Angeles parishes. Father
Nicolas Aguilar spent nine months at Our
Lady of Guadalupe parish and St.
Agatha's parish between April 1987 and January 1988, when two altar boys
told
their mother he had abused them. Aguilar was suspended by the diocese and then
fled to Mexico. Officials with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in
the nation, said they tried in 1988 to reach potential victims by reading
letters in both parishes shortly after Aguilar fled.
Abuse victims: bankruptcy claim hides abuse
Statesman Journal
July 7, 2004
PORTLAND - Victims of abuse by Catholic
priests said they felt cheated by the
Portland Archdiocese's decision to file for bankruptcy rather than go to
trial. "It denies justice and it sidesteps accountability to the
victims,"
said Bill Crane, the head of the
Portland chapter of the Survivors' Network of
those Abused by Priests.
Amerikaans bisdom failliet door seksueel misbruik
– 7
juli 2004 – NRC – PORTLAND – “Het aartsbisdom
Portland in de Amerikaanse staat
Oregon heeft als eerste in de Verenigde Staten faillissement aangevraagd,
wegens een groeiend aantal schikkingen met slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik
door priesters. Het bisdom heeft inmiddels meer dan 53 miljoen dollar betaald. Met de faillissementsaanvraag is ook een
tijdelijke onderbreking gekomen in twee rechtszaken die zijn aangespannen door
slachtoffers van een inmiddels overleden priester. Zij eisen in totaal 160
miljoen dollar. Volgens advocaten in beide zaken zijn nog zeker zestig andere zaken in behandeling die betrekking hebben
op de priester. Maar, aldus aartsbisschop
van Portland John Vlazny, ,,de pot met goud is zo goed als leeg''.
Verscheidene Amerikaanse bisdommen hebben de afgelopen jaren gedreigd met
faillissement. Het aartsbisdom Boston
kreeg daar in 2002 onder voorwaarden toestemming voor van het Vaticaan. Maar tot dusver hadden alle bisdommen de voorkeur
gegeven aan financiële schikkingen of rechtszaken. Ook het vooruitzicht dat met
een faillissement de kerkelijke financiën door derden zouden moeten worden
gecontroleerd, zou veel kerken hebben afgeschrokken. Advocaten van de honderden
slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door katholieke priesters die zich de
afgelopen tweeënhalf jaar hebben gemeld, hebben geschokt gereageerd op het
nieuws. Zij vrezen dat de maatregel het slachtoffers onmogelijk zal maken snel
hun recht te halen. Een faillissement maakt het voor de kerk mogelijk om
financieel te reorganiseren, waardoor aanklachten niet in behandeling kunnen
worden genomen. Advocaten hebben in reactie op het nieuws ook gezegd de
noodzaak tot faillissement in Portland niet te begrijpen, omdat de
rooms-katholieke kerk over veel kapitaal, in de vorm van onroerend goed,
beschikt. ,,Ik geloof dat het een strategische stap van de bisschoppen in het
hele land is, in een poging de slachtoffers op te zadelen met hun problemen'',
zegt advocaat Jeffrey Anderson
tegenover de Amerikaanse krant The
Washington Post. Anderson heeft meer dan honderd rechtszaken aangespannen
tegen verschillende bisdommen. Bisschop
Vlazny, die aan het hoofd staat van een bisdom met 356.000 katholieken,
heeft evenwel gezegd dat louter sprake is van financiële noodzaak. Hij heeft in
een brief aan de katholieke gemeenschap van Portland geschreven dat zijn bisdom
zijn uiterste best doet om tot schikkingen te komen, maar dat de kerk in de
steek is gelaten door grote verzekeringsmaatschappijen. Derhalve acht hij een
zakelijk failliet ,,de beste oplossing'' om de parochie en de scholen te laten
voortbestaan, terwijl schadevergoedingen uiteindelijk zullen worden
doorbetaald. Voor een bisdom van gemiddelde grootte heeft Portland met een
verhoudingsgewijs groot aantal aanklachten te maken. In totaal gaat het om meer dan vijftig aanklachten tegen de
inmiddels overleden priester Maurice Grammond. Twintig aanklachten zijn gericht tegen priester Thomas Laughlin,
die nu in de staat New Mexico verblijft. Sinds
mei hebben in totaal 196 mensen een aanklacht ingediend tegen 41 priesters uit
Portland. Sommige van die aanklachten gaan meer dan veertig jaar terug. In het hele land heeft de kerk inmiddels
572 miljoen dollar aan schikkingen betaald na aanklachten door ten minste
10.600 mensen die sinds 1950 waren misbruikt, veelal als minderjarige. Er lopen aanklachten tegen zeker 4.392
priesters.” Zo bericht het NRC.
Aartsbisdom Portland wil uitstel van betaling -- 6 juli 2004 – www.actueel.nl -- “Het aartsbisdom van Portland in de Amerikaanse staat Oregon vraagt
uitstel van betaling aan. Reden zijn de tientallen
rechtszaken rond seksueel misbruik die tegen het aartsbisdom lopen. De
geëiste schadevergoedingen kan het aartsbisdom naar eigen zeggen niet betalen.
"De pot met goud is zo'n beetje leeg", zei aartsbisschop John Vlazny dinsdag op een persconferentie. Het
aartsbisdom heeft al meer dan 53 miljoen
dollar besteed aan zo'n 130 schikkingen met mensen die zeiden door priesters
te zijn misbruikt. Dat geld is overigens deels
vergoed door de verzekering. Nog tientallen andere zaken tegen het
aartsbisdom zijn op komst. Uitstel van betaling betekent dat het aartsbisdom
zijn schuldeisers tijdelijk niet hoeft te betalen, om in de tussentijd zijn
financiën te reorganiseren. Het aartsbisdom
van Boston, ook overspoeld door schadeclaims, heeft overwogen faillissement
aan te vragen, maar besloot uiteindelijk voor miljoenen aan onroerend goed te
verkopen.” Zo bericht actueel.nl.
Zware straffen in pedofielenproces – 2
juli 2004 – Het Parool – SAINT-OMER – “Een Fransman
en zijn vrouw zijn wegens ontucht met kinderen veroordeeld tot twintig en
vijftien jaar celstraf. Onder de slachtoffers zijn de eigen vier zonen van het
stel. Acht andere betrokkenen in de geruchtmakende zaak kregen straffen van
achttien maanden tot zeven jaar. Onder hen zijn een geestelijke en een gerechtsdeurwaarder.” Zo bericht het Parool.
Parish fails to run notice on ex-priest's alleged abuse
Toledo Blade
June 30, 2004
At least five parishes in the Toledo
Catholic Diocese have not yet been
informed of allegations of sexual misconduct by a former priest, as required
by a court settlement. Under the terms of the settlement with brothers who
charge that the Rev. Bernard Kokocinski
abused them years ago, the parishes
were expected Sunday to run a notice in their weekly bulletins about him, the
"credible" charges against him, and his removal from the ministry.
Vatican pace on abuse worries O'Malley
June 30, 2004
Boston Globe
In an unusual public display of
unhappiness with his own church, Archbishop
Sean P. O'Malley of Boston yesterday said he is frustrated at the slow pace
with which the Vatican is resolving the cases of about two dozen local priests
who have been in limbo for two years or more after being accused of sexual
abuse of minors. In the cases from Boston, like those from many dioceses
around the country, American church officials are asking the Vatican whether
they can permanently remove from ministry -- and in some cases defrock --
individual priests accused of abuse. The
priests have been suspended, but
cannot be permanently ousted without Vatican permission. In some cases, if the
Vatican determines the allegations have no credibility, priests could be
restored to ministry. O'Malley, like other American bishops and priests, has
become increasingly concerned that the Vatican's slow pace of processing the
flood of allegations lodged over the last 2 years is unfair to the accused
priests and to their alleged victims.
Abuse victims pass leaflets
June 28, 2004
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE -- Advocates for clergy sexual
abuse victims leafleted yesterday
outside Roman Catholic parishes in
two states where an alleged abuser priest
worked. Last week, a New Jersey judge revoked bail for the Rev. Simon
Palathingal, who is accused of sexually
assaulting a 9-year-old Milwaukee boy
in 1990 and 1991. The bail was revoked because of concerns about an
investigation in Louisiana and rumors that the priest's family in India might
be able to post the $1.25 million bail before he could be extradited to
Wisconsin. Palathingal, 62, faces
four charges of first-degree sexual assault
of a child in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. He has been in jail awaiting a
hearing since his arrest outside his church rectory in South Amboy, N.J., on
June 3.
Abuse victims group aims to penalize Salesians
June 24,
2004
Journal News
A prominent advocacy group for victims
of sexual abuse by priests is asking
Catholics to withhold donations to
the Salesian order, citing a report that
several Salesian priests have been
allowed to travel abroad to avoid
accusations of abuse. At a news conference yesterday outside St. Patrick's
Cathedral in Manhattan, the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests
charged that the Salesians of Don Bosco,
whose eastern U.S. province is
headquartered in New Rochelle, could bring the accused priests to justice.
"The Salesians have the power to recall them," said David Cerulli, a SNAP
leader in New York. "If they don't, they are complicit in the crimes.
Withholding contributions may be the best way to get them to do the right
thing."
Are sex abuse guidelines working?
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
A lengthy battle over how the Reform movement should handle a charge
of sexual
misconduct against a California rabbi
is coming to a head. On June 20, the
board of trustees of the Central
Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the
movement's rabbinical arm, is expected to decide whether to uphold its earlier
reprimand of Rabbi Michael Mayersohn or to censure him, a more serious
step,
which the conference's Committee on
Ethics and Appeals initially had
recommended. The issue stems from a May 2002 complaint by Chavah Hogue of
Huntington Beach, who alleged that Mayersohn tried to seduce her during a
closed-door marital counseling
session while he was the rabbi at Temple
Beth
David in Westminster.
Imam arrested for sexual harrassment
Pakistan Daily Times
July 1, 2004
An elderly
imam named Hafiz Muhammad Hanif
was caught assaulting a
ten-year-old student, Samina, and
was taken into police custody on Tuesday.
We have registered a case against Hafiz Muhammad Hanif under the Islamic
law, said DPO Vehari Muhammad Mukhtar. The medical report has confirmed that
Samina was sexually assaulted. The DPO said that Hafiz Hanif was an
imam-cum-teacher at the religious seminary
in Aminpur near Karampur, Mailsi,
where Samina had been studying the holy Quran for the last two years. When
Samina did not return home on Tuesday, her father went to the Imams house and
caught him sexually assaulting his daughter.
'Van ontucht beschuldigde priester kon blijven werken voor
de kerk' -- 24 juni 2004 – Telegraaf -- AMSTERDAM – “Een katholieke priester die zeven jaar
geleden in Groot-Brittannië is
beschuldigd van kindermisbruik heeft
sindsdien op verschillende plaatsen zijn ambt verricht. Dat heeft de
Amerikaanse krant The Dallas Morning
News, die een jaar lang onderzoek heeft gedaan naar van ontucht beschuldigde
priesters, donderdag bericht. De man, Yusaf
Dominic, werd in 1996 gearresteerd in zijn parochie in Londen. De kerk kreeg hem op borg vrij en stuurde hem
naar een behandelingscentrum op het Britse platteland. Dominic vluchtte
Groot-Brittannië echter uit. Daarna werkte hij enige tijd als priester in zijn vaderland Pakistan -
terwijl bisschoppen daar volgens The Dallas Morning News wisten dat hij op de
vlucht was -, in de Verenigde Staten en
Italië. Daar is hij nu nog werkzaam, in Albissola Marina, onder de naam Dominic Yousuf. De leider
van de parochie van Albissola Marina beweert niets te hebben geweten van de
ontuchtbeschuldigingen tegen Dominic. Hij zei tegen de krant dat hij niet van
plan is Dominic op straat te zetten maar dat hij hem vanaf nu "goed in de
gaten zal houden". Dominic zelf heeft altijd gezegd onschuldig te
zijn. Volgens hem waren de aantijgingen van misbruik door de jongens gedaan
omdat hij de vader van een van hen wegens een schuld achterna zat.” Zo bericht de Telegraaf.
Catholic diocese threatens bankruptcy
The Guardian
June 24, 2004
A Catholic diocese in Arizona,
facing a series of potentially ruinous civil
lawsuits that allege sexual abuse by its priests, is preparing to declare
itself bankrupt. The move would be the
first time that a diocese has filed for
chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. In an open letter read to
parishioners on Sunday, the Bishop of
Tucson, Gerald Kicanas, described it as
"the only option" available. Under the scheme, the diocese would be
allowed to
continue to operate while reorganising its debt. But the move has provoked
protests, with critics arguing that it would enable the church to avoid its
moral responsibility and that the threat of filing for bankruptcy is a tactic
to make the alleged victims of sexual abuse feel guilty.
Pope has compassion for cardinal, not victims
Tucson Citizen
June 23, 2004
If there were ever a doubt that Rome is out of touch with U.S. Catholics,
that
doubt was removed May 27. With the appointment of Cardinal Bernard Law as
pastor of Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, no one can argue that the Vatican
has the best interests of the greater church in mind when decisions are made.
Unless, of course, Rome defines the church as the hierarchy and not, as the
Second Vatican Council proclaimed,
the people of God. The man whose name is
synonymous with the words "clergy sex scandal" has been rewarded for
his
complicity in moving priest molesters from parish to unsuspecting parish by
getting an assignment at one of the four most important basilicas in the
Eternal City.
Few seek abuse funds
Cincinnati Enquirer
June 22, 2004
About 25 people so far have filed claims for a share of the $3 million set
aside for victims of clergy abuse in the Archdiocese
of Cincinnati. The
officials overseeing the $3 million fund say the number of applicants is low
because many people are waiting until the
Sept. 1 deadline to file their
claims, even though they have been able to file since March. By waiting until
the 11th hour, potential applicants give themselves more time to decide
whether they are better off suing the archdiocese for damages or seeking
compensation from the fund.
Fugitive pastor found working as parish priest in Italy
Dallas Morning News
June 22, 2004
ALBISSOLA MARINA, Italy - (KRT)
- Inside a 16th-century Catholic church by
the
Mediterranean Sea, the priest dresses as a man of God and preaches about the
Holy Spirit. Outside, he tells lies. "I'm not a functioning priest,"
he says,
until he realizes a reporter has just seen him celebrate Sunday evening Mass.
Then he says he only "occasionally" leads a service and isn't in
active
ministry. "Ministry means one has to be in a parish," he says. In
fact, the
Pakistani has been serving here
since last fall as associate pastor of
Nostra
Signora della Concordia. He has also been leading a smaller congregation in
the nearby village of Ellera. Italy,
it turns out, is at least the third
country in which he has worked in parishes since denying child molestation
charges in England seven years ago
and fleeing, before he could be tried.
|
Fugitive pastor found working as parish priest in Italy BY BROOKS EGERTON AND REESE DUNKLIN -- The
Dallas Morning News -- Posted on Tue, Jun. 22, 2004 ALBISSOLA MARINA, Italy - (KRT) - Inside a 16th-century Catholic church by the
Mediterranean Sea, the priest dresses as a man of God and preaches about the
Holy Spirit. Outside, he tells lies. "I'm not a functioning priest," he says, until he realizes a
reporter has just seen him celebrate Sunday evening Mass. Then he says he
only "occasionally" leads a service and isn't in active ministry.
"Ministry means one has to be in a parish," he says. In fact, the Pakistani has been serving here since last fall as
associate pastor of Nostra Signora della Concordia. He has also been leading
a smaller congregation in the nearby village of Ellera. Italy, it turns out, is at least the third country in which he has
worked in parishes since denying child molestation charges in England seven
years ago and fleeing, before he could be tried. Church aid and law enforcement failures have made the sojourn
possible, as they have in many other cases that The Dallas Morning News
reviewed in its yearlong investigation of accused priests' international
movements. Church leaders in England bailed the priest out of jail, while
bishops in Pakistan knew he was a fugitive and let him work anyway. And he
has recently served in the United States, apparently without undergoing a
background check. Such is the tangle of this priest's life that even his name and age are
unclear. He is the 54-year-old Rev. Yusaf Dominic in the Archdiocese of
Lahore, Pakistan, where he was ordained and technically remains based. But here in the Italian Diocese of Savona-Noli - whose leader said he
knew nothing of the abuse case - he is known as 48-year-old Rev. Dominic
Yousuf. On Concordia's steps, Dominic offered no explanation for the
confusion. "I don't have anything in my mind" about it, he said
during a rambling interview in which he frequently contradicted himself. In the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where Dominic worked at St.
Francis of Assisi Church in 2002, queries about the priest's name brought a
chuckle from the associate pastor. "That was a question that was always under debate," said the
Rev. Eugene Field. One of Dominic's accusers in London expressed outrage at the priest's
continuing parish assignments, which keep him in the presence of children. "That's when your hair stands on end and your blood boils,"
said the young man, who spoke on the condition he not be identified.
"This guy's got to be stopped." Dominic's globetrotting began in the 1970s, long before he was
arrested in London - but well after he was first identified as a poor
prospect for ministry. "He was not a very good student," said Lahore Archbishop Lawrence
Saldanha, who taught him at a junior seminary and has been a diocesan boss
since 2001. "He's not coordinated in his thinking, not logical. His mind
is not very clear." Asked how such a young man could be deemed fit for the priesthood, the
archbishop replied: "That's a good question. It was not in my
hands." A few years after he was ordained in 1974, Dominic began visiting
London periodically and working temporarily in parishes of its Westminster
Archdiocese. He studied in Rome in the mid-1980s, sometimes spending summers
as a substitute priest in the New York City area. Dominic was arrested in late 1996 while at St. Bernard Parish in
London, accused of molesting two boys in the 1980s. After leaving jail, he
was sent to a clergy treatment center in rural England run by the Servants of
the Paraclete religious order, which became notorious in the United States
for its past practice of helping return abusers to parish work. |
In early 1997, Dominic disappeared and flew home to Pakistan. He told
The News that he fled after treatment center officials forced him to sign an
admission of abuse. Dominic said that he did not abuse the boys and that they made
allegations in retaliation for his efforts to collect a debt from an
accuser's father. "That's B.S.," said the one accuser The News
reached, who is unrelated to the other alleged victim. The treatment center's current leader, the Rev. Liam Hoare, declined
to comment and would not provide contact information for the predecessor who
oversaw Dominic's treatment. The News could not locate that priest, whom
Hoare said had been transferred to the Philippines. Dominic said British authorities returned his passport when he left
jail; authorities would not confirm that. Westminster Archdiocese records show no information about how Dominic
got out of England, spokesman Timothy Livesey said. But he acknowledged that
church representatives erred in arranging Dominic's bail. The Rev. Tony Brunning agreed to be liable for the bail, which was a
"mistake," said Livesey. Brunning, a longtime friend of the
suspect, declined to comment. After Dominic absconded, Livesey said, "the diocese wrongly
paid" the approximately $3,600 that Brunning owed. He identified the
person who authorized this indemnification as the Rev. Ralph Brown, who was
the diocese's vicar general at the time. Brown did not respond to an
interview request. It is a crime in Britain even to agree to indemnify someone who is
liable for a bail payment, and Livesey acknowledged that the archdiocese came
under criminal investigation because of Brown's action. The archdiocese was
not prosecuted. Brown "did not realize there was anything wrong" in what he
was doing and has apologized, Livesey said The original investigator on the case, Detective Constable Keith
Olivant, said that what happened was "an absolute offense where
ignorance is no excuse." He said he did not know why the archdiocese was
not prosecuted. "It's something they ought to be prosecuted for," the
detective said. A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on
anything related to the case because it remains open. Britain and Pakistan have no extradition treaty, and London police
apparently quit working the case. The accuser interviewed by The News said he has never heard from the
current investigator on the case, Detective Sgt. Caer Taylor. The detective
told The News she didn't know whether the case was still pending and, when
told that a reporter had located the priest, she didn't ask for his address. Instead of staying beyond the reach of the law, Dominic moved to
countries where extradition would have been routine - first the United States
and later Italy. He left Pakistan after Lahore Archdiocese leaders barred him from
ministry, Saldanha said. By 1999, he was living in the New York City area and
trying to get American dioceses to hire him. Los Angeles and Brooklyn were
among those that refused, citing vaguely negative reports from Lahore. The Rev. John J. Brown, Brooklyn's clergy personnel director, said the
Lahore Archdiocese did not reveal that there was a criminal case in London.
Lahore church leaders knew of its existence, according to a British church
official's letter to one of Dominic's accusers. Brown said Dominic did mention the case but said it had been dismissed
and he had been exonerated. He said he did not check the priest's claims with
authorities. Hearing details this week about Dominic's case was
"disturbing," Brown said. He said the U.S. church must rely on
foreign bishops to be open and honest about their priests who come to this
country to work. After striking out in the United States, Dominic returned to his
native Pakistan. Saldanha said he worked at a Muslim school in Lahore and then found a
Catholic leader who would take him in another part of Pakistan: Bishop Andrew
Francis, leader of the Multan Diocese. |
The priest became pastor of the Multan cathedral, "not with our
permission," Saldanha said. But after a while, Francis sent the priest
back to Lahore. "There was some personal animosity," said the archbishop,
who added that he knew no details. Francis could not be reached for comment. Next Dominic tried his luck in America again. And this time, he
succeeded: The Newark Archdiocese put him to work in summer 2002, shortly
after U.S. bishops passed a "zero tolerance" sexual abuse policy
during their annual meeting in Dallas. He was stationed at St. Francis of Assisi in Ridgefield Park, N.J., on
instructions from archdiocese headquarters, said Field, the priest who worked
with him. He said he did not know who gave the instructions. But the Newark archdiocesan office that oversees visiting priests said
it had no record of Dominic. The Rev. William Fadrowski, who was executive
director of clergy personnel in 2002, said he had never heard of the priest
and didn't understand how he could have been allowed to work at St. Francis. "It's very, very abnormal," Fadrowski said. Myers said he,
too, did not recognize Dominic's name and called his presence in a parish
"odd ... It certainly is not according to our policies and
expectations." Saldanha initially said he thought Dominic was living at the New
Jersey church "on a private visit" and was not exercising his
ministry. Myers did not ask whether the priest should be allowed to function,
Saldanha said. In a later interview, however, Saldanha said he had received a
background check form from Newark but did not complete and return it. He also said that Dominic had occasionally said Mass while at St.
Francis but that he was "not doing any pastoral work ... not dealing
with people." Dominic left St. Francis after about two months, according to Field,
who said he thought the priest had returned to his home country because of
problems with his religious worker's visa. It isn't clear where Dominic went after Newark. But by last October,
he was living along northern Italy's Riviera, working in the quaint beach
town of Albissola Marina and up in the hills at Ellera. In announcing the priest's appointment, the Savona-Noli Diocese
newsletter described him as a friend of the bishop, the Rev. Domenico
Calcagno. The bishop told The News he had met Dominic when he traveled to
Pakistan in the early 1990s, before assuming his current post. At the time,
Calcagno said, he was a priest working at the Vatican's foreign missions
office and Dominic was teaching in a Lahore seminary. The bishop said Dominic came to his diocese last fall after the head
of the Lahore Archdiocese requested a temporary placement for the priest while
he worked on a book. Calcagno turned pale when told by a reporter about the London criminal
case and that church leaders in Pakistan were familiar with it. "I am absolutely not aware of this," the bishop said.
"This is very strange. I received a written fax from the bishop. He was
asking me to help Dominic with his studies. To me there was no reason to
suspect anything about it." Saldanha initially told The News that he didn't know where Dominic was
and hadn't communicated with any Italian dioceses. But when he learned that
the newspaper had located the priest and interviewed Calcagno, the archbishop
acknowledged that he had given Dominic permission to "study theology and
do some work in an old-age home, not work in a parish" in Italy. Calcagno said he planned to keep Dominic on duty, "putting a
close eye on him from now on." Saldanha said he would ask Dominic
"what he's really doing." The priest continues to protest his innocence. Dominic said he
sometimes cries out to God, asking why he has suffered so. "They have really devastated all my priesthood," he said.
"I'm just a helpless person." (Egerton reported from Dallas; Dunklin
reported from Albissola Marina. Freelance journalist Mark Williams-Thomas in
London contributed to this report.) |
Fugitive pastor found working as parish priest in Italy
BY BROOKS EGERTON AND REESE DUNKLIN -- The
Dallas Morning News -- Posted on Tue, Jun. 22, 2004
ALBISSOLA MARINA, Italy - (KRT) - Inside a 16th-century Catholic church by the
Mediterranean Sea, the priest dresses as a man of God and preaches about the
Holy Spirit.
Outside, he
tells lies.
"I'm not
a functioning priest," he says, until he realizes a reporter has just seen
him celebrate Sunday evening Mass. Then he says he only
"occasionally" leads a service and isn't in active ministry.
"Ministry means one has to be in a parish," he says.
In fact, the
Pakistani has been serving here since last fall as associate pastor of Nostra
Signora della Concordia. He has also been leading a smaller congregation in the
nearby village of Ellera.
Italy, it
turns out, is at least the third country in which he has worked in parishes
since denying child molestation charges in England seven years ago and fleeing,
before he could be tried.
Church aid
and law enforcement failures have made the sojourn possible, as they have in
many other cases that The Dallas Morning News reviewed in its yearlong
investigation of accused priests' international movements. Church leaders in
England bailed the priest out of jail, while bishops in Pakistan knew he was a
fugitive and let him work anyway. And he has recently served in the United
States, apparently without undergoing a background check.
Such is the
tangle of this priest's life that even his name and age are unclear. He is the
54-year-old Rev. Yusaf Dominic in the Archdiocese of Lahore, Pakistan, where he
was ordained and technically remains based.
But here in the
Italian Diocese of Savona-Noli - whose leader said he knew nothing of the abuse
case - he is known as 48-year-old Rev. Dominic Yousuf.
On
Concordia's steps, Dominic offered no explanation for the confusion. "I
don't have anything in my mind" about it, he said during a rambling
interview in which he frequently contradicted himself.
In the
Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where Dominic worked at St. Francis of Assisi
Church in 2002, queries about the priest's name brought a chuckle from the
associate pastor.
"That
was a question that was always under debate," said the Rev. Eugene Field.
One of
Dominic's accusers in London expressed outrage at the priest's continuing
parish assignments, which keep him in the presence of children.
"That's
when your hair stands on end and your blood boils," said the young man,
who spoke on the condition he not be identified. "This guy's got to be
stopped."
Dominic's
globetrotting began in the 1970s, long before he was arrested in London - but
well after he was first identified as a poor prospect for ministry.
"He was
not a very good student," said Lahore Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha, who
taught him at a junior seminary and has been a diocesan boss since 2001.
"He's not coordinated in his thinking, not logical. His mind is not very
clear."
Asked how
such a young man could be deemed fit for the priesthood, the archbishop
replied: "That's a good question. It was not in my hands."
A few years
after he was ordained in 1974, Dominic began visiting London periodically and
working temporarily in parishes of its Westminster Archdiocese. He studied in
Rome in the mid-1980s, sometimes spending summers as a substitute priest in the
New York City area.
Dominic was
arrested in late 1996 while at St. Bernard Parish in London, accused of molesting
two boys in the 1980s. After leaving jail, he was sent to a clergy treatment
center in rural England run by the Servants of the Paraclete religious order,
which became notorious in the United States for its past practice of helping
return abusers to parish work.
In early
1997, Dominic disappeared and flew home to Pakistan. He told The News that he
fled after treatment center officials forced him to sign an admission of abuse.
Dominic said
that he did not abuse the boys and that they made allegations in retaliation
for his efforts to collect a debt from an accuser's father. "That's
B.S.," said the one accuser The News reached, who is unrelated to the
other alleged victim.
The treatment
center's current leader, the Rev. Liam Hoare, declined to comment and would not
provide contact information for the predecessor who oversaw Dominic's
treatment. The News could not locate that priest, whom Hoare said had been
transferred to the Philippines.
Dominic said
British authorities returned his passport when he left jail; authorities would
not confirm that.
Westminster
Archdiocese records show no information about how Dominic got out of England,
spokesman Timothy Livesey said. But he acknowledged that church representatives
erred in arranging Dominic's bail.
The Rev. Tony
Brunning agreed to be liable for the bail, which was a "mistake,"
said Livesey. Brunning, a longtime friend of the suspect, declined to comment.
After Dominic
absconded, Livesey said, "the diocese wrongly paid" the approximately
$3,600 that Brunning owed. He identified the person who authorized this
indemnification as the Rev. Ralph Brown, who was the diocese's vicar general at
the time. Brown did not respond to an interview request.
It is a crime
in Britain even to agree to indemnify someone who is liable for a bail payment,
and Livesey acknowledged that the archdiocese came under criminal investigation
because of Brown's action. The archdiocese was not prosecuted.
Brown
"did not realize there was anything wrong" in what he was doing and has
apologized, Livesey said
The original
investigator on the case, Detective Constable Keith Olivant, said that what
happened was "an absolute offense where ignorance is no excuse." He
said he did not know why the archdiocese was not prosecuted.
"It's something
they ought to be prosecuted for," the detective said.
A spokeswoman
for the Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on anything related to
the case because it remains open.
Britain and
Pakistan have no extradition treaty, and London police apparently quit working
the case.
The accuser
interviewed by The News said he has never heard from the current investigator
on the case, Detective Sgt. Caer Taylor. The detective told The News she didn't
know whether the case was still pending and, when told that a reporter had
located the priest, she didn't ask for his address.
Instead of
staying beyond the reach of the law, Dominic moved to countries where
extradition would have been routine - first the United States and later Italy.
He left
Pakistan after Lahore Archdiocese leaders barred him from ministry, Saldanha
said. By 1999, he was living in the New York City area and trying to get
American dioceses to hire him. Los Angeles and Brooklyn were among those that
refused, citing vaguely negative reports from Lahore.
The Rev. John
J. Brown, Brooklyn's clergy personnel director, said the Lahore Archdiocese did
not reveal that there was a criminal case in London. Lahore church leaders knew
of its existence, according to a British church official's letter to one of
Dominic's accusers.
Brown said
Dominic did mention the case but said it had been dismissed and he had been
exonerated. He said he did not check the priest's claims with authorities.
Hearing
details this week about Dominic's case was "disturbing," Brown said.
He said the U.S. church must rely on foreign bishops to be open and honest
about their priests who come to this country to work.
After
striking out in the United States, Dominic returned to his native Pakistan.
Saldanha said
he worked at a Muslim school in Lahore and then found a Catholic leader who
would take him in another part of Pakistan: Bishop Andrew Francis, leader of
the Multan Diocese.
The priest
became pastor of the Multan cathedral, "not with our permission,"
Saldanha said. But after a while, Francis sent the priest back to Lahore.
"There
was some personal animosity," said the archbishop, who added that he knew
no details. Francis could not be reached for comment.
Next Dominic
tried his luck in America again. And this time, he succeeded: The Newark
Archdiocese put him to work in summer 2002, shortly after U.S. bishops passed a
"zero tolerance" sexual abuse policy during their annual meeting in
Dallas.
He was
stationed at St. Francis of Assisi in Ridgefield Park, N.J., on instructions
from archdiocese headquarters, said Field, the priest who worked with him. He
said he did not know who gave the instructions.
But the
Newark archdiocesan office that oversees visiting priests said it had no record
of Dominic. The Rev. William Fadrowski, who was executive director of clergy
personnel in 2002, said he had never heard of the priest and didn't understand
how he could have been allowed to work at St. Francis.
"It's
very, very abnormal," Fadrowski said. Myers said he, too, did not
recognize Dominic's name and called his presence in a parish "odd ... It
certainly is not according to our policies and expectations."
Saldanha
initially said he thought Dominic was living at the New Jersey church "on
a private visit" and was not exercising his ministry. Myers did not ask
whether the priest should be allowed to function, Saldanha said.
In a later
interview, however, Saldanha said he had received a background check form from
Newark but did not complete and return it.
He also said
that Dominic had occasionally said Mass while at St. Francis but that he was
"not doing any pastoral work ... not dealing with people."
Dominic left
St. Francis after about two months, according to Field, who said he thought the
priest had returned to his home country because of problems with his religious
worker's visa.
It isn't
clear where Dominic went after Newark. But by last October, he was living along
northern Italy's Riviera, working in the quaint beach town of Albissola Marina
and up in the hills at Ellera.
In announcing
the priest's appointment, the Savona-Noli Diocese newsletter described him as a
friend of the bishop, the Rev. Domenico Calcagno.
The bishop
told The News he had met Dominic when he traveled to Pakistan in the early
1990s, before assuming his current post. At the time, Calcagno said, he was a
priest working at the Vatican's foreign missions office and Dominic was
teaching in a Lahore seminary.
The bishop
said Dominic came to his diocese last fall after the head of the Lahore
Archdiocese requested a temporary placement for the priest while he worked on a
book.
Calcagno
turned pale when told by a reporter about the London criminal case and that
church leaders in Pakistan were familiar with it.
"I am
absolutely not aware of this," the bishop said. "This is very
strange. I received a written fax from the bishop. He was asking me to help
Dominic with his studies. To me there was no reason to suspect anything about
it."
Saldanha
initially told The News that he didn't know where Dominic was and hadn't
communicated with any Italian dioceses. But when he learned that the newspaper
had located the priest and interviewed Calcagno, the archbishop acknowledged
that he had given Dominic permission to "study theology and do some work
in an old-age home, not work in a parish" in Italy.
Calcagno said
he planned to keep Dominic on duty, "putting a close eye on him from now
on." Saldanha said he would ask Dominic "what he's really
doing."
The priest
continues to protest his innocence. Dominic said he sometimes cries out to God,
asking why he has suffered so.
"They
have really devastated all my priesthood," he said. "I'm just a
helpless person."
(Egerton reported from Dallas; Dunklin reported from
Albissola Marina. Freelance journalist Mark Williams-Thomas in London
contributed to this report.)
Seksschandaal in
Australische Kerk 20-06-'04
21 juni 2004
NOS journaal
“Negen
mannen met een functie bij de Australische Anglicaanse Kerk zijn gearresteerd
wegens seksueel misbruik van kinderen. Onder hen zijn twee voorgangers en een
officier van het Leger des Heils. Dat heeft de politie in Adelaide bekendgemaakt. De negen worden
ervan beschuldigd de afgelopen veertig jaar kinderen te hebben misbruikt. De
arrestaties zijn het resultaat van een onderzoek dat de politie in mei begon
naar aanleiding van meer dan honderd
aanklachten van slachtoffers. In
totaal zouden er 217 kinderen zijn misbruikt door 48 mogelijke daders. De
politie verwacht nog meer verdachten aan te houden. Op 11 juni trad aartsbisschop Ian George van Adelaide
af vanwege het schandaal, maanden voor zijn emeritaat. Volgens een
onafhankelijk onderzoek heeft George, hoewel hij niet zelf wordt verdacht van
kindermisbruik, herhaaldelijk signalen van slachtoffers genegeerd. Vandaag
bracht de Anglicaanse Kerk een verklaring naar buiten waarin de
kerkautoriteiten zich uitgebreid verontschuldigen. "We bieden onze excuses aan voor de beschamende wijze waarop
degenen die naar ons zijn gekomen met meldingen van misbruik zijn tegengewerkt
en ontmoedigd. We zijn beschaamd te moeten erkennen dat we pas reageerden toen
de slachtoffers van misbruik een
bedreiging voor ons werden", stelt de kerkleiding.(*) De Australische
Anglicaanse Kerk wordt al enkele jaren geplaagd door affaires. In 2002 raakte
de kerk in een diepe crisis toen een gouverneur moest aftreden omdat hij in een
eerdere functie als bisschop niet had opgetreden tegen pedofielen in de kerk.
Het is nog niet duidelijk wat voor straf de negen verdachten kunnen krijgen als
ze worden veroordeeld.” Zo bericht het NOS
Journaal.
Hoopgevend? Zo
jammer toch dat wat vanzelf dient te gaan altijd eerst gebeurt als men zich
bedreigd voelt… door zich te beschermen voor negatieve publiciteit enz. gaat
men de fout in… dan komt de publiciteit en ligt er niet slechts een verwijtbaar
feit maar ook nog sterk verwijtbare vervolgfeiten. En de droevigste les is: men
leert niet uit de door anderen al tig keer gemaakte fouten waardoor
slachtoffers met ernstige gevolgen van hertraumatisering worden geconfronteerd
– extra schade waarvoor men dan ook weer geen verantwoordelijkheid wil nemen…
het oude liedje alsmaar weer in een nieuw jasje.
Red. MdH, 21 juni
2004
Catholic bishops approve more sexual abuse audits
Religion News Service
June 16, 2004
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops voted
overwhelmingly on Tuesday (June 15)
to proceed with a second round of audits to measure their own compliance with
sexual abuse reforms. The bishops, meeting at a closed-door retreat in
Englewood, Colo., voted 207-14 for the
audits, which are scheduled to be
completed by the end of the year and released next February. There was one
abstention.
Victims fear waffling
Reuters
June 16, 2004
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (Reuters) - A group
representing victims of sexual abuse by
Roman Catholic priests pleaded with
U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday not to
water down strict rules they set two years ago to weed out bad clergymen. The
group, Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests, or SNAP, delivered a
letter to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who are
meeting in the Denver-area suburb of Englewood this week in a closed session.
Priest under restrictions for abuse over
30 years ago
Associated Press
June 16, 2004
PARIS, Wis. - A priest who admits an incident of abuse more than 30 years ago
has been placed under restrictions, including no contact with minors, a church
spokeswoman says. The Rev. Eugene
Kreuzer served as priest at the parish of
St. John the Baptist from 1971-93
and had been attending church there.
Kathleen Hohl, communications director for the Milwaukee Roman Catholic
Archdiocese, said Tuesday that the ban on any contact with minors is among
restrictions for Kreuzer. "Restrictions have been placed on his
confessional
ministry and his ability to celebrate the Eucharist," she said. "He
is to live
out his life in prayer and penance."
Abuse victims' advocate says survivors feel snubbed
Agape Press
June 15, 2004
A spokeswoman for a group representing people who were abused by members of
the Catholic clergy says the abuse victims have been neglected by the church.
Some 275 members of the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)
have departed from Denver, Colorado, even as U.S. Catholic bishops are
gathering there for a closed-door retreat. Barbara
Blaine, the president of
SNAP, told Associated Press the survivors feel neglected and forgotten by
the
church officials, who have declined to meet with them. "The bishops are
walking over and ignoring the needs of the wounded victims and our family
members while they tend to their efforts to worry about prevention and
analysis and develop an understanding as to why all this happened," she
says.
Pastor urges silence in the face of
sons' arrests
London Free Press
June 14, 2004
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/06/14/498454.html
SARNIA -- The head pastor at the Sarnia
Church of God urged congregation
members yesterday to keep quiet about the recent sexual assault charges laid
against two of his sons. "Please everybody, don't say anything about
anything," Rev. Bali Swarath pleaded
at the end of yesterday's service. The
small, close-knit congregation -- around 30 adults and 10 children -- heeded
his message. After a lively service marked by chanting and singing, not one
congregation member approached by a Free Press reporter would comment.
"You
heard what he (the pastor) said," one congregation member politely replied
to
questions.
Anglicaanse aartsbisschop
treedt af -- 12 juni 2004 – Nederlands Dagblad –
ADELAIDE – De anglicaanse aartsbisschop
van Adelaide, Ian George, is gisteren afgetreden, een week na het
verschijnen van een kritisch rapport over de behandeling van pedofiliezaken
door zijn aartsbisdom. Hij verklaarde dat zijn aftreden niet het directe gevolg
is van de publicatie van het rapport, maar is ingegeven door de wens om de
eenheid van de kerk te bewaren. Het
rapport van een onafhankelijke onderzoekscommissie velt een vernietigend
oordeel over de behandeling door de
Anglicaanse Kerk in Zuid-Australië van tweehonderd meldingen van seksueel
misbruik door geestelijken en leken in de afgelopen veertig jaar. Het aartsbisdom heeft volgens de commissie
veel te weinig oog gehad voor de slachtoffers. In sommige gevallen heeft het
optreden van de kerk ertoe geleid dat de persoonlijkheid van slachtoffers en
hun familieleden ernstig is beschadigd, oordeelt de commissie. Het rapport
verwijt George dat hij een vermeende pedofiel had geadviseerd het land te
ontvluchten en in strijd met de wet had gehandeld door een vermeende
verkrachting niet bij de politie aan te geven. George had eerder steeds gezegd
de negen weken die hem scheiden van zijn emiraat, gewoon uit te dienen. Hij
stond echter onder grote druk om af te treden. Leden van kerkelijke commissies
hadden op zijn vertrek aangedrongen, evenals interim-premier Kevin Foley van Zuid-Australië. Ook minister Alexander Downer
van Buitenlandse Zaken, afkomstig
uit Adelaide, had de aartsbisschop opgeroepen zich op zijn positie te beraden.
Die druk heeft hem echter niet tot zijn besluit gebracht, stelde George in een
verklaring. “Aartsbisschoppen treden niet af in reactie op publiek protest,
druk van de media of interne kerkelijke overwegingen.” (ANP-AFP-DPA)
Archbishop withdraws priest's assignment
June 8 2004
http://www.tribstar.com/articles/2004/06/08/news/news05.txt
A Roman Catholic archbishop heeded
parishioners' objections Monday and
withdrew a proposed assignment for a priest who had been suspended for public
indecency. Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein had proposed the Rev.
Ron Ashmore as administrator at a cluster of three rural parishes about 50
miles southeast of Indianapolis. Ashmore, 59,
was arrested in May 2003 after
exposing himself to an undercover State Police officer at an interstate rest
stop west of Indianapolis. At the time, he was pastor of a parish in Terre
Haute, where he had ministered to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh before
his execution in 2001.
"McCormack out" say Catholics
demanding accountability
June 7 2004
Manchester Union Leader
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=38795
More than 100 people turned out near St.
Joseph Cathedral in Manchester
yesterday to speak out against Catholic
church leaders. Amid signs declaring
"Cleanse our Church" and the simply stated
"Accountability," more than 100
people turned out near St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester for a huge rally
yesterday to speak out against Catholic church leaders. The theme of the
gathering: "McCormack Out Now," was a sentiment echoed by each of the
seven
speakers on hand to try and force Manchester Bishop John McCormack and
Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian to resign.
A new play opens a conversation
June 6 2004
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/06/06/a_new_play_opens_a_conversation/
Going to see "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed" is going to be one tough night
at the
theater, says Paul Baier, the founder of Survivors
First, a Boston-based
support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse. "It's going to be a
pretty
solemn type of response," he says. "When they showed it in Chicago
they didn't
have the parents of kids raped by priests. It's going to be a different
audience." Rarely has there been a show where the events portrayed onstage
have been so inextricably linked to the lives of the audience members watching
them. But that will be the case with "Sin," which opens Wednesday at
the
Regent Theatre in Arlington. Its audience will contain not only survivors of
abuse and their families, but also lawyers in a firm that represented victims.
Taken from transcripts of the legal depositions of Cardinal Bernard F. Law,
the play will discuss the sexual abuse of children by priests they trusted,
the reassignment of those priests to other parishes, and the alleged cover-up
of the abuse by the church.
Victims would get two years to seek
damages in old cases
June 2 2004
Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0406/03/a01-172549.htm
When Margaret Stephens started coming to terms with the violent sexual abuse
inflicted on her as a child, she went to the police and sought an attorney.
But more than 20 years had passed since the abuse, so they advised her it was
too late to do anything about it. "I felt there was no justice here in
Michigan," said Stephens, now 42, of Macomb Township. Michigan lawmakers
are
considering a bill that would open up a two-year window for Stephens and child
sexual abuse victims like her to file civil lawsuits against their attackers.
While the bill, similar to a law passed in California, could give victims some
recourse and an opportunity to come forward, some fear it also could have
far-reaching ramifications for institutions such as the Catholic church in the
shadows of the clergy abuse scandal.
Effort to extend statute of limitations
for child abuse lawsuits fails in Tallahassee
May 18, 2004
Naples Daily News
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_2889709,00.html
For the second consecutive year, state lawmakers have rejected a proposal to
allow more victims of childhood sex abuse to sue their abusers. The proposed
law sought to extend by eight years the age limit for abuse victims to file
civil lawsuits. Under current law, victims must lodge legal complaints by age
25 or within four years after discovering a psychological injury or other
illness caused by the abuse, whichever is later. The bill won approval in
the
state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee on a 7-1 vote but died without even
a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jeff
Kottkamp, R-Cape Coral. The Legislature adjourned April 30.
Bishops accused of bucking reform
May 14, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/8662701.htm
MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. - As bishops prepare for June meeting, review board
accuses them of dragging their feet. A key panel of lay Roman Catholics is
angrily accusing American bishops of
backsliding on a central plank of their
reform program aimed at stopping clergy sexual abuse. But some church
leaders
are fighting back, saying that the National Review Board is overstepping its
authority.
Priest sues victims' group for libel; judge
dumps suit
May 14, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/8656021.htm?1c
LOS ANGELES - A judge Wednesday threw out a libel lawsuit filed by a priest
who alleged that a sex abuse victims group defamed him by publicizing claims
that he molested a woman three decades ago. It was the first libel action ever
filed against the Survivors Network
of those Abused by Priests. Monsignor
Joseph Alzugaray alleged that SNAP defamed him when it mentioned him
in
leaflets distributed at his church after Erin Brady filed suit last year. The
woman claimed he molested her in a church basement in Monrovia from 1968 to
1972.
Class-action suit against Detroit
diocese sought
May 13, 2004
Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0405/13/d01-151754.htm
Four men alleging sexual abuse by local Catholic
priests filed a lawsuit
against the Archdiocese of Detroit Wednesday,
arguing the church failed to
take steps to protect them, when they were children, and other youngsters.
Attorneys representing the men are asking the court to certify the lawsuit as
a class-action suit, meaning others could join and the court would deal only
with the issues common to all members of the class. It is believed to be
the
first suit in Michigan seeking class-action status stemming from the sex abuse
scandal.
Suit Claims Abuse by Nuns at Mass. School
The
Associated Press
BOSTON
-- Nine former students at a Roman
Catholic school for the deaf filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging they were
raped, beaten and tormented decades ago by the nuns who ran the place. They
accused at least 14 nuns in the lawsuit, along with a priest and a male
athletic instructor at the now-defunct
Boston School for the Deaf, and a former top official of the Boston Archdiocese, according to their
lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian. The case is the first to allege widespread abuse
by nuns in the Boston area since the sex scandal that engulfed the archdiocese
began in 2002. The alleged victims -- three women and six men -- ranged in age
from 7 to 16 when, they claim, they were sexually and physically abused between
1944 and 1977. The Boston School for
the Deaf, in Randolph, was run by an independent, nonprofit corporation
until it closed more than a decade ago. ``They are all speech-impaired and
hearing-impaired,'' said Garabedian, who represents 31 former students and
expects to file more lawsuits. ``Instead of receiving an education they
received beatings and sexually abusive actions.'' The nuns named in the lawsuit
are from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. Their order
served as faculty and administration at the school. Garabedian said the abuse
included fondling, rape, and rape with foreign objects. At least one student's
head was submerged in a toilet until she passed out; others were locked in
closets for hours as punishment, the plaintiffs said. The alleged victims are
now 41 to 67 years old. More than two dozen plaintiffs and supporters
filled a hotel conference room Tuesday, several of them making statements
through sign language interpreters. James Sullivan, 55, of Boston, attended the
school from 1953 to 1967. He said his head was slammed into a wall and a door
one day, and he was slapped around and hit with a yardstick until he was
bloody. When he told his parents, Sullivan said, they did not listen to him.
``They felt the nuns were right, you know, they had to discipline me,'' he
said. Some of the defendants were accused of participating in the abuse;
others, like Bishop Thomas V. Daily,
who held several top posts in the Boston Archdiocese, were accused of
negligence in supervising the others. William Shaevel, an attorney for the
school, said he had not yet received details of the allegations. ``We've asked
for but have not received any of the specifics, so we have not been able to
conduct our own investigation,'' he said. ``Our guiding principle here will be
to conduct our investigation and deal with this with sensitivity, respect and
dignity.'' The Rev. Christopher Coyne,
spokesman for the archdiocese, did not immediately return a call for comment. Last
year, the archdiocese reached an $85 million settlement with more than 550
people who said they were abused by priests.
Zie ook het artikel van 12 mei 2004 onder
Nieuws GOG Onderwijs Buitenland.
Yeshiva's Case Ends Before It Begins
May 11, 2004
Jewish Week
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=9406
An 11th hour agreement was expected to be finalized this week
between Derech
Etz Chaim, a small Jerusalem yeshiva, and Yeshiva University, the major Modern
Orthodox institution, cancelling out competing lawsuits on the eve of a federal
court hearing in Manhattan, according to sources close to the case. What
remains an open question, though, is what, if anything, will come of the
allegations of sexual abuse against Rabbi
Matis Weinberg, a leading Torah
scholar and author, which were at the crux of the case.
Minister gets 20 years in sex case
May 11, 2004
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/8636572.htm
GULFPORT, Miss. - A Saucier minister
will serve 20 years in prison for having
sexual contact with a teenage member of his congregation. The Rev. Larry
"David" Stone, 54, of All By Grace church, wept Monday as
relatives and church
members described him to Circuit Court Judge Robert Walker as kind, generous,
loving and an accomplished Bible teacher. He faced up to 360 years in prison
if found guilty of eight counts each of sexual battery and unlawful touching.
He pleaded guilty in March to two counts of each charge.
Paquin, Shanley defrocked amid questions on
process
May 7, 2004
Boston Herald
http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=32634
As Paul Shanley's accusers
applauded his removal from the Roman
Catholic
priesthood, supporters of the embattled ex-cleric say he was wrongly denied
his day in a canonical court to defend himself against child sexual abuse
charges. Shanley, 73, awaiting
trial in Middlesex Superior Court for allegedly
raping four Newton CCD students 20 years ago, and Ronald Paquin, 61, now
serving 12-15 years for child rape, were defrocked by Pope John Paul II, the
Archdiocese of Boston confirmed yesterday. "They are no longer to be
referred
to as a priest nor to exercise sacramental ministry as they do not have the
faculties of the Church," a church statement said.
Hannibal abuse victims start letter campaign
May 7, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/May/20040507News022.asp
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Five graduates of a defunct
Hannibal seminary launched a
national letter-writing campaign yesterday, urging alumni to seek help if they
were sexually abused by the seminary’s
former director, who later resigned as
a Florida bishop after acknowledging he molested a student. One of the
men,
Christopher Dixon, who left the priesthood and now works for Catholic
Charities in St. Louis, said he and other alleged abuse victims want to reach
out to other former students of St.
Thomas Aquinas Seminary and offer support.
Dixon served as a deacon at Sacred Heart
Catholic Church in Columbia during
the late 1980s.
Why Ensuring Accountability for Clergy
Sexual Abuse of Children Has Proved So Difficult,
Even Though It Remains So Crucial
May 6, 2004
Findlaw
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040506.html
When the Boston Globe finally spotlighted the issue of sexual abuse of
children by clergy, everyone agreed something had to be done. But sadly, the
solutions have so far have been neither far-reaching nor effective. What
happened? The story dropped from the headlines. And the solutions often got
lost in the machinations of the legislatures and the powers that be. It takes
incredible doggedness to keep political institutions focused on an issue,
especially when the media's attentions have shifted elsewhere. The record
to
date for legislatures and prosecutors dealing with clergy abuse is mixed, at
best. As the following examples make clear, bringing the Catholic Church to
account for the thousands of children who were raped and sexually molested is
still going to take enormous fortitude on the part of activists and
far-sighted public leaders. Despite the time that has passed since the Globe's
revelations sparked public outrage, much remains to be done.
DA Donation To Church Angers Abuse
Victims
May 5, 2004
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/3271017/detail.html
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Worcester
County District Attorney John Conte, who is
investigating allegations of clergy sexual abuse within the Worcester Diocese,
donated $500 to the church last month from his campaign fund. Although the
donations are legal and a long-standing tradition of Conte's, some advocates
for sex abuse victims and campaign finance reformers say they are a bad idea.
"It's a definite conflict of interest as far as I'm concerned," said Bryan
Smith, coordinator of the Worcester area chapter of the Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests.
Hunger striker bears witness to Ireland's dirty secret
Angelique
Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
The Guardian
“Outside the Irish parliament, a dangerously
ill man lay on a camp bed behind a wall of placards denouncing paedophiles.
Swaddled in blankets and a rain sheet, he was too weak to stand up, retching as
he tried to sip water. As night fell, the Archbishop of Dublin sat holding his
hand.
Tom Sweeney, 57, a
Dublin-born painter and decorator, suffered
five years of physical and sexual abuse by religious orders in Ireland's
industrial schools in the 1960s. Enraged by the government's procedures to deal
with the country's grim past and offer compensation to the survivors, he today
begins his 20th day on hunger strike.
As Mr Sweeney's health rapidly deteriorates, crisis
looms for the Irish government. Officials might have thought the protest would
peter out over the weekend of European Union celebrations: the road where Mr
Sweeney lies was sealed off and the international media stayed away. But if a
man is allowed to die on the parliament's doorstep, large numbers of Irish
child abuse survivors, including hundreds resident in the UK, will rise up in
revolt.
Mr Sweeney's 32-year-old son, Mark, a former boxer,
has joined him on hunger strike. His hands are chapped and purple from nights
sleeping outside.
He said GPs had refused to come and check his father,
but an ambulance crew last week warned he could survive five more days before
his health turned. "Those days are now up," he said. "My father is
prepared to fight to the death."
For decades, the physical and sexual abuse and slave
labour of children in industrial schools was Ireland's dirty secret. Mr
Sweeney's case echoes the horror stories that began emerging in the 1990s as a
generation of often semi-literate survivors recounted experiences described by
one victim as "torture and perversion from the middle ages".
When he was 10, Mr Sweeney was called before a child
court and "put away" for five years for playing truant. He was sent
to two industrial schools where he was given a number and never referred to by
name. He was physically and sexually abused for five years.
The government's child abuse commission to investigate
cases and compensate the victims has been dogged by controversy since it was
set up following Mr Ahern's state apology to victims in 1999.
Last December, the commission's chair woman resigned
complaining of delays, a lack of resources and lack of government cooperation.
The redress board set up to award compensation to victims
still has thousands of cases to hear and has been criticised by survivors'
groups for a lack of empathy and for making disparaging remarks to victims
during closed hearings.
Mr Sweeney said he abandoned a high court case against
his abusers in 2000 because he was advised that the redress board would offer
adequate compensation. He was awarded €113,000 (£76,000). When he decided to
opt for a full hearing so that he could tell his story, his compensation was
cut to €67,000. He feels he was unfairly punished for telling his version of
events and wants his case reviewed and the redress board system overhauled.
As Mr Sweeney's
health has declined, opposition politicians have called for a quick solution to
the crisis and Dublin's new archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, has been attending
talks with officials. Mr Sweeney has been half-carried inside by his son and
solicitor five times for negotiations. Officials say they are dealing with the
problem, but Mr Sweeney is not satisfied.
"It is beginning to enter my mind that I could
die here, but I am prepared for it," he said. "I have been hurt too
much, they can't hurt me any more. I just want a process to give victims some
dignity, to give compensation without them having to be insulted and abused all
over again. The government is covering up the problem. The whole process is
rotten to the core."
Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn centre for
survivors, said: "We were treated as third-class citizens in those
hell-holes and we are still being treated as third-class citizens. Is it going
to take Tom's demise for the government to wake up?"
Mr Sweeney's supporters at his bedside - including a
poet and musician who both survived abuse in industrial schools - said other
survivors were prepared to join the protest. Postmen had begun delivering
letters from international supporters to Mr Sweeney's protest line. One, from a
doctor in Luton, was addressed simply to "the hunger striker outside the
Irish parliament". A campaigner for survivors of Irish child abuse, the
doctor wrote: "Do take care. We can't afford to lose such a sensitive
person as yourself."
Mark Sweeney, who is now in his 18th day on hunger
strike in support of his father, said the families of abuse victims were still
suffering the fallout from the past. Three of his uncles had also been sent to
industrial schools. "It affects all generations. This goes down through
families. I never knew what had happened to my father until he started his
fight for justice. He never talked about it. This has opened my eyes."
Mr Sweeney's brother, Joe, said: "I have one
question for the government. What is the price of childhood? How do you pay
back what you took away?"” zo bericht The
Guardian.
Diocese led by Gregory won't release records of
accused priest
May 2, 2004
Chicago Tribune
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/8575231.htm
CHICAGO - (KRT) - The Illinois diocese led by Bishop Wilton Gregory, the
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who has vowed to end
decades of secrecy by the church hierarchy, has refused to release mental
health records of a retired priest accused of sex abuse. Judge Lloyd Cueto of
the 20th Circuit Court in St. Clair County found the Belleville , Ill.,
diocese in contempt of court Feb. 27 for refusing to turn over files of the
Rev. Raymond Kownacki. The ruling, which became known on Sunday, also fined
the diocese $2,000.
Pain, outrage mark clergy victims
April 27, 2004
Albany Times-Union
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=242236&category=REGION&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=4/26/2004
Retired Court of Appeals Judge Howard
Levine gained a new insight on
devastation over the past four months after meeting with victims of clergy sex
abuse and the therapists who counsel them. The emotional and physical effects
are indescribable, said Levine, who was appointed by Bishop Howard Hubbard in
December to create a support program for victims. "Many are hurting, too,
because they've also lost their faith." Levine is working on the plan
that
seeks to make amends -- spiritually, psychologically and financially -- to
those who were sexually abused by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Albany.
Monument for sex abuse victims dedicated
April 27, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-04262004-289308.html
MENDHAM, N.J. - A Roman Catholic
church where several men say they were
molested by the same priest many years ago now houses a monument to child sex
abuse victims. About 200 parishioners and others gathered Sunday at St.
Joseph's Church to see the 400-pound monument, which was carved out of black
basalt stone and shaped like a millstone. It came about last year when
friends
and family gathered for the funeral of James
Kelly, 37, of Morristown.
Lutherans dealing with sex abuse scandal
April 25, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4020776,00.html
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - Lutherans
who filled church pews Sunday were
determined not to let a sexual abuse scandal that led to millions in court
awards and legal settlements lessen their faith in their leaders. ''People do
bad things everywhere - police officers, Lutheran ministers, priests, you name
it,'' said Tom Watson, who attended services at Living Word Lutheran Church in
Grapevine, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. On Thursday, jurors in the East
Texas
town of Marshall sided with nine sex abuse victims who sued the Dallas-based
Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America.
Scandal put priests' rights at odds with
church policy
April 24, 2004
Chicago Tribune
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/living/8510623.htm
BOSTON - Now that the Catholic Church
has taken steps after years of inaction
to purge itself of abusive priests, canon lawyers, church officials and other
experts are beginning to voice a new concern: The legal rights of accused
priests are being slighted. In some cases, priests are forced to leave their
parishes even before the abuse allegations are investigated. These men have
little hope their cases will go to trial swiftly, in large part because of a
logjam at the Vatican as it processes mountains of paperwork.
Mater Dei's e-mail stirs new pain
April 24, 2004
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-materdei24apr24,1,3588466.story?coll=la-headlines-california
A new controversy has erupted at Mater
Dei High School over allegations of
sexual abuse at the Santa Ana parochial
school. Former students who have
alleged that they were molested say they are infuriated by an e-mail graduates
received March 31 that they contend minimizes their concerns.
Wisconsin clergy sex abuse law
strengthened
April 22, 2004
http://www.badgerherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/22/4087309f45e92
Gov. Jim Doyle signed
legislation April 19 strengthening laws applying to
child abuse by clergy. The bill states clergy will be required to report
suspected child abuse and extends time limits for victims to sue clergy or
other religious organizations to provide further support and protection for
victims. "This provision will ensure that religious organizations are held
more accountable for the actions of clergy under their supervision if they
failed to report the behaviour or if they did not make an effort to prevent
repeat incidents of abuse," Gov. Doyle said in a release. Since most
other
secular professions are already required by law to report abuse of minors, SB
207 extends the law of reporting child abuse to religious organizations. In
addition, victims will now have until they reach 35 years of age to file civil
suits and until they are 45 years old to file criminal actions.
Archdiocese settles abuse case for $1.6M
April 21, 2004
ASsociated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/04/21/church.suit.ap/
T. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- The Archdiocese
of St. Louis will pay $1.675
million to a family whose young son was sexually abused over three years by a
Roman Catholic priest who is now
serving a 15-year prison term, the family's
attorney said. He faces a long, hard recovery, as does his family. The Rev.
Gary Wolken admitted exposing himself to the boy, inappropriately touching
him
and having oral sex with him from August 1997 to July 2000, beginning when the
child was in kindergarten and often while Wolken baby-sat.
Related story:
Priest-abuse settlement may be
record
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/St.+Louis+City+%2F+County/2D827A8419FB97CD86256E7D0046AB60?OpenDocument&Headline=Priest-abuse+settlement+may+be+record
Nuwaubian sect leader sentenced to 135
years
http://www.citizenonline.net/citizen/archive/article78A25CDCFDCE4448910F64886F8277FD.asp
ATLANTA - "The leader of a
quasi-religious sect was sentenced Thursday to 135
years in prison for molesting boys and girls at the groups ancient
Egyptian-style compound. Malachi
York, the 58-year-old Master Teacher of
the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, will also have to forfeit the
476-acre
compound, adorned with pyramids and a sphinx. He was convicted in January on
11 counts of child molestation and racketeering. Prosecutors said he recruited
older girls to groom younger girls for sex with him, and used the cult for his
financial gain.
Bisdom Boston verkoopt landgoed na rechtszaken
21 april 2004
VK
BOSTON – “Het aartsbisdom Boston gaat het landgoed van
het aartsbisschop verkopen om de schadevergoedingen te betalen aan slachtoffers
van seksueel misbruik door priesters waartoe het onlangs werd veroordeeld.
De verkoop levert 100 miljoen dollar op. Koper is een aangrenzende
jezuïtenschool (Reuter).” Zo bericht de
Volkskrant.
Accused priest heads to Michigan
April 20, 2004
Detroit Free Press
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/8477925.htm
DETROIT - The first Catholic priest
in the United States to successfully find
a loophole in the church's zero-tolerance policy on sexual behavior with
minors is headed back to Michigan, the Archdiocese of Detroit said Tuesday.
The U.S. Navy will not take back the Rev.
Brian Bjorklund, 64, for
reassignment as a chaplain in California, even though the Vatican has ruled in
the priest's favor, Detroit Auxiliary
Bishop Walter Hurley said. In February,
the Vatican reinstated the priest to active ministry, saying the charge
against him - sex with a 16-year-old boy in the 1970s - wasn't a crime under
church law at the time. That ruling cast a national spotlight on Bjorklund
because it opened a major loophole in the get-tough, zero-tolerance policy on
abusers that Catholic bishops in the United States adopted in 2002.
Church communications head resigns following
misconduct complaint
April 13, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040413/APN/404130935
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The president of the evangelical wing of the
Springfield Diocese has resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct, the
latest
episode in a scandal that has shocked western Massachusetts Catholics. The
allegations against Michael Graziano,
head of the diocese's Catholic
Communications Corporation, date from 1985. Laura Failla Reilly, victim
advocate for the diocese, would not give any details of the accusations or
the alleged victim.
Lutherans settle clergy abuse case
April 13, 2004
http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/id/18872/template/Article.html
MARSHALL, Texas -- A judge approved a settlement involving the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and 14 alleged sex abuse victims who claim
church officials ignored warnings about an errant minister who was later
convicted of molesting boys, according to the Associated Press. Several
church agencies
also were included in the deal, which Harrison County District Judge
Bonnie Leggat sealed pending the outcome of a civil trial against the remaining
defendant -- the denomination's Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod.
The case of former Lutheran pastor
Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr., who was
sentenced last year to 397 years in state prison for sexually assaulting boys
in
this East Texas town, has been compared to some of the worst cases in the Roman
Catholic abuse crisis.
Abuse board chief defends link to one once
accused
April 11, 2004
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/04/12/abuse_board_chief_defends_link_to_one_once_accused/
The head of a Roman Catholic bishops'
review board on sexual abuse has
acknowledged a friendship with a former priest once accused of sexual
misconduct, but said the relationship has not affected her work. Anne
Burke, an Illinois appellate judge, defended her friendship with Thomas O'Gorman,
a speechwriter for her husband, a Chicago alderman.
Milwaukee Archdiocese says sexual abuse
claim against priest is credible
April 9, 2004
Associated Press
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=1692
The Milwaukee Roman Catholic
Archdiocese has asked the Vatican to remove a
priest from active ministry because of allegations of sexual abuse while
he worked in a Catholic school. A review committee determined that the
allegations of abuse by the Rev. Marvin
Knighton, 54, were credible,
archdiocese spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl said Thursday. She gave no details.
Knighton worked in various archdiocesan jobs, including at a high school
in the 1980s, and during the 2000-2001 school year was vice principal at a
high school in Phoenix, where he now lives.
Catholic order drops plans for clergy
center
April 8, 2004
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Jefferson+County/614193D5F5FC084C86256E7000674FF8?OpenDocument&Headline=Catholic+order+drops+plans+for+clergy+center
Faced with the fear and anger from neighbouring residents, the Servants of
the Paraclete has scrapped its plan to develop of a retreat for paedophiliac
priests and other troubled clergy near Pacific. The Paraclete, an order of
Catholic priests who tend to troubled priests and members of other
religious orders, had sought to change the zoning on 226 acres off Wade
Road in far
northwestern Jefferson County to allow for development of the retreat. The
area is densely wooded, with steep, winding roads curving past older and
many newer homes on multi-acre lots.
Priests' rights, policy at odds
March 30, 2004
Chicago Tribune
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/8311761.htm
BOSTON (KRT) - Now that the Catholic
Church has taken steps after years of
inaction to purge itself of abusive priests, canon lawyers, church
officials and other experts are beginning to voice a new concern: The legal
rights
of accused priests are being slighted. In some cases priests are forced to
leave their parishes even before the abuse allegations are investigated.
These
men have little hope their cases will go to trial swiftly, in large part
because of a logjam at the Vatican as it processes mountains of paperwork.
Abuse victim now national leader
March 30, 2004
Allentown Morning Call
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1-5cerullimar29,0,182864.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed
David Cerulli had always
been comfortable in the shadows. Sexually abused
by a priest as a 14-year-old altar boy in Allentown, Cerulli retreated into a
carefully crafted shell. He preferred to work as a sculptor, spending
hours alone in his basement studio, designing abstract pieces with names such
as
''Drift'' and ''Silent Sounder.'' It wasn't until January 2002, when the
priest sexual abuse crisis erupted, that Cerulli, a soft-spoken man with
an easy smile and gentle eyes, was forced into the light of disclosure. His
life hasn't been the same since.
Caucus on sexual abuse held
March 28, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.caucus28mar28,0,4910879.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Current and former Jehovah's
Witnesses who claim they
were sexually abused by congregation leaders gathered in their first national
caucus yesterday, sharing grievances about the denomination's handling of
abuse complaints and discussing legal strategy. William Bowen, former
leader of a Kentucky congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, said more than 6,000
people who say they are sexual abuse victims have contacted a group he founded
in
2001 to express "outrage at being silenced by the bad institutional
policies" of the faith.
Rare alliance of church, victims
March 28, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.abuseretreat28mar28,0,4499345.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
CRESTWOOD, Ky. - A former Air Force major, Susan Archibald often talks in
battlefield metaphors. She relies on them even more when recounting her
struggle to help fellow victims of clergy sex abuse through a unique
alliance with Roman Catholic bishops.
After months of planning and lobbying church
officials, Archibald and other volunteers plan to open a national retreat
center for molestation victims next month that is the first to carry the
endorsement of key U.S. Roman Catholic bishops and religious orders. The
prelates have provided some funds for the project, called The Farm, even
though they will have no control over it, Archibald said, revealing
details of the bishops' involvement for the first time to the Associated Press.
LA Pane of priests endorses Mahony
March 27, 2004
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-priests27mar27,1,3808277.story?coll=la-news-politics-california
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony,
recently criticized by a national Catholic panel
for his legal tactics in sexual abuse cases, received a vote of confidence
this week from the Los Angeles Council of Priests, an elected body representing
the Roman Catholic archdiocese's 850 clergymen. In a resolution passed
unanimously earlier this week, the council praised Mahony for consistently
showing
"great concern for the protection of children" and for fighting to
preserve
secrecy on personnel files of priests suspected of child sexual abuse.
From jail, priest seeks information on victim
March 24, 2004
St Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/St.+Louis+City+%2F+County/B68924A16ECEF55486256E62001D0842?OpenDocument&Headline=From+jail,+priest+seeks+information+on+victim+
From his jail cell in Clayton, a Catholic
priest serving three years for
sex abuse is waging a canon law war to remain a cleric - and is pulling his
accuser into the fray. The Rev. Bryan
Kuchar has asked supporters and
parishioners at Assumption Catholic Church in south St. Louis County to
provide character references in his efforts to block the church's attempt
to remove him as a clergyman. "If you are aware of my accuser and his
personal and family history, please leave a daytime or evening telephone number
where Rev. Bertrand can contact you for a confidential testimonial
statement,"
Kuchar said in a letter sent this month.
Napa priest strikes back with libel suit
Press Democrat
March 21, 2004
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/21priest_b1empireb.html
A Napa priest accused in a
lawsuit of molesting a grade-school girl more
than 30 years ago in Southern California has launched a legal counterattack,
filing a libel suit against his accuser, her attorney and a national advocacy
group for priest sex abuse victims. Monsignor
Joseph F. Alzugaray, pastor of St.
Apollinaris Church since 2002, hired Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Neil
Papiano to file the suit last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The
suit
alleges that Erin Brady, 44, her Los Angeles attorney, Raymond Boucher,
and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, defamed
Alzugaray by falsely accusing him of child molestation. "We're defending
his honour," said Papiano, whose clients have included Elizabeth Taylor,
the
late Oakland A's owner Charles Finley and Los Angeles city officials.
Religious-order priests' abuse
overlooked
Cincinnati Enquirer
March 20, 2004
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/03/20/loc_loc1abuse.html
At least eight Catholic priests and
brothers affiliated with religious
orders have been accused of abusing children in Greater Cincinnati since
1950. An
Enquirer survey of the 11 religious orders with offices or missions in the
area that encompasses the Archdiocese of Cincinnati found that five of the
accused clerics are now dead. The remaining three have been removed from
the ministry.
Rabbis' tact puts sex victims first
Jewish Journal of Greater LA
March 19, 2004
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11988
David Schwartz, who pleaded no
contest last year to charges associated
with child molestation at an Orthodox
summer camp, has been released from a
yearlong stay at a residential treatment facility and is now living in the
Pico-Robertson area. Rabbinic and mental health professionals are taking
steps to help the victims and their families, as well as the community at
large,
feel safe and protected from a man who allegedly sexually brutalized and
psychologically tormented 4-year-old boys at a Culver City camp for the
arts in summer 2002. While some rabbis who know the family have quietly
supported Schwartz and his family, many prominent rabbis and community leaders
have
been strident and outspoken in their support for the victims an indication
that the Orthodox community has overcome its historic hush-hush approach to
abuse. Taking its lead from Jewish Family Service's Aleinu Family Resource
Centre a group of rabbis has attended hearings, counselled the victims and
inserted
itself into the case.
Both sides wrong on church abuse
March 14, 2004
Chicago Sun Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel12.html
The Catholic left would
have us believe that the most
serious problem the church faces is clerical celibacy. If the church would
only ordain married men, the vocation crisis would disappear, the quality
of preaching would improve, there would be no more sexual abuse, bishops
would have to change their style of leadership because the wives of priests
would not tolerate their present behaviour. Priests seem especially likely
to see
the abolition of celibacy as the solution to all problems and are furious if
someone suggests it is not all that simple.
Church starts web site on accused
priests
March 13, 2004
http://www.portervillerecorder.com/articles/2004/03/15/ap/HiTech/d819qqt80.txt
CHICAGO - The Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Chicago has launched a Web
site that allows people to research whether one of its priests has been accused
of sexual misconduct with children. Victims groups criticized the project,
saying it discourages users by requiring them to reveal their names and reasons
for their inquiries. "This is an effort to appear that they're going to
give
information when it's actually a ploy to obtain information," said Barbara
Blaine, an advocate for victims abused by priests. The Web site is part of
a settlement in October in which the archdiocese agreed to provide
information on 55 priests involved in 140 credible cases of sexual abuse in the
last
50 years.
Related story:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0403140080mar14,1,479161.story?coll=chi-news-hed
The Boston reaction
March 12, 2004
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/031204/031204e.php
They billed it as an Accountability March, and walked 1.4 miles from
outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End neighbourhood to
Beacon Hill. On the front steps of the statehouse Sunday, Feb. 29, nearly 200
protestors demanded that Republican Gov.
Mitt Romney form an independent
task force to oversee the Massachusetts
Catholic bishops handling of the
clergy sex abuse scandal in all four of the commonwealth dioceses.
Advocates
and survivors circulated a petition, Lets Keep Children Safe, which they
will present to the governor, asking him to enable experts to supervise the
bishops response to sex abuse allegations and to monitor the bishops
actions necessary to contain these dangerous men. For his part, Romney
press
spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman said: We would be happy to take a look
and consider their request. Anne Barrett
Doyle of the Coalition of Catholics
and Survivors told the gathering. The Catholic bishops are sitting on
the
longest list of unregistered sex offenders than probably any other institution
in
this state, she said. My concern is about a very real public safety issue.
Related story:
Board got a rare look at hierarchical ways
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/031204/031204c.htm
Victims group walks away from talks with
church
March 10, 2004
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/mar04/213197.asp
Negotiators representing victims sexually abused by Catholic priests in
the Milwaukee Archdiocese walked
away from a mediation session with church
officials Monday, frustrated by the church refusal to release names of
offending priests. Leaders of the group Survivors Network of Those Abused
by Priests said the talks "collapsed" over the issue, but Archbishop Timothy
Dolan said he was ready to continue discussions any time. Late Monday,
neither side appeared to have a clear idea of whether the mediation sessions
involving the survivors group would continue after the disagreement.
Pastor says family was counselled on daughter
March 10, 2004
Courier-Mail
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8920415%255E3102,00.html
A BAPTIST Church pastor told
police a family left his church after he
counselled them on how to stop their sexually abused 14-year-old daughter
from becoming willingly involved in other inappropriate sexual relationships, a
jury was told yesterday. Sandgate Baptist pastor Douglas Ray Ensbey is on
trial accused of shredding or guillotining five pages of a teenage
parishioner's diary which documented sexual abuse inflicted upon her by
another parishioner. The District Court jury was yesterday played a
secretly recorded field interview conducted by police in which Ensbey admitted
remembering what he had done with the girl's diary.
Related story:
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8908177%255E3102,00.html
Support builds for abuse victims
March 8, 2004
Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/107873711599840.xml
Mark Goebel says he was 12 the first time the "monster" raped him.
It was
1974. For two years, the Morris County man said, he was sexually abused by a
teacher and forced to have sex with other boys at a boarding school in
Princeton.
For more than two decades, he kept it secret. Today, Goebel goes to group
therapy. And so do a lot of other men, venturing into territory that has been
familiar for women, but rarely visited by men: group sessions with others who
have
been raped or abused.
Group to picket services today
March 7, 2004
http://www.gogreenbay.com/page.html?article=124728
Members of an anti-abuse group
will hand out leaflets at St. Francis
Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay today, as well as at other cathedrals in
Wisconsin,
to push for a stronger state law to protect children in abuse cases.
Members
of Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests, a nationwide support group,
will protest before services in Green Bay, la Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee and
Superior. The leaflets urge Catholics in all five Wisconsin dioceses to:
call lawmakers Monday and Tuesday to ask them to pass stronger laws to protect
children and come forward if they have experienced, witnessed or suspected
sexual abuse by clergy.
A priest with a tainted past
March 6, 2004
Newsday
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-priest0307,0,1615547.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines
His job application was impressive, and it carried the imprimatur of
respectability: He was a priest. So,
a Rego Park mental health clinic
hired the Rev. Frank J. Capellupo as
a psychologist in 2001. The year
before, in the
fall of 2000, a public school system in Dutchess County had given Capellupo
work as a substitute teacher.
Neither employer knew the real reason for Capellupo's
June 2000 departure from his Roman Catholic church in Bushwick, one of several
parishes in Brooklyn and Queens where he had served. He had been accused
of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in the rectory.
Bill requires clergy to report sex abuse
March 5, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/states/wisconsin/8108629.htm
MADISON, Wis. "Wisconsin clergy would be required to report fellow
members who sexually abuse children under legislation the state Senate approved
Thursday in response to the Catholic
Church's abuse scandal of recent years. The
Senate voted 33-0 to approve the bill, though some members complained it did
not
go far enough because clergy would not be required to report suspected abuse by
those not in the clergy. The legislation would also extend the statute of
limitations for victims filing lawsuits against the clergy and churches. But
victims
groups have also complained those provisions are inadequate.
Former Mass. bishop faces abuse charges
March 4, 2004
Associated Press
http://pennlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/national-19/1078459143257581.xml
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) " One boy was a recent immigrant who eagerly
accepted an offer of English lessons from his parish priest. The other was the
boy's
high school friend. From What followed, according to lawyers, is a sordid tale
of abuse in which the priest allegedly plyed the two altar boys with alcohol
and sexually molested them in the 1970s. On Thursday, Hampden District
Attorney William Bennett announced he will pursue sex abuse charges against retired
Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre, 70, who is accused of abusing the two
boys, who are now 39 and 40 years old.
Some priests are suing their accusers
March 4, 2004
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priests5mar05,1,7272280.story?coll=la-headlines-california
A priest formerly based in Los Angeles has taken an unusual approach in
defending himself against an allegation that he molested a girl three
decades ago: He has sued his accuser. A dozen or so such lawsuits have been
filed
nationally in recent years as the child sexual abuse scandal has spread
across the Roman Catholic Church in
the United States, according to experts who
monitor clergy sexual abuse litigation.
Skip fund, abuse victims told
March 4, 2004
http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0302priests.html
As a special tribunal began taking applications Monday for awards from a
$3 million "claim resolution fund," an advocacy group urged victims
of child
sexual abuse to take their claims against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Cincinnati to court instead. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,
or
SNAP, said victims should boycott the application process because they are
required to drop any lawsuits and forfeit their rights to bring lawsuits
stemming from
their abuse, even though there's no guarantee they'll get any money from the
fund. "There are 11 places on the first two pages (of the claim form)
where we
give up specific rights," said Christy Miller, who heads SNAP's Cincinnati
chapter. "We're giving up all the rights, they're giving up nothing."
Bill would allow civil suits against
churches
March 4, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b7_3nj-abusemar02,0,1936258.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed
TRENTON - Sex abuse victims would be able to seek damages from churches
and other non-profit organizations under terms of a bill approved by a Senate
committee on Monday. The Senate Judiciary Committee also added an
amendment that would make the change apply retroactively, meaning that those
victimized
before the date it becomes law also could file lawsuits. New Jersey law, known as
the charitable immunity statute, prohibits civil action against a church or
charitable organization. New Jersey is one of nine states that still have
such a law.
Misbruik kostte Kerk half miljard
28 februari 2004
AD
“Seksueel
misbruik van kinderen door priesters heeft de rooms-katholieke Kerk in de Verenigde Staten in de afgelopen 50
jaar minstens 460 miljoen euro en mogelijk zelfs 600 miljoen euro gekost.
Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek in opdracht van de Amerikaanse
bisschoppenconferentie. Tussen 1950 en 2002 zijn 4392 priesters beschuldigd
van 10667 gevallen van seksueel misbruik van kinderen.” zo bericht het AD.
Duizenden
priesters VS misbruikten kinderen
27 februari 2004
New York Times, Reuters
“In de Verenigde Staten zijn de laatste
vijftig jaar meer dan tienduizend gevallen van seksueel misbruik van kinderen
door priesters gemeld. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek in opdracht van de
Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie, waarover de New York Times vrijdag
berichtte. Verbijsterd: De onderzoekers
toonden zich verbijsterd over het grote
aantal ernstige vergrijpen. In 27 procent van de gevallen bedreef een priester
orale seks met een kind, in een kwart was er sprake van (poging tot)
penetratie. Seksueel misbruik van kinderen heeft de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk
in de VS in de afgelopen vijftig jaar
minstens 572 miljoen dollar gekost.
Mogelijk ligt het bedrag zelfs in de buurt van 750 miljoen dollar. Schadevergoeding:
Tussen 1950 en 2002 zijn 4392 priesters beschuldigd van 10.667 gevallen
van seksueel misbruik van kinderen. De daaruit voortvloeiende kosten voor de RK-Kerk hadden vooral
betrekking op advocaten,
schadevergoedingen en therapieën voor slachtoffers en pedoseksuele priesters.
Hogere cijfers: De onderzoekers
van het John Jay College voor strafrecht in New York becijferden dat in de
onderzochte periode minstens 4 procent
van de priesters van seksueel misbruik is beschuldigd. Bij de lichting die in
1970 is gewijd, lag het percentage zelfs
op 10. De werkelijke aantallen liggen volgens de studie waarschijnlijk
hoger. In meer dan 80 procent van de gevallen ging het om misbruik van jongens.
De onderzoekers telden 149 veelplegers
met meer dan tien beschuldigingen achter hun naam. Bijna 3000 slachtoffers, ofwel 27 procent van het totaal aantal, kwamen voor hun rekening.” Zo bericht Reuters.
24 februari 2004
NRC
BOSTON - `Patrick
McSorley, een van de eersten die twee jaar geleden vertelde te zijn misbruikt
door priester Geoghan, is gisteren op 39-jarige
leeftijd overleden. De politie van Boston zegt zelfmoord te vermoeden. Onder meer door McSorleys
verhaal kwam een groot seksschandaal binnen het aartsbisdom
Boston aan
het licht. Het aartsbisdom moest in 2002 uiteindelijk een schikking treffen met
de 86 gelovigen die als minderjarige waren misbruikt door Geoghan. De
priester werd veroordeeld tot tien jaar cel en in de gevangenis vermoord.` zo bericht het NRC.
Monsignor says harm of abuse wasn't recognized
February 23, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/02/23/monsignor_says_harm_of_abuse_wasnt_recognized/
The temporary leader of the Diocese
of Springfield, appointed after its
bishop resigned amid sexual abuse allegations, said in an interview
yesterday that the scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church stems
from a belief among some priests during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s that
sex with young men was acceptable. Monsignor
Richard S. Sniezyk, 66,
the leader of the Springfield Diocese until the Vatican names a bishop
to replace Thomas L. Dupre, said that as a seminarian and then a young
priest in the 1950s and early 1960s he heard of priests who had sex
with young men, but "no one thought much about it" because priests
didn't recognize how mentally and emotionally damaging their behaviour
was.
Boston church abuse victim found dead
February 23, 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4417768
BOSTON (Reuters) - Patrick McSorley,
a victim of defrocked pedophile
priest John Geoghan
and one of the public faces of the Archdiocese of
Boston clergy sexual abuse scandal, has been found dead, his lawyer
said on Monday. Mitchell Garabedian, who represented McSorley and
dozens of others who said they had been abused by Geoghan, confirmed
reports that McSorley's body had been found in downtown Boston, but
declined further comment on the cause of death. McSorley received part
of a $10 million settlement Garabedian negotiated with the archdiocese
on behalf of dozens of people who say they were molested by Geoghan.
Protestant clergy sex abuse issue murky
February 22, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse-Protestants.html
A clergyman is accused of molesting a local churchgoer, those who
learn
of it express disbelief, and matters are eventually resolved in
private. The pattern sounds familiar, given
more than two years of
revelations about scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet even as a
panel of Catholic lay leaders prepares to reveal how many priests have
been accused of molestation, experts say Protestant denominations also
have their share of problem clergy. But quantifying the Protestants'
problem may be even more difficult than it has been with Catholic
priests, though for somewhat different reasons. And comparing the scale
of abuse -- Catholics vs. Protestants
-- is tricky if not impossible.
Attorney, DA doubt figure released in abuse report
February 22, 2004
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2864403/detail.html
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- There's criticism of a report from the
Springfield Diocese saying that a total of 30 priests in the diocese
have been accused of sexually abusing children since 1950. The report
was released Friday by the John Jay School of Justice. Of those 30, the
report finds accusations against 22 of the priests to be credible.
Attorney Roderick McLeish Junior, whose firm represents hundreds of
abuse victims in the state, says the figure from the archdiocese is
(quote) "ridiculously low."
National priest-abuse study leaked to media
February 20, 2004
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1024323&l=1&t=Local+News&c=2,1024323
A draft of the upcoming national survey of sex abuse claims against
Roman Catholic priests
has been viewed by CNN, which reported Monday
that 4,450 clergy have been accused of molesting minors since 1950. The
draft survey said 11,000 abuse claims have been filed against the U.S.
churchmen during that period, CNN reported. The national numbers do not
include statistics from the Diocese of Davenport, which was one among
the 3 percent of all dioceses nationally that did not respond to that
study, conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New
York.
Related stories:
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1024077&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1024077
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/national/17PRIE.html
Vatican to publish clergy sex abuse report
February 20, 2004
Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040220_242.html
The Vatican will
soon publish a report
about clergy sexual abuse that
draws heavily on scientific opinion, including
experts sceptical about
removing from the ministry any
priest who has molested a child, a
psychologist who helped edit the report said. The report grew out of a
four-day symposium on paedophilia held behind closed doors at the
Vatican in April.
Still no clergy abuse law
February 20, 2004
Newsday
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-bc-ny--clergy-sexabuse0221feb21,0,3181587.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-crime
ALBANY, N.Y. -- It was after 9 p.m. in the closing days of the
legislative session when the word in the darkened Capitol hallways was
that one of Albany's thorniest issues was settled: A law would compel
religious leaders to report to authorities any child sex abuse by
priests and other clergy. Two years later as the clergy abuse scandal
and cover-ups played out nationally, there still is no law in New York
_ not even a two-house proposal _ despite the handshake agreement and
bills printed that night in June 2002. Even in often contentious
Albany, a deal falling apart so completely is rare, said Sen. Steven
Saland.
Los Angeles Diocese names those accused of abuse since 1930
February 19, 2004
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/national/18PRIE.html
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Los Angeles, the nation's largest,
released a report yesterday identifying 244 priests, brothers, deacons
and seminarians who have been accused of sexually abusing a total of
656 minors since 1930. The Los Angeles Archdiocese is the third of the
195 American dioceses to disclose the
names of accused abusers,
spokesmen for both the national bishops conference and victims advocacy
groups said. The Archdiocese of Baltimore was the first to do so,
posting names on its Web site in 2002, and the Diocese of Tucson was
the second.
Misbruik
priesters VS veel groter dan eerst gedacht
17 februari 2004
Nederlands Dagblad
WASHINGTON – “Tegen
minimaal 1341 rooms-katholieke priesters
in de Verenigde Staten zijn sinds 1950 beschuldigingen ingebracht wegens
seksueel misbruik. Dat aantal is veel groter dan tot dusver gedacht, zegt het
persbureau Associated Press.
Later deze maand zal de Amerikaanse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk een rapport publiceren over
deze zaak. Sommige bisschoppen hebben de cijfers van hun diocees al bekend
gemaakt. AP belde met bisschoppen over het hele land en kwam op basis van
gegevens uit slechts tachtig van de 195 bisdommen al op een aantal van 1341
meldingen. "Hieruit blijkt dat het probleem veel groter is dan wij dachten'',
zegt Sue Archiald van The Linkup,
een ondersteuningsgroep van slachtoffers. Hetzelfde zegt Paul Baier van de groep Survivors First. Die had op basis van eigen
onderzoek een lijst met ongeveer 1800 meldingen van priesters gemaakt. Maar
vergelijking van deze lijst met die van AP leverde op dat op de nieuwste lijst
per bisdom gemiddeld twee keer zoveel meldingen waren. "Wanneer deze trend
zich doorzet in alle 195 bisdommen, betekent dit dat het aantal meldingen
ongeveer twee keer zo hoog is als het aantal dat bij ons al bekend is.''
Schadevergoeding: De bisschoppen hopen dat met publicatie van hun rapport op
27 februari het vertrouwen in de kerk wordt hersteld. De afgelopen jaren
kwamen honderden gevallen van seksueel misbruik door priesters boven water. Dat
leidde tot grote spanningen en tot schadeclaims van slachtoffers. Volgens
advocaten van slachtoffers heeft de Amerikaanse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk al meer
dan een miljard dollar aan schadevergoedingen uitgekeerd. Maar de kerk houdt
het op ongeveer de helft van dat bedrag. Daarnaast
is door de kerk ongeveer 186 miljoen dollar uitgegeven aan hulpverlening.
Het is moeilijk te zeggen hoeveel van de aangeklaagde priesters schuldig zijn.
Het gaat in veel van de gevallen om misbruik dat al tientallen jaren geleden
heeft plaatsgevonden. Ook zijn minstens 179 van de aangeklaagde priesters
intussen overleden.” zo bericht het Nederlands Dagblad.” Zo bericht het ND. Noot van de
redactie: Wat doet de Nederlandse hulpverlening voor slachtoffers van
(seksueel) misbruik binnen de hulpverlening? Hoeveel euro’s heeft de Nederlandse hulpverlening al uitgegeven
voor hulpverlening aan de door haar zelf geproduceerde slachtoffers? Wanneer neemt de moderne? hulpverlening
een voorbeeld aan de ouderwetse? kerkelijke instellingen in ons land die al
vele jaren in diverse opzichten zorgen voor slachtoffers die geestelijken van
hun kerken hebben veroorzaakt? …vraagt deze website zich af… .
Group offers help when there's no place left to
turn
Staten
Island Advance