Clergy Child Molesters (104) — References / Chronology

• Sex abuse by clergy prompts flyer drive -- RCC. Males and females. 'Lost Sheep' Campaign.

   New York Daily News, www.nydaily news.com/11- 11-2004/news/ story/251547 p-215367c. html , By Brian Harmon, Daily News Long Island Bureau Chief, Nov 11, 2004
   LONG ISLAND (NY): Men and women sexually abused by Catholic priests pledged yesterday to stand outside of Long Island churches and hand out leaflets urging other victims to come forward.
   Convinced that only a fraction of the people victimized by pedophile priests have actually gone to the police, Long Island Voice of the Faithful and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will urge anyone with information about priest-related abuse to talk.
   "Just how many are there that we'll never know about because they're dead or they're in mental institutions or they're in prison?" asked David Cerulli, executive director of SNAP's New York region.
   The Lost Sheep campaign will begin Sunday at churches where molesters have worked, Cerulli said.
   The flyers will urge victims to report the abuse to law enforcement officials. The flip side of the leaflet will detail a case of a known abusive clergyman.
   "We want people to come forward," Cerulli said. "And we want to tell them that there is a safe place to go for help and support." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:44 PM] (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Thu November 11, 2004.)

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   INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs. • Problems in Spokane Diocese raise questions about succession among American bishops -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource. com/local/ aplocal_story. asp?category= 6420&slug= Bishops'%20 President ; By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
   SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Spokane Diocese's plan to file for bankruptcy by the end of the month could have implications for Roman Catholics far beyond Washington state.
   Spokane Bishop William Skylstad is in line to become president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it's unclear whether his troubles at home will affect his candidacy when the bishops gather to vote in Washington, D.C., next week.
   The bishops' conference serves as the voice of the American church on social, religious and other issues. In the past few years, its current president - Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill. - has become a chief spokesman on the prelates' efforts to end sex abuse by clergy and restore trust in church leaders.
   Skylstad, who announced the bankruptcy plan Wednesday, has served three years as conference vice president. In the past, every vice president who has sought the top job has won.
• Suspected child molester arrested [1990s Martinez] -- New Jerusalem Church. Girls.
   Santa Cruz Sentinel, www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/November/11/local/stories/04local.htm , By CATHY REDFERN and NANCY PASTERNACK, Nov 11, 2004
   WATSONVILLE (CA) - A former school counselor's aide and pastor was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felony child molestation, the District Attorney's Office reported.
   DA's inspectors arrested Steven Montez Martinez, 47, at his Watsonville home about 9 a.m., according to investigator Aaron Morse.
   Morse said he believes Martinez molested "several" girls ages 13-16 in the early to mid-1990s.
   Morse said the investigation began when two young women told police Martinez had molested them years earlier. ...
   Martinez met his victim at Aptos High School, where he helped counsel students, and at the now-defunct New Jerusalem church in Watsonville, where he was pastor, Morse alleged.
• Former monk named in Fairbanks diocese sex abuse suit [1960s-70s Lundowski] -- RCC. Trappist, and Jesuits. 28 boys.
   OregonLive.com ; www.oregon live.com/news flash/regional/ index.ssf?/base/ news-8/1100200 441203210.xml& storylist=orlocal ;
   The Associated Press, 11:08 a.m. PT, Nov/11/2004
   FAIRBANKS ((AK) AP) - A lawsuit filed against the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese claims that a former Trappist monk sexually abused 28 boys in three western Alaska villages in the 1960s and 1970s.
   In a separate suit, two more men have come forward with allegations of abuse against a deceased priest who worked in the diocese, bringing the total in that case to 18.
   The 28 anonymous plaintiffs from Hooper Bay, Stebbins and St. Michael allege Joseph Lundowski engaged them in oral sex, and many say they were forcibly sodomized and required to perform oral sex or masturbation on Lundowski.
   In exchange, Lundowski gave them candy, money stolen from the collection plate, cooked food, baked goods, beer, sacramental wine, brandy and/or better catechism grades, according to the lawsuit, which represents one side of a legal argument.
   The suit named the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and the Society of Jesus Oregon Province and its Alaska subsidiary as defendants. Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa represents the plaintiffs. They are seeking more than $50,000 each in damages.
• Sex Abuse Victims Endorse Bishop For National Presidency -- RCC. Bishop B. Cupich endorsed
   Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], http://snap network.org/ snap_press_ releases/ 111104_snap_ endorses_ bishop.htm ,
   UNITED STATES: For the first time in its 14 year history, a support group for clergy sex abuse victims is endorsing a candidate for president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. They are inviting all ten candidates to meet with them Sunday night in Washington DC, on the eve of the national bishops meeting.
   The Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is backing Rapid City Bishop Blase J. Cupich in his bid to head America's Catholic prelates.
   "Frankly, we know little about him," acknowledges SNAP president Barbara Blaine of Chicago. "But the other candidates have each been repeatedly unresponsive or insensitive to victims."
   In alphabetical order, the candidates for president are: Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB; Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFMCap; Rapid City Bishop Blase J. Cupich; Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan; Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI; Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas; San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada; Philadelphia Archbishop Cardinal Justin F. Rigali; Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad; and Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl.
   "We feel it's our duty to speak up and share what we know about these men," said Mary Grant of Long Beach, California. "At this point, Catholics deserve a leader they can have some faith in, but most of these men come with considerable baggage of cover up."
• Youth pastor arrested [2002-03 Rutues] -- Revival Ministry. Girls.
   Des Moines Register, http://des moinesregister. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article?AID=/ 20041111/NEWS 01/411110 432/1001 ; By TIM PALUCH, November 11, 2004
   DES MOINES (IA): A Des Moines youth pastor has been charged with sexually abusing two girls.
   Damion Armond Rutues, 25, turned himself into authorities Wednesday night.
   Detective Larry Penland said Rutues, a youth pastor at Learning of the Lord Revival Ministry, 1216 Forest Ave., allegedly had sexual contact with the two girls he met at the church.
   Both alleged incidents happened more than a year ago.
   One victim, now 14, claimed Rutues abused her in May 2003 when she was 12. At the time, her mother was dating Rutues. The abuse allegedly occurred on a couch in Rutues' church office.
   Another girl, now 10, was 8 in the summer of 2002 when the alleged abuse occurred. Police said the alleged incident took place at an apartment Rutues was living in at the time.
   Rutues' mother, Suzanne Erwin, is pastor of the Des Moines church.
• Baton Rouge diocese settles sex abuse claim involving late bishop, will rename high school [1975 Sullivan] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Charleston Gazette, http://wvgaz ette.com/sect ion/APNews/ News/ap0561n
   BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The Diocese of Baton Rouge is settling a lawsuit with a man who accused a long-deceased bishop of abuse, and it is yanking the bishop's name from a high school.
   The Roman Catholic diocese did not give details of the settlement involving Bishop Joseph Sullivan. But Bishop Robert Muench, who announced the deal Wednesday, said the accuser's allegations were credible.
   Sullivan was bishop in Baton Rouge from 1974 until his death in 1982. The accuser, now in his 40s, said he was 17 when Sullivan sexually abused him in 1975. The man's name was not released.
   Muench said Bishop Sullivan High School would get a new name, still to be determined, at the start of the next school year. The diocese will help pay for new signs and uniforms, he said.
   The Baton Rouge diocese has acknowledged removing six priests over the past 15 years because of credible allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.
• N.H. declines to probe Dupre case [Dupre] -- RCC. Boys.

   The Republican, By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Thursday, November 11, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) - While there is no indication that Canadian, New York or federal officials will pursue investigations, New Hampshire authorities have decided they cannot prosecute the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre on sexual abuse charges.
   The former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has been indicted by a Hampden County grand jury on two rape charges, but District Attorney William M. Bennett said he could not pursue the case because the crimes were too old. Dupre is the first U.S. bishop indicted on sexual abuse charges during the current Catholic Church abuse crisis.
   However, a month ago Bennett forwarded information to jurisdictions where Dupre allegedly abused two boys more than 20 years ago. Bennett said those jurisdictions might have laws that suspend or have no statute of limitations on certain sex crimes.
   While no investigation has been confirmed by prosecutors in those jurisdictions, New Hampshire officials have said they cannot proceed with an investigation.
   Law enforcement officials decided not to pursue an investigation of Dupre because the crimes were too old there as well, according to N. William Delker, senior assistant attorney general in New Hampshire.
• Morale of church workers suffers in abuse crisis -- RCC.

   The Catholic Telegraph, www.catholic cincinnati.org/ tct/nov1204/11 1204moral.html , By Dennis O'Connor
   CINCINNATI (OH): ARCHDIOCESE - One of the unseen casualties of the clergy abuse scandal within the Catholic Church has been its employees - including members of the clergy, religious and lay workers alike - according to Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
   McChesney was in Cincinnati Oct. 26 addressing the 33rd convocation of the of the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators.
   In her plenary session address, "Accountability and Abuse Prevention: Long Term Challenges for the Catholic Church," McChesney noted that besides the terrible impact the scandal has had on families involved, it also has caused a major erosion of the "moral authority of the church" because of the issue."
   "These are messages I've heard from victims groups, from the media, numerous anecdotal sources," McChesney told The Catholic Telegraph. "The message is 'why should we trust (the church) anymore'."
• Church Aide Was Censured for Law Work [1990s Whiteman] -- RCC.
   The New York Times, By SABRINA TAVERNISE, Nov 11, 2004
   NEW YORK: When the New York Archdiocese was looking for someone to lead its Safe Environment Program, a special screening and monitoring project to help protect against child abuse, it turned to Robert G. Whiteman. He was not only an ordained deacon but also a practicing lawyer.
   But as court papers show, the professional record of Mr. Whiteman - whose job it is to screen, supervise and enforce a professional code of conduct for those who work with minors - was not without its flaws. In 1996, a panel of judges publicly censured him and another lawyer for improper handling of money.
   At the time, the judges confirmed six charges of professional misconduct against Mr. Whiteman in several cases dating to the early 1990's. The charges related to untimely bookkeeping and to the handling of money in a medical malpractice suit.
   The judges found that Mr. Whiteman and the other lawyer "engaged in conduct involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty, or misrepresentation." They also said the conduct "adversely reflects on their fitness to practice law."
• Davenport diocese appeals for operating money -- RCC. $US9m. 37 victims.
   WHO, www.whotv.com /Global/story. asp?S=2551376
   DAVENPORT, Iowa: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, which last month agreed to pay $9 million in settlements to victims of sexual abuse by clergy, will start its annual appeal for operating funds this weekend.
   The diocese is promising that none of parishioners' contributions will go toward settlements or attorney fees as a result of the sexual abuse cases.
   Church officials postponed the appeal last month ahead of Bishop Franklin's announcement that the diocese would file for bankruptcy if settlement negotiations with 37 people alleging sexual abuse failed.
   The two million, 400-thousand dollars the diocese hopes to receive from its 103-thousand parishioners will account for a larger portion of an operating budget reduced 31 percent by cutbacks in diocesan staff and programs.
• Diocese resumes annual appeal -- RCC.
Quad-City Times, www.qctimes. com/internal. php?story_id= 1039292&t=Lo cal+News&c= 2,1039292 , By Todd Ruger
   DAVENPORT (IA): The Catholic Diocese of Davenport will revive its annual appeal for operating funds this weekend, promising parishioners that none of their contributions will go toward settlements or attorney fees involving cases of sexual abuse by clergy.
   While this year's Annual Diocesan Appeal does not ask for more donations than the past two years, it paints a picture of the financial impact created by agreeing last month to pay a $9 million settlement to victims of sexual abuse by priests.
   The $2.4 million the diocese hopes to receive from its 103,000 parishioners will account for a larger portion of an operating budget reduced 31 percent by cutbacks in Diocesan staff and programs.
   "The diocese is now depending totally on your donations to this annual appeal for diocesan ministries," Bishop William Franklin said in a written statement to parishioners.
• Church settles suit [1975 Sullivan] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Advocate, www.2theadvocate.com/stories/111104/new_diocese001.shtml , By BARBARA SCHLICHTMAN, bschlichtman@theadvocate.com , Advocate religion and youth editor
   BATON ROUGE (LA): The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge announced Wednesday that it has settled a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by the late former Bishop Joseph V. Sullivan and that the prominent high school bearing his name would be renamed.
   The lawsuit was filed in 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge in April by a man who claims the sexual abuse occurred 29 years ago and that the repressed memory of the abuse resurfaced in June 2003, diocese attorney Charlie Cusimano said.
   Sullivan was bishop from 1974 until his death in 1982. The alleged incident occurred in 1975 when the victim was 17, Bishop Robert Muench said.
• Jason Berry 'Takes Five' -- RCC.
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Posted: Nov. 11, 2004
   MILWAUKEE (WI): Jason Berry, a freelance journalist and author from New Orleans, pried the lid off the Roman Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal in the United States with newspaper stories in the 1980s and a landmark 1992 book, "Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children."
   His latest book, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II," co-authored with now-retired Hartford Courant reporter Gerald Renner, takes the investigation to higher levels.
   It tells of Father Tom Doyle, a Dominican canon lawyer, who said he was pushed out of a post at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., and marginalized for trying to call attention to the abuse.
   It tells how Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, who founded the Legion of Christ - a growing order of priests known for orthodoxy and papal loyalty - has remained its leader despite allegations of sexual abuse by nine former legionaries. He has denied the allegations.
   The book also delves into a clerical culture at the Vatican that Berry contends still uses power plays and appeals to obedience to hide abuse.
   Berry was in Milwaukee last week to speak at the Call to Action Catholic reform group's national conference. Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Heinen took five with him.
   Q. What did you stress in your presentation at the Call to Action conference?
   A. I stressed that the Vatican's system of justice under the code of canon law has not been well applied, and that, in the case of Father Maciel, the head of the Legion of Christ, the evidence is quite abundant that he abused a number of seminarians over many years.
   And although they filed a grievance at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, seeking action, Cardinal Ratzinger (a powerful Vatican official) essentially tabled it. ...
• Spokane diocese seeks shield -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource. com/local/199 163_spokane 11.html , By CLAUDIA ROWE
   SPOKANE (WA): Claiming poverty in the face of a mountain of lawsuits from people who say they were sexually abused by priests, the Spokane Diocese announced plans yesterday to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the end of the month.
   The move would open the diocese's financial and personnel files to an unusual level of public scrutiny and outside oversight, legal experts say, but it would also safeguard the diocese from potentially onerous sexual abuse lawsuits to come.
   Nationally, fallout from the sexual abuse scandal convulsing the Roman Catholic Church is estimated to have cost dioceses more than $1 billion in settlements and related expenses. In the past four months, dioceses in Portland and in Tucson, Ariz. have sought bankruptcy protection, claiming that it is the only way to ensure compensation for all victims. But those financial benefits are still unknown.
   "No process can guarantee justice," said Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who plans to file for Chapter 11 protection by Nov. 29, the day an abuse lawsuit against the church is scheduled to begin. The move would halt that civil suit -- for now.
• Catholic Diocese of Spokane to file for bankruptcy [O'Donnell] -- RCC. 28 plaintiffs.
   Seattle Times, http://seattle times.nwsource. com/html/local news/200208 7951_diocese 11m.html , By Jonathan Martin and Janet I. Tu
   SPOKANE (WA) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane announced yesterday it would file for bankruptcy, making it the third diocese in the country to do so and throwing into question whether its bishop, the Most Rev. William Skylstad, will be elected president of a national bishops organization next week.
   The diocese intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on or before Nov. 29, the date a trial is expected to begin in the case of the Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, a former Spokane priest and former roommate of Skylstad's who has been accused of molesting dozens of boys.
   Settlement talks involving 28 plaintiffs in the O'Donnell cases broke down Friday. A bankruptcy filing would halt the trial and protect the diocese from its creditors while allowing it to develop a reorganization plan.
   Such a step is the only "fair, just and equitable mechanism for the payment of valid claims against the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, while allowing us to maintain the historic mission of the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington," Skylstad said at a news conference yesterday afternoon.
• N.H. can't prosecute ex-bishop over abuse [1970S Dupre] -- RCC.
   Cleveland Plain Dealer, Adam Gorlick, Associated Press, Thursday, November 11, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): New Hampshire authorities said Wednesday they cannot prosecute former Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre on charges he abused two teens in the 1970s because it wasn't a crime at the time to have sex with youths their age.
   Will Delker, New Hampshire's senior assistant attorney general, said the state did not prohibit adults from having sex with 16- and 17-year-olds until 1986.
   Dupre, 70, the first Roman Catholic bishop to face sexual abuse charges, was accused of having oral sex with two Massachusetts boys during a trip to New Hampshire when they were 16 or 17.
   Saying the statute of limitations had expired, officials in Massachusetts have also declined to prosecute Dupre over accusations he abused the same boys in that state in the 1970s.
   Hampden County, Mass., District Attorney William Bennett said in September he would turn over the results of a grand jury investigation to federal officials and authorities in New Hampshire, New York and Canada. The two men who said they were abused in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also say they were abused in the other two locations.
• Sex abuse case broadens [1960s-70s Lundowski] -- RCC. Trappist and Jesuits. 28 boys. [Convert] -- RCC. 18 altar boys
   News-Miner, www.news-miner. com/Stories/ 0,1413,113~ 7244~25280 04,00.html , By MARY BETH SMETZER
   ALASKA: A former Trappist monk, accused of sexually abusing 28 boys and teenagers while working in three Western Alaska villages during the 1960s and 1970s, is the subject of a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Bethel Superior Court.
   A 60-page complaint, listing 28 James Does as plaintiffs and alleging multiple instances of sexual abuse by Joseph Lundowski, named the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and the Society of Jesus Oregon Province and its Alaska subsidiary as defendants.
   In addition, two more men have been added to another civil lawsuit against the Fairbanks diocese, first filed in June 2003, alleging sexual abuse by the Rev. Jules Convert, a Jesuit priest now deceased, who ministered in several villages within the sprawling missionary diocese.
   The two latest complainants bring the number of alleged victims of Convert, all former altar boys, to 18. The Society of Jesus has settled with the first 16. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:36 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu November 11, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Phone photos: man charged. -- No religion mentioned. Photographed women.

   The West Australian, p 3, Thursday, November 11, 2004
   SYDNEY: Police have charged a man with offensive behaviour for using his mobile phone to secretly take pictures of women sunbathing topless. ... [Nov 11, 04]
• Freed teacher, 37, says judge gave her what she deserved for schoolboy sex; Victims lobby say sentence disgusting. [2000s Ellis] -- No religion mentioned. Boy.
   The West Australian, p 3, Thursday, November 11, 2004
   MELBOURNE: A 37-year-old female schoolteacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a [boy] student aged 15 walked free from court on a suspended sentence yesterday after a judge said he was exercising a degree of mercy.
   ... Karen Ellis, a married mother of three ... suspended sentence ... 22 months ... he had initiated the conduct ... Judge ... declared Ellis to be a serious sex offender and placed her on a Victorian sex offenders register ... criminal offence for her to work at a school , or ... involving children. ... [Nov 11, 04]
• Justice finally comes to a man once trusted by society who was secretly a pervert and preyed on young boys; Pillar of society a paedophile. [1979-1980s Stickland] -- No religion mentioned. Boys including scouts.
   The West Australian, by Roy Gibson, p 9, Thursday, November 11, 2004
   PERTH, W. Australia: Delville James Stickland was a pillar of society -- a Vietnam veteran, a scoutmaster and grocery store manager in the town of Harvey and then a successful businessman in Perth.
   But he was also a paedophile.
   When living in Harvey from 1979 to the mid-1980s, Stickland sexually abused young boys who worked in his shop or were members of his scout group.
   It has taken six years for Stickland's prosecution to go through the courts. With a Queen's Counsel [= top barrister] by his side, Stickland, 58, of Attadale, has spent more than $250,000 fighting the allegations -- but every jury he appeared before accepted the sad and sorry story told by his victims.
   Two victims -- brothers now in their 30s -- were in the District Court yesterday to see the final chapter in a bitterly fought saga. Stickland got more time in jail, bringing his total sentence to 10 years.
   Many of Stickland's court appearances were subject to [reporting] suppression orders ...
   One of the brothers was due to be married in 1998 and his parents wanted to invite Stickland ... determined Stickland would not be at his wedding ... told parents ... police ... big investigation in Harvey. ... hearing in 1999 ... convicted by a jury on ... 20 of indecent dealing, six of indecent assault and 15 of gross indecency. [...]
   ... He had served 13 months when the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions -- ruling he should have had separate trials in relation to each complainant. The legal thinking in sex cases is that separate trials avoid the suggestion the victims concocted their evidence and avoid the risk jurors are overwhelmed by the number of complainants telling a similar story.
   The District Court ... imposed suppression orders, fearing that publicity from one trail might prejudice the next. [...]
   The second retrial ... saw a jury convict ... on three charges of indecent assault and three of indecent dealings ... jailed for ... six years and eight months.
   The third retrial ... last month, saw Stickland convicted on two charges of indecent assault, one of indecent dealing, and one of gross indecency.
   It was than that Stickland struck a deal with prosecutors -- he would plead guilty to two more indictments if the DPP dropped all other charges against him. Whether Stickland had run out of funds or fight, it was the first time he had admitted anything.
   Defence lawyer Simon Freitag ... "... That is a very big step for someone who had denied these matters for six years."
   Stickland was manager of the supermarket in Harvey from 1977 to 1984. He moved to Perth and ran supermarket businesses in Belmont, Victoria Park and Beechboro.
   Yesterday, Judge Jackson added two more years to Stickland's prison term -- making a total of 10 years -- and he must serve eight years before possible parole.
   ... the minimum sentence is longer than he got originally. # (Picture -- Exposed: Delville James Stickland spent six years and $250,000 fighting charges that he molested young boys but has not pleaded guilty. Picture: Bill Hatto [Picture of man in suit and green tie, handcuffed, inside a brick-walled room.]) [Nov 11, 04]
• Child porn man pleads. [? 2004 Guiles] -- No religion mentioned. Child porn.
   The West Australian, p 38, Thursday, November 11, 2004
   PERTH, W. Australia: Andrew James Guiles, 46, of Greenwood, pleaded guilty to two counts of using a computer to transmit objectionable material and four of possession of child pornography in the Perth Magistrate's Court yesterday. He will be sentenced on January 18 in the District Court. # [Nov 11, 04]
• Man, 24, shocked at jail over child porn. [2004 Burgess] -- No religion mentioned. Boy porn.
   The West Australian, by Roy Gibson, p 42, Friday, November 12, 2004
   PERTH: A tearful young man went white with shock yesterday when he realised that he was going to jail for possessing child pornography.
   Christopher James Burgess, 24, of Woodvale, who was swept up in a nationwide crackdown on child pornography in September, was caught with about 60 images on his home computer relating to young boys.
   The District Court was told yesterday that most of the pornography could be traced to Belarus and the material had been produced by Russian crime syndicates.
   Jailing Burgess for eight months on one charge of possessing child pornography, Judge Peter Martino told him: "The evil is that, to create such images, children have been exploited and abused. I need to discourage the abuse of young children throughout the world."
   With remissions, Burgess will serve four months.
   The jail sentence sends an ominous message to dozens of other men facing child pornography charges. If a 24-year-old single man with no previous convictions is jailed for having 60 images, then this is the likely outcome for all the others going through the courts. ...
   See also "Jailed child porn man in tears," The Australian, www.news. com.au/common/ story_page/0,40 57,1136293 9%255E264 62,00.html, By Simone Pitsis, November 12, 2004 [Nov 12, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri November 12, 2004 edition follows:-
• John Cullum: Uncovering the Anguish [Law] -- RCC.

   Back Stage, www.backstage. com/backstage/ features/arti cle_display.jsp? vnu_content_ id=1000719004 ; By Simi Horwitz
   NEW YORK: Although Cardinal Bernard F. Law is a well-known and controversial contemporary cleric, Tony Award-winning actor John Cullum tackles him in the same way he would any other character in a work of dramatic fiction. The play at issue, "Sin (A Cardinal Deposed)," is a kind of documentary theatre that examines Cardinal Law's culpability in the sexual abuse scandal surrounding priests in the Boston archdiocese, weaving Law's actual testimony, given in the course of a deposition, with recollections from survivors and their families.
   Cullum draws a complicated figure, growing increasingly inarticulate and ultimately silent as he unravels in the face of the charges and his own sense of responsibility and underlying guilt. "Sin" bowed Off-Broadway at the Clurman Theatre on Tues., Oct. 26.
   "I approach Cardinal Law as if it were me in his situation," notes Cullum during a phone interview. "I'm not impersonating him. I choose to play him as a man who, at the end, knows he did something wrong, because that's more interesting and gratifying for an audience." Cullum adds, "The real Cardinal Law is in fact now working at the Vatican, drinking the best wine and, for all I know, playing with little boys."
   That said, Cullum stresses that he was determined "not to be engaged in church bashing. That's not what this play is about. It's about the corruption of power. It could be any institution, but in this case it's the church, where powerful figures were so committed to protecting the church, they lost sight of what the church is all about, which is protecting the individual. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:35 PM]
• Diocese review board clears priest of sex charge [Bonzagni] -- RCC. Paid in court, cleared by Church.

   CBS 4, Associated Press, Friday November 12, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) A Berkshire County priest has been cleared of a sexual molestation charge by the Springfield Diocese's Review Board.
   Trina Cysz of Belchertown had accused the Rev. John Bonzagni of molesting her when she was a high school student preparing for her confirmation at St. Mary's Parish in Lee.
   The church's review board, which investigates misconduct claims, said Cysz's claims were unsubstantiated.
   Cysz had filed a lawsuit against the diocese regarding the allegation. Hers was one of 46 lawsuits settled in August for about $7.5 million.
   The diocese has said that the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing or substantiation of guilt.
• Diocesan bankruptcy means outsiders control its fate -- RCC.
   OregonLive.com ; By JOHN K. WILEY, The Associated Press, 8:21 a.m. PT, Nov/12/2004
   SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - By seeking court protection from the rising costs of clergy sex abuse cases, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane will have to surrender its financial records and place its future in the hands of a judge.
   Bishop William Skylstad announced Wednesday that the Eastern Washington diocese intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on or before Nov. 30.
   The diocese becomes the third in the United States to seek bankruptcy court protection in the face of civil lawsuits, in which plaintiffs are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages for alleged sexual abuse by clergy.
   The filing suspends civil litigation and raises the possibility that the claimants likely will get far less than the millions of dollars they might get from a jury. It also means a U.S. Bankruptcy Court will determine its near future.
   "There are a fairly complex set of rules about what the reorganization plan has to look like and who approves it," said Gary Neustadter, a bankruptcy expert and Santa Clara, Calif., School of Law professor.
• Priest jailed for child sex abuse [1986-93 McQuillan] -- RCC. Boys, girl.

   BBC News, http://news. bbc.co.uk/2/ hi/uk_news/ northern_ ireland/ 4007099.stm , Friday, 12 November, 2004
   NORTHERN IRELAND: A priest has been jailed for 12 years for sexually abusing five children, including a brother and sister.
   Fr Michael Gerard McQuillan, whose address was given as Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey in Portglenone, admitted a total of 40 charges.
   They included indecent assault, gross indecency and four charges of serious sexual assault.
   A judge said he "deliberately seduced and breached the trust" of his victims, four boys and a girl.
   Newry Crown Court heard on Friday he met his victims while he worked as a chaplain at a County Armagh school.
   The abuse took place between 1986 and 1993 and much of it happened at the parochial house and during trips to a private swimming pool. [...]
   His victims were at the court to hear a lawyer for Fr McQuillan say he apologised "unreservedly" for his actions. [...]
• Chairman of panel investigating abuse in SF diocese resigns -- RCC blocks report. Jenkins wants names published.

   Herald-Tribune, www.herald tribune.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041 112/APN/411 120707 , The Associated Press, Last modified 9:14AM, November 12. 2004
   SAN FRANCISCO (CA) - The chairman of a panel investigating sex-abuse allegations in San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese is accusing church leaders of deception and manipulation for refusing to release the results.
   James Jenkins resigned from the Independent Review Board, saying Archbishop William Levada has blocked the release of the panel's findings on sexual-abuse allegations involving 40 priests.
   Jenkins said the review panel could soon be reduced to nothing more than a public relations scheme by the archdiocese. He said he doubts the church can restore public trust given its leadership and what he called its state of corruption.
   The archdiocese said Jenkins' views are contrary to the opinions of other members of the review panel. Unlike Jenkins, they do not want the names of accused priests released. #
• Youth Minister Accused of Sexual Abuse [2002 McCullum] -- Baptist. Boy
   The Connection, by Stefan Cornibert, November 11, 2004
   ARLINGTON (VA): A former youth minister at a south Arlington church was arrested by Arlington police on Friday, Nov. 5 and charged with sexually abusing a teenage boy.
   Antawn McCullum, 29, also faces charges from Fairfax County Police - one count of forcible sodomy and one count of taking "indecent liberties with a custodial child," a class 6 felony. McCullum worked at the Macedonia Baptist Church, according to police reports.
   Repeated requests for an interview with church officials Monday went unanswered.
   The charges in Arlington stem from an alleged incident in 2002 that was only reported to police this year. McCullum was no longer working at the church at the time he was arrested.
   "We didn't find out about this accusation until recently and when we did, we began investigating immediately," said Matt Martin, Arlington police department spokesman.
   Detectives working the case believe other children may have been abused, but as of Monday, Martin said no new victims had come forward with information about McCullum.
• D.M. youth pastor charged with sexual abuse [2002-03 Rutues] -- Revival Ministry. Girls.
   Des Moines Register, By TIM PALUCH, November 12, 2004
   DES MOINES (IA): A youth pastor was charged Thursday with sexually abusing two girls he met at his Des Moines church.
   Damion Armond Rutues, 25, turned himself in to police Wednesday night. He is a youth pastor at Learning of the Lord Revival Ministry, 1216 Forest Ave.
   Des Moines Police Detective Larry Penland said the girls claim Rutues had sexual contact with them more than a year ago.
   One victim, now 14, claimed Rutues abused her in May 2003 when she was 12. At the time, her mother was dating Rutues. The abuse allegedly occurred on a couch in Rutues' church office.
   The girl's grandmother contacted authorities late last month.
   Another girl, now 10, was 8 in the summer of 2002 when the alleged abuse occurred. Police said the alleged incident took place at an apartment Rutues was living in at the time.
• Youth pastor charged with abusing two girls [2002-03 Rutues] -- Revival Ministry. Girls.
   WOI, www.woi-tv.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2556263
   DES MOINES, Iowa - The youth pastor of a Des Moines church is being held on 78-thousand dollars bond, charged with sexually abusing two girls he met at the church.
   Damion Armond Rutues, youth pastor at Learning of the Lord Revival Ministry, turned himself in to police Wednesday night. The 25-year-old Rutues remains in Polk County jail.
   He is charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. Police Detective Larry Penland says the girls claim Rutues abused them more than a year ago. One girl, now 14, claims Rutues abused her in May 2003 when she was 12, while her mother was dating Rutues.
   The girl's grandmother contacted authorities late last month.
• Sullivan's family, friends speak out [1975 Sullivan] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Advocate, http://www.2the advocate.com/ stories/111104/ new_bishop0 01.shtml , By BRETT TROXLER, btroxler@wbrz.com (2theadvocate.com staff), From a report by WBRZ's Marvin McGraw & Claire Hatty, Nov 11, 2004
   BATON ROUGE (LA): Family members and friends of late Baton Rouge Bishop Joseph Sullivan spoke out Thursday about the allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
   The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge announced at a press conference Wednesday that it had received serious and credible accusations that Sullivan sexually abused a teenage boy in 1975.
   Maggie Finley grew up with Bishop Sullivan along with her six brothers and sisters. Finley said Sullivan was her adopted uncle, and she referred to him as "Uncle Joe."
   "I can't sit here and judge this person and that allegation, but I cannot believe he would be capable of anything like that," Finley said.
   Meanwhile the allegation against Bishop Sullivan is going to cause a major change at the Baton Rouge school bearing his name. The school will undergo a name change beginning with the 2005-06 school year. [...]
   As reported Nov. 11 on WBRZ's 4,5 & 6 p.m. telecasts. If you have information or comments related to this story, e-mail them to news@wbrz.com
• SNAP Opposes New Job For Cardinal George -- RCC. SNAP opposes.
   NBC 5, November 11, 2004
   CHICAGO (IL) -- Francis Cardinal George has been nominated for a high-ranking position with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, but he's facing opposition from a sexual abuse support group.
   Hand-delivering a note to the Archdiocese of Chicago Thursday, members of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] is urging the cardinal to withdraw as a candidate for the prominent national position.
   A SNAP member read from the group's letter outside the Archdiocese headquarters Thursday: "For the sake of healing, justice and prevention, we urge you to put your personal ambitions aside and concentrate, instead, on healing."
   NCB5's Rob Elgas said that George is one of 10 candidates for the three-year term of president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
   "Unfortunately, with the other nine candidates, we do have sordid tales of experiences that victims have had in those dioceses," said SNAP spokeswoman Barbara Blaine (pictured, right).
   Rumors are swirling that the Vatican wants a higher-positioned Catholic to fill the presidency.
• Bishop Gregory's term is ending -- RCC.
   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BY TIM TOWNSEND, Nov/11/2004
   UNITED STATES: In the last days of his term as leader of the nation's Catholic bishops, Belleville's Bishop Wilton Gregory speaks wistfully of his first six weeks in office. He calls them his "six weeks of peace."
   In those first weeks, much was made of the fact that he was the first African-American bishop to head the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The media, he said, also played up his Catholic beginnings.
   Gregory was the first convert to be president of the conference - his parents were nondenominationally Christian but sent their son to a Catholic school in Chicago. He also was the head of a sleepy diocese in the Midwest.
   "Those are the things people kept coming back to: He's black, he's a convert, he's from a small, rural diocese," he said in an interview at his Belleville office this week. "And then after six weeks, on Sunday, Jan. 6th, the first article of the Globe aired, and all of the other three issues seemed to pale in comparison."
   That Gregory remembers the date of the first Boston Globe article about a Catholic priest who sexually abused young boys, and his frequent use of the words "intense" and "unrelenting" to describe his tenure, say much about what his life has been like for the past three years. The Globe article led an investigation by the newspaper on the scandal the bishop would have to deal with his entire term.
• Tucson Diocese's ads seek abuse victims -- RCC.
   Azcentral.com ; by Michael Clancy, The Arizona Republic, Nov. 12, 2004
   TUCSON (AZ): The Catholic Diocese of Tucson is launching a nationwide advertising campaign to identify victims who may have been abused by clergy and other diocese employees.
   The ads, which will run in 53 publications starting this weekend, tell abuse victims they must file a claim by April 15 or lose their right to seek compensation unless the abuse occurred after Sept. 20, the day the diocese filed for bankruptcy.
   The advertisement will run in publications in California, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Sonora as well as Arizona at an expected cost of about $60,000. Before 1970, the Diocese of Tucson included the area now covered by the Diocese of Phoenix. Several cases have been brought against the Tucson Diocese by individuals who were abused in the Phoenix area.
• Catholics seek way to protect parishes' assets -- RCC.
   Seattle Times, http://seattle times.nwsource. com/html/local news/2002088992 _parishes12m.html , By Janet I. Tu and Jonathan Martin, Friday, November 12, 2004
   SPOKANE (WA): In the wake of the decision by the Spokane Roman Catholic Diocese to declare bankruptcy, local parishes are banding together to protect their assets and the money donated to them.
   Spokane parishes have formed a Parish Rights Association, similar to parish groups that formed in Portland and Tucson, Ariz., after those dioceses declared bankruptcy earlier this year.
   The major concern facing these groups is whether assets belonging to individual church congregations can be considered diocesan assets and thus seized to pay creditors.
   Under Catholic Church law, facilities and assets of an individual parish belong to the parish, not the diocese. But once a diocese declares bankruptcy, such matters are subject to civil law, and civil law may not agree with church law.
   In Portland, creditors are asking a bankruptcy judge to rule on that very issue.
• Priest cleared of allegations -- RCC. John J. Bonzagni. Claim granted in court, cleared by Church.
   Republican, By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Friday, November 12, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) - The Springfield Diocese's Review Board has found an allegation of sexual molestation against a Berkshire County priest to be unsubstantiated.
   The diocese issued this week a statement regarding the Rev. John J. Bonzagni, who was accused last year by a Belchertown woman of molesting her when she was in high school.
   "We are also aware that all civil legal actions associated with this allegation, by all parties involved, have been withdrawn," the statement read.
   Contacted yesterday, Bonzagni declined to comment. He had previously denied the accusation through a diocesan spokesman.
   A civil suit filed by Trina L. Cysz in October 2003 against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield regarding the allegation was one of 46 suits settled by the diocese in August for about $7.5 million.
   The diocese has asserted that the settlement includes no admission of wrong-doing or substantiation of guilt.
• 28 men allege abuse by monk; 1965 to 1975: Western Alaska men sue Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, Jesuits [1965-75 Lundowski] -- RCC. Trappist. Jesuits. 28 males.
   Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com/front/story/5771234p-5705176c.html , By RICHARD MAUER, November 12, 2004
   ALASKA: Twenty-eight Alaska men say that when they were children, a religious brother who served several Western Alaska villages bought sexual favors from them with candy, better grades, sacramental wine and coins from collection plates.
   The men, now mostly in their 40s, say in a lawsuit filed in Bethel that the former Trappist monk, Joseph Lundowski, abused their trust as deacon and religious instructor and engaged them in sexual misconduct, including oral sex. One man said he was also raped.
   The men's identities are not disclosed in the lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages from the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and the Jesuit province in Oregon, which has a historical affiliation with the Fairbanks diocese. At the time of the alleged abuse, from 1965 to 1975, the victims ranged in age from 6 to 24, with most of them in their adolescence.
   The lawsuit says that Lundowski was forced from Alaska by church authorities in 1975. He is believed to have died. He was born in 1918.
   A spokeswoman for the Fairbanks diocese said it had not received a copy of the suit and couldn't comment on the allegations.
• Levada takes heat over abuse inquiry -- RCC. "deception, manipulation and control". 40 abusers.
   San Francisco Chronicle, Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, Friday, November 12, 2004
   SAN FRANCISCO (CA): The founding chairman of a panel formed by San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese to look into allegations of priestly child abuse has resigned from the board, accusing church leaders of "deception, manipulation and control" for refusing to release the investigation's results.
   James Jenkins, one of six members of the Independent Review Board and its chairman until last December, said Archbishop William Levada has blocked the release of the panel's findings on sexual-abuse allegations involving 40 priests.
   At least nine of those priests have agreed to refrain from "public ministry," the archdiocese said Thursday without identifying them.
   "There has been no public acknowledgement that these accusations were made and whether they were sustained or not sustained," Jenkins said in an interview.
• Bishops conference faces twists in picking leader -- RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, By Manya A. Brachear, Published November 12, 2004
   UNITED STATES: When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets in the nation's capital next week, its delegates will elect a new president from a slate of 10 nominees including Cardinal Francis George.
   George's election would be unprecedented. No cardinal has ever been elected to the post.
   But this year's election also could be unprecedented in that the church's leaders and laity have new expectations, and nominees have new challenges.
   "We definitely have some ideas about the qualities the next president should possess," said Suzanne Morse, spokeswoman for Voice of the Faithful [VOTF]. "A belief in justice, a belief in accountability and, to be a functioning church, belief in the need to have laity involved."
   For three years, conference president Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville has apologized on behalf of bishops in an effort to rebuild laity's trust amid the ongoing clergy sex-abuse crisis.
• Candlelight vigil in Geneva supports victims of priest [Campobello] -- RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, By Rita Hoover, Special to the Tribune, Published November 12, 2004
   ILLINOIS: Frustrated with Catholic Church leaders in the wake of the sexual-abuse conviction of former Geneva priest Mark Campobello, a group of parishioners is working to help survivors rebuild their lives and faith.
   About 100 people gathered Sunday evening at Peck's Farm Park, on the western edge of Geneva, for a candlelight vigil to pray for and support two victims abused by Campobello.
   The service was arranged by an area chapter of Boston-based Voice of the Faithful [VOTF], one of several lay Catholic groups spawned by the sexual-abuse crisis. Church leaders remain skeptical of its motives and methods.
   Donald Bondick of Rockford spoke about the need for healing.
   "I was abused by a priest at the age of 13," he said. "This night is not about me, but I can tell you when I pulled into this parking lot tonight and saw so many cars, I just thought, 'Wow.' This night has helped me heal too."
• Gay sex ring at seminary revealed in Ferns report [St Peter's seminary] -- RCC.

   The Irish Independent, www.unison. ie/irish_inde pendent/stor ies.php3?ca= 9&si=1285344 &issue_id=11677
   IRELAND: The Catholic Church here is facing another severe blow to its authority when a damning report on the series of clerical sex scandals, which rocked the diocese of Ferns, is made public within weeks.
   Publication of the report has been delayed for legal reasons to allow a number of the individuals named in it to suggest amendments. But it is now expected to go to Health Minister Mary Harney before December 1.
   The Irish Independent has learned that among a number of other revelations, the document provides sensational details of a homosexual ring operating at St Peter's College, the closed seminary in Wexford town.
   Some priests are named for the first time in the report.
   Several not previously accused of child abuse are believed to be named.
• Secret German Cult in Chile Breaks 43-Year Spell [Schaefer] -- Unnamed religion.

   Yahoo! News, http://story. news.yahoo.com/ news?tmpl= story&u=/nm/2004 1108/wl_nm/ chile_sect_dc , World - Reuters, By Fiona Ortiz, 1:30 PM ET, Mon Nov 8 2004
   VILLA BAVIERA, Chile (Reuters) - A religious cult of German immigrants has broken decades of isolation from a world shocked by sex-abuse scandals in the group, the flight of its secretive leader and reports it once helped Chile's military government torture political prisoners.
   In exclusive interviews, members of the 280-person sect ended decades of public silence to tell Reuters they had emerged from a long nightmare to the painful realization their God-like guru -- a fugitive facing child-sex charges -- had broken apart their families and fostered physical abuse.
   The sect came here in the 1960s following Paul Schaefer, a charismatic World War II German army nurse, who cult members thought was God on earth and who preached an unnamed religion that said harsh discipline would draw them closer to the supreme being.
   "Everyone saw him as a celestial being and no one dared doubt him. People were blind here. It was a huge shock to discover the truth," said Michael Mueller, a 47-year-old member of the community's newly elected reform committee. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:04 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri November 12, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat November 13, 2004 edition follows:-
• Sex abuse priest gets 12-year prison sentence [1986-93 McQuillan] -- RCC. 5 boys and girls.

   Belfast Telegraph, www.belfast telegraph.co. uk/news/story. jsp?story=582523 , 13 November 2004
   NORTHERN IRELAND: A self-confessed "evil, sick, cunning, sneaky" priest who sexually abused youngsters, including a brother and sister, has been jailed for 12 years.
   Fr Michael Gerard McQuillan, who admitted a total of 40 sex charges involving his five victims between December 1986 and January 1993, was also put on the sex offenders' register for life.
   The 43-year-old former Co Armagh school chaplain, whose address was given as Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey in Portglenone in Co Antrim, listened with his head bowed yesterday as Newry Crown Court Judge McKay described his as "a sad and difficult case".
   Judge McKay said the "absence of any criminal record is a mitigating factor of small quantity when dealing with a case of such a serious nature.
   "This is a sad case of a man who has probably done much good in the community. It is a difficult case and these are serious offences which rightly alarm and disturb the public," he said.
   However, Judge McKay said there were many aggravating factors, not least his "position of power and authority, the youth of his victims and their deliberate seduction and corruption, the length of the period of abuse, the betrayal of the trust of the parents and the effect on his victims' health". [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:26 PM] Secrets, sins and silence [St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, 1968-91 O'Connell, Fischer, Daly, 1980s McNally] -- RCC. Victim becomes abuser. Male seminarians.

   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/stories. nsf/stlouisci tycounty/story/ 0958D07B6CE7A D1286256F4B00 62F52B?Open Document&Head line=Secrets,+ sins+and+ silence ; By Phillip O'Connor, poconnor@post-dispatch.com , Phone 314-340-8321, for November 14, 2004
   HANNIBAL (Missouri): For nearly 50 years, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, Mo., served as the first stop on the path to the priesthood for many young Catholics. But for much of that history, the men who ran the boarding high school also staked out a sinister path, one that helped lead to the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church.
   The sexual abuse allegations of one former student led to the resignation two years ago of a popular and powerful bishop, Anthony J. O'Connell of Palm Beach, Fla., and the removal of two other priests.
   Now, several victims are speaking out - some for the first time - providing more detail about the evil that befell them and the lengths to which the Jefferson City Diocese has gone to keep it secret.
   Their experiences reveal that the abuse was more widespread than has been reported, that at least one other faculty member who was never publicly identified also abused students and that the abuse occurred more recently than the diocese has publicly disclosed.
   While the Vatican and the nation's bishops have called for candor and honesty in facing the sexual abuse scandal, the diocese still refuses to acknowledge the scope of the problem, victims say.
   They are calling for a full accounting of how the diocese handled the cases of priests accused of sexual abuse, not only at St. Thomas but also throughout the diocese.
   At least five former seminarians now publicly acknowledge that they were abused by St. Thomas faculty members, and at least 10 more have privately told counselors, lawyers or family members that they were sexually molested while students there.
   Before the scandal broke, a few victims were getting thousands of dollars in secret payments over the years to help them buy cars, pay for college or cover their bills. The church offered others a quiet settlement or counseling.
   But a growing chorus of victims and families are angry that no one in the diocese heeded numerous warnings they received about O'Connell and others that might have stopped the abuse sooner or prevented O'Connell's rise through the church hierarchy.
   They also are angry that their cases have resulted in little or no punishment against their abusers, other than that administered by the church. Missouri prosecutors have not pursued charges against any of the accused. Nor have they subpoenaed church personnel records that might include information on abuse cases.
   About 1,000 students attended St. Thomas over the years, and about half that number graduated from the school. Among the graduates, 43 were ordained as priests and 27 are still in active ministry. Twenty-three serve in the Jefferson City Diocese.
   Former students worry about their fellow alumni, several of whom they know were abused at St. Thomas and continue to suffer in silence.
   They also worry about those who continued into the priesthood. They know that at least two of those priests became abusers themselves. They believe that other priests who rose to leadership positions in the diocese know what went on. They feel that men they once considered friends turned their backs on them and the truth.
   The diocese isn't talking. Bishop John R. Gaydos declined to be interviewed for this series of articles.
   "I am concerned that in giving you an interview in which you would want to discuss any individual case the confidentiality of the person injured may be breached, even inadvertently," Gaydos responded by letter. ". . . While I would welcome the opportunity to tell you what we as a diocese are doing to assist those who have been injured and deserving of our assistance, I cannot risk the greater harm that may be done by breaching their also well deserved confidentiality."
   The diocese has defended itself from suits filed by abuse victims by relying on statute-of-limitation defenses, saying the former students came forward too many years after the incidents allegedly occurred.
   O'Connell isn't talking, either. He has faced suits from at least three victims. At least six other former students have accused him of sexual abuse in interviews with lawyers or the Post-Dispatch. In a deposition he gave to attorneys in one civil suit, the man known to many simply as "O'C" repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination when questioned about the abuse. In written answers later submitted to the court, O'Connell denied all the allegations of sexual abuse.
   Today, St. Thomas is closed - its grounds sold Aug. 31 to a Hannibal church. But the memories of that place and those times continue to haunt the victims. For them, the story of St. Thomas Aquinas is one of psychological pain and misery, secrecy and silence, shame and shattered lives.
   The diocese in recent years has quietly offered comfort, counseling and, in some cases, money. But that is not enough, victims say.
   What they want, they say, is the truth to be told.
A mystical, magical place
   For Michael Wegs, St. Thomas offered a chance to escape the private hell that was his home in Moberly, Mo., in the fall of 1967.
   Wegs' father was a cruel and violent alcoholic who often beat his wife and physically and verbally tormented his sons and daughters, according to Wegs' deposition in a suit.
   On a summer day, a priest pulled into the family's driveway for an unexpected visit.
   Word of Wegs' interest in the priesthood had reached the Rev. Anthony O'Connell. Born in 1938, O'Connell had emigrated from Ireland to St. Louis in 1959 to attend college seminary.
   Ordained by the Jefferson City Diocese in 1963, he'd immediately joined the faculty at St. Thomas, where he taught English, physics and chemistry, and helped recruit students to the seminary. The young, short, roly-poly man with the thick, dark, wavy hair, cherubic cheeks and heavy black-rimmed glasses charmed Wegs' parents.
   His sales pitch of a no-strings-attached, quality education unavailable in the public schools won them over. At best, their son would someday be an ordained priest. At worst, he'd acquire a first-rate college prep education.
   When Wegs arrived at St. Thomas that fall, the seminary seemed a mystical, magical place with an inviting smell of polished wood, incense and candle beeswax.
   The school sat on six acres in the middle of a residential neighborhood on a high, tree-covered hill, just blocks from the Mississippi River in the town that native son Samuel Clemens made famous.
   Students slept in bunk beds in large open dorms on two floors at the west end of a red-brick, turn-of-the-century building that originally served as an orphanage. The aroma of hot pancakes and the clanking and banging of a handyman firing up the heating system signaled the start of many cold winter mornings.
   School bells signaled changes in long, carefully planned days centered on academics, chores and prayer.
   In the evenings, the boys sat at cafeteria tables and dined family-style on dinners such as meatloaf or fried chicken cooked by doting local women who also washed the boys' clothes.
   St. Thomas had opened in 1957 as a quick way to produce priests for the newly created diocese of mostly small country parishes spread across 38 counties of farmland and low Ozarks hill country.
   In those early years, church leaders also looked overseas for priests to help meet the demands of a growing diocese that today numbers 90,000 members. At one point, a third of the priests in the diocese were from Ireland.
   The men of the cloth who ran St. Thomas seemed worldly and intelligent, men the boys could look up to, confide in and model themselves after.
   In O'Connell, Wegs, for the first time, found an adult male who seemed to care about the tall, quiet boy's life and problems.
   At one point, O'Connell told Wegs that he was now his father and the church his family.
   Wegs enjoyed what he saw as the favored treatment he received - the special attention, being treated as if he was a "little God."
Groomed for abuse
   Days at St. Thomas followed a boot camp-like routine of early to bed, early to rise. The priests maintained tight control. They reviewed all reading material. They handled money sent from home. Students joked about the "invisible wire" that prevented them from venturing beyond the campus perimeter.
   Rules and advice were everywhere. During his first few weeks, Wegs recalls how the Rev. Richard Kaiser, then the rector and now deceased, even instructed the boys not to wear underwear to bed. That would help prevent infections and disease and "let their manhood breathe," he told the boys.
   At night, after the evening prayer, several faculty members would meet individually with students for spiritual counseling.
   O'Connell's book-filled office and Spartan sleeping quarters sat on the main floor, apart from other priest quarters and near the chapel. It was here that the counseling sessions took place and the grooming for abuse began, according to Wegs.
   The conversation during Wegs' sessions with O'Connell turned to the troubled marriage of Wegs' parents and the student's volatile home life.
   After time, Wegs' spiritual sessions with O'Connell took a new turn that other former students said O'Connell would repeat dozens of times over the next 25 years, according to lawsuits. O'Connell began to ask pointed sexual questions and to have Wegs talk about his fantasies in graphic detail.
   As he listened, O'Connell placed "Clyde," a large stuffed hippo covered in purple and green flowers, on his lap and rubbed it around. While Wegs couldn't see exactly what O'Connell was doing, Wegs believed the priest was masturbating. That happened on about six occasions, Wegs said in a court deposition.
   Wegs also claimed in the deposition that on another half-dozen occasions, O'Connell watched him masturbate late at night in the altar boy's sacristy.
   Wegs, who had no sexual experience at the time, felt troubled by what was happening. But he also feared the loss of attention, care and comfort that O'Connell lavished on him.
   Eventually, Wegs said, he grew uncomfortable and stopped the sexual activity with O'Connell.
   Although they would be in contact several times over the years, Wegs and O'Connell would never again discuss what happened.
   For another former St. Thomas student, the abuse began in the fall of 1968, his sophomore year. The student, a classmate of Wegs, began seeing O'Connell as his spiritual director as often as two or three times a week.
   For these articles, the former student asked to be identified only by his initials, T.L., to help protect his family and his privacy. Even when he sued O'Connell and the diocese over the abuse allegations, he used the name "John Doe."
   Like many of O'Connell's victims, T.L. was struggling with his sexuality and his attraction to boys. During the late-night sessions, T.L. confided to O'Connell his guilt and confusion about masturbation.
   O'Connell soon turned the sessions into discussions of sexual fantasies. T.L. said O'Connell told him it was psychological testing and that he was trying to help him.
   Almost since T.L. had been born, his grandmother had encouraged him to pursue the ministry. While his second- and third-grade friends played cowboys and Indians, T.L. would perform a Latin Mass dressed in a tiny white cassock and green vestments sewn by his grandmother, who lived next door.
   T.L. idolized the priests of his boyhood parish and loved the mystery and awe of the church and the priesthood. Like most of the seminarians, he came from a devout Catholic family who looked at their parish priests as men of God, a source of strength and wisdom, trustful and totally above reproach.
   Now there he was, 14 years old, in his pajamas, late at night in O'Connell's quarters. The priest put his hands inside the student's pants, according to T.L.'s suit. T.L. didn't know what to think. Such abuse would go on for a year, according to the suit.
   After T.L. had spent months confiding in O'Connell about his sexual feelings toward other students, O'Connell and the school's rector told him they thought he probably should leave the seminary. O'Connell then told T.L.'s parents why he was being dismissed. They were horrified.
   T.L. transferred to a high school near his home.
   On several occasions when O'Connell visited the area on church business he would call T.L. and invite him to his hotel room, according to court documents.
   And then, O'Connell would fondle him, T.L. said. Neither Wegs nor T.L. ever told anyone at the time what was happening to them.
   But they often wondered about other students who received similar attention from O'Connell.
   Among them was James P. McNally, who was in the class behind Wegs and T.L. He had moved to Missouri from Miami following his freshman year.
   Thin and quiet, McNally excelled at St. Thomas. He made the academic honor roll all three years he attended, played varsity soccer and basketball for two years, and as a senior served as student council president and edited the yearbook under O'Connell's close tutelage.
   Even among those O'Connell favored, McNally stood out as the teacher's pet. To some back then it seemed that McNally was O'Connell's shadow. Today, they look back and wonder about that close relationship and whether it may have sealed McNally's fate.
Another abuser surfaces
   Chris Dixon grew up about a mile from St. Thomas in Hannibal, where his parish priest took a special interest in the boy.
   Dixon was the youngest of eight. His mother worked at the Motorola assembly plant just across the river in Quincy, Ill.
   His father worked days as a printer. Three nights a week he played piano at a local dinner bar, where his wife would sometimes sit in and sing.
   At what was then Hannibal Catholic School, Dixon served as an altar boy and played the organ at school Masses. From about the ages of 10 to 13, he said, he suffered sexual abuse by the parish priest, the Rev. John Fischer.
   He hated what he said the priest did to him and knew it was wrong. But he also felt he could not say anything, because it would be his word against the priest whom everybody loved, even Dixon's own relatives. Every time the touching began, he shuddered. In 1976, then 13, Dixon entered St. Thomas, where he would escape Fischer only to be targeted for abuse by two more priests.
   One night during a class retreat to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, several students gathered to watch television in the Rev. Manus Daly's room, Dixon said.
   Students recalled Daly, whom they nicknamed "Bear," as quick-tempered and subject to tantrums. More gregarious than O'Connell, he often used off-color language and wrestled and manhandled students.
   Dixon said he fell asleep on the bed and awoke to find everyone gone but Daly, who he said crawled in beside him and tried to masturbate him.
   In an interview, Dixon recalled the priest saying: "Do this to me."
   "No. I can't," Dixon replied.
   "Why not?"
   "Because you're a priest. It's wrong."
   Dixon then went back to his room.
   Dixon said Daly later apologized and said it had never happened before and wouldn't again.
   Later Dixon confided to O'Connell what both Fischer and Daly had done. By that time, O'Connell had become rector and principal of St. Thomas.
   Now Dixon began long, late-night talks with O'Connell about being tempted by sex, Dixon's sexual experimentation with other students and the guilt he felt about his frequent masturbation.
   Again, O'Connell turned the lengthy sessions into discussions of sexual fantasies.
   At one point, O'Connell began to ask Dixon to type out in graphic detail what he was thinking while masturbating or during his homosexual encounters at St. Thomas.
   Dixon now believes O'Connell's sole motive was to get him in bed. And he did.
   As part of his counseling, O'Connell said he wanted to show Dixon that people could be in bed together without having sex.
   Dixon remembered O'Connell's ice-cold hand. He also remembered O'Connell made fun of him because he left his underwear on.
   In bed, O'Connell began to hug and rub Dixon, Dixon said. The abuse happened three or four times during the next two years, he said.
   O'Connell would whisper the same three words that Dixon said he heard from all his abusers: "I love you."
Dinner, prayers, then sex
   In the fall of 1982, Matt Cosby arrived at St. Thomas from Marshfield, Mo. The son of a truck driver and a homemaker, he'd visited the school as a seventh-grader and felt pulled to the priesthood. He too was struggling with his attraction to boys.
   Cosby met O'Connell his freshman year when he became distraught about a sexual encounter with an older student.
   O'Connell told him the encounter was no big deal and to go on with life, he said.
   Early in Cosby's sophomore year in the fall of 1983, O'Connell became his spiritual adviser. The pattern of asking the student to keep a journal about sexual fantasies and feelings began almost immediately.
   Cosby would turn in the journal to O'Connell during the day and they would then meet after night prayer once or twice a month. When Cosby wrote about a homosexual relationship he was having with another student, O'Connell didn't chastise him or tell him to stop. Instead, he asked the student for graphic detail. The same was true when Cosby wrote a fantasy involving O'Connell.
   Cosby was embarrassed to talk about such things, but O'Connell would tell him that it was normal to feel that way. The sessions usually ended with a big hug.
   But at the session before the Thanksgiving break, the hug lingered. Then O'Connell began to grope Cosby, according to Cosby's deposition in a suit he filed. Cosby stood barely over 5 feet tall and weighed only 100 pounds. He wore a T-shirt and gym shorts with no underwear.
   He'd remembered the directive from the Rev. McNally, who had graduated from St. Thomas and now served as dean of students. McNally had told the students not to wear underwear to bed in order to let their genitals breathe. It was healthier, McNally had said.
   The fondling continued for two or three minutes in silence. Student and priest said good night and Cosby went back to his bed. He was 15.
   The sessions continued in much the same manner once or twice a month the rest of the year, and the abuse escalated, according to Cosby's suit.
   That summer, O'Connell drove Cosby home from camp. On that ride home, they went to an anniversary Mass for a priest that required an overnight stay in a Jefferson City hotel. After dinner, they returned to the hotel. There were two beds. Cosby got in one.
   O'Connell knelt down, prayed, rose and patted the bed. "You know, you can come sleep over here with me," Cosby recalls him saying.
   The 10 p.m. news was starting. The abuse did not stop until after the sun came up, Cosby recalls.
   In Cosby's junior year, the counseling sessions moved to O'Connell's private quarters and his bed. The sessions often lasted until 3 and 4 a.m.
   On other nights, according to allegations in depositions, O'Connell would sit in the darkened student dorm and fondle Cosby while he carried on a conversation with another seminarian lying in bed just feet away.
   For Cosby, the priest's actions seemed normal. If the acts weren't, the priest wouldn't be doing them, he reasoned.
   For high school graduation in May 1986, Cosby says, O'Connell took him to St. Louis for dinner at Schneithorsts, "42nd Street" at the Muny and sex in a Red Roof Inn hotel room.
   O'Connell would continue to abuse Cosby until 1991, including when he visited Cosby at Conception Seminary College in northwest Missouri, according to Cosby's suit.
   In September 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed O'Connell bishop of the newly created diocese of Knoxville, Tenn.
   The installation was a grand affair, with O'Connell receiving the curved staff and tall miter that symbolized his new position of authority in the church.
   More than 5,000 attended, including dozens of well-wishers from Missouri. The St. Thomas family viewed the event as a proud moment.
   Among them were the Banges, who lived on a farm near their Pike County farm.
   David, the oldest boy, had just finished his sophomore year at St. Thomas, and the family considered O'Connell and the other priests of St. Thomas close friends.
   David's father, Paul, readily accepted an offer from McNally to drive his son to Knoxville for the installation. McNally, the dean of students at St. Thomas, had befriended David during his freshman year and was his constant companion and mentor.
   They shared a hotel room with two other seminarians. Two boys slept in one bed. McNally crawled in with 16-year-old David.
   Another priest had begun to prey on the boys of St. Thomas. The diocese has kept that secret hidden to this day. #
• Church slams abuse victim's repayment demand [1980s] -- Anglican.

   ABC (Australia), www.abc.net. au/news/news items/200411/ s1242894.htm , Saturday, November 13, 2004
   HOBART, Tas, AUSTRALIA: The head of the Anglican Church in Tasmania says it is extraordinary and unfair that abuse victims have to repay Medicare rebate if they are awarded compensation.
   Tasmanian man Steve Fisher who was sexually abused by an Anglican priest in the early 1980s says a letter from the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) states he has to repay Medicare rebates for treatment received as a result of the abuse if his compensation pay-out exceeds $5,000.
   Bishop of Tasmania, Right Reverend John Harrower, says the Church has been aware of the legal requirement for some time and had sought legal advice to find a way around it.
   Bishop Harrower says the Federal Government's policy amounts to revictimisation for people who have already suffered much hurt. ...
• Abuse victims may face raid on compo -- Anglican.
   Examiner, By LUCY SPURGEON (E-mail the Editor, editor@examiner.com.au ), Sunday, 14 November 2004
   AUSTRALIA: Compensation payouts by the Anglican Church for 18 Tasmanian victims of sexual abuse could be claimed by the Federal Government in Medicare refund paybacks.
   Hobart sex abuse campaigner Steve Fisher received a letter from the Health Insurance Commission on Thursday seeking the repayment of Medicare refunds he has received for 20 years of doctors' appointments that related to his abuse by an Anglican priest.
   Mr Fisher said he was one of 14 victims yet to receive his "pastoral assistance" payment, and four had already been compensated.
   Under federal law, people who receive compensation of more than $5000 are required to repay their Medicare rebates, which Mr Fisher said meant that some people could be left with nothing from the compensation process.
   "These payments are going to be so small - we're talking $10,000 or $20,000: however, the HIC can come in and say, 'You owe me $20,000,' and therefore your payment can be gone," he said.
   "Have victims not been through enough without having this put on them as well?
   [COMMENT: 1. So-called compensation paid by Churches in Australia is so small as to be laughable. And, an Australian dollar is worth about 75 US cents.
2. The Howard Government is led by a man who backed the then Governor-General Hollingworth while he was being exposed as a man who had, while high in the Anglican Church, promoted a child-abuser, and kept paying him homily fees even after his retirement.
3. "To them that hath shall be given, ..." COMMENT ENDS.]
• Sexual abuse victims face repaying Medicare rebates -- Anglican
   ABC (Australia), www.abc.net. au/news/news items/200411/ s1242892.htm
   AUSTRALIA: The Federal Opposition has called on the Health Minister Tony Abbott to respond to the revelation that the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) is asking child abuse victims to pay back Medicare rebates received for treatment related to their abuse.
   The issue was raised by a Tasmanian man, Steve Fisher, who was sexually abused by an Anglican priest in the early 1980s.
   Mr Fisher's claim for compensation is still being processed by the Church.
   A letter from the HIC stipulates he is required to repay Medicare rebates for treatment received as a result of the abuse if the compensation amount exceeds $5000.
   Federal Labor's health spokeswoman Julia Gillard says such a policy undermines the principles of Medicare.
• Area Catholic priests discuss issues facing their parishes -- RCC. 67.2m adherents, but less clergy, parishes.

   News Journal, www.mansfield newsjournal. com/news/stor ies/20041113/ localnews/ 1585903.html , By Karen Palmer, Saturday, November 13, 2004
   MANSFIELD (OH) -- The U.S. Catholic population is growing as the number of priests and religious brothers and sisters serving them declines. This summer, the Catholic News Service reported the country's Catholics numbered 67,259,768 at the start of 2004, an increase of some 850,000 over the number reported last year.
   As they grapple with changing demographics and a spiritual malaise that's not limited to the Catholic Church, area Catholic priests talked about issues facing their parishes.
   "The sex abuse crisis of two years ago is leaving a wide wake," the Rev. Herb Weber of Mansfield's St. Peter's Church said.
   "I think the first wave was one of shock, anger, distrust -- and I want to say I believe that was rightly so. I think we're in the second wave right now ... where some people simply aren't taking the church too seriously."
   Economics affects parish vitality, according to the Rev. Nick Cunningham of Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Shelby. The 50-year-old priest also oversees Sacred Heart Parish at Bethlehem.
   As area factories close, young families move to where the jobs are, Cunningham said.
   "A lot of strong parishes are losing their younger base, and I don't think it's that they're not religious. It is just that they're moving," the Shelby priest said.
   "I also think that certainly there are many issues facing the Catholic Church today, not the least of which is the shortage of priests. That's why the diocese is undergoing that study of realigning parishes, closing par- ishes, to make better use of our manpower," Cunningham said.
   In the past two years, Mass attendance has dropped off at Shelby and gone up at Bethlehem, he noted. [...]
• Church Abuse Case Gave Other Victims Courage -- RCC. 800 complaints . $US25m cost.
   WAVE 3, By James Zambroski, 12:05 p.m., November 12th, 2004
   LOUISVILLE, (KY) -- The sex abuse scandal cost the Archdiocese of Louisville $25 million, but that appears to be paying off in other ways. WAVE 3 Investigator James Zambroski explains.
   It's a story of new courage taking away old pain. "Last week, I had a woman stop me while I was at work and thank me for coming forward," said Dr. Boswell Tabler. "She's a victim of abuse as well and it gave her the opportunity to face it."
   Tabler kept his sexual abuse a secret for almost 40 years, but when he and other victims who had been molested by priests finally came forward, police say child sex abuse victims across Louisville took courage from their actions.
   There have been almost 800 complaints so far this year.
• 22-year-old accused of sexually abusing 2 boys [2004 Fulmer] -- RCC. Boys.
   St. Petersburg Times, By CHRIS TISCH, Published November 13, 2004
   LARGO (FL) - A Largo man has been arrested on charges he sexually abused two young boys.
   James Timothy Fulmer, 22, is accused of abusing one of the boys over a two-year period and the other boy over the past several months, Largo police said. Both children were younger than 12 when the abuse occurred, investigators said.
   Fulmer is facing four counts of sexual battery, two counts of lewd battery and one count each of sexual performance by a child and showing obscene material to a minor. All are felonies. ...
   Before his first arrest, Fulmer was working with a teen youth ministry at his church, St. Jerome Catholic Church. Fulmer was considering whether to become part of a team that works with youths and had been involved with the group only a few months, said the Rev. Gary Dowsey.
   The Rev. Dowsey said Fulmer was never in charge of children or, to his knowledge, alone with them. He said Fulmer decided not to get involved with the ministry when the accusations arose.
• Former priest acquitted of sexual abuse -- RCC. Greg Plunkett acquitted. Boy.
   KWQC, www.kwqc.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2560235
   ALEDO, Ill. A jury in western Illinois has acquitted a former priest of two counts of sexual abuse.
   Authorities had accused the 59-year-old Greg Plunkett of fondling a 13-year-old boy. He was charged with criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse.
   Judge Walter Braud announced the verdict this afternoon in Mercer County Circuit Court.
   The Peoria Diocese removed Plunkett from the priesthood two years ago over sexual abuse allegations. But those accusations weren't connected to the Mercer County criminal case.
   He testified in court that he was out of the state at the time of the alleged abuse of the boy.
• Some ask if accused priests get fair shake -- RCC.
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, www.post-gazette. com/pg/04318/ 411404.stm , By Ann Rodgers, Saturday, November 13, 2004
   UNITED STATES: As the U.S. Catholic bishops review rules they adopted in 2002 to eliminate child molesters from the clergy, some unexpected voices are asking if bishops are now too quick to remove accused priests.
   "Priests are generally not getting due process" under canon law, said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer who for 20 years has been one of the most prominent advocates for minors who were molested by priests.
   But Doyle also has been an advocate for accused priests.
   "I think what has been happening in many cases I've seen is that men are notified and sanctions are placed against them, but it is not properly investigated by an internal church body," he said. Internal investigations are done regardless of whether there is a police investigation, to determine whether the priest is suitable for ministry.
   It's difficult to get a clear picture of what happens, because, "It's all secret," Doyle said. But he believes that some bishops who once dismissed victims without investigation have simply turned the tables on priests. [What follows explains the Church trial processes, etc.]
• Former priest acquitted of sex-abuse charges [2003] -- RCC. Gregory J. Plunkett. State did not challenge alibi.
   Quad-City Times, www.qctimes. com/internal. php?story_id= 1039408&t= Local+News& c=2,1039408 , By J.C. Taylor
   ALEDO, Ill. - A former Mercer County priest has been acquitted of sex abuse charges.
   Judge Walter Braud announced the verdict Friday afternoon in Mercer County Circuit Court in the case against Gregory J. Plunkett of New Windsor, Ill. Plunkett stood trial Oct. 7-8 on charges of fondling a 13-year old neighbor boy Nov. 25, 2003.
   Braud found Plunkett not guilty of a Class 4 felony of criminal sexual abuse and a Class 3 felony of attempted criminal sexual abuse.
   Plunkett was removed from the priesthood by the Peoria Diocese in May 2002 over sexual abuse allegations, but those accusations were not connected to the Mercer County criminal case, which occurred after the diocese's action.
   Plunkett, 59, testified he was out of state at the time of the alleged incidents, visiting a monastery in Kentucky with a friend Nov. 22-30, 2003.
   The friend, Marge Berglund of Aledo, also testified Plunkett was out of state. The state never challenged that testimony. Plunkett did not comment after the proceeding, nor did his attorney, Doug Scovil of Rock Island.
• Ex-priest accused of abuse again [Reardon] -- RCC.
   Kansas City Star, www.kansascity. com/mld/kansas city/news/local/ 10169285.htm , By KEVIN MURPHY
   KANSAS CITY (MO): Four more men filed lawsuits Friday alleging that former Kansas City priest Thomas Reardon sexually abused them as boys.
   Thomas Clossick and John Phinney of Kansas City were co-plaintiffs in one lawsuit. Kevin Higgins of Maryland and Chris Quarles of Florida filed separate lawsuits. All the suits seek unspecified monetary damages.
   Reardon, who left the priesthood in 1989 after serving five parishes in 22 years, was also sued by several men in a January lawsuit and by individual men in June and in October, all in Jackson County Circuit Court.
   Reardon could not be reached for comment by phone or at his home on Friday. In the past, speaking through an attorney who represented him until June, Reardon had denied allegations of abuse. Until recent weeks, Reardon was a substance-abuse counselor for a private company.
   The lawsuits name the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Bishop Raymond Boland and Vicar General Patrick Rush as co-defendants, alleging that the diocese should have acted to prevent abuse years ago.
• Church abuse victim seeks right to sue [1985-91 Melville; Morin] -- RCC.
   Bangor Daily News, Saturday, November 13, 2004
   BANGOR (ME) - A Sydney man is asking the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to reverse a decision it made seven years ago and allow his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and its former bishop to go forward.
   Michael Fortin, 32, sued the Rev. Raymond Melville, the diocese and then-Bishop Joseph J. Gerry in 2000, claiming that Melville, a priest assigned to St. Mary's Church in Augusta, sexually abused him for seven years, beginning in 1985 when Fortin was 13.
   Earlier this year, Superior Court Justice Kirk Studstrup ordered Melville to pay Fortin $500,000, but dismissed the case against the bishop and the diocese.
   Fortin appealed to the state supreme court. Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard Tuesday in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland.
   Studstrup based his decision to dismiss on the 1997 high court's decision in Swanson v. the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland.
   In that case, a Gray couple who had sought counseling from their parish priest sued him, the bishop and the diocese after he had an affair with the woman.
   Albert and Ruth Swanson claimed that the bishop and the diocese had not properly supervised the Rev. Maurice Morin.
• Voice of Faithful meets -- RCC.
   Telegram & Gazette, www.telegram. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041113/ NEWS/111130086/ 1008/NEWS02 , by Kathleen A. Shaw, kshaw@telegram.com , Nov 13, 2004
   WORCESTER (MA) - Hundreds of Catholics from throughout New England began descending on the city last night in preparation for a conference today to discuss the current state of the Roman Catholic Church, as Voice of the Faithful is bringing people together to examine the road to renewal and reform in the church.
   Voice of the Faithful, a national organization of laity and clergy that formed as the full force of the sexual abuse scandal hit in 2002, is holding what it calls a major conference on "It's Not History, It's Time for Renewal" from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the DCU Center.
   Voice of the Faithful leadership said that, despite the comment last February by Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, outgoing president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, that the scandal was now "history," the crisis is far from being history.
   Speakers today will include Susan Archibald of Link-Up and David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests; authors Jason Berry, Gerald Renner and David France, who have written books on the crisis; the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest who alerted American bishops to the scandal in the 1980s; and VOTF leaders. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:32 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat November 13, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Pastor in miracle baby con. [2003-04 Deya] -- Gilbert Deya Ministries. Wife and husband, baby. 22 alleged miracle births.

   NEWS.com (Australia), www.news.com. au/common/ story_page/ 0,4057,11372 626%255E4 01,00.html , From Jill Lawless in London, The Associated Press, November 13, 2004
   ENGLAND and KENYA: A woman believed she had miraculously conceived and delivered a baby boy, but a British judge declared today she was conned by her pastor.
   Relying on DNA evidence, judge Ernest Ryder said the woman and her husband were victims of "a cruel deception" by international child traffickers and that the baby - identified only as C - was "the natural child of unknown parents from whom he was by an unknown means removed".
   The couple, identified as Mr and Mrs E, are followers of self-styled "Archbishop" Gilbert Deya, a London-based Kenyan preacher wanted in Kenya as part of an investigation into child trafficking.
   Mr Deya, who claims more than 30,000 followers in Britain, says he has helped infertile women conceive "miracle babies" by praying for them.
   But Judge Ryder said one-year-old C "does not have a true identity: that was stolen from him by a cruel deception perpetrated by adults who are involved in international child trafficking". "Their motive is simple, one of the most base of human avarices: financial greed."
   Mr Deya is fighting extradition to Kenya, where prosecutors have charged his wife and four other people with stealing two children as part of an investigation into alleged child-trafficking revolving around the disappearance of babies from Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
   Concerns about "miracle births" were raised after British media reported that babies were being "born" to British women after they had visited back street clinics in Nairobi. Authorities in London took C into care after tests showed his DNA did not match that of Mr or Mrs E.
   Unable to have children, the couple had sought the help of Gilbert Deya Ministries, "an eclectic mix of traditional African custom and charismatic Christian belief", Judge Ryder said.
   Mrs E soon reported symptoms of pregnancy, although tests at London clinics proved negative. Mrs E testified that she then travelled to Kenya, where she gave birth to C and two other children at clinics in Nairobi between September last year and June.
   Ryder said Mrs E described receiving injections for presumed labour pain from people she believed to be doctors, who gave her internal examinations before apparently delivering the babies. He said she did not see the moment of childbirth, but "in each case, the child was held up for her to see, was wrapped up and then removed".
   The judge said Mrs E "was deceived into thinking that she had given birth, she was seriously assaulted and a live child who had been born to another family was presented to her as her child".
   The judge ruled that the baby was not the child of Mrs E and her husband and ordered "an urgent investigation into C's origins" to find his real parents.
   He acknowledged the couple were "good and loving carers of the child," but said "if C's future care is founded upon a lie, he will likely suffer profound harm".
   He said the baby should remain in the care of local authorities in London.
   The judge dismissed Mr Deya's claims that C and several other children had been born through divine intervention.
   "I found him to be a self-serving and superficial witness, who's only too happy to distance himself from the facts and even his own wife when it suited his purpose," Judge Ryder said.
   Mingling with dozens of supporters outside the courtroom, Mr Deya accused the judge of religious discrimination. He claims Kenyan authorities are persecuting him because of his ties to the country's former ruler, Daniel arap Moi.
   "This is not my own doing. It is God's doing," Mr Deya said. "People who follow me would not be foolish enough to follow a criminal, and if I am a child trafficker I am a criminal.
   "As they are judging us, more miracles are happening."
   The judge said that Mrs E believed 22 "miracle" babies had been born to members of Mr Deya's congregation, and she believed she was pregnant again.
   In September the Charities Commission, Britain's charity watchdog, froze the bank accounts of Gilbert Deya Ministries while it investigated the group's use of funds, its fundraising and its publicity.
   Although Mr Deya did not ask Mr and Mrs E for money, the judge said the "miracle babies" were a key to Mr Deya's fundraising.
   "The financial benefit comes from the very success of the ministry," the judge said.
   He said the church's funds had been generated at least in part by the donations from a congregation "deceived by the claims that have been made about Mr and Mrs E's miracle births". [Nov 13, 04]
• Sex fiend locked away again. [1985-2002 McGarry] -- No religion link reported.

   The West Australian, by David Darragh, p 7, Saturday, November 13, 2004
   PERTH: Sexual deviant Michael Alexander McGarry was jailed indefinitely yesterday after a District Court juge ruled he would remain a danger to society if released.
   The 43-year-old compulsive sex offender has the rare distinction of being given "the key" -- prison jargon for indefinite terms -- twice for different sex attacks.
   In 1998, then District Court chief judge Kevin Hammond imposed an indefinite term on top of McGarry's five-year term for masturbating in front of an 11-year-old girl he tracked down after her photograph appeared in a local newspaper.
   But in September 2001, he walked free after the High Court ruled indefinite terms should be ordered only sparingly and in clear-cut cases.
   Seven months later McGarry grabbed a 14-year-old girl who was walking to school on an isolated footpath in Bull Creek. He dragged her into bush, tore her clothes off and masturbated in front of her.
   This offence came to light after McGarry was arrested for making sexual advances to an eight-year-old girl at a Palmyra playground.
   The Director of Public Prosecutions sought another indefinite jail term for McGarry after he pleaded guilty to four charges over the two sex attacks.
   McGarry had a shocking record of sex offences dating back to 985, including aggravated sexual assault, indecent dealing, wilful exposure and having evil designs.
   His offences escalated in the early 1990s and he was jailed for nearly eight years for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl.
   Despite two courses of sex offender treatment in jail, McGarry continually reoffended while on parole.
   In sentencing, Judge Michael Muller said was possible McGarry, formerly of Palmyra, could be helped by intensive long-term treatment involving a mixture of hormones to suppress sex drive, anti-depressants and one-on-one counselling.
   It was essential that McGarry undergo compulsory post-release supervision and treatment but he could not enforce it.
   "He would be free in the community with no supervision or treatment plan in place," Judge Muller said.
   "In that situation the risk of his reoffendng seriously is exceptionally high."
   He sentenced McGarry to four years jail and refused parole before imposing an indefinite sentence on top.
   McGarry can apply for release but any decision will rest with the State Government. #
(Picture -- McGarry)
   [COMMENT: Well, if the police have not been "framing" him, it looks as if this decision is more sensible than that of the High Court of Australia. Who knows, our "reformist" heroes might turn him loose again and again, even if he finally starts killing future child victims. COMMENT ENDS.] [Nov 13, 04]
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun November 14, 2004 edition follows:-
• Catholic bishops begin meeting burdened by abuse costs -- RCC.

   KESQ, www.kesq.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2563239
   WASHINGTON (DC) - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops begin their fall meeting tomorrow in Washington during anxious times for the church.
   Church leaders have cleared many hurdles in the sex abuse crisis, which erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston in January 2002.
   But many dioceses are reeling under the financial impact of multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Dioceses in Arizona and Oregon have declared bankruptcy -- and a diocese Spokane, Washington, says it will file at the end of the month.
   The Spokane bankruptcy has drawn special attention because its leader is in line to become the next president of the bishops' conference. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:07 PM]
• New church foundation has a multiple mission -- RCC.
   Portland Press Herald , http://press herald.maine today.com/ news/local/ 041114cath olic.shtml , By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Portland Press Herald Writer
   MAINE: Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish in Saco would like to add classroom space, a teachers' lounge, perhaps even a gymnasium, to its 53-year-old school building on Beach Street.
   The new Catholic Foundation of Maine may help realize those goals, although some church members question the foundation's mission.
   The foundation was established by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland to encourage and protect contributions to the church amid a national priest abuse scandal that has bankrupted other dioceses. The foundation is like others across the country, started to insulate certain church assets from liability.
   Incorporated last year, the Maine foundation is just taking root now, as Bishop Richard Malone oversees the consolidation of the state's 135 parishes and the reorganization of a diocese hit by changing demographics, dwindling clergy and greater competition for financial resources. The foundation is overseen by a 21-member board of directors from all over Maine, including 17 lay people.
• Sex abuse scandal hangs over US bishops' choice of new leader -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, Reuters, November 14, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- The priest sex abuse scandal that shook the U.S. Roman Catholic church to its foundations two years ago could turn out to be a key issue as America's bishops gather to choose new leaders this week.
   Victims of clerical sexual abuse are campaigning against the front-runner for next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, saying he is unwilling to address the issue.
   Skylstad's diocese announced just days ago it planned to declare bankruptcy to shield itself from lawsuits launched by those who say priests abused them.
   One victims' group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, took the symbolic step of endorsing an alternate candidate for the top job, Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota.
   "We don't know as much about him as we'd like," said David Clohessy, SNAP's national director . "But in an odd sort of way, that's a good thing," indicating that Cupich had not been tarnished by the scandal.
   Cupich and Skylstad are on the 10-person slate of presidential candidates offered by the bishops conference. As the current vice president, Skylstad is seen as the leading contender.
• Diocese seeks to protect contributions from liability -- RCC.
   MaineToday.com ; http://news. mainetoday.com/ apwire/D86BQ7 KO3-318.shtml , Associated Press
   PORTLAND, Maine - Maine's Roman Catholic diocese, like others across the nation, has set up a foundation to encourage and protect contributions to the church amid a priest abuse scandal that has bankrupted some dioceses.
   Any money raised through the Catholic Foundation of Maine would be off-limits to sex abuse victims or anyone else who filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Portland or any of its parishes.
   A 1997 Maine court ruling that has proven to be a significant barrier to priest-abuse lawsuits in the state is being challenged in a case that threatens to open the diocese to greater financial liability.
   Oral arguments on the appeal of that decision are scheduled to be heard Tuesday before the Supreme Judicial Court in Portland.
   Bishop Joseph Gerry began developing the Maine foundation in late 2002 and it was incorporated in May 2003. Bishop Richard Malone took over the effort when he replaced Gerry in April. [Emphasis added]
• Former students describe pattern of abuse at Missouri seminary [O'Connell] -- RCC. Seminary male
   Kansas City Star, www.kansascity. com/mld/kansas city/news/local/ 10181689.htm , Associated Press
   ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Former seminarians say the Jefferson City Diocese refuses to acknowledge the scope of a pattern of widespread sexual abuse they say they endured at a now-shuttered Roman Catholic seminary in Hannibal.
   The men are calling for a full accounting of how the diocese handled the cases of priests accused of sexual abuse at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary and throughout the diocese, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a copyright story Sunday.
   Two years ago, Anthony J. O'Connell resigned as bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., after admitting repeated abuse of an underage student at the Missouri seminary he led.
   O'Connell worked at the diocesan seminary for 20 years, beginning in 1963, first as teacher, later as dean of students and eventually as its director. He later served as bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., before the Florida appointment.
   At least five former seminarians say they were abused by St. Thomas faculty members, and at least 10 more have privately told counselors, lawyers or family members that they were sexually molested while students there.
• Voice of faith is silenced -- RCC. Rev. Robert J. Bowers.
   Boston Globe, By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, November 14, 2004
   CHARLESTOWN (MA): As an early snowfall blanketed Charlestown, he loaded a pickup with a few pieces of furniture and a couple of cardboard boxes bound for a friend's garage. Nothing of his own remains in the rectory but some clothes, some books, the beat-up recliner where he does his best thinking, and Ralph, the canine companion that just might be missed as much at St. Cat's as the Rev. Robert J. Bowers.
   In two weeks, the pastor of St. Catherine of Siena will say a final Mass and begin a sabbatical that is as open-ended as it is undefined. He does not know if he will be a Roman Catholic priest when it is over.
   "The last few years have put me in such a crisis," he said. "It is not a crisis of faith in God but of faith in an institution, in a leadership that does not know its own people. I need to get some space from all this to see my way clear to what's next."
   "All this" is the painful fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal and the parish closings that have made so many Catholics question the direction of the Archdiocese of Boston.
• Kansas City-area priest accused of abuse [1971, 1986 Reardon] -- RCC. Boys.
   Lawrence Journal-World, The Associated Press, Sunday, November 14, 2004
   KANSAS CITY (MO) - Three lawsuits accuse former priest Thomas Reardon of sexually abusing the plaintiffs when they were boys.
   The lawsuits, filed Friday, allege the abuse occurred between the 1960s and the 1980s. Reardon, who left the priesthood in 1989, had worked as a substance-abuse counselor for a private company until recently.
   All three petitions seek unspecified monetary damages.
   The lawsuits also name the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Bishop Raymond Boland and Vicar General Patrick Rush as co-defendants, alleging that the diocese failed to intervene. The diocese declined to comment in a written statement, although it encouraged victims of abuse to come forward.
   One of the plaintiffs, Kevin Higgins, of Maryland, alleges that Reardon abused him at a church camp in 1971 when he was 11. The suit also accuses Reardon of sexually abusing Higgins' brother, Tim Higgins. When Tim Higgins hanged himself in October 1971, Reardon performed the funeral service.
   Chris Quarles, of Florida, who also filed an individual suit, alleges that Reardon "physically restrained and then sexually abused and exploited" him in 1986 when he was 16 and attending St. John Francis Regis parish.
• Church abuse victim seeks right to sue [1985-91 Melville] -- RCC. Boy.
   Foster's Daily Democrat, www.fosters. com/november_ 2004/11.14. 04/news/ap_ me11.14.04 e.asp , Nov 14, 2004
   BANGOR, Maine (AP) - Maine's highest court is poised to readdress the question of whether the supervisory relationship between a bishop and a priest is protected from legal scrutiny under the freedom of religion guarantee in the U.S. Constitution.
   Michael Fortin, 32, of Sidney is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to reverse a decision it made seven years ago and allow his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and its former bishop to go forward.
   Fortin sued the Rev. Raymond Melville and the church in 2000, claiming that Melville, a priest assigned to St. Mary's Church in Augusta, sexually abused him for seven years, beginning in 1985 when Fortin was 13.
   A Superior Court judge this year ordered Melville to pay Fortin $500,000, but dismissed the case against the diocese and the bishop.
   Oral arguments on Fortin's appeal to the state supreme court will be heard Tuesday in Portland.
• O'Malley ties closings to sex-abuse scandal: Archbishop calls decision 'personally repulsive' -- RCC.
   Boston Herald, By Franci Richardson, Sunday, November 14, 2004
   BOSTON (MA): In a letter issued yesterday to parishioners, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley for the first time acknowledged a link between church closings and the sex-abuse scandal, saying his mission is so painful, he sometimes asks "God to call me home." "Closing parishes is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in 40 years of religious life," O'Malley said in a three-page letter released by his public relations firm. "I never imagined I would have to be involved in anything so painful or so personally repulsive to me." By the end of the reconfiguration process, 83 parishes and 67 churches will have closed. "At times I ask God to call me home and let someone else finish this job," the letter read. Parishioners going to Mass at St. Peter's in South Boston voiced some empathy, but urged O'Malley off his mission. St. Peter's is one of the churches slated to close. "The price of leadership is that you have to have the (courage) to do what you have to do," said Barbra Trybe of Dorchester. "As a man of God, he should be doing the right thing." [Emphasis added]
• Pastor says bishops should be jailed for 'silence' on abuse -- RCC. Fr James J. Scahill speaks out.
   Boston Globe, www.boston.com/ news/local/mass achusetts/artic les/2004/11/14/ pastor_says_bish ops_should_be_ jailed_for_sile nce_on_abuse ; By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent, November 14, 2004
   WORCESTER (MA) -- In a blistering attack against church leaders, the lead honoree at a Worcester summit of New England Catholics angry about the church's handling of the clergy-sexual abuse crisis said yesterday that several US bishops should be jailed for failing to respond adequately to allegations of abuse by priests.
   The Rev. James J. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, told 900 cheering members of Voice of the Faithful that parishioners nationwide are engaged in "a struggle of truth against power" in their long effort to hold church leaders accountable for alleged abuse.
   On the eve of a major bishops' conference in Washington, D.C., Scahill told a packed ballroom at the Worcester Centrum Centre that by refusing to speak out quickly and decisively and remove priests accused of abuse from the ministry, some church leaders had become mere "readers of the Gospel instead of proponents of the Gospel."
   "In their complicit silence, they have betrayed truth and turned their back on children," Scahill said. "By and large, the clerics have been myopic company puppets, instead of men."
   He brought the crowd of mostly older Catholics to their feet when he remarked that there are "certain bishops in the US who should be in jail."
   In particular, Scahill named former cardinal Bernard F. Law, now the archpriest of a Vatican basilica, and said Law is "one who should be sitting on a jail-cell cot and instead sits pompously on his throne in a Roman basilica." [Emphasis added]
• Bishops poised to pick leader; unsettled times for Catholics -- RCC.
   Seattle Times, http://seattle times.nwsource. com/html/local news/200209 0623_bish ops14m.html , By Janet I. Tu
   The ongoing sexual-abuse crisis. Dioceses declaring bankruptcy. What to do with Catholic politicians who don't hold to church teachings. Restoring credibility in the eyes of an increasingly frustrated laity.
   UNITED STATES: When the nation's approximately 300 bishops gather in Washington, D.C., tomorrow, they do so against a backdrop of extraordinary challenges.
   Adding to the challenge: The bishops themselves disagree on how to best deal with those issues, and even on the role their organization - the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - can and should play in resolving the problems.
   Those divisions are likely to be reflected in one of the first actions the bishops take this week: electing a new president and vice president to lead them through the next three years.
• Tucson diocese runs ads searching for Yuma abuse victims -- RCC.
   The Sun, BY JAMES GILBERT, Nov 14, 2004
   YUMA (AZ): The Catholic Diocese of Tucson is placing ads in 53 publications, including The Sun, in a nationwide campaign to locate victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other diocese employees.
   The ads notify abuse victims that they must file a claim by 4 p.m. MST Monday or lose their right to seek compensation, said diocese spokesman Fred Allison.
   The ad appears in The Sun today and in two consecutive issues of Bajo El Sol, The Sun's Spanish-language sister publication that serves south Yuma County.
   "The importance of this is to make sure as many people as possible in the Southwest, and nationally, will know the deadline date for filing a claim," Allison said.
   The ad campaign is required by the court as part of the diocese's bankruptcy proceedings. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court in September in the wake of 20 lawsuits filed by plaintiffs alleging abuse by clergy or other diocese employees. Three of the lawsuits originated from Yuma.
   [COMMENT: Confessing to outsiders that somebody has been messing with your private parts, and involving you in masturbation etc., does not come easy. The advertising campaign is evidently the brainchild of someone who doesn't know, or more likely, doesn't care about the delicacy of people's feelings. Most survivors only come forward when they either see the perpetrators being honoured and rewarded, or when they realise they have been psychologically and/or otherwise harmed, or if they realise it is ruining their personal relationships and someone who cares for them. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Wenski replaces Dorsey as bishop of Orlando Diocese -- RCC.
   Orlando Sentinel, By Mark I. Pinsky and Linda Shrieves, Posted November 14, 2004
   ORLANDO (FL): Pope John Paul II on Saturday named Bishop Thomas Wenski to succeed Bishop Norbert Dorsey as head of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, effective immediately.
   In July 2003, Wenski was named bishop coadjutor, signifying he would automatically take over for Dorsey when he retired. The common practice under this pope is for bishops to submit letters of resignation as they near their 75th birthday. Sometime thereafter, at the Vatican's discretion, the resignation is accepted.
   Dorsey will not be 75 until Dec. 14, but no reason was given for the early appointment. The incumbent had no complaint about the timing of the hand-over to Wenski. ...
   Like bishops throughout North America, Dorsey was challenged by the clergy sex-abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church. During Dorsey's tenure, at least three Central Florida priests were disciplined or removed after allegations of sexual misconduct with either children or adults. No accusations were ever lodged against Dorsey personally.
   But David Clohessy, head of SNAP, the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], criticized Dorsey's handling of the case of Arthur Bendixen.
   The former chancellor of the Diocese of Orlando was named in a civil suit filed on behalf of a former altar boy who said he was sexually abused during a 12-year relationship starting in 1982. In court documents, Dorsey denied allegations that he ignored reports from a priest in 1992 about the alleged abuse.
• Excerpts From Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley's Letter -- RCC.
   The Day, Nov/14/2004
   BOSTON (MA): Following are portions of a letter dated Saturday from Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley:
   Dear Friends in Christ:
   Much has been said and written about the process of reconfiguration since we began this necessary and painful work. As many of you know, I have been thinking long and hard about what we have done and how things could be done better.
   While every parish closing has brought sadness and for some heartbreak, some number of parishioners from several parishes have refused to leave their Church demonstrating their belief that their parish should not have closed.
   I hope you know how much these closings hurt me as I undertake them. It has become apparent that I must do a better job explaining to you the reasons for reconfiguration and the closing of parishes.
   We have experienced the heartache and demoralization of the sexual abuse crisis. The human and material resources that we took for granted are no longer there. The only way to avoid a catastrophic debacle is for us to downsize.
   We have more buildings and churches than we can afford to maintain. We have more parishes than we need to meet the pastoral and sacramental needs of our Archdiocese.
• Priest wins award as abuse foe -- RCC. Rev. James J. Scahill speaks out.
   Republican, By MICHAEL McAULIFFE, mmcauliffe@repub.com , Sunday, November 14, 2004
   WORCESTER (MA) - An East Longmeadow priest, honored yesterday for his efforts to combat clergy sexual abuse, said a number of retired and active Catholic bishops should be jailed and that the church hierarchy has acted worse than the Mafia in covering up abuse.
   The Rev. James J. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish, received the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] during a conference at Worcester's Centrum Centre that drew about 900 people. TheJames J. Scahillorganization was formed in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis and has more than 30,000 members worldwide.
   In accepting the award, Scahill, who received four standing ovations, leveled withering criticism at his fellow priests, saying most Catholic clerics have acted like "myopic company puppets instead of being men. They are simply readers, in most instances, of the Gospel."
   He also said some of the church hierarchy belong behind bars.
   "There are retired and still active bishops in this country who should be in jail," said Scahill, who then referred directly to Cardinal Bernard F. Law, former head of the Boston Archdiocese, the epicenter of the abuse scandal. Scahill said Law was being rewarded by Pope John Paul II, having been assigned to oversee a basilica in Rome after he resigned as Boston archbishop. [Emphasis added.]
• Church trains 6,000 in abuse prevention -- RCC.
   The Express-Times, By ALYSSA YOUNG, Sunday, November 14, 2004
   ALLENTOWN (PA): During the past year, more than 6,000 priests, deacons, employees, teachers and volunteers in the Diocese of Allentown were trained on how to prevent child abuse, a spokesman said Friday.
   The Catholic diocese plans to train the remaining volunteers -- about 6,000 more adults -- by the end of 2005, spokesman Matt Kerr said. Parents in the diocese also will be invited to attend training sessions. The program, called Protecting God's Children, aims to ensure the church is a child-safe environment by teaching about the signs of child sexual abuse, the methods offenders use to commit abuse and steps that can be used to prevent it.
   Kerr said the program is an outgrowth of the priest sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. In June 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops passed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which called for dioceses to adapt reforms bishops said would make churches safer.
• Catholic Church 'evil,' priest says -- RCC. VOTF. Frs.. Scahill and Doyle speak out.
   Telegram & Gazette, www.telegram. com/apps/pbc s.dll/article? AID=/200411 14/NEWS/11114 0441/1008 /NEWS02 , By Kathleen A. Shaw, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF, kshaw@telegram.com , Nov 14, 2004
   WORCESTER (MA) - The Rev. James J. Scahill, a parish priest in East Longmeadow, yesterday said the Roman Catholic Church is "not the church of Jesus Christ" and has become "insidiously evil."
   He put the blame on the hierarchy of the church, which he said is "interested in power, its own power," and said nothing will change until Catholic laypeople withhold their offerings.
   "At least the Mafia is out front," he said. "The church is insidious."
   His remarks came as American bishops are gathering in Washington, D.C., for their fall meeting. Election of one of them to head the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops tops the agenda. Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has finished his term.
   Catholics need to begin a grass-roots campaign to bring about reform, starting with their own parish priests, many of whom have remained silent during the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has gripped the church since 2002, he said. Rev. Scahill suggested that laity become more aggressive in demanding their priests become active.
   Rev. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish in the Diocese of Springfield, was in Worcester to accept the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful, which held its New England conference at the DCU Center.
   More than 500 Catholics from the New England states, including a handful from the Diocese of Worcester, attended the daylong event, which ended with a Mass.
   VOTF is a national organization of Catholics who remain in the church but seek justice for victims of clergy abuse, honor what it calls priests of integrity, and work to bring about reforms in the church.
   Although VOTF members stay in the church, the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., the priest who first alerted American bishops to the growing sexual abuse crisis in the church in the mid-1980s, said 40 percent of the people in Protestant churches are former Catholics.
   "And the bishops don't give a damn," he said.
   Rev. Doyle was asked by some Catholics why the Boston Archdiocese was choosing to close churches. He said it is being done for economic reasons but he also suspects some retribution is involved since the clergy abuse scandal arose out of Boston and led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law. With younger people leaving the church, members of the church hierarchy believed they needed to sell the property to restock their coffers while they could.
   Rev. Scahill accepted the award from Rev. Doyle, who was awarded the first Priest of Integrity Award in 2002. Rev. Doyle said priests do not generally speak out because they are little more than indentured servants to the bishops.
   Rev. Doyle, who lost his job with the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., after he first spoke out about clergy sexual abuse, said a priest can be deprived of his salary, pension, medical and dental insurance, reputation and even his car if he displeases the bishop. Rev. Doyle was also fired from his military chaplain job last year.
   Rev. Scahill was honored by VOTF for his work in persuading his parishioners to withhold money from the Diocese of Springfield until they cut off financial support to the Rev. Richard Lavigne, whom Rev. Scahill called a pedophile with multiple victims and who was the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
   The priest said Rev. Lavigne was collecting $1,100 a month from the Springfield diocese, plus a medical dental insurance plan "equal to my own."
   "The church is spending more money on the violators than on the violated," he said.
   Rev. Doyle said American bishops have spent "millions and millions" of dollars on lawyers to wear down victims of sexual abuse who are suing the church, and on public relations firms to help restore their image. Rev. Doyle often serves as an expert witness in these cases and said he has seen firsthand how diocesan lawyers treat victims and their families.
   "This cries out to heaven for vengeance," he said.
   When bishops are asked about the tactics of the lawyers, they reply that the lawyers are doing it and not the bishops. "You hire them, you fire them," Rev. Doyle said.
   One VOTF member asked if the Boston church property was being sold to funnel money to the Vatican. Rev. Doyle said no one will be able to figure out if the Vatican is running in the red or accurately determine what diocesan finances are because the information is not available to anyone.
   Another member asked if reform in the canonical structure of the church will help. Rev. Doyle, who holds a doctorate in canon law, said this would never work because church law has no separation of powers.
   Voice of the Faithful is expected by tomorrow to move to Washington, D.C., where the organization will open a temporary office at the Holiday Inn to monitor the bishops' conference. [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:29 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun November 14, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Spy camera in women's shower block. -- Uniting Church.

   Sunday Mail (SA), "Spy camera in college shower block," www.news.com. au/common/story_ page/0,4057,11 383020%255E2 6462,00.html , November 14, 2004
   ADELAIDE, S. Australia: A hidden camera spying on female students has been discovered in a shower block at a prestigious Adelaide boarding college.
   Lincoln College, which provides accommodation for almost 250 university students, has offered counselling after the "frightening" incident.
   Attorney-General Michael Atkinson yesterday described the incident as "sickening and perverted", but conceded South Australia did not yet have laws in place to prosecute such actions.
   Police searched the Uniting Church-owned premises in North Adelaide but were unable to determine who planted the device, which was capable of transmitting images 150m away to a television or a computer.
   Detectives, who believe the incident is more than a student prank, have scoured numerous websites for the pictures but have not been able to find any evidence relating to the college. [...]
   The area where the camera was found -- referred to by students as the Pluto Wing -- is next to a multi-storey apartment complex.
   Police believe the images could be transmitted to any one of the apartments.
   However, Sgt Blundell said it would be "impractical" to search each of the 30-plus apartments. #
   [See also 'Sickening' secret camera found in top college's showers, The West Australian, Australian Associated Press, p 13, Monday, November 15, 2004.] [Nov 14, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon November 15, 2004 edition follows:-
• Dad is haunted by family friend's abuse of son [McNally] -- RCC.

   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/stories. nsf/missouri state news/ story/ 96F3CCEDA57DF C5D86256F4D00 2C7D3A?Open Document&Head line= Dad+is+ haunted+by+ family+friend's+ abuse+of+son ; By Phillip O'Connor, poconnor@post-dispatch.com , Phone: 314-340-8321, Nov/15/2004
   PIKE COUNTY, Mo. - Inside a tidy green-gray farm home near Corso, beneath a picture of the Crucifixion that hangs on a nearby wall, Paul Bange sits at his dining room table, letters, notes and newspapers stacked before him like evidence for a trial that will never take place.
   He wears a ball cap, dark-lensed glasses and the straightforward, earnest look that seems a birthright for many of the stout, thick-shouldered men who eke a living from the soil. He begins to tell a visitor about what the priests at St. Thomas had done to his son, the pain it caused his family and the anger he felt toward the diocese leaders about how they handled the situation.
   Every now and then he searches the pile for the piece of paper that backs an assertion. A few feet away, his wife, Linda, busies herself in the kitchen, and offers an occasional clarification or "that's right, honey."
   Anger has consumed Bange, 59, since David, his oldest boy, approached him around the New Year's holiday of 1997 and told him that he had been abused for years by Father James P. McNally, a St. Thomas faculty member and close family friend.
   McNally and his lawyer declined to comment for these stories. [...]
   In letters to Bange and his wife in 1998, Bishop John R. Gaydos, who had replaced McAuliffe, told them that McNally had been sent for therapy and was in a treatment program for sexual compulsives. He also told them that he had met with seminary administrators to ensure the protection of students and would have his staff follow up on information about other potential victims.
   Gaydos and other diocesan leaders never told St. Thomas parents about McNally and have continued to keep what happened a secret.
   In the past year, Paul Bange has backed off his crusade, tired of the fight.
   "This is the first year I've kind of got back on track," said Bange, who spent years in therapy, received a diagnosis of depression and neglected his farming to pursue answers.
   Linda Bange, 57, a devout convert who raised her six children in the church, no longer is as involved in church social activities and has little faith in church leaders.
   Through it all, Paul Bange retained his bedrock faith in the Catholic religion as an institution. But he, too, lost his respect for the men who run it.
   "They handle it like a corporation instead of as a religious institution, which I believe the Catholic church is," he said. "They listen to their lawyers. They figure out the best way to cover up and angle out.
   ". . . The only people who can fix it are the bishops themselves, and they've got to truly repent, go to the victims, go to the people in the church pews and open themselves up and bleed for the people like Christ bled on the cross for us. This is a faith-belief thing and until they do that, until they're actually able to be martyrs for the church, basically, it's not going to work." # [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:47 AM]
• Diocese Publicizes Abuse Suit Deadlines -- RCC.
   Guardian, www.guardian. co.uk/uslate st/story/0,1 282,-4615 292,00.html , Monday November 15, 2004
   TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The Catholic Diocese of Tucson is placing ads in publications nationwide to notify abuse victims that they must file claims by a deadline or lose the right to seek compensation.
   The diocese, which became the nation's second to declare bankruptcy in September, is conducting a court-ordered campaign to locate victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other diocese employees.
   The ads are estimated to cost about $60,000.
   They began appearing Sunday in Arizona papers and are expected to run in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and El Imparcial of Hermosillo, Mexico.
   The Tucson diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September in the wake of 20 lawsuits alleging abuse by clergy or other diocese employees.
• Wuerl candidate for bishops leadership position -- RCC.
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Monday, November 15, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): As Bishop Wilton Gregory steps down from his presidency after guiding the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops through the worst scandal in American church history, Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh is among the candidates who could eventually succeed him.
   The word "eventually" is at issue. Ordinarily, the vice president automatically succeeds the president after a three-year apprenticeship, so the real race is for vice president.
   But some groups are pressuring the current vice president, Bishop William Skylstad, of Spokane, Wash., to decline the presidency when the bishops meet this week in Washington, D.C. If Skylstad does so -- and there is no sign that he will -- Wuerl and eight others would become candidates to immediately assume the presidency.
   Catholic magazine editor the Rev. Thomas Reese, a keen observer of the bishops' conference, said he believed Skylstad will become president, but that Wuerl was among the top vice presidential candidates.
   "I'm putting my money on [Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan] and Wuerl," he said.
• Silenced priest warns of gay crisis -- RCC. Rev. James Haley says 60% homosexual.
   The Washington Times, http://washing tontimes.com/ national/2004 1115-124042- 2061r. htm , By Julia Duin
   ARLINGTON (VA): Starting today, 290 of the nation's Catholic bishops will meet at the Capitol Hyatt for their yearly business meeting and to tie up loose ends on the massive sexual-abuse crisis that has shaken the U.S. Catholic Church to its core in the past two years.
   Although it's been less than a year since the church revealed that there were 10,667 cases of abuse committed by 4,392 priests in a 50-year period, the message at the meeting will be that the crisis is under control.
   But it's far from over, says a local Catholic priest who says the true source of the crisis is a priesthood that is "honeycombed" with homosexual clerics, especially in the Diocese of Arlington.
   However, attempts by the Rev. James Haley, 48, to persuade his bishop of the problem have backfired. After hearing from the priest about numerous instances of homosexual activity among diocesan clergy, Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde ordered the priest silenced Oct. 23, 2001.
   This "precept of silence" - usually only employed during church trial proceedings - is rarely used to silence a whistleblower.
   Thus, in the past three years, Father Haley's case, which also involves accusations of sexual misconduct against him, has become a cause celebre among many Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington.
   It's also attracted the attention of the Vatican, which summoned him to appear before an ecclesiastical court in March. Church officials held two more hearings on the matter this summer and last week scheduled a fourth hearing in conjunction with the bishops' meeting. Less than 24 hours later, after the priest, now living several states away, had bought nonrefundable plane tickets to Washington, the meeting was canceled suddenly.
   Father Haley says his only crime is his insistence that homosexual priests, not solely pedophiles, are at the root of the sexual-abuse crisis. The Catholic priesthood is demoralized, he says, by groups of homosexual clerics who control who gets admitted to seminary, which men get nominated for bishop and which priests get the plum parishes.
   Based on his 17 years in the priesthood, he estimates that 60 percent of the Diocese of Arlington's 127 diocesan priests are homosexuals, which is high compared with national estimates of 30 percent to 50 percent from other authorities on the priesthood.
   As his prospects of returning to life as a parish priest dwindle, he has amassed reams of tapes, videos, photographs, e-mail messages and 1,200 pages of documents for a tell-all book on homosexuality and the priesthood.
   "I am astounded the bishops will protect these guys, promote them, even make them bishops," he says. "This is a huge moral issue, and if the bishops aren't clear on this, the pope needs to rule on it.
   "People will say there's nothing wrong with homosexual priests as long as they are celibate. Well, that is a totally naive statement and totally wrong."
Backlash
   Father Haley, who is living on a $1,700 a month stipend from the Arlington Diocese and relies on his motorcycle for transport, says his troubles began after several confrontations with his bishop over the priest's charges that homosexuals were indulged by the diocese.
   Bishop Loverde, in turn, has leveled several charges at the priest, ranging from sexual misconduct to talking with the press. He has turned the case over to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, overseen by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
   The cardinal asked Bishop Thomas G. Doran of Rockford, Ill., to preside at an ecclesiastical court, which has met in three closed sessions this year. Once the case is wrapped up, it will be forwarded to the Vatican for judgment.
   Bishop Doran was "supportive," Father Haley says, but he told the priest, "We cannot discuss the homosexual issue because there are people above us who don't think it's a problem."
   "He also explained to me: Even if I was to win this hearing, Loverde would appeal this to another [Vatican] congregation. If I lose, I cannot appeal it, but if I win, he can appeal. So three to four years might pass."
   Although Bishop Doran's office did not respond to several requests for comment, the Rev. Arthur Espelage, executive coordinator of the Canon Law Society, an Alexandria-based group of 1,500 specialists in church law and court procedures, says Bishop Doran's intervention means that the Vatican is concerned.
   "This is a lot more serious than Bishop Loverde being ticked off at Haley," he says.
   But Stephen Brady of the watchdog group Roman Catholic Faithful says Father Haley "made Loverde look bad, so they will make him pay a price by dragging this case out as long as they want."
   "The bishops defend pedophile priests by saying canon law forbids them from removing them without just cause," he says. "But if someone like Father Haley embarrasses a bishop, the church ignores canon law and throws him out."
War of words
   When questioned by The Washington Times on Sept. 8, Bishop Loverde refused to discuss the case and Father Haley's accusations.
   "The canonical process is undergoing," he said, "and I cannot comment on it."
   However, he has resurrected some 1995 sexual-misconduct charges against Father Haley made when the Most Rev. John R. Keating was bishop of the diocese.
   The sexual-misconduct charge, Father Haley says, was from a 1994 conversation with a female friend, who, while describing the effects of her breast cancer, placed the priest's hand on where the surgery had taken place.
   Although the woman and her attorney both refused comment when contacted by The Washington Times, the priest says, "There was no sexual misconduct."
   "I've never had sex in my entire life," he says.
   Bishop Keating found Father Haley not guilty of impropriety and assigned him a post as assistant pastor at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, the largest church in the Washington area with 20,000 members.
   He was planning to promote the priest into a church pastorship in Sterling, when he died suddenly in Rome in 1998, says the Rev. James R. Gould, former vocations director for the diocese.
   Father Haley is "a good man and a good priest," Father Gould said. "I am very concerned for him. It is still my hope to have him back in the priesthood, and he is always welcome with me."
   Father Haley never got his promotion. According to a 233-page deposition filed July 24, 2002, in Arlington County Circuit Court, the priest became aware of an affair between a married parishioner, Nancy Lambert, and the Rev. James Verrecchia, then pastor of All Saints and Father Haley's boss. Mrs. Lambert became pregnant with Father Verrecchia's child, divorced her husband, then married the priest in the spring of 2000. Mr. Verrecchia is now parish administrator at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Atlanta.
   Jim Lambert, the divorced husband of Nancy Lambert, then filed a $5 million suit against the diocese on the grounds that Bishop Loverde knew of the affair months before the priest was ordered to stop seeing Mrs. Lambert.
   The person who informed the bishop about the affair in June 1999 was Father Haley.
   In the 2002 deposition, which Roman Catholic Faithful has posted at www.rcf.org, Father Haley also revealed sexually graphic details about other priests in the diocese.
   "The bishop said there is nothing wrong with these guys," he recalled. "I said, 'You haven't lived with them'."
   The Arlington Diocese is one of a few in the country that refuses — at least on paper — to sponsor homosexual applicants for seminary. Most dioceses admit such applicants with a variety of sexual histories, although the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will reconsider this policy at its June meeting in Chicago.
   Father Haley contends that Bishop Loverde is loath to enforce diocesan policy, which was installed by his predecessor, Bishop Keating.
   "I was never asked by my bishop if I was gay," Father Haley said. Bishop Loverde "told me he had no right to ask that question, but I said you have a right to ask that question if you are putting men together [in parish rectories] who are sexually attracted to each other."
Root of the problem
   The Rev. Donald Cozzens, author of the 2000 book "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," estimates 50 percent of all Catholic priests are homosexual.
   Psychotherapist Richard Sipe, a former Catholic priest who has written and spoken widely on the priesthood, says 15 percent of homosexual priests are sexually active.
   If all homosexual clergy were to leave the U.S. Catholic Church now, the church would lose one-third of its bishops as well, added Mr. Sipe, whose new book on priestly sexual abuse dating back to the fourth century, comes out Nov. 15.
   Father Haley says homosexuality is at the root of the huge priestly sex-abuse crisis in which 81 percent of the cases involved victims who were males younger than 18, according to a USCCB investigation.
   "Isn't the huge amounts of AIDS among the clergy a symptom of the problem?" he asked, citing a 2000 Kansas City Star estimate of the rate of AIDS deaths among priests that is at least four times that of the general population. "These are guys who are supposed to be celibate, virtually chaste and modest.
   "But I've seen priests put on cologne, dress up and go on dates with guys."
   He wonders whether Pope John Paul II understands this.
   "I would ask him, 'Your Holiness, is it proper to hire these men or not?' " Father Haley said. "You have to question whether or not these guys even have the rudiments of the faith."
   The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is an "intrinsically disordered" condition and, on Oct. 25, released a document saying such behavior "is not consistent with moral law." But it has no formal prohibition against homosexual priests. A Feb. 2, 1961, Vatican directive does say that "advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty."
   In March 2002, as the clergy sex-abuse scandal in Boston assumed national proportions, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told the New York Times that, "People with these inclinations just cannot be ordained."
   He added, "That does not imply a final judgment on people with homosexuality ... but you just cannot be in this field."
   That same year, Pope John Paul II told Brazilian bishops to be extremely careful when screening men for the priesthood so as to avoid "deviations in their affections."
   "It is an ongoing struggle to make sure the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men," Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the USCCB, told the Associated Press.
   Father Haley says the problem goes straight to the top.
   "Loverde had said to me there's nothing wrong [with homosexuality] as long as you're celibate," he said. "So I said there would be nothing wrong with me living with nuns the rest of my life as long as I am celibate. He just looked at me."
Support from home
   Northern Virginia Catholics have demonstrated outside Bishop Loverde's chancery, sent Father Haley 600 letters of support, contributed money to help defer [?] his legal costs and set up a supportive Web site: www.truthinarl ington.com .
   "I know Father Haley to be a dedicated, holy priest," said a former member of St. Mark Catholic Church in Vienna, Va., where the priest served from 1987 to 1991.
   "He impressed me with his reverence during Mass and excellent homilies, which have been always true to the Gospel. He was well-liked and well-respected in our parish," she said in an interview on the condition of anonymity.
   She attributed his current troubles to "his zeal for the church," adding, "He wants it pure and holy."
   Michael Gray, a parishioner at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, Father Haley's last parish, said he was "a very good priest."
   "He's a brilliant speaker. He's the best. There wasn't anything wrong with him. He just told the truth. He just stood up, and look where it's gotten him. He's been sent to limbo."
   Charles Molineaux, a Catholic lawyer from McLean, buttonholed Bishop Loverde about Father Haley when he spotted the prelate at a funeral this spring.
   "Loverde told me I needed to have patience," he said. "I said, 'Well, you know, bishop, justice delayed is justice denied.' "
   "At that point, he blew his stack. He said I was being judgmental. I said, 'Well, I am a lawyer, and we make judgment calls, and you are being unjust.' "
   Many local Catholics were shocked to read about two priests exposed in the deposition Father Haley gave in the Lambert divorce lawsuit, which the diocese unsuccessfully tried to seal.
   The Rev. William J. Erbacher of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Franconia resigned soon after the deposition revealed that he embezzled church funds and collected homosexual pornography featuring young boys. The diocese has never revealed the results of two audits of Father Erbacher, one conducted by the diocese and the other by the Internal Revenue Service.
St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Middleburg, Va., takes phone messages and mail for him.
   The Rev. Daniel Hamilton, pastor of St. Mary's Church, resigned after the deposition claimed he kept a collection of sadomasochistic and homosexual pornography in his rectory bedroom. After a psychiatric evaluation for what the bishop termed his "improper activity," he went to live at St. Francis de Sales Church in Kilmarnock, Va.
   The diocese lists both men as on leaves of absence. Father Haley said he provided Bishop Loverde incriminating material about six other priests in the diocese, plus additional names culled from e-mails in Father Erbacher's files.
   "There were homosexual jokes being sent not only to men around the diocese, but to priests around the country," he said.
   Which is why, Father Haley said, he was summoned to the diocesan chancery on that October afternoon in 2001, given four hours to vacate his rectory and ordered by the bishop to remain silent.
   The bishop's only public response to Father Haley's charges came a year later — in Sept. 14, 2002, and Dec. 3, 2002, letters defending his actions after the story hit the newspapers and TV.
   "I want every parishioner in this diocese to know that allegations by some in the media stating that I have ignored priestly misconduct are absolutely false," he wrote.
   "While Father Haley was always free to 'go over my head' and bring his accusations and criticisms to other ecclesiastical authorities, he chose instead to resort to the media."
   Several of Father Haley's advocates suggest that Bishop Loverde got advice on priestly silencing from Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., Bishop Joseph Adamec. Bishop Adamec's diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Register, ran a front-page photo of the two bishops on May 5, 2003, and informed readers that Bishop Loverde had been invited to speak in the diocese.
   On Sept. 9, 1999, Bishop Adamec forbade a local priest, the Rev. Philip Saylor, from talking about the diocese's track record on sexual-abuse cases. Father Saylor was given a canonical "precept of silence," the same as was given to Father Haley, and threatened with excommunication if he disobeyed.
   The bishop posted the order on his Web site, www.diocesealtjtn.org/news, and wrote a March 17, 2003, letter to the Wall Street Journal defending his decision. The bishop was under some pressure, because the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown had published in June 2002 an investigation saying the diocese had allowed at least 10 pedophile priests to continue working while abusing hundreds of boys.
   "There's a point where you have to put your faith on the line," Father Haley said. "You have to put your life at risk. I am willing to die for this. I am willing to stand up for the truth. Someday, this will all come out. The abuse scandal will seem small compared to this." #
• Coming to terms, confronting the church [1988-95 O'Connell, Daly,Fischer] -- RCC.
   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/stories. nsf/missouri state news/ story/ 0422216D4C61D 85E86256F4 D002C4205? OpenDocum ent&Headline= Coming+ to+ terms,+ confronting+ the+church+ ; By Phillip O'Connor, poconnor@post- dispatch.com , Nov/15/2004
For nearly 50 years, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, Mo., served as the first stop on the path to the priesthood for many young Catholics. But for much of that history, at least three priests on the faculty sexually abused their high school-age students.
The scandal first broke two years ago and brought down a popular church leader, Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell. Now, several former seminarians are speaking out - some for the first time - providing more detail about the evil that befell them and the lengths to which the Jefferson City Diocese has gone to keep it secret.
Their accounts show that the abuse was more widespread than has been reported, that at least one other faculty member never publicly identified also abused students and that the abuse occurred more recently than the diocese has publicly disclosed. What the victims want, they say, is the truth to be told.
   MISSOURI: During the 1990s, several former students of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary came to terms with the sexual abuse inflicted on them by men of the cloth.
   For the victims, recognition of their abuse years before at the hands of faculty members Father Anthony J. O'Connell and Father Manus Daly proved a tortuous journey that dragged them through the depths of depression and to the verge of suicide.
   Adding to the pain was the reaction of the church itself, an institution they loved, implicitly trusted and to which they had willingly dedicated their young lives.
   Instead of the compassion and contrition they expected, the church turned its back on their plight, they say.
   Meanwhile, O'Connell had become bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., Daly had replaced him as rector of St. Thomas, and another priest had begun to target the boys of St. Thomas. [...]
   That August, O'Connell sent him $7,200 that Cosby used to buy a Honda Accord. O'Connell continued to send Cosby money, including a $3,500 check in December 1996 when Cosby told O'Connell he was having financial trouble, according to Cosby's deposition.
   Cosby knew what O'Connell had done to him was wrong. But he says he never looked at the payments as blackmail. He says he considered O'Connell his friend. [...]
   Despite that history, T.L. maintained his relationship with O'Connell. The bishop frequently sought him out for sex until the former student was well into his 30s, according to T.L.'s deposition in a suit he filed against O'Connell and the diocese. T.L. is identified in that suit only as "John Doe."
   T.L. in 1994 approached Bishop Raymond J. Boland, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, after a Mass, according to the suit.
   T.L. said he later met with Boland in his office and told Boland that he had been abused by O'Connell, that they continued to have a sexual relationship and that he wanted O'Connell to get help. T.L. also said he told Boland about persistent rumors that other priests continued to abuse seminarians at St. Thomas.
   Boland told him that the dioceses "like to keep these things quiet" and encouraged him to handle his problem directly and discreetly with O'Connell, according to the suit. [And the in-depth feature article continues.]
• When Innocence Is Lost - Reasonings -- Home, school and Church.

   Nation, by Ella Drummond-Hoyos, Monday, 15 November, 2004
   BARBADOS: All right-thinking Barbadians must be feeling very concerned this week about the recent revelation by Child Care Board chairman, Joey Harper, that there has been an increase in the number of young boys who are being sexually abused. The rule of law must be fully utilised to protect the nation's children.
   Troubling Child Care Board statistics for the month of May, ironically designated internationally as Child Month, revealed that four boys between the ages of five and 11 were sexually abused and 21 girls were assaulted.
   What is not clear from those statistics is how many of the sick perpetrators of these crimes against children have been locked up and will be made to pay for their dastardly deeds.
   If we believe Harper, the molestation of these children are taking place in homes, schools and churches. These social institutions have traditionally served as a respite, a safe haven, a place where children could turn to for love, support, comfort, security and counselling. [...]
   Whether or not there is any real psychological or other data to support their fears, or whether they are irrational and unfounded, their basic premise is not totally without merit. Abused girls can with counselling grow up to be what they were intended to be in a loving, heterosexual relationship, but will a young boy who has suffered homosexual abuse, be able to get past that initiation and pursue a normal heterosexual relationship in the future?
   It is equally alarming that in May, five times as many girls as boys were assaulted. In a society which, like so many other Caribbean societies, is largely matriarchal, where women are bearing the responsibility of leading and supporting the major social, religious, commercial and political organisations, what does this trend mean for the future of this country if such an alarming number of our girls are being assaulted while still in their infancy? [...]
• Abuse suit seeks change in state law [Melville] -- RCC. Altar boy.

   Portland Press Herald, http://press herald.maine today.com/ news/state/ 041115abuse suit.shtml , By Gregory D. Kesich
   PORTLAND (ME): A former altar boy who wants to sue the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland takes his case to Maine's highest court Tuesday, asking the justices to change the way the state balances religious freedom and allegations of child sex abuse.
   Michael Fortin of Augusta has already won a lawsuit against Raymond Melville, the priest Fortin accused of sexually abusing him for seven years beginning when Fortin was 13. But Fortin has been legally barred from suing those who supervised Melville and allowed him to continue in the ministry even after hearing reports of his sexual misbehavior.
   Only by suing the bishop, Fortin's lawyers argue, can Fortin get justice and protect others from abuse. But according to the church, that would involve the courts in theological issues that lie at the heart of the relationship between a bishop and his priest.
   How the court decides the issue could fundamentally affect whether someone like Fortin will ever get legal relief in Maine, lawyers say. If only the clergy member with limited means can be forced to pay damages, few lawyers will agree to take the cases.
• Costs of abuse crises weighing on bishops -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, November 15, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops are holding their fall meeting this week during troubled times for the US church.
   Two dioceses have declared bankruptcy in the face of millions of dollars in clergy sex-abuse claims, and a third plans to file at the end of this month. More dioceses are expected to follow.
   The presidential election exposed deep divisions among bishops over how they should respond to Catholic politicians, and to all Catholics, who are at odds with church teaching on abortion and other issues.
   As the meeting opens today, the customarily routine transition that occurs every three years in the leadership of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has been sullied by fallout from the molestation scandal.
   "The bishops are very anxious," said Russell Shaw, a Catholic writer and former spokesman for the bishops' conference. "A number of dioceses are in pretty perilous financial positions at the present time, and what's happened so far may not be the end of it."
• Roman Catholic bishops to elect new president in Washington -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, By Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer, November 15, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- As the nation's Roman Catholic bishops come together here for their annual meeting, one issue dominating the assembly is the question of who will next lead the group.
   Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., is ending his three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops after guiding the American church through the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis.
   He is scheduled to give his final presidential address Monday morning.
   Bishop William Skylstad, the conference vice president, is in line to succeed him. Every vice president who has sought the top job in the bishops' elections has won. However, Skylstad last week announced that his Diocese of Spokane, Wash., was to become the third U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy in the face of millions of dollars in clergy sex abuse claims.
   Some church observers wonder if he can lead the conference while running his troubled diocese. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has accused Skylstad of covering up for guilty clergy and the group is in Washington to protest his candidacy.
• Despite settlement, victims struggle to ease the pain [1970S Birmingham] -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, By Kevin Cullen, November 15, 2004
   BOSTON (MA): Last week, Gary Bergeron was wondering if it had all been worth it.
   Worth it to go public with charges against the late Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a Roman Catholic priest who molested him and dozens of other boys in Lowell some 30 years ago.
   Worth it to take on a church that failed, for so long, to stop Birmingham and so many others from abusing kids.
   Worth it, in the end, to join with more than 500 others in forgoing their day in court to split the $85 million settlement paid by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston a year ago.
   The answer has not come easy because the year has been so hard.
   Bergeron said he has seen an average of one victim die each month, by their own hand, a hand holding a bottle or some pills. And he has struggled to assist victims with substance-abuse problems who want to get help but can't find a treatment bed.
   Then he picked up the newspaper last Sunday and read that 69-year-old man had been arrested in Winchester when he refused his pastor's orders to leave a church the archdiocese is closing.
   At that moment, Gary Bergeron said, he decided it had been more than worth it.
   "That wouldn't have happened a few years ago," he said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:25 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon November 15, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Falsely accused businessman endured eight months behind bars before teenage sex charges were dropped: Out of prison and on with life. -- No religion link reported.

   The West Australian, by Anne Calverley, p 7, Monday, November 15, 2004
   PERTH: Harry Stalker has found himself a reluctant champion for the falsely accused in the wake of an appeal court quashing a rape conviction against him last year during a fiercely contested legal battle.
   Last week, more than a year after his release from prison, the 60-year-old Gosnells businessman recounted the ordeal which began four years ago when police knocked on his door and only ended when he was acquitted in July last year.
   He often lapsed into silence or stared into space during the interview while his staunchest allies -- wife Carol and daughters Kristine and Nicole -- fussed and talked around him.
   Glimpses of anger emerged as he spoke of his accuser, the justice system and his lost days. [...]
   The protracted case had already endured a chequered history of two aborted preliminary hearings and Supreme Court jury trials before the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions formally dropped sex charges against him on the grounds of public interest.
   He was accused of molesting a teenage girl who had befriended his children in the mid-1980s. He was acquitted of five counts of indecent dealings, predating the alleged rape, and the jury was directed to return a not guilty verdict on three of the five counts because of the inconsistencies in the woman's testimony.
   But not before he served eight months ... and spent more than $120,000 in legal fees while struggling to keep his family business afloat. [...]
   A recent chance encounter with the father of his accuser on a suburban street, who avoided his eye and scurried away "like a dog", has also helped him put his ordeal into perspective . [...]
   ... greatest bitterness for his accuser, who he remains convinced was motivated by jealously of his own daughters. [...]
   "Until this happened to me, I didn't believe anyone could be that cruel." # [Nov 15, 2004]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue November 16, 2004 edition follows:-
• PRIEST OF INTEGRITY AWARD - Rev. James Scahill -- RCC.

   Religious News Online, www.sweenytod. com/rno/modul es.php?name= News&file= article& sid=984 , Remarks by Thomas Doyle, O.P., J.C.D., November 13, 2004
   WORCESTER (MA): The Catholic theological tradition has portrayed Jesus Christ as the Eternal High Priest, the epitome and model of the priesthood and the archetype upon which all priests should model their ministry.
   Hence we would expect that every priest, when faced with any decision that involved the spiritual welfare of believers, or a dilemma over whether to follow a gospel imperative, would ask the question that has almost become a mantra for some: "What Would Jesus Do?"
   Yet it is ironic that in his three years of public life, Jesus did little if anything that a traditional, clerical priest does. ...
   I believe that Fr. Scahill asked himself more than once, as he faced the ever-growing nightmare in our midst of clergy sexual abuse and spiritual betrayal, "What would Jesus do?" I believe that this was sometimes an expression of exasperation but at times was a prayer.
   That prayer was answered for Jim Scahill.
   He heard this answer and faced the fearful consequences that it entailed, and, "he did what Jesus would have done?" [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:16 PM]
• Diocese sends claims to Rome; Catholic church asks Vatican for guidance on molestation cases [1980 Freitas, Ponciroli, Broderson] -- RCC.
   San Mateo County Times, By Josh Richman, jrichman@angne wspapers.com , Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has prepared case statements on seven priests accused of molesting children and sent those papers to Rome for guidance on how to proceed.
   Sister Barbara Flannery, the diocese's chancellor, said Monday the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will review the reports and advise the diocese whether it sees enough evidence to proceed with a formal canonical trial -- which could lead to defrocking the priests -- or to pursue some lesser action or drop the case altogether.
   Flannery said the diocese has little doubt any of the seven priests are utterly guiltless, but "the church affords due process to its priests." The case statements sent to Rome include an independent interviewer's account of the victims' stories, signed off on by the victims themselves, to ensure the diocese hasn't skewed any facts, she added. Flannery wouldn't name the seven priests Monday. But sources confirmed they include:
• Retired Fremont priest Robert Freitas, now of Hayward, who pleaded guilty to having molested a parishioner in 1980 and was sentenced to six months in jail. His conviction and sentence were vacated after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated a 1994 law extending the statute of limitations in child molestation cases.
• Retired Fremont priest Robert Freitas, now of Hayward, who pleaded guilty to having molested a parishioner in 1980 and was sentenced to six months in jail. His conviction and sentence were vacated after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated a 1994 law extending the statute of limitations in child molestation cases.
• Retired Antioch priest Robert Ponciroli, now of Florida, who was arrested and extradited to Contra Costa County early last year on charges he molested two altar boys decades ago. His case was thrown out under the same Supreme Court ruling as Freitas'.
• Retired Concord priest Donald Eugene Broderson, now of Richmond, against whom eight men filed civil lawsuits claiming he abused them as children. Broderson also worked at parishes in Fremont, Alameda, Hayward, Dublin and Castro Valley. #
• Aretakis laying blame on Hubbard [Hubbard] -- RCC.
   Capital News 9, 4:22 PM, Nov/16/2004
   NEW YORK: Attorney John Aretakis is accusing Bishop Howard Hubbard of hiding-out pedophile priests in the North Country.
   He points to the fact that many of the priests who have been removed from the ministry or who have been accused of sexual abuse are based in parishes in Glens Falls and Lake George.
   Aretakis said that's just Bishop Hubbard's way of getting them out of the public eye.
   Aretakis said, "It's another example of Bishop Hubbard having an organized pattern and plan of hiding people in the North Country, in the northern most regions of the Albany Diocese, in remote or rural areas and trying to keep these men protected by moving them 60 or 70 miles from Albany."
• Lawyer: Abuse case will continue despite dismissal of one lawsuit -- RCC. Amerindians.
   Aberdeen News, www.aberdeen news.com/mld/ aberdeennews/ news/10197 423.htm , By CHET BROKAW, Associated Press, Tue, Nov. 16, 2004
   PIERRE, S.D. - Despite the dismissal of a federal lawsuit, former students who allege they were abused at Indian boarding schools will continue to pursue their legal claims against the federal government.
   The recent court ruling means the former students must file an administrative claim directly with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
   Judge Diane Gilbert Sypolt of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the federal government failed in its treaty duties to protect Indian students who were sent to boarding schools run by religious organizations.
   Sypolt said that before the issue can be considered in court, the former students first have to seek an administrative remedy by filing a claim directly with U.S. Interior Department agencies.
   Such an administrative claim allows the responsible agency to establish facts, apply its expertise to the issue and correct any of its own errors, the judge said. The administrative process could help avoid the necessity of a court fight, she said.
• Catholics Still haunted by Clergy Sex Scandal -- RCC.
   Family News in Focus www.family. org/cforum/ fnif/news/a00 34559.cfm , by Keith Peters, Washington, D.C., correspondent, November 16, 2004
   Homosexuality among Catholic priests has a high price tag-for victims and dioceses.
   WASHINGTON (DC): The 290-member U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began a weeklong meeting Monday in Washington, and high on the list of priorities is the continuing clergy sex-abuse scandal.
   As a further sign the bishops are still embroiled in controversy, they elected as their president a bishop whose diocese may seek bankruptcy protection as the result of millions of dollars in clergy sex-abuse claims.
   Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., is the new president of the U.S. Conference. Some opposed his candidacy, saying it was unseemly for someone heading a diocese in trouble over sex-abuse claims to take over as the head of American bishops.
   Jim Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in the aftermath of the sex-abuse crisis, said he still has hope for the priesthood.
   "One of the things we're hoping to have come out of this meeting," Post said, "is a reaffirmation by the bishops of the charter for the protection of children and young people."
   But one controversial priest said nothing will change until the church deals with the root cause: homosexuality in the priesthood. The Rev. James Haley is under a gag order from his bishop, so he couldn't speak with Family News in Focus, but Stephen Brady of the group Roman Catholic Faithful did. And he criticized the bishops for their failure to protect children from pedophile priests.
   "One big part of the problem is that they protected, defended and promoted sexual deviance through the ranks," he said, "and it brought this crisis to a head."
   The promotion of the gay agenda among the priesthood came in spite of clear passages in the Bible that call homosexuality an abomination.
   "Homosexual activity is almost, by many priests, considered a gift," Brady said. "Many have said that—and it's just unbelievable how far down the ladder we've come." #
• Foster communion and mission, nuncio tells U.S. bishops -- RCC.
   National Catholic Reporter, http://nation alcatholicre porter.org/ update/bn1 11504b.htm , By Catholic News Service. Monday, Nov. 15, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Through the work of its bishops, the U.S. church will find the resources to overcome the "crisis of confidence" caused by the clergy sex abuse scandals, said Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the pope's representative in the United States.
   "Every act of ecclesial governance must foster communion and mission," said Archbishop Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
   The power of governance goes beyond good administration and must be used as a means for building the kingdom of God, he said.
   The archbishop spoke Nov. 15 at the opening session of the U.S. bishops' Nov. 15-18 general meeting in Washington. He summarized a series of speeches Pope John Paul II gave earlier this year to groups of U.S. bishops making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican, required of heads of dioceses every five years to report of the status of their dioceses. [...]
   Among the pressing church issues facing the U.S. bishops are declining Mass attendance, serving the growing immigrant population and strengthening marriage, he said. [...]
• Yuma cases considered most severe in diocese suit -- RCC.
   The Sun, BY JAMES GILBERT, Nov 16, 2004
   YUMA (AZ): As part of the Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy reorganization plan, three Yuma plaintiffs who filed sex abuse claims against the diocese will receive some of the largest settlements paid out.
   In a brief status hearing held by telephone in Yuma County Superior Court Judge John Nelson's chambers, diocese attorney Susan Boswell said the reorganization plan establishes a fund to "equitably" pay all plaintiffs with valid claims of abuse and that the three Yuma cases have been deemed the most severe of all the lawsuits, since two of the victims were minors.
   "It means no one will be compensated more than (the) Yuma plaintiffs," said Tucson attorney Lynne Cadigan, who along with Kim Williamson represents the victims in the three Yuma lawsuits. "We just don't know how much it will be yet."
   Boswell said under the reorganization plan, victims who file a claim against the diocese will be categorized into four different "tiers," based on the severity of each claim, and paid accordingly. A fifth tier will be for parents of abuse victims.
   Cadigan said she and Williamson are satisfied with the reorganization plan, but only as long as the diocese adequately funds it. They said they are also pleased about the Yuma cases being put in the top "tier."
• When Diocese Can't Keep A Church Open, That Church Should Be Offered To Laity -- RCC.
   Spirit Daily, http://spir itdaily.com/ closedchur ches.htm
   BOSTON (MA): Over the weekend Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston confirmed what many had darkly suspected: that the dramatic announcement of more than eighty parish closings in Boston was directly linked to the clergy abuse crisis.
   How this cries out to God: The actions of a relatively few wayward priests has cost Boston so many millions in compensation to abuse victims (and their lawyers) that the archdiocese can no longer hold onto marginal churches. Bishop O'Malley himself was so tormented that he sometimes "asks God to take me home," he wrote in a letter to parishioners.
   By the end of a "reconfiguration," 83 parishes and 67 churches will have closed in the Boston area. [...]
   One solution is the obvious: to reduce bureaucratic costs and diocesan budget items that are not spiritually oriented or absolutely essential, especially those that replicate federal or other governmental programs. The time has come to cut down on the huge chanceries, elaborate dinners, media programs, committees, and limousines. Chanceries have to go bare bones; it will bolster them spiritually.
   If such basic cuts aren't enough, we urge dioceses to offer any churches that may set earmarked for closing to lay people who may be able to band together and purchase them, under diocesan purview.
   They should not simply be spun off by the accountants.
   These churches are on consecrated grounds. The Blessed Sacrament has resided in them. People have been baptized, confirmed, married, converted, and healed in them. They should not fall into the hands of real estate agents. They shouldn't become avant garde condos or -- as has actually happened -- night clubs. [...]
• Child abuse victims get €150 million compensation -- RCC.

   One in Four, http://one infour.org/ news/news20 04/compo , Irish Independent
   IRELAND: Victims of institutional child abuse have been awarded just under €150 million in compensation by the State.
   Latest figures from the Residential Institutions Redress Board show that almost 2,000 former institution residents have been awarded compensation since the scheme was set up.
   The highest amount awarded was €300,000.
   There is estimated to be a further 5,000 potential claimants eligible for compensation.#
• Ex-clergyman in jail after child abuse conviction [2003 Milne] -- Church of Ireland. Boy.
   Eircom.net ; From The Irish Independent, Tuesday, 16th November, 2004
   IRELAND: A former Church of Ireland clergyman is in custody after being convicted of indecently assaulting a minor.
   Bishop Richard Clarke of Meath and Kildare sent a letter to clergy in his diocese informing them that former Reverend Glenn Milne pleaded guilty in court last week to abusing a minor.
   The case, heard at Trim Circuit Court, involved a teenage boy who had been a pupil at a Church of Ireland school in Westmeath. Milne pleaded guilty to the offence, which happened in December of last year.
   Milne served as rector of Castlepollard for eight years before resigning from his post last year.
   A former British Army chaplain and an honorary clerical secretary to the Diocesan Council, he has been remanded in custody.
• Church's lingering scandal -- RCC. National leader in bankruptcy administration.

   San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   UNITED STATES: The plight of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church could not have been underscored more heavily this week by the new choice to head the nation's Catholic bishops. The group selected a president whose own diocese plans to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of clergy sex-abuse claims.
   The ongoing sex scandal, while downplayed at the bishops' annual meeting, remains a central challenge for the church. Certainly no one could understand that better than the organization's new head, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, whose diocese last week became the third in the country to declare bankruptcy in an attempt to shield itself from lawsuits totaling tens of millions of dollars.
   Skylstad has received much criticism for his handling of the sex-abuse crisis, and there is some question whether he can lead the bishops' conference as well as his own troubled diocese. His election comes on the heels of a new poll of U.S. Catholics in which 85 percent of those surveyed listed sexual abuse by priests as the most serious problem facing the church.
• Priest accused of sex abuse in Elizabeth [1970s Chabak] -- RCC.
   Star-Ledger, BY RUDY LARINI, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   BLOOMFIELD (NJ): The pastor of a Bloomfield church, accused last week of sexually abusing someone three decades ago, has been placed on administrative leave.
   Monsignor Robert Chabak, 58, was relieved of his duties at St. Valentine's Roman Catholic Church and has left the rectory, James Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, said yesterday.
   "The pastor did step down on administrative leave because we have received an allegation," Goodness said. "The allegation seems to be about an incident that occurred 30 years ago."
   Goodness said the diocese reported the allegation to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office even though the statute of limitations is likely to preclude prosecution for an incident so long ago.
   Goodness declined to answer questions about the accuser or the nature of the alleged abuse.
• Bishops' new president has released names of accused priests -- RCC. Skylstad elected.
   Cleveland Plain Dealer by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) - America's Roman Catholic bishops on Monday chose a new president who has released the names of priests accused of molesting children and reached out to victims but who also plans to seek bankruptcy protection for his diocese because of abuse claims.
   Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., was elected conference president by his fellow bishops on the first ballot, just days after announcing his diocese will go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
   Skylstad, who has served as conference vice president for the past three years, received 120 votes, or 52 percent of the total in a field of 10 candidates.
• Catholic Bishops, After a Divisive Debate, Choose a New Leader -- RCC.
   The New York Times, By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): The Roman Catholic bishops of the United States elected Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., to be president of their national conference in an unusually close vote yesterday, disappointing Catholic conservatives who had opposed his elevation and drawing complaints from groups representing victims of clerical sexual abuse.
   Bishop Skylstad, 70, is completing a three-year term as vice president, a traditional steppingstone to the presidency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. But battles within the church over the sexual abuse scandal and the church's role in American politics added an element of tension to this year's selection, and he won with just over 50 percent of the vote instead of the customary 70 or 80 percent, according to people involved in the meeting of the bishops in Washington, D.C.
   Prominent conservative Catholics said they had lobbied the bishops to pass over Bishop Skylstad, pushing for one of a group of younger, more conservative bishops, including Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh, and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee.
   Many Catholic conservatives and a handful of bishops argue that church officials should more forcefully insist that Catholic teachings on the fundamental importance of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage should guide Catholic voters and public officials. They had hoped to elevate one of the bishops who helped lead their charge in the last election. [Emphasis added]
• U.S. Bishops Pick Leader From Bankrupt Diocese -- RCC.
   Washington Post, By Alan Cooperman, Page A03, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., who plans to declare his diocese in bankruptcy because of sexual abuse claims, was elected yesterday as the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
   At the same time, Kathleen McChesney, the former FBI agent who established the bishops' Office of Child Protection, announced that she will step down in February.
   Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., says his diocese will file for Chapter 11.
   The developments came as the bishops began their semiannual meeting in Washington and showed they are still grappling with the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church nearly three years after it erupted in Boston and a year after their outgoing president, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., proclaimed that they had "turned the corner" on the scandal.
• Catholic bishops pick new president -- RCC.
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- If yesterday's elections were any indication, the U.S. Catholic bishops have opted to maintain the zero-tolerance course that Bishop Wilton Gregory set for responding to child sexual abuse, and to work for unity among themselves.
   Yesterday in Washington, D.C., 230 bishops elected their current vice president, Bishop William Skylstad, 70, of Spokane, Wash., as their president, despite concerns that he will be preoccupied by a diocese that is declaring bankruptcy because of sexual abuse lawsuits.
   There were also concerns that Skylstad once shared a rectory with a priest who molested minors. Survivors groups have accused him of doing nothing to intervene.
• New head of US bishops faces scrutiny -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, By Michael Paulson, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- The Catholic bishops of the United States yesterday chose as their next leader a Washington state prelate who has said he is planning to seek bankruptcy protection for his diocese.
   The choice of Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane to lead the US Conference of Catholic Bishops drew immediate criticism from victim advocates, who said Skylstad has been insensitive to their needs. Bishops defended the choice and said the impending bankruptcy of Skylstad's Spokane diocese is simply a reflection of the current financial crisis facing many American dioceses. ...
   But Skylstad is a potentially uncomfortable illustration of the challenges facing some bishops; he said last week that the Spokane diocese, unable to settle lawsuits by alleged abuse victims, would begin preparations to file for Chapter 11 reorganization by Nov. 29.
   And last month, the Seattle Times ran a lengthy report, based on court documents, saying that in the 1970s a priest who lived in Skylstad's rectory allegedly molested children while living there, and that parishioners and victims who complained to Skylstad about the behavior of the Rev. Patrick G. O'Donnell Jr. felt the future bishop did not do enough to stop O'Donnell's behavior.
   Skylstad also will face pressure from an emboldened laity. Yesterday, the organization Voice of the Faithful called on the new conference president to push for greater financial transparency and disclosure by dioceses.
• Bishops lose bids to lead -- RCC.
   Rapid City Journal, www.rapidcity journal.com/ articles/2004 /11/16/news/ local/news 06.txt , By Mary Garrigan, Nov 16, 2004
   RAPID CITY (SD): Despite winning the endorsement of a national group of victims of clergy abuse, Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City lost a long-shot bid Monday to head the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash.
   Cardinal Francis George, head of the Chicago Diocese, was elected to a three-year term as USCCB vice president.
   "I knew there was really no chance of my being elected," Cupich said from Washington, D.C., where the nation's bishops are meeting. "I was very surprised to be nominated, and it was kind of humbling to have that request to run."
   What Cupich didn't know until Monday was that he had won a symbolic endorsement from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, who campaigned against Skylstad. The Diocese of Spokane announced recently that it would declare bankruptcy in the wake of lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse.
   David Clohessy, SNAP's national director, told Reuters that Cupich was selected by SNAP because he hadn't been tarnished by the clergy abuse scandal the way Skylstad had.
• Five dioceses agreed to help one sexual abuse victim -- RCC.
   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/stories. nsf/stlouisci tycounty/story/ 157BD7B0B7892 1AE86256F4E00 1B689E?OpenDocument &Headline=Five+ dioceses+agr eed+to+help+ one+sexual+ abuse+victim
   MISSOURI: On Dec. 1, 2003, an extraordinary secret meeting took place in Conference Room 2050 at Chicago's O'Hare Hilton.
   Representatives of five U.S. Catholic dioceses gathered around a table with Ted Lausche, a Wisconsin man who said he had been sexually abused by priests in their dioceses decades before, beginning when he was 6 years old.
   Three hours later - after questioning that Lausche, 47, described as "grueling" - those representatives agreed among themselves to pay thousands of dollars for Lausche's therapy, drugs and other needs.
   A now retired Jefferson City Diocese priest, who at one time had taught at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, Mo., was one of several priests Lausche had accused of molesting him as a child - an allegation the priest vehemently denies and the diocese has never found credible.
   Although Lausche did not attend St. Thomas, the Chicago meeting - and the approximately $35,000 the Jefferson City Diocese has so far paid the accuser - provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the incredible lengths the Jefferson City Diocese and others like it around the nation are going to deal with abuse allegations since the priest abuse scandal became public in 2002.
• As scandal breaks, the search for truth begins [O'Connell] -- RCC.
   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, By Phillip O'Connor, Nov/15/2004
   MISSOURI: On March 7, 2002, a group of 10 Roman Catholic bishops in Florida issued a statement that expressed their "abiding concern and compassion" for sex abuse victims of priests.
   "It is both criminal and sinful," the statement read. "The people of God have a right to be able to trust those who minister to them in God's name."
   The next day, one of those 10 - Palm Beach Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell - walked into a press conference flanked by more than two dozen fellow priests.
   That morning, the Post-Dispatch had published a story in which a former priest, Chris Dixon, accused O'Connell and two other priests of abusing him years before, including when Dixon was a student at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, Mo. The article also revealed that the church had paid Dixon $125,000 in a confidential settlement.
• Bishops look to leader from debt-ridden diocese -- RCC.
   Denver Post, www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2537578,00.html , By Eric Gorski
   WASHINGTON (DC): The nation's Catholic bishops at once stuck with tradition and broke with it Monday, entrusting their immediate future to a quiet man from the Pacific Northwest whose diocese teeters near bankruptcy and tapping an intellectual from the nation's second-largest archdiocese as his likely successor.
   Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, following the normal route of succession after serving three years as vice president. He will replace Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., the bishops' public face through the clergy sexual-abuse crisis.
   Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, viewed as a brilliant thinker and an articulate voice from right of center, narrowly was elected vice president, the first cardinal to claim that distinction.
   In the end, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput barely registered in the 10-man race for president, winning five votes. He received six votes on the first round of balloting for vice president.
• Fed Govt seeks to recoup Medicare costs from sex abuse victims with payouts -- Anglican cleric speaks out.

   ABC (Australia), www.abc.net. au/worldtoday/ content/2004/ s1244737.htm
   AUSTRALIA: ELEANOR HALL: An Anglican Priest who helped blow the whistle on sex abuse in the Church has expressed concern today that victims may be facing another level of trauma courtesy of the Federal Government.
   The Government is today standing by its practice of claiming back medical costs from sex abuse victims who receive compensation payouts, saying it's simply following the law.
   It's a law which could affect hundreds of Australians, and one Tasmanian sexual abuse victim has labelled it secondary abuse.
   Annie Guest reports from Hobart. ...
• Spokane bishop elected to lead church in U.S. -- RCC.

   Seattle Times, http://seattle times.nwsource. com/html/local news/2002091 964_bishops 16m.html , By Alicia Mundy and Janet I. Tu
   WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an apparent affirmation of church tradition, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane yesterday was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at its annual fall meeting.
   The election came just five days after Skylstad announced his diocese would file for bankruptcy within the month, and amid clamor by critics in Spokane that Skylstad should not be elected president because he had failed in the past to deal firmly with complaints about sexually abusive clergy.
   Skylstad, 70, had served as vice president of the conference during the past three-year term, and no sitting vice president who's run for the presidency has been denied it.
• New bishops chief led troubled diocese -- RCC.
   Azcentral.com ; by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today, Nov. 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON, D.C. - A bishop whose diocese is filing for Bankruptcy Court protection and a cardinal who is well-connected at the Vatican were elected Monday to lead U.S. Roman Catholic bishops through the rest of a decade indelibly marked by the church's child sexual-abuse scandal.
   At its annual fall meeting here, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chose Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., as president for a three-year term. Skylstad, the group's vice president, was elected on the first ballot.
   Skylstad announced last week that his diocese in eastern Washington will file in Bankruptcy Court on Nov. 29 to protect its assets from the cost of claims by as many as 125 accusers. advertisement
• U.S. Catholic bishops pick new leader, but scandal lingers -- RCC.
   San Francisco Chronicle, by Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- Hoping to put three years of scandal behind them, the U.S. Catholic bishops elected a new president on Monday, then got a harsh reminder of the financial fallout from the sexual abuse crisis rocking the nation's largest church.
   "We have faced a great deal of criticism over the last three years," said Bishop Wilton Gregory, the outgoing president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "As always, the most painful criticism is that which has some truth and justice in it."
   Gregory's farewell address capped a term dominated by a series of scandals over the priestly abuse of children and teenagers -- and the subsequent concealment of those sex crimes by a number of Catholic bishops across the country.
   Replacing Gregory as conference president is Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., one of those prelates criticized for his handling of the sex abuse crisis.
• George accepts No. 2 role -- RCC. Card. George new veep.
   Chicago Tribune, By Manya A. Brachear, Published November 16, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- Despite protests from victims advocates, the nation's Roman Catholic leaders on Monday elected Cardinal Francis George vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops. The election puts him in line to succeed Spokane, Wash., Bishop William Skylstad, who replaces Belleville, Ill., Bishop Wilton Gregory as conference president.
   Both George and Skylstad will begin their three-year terms at the end of the bishops' annual meeting here this week.
   Gregory, a Chicago native, led the conference through the church's clergy sex-abuse crisis, which erupted six weeks after he took office.
   George, who has turned down nominations in the past, said he accepted this time at the urging of a number of bishops. He is the first cardinal to be elected to the vice presidential post in more than 30 years. If he ascends, he would be the first cardinal elected president.
   "The conference also is part of our obligation as bishops," George said. "When a good number of bishops say `We'd like for you to do this,' one should listen carefully." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:43 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue November 16, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed November 17, 2004 edition follows:-
• Phoenix diocese claim clouds issue of parishes' financial dependency -- RCC.
   Fox 11, www.fox11az. com/news/sta te/stories/ KMSB-20041117- dsbp-phoen ixdiocese.68 6b65b8.html , By Stephanie Innes / Arizona Daily Star, 05:37 PM MST, Wednesday, November 17, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): In what appears to be a direct contradiction to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's argument that its parishes are financially separate entities, the Diocese of Phoenix is contending that parishes cannot be sued in sexual abuse cases because they are part of the diocese.
   The issue has yet to be tested in a secular court, but the ramifications could affect the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's federal bankruptcy case - specifically its 75 parishes, which generate nearly $19 million in plate collections annually.
   "The church just takes the position that's most convenient to them in a lawsuit," said Lynne M. Cadigan, who represents 24 of the 34 plaintiffs with pending legal actions alleging sexual abuse of children by priests against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, which filed for federal bankruptcy protection Sept. 20.
   "It's interesting to note that the only dioceses taking the position that parishes are separate are the ones filing for bankruptcy." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:55 PM]
   [COMMENT: In commercial law of Britain and Australia there used to be a doctrine called 'estoppel," which is the state of being precluded from a course of action by actions of one's own. Whether the legal somersaults of the US Church lawyers can trick the courts or not, the actions don't sound like the actions of the Man from Galilee. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Priest sentenced for child porn possession [Kornacki] -- RCC. Child porn.
   Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly. com/mld/phi lly/news/br eaking_news/ 10207326.htm , By Joseph A. Slobodzian, Wed Nov 17, 2004
   PHILADELPHIA (PA): A veteran Philadelphia Roman Catholic priest was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for possessing child pornography after an emotional statement in which he apologized to the "children trapped in the web of child pornographers."
   "I am very sorry and I am ashamed that I debased you in this way," the Rev. Matthew J. Kornacki said in a statement before he was sentenced in federal court.
   Kornacki, 57, who pleaded guilty, also apologized to his family - his 85-year-old father, two sisters and brother sitting in the courtroom - and to his "brother priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia trying to restablish trust in the priesthood."
   "I know I undermined and damaged your efforts," Kornacki said.
   Referring to the children in the sexually explicit images found on Kornacki's personal computer at the residence at the archdiocese's St. Charles Borromeo seminary in Wynnewood, U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick said "the crime committed here was certainly not a victimless crime."
• Judges to evaluate repressed memory [1973-75 Chaminade College] -- RCC. Boy.
   Columbia Daily Tribune, Published Wednesday, November 17, 2004
   ST. LOUIS (MO) (AP) - A Missouri appeals court heard arguments yesterday over whether a person who recalls a repressed memory of sexual abuse may sue an institution - as well as the perpetrator - within three years of remembering the incident.
   Courts have interpreted a Missouri statute allowing the three-year grace period in cases of repressed memory to apply only to claims against perpetrators - not such entities as a church or its institutions.
   In the case heard yesterday by a three-judge Missouri Court of Appeals panel, lawyer Joseph Bauer Jr. - an attorney for the alleged victim - argued the grace period also should apply to schools and religious orders.
   Gerard Noce, an attorney representing the school and religious order sued over the alleged abuse, countered that it's not fair to try decades-old cases.
   Michael Powel, 46, of St. Petersburg, Fla., alleged in a lawsuit two years ago that he was sexually abused by a priest and religious brother from 1973 to 1975, when he was a teenager attending and boarding at Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis County.
• Catholic Bishops Launch Marriage Initiative -- RCC.
   Wired News, By Deborah Zabarenko, 3:41 p.m. ET, Wednesday, November 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) (Reuters) - U.S. Catholic bishops on Wednesday launched an ambitious plan to promote marriage, an institution they see as being under extreme pressure, not specifically from those who favor homosexual unions but from the general difficulty of getting and staying married. ...
   The bishops also voted to continue gathering statistics on the victims of priests' sexual abuse through 2005, adding an extra year to a data-gathering effort.
   The U.S. Catholic church is still dealing with the financial fallout from the child sex abuse crisis that first surfaced in January 2002. The bishops agreed that year on a plan to deal with the problem, but some victims groups have questioned whether they have done enough.
   The scandal that emerged in Boston has spread across the United States as more victims have come forward. Three U.S. dioceses have announced bankruptcy filings to protect themselves from lawsuits by alleged sexual abuse victims -- including the diocese of newly elected conference president Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington.
   The others to file for bankruptcy are Tucson, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon.
   [COMMENT: A marriage initiative? Why don't you lead the way? Physician, heal yourself! COMMENT ENDS.]
• New bishops' president wants to heal wounds from sex abuse crisis -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattlepi. nwsource.com/ local/aplocal_ story.asp? category=6420& slug=Bishops% 20Skylstad ; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- The new president of the U.S. Conference Catholic Bishops pledged Wednesday he would work to assure the public that church leaders were committed to protecting children from sexual abuse.
   Bishop William Skylstad, of the Diocese of Spokane, Wash., said the bishops would build on the safeguards they put in place after June 2002, when they met in Dallas and adopted widespread reforms at the height of the molestation crisis.
   He promised to "promote healing of those who have suffered sexual abuse and to prevent other children and young people from being abused."
   "The experience of the victims and of my own diocese and of every diocese has made clear the long-term effects of this abuse even if it occurred two or three decades ago," Skylstad said Wednesday, as the bishops ended the public part of their fall meeting. The meeting will conclude in private Thursday.
• Landslide Skylstad; Vice president George; Liturgy surprise -- RCC.
   National Catholic Reporter, www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/washington/wnb111704.htm , By Joe Feuerherd
   WASHINGTON (DC): Election to a three-year-term as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops makes the holder of that post the heir apparent. Only twice in its history has the conference bypassed a sitting vice president in choosing its leader, and only then because the bishops in question were either approaching mandatory retirement age or suffered severe ill-health.
   It was with that formidable history on his side that Spokane, Wash., Bishop William Skylstad, vice president of the bishops' conference for the past three tumultuous years, stood for election Nov. 15 at the bishops' annual meeting. Tradition, and thus Skylstad, won out, but not without some election intrigue that made this an actual contest and not a coronation.
   In many ways, the 70-year-old Skylstad is the prototypical bishops' conference president. As a body, the bishops' prefer consensus-builders over bomb-throwers to lead what Jesuit Father Thomas Reese's memorably termed "the flock of shepherds." Previous conference presidents have included, for example, bishops Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Anthony Pilla of Cleveland, William Keeler of Baltimore, Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, John May of St. Louis and James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio. Workhorses all.
• Politics play bigger role at bishops meeting -- RCC.
   Spokesman-Review, by Virginia DeLeon, November 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) - When Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week, his margin of victory was unusually close.
   Members of this group, which consists of the nation's Catholic hierarchy, traditionally cast their ballots for the vice president, a position that Skylstad, 70, has filled for the past three years. Although none of the nine other candidates vying for the leadership came close to beating Skylstad, Spokane's bishop won on the first ballot with only 52 percent of the vote.
   His predecessor, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., was elected three years ago with 74 percent. In 1998, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston won with 61 percent. And in 1995, Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland received 71 percent of the total votes.
   The numbers don't necessarily reflect poorly on Skylstad, who is highly regarded among this powerful group of church leaders. The votes are confidential, and conference officials wouldn't speculate about the margin of victory.
• Sides in Fortin case argue religion issue -- RCC.
   Portland Press Herald, http://press herald.maine today.com/ news/state/ 041117chur ch.shtml , By Gregory D. Kesich
   PORTLAND (ME): In oral arguments Tuesday, Maine's highest court wrestled with a basic question: What does the U.S. Constitution really mean when it guarantees the free exercise of religion?
   Specifically, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was asked to overturn its 1997 decision in Swanson v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, which has blocked sex-abuse lawsuits against the church in Maine by putting supervision of the clergy out of bounds for the courts.
   Before an unusually full house of spectators in an ornate chamber at the Cumberland County Courthouse, lawyers for both sides raised essential questions about whether a court should have the ability to look into a church official's actions when one of his clergy members violates the law.
   Chief Justice Leigh Saufley said federal courts have been quiet on the issue. "If we track the United States Supreme Court cases (on this subject), none of them really got to the heart of what we have to grapple with here, which is the relationship between a bishop and a priest," Saufley noted.
• Convicted Sex Offender, A Former Priest, Moves [Herek] -- ? RCC. Boy.
   TheOmahaChannel.com ; November 16, 2004
   OMAHA, Neb. -- Convicted sex offender and former priest Rev. Daniel Herek has moved to a new Omaha address.
   He's now living in central Omaha along Cole Creek.
   Herek went to prison in 1999 for assaulting a boy, and possession of child pornography. He moved to a home near 49th and Newport streets earlier this year after his release from psychiatric treatment.
   Herek lists his current address as 838 N. 77th St. on the Nebraska state sex-offender registry. Douglas County records indicate he owns the home.
• Catholic bishops panel to keep abuse policy -- RCC.
   Chicago Sun-Times, BY RACHEL ZOLL, November 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- 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.
   However, Archbishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sex Abuse, said Tuesday that the document his panel recently sent to the bishops makes no such changes.
   "I think we maintain our promise in Dallas, and it is essential for our own integrity," Flynn said in an interview at this week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops met in private for most of Tuesday and were expected to reconvene in public today.
• Supreme court asked to reconsider 1997 ruling on a church's First Amendment rights -- RCC.
   Foster's Daily Democrat, http://www4. fosters.com/ november_2004/ 11.17.04/news/ ap_me_11 17f.asp , By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer, Nov 17 2004
   PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine's highest court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case asking it to reconsider whether the supervisory relationship between bishops and priests is protected from legal scrutiny under the First Amendment.
   Michael Fortin, 32, of Sidney has asked the Supreme Judicial Court to reverse a decision it made seven years ago and allow his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and its former bishop to go forward.
   "My church continues with all their might, with every technicality that exists, to protect these bishops," said Paul Kendrick, an advocate and a member of the Catholic reform organization Voice of the Faithful. "It's just another sad day to watch four attorneys fight to keep a bishop from being accountable."
   Fortin sued the Rev. Raymond Melville and the church in 2000, claiming that Melville, who was assigned to St. Mary's Church in Augusta, sexually abused him for seven years beginning in 1985 when Fortin was 13.
• Church Group Recommends Keeping Abusive Clergy Ban -- RCC.
   TheBostonChannel.com ; POSTED: 7:27 am EST November 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- 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.
   However, Archbishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sex Abuse, said Tuesday that the document his panel recently sent to the bishops makes no such changes.
   "I think we maintain our promise in Dallas, and it is essential for our own integrity," Flynn said in an interview at this week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops met in private for most of Tuesday and were expected to reconvene in public Wednesday.
   The committee's proposal for tweaks in the abuse policy still may undergo significant revisions, as bishops nationwide seek comment in their dioceses, then debate any final changes at their June 2005 meeting.
• Diocese urges rejection of suit [Hubbard, Wilson] -- RCC.
   Albany Times Union, By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Tuesday, November 16, 2004
   ALBANY (NY) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany wants a Massachusetts judge to dismiss claims that Bishop Howard Hubbard knew an accused pedophile priest was sexually abusing young boys in the 1980s but did nothing about it.
   The move by Hubbard's lawyers follows Suffolk County Superior Court Justice Joseph M. Walker III's rejection of two requests to have the case moved to New York, where most of the alleged abuse took place.
   The case also names former priest Dozia Wilson.
   Joe Woodward, a married father of six, claims he was sexually abused by Wilson over five years in both states -- beginning at age 12.
   He has claimed that repressed memories began to surface only recently.
   But court papers filed by the diocese not only make the familiar claim that statutes of limitations are long expired in both states, they also call Woodward's truthfulness into question.
• Bishops look to stay the course on abuse reforms -- RCC.
   Denver Post, www.denver post.com/Stor ies/0,1413, 36~11676~253 9401,00.html , By Eric Gorski
   WASHINGTON (DC) - A committee of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops is recommending no major changes to reforms adopted in 2002 in response to the clergy sexual-abuse crisis, including keeping the centerpiece "zero tolerance" policy that calls for any priest credibly accused to be barred from public ministry.
   The recommendations are only in draft form, however, and there still could be movement toward overhauling the landmark abuse policy adopted in Dallas.
   The reforms are due for their first review in June, when the nation's bishops meet in Chicago.
   As the bishops conduct their fall meeting in Washington this week, the scandal is largely taking a backseat to other issues, including a discussion of the role of Catholics in politics scheduled for today.
• Lawyer: Indian school students have recourse -- Amerindians campaign.
   Rapid City Journal, www.rapid cityjournal. com/articles/ 2004/11/17/ news/state/ top/state 01.txt , By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer
   PIERRE (SD)- Despite the dismissal of a federal lawsuit, former students who allege they were abused at Indian boarding schools will continue to pursue their legal claims against the federal government.
   The recent court ruling means the former students must file an administrative claim directly with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
   Judge Diane Gilbert Sypolt of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the federal government failed in its treaty duties to protect American Indian students who were sent to boarding schools run by religious organizations.
   Sypolt said that before the issue can be considered in court, the former students first must seek an administrative remedy by filing a claim directly with U.S. Interior Department agencies.
   Such an administrative claim allows the responsible agency to establish facts, apply its expertise to the issue and correct any of its own errors, the judge said. The administrative process could help avoid the necessity of a court fight, she said.
• Audit finds church needs better abuse prevention -- RCC.
   Times Argus, Associated Press, November 17, 2004
   COLCHESTER (VT) - An audit of the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has found areas where the church needs to improve how it prevents sexual abuse of minors.
   An outside firm audits each of the nation's Catholic dioceses annually under the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The charter was created by American bishops two years ago after sexual abuse allegations surfaced against priests in Boston and elsewhere.
   The audit found the Burlington Diocese deficient in four areas. Auditors say the diocese has yet to conduct background checks of volunteers and employees.
   The Reverend Wendell Searles of the Burlington Diocese said some background checks had been completed. But checks for priests and deacons haven't been conducted.
   Searles says so far background checks have turned up no instances of sexual abuse. He says the remainder of the background checks will be conducted over the next several months.
   The audit also found that two people who had been removed from the ministry for sexual abuse of a minor were celebrating mass and administering the sacraments in nursing homes in violation of the charter.
   Searles said the priests have been told they aren't permitted to represent themselves as priests.
   [COMMENT: "Sacraments" in the RCC includes Confession, a potent field for sex abuse, for which the Church has insisted on secrecy and cover-up, certainly since the "Crime of Solicitation" Crimen Sollicitationis of March 16, 1962, but more probably for centuries. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Impending bankruptcy filing stalls church projects -- RCC.
   OregonLive.com ; The Associated Press, 4:44 a.m. PT, Nov/17/2004
   SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A church construction project has been halted because of financial pressure on the Spokane Roman Catholic Diocese but may resume after a bankruptcy petition is filed, a church official said.
   Diocesan officials told personnel at Our Lady of Fatima parish on Friday that a $500,000 loan to put the final touches on a new sanctuary could not made as expected, stalling plans to open the new South Hill church next month.
   "It's due to the financial pressures on the diocese of Spokane," said the Rev. Steven Dublinski, vicar general of the diocese. "Our hope is that this is temporary and they will start again after the filing of Chapter 11."
   The funding hangup came two days after Bishop William Skylstad said the diocese would file this month for reorganization under federal bankruptcy laws because of lawsuits seeking tens of millions of dollars on claims of sexual abuse by priests.
   After the filing, diocesan officials hope to find another source of funds to complete the work at Our Lady of Fatima, although the delay likely will increase the cost, Dublinski said.
   [COMMENT: In U.S. news media, "likely" as in the last sentence seems to mean "probably." COMMENT ENDS.]
• Appeals court considers law involving repressed memory of sexual abuse [1073-75 Chaminade College] -- RCC.
   Kansas City Star, www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10198073.htm , By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press
   ST. LOUIS (MO) - A Missouri appeals court heard arguments Tuesday over whether a person who recalls a repressed memory of sexual abuse may sue an institution - as well as the perpetrator - within three years of remembering the incident.
   Courts have interpreted a Missouri statute allowing the three-year grace period in cases of repressed memory to apply only to claims against perpetrators - not such entities as a church or its institutions.
   In the case heard Tuesday by a three-judge Missouri Court of Appeals panel, lawyer Joseph Bauer Jr. - an attorney for the alleged victim - argued the grace period also should apply to schools and religious orders.
   Gerard Noce, an attorney representing the school and religious order sued over the alleged abuse, countered that it's not fair to try decades-old cases.
   Michael Powel, 46, of St. Petersburg, Fla., alleged in a lawsuit two years ago that he was sexually abused by a priest and religious brother from 1973 to 1975, when he was a teenager attending and boarding at Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis County.
• Audit finds Catholic diocese needs to improve abuse prevention -- RCC.
   WCAX, www.wcax.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2575840
   COLCHESTER, Vt. - An audit of Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese has found areas where the church needs to improve how it prevents sexual abuse of minors.
   The diocese was deficient in four areas.
• It has not completed all background checks of priests and deacons.
• Two people who were removed from the ministry for sexually abusing a minor were celebrating mass in nursing homes.
• The diocese also hadn't reported to church authorities all priests removed from the ministry because of sexual abuse. ...
• Skylstad draws on a lifetime of faith -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource. com/local/ 199946_skyl stad17.html , By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   SPOKANE (WA) -- William Skylstad was born on a table in the garage of his family's home in rural Omak.
   At 14, he left to attend a seminary in Ohio, and as a Catholic priest spent his life ministering to the faithful in Eastern Washington.
   Monday, Skylstad was elected by his peers to a three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
   In that post, he will be the public face of the nation's largest church as it continues to deal with a sex-abuse crisis and financial woes. There are about 62 million U.S. Catholics.
   It's a heady position for a man who has in the past rarely traveled far from home.
• George to oversee priest abuse policy -- RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, By Manya A. Brachear, November 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Cardinal Francis George, vice president-elect of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will shepherd the American Catholic Church through the next chapter of the sexual abuse crisis.
   Next month, George, archbishop of Chicago, will lead a delegation of bishops to the Vatican to discuss changing church laws that hold bishops accountable to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, now up for review.
   Under his watch, a new child safety officer will be appointed to head the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection. Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI agent and sex crimes detective, has announced she will leave the post when her contract ends in February.
   And in June, George will host a summit of the nation's bishops in Chicago to finalize revisions to the charter, the church's policy on sex abuse originally drafted in Dallas in 2002.
   George says it is unlikely that bishops will lift the zero-tolerance policy on priests who have molested children, but "they may tighten the definition of sexual abuse.
• High court arguments begin in church suit [1985-91 Melville] -- RCC.
   Bangor Daily News, Wednesday, November 17, 2004
   PORTLAND (ME) - The Maine Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments Tuesday in a precedent-setting case that pits a victim of clergy sexual abuse against the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion. Michael Fortin, 32, of Sidney sued the Rev. Raymond Melville, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and then-Bishop Joseph J. Gerry in 2000, claiming that Melville sexually abused him for seven years, beginning in 1985, when Fortin was 13.
   The former altar boy is asking the state's high court to reverse its 1997 decision in Swanson v. the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland when it ruled that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prevents a denomination or religious organization and its leaders from being sued for negligent supervision.
   In a statement issued after the hearing, the diocese said that the proceedings were not about Fortin's case or that of any other clergy abuse victim.
   "Today's court proceeding was really about the church arguing in favor of a particular interpretation of the law that certainly impacts all religions," diocesan spokeswoman Sue Bernard said.
   The major difference between the two cases is the fact that Ruth Swanson, plaintiff in the earlier case, was an adult and Fortin was a minor when the sexual contact occurred. The Swanson case also was decided almost five years before three priests in Maine were removed from their parishes for sexually abusing minors. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:31 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Wed November 17, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu November 18, 2004 edition follows:-
• Head of bishops' child protection office plans to resign in February -- RCC. Kathleen McChesney leaving in February 2005.

   National Catholic Reporter, http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn111704b.htm , By Agostino Bono, Catholic News Service, Posted Monday, Nov. 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Kathleen McChesney, who set up the U.S. bishops' office to help dioceses implement child sex abuse prevention policies, plans to resign Feb. 25 after publication of the 2004 diocesan compliance audits.
   Children are safer now under the church's policies but the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection will continue to function, McChesney said Nov. 15 to reporters covering the bishops' general fall meeting.
   McChesney, 53, became the first executive director of the office Dec. 1, 2002. During her tenure she had disagreements with some bishops who opposed her idea that diocesan compliance audits should continue annually after the initial 2003 audit.
   McChesney, a former FBI agent, said that as of yet she has no job plans for when she leaves her current post. She told reporters that her two-year contract called for her to set up the office, conduct a diocesan compliance audit and establish ongoing procedures to assure implementation of the bishops' policies. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:24 PM]
• Deposition Men; They aren't priests, but these four are sure to get deposed in Orange Diocese's boy-b*ggering trials [2000 onwards Baker, 1970s Lenihan, 1976-89 Fuentes, 1981 Henson, 1994 onwards Lyon, 1994 Harris, 2001 Rackauckas, 1990s Harris still $US5.2m] -- RCC.
   Orange County Weekly, www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/11/excathedra-arellano.php , by Gustavo Arellano, garellano@ocweekly.com , "Ex Cathedra," Vol. 10 No. 11, November 19 - 25, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: The next couple of months promise to be hell for the Diocese of Orange. Lawyers representing victims of pederast priests will depose church leaders as part of the more than 60 civil lawsuits pending against the local Catholic Church. Lawyers vow no one will be spared, be they bishop, deacon or Tom Fuentes.
   Wait a minute - Fuentes? The former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party? Yep. Like many of the county's overlords, Fuentes has a direct connection to one of the country's largest priestly sex-abuse scandals. Sources say the following four individuals should expect a call to take the witness stand early next year. Here's a recap of their complicity:
   ROGER BAKER. In 2000, Mary Grant, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), asked the Anaheim Police Department to forward tapes of former St. Boniface pastor John Lenihan to county prosecutors as part of a criminal investigation. In the tapes, Lenihan admitted to molesting Grant when she was a 13-year-old during the late 1970s. But the Anaheim P.D., then led by Baker, claimed the evidence was missing. When Grant handed over personal copies of the tapes to Anaheim police, Baker's boys didn't pass them along to the DA until after the criminal statute of limitations had passed.
   TOM FUENTES. Before assuming the GOP chair, Fuentes served as the Orange diocese's communications director from 1976 through 1989, a span during which dozens of pedo-priests roamed parish aisles. Fuentes also supervised Father Jerome Henson, whom the Orange diocese took in as a priest in 1983 despite knowledge of Sacramento-area police finding Henson in a graveyard with the legs of a 13-year-old boy wrapped around his face just two years prior. Henson worked directly under Fuentes for five years.
   WILLIAM LYON. The mega-developer allowed Monsignor Michael Harris to live in his Lido Isle home after Harris resigned as principal at Santa Margarita High School in 1994 for allegedly molesting students. Shortly after Harris left Santa Margarita, Lyon also helped him start up Caritas, a nonprofit organization that builds low-income housing. Lyon now sits on Caritas' board of directors.
   TONY RACKAUCKAS. In early 2001, District Attorney Rackauckas' office told Ryan DiMaria the DA was not interested in filing criminal charges against Harris, who allegedly fellated then-student DiMaria at Santa Margarita in the mid-1990s. A few months later, Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray ordered Harris, the Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to publicly apologize to DiMaria and pay $5.2 million in damages.#
   [COMMENT: "Deposed" in the heading means to undergo a "deposition" or giving of evidence, not to be removed from one's position. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Trucker Sentenced on Child Porn Charges -- Porn found in priest's office.
   KKTV, www.kktv.com/home/headlines/1201436.html , Associated Press
   COLORADO: A trucker from Colorado Springs who pleaded guilty to producing child pornography has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison in Texas.
   Prosecutors say 36-year-old Ronald McQueen and another trucker used a digital video camera to record young boys performing sexual acts in his truck.
   The investigation began after the FBI found one of the recordings during a search of a priest's office in Baltimore in December 2001.
   The other trucker was sentenced in September to more than eleven years in prison.# [Emphasis added]
• Priest sentenced in molestation case [1988-92 Émond] -- RCC. Boy.

   Montreal Gazette, www.canada. com/montreal/ montrealgaze tte/news/story. html?id=cfa4098e- 5382-47e4-9f84- d540bcbef4f1 ; by Anne Sutherland, Thursday, November 18, 2004
   CANADA: A 63-year-old priest was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison for sexually molesting a boy over a period of years.
   Rodrigue Émond, walking haltingly with a cane, was led away by two police officers after the sentence was read in the Longueuil courthouse.
   The acts occurred between January 1988 and Januarry 1992. The child was 6 when the abuse began and Émond was 47.
   The victim, now 22, cannot be identified because he was a minor at the time of the crimes. The molestation ended when the boy's family moved to another neighbourhood when he was 10 years old.
   Before rendering his sentence, Judge Denys Nöel pointed out that the boy's personality changed after the molestation. He went from a happy child to a fearful and withdrawn youngster who was unable to form friendships with other boys after the move.
• "Journey to Justice," Part One [Bornbach, Burke] -- RCC. Girl.

   WSAW, www.wsaw. com/home/ headlines/ 1200986.html , by Susan Ramsett
   LACROSSE (WI): He would molest her and then buy her presents. That's the cycle of sexual abuse a local woman describes at the hand of a former Catholic priest from Hewitt. His victim has asked us not to show her face to avoid any embarrassment for her two children who are too young to fully understand what their mother has been through.
   She shares the painful story of her long "journey to justice."
   Brenda says, "I just feel so much better that his name is out there. It can't be a secret anymore."
   His name is Raymond Bornbach, and the secret is sexual abuse. Bornbach used to be a Catholic priest in the area but the Diocese of LaCrosse removed him from ministry this past summer.
   Father Lawrence Dunklee says, "The charter is very clear, if there is even one case in a priest's life where he has admitted to or has been substantially confirmed that there has been an act of sexual abuse of a minor, he is to be removed from ministry."
   Brenda says, "I'm not ashamed of what happened to me, it's not my fault. It's not anything I did to make him touch me in those ways." [...]
   It wasn't until Brenda became a mom that she was ready to tell the church her story. She says the abuse she suffered was affecting her ability to trust anyone else with her children.
   By that point Bornbach was almost 90 years old.
   Brenda says, "They didn't do anything to make the process smooth and easy. It was a fight all the way for me."
   Brenda spent the next 18 months going back and forth with Diocese officials. Her requests to speak directly with then Bishop Raymond Burke were repeatedly denied. One year later she was finally invited to meet with Burke face to face two weeks before he was leaving for a new post in Missouri.
   Brenda says, "The bishop's answer to me was, 'I cannot please everybody, we don't feel this man's a threat at his age.'"
   Burke promised to get back to Brenda with a decision before leaving for his new job as archbishop in St. Louis.
   Brenda says, "That day came and went and nobody called me. I never heard from the bishop again." [...]
   Father Dunklee says the majority of priests in the LaCrosse Diocese are good and faithful men who dedicate their lives to serving others, but the abuse scandal has hurt them all.
   During our interview, Father Dunklee also shared a personal story. He was meeting a friend for lunch at an airport in Minneapolis when a woman who had been abused by a priest came up to their table and spit at him.
   Father Dunklee says, "My friend, who was rather astounded, said â€˜you must be terribly, terribly angry,â€™ and I said, â€˜no, I'm just terribly, terribly sad. I'm sad for all of the pain, all that woman has gone through. I'm sad for all the wounds that have been created and I'm dedicated and committed to trying to heal them as best we can.
For more information contact::Catholic Diocese of LaCrosse, www.dioceseoflacrosse.com ; Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), www.survivorsnetwork.org #
• "Journey to Justice" Statistics -- RCC. 28 priests.
   WSAW, www.wsaw.com/ home/headlines/ 1201056.html , by Susan Ramsett
   LACROSSE (WI): The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has left many questioning their own churches, clergy members and even their faith.
   Wisconsin is part of the LaCrosse Diocese, which has been without a bishop since Raymond Burke left in January to become an archbishop in Missouri.
   As they wait for his successor, current leaders agreed to talk openly with us about the scandal and how they're responding to it. From 1950 until 2002 the Diocese says there were 58 allegations of sexual abuse involving 28 priests.
   Of those, 31 were substantiated, 24 were unsubstantiated and three were withdrawn or the accused was exonerated. In all, that means the church found 10 clergy members were guilty of sexual misconduct.
   Those 10 make up 1.4 percent of the several hundred who served in the Diocese during that time. The national average is about four percent.
• "Journey to Justice" Part Two -- RCC. Girl.
   WSAW, by Susan Ramsett
   LACROSSE (WI): Because of the nature of the crime, many cases of sexual abuse by priests come down to "he said, she said," making them difficult to prove or to disprove.
   When the alleged incidents happened decades ago it can get even more complicated. Thursday night we have the story of a woman who is still asking for the justice she believes is long overdue and why the church says they've done all they can to help her.
   Alice says, "He said, 'you told. I told you what would happen if you ever talked,' and then he beats me and beats me and beats me."
   Alice's story of clergy abuse begins when she was just 14 years old. She says her unhappy childhood included a dad who was abusive. A depressed and suicidal teenager, she turned to the church for help.
   Alice says, "He would hold me when I cried. He didn't report the abuse to anybody. My pastor didn't report the abuse to anybody."
   Instead of protecting her from the abuse at home, she claims a Catholic priest, who was in his 30s then, began abusing her physically, sexually and emotionally. Alice says he would force her to have sex with him and then force her into the confessional.
• Church under siege: Suits with no limits [Cipolla] -- RCC.

   Pittsburgh Catholic, www.pittsbur ghcatholic. org/newsart icles_more. phtml?id=1292 , by: Tim Drake
(First of two parts)
   UNITED STATES: The following article is a national overview of lawsuits filed against dioceses across the country in clerical sex abuse cases. While the Diocese of Pittsburgh has not been affected as dramatically as some other dioceses, the lawsuits filed here by two attorneys over the past several months are part of the national pattern in the similarities the lawsuits share.
   The lawsuits in Pittsburgh, like those around the nation, attempt to skirt the statute of limitations. The current suits in Pittsburgh recognize that the statute of limitations has run out for charges against individuals, so the attorneys attempt a novel interpretation of the statute by charging the diocese and bishops with conspiracy and a cover-up, and claim that victims were unaware of this until the scandal in the Boston Archdiocese broke in 2002.
   First came the Archdiocese of Portland. Then, the dioceses of Tucson and Spokane. It looked for a time that the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, might soon follow suit. One by one, dioceses across the U.S. have declared bankruptcy as one way of handling creditors brought on by continuing litigation from clerical sex abuse cases.
   While they acknowledge the wrongdoing of members of the church, critics are questioning the tactics being used by tort lawyers in what is a full-scale attack on the church. Among those tactics is the ignoring of statutes of limitations. In many of the decades-old cases, those being accused of wrongdoing are long dead, leaving the church with little opportunity to defend itself.
   Another frequent tactic of litigators is their practice of notifying the public of accusations prior to notifying the diocese or the accused. No wonder many feel it's open season on the Catholic Church.
   Overwhelmed by creditors and potential creditors, the Archdiocese of Portland on July 6 became the first in the nation to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
   Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the PBS television program "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" that the archdiocese felt its back was literally against the wall.
   "After having spent more than $50 million to compensate more than 100 people, these lawsuits threatened to wipe out the remaining assets of the archdiocese," Chopko said.
Church-state implications
   In September, the Diocese of Tucson became the second to declare bankruptcy. It's a pattern that some see fraught with danger.
   "There are enormous church-state implications from this kind of filing," Chopko said. "There's a real possibility that a bankruptcy court might come and look at the archdiocesan finances and have different ideas about what constitutes the religious mission …"
   How have the dioceses reached this point financially? While the church has fully acknowledged the past wrongdoing of members, asked for forgiveness and made significant changes in how it responds to abuse allegations, many affiliated with the church question the tactics and the motives being employed by civil litigators.
   The most common tactic being used is for plaintiffs' attorneys to ignore the state's statutes of limitations (the amount of time allotted from when the crime occurred to when a case can be filed). While every state has had statutes of limitations in place regarding sexual abuse, in recent years litigation attorneys have attempted to circumvent the statutes.
Statutes of limitations
   University of St. Thomas law professor Patrick Schiltz said states relaxing their statutes of limitations are nothing new. From 1987 to 1995, Schiltz defended churches of all major denominations in approximately 500 clergy sexual abuse cases.
   "I was defending 40-year-old cases," Schiltz said. "California was one of the first states to do so effectively. Florida tried a few years earlier. Statutes run the gamut from a strict statute of three years after the abuse, to the California statute of last year that victims could bring forth any abuse, no matter how old."
   In some states, the statute of limitations begins at the point when the victim remembers and understands that the physical acts were abusive.
   Litigation attorneys, such as Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., assert that because religious institutions have tried to cover up the crimes and created a climate where victims could not come forward, that renders the statute of limitations irrelevant. Anderson has been involved in more than 1,000 cases. His cases frequently surpass the 25-year statute of limitations set in place by the states.
Long history of action
   The Diocese of Pittsburgh has had a published policy on clergy sexual misconduct since 1993, which specifically "encourages and supports complainants to report the matter in question to the proper civil authorities."
   The public record of action by the Diocese of Pittsburgh against those who committed abuse of minors is clear and has been well documented in media reports going back as early as one case in 1969. Several months before Bishop Donald Wuerl arrived in the diocese, three priests in 1987 had been banned from public ministry; a fourth had been given an administrative position.
   Soon after being named bishop of Pittsburgh in 1988, Bishop Wuerl met with victims. He then told diocesan priests that anyone who sexually abused a minor would be permanently removed from ministry. One highly publicized case involved reversal of a Vatican decision involving Anthony Cipolla, who was banned from ministry in 1988 and forcibly laicized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
   Some states, such as California, have repealed their statute of limitations to allow victims to bring forward their cases.
   "California created a window that said that any survivor of sexual abuse by anyone has a one-year window in which to bring a cause of action," Anderson said. As a result, more than 500 cases have been brought in southern California with another 160 in the northern part of the state.
   "The clear trend is to make it easier to bring old cases by any victim of sexual abuse," Schiltz said. "When they are brought, the pastor is almost always dead." Schiltz admitted that in some of his cases it was common for the alleged abuser, his superiors and the bishop all to be dead. "As a result, a diocese is left trying to disprove that alleged abuse occurred by a priest in 1958, who died in 1967. It's tough to defend such a lawsuit."
How do you defend yourself?
   Such tactics were called into question by a number of prominent local attorneys and a retired judge in a letter to the editor published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Catholic.
   The letter said, in part, "How do you defend yourself against lawsuits based on claims that occurred 40 years ago? There is considerable legal suspicion that such claims may be the product of fraud or mistake. To protect against unfair and unjust claims, the law provides protection through statutes of limitations. In many lawsuits, the statute of limitations is only two years to avoid placing the defendant in a position of not being able to discover witnesses or information that is no longer available. If the law protects you against claims only two years old, imagine what it must be like to attempt to defend against a claim over 40 years old. Such a claim is not merely stale, it is petrified."
   Anderson disagreed that dioceses are defenseless.
   "That's a tune that the dioceses have played," Anderson said. "It's not a well-founded proposition. Even if the priest or bishop is dead, the diocese maintains evidence of the crimes in their files. Every bishop, under canon 489, is supposed to keep any material that is scandalous in a secret archival file for the bishop's eyes only."
   Anderson failed to note, however, that canon law also calls for the bishop to regularly purge archives.
Information is accessible
   Canonist Pete Vere described Anderson's response as incomplete.
   "He is obviously quoting from the first paragraph of Canon 489. The second paragraph states: 'Each year the documents of criminal cases concerning moral matters are to be destroyed whenever the guilty parties have died, or 10 years have elapsed since a condemnatory sentence concluded the affair'," said Vere, a canon lawyer and the co-author of "Surprised by Canon Law: 150 Questions Laypeople Ask About Canon Law."
   Anderson's response is also misleading in that materials are placed into the secret archives only as the result of a canonical process, and in many instances have nothing to do with abuse cases. The information is usually much smaller in volume than information in other files that are typically discoverable through legal processes.
   In other words, information in clerical sex abuse cases is accessible. "Secret archives" is being used as a catch phrase to make it seem that the church is hiding something when, in fact, that information is available through other means.
   Schiltz added that the easing of statutes is not being used solely against the church.
   "School districts, the Boy Scouts and other non-profits are in the same boat as the church," Schiltz said. "But because of the publicity and the size of the church, it is a large target."
Drake is a staff writer with National Catholic Register and the author of "Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow's Church" (Sophia Institute Press, 2004). #
Established in 1844: America's Oldest Catholic Newspaper In Continuous Publication [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:58 PM]
• Simplicity is the answer to abuse lawsuits. -- RCC.
   The Editor, Pittsburgh Catholic, 135 First Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, USA, by e-mail to ptaylor@pittsburghcatholic.org , from John Massam, Greenwood (Perth), Western Australia, November 19, 2004
   PERTH: Good-hearted readers must have been sad when reading "Church under siege: Suits without limits" by Tim Drake (Nov 12)
   But we must face facts. The Boston diocese administrators (among others) knew that there were priests defying chastity with live-in boys and women, and defying honesty with lies about the funds spent on such people.
   Two cardinals in a row transferred the priests. One died; one is now presiding over St Mary Major Basilica in Rome!!! Why isn't he doing severe penance like in the Middle Ages?
   The Church of Jesus had simple rules, some of which contradict the "machine-gun forgiveness" theories of most mainstream Churches. These rules included "anathema", that is, removing offenders from the community.
   The original rules seem to have been:-
   For it is impossible as regards those who, having been enlightened ... and having fallen away, to revive them again to repentance, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
   If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to his brother -- provided that it is not a deadly sin. . . . no one who is a child of God sins, ... (1 John 5:16, 18)
   [Jesus said:] Whoever speaks against the spirit of holiness, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in this age nor in that to come. (Matthew 12:32)
   [Jesus said:] No man that has put his hand to a plow and looks at the things behind is well fitted for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)
   If anyone loves me [Jesus], he will observe my commandments ... Anyone who does not love me does not observe my commandments. (John 14:23, 24)
   If there is anyone who does not love the Lord, let him be anathema. (1 Corinthians 16:22) (END OF PRIMARY RULES)
   Reading suggests to me that in the first stages of Christianity, following such scriptures, anyone who committed a serious sin AFTER BAPTISM had no way out. Hence many people, including Constantine, deferred Baptism until near death.
   Then the Church "bent" these rules. The books tell me that to the one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, was added the one Penance to forgive post-Baptism sins.
   "The penitents were separated from the rest of the congregation by wearing special dress and worshipping apart in the church. Even after restoration to Communion, certain disabilities remained for life." --E.A.Livingstone (ed), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1977, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York, page 391; and see "Penance" page 390.
   Simplicity of doctrine such as practised in the early Church ought to be matched by simplicity of material possessions and practices.
   The epistles of Timothy and Titus, although late, show us that parts of the primitive Church enrolled established middle-class self-supporting family men as their clergy. The congregation didn't have to support them, and most donations were spent on relieving the poor.
   There is hardly any need for much of the expenditure of the present-day mainstream Churches on chanceries, expensive dinners, trips, large diocesan staffs, costly vestments, etc.
   Even rewriting the bible translations to remove "inclusive language" is a luxury Christians shouldn't waste their money on. How many more translations are necessary? [Nov 19, 04]
• Bishops adopt new sexual abuse audits -- RCC.
   The Philadelphia Inquirer, www.fortway ne.com/mld/ fortwayne/ news/local/ 10215695.htm , By Jim Remsen, Thu, Nov. 18, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) - 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 start up of the child-protection charter adopted in 2002. But advocates for abuse victims criticized the move.
   The bishops, gathered for their semiannual meeting in Washington, adopted the proposal easily, along with another plan to have dioceses submit annual reports on new abuse cases for a running tally on the scope of the sex abuse crisis.
   In a flurry of action on the final day of their conference, the bishops also received - but did not debate - a much-awaited report from a special task force reviewing their role in U.S. politics. The author, Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, counseled against denying communion to abortion-rights politicians, a stance that has earned scorn from church conservatives.
   The child-protection plan is undergoing an internal review and might be revised when it faces a vote on its renewal next June. For now, the bishops' sex-abuse committee sought action only on the data-collection and audit measures.
   All but the handful of dioceses that failed to carry out "safe environment" training programs and background checks as required by the charter will be able to use the self-reporting audits.
• Groups accept school's apology [1973 Christian Brothers, Laurence] -- RCC. Boys.
   Northeast Reporter, http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=808& NewsID=5899 48&Category ID=5815&show= localnews&om=1 ; by Jennifer Przydzial, Nov/17/04
   MARYLAND: A day before the Nov. 7 open house at Calvert Hall College High School, the Christian Brothers, the order which founded and runs the school, released a statement of apology for how the alleged sexual abuse by the Rev. Brett Laurence, a former teacher at the school, against students more than 30 years ago was handled.
   "We can put this behind us and move on," said one alleged victim.
   It is the policy of the Northeast Reporter to not identify victims of sexual abuse without their permission.
   Last November, members of Abused by Calvert Hall Educators (ACHE) and Greater Baltimore Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (GBSNAP) demonstrated outside the school during its open house for prospective students.
   The demonstration was to call attention to alleged incidents of sexual abuse at Calvert Hall in 1973 and to ask the school to apologize for covering up the dismissal of the alleged abuser and to seek out and help other victims. [...]
   The alleged victim who did speak with the Northeast Reporter said that students were told Laurence was leaving to take care of a sick aunt when he was dismissed in 1973. [...]
   No charges are pending against Laurence in Baltimore County. Last year, the Maryland Court of Appeals imposed a one-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse that occurred between 1967 and 1991. [...]
   GBSNAP meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Towson Library, 320 York Road. #
• Catholic bishops opt for diocesan sex-abuse questionnaire -- RCC.
   Kentucky.com ; www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/politics/10207885.htm , BY JIM REMSEN, Knight Ridder Newspapers
   WASHINGTON (DC) - (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.
   The bishops gathered for their semiannual meeting in Washington adopted the proposal easily, along with another plan to have dioceses submit annual reports on new abuse cases for a running tally on the scope of the sex abuse crisis.
   In a flurry of action on the final day of their conference, the bishops also received - but did not debate - a much-awaited report from a special task force reviewing their role in U.S. politics. The author, Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, counseled against denying communion to abortion-rights politicians, a stance that has earned scorn from church conservatives.
• Our View: Healing required of new bishops' leader [1970s onwards O'Donnell] -- RCC.
   Duluth News Tribune, www.duluth superior.com/ mld/duluth superior/news/ editorial/ 10193558.htm
   UNITED STATES: Perhaps the nation has reached something of a milestone in racial progress when in a single day, two Americans bid adieu to high-profile positions in which they each had been the first black to hold the job. As with Colin Powell, Bishop Wilton Gregory's now-completed three-year tenure as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke of an achievement barely imaginable among blacks a century ago and inspiring to them today.
   Yet the two men share far more than race, both having been thrust into positions of leadership but buffeted by events that greeted them there. Like Powell's albatross of Iraq, Gregory suffered from the weight of the clergy sexual abuse crisis that exploded just after he took the job and became the single most important issue for the bishops' group.
   Although Gregory and his fellow bishops removed hundreds of priests from service and agreed to millions of dollars in settlements with victims, no bishop was held criminally responsible for shuffling molester clergy from parish to parish despite knowledge of abuse, in many cases, for decades.
   Gregory's successor as president, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., should be more than aware of the issue, having declared bankruptcy in his own diocese in the face of lingering lawsuits -- including those involving former priest Patrick O'Donnell Jr., who has admitted molesting 30 boys dating back to the 1970s. Though the two clerics shared a rectory residence then, Skylstad has denied knowledge of O'Donnell's actions. [Emphasis added]
• Priest disciplined for viewing pornographic material near a child will return to active duty [2004 Traylor] -- RCC.
   Courier & Press, By PHILIP ELLIOTT, 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com November 17, 2004
   EVANSVILLE (IN): The Rev. WIlliam A. Traylor, who has been on forced medical leave since he was caught in July viewing pornographic material with a child in the church offices, will return to his post this weekend.
   Traylor, pastor of Evansville's St. Theresa and St. Joseph Catholic churches, will lead Mass and speak with his parishioners Saturday and Sunday. He will return to full-time duties Dec. 18, according to a letter parishioners received Wednesday.
   "For the disappointment, confusion, and hurt my mistake has caused I am sorry. Please know that I am committed to restoring as best as I can the trust my failure has damaged by serving you," Traylor wrote in the letter, printed on parish letterhead with his signature.
   He also wrote, "The therapy program has given me a better understanding of my strengths and vulnerabilities as well as a new set of insights and tools to be a healthier man and priest."
   Traylor admitted in the new letter to viewing an adult Web site while a child sat on the other side of a partition during St. Joseph's summer social July 10.
   [COMMENT: It's hard to know which level of the clergy shows the most immaturity in this sad case. Surely if Jesus had wanted ministers to remain single and have no sex, his remarks would have been reported at the time by his followers, wouldn't they? An interest in pornography is usual for adolescents, but most sensible religious married men avoid it like the plague. In the RCC theology of the 1940s, even taking pleasure in thinking about sex was sinful except for a married man thinking of his wife. In recent years, French kissing was labelled a mortal sin except between married couples. Yet this priest and perhaps his superiors evidently think his actions are a "mistake," it would seem. COMMENT ENDS.]
   [DOCTRINE: "Did you not read that the Creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh." (Matthew 19:4-6) (NJB). "This is why" is also translated "For this reason" or "On account of this." That is, BECAUSE the Creator made the two genders, the male leaves his parents and cleaves to his woman, as the NT Greek has it.
   In spite of exempting themselves from the scriptures enjoining marriage, the RCC leaders seem to remember (when banning contraception) that the Creator is supposed to have said "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:22). No exemption for clergy was reported. On the contrary, the ancient Judaite-Israelite priesthood was hereditary, which usually entails sex, and ideally entails marriage! So, is it any wonder that non-RCs say that celibacy is non-scriptural, and some say it is contrary to scripture. DOCTRINE ENDS.]
• Retired priest being sued over abuse allegations [1963, 1977-78 Paquette] - RCC. Altar boy/s.
   WCAX, www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=2582646
   BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A former Catholic priest at Christ the King Church in Burlington is being sued on claims he sexually molested an altar boy in the 1970s.
   Edward Paquette, who is now retired and living in Westfield, Massachusetts, denies the charges.
   Burlington Attorney Jermone O'Neill says the abuse incidents occurred in 1977 and 1978.
   Also named as a defendant in the case is the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
   The lawsuit contends the diocese knew Paquette had a history of molesting boys before it assigned him to the Burlington parish.
   Court documents say church officials in Massachusetts warned Paquette about his behavior as early as 1963.
• Skylstad says 'first priority' is the Spokane Diocese -- RCC.
   Spokesman-Review, by Virginia de Leon, November 18, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) - As he assumes the leadership of the nation's Catholic hierarchy, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane has one request for the people of his diocese.
   "Please pray for me," he said Wednesday. "This is a significant responsibility, and I ask for your prayers." ...
   While bankruptcy is something he wishes he could avoid, the experience in the Diocese of Tucson shows that the process isn't impossible, Skylstad said. Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas filed for Chapter 11 in September, just two months after the Archdiocese of Portland declared bankruptcy.
   "Up to this point, the process of Chapter 11 reorganization has been moving along cooperatively and expeditiously," Kicanas said earlier this week. The Tucson bishop added that the bankruptcy proceedings haven't taken up too much of his time.
   In a previous interview with The Spokesman-Review, Kicanas indicated that if the Diocese of Spokane filed for bankruptcy, the move would be "the church's desire to heal the hurt that has taken place in a fair and equitable way."
• Bishops, in annual meeting, signal commitment to abuse reforms -- RCC.
   Herald Tribune, www.herald tribune.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041118/ APN/411180648 , By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer, Nov 18, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- 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.
• Virtus Program Is Time Well Spent -- RCC.
   Arlington Catholic Herald, By Elizabeth Foss, Herald Columnist, Nov/18/04
   ARLINGTON (VA): It was with more than a little reluctance that I dragged myself to the mandatory VIRTUS presentation "Protecting God's Children." I was not looking forward to sacrificing four hours on a gloriously beautiful fall afternoon to discuss child abuse. I assure you it was four hours well spent.
   Since the abuse scandal was first uncovered, I wondered how such atrocities could have happened on the scale that they did. I was operating within my own paradigm, thinking of my children's involvement in parish activities and that of my friends.
   It was inconceivable. Now, I recognize that it could not have happened here because both our family and the diocese were already essentially operating under the five-point plan explained in VIRTUS.
   My children and most children I knew were never in dangerous situations because their parents instinctively never put them there and because the Church had in place safeguards that never presented dangerous situations.
   On that afternoon, parents who already had a good sense about childhood safety learned some very valuable things about how pedophiles think and behave that will forever change the way they look at all relationships their children have with adults.
   Perhaps most importantly, we learned how perpetrators groom their victims, the families and the entire community.
   Now I understand how entire parishes let widespread abuse happen right under their noses, and I am confident that it won't happen in my backyard because I wasn't alone at my VIRTUS training.
   It won't happen here because here there is a large team of people who are educated to ensure that it won't.
   [COMMENT: But, but, how could the RCC have had 4% of its US clergy, so far, exposed as child abusers, if it has been under Divine guidance for hundreds and hundreds of years? Aren't the four chief marks or signs of the Jesus followers that they are in "One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic" Church? COMMENT ENDS.]
• Secrecy clouds Sullivan case [1975 Sullivan] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Advocate, www.2theadvo cate.com/stories/ 111804/opi_edi 001.shtml
   BATON ROUGE (LA): The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, by settling a sex-abuse lawsuit, tacitly branded the late Bishop Joseph V. Sullivan a sexual predator.
   Next school year, the disgraced bishop's name is to be stripped from a parochial school in Baton Rouge.
   These developments occur 22 years after the bishop's death and 29 years after he allegedly abused a 17-year-old boy.
   Like so much else in the ongoing sex scandals in the Catholic Church, this matter has been shrouded in near-total secrecy through the settlement and sealing of a lawsuit never to be heard in open court.
   The public and the church laity know only as much about this case as the plaintiff, the church hierarchy and the courts are willing to reveal, which is almost nothing.
• New U.S. leader: Catholic bishops have had it rough -- RCC.
   USA Today, www.usatoday. com/news/ religion/2004- 11-17-skylst ad-usat_x.htm , By Cathy Lynn Grossman, Nov 17, 2004
   WASHINGTON, D.C. - Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., in his first public statement Wednesday as head of the Roman Catholic Church's U.S. leadership, sidestepped two fractious issues - whether Catholic politicians who publicly dissent from church teachings on abortion should be offered Communion and the cost of the child sexual-abuse crisis.
   Skylstad was elected head of the bishops group just days after announcing his diocese would file for bankruptcy to preserve assets in the face of potential multimillion-dollar claims by 125 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests. Spokane will be the third diocese to file for bankruptcy in the crisis, which has cost $772 million nationwide.
   Acknowledging "tension" between his responsibilities to his diocese and his role as leader of the bishops' group, Skylstad said, "It's been a tough time for bishops, honestly, a very tough time."
• Priest regrets 'debasing' children [2000s Kornacki] -- RCC. Child porn.
   Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly. com/mld/inqui rer/news/loc al/10211262.htm , By Joseph A. Slobodzian
   PHILADELPHIA (PA): A veteran Philadelphia Roman Catholic priest was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison for possessing child pornography after an emotional statement in which he apologized to the "children trapped in the web of child pornographers."
   "I am very sorry, and I am ashamed that I debased you in this way," the Rev. Matthew J. Kornacki said before he was sentenced in federal court.
   Kornacki, 57, who pleaded guilty, also apologized to his family - his 85-year-old father, two sisters and brother sitting in the courtroom - and to his "brother priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia trying to reestablish trust in the priesthood." [and so on, as previous newsitem.]
• Judge limits pretrial comments [1973 McGlynn] -- ? RCC. Girl.
   Kansas City Star, www.kansascity. com/mld/kansas city/news/ local/10209 182.htm , By KEVIN MURPHY
   MISSOURI: A Jackson County judge Wednesday set guidelines for pretrial publicity in a sexual abuse lawsuit against a retired Kansas City priest.
   Circuit Judge John O'Malley also heard a motion to quash a subpoena issued to the leader of a clergy abuse support group and a motion to dismiss the case based on a five-year statute of limitations.
   Lawyers for retired priest Francis McGlynn argued that he was the subject of prejudicial publicity in a lawsuit filed 13 months ago by Teresa White, who alleged that he abused her at St. Mary's Church in Independence in 1973, when she was 17. The case is pending. McGlynn denies the charge.
   White held a press conference with her lawyer, Rebecca Randles, before filing the lawsuit. Randles also has held press conferences before the filing of other sexual abuse lawsuits against former priests and has done media interviews.
• Priest gets 30-month term in kiddie porn [2003 Kornacki] -- RCC. Child porn.
   Philadelphia Daily News, www.philly. com/mld/daily news/news/ local/1021 0659.htm , By RON GOLDWYN, goldwyr@phillynews.com
   PHILADELPHIA (PA): The Rev. Matthew J. Kornacki had multiple apologies to make yesterday just before he was sentenced to federal prison for possessing kiddie porn images.
   Kornacki, 57, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for 31 years, read an emotional statement expressing his sorrow and regret.
   He apologized to his family, to fellow priests and to "children trapped in the web of child pornographers." He added, "I am very sorry and I am ashamed that I debased you in this way."
   Kornacki pleaded guilty Aug. 25. He must surrender for prison within 30 days.
   Kornacki, while living at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary last year, was charged with having a laptop full of kiddie porn, including at least 150 images of children involved in sex acts.
   Kornacki stood with little emotion as U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick sentenced him to 30 months in federal prison, a $6,000 fine, and two years supervised probation upon release. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:25 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu November 18, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri November 19, 2004 edition follows:-
• Rev. Norman H. Christian [1970s Christian] -- RCC.

   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/stories.nsf/ deathsobituaries/ story/6C93C52 BF97EE645862 56F4B0054DDC0? OpenDocument& Headline=Rev.+ Norman+H.+Christ ian&highlight= 2%2CTHE%2CREV.% 2CNORMAN%2CH.% 2CCHRISTIAN ; Nov/13/2004
   MISSOURI: A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 1 at St. Richard Catholic Church in Creve Coeur for the Rev. Norman H. Christian. Father Christian, a former pastor in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, died Oct. 29 from kidney and liver failure at Mother of Good Counsel Nursing Home. He was 69.
   Father Christian was born in St. Louis. In 1961, he was ordained by Cardinal Joseph Ritter and began his ministry at St. Peter Catholic Church in Kirkwood. He then went to what is now the Ascension/St. Paul Parish in Normandy. Later he was at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Festus and St. George Catholic Church in Affton. From 1978 to 1981, Father Christian was at the former Nativity Catholic Church in St. Louis. He was at the former St. Adalbert Catholic Church in St. Louis until 1986 and then St. William Catholic Church in Woodson Terrace until being removed in 1995.
   The archdiocese said Father Christian was removed after an allegation that he had abused a minor 20 years earlier. He was sent to Wounded Brothers Project, south of Robertsville in Franklin County, according to a Post-Dispatch news article in March. An Oct. 27 column by Bill McClellan described how Father Christian's sister, Carol Kuhnert of Union, and other family members had reached out to his victims. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:49 PM]
• Nebraska Man Sues RC Diocese Over Alleged Abuse [? 1960s Murray] -- RCC.
   Keloland.com ; www.keloland. com/NewsDetail 2817.cfm?I d=22,36110
   RAPID CITY (SD): An Omaha, Nebraska, man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City over alleged abuse by a priest.
   Gerald Pecoraro says he was molested and kidnapped by the Reverend Donald Murray at Sky Ranch for Boys in northwest South Dakota.
   Murray was the ranch director and has since died. The ranch is still open.
   Pecoraro is 53 years old and says he was 14 when his parents sent him there in 1965. He says the abuse happened twice at the ranch and once on a trip to Chicago.
   Pecoraro says he suffers from serious psychological problems that led to numerous personal and social problems.
• Scandal puts focus on LA cardinal, whose legacy may be at stake -- RCC.
   San Luis Obispo Tribune, www.sanluis obispo.com/ mld/sanluis obispo/102 25693.htm , By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press, Posted on Fri, Nov. 19, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - In a passionate tribute last spring to his friend, the late labor activist Cesar Chavez, Cardinal Roger Mahony spoke about the dignity of immigrants' work and their struggle with poverty.
   Mahony addressed the audience of 500 in both English and Spanish, acknowledging their suffering and assuring them of God's love. It was a compassion borne from years of working with the poor.
   The speech was in stark contrast to one delivered two years before, when a humbled and embattled Mahony appeared at his boyhood parish in Hollywood. He asked for forgiveness for "not taking swifter action" to remove molester priests from the ministry.
   The two addresses underscore a dramatic contradiction some see in Mahony, leader of the 4.2 million Catholics who comprise the nation's largest archdiocese.
   The cardinal, 68, has gained a reputation as a voice for the poor and dispossessed, dating to his work in the 1960s when he was a vocal supporter of farmworkers' rights. But he also has publicly acknowledged being too lenient with molester priests and has drawn sharp criticism for his handling of the priest-abuse crisis in Los Angeles, including the archdiocese's fight to keep internal church documents secret.
• D'Arcy supports change in audits -- RCC.
   WASHINGTON (DC): Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, www.fortwayne. com/mld/fort wayne/news/ local/1022 4719.htm , By Kevin Kilbane, kkilbane@news-sentinel.com
   Simplifying the reporting process for sex-abuse audits at U.S. Catholic churches makes sense, especially for this diocese and others that have not had abuse problems, local Bishop John M. D'Arcy said.
   U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday at their fall meeting in Washington, D.C., to switch to a less demanding, self-reporting audit process in future years.
   D'Arcy, clergy leader of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, supported the change during discussions at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting, which ended Thursday. D'Arcy returned to Indiana late Wednesday, however, to celebrate the funeral Mass today in South Bend for the father of a priest there.
   The audit conducted this year, on which the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend received a good report, was very demanding in the gathering and filing of paperwork, D'Arcy said. While the audit was worthwhile, the self-reporting process should work well in the future.
• Skylstad: Bishop's group probably won't take position on church bankruptcies -- RCC.
   KGW, By JOHN K. WILEY / Associated Press, Nov/19/2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Friday he doubts the group will take a position on diocesan bankruptcy filings.
   Skylstad held a news conference after returning from Washington, D.C., where he was elected earlier this year [this month] to a three-year term as head of America's Catholic bishops.
   He announced last week that the Spokane diocese plans to reorganize its finances under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, following the lead of dioceses in Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz.
   It is unlikely the national bishops' organization will take a position on the issue, Skylstad said.
• Judge orders mediation in archdiocese bankruptcy -- RCC. Legal bills mount as delays are requested.
   OregonLive.com ; By WILLIAM McCALL, The Associated Press, 1:27 p.m. PT, Nov/19/2004
   PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge on Friday ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland to prepare for mediation with the victims of alleged priest sexual abuse to settle claims that triggered the first archdiocese bankruptcy in the nation.
   U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris told a roomful of lawyers representing the church, the victims and several insurance companies that she wants the majority of cases resolved by June.
   Perris left open the possibility of binding arbitration or jury trials for the cases that can't be settled by mediation.
   But she warned all the attorneys that "resources and time are limited," reminding them they are running up a huge legal bill every time they ask for a delay.
   Thomas Dulcich, an attorney for the archdiocese, said he was confident that most of the cases could be resolved by mediation.
   But disagreement over when to cut off any future claims to the bankruptcy case led to an emotional exchange between several of the attorneys for the archdiocese and the victims.
• U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference -- RCC.
   Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week812/news.html
  WASHINGTON (DC): BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: America's Roman Catholic bishops gathered for their annual fall meeting in Washington, DC this week. As Kim Lawton reports, the sex abuse crisis was still high on their agenda.
   KIM LAWTON: The nation's Roman Catholic bishops pledged a renewed commitment to unity, even as they debated a host of issues confronting their church. One of the most difficult issues remains the ongoing fallout from the priestly sex abuse crisis.
• Lawsuit alleges assault by priest [? 2003 Treleaven] --RCC. Jesuit. Male seminarian.
   Spokesman-Review, by Virginia de Leon, November 19, 2004
   OREGON: A former seminarian is suing the Jesuits and one of its priests for allegedly assaulting him after he resisted the priest's sexual advances.
   Michael Willing, 28, filed a personal injury action complaint Thursday against the Rev. Michael Treleaven, a Jesuit and professor at Gonzaga University. The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus - which is affiliated with Gonzaga and six other Jesuit schools in Washington and Oregon - also is being sued for negligence.
   Willing said the assault happened last summer on the Gonzaga campus. He said it traumatized him and led him to abandon his dream of becoming a priest. "I feel like my life has been taken away," he said in an interview Thursday.
   Treleaven did not return phone calls to the newspaper Thursday. A political science professor at Gonzaga since 1993, Treleaven joined the Jesuits in 1973 and was ordained a priest 10 years later. He is a chaplain at Campion House, one of the men's dorms on campus, and serves as the adviser to the men's rugby club and the Knights, a service group.
• Resignation accepted from priest -- RCC. Rev. Lawrence Minder was a victim.
   Seattle Times, http://seattle times.nwsource. com/html/local news/200209 5355_mind er19m.html , By Janet I. Tu
   BOTHELL (WA): The Rev. Lawrence Minder will no longer be pastor at Bothell's St. Brendan Roman Catholic Church.
   Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett sent a letter last night to St. Brendan parishioners, telling them he has accepted Minder's resignation. The archbishop is appointing someone to coordinate parish business until a permanent pastor is named.
   Minder submitted his resignation in late August after stunning his parishioners when he announced he had been sexually abused by a priest decades ago. He said he was resigning rather than undergo a psychological assessment, the results of which would have been available to the archbishop.
   Brunett had asked for the assessment over concerns about Minder's alcohol use.
   The archdiocese and Minder reached an agreement in September under which the priest, rather than resign, would take a paid leave of absence to undergo evaluation in Minnesota.
   The archbishop did not accept Minder's resignation at that time because he believed Minder was under considerable pressure and he hoped that the priest would return to his parish, said Greg Magnoni, Seattle Archdiocese spokesman.
• Former priest 'jail pariah' [1970s-80s Hawkins] -- Anglican

   The Mercury, By GAVIN LOWER, Law Reporter, Nov 20, 04
   AUSTRALIA: Disgraced former Anglican priest Garth Hawkins was a pariah in jail, a court was told yesterday.
   The 59-year-old is serving a 7 1/2-year jail sentence in Risdon Prison for sexually abusing seven teenage boys in the 1970s and '80s.
   He appeared in the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday after admitting he sexually abused an eighth teenager at Triabunna in 1984.
   His lawyer, Roger Baker, told the court Hawkins was housed in maximum security and allowed out of his cell for only 60 minutes a day.
   Mr Baker said Hawkins received "frequent" death threats from other prisoners and had been the victim of "vile acts" at the hands of other inmates.
• Sins of the monsignor [1960s-70s Day] -- RCC. ~ 100 victims. Detective victimised.
   The Australian, by Michael Davis, November 20, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: Denis Ryan says he had no trouble accepting the double-dealing he saw as part of the culture of the Victoria Police in the 1970s.
   "A nod here, a wink there among colleagues to do the 'right thing' was not viewed as duplicitous or corrupt," he says. "In those days, it was simply the way the job was done. It made things easier for everyone and you might need a favour back the other way sooner rather than later."
   Back then Ryan was working as a senior detective constable in Mildura, the border capital of the Sunraysia district of northwest Victoria.
"I never professed to be a saint or sinner," says Ryan, now 72, and based at his Mildura orchard. "But I never took a bribe."
   More than 30 years later, Ryan is seeking redress from the police force he says cut short his career after he raised allegations of sexual assault of children by a Catholic priest - with the rank of monsignor - in the early '70s.
   The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has released a secret police file on Monsignor John Day, the man Ryan accuses of assaulting as many as 100 children in Mildura in the '60s and early '70s. Day, who died in 1978, was in Mildura from 1957 to 1972.
• Retired priest hit with new Vt. molest charge [1970s Paquette] -- RCC. Altar boys

   Boston Herald, By Franci Richardson, Friday, November 19, 2004
   MASSACHUSETTS: A priest accused of molesting "hundreds of boys" in Mansfield and New Bedford while the diocese shuffled him between parishes is being sued again for abusing a second child in Vermont.
   "He was doing it with virtually every altar boy he could literally get his hands on," said attorney Jerome O'Neill of Burlington, Vt., who filed suit on behalf of the second former altar boy who says he was molested at Christ the King Church in the 1970s. "Edward Paquette probably molested hundreds of boys."
   Paquette Jr., 75 and retired, maintains his innocence.
   "I deny all the allegations until I talk to a lawyer," he told the Burlington Free Press. "I'm innocent."
   But one of the victims who filed suit says he's recovered horrible memories of abuse from Paquette. "I just have hate for the man and could care less whether he lives or dies," said Michael Gay, 37, of S. Burlington.
   According to documents, the Diocese of Fall River in 1963 ordered him to leave Our Lady of Grace Church "for reasons of a most grave nature and the attending scandal."
• Program designed to protect kids -- RCC. Virtus training.
   The Enquirer, www.battle creekenquirer. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article?AID=/ 20041119/ NEWS01/ 411190303/1002 , by Claudia Linsley, Nov 19, 2004
   MICHIGAN: Parents and school volunteers filled the cafeteria at St. Joseph Elementary School last week, but it wasn't for a social event.
   They were the latest group to be affected by nationwide revelations in 2002 of the past sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.
   "There is a little undertone of resentment. They say, 'Why do I have to participate in this when it's a priests' problem?'" said Mary Jane Doerr, director of Protecting God's Children.
   The educational program was developed by Virtus, a subsidiary of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group. Protecting Our Children was initiated by the Diocese of Kalamazoo to comply with "The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002.
   It requires each diocese to conduct an ongoing program to promote children's safety and mandates that each diocese undergo annual audits to prove its compliance with the charter.
• Bishop Skylstad Points to Conference's Priorities -- RCC.
   Zenit, NOV. 18, 2004
   WASHINGTON, D.C., (Zenit.org).- The U.S. bishops' conference newly elected president says its priorities include helping victims of sexual abuse and preventing other young people from being similarly exploited.
   Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, at a news conference Wednesday, said: "Among our priorities, we bishops will continue to build on the steps we have taken for more than a decade, especially the Charter and the Norms adopted in 2002."
   He added: "The experience of the victims and of my own diocese and of every diocese has made clear the long-term effects of this abuse even if it occurred two or three decades ago."
   [COMMENT: 2nd paragraph. "... steps we have taken for more than a decade ..." Oops! No real effective action occurred until the 2002 Boston revelations of absolute debauchery really awakened the news media, police, courts, public and Catholics that some stern action needed to be taken. Since then, hundreds of priest have been removed from office. The RCC history is replete with strict reforms that, after some decades seem to be forgotten. The parable of the fishing net does NOT say that the fishermen are rotten! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Diocese refines anti-abuse effort -- RCC.
   News-Leader, http://spring field.news- leader.com/ news/today/ 1119-Diocese ref-229843.html , By Linda Leicht
   SPRINGFILED (IL): Two and a half years after U.S. Catholic bishops met in Dallas to consider how the church would respond to a clergy sex-abuse crisis, the Springfield diocese is working hard to keep its children safe.
   "If a child comes to a church and you talk about a loving God, and then somebody in that setting harms them in any way, it's awful," said Sister Rosalie Digenan, who is in charge of the Safe Environment education program. "It's the antithesis of what you're saying."
   The Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese initiated its abuse prevention program in late 2002 and has successfully completed two audits of the program, most recently in September. Results of the last audit were released this week.
   "I am deeply grateful to all our pastors and personnel in the diocese who have taken an active role in creating safe environments for our children and young people," said Bishop John Leibrecht in his response to the audit. "Together, all of us in the diocese must continue to work hard to protect our children and teens and to comply with future audits."
   The initial audit, released in January, included recommendations that the diocese develop a written complaint form, name an additional victim-assistance coordinator and abandon a policy calling for preliminary investigations before reporting complaints to law enforcement. Those issues have since been handled.
• Victims: Abuse help is slow -- RCC.
   The Times-Picayune, By Bruce Nolan, Friday, November 19, 2004
   NEW ORLEANS: 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.
   From the beginning of the sex-abuse crisis in 2002, Hughes has demanded that victims be treated in a "a pastorally and psychologically thorough way, with the needs of the victim foremost in mind," Maestri said.
   But Taylor said that although Hughes agreed in June to a series of visits with victims who are members of SNAP, the appointments are only now beginning.
• Judge: Too much time has passed for priest abuse suit [1961-68 Slown, Dennerlein, Ruffalo] -- RCC. Boys.
   Chicago Daily Herald, By Christy Gutowski, Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer Posted Friday, November 19, 2004
   ILLINOIS: A judge tossed out a lawsuit Thursday in which two brothers sued the Joliet Diocese, claiming three priests abused them nearly 40 years ago while they attended St. John the Baptist Church in Winfield.
   DuPage Circuit Judge John T. Elsner ruled a new state law extending the time limit for lawsuits in cases of sexual abuse of children cannot be applied retroactively to revive the brothers' allegations.
   John and Jeff Welch, both in their late 40s and living on the East Coast, filed the lawsuit Oct. 14, 2003, alleging the sexual abuse continued for six years until 1968, when their family moved to New Jersey.
   The priests named in the suit are John C. Slown, Arno Dennerlein and Richard Ruffalo, who died in 1997 at 62.
   In 1983, Slown was convicted of sexually abusing a boy, was defrocked and then moved to Colorado. The abuse occurred while he served at St. Irene Catholic Church in Warrenville.
• Apology set for alleged sexual abuse [Ponciroli] -- RCC.
   Contra Costa Times, By Rowena Coetsee www.contra costatimes. com/mld/cctimes/ news/local/ states/california/ counties/contra_ costa_county/ cities_neighbor hoods/antioch/ 10222338.htm
   BYRON (CA) - 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.
   "He apologizes for everything having to do with this issue," said diocesan chancellor Sister Barbara Flannery.
   She oversees a ministry called "No More Secrets," which is intended to help those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy as well as prevent additional cases of abuse.
• Priest abuse suit dismissed [1960s Slown, Dennerlein, Ruffalo] -- RCC. Boys.
   Chicago Tribune, By Art Barnum, Published November 19, 2004
   ILLINOIS: A lawsuit filed against two Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing two Winfield brothers in the 1960s was dismissed Thursday after a DuPage County judge ruled too much time had passed since the alleged incidents.
   The brothers, Jeff Welch, 46, and John Welch, 52, filed the lawsuit in 2003 against three priests, John Slown, Arno Dennerlein and Richard Ruffalo, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet.
   The lawsuit against Dennerlein was also dismissed Thursday because it has been privately settled out of court.
   The suit alleges that when the Welches were 6 and 12 years old and parishioners at St. John the Baptist Church in Winfield, they were befriended by the priests who molested them over six years.
• Child abuse state compensation scheme gets Eur 170m, 42% rise -- RCC. €150m wasted so far.

   One in Four, by Carl O'Brien - Irish Times
   IRELAND: The State compensation scheme for victims of institutional child abuse has been allocated €170 million, a 42 per cent increase, for next year.
   Since it was set up in 2002, the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme has made awards to nearly 2,000 former residents of institutions at a cost of more than €150 million.
   The Controller and Auditor General has estimated that the final number of claimants could be around 8,900, at a potential cost of €828 million. The average award to date has been €77,000, though a €300,000 payment was made in one particularly severe case.
• Child abuse sign of Church's moral disorder, says Bishop - RCC. 6 or 7 allegations.
   Irish Independent, www.unison. ie/irish_inde pendent/sto ries.php3? ca=9&si=1290830 &issue_id=11718
   IRELAND: The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh said yesterday that there was "a very, very serious moral disorder within the Catholic Church" that allowed priests to sexually abuse children.
   However, Dr Walsh added that there is still a very significant denial of the widespread nature of child-sex abuse in wider Irish society even though there is very solid research now indicating a very serious problem.
   In an interview marking 10 years in office, Dr Walsh said the Killaloe diocese has made payments to two victims of sexual abuse during his time as bishop, but would not reveal the amounts involved.
   The bishop said that in all, he has dealt with possibly six or seven allegations against priests, some dating from the 1950s.
   He said there "was a fair bit of denial in the Church in relation to the sexual abuse of children in the early years". He added however: "The response of the Church over the past 10 years has been very strong and there has been no other issue to which I have paid more attention. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:11 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri November 19, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont104.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat November 20, 2004 edition follows:-
• Column: Church leadership stumbles again [2004 Cleary] -- RCC. Choir family head banned.

   Gloucester Daily Times, www.ecnnews. com/cgi-bin/ 04/g/gstory. pl?fn-colnyh20 , By David Nyhan, Saturday, November 20, 2004
   ANDOVER (MA): Not that we needed further proof of the way the local leadership of the Roman Catholic Church still doesn't get it, but what happened at Andover's St. Augustine parish the day after the election is illustrative.
   State Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover, re-elected the day before, was phoned by the Rev. William Cleary and told she could no longer lead the children's choir and sing as cantor because of her public support for abortion rights.
   L'Italien met with the priest next morning at her home. Cleary said she could no longer step on the altar or play any role in church functions.
   She has three kids in the choir, has a stellar record, has the confidence of the voters, and yet she got the boot from Cleary.
   Cleary told The Eagle-Tribune the lawmaker, who represents West Boxford and parts of Haverhill, Methuen, Andover, North Andover and Georgetown, "is against the church's position," and that four parishioners demanded he crack down on her, as urged by Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who has said pro-choice Catholics, whether elected officials or not, should not take Communion or be welcome in church in any but the most passive fashion.
   How much sense does this make? Reeling from scandal, led by men who countenanced serial pederast priests molesting thousands of children, the church is booting the choir lady. [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:54 PM]
• Area residents share memories of Cardinal Mahony [? 1971 - ? 1993 O'Grady] -- RCC.
   Lodi News-Sentinel, By News-Sentinel Staff, Last updated: Saturday, Nov 20, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: Roger Mahony, cardinal of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, was bishop of the Stockton Diocese from 1980 to 1985, when Father Oliver O'Grady was a priest in the Stockton Diocese.
   Mahony is being questioned about what he knew about possible sexual abuses that O'Grady committed while O'Grady served in the diocese.
   O'Grady was a priest at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi from 1971 and 1978, but served elsewhere in the Stockton Diocese until 1993.
   Although Mahony ended his tenure as bishop of the Stockton Diocese nearly 20 years ago, the memories of his time here remain strong with many area Catholics.
• Top bishop steps down after tumultuous term -- RCC.
   Traverse City Record-Eagle, www.record- eagle.com/ 2004/nov/ 20bishop.htm , by Religion News Service, November 20, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Three years ago, when Bishop Wilton Gregory was named president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the big news was that he was the first African-American to hold the post.
   But within six weeks, as the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston and spread nationwide, all that was set aside as Gregory became the public face of a bruised and battered church. It was a moment, Gregory said, that would make Martin Luther King Jr. proud.
   "One of the graces of the moment was that all of a sudden I was being judged, as Dr. King liked to say, by the content of my character and not the color of my skin," said Gregory, the bishop of Belleville, Ill. "What a great day."
   This week, Gregory ended his term as president and will return to the workaday routines of his heartland diocese. Like the rest of the American church, he is anxious to move beyond the scandal.
   Church watchers say his widely acclaimed role in steering the church may not leave him in Belleville for long.
• Attorney seeks tapes in suits against priest who abused 2 [1999-2000 Campobello] -- RCC. Girls.
   Chicago Daily Herald, By Tona Kunz, Posted Saturday, November 20, 2004
   ILLINOIS: A teen sexually abused by a former Geneva priest wore a wire while he talked about their rendezvous.
   Those tapes may have helped push Mark Campobello, 39, to plead guilty in a criminal court earlier this year and may hurt him and the Rockford Diocese in ongoing civil lawsuits.
   Keith Aeschliman, a Shorewood attorney representing two girls suing Campobello and the diocese, will ask next week for a court order to get the audiotapes held by the Kane County state's attorney's office.
   Aeschliman said the tapes don't mention the diocese but do cement a timeframe for the abuse and that it happened.
   Campobello is accused of abusing the girls in 1999 and 2000 while working at Aurora Central Catholic High School and St. Peter's Church in Geneva.
• Inspectors at LAX found child porn [2000s Datan]

   Union-Tribune, By Onell R. Soto, November 20, 2004
   SAN DIEGO (CA): A San Diego man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles yesterday on sex-tourism and child pornography charges.
   Edilberto Datan, 60, was arrested as he returned from his native <>Philippines on Nov. 4 after inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport discovered hundreds of digital pictures of naked young boys, authorities said. ...
   Datan, a retired auditor, did volunteer work for a local community center and also worked with troubled youths, Unzueta said.
   Unzueta wouldn't identify the community center, whose organizers, he said, were afraid of bad publicity.
   Datan was indicted in Los Angeles federal court on charges of traveling overseas to have sex with children and producing, possessing and transporting child pornography.[...]
   Agents focused on Datan because he was among about 130 people in San Diego and Imperial counties whose names appeared on a list of people who used credit cards to buy child pornography from a Belarus-based ring, Unzueta said.
   He was not among the 30 local people whose homes and workplaces were searched - including those of a Roman Catholic priest and a Border Patrol agent - because they were in positions of trust, he said.[...] [Emphasis added]
• Priest sex-abuse case renews retroactive debate [~ 1970s Slown, Dennerlein, Ruffalo] -- RCC.

   Chicago Daily Herald, www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/city/j20diocese.htm , By Ted Slowik
   WHEATON (IL) - A DuPage County judge's ruling in a sexual-abuse case involving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet is reviving debate about whether a recent state law can be applied retroactively.
   DuPage County Judge John Elsner on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2003 by two brothers who claimed they were repeatedly molested by three priests when they were children. Jeff and John Welch, who are now in their 40s, claimed that when they were children at St. John the Baptist Church in Winfield they were molested by the Revs. John Slown, Arno Dennerlein and Richard Ruffalo.
   Slown was convicted in 1983 of molesting an altar boy and removed from the priesthood. Ruffalo died in 1997. The Joliet Diocese placed Dennerlein on administrative leave last year when a different pair of brothers accused Dennerlein of molesting them at St. Patrick's Church in Joliet during the 1970s.
   Elsner ruled that the alleged molestations of the Welches occurred too long ago for them to pursue action against the church.
   In July 2003, state legislators approved changes to the previous statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in a sex abuse case from two years to 10 years after the victim's 18th birthday, or five years after the victim realizes he was harmed by an abuser.
• Weathering The Storm [O'Donnell] -- RCC. Skylstad did not see.
   Stockton Record, By Jonathan Martin and Ken Armstrong, The Seattle Times, Published Saturday, November 20, 2004
   SPOKANE, Wash. -- In the summer of 1974, a young priest with a history of molesting teenage boys was sent to live in a tiny, red-brick rectory with an older priest who was on his way up in the Catholic Church. The young priest, Patrick Gerald O'Donnell Jr., would be forced from the ministry a decade later, but not before molesting at least 30 boys by his own admission.
   The older priest, William S. Skylstad, became bishop of the Spokane diocese and was recently elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, giving him one of the church's most powerful voices. The position places him at the forefront of reform efforts in the clergy sexual-abuse scandal.
   As president, Skylstad will advise the pope and confront such challenges as the church's financial struggles and sagging morale, both traceable to the sexual-abuse scandal.
   O'Donnell and the Spokane diocese are defendants in lawsuits accusing O'Donnell of molestation and the diocese of neglect. Trial is set to begin Nov. 29. In court records, parishioners and victims have portrayed Skylstad as a pastor who failed to supervise his troubled assistant. And O'Donnell now admits that he sexually abused several parish boys in the rectory, only an earshot from his pastor's quarters.
   Victims and reformers look at Skylstad and ask: Could someone so seemingly blind then have the vision so needed now?
• Judge allows new class of clergy abuse cases -- RCC.
   The Oregonian, By STEVE WOODWARD, Saturday, November 20, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR): U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris opened the door Friday to a potentially large number of future claims in the 4-month-old bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of Portland.
   Over the arguments of the archdiocese, she named a new class of clergy sex abuse claimants: people who know they were molested as children but haven't yet associated that abuse with later problems in life, such as alcoholism. The class also includes minors, as well as adults with repressed memory syndrome, a controversial condition in which a person supposedly blocks out the memory of a traumatic event.
   At the same time, Perris moved the bankruptcy forward by directing lawyers for the archdiocese and about 60 clergy sex abuse plaintiffs to try to settle about $530 million in claims through mandatory mediation.
   Perris agreed with the archdiocese to set an April 29 deadline for claims to be filed. But that deadline wouldn't apply to the future claimants, the adults and minors who aren't aware of their injuries.
   The ruling is a blow for the archdiocese. One of the church's major goals in declaring bankruptcy was to resolve liability for past abuse. The archdiocese had wanted to restrict future claimants to minors and those who had no memory of the alleged abuse.
   "It's a radical departure if you extend it to those who know the conduct occurred," said Debra Dandeneau, a lawyer for General Insurance Co., which is in a related dispute with the archdiocese over whether it should pay for settlements.
• Church sued over abuse in 1992 [1992 Fine] -- Christian Faith Center.
   Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002096359_molest20m.html , By Janet I. Tu, Sat Nov 20, 2004
   WASHINGTON: A 20-year-old King County man is suing Christian Faith Center, alleging that the church staff failed years ago to protect him from a Sunday-school teacher who sexually abused him, even though they knew the teacher had molested before.
   Christian Faith Center is one of the largest evangelical churches in the Northwest, with locations in SeaTac and Everett, and a proposed 4,500-seat site in Federal Way.
   The suit was filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court by a man identified as "A.H." and by A.H.'s parents.
   They say that A.H. first met the teacher, Loren Fine, around 1992, when A.H. was about 9 and attending the church and its school. A.H. said he was molested later that same year while spending the night at Fine's home.
• DA refuses to pursue ex-priest [1960 Feit] -- RCC.
   The Dallas Morning News, www.dallasnews. com/sharedcontent/ dws/dn/latestnews/ stories/112004dnt expriest.735e50b8.html , By BROOKS EGERTON, Saturday, November 20, 2004
   McALLEN, Texas - Police thought they had cracked the sensational old murder case and finally could make an arrest. They thought their new witnesses might finally mean justice for Irene Garza, a schoolteacher who vanished from church on Easter weekend in 1960 after meeting a young priest named John Feit.
   The police, however, ran into an immovable opponent on their own side of the law: veteran Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra, who refused to prosecute.
   The main obstacles to prosecution, Mr. Guerra said, are contradictory physical evidence gathered in 1960 and the new witnesses' unreliability.
   But old police records obtained by The Dallas Morning News call that explanation into question, as do interviews with the new witnesses.
   Two of Mr. Feit's former clergy colleagues, for example, say he incriminated himself in individual conversations with them many years ago.
   The police records outline several factors that made him the prime suspect almost as soon as the 25-year-old woman's raped and bludgeoned remains were found in a McAllen canal, five days after her disappearance:
   • His portable photographic slide viewer lay near where Ms. Garza's body was dumped.
   • He changed his statements to investigators.
   • He had met privately with the victim at a church residence on the night she disappeared, then was repeatedly absent from work and returned with injuries to his hands.
   • He was a suspect in an assault around the same time on another young woman, who resembled Ms. Garza, at another area church. Mr. Feit ultimately was convicted in that case.
   • He failed lie-detector tests regarding both attacks.
   The News obtained the documents from a source outside law enforcement after Mr. Guerra refused to release records and threatened to prosecute McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez if he did so. [...]
   The renewed police investigation revived haunting memories for many longtime residents of Hidalgo County, an overwhelmingly Catholic community on the Mexican border.
   Chief Rodriguez enlisted the Texas Rangers' elite cold-case unit, which helped turn up several new witnesses to supplement old evidence. Neither the chief nor the Rangers would comment about details of the case.
   The most significant new witnesses were the Rev. Joseph O'Brien, with whom Mr. Feit worked temporarily at McAllen's Sacred Heart Catholic Church in 1960; and Dale Tacheny, who was a priest at a Missouri monastery that later sheltered Mr. Feit.
   Both men say Mr. Feit made incriminating statements that they had kept private for many years out of a sense of religious obligation. They say they learned only recently about their similar experiences with the priest and each other's cooperation with police. [...]
• Bothell priest's resignation accepted [1970s] -- RCC. Fr Minder was victim
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource. com/local/2004 87_tl220.html , SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
   BOTHELL (WA): A Bothell priest who disclosed that he was molested by a priest will no longer oversee his parish, the Seattle Archdiocese said yesterday.
   In August, the Rev. Lawrence Minder told his parishioners that a priest molested him 30 years ago and that the archdiocese had ordered a psychological evaluation for him.
   He said he was quitting because he thought Archbishop Alex Brunett intrusively wanted copies of his medical records. (A spokesman said Brunett had really only wanted verification and updates of his counseling.)
   Brunett didn't accept Minder's resignation, believing that the priest was under too much pressure to think clearly, spokesman Greg Magnoni said. Brunett sent him to a treatment center that helps with alcohol abuse and other problems.
• Ex-minister barred from church property [1988, 1991 Taylor / 2000s Ryfinski] -- Nondenominational church / RCC. Boys / unknown.
   The Sun News, www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/10230722.htm , By Kelly Marshall, Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
   SOUTH CAROLINA: A former Murrells Inlet minister, who was charged with two counts of committing a lewd act on a minor, still is awaiting trial on charges that he molested two 12-year-old boys at least 15 years ago.
   Troy Taylor, 32, will not face a trial until one alleged victim, now an adult, returns from military duty in Iraq, said Will Andrew, an assistant solicitor with the 15th Judicial Circuit.
   Taylor has been told to stay away from the alleged victims, said his attorney, Scott Joye. He is not barred from having contact with children, Joye said.
   Meanwhile, Taylor has been told by a Georgetown County deputy not to trespass on his former church property. He received a written warning from a church official Oct. 25, after he was seen near the church, according to an incident report.
   He was seen talking to his mother in the church parking lot two days later and was told by a deputy he could be arrested if he returns.
   An official at the church declined to comment on Taylor. [...]
   The trial will not be scheduled before the end of the year, Andrew said. Taylor will be tried separately on each charge.
   "I want to make contact with the victim in Iraq before I make a decision on which [case] to go forward with," Andrew said. "The process has started to have communication with him."
   The victim will have to return to the United States for a trial, Andrew said.
   The sheriff's office began investigating Taylor in August 2003 after a counselor with the Georgetown County Department of Social Services said one of its clients had been molested by Taylor in 1991.
   The alleged victim, now 25, said he was molested at Taylor's home when he was 12 and Taylor was about 20.
   The other alleged victim, now 28, also was 12 when he was molested, investigators said. The incident reportedly happened in 1988 at Taylor's home in Murrells Inlet.
   Taylor, former spiritual leader of the nondenominational church, has adopted a Romanian boy he befriended while doing missionary work in that country. [...]
   Taylor is not the only minister from Georgetown County facing molestation charges.
   In June 2001, the Rev. Gerald J. Ryfinski, 46, of Highmarket Street in Georgetown, was charged with third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. At the time of his arrest, Ryfinski was serving as priest of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Georgetown.
   He was arrested after he took his computer to a repair shop and a computer repairman discovered pictures of minors engaged in sex acts.
   Police obtained a search warrant and, after the computer was analyzed, thousands of pornographic pictures involving minors were found.
   Ryfinski pleaded guilty in 2002 to third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and was sentenced to three years' probation.#
• Neb. man files suit against Catholic diocese [1965-66 Murray] -- RCC. Boy.
   Rapid City Journal, www.rapidcity journal.com/ articles/2004 /11/20/news/ local/news03.txt , By Carson Walker, Associated Press Writer
   SIOUX FALLS (SD) - An Omaha, Neb., man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City, claiming he was molested and kidnapped by a boys home priest in the 1960s.
   Gerald P. Pecoraro's complaint, filed Wednesday in Rapid City, seeks at least $75,000 in a trial by jury.
   According to the lawsuit, Pecoraro's father ran a bar in Omaha in the 1960s and raised money from the liquor industry for the Rev. Donald Murray and Sky Ranch for Boys in northwest South Dakota.
   Murray was the ranch director but has since died. The ranch is still open.
   In July 1965, when Pecoraro was 14, his parents sent him to Sky Ranch and appointed Murray as his guardian.
   Pecoraro, 53, said in the lawsuit that Murray sexually assaulted him three times: in October 1965 and March 1966 at the ranch, and in June 1966 while on a trip to Chicago.
   Pecoraro said he did not invite the contact and tried to stop it.
   After the third attack, he and two other boys told a counselor about the abuse, the lawsuit states.
   "The counselor interviewed those boys, as well as others, and determined to his satisfaction that Father Murray had, in fact, sexually assaulted the youths," it states.
   But Pecoraro said in the complaint that he was sent home, that the counselor was fired and Sky Ranch was closed but reopened weeks later with Murray still as the director.
   Pecoraro couldn't explain his return to his father and "became estranged from his family and friends, his school grades suffered and his psychological condition declined severely," the lawsuit states.[...] [Emphasis added]
• Sex-abuse conviction thrown out; Richmond case evidence was fabricated, court says. -- 'Children were told what to say', Lighthouse Child Care Center conviction overturned.
   Lexington Herald-Leader, www.kentucky. com/mld/herald leader/news/ state/1023 0430.htm , FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS, Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
   FRANKFORT (KY) - A molestation case that sparked outrage by Richmond parents took a stunning turn yesterday when an appeals court threw out the conviction of a church day-care worker because police made up evidence.
   In clearing Joey Dean Herndon, Kentucky's Court of Appeals heaped criticism on Richmond police Detective Ellen Alexander for building a case "on a foundation of incompetent, unreliable and even manufactured evidence."
   "The investigation was supported or carried out with outright lies," Judge Wilfrid A. Schroder said. "Children were told what to say. Even though the investigation found no corroborative evidence of abuse, the matter was taken to trial where the investigating detective continued lying to mislead the jury."
   Herndon was convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing a young boy who attended Lighthouse Child Care Center in Richmond and sentenced him to five years, though he was released on bond pending his appeal.[...]
   An 8-year-old girl testified that Herndon had touched her between the legs while she was on the center's playground. Johnson responded by questioning whether the girl had been coached to make that allegation. She answered "yes" but couldn't remember who had told her.[...] [The whole article ought to be read.]
• Man who says he was abused sues ministry [1993 Christian Faith Ministries] -- Boys.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource.com/ local/200363_ church19.html , By KERY MURAKAMI
   WASHINGTON: Allegations that church leaders looked away while sexual molestation was going on in their midst have hit Christian Faith Ministries, perhaps best-known for its locally televised services.
   A lawsuit filed yesterday in King County Superior Court by a 20-year-old man and his parents alleges that the man was sexually molested when he was 9 years old by a youth pastor in training at the SeaTac campus of the Christian Faith Center, which is associated with the ministry.
   In 1993, the accused molester pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child molestation and third-degree assault of a child involving the 9-year-old and four other boys, according to court records. The lawsuit, which was filed against the ministries and the center, alleges that the church was aware of one such incident but did not warn parents.
   The Rev. Casey Treat, Christian Faith Center's founder, said last night he did not know about the lawsuit and, to his knowledge, the offender was never a student pastor with the ministry.
   According to the lawsuit, the alleged molester, now 33, met with a pastor from the Christian Faith Center in 1991 and admitted sexually abusing his own stepson.
• Archbishop accepts resignation of pastor who claimed abuse -- RCC. Rev. Lawrence Minder was a victim.
   KGW, Associated Press, Nov/20/2004
   WASHINGTON: Catholic Archbishop Alexander Brunett has accepted the resignation of a priest who says he himself was molested by a priest as a child.
   On Thursday, Brunett sent a letter informing parishioners at St. Brendan's Church in suburban Bothell, where the Rev. Lawrence Minder had served as pastor.
   Brunett will appoint someone to manage parish business until a successor is named.
   Minder originally submitted his resignation in August after announcing to his congregation that he had been abused decades ago.
   He said then he was resigning rather than undergo a psychological assessment Brunett had requested due to concerns about Minder's alcohol use. Court records show Minder was arrested in 1999 and paid a $1,115 fine for drunken driving.
• Judge orders mediation in Portland archdiocese bankruptcy problems -- RCC. Legal bills mount as delays are requested.
   Corvallis Gazette-Times, By WILLIAM McCALL, AP Business writer, Nov 20, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR) - A federal judge on Friday ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland to prepare for mediation with the victims of alleged priest sexual abuse to settle claims that triggered the first archdiocese bankruptcy in the nation.
   U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris told a roomful of lawyers representing the church, the victims and several insurance companies that she wants the majority of cases resolved by June.
   Perris left open the possibility of binding arbitration or jury trials for the cases that can't be settled by mediation.
   But she warned all the attorneys that "resources and time are limited," reminding them they are running up a huge legal bill every time they ask for a delay. [Continues similar to other newsitem.]
• Activists: Tone down support for priest [Sanders] -- RCC. Blue ribbon campaign of support.
   The Times-Picayune, By Bruce Nolan, Saturday, November 20, 2004
   NEW ORLEANS (LA): 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.
   Even so, Hughes takes seriously the allegation that Sanders abused two teenagers during a youth trip to Biloxi in 1993, Maestri said.
   Sanders was relieved of duty almost seven months ago. He has been forbidden to talk about the case or function as a priest while he awaits an administrative hearing on his future.
   Since Sanders' removal from the pulpit, friends and supporters have been quite public in maintaining his innocence. Parishioners attend regular public rosaries and prayer meetings in support of Sanders. Schoolchildren pray for him daily in a former parish.
• Bishop's house may be sold to compensate abuse victims [1980s Fortune] -- RCC. Ferns may lose bishop's domicile.

   Irish Independent, www.unison. ie/irish_indep endent/stories. php3?ca=9&si= 1291022 &issue_ id=11719
   IRELAND: The Catholic diocese of Ferns may be forced to sell off the Bishop's house in Wexford town to finance clerical sex abuse claims far above the average for the rest of the Church in Ireland.
   A total of €2.8m has been paid to 17 victims to date and, with a string of other cases pending the Church is now considering the sale of the Bishop's house, the first time that the sale of a bishop's residence has been considered to compensate clerical sex abuse victims.
   The Diocesan Finance Committee met on Wednesday night at a hotel in Wexford to discuss the crippling financial demands and the effect on parishes.
   At the meeting, which was attended by caretaker Bishop Eamonn Walsh, the selling of diocesan land was discussed.
   Ferns has paid an average of €164,700 in the 17 cases.
   If the sale of the diocesan land does proceed -it is estimated to be worth several million euro - it is believed that some of that money would be used on counselling services.
   Over the past 15 years Church land sales have included sites at St Peter's College in 1989 for €252,290 for seminarian education; St Mary's House, Summerhill in the same year for €77,402 for day-to-day expenditure and the "bull field" in 1990 for €106,000 for accumulated deficits. It is also understood that the meeting also discussed the contents of the pending Ferns Non-Statutory inquiry report.
   Bishop Walsh took over from Dr Brendan Comiskey who stepped down on April 1, 2002 following the BBC documentary, Suing the Pope. He resigned primarily due to his handling of sex abuse allegations against the late Fr Sean Fortune during the 1980s.
   A subsequent investigation was set up by the then Health Minister Micheal Martin and chaired by George Birmingham SC. The Non-Statutory inquiry, led by former Supreme Court judge Frank Murphy, has been ongoing for the past 17 months.# [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:36 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat November 20, 2004
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