Clergy Child Molesters (105) — References/Chronology

• Irish dentist may face child abuse charges [1970s] -- School dentist and Roman Catholic priest. Girls.

   Sunday Times (Britain), www.timeson line.co.uk/ article/0,, 2091-136792 6,00.html , by Dearbhail McDonald, November 21, 2004
   IRELAND: A roaming school dentist may face charges of child abuse over allegations that he raped and indecently assaulted primary schoolgirls.
   A decision is expected within weeks from James Hamilton, the director of public prosecutions, in relation to a number of complaints by women who attended national schools almost three decades ago.
   The man, who retired on a state pension, and worked on behalf of a health board, operated as a "mobile dentist" inspecting children's teeth in national schools during the 1970s. ...
   The health authority is the latest to come under scrutiny in relation to allegations of abuse against children in its care.[More follows]

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INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm Visit http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse

Sources JavaScript Kit and www.aftinet.org.au/campaigns/signonconfirm.html

   INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.    The Ferns inquiry, a state investigation into abuse by priests in the diocese of Ferns, is also examining the South Eastern Health Board amid concerns that it knew about the alleged abuse but failed to remove the offending priest from a national school.
   Last week, it emerged that the Catholic diocese of Ferns may be forced to sell a bishop's house in Wexford town to finance compensation for clerical sex abuse claims.
   The terms of a state inquiry into clerical sex abuse in the Dublin diocese are currently being finalised. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:23 AM] (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Sun November 21, 2004)
• Priest eager to 're-establish trust' [2004 Traylor] -- RCC. Porn viewing; now back on the job.

   Courier & Press, By PHILIP ELLIOTT, 461-0783, elliottp@courierpress.com , November 21, 2004
   EVANSVILLE (OH): The Rev. William A. Traylor said he is eager to return to his two Evansville parishes after four months of therapy, which Catholic Church officials mandated after Traylor was caught viewing pornographic material on a parish computer while a child was in the room.
   Traylor, 54, returned to Evansville to celebrate Mass for the first time since he was caught viewing an "inappropriate adult Web site" July 9, and to talk about the incident, his treatment and his future at St. Theresa and St. Joseph parishes.
   "I'm very embarrassed. I'm very sorry. I made a very stupid mistake to go online at an inappropriate adult Web site during a work day, and I'm very sorry about that," Traylor said.
   During St. Joseph's Summer Social, Traylor went to his office area behind a 6-foot partition. The cubicle walls shielded the computer screen from outsiders while he visited a pornographic Web site.
   Meanwhile, a child sat on the other side of the partition.
   "That's how out of balance I was at the time," Traylor said. "I've been a priest for 28 years. I served the church very well and I don't say that in a bragging fashion. I really think I have. Clearly, this behavior is not me. It doesn't correspond with who I am and what I'm about. That's why I've been in therapy for the last four months."
   Traylor said he now recognizes the sins of the incident, which he said was the first of its nature, and described the day in detail. [Emphasis added.]
• Settlement has broad impact on sex abuse lawsuits -- RCC. $US9m to 37 complainants.
   Sioux City Journal, www.sioux cityjournal. com/articles/ 2004/11/21/ news/local/ c99b0c46 cb79c07786256 f53001 7e745. txt , AP, Nov 21, 2004
   IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport settled 37 sexual abuse claims against three former priests last month, victims, church leaders and parishioners all hailed the deal.
   But while the $9 million settlement allowed the diocese to avoid bankruptcy, the court battles that led to it create a new milieu in Iowa for defending against such lawsuits.
   "I sense there is a change in the air," said Scott Rhinehart, the attorney overseeing 17 lawsuits filed recently against the Sioux City Diocese.
   Craig Levien successfully countered arguments that the alleged abuse had occurred too long ago, saying victims were too traumatized and intimidated to pursue allegations at the time. The court agreed, preventing the diocese from seeking protection under Iowa's statute of limitations.
   "The statute of limitations ruling will impact cases throughout the state," Levien said. "I think it also serves as a clear indication to all victims that they can come forward and assert their legal rights."
   Courts also sided with Levien to require the Davenport diocese to turn over five decades worth of documents related to church management of priests who were known to be abusers.
• Service to honor Sharon priest -- RC Fr Bullock funeral.
   Boston Globe, November 21, 2004
   SHARON (MA) -- Hundreds of Jews, Christians and Muslims will gather today in Sharon to honor the memory of the Rev. Robert W. Bullock, a popular Catholic priest who worked to bring together members of the community's diverse religions.
   Bullock, who also became known as a forceful critic of the way the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston handled its clergy sexual-abuse crisis, died in June of cancer. At his funeral, so many parishioners and friends came to pay their respects that the crowd spilled outside Our Lady of Sorrows Church onto the sidewalks.
   Today's interfaith service will begin at 6 p.m. at Temple Israel, which can easily hold the 400 to 500 people expected to attend, according to Rabbi Barry Starr, a longtime friend. The venue also emphasizes Bullock's efforts to unite people of different religions, Starr said.
• Whom will Skylstad serve? [1989 Welsh; O'Donnell] -- RCC. 30 boys.
   Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002096876_brodeur21m.html , by Nicole Brodeur, Sunday, November 21, 2004
   SPOKANE (WA): The Most Rev. William Skylstad was on retreat in Copenhagen in 1989 when he was called home to Washington.
   The then-bishop of Yakima soon found himself in a seedy tavern in Spokane. His assignment: to clean up the mess created by Lawrence Welsh, bishop of Spokane.
   Welsh had been arrested for drunken driving and was being investigated by police for behavior that, for a time, made him a low-level suspect in the Green River killings, according to recent court documents.
   Skylstad found his fellow bishop behind a beer at the Wagon Wheel Tavern. He shipped Welsh off to alcohol treatment - saying publicly that Welsh had "stomach problems."
   A year later, Skylstad would replace Welsh as bishop of Spokane.
   Now, Skylstad has been called to clean up an even bigger mess. As the newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he has the job of reforming the church's response to accusations of sexual abuse by priests and restoring faith in the clergy.
   But he is a controversial choice. At a time when many Catholics want accountability, he is one of those who has a history of denying or dispatching problems that could hurt the church.
   Skylstad bailed Welsh out. And he allegedly did nothing when a priest he supervised molested at least 30 boys - some just a floor below his apartment in the rectory. The Rev. Patrick Gerald O'Donnell was eventually forced out of the ministry. He faces five lawsuits accusing him of molestation; the diocese is accused of neglect. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:04 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun November 21, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon November 22, 2004 edition follows:-
• Lanner Seeking New Trial; Appeal this week argues instructions to jury, second-degree charge were improper. [? 2000s Lanner] -- Judaism. 2 girls.

   The Jewish Week, www.thejewish week.com/news/ newscontent.php 3?artid=10140 , by Stewart Ain, Nov/19/2004
   NEW JERSEY: The lawyer for Baruch Lanner, the Orthodox rabbi convicted of sexually abusing two girls in his New Jersey religious school, presented arguments to that state's Appellate Division of Superior Court this week that the verdict should be thrown out and a new trial ordered because the judge gave improper directions to the jury and should have separated the two cases.
   "The acts alleged and arguably proved - contact consisting of several brief touches over clothing and nothing more - was insufficient to rise to the level of conduct that considered in light of reasonable contemporary standards, would tend to impair the moral[s] of an average child," attorney Nathan Dershowitz contended in court papers.
   Dershowitz, who was slated to repeat his position during oral arguments before the court Wednesday, insisted that even if such conduct "might be considered sufficient," the judge's failure to "tell the jury that it must evaluate the proofs in light of reasonable contemporary standards" constituted reversible error. The girls were students at the Hillel High School in Ocean, N.J., where Rabbi Lanner served as principal.
   But Deputy Attorney General Analisa Sama Holmes maintained in court papers that the conviction must be upheld because Rabbi Lanner had "used Hillel as his personal kingdom to select vulnerable students and to victimize them at whim." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:09 PM]
• L.A. cardinal to be deposed in abuse cases -- RCC.

   The News Tribune, By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer, Monday, November 22nd, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (AP) - Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, will be deposed Tuesday in clergy sex abuse lawsuits that date to his time in three Northern California dioceses, according to a source close to the litigation.
   Lawyers for alleged abuse victims are expected to question Mahony all day at an undisclosed location in downtown Los Angeles, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Los Angeles Times first reported on the deposition in Monday's editions.
   The deposition transcript could become public next month, unless Mahony's attorneys object in court. A judge has placed all attorneys in the case under a gag order.
   Mahony will be questioned about his handling of former Stockton priest Oliver Francis O'Grady, who pleaded guilty to child molestation in 1993. Mahony was bishop in Stockton from 1980 to 1985, during part of O'Grady's tenure there.
   O'Grady served seven years of a 14-year sentence and was deported to his native Ireland in 2000. [Emphasis added.]
• NY Attorney May Face Discipline for Saying He Faced Disciplinary Charges -- John Aretakis being pursued.

   New York Lawyer, By John Caher, New York Law Journal, November 22, 2004
   ALBANY, NEW YORK - Three attorneys formerly employed by the First Department disciplinary committee have come forward in defense of a controversial lawyer's right to publicly reveal disciplinary charges lodged against him in Albany.
   The affidavits submitted on behalf of the lawyer, John A. Aretakis, spotlight what is evidently a fundamental disagreement between the First and Third departments over how to interpret a Court of Appeals ruling on Judiciary Law §90 (10), which governs attorney discipline.
   More than 20 years ago, the Court of Appeals said in Matter of Capoccia, 59 NY2d 549 (1983), that the confidentiality provisions in §90 (10) were designed to protect attorneys and that those protections may be waived by the lawyer.
   But the First and Third departments apparently disagree over whether an attorney may unilaterally waive his or her §90 (10) protections, or whether permission is needed from a court before a disciplinary complaint can be made public.
   Mr. Aretakis is under investigation in both departments. His office is in Manhattan, but he regularly practices from his home near Albany.
   The investigations involve his conduct in representing alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse. He is facing more than a dozen ethics complaints lodged primarily by either individuals associated with Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany or the Third Department Committee on Professional Standards. None of the complaints was brought by clients, according to Mr. Aretakis.
• Priest dismissed after anti-Semitic remarks [Zieba] -- RCC. Political remarks, abuse allegation.

   Baku Sun (Azerbaijan's English-language newspaper), www.bakusun. az:8101/cgi- bin/ayten/ bakusun/ show.cgi? code=6931 , Issue No. 47, Nov 19, 2004
   WARSAW, Poland - A prominent Polish Roman Catholic priest who was once barred from the pulpit for anti-Semitic remarks was dismissed by the church from his parish Wednesday following new anti-Jewish comments and amid a pedophilia investigation.
   The Rev. Stanislaw Zieba, who is chancellor of the Gdansk Metropolitan Curia, said in a statement he had decided to remove Rev. Henryk Jankowski as parish priest of the St. Brygida Church. Zieba did not give a reason for his decision.
   But the decision came two months after Gdansk Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski sent an open letter to the priests in his diocese in which he called on Jankowski, was once known for his support of the Solidarity movement, to quit his post and accused him of turning his pulpit into a "political tribune."
   During the summer, Jankowski lashed out in a sermon against authorities who were conducting an investigation into allegations he had sexually abused a minor, saying it was a slander campaign orchestrated by "Jews and Judeo-Communists."
   He also used his pulpit to rail against various Polish leaders, saying they were selling out the country by supporting membership in the European Union.
   Jankowski, who was prominent in the Solidarity freedom movement in the 1980s and is a close friend of Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, has vehemently denied the allegations of sexual abuse. No formal charges have been brought.
• Will public debriding bring private healing of the wounds at St. Thomas Aquinas? -- RCC. Seminary males.

   St. Louis Post-Dispatch, By JOHN R. GAYDOS, Nov/22/2004
   MISSOURI: A full picture of life at the seminary would include good as well as bad.
   It was another painful moment as the Post-Dispatch published a series on St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary and the sexual abuse scandal. It contained a lot of previously published facts with a few new details, but maybe it was necessary. You might be familiar with the term debriding - when the doctor takes a scalpel and cuts away all the dead tissue from a wound in order to prevent infection and promote growth. Perhaps, as a wounded church, this is our debriding. Perhaps we have to go through this agony in order to heal.
   The victims tell horrible stories of how they were manipulated and abused. I pray it's their debriding, too, ridding themselves of the necrotic events of their past, getting out the ugly and lifeless so that they can be regenerated. And we truly beg forgiveness for any ways in which the Church or her leadership failed them.
   We acknowledge that much of what was presented in the articles was accurate. It was not family reading, but it could have been a textbook description of relationships between abusers and their victims. Some of those descriptions might have been better left to the textbook, or to the tabloid press, but that would not change the sordid truth of what happened.
• Clergy abuse lawyer fighting disbarment [Hubbard] -- John Aretakis being pursued.
   Albany Times Union, By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Monday, November 22, 2004
   ALBANY (NY) -- The state Committee on Professional Standards, which oversees lawyers, has asked a midlevel appeals court to disbar attorney John Aretakis.
   The Manhattan resident, who also maintains a North Greenbush home, says he faces close to 15 complaints that have been filed with the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court.
   More than half of them are from the Committee on Professional Standards, which made the disbarment request Sept. 30, he said.
   Aretakis, who has represented many alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, has waged a vitriolic two-year battle with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
   Among his claims are that Bishop Howard Hubbard and his predecessors knowingly protected pedophile priests at the expense of victims.
   Several of the complaints claiming unethical behavior were filed by Hubbard's top aide, the Rev. Kenneth Doyle; a Catholic nun, Sister Anne Bryan Smollin; and the Rev. Carl Urban of Schenectady, who most recently claimed Aretakis libeled him during a speech last fall.
• Committee asks for Aretakis disbar -- John Aretakis being pursued.
   WSTM, www.wstm.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2598126
   ALBANY, N.Y. There's a move to disbar a lawyer who has pursued sex abuse cases against the Albany-based Roman Catholic diocese.
   The state Committee on Professional Standards for lawyers has asked an appeals court to disbar attorney John Aretakis. He is accused of unethical behavior.
   Aretakis says he has done nothing wrong. He claims that the committee's chief counsel is "a tool of the bishop."
• Priest Speaks Publicly About Viewing Adult Website [Traylor] -- RCC. Viewed "adult" website; back on the job.
   WFIE, www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=2594517&nav=3w6oTO55 , Reporter Shannon Samson, Web Producer: Amber Griswold
   EVANSVILLE (OH): A Catholic priest, who was relieved of his duties this summer, returns to the pulpit over the weekend.
   Father William Traylor is presiding over 5:30 mass at Saint Theresa Saturday night.
   It's his first time back since July, when a parishioner caught him looking at an inappropriate adult website in his church office. Saturday, Father Traylor talked about that indiscretion with Newswatch.
   Father William Traylor has been in a St. Louis treatment facility for the last four months and is back for a visit over the weekend. He will celebrate five masses at Saint Theresa and Saint Joseph Churches where he plans on asking his parishioners for forgiveness.
   He held a news conference Saturday to get that message out to the public too.
   [COMMENT: What can one say? "Anyone who looks lustfully after a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart" Or, better, "To prevent fornication, every man ought to have his own wife, and every woman her own husband." (Hint: Look in a Bible Concordance. 2nd hint: A Concordance is a kind of index of every substantive word in a Bible. 3rd hint: After finding the above two quotes, look for the words celibate and celibacy in the Concordance. Too much looking for "celibacy" is a health hazard!) COMMENT ENDS.]
• Of dubious holy men and their murky ways [Saraswathi, Kujur] -- Hindu; RCC; Muslim.

   OnlyPunjab.com ; www.onlypun jab.com/full story1104- insight-Of+ dubious+holy+ men+and+ their+murky- status-24- newsID-3 403.html ; Nov/22/2004
   INDIA: The arrest of Hindu pontiff Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi on a murder charge renews the spotlight on the seamier side of religion where money, power and sex litter the path to god.
   In a deeply spiritual country with multiple faiths and sects, religion has over the years been a convenient hideout for criminal elements, with police records chronicling scores of murders, rapes and robberies by and for men in holy garbs. ...
   Police officers say similar crimes are rampant in other faiths too. For instance, Jesuit priest Father Clement Kujur was arrested on a sodomy charge in Orissa last year.
   According to Maulvi Muazzim Ahmed of the Fatehpuri mosque, there have also been instances in his own community.
• Diocese still supports priests on leave for allegations [Teczar, Kane, Battista, Inzerillo, O'Donoghue] -- RCC. Finances. Males; female.

   Telegram & Gazette, www.telegram. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041122 /NEWS/111220 331/1116 , By Kathleen A. Shaw, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF, kshaw@telegram.com
   WORCESTER(MA) - The Diocese of Worcester continues to support a number of priests placed on leave because of sexual misconduct allegations, including the Rev. Thomas A. Kane, director of the former House of Affirmation, who was fired amid fiscal irregularities at the Whitinsville facility.
   Bishop Robert J. McManus said in a statement Friday that the diocese is reviewing its policies on support for priests on leave because of sexual abuse allegations, but said canon law requires the diocese to continue support to priests who need help.
   Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, former head of the Worcester Diocese, said in a deposition and under questioning from lawyer Tahira Khan Merritt of Dallas that the money comes from the priest assistance fund. The priests are entitled by canon law to money to meet their needs, including medical insurance, he said. He did not say exactly how many priests are receiving money; Bishop Reilly reported in February that 45 priests have been accused of misconduct since 1950, although some have since died.
   The diocesan records for fiscal 2003 show more than $270,000 in the priest assistance fund. Bishop Reilly said this money does not go to retired priests, who are in a separate fund.
   Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the diocese, said the money in the priest assistance fund is also used for other things besides accused priests.
   He said priests in good standing with the church can be helped through that fund, when they are on leave because of health or other personal circumstances unrelated to allegations of misconduct. The financial help each priest gets is decided on a case-by-case basis, he said.
   Bishop Reilly testified at a deposition that started in April and concluded in September involving a lawsuit filed in Texas by two men who alleged they were sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar in that state when they were teenagers.
   Rev. Teczar was removed from priestly service in Worcester after allegations arose here, but found a new placement in 1988 in the Fort Worth (Texas) Diocese. He returned to Massachusetts in 1993 after the allegations of sexual misconduct arose there.
   Ms. Merritt asked the bishop where Rev. Kane is now. "I am not quite sure where he is. I would have to check the file. He has been in different places, but I am not sure where he is now." The depositions indicated that Rev. Teczar had been sent to the House of Affirmation for treatment after allegations arose in the Worcester Diocese.
   "Is he still being financially supported by the Worcester diocese?" she asked. "Yes," the bishop replied. Rev. Kane was last known to be living in Mexico, where he was running a teacher training institute and publicized the venture with a Web site.
   Rev. Kane was ousted from his position as director of the House of Affirmation in 1987 after 11 executives complained that he siphoned off money from the agency to support and increase his own extensive real estate holdings. The case was closed when he was removed, and he paid back an amount of money to the house. The amount was never disclosed.
   Bishop Reilly told Ms. Merritt, who represents one alleged victim, that Rev. Teczar, although he cannot function as a priest, receives $554 a month plus medical insurance. Bishop Reilly said he sees no reason to defrock Rev. Teczar. "I don't see the big difference that that makes," he said.
   "He is free, he is not in prison?" Ms. Merritt asked, to which the bishop replied "Yes."
   "So he could still be molesting children today, couldn't he?" she said.
   "Yes," the bishop replied. He added that Rev. Teczar could be molesting minors whether or not he was defrocked.
   "Well, but you wouldn't have any more responsibility for him, would you, economically and ecclesiastically?"
   "Right," the bishop answered.
   Bishop Reilly said the diocese has only attempted to defrock one priest, Monsignor Leo J. Battista. Monsignor Battista, a former director of Catholic Charities, was removed from ministry and is now retired after an allegation surfaced against him in a civil suit in the early 1990s.
   The bishop said he sent that case to Rome for action. Asked why he chose Monsignor Battista and none of the others, he replied, "Because the case was so strong and it was really something that this woman felt was necessary for her to achieve her fullness as a person again."
   The diocese produced computer records showing that it paid Rev. Teczar a total of $27,101 from January 2000 to April. The money was "something to help him live his daily life, and that is something we have to do according to canon law," the bishop said. Ms. Merritt asked how much he had paid to the two alleged victims, John Doe I and John Doe II, in the Texas lawsuit and he said he couldn't answer. Ms. Merritt represents the man identified as John Doe II while Daniel J. Shea of Houston represents John Doe I.
   Bishop McManus, who succeeded Bishop Reilly as Worcester bishop in May, said the diocese in conjunction with the Diocesan Review Board is conducting a final review of a new policy for liaison to those on leave because of allegations of sexual misconduct "and other issues related to their leave."
   Bishop McManus said as long as priests continue to have canonical rights as priests and while they are awaiting a church resolution to their situation, the diocese is obliged by Canon 281 of the church's canon law to provide financial help. Canon law states this remuneration "should enable them to provide for the needs of their own life and for the equitable payment of those whose services they need," the bishop said.
   He added, the "provision is likewise to be made so that they possess that social assistance by which their needs are suitably provided for if they suffer from illness, incapacity or old age.
   "As part of this policy review, procedures are being discussed which will respect the rights of those in need while assuring the diocese's continued ability to direct donations to their intended use, namely, support the mission of the church," Bishop McManus said.
   "The status of individual cases of support, including that of Father Kane, changes from time to time due to changes in their individual circumstances, and will be reviewed to assure that a demonstrated need justified continuing financial support," Bishop McManus said.
   Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, who told lawyers in his April deposition that he expects to retire soon, said that Bishop Reilly about six months earlier appointed four priests to act as "monitors" of the priests who were removed for sexual misconduct allegations. He named Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan, the chancellor and liaison to District Attorney John J. Conte; Monsignor F. Stephen Pedone, the judical [? judicial] vicar; and the Rev. Rocco Piccolomini, vicar for priests, but could not recall the name of the fourth monitor.
   Bishop Reilly said the diocese is not monitoring Rev. Teczar, who lives in Dudley, and said he is "pretty much on his own." He added this is "pretty much a concern. It would be the same thing if he was laicized."
   Bishop Reilly revealed that the Rev. Peter J. Inzerillo, who was placed into St. Leo's Parish, Leominster, after a suit had been settled naming him and the Rev. Brendan O'Donoghue as perpetrators of sexual misconduct, was not removed from the parish in 2002 because of any pressure from the parish. He said he was removed because another separate allegation not connected with the settled lawsuit came to his attention.
   Bishop Reilly said the issue of Rev. Inzerillo being named in that lawsuit was complicated because no proof was presented to show that Rev. Inzerillo had done anything wrong. He said the priest was named in the settlement "because the opposite side wanted his name included in the settlement."
   "So it was one of those things where it is not very clear that you are putting somebody who is guilty of a crime back into the parish," he said.
   "He was removed from the parish because an allegation came in that I thought had credence," he said.
• Congregation 'traumatized' by sex allegations [? 2000s Firth] -- Anglican. Boy.

   Vancouver Sun, by Jonathan Fowlie, Monday, November 22, 2004
   DELTA, CANADA - A Tsawwassen youth pastor who has spent months in a Mexican prison facing charges of child sex abuse should be presumed innocent until it is proven otherwise, the congregation of his church was told Sunday.
   "I think it's fair to say we have been traumatized by the story," David Sanders, the rector's warden of St. David's Anglican Church in Tsawwassen, told about 60 parishioners before the start of the day's third regularly scheduled service.
   He was reading from a prepared statement relating to pastor Brad Firth, 36, who was arrested July 15 by Mexican authorities in Ensenada, on the Baja Peninsula. Firth is facing charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old Mexican boy.
   At the time of his arrest, Firth was leading a trip of 12 teenagers who had travelled from B.C. to Mexico on a St. David's Anglican Church trip to help people in that country.
   Sanders later told a reporter the matter was raised at the church Sunday because of recent news stories about the case. He said the church members have been given almost weekly updates about the case.
• Mahony to Testify in Sex Abuse Cases [O'Grady] -- RCC.

   Los Angeles Times, www.latimes. com/news/ local/state/ la-me-mahony22 nov22,1,43163 94.story?coll= la-news-state , By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
   CALIFORNIA: Cardinal Roger M. Mahony is preparing to again defend his handling of Roman Catholic priests accused of child molestation when he was bishop of Stockton nearly two decades ago.
   Mahony is set to answer questions Tuesday at an undisclosed downtown Los Angeles high-rise in a deposition in civil cases alleging that priests sexually abused several people. A judge ordered the time and location of the deposition kept secret for security reasons.
   Mahony's testimony, however, could become public next month unless his lawyers object in court.
   Mahony will be questioned about Oliver Francis O'Grady, a convicted child molester who served time in state prison before being deported to his native Ireland in 2000. Mahony had transferred O'Grady in 1984 after the cleric admitted to a therapist that he had fondled a 9-year-old boy.
   The cardinal has already testified that he did not know that O'Grady had twice admitted to fondling a child when Mahony transferred him, days after police closed an investigation into an unproved molestation claim. [Emphasis added.] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:19 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon November 22, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue November 23, 2004 edition follows:-
• Parole denied for ex-priest [1978 Feeney] -- RCC. 2 boys.

   Duluth News Tribune, www.duluth superior.com/ mld/duluth tribune/10 254158.htm , Associated Press, Posted on Tue, Nov. 23, 2004
   APPLETON, Wis. - A parole application has been denied for a former Roman Catholic priest sentenced in April to 15 years in prison on sexual assault charges.
   The move Monday came in the case of John Patrick Feeney, 77, found guilty after a jury trial in February on three counts of sexual assault of a child and one of attempted sexual assault of a child.
   The charges stemmed from the 1978 assaults of two brothers, who were then 12 and 14, when Feeney was parish priest at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom.
   Because he was sentenced under the law as it existed in 1978, he became eligible for parole after serving only six months of his sentence.
   He will be eligible for parole again Nov. 4, 2006, said Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Clausius. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:37 PM]
• Ex-local priest gets 4 years in abuse case [1980s Behrel] -- Episcopal. Boy. 2nd conviction.
   Chicago Tribune, The Associated Press, November 23, 2004
   HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- A former Chicago-area priest has been sentenced to four years in prison for sexually abusing a male student at an Episcopal boarding school in Maryland in the 1980s.
   The plea agreement announced Monday in Washington County Circuit Court marks the second conviction for Kenneth K. Behrel, 55, of Grayslake, a northern suburb of Chicago.
   Behrel entered an Alford plea to a charge of sexual child abuse involving a Frederick man who was a student at St. James School during the 1980s. In an Alford plea, a defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges that the state has enough evidence for a conviction. Judge Frederick C. Wright sentenced Behrel to four years.
• Church organist charged in sex case [Nelson] -- Girls.
   Republican-American, By Doug Dalena, Tuesday, November 23, 2004
   NAUGATUCK (CT) -- State police accused a church organist last week of sexually abusing several underage girls he met at his job.
   Police charged Robert Nelson, 50, of 111 Mallane Lane, Unit 2H, with five counts of sexual assault, employing a minor in obscene performance, possession of child pornography, providing alcohol to minors and risk of injury to a minor.
   State police would not release details about the accusers' ages or hometowns, citing their juvenile status.
• Cardinal May Be Questioned [1980s O'Grady] -- RCC. Minor.
   CBS News, Nov. 23, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA) (AP) - Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, will be deposed Tuesday in clergy sex abuse lawsuits that date to his time in three Northern California dioceses, according to a source close to the litigation.
   Lawyers for alleged abuse victims are expected to question Mahony all day at an undisclosed location in downtown Los Angeles, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Los Angeles Times first reported on the deposition in Monday's editions.
   The deposition transcript could become public next month, unless Mahony's attorneys object in court. A judge has placed all attorneys in the case under a gag order.
   Mahony will be questioned about his handling of former Stockton priest Oliver Francis O'Grady, who pleaded guilty to child molestation in 1993. Mahony was bishop in Stockton from 1980 to 1985, during part of O'Grady's tenure there.
• Ex-chaplain gets 4-year sentence for abuse [1980s Behrel] -- Episcopal. 2 boys.
   The Herald-Mail, www.herald-mail .com/?module= displaystory& story_id=96657& format=html , by PEPPER BALLARD, pepperb@herald-mail.com ,Tuesday November 23, 2004
   MARYLAND: Kenneth Kirk Behrel, a former St. James School chaplain convicted in 2002 of sexually abusing two students at the school in the 1980s, was sentenced to serve four years in prison Monday while in Washington County Circuit Court for a hearing scheduled about a retrial in one of the students' cases.
   In May 2003, The Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court, remanded the case of one of the former students, a Frederick, Md., man, now in his late 30s, back to Circuit Court for a possible retrial.
   The court ruled that a Circuit judge erred when he allowed the other former student, a Virginia man also now in his late 30s, to testify about other incidents of abuse involving the Frederick man during the February 2002 trial, according to published reports. ...
   Both cases dated back to incidents in the 1980s while the men were 15-year-old students at the prep school near Hagerstown and Behrel, a former Episcopalian priest, was the school chaplain, according to published reports. Both former students testified at the trials, according to reports published in The Herald-Mail.
   The now defrocked priest left St. James in 1985 and was transferred to a parish in Illinois before he left the priesthood in 2001, according to published reports.
• Alleged victim, priest on panel -- RCC.
   The Republican, By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Tuesday, November 23, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) - For the first time, a priest and an alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse have been named to the Review Board that investigates allegations of misconduct made against priests and other personnel in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
   Previously the nine-member Review Board was composed solely of lay people. The change was announced yesterday by the diocese.
   "We feel the addition of both a victim and a priest adds balance to our Review Board and in turns adds to its credibility. This certainly has been the experience of other dioceses," said diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont.
   The Springfield diocese's bishop, the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, who made the appointments, was unavailable for comment late yesterday.
   The naming of alleged victim James Stankiewicz of Dalton fulfills a commitment McDonnell made several months ago to others who have said they were abused by clergy.
• Priest abuse victims target two churches -- RCC.
   New York Daily News, www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/255335p-218656c.html , BY BRIAN HARMON, LONG ISLAND BUREAU CHIEF, November 23, 2004
   LONG ISLAND (NY): An in-your-face approach to drawing out victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests is taking hold in Nassau County. Members of two victims' groups have waited outside Mass at churches in Farmingdale and East Meadow the last two weekends, handing out leaflets that urge other victims to come forward.
   So far, three victims who had never reported being abused have contacted Long Island Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], members said.
   "Three victims talked to us for the first time, but were not yet ready to give personal information," said David Cerulli, executive director of the group's New York region. "Hopefully, they will call to attend a support group meeting. Like fishing, we just have to be patient."
• Two removed from priesthood [1950s-80s Miller, Clark] -- RCC. 31 children.
   The Courier-Journal, By Peter Smith, psmith@courier-journal.com , Nov 23, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): Two Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville priests, who were convicted of sexually abusing 31 children between the 1950s and 1980s, have been stripped of their clerical powers by the Vatican.
   Pope John Paul II has returned Louis E. Miller and Daniel C. Clark "to the lay state," or removed them from the priesthood, the archdiocese said yesterday.
   Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly informed both men earlier this month in a visit to the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange, where both men are serving sentences for sexual abuse.
   "Even though it was expected, it's important for the Catholic people and the community at large to know that the Holy See (Vatican) has followed through," said Brian Reynolds, the chancellor and chief administrative officer of the archdiocese.
• Lecturer: Don't give to church; Priest says money should go to victims -- RCC. Rev. Thomas Doyle speaks out. [2000s Bunse] -- RCC. $US226,000 gone, Bunse back at work.
   Belleville News-Democrat, www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/10243897.htm , BY MARICELLA MIRANDA, mmiranda@bnd.com , Posted on Mon, Nov. 22, 2004
   BELLEVILLE (IL) - A Catholic priest and advocate for sex abuse survivors in the Roman Catholic Church told a group Sunday to stop supporting the institutional church with donations.
   During the 10th annual John XXIII lecture for the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity, the Rev. Thomas Doyle said Catholics should be independent of the Catholic Church to stop what he described as the church's abuse of power.
   "We've got to stop giving money to the institution," Doyle said. "That's the only act they'll understand."
   He suggests people donate instead to organizations that help victims of sexual abuse, such as the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] and the Linkup.
   About 196 people attended the lecture. They questioned Doyle about how they could educate their children in Roman Catholicism independent of the church.
   They also discussed problems in metro-east churches, including allegations of theft and sexual abuse. For example, they talked about the Rev. Gerald Bunse, who resigned as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Edwardsville in January after taking $226,000 to support a gambling habit. He has since been reassigned to Our Savior Church in Jacksonville as a priest in residence.
• Two clergy colleagues claim former priest admitted to 1960 murder. [1960 O'Brien] -- RCC. Woman.
   Kris TV, (and/or News-Journal) www.kristv. com/global/ story.asp? s=2594211& ClientType= Printable , Associated Press
   McALLEN, Texas - Two clergy colleagues of a former Catholic priest say the priest admitted killing a 25-year-old woman last seen going to confessional 44 years ago, an unsolved murder that still haunts this South Texas border town.
   A grand jury re-examined the case earlier this year, but neither the priest nor his colleagues were called to testify. The woman's family remains devoted to seeing someone prosecuted for her death, but the district attorney says he's done all the law will allow.
   Irene Garza, a school teacher and beauty queen, was found raped and bludgeoned to death in an irrigation canal in 1960. Her body was discovered five days after she disappeared; she was last seen going to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church to give an Easter eve confessional.
   The Rev. Joseph O'Brien, who left active ministry a few years ago and lives in San Antonio, and Dale Tacheny, a tax consultant in Oklahoma City, told The Dallas Morning News in a story for Sunday editions that John Feit, a priest working in McAllen in 1960, told them he killed a woman. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:48 AM]
• Vatican strips two Louisville priests of clerical powers [Miller, Clark] -- RCC.
   Kentucky.com ; www.kentucky. com/mld/ken tucky/news/ breaking_ news/102 51379.htm , Associated Press
   LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Vatican has taken away the clerical powers of two Louisville priests who were convicted of sexually abusing children and who had been removed from the ministry in 2002.
   Louisville Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly visited the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange earlier this month and informed the men that Pope John Paul II had returned them "to the lay state," or removed them from the priesthood.
   Kelly had removed Louis E. Miller and Daniel C. Clark permanently from the ministry, but only the Vatican can make the final decision on removing someone from the priesthood.
   "Even though it was expected, it's important for the Catholic people and the community at large to know that the Holy See (Vatican) has followed through," said Brian Reynolds, the chancellor and chief administrative officer of the archdiocese.
   "The Holy Father has said there's no place in the priesthood for anyone who abused a child," he said. "We now have a specific example for that statement in action."
• Archdiocese receives positive audit on implementing sexual abuse policies -- RCC.
   Kentucky.com ; www.kentucky. com/mld/ken tucky/news/ local/1025 1398.htm , Associated Press
   LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Archdiocese of Louisville was given a positive audit by an independent company investigating the nation's dioceses for compliance with stricter sexual-abuse policies adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.
   The Gavin Group, made up largely of former agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is investigating the dioceses, the church told priests last week.
   The investigators rated such things as the church's response to victims, training of employees on sexual-abuse matters and other preventive steps.
• Church organist accused of sexual abuse [2000-04 Nelson] -- Girls.
   The Advocate, Associated Press, November 23, 2004
   NAUGATUCK, Conn. -- Authorities charged a church organist Monday with sexually abusing children, and said he used his church position to meet them.
   Robert Nelson, 50, of Naugatuck, was charged with five counts of sexual assault, employing a minor in an obscene performance, possession of child pornography, providing alcohol to minors and risk of injury to a minor.
   Police said the assaults began in 2000 and lasted through this year.
   "He met these individuals through the church where he is the organist," said State's Attorney John Connelly.
   Nelson also is a piano teacher known throughout the region. Connelly said the allegations do not involve any of his students.
   Nelson told the Republican-American of Waterbury he met some of the girls allegedly involved at Immanuel St. James Church. He said he did not have sexual contact with any girls but said he "may have taken one or two pictures."
• Second Vt. complaint filed against former city priest [1970s Paquette] -- RCC. > 12 boys.
   The Standard-Times, www.southcoast today.com/ daily/11-04/ 11-23-04/ a03lo024.htm , By STEVE URBON, Standard-Times senior correspondent, Nov 23, 2004
   NEW BEDFORD (MA) -- A second Vermont resident has filed a civil complaint of sexual assault against a former New Bedford priest, the Rev. Edward O. Paquette, 75, now retired and living in Westfield.
   The complaint, filed in early October but made public late last week, accused the priest and the diocese, of knowing that the priest had a history of molesting boys.
   Rev. Paquette has denied the allegations and refuses to speak with reporters without a lawyer. He is representing himself in the cases.
   Like the previous charge made earlier this year, the second complaint comes from another 37-year-old Burlington man, James E. Perras, also another former altar boy, who alleged he was attacked at Christ the King Church in that city in the late 1970s. Neither plaintiff has spoken with the press.
   Rev. Paquette served in Vermont during the last years before being stripped of his priestly duties and sent into forced retirement in 1980.
   In 1963, after serving first at St. Mary Church in Mansfield, the priest was removed from his post at St. Kilian's Church in New Bedford by Bishop James L. Connolly.
   The move followed a series of allegations brought to the bishop's attention that involved more than a dozen boys, according to a retired police sergeant, Clovis A. "Toby' Gauthier.
   He told The Standard-Times that his investigation into the priest's activities met a dead end when St. Kilian's parents refused to cooperate with police and finally when Rev. Paquette was suddenly removed.
• Diocese assailed over bankruptcy plan -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattle pi.nwsource.com/ local/200763_ diocese23.html , By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   SPOKANE (WA) -- Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse by priests contend the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane is shirking its financial duty to the victims through its plan to file for bankruptcy protection.
   Attorneys Michael Pfau and Timothy Kosnoff, who represent dozens of victims, said in a letter to Spokane Bishop William Skylstad that victims of abuse have the same right to the financial resources of the diocese as parishes and schools.
   Skylstad has said that he wants to maintain the operation of parishes, schools and the church during the bankruptcy process.
   "Your public pronouncements to side with the parishes and schools in this impending dispute are a breach of your fiduciary duty," the letter said, citing bankruptcy court case law.
   But Shaun Cross, a lawyer for the diocese, said yesterday that the victims' lawyers are misapplying bankruptcy law.
• Funds of Ferns diocese almost exhausted by sex abuse payouts -- RCC. €2.8m wasted so far.

   Irish Independent, www.unison. ie/irish_indep endent/stor ies.php3? ca=9&si=1291808 &issue_id=11722
   IRELAND: The funds of the diocese of Ferns have been "almost exhausted" by sex abuse claims and in the future fixed assets may have to be sold to meet claims, the caretaker bishop of the diocese, Dr Eamonn Walsh, has confirmed.
   He confirmed that the Church in Ferns has paid out almost €2.8m in claims and legal costs to date, as reported in last Saturday's Irish Independent. Dr Walsh said that 90pc of this had been paid out using insurance money drawn from a Stewardship Fund run by the bishops but these funds had now almost been exhausted.
   Bishop Walsh reassured the diocese that settlements had not been paid from church plate collections.
   The Stewardship Fund was established with over €10m from Church & General insurers to help the bishops meet the cost of sex abuse claims. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:32 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue November 23, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed November 24, 2004 edition follows:-
• SJC upholds ruling allowing access to Jesuit priest's files
   Telegram and Gazette, www.telegram. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041124/ APN/411240765 , November 24, 2004 [Unable to access on 08 Jan 2005] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:34 PM]
• Former Grayslake priest gets 4 years for abuse
   Daily Herald, www.dailyherald .com/cook/main_ story.asp?int ID=383153 , ~ Nov 24, 2004 [Unable to access on 08 Jan 2005]
• Judge: Priests must comply with depositions [Goeke, Holtz] - RCC. Covington Diocese. Were refusing to give their names! > 100 complainants.
   The Cincinnati Post, www.cincypost.com/2004/11/24/dio112404.html , Nov 24, 2004
   A special judge has ruled that several priests and former priests may not refuse to answer all questions in depositions from lawyers alleging a decades-long cover-up of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Covington.
   The priests asked that their scheduled depositions be canceled because they intended to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Their attorney, Bob Carran, said he did not want videotapes of the priests refusing to answer questions about child sex-abuse becoming public.
   Carran said Kentucky has no statute of limitations on felony offenses, and several of the men he represents have been accused of -- although not criminally charged with -- molesting children.
   He argued the men planned to refuse to answer any questions -- including their names -- because it could lead to information that could be used against them in criminal proceedings. Thus, he said, the depositions would give no useful information and should be canceled. But Special Judge John Potter of Louisville, who is presiding over the class-action lawsuit after former Boone Circuit Judge Jay Bamberger stepped down, said the men are mere witnesses. As such, he said, they do not have the unlimited right a defendant has to refuse to answer questions.
   "Since (they) are not defendants in a criminal proceeding, they may not decline to testify, and the court should not order that their depositions be canceled," Potter wrote in a three-page order.
   "Similarly, since a witness can assert the privilege only as to a particular question, and since some questions may incriminate the witness and others may not, (they) are not entitled to have questioning cease as soon as they first assert the privilege."
   Carran's clients include a suspended priest, Father John Goeke, and a former priest, Louis Holtz. Both have been accused of abusing children, although Holtz has never been charged.
   Charges against Goeke were dropped in 1995, although in 1997 the diocese settled a lawsuit filed against him by a woman who said he took advantage of her while she sought marriage counseling.
   "We very much appreciate the court's consideration of our motion," Carran said. A number of attorneys -- including Stan Chesley and Robert Steinberg of Cincinnati and Ann Oldfather of Louisville -- filed the lawsuit in Boone County, alleging a 50-year cover-up by the diocese of sexual abuse by its priests and other workers. The attorneys claim to represent more than 100 victims, and say dozens of priests were abusers.
   While Bamberger was overseeing the case, he ordered it to proceed as a class-action lawsuit, the first of its kind in the nation.#
• Vermont bishop due to retire
   Times Argus (Barre Montpelier, USA), www.timesargus. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20041124/ NEWS/4112 40304/ 1003/NEWS02 , By Wilson Ring, Associated Press, November 24, 2004
   BURLINGTON - The bishop of Vermont's 148,000 Roman Catholics, who led the church through the debate about gay marriage and the priest child abuse scandal, is due to retire next summer.
   Under church law the Rev. Kenneth Angell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which includes all of Vermont, is required to submit his resignation on his 75th birthday, Aug. 3.
   It will be then up to the Vatican to accept or reject his resignation, said diocese Chancellor the Rev. Walter Miller.
   "At age 75 the letter has to be submitted. When it is taken up by the Holy See, it is anyone's guess," Miller said.
   If Angell's resignation is accepted it will be up to the Vatican to appoint a replacement.
   The bishops in the church's regional province, which includes Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, will nominate a replacement, but the Vatican does not have to choose from that list, Miller said.
   The candidate wouldn't know he was being considered until shortly before the appointment is announced publicly, making it impossible for priests to advocate for themselves, Miller said.
   But the new bishop would likely come from the region, a way to ensure the new bishop is familiar with the cultural norms of the area.
   Angell became Vermont's bishop in November 1992 after serving as the auxiliary bishop of Providence, R.I.
   He replaced Bishop John Marshall who moved to Springfield, Mass. Marshall has since died.
   During his 12 years in Vermont, Angell has led the church's opposition to such emotional issues as abortion rights and civil unions.
   For many Vermonters Angell gave the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States a personal face. Angell's brother David Angell and his wife Lynn were in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center in New York.
   During Angell's 12 years as bishop he also helped lead the church through the scandal involving priests sexually abusing children and he has helped the church deal with the ongoing shortage of priests. Many parishes across the state have been closed or consolidated.
   Miller said the new bishop, whenever he is chosen, will have to deal with the same issues.
• REVIEW: Shanley's 'Doubt' a Terrific Play - RCC. PLAY
   WTOP radio network, www.wtopnews. com/index.php? nid=114&sid= 340910 , By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic, Updated 10:50 PM, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004
   NEW YORK (AP) - "What do you do when you are not sure?" The question is at the heart of "Doubt," John Patrick Shanley's terrific new play, which opened Tuesday at off-Broadway's Manhattan Theatre Club. And it's arrived just in time.
   "Doubt" wakes up this slumbering theater season, jolting the audience with a tough, timely story, rich in character, language and ideas.
   In a fast 90 minutes, Shanley skillfully examines the uncertainty surrounding a priest and his relationship with a young male student in a Catholic grade school. Rumors swirl. But are they true?
   Shanley lays out the situation's ambiguity with astonishing theatricality. He's helped by a remarkable, four-person cast and the taut, tight direction of Doug Hughes, who doesn't allow a word to be wasted.
   And "Doubt" provides the wondrous Cherry Jones with her best role since her Tony-winning performance in "The Heiress" in 1995. Jones portrays Sister Aloysius, the authoritarian principal at St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx.
   The time is 1964 and Vatican II has sent winds of change blowing through the Catholic Church. But Sister Aloysius has standards to uphold, and she will not be swayed by what she perceives to be fashionable trends. [...]
   The prickly Sister Aloysius holds suspicion in the highest regard and when personable Father Flynn (Brian F. O'Byrne) is thought to have become too friendly with a newcomer to the school, a troubled, black teenager, she is quick to reach a certain conclusion. [...]
   The priest eventually goes head to head with Sister Aloysius, who's determined to bring him down. She interviews the boy's distraught mother (Adriane Lenox) to confirm what she thinks she already knows. Without giving too much away, let's just say the plot's resolution will surprise you. [...]
   The dialogue, despite the seriousness of the subject matter, is often quite funny, particularly in its depiction of parochial school education.
   "Doubt" is Shanley's best play in years, a high point in an up-and-down career that has included such successful stage works as "Italian-American Reconciliation" and "Four Dogs and a Bone" and such movie duds as "Joe Versus the Volcano" and "Congo." [...] (Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) # [COMMENT: Author Shanley is not to be confused with the Father Shanley who has been accused of child sex abuse. END.]
• Phone tapes sought in priest sex-abuse suit
   Suburban Chicago News, ~ Nov 24, 2004 [Can't display 08 Jan 05]
• Supreme Court to hear abuse case [1960-80 Nuedling] - RCC.
   Duluth News Tribune, www.duluth superior.com/ mld/duluth superior/news/ local/102 61052.htm , ASSOCIATED PRESS, Wed, Nov. 24, 2004
   MADISON, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a lawsuit filed by a group of people who say a Milwaukee priest sexually assaulted them decades ago.
   The decision creates the possibility the court will revisit a decision it issued in the 1990s that has been interpreted to give churches immunity from negligence lawsuits on First Amendment grounds.
   Ten people filed suit against the Milwaukee Archdiocese, St. John the Evangelist Church and two insurance companies, claiming they were abused by the Rev. George Nuedling, who is now dead, between 1960 and 1980.
   The group alleges the archdiocese and the church were negligent and committed fraud because they knew Nuedling was abusing them and didn't protect them from him.
   But the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in July that the group had failed to file its lawsuit before the statute of limitations had expired.
   Former state law required victims to file suit within five years of an assault. Members of the group filed their first complaints in 2002, according to court records and the appeals court decision.
   Archdiocese spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl said, "We welcome the opportunity to present information to aid the court in its deliberation and review." She referred legal questions to archdiocese attorneys, who did not return messages from the Associated Press on Tuesday.
   Attorney Jim Smith, who represents the group that filed the suit, also did not return a message.
   In its decision, the appeals court noted the state Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment, which guarantees separation of church and state, prevents negligence claims against a religious body.
   The Supreme Court said in a previous case that such claims would excessively entangle the courts with religion, violating the First Amendment.
   Since the group filed its suit, new legislation has been signed into law extending Wisconsin's statute of limitations in civil child sexual assault cases by allowing accusers to file actions before age 35. The legislation, approved last year, was in response to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. # [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:37 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Wed November 24, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Listen to the Children; Review of Claims of Abuse from Adults in State Care as Children.

Report by the Tasmanian Ombudsman, Jan O'Grady, www.justice.tas.gov.au/ombudsman/Child%20Abuse %20Report%20-%20Final. pdf , ISBN 0- 0-9757146-0-0, November 24, 2004
   HOBART (Tas) Australia: Most of the allegations relating to these institutions were of sustained physical and emotional abuse and, while they were established to cope with difficult boys which may help to explain the strictness and severity of the discipline regimes, there can be no excuse for the reports of sadistic and inhumane physical punishment that allegedly took place. (page 16 printed / p 27 PDF)
   .... Church authorities have been advised of the allegations made against them.
   ... 62 claimants (25 per cent of the total) reported abuse in church run Homes. Most of the complaints were made against the Catholic Church followed by the Salvation Army. (p 23 / 34)
   Two thirds (154) of the claimants alleged that they had been sexually abused at some time. Allegations ranged from vaginal and anal intercourse, ... Most of the allegations involved the more serious forms of sexual abuse. (p 25 / 36)
   It is evident that over the period covered by the Review, child protection systems in Tasmania, as elsewhere, have not adequately protected all of the children entrusted to the care of the State. ... The many shocking stories presented to the Review team of vulnerable children abused by the people legally responsible for their care suggest that the Government's decision to offer redress is warranted. (p 34 / 45)
   A disturbing finding to emerge from the Review which requires further examination relates to claims from 12 young adults, presently in the 20 to 30 age range, who have made allegations of abuse [in foster care] having commenced since 1990, in one case as recently as 1998. Nine of these claims related to foster care homes and eight of the claimants were young women. In most cases, the abuse was allegedly ongoing and involved more than one offender. Most of the sexual abuse cases were reported either to Police or to Child Protection. Where an investigation was undertaken, the most likely outcome was for the complaint not to be substantiated. (p 35 / 46)
   [COMMENT: [Acknowledgment to the Ombudsman. And to Barry Coldrey for alerting Faith Purification Programme to this important occurrence and reports. (There was an interim report, to be studied later.) - FPP ~ 09 Jan 05.] [Fuller summary below. Thanks to Barry Coldrey, Melbourne.] ENDS.]

Listen to the Children; Review of Claims of Abuse from Adults in State Care as Children. Report by the Tasmanian Ombudsman, Jan O'Grady, www.justice.tas.gov.au/ombudsman/Child%20 Abuse %20Rep ort%20-%20Final. pdf , November 24, 2004
HOBART (Tas) Australia: Table 5.2 shows the institutions and homes that were specifically named in the Review and the number of claimants who reported incidents of abuse in them. It should be noted that there were many other facilities in the period of the Review that were not named by claimants. Also, a number of claimants had more than one placement.

DHHS: 
Rochebank Hostel 
Abermere Hostel 
Casablanca 
Gilburn 
Malmesbury
Laroona
Omaru
Ashley Home for Boys 
Wybra Hall 
West Winds Boys' Home 
Weeroona Girls' Training Centre 

Salvation Army: 
Barrington Boys' Home
Maylands Girls' Home

Catholic Church: 
Mt St Canice (Magdalen Home)
Boys' Town (Savio College)
St Josephs Orphanage/
Aikenhead House (later St Josephs Child Care Centres)

Churches of Christ:
Bethany

Anglican Church:
Clarendon Children's Home

Community Board of Management:
Kennerley Boys Home (later Kennerley Children's Home)
Northern Tasmanian Home for Boys (also known as Glenara Children's Home
Glendel Children's Home

   Most of the allegations relating to these institutions were of sustained physical and emotional abuse and, while they were established to cope with difficult boys which may help to explain the strictness and severity of the discipline regimes, there can be no excuse for the reports of sadistic and inhumane physical punishment that allegedly took place.
   Allegations of sexual abuse were less common in the boys' homes and there is evidence to suggest that some of the reported sexual abuse was perpetrated by older boys on younger boys. (p 16 / 27)
   Several institutions for girls have also been named often, although to a lesser extent than the boys' homes. These are:

Weeroona – a departmental training Institution;

Maylands – an Approved Children's Home run by the Salvation Army;

The Mary Magdalen Home, also known as Mt St Canice – an Approved Children's Home run by the Catholic Church;

St. Josephs/Aikenhead House – an Approved Children's Home run by the Catholic Church.
Female claimants mostly complained of sustained emotional and physical abuse, but there were also instances of sexual abuse reported. [...]
During the 1960s in particular, it is apparent that corporal punishment was prevalent. Claimants indicated that cruel punishments were handed out irrationally and that they often did not know why they were being punished. According to claimants, corporal punishment was administered by a variety of instruments depending on the preference of the alleged perpetrator:

straps, belts and whips such as a donkey whip;

canes;

planks of wood;

bunches of keys;

Chinese burns, boxing of ears and tweaking of skin, “horse bites”. (p 17 / 28)
   Claimants have advised that Magadalen was commonly known as a home for ‘naughty girls', who were sometimes pregnant when they came into care. Magdalen Home was also used by Police when they picked up 'wayward girls' from the streets.
   One claimant described the institution as prison like, having bars on the windows, locked doors and nuns carrying keys on their belts.
   Examples of abuse cited by the claimants in Catholic run institutions included:

Enforced religious practices. Claimants advise that irrespective of their family religions, girls were forced to accept Catholic doctrines, such as 6.00am attendance at Mass, genuflection and changes to their Christian names. A claimant reported that the nuns were portrayed as ‘Brides of Christ' and any attack on a nun, verbal or otherwise, would result in a punishment from God and in an apparently ongoing burden of guilt (p 22 / 33) and fear. One claimant recounted how she had had personal tragedies in her life that, until recently, she had always believed were a punishment from God because she had physically assaulted a nun by pushing her whilst at the home.

Regular spiteful physical punishment by nuns, such as pinching and hair pulling.

Children were not provided with sufficient food and were punished if caught stealing from the fridges or scavenging food from the rubbish bins.

Several claims of sexual abuse in the cottages at Taroona.
   There were favourable comments made about Mt St Canice and the kindness of some nuns. In the course of the Review, two former residents of the home contacted the Ombudsman's office to describe how happy their time at Mt St Canice had been. There were no allegations of sexual abuse reported. (p 23 / 34)
5.4 HOMES RUN BY CHURCH AUTHORITIES
   Reference has already been made above to a number of Approved Children's Homes run by churches. Further comment is provided here in deference to the high level of public interest and concern following recent disclosures in relation to sexual abuse by clergy. Church authorities have been advised of the allegations made against them.
   As Table 5.3 below indicates, 62 claimants (25 per cent of the total) reported abuse in church run Homes. Most of the complaints were made against the Catholic Church followed by the Salvation Army. Given that these were the largest homes, the number of abuse incidents reported is consistent.
   The allegations related mostly to serious physical and emotional abuse but there were 17 separate incidents of sexual abuse alleged, mostly at Barrington Boys' Home, Maylands Girls' Home, at Boys' Town and St Joseph's Orphanage/Aikenhead House. No sexual abuse claims were received in respect of Mt St Canice. One allegation of sexual abuse related to the Bethany Children's Home, run by the Churches of Christ. This abuse was allegedly committed by another child and not by a carer. There were no allegations of sexual abuse against the Anglican Church.
Table 5.3: Approved Children's Homes run by Churches and named in the Review

						No of claimants
Salvation Army:
Barrington Boys Home 				16
Maylands Girl's Home 				7
Churches of Christ: 
Bethany Children's Home 			1
Anglican: 
Clarendon Children's Home 			2
Catholic: 
Mt St Canice (Convent of the Good
Shepherd; Magdalen Home) 			13
Boys Town (Savio College) 			9
St Joseph's Orphanage /Aikenhead
House						14

(p 23 / 34)
5.5 FOSTER CARE PLACEMENTS (p 24 / 35)
5.6 ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE
   Two thirds (154) of the claimants alleged that they had been sexually abused at some time. Allegations ranged from vaginal and anal intercourse, often described as ‘rape' by claimants, through to inappropriate touching and fondling. Most of the allegations involved the more serious forms of sexual abuse. Table 5.5 below shows that one in four of all reported incidents of abuse was of a sexual nature. [192, 24%] (p 25 / 36)
Her foster parents took her to a holiday house owned by their friend. She thinks they arrived about mid afternoon. The friend asked her to come with him to the tractor shed where he had sexual intercourse with her. She was crying and he told her not to say anything. She didn't complain to her foster parents because they were friends of the other man. She was about 12 years old at the time.
She got on reasonably well with her foster parents in the beginning. Her foster father was very good to her and told her on a number of occasions that he loved her. When she was about 14 years old he started having sexual intercourse with her about twice a week. She used to cry and tell him that she didn't want to do it anymore. He would give her money each time he had sex with her.
He (a religious) would come into the dormitory after the boys were asleep. He would place his hand over his mouth and wake him up. Then he would take off his pyjama trousers and stroke his penis. He was too scared to tell anyone. He knows that he did it to other boys too. (p 26 / 37)
6.1 FAILURE TO PROTECT ALL CHILDREN
   It is evident that over the period covered by the Review, child protection systems in Tasmania, as elsewhere, have not adequately protected all of the children entrusted to the care of the State. There is no reason to believe that systems prior to the Review period were any better. The Government has addressed the issue by initiating the Review and offering redress to victims of past abuse. The many shocking stories presented to the Review team of vulnerable children abused by the people legally responsible for their care suggest that the Government's decision to offer redress is warranted.
   The Review ran from 14 July 2003 to 31 March 2004. (p 34 / 45)
6.3 CONCERN RELATED TO FOSTER CARE
   A disturbing finding to emerge from the Review which requires further examination relates to claims from 12 young adults, presently in the 20 to 30 age range, who have made allegations of abuse having commenced since 1990, in one case as recently as 1998. Nine of these claims related to foster care homes and eight of the claimants were young women. In most cases, the abuse was allegedly ongoing and involved more than one offender. (p 35 / 46)
6.7 LOST OPPORTUNITIES
   Regret for lost opportunities was a recurring theme in the interviews. Many people, who are now mature adults, are still bitter about their lost childhoods; many have no photographs of their parents or siblings; no records of small achievements; and no memorabilia of happy holidays, birthdays, or other important events. (p 37 / 48)
6.8 BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE
   A very disturbing finding from the Review was that in some families sexual abuse appears to have been accepted as ‘normal'. A total of 13 claims were made involving members of two separate families. The claims involved intergenerational abuse. Some of the claimants were apparently unaware that other family members had lodged separate claims. It was also apparent from the Review that the commonly held belief that people who were abused as children will often abuse their own children has substance. Numbers of claimants admitted to this.
6.9 ABORIGINAL CLAIMANTS
   Forty people included in the Review claimed Aboriginality, comprising 16 per cent of the total. The proportion is higher than in the Tasmanian population as a whole, but consistent with the higher incidence of Aboriginals in care generally, which may reflect judgmental issues of the time as to the standards of care which were provided in Aboriginal families. Five family groups are represented involving 15 claimants. Many of the claimants have linked their claims to past practices associated with the ‘stolen generation' and lament what they regard as the deliberate alienation from their Aboriginal heritage. File records show that in each case the children were taken into care for stated reasons of ‘neglect' rather than for reasons associated with the precepts underpinning the stolen generation movement. (p 38 / 49)

http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm#listen [To save time, Tables have been greatly simplified.] [Nov 24, 04]
• Former health chief in porn net. [Hulbert] -- No religion link reported. 265,000 porn pictures, some under 5.

   The West Australian, by Anne Calverley, p 15, Wednesday, November 24, 2004
   PERTH, W. Australia: A former WA senior health bureaucrat and respected air force serviceman has become one of the worst offenders swept up in an international crackdown on child pornography.
   Duncraig man Ernest Sydney Hulbert, 66, was jailed for two years and two months yesterday after being convicted of downloading 265,000 images of children engaged in sexual activity.
   His arrest in September followed a massive investigation targeting people accessing child pornography websites in Belarus run by the Russian mafia.
   But the District Court was told the pensioner was no cleanskin, having been fined $5500 three years ago for importing explicit child pornography. He stepped down from his post as general manager of the Kimberley Health Service a short time later.
   In the latest incident, police seized four computer discs containing pictures of children -- some younger than five years -- being forced to pose naked or perform sexual acts with each other or adults. They also found a movie depicting a naked teenage boy after raiding his home.
   A psychologist's report claimed Hulbert had not accessed the sites for his own gratification. Rather he had been exploring his own sexual identity in the wake of his marital breakdown years earlier.
   "His was a journey of enlightenment and understanding of his own sexuality and human sexual relationships," the report said.
   Defence lawyer Mark Andrews said Hulbert's fall from grace had caused him great shame and humiliation. He was estranged from his two adult children and forbidden to see his grandchild.
   Judge Allan Fenbury described the images as sickening and questioned how a man with children of his own could look at them.
   Det-Sen. Const. Graeme Barry said outside court the sentence sent a clear message that anyone involved in the disgusting activity would be punished harshly.
   [COMMENT: 6th paragraph: A psychologist's report said the accused had been exploring his own sexual identity. In the future will these raids and gaolings be declared persecution of people with variant "sexual identities" seeking "enlightenment"? Even so, did he need 265,000 images and a movie for this research? COMMENT ENDS.] [Nov 24, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont105.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu November 25, 2004 edition follows:-
• Sex-abuse victims protest easing of diocese audit rules; Bishops said self-reports could replace outside audits. One group called it "back-pedaling." -- RCC.

   The Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly. com/mld/ inquirer/ news/nation/ 10269192.htm By Jim Remsen, Inquirer Faith Life Editor, Posted on Thu, Nov. 25, 2004
   UNITED STATES of AMERICA: A sex-abuse victims group has called on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to reverse its decision to allow most dioceses to submit annual self-reports about compliance with new child-protection rules.
   The shift - from the system under which outside auditors visited dioceses for a week of investigation and interviews with officials, victims and others - represents "a nearly total reversal of what bishops pledged," the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a letter released yesterday.
   At their semiannual meeting in Washington last week, the bishops voted 189-35 to alter the audit system adopted in the 2002 Dallas charter. Under the change, all but the handful of dioceses that have failed to implement "safe environment" training programs and background checks will be able to "self-audit" by filling out questionnaires and mailing them to the audit firm.
   The national victims group called on Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, the conference's new president, and Cardinal Francis George, the vice president, to "prod your brother bishops to reconsider this ill-fated and self-destructive back-pedaling."
   "We're basically back to square one, where we have no choice but to trust in many of the same men whose repeated deceit and misconduct led to the molestation of thousands of innocent Catholic youngsters," the protest letter stated.
   Skylstad and George were not available for comment yesterday. Nor were leaders of the bishops' ad hoc committee on sex abuse, which crafted the change.
   Kathleen McChesney, director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, defended the new system.[...] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:37 AM]
• 5 insurers sue Spokane diocese over settlements [O'Donnell] -- RCC. 30 victims.
   Seattle Times, By Janet I. Tu, jtu@seattletimes.com , Thursday, November 25, 2004
   SPOKANE (WA): Five commonly owned insurance companies for the Spokane Roman Catholic diocese filed a lawsuit Tuesday saying they should not have to pay for settlements in sex-abuse cases involving five former Spokane priests.
   In the lawsuit filed in Spokane County Superior Court, the five insurers - all part of CNA insurance companies - said they shouldn't have to pay, in part because some policies couldn't be found and because church officials had been aware of warnings against the abusive priests but didn't stop them.
   "The diocese made conscious decisions not to protect children," said the lawsuit, which focused mainly on the case of the Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, a former Spokane priest who is the subject of a number of lawsuits facing the diocese.
   O'Donnell, who served as a priest in Spokane from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, has admitted in a deposition to abusing at least 30 boys during his priesthood.
   Triggered by the failure of mediation talks with 28 men who say they were abused by O'Donnell, the Spokane diocese announced earlier this month that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bishop William Skylstad said the diocese was facing a number of pending and potential lawsuits that would cost more than it could afford.[...]
• Money raised for Anglican Settlement Fund earmarked for survivors of residential schools [Anglican] -- "Orphans".

   General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, November 23, 2004
   TORONTO, Canada -- Eighteen months after committing itself to raising $25 million over five years to compensate former residential schools students, the Anglican Church of Canada, including the General Synod and 30 dioceses, is more than half-way there.
   "We are now past the $13 million mark," said Archdeacon Jim Boyles, General Secretary of the General Synod. "The dioceses have responded creatively, imaginatively and very effectively. They are to be commended."
   Mr. Boyles stressed that every penny that Anglicans contribute to the Settlement Fund goes exactly where the money is intended to go - as compensation to former students of the church-run schools whose claims of physical or sexual abuse are validated.
   "Our fund is administered by General Synod staff," Mr. Boyles said. "That means that the total of the $25 million fund will be available to victims of abuse whose claims have been validated."
   To date, the Anglican church has paid about $3.5 million to 130 claimants. The federal government has been criticized in recent weeks for the amount it spends on administration as compared to the money it pays to former students. Last year, the federal government spent about $61 million on administration, four times the $16.5 million paid to former students.
   The Anglican Church of Canada and the federal government signed an agreement in March, 2003, under which the church's liabilities in lawsuits by former residential schools students would be limited to $25 million. The Anglican General Synod and all 30 dioceses agreed to raise the $25 million within five years.
   For more information on the Settlement Fund and how Anglican dioceses met their commitment, see http://general synod.anglican. ca/pdf/New_ Beginnings_II.pdf and http://general synod.anglican. ca/pdf/settlement. pdf , and/or VIANNEY (SAM) CARRIERE, Director of Communications, 416 924 9199 EXT. 306; scarriere@national.anglican.ca
• United States: Not-for-Profit Bankruptcies: Eleemosynary Corporations on the Brink

   UNITED STATES: In the wake of controversial bankruptcy cases recently filed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, National Benevolent Association, Allegheny Health, Education, and Research Foundation and most recently, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tucson, Arizona, scrutiny has been increasingly brought to bear on the benefits and burdens that federal bankruptcy laws offer to eleemosynary corporations. [Difficult to obtain more of this article on 04 Dec 04.]
• Church under siege: Trials in the media
   The Pittsburgh Catholic (Established in 1844: America's Oldest Catholic Newspaper In Continuous Publication), www.pittsburgh catholic.org/ newsarticles_ more.phtml? id=1295 , News & Features section, By TIM DRAKE, Friday December 03, 2004
   (Last of two parts)
   The following article is an 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.
   Last week, the issue of skirting statutes of limitation was raised. This week, the publicity campaigns undertaken by lawyers suing the church are discussed.
   PITTSBURGH (Pennsylvania): Another tactic being employed by tort lawyers in attacking the church is the practice of holding news conferences and media events to make such allegations public, often before notifying the diocese or the accused.
   When attorney Jeff Anderson brought a civil case against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in April 2002, he held a news conference on the downtown courthouse steps alongside two alleged victims and a dozen supporters. Afterward, he walked two blocks to deliver the suit at the cathedral. Two months later, Anderson repeated the same publicity tactic on the courthouse steps in St. Cloud, Minn., with two alleged victims who were suing St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn.
   University of St. Thomas law professor Patrick Schiltz said such tactics are nothing new. Schiltz has defended churches from all major denominations in approximately 500 clergy sexual abuse cases.
   "Fifteen years ago, I used to get calls from a plaintiff's lawyer," Schiltz said. "They said they were going to file a suit. Unless we paid, they said they were going to hold a press conference the next day at a hotel.
   "This is very common," Schiltz said. "They want to punish the church with publicity and also generate further cases." The disadvantage, of course, is that once the allegation is in the media, great damage is already done.
   "There has been a suspension of, and disregard for the time-honored principle of innocence until proven guilt," said Steve Gottwalt, director of communications for the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minn. "How is justice carried out when an attorney, instead of notifying the accused, notifies the media first? Once that clergy member's name is in the media, they are all but convicted regardless of whether they are innocent or guilty."
Presumptions have switched
   As a case in point, Gottwalt cited the example of retired Bishop Paul Dudley of Sioux Falls, S.D., who had wrongly been accused of sexual misconduct in 2002.
   "The accusation was all over the news that night," Gottwalt said. "A couple of months later, there was a footnote saying that he had been cleared. How much damage did that do to his name and integrity? I think a number of attorneys have been self-serving to get a conviction in the public forum rather than following the legal system which they are a part of."
   Schiltz also expressed his concern about possible false accusations.
   "In this day and age, the presumptions have switched," Schiltz said. "The abuse is assumed to have occurred. If a plaintiff doesn't have a valid claim, we won't know about it. If the 201st victim of John Geoghan comes forward, who is going to question him?"
   Gottwalt also faulted the attorneys for their failure to notify the diocese of their charges.
   "I've been in the position to get a call from media personnel who say they have a release of accusations and want to know what the church has to say," Gottwalt said. "Moments later, the news release crosses our fax machines. We cannot comment on what we haven't seen, so the church ends up looking like it's trying to hide something."
   In Pennsylvania, a recent Supreme Court ruling could put a damper on such tactics. Lawyers who send reporters copies of lawsuits by fax or e-mail could now lose their immunity from defamation suits.
   In the past, attorneys who filed lawsuits could not be sued for libel or defamation for anything said in court as this was considered part of the freedom to aggressively serve their clients.
   The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled, however, that once attorneys use means outside the courthouse to further their ends in cases, such as generating publicity through newspaper accounts by supplying media with copies of lawsuits, such immunity comes to an end.
Follow the money
   Dioceses and parishioners are rightly concerned about what impact continued litigation will have upon the church. One concern is how the cost of litigation and settlements affect their charitable giving.
   "Dioceses settle because both parties find out what the evidence is and reach a settlement to save everyone the expense of a trial," Schiltz said.
   He added that there are additional inducements to settle because the sky is the limit when it comes to what a jury may come back with. "It could be $10,000 or $10 million," he said.
   Litigation attorney and former Minnesota Court of Appeals Justice Roger Nierengarten cautions dioceses against quick settlements. He likened them to "throwing priests to the dogs."
   "Just because they were ordained doesn't mean they give up their constitutional rights," Nierengarten said. "I preach due process to every bishop I can."
   Others wonder how many additional dioceses will declare bankruptcy, and whether doing so will give civil authorities governance over church property.
   Attorney Jeff Anderson doesn't think so.
   "In neither Portland nor Tucson will the settlements shut down or interrupt the good work of the church," Anderson said. He claimed that the money does not come from parish funds, but rather from insurance companies, investments and the divestment of property.
   "When you look at the layers of insurance and the financial ability of the diocese to pay, it is not the case that the parishioner is the one being punished," Anderson said.
   Schiltz disagreed. He said the story of who is paying the bills for clergy sexual abuse is one that has largely been ignored. According to Schiltz, a large and growing percentage of the litigation brought against churches is not covered by insurance, and as legislatures lengthen statutes of limitations and cases get older, insurance coverage becomes harder to find.
   Therefore, said Schiltz, "the people who are punished - are not the abusive priests or the negligent bishops. The people who pay those damages are the people in the pews or the people whom the diocese serves.
   "The problem with punitive damages," he added, "is that they are assessed based upon the wealth of the defendant."
Impact on religious liberty
   Still, some question whether the attorneys' motives are pure.
   "No one has talked about who are these attorneys and what are their motivations," Gottwalt said. "With some of these attorneys receiving 40 percent, there is an unspoken profit motive. They may be champions of the downtrodden, but they are certainly making a lot of money doing it.
   "The church is under siege," Gottwalt said, "but we've had the white flag up for months. Name any other organization that is going through as much retooling to address this issue. We accept full responsibility for these things, but the attorneys and the media need to answer some questions. They have victimized justice."
   Perhaps the biggest unanswered question is what impact such litigation and dioceses declaring bankruptcy may have on religious liberty. Schiltz feels they pose a significant threat to religious freedom.
   "One reason why clergy sexual misconduct litigation is troubling - one reason why it burdens religious liberty - is that it gives hundreds of juries around the United States almost complete freedom to act against churches out of religious animus, even when that animus has nothing to do with the evidence in the case," Schiltz wrote in an article published in the Boston College Law Review. "I worry that, with the gun of clergy sexual misconduct litigation pointed at their heads, churches may stop acting like churches."
Drake is a staff writer with the National Catholic Register and the author of "Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow's Church" (Sophia Institute Press, 2004).
   [RESPONSE: To The Editor, The Pittsburgh Catholic, December 4, 2004
   Regarding the series "Church under siege: Trials in the media", my comment is that the Faithful (and some innocent clergy) are reaping the whirlwind of what has been sown for decades, or even centuries.
   Father Tom Doyle and others warned about it in the mid-1980s, I think -- and others must have been protesting for years before and since, I am sure. Child sex is NOT a perk of the celibate !!!
   Avoiding marriage is frowned on by most authentic Holy Scripture, by most Churches, by Natural Law, and by common sense. Child abuse of any kind is forbidden by Jesus.
   The Apostles were accompanied on their missions by their wives -- look it up in the Epistle [1 Corinthians 9:5]! They didn't abandon their wives and children PERMANENTLY to learn The Way.
   We have much UNLEARNING to do if we wish to scramble back into serious consideration in a world where violent alternative views (Islam with its "strike off the heads of disbelievers" teachings, and Fundamentalist Finance Capitalism) are vying for conquest.
   Use the Internet to find out about these things. RESPONSE ENDS.]
   [COMMENT: The article with its mention of a bishop wrongly accused "Presumptions have switched", its untruth "it is not the case that the parishioner is the one being punished", and the sneer "some of these attorneys receiving 40 percent", is the work of an unrepentent APOLOGIST. Real Christians would be beating their breasts and telling the bishops around the world that hiding clergy abuse ought never to have started, thus saving the Church the disgrace of the revelations that are still being made, not to mention the ruinous financial burdens, which will probably end in no insurer being willing to cover the Roman Church for personal failures of clergy and employees. Real followers of Jesus would be telling their bishops to insist that the Papal secrecy system of Crimen Sollicitationis, "The Crime of Solicitation," has to be abolished and reversed, and that the Jesus policy about "a millstone" be figuratively adopted by all Churches (Bible: Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2).
   Jesus-following bishops would remember that no earthly Church head can override the real Head of the Church. And, as the followers leave in droves, as during 2004 in Austria, the leaders look less and less impressive! And are less and less effective in spreading good family-friendly policies. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Author Probes Dark Side of Catholic Church -- RCC. About Jason Berry.
   The Miami Herald, www.miami. com/mld/miami herald/enter tainment/ 10264333.htm , By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press, Posted on Wed, Nov. 24, 2004
   NEW ORLEANS - The stories, and faces, of molested altar boys and abused seminarians seem to dart and flicker like lightning bugs on a summer's night on the broad face of Jason Berry - the reluctant muckraker who took on the Vatican and his own faith.
   It all started 20 years ago when Berry, a freelance journalist, became one of the first writers to yank the cloak off one of the Roman Catholic Church's darkest secrets: That there were pedophiles in the ranks of priests.
   But despite the awards, TV appearances, talks at universities, praise and accolades heaped on his work, Berry is a victim of his success, of his journalistic scoops.
   "I would have been just as happy never to have written a word about the Catholic church," he said in a recent interview at his New Orleans home, a tidy place filled with African and New Orleans art work and books.
   "And I think in some ways I might have been - I don't want to say happier, but maybe an easier person," he added, thoughtfully.
   He calls himself "a reluctant muckraker." Investigative journalism was not his first choice. "I am much more interested in the life of the mind," he said. And culture is his passion. He's written extensively on jazz and jazz funerals, the blues, Louisiana writers, the civil rights movement, Mardi Gras Indians and on New Orleans' spiritual life. He writes book reviews and essays on a regular basis.
   Also to his name is a drama, "Earl Long in Purgatory," about the maverick and erratic former Louisiana governor. And if that were not enough, Berry is turning his attention to making documentaries.
   But Berry cannot escape the faces of abused altar boys and seminarians, and the minds of sexual predators.
   It began 20 years ago, when he was 35, a time before the doubt and stories of abuse, a time when Berry was an unquestioning Catholic. An unusual story bubbled up in the backwaters of Cajun country. A village pastor, Father Gilbert Gauthe, was accused of molesting a string of boys at his rectory and on overnight trips to the quiet Louisiana marsh.[...]
• Judges set filing deadlines in diocesan bankruptcy cases -- RCC.
   Catholic News Service (Washington, DC), Nov-24-2004
   PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Federal bankruptcy judges in Portland and in Tucson, Ariz., have set April 2005 deadlines for victims of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in those dioceses to submit claims. Both judges approved media notice campaigns that would invite additional victims to come forward before the deadlines. In Portland, however, Judge Elizabeth Perris also ruled that victims who are aware of having been abused will not be limited by the court-set deadline if they have not yet recognized the personal damage caused by the abuse.
   The Portland Archdiocese, facing lawsuits by more than 60 plaintiffs seeking more than $300 million, filed for bankruptcy protection July 6 under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Tucson Diocese made a similar filing Sept. 20. It faces lawsuits by 33 plaintiffs who seek millions of dollars for claims of childhood sexual abuse by church personnel. On Nov. 10 the Diocese of Spokane, Wash., announced plans to invoke Chapter 11 protection after attempts to mediate the claims of some 125 alleged victims broke down. In late November the diocese moved its target date for filing from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6.
   Chapter 11 sets out a procedure by which a federal bankruptcy judge oversees the reorganization of a corporation in a way that provides equitable settlement of debts and other claims against it within its financial means. One goal of a Chapter 11 proceeding is to let the corporation remain in business instead of liquidating all its assets and dissolving itself, as it would have to do if it declared bankruptcy. In a ruling Nov. 19, Judge Perris set April 29 as the date after which no new claims can be filed. She exempted those who are still minors, those who have blocked memory of the abuse and those who are aware of the abuse but have not realized a possible connection between the abuse and personal problems such as mental illness or substance addiction.
   A Portland archdiocesan insurer that refuses to pay settlements called the judge's inclusion of people who remember the abuse but have not yet connected it with personal damage a "radical departure" from usual court practice.[...]
• Mildura abuse victims to launch action [Day] -- RCC. Attempt to investigate ended in dismissal from Police. Boys, girls.

   CathNews (from Church Resources, Australia), www.cathnews.com/news/411/147.php , Nov 25, 2004
   MILDURA (Victoria, Australia): An alleged victim of sexual abuse by the late Monsignor John Day who is thought to have abused hundreds of girls and boys in the Victorian city of Mildura decades ago, is to make a claim against the Diocese of Ballarat.
   Online Catholics reported yesterday that a letter of demand is expected to be sent to the Diocese before Christmas.
   The alleged victim's solicitor, Mr John Zigouris, confirmed that others will join in the action depending on information contained in a yet to be released Victorian Police file. The file is said to contain a confidential report by a police ethics review that corroborates the testimony of former senior detective Denis Ryan. Ryan raised the original allegations of sexual abuse against Day in the 1970s. His career was cut short as a result. Ryan has recently launched an action against the Victorian Police for wrongful dismissal.
   Ballarat's Bishop Peter Connors, in Sydney this week for the Plenary Meeting of the Bishops Conference, said that a number of similar complaints against Monsignor Day had been settled by the Diocese out of court. Bishop Connors said he had not read the reports regarding Denis Ryan and was unable to comment on his story. However, the Bishop said that such cases tended to bring new allegations of abuse to the surface.
   "These things that happened years ago, we did not understand them, the causes of these things," Bishop Connors told Online Catholics. "But we understand them better