Clergy Child Molesters (111) — References/Archive/Blog

• Amended suit filed against church leaders [? 2000s Fenwick, Gore, Joiner -NEW*] - Pentecostal Church of God. Girl.

   The Register-Guard, www.registerguard. com/news/2005/04/ 01/c1.cr.amendsuit. 0401.html , By Jeff Wright, April 01, 2005
   OREGON, United States of America - An amended lawsuit filed Thursday accuses two top Pentecostal Church of God officials of counseling a young rape victim against going to police, instead urging her to travel out of state to face her perpetrator and other church officials in a "church-conducted tribunal."
   The two accused church leaders - Harold Gore of Drain and Jamie Joiner of Kennewick, Wash. - said the charges are inaccurate and that the revised lawsuit is an attempt to win a larger settlement. The out-of-state meeting never happened because the victim backed out at the last minute.
   Gore is bishop of the denomination's Oregon-Southern Idaho district. Joiner is bishop of the denomination's adjoining Pacific Northwest district and an assistant general superintendent on the church's 12-member national executive board based in Joplin, Mo.
   The revised suit, filed in Lane County Circuit Court, is the latest wrinkle involving Charles Fenwick Jr., who was sentenced last August to five years in prison, the maximum term, for sexually abusing the female parishioner, beginning when she was 14. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:38 PM] (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Fri, April 01, 2005.)

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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 . These are digests of and links to mass media coverage of clergy abuse. Get fuller details by trying the link. • Archdiocese faces 10th abuse suit [1954 Carman -NEW*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Boy.
   Courier, By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor, April 01, 2005
WATERLOO (IA) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque now faces its 10th outstanding clergy sex abuse lawsuit.
   Attorneys for a Waterloo law firm filed the suit in Dubuque County District Court on behalf of an anonymous male plaintiff, "John Doe II," alleging he was abused by a now-deceased priest, the Rev. Albert Carman, in 1954.
   Carman's last parish assignment was at Immaculate Conception Church in Clutier. He was a longtime faculty member at Loras College in Dubuque. At the time of the abuse, he was on staff at Loras Academy, a boys boarding school later merged with all-girls Clarke Academy to form Wahlert High School. He died in 1980.
   Carman was chaplain for the boys who boarded at Loras Academy at the time of the alleged abuse according to the suit, filed by Waterloo attorneys Chad Swanson and Tom Staack.
   The suit says Carman summoned the alleged victim/plaintiff to his residence and "sexually abused plaintiff by causing his pants to be taken down and by touching and blessing plaintiffs genitals with a crucifix."
• Jury may hear of priest's alleged tie to Hudson killings [2002 Erickson] - RCC. 2 killed.
   Pioneer Press, By Randy Furst, Star Tribune, April 01, 2005
   WISCONSIN - The alleged involvement of a Catholic priest in the 2002 slayings of two funeral home workers in Hudson, Wis., soon may be headed to Wisconsin's version of a grand jury.
   The St. Croix County district attorney is likely to review evidence concerning the deaths in the next few weeks and will have various options, including convening a hearing on the case, according to a source familiar with it.
   The Rev. Ryan Erickson, 31, who committed suicide in December, is believed to be the chief suspect in the Feb. 5, 2002, slayings.
   He denied any ties to the deaths of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, according to police and other people who spoke with him.
   Hudson police have previously indicated that they also were investigating Erickson about possible criminal involvement with minors.
• Deal of the Century [1970s-1990s Llanos, Ramos] - RCC. 21 + 25 boys.
   CALIFORNIA - Orange County Weekly, by GUSTAVO ARELLANO, ~ April 1, 2005
   The Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels have traded with each other only once: in 1972, when the Halos shipped Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen up Interstate 5 for Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, Mike Strahler, Billy Grabarkewitz and Bobby Valentine. The trade did little to improve each team: the Angels finished 1973 with a 79-83 record, while the Boys in Blue placed second behind the Cincinnati Reds in the National League West Division.
   But in 1973, a deacon at St. Barbara's in Santa Ana tongued a boy, setting into motion one of the best swaps in trading history. The following year, officials with the Los Angeles Archdiocese elevated the deacon, Theodore Llanos, into the priesthood and placed him in an LA parish. Llanos went on to become the most notorious pedo-priest in Los Angeles County history, violating at least 21 children in various county parishes until he was placed on the disabled list (a.k.a. put on inactive leave) while at St. Lucy's in Long Beach in 1991.
   But LA archdiocesan officials returned the favor to OC parishioners. Shortly after Llanos left Santa Ana in 1974, then-LA Cardinal Timothy Manning moved Eleuterio Ramos from Resurrection Church in Los Angeles to St. Joseph's in Placentia. In a 16-year career that ended in the Mexican Winter League (a.k.a. Tijuana) in 1994, Ramos became king of Orange County pedophiles, admitting to more than 25 victims.
   The Llanos-Ramos transaction is reminiscent of the 1999 Marshall Faulk-Edgerrin James deal between the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts, in which both teams exchanged young stars and saw each prosper - if by "prosper," you mean chewing up a lot of yardage as NFL running backs for Faulk and James and chewing up a lot of kiddie trousers as Roman Catholic priests for Llanos and Ramos. [a.k.a. = also known as]
• Two more file claims against Jesuit priest [1968-72 & 1972-77 Nawn (Jesuit), Convert, Pool , Llorente, Lundowski] - RCC. Boys.
  Fairbanks News-Miner, By MARY BETH SMETZER, ~ April 1, 2005
   ALASKA - Two more men, identified as Jack Doe 5 and Jack Doe 6, have filed claims against Jesuit priest Francis Nawn, saying they were sexually abused by Nawn when he was ministering at St. Peter's Church in Sheldon Point.
   The two men join four other plaintiffs who have accused Nawn of molesting them as children at Sheldon Point, a small southwestern Alaska community located on the Black River in the Yukon River Delta. Nawn is now deceased.
   The defendants named in the lawsuit filed in Bethel Superior Court are the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, the Society of Jesus Oregon Province and the Alaska Jesuits.
   Jack Doe 5 came forward to say the sexual abuse by Nawn started in 1968, when he was 9 and continued until he was 13.
   Jack Doe 6, an altar boy, alleges similar abuse by Nawn beginning when he was 7 and continuing until he was 12, from 1972-77.
   Two date, more than five dozen complaints alleging sexual abuse in the Fairbanks Diocese have been lodged.
   In addition to Nawn, three other priests, the Revs. Jules Convert, James Poole and Segundo Llorente and Catholic volunteer Joseph Lundowski have been accused of sexual abuse. Only Poole, in his early 80s, is alive.
• Another hurdle for those seeking justice - RCC.
   Baltimore Sun, by Dan Rodricks, ~ April 1, 2005
   MARYLAND - JOSEPH F. Vallario Jr. did not return my phone calls, so the only explanation I have is the one that Annapolis lobbyist Mike Gisriel says Vallario gave him - he doesn't like people going after dead priests.
   Even if the priests molested children, Vallario doesn't think their victims should have the right to sue the priests' dioceses for damages long after the crimes occurred.
   This, Gisriel says, is why the 68-year-old chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is deep-sixing a bill that would extend the time for victims to claim damages.
   Gisriel, hired to represent victims of childhood sexual abuse, doesn't think Vallario will let the committee vote on the matter.
   A ridiculous amount of power for one old-school pol, but that's our system.
   At present, Maryland law allows such civil suits only before victims reach their 25th birthday.
   Victims' advocates say that's not enough time; victims of such horrific crimes are too burdened with guilt, shame and fear to come forward until they are deep into adulthood, and many of the Catholic victims have waited until their parents died before going public.
• Disgraced bishop to stand trial [? 2000s Panteleimon] - Greek Orthodox. Embezzlement €300,000. Holds €3m.

   Kathimerini, http://ekathimerini. com/4dcgi/_w_articles _politics_100022 _01/04/2005 _54690 , April 1, 2005
   GREECE - The suspended bishop of Attica, Panteleimon, was indicted yesterday to stand trial on criminal embezzlement charges, in yet another twist of the corruption and sex scandals bedeviling the Church of Greece.
   The Council of Appeals Court Judges ruled that Panteleimon should be tried for allegedly siphoning off funds in excess of 100 million drachmas (300,000 euros) from the collection boxes of the convent of Ossios Ephraim in Nea Makri, eastern Attica, in 1996 and 1997.
   The charges - which include embezzling state funds, as the money was subject to taxation - followed a formal complaint by the convent's nuns. An inspection of the bishop's finances has revealed that he holds over 3 million euros in bank accounts.
   The Church suspended Panteleimon on February 4 pending an investigation into claims he was involved in a trial-fixing ring consisting of judges, lawyers and churchmen, owned shares in offshore companies and had made lewd suggestions to a young man over the phone - after tapes of the conversation were made public.
   The bishop, who denies the charges, resisted intense pressure from the Church's ruling body, the Holy Synod, to resign.
• Fury over vaccine abuse 'inaction' [1950s-60s] - RCC and other institutions.

   Irish Independent, www.unison.ie/ irish_independent/ stories.php3 ?ca=9&si=1367256 &issue _id=12267 , ~ April 1, 2005
   IRELAND - INSTITUTIONAL detainees subjected to vaccine trials in the 1950s and 60s have been ignored by the Government's compensation commission and now a lobby group has threatened to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights.
   Last night, the Irish Survivors of Institutional Abuse International (ISIAI) confirmed that they've been informed the Ryan Commission - which continued the work of the Laffoy Commission - is unlikely to be able to process complaints from institutional detainees who were subjected to vaccine trials without permission.
   The commission - which is already struggling to cope with the volume of claims to be processed - believes that it does not have the technical or research facilities to properly examine the vaccine issue.
   However, the ISIAI argued that the vaccine trials for pharmaceutical companies were amongst the most upsetting and exploitative of the abuses suffered by those in state and Church institutions.
• Archbishop admits Church cannot afford compensation bill - RCC.
   One in Four, By John Downing, Political Correspondent - The Star, ~ April 1, 2005
   IRELAND - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin admits he does not have money to deal with clerical child abuse claims.
   He is frank about the problem he inherited in the Dublin Archdiocese when he took over one year ago from Cardinal Desmond Connell. "I walked into an explosive situation. We are continuing to try to deal with it" he said simply.
   "Aside from personal hurt and blighted lives, the bill is considerable. I am talking to the priests about how we face up to the issue". "It will mean finding new money, I don't have it," he told The Star.
   Latest Dublin figures show EUR3.7 million has been paid in settlements, with EUR1.3m in legal costs to date. An extra EUR1 million was spent on archdiocesan child protection fund. But all the signs are that the problem is continuing to grow, with claims dating back to before 1996 still expected. The archdiocese has so far paid EUR2.5 to a "Stewardship Fund" set up to in 1996 to deal with the problem.
• Zanesville Pastor Released After Posting Bond [2005 Phillips] - North Terrace Church. Internet "girl".

   WHIO, www.whiotv.com/ news/4335434/ detail.html , March 31, 2005
   FAIRBORN, Ohio -- A Zanesville church pastor posted bond in Fairborn and is now out of jail. However, he cannot go back to work because church administrators suspended him.
   Graham Phillips, 25, was arrested in Fairborn earlier this week after investigators said he used a church computer to chat online with whom he thought was a teenage girl. They said he drove to Fairborn to meet the girl for sex.
   Authorities said the teenager Phillips had been chatting with online was actually an undercover detective. ...
Previous Story: * March 30, 2005: Fairborn Police Arrest Zanesville Pastor#
• Priest to stand trial for abuse [1970s Klep (Salesian)] - RCC. 8 boys.

   The Age, www.theage.com. au/news/National/ Priest-to-stand -trial-for-abuse/ 2005/04/01/1112 302213363.html ; By Jamie Berry, April 1, 2005
   MELBOURNE (Vic) AUSTRALIA - A Catholic priest will stand trial later this year on 29 charges of child sex abuse.
   Frank Gerard Klep, 61, pleaded not guilty to 28 counts of indecent assault and one of b*ggery.
   The charges relate to alleged assaults against eight teenage boys at Sunbury's Rupertswood College in the 1970s, where Klep was principal for some time, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told. [Emphasis added]
• Catholic priest on sex charges [1970s Klep (Salesian)] - RCC. 8 boys.
   Herald Sun, April 1, 2005
   AUSTRALIA - A CATHOLIC priest facing 29 child sex charges dating back to the 1970s has been committed to stand trial in the Victorian County Court later this year.
   Frank Gerard Klep, 61, pleaded not guilty to 28 counts of indecent assault and one of b*ggery.
   Magistrate Rowan McIndoe today committed Father Klep to stand trial in the County Court on October 24.
   The offences involve eight boys and were allegedly committed at Sunbury, 45km north-west of Melbourne between 1973 and 1979.
   Father Klep, a member of the Salesian Order, was a teacher and later principal at the order's Rupertswood College in Sunbury, at the time of the alleged offences.
   He left Melbourne in April 1998 to become the senior financial officer at a Salesian theological college in Samoa. [Bolding added]
• Sex probe started, RC bishop insists [? 2000s] - RCC. Sexual harassment.

   London Free Press (Canada), By JOE BELANGER, April 1, 2005
   CANADA - Roman Catholic Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro denies he ignored a Brazilian couple's complaint of alleged sexual improprieties by a London priest that sparked a $3.1-million lawsuit.
   A statement released yesterday by the diocese of London says Fabbro launched an investigation immediately after meeting the couple in November.
   "Whenever these kinds of allegations are made, deep pain is felt by all parties," the diocese's statement said.
   "The Church is about healing those who are wounded, and we seek to bring resolution."
   The diocese said Fabbro "contacted the sexual harassment officer (of the diocese) and asked her to investigate these allegations by meeting with (Jose and Isabel) Do Prado.
• Rivera could be papal successor. - RCC.

   The Herald Mexico, www.eluniversal. com.mx/pls/impreso/ noticia.html?id _nota=9994 &tabla=miami , BY NICK WILSON, April 01, 2005
   MEXICO - With Thursday's giving of last rites to Pope John Paul II the world's eyes turned to Rome; and Mexico home of Cardinal Norberto Rivera, a papacy frontrunner.
   Many Mexicans have a special affection for the Pope, who canonized Mexico's Saint Juan Diego, the first Indian saint in the Americas, and to whom the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared according to the Church. The Pope visited the country five times - it was the first foreign trip of his papacy - as part of the special attention he paid to the second largest Catholic population after Brazil.
   John Paul II's papacy coincided with a radical shift in relations between the Vatican and the Mexican government, which for decades had some of the world's strictest anti-religion laws, designed to rein in a Church that for centuries ruled as part of the colonial power structure.
   Today, the Church enjoys a warm relationship with President Vicente Fox, who was criticized by some for kissing John Paul II's ring and attending the canonization, the first time a Mexican president attended a papal Mass. It recently granted him an annulment to his first marriage, giving official Church approval to his second marriage to conservative Catholic First Lady Marta Sahagún.
   Things have changed so much in recent years that the Senate held a minute's silence, Thursday, when they mistakenly thought the Pope had died.
   With Fox's pro-church, rightwing National Action Party (PAN) in power; increasing pressure to elect a pope from a thirdworld country and a college of conservative cardinals picked by John Paul II, things are looking up for Rivera.
   At 62, Vatican watchers consider him to be the right age to succeed his benefactor.
   Like the ailing Pope, Rivera is outspoken and traditionalist.
   When sex abuse scandals rocked the church he talked of a "media campaign of persecution" against the Catholic Church in the United States, and said there was no "documented denunciation" alleging priestly sexual abuse of minors in Mexico.
   The cardinal said that as a Latin American he feels a special obligation to defend the U.S. Church when it is attacked, and that he is a "great friend" of Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.
   Law resigned amid sustained media pressure and accusations that he covered up pedophilia by priests in his diocese. John Paul II had previously refused his first offer to quit.
   Rivera said of the alleged media plot: "Not only in the United States but also in other parts of the world, one can see underway an orchestrated plan for striking at the prestige of the Church."
   He also defended Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, who is widely considered to be Latin America's other frontrunner for the papacy, and one of 10 cardinals on whom Vatican experts are placing bets for the top job.
   Rodríguez compared the U.S. media's coverage of the sex scandals to persecutions under Roman emperors Nero and Diocletian, and 20th century dictators Hitler and Stalin. [Emphasis added.]
   [COMMENT: We persecute the children with sex abuse, society fights back -- and society's news media is Nero, Diocletian, Hitler and Stalin !!! And, it's all a media plot! He's a friend of Cardinal Law! Scary to think that both these humbugs will be voting for the next Bishop of Rome at the conclave in April 2005, isn't it? And some apologists rail against people leaving religion! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Former priest in court on sex charges [1991-92] - Anglican. Child.

   Ninemsn.com ; http://news. ninemsn.com.au/ article.aspx ?id=19393 , 10:27 AEDT, Fri Apr 1 2005
   AUSTRALIA - A former Anglican priest charged with child sex abuse would have to surrender a substantial amount of his savings if he were to be released on bail, a court said.
   The 50-year-old former priest made his first appearance in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday, charged with five counts of indecent assault, one charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and two counts of procuring the commission of an act of gross indecency.
   The offences allegedly occurred between October 27, 1991 and May 31, 1992 when the man was employed as a school chaplain.
   The man denied the charges and said he had a network of friends that were prepared to provide $20,000 bail surety and had considerable savings of his own that could be lodged with the court.
• Priest Sued For Sexual Abuse [1954-55 Carmen] - RCC. Teenager.
   KWWL, www.kwwl.com/ Global/story. asp?S=3151384 , ~ April 1, 2005
   DUBUQUE (IA) - Another Dubuque priest is being sued for sexual abuse. This one is at Loras Academy.
   The lawsuit alleges that Father Albert L. Carmen abused a young teen at Loras Academy during the 1954-1955 school year.
   Records show that Carman continued assignments with Loras Academy and Loras College, as well as other assignments including ones in Dubuque, Manly and Clutier.
• Shadows of 'Doubt' will hang over audience for a long time - RCC. Stage play.
   USA Today, By Elysa Gardner, March 31, 2005
   NEW YORK - When Brian F. O'Byrne last appeared on a Broadway stage, it was in the guise of a sexual tormentor and serial killer of underage girls. In John Patrick Shanley's Doubt (* * * ½ out of four), which opened Thursday at the Walter Kerr Theatre, the actor plays someone accused of less extreme (if similarly disturbing) crimes - but his performance is even more unsettling.
   That's because Father Flynn, the character O'Byrne introduced when Doubt opened off-Broadway last fall, is a priest, and an articulate, charismatic one at that. "There's nothing wrong with love," he tells Sister James, a naive young nun teaching at the parochial school in the Bronx where the play is set, in 1964. "It's an old tactic of cruel people to kill kindness in the name of virtue."
   The "cruel" person he has in mind is the school's principal and Doubt's stringently unsentimental heroine, Sister Aloysius. Dedicating his work "to the many orders of Catholic nuns who devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools and retirement homes," Shanley traces, with shattering acuity, Aloysius' one-woman struggle against a patriarchal church structure that protects and even promotes men who abuse authority - and love - in unspeakable ways.
   [COMMENT: The playright Shanley must not be confused with the notorious paedophile Paul Shanley, convicted on February 7, 2005. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Former Mason City man settles suit against Sioux City Diocese [1960s McFadden] - RCC. 26 lawsuits originally, 6 left. Children.
   The Globe Gazette, By NICK HYTREK, April 1, 2005
   MASON CITY (IA) - A former Mason City man who alleged that a Sioux City priest sexually abused him in the 1960s has reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City.
   Dirk Jablonski, 54, has agreed to a monetary settlement. No amount was disclosed.
   The diocese originally faced 26 lawsuits. The total number of cases settled this month is 16, and four lawsuits were settled last year. The diocese now faces six lawsuits.
   The suits allege that the Rev. George McFadden committed the abuse when Jablonski and others attended school in St. Francis of Assisi parish, which has since closed.
   Jablonski is a former Mason City public works director and now works in a similar position in Rapid City, S.D. He declined to comment on the case, which was a condition of the settlement.
• Millville man files suit, claims abuse by priests [1986-92 Ryan, Kelly, Pisik] - RCC. Boys.
   Courier Post, www.courierpost online.com/news/ southjersey/ m040105q.htm , By RENEE WINKLER, Friday, April 1, 2005
   CAMDEN (NJ) - The Diocese of Camden ignored priests who sexually abused young boys, a Millville man claims in a lawsuit.
   Darren K. Leibow, 28, alleges he was sexually assaulted between 1986 and 1992, when he was an altar boy at Our Lady of the Lakes mission church in Collings Lake. He says he repressed the memories because of threats by one of the former priests, James R. Ryan, who is now dead.
   The lawsuit, filed this week in Superior Court in Camden, lists as defendants the diocese, present and former bishops, one former priest and the estates of two others. In addition to Ryan, individual clergy named in the lawsuit are John P. Kelly, also deceased, and Timothy E. Pisik, who served a state prison term for sexual assault.
   Leibow is represented by Edward J. Ross, whose law firm handled the 1994 civil cases against the diocese.
   The earlier lawsuits, filed by men who claimed they were sexually assaulted by 15 Camden area priests, were dismissed because they were filed too late. However, the diocese paid $880,000 to those individual plaintiffs. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:17 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri, April 01, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat, April 02, 2005 edition follows:-
• Seattle's Catholic leaders remember pope - RCC.

   KING 5, www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NeW_040205WABpopereaxEL.19caa15df.html?hp , From KING 5 Staff and Associated Press, ~ April 2, 2005
   SEATTLE (WA) USA -- At St. James Cathedral in Seattle, a bell began tolling at 1 p.m. as parishioners, some with tear-stained faces, quietly filed inside.
   Services were held at St. James Cathedral in Seattle Friday. "I'm happy for John Paul, he's with God. I have no doubt of that. He ran his course magnificantly," said the Rev. Michael G. Ryan, pastor at St. James. "I have to think he's having a great homecoming," he added.
   Referring to John Paul's appeal to non-Catholics, Ryan said, "He connected with people's hearts." Many feel the pope's appeal lay in his ability to command respect from those who challenged his views. ...
   The crisis of clerical sexual abuse emerged during his long tenure, and some Catholics blame him for driving parishioners out of pews and priests from the seminaries.
   "He didn't put into office men who have an abiding pastoral care for priests. A great deal of this hideous crime of pedophilia has to be attributed to the fact that priests have no pastors. Their bishops don't take care of them," said the Rev. Matthew Naumes, a retired priest in Tacoma.
   He said he hopes the new pontiff "will love the priesthood and remember he is a priest." "If we don't have a pope like that, soon the Catholic world will be a great deal smaller than we have right now," Naumes said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:47 PM]
• Pope John Paul II's legacy of paradox - RCC.

   Financial Times, By Robert Graham and Tony Barber, April 2 2005
   VATICAN - Pope John Paul II, who died at the age of 84, will be remembered above all else for his efforts to reinvigorate the Catholic Church and for his role in the fall of the Soviet empire - an achievement that ushered in a new era of religious and political freedom. Yet the exceptionally long pontificate of this, the first Polish pope, will also go down in history as a period of paradox.
   It began with the Vatican's contribution to the demise of the totalitarian regimes of Communist Europe but it ended with division in the Church as a revered but authoritarian pope refused to tackle what critics saw as crucial issues of reform. The deep conservatism of the man who had fought so hard for glasnost - openness - in the Soviet Union meant he was having none of it in his own Church.
   Perhaps his triumphs and failings showed different aspects of one of John Paul's strongest characteristics: his courage. It was this physical and moral courage, which was never in doubt, that gave him such stature on the international stage. ...
   Tensions over sexual morality were made worse in 2002, when more than 60 Catholic priests in the US became the subject of child sex abuse investigations. The US Church paid millions of dollars in damages to victims, and Cardinal Bernard Law, the archbishop of Boston, resigned in disgrace over the subsequent handling of the scandal - though he was later appointed to head a basilica in Rome.
   John Paul II condemned the molesting of children as an "appalling sin in the eyes of God". He stated that there was no place in the Church for those who would harm children. Yet there were many who felt his words needed to be backed by tougher action. [Emphasis added]
• John Paul II, Spiritual and Political Force, Dies - RCC.
   Bloomberg, April 2, 2005
   VATICAN (Bloomberg) -- Pope John Paul II, who traveled the globe for more than two decades spreading his message of peace, tolerance and reconciliation while stamping his conservative views on the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, died at the Vatican. He was 84.
   The spiritual leader of the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics, who was in the 26th year of his papacy, died at 9:37 p.m. Rome time, the Vatican said. News of his death was announced from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica by Argentine Archbishop Leonardo Sandri to the 70,000 who had gathered in the church's square.
   Polish-born Karol Jozef Wojtyla was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI more than 450 years ago and the third- longest-serving pope, surpassed only by Pius IX in the 19th century and St. Peter. ...
   His efforts to unify Catholics and promote an image of Christian benevolence were tainted by cases of sexual abuse of children by U.S. priests and charges of a cover-up by senior church officials.
Leadership Style
   Sexual assault by priests is a crime and "an appalling sin" that has caused the Roman Catholic Church to be "viewed with distrust," he told a group of leading U.S. cardinals whom he summoned to Rome in April 2002. The pope called for a policy of "zero tolerance" and supported the cardinals' decision to expel any priest found guilty of serial sexual abuse. [Emphasis added]
• Diocese settles sex abuse lawsuit [Teczar] - RCC. $US1.4m going.
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, By Darren Barbee, ~ April 2, 2005
   FORT WORTH (TX) - The Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese has agreed to a $1.4 million out-of-court settlement with a Texas man who sued the diocese, alleging that a priest molested him when he was a minor.
   The lawsuit, filed against the dioceses of Fort Worth and Worcester, Mass., contends that Fort Worth Bishop Joseph P. Delaney knew that the Rev. Thomas Teczar posed a threat to children because of a "sexual interest" in adolescents, according to court documents.
   Before moving to the Fort Worth area, Teczar had worked as a priest in the Worcester Diocese, where he was forced out after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a teen-age boy.
   Delaney could not be reached for comment Friday. Diocese spokesman Jeff Hensley declined to comment and said Delaney could not speak because he is ill.
   As part of the lawsuit, Delaney gave a deposition that states that he was aware of the allegations against Teczar before bringing him to Fort Worth and that Teczar had admitted to Delaney his sexual feelings for adolescent boys.
   Teczar worked at parishes in Fort Worth, Bedford and Ranger from the late 1980s until 1993, court documents state. A man who answered the phone at Teczar's home in Dudley, Mass., declined to comment. Teczar is no longer practicing as a priest.
   Daniel J. Shea of Houston, an attorney representing the man who says Teczar molested him, said the size of the settlement is commensurate with the damage done to his client. His client, who lives in Texas, is identified by the name John Doe in court filings.
• Pastor accused of affair with 12-year-old [2005 Castle] - Faith Tabernacle Church. Girl.
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, www.dfw.com/ mld/startelegram/ news/state/ 11289612.htm , By Susan Schrock, ~ April 2, 2005
   GRAND PRAIRIE (TX) - A Grand Prairie pastor faces seven counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child after a 12-year-old Arlington girl told her mother that she had been involved with the man, police said.
   Jerry N. Castle Jr., 25, was Dallas County Jail with bail set at $350,000. He is pastor of Faith Tabernacle Church on Aggie Drive in Grand Prairie.
   On Sunday, police investigating a suspicious vehicle call found Castle kissing a 12-year-old girl in the 2000 block of Hunter Place Court in north Arlington. Castle was arrested on traffic warrants and the girl was released to her mother, said Detective John Brimmer, a Grand Prairie police spokesman.
   Castle was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of sexual assault after the girl told her mother they had been having sex at his Grand Prairie home during spring break.
• Suspicious-vehicle call led to pastor's arrest in sex assault [2005 Castle] - Faith Tabernacle Church. Girl.
   The Dallas Morning News, By JASON TRAHAN, April 2, 2005
   GRAND PRAIRIE (TX) - An alert Arlington police officer checking out a suspicious vehicle led to the arrest four days later of a Grand Prairie pastor accused of having sex with a 12-year-old girl.
   Police have accused Jerry Newton Castle Jr., 25, pastor of Faith Tabernacle Church, of having sex with the girl - a member of his congregation - at his house during a two-week period late last month while his wife was either asleep in another room or at work.
   A member of Mr. Castle's family declined to talk about the allegations. His wife did not return a phone message.
   Elizabeth Marquez, whose 6-year-old son used to play with Mr. Castle's kindergarten-age boy, said her neighbors kept to themselves. She also said the family's home was frequently attacked by pranksters wielding eggs and toilet paper.
   Mr. Castle was being held Friday at Lew Sterrett Justice Center on seven counts of felony aggravated sexual assault of a child. His bail is set at $350,000. Court documents state that he admitted to the assaults when questioned by Grand Prairie detectives.
• Pastor jailed for sex assault. [2003 Cheung] - Lutheran. Retarded woman.

   - News 24, www.news24.com/ News24/World/ News/0,,2-10- 1462_1684329,00.html , 09:11, Apr/02/2005
   HONG KONG (SA) - A Hong Kong pastor has been jailed for beating and sexually assaulting a mentally retarded 23-year-old woman, a news report said on Saturday.
   Lutheran Church pastor Cheung Wai-chung, 41, ordered the woman to go buy condoms so they could have sex in a church dormitory, then attacked her when she failed to do so, a court heard.
   He sexually assaulted the woman and beat her with a leather belt in the attack in 2003 which led to him being stripped of his position as pastor, the South China Morning Post reported.
   At a hearing on Friday, Cheung admitted charges of sexual assault and battery and was jailed for 21 months after magistrate Anthony Kwok said his actions had "destroyed the credibility of pastors".
• Former Catholic teacher charged with sex assault [? 1990s Murphy] - RCC. 2 boys.
   MySA.com ; www.mysanantonio. com/news/metro/ stories/MYSA0402 05.3B.teacher _charged.1980 ca31e.html , Associated Press, ~ April 2, 2005
   HOUSTON (TX) - A former Catholic school teacher has been charged with sexual assaulting two boys over six years, authorities said Friday.
   Stuart Alan Murphy, 57, was arrested after confessing to authorities he molested the boys, who were between 10 and 13 when the abuse began, said Lt. Ruben Diaz with the Harris County Sheriff's Department. One of the boys is still a minor, while the other is now an adult.
   Murphy worked as a teacher at a Catholic school in Houston and volunteered as a choir director at Annunciation Catholic Church. Authorities did not release the name of the school.
   Diaz said he did not know if Murphy had contact with the two boys through the school or the church.
   Authorities were alerted to Murphy after a couple told police in the Houston suburb of Katy that it had found child pornography on their computer after he had stayed at their home.
• Bishop holds anniversary Mass [1970s Dupre; Lavigne] - RCC. Boys.
   The Republican, By BEA O'QUINN DEWBERRY bdewberry@repub.com, Saturday, April 02, 2005
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) - - A year after he pledged to bring healing to the local Catholic diocese, Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, 67, said yesterday that mission would continue in earnest.
   McDonnell, who was installed as the eighth bishop of the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese on April 1, 2004, marked his first anniversary with a noon Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral.
   He succeeded Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who stepped down in February 2004, a day after The Republican confronted him with allegations that he molested two boys when he was a parish priest in the 1970s.
   At his installation last year, McDonnell said healing the pain and damage caused by clergy abuse would be a top priority. He repeated those words yesterday after Mass.
   "My prayer every day is that those who are hurt will know some relief from that hurt. It's only been a year, and healing can take a year, five years or can be a lifelong process," McDonnell said.
   In this past year, McDonnell has had to address clergy sexual abuse lawsuits, a financial shortfall that has closed some schools and is expected to cause the closing and merging of many parishes, and the task of revitalizing the morale of many disheartened parishioners.
   Many Catholics have praised McDonnell's decisions in tackling clergy abuse issues. Last May, he ended a $1,030 monthly stipend and benefits package for defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne and has moved quickly to remove those facing abuse claims substantiated by a diocesan review board.
• Teacher confesses in child abuse case [< 10yrs 1990s-? 2000s Murphy] - RCC. Admitted. 2 boys.
   Houston Chronicle, By ZEKE MINAYA, ~ April 2, 2005
   HOUSTON (TX) - A Catholic summer school teacher and volunteer church choir director has confessed to sexually abusing two brothers - including at least one incident in a classroom - over a period of nearly 10 years, Harris County Sheriff's officials said Friday.
   Stuart Alan Murphy, 57, who volunteered as a choir director for Annunciation Catholic Church in downtown Houston and taught summer school at the Cardinal Newman School, faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child, according to court records.
   He was arrested Wednesday and remains in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bail.
   According to probable cause affidavits, the brothers were 6 and 12 when the alleged abuse began. The two are now 14 and 22. Both have given statements to investigators implicating Murphy, who was characterized in the affidavits as a "family friend."
   "We are unaware and have not been informed of any incident of sexual abuse of a minor by this individual at any of our church properties," said Annette Gonzales Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. "We have been and continue to cooperate with law enforcement." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:28 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat, April 2, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun, April 03, 2005 edition follows:-
• United by their need to heal - Relgion not specified. SNAP. Latino clergy abuse victims meet.

   NorthJersey.com ; www.bergen.com/ page.php?qstr=eXJ pcnk3ZjczN2Y3dn FlZUVFeXk2MTAmZmdiZ Ww3Zjd2cWVlRUV5e TY2NzQ4MjgmeXJpcnk 3ZjcxN2Y3dn FlZUVFeXkz ; By MAYA KREMEN, HERALD NEWS, Sunday, April 3, 2005
   TOTOWA (NJ) , USA - - In the past, they might have found themselves on separate sides of a protest march. One is a Mexican-American police officer and former Marine with a neat haircut. The other is a bearded Chicano professor with a rebellious streak.
   But on Saturday the men came together for the same cause: to talk about being abused as children by Catholic priests, and to encourage other Latino victims to come forward.
   About 25 people showed up at the first national meeting of Latino clergy abuse victims, held at the borough's American Legion hall. The meeting was organized by Johnny Vega of Wallington, who says he was abused by a parish priest in Paterson more than 20 years ago.
   Partly as a way to cope, Vega founded a Latino branch of the group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) in Totowa in May of last year. This year, he decided to broaden the group to Latino victims nationwide.
   However, on Saturday, few of the victims, victims' supporters and family members who sat on folding chairs watching a panel of speakers were Latino.
   Vega said he wasn't surprised. He said Latino victims were often "too scared" to come out publicly about sexual abuse.
   "You repress it, you forget about it," he said. "But eventually it's going to surface again, and you're going to have to face it." Talking about it, he said, is "one way to face it." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:11 PM]
• Louisianians react to the death of a pope - RCC.
   Times-Picayune, 2:02 p.m. CT, The Associated Press, Apr/3/2005
   NEW ORLEANS (LA) (AP) - On Sunday morning at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, there was no escaping a link between the two news stories that had the attention of much of the nation all last week.
   Archbishop Alfred Hughes, during Sunday morning Mass noted that John Paul the II had been a victim of violence - a shooting - in a May 13, 1981, assasination attempt. Then he touched on the death of a severely brain-damaged woman following an extended legal fight over whether her feeding tube should be removed.
   Hughes left no doubt where he stood: "We have also experienced the sad victimization of Terry Schiavo and her tragic death." ...
   "Like everyone, I'm certainly saddened by his passing. I think he was one of the great popes of church history," said Jason Berry, a Catholic and a freelance journalist.
   Berry praised John Paul's "remarkably honest" approach to church history - including an unprecedented apology to Jews for past wrongdoings by Catholics - as well as foreign policy achievements.
   "Obviously his role as a catalyst in helping to bring down the Soviet empire was quite extraordinary," Berry said in an interview with The Associated Press.
   But Berry was critical of John Paul's passiveness in dealing with a burgeoning scandal involving pedophile priests. Berry helped uncover the scandal with a series of stories on Acadiana priest Gilbert Gauthe in the 1980s and in the book "Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children."
   "On balance, I think it a papacy marked by paradox: The greatness of the early years shadowed by the failure of the later years and his imability to confront the needs within the church itself."
• Pontiff left his mark on area leaders and residents - RCC.
   Toledo Blade, By DAVID YONKE, BLADE RELIGION EDITOR, April 3, 2005
   TOLEDO (OH) - Although Pope John Paul II never visited Toledo - the closest he came was a 1987 trip to Detroit - the longtime leader of the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics had a major impact on this region and its Catholic population.
   The 307,000 Catholics in the Toledo diocese's 19 counties looked to the Pontiff for spiritual guidance for 26 years, and scores of local residents made journeys to see the Pope in person, many of them during his four-day visit to Toronto in 2002 for World Youth Day.
   "Locally we certainly have felt his touch," said the Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar of the diocese. ...
   Claudia Vercellotti, co-coordinator of the local SNAP chapter, a support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse, said the Pope's legacy includes his fights against communism and poverty, but his greatest contribution is his mandate to protect children.
   "The Pope said unequivocally that there is no place in ministry for anyone who harms the young," Ms. Vercellotti said. "But that has not been implemented by bishops across the country. The greatest legacy the Pope could leave is that above all he protected children, and now it's up to those who follow him." [Bolding added]
• Accused priest resigns post [Fushek; 1980s Lehman] - RCC. Boys.
   East Valley Tribune, By Beth Lucas and Kristina Davis, April 3, 2005
   MESA (AZ) - A popular Mesa priest, on leave while church officials investigate claims of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old boy, announced Saturday he is resigning in order to protect his parishioners from the "ordeal."
   Monsignor Dale Fushek penned a heartfelt goodbye letter in the church bulletin for his parishioners to read as they left mass Saturday, stating his resignation would be effective June 30.
   Fushek led St. Timothy's Catholic Community in Mesa for 20 years and founded the nation's largest Catholic youth organization, Life Teen.
   He has been on leave since December, when former church member William J. Cesolini accused Fushek of masturbating while watching another priest sexually abuse him in 1985, according to a lawsuit filed in January. Cesolini said he retrieved repressed memories of molestation by the Rev. Mark Lehman, who served 10 years in prison for molesting students in the late 1980s.
   "My resignation is in no way an admission, or even a suggestion, of guilt," Fushek wrote. "The 'repressed memories' that have brought about these circumstances are utterly untrue. However, it will take many months and a lot of energy to deal with these hurtful accusations. It would be selfish of me to force the community to go through this ordeal, with me as your pastor. It is best for our beloved community to move on."
• Pope's handling of sex abuse criticized - RCC.
   The News Journal, By BETH MILLER, Apr/03/2005
   WILMINGTON (DE) - Some of Pope John Paul II's suffering in the last days of his life was due to his willingness to suffer with Christ for the sins of the world, including the sins of the priests who sexually abused children during his ministry, a Dover psychiatrist said.
   It was a scandal that grieved the pope and violated the spiritual principles he taught, said Dr. Mark Borer, who serves on the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's Review Board that examines sexual abuse cases in the diocese.
   Some victims of clergy sexual abuse, though, believe the pope's response to the scandal that emerged publicly in the United States in 2002 was inadequate at best, and at worst compounded their injury.
   "He certainly hasn't done anything for the healing of victims," said Gary Belkot, 48, of Georgetown, who said he was abused as a seminary student at Villanova University in the mid-1970s.
   The pope drew criticism for what was perceived as silence shortly after the scandal broke in January 2002, when the first of more than 10,000 cases nationwide became public.
   By April, though, he had summoned U.S. cardinals to the Vatican for a summit on the issue. In a joint statement, the pope and cardinals acknowledged the gravity of the problem, urged "solidarity and assistance" for victims and their families, said they would promote correct moral teaching on the issue and affirmed the power of conversion and turning from sin. [Bolding added.]
• Tarrant County Catholics mourn the Holy Father's death - RCC.
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, By Darren Barbee, ~ April 3, 2005
   FORT WORTH (TX) - The message traveled by television, emails from the Vatican and the tolling of a church bell at St. Patrick Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth.
   Devout believers and lapsed Catholics entered candlelit sanctuaries. In Bedford they walked past a wedding party, wiping away tears. Others stopped at the first church they found on their way home from Saturday afternoon errands.
   Throughout the day they prayed for Pope John Paul II - a man they knew from great distances and from vast rallies in Texas, Louisiana and Colorado - because his death felt so close. ...
   Dede Schmidt, a member of the Fort Worth chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic group that supports victims of sexual abuse, said she admired the pope for his strong stance on social justice, his opposition to war and his dedication to peace.
   But Schmidt, 73, also said she hopes the church will work toward greater openness, especially regarding reports of sexual abuse, and more involvement for women. [Bolding added]
• Records hint at dark past for convicted child molester [? 2000s Franklin] - Trinity Worship Center. Internet porn. Drugs, sex. Boys.
   The Monitor, www.themonitor.com/ SiteProcessor.cfm ?Template=/Global Templates/Details. cfm&StoryID=6518 &Section=Valley ; by Brittney Booth, April 03,2005
   EDINBURG (TX) - - Court documents allege Robert Franklin viewed male pornographic Web sites, had a history of drug abuse and had several relationships with teenage boys before the former Trinity Worship Center music minister pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young churchgoer.
   The records reveal the dark side of a man once hailed as a charismatic minister who generously gave to help bring youths to Jesus.
   Franklin, 38, pleaded guilty March 15 to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy who had come to him for spiritual mentoring. Before pleading guilty to two felony counts of sexual assault, he faced 10 additional charges from a grand jury alleging he gave marijuana and cocaine to the boy.
   On March 29, 332nd state District Judge Mario Ramirez sentenced Franklin to six months in jail and 10 years probation. He also must complete 240 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine.
   As part of his parole, Franklin will have to wear an electronic monitor, attend a 90-day drug-treatment program and enroll in the county's sex offender program. He will have to register as a sex offender in each city he lives in for the rest of his life.
• Abuse Scandal Gives Boston Mixed Feelings About Pope's Legacy - RCC.
   The New York Times, By PAM BELLUCK, Published April 2, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - Jack Connors, a prominent member of this city's large Catholic community, has a resonant memory of Pope John Paul II's visit to Boston in 1979. Throngs of people descended on Boston Common for a public Mass, many waiting for hours in a torrential rain.
   "I was drenched," Mr. Connors said. "My kids wanted to know why are we here. We should have known it was a sign that we were in for some stormy weather."
   It is the kind of anecdote that crystallizes the complex feelings many here have toward Pope John Paul II, who died on Saturday at the age of 84. It is a sense of awe and affection mixed with disappointment at his handling of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that exploded in Boston three years ago and continues to reverberate here.
   "Am I angry with him? No," Mr. Connors said. "He was a good man and did what he thought was right. But regrettably, there wasn't as much thoughtfulness and oversight as one might hope for."
   Similar reactions were common this weekend as many of the 2 million Catholics in and around Boston struggled with how to reconcile the respect and warmth they felt for John Paul with what they saw as too little attention paid too late to the problem of sexually abusive priests.
   In particular, there was criticism that when Cardinal Bernard F. Law was forced out of his position as Boston archbishop because of the scandal, he was not chastised or demoted, but was instead named archpriest of one of the four basilicas under Vatican direction in Rome, St. Mary Major's Basilica. [Bolding added]
• Preparing for launch - RCC. Class action.
   Baltimore Sun, April 3, 2005
   KENTUCKY - The pre-trial hearing in what might be the nation's first class action lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese over clerical sexual abuse is scheduled to begin in Burlington, Ky.
   Steve Rubino, a New Jersey lawyer who has represented hundreds of victims of clerical sex abuse, said he believes the Burlington case is the first in the nation where a molestation lawsuit against a diocese is being permitted to go forward as a class action.
   The diocese spans 14 counties and includes 89,000 parishioners, many of them in the Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati. The two sides are expected to ask that the trial date be moved again while mediation goes on.
• Debate continues over pope's reaction to sex-abuse scandal - RCC.

   Azcentral.com ; by Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, 07:00 PM, Apr. 2, 2005
   VATICAN - During his long reign, Pope John Paul II apologized to Muslims for the Crusades, to Jews for anti-Semitism, to Orthodox Christians for the sacking of Constantinople, to Italians for the Vatican's associations with the Mafia and to scientists for the persecution of Galileo.
   He apologized so often, in fact, that an Italian journalist compiled a book of more than 90 papal statements of contrition.
   Yet the pope never apologized for the most shocking behavior that came to light on his watch: sexual abuse of children by priests and the church's attempts to hush it up. To some alleged victims, that is a puzzling omission and a deep stain on his legacy. advertisement
   "I would hate to see all the good works this pope has done over his lifetime be overshadowed by this scandal. But that's what may happen," said Gary M. Bergeron, of Lowell, Mass., who says he was molested in the 1970s by Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a priest accused of abusing more than a dozen altar boys. Birmingham has since died.
   John Paul's defenders contend that sexual misconduct by priests is a worldwide problem that began before he became pope in 1978. They say once it came to light, he reacted decisively. Summoning America's cardinals to the Vatican in April 2002, he declared that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young."
   Those words became the basis for the "zero tolerance" policy adopted two months later by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Over the following year, hundreds of priests resigned, retired or were suspended as the bishops pledged to remove any clergyman who had ever abused a minor. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:59 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun, April 03, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon, April 04, 2005 edition follows:-
• Church apologizes, and settles with priest-molestation victim [1970s Poole (Jesuit)] - RCC. Girl.

   Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com/ news/alaska/story/ 6344431p-6221541 c.html , April 4th, 2005
   ALASKA - The Roman Catholic Church said Monday it has reached a settlement with a woman who accused a Nome priest of molesting her in the 1970s.
   The Rev. John D. Whitney, provincial supervisor of the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, acknowledged that the Rev. James Poole had abused a victim. Whitney apologized on behalf of the church.
   "We apologize to the victim of this misconduct, and to all who have suffered a loss of hope and trust," Whitney said. "We ask forgiveness as we strive to ensure that such actions do not happen again."
   Attorney Ken Roosa said early last month that the church had settled the case with his client, Elsie Boudreau, who now lives in the Anchorage area. Roosa repeated Monday that the settlement was for about $1 million. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:55 PM]
• Former Bishop Apologizes In Oakland Abuse Case. [1980 Ponciroli] - RCC. Boys.
   KTVU, www.ktvu.com/ news/4344187/ detail.html , POSTED 11:37 am PDT, April 4, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) -- The former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland said in court Monday he is "sorry" that church officials didn't conduct an extensive investigation into sexual abuse committed by a priest.
   Testifying in an Alameda County Superior Court lawsuit against the Oakland diocese by two men who said they were abused as children by a priest in Antioch, John Cummings, now the diocese's bishop emeritus, said, "I didn't expect sexual abuse by priests to be a frequent occurrence."
   Cummings said that in most instances the Oakland diocese didn't report allegations of sex abuse by priests to the local police because reporting wasn't mandatory until a law was passed in 1997.
   Robert and Tom Thatcher's lawsuit alleges the diocese was negligent in assigning the Rev. Robert Ponciroli to St. Ignatius Church in Antioch in 1979 because officials knew he was a child molester.
   The brothers say Ponciroli molested them on several occasions in 1980.
• Poll Finds Most Americans, U.S. Catholics Want Women Priests - RCC.
   TheDenverChannel.com ; www.thedenver channel.com/news/ 4343316/detail.html , UPDATED 10:04 am MDT April 4, 2005
   WASHINGTON (DC) -- Most Americans want the next pope to work for changes in Roman Catholic Church policies to allow priests to marry and women to join the priesthood. And they want more done to combat sexual abuse by priests, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
   Do you want Pope John Paul II's successor to try to change church policy to allow priests to marry and to let women become priests? Yes, priests should be allowed to marry and women should be priests. Women should be allowed to be priests, but priests should not marry. Priests should be allowed to marry, but women should not be priests. No, the church should stick to strict doctrine.
   A solid majority of Americans, and Catholics in the country, are calling for the changes even while saying they widely admire Pope John Paul II, who supported traditional policies against priest marriage and against allowing women into the priesthood.
   "He crossed so many boundaries, opened doors to many governments," said Joseph Riess, a Catholic businessman from Vienna, Va. "But I think it's time for changes."
   Just over half of Americans, 51 percent, and almost three-fourths of Catholics say John Paul, who died Saturday, will be remembered as one of the greatest popes, according to the poll conducted for The Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs.
• A modern-age pope, to a point - RCC.
   The Washington Post, By Hanna Rosin, April 4, 2005
   So much was expected of Karol Wojtyla when he became pope in 1978. Here, for the first time, was a pontiff plucked not from the Vatican's inner chambers but a man of the world. He was not Italian; he skied, he kayaked, he acted in dramas. His fellow clerics compared him to John Wayne.
   His faith, too, seemed tested. He had lost his mother early, lived in the shadow of Auschwitz, performed forced labor in a limestone quarry. "Do Not Be Afraid" was his motto at his inauguration.
   So even before his first papal pronouncement, he was granted a place in history as the Roman Catholic Church's first modern pope, charged with leading the centuries-old institution into the next millennium - the "new springtime of Christianity," as he called it. ...
   In the pews here, he faced a laity star-struck but not especially loyal. Very few Catholic Americans agree with the pope's teaching that even sex within marriage should have procreation in mind.
   His inflexibility on this question, coupled with his unwillingness to deliver a strong rebuke of the U.S. bishops involved in the sex-abuse scandals, meant "the credibility of the church on sexual matters was diminished or destroyed," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
   Each time an encyclical was anticipated, many Catholics, especially in the U.S., waited for a shift in policy. And each time they were disappointed, as the pope reinforced church orthodoxy on the role of women, sexual ethics, homosexuality. [Bolding added]
• Catholic diocese seeks extension in stay of proceedings [St. George's Diocese] - RCC. Insolvency delay.

   Canada NewsWire Group, April 4, 2005
   CORNER BROOK, NL, Canada /CNW/ - The Most Rev. Douglas Crosby, Bishop of St. George's Diocese, today confirmed that the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. George's, the civil arm of the Diocese, is seeking a 45 day extension of the time to file a proposal under the Notice of Intention filed on March 8, 2005 pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
   This notice effected a "stay of proceedings" in civil actions against the Corporation including those launched since 1991 on behalf of 36 victims of sexual abuse.
   Since March 8th, the Corporation has notified its creditors of the filing, established a listing of the Corporation's land holdings, completed a full review of the Corporation's insurance policies, initiated a review of a number of legal issues affecting various stakeholders including creditors and parishioners and has begun assembling a list of other assets within the Corporation.
   The Corporation is currently in the process of obtaining independent valuations for each of its land holdings and, with the assistance of legal counsel, is preparing to meet with the insurers to assess liability coverage.
• Catholicism vigorous on Cape - RCC.
   Cape Tod Times, By SEAN GONSALVES, ~ April 4, 2005
   MASSACHUSETTS - As Catholics around the world contemplate the legacy of Pope John Paul II and reflect on the future of the church, Catholic parishes on the Cape are vibrant - and growing.
   Of the state's 3 million Catholics - roughly half the population of Massachusetts - 116,000 of them live on Cape Cod, according to Fall River Diocese officials.
   Led by Bishop George W. Coleman, former pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Sandwich, the Fall River Diocese encompasses 1,194 square miles in Southeastern Massachusetts and represents approximately 350,000 parishioners.
   Of the diocese's 101 parishes, 22 are on the Cape and islands.
   And while the church's teaching on certain moral issues and fallout from the clergy sex-abuse scandal has brought a dip in church attendance in recent years, the Cape has been a growth region for the Fall River Diocese, church officials say.
• Hughes removes man from priesthood [1993 Sanders] - RCC.
   Times-Picayune, By Bruce Nolan, Monday, April 04, 2005
   LOUISIANA - Archbishop Alfred Hughes told a Belle Chasse congregation this weekend that he has permanently removed its former pastor from the priesthood after three hearing officers advised him they believed Pat Sanders sexually abused two teenagers on an overnight youth trip 12 years ago.
   Hughes personally disclosed his decision to parishioners at Saturday evening Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. Bishop Roger Morin continued the announcements at all the parish's Sunday Masses while Hughes led a memorial Mass for Pope John Paul II at St. Louis Cathedral.
   Hughes temporarily removed Sanders from duty in April 2004 while the Archdiocese of New Orleans conducted a detailed inquiry into the youths' claims. Since then, Sanders has been forbidden to identify himself as a priest or act as a priest, except to celebrate Mass in private.
   Sanders denied the youths' allegations and has maintained his innocence in e-mail messages and in personal contacts with parishioners.
   "I am devastated and heartbroken," he said Sunday by e-mail when asked to respond to Hughes' decision. "I feel an injustice has been done to me and my life's vocation has been taken away. I steadfastly maintain my innocence and will appeal this decision to the Vatican."
• The paradoxical pope [Marcial Maciel, Sodano, John Paul II] - RCC.

   The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/ news/globe/ editorial_opinion/ oped/articles/ 2005/04/04/the _paradoxical_pope ; By Jason Berry | April 4, 2005
   WHEN JOHN Paul II in 1979 made his first trip back to Poland as pope, he was determined to change the course of modern history. The stirring sermons exhorting human freedom, spiritual freedom, had long resonance through the final decade of the Cold War.
   He orchestrated clandestine support to Solidarity leaders in Poland, keeping pressure on the Communist regime. In 1989, when we watched the Soviet Empire crumble on television, John Paul stood a victor on the world stage, his very person transcending Stalin's famously cynical remark: "How many divisions has the Pope?"
   In like measure, the middle years of his papacy demonstrated a remarkable honesty about a runaway consumerist mentality in Western capitalism and the church's own sins, committed in the Crusades, toward Jews, Muslims, even Galileo.
   These and other virtues secure his role as one of history's great popes. An actor in his youth, he had a charm and charisma that captivated millions on his many travels. With a refined sense of drama, he turned his final days into a farewell act that, as many have said, made his physical suffering a reminder of Christ's sacrifice. ...
   A champion of human rights to people under the boot heel of dicatorships, he chose as secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a former papal ambassador to Chile who befriended the sadistic dictator Pinochet and tried to intervene on Pinochet's behalf when he was facing indictment by a Spanish court.
   Several weeks ago, when Sodano met with Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice, he awkwardly asked her help in defusing a sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Vatican by a Kentucky lawyer, something over which she had no control.
   Within the Roman Curia, Sodano was a powerful supporter of another man he befriended in Chile who stands today, arguably, as the most notorious priest in Rome: Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican who founded a religious order called the Legion of Christ. Maciel was accused in 1976 and 1979 of sexually assaulting seminarians. After years of being ignored by John Paul, eight ex-Legion members filed a canon law case against Maciel.
   Over the last decade, as the clergy abuse crisis slowly spread in Ireland, Austria, North America, Australia, and Chile, John Paul's scattered comments were contradictory, expressing sympathy for victims while scolding the media for sensationalism even as he refused the request of US bishops to give them a streamlined process to defrock pedophiles. His response to the worst crisis of the modern church was passive to a fault.
   As American Catholics reeled from the news of the abuse scandals, John Paul in a November 2004 ceremony at the Vatican praised Maciel in glowing terms. Meanwhile, a sign of a split emerged at the highest levels of the Vatican, Sodano ever the champion of Maciel, while Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the chief theologian, reopened the dormant investigation of the Legion founder. [Emphasis added]
   [COMMENT: We could add Poland and Malta to the above mini-list of countries infected with RCC clergy child sex abuse. And we could add other religions, Christian and non-Christian. So far the most-publicised are the RCC, and non-RCC Churches in the English-speaking world. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Priest in Mesa abuse case resigns [1985 Fushek] - RCC.
   Azcentral.com ; Associated Press, Apr. 4, 2005
   ARIZONA - A former top official in the Phoenix Catholic Diocese has resigned amid allegations of sexual improprieties, according to a letter given to parishioners at an evening Mass on Saturday.
   In his letter, Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa and co-founder of a youth group, denied the allegations but said he resigned to protect parishioners from the "ordeal."
   He said his resignation would be effective June 30. advertisement
   Fushek was placed on leave after an attorney notified the diocese that a client claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985.
   A lawsuit in January named Fushek and Phil Baniewicz, president of Life Teen Inc. Former priest Mark Lehman, resigned Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, the Diocese of Phoenix and St. Timothy's in Mesa also were named in the suit.
• Conclave faces changed landscape - RCC.

   Pioneer Press, BY BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press, ~ Apr. 4, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - The last time the College of Cardinals gathered to select a pope, the Cold War dominated the globe, non-European voices in the church were weak and unfocused and dialogue with other faiths was left to second-tier envoys.
   None of that is true today.
   When the cardinals assemble in the Sistine Chapel this month, the questions and priorities considered in selecting the successor of Pope John Paul II will reflect 26 years of profound shifts: the rising influence of African and Latin America clergy, greater pressure to allow married priests after damaging sex scandals and hopes for Vatican leadership in critical outreach between the West and the Muslim world. ...
   High on the list could be greater sensitivity to the fallout from priest sex scandals that have battered the church in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. John Paul effectively closed the door on easing rules for priestly celibacy, which some Vatican critics consider a major obstacle to encouraging vocations.
   Celibacy is a deeply rooted tradition in the church, but not an issue of immutable doctrine. In 1980, the late pope allowed married Episcopal clergy to join the Catholic Church and serve as priests. Married priests are common among Eastern Rite Catholics, which follow many Orthodox traditions but are loyal to the Vatican.
• Saint Or Sinner? - RCC.

   Mirror, ~ Apr. 4, 2005
   BRITAIN - THE passing of His Holiness The Pope is, in one way, none of the business of those who are not Roman Catholics.
   If you do not believe that he was the anointed Vicar of Christ on Earth, and the holder of the Keys of Peter, you need not worry yourself at the thought of his Maker having subjected him to a long and painful and embarrassing dotage. (Even so, he fared better than his predecessor, who was un-chosen by Heaven only a few weeks after being anointed.) ...
   It's easy to see why Pope John Paul might have wanted to pump up the morale of his flock with this mass production of holiness.
   Under his stewardship, the most appalling scandal of all - the institutional rape and torture of children - was allowed to spread and also to be denied. One of those most responsible for the cover-up, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, was hastily removed from American jurisdiction and given a sinecure at the Vatican. [Bolding added]
• Papal Power - RCC. Disgraced Law sits on boards concerning clergy discipline.
   Slate, By Christopher Hitchens, Posted 2:51 PM PT, Friday, April 1, 2005
   The papacy is not, in theory, a man-made office at all. Its holder is chosen for life, by God himself, to hold the keys of Peter and to be the vicar of Christ on earth. This is yet another of the self-imposed tortures that faith inflicts upon itself.
   It means that you have to believe that the pope before last, who held on to the job for a matter of weeks before dying (or, according to some, before being murdered) was either unchosen by God in some fit of celestial pique, or left unprotected by heaven against his assassins.
   And it means that you have to believe that the public agony and humiliation endured by the pontiff was also part of some divine design.
   In the case of a presidency, or even a monarchy, provision can be made for abdication and succession when physical and mental deliquescence occur.
   But there could obviously not have been any graceful retirement in the case of John Paul II.
   The next vicar of Christ could hardly be expected to perform his sacred duties knowing that there was a still-living vicar of Christ, however decrepit, on the scene.
   Thus, and as with the Schiavo case, every last morsel of misery has been compulsorily extracted from the business of death. For the people who credit the idea, apparently, heaven can wait. Odd.
   I leave it to the faith-based to wrestle with all this. Or rather, I would be happy to do so if they would stay out of my life. But there is one detail that sticks with me.
   A few years ago, it seemed quite probable that Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston would have to face trial for his appalling collusion in the child-rape racket that his diocese had been running.
   The man had knowingly reassigned dangerous and sadistic criminals to positions where they would be able to exploit the defenseless.
   He had withheld evidence and made himself an accomplice, before and after the fact, in the one offense that people of all faiths and of none have most united in condemning.
   (Since I have more than once criticized Maureen Dowd in this space, I should say now that I think she put it best of all. A church that has allowed no latitude in its teachings on masturbation, premarital sex, birth control, and divorce suddenly asks for understanding and "wiggle room" for the most revolting crime on the books.)
   Anyway, Cardinal Law isn't going to face a court, now. He has fled the jurisdiction and lives in Rome, where a sinecure at the Vatican has been found for him.
   (Actually not that much of a sinecure: As archpriest of the Rome Basilica of St. Mary Major, he also sits on two boards supervising priestly discipline - yes! - and the appointment of diocesan bishops.)
   Even before this, he visited Rome on at least one occasion to discuss whether or not the church should obey American law.
   And it has been conclusively established that the Vatican itself - including his holiness - was a part of the coverup and obstruction of justice that allowed the child-rape scandal to continue for so long. [Bolding added]
• Local Catholics gather to honor John Paul II - RCC.
   Daily Bulletin, www.dailybulletin. com/Stories/0, 1413,203~21481 ~2796037,00.html , By Brad A. Greenberg, ~ Apr. 4, 2005
   CALIFORNIA - Thousands of Catholics flocked to local parishes Saturday to honor the life of Pope John Paul II.
   "The world is a better place because he was in it," said Matt Beall, 21, of San Bernardino. "It is very sad he is gone, but it is also joyous because he is with the Lord."
   The death of the 84-year-old pontiff closed the book on a fabled life for the third-longest-serving pope in history.
   To many in the Inland Empire, John Paul embodied the teachings of Jesus Christ. ...
   The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests [SNAP] released a statement Saturday thanking John Paul for saying in 2002 that there is "no place in the priesthood for those who would harm the young."
   "We all hope that his successor will push harder to hold bishops accountable for harboring priests who abuse children," Mary Grant, southwest regional director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:50 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon, April 04, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue, April 05, 2005 edition follows:-
• CHURCH ABUSE PLAY WINS PULITZER. - RCC. Play "Doubt" (fiction).

   BBC News, http://news. bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/entertainment/ arts/4411411.stm , ~ April 5, 2005
   UNITED STATES - A play about child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has been awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for drama.
   Doubt, by Oscar-winning writer John Patrick Shanley, won the prize just two days after the death of the Pope.
   The play is about a priest accused of molesting a boy. It comes after a damaging scandal in the US Catholic Church that implicated 4,000 priests.
   In other Pulitzer awards, Marilynne Robinson won the fiction prize and Ted Kooser picked up the poetry accolade.
   Mr Shanley won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay for Moonstruck, starring Cher, in 1988. ...
   In the journalism section, the Los Angeles Times won the public service award for its expose of deadly medical problems and racial injustice at an inner-city hospital.
   The paper won another award for international reporting for its coverage of Russia, while The Wall Street Journal also picked up two prizes. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:11 AM] [A more detailed version is below.]
   [COMMENT: The playright Shanley is not to be confused with the paedophile Paul Shanley, convicted on February 7, 2005. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Diocese officials plead ignorance [1970s Ponciroli] - Written memo dated 1975. RCC. 7 or 8 abuser-priests.
   The Argus, www.insidebayarea. com/argus/local news/ci_2640303 , By Josh Richman, ~ April 5, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - Diocese of Oakland officials testified Monday that the church showed errors in judgment in handling a child-molesting priest.
   Bishop Emeritus John Cummins, who led Alameda and Contra Costa counties' Roman Catholics from 1977 to 2003, acknowledged documents show his predecessor knew of allegations against the Rev. Robert Ponciroli in 1975, yet he did not learn of it until almost two decades later.
   "I did not expect sexual abuse by priests to be a frequent occurrence," he testified, but he knows now that seven or eight priests abused children in his diocese during his tenure.
   Earlier Monday, former diocese chancellor the Rev. Brian Joyce testified that although he chaired the diocese's clergy personnel committee from 1971 to 1979, he knew of no sexual complaints against Ponciroli - only complaints of tickling and losing his temper with altar boys. He said he confronted Ponciroli on those matters but "in no way" suspected molestation.
   "My focus was his anger and his intimidating young people," he said. "I was wrong."
   Attorney Rick Simons displayed a May 1975, memo from then-Bishop Floyd Begin indicating Begin knew of sexual abuse claims against Ponciroli during his time at Richmond's St. Cornelius parish.
   [COMMENT: The "church showed errors in judgment ..." But, Jesus is quoted as having said "Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth ... and he will shew you things to come." (2 - 4 - 16:13) Why then didn't these leaders know the truth about this clergyman, or even know in advance of this man's criminal intent, and have the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, and awe of the Lord to remove him from the ministry? COMMENT ENDS.]
• Two former Oakland Diocese leaders testify they never checked priest's file. [1979-80 Ponciroli] - RCC. Altar boys.
   Contra Costa Times, www.contracosta times.com/mld/ cctimes/news/ 11314211.htm , By Randy Myers, ~ April 5, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - Two former leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland said Monday in court that they never checked the personnel file of a former East Bay priest accused of sexually abusing altar boys.
   John Cummins, bishop emeritus of the Oakland Diocese, and the Rev. Brian Joyce, the former diocesan chancellor and ex-chairman of the clergy personnel board, took the stand in the civil trial stemming from abuse charges brought by two former Antioch altar boys.
   Brothers Robert and Tom Thatcher claim that they were sexually molested by since-defrocked priest Robert Ponciroli at Antioch's St. Ignatius Church from 1979 to 1980.
   Their case is part of the more than 150 suits brought against Northern California dioceses after a 2002 state law lifted the statute of limitations for one year.
   The Oakland Diocese admitted it acted negligently in the decades-old case and has agreed to pay compensatory damages it considers reasonable. The Diocese, however, disagrees with paying punitive damages sought by Robert Thatcher.
   Joyce admits he and the Diocese made some errors in judgment. He described receiving a phone call about Ponciroli's "tickling," angry outbursts and intimidating behavior, and talking to the priest about it. Joyce served as diocesan chancellor in the 1970s and is a priest at Pleasant Hill's Christ the King Parish.
   [COMMENT: Two former leaders "never checked the personnel file". Another newsitem says that a memo dated 1975 mentioned sexual abuse allegations against Ponciroli. If these leaders had the powers promised in 2 - 4 - 16:13 they would have known about his crimes before the memo was written. Furthermore, Jesus is quoted as saying "And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (2 - 1 - 28:20) Why do such inept religions claim to be directed by heavenly and superhuman beings? COMMENT ENDS.]
• Church acknowledges Nome priest abuse, settles civil suit. [1978-87 Poole (Jesuit)] - RCC. $US1m settlement. Girl.
   Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com/ news/alaska/ story/6347140p -6224332c.html , By LISA DEMER, April 5th, 2005
   ALASKA - The Catholic Church on Monday admitted that a former Nome priest committed sexual misconduct and said that it has settled a civil lawsuit that resulted from the abuse.
   The Jesuits of the Oregon Province apologized for the actions of retired priest James Poole and called what he did inexcusable. The Jesuits and the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese together paid around $1 million to settle the case, according to the victim's attorneys, the diocese and a spokesman for the Jesuits.
   The case concerns a woman, now 37, who accused Poole of kissing and fondling her dozens of times starting in 1978 when she was 10. The abuse included heavy petting and having her lie on top of him, the lawsuit said. It continued until she turned 19 and wrote him a letter saying she never wanted to be alone with him again, said the complainant, Elsie Boudreau. The lawsuit that she filed last year concentrates on the time she was 16 and younger.
   "We admit that the sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred by James Poole did occur, and we are deeply sorry for it," said the Rev. John Whitney, head of the Jesuits' Oregon Province, who was reading from a prepared statement. The province includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
   Poole, now in his 80s, did not return calls to the Jesuit home in Spokane where he lives. In the past, he called Boudreau's claims "highly inflammatory and highly exaggerated."
• Jesuits make public apology to Jane Doe 1 [Poole (Jesuit)] - RCC. $US1m settlement. Legal battle, now an apology. Girl.
   Fairbanks News-Miner, www.news-miner. com/Stories/0,1413, 113~7244 ~2799263 ,00.html , By MARY BETH SMETZER, ~ April 5, 2005
   ALASKA - The top Jesuit in the Northwest made a public apology Monday and a request for forgiveness and healing for Jane Doe 1 and other victims of sexual abuse by clergy in Alaska.
   The provincial superior of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, the Rev. John D. Whitney, traveled to Anchorage to also announce the finalization of a $1 million dollar settlement in a sexual abuse lawsuit against former Nome priest Father Jim Poole.
   The Fairbanks Catholic Diocese was also a defendant in the suit.
   "We apologize to the victim of this misconduct and to all who have suffered a loss of hope and trust," said Whitney in a written statement. "We ask forgiveness as we strive to ensure that such actions do not happen again."
   However, the plaintiff in the civil suit, Elsie Boudreau, previously identified as Jane Doe 1, was not appeased by the conciliatory statement, calling it a "slap in the face."
   "They don't mention having gone through over a year of litigation, attempting to dismiss the case, trying to keep records from the public, trying to keep me quiet," Boudreau said. "It feels disingenuous, and not very tasteful."
• Sex Abuse Victims Want Cardinals' Attention - RCC.

   The Indiana Gazette, www.zwire.com/ site/news.cfm ?BRD=1078&dept _id=151021&newsid =14284666&PAG =461&rfi=9 , By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer, April 05, 2005
   ROME - Three years ago Pope John Paul II summoned America's cardinals to the Vatican for an emergency meeting on the clergy sex abuse crisis. Now that those cardinals have returned to elect his successor, abuse victims fear the lessons from their suffering may be forgotten amid the ceremonies and papal politicking.
   "It seems to me the victims offer a gift to the church," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "The church needs the voices of victims in order to sanctify itself, in order to redeem itself, because the church leaders were the ones responsible for this outrageous abuse."
   Church leaders rarely mention the scandal when asked about the key challenges facing the next pope. Interfaith tensions, global poverty and declining religious observance in North America and Europe are widely considered more pressing. Some Catholic officials still think of the crisis as mainly an American one, even though Austria, Ireland and other countries have experienced similar scandals.
   Sue Archibald, head of the victim advocacy group The Linkup, said she has little expectation that the cardinals will discuss abuse during their conclave to pick a new pope.
• Bishop: We missed signs of sex abuse [1970s Ponciroli] - 7 or 8 priest abusers. "Tickling" boys. RCC. Children.
   Alameda Times-Star, By Josh Richman, ~ April 5, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - Diocese of Oakland officials testified Monday that the church showed errors in judgment in handling a child-molesting priest.
   Bishop Emeritus John Cummins, who led Alameda and Contra Costa counties' Roman Catholics from 1977 to 2003, acknowledged documents show his predecessor knew of allegations against Father Robert Ponciroli in 1975, yet Cummins didn't learn of it until almost two decades later.
   "I did not expect sexual abuse by priests to be a frequent occurrence," he testified, but he knows now that seven or eight priests abused children in his diocese during his tenure.
   Earlier Monday, former diocese chancellor Father Brian Joyce testified that although he was chairman of the diocese's clergy personnel committee from 1971 to 1979, he knew of no sexual complaints against Ponciroli - only complaints of tickling and losing his temper with altar boys. He said he confronted Ponciroli on those matters, but "in no way" suspected molestation.
   "My focus was his anger and his intimidating young people," he said. "I was wrong."
• Abuse victims hope for new help in fight - Call to punish those who protect abusers. RCC.
   The Olympian, By CHARISSE JONES, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE, April 5, 2005
   UNITED STATES - Victims of the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church praised Pope John Paul II's words condemning the crimes but said they hope the next pontiff will do more to punish those who protect abusive priests.
   "I think he reached out to people at a level never done before by previous popes in working on peace and compassion, but when the issue of abuse arose within his own organization, that was a real test," said Sue Archibald, an abuse victim who is president of The Linkup, a group that assists victims of clergy abuse.
   "He really could've done a lot more in addressing the issues and reaching out to people who had been wounded."
   The January 2002 trial of a former priest accused of sexual abuse unleashed a flood of accusations that sparked the worst scandal to hit the U.S. Catholic Church.
   More than 4,300 priests allegedly have abused more than 10,000 children and teenagers since 1950, according to a 2004 study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The scandal has cost the church more than $900 million in settlements, leading some dioceses to declare bankruptcy.
   The pope summoned U.S. cardinals to Rome in April 2002, telling them that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:50 AM]
• Former priest pleads innocent to child rape charges. [1980s-90s Burns] - RCC.
   Boston Herald, Associated Press, Tuesday, April 5, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - - A defrocked Catholic priest pleaded innocent to child rape charges Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court and was released on $5,000 bail.
   Robert Burns, 56, of Concord, N.H., is charged with six counts of rape of a child under 16, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
   Prosecutors said Burns molested five boys while he was assigned to parishes in the Jamaica Plain and Charlestown sections of Boston between the mid-1980s and early 90s.
   Burns was convicted in 1996 of indecent assault of a child and was imprisoned for three years in New Hampshire. He was defrocked in 1999. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:03 PM]
• Case against priest who allegedly made lewd comments continued [? 2004 Gillespie] - RCC. Mother, girl.
   Dateline Alabama, The Associated Press, April 05, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - The charges against a Roman Catholic priest who allegedly sexually propositioned a 12-year-old girl and her mother at a Chelsea restaurant will be dismissed if he meets the conditions of a two-year probationary period.
   The case against the Rev. Jerome F. Gillespie, who resigned as pastor of St. John the Evangelist parish in Swampscott after the Jan. 25 incident, was continued without a finding on Monday in Chelsea District Court.
   As part of Gillespie's agreeing to sufficient facts, he must complete substance abuse, mental health, and sex offender evaluations, and cannot have contact with children under age 18 without notifying their parents about his case.
   If Gillespie, 55, does not meet those conditions, the case will be put back on track for trial, prosecutors said.
• Analysis: Conclave a question of numbers - RCC.
   Washington Times, www.washtimes. com/upi-breaking/ 20050405-034143 -1863r.htm , By Roland Flamini, Chief International Correspondent, April 5, 2005
   WASHINGTON (DC) (UPI) -- The pope is the sole leader of the Roman Catholic Church and at the same time the absolute ruler of Europe's smallest independent state. There is no permanent representational body governing the church, and no parliament in Vatican City. Yet the pope is elected through a democratic process that would be familiar to any U.S. politician.
   Andrew Greeley, the Catholic priest and best-selling author, calls it "the political event par excellence" and compares it to "American conventions of the old days." ...
   For the first time in many years the United States cardinals enter the conclave with diminished prestige as "king makers." In 1979 Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia was reportedly a leading campaigner for Cardinal Wojtyla.
   In other circumstances a powerful American point man in the coming conclave would have been Cardinal Bernard Law. He was influential both among U.S. cardinals but also in Latin America and in the Vatican. But that was before Law was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 because of the sexual abuse crisis, and now holds a largely ceremonial post in the Vatican.
   The pedophilia scandal, coupled with the U.S. hierarchy's support for the Iraq war, and later what many saw as the American bishops' interference in the 2004 presidential elections with their pronouncement on divorcees and Holy Communion, drew public criticism from other leading Catholic prelates, particularly in South America. [Emphasis added]
• The Future of the Church - RCC.
   Beliefnet, By Deborah Caldwell, ~ April 5, 2005
   The Catholic Church is no longer simply a European church. It's not even a Northern Hemisphere church. Nor is it primarily a white church. It is now a universal church found in every country, every race, and nearly every global culture.
   All of which means that when the 117 cardinals begin their conclave next week to pick the next pope, they'll debate far more than liturgical fine points or birth control or how the church will deal with women's roles. They'll set the stage for Catholicism's embrace of the 21st century-complete with globalization, terrorism, poverty, American dominance, and the clash of Christianity and Islam. ...
   On the other hand, says Reese, American cardinals are worried about the loss of morale among their members because of the priest sex abuse crisis. It's critical the Vatican keep Americans content because U.S. Catholics contribute about 25% of the Vatican's annual budget. Meanwhile, both Americans and Europeans want someone willing to bend on issues such as birth control and priestly celibacy; they also want a man who continues the pope's outreach to Protestants and Jews, and who can continue efforts to lure wealthy, secularized Catholics back to the pews. Those concerns might argue for an Italian pope, who could soothe Americans and energize Europeans.
• At a crossroads - RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, Published April 5, 2005
By Eileen P. Flynn, a professor at St. Peter's College and author of "Catholics at a Crossroads: Coverup, Crisis and Cure" and "Catholicism: Agenda for Renewal."
   UNITED STATES: People have absorbed the sad news that Pope John Paul II has passed on to the joy of the beatific vision, and our attention is turning to the issue of succession. Who will next carry the shepherd's staff and wear the fisherman's ring?
   We are not accustomed to thinking of the papacy in functional terms. Instead, we tend to focus on the person who holds the office, the pope. Since Pope John Paul was such a strong and dominant person and since he held the papal office for more than a generation, we struggle to realize that the functions of the office differ from the officeholder and that they may be more important than the personality of the individual who sits on the throne at St. Peter's Basilica.
   If the cardinal-electors want the next pope to be as interesting, energetic and influential as Pope John Paul, they will have an impossible task. And, they will be making a strategic error. Instead, as the Roman Catholic Church looks forward to the conclave to elect a successor to Karol Wojtyla, it would make more sense to consider the needs of the Catholic Church and the type of leader who has the strength to meet those needs. This leader need not be photogenic or silver-tongued; he could dislike air travel and feel uncomfortable with large crowds. No problem. Catholics will be fortunate if the next pope is open-minded, fair and totally dedicated to a clearly defined mission that is in line with the core priorities of Christianity. ...
   The church's recent culture closed in on itself, and the hierarchy has been unable to credibly administer the church. The priest sex abuse scandal provides a tragic example of a church that lacked credibility and that refused to deal forthrightly with the crisis until leadership was dragged kicking and screaming by the media to listen to victim-survivors speak of their molestation. Bishops gave bureaucratic reasons for why they did not act decisively to remove priest abusers and Pope John Paul remained aloof from the crisis for as long as humanly possible.
   How could this have been the case? For hundreds of years popes and bishops have considered themselves above the laity, a privileged class, leaders who were accountable to God, but not God's people, the church. This ingrained misconception needs to be abandoned, first by the next pope and, subsequently, by each and every member of the hierarchy.
• The Legacy of Pope John Paul II - RCC.
   AlterNet, By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Posted April 5, 2005.
   UNITED STATES - The Pope died Saturday night at the age of 84. Officials announced the cause of death as septic shock -- an infection causing organ failure and cardiovascular system collapse.
   A massive funeral is scheduled to take place on Friday. Rome authorities are braced for as many as two million mourners -- including more than 100 heads of state -- in the largest such event the city has ever seen.
   John Paul's 26-year leadership of the Roman Catholic Church was the third longest in history and he was the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years. During his papacy, he visited a record 120 nations and was seen in person by millions. ...
   Amy Goodman: What about the sexual abuse scandal?
   Angela Bonavoglia: Women were key to the response to the sexual abuse scandal. That, I think, is a very important point. ... Barbara Blaine was sexually abused as a young woman from eighth grade through high school and spent years trying to get justice from the hierarchy in Detroit, where this happened to her. And finally she did get justice, but frankly it wasn't until she was about to go on the Oprah Winfrey Show that they finally relieved that particular priest of his duties. But Barbara, with a handful of people at a hotel room in Chicago in the late 1980s, started Survivors of Priest-Child Sex Abuse, and that organization has grown into over 5,000 people, and really those are the people who are advocates for survivors, who are pushing to get the hierarchy to meet with survivors, who are working to change laws that will make it easier to prosecute in terms of sexual abuse.
   Amy Goodman: And the pope's response to the scandal?
   Angela Bonavoglia: Well, I think a lot of people would agree that it was lacking. And I don't think he ever took it seriously. People felt he didn't take it seriously enough. And I think the sorriest sign of that was the appointment of Cardinal Bernard Law to head a basilica in Rome, so not only was he not punished in a visible way but he appeared to have been rewarded.
   Amy Goodman: Cardinal Law being the former Bishop of Boston.
   Angela Bonavoglia: Exactly, who resigned in disgrace because of the priests that had been moved around up there. And all of the children, hundreds and hundreds of children who were victims of sexual abuse in the Boston area. [Bolding added]
• The Pope Who Revived the Office of the Inquisition. [John Paul II] - RCC.
   CounterPunch, www.counterpunch. org/connolly0405 2005.html , By JIM CONNOLLY, April 5, 2005
   This week you will be inundated with honorific obituaries to Karol Wojtila, Pope John Paul II. I am writing not to honor Wojtila; he will (quite frankly) receive more honor in the next week than any individual mortal deserves. I write as a witness to the damage this man did during his 26 years as Roman pontiff to the causes of liberty and peace throughout the world.
   There will be few voices such as mine raised on the occasion of Wojtila's death, but someone must speak the truth. Much of what I say here will be new (perhaps even surprising) to non-Catholics. To Catholics, I write to remind them of what each of them knows but seldom acknowledges.
   Karol Wojtila forced the best minds out of the Catholic Church, or at least to the extreme margins of the Church. Wojtila sanctified the baroque reproductive/sexual bugaboos that infest the Catholic Church while striving to ideologically lobotomize the Catholic clergy and laity. Although he was a fine ambassador of good will to Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, Wojtila degraded the richness of Catholic faith and tradition into mindless displays of loyalty.
   An archaic organization that had shown signs of serious promise as a refreshed (and even potentially progressive) social force under Popes John XXIII and Paul VI was methodically and ruthlessly drubbed into the mold of ideological and cultural reaction. The record shows that Karol Wojtila was a charming man and a master of international public relations, but he was a political and cultural reactionary to his core. ...
   18. Last but not least, Karol Wojtila proved his utter moral bankruptcy in his horrendous mishandling of the pedophile scandals in the Catholic Churches of the United States, Canada, Ireland, Britain, and several other nations. Wojtila could never bring himself to a clear apology or an acknowledgement of wrongdoing or institutional responsibility for the Catholic Church's practices of abuse, intimidation, and rape of tens of thousands of children and adolescents.
   Most reprehensibly, Wojtila removed the independent power of the United States Catholic bishops to discipline pedophile priests while attributing the horror and filth within the American Catholic Church to some sort of American cultural malady. [Bolding added]
• Groups: Vatican failed to address scandal - RCC.
   San Luis Obispo Tribune, By DAVID CRARY, Associated Press, ~ April 5, 2005
   NEW YORK - Among the crowd cheering Pope John Paul II at Shea Stadium in 1979 was a 15-year-old New Jersey boy named Mark Serrano - there courtesy of a ticket provided by the priest he later accused of sexually molesting him.
   Like other advocates for victims of abuse by priests, Serrano has mixed emotions as he assesses the papal transition now unfolding in the Roman Catholic Church. Though never losing affection for John Paul II, Serrano feels the Vatican under his leadership responded too weakly to the U.S. sex abuse scandal - and may not do any better under the next pope.
   "Can we say the pope failed us? I think John Paul could have done more," Serrano said. "Can we say the bureaucrats in Rome failed us? Absolutely."
   Serrano, who now lives in Leesburg, Va., is a regional official of SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
   SNAP's national director, David Clohessy, and president, Barbara Blaine, said the pope's rhetoric was admirable when he summoned America's cardinals to the Vatican in 2002 and told them there was "no place in the priesthood" for those who harm children.
   "It's been disappointing that the people who were close to the pope didn't take his message to heart, and didn't go further," Blaine said. "We know full well that many bishops, even after that statement, left child molesters in the ministry." [Emphasis added]
• Victims testify about abuser priest in state's second civil suit [1970s-80s Ponciroli] - RCC. 750 more cases looming. Altar boys.
   San Luis Obispo Tribune, By JUSTIN M. NORTON, Associated Press, ~ April 5, 2005
   HAYWARD, Calif. - A former altar boy on Tuesday recalled how a Catholic priest summoned him to his rectory on the premise of doing gardening work, but instead ordered him to his bedroom and molested him.
   Tom Thatcher, now a 34-year-old maintenance worker from Lakewood, Fla., said the Rev. Robert Ponciroli pulled him close, told him to lift his shirt and then started tickling him. Before long, Thatcher, then about 9, was rolling around with the priest in bed, listening to him grunt and laugh, Thatcher testified during a civil trial stemming from his lawsuit against the Oakland Diocese.
   "I felt like a little rag doll flopping around with him on the bed," Thatcher said, gasping and holding back tears as he recalled the incident from the early 1980s. "I remember thinking I didn't know why we were doing this. ... I honestly did not know what to do."
   Thatcher and his brother, Bob, filed a civil lawsuit against the diocese, alleging its leaders were negligent in their supervision of Ponciroli, who is now 68 and has been removed from public ministry. They say they were abused when they were altar boys at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch.
   The case is important because it is among the first of more than 750 civil lawsuits against Roman Catholic dioceses in California to go to trial since the state in 2002 temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims.
• Pastor previously addicted to porn, prostitutes resigns [? 2000s Fehlauer] - Evangelicals. Porn. Whores.
   KHOU Associated Press, April 5, 2005
   NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- A minister who wrote about how he overcame an addiction to prostitutes and pornography has resigned as senior pastor of a 4,000-member church after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct, church leaders said.
   The resignation of Mike Fehlauer, senior pastor of The Tree of Life Fellowship, was announced to the congregation Sunday in an hourlong sermon delivered by Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals.
   Haggard said a married woman wrote a letter about two weeks ago to the church board, detailing her allegations. Since there was only a lone accuser and no proof, the church board decided to dismiss the complaint and drop the investigation, he said.
   However, the woman threatened to sue the church if Fehlauer did not resign, Haggard said.
• Ex-Priest Arraigned On Child Sexual Assault Charges. [1980s-90s Burns] - RCC. 5 boys.
   TheBostonChannel.com ; April 5, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) -- A defrocked priest with a prior conviction for indecent assault on a child faced additional charges in a Boston courtroom Tuesday.
   NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported that Robert Burns, 56, pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing five boys, including six counts of rape on a child under 16, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14.
   The alleged sexual assaults occurred from the early to mid-1980s through the early 1990s at St. Thomas Aquinas in Jamaica Plain and at St. Mary's Parish in Charlestown. He moved to New Hampshire in 1991, where he sold real estate.
   "One while he was a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas in Jamaica Plain, and four while he was assigned to St. Mary's Parish in Charlestown. In all but one of the cases, the abuse began before they were 10 years old," said Assistant District Attorney David Deakin.
   In 1995, he was arrested and convicted of sexually assaulting a boy in New Hampshire. He served three years in jail. He was defrocked as priest in 1999.
• Church leaders testify in brothers' abuse trial [1980s Ponciroli] - RCC. 2 boys.
   San Francisco Chronicle, by Henry K. Lee, Tuesday, April 5, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - Former top officials of the Roman Catholic Oakland Diocese testified Monday that they hadn't realized the extent of a priest's sexual abuse and acknowledged that they had reassigned him to a new church without determining whether he had victimized other children.
   John Cummins, bishop emeritus of the East Bay diocese, acknowledged to a Hayward jury that church officials hadn't fully investigated allegations involving the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, whom Bob and Tom Thatcher accuse of abusing them in the early 1980s when they were altar boys at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch.
   Ponciroli, 68, was removed from public ministry and faced criminal molestation charges until the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 overturned a California law allowing the prosecution of old molest cases.
   "I did not really expect sexual abuse by priests to be a frequent occurrence," said Cummins, testifying in a civil lawsuit accusing the diocese of knowing that Ponciroli was a danger to children but doing nothing about it.
   The Thatcher brothers are to testify today.
• A Quest to End Sexual Violence [1975] - RCC.
   WFCR, http://public broadcasting.net/ wfcr/news.newsmain ?action=article &ARTICLE_ID=757656 , by Bob Paquette, Apr-05-2005
   AMHERST, MA - Today is the national day to end sexual violence. Several groups at the University of Massachusetts are marking the day with a talk by a member of the class of 1975. Phil Saviano is the founder of the New England chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.
   Saviano was 12 years old and living in a Worcester suburb when he was sexually abused by the priest at his church. That abuse continued for over a year. Saviano didn't talk about it with anyone, until he turned 40, and he read a news article about a former Massachusetts priest who was convicted of sexually abusing children in New Mexico.
   It was the same priest who had abused him. Phil Saviano speaks this evening at 7:00 pm in the campus center of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst.
• L.I. Church Counselor Sentenced For Sex Assaults. [2000 Lopez] - Full Gospel Church. 3 girls.
   WNBC, www.wnbc.com/ news/4346182/ detail.html , POSTED 8:09 am EDT April 5, 2005
   RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- A former Long Island church counselor has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for sexual assault.
   Vincente Elias Lopez, 44, of East Quogue, worked as a counselor at Living Water Full Gospel Church in Aquebogue 5 years ago.
   Lopez was convicted of sexually abusing three girls under the age of 11. The Suffolk County District Attorney's office said Lopez used his position as a counselor to abuse the girls at a wedding, inside the church and at his house.
   Meanwhile, a representative at the church said Lopez was not related to the church. The representative said Lopez rented a basement room to hold Bible study classes.
• Bible study leader sentenced for abusing girls [2000-02 Lopez] - Full Gospel Church. 3 girls.
   Newsday, BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, April 5, 2005
   LONG ISLAND (NY) - A Bible study leader was sentenced yesterday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to 8 years in prison for sexually abusing young girls.
   Vicente Lopez, 45, of East Quogue, was convicted last month of four counts of first-degree sexual abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, in a trial before Judge C. Randall Hinrichs.
   His three victims were all younger than 11, with the youngest being 7, Assistant District Attorney Dana Brown said.
   One incident took place at the Living Water Church in Aquebogue. The others occurred at his home, Brown said. The abuse took place between 2000 and 2002. The girls and their families were parishioners of the church, Brown said.
   Lopez's attorney, Stephen Grossman of Sag Harbor, said his client borrowed the church basement for Bible study.
• The Price of Infallibility [1980s-2000s John Paul II, Law] - RCC.
   The New York Times, By THOMAS CAHILL, April 5, 2005
   WITH the news media awash in encomiums to the indisputable greatness of Pope John Paul II, isn't it time to ask to which tradition he belonged? Partisans unfamiliar with Christian history may judge this a strange question. Why, they may answer, he belonged to the Catholic tradition, of course.
   But there is no single Catholic tradition; there are rather Catholic traditions, which range from the voluntary poverty of St. Francis of Assisi to the boundless greed of the Avignon popes, from the genial tolerance for diversity of Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century to the egomaniacal self-importance of Pope Pius IX in the 19th century, from the secrecy and plotting of Opus Dei to the openness and humane service of the Community of Sant'Egidio.
   Over its 2,000-year history, Roman Catholicism has provided a fertile field for an immense variety of papal traditions.
   Despite his choice of name, John Paul II shared little with his immediate predecessors. John Paul I lasted slightly more than a month, but in that time we were treated to a typical Italian of moderating tendencies, one who had even, before his election, congratulated the parents of the world's first test-tube baby - not a gesture that resonated with the church's fundamentalists, who still insist on holding the line against anything that smacks of tampering with nature, an intellectual construct far removed from what ordinary people mean by that word. ...
   In contrast, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston rebuked the dying Cardinal Bernardin for this effort because, as Cardinal Law insisted, the church knows the truth and is therefore exempt from anything as undignified as dialogue.
   Cardinal Law, who had to resign after revelations that he had repeatedly allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the ministry while failing to inform either law enforcement officials or parishioners, must stand as the characteristic representative of John Paul II, protective of the church but often dismissive of the moral requirement to protect and cherish human beings. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:53 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue, April 05, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed. Church abuse play wins Pulitzer    British Broadcasting Corporation, http://news.bbc. co.uk/1/hi/enter tainment/arts/ 4411411.stm , Tuesday, April 5, 2005

"Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley opened on Broadway last week

A play about child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has been awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for drama.
   Doubt, by Oscar-winning writer John Patrick Shanley, won the prize just two days after the death of the Pope.
   The play is about a priest accused of molesting a boy. It comes after a damaging scandal in the US Catholic Church that implicated 4,000 priests.
   In other Pulitzer awards, Marilynne Robinson won the fiction prize and Ted Kooser picked up the poetry accolade.
   Mr Shanley won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay for Moonstruck, starring Cher, in 1988.
   Stars including Harvey Keitel and David Hasselhoff turned up when Doubt opened on Broadway last week after an acclaimed off-Broadway run.
   Set in 1964 in The Bronx, where Mr Shanley grew up, it sees a nun confront a well-liked parish priest who she believes is abusing a 12-year-old boy.
   "The play very much relates to religion," he said. "And the parable is a key way of talking about issues, ideas and moralities."
   Last year, a report commissioned by the Church said more than 4,000 US Roman Catholic priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years in cases involving more than 10,000 children, mostly boys.

Marilynne Robinson won the fiction prize for her novel Gilead

In the Pulitzer fiction category, Marilynne Robinson triumphed for Gilead, her National Book Critics Circle-winning novel about a dying Iowa preacher.
   Journalism expose
   US poet laureate Ted Kooser won the poetry prize for Delights and Shadows, while composer Steven Stucky picked up the music award for Second Concerto for Orchestra.
   Other awards in the arts section were won by non-fiction books by David Hackett Fischer, Mark Stevens, Annalyn Swan and Steve Coll.
   In the journalism section, the Los Angeles Times won the public service award for its expose of deadly medical problems and racial injustice at an inner-city hospital.
   The paper won another award for international reporting for its coverage of Russia, while The Wall Street Journal also picked up two prizes.#
   [COMMENT: This is the second year running that a Pulitzer has been won by someone writing about clergy child sex abuse crimes. The Boston Globe won one last year. COMMENT ENDS.] [Apr 5, 05]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed, April 06, 2005 edition follows:-
• Pastor in abuse case opts to retire [Hughes] - Assemblies of God. Daughter married in Muslim ceremony. Claim challenged.

   New Zealand Herald, www.nzherald. co.nz/index. cfm?c_id=1 &ObjectID =10119160 , by Chris Barton, for Apr.07.05
   NEW ZEALAND - Wayne Hughes, the Takapuna Assembly of God pastor at the centre of sexual abuse allegations, is taking early retirement.
   In a letter to the Takapuna church board Mr Hughes cited personal reasons - the need to care for his wife who suffers from Parkinson's disease and the stress caused by the publicity on his family and his own "health and emotional and spiritual wellbeing". He was also concerned about the effect on the church.
   "The recent publicity that has erupted is hurting the church family. This is not good for the Takapuna Church nor the Assemblies of God in New Zealand - both of which I love.
   "For these reasons I have personally decided to bring forward my retirement and step back from my current pastoral responsibilities, effective immediately."
   Mr Hughes blames Nasir Ali for first raising the sexual abuse claims 10 years ago. Mr Ali, who served one year of a three-year term for burglary in the early 90s, was briefly married to Mr Hughes' daughter Angela in a Muslim ceremony. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:46 PM]
• Progressive Catholics Outline Priorities for New Pope - RCC.
   U.S. Newswire, April 6, 2005
   CHICAGO (IL) -- Pope John Paul II's departure has left countless people around the world mourning and anticipating what the next pontiff's priorities will be. Linda Pieczynski, spokesperson for Call To Action, the nation's largest church reform group, stated,
   "We are hoping for a pope who forcefully spreads the message of peace and non-violence throughout the world in these troubled times as did Pope John Paul II. It is critical to continue his legacy in that area. But, the Church needs a leader who also listens to all the people of the Church because the Holy Spirit lives and breathes through all of us as the body of Christ.
   The new pope must recognize that there is wisdom to be shared by the laity which will assist him in confronting those matters left undone by the previous pope, especially on issues of human sexuality. He may also need to distance himself from some of the positions taken by Pope John Paul II in order to deal with the important issues facing the institution."
   "For example, the next pope must take action regarding the priest shortage which threatens the sacramental life of Catholics. There are over 3,000 parishes in the United States without a priest and there are many priests who are pastors of multiple parishes. We hope that the new pope recognizes the necessity of lifting the mandatory celibacy ban," said Pieczynski.
   "We are hoping that the bishops will see the need to select someone who will be collegial in his interactions with them and less authoritarian in dealing with those who disagree with him so that creativity is not suppressed and theological development may flourish in academic freedom. We also strongly encourage him to adopt the recommendation from the National Review Board -- a lay group the bishops created to address the sex abuse crisis -- that there be lay involvement in the selection of bishops. We need to build structures in our church which reflect a more participatory structure."
• Boston archbishop to attend pope's funeral in Rome
   Boston Herald, By Associated Press , Wednesday, April 6, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - Archbishop Sean O'Malley is heading to Rome this afternoon, where he'll join other Catholic leaders and world dignitaries for the funeral of Pope John Paul.
   O'Malley was appointed by the pope in July 2003 to succeed Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned amid the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese.
   Ironically, it will be Law, and not O'Malley, who will have a hand in choosing John Paul's successor. O'Malley was not elevated to cardinal before the pontiff's death, though it is widely believed that he will be elevated sometime in the future.
• Cardinal Is First-Class Pope Material - RCC.
   Los Angeles Times, by Steve Lopez, Points West, April 06, 2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - I wasn't going to say anything until a reader noticed the same thing I did in a story about Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. His Eminence, flying to Rome in the Pope's final hours, was stretched out rather comfortably in first class.
   "I know that it's a little early to be nitpicking about these things," said a reader named Carol. "I thought at some point … you might want to do a column about this, because I think it's just shameful."
   In the photograph Carol is referring to, Mahony was sitting with his flack, Tod Tamberg. The cardinal, with his eyes closed and rosary beads in his hands, has his comfy seat tilted so far back that he appears to be crushing the woman in the row behind him. ...
   Mahony sold crypts under the altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for up to $50,000 apiece, hawked paving stones for $5,000, peddled wine under the cathedral's name - and accomplished all of this while managing one of the biggest church scandals in modern history.
   The most amazing thing about the scandal, in fact, is that Mahony continues to pass himself off as a national sex abuse reformer, even as he zealously stonewalls investigators trying to get to the bottom of cases involving priests accused of molesting young boys.
   Alleged victims have pleaded and prosecutors have screamed for the cardinal to open up his files on accused priests. So have attorneys handling the 544 civil claims pending against the archdiocese.
• Saying goodbye to John Paul II - RCC.
   Cincinnati Post, April 06, 2005
   CINCINNATI (OH) - With its large concentration of Catholics, Greater Cincinnati may feel the impact of Pope John Paul II's death more acutely than many other places.
   According to the Cincinnati-based Glenmary Home Missioners organization, more than 500,000 Catholics - more than one in every six persons - live in 19 counties of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The Diocese of Covington has another 89,000 Catholics.Thousands of them are expected to turn out at memorial Masses this week for the pontiff, who died Saturday night in his quarters at the Vatican.
   "I think he was good for the church locally and throughout the world," said Villa Hills resident Martin Tepe, who attended Sunday night's memorial service at St. Agnes Church in Fort Wright. "Overall, I think he helped the church here." ...
   David Clohessy, national director of the Louisville-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - SNAP - said the pope could have had a more positive impact on the situation, but didn't act soon enough or strongly enough.
   "His public pronouncements were strong but belated and sadly, lacked real follow-through on the part of the bishops," he said.
   Clohessy said that in particular, the pope could've reached out to victims and encouraged them to come forward.
   "A deeply rooted, longstanding culture of secrecy isn't transformed by a couple of public comments," he said.
• Holy See in the red - RCC.
   The Age (Melbourne, Vic, Australia), By Gregory Viscusi, Paris, for April 7, 2005
   PARIS, France - Pope John Paul II's successor won't just face falling church attendance and an aging priesthood: He also has to find new revenue to balance the Vatican's budget.
   After making a profit for eight years, the Holy See, the central administration for the church, ran deficits in the three years through 2003, the Vatican's financial statements show. The separately run budget for Vatican City, the independent papal state in Rome, was also in the red in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.
   The papacy relies on earnings from roughly $US1 billion ($A1.3 billion) in stocks, bonds and real estate to top up donations from Catholics around the world. While the Holy See benefited in the 1990s from booming stock markets and a strong US dollar, losses on currencies plunged it to a €9.6 million loss on revenue of €204 million in 2003. ...
   The 2864 Catholic diocese and 412,886 parishes worldwide - even Rome's - are financially independent from the Vatican.
   That independence kept the Vatican financially untouched by sex-abuse scandals in the US. The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2004 after paying $US53 million to settle more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse by clergy. The diocese of Tucson, Arizona, filed for Chapter 11 in September and Spokane, Washington, followed in November.
   Vatican finances were totally secret before Edmund Szoka, then the archbishop of Detroit, moved to Rome at John Paul II's request to become head of the prefecture for the economic affairs of the Holy See in 1990.
• Ex-priest accosted after arraignment [1980s-90s] - RCC.
   Boston Herald, By David Weber, Wednesday, April 6, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - As a defrocked priest was led out of a courtroom yesterday in handcuffs, a young man glared at him and said loud enough for him to hear, "You'll get yours."
   Robert Burns, 56, was arraigned yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court on six charges of rape and seven charges of indecent assault and battery on a child.
   It could not be confirmed whether the burly redhead was one of the five men that Burns is accused of raping and molesting when they were youngsters in the 1980s and early 1990s at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Jamaica Plain and St. Mary's Church in Charlestown. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:11 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed, April 06, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu, April 07, 2005 edition follows:-
• Cardinals gathering for funeral, conclave - RCC.
   CHICAGO (IL) - The Catholic New World, April 05, 2005
   Within hours of the April 2 death of Pope John Paul II, cardinals from around the world began gathering at the Vatican to honor the long-reigning pontiff in death and to begin preparations for the process to elect a successor.
   Cardinal George left for Rome April 3 after celebrating the life of the pope at Masses at Holy Name Cathedral and in his column in The Catholic New World.
   "It is hard to imagine a world without Pope John Paul II," he wrote in his column for this edition. "For over 26 years, he has been the living voice of the Catholic faith. He has been loved intensely, and not only by Catholics. He has been respected and admired. He has been shot at, criticized, denounced. As he leaves us, millions of people around the word feel his dying as their loss." ...
   His reaction to the mushrooming clerical sex abuse scandal in the United States in 2001-02 underscored his governing style: He suffered deeply, prayed at length and made brief but forceful statements emphasizing the gravity of such a sin by priests. He convened a Vatican-U.S. summit to address the problem, but let his advisers and U.S. church leaders work out the answers. In the end, he approved changes that made it easier to defrock abusive priests. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:41 PM]
• Church scandal [? 2000s Nikiforos; 2000s Panteleimon] - Greek Orthodox. Sex; money.

   GREECE - Kathimerini April 07, 2005
   The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece yesterday appointed two bishops to investigate Nikiforos, Bishop of Didymoteicho, who is under scrutiny for alleged sex escapades, and the suspended bishop of Attica, Panteleimon, who was indicted by a court last week on criminal embezzlement charges.
• A Moral, Abject Failure When It Mattered - RCC.
   Orange County Weekly, www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/31/ex-arellano.php , by GUSTAVO ARELLANO, ~ April 07, 2005
   UNITED STATES - Let's cut the beatitudes: Pope John Paul II was a moral, abject failure when it mattered.
   Screw his ecumenical efforts. Never mind his opposition to communism. Forget his apologies for the horrors that the Roman Catholic Church inflicted upon so many of the world's innocent throughout two millennia. All those "breakthroughs" were inevitable, none of them particularly revolutionary, the media spectacles surrounding each vanity and striving after the wind. ...
   Closer to home, Catholics should remember John Paul II's ignorance of what's shaping up to be his Church's spiritual genocide - the priestly sex-abuse scandal. His defenders will mention that what the pope told the 12 American cardinals who visited the Vatican in 2002 - "There is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young" - was penance enough.
   That was too little, too late. By then, the pope already knew. He knew as early as 1985, when Tom Doyle, a priest with the Vatican Embassy in Washington, helped author a confidential report alerting American Catholic officials about the pederast storm on the horizon. He knew as early as 1990 that bishops were advising one another to send potentially incriminating documents to the Apostolic Delegate, the papal representative to the Catholic Church in the United States, because the office has diplomatic immunity. He knew in 1993, when he first addressed the American sex-abuse scandal by accusing the media of treating his prelates' cover-up "as an occasion for sensationalism."
   He knew! Last year, he propped up former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law with a cushy job in St. Peter's Square-the same Law who resigned in 2002 lest the feds make him sing about his role in the rape of children! John Paul II opposed the zero-tolerance policies that American bishops installed in 2002 to ensure that child rapists would never officiate over Mass again! John Paul II never removed scoundrels such as Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown from their posts despite their active shielding of child-molesting priests from the law. In fact, many of these scoundrels - demons such as Mahony, Law and the entirety of the United States' delegation of cardinals - will vote soon on John Paul II's successor, ensuring that their patron's twisted policies will endure. [Bolding added]
• U.S. Attorney's Office Ends Investigation of Priest Accused of Downloading Child Porn
   LOUISIANA - KLFY ~ April 07, 2005
   Eyewitness News has learned U.S. Attorney Donald Washington is filing a bill of information, officially announcing his office's intention of ending its investigation of Father Jules Arceneaux, an Acadiana priest who was under investigation by the FBI for allegedly downloading child pornography onto a computer at Arceneaux's church in Arnaudville.
   Washington writes:
   We have completed our investigation and have determined the evidence collected is not sufficient to meet the prosecutable standard of this office and this type of case.
   The problem, according to federal prosecutors, is that in order to secure a conviction for child pornography, prosecutors need to be able to prove the downloaded images in question are in fact children.
   And, those efforts in this case were not successful.
   [COMMENT: Wow, we can't tell if they are children! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Cardinal, Ousted in Scandal, to Preside at Funeral - RCC.

   Los Angeles Times By Larry B. Stammer, ~ April 07, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who became a focal point of the Roman Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal in the United States, won a coveted role Thursday to preside at one of a handful of funeral Masses for Pope John Paul II.
   The appointment, announced by Archbishop Piero Marini, master of liturgical celebrations, appeared to catch other U.S. cardinals by surprise. It stunned sexual-abuse victims' advocates. One church source close to developments, said here Thursday that cardinals were not consulted about Law's participation. He said the cardinals were simply handed the list of assignments. "It was already printed," he said on condition of anonymity.
   Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after nearly 20 years in that post, will preside at one of eight funeral Masses beginning Saturday following Friday's main farewell and Funeral Mass for the supreme pontiff at St. Peter's Basilica.
   The Vatican said Law and the others were chosen because it was an "ancient custom" to entrust one of eight subsequent funeral Masses to a particular group with close ties to the pope. For example, the Saturday Mass is to be said on behalf of the "faithful of Vatican City." Law, in his new role here as archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major, is scheduled to preside Monday on behalf of the four basilicas in Rome.
• Ex-church aide charged with molesting
   INDIANA - Indianapolis Star By Tania E. Lopez tania.e.lopez@indystar.com April 7, 2005
   A 43-year-old former youth director at a North Salem church is being held in jail accused of molesting his daughter's 12-year-old friend during a sleep over.
   The Hendricks County prosecutor has charged Richard E. Smith of Danville with one felony count of child molesting deviate sexual conduct after police said the girl, now 13, just told her mother about the incident that occurred nearly five months ago.
   The girl said the incident occurred sometime between the end of September or early October during a sleep over at Smith's home. It was the only the time the girl was an overnight guest, police said.
   According to court documents, Smith entered the bedroom the girl was sleeping in around 3 a.m. after she fell asleep in his younger son's bedroom watching TV.
   Smith, according to the girl, laid down on the bed she was sharing with his son, reached over the boy and molested her.
   After Smith left the room, the girl told police she ran to her friend's room where she spent the rest of the night.
• Retired priest faces his accusers in court
   Gazette, www.gazetteextra. com/mcguire040705 .asp , By Mike Heine, Thursday, April 7, 2005
   ELKHORN (WI)- The Rev. Donald J. McGuire, a retired Jesuit priest from Chicago, on Wednesday faced the two men who accuse him of inappropriate sexual touching.
   The men, now ages 52 and 51, both testified that McGuire, 74, touched their genitals at a Fontana residence in the late 1960s.
   The 52-year-old man said McGuire, a former counselor and teacher at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., touched his genitals dozens of times over his clothing from the spring of 1967 through possibly June 1968 during visits to his uncle's home on South Shore Drive in Fontana. He was 14 and 15 at the time.
   "He'd reach over and grab me in my groin, on my genitals," the man testified.
   The man said McGuire also touched him at least once under his underwear. The incidents occurred at his uncle's home, in two cars or on a boat on Geneva Lake, the man said.
• Karol Wojtyla, 1920-2005 - RCC.
   The Church of England Newspaper By Paul Richardson, Number: 5763, for April 8, 2005
   On the one occasion I met John Paul II I was surprised by his warmth and affability. Instead of an austere, authoritarian figure, here was a friendly, approachable priest speaking English in a jocular manner with a thick accent and fixing me with powerful, inquiring eyes.
   Wojtyla's background made a unique figure in the history of the papacy. He was the first non-Italian Pope for hundreds of years and he came to the chair of Peter with the experience of both manual labour and stage acting, knowing at first-hand what it was like to live first under both Nazi occupation and Communism. ...
   John Paul leaves an impressive legacy of Catholic social teaching. But demands for reform in the Church are growing, fueled by the scandal of clerical sexual abuse, and vocations remain in short supply. John Paul II was one of the great Popes of history. He hands on to his successor much on which the new Pope can build but he also bequeaths him difficult problems that are still to be resolved. [Emphasis added]
• Notorious U.S. Cardinal Honored

   CBS News (AP), April 7, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II.
   The Vatican announced Thursday he will lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the pope's memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be held Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston.
   Some Roman Catholics in his former archdiocese immediately protested.
   Suzanne Morse, spokeswoman for Voice of the Faithful, a Massachusetts-based reform group that emerged from the scandal, said Law's visibility since the pope's death has been "extremely painful" both for abuse survivors and rank-and-file Catholics.
   "It certainly shows and puts a spotlight on the lack of accountability in the Catholic Church, that the most visible bishop in the clergy sexual abuse crisis has been given these honorary opportunities," she said.
   David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, called it "terribly insensitive."
• Background on Sexual Misconduct Issue - RCC.
   OAKLAND (CA) - KGO Issued by Western Dominican Province, ~ April 07, 2005
   It is important to note that at least two of the sources quoted in various media are believed to be ex-Dominican students who were dismissed from the Dominican Order for good cause and who we believe are now disaffected. These sources would not have had access to most of the details about the seven friars. Therefore, we are releasing this information to provide an accurate picture about this issue in the sincere hope that it will result in greater insight and peace for you, our neighbors.
   There are currently six men accused of sexual abuse of minors living in the Western Dominican Province's communities in the Rockridge area. In each case, when we learned of an alleged instance of abuse, we took immediate steps to ensure that no children were in danger, and undertook a thorough investigation to determine whether the allegation was credible. Having completed that investigation, we removed each of the men from public ministry, meaning they do not celebrate Mass publicly, nor do they have any interaction with young people.
   The allegations concern events that occurred between 20 and 45 years ago. All of these friars have received or continue to receive counseling by experts in the field; Eugene Merlin of Oakland, California, in particular has worked with the Province in the area of sexual offending since 1991. All are at least 65 years old. All but one lived in the Bay Area prior to being moved to Rockridge-the other lived outside of California. None of the six friars is a serial or "preferential" pedophile. No criminal charges were ever filed with regard to any of these men, although the police were notified in several cases.
• U.S. sees effect of late pope
   The Observer By Mary Kate Malone Thursday, April 7, 2005
   UNITED STATES - Pope John Paul II was nothing less than an international globetrotter. When he visited the United States for the first time in 1979, Americans granted him unprecedented celebrity status for a religious figure. Despite his enormous popularity, the U.S. Church and the pope have had a complicated relationship from the beginning.
   Under John Paul II, the Church saw an increase in the number of Catholics on a global level, a reinvigoration of Catholic conservatism and a new appreciation for the youth of the world. But the late pope also leaves behind him a struggling Church in the United States, a church that clashed with the Vatican over John Paul II's firm control of church leadership and refusal to compromise with American Catholics seeking a more democratic approach. ...
   The U.S. Church, though united in its mourning of the pope, is struggling with internal problems.
   In 2002, the sexual abuse crisis and the revelation that many predatory priests had been relocated rather than removed caused many Catholics to desire a greater voice in choosing local church leaders. The Vatican refused to change its policy.
   As a result, many Americans turned their anger toward Rome. Kaveny said the empowerment of local leadership could have helped ease the minds of concerned American Catholics.
• New pope must not repeat John Paul's failure to act on abuse scandal - RCC.
   The News-Sentinel, www.fortwayne. com/mld/news sentinel/news/ editorial/ 11333869.htm , BY DAVID CLOHESSY, Knight Ridder Newspapers, ~ April 07, 2005
   UNITED STATES (KRT) - The legacy of Pope John Paul II is marked by triumphs and adversity, both personally as well as within the sanctuary of the church he led. Time and time again he spoke candidly of healing the deep pain caused by crimes and mistakes of the past, such as in the church's complicity in the persecution of Jews.
   That he sought to mend those wounds is commendable, but to truly acknowledge this pontiff's noteworthy achievements requires that we examine his own track record with similar frankness.
   The charisma of Karol Wojtyla was recognized immediately upon his ascendancy to the papacy. His youth marked the intention of the church to lead Roman Catholics into the Third Millennium, and his philosophical and theological beliefs, demonstrated in his deeply spiritual defiance to Nazism and communism, framed values that were the bedrock of his leadership.
   Winning the hearts and minds of young people was the special passion of this pope, and his efforts to inspire them remained a key focus of his travels across the globe.
   But John Paul's concern for the young was undermined by his failure to address - and more important, to stop - the rape and molestation of children and others at the hands of those charged with carrying out the church's ministry. That failure was further exacerbated by his deputies covering up those horrific crimes, which the pope himself described as a "grave delict" against God.
   In the United States particularly, the scandal has been widely documented. But it also has been pandemic in Austria, Ireland, Great Britain, Australia and other nations. We fear that it is perhaps even more widespread and devastating - if that is possible - in the developing countries of the world where John Paul spent so much of his time and compassion. [Emphasis added]
• Cardinal Law To Lead Mourning Mass - RCC.
   TheBostonChannel.com ; UPDATED 12:48 pm EDT April 7, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) -- Cardinal Bernard Law has been chosen to lead one of a series of Masses that will be celebrated during the nine days of mourning that begin with Friday's funeral for Pope John Paul II.
   Law, who resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, now serves as archpriest of the St. Mary Major Basilica -- one of the most important churches in Rome. He remains a member of the College of Cardinals and serves on several Vatican agencies, including the Congregation for Bishops.
   Law will be among the group of 116 cardinals who will vote for the next pope at the conclave beginning on April 18.
   He was named Thursday by the Vatican as one of nine prelates who will lead daily masses during the mourning period.
   Law was Boston's archbishop when the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted there in January 2002. It later spread nationwide to become what church leaders describe as the worst crisis to befall the American church. Hundreds of accused clergy have been removed from parishes around the country in the last three years.
• Suit alleges 1954-68 convent abuse - RCC.
   TUCSON (AZ) - Arizona Daily Star By Alexis Huicochea, ~ April 7, 2005
   A 52-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Wednesday alleging numerous incidents of physical abuse, sexual abuse and illegal restraint.
   The alleged incidents took place between 1954 and 1968, the lawsuit said.
   Mary Ann Shelton, who know lives in Illinois, was placed at the Tucson convent in 1954 by her mother as a way to ease financial burden, the lawsuit said.
   Her mother hoped that Shelton, then Mary Ann Mallas, would have a religious and moral upbringing, and get an education, the lawsuit said.
   However, she became an "indentured servant," her attorney, Ivan Abrams, said in a telephone interview. "She was a cleaning servant and a sex slave," he said. "She was chained and held in a hidden room."
• Women sues convent for alleged abuse decades ago - RCC.
   AZCentral.com Associated Press, 08:15 AM Apr. 7, 2005
   TUCSON (AZ) - A 52-year-old Illinois woman has filed a lawsuit against a Tucson convent alleging that she was held captive and physically and sexually abused more than a half-century ago.
   Mary Ann Shelton was placed at the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent in 1954 by her mother as a way to ease financial burden, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court.
   However, she became an "indentured servant," her attorney, Ivan Abrams, said in a telephone interview with the Arizona Daily Star. advertisement "She was a cleaning servant and a sex slave," he said. "She was chained and held in a hidden room."
   In the lawsuit, Shelton says she was raped, sodomized, repeatedly beat, psychologically abused and deprived of food and water.
   The lawsuit said that when Shelton's mother removed her from the order's custody in 1968, she did not reveal the abuse out of religious fear.
• Admitted Sex Offender Priests Named - RCC.
   KGO, April 6, 2005
   OAKLAND (CA) (ABC7) - The ABC7 I-Team has uncovered information that some East Bay residents want the names, pictures, and histories of Catholic priests who admit sexually abusing children. All seven of the men are living at a seminary in an upscale neighborhood of Oakland.
   Officials at the St. Albert's seminary have refused to provide the names and pictures, even though neighbors have been demanding them since the ABC7 I-Team revealed in November that seven admitted sex offenders are living here.
   The I-Team investigation four months ago caused uproar in the Rockridge neighborhood. We revealed that the Dominican order has moved six priests and one brother who admit sexual misconduct with minors into St. Albert's seminary and a house nearby.
   Father Roberto Corral is head of the Dominican's western province.
   Father Roberto Corral, Dominican western province: "These guys have been through their therapy, and working with their counselors and therapists. We are reasonably sure they will not re-offend."
• Hold the Hosannas: The Record of Pope John Paul II - RCC.
   The Progressive, www.progressive. org/webex05/ wx040605.php , ~ Apr. 7, 2005
   As the mainstream media, as one, has broken into a weeklong chorus of hosannas about Pope John Paul II, a little perspective is in order.
   Pope John Paul II was a mixed bag.
   On the plus side, he supported Solidarity, the trade union movement in Poland that helped bring down the Soviet empire.
   He spoke out against the excesses of capitalism. He condemned the inequality between the industrialized countries and the developing world. He called for "just wages." And he recognized the limits of the free market. In his 1991 Encyclical Letter "Centesimus Annus," he said the "market [must] be appropriately controlled by the forces of society and by the State, so as to guarantee that the basic needs of the whole of society are satisfied." ...
   The pope also totally mismanaged the sexual abuse scandal that so besmirched the church in the United States, reacting haltingly to the mountains of charges against pedophile priests.
• Elderly pastor facing sexual abuse charges [- 2004 Nagata] - Protestant. Girls.

   IOL, 12:57PM, April 07 2005
   TOKYO, Japan - A 61-year-old Japanese Christian pastor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl at a church, news reports said.
   Tamotsu Nagata, who heads the Central Church of Holy God in the ancient capital of Kyoto, allegedly threatened the girl to keep her silent, telling her she would spend eternity in hell if she told anyone.
   The Protestant pastor allegedly repeatedly assaulted the girl, a member of his congregation, until late last year. He was allegedly suspected of sexually assaulting several young girls.
• 'Fired' cardinal back in action [Roman Catholic Church; Law]

   News 24, www.news24. com/News24/ World/News/ 0,,2-10-1462 _1686561,00.html , 15:39, Apr/07/2005
   VATICAN CITY (SA) - An American former archbishop forced to quit over a series of paedophile sex scandals involving priests in his diocese will celebrate one of the key masses during nine days of Vatican mourning for Pope John Paul II, officials said on Thursday.
   Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, the former archbishop of Boston, will preside a mass for the pope on Monday, fourth day of the "novendiales" - nine days - period of formal mourning which begins with his funeral mass on Friday.
   A mass is said for the pope every day during the mourning period.
   Law's name was given among a list of prelates the Vatican named Thursday to preside the masses.
• Two Puerto Rico Priests Charged With Sex Abuse - RCC. 4 girls

   Fox News, Wednesday, April 06, 2005
   SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Two Roman Catholic (search) priests in Puerto Rico's countryside were charged with sexually abusing four girls, police said Wednesday.
   Revs. Jose Florencio Martinez Corvera (search), 39, and Manuel de la Cruz Sanchez Rivera (search), 49, both of El Salvador, were arrested Monday, police officer Maria Martinez Cubano said.
   Both had been visiting priests at the La Monserrate parish of Jayuya, a central mountain town in the U.S. Caribbean territory, said Martinez Cubano, one of the officers in charge of the investigation.
   The arrests came as some Catholics expressed hope that the successor to the late Pope John Paul II (search) would take a stronger stand against sexual abuse in the church. The sexual abuse crisis erupted in Massachusetts in January 2002, then rippled into most dioceses in the United States; the church in Canada, Australia, Latin America and Europe - including the pope's own Poland - also faced scandals.
• The death of a reactionary - RCC.
   Socialist Worker, Page 3 | April 8, 2005
   THE MEDIA haze of kind words and rosy reminiscences about Pope John Paul II can't change what the man was in real life--a hard-line right-winger who saw his mission as defending the most backward institutions and traditions of the Catholic Church. ...
   When the U.S. church was exposed for harboring sexual predators among its priests, John Paul's Vatican helped organize the cover-up, refusing to admit that anything about the workings of the church contributed to the scandal. Even a right-winger like former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a member of the National Review Board of Catholic Lay People, which authored one report on the priest scandal, was forced to resign after he compared the Church hierarchy's methods of concealing sexual abuse to those of La Cosa Nostra.
• Vatican asks judge in Louisville to dismiss suit over abuse - RCC.

   Kentucky.com ; www.kentucky. com/mld/kentucky/ news/local/ 11331079.htm , Associated Press, ~ April 07, 2005
   LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Vatican has responded to a federal lawsuit in Louisville over the priest molestation cases and says the suit is flawed and should be dismissed.
   Lawyers for the Holy See, the legal identity of the Vatican, allege several problems with the lawsuit in filings in U.S. District Court this week. It is the church's first in-depth response.
   The Vatican asks Judge John G. Heyburn II to dismiss the suit, which Louisville lawyer William McMurry filed last year on behalf of three men alleging abuse as far back as 1928. The lawsuit alleges a cover-up to protect priests who molested American children.
   McMurry, who in 2003 represented 243 abuse victims in reaching a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville, is seeking to have the suit certified as a class-action case, alleging that "several thousand" victims exist nationwide.
• Mourning brings Law into public eye - RCC.
   The Boston Globe, By Charles M. Sennott | April 7, 2005
   ROME -- Adorned with miter and crimson vestments, Cardinal Bernard F. Law led a special Mass and prayer vigil for Pope John Paul II at St. Mary Major basilica for his congregation of Italian churchgoers and a handful of American tourists and pilgrims from other countries. The service Tuesday offered a glimpse of Law's pastoral role as the head of one of Rome's three grand basilicas -- and the distance Law has traveled from the harsh spotlight of the priest sex abuse scandal that prompted his resignation as head of the Archdiocese of Boston in December 2002.
   Many Boston Catholics say it is difficult to see Law in this leadership role at the heart of the Catholic Church after what they believe was Law's failed stewardship of the Boston archdiocese during the painful disclosures of widespread priest sexual abuse, and his role in permitting the reassignment of priests who had repeatedly abused children.
   Those feelings have been intensified by the fact that Law, who has studiously avoided the media since his resignation, has reemerged in the public eye during the mourning for the pope.
• Liberatore wants charges dismissed
   The Citizens Voice, By Michael McNarney, Apr/07/2005
   PENNSYLVANIA - The Rev. Albert M. Liberatore Jr., accused of sexually molesting a teenage parishioner at his Duryea church, is asking a Luzerne County judge to throw out the charges against him.
   The challenge claims that there's not enough evidence to even warrant a trial on charges of indecent assault, corrupting a minor, endangering the welfare of children, and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
   The move comes more than five months after the Rev. Liberatore's lawyers, Larry Moran of Scranton and Joseph M. Cosgrove of Forty Fort, agreed with Luzerne County prosecutors to put the case in front of a common pleas judge instead of a magistrate.
   Moran said Wednesday that there are significant legal and constitutional issues in the Liberatore case, issues that are best settled by a judge. Attempts to reach Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas were unsuccessful.
   The case is being handled in Wilkes-Barre because county prosecutors there and in Scranton agreed to consolidate the crimes in a single case. The crimes are alleged to have taken place in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.
• Vatican asks court to dismiss suit

   LOUISVILLE (KY) - The Courier-Journal, By Gregory A. Hall, ghall@courier-journal.com ; ~ April 07, 2005
   The Roman Catholic Church is asking a U.S. District judge in Louisville to dismiss a lawsuit against the Vatican that alleges a cover-up to protect priests who molested American children.
   In four motions and supporting memorandums, the Vatican asks Judge John G. Heyburn II to dismiss the suit, which Louisville attorney William McMurry filed last year on behalf of three men alleging abuse as far back as 1928.
   McMurry, who in 2003 represented 243 abuse victims in reaching a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville, is seeking to have the suit certified as a class-action case, alleging that "several thousand" victims exist nationwide.
   The filings this week by attorneys for the Holy See, the legal identity of the Vatican, allege numerous problems with the suit and represent the church's first in-depth response.
   The response argues, for example, that:
   The suit should be dismissed because it fails to cite specific actions by the Vatican in regard to the abusive priests. The Vatican also says the complaint does not have enough specifics about the alleged abuse -- times, places and other circumstances -- to proceed.
   McMurry did not comply with requirements in U.S. law that must be followed for a foreign country to be sued. The Vatican, which occupies a 109-acre enclave of Rome, is recognized as a sovereign state with legal protections.
• Catholic group angry at Vatican's silence [McCormack, Christian] - RCC.

   Concord Monitor, By ANNMARIE TIMMINS, April 07, 2005
   NEW HAMPSHIRE - Frustrated that the Vatican has not responded for more than a year, a group of Catholics went public yesterday with a petition it sent to Rome 18 months ago calling for the removal of Bishops John McCormack and Francis Christian.
   The group of 20 lay Catholics from around the state had planned yesterday's public release before Pope John Paul II died on Saturday. Out of respect for the pope's passing, members said, they canceled a scheduled news conference and released the documents to reporters individually.
   The group also plans to post the materials, which include a litany of complaints against McCormack and Christian as well as McCormack's replies, on New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership's Web site.
   "We followed the decorum of canon law and kept everything private," said Ed Kirby of St. John Neumann Church in Merrimack. "But for 18 months, (church officials) have essentially done nothing. And we feel we have the right now to tell the laity that there has been no substantial response."
   Calls for McCormack's and Christian's removals are not new, nor are allegations that they protected abusive priests at the expense of children. And the people behind this complaint have led the calls for resignation here. What is different is the venue.
   The petitioners, led by Jim Farrell of St. Mary parish in Dover, are hoping to persuade Vatican officials that the church's own canon law allows, even calls for, the removal of bishops and pastors who have lost their standing or harmed the church. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:33 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu, April 07, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri, April 08, 2005 edition follows:-
• Texas, Massachusetts dioceses reach agreement with alleged victim of priest
   Dateline Alabama, www.tuscaloosanews. com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20050408/ APN/504081038&cachetime =3&template =dateline ; By MARK PRATT, Associated Press Writer, April 08, 2005
   FORT WORTH (TX) - A Texas man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest from Massachusetts has reached a settlement with the dioceses of Fort Worth, Texas, and Worcester, Mass., that includes a $2.75 million payout from the Fort Worth Diocese, the parties said Friday.
   The settlement will be paid for by the Fort Worth Diocese and its insurers, the Texas diocese said in a statement. The diocese settled on the advice of its lawyers to avoid the "uncertainty of litigation and the related costs," the statement said.
   The Worcester Diocese bears no financial responsibility in the settlement, according to a statement from Bishop Robert J. McManus. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:56 PM]
• Cardinal Law's Role in Rome Sparks Outrage in U.S. - RCC.

   Reuters, www.reuters.com/ newsArticle. jhtml?type =domesticNews &storyID =8129977 , By Greg Frost, 02:41 PM ET, Fri Apr 8, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) (Reuters) - The Vatican's decision to let Cardinal Bernard Law lead a funeral Mass for Pope John Paul in Rome has prompted outrage back home, where the ousted Boston archbishop is seen as a symbol of a pedophile priest scandal.
   Victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergymen were particularly harsh in their reaction, saying the decision to give Law a prominent role in the pomp and circumstance surrounding the pope's death came as a slap in the face.
   "I find it personally very insulting and one more instance of how the Roman Catholic hierarchy protects and promotes even the most egregious among them," said Ann Hagan Webb, a regional coordinator of the group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
   "He (Law) protected priests at the expense of children over and over and over again, and this symbolically says: 'We don't care about these children; we'd rather honor him,"' Hagan Webb, a clergy abuse victim herself, told Reuters.
   Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after court documents showed that he and other leaders of the Boston church shuttled known pedophiles from parish to parish without informing worshipers.
• Priest accused of sex abuse gets new trial
   Bradenton Herald, By SARAH BRUMFIELD, Associated Press, ~ April 08, 2005
   BALTIMORE (MD) - A judge granted a new trial Friday to defrocked priest Maurice Blackwell on charges that he molested a boy who later shot him. The conviction was thrown out less than two months after a jury found the former priest guilty.
   "The court finds the interests of justice compel the granting of a new trial," Circuit Judge Stuart Berger wrote in his order.
   The judge agreed with defense arguments that jurors should not have heard prosecution witnesses testify about other alleged victims of Blackwell, 58.
   In a hearing earlier Friday, defense lawyer Kenneth Ravenell argued that references by two Baltimore Police Department investigators to other victims made it impossible for his client to get a fair trial.
   Ravenell told Berger that while the trial judge instructed the jury to ignore the comments, the damage was done. He also argued that the cumulative effect of the references may have made it hard for the jury to set them aside.
• Colombian cardinal known for his courage

   Mercury News, By JAVIER BAENA, Associated Press, ~ April 08, 2005
   BOGOTA, Colombia - In a country where dozens of priests have been killed for their straightforward talk, Cardinal Dario Castrillon has a reputation for courage and outspokenness.
   Over the years, he has called on a Colombian president whose election campaign was financed by drug traffickers to step down, branded lawmakers bribed by traffickers a national disgrace and urged voters to reject another presidential candidate because he supported the right to divorce.
   Castrillon, the 75-year-old head of the Vatican's office for priests, is among several Latin American cardinals considered a contender to become pope. In Pereira, a city in the coffee-growing region where he spent 22 years as a bishop, he is remembered as fearless in actions as well as words. ...
   At a 2002 Vatican news conference, Castrillon blamed a culture of "pan-sexuality and sexual licentiousness" for some priests committing pedophilia and said formulas must be found to punish abusers that do not conflict with "fundamental principles of the church," leading some critics to wonder if the Vatican was taking the matter seriously enough.
   In his home country, Castrillon is known for his blunt talk. [Bolding added]
• Not in my name - RCC.

   The Guardian, by Polly Toynbee, Friday April 8, 2005
   With the clash of two state funerals and a wedding, unreason is in full flood this week. Yet again, rationalists who thought they understood this secular, sceptical age have been shocked at the coverage from Rome.
   The BBC airwaves have disgraced themselves. The Mail went mad with its front-page headlines, "Safe in Heaven" and the next day "Amen". Even this august organ, which sprang from the loins of nonconformist dissent, astounded many readers with its broad acres of Pope reverencing. Poor old Prince Rainier of that squalid little tax haven missed his full Hello! death rites through bad timing. ...
   The scale of it is breathtaking yet not at all surprising: most humans are sexual beings. A Vatican edict in the 1960s threatened to excommunicate anyone breaking secrecy on child sex allegations, and guaranteed that ever more children continued to suffer. And within its walls the Vatican shields an American priest from allegations.
   Still the Vatican turns a blind eye to this most repugnant and damaging of all sexual practices, the suffering little children whose priests come unto them. Yet at the same time it thunders disapproval of sex in every other more innocent circumstance, blighting the lives of millions with its teaching on gays, divorce, abortion and unrealistic self-denial. There is no reckoning how many of the world's poorest women have died giving birth to more children than they can survive; contraception is women's true saviour. [Emphasis added]
• Church releases info on accused priests - RCC.
   The Argus, By Susan McDonough, ~ April 08, 2005
   OAKLAND (CA) - After months of refusing to reveal details about a group of elderly priests accused of sexually abusing young people, Dominican church leaders Thursday surprised many by releasing information about the men they insist are not a threat to local children.
   St. Albert's Priory, a residence for Catholic priests in Oakland's upscale Rockridge neighborhood, has for months faced mounting pressure from community leaders and neighbors to release details about the seven priests relocated to the priory and living within a few blocks of two elementary schools.
   Church spokeswoman Carla Hass said church leaders heard the neighbors' concerns "loud and clear," but said public pressure was not the reason church leaders decided to release the information.
   "Rumor and innuendo are flying around faster than facts," Hass said.
   The media has portrayed the residence as a haven for pedophiles, she said. "That is simply not true."
• Settlement clears therapist from case [Bukoski (Fathers of the Sacred Hearts); 2002 Wong] - RCC.
   Honolulu Star-Bulletin, By Debra Barayuga, dbarayuga@starbulletin.com , April 08, 2005
   HAWAII - A Hawaii man who accused a Catholic priest of sexually assaulting him 28 years ago has reached a settlement with a therapist who counseled him after he reported the abuse.
   Eugene Saulibio, whose complaint of sexual misconduct led to the dismissal of Rev. Joseph Bukoski, sued the priest and his order, the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts, in May 2003 for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.
   Also named as a defendant in the suit was Sister Claudia Wong, a family and marriage therapist who counseled Saulibio after he came forward with his claims in May 2002.
   Wong, in court papers, asked the court to rule that the settlement had been reached in good faith. Circuit Judge Bert Ayabe granted the request without objection by the parties on Wednesday and dismissed Wong from the lawsuit.
   Under the settlement, Wong will pay Saulibio $50,000 and issue a letter of apology for the pain he suffered as a result of their May 27, 2002 meeting.
• The truth, without blinders, regarding the Pope

   The Sentinel, www.thesentinel. com/2830178995 86455.php , By Gabe Caggiano, ~ April 08, 2005
   MARYLAND - Anyone channel surfing with their TV remotes this week has been able to find, at any given time, at least three networks praising the life of Pope John Paul II.
   Many world leaders and local religious figures proclaim this Pope was among the greatest and most influential of all time. Fox's Bill O'Reilly predicts Pope John Paul II will be canonized and made a saint.
   Earlier this week President Bush said the Pope's "great legacy will be the influence he had on the young." Bush also called Pope John Paul II "a courageous man, a moral person." Political pundits are giving this Pope as much credit as Ronald Reagan and Britain's Margaret Thatcher for ending communism throughout the Soviet bloc.
   I'm sorry, but as a man who grew up a Roman Catholic in Boston, I find much of the praise underserved. I was in the crowd of nearly a million people when Pope John II gave a mass on Boston Commons in 1979, and I distinctly remember the loudest roar from the faithful came when the pope proclaimed in his heavy Slavic accent "The Pope is your friend."
   The truth, without blinders on, brings that declaration into question. Let's start with the Catholic Church pedophile scandal that exploded on Pope John Paul II's watch. As the scandal unfolded in the Boston Diocese, it became clear, much to the horror and outrage of the Catholic laity, that pedophile priests were moved from parish to parish repeatedly and continued to rape children even when the church hierarchy knew these men were beyond rehabilitation.
   The former cardinal in Boston, Bernard Law, who had hopes of becoming the first American pope, resigned in disgrace after he lost all credibility as a spiritual leader for transferring a pedophile priest from church to church over two decades.
   The pedophile priest scandal has bankrupted the once mighty Boston Diocese and more than 70 churches have closed. The scandal also revealed cover-ups, payoffs and a wall of silence and arrogance about this issue that went all the way to the Vatican. Pope John Paul II never did anything about this horrific problem until he was left with no choice. [Emphasis added.]
• Pope John Paul II and the ethics of responsibility [Dupre, Law, Vatican] - RCC.

   The Stanford Daily, http://daily. stanford.edu/ tempo?page =content&id =16717&repos itory=0001 _article , By Christopher R. Vaughan, Opinions Columnist, last updated 6:58 PM, April 7, 2005, Friday, April 8, 2005
   UNITED STATES: The death of Pope John Paul II last Saturday was grieved by the millions of Catholics to whom his passing was both unsurprising and unbearable, was met with ambivalent mourning by those left disaffected by the crimes and corruption of the Church and provoked deep thinking among all of us who contemplate the vexed role of Catholicism in the modern world.
   The old question, "Is the Pope a Catholic?" has always had the obvious affirmative answer. But was the now-late Karol Wojytla a Catholic, in the universal sense of the word? The answer is far less simple. ...
   When I speak of locality, I would be remiss to ignore that I am from Massachusetts, the heart of the clergy sex-abuse irruptions. The blame for these enormous crimes extends from knowing parishioners who maintained their silence; to priests who promoted docility by shrinking from even questioning their overseers; to Bishop Thomas Dupre, who officiated my confirmation and now faces serious accusations of sexual abuse; to the Papacy, which gave Bernard Law, the unspeakably corrupt former cardinal of Boston, an exculpatory appointment in Rome.
   This has been the rare week in which a great many individuals were referred to by a great many news sources as "sheep" flocking to the obsequies of their "shepherd" and took it as a compliment.
   One hopes that those of the "flock" pick up the dissident spirit of the many Catholics in Massachusetts who have either committed to be burrs in the saddles of their parishes or who have gathered to form splinter groups. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:10 AM]
• Pope's funeral Mass spawns anger - RCC.

   The Times-Picayune, www.nola.com/ news/t-p/frontpage/ index.ssf?/base/ news-3/11129419 80290590.xml , By Steve Chambers, Newhouse News Service, Friday, April 08, 2005
   UNITED STATES: When Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston, many in the Catholic reform movement were angry that he was transferred to an important position in Rome.
   Thursday, the announcement that Law would celebrate one of nine official Masses to mourn Pope John Paul II introduced a bit of negative press to what has been a week of worldwide adulation.
   The anger was the rawest in Boston and in the broader community of sex-abuse survivors, who blame Law for protecting predators and contributing to the parade of victims.
   "Out of respect and compassion for the victims, he should have disqualified himself from these important Vatican committees he sits on and, at this juncture, he shouldn't be actively seeking the limelight," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It just rubs salt into these deep wounds."
   The cauldron started bubbling on Sunday, when Law was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC-TV. But it reached a boiling point Thursday, when the announcement was made about the Mass.
• Choice of Cardinal Law for Mass disputed

   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Ann Rodgers, Friday, April 08, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace from the archdiocese of Boston due to his role in a sexual abuse scandal that badly damaged the Catholic Church nationwide, has been chosen by his fellow cardinals to preside at one of the most prominent Masses to be offered for the late Pope John Paul II.
   Law was selected to preside and preach Monday at 5 p.m. in St. Peter's Basilica. It will be the fourth of nine days of funeral Masses for John Paul at St. Peter's.
   The announcement from Archbishop Piero Marini, the Vatican's chief liturgist, indicated that Law, who last year was named archpriest of the patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major, was chosen to represent the major patriarchal basilicas. Each cardinal who preaches during the so-called Novendiales -- nine days -- is supposed to represent some important ancient or contemporary aspect of the church.
   Although Law no longer has the responsibility for a diocese, he kept all of his assignments within the Vatican bureaucracy and is eligible to vote for the next pope. He is the only U.S. cardinal chosen to preside at one of the Novendiales.
• Ex-church staffer faces sex charge [2004 Smith]
   Indianapolis Star, indystar.com ; By Tania E. Lopez, April 8, 2005
   DANVILLE (IN) -- A 43-year-old former youth director at a North Salem church is accused of molesting his daughter's 12-year-old friend during a sleepover.
   The Hendricks County prosecutor has charged Richard E. Smith, of Danville, with one felony count of child molesting deviate sexual conduct.
   The girl said the incident occurred sometime between the end of September and early October during a sleepover at Smith's home. It was the only time the girl was an overnight guest, police said.
   The girl, now 13, told her mother about the incident in mid-February. Police have been investigating since then.
   According to court documents, the girl had fallen asleep in Smith's younger son's bedroom while watching TV. Smith entered the bedroom around 3 a.m.
• Priest to stand trial on indecency charges [1960s McGuire (Jesuit)] - RCC. 2 boys.
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Associated Press, Posted April 7, 2005
   ELKHORN (WI) - A retired Jesuit priest from Chicago has been ordered to stand trial on accusations he inappropriately touched two men when they were teens in the 1960s.
   The men, now 51 and 52 years old, testified Wednesday that Father Donald J. McGuire, 74, a former counselor and teacher at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., touched them indecently at a Fontana residence in the late 1960s.
   McGuire faces two felony charges of indecent behavior with a child. Conviction could mean 20 years in prison.
   Walworth County Judge Michael Gibbs ordered McGuire to stand trial at a preliminary hearing Wednesday. His arraignment and motion hearing are scheduled for May 1.
• Arnaudville Priest Will Not Be Prosecuted - RCC.
   KATC, ~ April 8, 2005
   ARNAUDVILLE (LA) (KATC)- Father Jules Arceneaux will not be charged in the Federal investigation involving pornographic pictures found on a computer at Saint Francis Regis Church in Arnaudville.
   Arceneaux was removed from his post last summer after the pictures were discovered.
   In a statement to KATC TV-3, Bishop Michael Jarrel says the diocese is resuming its investigation to find out who is responsible.
• Diocese settles abuse lawsuit [1990s] - RCC. $US2.75m.
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, www.dfw.com/ mld/dfw/news/ 11339940.htm , By Darren Barbee, April 8, 2005
   FORT WORTH (TX) - The Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese has agreed to a $2.75 million out-of-court settlement with a second Texas man who said he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Teczar.
   The settlement follows a $1.4 million settlement with another Texas man. Both men accused Teczar of groping and raping them in the early 1990s in Ranger. Teczar served in several parishes in the diocese, including Fort Worth, Bedford and Ranger, from 1988 until 1993.
   The diocese agreed to the settlement Tuesday at the advice of its attorneys after "weighing the options and considering the uncertainty of litigation," according to a statement released to the Star-Telegram on Thursday.
   The money was paid from insurance coverage and the diocese, according to the statement. The man's attorney, Tahira Khan Merritt of Dallas, could not be reached for comment. Her client was identified as John Doe II in the suit. He was 12 [years old] when the abuse began, according to court documents.
   The lawsuit, filed in April 2003 against the dioceses of Fort Worth and Worcester, Mass., alleged that Fort Worth Bishop Joseph Delaney knew that Teczar posed a threat to children because of his "sexual interest" in adolescents. Delaney could not be reached for further comment.
• Modern-day apostle Voice of conscience for world

   The B.C. Catholic Newspaper (Third Millennium Technology Project©; Notre Dame Regional Secondary School, Vancouver BC), By JOHN THAVIS, ~ April 8, 2005
   VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II, who died April 2 at age 84, was a voice of conscience for the world and a modern-day apostle for his Church.
   To both roles he brought a philosopher's intellect, a pilgrim's spiritual intensity, and an actor's flair for the dramatic. That combination made him one of the most forceful moral leaders of the modern age.
   As head of the Church for more than 26 years, he held a hard line on doctrinal issues and drew sharp limits on dissent, in particular regarding abortion, birth control, and other contested Church teachings on human life. ...
   His reaction to the mushrooming clerical sex abuse scandal in the United States in 2001-02 underscored his governing style: He suffered deeply, prayed at length, and made brief but forceful statements emphasizing the gravity of such a sin by priests.
   He convened a Vatican-U.S. summit to address the problem, but let his Vatican advisers and U.S. Church leaders work out the answers. In the end, he approved changes that made it easier to defrock abusive priests.
• Some protest a role of honor given to Law

   Philadelphia Inquirer, By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, ~ April 8, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex-abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II.
   The Vatican announced yesterday that he would lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the Pope's memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston.
   Some Catholics in his former archdiocese immediately protested.
   Suzanne Morse, spokeswoman for Voice of the Faithful, a Massachusetts-based activist group that emerged from the scandal, said Law's visibility since John Paul's death had been "extremely painful" for abuse survivors and parishioners.
   "It certainly shows and puts a spotlight on the lack of accountability in the Catholic Church, that the most visible bishop in the clergy sexual-abuse crisis has been given these honorary opportunities," she said.
   Chester Gillis, an expert in Catholicism at Georgetown University, said celebrating a Mass during the mourning period was not only an honor but a position of influence.
• Vatican asks Louisville judge to dismiss suit

   Kentucky.com , ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ April 8, 2005
   LOUISVILLE (KY) - The Vatican has responded to a federal lawsuit in Louisville over priest molestation cases and says the suit is flawed and should be dismissed.
   Lawyers for the Holy See, the legal identity of the Vatican, allege several problems with the lawsuit in filings in U.S. District Court this week. It is the church's first in-depth response.
   The Vatican asks Judge John G. Heyburn II to dismiss the suit, which Louisville lawyer William McMurry filed last year on behalf of three men alleging abuse as far back as 1928. The lawsuit alleges a cover-up to protect priests who molested American children.
   McMurry, who in 2003 represented 243 abuse victims in reaching a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville, is seeking to have the suit certified as a class-action case, alleging that "several thousand" victims exist nationwide.
   The case is the first sexual-abuse suit to name the Vatican as sole defendant and would be the first class-action suit against the Vatican regarding sexual abuse.
• Cardinal given post of honor

   L.A. Daily News, www.dailynews.com/ Stories/0,1413, 200~20954~2804 903,00.html , By Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times, ~ April 8, 2005
   ROME -- Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign in disgrace as archbishop of Boston two years ago for protecting sexually abusive priests, was named by the Vatican on Thursday as one of nine prelates who will have the honor of presiding over funeral Masses for Pope John Paul II.
   To many American Catholics, Law is best known as the archbishop who presided over the Boston archdiocese as it became the focus for the sexual-abuse scandal involving priests.
   But to Vatican officials, Law is a powerful kingmaker who traveled internationally for the church and whose favorite priests were regularly appointed bishops by John Paul II. After he stepped down in Boston in 2003, he was given a spacious apartment and a prestigious although honorary post in Rome as archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
   It is by virtue of this position that he was given the high-profile role of celebrating Monday's funeral ritual, the third in the nine-day mourning period that follows a pope's death. It is expected that most of the cardinals will attend the Mass, which will be open to the public. Law will deliver a homily that many Vatican watchers will parse for clues about the cardinals' thinking on who should be the next pope.
• Choice of Law Angers Some U.S. Catholics

   The UW Daily, By Carol Eisenberg / Newsday, April 08, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- The naming of Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston, to preside over one of nine Masses that will memorialize Pope John Paul II, stunned and angered many American Catholics on Thursday.
   "For better or for worse, Cardinal Law is the poster child for clergy sex abuse," said James Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, a national lay group formed in Boston at the height of the scandal to demand accountability and reform. "Any role for him is a visible reminder of the complicity of the hierarchy in the clergy sex abuse crisis. I'm bewildered that the cardinals would deliberately select him, knowing it would simply remind people of this terrible, terrible scandal."
   Law, 73, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 amid accusations that he knowingly shielded priest molesters, will preside over the fourth of nine days of Masses, called Novemdiales, to memorialize the late pope.
   That service will be held Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston. A Mass is said for the pope every day during the mourning period.
• Cardinal at center of priest sex abuse scandal to say Mass for pope
   Pioneer Press BY ADAM LISBERG New York Daily News, ~ April 8, 2005
   NEW YORK - (KRT) - The Boston cardinal who resigned in disgrace after ignoring priests who sexually abused children will lead a memorial Mass in Rome for Pope John Paul II - outraging some American Catholics.
   "They still don't get it. They simply don't get it," said Melissa Gradel, a parishioner at St. Boniface in downtown Brooklyn. "It's a travesty and an embarrassment."
   Cardinal Bernard Law, who came to symbolize a church hierarchy that protected priests instead of their young victims, resigned as Boston's archbishop in late 2002.
   Later the pope picked him to head one of Rome's great basilicas, St. Mary Major, where he will lead the memorial Mass on Monday.
   Thursday's announcement enraged groups like Voice of the Faithful and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which formed as disclosures of church sex scandals started in Boston and spread across the country.
   "There are obviously thousands of people who could have been chosen for this Mass," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network. "It just reopens some very, very deep wounds."
• Pope's legacy on gays recalled
   New York Blade By EARTHA MELZER Friday, April 08, 2005
   UNITED STATES - As people around the world reflect on the life of Pope John Paul II, many remember that the pope's negative pronouncements on homosexuality and on sexuality generally, have been a source of great pain.
   Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, led the Catholic Church for 26 years and was the longest reigning Pope in recent history. He presided over a church that grew to a billion people and became well known for his opposition to communism and high profile visits to 127 countries. ...
   The pope called homosexuality "evil", and used his position as head of the Catholic Church to oppose the use of birth control and of condoms against AIDS and to exert political pressure against gay rights and same-sex marriage. He also attempted to scapegoat gay priests for the priest sex abuse scandals, according to Dignity President Sam Sinnett. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:24 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri, April 08, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat, April 09, 2005 edition follows:-
• Scandal-hit cardinal to lead Mass.

   BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4429253.stm , ~ April 09, 2005
  ROME - A support group for sexual abuse victims has condemned a decision by the Vatican to choose Cardinal Bernard Law to lead a Mass for Pope John Paul II.
   Cardinal Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002 following accusations that he covered up sexual abuse of children by priests.
   Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests are flying to Rome to protest at Monday's service.
   Cardinal Law is scheduled to lead one of nine memorial Masses in Rome.
   David Clohessy, national director of the survivors' network, said: "It's an unbelievably insensitive move that simply rubs salt into the very deep wounds of thousands of abuse victims and American Catholics."
   The protesters plan to hand out pamphlets at the St Mary Major Basilica church where Cardinal Law will lead the Mass. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:16 PM]
• Disputes among the faithful show challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church
   OREGON - KGW By NIKI SULLIVAN / Associated Press, Apr/09/2005
   Linda Dove and Judy Ringle, both devout Roman Catholics, started holding weekly meetings at St. Mary's Church in Corvallis at the beginning of the year when their faith-sharing group became too large to hold in private homes.
   As a guide for discussion, the group read "In Search of Belief," a book by Benedictine sister Joan Chittister that advocates the ordination of women priests and challenges other church traditions as well.
   Some members of the parish thought the book's message encouraged dissent, and said Ringle and Dove weren't interested in discussing the merits of Chittister's ideas.
   "They would call us the dissenters, I would call them the dissenters," the 66-year-old Ringle said in a telephone interview from Corvallis. ...
   Another issue in Oregon is the priest sexual abuse scandal. Last year, the Archdiocese of Portland became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in the face of mounting sex abuse claims. The archdiocese has already settled about 130 lawsuits dating from 1950 through 2003 for about $53 million. [Emphasis added]
• Priest abuse victims dismayed

   The Advocate, By BARBARA SCHLICHTMAN, bschlichtman@theadvocate.com , Advocate religion and youth editor, April 09, 2005
   LOUISIANA - A Vatican announcement that Cardinal Bernard Law will preside over a funeral Mass for Pope John Paul II was insensitive and a move that would re-traumatize victims of sexual abuse, victims' advocates said.
   Law was forced to resign in 2002 as the archbishop of Boston amid accusations that he covered up priests' sexual abuse of children. He will celebrate a Mass on Monday, one of eight that begin today honoring the pope.
   After Law's resignation, he received an honorary post in Rome as archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
   "The concelebration will be presided by Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, archbishop emeritus of Boston and archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major," the statement says.
   The announcement caused victims additional pain, said Michael Kuczynski, spokesman for the Louisiana chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
• Grand jury indicts ex-minister - Baptist.
   Montgomery Advertiser By Marty Roney ~ April 09, 2005
   WETUMPKA (AL) -- A 16-count indictment delivered Friday against a former Wetumpka Baptist church minister detailed two more cases of alleged sex abuse, bringing the total number of victims to four.
   Garett Albert Dykes, 38, of 909 Oak Crest Court in Wetumpka has remained in the Elmore County Jail under bonds totaling $1.5 million since his arrest Jan. 10.
   "This is an especially disturbing case, because Dykes' victims were all young girls," said District Attorney Randall Houston. "He used his position of trust in the community to prey on these victims. There are certain people who you hold to a higher standard, and ministers are held to that higher standard."
   The Elmore County grand jury wrapped up deliberations about noon Friday, and Sheriff Bill Franklin delivered the indictments shortly thereafter.
• Priest charged with sexual assault [1976-2002 Page] - RCC. Boys.

   CANADA - The Ottawa Citizen by Dave Rogers Saturday, April 09, 2005
   A former high-ranking official in Ottawa's Roman Catholic archdiocese charged with sexually assaulting boys has been sent for a psychiatric examination after he grinned and giggled in Gatineau court yesterday.
   Police arrested Rev. Norman Page, 73, at his Chelsea home on Thursday. He faces two charges of gross indecency, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of attempted sexual assault on juveniles between 1976 and 2002.
   Sgt. Manuel Bandeira, of the Municipalite Regionale de Conte des Collines police, said yesterday the alleged sexual assaults involved boys between the ages of 14 and 18, and took place in Chelsea, where the priest lives, and in the Laurentians.
   Before his retirement, Father Page was director of the Office of Liturgy for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa.
   He also taught religious studies at the University of Ottawa, lecturing on the history of religious architecture and sacred art, from 1965 until his retirement in 1997.
• Priest sex charge dropped [McAllister 2003] - RCC. Teenage male.

   Belfast Telegraph, www.belfasttelegraph. co.uk/news/story. jsp?story=627727 , April 09, 2005
   NORTHERN IRELAND - A priest accused of molesting a teenager walked free from court yesterday after the charge was dropped.
   Fr Francis McAllister (50), curate of St Mary's on the Hill, Carnmoney, had faced a charge of indecently assaulting the 18-year-old man in his parochial house on an unspecified date between February 8-11 2003. However, prosecuting QC Paul Ramsey applied to Belfast Crown Court to have the single charge "left on the books", meaning that McAllister will not have to face a trial.
• FW Diocese settles sex-abuse suit - RCC.
   The Dallas Morning News, By BROOKS EGERTON / April 09, 2005
   FORT WORTH (TX) - The Fort Worth Catholic Diocese has agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle a sex-abuse lawsuit involving a priest whom Bishop Joseph Delaney hired despite a documented 20-year history of misconduct with minors elsewhere.
   Bishop Delaney admitted no wrongdoing in the suit, but it's clear he knew the risks of employing the Rev. Thomas Teczar. The bishop's own notes, surrendered in the suit, say the priest admitted to him before starting work in 1988 that he was "attracted to adolescents in every way, including sexually."
   At that time, Father Teczar had been out of work for four years after repeated abuse allegations led to his removal from ministry in Massachusetts and inpatient therapy at a clergy treatment center. He pledged his personal assets to the Fort Worth Diocese in case it was ever sued over his actions, according to church records surrendered in the lawsuit.
   Yet the diocese said on its Web site Friday that "there were no allegations of sexual misconduct" against the priest when he came to Fort Worth.
   The Web statement added: "When he left the area in 1993 the diocese had no knowledge of sexual misconduct on his part."
   Diocese officials declined to comment beyond the statement, which also said that "to the extent Father Thomas Teczar may have injured anyone," Bishop Delaney was "sincerely regretful."
• Ex-Priest Shot by Alleged Victim Gets New Trial on Abuse Charges
   Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, April 09, 2005
   BALTIMORE (MD) - A judge granted a new trial to defrocked priest Maurice Blackwell on Friday. The conviction on charges that he molested a boy who shot him years later was thrown out less than two months after a jury found the former priest guilty.
   Circuit Judge Stuart R. Berger agreed with defense arguments that jurors should not have heard prosecution witnesses testify about other alleged victims of Blackwell, 58.
   In a case where "credibility is a critical issue," Berger wrote, the witnesses "improperly attempted to enhance the credibility of the state's critical witness by injecting references to other victims."
   In a hearing earlier Friday, defense lawyer Kenneth W. Ravenell argued that references that two Baltimore Police Department investigators made to other alleged victims made it impossible for his client to get a fair trial.
• Ex-priest wins new trial in molestation case
   BALTIMORE (MD) - Baltimore Sun By Julie Bykowicz April 9, 2005
   Maurice Blackwell, the former West Baltimore Roman Catholic priest convicted of molesting a one-time choirboy, was granted a new trial yesterday because of improper testimony in his first trial.
   The ruling by the Baltimore Circuit Court judge who oversaw Blackwell's trial marked the latest twist in a case that first grabbed headlines three years ago with a Reservoir Hill shooting at the height of the American Catholic Church's priest abuse scandal. Blackwell, 59, was convicted in February on three counts of sexual child abuse after a trial marred by what Judge Stuart R. Berger determined yesterday were errors that made justice impossible for the once-popular priest.
   Berger granted the defense motion for a new trial based largely on testimony by two Baltimore detectives and the alleged victim, Dontee Stokes, that referred to other people allegedly molested by Blackwell.
• Dioceses settle suit against priest from Mass. - RCC. $US2.75m.
   TEXAS - Boston.com Associated Press | April 9, 2005
   A Texas man who contends he was sexually abused by a priest from Massachusetts has reached a settlement with the Catholic Dioceses of Fort Worth and Worcester that includes $2.75 million from the Fort Worth diocese, the parties said yesterday. The settlement will be paid by the Fort Worth diocese and its insurers, the Texas diocese said in a statement. The diocese settled upon the advice of its lawyers to avoid the "uncertainty of litigation and the related costs," the statement said.
   The Worcester diocese bears no financial responsibility in the settlement, according to a statement from Bishop Robert J. McManus.
   The Texas man, now 27 years old, contends that the Rev. Thomas Teczar sexually abused him during his time as pastor of St. Rita's Church in Ranger, Texas, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
   Ranger, a town of about 2,500 people, is 100 miles west of Fort Worth. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:48 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat, April 09, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun, April 10, 2005 edition follows:-
• Miss. woman appeals lawsuit against Catholic diocese; new claims on hold [1970s Boyce] - RCC.

   The Sun Herald, www.sunherald. com/mld/thesun herald/11361114 .htm , By TIMOTHY R. BROWN Associated Press, ~ April 10, 2005
   JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi woman abused by a priest more than 30 years ago has appealed a judge's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against a Catholic diocese.
   However, new abuse allegations that surfaced in February cannot be argued in her appeal.
   Angie Phillips, 44, claimed in her lawsuit that she was sexually abused by Priest Thomas Boyce and another priest in the 1970s. In 2003, the Catholic Diocese of Jackson acknowledged the abuse by Boyce, who died in 2002, and Phillips sued the diocese.
   Her lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice last year by Hinds County Circuit Judge W. Swan Yerger, who said Phillips' statute of limitations had run out.
   In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Phillips later claimed that she was being sexually abused during the same period that she allegedly watched her father shoot 16-year-old Randy Lee Hart on June 29, 1974 at Piney Woods Country Life School in Rankin County. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:07 PM]
• Law's papal celebration role outrages abuse victims

   Duluth News Tribune By MATTHEW SCHOFIELD and PATRICIA MONTEMURRI Knight Ridder Newspapers, ~ April 10, 2005
   ROME - Three years ago, Cardinal Bernard Law was at the center of the church sexual abuse scandal in Boston. Monday, he'll take center stage in the Catholic world.
   Law will celebrate Monday's Mass of mourning for the late pope at the renowned St. Peter's Basilica - one of just nine such services being conduct at the Vatican. Being selected is an honor bestowed only on the most influential members of the church's hierarchy.
   But to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests - some of the accused worked under Cardinal Law when he ran the Archdiocese of Boston before he resigned over the scandal in 2002 - it's a sign that the church has not come to grips with a very dark period in its recent history.
   "It's beyond a slap in the face, it's rubbing salt into some very raw wounds," said David Clohessy, national director of a group representing about 5,000 church-sexual abuse victims. "He's the symbol of the scandal. This is a clear sign that the church is not taking its history of sexual abuse seriously, and that it is not at all in touch with the pain in the American church."
   Law, 73, will lead one of the special Masses for John Paul II in what is called the novemdiales - the nine-day mourning period. He was picked because of his position as archpriest of the St. Mary Major Basilica. Law received his current post after being recalled to Rome following his resignation as leader of the Boston Diocese.
• Iowans' wish list for next pope: Address celibacy, female roles
   IOWA - Des Moines Register By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR April 10, 2005
   Many Iowa Catholics hope the next pope will be more receptive to such controversial issues as optional celibacy, ordination of women and birth control, but theologians and experts say John Paul II's successor is unlikely to be swayed by those American concerns.
   The issues of poverty and AIDS facing Third World countries where Catholicism is growing most rapidly are expected to be more important to the next pope, who will be selected this month by the College of Cardinals.
   "The Third World is where the Roman Catholic Church's center of gravity really is," said Mark Achtemeier, associate professor of systemic theology at the University of Dubuque Seminary. "Which means we in North America may play a lesser role in the life of the global church. U.S. Catholics may not be totally marginalized, but they may not be the center of the universe we've assumed ourselves to be." ...
   Although John Paul II reached out to Jews, Muslims and Orthodox Christians, it took him a long time to do the same to victims of child sexual abuse by clergy.
   "To say John Paul was uncaring would be in error," said Steve Theisen of Hudson, co-founder of North East Iowa Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
   "For whatever reasons, the pope was ineffectual in reaching out to survivors and demanding accountability of bishops who covered up the sexual abuse scandal," Theisen said. "The challenge of the next pope is to tear down the walls of an arrogant, out-of-touch church hierarchy."
• Protests planned for controversial cardinal's Mass
   CNN, Posted 1537 GMT (2337 HKT), Sunday, April 10, 2005
   CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Several members of an advocacy group for victims of priest sexual abuse were flying to Rome Sunday to protest Cardinal Bernard Law's celebration of a Mass honoring the late Pope John Paul II, the organization's founder said Saturday night.
   Law, former archbishop of Boston, is to say Mass Monday at St. Peter's Basilica.
   Law is archpriest of Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, where he presided on Sunday. Pope John Paul II appointed him to that post after Law was implicated in the sexual abuse scandal in Boston in 2002.
   But The Associated Press reported that he did not give the homily -- an apparent indication of how seriously cardinals preparing to elect a new pope were taking an unanimous decision for secrecy.
   Court documents showed Law knowingly moved priests accused of abuse from parish to parish without disclosing allegations against them. He resigned in 2003 amid intense public outrage.
• Abuse-Tainted Cardinal Leads Mass

   CBS News, April 10, 2005
   VATICAN CITY (AP) Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who stepped down amid a sex abuse scandal, presided at Mass Sunday in Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, the church where John Paul appointed him archpriest.
   On Monday, Law will lead one of the nine daily Masses for the pope at St. Peter's Basilica.
   Leaders of the advocacy group the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said they were flying to Rome to protest, calling Law's presence painful to clergy sexual abuse victims and embarrassing to Catholics. Survivors Network representatives plan to distribute fliers on how Law mishandled abuse cases.
   Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 after unsealed court records revealed he had allowed priests guilty of abusing children to move among parish assignments and had not notified the public.
   "We certainly do not want to cause any additional pain or suffering to anyone attending the memorial service for the Holy Father," Barbara Blaine, the group's founder, said in a phone interview from the United States. "Our concern is that many Catholics going there don't know the history with Cardinal Law and that's why we want to inform them."
• Accused priests kept in-house
   Contra Costa Times, www.contracosta times.com/mld/cctimes/ news/local/crime _courts/11359532.htm , By Kim Curtis, ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ April 10, 2005
   OAKLAND (CA) - Since the sex abuse scandal first rocked the Roman Catholic church, more than 4,300 priests have been accused of abuse, and many have left the ministry, re-entering society without getting the treatment that can make them less likely to offend again.
   Priests who work in a diocese generally get forced out under the zero-tolerance policy created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops three years ago in response to public outrage and fear of expensive civil suits.
   Dominicans, Jesuits and other religious orders, representing 16,000 of the nation's 45,000 priests, chose another path: giving abusive priests supervised treatment for as long as they stay within their communities.
   Both approaches could claim support from Pope John Paul II. He called abuse criminal and said there was no place in the priesthood for abusers of minors, yet also suggested that some priests could "turn away from sin and back to God" if given a second chance.
   The religious orders say the logical place for such priests is behind church walls. But victims tend to be less forgiving and can sometimes stoke anger and fear in the surrounding community. That's what happened in Oakland, where St. Albert's -- a small Dominican priory in Rockridge -- houses six aging priests accused of sex abuse ranging from molestation to "inappropriate touching." All are older than 65, and the statute of limitations has passed on their offenses. No criminal charges were filed against the men, but police were notified in several cases, the priory said Thursday.
• Look at six sex offender priests who live at St. Albert's priory
   OAKLAND (CA) - Dateline Alabama, The Associated Press, April 10, 2005
   The Rev. Edward Krasevac, who handles sex abuse-related issues for the Western Dominican Province, described the priests accused of sex abuse who have been living at the St. Albert's Priory. He said none are allowed any contact with young people.
   The Rev. Mark O'Leary: Over 65 years old, he committed multiple offenses against high school boys as a teacher. His last offense was in 1980. In 2001, therapists gave him a "clean bill of health." He remains prohibited from public ministry, but faces no additional restrictions.
   The Rev. Dominic De Domenico: Over 65 years old, he fell in love with a 15-year-old girl nearly 30 years ago. He was in his 40s and the relationship continued into the woman's adulthood. There was kissing and fondling, but no allegations of intercourse. It was "clearly inappropriate" - "they got too close," said Krasevac. Employed on-site and undergoing therapy, he's prohibited from public ministry but faces no further restrictions.
• The new pope must -
   FORT WORTH (TX) - Fort Worth Star-Telegram, By Richard Gonzales, ~ April 10, 2005
   Since the death of John Paul II, the Roman Catholic Church is in search of a new fisherman.
   Like Christ, the new pope must personify the blessed blending of spirit and flesh, holiness and frailty, intellect and heart. The pope must speak several languages, transcend class and race differences and hold a truly catholic view of the world. ...
   He should express the church's sincerest apology for all the sexual abuse of children committed by priests. He should issue a papal decree that any priest found guilty for such acts should be barred from the priesthood.
   Let the church have compassion for children first.
   As members of the College of Cardinals gather in their conclave, may the Holy Spirit guide them. The world awaits white smoke and a new fisherman.
• Shortage of priests breeds abuse - RCC.

   Baltimore Sun, www.baltimoresun. com/news/local/bal -md.rodricks10apr 10,1,7521843 .column?coll=bal -local-columnists ; by Dan Rodricks, April 10, 2005
   BALTIMORE - I ATTENDED Easter Sunday Mass in a small-town Roman Catholic church. The celebrant was an elderly, jolly priest who had come out of retirement to fill in for the elderly, sickly priest who usually serves the parish. The weekly bulletin reported a "serious priest shortage" and mentioned that a "Tanzanian connection for extra priestly help" had been established.
   Not that there's anything wrong with that.
   It just struck me as quaint, odd and ironic that, all these years after Anglican and Catholic missionaries went to Tanganyika and Zanzibar to bring Christendom to the Swahili-speaking natives, here was an American church in a white-picket-fence town looking to an evangelized Africa for ... a missionary! ...
   If the American Catholic voice registered at all in the Vatican, Bernard Law would not be celebrating one of the mourning Masses for the Pope this week.
   Law was one of the men who protected abusive clergy in the Archdiocese of Boston. He was forced to resign in disgrace two years ago, amid criticism that he had failed to remove abusive priests from ministry and even commended some while knowing they had been accused of molesting children.
   Law left Boston and lived for a year at the Sisters of Mercy of Alma convent in Maryland. Then he got a position at the Vatican. He has been given the honor of presiding over a Mass for John Paul during the nine-day mourning period for the pope. Law also will have a say in the selection of the next pontiff.
   So will the leader of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga.
   He's had a brush with clergy sexual abuse, too. According to a 2004 report in The Dallas Morning News, the Honduran cardinal sheltered a Costa Rican priest who had admitted molesting a 10-year-old altar boy and who was a fugitive from his native country for a few years.
   Maradiaga gave the priest assignments in two Honduran villages in 2003, the News reported. The priest fled the country in early 2004. [Bolding added.]
• Oakland priory housing sex offender priests draws neighborhood ire - RCC. Priests in orders have treatment.
   Fresno Bee, By KIM CURTIS, Associated Press Writer Updated 12:05 AM Sunday, April 10, 2005,
   OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Since the sex abuse scandal first rocked the Roman Catholic church, more than 4,300 priests have been accused of abuse, and many have left the ministry, re-entering society without getting the treatment that can make them less likely to reoffend.
   Priests who work in a diocese generally get forced out under the zero-tolerance policy created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops three years ago in response to public outrage and fear of expensive civil suits.
   Dominicans, Jesuits and other religious orders, representing 16,000 of the nation's 45,000 priests, chose another path: giving abusive priests supervised treatment for as long as they stay within their communities.
   Both approaches could claim support from Pope John Paul II. He called abuse criminal and said there was no place in the priesthood for abusers of minors, yet also suggested that some priests could "turn away from sin and back to God" if given a second chance.
   [COMMENT: Is it the same God whose scripture says "Every many should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband."? Anyway, it isn't just the religious orders who sent clergy for 'treatment,' because the ordinary RC priests have been sent to the 'treatment centers' in the USA and some other countries for years, then returning to parishes, schools, and other positions where they have access to children - with the results being exposed daily around the USA and the world. The Church leaders have evidently missed some important parts of the New Testament, or they wouldn't have made that mistake. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Attendance Is a Concern for Church

   Los Angeles Times, By Larry B. Stammer, April 10, 2005
   ROME - Only a few miles from the throngs that pressed into St. Peter's Square to bid farewell to Pope John Paul II, a soaring Baroque-style basilica echoed with emptiness.
   Inside, 20 of the faithful were sequestered in a side chapel for the noon Mass, while Father Virgilio Missori, 84, sat alone near a confessional booth awaiting penitents who did not come.
   In many ways, the quiet scene day in and day out at the 17th century Basilica of Sts. Ambrose and Charles on the Corso is far more representative of the state of the Roman Catholic Church today than the one in St. Peter's Square, where an estimated 2 million pilgrims paid homage to John Paul in what was arguably the world's largest funeral. ...
   Church leaders readily acknowledge that they cannot blame all their problems on the media. The credibility of U.S. bishops still has not fully recovered from the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church beginning in 2002, when it was disclosed that some bishops had looked the other way or participated in cover-ups to protect molesting priests. Victims said the abuse had robbed them of not only their human dignity but their faith.
• Cardinal Law to lead mass for Pope

   RTE News, 08:19, April 10, 2005
   ROME - A US-based support group for sexual abuse victims has condemned a decision by the Vatican to choose Cardinal Bernard Law to lead a mass for Pope John Paul II.
   Cardinal Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002 after accusations that he covered up sexual abuse of children by priests.
   Members of the support group are flying to Rome to protest at tomorrow's service.
• Giving and getting at St. Labre School: Northern Cheyenne sue for share of mission school's wealth
   Billings Gazette, By MIKE STARK, April 10, 2005
   ASHLAND (MT) - The mailroom buzzes at a frenetic pace at St. Labre Indian School.
   Barely out of earshot of the hundreds of kids at recess, the warehouse-size room is alive with the precision sounds of mail being sorted, stuffed, bagged and boxed.
   Last year, more than 17 million pieces of mail went out to potential donors who might be willing to write a check to the 121-year-old St. Labre school and mission.
   About half of the mail is stuffed into envelopes on the school's campus here on the eastern edge of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. The rest is processed in Texas and Connecticut.
   The direct-mail campaign, which began in the 1950s, is so large that it has its own ZIP code in this remote town of 450 people. ...
   For some tribal members, though, the memories aren't all rosy.
   The 12-page lawsuit filed by the tribe last month said many members of the tribe experienced physical and sexual abuse at St. Labre and had their culture "derided, ridiculed and dismissed as unimportant."
   And while St. Labre has flourished, the Northern Cheyenne reservation has continued to struggle with poverty and unemployment. [Bolding added]
• Law's presence to draw protestors

   The Union Leader, By RACHEL ZOLL, The Associated Press, ~ April 10, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Leaders of an advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse said yesterday they were flying to Rome to protest the Vatican's choice of Cardinal Bernard Law to celebrate an important Mass mourning Pope John Paul II.
   The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Law's presence was painful to victims and embarrassing to Catholics. Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 after unsealed court records revealed he had allowed priests guilty of abusing children to move among parish assignments and had not notified the public.
   Tomorrow, he will lead one of the nine daily Masses for the pope at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, the church where John Paul appointed him archpriest. Survivors Network representatives plan to be there to distribute fliers on how Law mishandled abuse cases. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:14 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun, April 10, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Liberation Pope failed sex abuse victims. [? 2003-4 John Paul II; decades Law] - RCC.

   The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), Letter from John C. Massam, Greenwood (Perth), p 66, (sent Apr 4) April 10, 2005
   PERTH: The death of Pope John Paul II gives me the same sort of feeling as expressed in The New York Times on April 2:
   "It is a sense of awe and affection mixed with disappointment at his handling of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that exploded in Boston three years ago and continues to reverberate here."
   He even promoted the Boston Archbishop reviled for transferring criminal child abusers. [Apr 10, 05]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon, April 11, 2005 edition follows:-
• Clergy won't get fair trial: barrister [1955-80 Garchow, Maloney (St John of God order)] - RCC. Year so far to avoid trial.

   Sydney Morning Herald, www.smh.com. au/news/National/ Clergy-wont- get-fair-trial- barrister/2005/ 04/11/111307 1913073.html , By Natasha Wallace, for April 12, 2005
   AUSTRALIA - Two former Sydney-based members of St John of God should not be extradited to New Zealand to face serious child sex abuse charges because they would not get a fair trial, their barrister told a court yesterday.
   The Catholic Church has fought for more than a year to stop Raymond John Garchow, 57, and Rodger Maloney, 69, being sent to New Zealand to face charges in relation to alleged systemic abuse of boys by several members of the religious order at a Christchurch school for orphans and intellectually disabled children, Marylands, between 1955 and 1980.
   In ordering the men's extradition in February, Magistrate Hugh Dillon likened the New Zealand case to a "war crimes' proceeding", saying the doubt lay not in proving the abuse had happened at the Marylands school, but who was involved and to what extent.
   Maloney, a former brother at the school, and Garchow, a former priest, had argued that they were too old and sick to be surrendered.
   Maloney faces 28 charges, including sodomy, of allegedly assaulting 12 boys as young as eight between 1971 and 1977 at Marylands.
   Garchow faces four charges of an indecent act on two pupils, aged between eight and 11, between 1971 and 1980. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:29 PM]
• Supreme Court confronts abuse by priests: Law shift on clergy abuse?

   The Capital Times, By Pat Schneider, April 11, 2005
   WISCONSIN - It is the consummate irony, says Peter Isely, Midwest coordinator for SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
   Documents from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, purportedly detailing church officials' efforts to shield a convicted pedophile priest accused of re-offending while on court-ordered probation, were divulged in a lawsuit brought in California.
   That's where church officials transferred Siegfried Widera after trying to "keep a lid on" the new assault "so no police record would be made."
   "The archdiocese had to produce those documents in California, but Wisconsin victims of this man cannot go to court," Isely said.
   The documents in fact were filed in court in February in a lawsuit against the archdiocese. But as Wisconsin law now stands, the plaintiff is unlikely to get his day in court.
• Disgraced cardinal says memorial mass

   Swissinfo.org ; By Philip Pullella and Claudia Parsons, ~ April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The disgraced former archbishop of Boston has said a memorial mass for Pope John Paul at the Vatican as a few protesters outside remind the world of the sexual abuse scandal thathas rocked the Church.
   Cardinal Bernard Law, who said the mass in his capacity as archpriest of a Rome basilica, praised the Popeas a teacher who managed to influence people's lives when he was young and strong but no less so when he wasold and frail.
   Law celebrated the Mass on Monday as Catholic Cardinals started their last week of preparations beforemany of them will seal themselves off from the world in a secret conclave entrusted with the task of choosing anew pope.
   "In these (recent) days we lived, almost touched, the love of the city of Rome for their pastor, a love that thePope returned a hundred fold," Law said, speaking in Italian and referring to the millions who turned out to seethe pope's body.
   Outside the basilica, two leaders of a group representing victims of child clerical abuse protested, saying theChurch was "rubbing salt in an open wound" by having allowed Law to say the memorial mass.
• POPE: US PEDO VICTIMS, CARD.LAW'S PRESENCE UNACCEPTABLE
   AGI, April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY (AGI) - "It is unacceptable that cardinal Francis Law has an important role in this important period for the Catholic church. He has even been chosen as preacher during the Novendial celebrations. It is absurd". That is what Barbara Blaine president of Snap (Survivors Network of those abused by priests) said with regard to the Vatican's decision to entrust the novendials to US cardinal Law, former archbishop of Boston and current archpriest of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome. The cardinal is accused of having somehow "covered up" sexual abuse carried out by certain priest of his diocese. In 2002 the Pope accept his resignation but then "compensated him" with a cushy job at the S. Maria Maggiore. Ms. Blaine told journalists that she wants to be the spokesperson of a common interest and she announced that over the next few days she will be joined by hundreds of other Americans to boost their protest.
• Dilemma in diocese
   Yakima Herald-Republic, By JANE GARGAS, ~ April 11, 2005
   WASHINGTON - Suppose you're the CEO of a substance-abuse counseling agency. One day, in a routine cleaning of company lockers, a half-full bottle of whiskey is found hidden in an employee's backpack.
   The owner of the backpack, a model employee, is presumed to be a teetotaler; drinking is verboten, whether at work or not. You know of no complaints against this person, who has a high-profile position in the agency, nor is there any evidence that he drank the whiskey.
   It's possible that someone else had access to the backpack. Could the existence of this bottle compromise his position working with teens and children in any way? If you fire the employee, he may never be able to work in a substance-abuse facility again.
   If you transfer the employee, the problem, if there is one, may not be resolved. If you talk to the other employees and clients about finding the whiskey, the man's name may be tarnished forever, whether he's guilty or not. What do you do?
   That, in a highly simplified version, is similar to the situation Bishop Carlos Sevilla of the Catholic Diocese of Yakima recently faced. In fact, the bishop has been grappling with a much more nuanced and complex problem. Not just that - it's turning into a roiling controversy.
   "It's a can of worms," said Cathy Ball, a West Valley teacher, mother of four and a 30-year parishioner at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
• Choice of Cardinal Law to Lead Vatican Mass Draws Protests

NPR, "All Things Considered" radio news magazine show, www.npr.org/ templates/story/ story.php?story Id=4586225 , by Sylvia Poggioli, April 11, 2005
ROME - Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates a mass of mourning for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, despite protests over of his handling of the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal while he was archbishop of Boston.
• Police stymie Vatican protest by advocates for U.S. sex abuse victims

   Dateline Alabama, By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer, April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated Mass in mourning for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica on Monday, ignoring protests from victims that his handling of the sex abuse scandal in the U.S. Catholic Church should disqualify him from the honor.
   Police broke up a small but symbolic protest staged by two victims of sex abuse at the hands of American clergy, escorting one of them off St. Peter's Square as she was preparing to distribute fliers.
   Several uniformed officers walked Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, behind barricades set up at the entrance to the square. The officers did not explain why they escorted Blaine off the piazza, and she had no immediate comment.
• Advocates for U.S. sex abuse victims at Vatican to protest Law's role

   Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, USA), By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer, ~ April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY- Victims of sex abuse by American clergy brought their campaign for reform to the center of Roman Catholicism on Monday, demanding that Vatican officials bar Cardinal Bernard Law from celebrating an important Mass mourning Pope John Paul II.
   Two leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who arrived in Rome just hours before the service at St. Peter's Basilica, condemned what they called the Vatican's "hurtful decision" to choose Law for the honor.
   Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 after unsealed court records revealed he had moved predatory clergy among parishes without alerting parents that their children were at risk. More than 550 people have filed abuse claims in Boston in recent years and the archdiocese has paid more than $85 million in settlements.
   The network's leaders planned to distribute fliers in English and Italian around St. Peter's Square later Monday.
   A spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined to comment. Law has also declined to comment through an aide at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, where the pope appointed him archpriest last year. Law has apologized for his failures. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:25 AM]
• SNAP group to attend FdL hearing
   FOND DU LAC (WI) - The Reporter, ~ April 11, 2005
   A group of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy will be in Fond du Lac Tuesday for one of the Wisconsin Supreme Court hearings being held at the City County Government Center, 160 S. Macy St.
   Members of Survivors Network Abused by Priests will attend the hearing and victims in the case will speak when the hearing is over.
   The case involves allegations of child molestation against a now-deceased Catholic priest. The questions before the Supreme Court are whether the actions of the Milwaukee Archdiocese in this case are open to review by the courts or whether such a review would result in excessive government entanglement in religion, contrary to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court also will decide if the statute of limitations should be extended in cases involving alleged abuse by clergy.
   The court will decide if the remaining plaintiff may proceed with his lawsuit against the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
• Ex-Catholic priest jailed for sex abuse [1989-91 Fletcher] - RCC. Altar boy.

   Sydney Morning Herald, April 11, 2005
   AUSTRALIA - A former Catholic priest who committed an "inexcusable" breach of trust by convincing a teenaged altar boy to have sex with him has been jailed for at least 7 1/2 years by a Sydney court.
   James Fletcher, 64, from Branxton, was found guilty of nine charges relating to the sexual abuse of the teenager between 1989 and 1991.
   Fletcher was convicted in December last year of the offences which occurred at his NSW Hunter Valley parish.
   Reading the victim's evidence recorded during the trial, NSW District Court judge Graham Armitage today said Fletcher had tried to "ingratiate" himself to the victim and his family and manipulate the boy into keeping quiet.
   "He ingratiated himself with the offender and his family for the specific purpose of taking advantage of him," Judge Armitage said.
   The court was told Fletcher had on a number of occasions driven the victim to a waterworks near the parish where the two had oral sex.
• Church aims to shed light on sex abuse - RCC.
   The Argus, www.insidebayarea. com/argus/local news/ci_2649599 , By Rob Dennis, ~ April 11, 2005
   FREMONT (CA) - A meeting about priest sexual abuse Sunday night began with a prayer and ended with a message: Shine a light on it.
   "Child abuse thrives in secrecy," said Diane Swirsky, a clinical psychologist and trauma specialist. "Open the door, turn the light on, listen to your kids, talk to your kids, make sure kids have some place to go where they'll be believed."
   More than 50 community members gathered for the meeting in the Corpus Christi Parish Center to discuss the priest abuse crisis that has swept the country and touched their community.
   Even the center itself is a reminder of the issue. It was dedicated to the Rev. James Clark until his name was removed last year after three former altar boys accused the former pastor of molesting them.
   Swirsky said the trauma of sexual abuse can be exacerbated when the perpetrator is a trusted figure, such as a parish priest.
• Silent tack is sensible for diocese, expert says
   OAKLAND (CA) - Contra Costa Times By Randy Myers, ~ April 11, 2005
   Oakland Diocese lawyer Allen Ruby appeared to slip into a legal hibernation of sorts shortly after his opening remarks in a landmark clergy sex-abuse trial under way in Hayward.
   For the most part, Ruby refrained from cross examining a flurry of witnesses that lead plaintiff attorney Rick Simons had testify in a negligence suit brought against the diocese by two former Antioch altar boys.
   This legal maneuver might seem strange to the casual courtroom observer. But a civil attorney and former prosecutor specializing in child abuse cases views it as a potentially smart move in the civil trial.
   Since the diocese has already conceded it acted negligently in dealing with the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, who sexually abused Diocese altar boys, this silent approach might prove crucial when it comes time to award damages.
   "If the church is admitting liability, there is not a whole lot of sense in cross-examining," said Laurence E. Hardoon. "All you're going to do is inflame the jury."
• Ex-Catholic priest imprisoned for 10 years for sexual abuse of teen [1989-91 Fletcher] - RCC. Altar boy.

   The Hindu, April 11, 2005
   SYDNEY (NSW) Australia (AP): A disgraced former Catholic priest was imprisoned on Monday for 10 years for sexually abusing a teenage altar boy.
   James Fletcher, 64, was convicted last December on nine charges of abusing the child between 1989 and 1991 in his parish in the Hunter Valley wine growing region north of Sydney.
   Describing the abuse as a "gross and inexcusable" breach of trust, New South Wales District Court Judge Graham Armitage, sentenced Fletcher to a maximum of 10 years and ruled he must serve at least seven and a half years.
   In earlier testimony, the victim said "he had never felt pain like it in his life" when he first had sex with Fletcher and had looked at a Saint Christopher medal in the priest's car during the ordeal, Armitage said.
   Fletcher then warned the boy "no one would believe him (if he told) because priests never lied," Armitage said.
• Sex abuse survivor tells story
   AMHERST - The Daily Collegian By Nina Lowy April 11, 2005
   Last week on April 5, Phil Saviano, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, spoke at the University of Massachusetts. Saviano's story is an unprecedented one being the first Massachusetts victim who was able to settle a clergy-abuse lawsuit without signing a confidentiality agreement.
   Saviano recalls most of the abuse occurred when he was twelve years old, and living in a small town outside of Worcester. He described the abuse as a "grooming process."
   In the beginning, Saviano and his friend, who was also molested by Father David Holley, were asked to do simple chores around the church, such as moving boxes, in exchange for 50 cents for an ice cream. This eventually turned into the priest showing the young boys sexually explicit playing cards with pictures of men and women on them, and discussion about sex. The abuse began when the priest repeatedly asked for oral sex from Saviano in the basement of the church. Saviano remembers the priest's grip around his wrist when he tried to pry it off.
   "It was a huge conflict for me. I wanted the groundskeeper to look in and see [through the window], and I didn't want him to see," Saviano said.
• Abuse group opposing Mass by Cardinal Law

   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By Daniel Williams and Alan Cooperman, The Washington Post Monday, April 11, 2005
   ROME -- American victims of sexual abuse by priests said yesterday that the Vatican was "rubbing salt into our wounds" by honoring Cardinal Bernard Law, who was designated to celebrate a special Mass of mourning for Pope John Paul II today.
   Leaders of a U.S. victims' group flew from Chicago to Rome yesterday to protest the high-profile role given to Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 after court records showed he had knowingly transferred sexual abusers from parish to parish without informing civil authorities or the public.
   "It feels like Cardinal Law is exploiting the pope's death for his own self-aggrandizing rehabilitation," said David Clohessy, executive director of the 5,000-member Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It is just rubbing salt into our wounds and the wounds of caring Catholics."
   The protesters have set up a clash of two worlds: the American planet of open demonstrations, sharp words and publicity seeking and the Vatican sphere of discretion, indirection and, this week at least, enforced silence of its top leadership.
• Bill O'Reilly: Saying goodbye to the Pope
   Naples Daily News, www.naplesnews. com/npdn/pe _columnists/ article/0,2071 ,NPDN_14960 _3690030,00.html , By BILL O'REILLY, Creators Syndicate, April 11, 2005
   UNITED STATES: It's too bad the cable TV news coverage of the Pope's death has desensitized some Americans. The wall-to-wall commentary quickly became tiresome to many, and millions tuned out. That's a shame, because Pope John Paul's life is very much worth examining.
   Here is a man who was undeniably saintly, a person who lived on this earth but operated in a spiritual zone few of us could ever contemplate. He considered worldly matters only in the context of what God "expected." Practical problem solving was not the Pope's priority. He was truly a faith-based man.
   In the summer of 2003, I traveled to Rome to find out why the Pope had been so publicly detached from the American priest scandal. As a loyal Catholic, I was angry that the Pontiff had not been more proactive in punishing people like Cardinal Law, who obviously had stonewalled the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy members. My public criticism of the Pope led the Catholic League to bitterly criticize me, so I wanted to be absolutely sure that my opinion of the Pope's conduct in that terrible matter was based on facts.
   While in Rome, I learned a lot about the Pope from people who worked with him daily. They were fearful of speaking on the record because the Pope's advisors did not brook dissent. Any open criticism of John Paul was not tolerated by the Holy See.
   Off the record, I found out that the Pope was deeply hurt by the sexual abuse situation, but was convinced by his advisors that it was an "American" problem. Thus, when he visited Canada in 2002, he declined a meeting with some sexual abuse victims. Apparently, the Pope's advisors felt the meeting would be too stressful for the ailing Pontiff.
• Dramatizing a Scandal That Rocked the Church - RCC. Film "Our Fathers".
   The New York Times By JACQUES STEINBERG April 11, 2005
   BOSTON (MA): Alan Horne and his family had just finished Easter dinner at his home in a suburb outside of Boston when his 82-year-old mother made a request: she wanted to watch the DVD sitting atop his television, titled "Our Fathers."
   Neither was a disinterested viewer.
   The movie, which will have its premiere on Showtime next month, represents the first attempt by Hollywood to use real names and events to dramatize the sexual abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese.
   And among the stories it tells is that of Mr. Horne, now 45, who as a boy was repeatedly molested by a parish priest, the Rev. Joseph Birmingham, who has since died.
   Mr. Horne had confided the abuse to his mother for the first time several years ago, but as she watched an advance copy of the two-hour movie, she began to boil as never before.
   This was particularly true as Cardinal Bernard F. Law (played by Christopher Plummer) was shown struggling during a withering legal deposition.
   Under questioning by a lawyer (Ted Danson) representing many victims, the cardinal acknowledged that he and his deputies had shuttled priests like Father Birmingham from one parish to another while suppressing accusations of abuse made against them.
   "It lit her up like a Christmas tree," Mr. Horne said of his mother's reaction to the film. "She sat there and she started to ask me questions, questions she had never asked me before.
• Protesters target Law at Mass in Rome

   The Washington Times, By John Phillips, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, ~ April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- An American advocacy group said it would protest today outside a church where the former archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, was to preside over a Mass in honor of the late Pope John Paul II.
   The support group for victims of sexual abuse planned to distribute fliers decrying the public role of Cardinal Law, who stepped down in Boston under fire for shielding priests accused of molesting children.
   Members of the group are "terribly upset about Law's high visibility and his apparent willingness to exploit the pope's death for his own selfish rehabilitation purposes," leader David Clohessy told the Agence France-Presse wire service.
• Law is the wrong choice

   Tufts Daily, ~ April 11, 2005
   MASSACHUSETTS - The Vatican's choice to have Cardinal Bernard Law perform one of nine memorial Masses for the late Pope John Paul II once again illustrates the Church's continued position of ignoring the sex-abuse scandal that has torn apart the Roman Catholic church in the United States. Cardinal Law is among the highest ranked clergy in the Church, but there are better candidates that could have performed these prestigious Masses instead of the cardinal most associated with the sex-abuse scandal.
   Vatican officials point out that Law is in charge of St. Mary Major in Rome, one of four parishes under direct Vatican control. The Vatican could have acknowledged that Law symbolizes the frustration and disgust of the scandal to many American Catholics. In 2002, Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston after it was revealed that he allowed priests guilty of sexually abusing children to remain in the archdiocese, moving them to different parishes without notifying the public of their crimes. Law was not charged with any criminal offenses and was not forced to resign his position as cardinal. Instead, the Vatican called him to Rome and placed him in charge of St. Mary Major.
   Law's appointment to the memorial Mass pours salt in the still-open wounds of American Catholics who are reeling from the sex abuse scandal. These nine memorial Masses will garner much attention from the media, who will obsess over the homilies, trying to determine how the cardinal will vote. The last thing American Catholics want to see on their television screens is the man who they consider to have hidden the sexual abuses of priests. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:24 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon, April 11, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Child abuse occurs every 13 minutes. - Over-all figures.

   The West Australian, Australian Associated Press, p 13, Monday, April 11, 2005
   SYDNEY: A child is abused every 13 minutes across Australia, a new report has revealed.
   The Childhood Abused study, to be released today, reports there were 40,416 substantiated child abuse reports in 2002-03 - a rate of one child every 13 minutes.
   The study, a joint initiative of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation and Melbourne's La Trobe University, seeks to present current data and opinions related to child abuse in Australia.
   Former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson QC said the study demonstrated "the enormity of the problem" of child abuse and domestic violence.
   "The figures collected in this paper are truly frightening," Mr Nicholson said in his foreword to the report. 'They point to the fact that in 2003-04 there were 219,384 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect made to State authorities.
   "This amounts to one child being reported as abused or neglected in Australia every two minutes."
   More than 5 per cent of the population younger than 18 live with and witness domestic violence, the study found, of which between 30 and 60 per cent also some form of abuse. An estimated one report of child abuse for every 25 children was recorded in 2002-03.
   Emotional abuse was the most common, accounting for 34 per cent of reports, with physical abuse and neglect both at 28 per cent.
   Sexual abuse accounted for 10 per cent of claims.
   Mr Nicholson said the figures reflected "tragic levels" of abuse, but warned they were still an underestimation.
   "Even when notifications are made most, if not all child protection authorities in Australia are seriously understaffed, have insufficient trained staff and high staff turnover which means that reports may not be dealt with or be dealt with in an unsatisfactory manner," he said. "This immediately calls into question the figure for cases that are regarded as substantiated by departments as being grossly understated."
   Victims of childhood abuse were at greater risk of anxiety, depression, dissociative disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol abuse as well as homelessness and juvenile delinquency.
   AMF was founded by Walter Mikac, whose daughters Alannah and Madeline were killed in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. # [Emphasis added.] [Apr 11, 05]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue, April 12, 2005 edition follows:-
• The return of Cardinal Law

   The News-Sentinel, www.fortwayne. com/mld/news sentinel/news/ editorial/1137 4710.htm , Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, ~ April 12, 2005
   CHICAGO, Illinois, USA (KRT) - The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, April 12:
   With the somber chants, pomp and public sorrow surrounding the death of Pope John Paul II still hanging over St. Peter's Square, American Catholics were confronted Monday by someone they may have thought had faded into the deepest recesses of the Vatican - Boston's disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law.
   Law surfaced at the Vatican to lead one of nine consecutive, and very public, Masses - the novemdiales - memorializing the late pope. That is a distinction reserved for the most influential members of the church hierarchy.
   How could Law qualify for such an honor?
   In 2002 he resigned from his leadership post in Boston because of his central role in the pedophilia scandal there, which left the archdiocese in a shambles, both spiritually and financially. Settlements with abuse victims cost more than $85 million. As the scandal reverberated nationwide, the cost of an avalanche of legal judgments and settlements over the sexual abuse of children reached a staggering $840 million, according to one estimate. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:44 PM]
• Priest charged with downloading child porn still living in Rochester area
   WHEC, www.10nbc.com/ news.asp?temp late=item&story _id=14610 , ~ April 12, 2005
   ROCHESTER (NY) - The priest accused of downloading child pornography on his church computer has actually been living here in Rochester and not at a monastery in Elmira. He was originally directed to stay at the monastery as a part of his bail.
   Father Michael volino was back in federal court in Rochester Tuesday. In court, Volino's lawyer, John Parrinello said the monastery did not have the technology to operate Volino's electronic monitoring system. Volino is staying with the local family he was first released to.
   Parrinello says he is reviewing a plea deal from the U.S Attorney's office and he has hired an expert on the Catholic Church's Canon Law, in case Volino takes the plea. "Father Volino has tremendous support verbally and in writing that he continue in his ministry 35 but of course that is up to Rome."
• American cardinals deny snubbing Law at memorial Mass for pope

   KTRE, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Six American-based cardinals were absent from a Mass for Pope John Paul celebrated by controversial U-S Cardinal Bernard Law.
   But aides to three of those cardinals denied their absence at yesterday's service of mourning was a snub.
   Law's handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal forced his resignation as archbishop of Boston. Some American victims of sexual abuse by clergy members had traveled to the Vatican to protest his high-profile role in the papal mourning ceremony.
• Law's activities, positions illustrate "clash of cultures"between U.S. and Rome.

   National Catholic Reporter, By John L. Allen Jr., Rome, April 11, 2005
   ROME - If ever one needed a classic illustration of the "clash of cultures" between the United States and the Vatican, the fact that Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on April 11 in honor of the deceased pope, one of the nine Masses prescribed for the novemdiales, or nine days of mourning, makes the case.
   Law's appearance generated considerable controversy in the American press, though in the event it seemed almost anti-climactic. Only a handful of protestors materialized, and Law's homily was deliberately spiritual and meditative, without so much as a trace of reference to the scandals that plagued his tenure in Boston.
   He did have one fine moment during the Mass, recognizing that April 11 is the liturgical observance of the Polish St. Stanislaw, using that as an occasion to thank Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's private secretary and close collaborator, for his four decades of loyal service. The reference drew strong applause from the assembly in St. Peter's Basilica.
   So what was Law doing there in the first place?
   Straight away, the point should be made that no one in the Vatican chose to give Law this platform. Instead, the Mass for the deceased pope on Monday is celebrated on behalf of the patriarchal basilicas in Rome, and custom dictates that it is the archpriest of St. Mary Major who celebrates that particular Mass. Since John Paul II appointed Law to that position on May 27, 2004, it was custom and precedent, rather than a specific Vatican decision, that put Law in this position.
• Vatican: 'It's forgiveness.' Victims: 'It's more pain.'

   National Catholic Reporter, By Stacy Meichtry, Vatican City, April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - If the continuing calls for Pope John Paul II's sainthood have provided a testament of his enduring charisma, a memorial Mass at St. Peter's Basilica Monday served as a harbinger of the challenges facing his successor.
   Former Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated one of nine memorial masses for Pope John Paul II, drawing members of an American advocacy group representing victims of clergy abuse to the basilica to protest his role.
   Leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) arrived under the colonnade of St. Peter's Square bearing informational pamphlets and photos of their abusers and were greeted by a throng of rowdy paparazzi. The ensuing scrum prompted police to relocate the delegation across the street from the square, before escorting them into the basilica where they attended a portion of the Mass.
   "This isn't about punishing Cardinal Law," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the 5,000-member group. "It's just that his presence in such a position brings about more pain and suffering."
• Chicagoan's protest turns into frenzy

   Chicago Sun-Times, BY CATHLEEN FALSANI, RELIGION WRITER, April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- As Barbara Blaine stepped out of the driving rain and over the border from Rome into Vatican City on Monday to seek shelter under the Bernini columns of St. Peter's Square, she was greeted by a horde of journalists recklessly wielding cameras and a clap of thunder of biblical proportions.
   Then, as they say, all hell broke loose. A scrum of more than 50 reporters -- most Italians or other Europeans -- surrounded Blaine, founder of the support group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who had come to the Vatican to protest former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law's celebration of a requiem mass honoring Pope John Paul II on Monday evening.
   As the crowd surged, and Blaine, a petite Chicago attorney who says she was sexually abused by a parish priest in Ohio when she was in middle school, disappeared beneath menacing camera lenses, Italian police swept in and formed a human chain around her.
   Shouting and pushing at the crowd of reporters to get back, at least a half-dozen uniformed police officers shuffled Blaine to the curb on the street just outside St. Peter's Square and deposited her back over the border into Rome.
   "I don't know where that came from," Blaine said a few hours later as she sat having dinner, still soggy from the rain and a little shaken from the experience. "We're afraid to go back. But we're going to do something. We just don't know what."
• Priest jailed for 10 years [1990s Fletcher] - RCC. Boy

   Maitland Mercury, http://maitland. yourguide.com.au/ detail.asp?class =news&subclass =local&category =general%20news &story_id=385061 &y=2005&m=4 ; Tuesday, 12 April 2005
   AUSTRALIA - A Hunter Valley Catholic priest has been jailed for 10 years for sex offences against a teenage boy in a case that was a "gross and inexcusable breach of trust", according to a Sydney judge.
   Fr James Patrick Fletcher "ingratiated" himself with the victim's family and the victim to place himself in a position to take advantage of a vulnerable teenager for his own sexual gratification, Judge Graham Armitage told Sydney District Court yesterday.
   Judge Armitage delivered a cumulative 10-year jail term with a seven-and-a-half year non parole period to Fr Fletcher, 64, who was found guilty of nine offences including eight counts of having homosexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 18 and one count of committing an aggravated act of indecency on a child when he appeared in East Maitland District Court on December 7, 2004.
   The offences happened during a three-year period in the early 1990s when the victim was aged 13 to 15 in various locations in the Hunter Valley.
• Abuse victim's family praises detective [1989-91 Fletcher] - RCC. Altar boy.
   ABC (Australian), www.abc.net. au/news/newsitems/ 200504/s1343 509.htm , ~ April 12, 2005
   AUSTRALIA - The family of an altar boy who was sexually assaulted by a priest in the Maitland district has thanked a Hunter Valley detective for his diligence and compassion in pursuing the case.
   Fr James Fletcher repeatedly abused one of his altar boys while a parish priest in the area between 1989 and 1991.
   He was yesterday sentenced to a maximum 10 years in jail, with a non-parole period of seven and-a-half years.
   The victim's mother said that for her family the sentence was "lifelong" and no amount of time in prison could restore the joy in faith that they had lost.
   She thanked Detective Sergeant Peter Fox for his investigation and said she hoped her son's actions would make it easier for other victims to speak out.
• Ex-priest who assaulted boys is spared jail [1975-80 Gallanagh] - RCC. 2 deaf boys.

   Yorkshire Post Today, ~ April 12, 2005
   BRITAIN - A RETIRED Roman Catholic school priest who indecently assaulted two young deaf boys more than 25 years ago was yesterday given a suspended six-month jail sentence.
   Neil Gallanagh, 75, altered his plea to admit patting the naked bottom of a teenager at a swimming baths and to stroking the bottom of a clothed teenager, aged between 12 and 16, in a vestry between 1975 and 1980.
   Both victims were pupils of St John's Catholic School for the Deaf, Boston Spa, where Gallanagh was resident chaplain.
   The sex offender, who later became parish priest of St Mary's, Horsforth, had denied both charges at a 2003 hearing and also a number of similar charges of assault on four other youngsters, which were yesterday left on file.
   Judge Norman Jones QC, sitting at Leeds Crown Court, ordered Gallanagh to be put on the Sex Offender Register for seven years, barred him from unsupervised contact with under-16s and instructed him to pay £1,500 costs.
• Man who triggered abuse suits testifies [Pritchard, San Francisco Archdiocese] - RCC.
   CALIFORNIA - Mercury News By Brandon Bailey, ~ April 12, 2005
   Nearly five years after he told church officials about a popular priest who molested kids -- and three years after he first told his story in public -- John Salberg got his chance Monday to tell a jury how the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard took advantage of Salberg and his closest friends.
   "A priest was everything -- the closest thing to God you could think of," testified Salberg, 40, a lifelong San Jose resident who said he was taught by teachers and parents to revere the pastor at St. Martin of Tours parish.
   "If he said 'Come over here,' I'd come over. There was no saying no to him," Salberg explained to jurors in San Francisco Superior Court, who are hearing testimony in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.
• Ex Priest Undergoes Sex Offender Hearing - RCC. Boy.
   1010 WINS 7:25 am US/Eastern, Apr 12, 2005
   RIVERHEAD, Long Island (NY) - A court hearing is being held to determine if former Long Island priest Michael Hands should be labeled as a Level Three sex offender. Hands pleaded guilty in 2003 to sodomy and attempted sodomy with a 13-year-old boy he befriended while a parish priest in Northport. He also agreed to cooperate in a grand jury investigation into sex offending priests in the Rockville Diocese. He served 15 months in prison ad was released a year ago. His attorney - Peter Rubin - says Hands has been rehabilitated and should be taken off the sex offender list.
   Prosecutors say even though Hands was convicted of just one offense, there are other victims. According to prosecutors, labeling Hands a Level Three sex offender is the safest and legal thing that should be done. Advocates for Megans Law also believe Hands should be a Level Three offender because he used his position of trust to target kids.
   Hands is already listed as a Level Two offender in Nassau County. If Hands is assessed as a Level Three offender, his address and place of employment will be available to the public.
• Lawyer for victims of abuse seeks to include parish property
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER, ~ April 12, 2005
   SPOKANE, Wash. -- Many of the parish churches under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane should be included as assets available to pay alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, attorneys for victims contend.
   Attorneys for 58 alleged victims of abuse last week asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to rule that Bishop William Skylstad effectively controls the parishes in his diocese, and that some of those churches should be available to settle cases.
   Skylstad and his attorneys have argued that the bishop's office only owns a handful of assets, including the diocese headquarters and the bishop's house.
   "Since this bankruptcy began, the bishop has been playing a shell game with the bulk of the real property in the diocese," attorney James Stang of Los Angeles wrote in the motion for summary judgment. He represents the 58 people who filed sexual abuse lawsuits against the diocese.
   "Seemingly, any ownership would be better than using the properties to pay the victims of the sexual abuse perpetrated by his priests, employees and others in his diocese," Stang wrote.
• Legal wrangling over Hands
   LONG ISLAND (NY) - Newsday BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO April 12, 2005
   While cooperating with investigators regarding allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, defrocked Catholic priest Michael Hands ended up cooperating more than he should have, and let police in on some of his own wrongdoings, his attorney said yesterday.
   Hands, 38, returned to a Riverhead courtroom yesterday for the continuation of a hearing to determine his risk level as a registered sex offender. Prosecutors are asking for the highest level, 3, which would put Hands on a state registry for 10 years and would allow law enforcement to notify Hands' neighbors and publish his address. Hands' defense attorney is asking for a lesser level, saying he is rehabilitated and no longer a threat. Hands pleaded guilty in 2003 to charges of sodomy and attempted sodomy of a young teen whose family he befriended while he was a parish priest. In exchange for cooperating in a grand jury probe into charges of sex abuse in the Rockville diocese, he served 15 months in prison and was released a year ago.
   Much of yesterday's hearing was taken up by wrangling between attorneys and Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow on the admissibility of several damning pieces of evidence Suffolk prosecutors discovered after striking their deal with Hands.
• Protection Racketeers - RCC. Mahony housed paedophile priest.

   The American Spectator, www.spectator. org/dsp_article .asp?art_id=8013 , By George Neumayr, April/12/2005
   UNITED STATES - The same media outlets that report with outrage Cardinal Bernard Law's presence in Vatican City approach the equally disgraceful Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony with hushed attention.
   Among other staggering details of the abuse scandal under him is that Cardinal Mahony housed a pedophile priest in his own rectory, a move Law never even tried.
   Yet the mainstream media over the last few weeks have been treating Mahony as an unimpeachable source, using him as ecclesiastical cover for their now-rote liberal solutions to problems in the Church that he helped create.
   Recall that Mahony, dipping into the faithful's pockets, hired Sitrick and Company (a public relations firm Enron used) to help him spin his complicity in the scandal.
   Not fooled, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who investigated the scandal until Mahony and other bishops blackballed him into resigning, likened Mahony's conduct to "La Cosa Nostra."
   The con job goes on. Indeed, Mahony looked downright excited at the chance to reappear on the scene as a voice for "change."
   Before the Pope had even died, Mahony rushed over to Rome on a first-class flight (it came out), so eager was he to wedge his finger into the Conclave pie as quickly as possible.
   Once in Vatican City, he immediately turned up on numerous talk shows to mourn a pope he never paid the slightest attention to on doctrinal matters.
   (Pope John Paul II would from time to time look over at Mahony and say "Hollywood," not exactly a compliment, though Mahony tells the story as if it were.) At one televised mass last week I noticed Mahony checking his watch: Where did he have to go? What, had Hardball called?
   What's the difference between the fate of Cardinal Law and Cardinal Mahony? The Boston Globe.
   Mahony has Los Angeles Times religion reporter Larry Stammer in his pocket, as was revealed in 2002 by a leaked e-mail from the Los Angeles chancery in which Mahony promised a colleague that "Larry Stammer" would whip up a positive story for them ("he stands ready to help if we have a story we want to get out," the e-mail said).
   Unlike Law who had serious reporters on his heels, Mahony has long benefited from the somnolent coverage of West Coast media liberals willing to excuse his protection of pedophiles in gratitude for his political and doctrinal liberalism.
• Fort Smith: Attorney says statute allows abuse lawsuit [1976-79 Fuhrmann] - Subiaco Academy. Boy.
   Democrat Gazette, BY DAVE HUGHES, Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS - The lawyer for a Texas man claimed Monday that an Arkansas law passed in 1993 extends the statute of limitations back to the 1970s, allowing her client to bring a sexual abuse lawsuit against a priest.
   Lori Watson of Dallas filed the arguments in U.S. District Court in a response to a motion by Subiaco Academy and the Rev. Nicholas Fuhrmann to dismiss her client's lawsuit against them because the statute of limitations on his claims had expired.
   Joffre Miller, 43, alleges that Fuhrmann sexually abused him from 1976 to 1979 while he was a student at the Logan County academy. The suit also claims the academy committed fraud by concealing Fuhrmann's alleged sexual conduct.
   The academy's attorney filed a motion last month to dismiss the suit, saying state law until 1993 provided for a three-year statute of limitation from the time the minor turned 18 and became an adult. The statute barred Miller from filing a claim after 1983, the attorney claimed.
   Watson replied in her filing Monday that the Arkansas law passed in 1993 allows for civil suits to be filed in cases of sexual abuse beyond the statute of limitations. "The legislature was trying to give rights to the victims and correct a wrong by permitting them to file suits based on the new statute," Watson wrote.
• Catholics protest against cardinal's role in papal rites

   Globe and Mail, By DOUG SAUNDERS, Page A17, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- The two quiet, middle-aged American women walked unnoticed into the expanse of St. Peter's Square yesterday, handed a few pieces of paper to passersby and were promptly escorted out by security guards.
   With that, a deep fissure cutting the Roman Catholic Church in two, and splitting most North American Catholics from the rest of the flock, made its first appearance during the long and otherwise peaceful interregnum between popes.
   The subject of the women's mild but heavily televised protest, Cardinal Bernard Law of Massachusetts, was inside St. Peter's Basilica delivering a requiem mass for Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2 at age 84.
   Cardinal Law is one of only nine cardinals permitted to deliver such a service. His brief homily, delivered in Italian beneath the expansive dome, was devoted entirely to John Paul's memory and did not mention the scandal that has come to define Cardinal Law's career.
• Bill stops clock on abuse cases

   The Dallas Morning News, By BROOKS EGERTON / 10:47 PM CDT on Monday, April 11, 2005
   TEXAS - Stephanie Burt and son Tommy Burt, who was abused as a boy, are working with Sen. Rodney Ellis to get legislation passed that eliminates the statute of limitations in child abuse cases.
   Kenneth Eugene Ward is a pedophile, by his own admission, and he is fast becoming a poster child for people who want to eliminate Texas' deadline for prosecuting child sexual abuse.
   That deadline - a criminal case must commence by the accuser's 28th birthday - may be the only reason he is free in Dallas today.
   The former East Texas schoolteacher and Baptist preacher has admitted fondling or sexually assaulting dozens of boys, crimes that could have brought him a life sentence.
   Instead, he served four years for a single indecency conviction; all the other cases were too old to prosecute.
   Now a grass-roots lobbying campaign in Austin, led by one of those victims and his mother, is pushing legislation that would eliminate the abuse statute of limitations.
   Several prominent lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, have endorsed the bill and say it will pass this year - but only if they can get it before the full House and Senate for votes.
   "The Ward case is such an appalling injustice," said Senate sponsor Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who is more often associated with checking prosecutorial power and ensuring defendants' rights.
   Top backers in the House include Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, who's considered that chamber's family-law expert.
   But the proposal may be stalled in key committees. One is the House criminal jurisprudence panel led by Terry Keel, R-Austin. Mr. Keel, a former sheriff and prosecutor who is now a criminal defense attorney, would not comment.
• Cardinal Law Leads Mass for the Pope, and Some Protest

   The New York Times, By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, Published: April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY, April 11 - Less than two and a half years after he resigned as archbishop of Boston under pressure over his failure to remove pedophile priests from the ministry, Cardinal Bernard F. Law led thousands of worshipers in a memorial Mass for Pope John Paul II on Monday from the altar of the majestic St. Peter's Basilica.
   The cardinal, who had been deeply reviled in his own diocese, read a homily praising John Paul, who had been greatly revered in his home diocese of Rome. "In these past few days, we experienced the touching love of the city of Rome for their pastor, a love that the pope returned," Cardinal Law said, in fluent Italian.
   But the outrage that drove Cardinal Law from Boston followed him to Rome on Monday. Two representatives of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests held a news conference in St. Peter's Square to call attention to his record.
   "He is the poster child of the sexual abuse scandal in America," said Barbara Blaine, a Chicago lawyer who helped found the Survivors Network. "We don't believe it's appropriate for him to be in any position of power or trust in the church."
   Television news crews, largely idled since the cardinals decided Saturday to stop granting media interviews, mobbed Ms. Blaine on the square despite a downpour. The police escorted the group to a spot just outside the square's boundaries.
• Allegations surface against local priest [1970s onwards, de Domenico (Dominican)] - RCC. Girl.
   KTUU, www.ktuu.com/ CMS/templates/ master.asp?article id=12856&zoneid=4 , by Megan Baldino, Monday, April 11, 2005
   ANCHORAGE, Alaska - There have been more allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest of the Archdiocese of Anchorage. The abuse allegedly took place for years beginning sometime in the mid-1970s.
   The name of that priest is Father Dominic de Domenico, a Dominican priest who shows up in the archdiocese directory from 1976 to 1981. That was the same time the abuse is alleged to have started with a 15-year-old girl.
   He first came to serve Holy Family Cathedral in 1975.
   "Tall, quiet, extremely bright," is Father Don Bramble's memory of de Domenico. Bramble, now vicar general, came to the Archdiocese of Anchorage in 1978 but says he had no idea what de Domenico was up to, allegedly kissing and fondling a teenage girl, not just once, but according to his province, for the entire time he served in Anchorage.
• Residents mixed on cardinal's papal Mass

   Utica Observer-Dispatch, By SHAWN ANDERSON, ~ April 12, 2005
   NEW YORK - Three years after the sex-abuse scandal forced Cardinal Bernard Law out of his position as archbishop of Boston, Law celebrated a Mass of mourning Monday for Pope John Paul II.
   Leading the Mass is an honor bestowed on few people. During the mourning period, nine such services will take place at the Vatican.
   To some local people, the selection of Law was a sign the Catholic Church and Pope John Paul II stand for forgiveness. For others, it was proof the church doesn't understand the pain it caused thousands of abuse victims.
   "Who are we to condemn?" said Mike Nolan of Deerfield. "If the church authorities felt that this is acceptable, then we certainly concur."
• Group protests Law's Mass

   Tribune-Review, By Betsy Hiel, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated the third mourning Mass for the late Pope John Paul II on Monday, as two women who said they represent 5,000 victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests protested outside St. Peter's Square.
   Cardinal Law, as Boston's archbishop, was accused of covering up sex abuse scandals in his diocese and subsequently resigned as archbishop in 2002.
   Barbara Blaine and Barbara Dorris of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests demanded that Law be barred from holding one of nine special Masses for John Paul. Blaine, SNAP's president, called his prominent role an affront to the victims of sexual abuse.
   "Cardinal Law is like a poster child for the sex abuse scandal in America," she said, standing in a chilly rain. "When his image is out there as a leader, it just causes pain -- it is like a dagger going into the hearts of the victims and family members."
• Raising voices in Rome

   Boston Herald, By Boston Herald editorial staff, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   UNITED STATES - In the end, the protest in St. Peter's Square by those who objected to Cardinal Bernard Law's special role during these days of mourning for Pope John Paul II was quickly and peacefully ended.
   But for the faithful to have done nothing, to have said nothing might have been interpreted as a kind of acceptance of the role Law played in covering up the sexual abuse scandal in the church for so many years.
   And so those who made their way to Rome even at the last minute to make their feelings known and their voices heard spoke for many more who were offended at the prominent role given Law by Vatican officials.
   Law celebrated a special Mass of mourning yesterday at St. Peter's Basilica and delivered a homily. He was one of nine prelates selected for such an honor - an honor that did not sit well with many here.
• Victims' group outraged at Law's role in Rome
   MASSACHUSETTS Standard-Times By JACK SPILLANE, April 12, 2005
   Cardinal Bernard Law may be gone from Boston, but he is definitely not forgotten by the local victims of child abuse.
   Some of the victims expressed outrage yesterday at the former archbishop's high profile role in the mourning period for Pope John Paul II.
   Barbara Blaine, founder of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was removed by police from St. Peter's Square in Rome yesterday after she attempted to hand out fliers protesting Cardinal Law's participation.
   The former Boston prelate, now the archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, said Mass in honor of the late pope yesterday; it was one of the key Masses that takes place on each of the nine days between the pope's burial and the start of the conclave to pick his successor.
• Protest at Mass for John Paul [2005 Law, Vatican] - RCC.

   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, www.post-gazette.com/ pg/05102/486807.stm , By Ann Rodgers, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- The sermon that Cardinal Bernard Law preached in St. Peter's Basilica was not political but theological, self-effacing and appropriate for a funeral.
   That did nothing to calm the outrage from victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests, who said that the man who was forced to resign from the Archdiocese of Boston for protecting such priests should not offer one of the nine official Masses for Pope John Paul II.
   "The Catholic cardinals from America have stood by and allowed this to continue," said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, who arrived in Rome yesterday morning.
   "It is not about punishing Cardinal Law; it's just that his presence in such a position brings about pain and suffering" to those who remember that he kept known sex offenders in ministry, Blaine said.
   "We are concerned that the cardinals are sending a message that there won't be an emphasis on the sexual abuse scandal in the next papacy."
   According to John-Peter Pham, a former papal diplomat and an expert on papal transition, Vatican protocol dictated that Law celebrate yesterday's Mass.
• A world away from Boston, Law says Mass

   Star-Ledger, BY KEVIN ECKSTROM, RELIGION NEWS SERVICE, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who resigned for mishandling the clergy sex abuse scandal, celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica yesterday despite a small protest by advocates of abuse victims, who contended Law didn't deserve the honor.
   Two leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests flew to Rome to complain that allowing Law such a prominent pulpit was like adding salt to a wound.
   Law presided at one of the daily memorial Masses during the no vemdiales, the official nine-day mourning period for Pope John Paul II, who died April 2. Last year, John Paul named Law to the ceremonial post of archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
   Barbara Blaine, president of the Chicago-based SNAP, was escorted by Italian police from St. Peter's Square and behind some traffic barriers when she attempted to distribute fliers to pilgrims and tourists in the square.
   The small protest attracted mainly attention from the media and curiosity from tourists, but it showed the American branch of the Catholic Church continues to be haunted by the issue of abusive priests.
   Blaine accused the Vatican -- and Law's 10 fellow U.S. cardinals who will participate in the election of the next pope -- of being insensitive to victims of clergy sexual abuse and of overlooking Law's admitted mistakes.
• Cardinal Law Is Snubbed

   Los Angeles Times By Larry B. Stammer and Richard Boudreaux, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - The scandal over sex abuse by American priests intruded on the mourning for Pope John Paul II here Monday as all but one U.S.-based cardinal avoided a Mass led by Boston's disgraced former archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law.
   Three of the seven cardinals - Edward M. Egan of New York, Francis George of Chicago and Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles - snubbed the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica out of concern over Law's notoriety, three American church sources said.
   "There was a general feeling it was best not to be there," said a source familiar with one cardinal's thinking. He said there had been an understanding among at least some of the cardinals to stay away.
   Another source said the absence of most U.S. cardinals sent a message of protest. "You'd have to be blind not to see that," he said. "The fact is, they voted with their feet." A third source said the no-shows were part of a "pattern."
   All three sources spoke on condition of anonymity two days after the Vatican announced a gag order on the 115 cardinals who are to meet Monday to elect John Paul's successor. None of the American cardinals would comment.
• American cardinal's Mass for pope touches a nerve - RCC.
   Kansas City Star, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - The outcry over clergy sex abuse intruded on the mourning for Pope John Paul II on Monday. All but one U.S.-based cardinal avoided a Mass led by Boston's former archbishop.
   Cardinal Bernard Law's role in the Mass infuriated sexual-abuse victims in the United States and prompted two of them to stage a brief protest Monday in St. Peter's Square.
   Justin Rigali of Philadelphia was the only U.S. resident cardinal present at the Mass with Law.
   Most cardinals from other countries also skipped the Mass on a rainy afternoon, but their motives were unknown.
• With papal conclave pending, tourists, media look for news
   Baltimore Sun By Robert Little, Sun Foreign Staff, Originally published April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - The man from Minnesota stood off to the side of St. Peter's Square and scrolled through the pictures on his digital camera with pride. He'd captured the dome of the basilica, the papal apartments, maybe the chimney of the Sistine Chapel - all the gems that a Vatican-watching tourist requires.
   Then he arrived at a true prize.
   "Here's the swarm," he said, swinging the camera around to reveal an image that seemed to show three dozen journalists all but stabbing a red-haired woman with cameras and microphones. "Tell me again," he asked, "who was that woman?"
   The woman was Barbara Blaine, an American who says she was abused by a Catholic priest in Toledo, when she was a child. Cardinal Bernard Law, accused of covering up sexual abuse when he was the archbishop of Boston, was celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Basilica yesterday, and she had come to protest.
• Law's honor a slap to victims [2005 Law, Vatican] - RCC.
   Macon Telegraph, www.macon.com/ mld/macon/news/ opinion/1136 8171.htm , ~ April 12, 2005
   Throughout all of the pomp and circumstance and ancient rituals surrounding Pope John Paul II's death and funeral, the Roman Catholic Church hardly hit a sour note - until Monday when the former archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, led one of the "mourning" masses for John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Law was forced to resign his position in Boston after being at the epicenter of the sexual abuse scandal that is still rocking the American Catholic Church. The Boston diocese is said to have paid out at least $90 million in settlements to more than 500 victims of abuse.
   Law was accused of moving priests guilty of abuse from parish to parish rather than punishing them, allowing their abusive ways to continue, sometimes for decades. Boston wasn't the only U.S. diocese rocked by the scandal. Across the country various dioceses paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle abuse claims. Last January, the diocese in Orange County, Ca., paid $100 million to settle abuse claims to 90 victims.
   While Law is now archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica, an administrative position, he left behind a diocese in Boston in obvious disarray and crippled by financial concerns. Last year, according to the Los Angeles Times, 82 parishes were closed or merged. Many American Catholics were outraged when Law was announced as one of the priests, the only American, given the honor of conducting a mourning mass. In each of the masses clues are sought from the homilies to see what the conclave of cardinals seeks in a new pope.
   While Law's participation will probably have little effect abroad, it could have a devastating effect in the U.S. Rev. Keith Pecklers, a professor at the Georgian, a pontifical university in Rome, said in The New York Times, "It is yet another example of the gap between how the Vatican sees things and how the U.S. church sees things. This kind of thing can open wounds for people just when the healing was beginning." [Emphasis added]
• Small protest greets cardinal's celebration of Mass for pope
   Seattle Times, By Steve Kloehn Chicago Tribune, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - The image must have been jarring for many American Catholics: Cardinal Bernard Law, the embattled former archbishop of Boston, on a throne atop the tomb of St. Peter, where Pope John Paul II so often sat.
   Yesterday, Law celebrated one of the nine special Masses at St. Peter's Basilica mourning the late pope, and few of the worshippers in the vast basilica seemed to have any idea who he was.
   Vatican officials downplayed his presence, saying that as an archpriest of one of the papal basilicas in Rome - a largely ceremonial role he received after resigning the Boston post - he automatically was slated to preside over the Mass.
   But for some Americans, who have come to regard Law as a symbol of the wrenching priest-sexual-abuse scandal, his presence at the center of one of the church's most-solemn moments, more than two years after leaving Boston in disgrace, provoked strong reactions.
• Law's role enrages abuse victims
   BOSTON (MA) - Boston Herald By Jennifer Rosinski, Updated: 07:50 AM EST, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   Local clergy sexual-abuse victims say they are insulted Bernard Cardinal Law was bestowed the honor of celebrating a Mass for the late Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica yesterday - and are also enraged a protester was barred from the Vatican.
   "It's absolutely outrageous that he's over there in this plush position at the Vatican after what he did here in Boston. Now he's one of the chosen ones to say one of nine Masses," said Kathy Dwyer, a clergy abuse survivor from Braintree. "I think it's a slap in the face to all people of faith."
   Law celebrated the Mass without disruption, saying the nearly 3 million mourners who flooded Rome for the pontiff's funeral last week were an inspiration.
   "In these incredible days, the pope continues to teach us what it means . . . to be a follower of Christ," Law said in Italian. "Our faith has been reinforced."
   After the service, several worshipers from Europe said they had never heard of Law. American parishioners said they recognized him but questioned whether the protest was appropriate right after the pope died.
• Abuse victims protest Law saying Mass
   Pioneer Press BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI Knight Ridder Foreign Service, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Two American women who say they were molested as children by Roman Catholic priests protested Monday at the Vatican, drawing worldwide attention to the clergy sex-abuse scandal and disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law as he led a Mass to mourn the death of Pope John Paul II.
   Barbara Blaine and Barbara Dorris, two leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, tried to pass out leaflets to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square before Law addressed several hundred people during the Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.
   A crush of reporters from around the world converged on the two women, preventing them from delivering many leaflets.
   With cardinals no longer talking to the media and there being few other news developments, the reporters ensured that the women's cause got global attention.
   Blaine and Dorris said they entered St. Peter's Basilica as Law led the Mass, but didn't linger. There were no incidents during the Mass.
• Disgraced cardinal leads Mass for pope
   Albany Times Union By RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press Last updated: 11:36 p.m., Monday, April 11, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Bernard Law, whose failures to stop sexually abusive priests sparked the worst crisis in American church history, led a Mass for thousands mourning Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica on Monday after police whisked away a victim protesting outside.
   Law celebrated the Mass without disruption, saying in his homily that Italian, Polish and other pilgrims were inspiring in their huge tribute to John Paul. Nearly 3 million mourners flooded Rome for the pontiff's funeral last week.
   "In these incredible days, the pope continues to teach us what it means ... to be a follower of Christ," Law said, reading slowly in Italian. "Our faith has been reinforced."
   After the service, several worshippers from Europe said they had never heard of Law. American parishioners said they recognized him, but questioned whether the protest was appropriate right after the pope died.
   "It's not the time or the place," said Mary Beth Bauer, who lives in Maine and had followed the abuse crisis and Law's resignation.
• Locals incensed as Law re-emerges [2005 Law, Vatican] - RCC.
   Daily News Transcript, www.dailynews transcript.com/ localRegional/ view.bg?article id=54537 , By Peter Reuell / Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   MASSACHUSETTS - When he resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston in late 2002, many Catholics like Darrell Simpson were glad to see Cardinal Bernard Law go.
   For many, Law had become a divisive symbol of the clergy sex abuse crisis, and the efforts of church officials to keep the scandal under wraps.
   That is why Simpson and other advocates were upset yesterday to see Law again move to the forefront of the church with the celebration of one of a handful of mourning Masses for Pope John Paul II.
   "It's a painful reminder," Simpson said yesterday. "Here's a guy who was protecting a lot of priests...passing them from parish to parish without even letting pastors know about it, and now it seems like Rome is doing the same thing to him."
• Anger over Catholic Church's endorsement of Archbishop of Boston

   ABC (Australia), The World Today, Reporter: John Shovelan, 12:22:00, Tuesday, 12 April , 2005
   AUSTRALIA - ELEANOR HALL: In the United States, child abuse is also in the headlines with many American Catholics incensed that the disgraced former Archbishop of Boston is leading a memorial mass for the Pope in Rome.
   Cardinal Bernard Law was forced to resign as Archbishop of Boston because he permitted priests known to have sexually abused minors to be moved from parish to parish instead of being charged or disciplined.
   His critics say he was interested only in protecting the Church from scandal and not in protecting children. And they're now accusing the Vatican of turning its back on the victims as well.
   This report from our North America Correspondent John Shovelan.
   (Sounds of choir)
   JOHN SHOVELAN: Former Boston Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated mass in mourning for Pope John Paul in St Peter's Basilica. It was one of nine memorial masses for the Pope and it left many American Catholics, and in particular victims of sexual abuse by priests, feeling that the Vatican was once again ignoring their suffering and protest.
• Next pope likely won't see eye to eye with U.S. Catholics
   The Arizona Republic, by Michael Clancy, Apr. 12, 2005
   ROME - American Catholics hope the world's cardinals will keep them in their thoughts as they begin next week to choose Pope John Paul II's successor.
   The American Catholic Church faces a priest shortage and continues to struggle with the ongoing sex abuse scandal. Its congregations are increasingly polarized by issues such as celibacy, the possibility of female clergy, and societal standards regarding divorce, birth control and abortion.
   But these concerns don't necessarily mirror the Vatican's priorities for the worldwide church. "The way things are seen and interpreted in the United States are not necessarily seen and interpreted the same way internationally," said the Rev. Bob Rossi, a member of the Crosier religious order who worked in Phoenix in the late 1970s. "The church takes in very diverse views from very diverse cultures. What we may see as inappropriate may not be seen that way in the Vatican or elsewhere."
• Amid the mourning, some Vatican visitors begin to speculate
   Union-Tribune By Sandi Dolbee April 12, 2005
   ROME - The clouds are weeping this week. There are bursts of tears streaming from skies as gray as the massive columns framing St. Peter's Square.
   The Vatican is in mourning. But there also is a sense of anticipation, as cardinals prepare to begin casting ballots next week for who will replace Pope John Paul II, who was buried Friday beneath St. Peter's Basilica. ...
   The conclave begins Monday. And while the cardinal electors have embraced a vow of silence as far as media interviews are concerned, there are plenty of visitors more than willing to give their opinions about who might be the next pope.
   Meanwhile, the mourning and the anticipation were interrupted by controversy yesterday as a U.S. group representing priest sexual-abuse victims protested a decision to have Cardinal Bernard Law preside over yesterday's Mass honoring the pope.
   "We believe Cardinal Law's presence in leading the liturgy presents an image that only rubs salt in the wounds of American Catholics," said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
   Law resigned in disgrace from the Boston archdiocese in 2002 because of his handling of priests who sexually abused minors - including quietly transferring many from parish to parish despite their actions. After his resignation, Law was called to the Vatican to serve as archpriest of St. Mary Major, one of the basilicas in Rome.
   Blaine, accompanied by another SNAP member, stood in the rain with blue fliers yesterday afternoon calling for Law to step aside "and allow Catholics to grieve the loss of the Holy Father without the embarrassing, painful sight of Cardinal Law, the 'poster child' of complicit bishops."
   A Vatican spokesman cautioned not to read too much into Law's role. Nine daily Masses are being held at St. Peter's to honor the pope, and yesterday's service was supposed to feature the major basilicas here, according to Archbishop John Foley. Since the two other archpriests of those basilicas already had roles in pope-related events, "the only archpriest left was Cardinal Law," Foley said.
• Cardinal Law's standing
   The Boston Globe, April 12, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - FOR MANY Catholics in the Boston area, Cardinal Bernard Law's return to public prominence was a regrettable aspect of the enormous publicity that surrounded Pope John Paul II's funeral. Even more upsetting is that Law will be among the 115 cardinals who will choose the next pontiff. But Law's presence will have some value if it reminds the conclave, which begins next Monday, that the new pope needs to ensure that Catholic bishops throughout the world do not make the same mistakes that destroyed Law's leadership of the Boston archdiocese.
   In 1985, Law, who was then the archbishop of Boston, was warned of the dangers that the sexual abuse scandal posed to the church throughout the United States. Yet he acquiesced in an unspoken policy of silence and denial that discouraged action on complaints about pedophile priests. Only when the scandal broke with full force in 2002 did he appoint independent lay people to create policies that gave top priority to the protection of children.
   Law lost enormous power when he resigned as archbishop late that year. Yet the pope rewarded him with a pleasant retirement sinecure: appointment as chief priest of the St. Mary Major Basilica, one of the greatest churches in Rome. Many American Catholics thought it would have been more appropriate to send Law to a remote missionary post. Pope John Paul, though he denounced sexual abuse by priests, never grasped the gravity of the scandal in the United States.
• Sex-abuse victims group protests Law's role [2005 Law, Vatican] - RCC.
   The Journal News, www.thejournalnews. com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20050412/ NEWS12/504120 338/1028 , By GARY STERN, gstern@thejournalnews.com , April 12, 2005
   ROME - Cardinal Bernard Law may have been run out of Boston in December 2002 for protecting predator priests, but he was back in this city's most prestigious spotlight last night.
   The disgraced former archbishop of Boston - his formal title is archbishop emeritus - celebrated the fourth of nine daily Masses that are the centerpiece of the official mourning period for Pope John Paul II.
   Law, wearing long red vestments, walked slowly at the end of a long procession through St. Peter's Basilica as two advocates for victims of sexual abuse protested his role outside in St. Peter's Square.
   "We do not think this is the appropriate time to try to rehabilitate the image of Cardinal Law," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the largest group in the U.S. that represents victims of abuse.
• Oakland Diocese leaders detail sex abuse policies
   HAYWARD (CA) - Contra Costa Times By Randy Myers ~ April 12, 2005
   The bishop and the chancellor of the Oakland Diocese told jurors Monday that a new approach to handling clergy sex-abuse claims ensures that past mistakes won't be repeated.
   "We are trying to make amends for the past and make sure wrongs aren't done again," said Bishop Allen Vigneron in court.
   He and Sister Barbara Flannery, the diocese's chancellor, detailed for a jury of 10 women and two men the diocese programs available to survivors.
   The aid, coupled with the diocese's policy of putting accused clerics on leave pending a review board investigation, helps create a swifter and safer environment, they said.
   The diocesan leaders testified in the church's defense against a civil lawsuit brought by two former Antioch altar boys who say now-defrocked priest Robert Ponciroli abused them.
   The Thatchers said they were sexually molested while serving at St. Ignatius Church from 1979 to 1981.
• U.S. abuse scandal follows cardinal to papal memorial
   Chicago Tribune, By Steve Kloehn, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Manya A. Brachear in Rome and Margaret Ramirez in Chicago contributed to this report, Published April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- The image must have been jarring for many American Catholics: Cardinal Bernard Law, the embattled former archbishop of Boston, on a throne atop the tomb of St. Peter, where Pope John Paul II so often sat.
   On Monday, Law celebrated one of the nine special masses at St. Peter's Basilica mourning the late pope, and few of the worshipers in the vast basilica seemed to have any idea who he was.
   Vatican officials downplayed his presence, saying that as an archpriest of one of the papal basilicas in Rome--a largely ceremonial role he received after resigning the Boston post--he automatically was slated to preside over the mass.
   But for some Americans, who have come to regard Law as a symbol of the wrenching priest sexual-abuse scandal, his presence at the center of one of the church's most solemn moments, more than two years after leaving Boston in disgrace, provoked strong reactions.
   Two activists with a Chicago-based group for victims of priest sexual abuse traveled to Rome to protest Law's role. They intended to hand out leaflets, and they attracted many reporters but few passersby before Vatican security escorted one of the women from St. Peter's Square.
• Molestation victims protest Vatican Mass [Decades: Law, Vatican] - RCC.

   San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/article. cgi?file=/c/a/ 2005/04/12/ MNGLVC6OMN1.DTL , by Don Lattin, and Angela Frucci, Tuesday, April 12, 2005
   ROME -- Echoes of the child sexual-abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church reached Vatican City on Monday when two molestation victims appeared outside a key worship service led by Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who resigned in disgrace in December of 2002 amid a scandal over his role in covering up the crimes of priests.
   Before they could distribute leaflets calling Law the "poster child of complicit bishops" in the child sex abuse scandal, a dozen Italian police officers moved in, ordered them off Vatican City property and pushed them and the media about 8 feet, placing them outside Vatican territory and back into Italy.
   Barbara Blaine, president of the 5,000-member Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], arrived in Rome with Barbara Dorris, another Survivors Network leader, just hours before Law was to begin the Mass.
   She felt compelled to travel to the Vatican from her home in Chicago, she said, because of an "outpouring of outrage in the United States" after the announcement last week that Law would be the only American cardinal to lead one of nine special Masses for the late pope at St. Peter's Basilica.
   "We believe that Cardinal Law leading the liturgy only rubs salt in the wounds of American Catholics who at this moment don't need embarrassing and painful sex-abuse scandal material coming into the limelight," she said outside the basilica. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:55 AM]
• Small protest before Mass - RCC.
   Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, By Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, ~ April 12, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law presided over a Mass in mourning for Pope John Paul II on Monday, a few hours after Italian police broke up a peaceful demonstration by two American victims of sex abuse who were protesting the Vatican's choice of Law for the honor.
   Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the 5,000-member Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she flew to Rome because of an "outpouring of outrage in the United States" after the announcement last week that Law would be the only American cardinal to lead one of nine special Masses for the late pope at St. Peter's Basilica.
   Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after a judge unsealed court records showing that he and his subordinates had shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish without telling civil authorities or parishioners.
   Vatican officials have said Law was chosen automatically for the Mass because he is head priest of a major church in Rome, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:53 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue, April 12, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Priest jailed for sexually abusing altar boy. [1989-91 Fletcher; 1955-80 Garchow, Maloney] - RCC. 1 + 12 boys +.

CathNews (from Church Resources, Australia), www.cathnews. com/news/504/ 63.php , Apr 12, 2005
SYDNEY (NSW) Australia: Bishop Michael Malone

A Maitland-Newcastle Dioceses priest has been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail for child sex offences committed against an altar boy.
   The ABC reports that Fr James Patrick Fletcher was a parish priest in the Maitland District in the Hunter Valley of NSW. Last year he was found guilty of nine child sex offences relating to the repeated sexual abuse of a teenage boy between 1989 and 1991. The offences were committed in Maitland, Dungog and Patterson.
   In sentencing in the District Court in Sydney yesterday, judge Graham Armitage said Fletcher was a close friend of the victim's family. The family were parishioners at his church and often invited the 63-year-old into their home.
   Judge Armitage described Fletcher's crimes as a gross and inexcusable breach of trust, for which he had not expressed any remorse. He sentenced Fletcher to a total jail term of 10 years. He will be eligible for parole in 2012.
   Bishop Michael Malone of Maitland-Newcastle (pictured) said his primary consideration is the care to be extended to Fr Fletcher's victims. Stressing that he would accept the Court's judgment, he said it is not appropriate for him to comment on the sentence, "which will be considered inadequate by some or too severe by others".
   "Victims of sexual abuse and their families must be supported by their parish and community and not be subjected to victimisation or damaging innuendo," he said. "We must not let them be criticised or ostracised for coming forward; in fact they should be thanked for bringing abuse out into the open."
   Bishop Malone stated categorically that Fr Fletcher "will never again exercise ministry as a priest".
   "When James Fletcher is released from prison, it is the responsibility of the bishop of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to ensure close supervision and careful monitoring of his behaviour," he said.
   The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is establishing a diocesan-wide child protection unit to try to prevent instances of abuse within the Church. This unit will also offer support to all affected by abuse within the Church. The unit has a toll free telephone number - 1800 234 050 - which is available so that individuals and groups can discuss their response to this situation with professional facilitators or counsellors.

   Meanwhile the barrister acting on behalf of two former members of St John of God Order has told a Sydney Court that they should not be extradited to New Zealand to face serious child sex abuse charges because they would not get a fair trial.
   The Order has fought for more than a year to stop Fr Raymond John Garchow, 57, and Br Rodger Maloney, 69, being sent to New Zealand to face charges in relation to alleged systemic abuse of boys by several members of the religious order at a Christchurch school for orphans and intellectually disabled children, Marylands, between 1955 and 1980.
   In ordering the men's extradition in February, Magistrate Hugh Dillon likened the New Zealand case to a "war crimes' proceeding", saying the doubt lay not in proving the abuse had happened at the Marylands school, but who was involved and to what extent.
   The two had argued that they were too old and sick to be surrendered. Maloney faces 28 charges, including sodomy, of allegedly assaulting 12 boys as young as eight between 1971 and 1977 at Marylands. Garchow faces four charges of an indecent act on two pupils, aged between eight and 11, between 1971 and 1980.
   Yesterday, the men's defence barrister, Paul Byrne, SC, said the prospects of his clients obtaining a fair trial were diminished because New Zealand, unlike Australia, allows for joint trials.
   Pictured: Bishop Michael Malone of Maitland-Newcastle
   SOURCE
Priest jailed for sexually abusing altar boy (ABC News 11/4/05)
Statement from Bishop Michael Malone regarding Sentencing of James Fletcher (Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle 11/4/05)
   LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
Towards Healing protocol (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference)
St John of God Health Services
   ARCHIVE
NSW bishop apologises over abuse (CathNews 7/12/04)
NSW bishop goes public on priest charged with abuse (CathNews 15/5/03)
Employment Commission denies ombudsman investigating Church (CathNews 16/5/03)
Extra protection for John of God accused (CathNews 16/2/05)
St John of God priest and brother to be extradited (CathNews 15/2/05)
Brothers face extradition to NZ to face abuse charges (CathNews 1/12/03)
Order head says give abuse victims benefit of doubt (CathNews 14/10/03)
John of God Order condemns tactics of NZ law firm (CathNews 6/8/03)
Sex abuse complainant admits lying to get payout (CathNews 3/7/03)
Brother suspended over sex claims (CathNews 5/7/02)
St John of God Brothers to pay out $3.6 million (CathNews 13/6/02)
   MORE STORIES
NZ clergymen on sex charges begin appeal against extradition (ABC Radio Australia 11/4/05)
Priest sentenced to 7.5 years (news.com.au/Australian Associated Press 11/4/05)
Clergymen fight extradition (news.com.au/Australian Associated Press 11/4/05)
Ex-Catholic priest jailed for sex abuse (Sydney Morning Herald/Australian Associated Press 12/4/05)
Clergy won't get fair trial: barrister (Sydney Morning Herald 12/4/05)
HAVE YOUR SAY   Click here [Apr 12, 2005]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed, April 13, 2005 edition follows:-
• Sicilian priest to face trial on child abuse charges

   The New Zealand Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10120026 , 5.20pm, Apr.04.05
   PALERMO, SICILY - One of Italy's most famous anti-Mafia priests will stand trial on charges of child molestation, a Sicilian magistrate ruled today.
   Father Paolo Turturro, who ran a parish in one of Palermo's toughest neighbourhoods near the city's main Mafia prison and often led demonstrations of children against organised crime, is accused of sexually abusing two minors.
   Turturro has always proclaimed his innocence.
   "I am serene. I trust my soul to God but I have faith in justice," he said on leaving the courtroom, according to one of his lawyers.
   The trial will start on May 19 in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, where Turturro lived until magistrates told him in 2003 that he had to leave the city while the charges were investigated. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:10 PM]
• Talk of plea deal for priest charged in child porn case - RCC.
   Democrat and Chronicle, by Gary Craig, April 12, 2005
   ROCHESTER (NY) - A lawyer for the Rev. Michael Volino and federal prosecutors are discussing a possible plea agreement to charges that Volino possessed child pornography.
   A federal magistrate judge today agreed to postpone a hearing for Volino, a Catholic priest, while plea negotiations continue. Plea negotiations are common in federal court cases.
• Cardinal offense [Law, Ratzinger] - RCC.
   Boston Phoenix, www.bostonphoenix. com/boston/news _features/editorial/ documents/04607577 .asp , ~ April 13, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - THE PROMINENT role that the Vatican has bestowed upon Bernard Cardinal Law following the death of Pope John Paul II goes far beyond the merely inappropriate. It is repulsive and offensive, and it makes you wonder whether the Catholic Church has learned anything following the pedophile-priest scandals of the past four years.
   Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in late 2002, following revelations that he had covered up the crimes of his Roman-collared rapists, and had reassigned many of them to new parishes where, inevitably, they raped again. His departure came nearly two long years after the first of a series of groundbreaking reports in the Boston Phoenix on Law's culpability in the sexual-abuse crisis.
   (An archive of the Phoenix's coverage is online at www.bostonphoenix.com/pages/cardinal.asp.) The Boston Globe won the Pulitzer Prize for public service by exposing the extent of Law's culpability. Yet there Law was this past Monday, saying a mass of mourning for the pope at St. Peter's Basilica, a clear signal that he remains a respected member of the Catholic hierarchy.
   John Paul's life has justifiably been celebrated for his many accomplishments: his courageous opposition to communism, his unprecedented outreach to the Jewish community, his opposition to unjust wars (including the war in Iraq), and his advocacy of such social-justice causes as abolition of the death penalty.
   Within the Church, though, his record was a bitter disappointment to progressives. His persecution of gay and lesbian Catholics, his refusal to ordain women and married men, and his continued opposition to birth control - even to the point of condemning the use of condoms to prevent AIDS - all speak to another, less attractive side of his papacy.
   Nowhere, though, was the pope more in the wrong than in his passive approach to sexual abuse. John Paul made an example out of Cardinal Law, but it was precisely the wrong kind of example. Law was rewarded with a cushy sinecure in Rome and placed in a position where he could re-emerge, as he now has. The next pope has to get it right when it comes to pedophile priests. He could start by making a very different kind of example of Law, a preening, arrogant man whose willful negligence destroyed so many lives - and who virtually bankrupted the archdiocese for which he was morally, spiritually, and financially responsible. [Emphasis added]
• Jury Awards Brothers Nearly $2 Million
   KGO, http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/041305_nw_oakabuse.html , Apr. 13, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) (AP) - Two brothers molested by a priest more than two decades ago were awarded nearly $2 million in damages by a jury Wednesday.
   The case involving the abuse of Bob and Tom Thatcher was closely watched because it is the first in a series of sex-abuse lawsuits to seek punitive damages.
   Bob Thatcher, 34, was awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages and $875,000 in punitive damages. His brother Tom, 33, was awarded $180,000 in compensatory damages and no punitive damages were sought in his case.
   While the total award of $1.93 million was far less than the $27 million plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons asked for in closing arguments, he said he was pleased the jury ruled that the Oakland Diocese acted with malice and awarded punitive damages.
• U.S. Catholics, Vatican differ on sex-abuse scandal
   Contra Costa Times By KEN DILANIAN Knight Ridder Newspapers, ~ April 13, 2005
   ROME - The decision by Vatican officials to have Cardinal Bernard Law preside over a high-profile mourning Mass for the late pope is the latest example of the chasm that separates how senior Vatican officials view the priest sex-abuse scandal and the way many American Catholics see it.
   While Pope John Paul II and other senior Vatican officials repeatedly [?] condemned child sex abuse by priests and endorsed American bishops' efforts to combat it, church officials in Rome never saw the revelations as the kind of confidence-shattering, life-changing event that many Americans did.
   Some senior church officials - including Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez, who's considered a strong papal candidate - continually suggested that the scandal was a creation of the American news media.
   "We all know that Ted Turner is openly anti-Catholic, and he is the owner not just of CNN but of Time Warner," Rodriguez said inaccurately in May 2002, in a broadside accusing the former CNN chairman and U.S. news outlets of "persecuting" the church. He suggested it was because of the Vatican's pro-Palestinian outlook. Rodriguez continues to stand by his remarks.
• Jury Awards Nearly $2 Million to Hayward Brothers Molested by Priest - RCC.
   KXTV, ~ April 13, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - A Hayward jury has awarded $1.93 million in compensatory and punitive damages to two brothers who were molested as alter boys by an Antioch priest.
   The jury decided the Oakland Diocese was responsible for 60 percent of the award and Rev. Robert Ponciroli for 40 percent.
   The jury determined the diocese acted with malice in deciding the punitive damages.
   Earlier this month the jury found Ponciroli guilty of molesting the Hayward brothers when he served at St. Ignatious Catholic Church in Antioch. The boys were about nine and 10 years old when the sexual abuse occurred, about 25 years ago.
• Catholic Church Prays for More Priests - RCC.

   IRELAND - ObviousNews.com ; ~ April 13, 2005
   Patrick Donnelly thought he might like to be a teacher, or maybe a chef. Then the Roman Catholic priesthood captured his imagination - an increasingly rare event in this former bastion of the faith.
   In much of Europe and North America, there aren't enough Patrick Donnellys anymore. The winds of social change and sex abuse scandals have made the priesthood - with its lifetime commitment and mandatory celibacy - an unpopular career.
   While the number of Catholics jumped to more than 1 billion around the globe during John Paul II's 26-year papacy, the number of new priests didn't keep pace. Reversing the decline among American and European men will be a major challenge for the next pope.
• 2 priests, 1 former cleric leave jobs abroad after News report [Rovira, Voss, Urbina] - RCC.

   The Dallas Morning News, By BROOKS EGERTON and BRENDAN M. CASE / 07:28 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 13, 2005
   Three high-profile Catholics have left their jobs abroad since The Dallas Morning News reported recently that they had sexually abused children while serving as priests in the United States.
   The three, who could not be located for comment, are:

Monsignor Ivan Rovira, who officials say has resigned as rector of a Catholic university in Matamoros, Mexico, and quit celebrating Mass at the cathedral there. In 2002, he had left the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande, after being accused of rape and admitting to church superiors that he had abused a boy.

Former priest Ron Voss, who was running a charity in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that helps poor young people there and U.S. Catholic missionaries. He had left Lafayette, Ind., in the 1980s after being accused of abuse and later was removed from the priesthood after telling the Vatican that he had molested many boys.

The Rev. José Luis Urbina, a pastor in the northwestern Mexico city of Navojoa. He had fled Sacramento, Calif., in 1989 after pleading guilty to abusing a boy but before he could be sentenced.
There was no word Wednesday on whether Mr. Voss and Father Urbina might return to their jobs at some point.
A woman who answered the phone recently at Mr. Voss' Port-au-Prince charity said she was now running it but declined to identify herself or comment further. Father Urbina's Mexican bishop could not be reached for comment.
• Sex Abuse Victims Target Fugitive Priests

   TheBostonChannel.com ; www.theboston channel.com/ news/4375695/ detail.html , UPDATED: 1:59 pm EDT April 13, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- American victims of clergy sex abuse urged church officials Wednesday to help extradite accused priests who fled to their religious orders in Rome or to foreign countries to escape punishment.
   Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said religious leaders have a moral obligation to help prosecutors in these cases, so children are not at risk.
   "The place where these men should be is almost anywhere except Rome," said Blaine, speaking at a news conference in a hotel near St. Peter's Square. "This is not about punishment. This is merely about prevention."
   The Dallas Morning News reported last year that some religious orders were sheltering accused priests in Rome. They include clergymen who had been criminally charged in the United States or who had admitted molesting young people years before and now face additional claims.
   The newspaper also found evidence of several priests accused of abuse in one country who then moved to another, where they were working in Roman Catholic churches or ministries.
• Suit claims clergy victims ignored
   Albany Times Union By BRIAN NEARING, First published: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
   ALBANY (NY) -- Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and a counseling program for victims of clergy sexual abuse were named in a lawsuit that accused Spitzer of ignoring victims' calls to investigate alleged misconduct and conspiracy by Catholic leaders.
   Attorney John Aretakis filed the suit April 7 in U.S. District Court on behalf of three victims: Randall Sweringen, a 39-year-old former monk who was sexually abused by a priest while a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; David Wilson; and a man identified as John Doe.
   The lawsuit also names the New York State Dispute Resolution Association, which set up a mediation service for people who were abused by current or former priests of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese. The diocese asked the association to create the program.
   On Tuesday, Aretakis criticized Spitzer, saying, "The requests of clergy abuse victims have fallen on deaf ears."
• In Rome, Cardinal Law opens old wounds
   ROME - Daily Record By Abbott Koloff, ~ April 13, 2005
   Barbara Blaine was sitting in the massive St. Peter's Basilica, close enough to see Cardinal Bernard Law at the altar but too far away to see his face. She had been standing outside in the rain before the Mass, handing out leaflets, telling people from all over the world about Law's role in the American church scandal.
   She told them how Law, when he was in charge of the Boston Archdiocese, sent abusive priests from one parish to another, essentially allowing them to sexually abuse more and more children until there were hundreds of victims. She said a lot of people in St. Peter's Square had never heard of Law. They knew only a little about the abuse scandal in the American Church. Some members of the Italian press asked Blaine why victims just didn't forgive Law, since he has apologized, and move on with their lives.
   She told them her protest was not about forgiveness.
   "It's about preventing more pain," Blaine, the founder of the national group Survivors of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, said in a telephone interview from Rome on Tuesday.
• California Church Abuse Victims Due $27 Million
   Sacramento Union By Kim Curtis, The Associated Press Published: April 13, 2005
   HAYWARD, Calif.-Two brothers molested by a priest more than two decades ago should be awarded $27 million in damages, their lawyer argued in a case that has been closely watched because it is the first in a series of sex-abuse lawsuits to seek punitive damages.
   Legal observers have suggested that a significant award for the plaintiffs could force the Roman Catholic Church to settle dozens of lawsuits filed against Northern California dioceses.
   In closing arguments Tuesday, plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons said the church knew the Rev. Robert Ponciroli was sexually abusing children but failed to stop him.
   "Now, many years later, the day of judgment is at hand," he told jurors. "You are the representatives of the community. You've joined together as the conscience of a community where a conscience is needed."
   The case was brought by Bob and Tom Thatcher, who sat next to each other in the front row of the packed gallery.
• 'Scarborough Country'
   MSNBC, ~ April 13, 2005
   JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Tonight, cardinals jam into pre-conclave conferences while charges of a sex scandal cover-up reverberate through the Vatican.
   Welcome to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, no passport required and only common sense allowed.
   As millions of pilgrims stream out of the Eternal City this weekend, cardinals get down to the business of preparing to pick the next pope. Meanwhile, protesters shout cover-up outside a Vatican mass held in honor of Pope John Paul II. Inside, Boston's disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law is inside leading the service. Is the Vatican rubbing salt in the wounds of sex victims, as protesters claim?
   Plus, are the pope and Cardinal Law merely the latest victims of anti-Christian bias? And are conservative Christians unfairly targeted by the mainstream press, like the pope this past weekend? That debate tonight.
• Oakland Diocese Sued for $27 Million - RCC.
   KRON, www.kron4.com/ Global/story. asp?S=3202385 &nav=5D7lYb0R , Posted: 7:28 p.m., April 12, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) (BCN) -- In what may be the first trial of its kind in the U.S., the attorney for two former Antioch altar boys asked jurors for up to $27 million in damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland for allowing a priest to molest them.
   In his closing argument in a case brought by brothers Robert and Tom Thatcher in Alameda County Superior Court, their attorney, Rick Simons, said the diocese "bears full responsibility" for the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of the Rev. Robert Ponciroli about 25 years ago.
   Simons said the diocese assigned Ponciroli to St. Ignatius Church in Antioch in 1979 even though they knew he had a long history as a child molester.
   Instead of sending a model priest to the new parish, by assigning Ponciroli the diocese "sent a man with the language and temperament of a sailor and the hands of a child molester," Simons said.
• Priest abuse victims want more time [1960s-70s Nuedling] - RCC.
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By GINA BARTON gbarton@journalsentinel.com Posted April 12, 2005
   FOND DU LAC (WI) - The state Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a case that could make it easier for people abused by priests to sue the church.
   The suit arose out of the alleged abuse of at least 10 children in the 1960s and 1970s by Father George Nuedling, who died in 1994. In 2002, the 10 sued the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud.
   In July 2003, the state Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the suit could not move forward because the statute of limitations had expired. The plaintiffs, who attended Milwaukee-area churches where Nuedling pastored some 40 years ago, claimed they were abused between the ages of 9 and 14. State law at the time required them to take legal action within a year of turning 21.
   The statute of limitations and a new state law that gives child sexual abuse survivors more time to take legal action were topics of discussion Tuesday. The case was heard in Fond du Lac as part of a "traveling court" program designed to make the Supreme Court more accessible to citizens.
   The suit was filed in 2002 because that is when the plaintiffs discovered evidence that the Archdiocese had known about Nuedling's pedophilia for at least 20 years, according to Pennsylvania attorney Marci Hamilton, who argued for the plaintiff.
• Diocese official settles abuse lawsuit [Shafer] - RCC.
   DAVENPORT (IA) - Quad-City Times By Todd Ruger, ~ April 13, 2005
   The vicar general, who holds one of the top administrative positions in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, has settled a 2003 lawsuit filed against him by a man alleging sexual abuse more than 30 years ago, attorneys for the two sides confirmed Tuesday.
   A trial in the Lee County, Iowa, lawsuit filed against Monsignor Drake Shafer was scheduled to begin Monday, but the county court administrator's office said Tuesday it has been notified that the case was settled last week.
   The settlement has not been filed in district court, but the plaintiff's attorney, Craig Levien, and Shafer's attorney, Peter Fieweger, confirmed that it has been reached.
   "Drake Shafer agreed to pay the cost of past mental health counseling (for the plaintiff)," Levien said. "I'm not going to release the amount."
• Court protects 'dirty' priests
   News 24, 07:48 Apr/13/2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) (SA) - The California Supreme Court temporarily blocked the release of summaries of personnel files of 117 priests accused of molestation.
   The move on Tuesday came just minutes before the documents were to become public on the Los Angeles Archdiocese website, publicly identifying for the first time some accused priests.
   The files also had been expected to provide an unprecedented look at how the archdiocese handled suspected child molesters - when the church was told of alleged misconduct, who made the report and what action was taken.
   The state Supreme Court intervened less than 15 minutes before the files were to be released by sending the case back to the appeals court that had cleared the way for the material to be made public, said Donald Steier, an attorney who represents 26 of the priests.
• Dueling notions on priest scandal
   Philadelphia Inquirer By Ken Dilanian, ~ April 13, 2005
   ROME - The Vatican's decision to have Cardinal Bernard Law preside at a high-profile mourning Mass for Pope John Paul II on Monday is the latest example of the disconnect between senior church officials and many U.S. Catholics on the priest-abuse scandal.
   While the Pope and other senior Vatican officials repeatedly [?]condemned child sex abuse by priests and endorsed efforts by American bishops to combat it, they never saw the revelations of recent years as the enormous, confidence-shattering event that many Americans did, Vatican-watchers say.
   "For Americans..., it takes a very small thing to kind of reopen a wound," said the Rev. Thomas Williams, the American dean of the school of theology at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. "Here in Rome, it's considered basically over and done with."
   Of 11 American cardinals, only Philadelphia's Justin Rigali, who spent 33 years working in the Vatican, attended the Monday Mass. Rigali's spokeswoman said she was unable to reach him in Rome for comment last night.
• Court Blocks Church From Releasing Priest Abuse Files [2005 Some clergy of Los Angeles Archdiocese] - RCC.
   Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/ news/local/la-me -church13apr13,1, 6709970.story?coll =la-headlines -california ; By Jean Guccione, ~ April 13, 2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - The California Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles from releasing summaries of the confidential personnel files of more than 100 priests accused of molesting children.
   A lawyer for several priests asked the court to stop the planned disclosure of the documents, which would have identified when church officials became aware of individual abuse allegations, and what, if any, action was taken.
   He argued that release of the documents, known as proffers, would violate the priests' privacy rights as well as laws that protect confidential communications between attorneys and psychotherapists and their clients.
   The summaries were prepared by lawyers for the archdiocese as part of their efforts to resolve 544 claims against the church for failing to protect children from sexually predatory priests.
• Three U.S. cardinals take a stand sensitive to victims of sexual abuse [Law, Rigali] - RCC.
   The Morning Call, ~ April 13, 2005
   When a primary figure in the priest sexual-abuse scandal in America was chosen to lead one of nine public masses to memorialize Pope John Paul II in Rome, the decision stunned some U.S. cardinals and upset the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. To their credit, however, three of the seven cardinals snubbed the Mass led Monday by Boston's disgraced former archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law. The message was clear: It is hurtful to survivors of sexual abuse by priests to give Cardinal Law the honor of leading such an important Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
   All of the cardinals have agreed not to talk to the media in the week leading up to the conclave to choose the next pope. However, U.S. Catholic sources told the Los Angeles Times for a story Tuesday that three cardinals avoided the Mass because of Cardinal Law's notoriety: Edward M. Egan of New York, Francis E. George of Chicago and Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles. Aides for three others said they had scheduling conflicts or didn't attend because it wasn't mandatory. Justin F. Rigali of Philadelphia was the only U.S. cardinal to attend.
   The pope accepted Cardinal Law's resignation as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after disclosures that pedophile priests had been transferred from parish to parish in his jurisdiction, where they then abused more children. Cardinal Law was transferred last year to the Vatican, where the pope gave him the honorary job of archpriest of one of Rome's four basilicas, St. Mary Major.
• Court hears suit against Milwaukee Archdiocese
   Pioneer Press BY JR ROSS Associated Press, ~ April 13, 2005
   FOND DU LAC, Wis. - A man who says he was abused by a Catholic priest in the 1960s should be allowed to pursue his lawsuit against the Milwaukee Archdiocese because it covered up for decades that it was complicit in the abuse, an attorney for the man told the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday.
   The statute of limitations in place at the time of the alleged abuse cut off the man's ability to sue in 1969, when he reached the age of 21.
   But Marci Hamilton, a New York law professor representing him, said the man did not learn until 2002 that the archdiocese knew about abuse allegations against the Rev. George Nuedling and moved him between parishes despite the allegations.
   Attorney John Rothstein, representing the archdiocese, countered it would be unfair to force the archdiocese to defend itself against allegations about a priest who died 11 years ago.
• Victims of Catholic clergy sex abuse want justice
   FOND DU LAC (WI) - The Reporter By Sharon Roznik sroznik@fdlreporter.com ; ~ April 13, 2005
   Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are hopeful that justice will some day prevail after the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the case of "John Doe 67" and his lawsuit against the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
   The Supreme Court, in a "Justice on Wheels" appearance in Fond du Lac, heard arguments in a packed courtroom over legal rulings made in the mid-1990s that barred Wisconsin victims of clergy from using the courts to expose and remove predators.
   Members of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said Wisconsin is alone in the nation in presenting such legal obstacles to victims. They gathered along with supporters and their families to state their case during a press conference held in the lobby of the City County Government Center.
   Peter Isely, Midwest coordinator for SNAP, spoke of his abuse from ages 13 to 15 at the hands of a Capuchin priest while he was attending St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary.
• Tune In to Last Gasps of Patriarchy in Rome
   Women's News, ~ April 13, 2005
   ROME (WOMENSENEWS)--Not since medieval times has the transition of power in Rome commanded such attention from those in power as well as from common people.
   We watched Act I, death of a holy man, followed by Act II, the world's great and humble paying tribute to Pope John Paul II, whose contributions earned international respect. Now we await Act III, election of a new pope. ...
   And it's likely that the immense, unavoidable news coverage of the Vatican this month will make male control of ecclesial power ever more visible and obviously out of step with the world.
   U.S. Catholics, in particular, may have a strong reaction to the spectacle of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, forced to resign as head of the Boston archdiocese in the sexual abuse scandal, given the honor of leading a memorial Mass for the pope from the altar of St. Peter's Basilica.
• Oakland Diocese case goes to jury [Ponciroli, Oakland Diocese] - RCC.
   Contra Costa Times, www.contracosta times.com/mld/ cctimes/news/local/ states/california/ counties/alameda _county/11381620.htm ; By Randy Myers, ~ April 13, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - A jury on Tuesday began pondering how much the Diocese of Oakland should pay in damages to two brothers who were molested in an Antioch church - $27 million, as their attorney asked, or up to $400,000 as a church lawyer argued.
   The closely watched trial sped closer to a verdict Tuesday as the lawyers forcefully delivered closing arguments and assessed how much the diocese should pay Robert and Tom Thatcher.
   Before going to trial, the diocese conceded it had been negligent in regard to former priest Robert Ponciroli who was defrocked in 1995 and now lives in Florida.
   The jury of 10 women and two men, five of whom identify as Catholic, will resume their deliberations this morning in the landmark civil trial, one of the more than 150 clergy sex abuse cases involving Northern California dioceses.
• Calif. Court Blocks Release of Priest Info
   The Ledger By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Writer, ~ April 13, 2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) Only minutes before the personnel files of 117 priests accused of molestation were to be released to the public on the Internet, the state Supreme Court stepped in to halt the process without explaining why.
   The files from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles had been expected to provide an unprecedented look at how the archdiocese handled suspected child molesters by revealing when the church learned of alleged misconduct, who made the report and what action was taken, as well as the identity of some accused priests whose names have not been disclosed.
   But the state Supreme Court intervened less than 15 minutes before the information was to be made public Tuesday afternoon, sending the case back to the appeals court that had cleared the way for the release.
   The court did not immediately release details of its decision.
• Release of church records fought
   CALIFORNIA - Orange County Register By CHRIS KNAP ~ April 13, 2005
   The dioceses of Orange and Los Angeles are now agreeing to release details from the files of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse while some of the priests themselves are hiring lawyers to keep the documents secret.
   Earlier this year, the Diocese of Orange paid $100 million to settle abuse claims by 94 plaintiffs, and Bishop Tod Brown agreed that the church would not oppose the release of their personnel files. That was a linchpin of the settlement agreement.
   But in the past weeks, eight people accused of sexual abuse in Orange County have asked a judge to block the release of documents.
   The eight include the Rev. Richard Delahunty, the only priest accused of abuse who is still in active ministry in Orange County; former priest Michael Harris, a popular high school principal accused of abuse by a dozen former students; and Thomas Hodgman, a music teacher accused of impregnating a student.
   The diocese has apologized and paid money to all the victims. But the settlement was not a legal adjudication of guilt. Lawyers for the diocese have said they believed some cases were not well-founded. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:54 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker Wed, April 13, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu, April 14, 2005 edition follows:-
• Clergy-abuse activist heads to Rome

   The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/ news/local/massa chusetts/articles/ 2005/04/14/ psychiatrist _says_killer _ross _mentally _unfit [???] , April 14, 2005
   MASSACHUSETTS - Bill Gately, a Plymouth resident and New England coordinator of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, plans to fly to Rome today to serve as a visual reminder of clergy abuse and join the campaign against Cardinal Bernard Law, who said a Mass after the pope's funeral.
   Gately said he hopes his presence in Rome serves as evidence that the problem is not resolved. Gately said he was disappointed that Law was allowed to say Mass, even though the cardinal resigned from his position as head of the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002 amid reports of his failure to remove abusive priests.
   "They are canonizing, or trying to canonize, a man who presided over the largest child sex ring on the planet," Gately said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:38 AM]
• From the Vatican to Neverland [1969-74; Law, John Paul II] - RCC.
   ZNet, www.zmag.org/ content/showarticle. cfm?SectionID =91&ItemID=7636 , by Tom Turnipseed, April 13, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - "He is like a poster child for the sex abuse scandal" said Barbara Blaine in describing Cardinal Bernard Law who gave a memorial mass for Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome this week. Ms. Blaine is a U. S. Catholic who was in Rome as a representative of the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests to protest.
   Ms. Blaine says she was sexually abused as a child by her parish priest from 1969 to 1974. Cardinal Law is the former archbishop of Boston who was forced to resign in 2002 because he purposefully moved priests from parish to parish when he knew they were sexually abusing minors in their parish. Cardinal Law appeared to be an enabler of priests involved in criminal activity as well as complicit in a criminal conspiracy.
   The sex scandal in the Boston diocese implicated dozens of priests who were sexually abusive to their young parishioners and resulted in Cardinal Law being named in over 500 lawsuits.
   The disturbing stories of sex among the sacred and cover-ups by higher-ups across the U.S. exploded in the media. Cardinal Law went on "retreat" and then quietly became chaplain to the Sisters of Mercy of Alma in Clinton, Maryland.
   In a startling rebuke to elemental principles of justice Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Law as the archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in the holy city of Rome on May 27, 2004.
   Living in a classical Roman apartment on a $12,000 monthly stipend, Cardinal Law was selected for the honor of celebrating mass on one of the nine days of mourning for Pope John Paul II and will now join the other Cardinals in choosing the next Pope.
   Throughout human history, religious dogma has distorted the beauty and reality of human sexuality into a doctrine of guilt and repression. The unreal, unrelenting and misguided view of human sexuality of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is mind-boggling.
   Their stridently pedantic pedagogy on priesthood celibacy, divorce, birth control, sex out-of-wedlock and masturbation is in desperate need of a real-world update. While John Paul II was a Pope of peace, outreach and understanding among the religions and nations of the world he was certainly a traditionalist on human sexuality. [Bolding added]
• Church must protect youth if it wants to attract more - RCC.
   Chicago Sun-Times BY ANDREW GREELEY, April 14, 2005
   ROME - "Sex abuse, as terrible as it is," an American priest said here the other day, "ought not to be part of the media coverage of the conclave. It's an American issue and only a small part of the problems of the universal church."
   I figured my ears must be playing tricks again. Sexual abuse of one sort or another is, alas, a universal problem. It has existed always and everywhere. Sexual abuse of children by priests happens wherever there are priests and children. It has become a public problem in the United States (and other countries like Britain and Ireland where common law prevails) only because the American media and the American legal system have forced the church to stop hiding it. For which I say thank God.
   The crisis in the United States has revealed dangerous weaknesses in the structure and culture of the Catholic Church which exist everywhere and to which the next pope must pay serious attention (not that I expect that he will). How can the cardinal electors speak about finding a pope who will appeal to young people if the pope is unwilling to impose those reforms that will protect young people from abuse?
   The current structures of Catholicism do not provide a system of responsibility and accountability for bishops -- save for the ad hoc system existing now in the United States. Only the hapless Cardinal Bernard Law has been forced out of office (and is viewed here as a victim of the American media and activist laity) for reassigning abusive priests.
   The existing clerical culture insists on the need to protect priests, almost at all costs. If the founder of the Legionaries of Christ were an American priest he would have been removed from active duty, given the strength of the allegations against him. Here he was a personal friend of the late pope and immune from serious investigation. [Emphasis added.]
• A Cornucopia of Death - RCC.
   AlterNet ; By Arianna Huffington, Posted April 12, 2005.
   The media have outed themselves as the ultimate necrophiliacs. I expect CNN and Forest Lawn to announce a sponsorship agreement any day now.
   Paint the last month black. It's been an orgy of mourning; a cornucopia of death. We've had Terri Schiavo, Pope John Paul, Prince Rainier, and Charles and Camilla's wedding--which felt as grim as any funeral. All brought to us in no-longer-living color. If nothing else, the media have outed themselves as the ultimate necrophiliacs. I expect CNN and Forest Lawn to announce a sponsorship agreement any day now.
   The pope's interminable interment was the magenta-colored cherry on the death sundae. The TV coverage was so over-the-top and utterly uncritical, it was as if John Paul had been, well, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Or, at least, Jim Caviezel.
   Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that the last week should have been spent trashing the late pontiff. His many achievements -- taking on communism, embracing the Third World, speaking out for the poor, and standing up against war -- surely deserved recognition and praise. But you'd think the wall-to-wall coverage would have included some serious discussion of the two tragic failures of his reign: his woeful mishandling of the church's child molestation scandal, and how his archaic position on condoms contributed to the deaths of millions of people, especially in Africa.
   The molestation outrage is a black mark that can't be whitewashed.
   Over 11,000 children were sexually abused and close to $1 billion in settlement money has been paid out, but the pope did not go much beyond decrying "the sins of some of our brothers."
   He never met with any victims, he never offered practical solutions to dealing with the problem, he never addressed the decades-long cover-up of the abuse. He even rejected a "zero tolerance" policy calling for the immediate removal of molester-priests, concerned that it was too harsh. [Bolding added]
• Choir from Houston debated performing at cardinal's Mass - RCC.
   Houston Chronicle, By CHARLES WARD, ~ April 14, 2005
   VATICAN CITY and HOUSTON (TX) - A Houston choir that sang for Monday's mourning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica first debated whether to participate after learning the celebrant would be Cardinal Bernard Law.
   "It was a tremendously moving ceremony for the choir no matter who the celebrant was," St. Anne Catholic Community choir director Jim Ross said after the Mass. "The church is bigger than any one person, saint or sinner."
   As part of a long-planned trip, the St. Anne choir had been scheduled to sing the Vigil Mass on Saturday at St. Peter's, but Vatican officials canceled that after the death of Pope John Paul II. They agreed to let the ensemble sing Monday.
   The news that the former cardinal of the Boston Archdiocese would be the celebrant prompted intense concern among choir members, Ross said Monday by phone from Rome.
   But after discussions Saturday evening and Sunday morning, choir members reached a consensus decision to accept the unique opportunity.
   "We are on a pilgrimage to witness through our music. We felt privileged to be part of ... church history," Ross said of their decision.
• Disgraced Greek bishop faces trial on money laundering charges

   North County Times, Associated Press, ~ April 14, 2005
   ATHENS, Greece -- A senior Greek Orthodox bishop who is being investigated by church and state authorities has been ordered to stand trial on money laundering charges, court officials said Wednesday.
   Metropolitan Bishop Panteleimon of Attica was charged with laundering money and embezzling about $376,500 from a monastery near Athens between 1996 and 1997. No trial date has been set.
   If convicted on both charges, he faces more than 10 years in prison. The indictments come nearly three months after the church began investigating allegations of sex and corruption scandals in its ranks.
• Victims: Accused priests in Rome [Hennes (Salvatorian); Vatican] - RCC. 6 abuser priests.

   Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly.com/ mld/inquirer/ news/nation/ 11387705.htm , By Ken Dilanian, ~ April 14, 2005
   ROME - A pair of American victims of clerical sex abuse yesterday called on church officials to stop "sheltering" accused priests who have been living near the Vatican.
   At a news conference a block from St. Peter's Square, Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, cited a newspaper investigation that located, here in Catholicism's world capital, six priests accused or convicted of sex abuse in the United States.
   Blaine urged church leaders to use their moral authority to persuade the men to return to face justice.
   "The place where these men should be is almost anywhere except Rome," she said. "It's important that no more children be abused."
   One of the clerics, the Rev. Joseph Hennes, has been indicted on child sex charges in Phoenix. In September, Hennes was found living steps from St. Peter's Square at the headquarters of the Salvatorian religious order, according to The Dallas Morning News, which has been tracking dozens of accused priests living abroad.
   The Maricopa County prosecutor's office is seeking to extradite Hennes, a process that could take years. A letter sent to the Vatican's secretary of state in 2003 was sent back marked "refused by the rightful addressee," Barnett Lotstein, a special assistant county prosecutor, said yesterday. [Bolding added]
• Priest Resigns [Rovira, Urbina] - RCC university rector accused.

   TEXAS - KGBT, April 14, 2005
   - A former priest accused of sexually abusing a boy in the Brownsville diocese has resigned as rector of a Catholic university in Mexico.
   The Dallas Morning News says the reverend Ivan Rovira and two other men accused of abusing children while serving as priests in the United States have left their jobs abroad.
   The moves follow earlier reports of their abuse allegations.
   The reverend Jose Luis Urbina had been working until recently in Mexico.
• Verdict: Diocese must pay for abuse - RCC.
   The Argus, By Matt O'Brien, ~ April 14, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - A jury awarded $1.93 million in damages on Wednesday to two brothers who were abused by an East Bay priest more than 20 years ago. The jury of 10 women and two men unanimously found that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland acted with "malice" by allowing a pedophile priest, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, to molest the former Antioch altar boys.
   But the dollar amount jurors awarded Bob Thatcher and Tom Thatcher was significantly lower than the $27 million their lawyer asked for during the trial's closing arguments Tuesday.
   The brothers and their lawyers downplayed the significance of the money awards and called the verdict a clear victory for victims of clergy abuse.
   "We weren't here for money," said Bob Thatcher, 34, speaking outside a courtroom in the Hayward Hall of Justice with his 33-year-old brother and several lawyers in tow.
• Abuse panelist has past [Crocker] - Disciples of Christ.
   The Dallas Morning News, By GRETEL C. KOVACH / Wednesday, April 13, 2005
   DALLAS (TX) - Unless the Rev. Larry Joe Crocker resigns or charges of molesting a boy in his Dallas congregation are dropped, a regional church committee is likely to decide his future in the ministry.
   But the committee representing the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Southwest includes a voting member who has admitted to sexual misconduct with a youth, The Dallas Morning News has learned.
   Some clergy, parishioners and victims of clergy abuse say the Rev. Dan Carroll's membership on the committee indicates that some Protestant church leaders in Texas are not dealing aggressively with sexual misconduct in their ranks.
   Lakeview Christian Church in Dallas could decide to retain Mr. Crocker, the 56-year-old pastor from Garland who was charged last month with two counts of indecency with a child by contact, regardless of police or regional church findings.
   But the Southwest region's committee on ministry could revoke his good standing with the denomination, making it harder for him to find a job elsewhere.
• Pastor in indecency case defended by some [Crocker] - Lakeview Christian Church.
   The Dallas Morning News, By GRETEL C. KOVACH / Thursday, April 14, 2005
   DALLAS (TX) - When a Dallas pastor was arrested last month on suspicion of molesting a boy in his congregation, some insisted the charge was a lie. Others who knew the minister praised God that he had "finally been stopped."
   The Rev. Larry Joe Crocker, the 56-year-old pastor of Lakeview Christian Church in Dallas, was arrested March 16 at his Garland home and charged with two counts of indecency with a child by contact. He denies the charges.
   Almost 20 years ago, Mr. Crocker, a Disciples of Christ pastor, was asked to resign from another Texas church after a boy said the pastor had persuaded him to swim naked together in the church baptistery, said an elder and a deacon in the church, who are the boy's mother and father.
   The Rockdale boy, who is now 30 and a professional at a prominent Texas company, also said Mr. Crocker took him on an overnight fishing trip and let him drive a pickup through a pasture while the minister rode beside him in the nude.
   Mr. Crocker said he had been "cleared of any wrongdoing." He and his attorney declined to provide details of who might have investigated the case; the accuser and his family say it was never referred to police.
   As the police investigation into the recent charges continues, those who believe Mr. Crocker has been wrongly accused say his ordeal reveals the danger of false reports in an era of deep mistrust of religious figures.
• UPDATE: JURY FINDS OAKLAND DIOCESE NEGLIGENT IN SEXUAL ABUSE CASE [Oakland Diocese] - RCC. $US1.93m
   KPIX, http://cbs5.com/ localwire/local fsnews/bcn/2005/ 04/13/n/Headline News/DIOCESE -NEGLIGENT/ resources_bcn _html ; 8:05 PDT, Apr/13/05
   HAYWARD (CA) (BCN) - An Alameda County Superior Court jury ruled today that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland was negligent in allowing two former Antioch altar boys to be molested by their parish priest.
   After only a day of deliberations, the 10-woman, two-man panel awarded Robert and Tom Thatcher a total of $1.93 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
   Their attorney Rick Simons had asked for a total of $27 million in damages, but he said today that the verdict was a victory for the Thatcher brothers nonetheless because, "We established for history's sake that the Bishop of Oakland had a policy of hiding known child molesters."
   Although many Catholic priests have stood trial on sex abuse allegations, Simons said he believes the Thatchers' case is the first trial in the U.S. in which the policies of a diocese have been put on trial.
• David A. Mittell Jr.: Church's healthy second thoughts - RCC.
   Providence Journal, ~ April 14, 2005
   BOSTON (MA) - HISTORY CAN TURN with world-famous events or with all but unnoticed events, whose significance may not be appreciated until many years later. I think the tide of a terrible period of recent history -- the discovery of widespread priestly sexual abuse in the Boston Roman Catholic archdiocese -- may have finally turned a notch, at least, with both types of events.
   The world-famous event was the death of Pope John Paul II. The life story of one who saw some of his childhood friends killed in World War II or exterminated in the Holocaust, and who, from ages 25 to 69, spent his adult life sustaining a Christian church whose right of existence was denied by a central tenet of communism, reminds us that history is dynamic, not static.
   Fascism and communism were abuses of power on a worldwide scale, but they were not inevitable. Against the ethically superior idea of human liberty they were indefensible intellectually and, eventually, defenseless politically. The same is certain to be true of the abuse of power that has perverted part of the Catholic priesthood.
   John Paul's passing served to remind the concert of sexual-abuse victims, their families, fellow parishioners and innocent priests of one exemplary priestly life: of a man who repented the historic sins of Catholicism in synagogues and Orthodox churches, and who embraced his own would-be assassin as a human brother.
   John Paul's example begs all of us to understand that there can be good life after trauma. The completion of his life after long, cheerfully borne, duty-filled suffering invites the concert of victims, families, parishioners and innocent priests to help end their own suffering by forgiving the Church.
• U.S. Catholic diocese must pay for abuse [1970s Ponciroli] - RCC.
   Reuters, ~ April 14, 2005
   SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA (Reuters) - A California jury on Wednesday awarded two brothers nearly $2 million (1.06 million pounds) for sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of a Catholic priest a quarter century ago.
   The judgment against the Catholic Diocese of Oakland is the second in recent weeks in the San Francisco area that resulted from a California measure that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for priest abuse claims.
   The latest case involved Robert Thatcher, 34, and his brother Tom, 33, They said Robert Ponciroli abused them when they were altar boys in Antioch east of San Francisco.
   The brothers' lawyers said the church knew that Ponciroli abused children but did nothing.
   The jury awarded Robert Thatcher $875,000 in compensatory damages and $875,000 in punitive damages after finding the diocese was 60 percent responsible for the abuse, a court official said. The jury awarded $180,000 to Tom Thatcher in compensatory damages.
• What the Catholic Church Needs: A Few Good Nuns - RCC.
   Los Angeles Times, by Margaret Carlson, ~ April 14, 2005
   It was great to feel Catholic again last week as the pope was buried with all the church's ancient splendor: the flowing robes, the stately miters, the Gregorian chants.
   I was taken back to High Mass at Good Shepherd in Camp Hill, Pa. It was our place of worship - and with its music, costumes and liturgy, our concert hall and our theater as well.
   Add the Knights of Columbus, bingo and Mother Marita Joseph running the grade school, and that was Catholic parish life in the '60s.
   It was a wonderful way to grow up.
   But I was jolted out of my nostalgia when I saw Cardinal Bernard Law among the red-robed princes of the church. How did it happen that Law landed such an exalted and cushy job as archpriest of the patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome?
   For the evil he covered up as archbishop of Boston, Law should have been banished to the nave of a cold, dark chapel, on his knees, doing penance, for the rest of his days. Isn't that the way of the church? [Emphasis added]
• Two brothers receive nearly $2 million in church abuse case - RCC diocese acted with malice. Boys.
   San Luis Obispo Tribune By KIM CURTIS Associated Press, ~ April 14, 2005
   HAYWARD, Calif. - Despite receiving far less money than they sought for the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of a priest more than two decades ago, brothers Bob and Tom Thatcher were pleased with the jury's verdict.
   The Thatchers were awarded nearly $2 million in damages by a jury Wednesday in a case that was closely watched because it was the first in a series of sex-abuse lawsuits to seek punitive damages.
   "We exposed a lot of wrongdoing," Tom Thatcher said. "The church was called despicable on the record. They say they have changed their ways and I hope they have."
   Bob Thatcher, 34, was awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages and $875,000 in punitive damages. Tom, 33, was awarded $180,000 in compensatory damages and no punitive damages were sought in his case.
   While the total award of $1.93 million was far less than the $27 million plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons asked for in closing arguments, he said he was pleased the jury ruled that the Oakland Diocese acted with malice and awarded punitive damages.
• The Volino case is more than a lapse in procedures [Volino] - RCC. Child porn confessed, but nothing done.
   Democrat and Chronicle, www.democratand chronicle.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/ 20050414/NEWS0201/ 504140360/-1/COLUMNS ; by Mark Hare, April 14, 2005
   ROCHESTER (NY) - Three years ago, when the American Catholic bishops, in response to a widening clergy abuse scandal, adopted a policy that was quickly labeled "zero tolerance," many people (myself included) feared it would raise false expectations.
   This is not to say that the church should tolerate a little abuse, but that there are problems that do not readily lend themselves to administrative remedy.
   Take the case of Father Michael Volino, the Greece priest now facing federal charges of transporting and possessing child pornography on his computer.
   Why didn't the Catholic diocese know of his alleged addiction to child porn? If he did download images, and if he did - as the FBI says Volino has told agents - seek counseling for his interest in child porn, why wasn't something done?
   Because zero tolerance doesn't get you inside the head of a person who has never been charged with a sexual crime or been named in a single complaint.
   Let's be clear. The diocese made a serious error in Volino's case. Authorities, including the bishop, admitted as much within days of his arrest last month.
• To the Vatican, U.S. priest sex scandal fading - RCC.

   The Arizona Republic, by Michael Clancy, Apr. 14, 2005
   ROME - From the Vatican's perspective, America's priest sex-abuse scandal has diminished, and all that remains is to regain the trust of the faithful and clear a backlog of cases that still await official review.
   The scandal is not likely to play a big role when it comes to choosing Pope John Paul II's successor, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Vatican expert and editor of the Catholic weekly magazine America.
   "The abuse problem needs to be solved at home," he said. "It will not be solved at the Vatican. The Vatican did not move priests from parish to parish."
   Vatican officials would not say how many cases, including some from the Phoenix Diocese, still need to be reviewed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican agency responsible for clergy discipline. Nor would they release how many already had been reviewed.
   "The congregation is trying to help American bishops to resolve this issue, diocese by diocese, so that they can say that they have no other abusers in the ministry," said the Rev. Augustine Di Noia, undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and one of the higher-ranking Americans in the Vatican who is not a cardinal.
• Oakland Diocese, priest found liable for molestation
   San Francisco Chronicle, by Henry K. Lee, Thursday, April 14, 2005
   HAYWARD (CA) - An Alameda County jury awarded nearly $2 million in damages Wednesday to two brothers who were molested by a Roman Catholic priest when they were altar boys at an Antioch church two decades ago.
   The Hayward jury's award was far less than the $27 million Bob and Tom Thatcher sought, and it was unclear how the closely watched case might affect more than 150 other clergy-abuse civil lawsuits pending in Northern California.
   But the brothers said they were pleased. Tom Thatcher of Longwood, Fla., said the lawsuit against the Oakland Diocese was about "exposing and trying to change some things in the way the church does business."
   The award, the brothers said, punishes the diocese for transferring the now-defrocked Rev. Robert Ponciroli to their church in Antioch despite knowing he was a pedophile.
   "They did find that the diocese acted despicably," said Bob Thatcher of Chandler, Ariz. "Justice was served today."
• 20 years later brothers finally get some justice
   EarthTimes.org ~ April 14, 2005
   CALIFORNIA - In a radical judgment that tries to make amends with [? for] past mistakes, a California court today awarded $2 million in damages to two brothers who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.
   About 20 years ago Robert Thatcher now 34, and his brother Tom now 33, had accused Robert Ponciroli of abusing them when they were altar boys for the Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Antioch east of San Francisco.
   They had also accused the diocese of deliberately concealing the fact that Rev. Robert Ponciroli was a pedophile.
   He had tickled or molested the brothers in a makeshift rectory at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch during late 1970s to early 1980s. Robert Ponciroli now lives in Florida. He was defrocked but never faced any charges.
   Though the jury did not award $27 million as claimed by the brothers, it did suitably compensate them. Bob Thatcher was awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages and $875,000 in punitive damages, while his brother, Tom Thatcher of Longwood; Fla got $180,000 in compensatory damages. Tom had not sought punitive damages. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:48 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu, April 14, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Fri, April 15, 2005 edition follows:-
• Ill Brother avoids sex abuse trial [1970s (Christian Brother)] - RCC. 2 boys.

   One in Four, http://oneinfour. org/news/news 2005/Galway , ~ April 15, 2005
   IRELAND - A SERIOUSLY ill ex-Christian Brother, who is charged with indecently assaulting two young boys at a Galway industrial school over 30 years ago, is unlikely to now stand trial.
   Galway District Court was previously told that the 66-year-old accused is suffering from congestive heart failure. Judge Mary Fahy yesterday adjourned the matter indefinitely because of the medical condition of the accused. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:01 PM]
• Priest Files Hold Special Meaning to Alleged Victims [Los Angeles Archdiocese, some Orange Diocese clergy] - RCC.

   Sacramento Union, www.sacunion.com/ pages/california/ articles/4040, By Gilian Flaccus, The Associated Press, April 15, 2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - While money has dominated public discussion of Roman Catholic molestation cases in California, recent legal struggles over the release of confidential clergy files highlight another tension: the privacy rights of accused priests versus victims' need to shame the church.
   The day before a Northern California jury awarded two brothers nearly $2 million for alleged sexual molestation by a priest, the state Supreme Court quietly blocked the release of documents detailing the sexual histories of dozens of Los Angeles priests. Also Tuesday, accused priests in Orange County announced they would fight their diocese's agreement to allow the public release of their private files.
   Both developments were a blow for plaintiffs, who fought for the release of their alleged abusers' personnel files, saying the exposure would validate their stories, help bring closure and prevent future abuse.
   Attorneys for the priests say the disclosure would throw open the kinds of documents widely accepted as private: medical and psychological records, attorney-client communications and employment records.
   "What we're talking about are pretty fundamental privacy rights," said Donald Steier, attorney for 26 of the 117 Los Angeles priests.
• Priests would be subject to searches - RCC. Milwaukee Diocese discipline.
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, By MARY ZAHN, mzahn@journalsentinel.com , Posted April 14, 2005
   MILWAUKEE (WI) - Priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee can be required to consent to unannounced searches of their homes at any time of the day or night if church officials suspect or know they have been involved in sexual conduct, alcohol or drug abuse, or other behavior deemed inappropriate by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, according to a policy change announced to clergy last week.
   The new policy, which was mailed to clergy members starting last week, appears to be the only one of its kind in the country. The policy covers more than 400 priests and 150 deacons.
   As the archdiocese deems necessary, clerics will have to sign a form agreeing to the searches and other restrictions, according to the policy documents.
   "Failure to comply with the restrictions could cause a reduction in salary and/or benefits provided to the member by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee," the documents state.
   "We have not heard about these unannounced visits in other dioceses," said William Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who was given copies of the new policy by a reporter this week. Dolan is chairman of that group's Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:10 AM] [Bolding added]
   [COMMENT: Returning to the apostolic practice of selecting married people as clergy would make the above "boarding school" rules unnecessary. Why can't the leaders of religions that have celibate clergy see what is so blindingly obvious? COMMENT ENDS.]
• Holy Water-Gate at Cable Car - RCC. Documentary film.
   Providence Journal, BY BRYAN ROURKE, April 15, 2005
   RHODE ISLAND - "Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church," a documentary film about sexual abuse by priests, will get its first general-audience screening in Rhode Island next week at the Cable Car Cinema in Providence.
   The 56-minute movie by Mary Healey-Conlon of Warren, a lecturer in communications and film at the University of Rhode Island, will be shown April 18-24 at the South Main Street theater,
   The independent film, five years in the making, premiered earlier this year in Brookline, Mass. Healey-Conlon went $180,000 in debt to make the movie, which won her the CINE Golden Eagle Award. Previous recipients include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Ken Burns.
   Holy Water-Gate presents interviews with victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse, as well as church officials..
   One of the first images in the film is of Healey-Conlon's grandfather, Jim Healey, one of the first ordained lay deacons in Rhode Island. He was a communicant of St. Matthews Church in Cranston, where the Rev. James Silva was once pastor. In 1995, Father Silva was convicted of sexual abuse.
• Survivors group wants clergy sex allegations aired
   Express-News, www.mysanantonio. com/news/metro/ stories/MYSA04 1505.8B.snap _protest.1dae 4b624.html , by J. Michael Parker, Express-News Religion Writer, April 15, 2005
   SAN ANTONIO (TX) - A support group for clergy sexual abuse survivors is demanding that Archbishop José Gomez publicly name all San Antonio priests with sexual abuse allegations against them.
   Barbara Garcia Boehland and two fellow members of the San Antonio Chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] demonstrated quietly Wednesday morning in front of the Catholic Chancery with a sign picturing her son, Eduardo Ramon, and two victims from other states. All had committed suicide after being molested by priests.
   Garcia Boehland complained that Gomez has refused to meet with survivors.
   A spokesman said Gomez has indicated no plans to name accused priests who are elderly or dead but invited two SNAP members to meet with him, without success.
   "We want (Gomez) to meet with all of us. It's not just about me; it's about everybody in this community who wants answers," Garcia Boehland said. "They're still reassigning abusive priests. They're not obeying the Dallas charter, which says they'll clean up past cases."
   The U.S. Catholic bishops approved a national Charter for Protection of Children and Young People in Dallas in June 2002. Archdiocese leaders later said they received 12 new credible allegations against area priests. Six were dead and six retired from ministry.
• Did Catholic Priest Kill Two Men? [2002 Erickson] - RCC.
   MichNews.com ; By Matt C. Abbott, Apr 15, 2005
   WISCONSIN, USA - Recent press reports indicating the late Father Ryan Erickson, 31, was likely involved in a double homicide have not been confirmed or denied by the Hudson, Wis. police chief. The priest committed suicide in December 2004, just days after being questioned by investigators about the shooting deaths of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, which occurred in February 2002.
   Although Erickson had denied any involvement in the murders, "substantial evidence" points to his guilt, according to a March 31, 2005 story in the Ironwood Daily Globe ( www.ironwood dailyglobe. com/0331murd.htm ). The investigation appears to be coming to a close. ...
   Priest-author and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Andrew Greeley has been reporting from Rome for the past several days. In his April 14 column, he once again criticizes the Church hierarchy for its handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis. Greeley ends the column with these words: "At least spare us the hypocrisy of voting for a pope who will appeal to young people unless you are willing to elect a pope who will protect young people."
   If that isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle black, then I don't know what is. I'm referring, of course, to the fact that Greeley is strangely silent when it comes to the information he claims to have in safekeeping about a clergy pedophile ring known as The Boys' Club; and its possible connection to the 1984 unsolved murder of Greeley's 47-year-old acquaintance, Francis Pellegrini. [Bolding added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:30 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri, April 15, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat, April 16, 2005 edition follows:-
• The Unfortunate Prominence of Law [Law] - RCC. Transferred paedophiles.

   The Crusader, www.thehccrusader. com/news/2005/04/15/ Opinions/The -Unfortunate. Prominence. Of.Law-927 064.shtml ; By Steve Hansen, Friday, April 15, 2005
   WORCESTER (MA) - The archpriest of Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica recently led the celebratory mass on Sunday, part of nine days of official mourning for Pope John Paul II. Normally, this would not be a problem, given the tremendous stature of the famous Vatican Basilica, and the important role of its archpriest. But it is a problem for many Catholics given the name of this archpriest - Cardinal Bernard Law.
   Yes, the same Cardinal Bernard Law who resigned his position from the archdiocese of Boston after accusations of covering up the activities of pedophile priests two years ago. Soon after his resignation, Cardinal Law, for inexplicable reasons, was given a promotion and a prestigious role in Rome. Now, thrust back into the limelight following the passing of the pontiff, Law's important role in the mourning ceremonies has offended some.
   "We think it is entirely inappropriate that Cardinal Law should conduct this mass," said Barbara Blaine. "It's a slap in the face for all the many child abuse victims of the church to see this man chosen for such an honour." Blaine and Barbara Doris joined together outside the Vatican in protest of Law's place of honor in the ceremony. Both are members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), who traveled to Rome when they learned of Law's prominent role. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:25 PM]
• Minister accused of molesting kids [2005 Brown] - Methodist. Girls.
   WFAA, www.wfaa.com/ sharedcontent/ dws/wfaa/latest news/stories/ 041605dnmetpastor. 15cacdbc.html ; By JENNIFER EMILY and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News, 11:37 AM CDT, Saturday, April 16, 2005
   DALLAS (TX) - A minister is facing charges of indecency with a child after being accused of molesting two relatives, police said.
   Tom David Brown, 67, of Dallas was arrested Thursday by Dallas police on charges of indecency with a child by exposure and indecency with a child by contact.
   Mr. Brown could not be reached for comment.
   Police said the incidents began in 1998 and occurred as recently as March. Authorities say the victims, preteen girls, gave accounts to police.
   The incidents occurred in a northeast Dallas residence, police said.
   Mr. Brown was a minister at Custer Road United Methodist Church in Plano.
• Diocese reportedly reaches settlement with major insurer [Tucson Diocese] - RCC. $US10m payout, $7m from insurers.
   KOLD, www.kold.com/ Global/story. asp?S=3219203 , ~ April 16, 2005
   TUCSON, Ariz. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson reportedly has reached a seven million dollar settlement with a major insurer to pay for sexual-abuse claims.
   The "Arizona Daily Star" reports that Hartford Fire Insurance Company and an affiliated insurer will pay the diocese to buy out seven insurance policies the companies issued to the diocese or that otherwise covered the diocese with liability protection between 1964 and 1981.
   The settlement proceeds will be used to pay sex-abuse claims and the insurers will be released from any further liability under the policies.
   The settlement would bring to at least ten million dollars the amount the diocese expects to raise to pay claims, including expected proceeds from the planned sale of diocese real-estate assets.
   The diocese has asked U-S Bankruptcy Court Judge James Marlar to approve the settlement and to approve an injunction channeling any future claims against Hartford through the diocese bankruptcy case.
• Ex-principal guilty of sexual abuse, sentenced to 15 years [Hirner] - Religion not stated. 7 girls.
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Associated Press, ~ April 16, 2005
   TYLER, Texas - A former East Texas principal was convicted of sexually assaulting seven girls and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
   A jury on Thursday sentenced Russell Thomas Hirner, 43, after deliberating for about four hours. He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child earlier in the day.
   "I accept responsibility," Hirner, the former principal of the Longview Baptist Christian Academy, testified. "I couldn't bring myself to tell and I vowed to God that after it came out I'd make a disclosure."
   Prosecutors had pushed for life in prison.
   "You are not doing this to Russell Hirner; Russell Hirner did this to himself and his family," Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson told jurors in closing arguments.
• Almost 90 file claims of clergy abuse against Tucson diocese - RCC.
   Tucson Citizen, The Associated Press, April 14, 2005
   TUCSON (AZ) - Nearly 90 claims of clergy sexual abuse were on record shortly before yesterday's court-imposed deadline for filing nearly all such claims in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy proceedings.
   The abuse claims comprised more than one-third of some 230 total creditor claims - collectively seeking more than $21.5 million - that were filed before 4 p.m., the cutoff time set by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge six months ago.
   Susan Boswell, principal bankruptcy lawyer for the diocese, said she did not have a final number of claims filed because there were some duplicate claims, but that she would be give a status report to Judge James Marlar on Tuesday.
   Thirty of the sex abuse claims were filed on behalf of clients represented by Tucson attorneys Lynne Cadigan and Kim Williamson, who have sued the diocese over allegations that their clients were molested by priests or other clergy.
• Agreement on clerical abuse fund - RCC.

   BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/uk_news/ northern_ireland/ 4451925.stm , ~ April 16, 2005
   NORTHERN IRELAND - Catholic priests in the Derry diocese have agreed proposals to consult with parishes on raising money for the controversial Stewardship Trust.
   Last February, Bishop Seamus Hegarty revealed 3% of parishioners' money went into the compensation fund for victims of clerical sex abuse.
   This was done without parishes' knowledge and it was later agreed that the levy should be dropped.
   The proposals will now go to the bishop's office.
   Monsignor Joe Donnelly said the details would not be revealed until parishes had given their approval.
• Group urges return of accused U.S. priests [Henn (Salvatorian)] - RCC.

   Monterey Herald, By RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press, ~ April 16, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - Advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse pressed a religious order in Rome on Friday to send one of its priests back to the United States to face child molestation charges. as
   Three leaders of the U.S.-based group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests walked from their hotel to the Salvatorian headquarters, just yards from St. Peter's Square, to deliver a letter saying the order should expel the Rev. Joseph Henn, who is wanted in Arizona on child molestation charges.
   "The victims are not asking for anything more than their day in court," said Barbara Blaine, the group's founder, who has spent the past week in Rome to highlight the problem of abuse ahead of the papal election. The conclave is set to begin Monday.
   A man who identified himself as a Salvatorian priest met Blaine at the door of the order's office. When he protested that news cameras were filming their conversation, she offered to speak with him privately, but he laughed and said no. He promised to give the network's letter to the head of the religious order, then went back inside. "I'm not authorized to do anything," he said.
   No one answered the phone at the religious order later Friday.
• Victims blacklist potential popes - RCC.
   The Daily Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld, Australia), From correspondents in Los Angeles, April 16, 2005
   LOS ANGELES, USA - A GROUP of US victims of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests have named five potential papal candidates they say are "morally unacceptable" to be the next Pope.
   The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (Snap) released the list today, three days ahead of the keenly-anticipated start of the conclave at which a successor to the late Pope John Paul II will be chosen.
   The cardinals targeted are Italian Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state; Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, of Honduras; Norberta Rivera Carrera, of Mexico; Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, who is the head of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, of Colombia; and Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, cardinal of the Chilean capital of Santiago.
   The group claims the five possible papal candidates "have indicated, in essence, that they will protect pedophile priests and do not understand or will not take the sexual abuse crisis seriously", the group said.
   "We likely may have a very small impact, if any, but we know every time we come forward and speak out, victims are finding more truth and (are) able to find the courage to come forward and report their abuse," said Mary Grant, a group member who lives near Los Angeles.
• SNAP calls five cardinals 'morally unacceptable' as papal candidates - RCC.
   Catholic News Service, By Benedicta Cipolla, ~ April 16, 2005
   ROME (CNS) -- Five cardinals are "morally unacceptable as papal candidates" because they do not understand the gravity of priestly sex abuse of minors, said a U.S. advocacy and support group for abuse survivors.
   SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, released the names at an April 15 press conference in Rome, urging other electors to exclude the five cardinals from consideration. They are:

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City.

Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state under Pope John Paul II.

Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy under the late pope.

Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz Ossa of Santiago, Chile.
• Abuse victims name 'unacceptable' candidates - RCC.
   The Age, April 16, 2005
   VATICAN CITY - A group of US victims of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests have named five potential papal candidates they say are "morally unacceptable" to be the next Pope.
   The group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests released the list today, three days ahead of the keenly-anticipated start of the conclave at which a successor to the late Pope John Paul II will be chosen.
   The cardinals targeted are Italian Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, Norberta Rivera Carrera of Mexico, Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, who is the head of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, of Colombia; and Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, cardinal of the Chilean capital of Santiago.
   The group claims the five possible papal candidates "have indicated, in essence, that they will protect paedophile priests and do not understand or will not take the sexual abuse crisis seriously," the group said.
   "We likely may have a very small impact, if any, but we know every time we come forward and speak out, victims are finding more truth and (are) able to find the courage to come forward and report their abuse," said Mary Grant, a group member who lives near Los Angeles.
• Giving Victims of Sexual Abuse a Chance to Heal - RCC.

   Los Angeles Times, By William Lobdell, April 16, 2005
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - An alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse, the Rev. Robert H. Greene took his story public last Saturday from an unlikely spot: behind the pulpit at a Los Angeles church.
   In a liturgy designed for fellow molestation survivors, the Anglican cleric told his story of alleged abuse as a teenager by a Roman Catholic priest, let others share their experiences, and offered communion to those who wanted it.
   About 30 people who attended the service heard original music and poems by victims of sexual abuse.
   At the end of the service, the church bell at the Church of Our Savior on Wilshire Boulevard rang 170 times, once for each victim of clergy sexual abuse who has committed suicide in the U.S., according to statistics gathered by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
   "We almost broke the bell," said Greene, a part-time cleric for the Anglican Province of Christ the King. The denomination was formed in 1977 by traditionalists unhappy with changes within the Episcopal Church in America. [Emphasis added]
• Abuse group seeks return of priest to face charges [< 2003 Henn (Salvatorian)] - RCC.
   The Seattle Times, http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/html/ nationworld/2002243128 _priests16.html , By Larry B. Stammer, Los Angeles Times, ~ April 16, 2005
   ROME - Sexual-abuse survivors knocked on the door of a religious order near St. Peter's Square yesterday seeking a priest who is wanted in the United States in connection with allegations that he molested minors.
   But leaders of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests were told politely that the priest was not home. Barbara Blaine, president of the group, then handed the greeter a letter urging the priest's superiors to send him back to the United States to face charges.
   The group was looking for Father Joseph Henn of the Salvatorian fathers, who is wanted in Phoenix.
   Standing at the door of the Salvatorian fathers' residence, across the street from the Vatican press office, Blaine told a woman and two guards that the religious order should choose the moral course and send Henn back to the United States.
   Henn was indicted in 2003 on 13 molestation charges involving alleged assaults on three Phoenix boys. Prosecutors sought extradition after he refused to return voluntarily.
• SNAP activist takes message to Italy, Europe - RCC.
   Telegram & Gazette By Kathleen A. Shaw, kshaw@telegram.com , April 16, 2005
   MASSACHUSETTS - Phil Saviano, a former East Douglas resident who was instrumental in forming the New England Chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is heading to Rome today to talk to people in Italy and Europe about how the clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic church affects victims.
   The cardinals of the Catholic church will enter a secret conclave at the Vatican Monday to elect a new pope. Mr. Saviano said his organization intends to keep up its presence in Rome during the conclave. Mr. Saviano said he is leaving today for London and will take another flight into Rome, arriving tomorrow afternoon.
   He expects to join Bill Gately of Plymouth, current co-leader of the regional SNAP organization, and other activists for the duration of the conclave. Mr. Saviano, who lives in the Boston area, is Web master for the organization's Web site at www.snapnetwork.org.
   Barbara Blaine of Chicago, who founded the national SNAP organization, and Barbara Dorris, the national outreach coordinator for SNAP, were in Rome during the past week to publicize their objection to the church hierarchy allowing Cardinal Bernard F. Law to say one of the nine Masses for the late Pope John Paul II.
   Cardinal Law left the Boston Archdiocese for a post in Rome after acknowledging that he had transferred abusive priests from parish to parish.
   Being of Italian heritage might help him establish rapport with the Italian media, Mr. Saviano said, so that he can explain the group's positions on clergy sexual abuse.
   While the scandal has been open in the United States and some other countries, very little has been done to expose the problem in much of Europe, he said.
• Order urged to expel accused priest [Henn (Salvatorian)] - RCC.
   The Boston Globe, , By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press | April 16, 2005
   VATICAN CITY -- Advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse pressed a religious order in Rome yesterday to send one of its priests back to the United States to face child molestation charges.
   Three leaders of the US-based group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] went to the Salvatorian headquarters, just yards from St. Peter's Square, to deliver a letter saying the order should expel the Rev. Joseph Henn, who is wanted in Arizona on child molestation charges.
   "The victims are not asking for anything more than their day in court," said Barbara Blaine, the group's founder, who is in Rome to highlight the problem of abuse ahead of the papal election.
   Henn, who had worked in the Diocese of Phoenix, was indicted on child molestation charges in 2003. Soon after, County Attorney Rick Romley sent a letter to the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, asking that church officials order Henn to surrender. Romley said the letter was returned with a note saying the addressee refused the package.
   Last year, Salvatorian officials said they had told Henn to return, but he would not.
• Priestly Sex Abuse Survivors Slam Five Papal Candidates - RCC.
   Sofia News Agency, Politics: Saturday, April 16, 2005
   UNITED STATES: The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group for abuse survivors, announced the names of five cardinals who are "morally unacceptable as papal candidates".
   SNAP has blacklisted Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City, Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state under Pope John Paul II, Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy under the late pope, and Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz Ossa of Santiago, Chile.
   The five papal candidates do not understand the gravity of priestly sex abuse of minors, according to SNAP, which has based its list on statements it said the cardinals have made in the media.
   As the crisis of sex abuse by priests will grow to other countries beyond the United States, we believe that it should be a factor in choosing the next pope, said Barbara Blaine, founder and president of SNAP, as cited by the Catholic News Service.
• Retired priest accused of abuse [Ruane] - RCC.
   NorthJersey.com , By MAKEBA SCOTT HUNTER, HERALD NEWS, Saturday, April 16, 2005
   NEW JERSEY - As an employee of the Centers for Disease Control, Mike Iatesta sets up HIV/AIDS prevention programs worldwide. On Friday afternoon, the 42-year-old Westfield resident sought to thwart what he claimed was another evil.
   During a press conference at the Prime Suites Hotel in Secaucus, Iatesta aired allegations that the Rev. Gerald Ruane, of the now-defunct Sacred Heart Institute of Healing at Caldwell College, had sexually abused him as a teenager and young adult.
   "Gerald Ruane, a recently retired priest of the Archdiocese of Newark - parish priest, college professor, campus minister, chaplain, director of the Sacred Heart Institute of Healing and a national charismatic healer - is also a sex offender," Iatesta alleged from a podium, surrounded by pictures of himself as a child. "I was one of his victims."
   Iatesta is the latest in a series of accusers to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by area priests.
   In February, the Diocese of Paterson settled a $5 million civil lawsuit with 26 alleged victims of priest sex abuse. Within the last two-and-a-half years, the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen also have settled clergy-abuse lawsuits for a combined total of close to $2 million. Together, the cases involved nearly two dozen accusers. The church did not admit guilt or wrongdoing in any of those settlements.
• Monitoring set up for wayward priests - RCC.
   Duluth News Tribune, www.duluthsuperior. com/mld/duluthsuperior/ news/local/1141 1444.htm , BY RYAN NAKASHIMA, ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ April 16, 2005
   MILWAUKEE (WI) - Priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accused of sexual misconduct can be subject to unannounced searches of their homes or computers, day or night, under a monitoring policy considered a first for the Catholic Church.
   The archdiocese mailed the guidelines in late March to some 400 priests and 150 deacons in an annual update of its clergy manual.
   Archbishop Timothy Dolan said in an e-mail sent to deacons and parish directors Thursday that the policy was a work in progress and that questions would be addressed at a closed meeting Thursday.
   "Some of you may have raised an eyebrow of concern... and wondered about the infringement on the individual rights of priests," Dolan said.
   "I have an obligation as your archbishop to do everything in my power to support clergy who have struggled or faltered in their lives, especially when behavior results in a violation of moral or civil law," said Dolan, who became archbishop in 2002 after his predecessor Rembert Weakland resigned for using church money to pay off a man who accused him of abuse.
   The monitoring policies were developed late last year and approved Dec. 6 by Dolan after the archdiocese had already monitored some offenders -- who have voluntarily submitted to certain requirements -- for some time, said archdiocese spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl.
   The archdiocese is still grappling with several lawsuits over clergy abuse after reaching monetary settlements in many others. As of December it had settled 47 of 112 sexual abuse claims through a mediator.
   [COMMENT: "Wayward" clergy, but aren't they all wayward, defying the O.T. requests to be fruitful, and the N.T. order that every man have his own wife (1 Corinthians 7:2)? And, this following one. COMMENT ENDS.]
   [BIBLE: "The overseer [or ? bishop] should be ... a husband of one wife, ... a man presiding over his own household in a fine manner." (1 Timothy 3:2, 4, possibly a forgery, but accepted as genuine by the RCC and many other Churches. See similar at Titus 1:6, also possibly spurious.) BIBLE ENDS.]
• Theisen: John Paul II leaves some tough issues for next pope - RCC.
   Des Moines Register, By STEVE THEISEN, April 16, 2005
   IOWA - I remember well my grandmother's happiness when it was announced that John Paul II became pope. I remember well this small woman who raised a large Catholic family of my aunts and uncles through the Depression and war years.
   I remember well her walking hills to attend daily Mass at her favorite church. She would seldom accept a ride back, because walking gave her time to say the rosary. I remember well that I couldn't call Grandma on a certain night as she watched and listened to Bishop Sheen.
   I remember well when Grandma, knowing my wife's Polish heritage, made the innocent, giddy announcement to my wife and me that a Polish cardinal had become pope.
   I also remember well the hope that sprung within me when John Paul II summoned U.S. cardinals to Rome in April 2002, telling them "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young." He said sexual abuse, committed by the religious, was "rightly considered a crime by society" as well as "an appalling sin in the eyes of God."
   Finally, we had a pope who would reach out to victims of religious sexual abuse, a pope who championed human dignity, a charismatic pope who traveled the world to reach out to the universal flock of the Catholic Church and beyond. We could now begin our journeys, in which the misplaced shame and guilt of our abuse would no longer consume our inner souls.
   John Paul apologized to Muslims, Jews, Orthodox Christians, Italians and even to scientists for the persecution of Galileo. But John Paul never apologized to victims of religious sexual abuse. [Emphasis added]
• Two Alaska women, alleging abuse 25 years ago, sue Russian Orthodox Church [1970s-80s Epchook, Guest] - Russian Orthodox. Girls.
   Anchorage Daily News, By PETER PORCO, April 16th, 2005
   ALASKA - Two Western Alaska women have sued the Russian Orthodox Church, claiming they were sexually abused as children more than 25 years ago by priests.
   The women, identified in a suit filed recently in Superior Court in Bethel as Janet Doe numbers 1 and 2, are now in their late 30s. One of the priests has been dead for 14 years, the other for 24 years, according to Bishop Nikolai, head of the statewide church.
   The suit claims the women still suffer "severe and permanent emotional distress, resulting in physical manifestations, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, humiliation and psychological injuries" and other deprivations. It seeks $100,000 in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages and attorney fees.
   The suit alleges that Janet Doe 1 was abused by the Rev. Wassillie Epchook several times in the village of Kalskag in 1979 and 1980 when the girl was 11 and 12. The abuse took the form of Epchook "touching her over her clothing," according to the complaint.
   Janet Doe 2 was abused by the Rev. Zachary Guest in Bethel in 1974 when she was 7 and 8, according to the lawsuit. Guest "attempted to solicit sexual favors ... and touched her in a sexually abusive and harassing manner to 'demonstrate' the meaning of the questions he was asking her in the course of confession," the suit alleges. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:26 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat, April 16, 2005
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont111.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• [Special underclothes offiicial, child abuse unofficial; theocracy cracked open.] - Mormons.

   The Weekend Australian, R insert, Books section, "Fleeing the grip of a spiritual black hole," by Antonella Gambotto, page R13, April 16-17, 2005
   UNITED STATES: IN the acknowledgments of Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith, 42-year-old sociologist Martha Beck admits that to produce "this sort" of book, she "needed the kind of maintenance an emergency medical team might give the survivor of a plane crash - for years on end". Reader, she ain't saying nothing. The theocratic patriarchy of Mormonism has been cracked open by her memoir. A Harvard alumna and Latter-Day Saint aristocrat, Beck has written one of the most absorbing, ferocious and incendiary books published in recent years.
   The scandal? Beck accuses her father, professor emeritus Hugh Nibley, of raping her when she was five. With filigree wit she then documents the spectacular personal, and public, fallout.

Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
By Martha Beck, Crown, 306p, $49.95

Beck has always been defined by the men in her life. Her Down syndrome son inspired the best-selling memoir Expecting Adam, and her father was once described by The New Yorker as the "most venerable scholar in Mormonism". With characteristic crackle, Beck remarks: "I know a lot of people who claim their families are weirder because of Mormonism, but I am one of a much more select group who can justifiably claim that Mormonism is weirder because of my family."
   An arguable point. Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, likened the micro-theocracy of Colorado City to the Taliban. In his recent exposé of Mormonism's "pruning" of 400 young men to make young women available to old polygamists, Jeff Gordinier writes that "stories of incest" continue to radiate, concluding that "some kind of intrusion might be inevitable".
   The fifth-largest denomination in the US, Mormonism involves angels endorsing polygamy, golden plates and magical spectacles. The impact of such rapturous mythological imagery is somewhat curtailed by mulish homogenisation. Beck explains that all Latter-Day Saints must wear demon-repelling "regulation temple garment" underpants ("once you put them on you take them off at your peril") and that LDS fundamentalists believe each of the truly righteous - that is, male polygamists - gets to rule a planet of their own after death. ***
   She organises a meeting with her alert nonagenarian father, which calcifies into the book's skeleton. Cornered, Nibley takes refuge in the usual allusion and self-aggrandising solipsism. "This is how Satan works," he mutters. He has "always taken a special interest in me... It's the price you pay for defending the Gospel" And then he turns on her with gas-blue vehemence. "You and your trendy illnesses ... Depression, that anorexia thing. Very fashionable, aren't you?... And now you have this false-memory syndrome ... To think that my own child would act in league with Satan," His voice, she notes, quivers with fury. ***
   Beck's detractors attack her with ignorance and spite, and do not consider the possibility that she maybe telling the truth. How can they know? Her history of anorexia, depression and suicidal ideation is irrefutable evidence of the suppression of profound suffering. ("I'd been considering suicide on and off since the age of six. I remember eating a bowl of Alpha-Bits and wondering how to kill myself when my legs were still too short to reach the kitchen floor") ***
   Until recently, Beck believed that her father lived in a web of lies, "a craziness so pervasive, it pulls other people into it like a spiritual black hole". This did not stop her trying to elicit from him some healing acknowledgment "If we can't tell each other the truth, there can't be any real love between us," she pleads. "If we do tell the truth, we can get over anything. Anything."
   Beck's father died denying her allegations on February 24, the day Leaving the Saints was featured in The New York Times. She did not attend his funeral.# [Bolding added]
   [DEFINITION: Ideation = The process of forming ideas or images. ENDS.]
A fuller version is at religion\religchron.htm [April 16-17, 2005]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun, April 17, 2005 edition follows:-
• Boy's life ruined by father figure [1978-87 Clonan] - RCC.

   The Times, www.timesonline. co.uk/article/0,, 2-1574189,00.html , By Frances Gibb, ~ April 17, 2005
   BRITAIN - The family of Mr A are devout Roman Catholics. He is the second youngest of seven children. The family attended Christ the King Church, Coundon, in Coventry, where there was a large Irish Roman Catholic community.
   The family took part in social activities at the church and in the social club affiliated to it. The church was very much part of their lives.
   Father Clonan was greatly respected in the community. He was a regular visitor at Mr A's home and officiated at family weddings and christenings. He was trusted implicitly, Mr A looked upon him as a father figure and relied heavily on him.
   When he was 8, in 1978, Mr A became involved with activities arranged by the church, such as Cub Scouts, and began doing odd jobs for pocket money from Father Clonan. He began spending increasing amounts of time with the priest and went on trips with him to London and Ireland.
   Father Clonan started to assault Mr A sexually. The assaults took place between one and three times a week over ten years. On each occasion, Mr A would be given money. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:21 PM]
• When a parochial school nun casts suspicion on a popular priest, the result is a timely Pulitzer Prize-winning