• A parish in turmoil. [Monsignors Shoemaker and Statkus] - Roman Catholic Church. Shuffled paedophiles for years.
Bucks County Courier Times,
www.phillyburbs. com/pb-dyn/news/ 219-11012005- 563301.html ,
by J.D. Mullane, November 01, 2005
PENNSYLVANIA - I'll hand it to Monsignors Samuel Shoemaker and Francis Statkus of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Lower Makefield.
They took a chance last week when they appeared before parishioners who confronted them about their roles as "enablers" - men who helped shuffle pedophile priests around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for years.
I'm not sure the move paid off.
I can't see how Monsignor Shoemaker can survive as pastor - even if he does have the support of Cardinal Justin Rigali.
Fact is, the most sustained applause of the evening last week came when a parishioner told Shoemaker, "You must go!"
Extraordinary.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:09 PM]
(This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
for Tuesday, November 01, 2005.)
• Mother of alleged victim testifies against LeBrun. [1980s LeBrun] - RCC. "Hernia checks." Boys.
WNDU,
Posted: 11/01/2005 05:41 pm, Last Updated: 05:52 pm, Nov/01/2005
MESA (AZ) - The mother of two alleged molestation victims says she surprised Father Paul LeBrun while he allegedly "checked one of the boys for a hernia."
The woman testified in the on-going trial of the priest, who used to serve at South Bend's Little Flower Church.
LeBrun is on trial in Arizona for alleged sex crimes and child molestation charges.
The woman testified that she came into a room where LeBrun and one of her two sons were. She says she told officials of the Holy Cross order back in 1986 of her suspicions about Father LeBrun.
She described a situation she witnessed.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:48 PM]
• Port au Port campaigns to keep historic church. [Bennett +]
- RCC. $CAN 13m.
CBC News,
Last updated 01:45 PM NST, Nov 1, 2005
CANADA - Residents in a small town with a large church have launched a fund-raising campaign to prevent the church from falling into the wrong hands.
Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church in Port au Port West is one of the oldest wooden structures in the province, and is one of the properties put on the real estate market by the cash-strapped Diocese of St. George's.
Our Lady of Mercy church in Port au Port West is one of the oldest wooden structures in the province.
The diocese needs to raise about $13 million, and has put properties on the market to help pay its obligations under a claim involving sexual abuse victims, almost all of them at the hands of priest Kevin Bennett.
"We have to keep it. It can't go."
• Clerical sex abuse - again. - RCC. Righting perceived injustice breached confidentiality.
Online Catholic,
By Frank Purcell, ~ November 01, 2005
IRELAND - Another sexual abuse scandal made our papers last week. This time it was in Ireland and the details of the cover-up by bishop, police and the state will deepen alienation and disgust among the Irish people. So far, analyses of these scandalous and painful episodes in many parts of the world have failed to highlight a fundamental problem which the Church has yet to address. Our leadership refuses to accept four fundamental principles of a just society – the rule of law, equality of all of us before the law, the accountability of all office holders and an independent judiciary.
All too often within the Church, complaints about sexual abuse, or the unjust treatment of individuals or parishes by authoritarian bishops or priests, are simply ignored. There has never been a tradition of equality before the law which applies to higher clerics. My own personal experience in the 1970's taught me that.
I was condemned by the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda for violating confidentiality. As a member of the leadership team of a religious order, I had serious doubts about the justness and legality of a decision not to investigate a complaint from a member alleging unjust treatment. I requested that we get legal advice on our obligations under Church law. My request was denied. I decided that I had an obligation to find out if I was being asked to be party to an unjust and illegal act. I consulted a canon lawyer who confirmed my opinion, and on that basis, I appealed to Rome on behalf of the member.
[COMMENT: Confidentiality is at the heart of the sex abuse cover-up. A Vatican document ordering Confession sex offence secrecy is "Crime of Solicitation," Crimen Sollicitationis, 1962. Get links at Crimen Extracts
COMMENT ENDS.]
• Bishop says church was given advice that abusers could be 'cured'. - RCC.
Irish Independent,
16:11 Tuesday November 1st 2005
IRELAND - A Catholic bishop in the West today claimed that psychologists and psychiatrists failed the church hierarchy by advising them that priests who sexually abused children could be treated not to re-offend.
Dr Thomas Flynn, Bishop of Achonry, a diocese covering parts of Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon, said bishops referred such incidents to professionals at the time for counselling, assessment and advice.
[COMMENT: Wouldn't a successor of the Apostles know more about sin and sinners than a psychologist or psychiatrist? Or must the bishops lean on earthly advice? Look in the Christian scriptures, and find "Remove the wicked from among yourselves."
END.]
• Letterkenny Priest Devastated By 'Black Times'. - RCC.
Derry Journal,
Tuesday 1st November 2005
IRELAND - Many have described this week as a black week for the Catholic Church but for the Letterkenny based priest Eamonn Kelly the black times were when the crimes were committed against innocent children.
From the pulpit he told those who lined the seats in silence listening to his sermon that the black time was when innocence was stolen, when the confidence was robbed and when fear was instilled into wee hearts that should have remained free.
The curate admits that he was devastated with all that has happened so much so that in his sermon last Sunday the softly spoken curate told the parish that he questioned if he had chosen the right vocation.
"Most of my life I was a barman, for some years over at home and for a good number of years I worked in the bar trade in Dublin. Over the past week at different times, especially at night I found myself wondering about my decision to become a priest. If I could decide again, I wondered, would I come forward for priesthood or would I remain behind the counter? And it would be tempting to go behind that counter again -- when I feel the disgust in my core for what has happened, or when I cringe in shame as I hear a survivor of abuse tell his or her story or when I see the tears of someone struggling to rebuild a devastated life.
[GUIDELINE: "But for fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife ; and let evey woman have her own husband." (1 Corinthians 7:2, RC Douay version.)
ENDS]
• Bishop Offers Support To County Derry Parishioners. [Crilly] - RCC. Child.
Derry Journal,
Tuesday, November 1st, 2005
NORTHERN IRELAND - The Bishop of Derry, Most. Rev, Dr. Seamus Hegarty, has addressed parishioners in a Co. Derry parish where a child sex abuse allegation has been made against the local parish priest.
It emerged last week that Fr. Patrick Crilly has been granted a leave of absence from his ministry in the south Derry parish of Desertmartin.
The priest, who denies any wrongdoing, requested permission to step aside while the matter is investigated by the police.
• Chaplain sentenced to five years in prison. [~ 2000s Arflack] - RCC. Men.
Army Times,
By Stephen Graham, Associated Press, ~ November 01, 2005
BAMBERG, Germany - An Army chaplain was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison after pleading guilty at his court-martial to three counts of forcible sodomy against enlisted men.
Capt. Gregory Arflack, 44, a Roman Catholic priest serving as a chaplain with the 279th Base Support Battalion, also admitted three counts of committing an indecent acts, two of fraternization with enlisted service members, and one count of conduct unbecoming an officer.
Col. R. Peter Masterton, the military judge ordered him dishonorably discharged from the Army in addition to the prison term to be served at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Arflack showed no emotion as the sentence was read out.
• U.S. Army Chaplain Pleads Guilty On Sodomy, Assault Charges.
[~ 2000s Arflack] - RCC. Men.
WAVE 3,
www.wave3. com/Global/ story.asp? S=4056424& nav=0RZF ,
~ November 01, 2005
BAMBERG, Germany -- A U.S. Army chaplain charged with multiple counts of forcible sodomy pleaded guilty Tuesday at the opening of his court martial in southern Germany, saying his actions were "inappropriate and immoral."
Capt. Gregory Arflack, 44, a Roman Catholic chaplain with the 279th Base Support Battalion, entered the guilty plea as part of a pre-trial agreement.
Arflack, a native of Marion, Ky., told the court he regretted his actions.
"I failed as an officer, I failed as a chaplain, I failed as a leader," he said.
Under the agreement, Arflack faces charges of three counts of forcible sodomy and two counts each of indecent acts and fraternization with enlisted service members, along with one count each of disobeying orders and conduct unbecoming an officer.
• Ferns Report reading 'sad and depressing' says bishop.
The Meath Chronicle,
by Paul Murphy, ~ November 01, 2005
IRELAND - THE Bishop of Meath Dr Michael Smith said that he had received three allegations against priests of the Meath diocese in active ministry since he had been appointed bishop in 1984.
These had been brought to the attention of the Garda for investigation, he said. Of the three priests accused none were convicted.
The number of civil actions pending or the number of civil actions paid out, if any, have not been released by the diocese.
The bishop was reacting to the publication of the Ferns Report on clerical abuse which, he said, made "sad and depressing reading for all of us, not least for bishops and priests."
"The report details enormous pain and hurt caused by the sinful and criminal acts of priests. Words of apology are very inadequate in responding. We must humbly acknowledge that serious harm was done, leading to severe hurt and suffering being caused to so many", he said in a statement.
• Priest suspended after alleged lewd act in adult store.
[2004 Aquino] - RCC. Man.
The Boston Globe,
November 1, 2005
WORCESTER, Mass. --A Roman Catholic priest arrested in Las Vegas last year for allegedly performing a lewd act on another man inside an adult bookstore was removed from his post as pastor of a Worcester parish.
Bishop Robert McManus told parishioners on Sunday that the Rev. James Aquino was being relieved of his duties at Our Lady of Loreto parish, where he'd been pastor since 1986.
McManus, who called the situation "a grave scandal," had known of Aquino's October 2004 arrest for several months. But the bishop had allowed him to remain in his post because Aquino denied the charges and McManus believed he might have been arrested due to a misunderstanding.
Just last week, Aquino, 66, took to the pulpit to publicly deny the charges, telling parishioners he had just entered the Adult Super Store, which sells sexually explicit books, magazines and videos, when police swooped in.
"I want you to know that I never, never engaged in any sexual activity of any kind," he said.
But Aquino's arrest report and court records, which contradicted his claims of innocence, were recently posted on the Web site of a lay advocacy group, Worcester Voice of the Faithful, The Telegram & Gazette reported.
• Mayo priest calls for national audit of clerical abuse. - RCC. Rev. Kevin Hegarty speaks.
The Mayo News,
www.mayonews. ie/current/ news.tmpl$ showpage?value 1=3339828 698515864 ,
by Michael Duffy, ~ November 1, 2005
IRELAND - A well-known Mayo priest and writer said last night that the only way the entire facts about sexual abuse involving priests can be established is to have a national audit carried out by the Government.
Fr Kevin Hegarty, a former editor of the pastoral and liturgical magazine, Intercom, was making his comments after the publication of the Ferns Report last week and the revelation that two priests from the Tuam diocese are currently under Garda investigations for rape and sexual assault.
"Ferns priests received similar formation to other Irish priests and Ferns is not a place in some distant land. Only a national audit, conducted independently with the full powers of investigation, appointed by the Government, can establish the facts," stated Fr Hegarty.
The shocking statistics revealed at the weekend by the offices of the Archdiocese of Tuam show that allegations of sexual abuse have been made against 27 priests – six more than the Ferns diocese, which released its full and frank report last week. It is also the largest number of allegations outside of the Dublin diocese, where the Government are set to launch an inquiry in the coming weeks.
Fr Hegarty added that the awful revelations of the last seven days had done further damage to the people/priest relationship that had already suffered so much during the last decade.
• Priest not guilty; judge criticizes accuser. - RCC. Rev. Raymond Larger freed.
Cincinnati Enquirer,
By Dan Horn, November 1, 2005
CINCINNATI (OH) - A judge threw out sexual abuse charges against a Cincinnati priest Monday after declaring that neither the accuser nor his story was believable.
A relieved Rev. Raymond Larger hugged family and friends, including several priests, as he left the courtroom. Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman found him not guilty of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition.
The ruling ended the only trial of a Greater Cincinnati priest on abuse charges since the clergy abuse scandal erupted more than three years ago.
"I feel great," Larger said. "There is no truth whatsoever to the allegation."
Ruehlman reached the same conclusion after hearing about two hours of testimony from the accuser, who had claimed Larger abused him repeatedly from 1995 to 1997 while he was a student at St. James School in White Oak.
When prosecutors rested their case, the judge threw up his hands and shook his head.
• We can make our children safer by diverting a few million from roads. - RCC.
Irish Examiner,
By Fergus Finlay, ~ November 1, 2005
IRELAND - HERE'S a daft idea. Instead of building 300km of roads next year, let's build 280km instead. And use the money we save to make sure that nothing like the Ferns scandal can ever happen again. Let's make our kids safe.
Because we'd save an awful lot, not by stopping the roads building programme, but just by slowing it down a little. It costs about €4 million to build one kilometre of road. If we were to build 20 kilometres less a year, we could devote €80m to ensuring that our kids never had to live alone with the fear of a sexual predator. Or live with the consequences of contact with one.
What could we do with €80m if we saved it this way (or any other)? What do we need to do? First of all, we need to complete the investigations. We need to know in how many other dioceses there are still people hiding under the authority of the Church.
• Pervert priests 'were let take out children'. - RCC.
Irish Independent,
~ November 1, 2005
IRELAND - PAEDOPHILE priests were allowed take children from national schools and abuse them, victims have claimed.
The startling new allegations about the priests' activities are set to be made at the promised Government inquiry into the handling of abuse cases in the Dublin archdiocese.
The claims are made as the Catholic Church continued to cope with the spate of sexual abuse revelations yesterday.
The One-in-Four organisation, which represents victims, said evidence exists of priests being able to use national schools "particularly in the inner city to target and abuse large numbers of children in the 1980s with apparent impunity".
One-in-Four director Colm O'Gorman said: "We believe evidence exists which if presented to the Inquiry will highlight enormous concern of both co-operation between offenders and their extremely high level of access to national schools which allowed them take children from school and abuse them."
• Church Settles Abuse Claims in Hartford. [Hartford Archdiocese 14 clergy] - RCC. $US 22m. 43 complainants.
The New York Times,
By WILLIAM YARDLEY, Published: November 1, 2005
HARTFORD (CT), Oct. 31 - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay $22 million to settle sexual abuse claims brought by 43 people against 14 priests, the archdiocese and lawyers for the victims announced on Monday.
Six of the priests are dead and at least one remains the pastor of a church because, the archdiocese said, it could not corroborate the accusations against him.
The group settlement resolves a two-year dispute and is the third such settlement reached with a Connecticut diocese since 2001. The two others involved the Diocese of Bridgeport, which said in 2003 that it had agreed to pay a total of $37.7 million to settle 89 claims involving 22 priests.
Settlement sums in abuse cases have varied nationwide. In Boston in 2003, the archdiocese settled for $85 million, but that was to be divided among more than 500 people. Lawyers for victims in the Hartford case said it was too soon to know how the money would be divided.
• Church pays £12.5m abuse settlement.
[1960s onwards Hartford Archdiocese 14 clergy] - RCC. In 1983 parents threatened. £12.5m / $US 22m. 43 complainants.
The Scotsman,
~ November 1, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - A US Roman Catholic archdiocese has agreed to pay 22 million dollars (£12.5 million) to 43 people who said they were molested by priests.
The alleged abuse in the Hartford, Connecticut, archdiocese dates back as far as the 1960s and involved 14 priests or retired priests.
Parents tried to bring it to the attention of Archbishop John Francis Whealon in 1983 but were threatened with legal action by the archdiocese, said attorney Jason Tremont, a lawyer for the 43 people.
"By giving victims a voice, we can change the behaviour of the church and finally force the archdiocese to acknowledge responsibility for the past," Tremont said.
A spokesman for the archdiocese, the Rev John Gatzak, said the settlement would be paid for with long-term savings and insurance policies.
• Clergy say sorry over abuse. - RCC.
Belfast Telegraph,
www.belfast telegraph.co. uk/news/story. jsp?story= 667628 ,
By Alf McCreary, 01 November 2005
IRELAND - The Irish Catholic Bishops have apologised to the victims and families of clerical abuse, following widespread recent findings on the number of priests facing charges and imprisonment.
The bishops held a special meeting at Maynooth yesterday to consider the implication of the recent Ferns Inquiry following its damning report of clerical child abuse in the diocese in the Republic.
Allegations have also been made against more than 50 priests in the Armagh, Dromore, Down and Connor and Derry dioceses.
The bishops yesterday expressed their "deep sadness" at the findings of the Ferns Inquiry.
Arising from the report, the Republic's Minister for Children Brian Lenihan wrote to Archbishop Sean Brady, the Catholic Primate, and the bishops yesterday discussed the issues raised in his letter.
• Case against priest tossed. - Rev. Raymond Larger freed. (Had groped in 2003.)
Dayton Daily News,
By Tony Cook, The Cincinnati Post, November 1, 2005
CINCINNATI (OH) | A judge threw out a sex abuse case against a Catholic priest Monday, moments after the accuser testified.
"It's silly to go any further in this case," Judge Robert Ruehlman of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court said after hearing from the 21-year-old Hamilton man who accused the Rev. Raymond Larger of raping him repeatedly while the accuser was a student and altar boy from 1995 to 1997 at St. James Parish in White Oak, where Larger was pastor.
"His testimony was not credible. There's so much conflicting testimony here," Ruehlman said before cutting the trial short and finding Larger not guilty. "In good conscience, I can't allow this to go any further."
The case is not the first in which Larger has been accused of a crime. In July 2003, he was arrested in a Dayton park by an undercover police officer and charged with two counts of public indecency for grabbing the officer's groin and exposing himself.
Larger pleaded no contest, was convicted, given a 30-day suspended jail sentence, ordered to pay a $100 fine, $58 in court costs and serve one year on unsupervised probation. He was reinstated in May 2004.
The accuser in Monday's trial, who is serving a six-month sentence in Butler County for attempted breaking and entering and falsifying a police report, told the court that Larger had usually abused him on weekends in a vestibule in the back of the church.
• Catholic Church Has Much To Explain. - RCC.
Hartford Courant,
www.courant.com/ news/local/hc- ubinas1101.artnov 01,0,7844857. column?coll= hc-utility-local , by Helen Ubiñas, November 1, 2005
BRIDGEPORT (CT) - I was driving out of Bridgeport when I turned a corner and saw the hulking presence of St. Augustine Cathedral and, I'm still not sure why, felt a sudden need to stop.
Maybe it was because my insides were still in knots after hearing Kevin Zile and Jim Hackett recall horrendous acts of betrayal at the hands of the Catholic church.
Maybe because after two hours of listening to the men talk about the torment visited upon them by priests they trusted, I was looking for some sort of explanation.
Explain to me how parish leaders sworn to protect their flock could have allowed their most vulnerable to be abused?
Explain to me how the same church that preaches morality could have turned its eyes and back on such behavior?
[A longer version is given below.]
• Catholics claim bias in coverage. - RCC. 75 given more coverage than < 8000.
Pioneer Press,
BY STEVE SCOTT, ~ November 1, 2005
ST. PAUL (MN) - Nearly 8,000 Roman Catholics overflowed the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul last month for a daylong celebration of their most sacred ritual. Four days later, 75 gathered on the steps of the Cathedral of St. Paul to question church teaching on homosexuality.
Some Catholics are irritated that the second event garnered more media attention than the first, a long-planned Eucharistic Congress hosted by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
"It's news when people are attacking the teaching of the Catholic Church, but evidently it isn't news when people are celebrating the teaching of the Catholic Church," said Lisa Hambidge, a parishioner from St. Paul. "It just isn't balanced."
Shocking revelations last month about a priest found responsible for two murders in Hudson, Wis., made the special Eucharistic celebration even more important to area Catholics, said the Rev. Joseph Johnson, an official of the archdiocese who helped plan the Congress.
"Some of their frustration may be, here's one terrible thing that one sick individual in the church did and it's front page every day, and then 8,000 people do something good and it doesn't get noticed," he said.
• Diocese negotiating as estate presses suit. [1960s-80s Pcolka] - RCC. 17 complainants.
The Connecticut Post,
By DANIEL TEPFER, dtepfer@ctpost.com , ~ November 1, 2005
BRIDGEPORT (CT) - The family of a deceased Oxford man is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, claiming a priest abused him in the late 1960s.
But a diocese spokesman said it is already working to settle the case.
"The Diocese of Bridgeport is working with the attorneys for the plaintiff's estate and expects to achieve a resolution," said the spokesman, Joseph McAleer.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Superior Court here, claims Kenneth Kuchta was abused at a church here by the Rev. Raymond Pcolka.
In the past, 16 people claimed they were sexually assaulted by Pcolka in church rectories in Bridgeport and Stratford, and at a cabin in New Hampshire where Pcolka would take children in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The claims resulted in the diocese paying out millions in settlements. Pcolka was suspended after the complaints were made public and is living in Southbury.
• 140 more priests are accused of sex abuse. - RCC. > 140 priests. Children.
Belfast Telegraph,
By Michael Lavery, November 01, 2005
IRELAND - More than 140 priests in four dioceses have been accused of sex abuse but more revelations could be on the way as the scandal rocks the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The Ferns inquiry involved 21 priests, but since the report's publication, dozens more allegations have been confirmed by bishops.
They include Dublin (67 priests), Derry (26) and Tuam (27).
Some of the allegations go back to the 1940s, but the diocese in Tuam could turn out to be "on a par" with Ferns, given the similarity of the population of each diocese, said Colm O'Gorman, director of One in Four, a charity for sex abuse victims.
Mr O'Gorman said he found it remarkable that the bishops were only now making these figures available, even though in some cases they were available for the last 50 years.
In Tuam, eight clerics have left the priesthood after a "reasonable suspicion" that child abuse had taken place was established.
• Irish Prelates Discuss Child Protection.
[1960s-2000s Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 clergy. 100 assaults.
Zenit,
OCT. 31, 2005
MAYNOOTH, Ireland, (Zenit.org).- The Irish episcopal conference held a special meeting on child protection, and bishops apologized to all those people hurt at the hands of abusers in the Church.
At the meeting today held in St Patrick's College, bishops expressed their deep sadness at the findings of the recent Ferns Inquiry and especially those pages retelling the pain experienced by those who have suffered.
The report about the Ferns Diocese told of 100 complaints of abuse by clergy dating back to the 1960s.
The bishops' conference, in a press statement, said today it discussed the report of the Ferns Inquiry at length.
• It's time for the Purple Princes to finally fall on their croziers in bid for credibility. - RCC.
Irish Independent,
www.unison.ie/ irish_independent/ stories.php3?ca= 44&si= 1497561&issue_ id=13207 , ~ November 1, 2005
IRELAND - ONLY two drastic initiatives by the Catholic bishops can help restore their lost credibility and regain their moral authority from decades of cover-ups of paedophile and sexually deviant priests.
Action in light of the Ferns Report and the ongoing revelations in the media of similar widespread abuses in Dublin, Derry and the west would have to be bold.
The first move would entail a collective offer of resignations by all the present members of the Irish Hierarchy, inclusive even of those more recently appointed such as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin who are advising the adoption of a more enlightened policy approach.
This unprecedented step would be based on the principle of collective responsibility for their governance of the institutional Irish Church, even though in canon law each bishop in the 26 dioceses is sovereign in his own ecclesiastical bailiwick, subject only to Rome. [...]
... my second proposal is that the Irish Bishops should convene an extraordinary meeting in Maynooth, where they should adopt a resolution solemnly pledging themselves to make their adherence to Irish law superior to canonical decrees from Rome.
Again, alas, such an act of courage on the part of their Lord Bishops will not happen despite their awesomely regal, scarlet and purple robes that adorn them with a quasi-mystique in the upper echelons of Irish society and the political corridors of power. [...]
Newspaper columnist, Fr Brian Darcy, argues that the Church must look at the way it "accepts, trains and brainwashes clerics, a crucial topic which nobody wants to talk about. Its insistence on weird sexual morality, its refusal to allow priests to live in healthy marriages, its insistence on an all-male clerical club, its willingness to accept anything into the priesthood rather than allow women to be ordained, its encouragement of unhealthy sexual suppression, are all not just part of the problem but are the actual problem." [...]
• Teens file lawsuit in federal court.
[? 2000s Stroud] - Church of Christ. 2 teenagers.
Joplin Globe,
By Sheila Stogsdill, Special to the Globe, Nov/1/05
TULSA, Okla. - Two Delaware County teenagers filed suit Monday against a Jay church that they allege spread false rumors about them after they went to local authorities and reported that they were raped and sexually assaulted by a Jay school bus driver.
The lawsuit also accuses the Jay School District and administrators of failing to investigate or report allegations of sexual misconduct by William Allen Stroud, a former bus driver and maintenance worker for the district.
Named in the lawsuit are the Jay School District; Southside Church of Christ; Gary Brewster, the former assistant superintendent; Mike Seifried, the former principal of Jay High School; and Stroud.
The sex-discrimination lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Tulsa. It seeks unspecified damages.
• Number of registered Catholics dropped 26,797. - RCC.
The Union Leader,
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI, ~ November 01, 2005
NEW HAMPSHIRE - The number of registered Catholics in New Hampshire dropped nearly 27,000 in the last two years despite an increase in the state's population, federal census and church statistics show.
The diocese attributes the decrease in large part to closures and mergers that resulted in 14 fewer parishes and 17 fewer missions since 2003.
The Manchester diocese reported 310,206 registered Catholics as of Dec. 31, 2004, a drop of 26,797 from the 336,803 recorded June 30, 2002.
The Rev. Robert E. Gorski, who heads the diocese's Long-Range Planning Commission, said the figures represent the "first decline I've seen" and occurred during a time the diocese was twinning, merging and unifying parishes.
Often parishioners either don't register with the new parish they've been assigned to or don't attend services there, Gorski said.
While a University of New Hampshire sociologist who studies religion said parish registers aren't accurate indicators of church participation, she also noted the decline in numbers coincided with the clergy sexual-abuse crisis, an event that particularly impacted the Manchester diocese.
"The Diocese of Manchester really has caused a lot of bitterness and just pure disappointment with church officials," said Michele Dillon, UNH professor of sociology who studies religion and has written extensively on the Catholic church.
• Priest acquitted of sexual abuse charges. - Rev. Raymond Larger freed.
The Beacon Journal,
Associated Press, ~ November 01, 2005
CINCINNATI (OH) - A judge has acquitted a Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a boy when he was a pastor in the 1990s, saying the accuser's story was not believable.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman found Rev. Raymond Larger innocent of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition.
Ruehlman heard about two hours of testimony Monday from the now 21-year-old accuser, who came forward last year. He claimed he was abused in 1995-97, while Larger was the pastor of St. James Church.
"It's silly to go any further with this case. The testimony I heard just isn't credible," Ruehlman said after the prosecution rested. "In good conscience, I can't allow this to go any further."
• Deal reached on allegations.
[~ 1970s ? Hartford Archdiocese 14 clergy] - RCC. $US 22m. 43 complainants.
Record-Journal,
~ November 01, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay $22 million to 43 people who say they were sexually abused by priests, the archdiocese and a lawyer representing some of the victims said Monday.
The settlement was the result of talks mediated by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel in Bridgeport, attorney Jason Tremont said.
"While I am grateful that the diocese has offered this compensation, I want to make it perfectly clear that no amount of money can replace what was taken from me at the hands of a child molester who wore a Roman collar and called himself 'Father'," said James Hackett, one of the 43 victims, who said he was molested in 1976 when he was an altar boy and middle school student at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hamden.
The settlement came after two years of mediation and was in the best interest of everyone involved, said the Rev. John Gatzak, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
• Church OKs $22 million for abuse victims.
[Hartford Archdiocese - Buckley, Crowley, Ferguson, Foley, Glynn, Graham, Maguire, McSheffery, Muha, Paturzo, Paul, Przybylo, Shiner, and Monsignor Reardon] - RCC. $US 22m. 43 victims.
New Haven Register,
by Robert Varley, Nov/01/2005
CONNECTICUT - In what some are calling a move toward healing and recovery, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has reached a $22 million settlement with 43 clergy sexual-abuse victims.
The settlement announced Monday covers alleged abuse by 14 priests from the 1960s to the early 1980s. Several had served in the New Haven area.
"It's the first step toward bringing about healing, but acknowledges and deals with actions of priests that took place years ago," said the Rev. John P. Gatzak, spokesman for the archdiocese.
Archbishop Henry J. Mansell "expresses his deep sorrow for the destructive behavior that has been committed by a relatively small number of priests" and apologized to the victims, a statement said.
Named in the settlement are the Revs. Joseph Buckley, Stephen Crowley, Ivan Ferguson, Stephen Foley, Thomas Glynn, John Graham, Felix Maguire, Daniel McSheffery, Edward Muha, Louis Paturzo, Raymond Paul, William Przybylo, Kenneth Shiner and Monsignor Edward Reardon. Only Przybylo is still active in ministry.
• Archdiocese to pay $22M in sex abuse settlement. - RCC.
[1960s Glynn] - Boy.
[Hartford Archdiocese] - $US 22m. 43 victims.
The Bristol Press,
By ROBERT VARLEY, Journal Register News Service, Nov/01/2005
CONNECTICUT - In what some are calling a move toward healing and recovery, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has reached a $22 million settlement with 43 clergy sexual-abuse victims.
The settlement announced Monday covers alleged abuse by 14 priests, including the Rev. Thomas F. Glynn, who was a priest at St. Matthew Church in Forestville and allegedly told one of the victims, "I am God."
Glynn, who died in 1993, was accused in a lawsuit filed in 2003 of sexually assaulting four males, including an altar boy, while at St. Matthew Church during the 1960s. The incidents allegedly took place in the priest's car as well as the church sacristy and rectory.
Kevin Zile, 52, who now lives on Cape Cod, said he was abused by Glynn, who was close to his family, from the age of 14 to 17, at St. Matthew and later at Holy Trinity in Wallingford and St. Clare in East Haven where Zile would visit the priest
Zile said the settlement can prevent others from being abused but won't stop his flashbacks.
"There were times when I was driven to New York City and woke up in the back of the car, tied and being abused by men I didn't know," Zile said.
• Rev. Aquino put on leave.
[2004 Aquino] - RCC. Man.
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass., USA),
By Kathleen A. Shaw, kshaw@telegram.com , November 01, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) - The Rev. James J. Aquino, who was arrested by Las Vegas vice squad officers a year ago while allegedly performing a lewd act in an adult store, has been removed from his position as pastor of Our Lady of Loreto parish and as director of the Office of the Diaconate.
Bishop Robert J. McManus said information brought to his attention in the past week about the alleged lewd conduct by Rev. Aquino led to his action, which includes barring the reverend from publicly functioning as a priest.
"From early February until a few days ago, I believed I was in possession of the truth. A few days ago, I realized with deep regret and disappointment that I did not possess the whole truth," the bishop said in a prepared statement announcing that the priest has been placed on administrative leave. He added that the situation has caused "grave scandal" for the church.
Eight other priests in the Diocese of Worcester have been relieved of their duties after allegations of sexual misconduct since 2002. His actions involving Rev. Aquino mark the first time Bishop McManus, who assumed the bishop's post in 2004, has had to deal with such an issue.
"I cannot tell you how many good lay people, priests and deacons have been hurt by these events. That's the nature of scandal in the church. From the calls and communications I have received this week, I know that many are disappointed. They've been taught to expect better," the bishop said.
The recent string of events has shocked parishioners and those who know Rev. Aquino.
John Cosenza of Worcester, a 40-year parishioner of Our Lady of Loreto, said he is saddened by the situation.
"It's unfortunate, because Father Aquino has been there for so long and has done such a great job," he said. "He's so well respected."
Since the incident in Las Vegas that led to the actions against the priest, he said, the future of the parish has been unclear. He said he would just like to see the whole "mess" straightened out.
"I've never been through something like this," he said. "Our prayers are with the father."
Frank Myska of Worcester, who's training to be a deacon, echoed Mr. Cosenza.
"My thoughts and my prayers are going out to him," he said as he stood outside Our Lady of Loreto last night before the start of a deaconate class. "Part of our religion is that we have to learn about forgiveness."
He said he has known Rev. Aquino for about three years. He added that his dealings with the priest have been "very professional" and that he's learned a lot about liturgy from him.
"I wish the best for him," Deacon Myska said. "I had a lot of respect for him."
He paused and then added, "I still do."
Bishop McManus said that he has known of an incident involving Rev. Aquino since last winter, when he received a call from the district attorney in Las Vegas. The bishop said indications at the time were that the charges would be reduced and possibly dismissed.
The bishop said he does not believe law enforcement officers attempt to "lure priests into traps or apply the law unequally to them."
Rev. Aquino told parishioners last week that he had only been in the Adult Super Store - which sells sexually explicit books, magazines and videos - for a few minutes when Las Vegas police swooped in on him.
"I want you to know that I never, never engaged in any sexual activity of any kind," the priest told parishioners on Oct. 24.
Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan celebrated Masses at Our Lady of Loreto Oct. 22 and 23 at the bishop's request, and advised parishioners of the allegations involving their pastor and told them of the meeting scheduled for Oct. 24 with Rev. Aquino.
By then, copies of the arrest report and court actions from the Justice Court of Las Vegas were posted on the Worcester Voice Web site.
Rev. Aquino and a Las Vegas man were detained by Las Vegas police on Oct. 21, 2004. Bishop McManus said he learned of the situation from civil and church authorities in Las Vegas. The bishop initially said he would leave Rev. Aquino in his position because the priest's lawyer told him the charges were false and the case had been dismissed.
Daniel E. Dick, victim support coordinator for Worcester Voice of the Faithful, wrote to the bishop after he received copies of the court records and he was given a similar explanation by the bishop.
"I applaud the bishop for the action he has taken," Mr. Dick said yesterday.
Then the arrest report and court records, which had come from Roman Catholic Faithful and Worcester Voice of the Faithful, went up on the Worcester Voice Web site last week. Worcester Voice is an independent Web site that addresses sexual abuse issues in the Worcester Diocese and is not connected to the diocese or other organizations. Mary T. Jean of Leominster, who operates the Web site, said yesterday she also was pleased with the bishop's action.
The case was dismissed in the Justice Court in Las Vegas on Sept. 6, after Rev. Aquino pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct at the adult store, did 50 hours of community service, underwent counseling and agreed to stay out of trouble for a year.
He initially was issued a criminal citation for lewd conduct and giving false information to police. According to the arrest report, Rev. Aquino said he did not have an ID on him and gave a Social Security number that proved to be incorrect. Under further questioning by police, he pulled out a Massachusetts driver's license from his shoe. The photograph showed him wearing clerical garb. He told police that he did not give correct information because he is a priest.
Police officers said they saw Rev. Aquino in the Adult Super Store in full public view masturbating another man for about 30 minutes, police said. That man was also detained and cited.
No Saturday Masses were held throughout the diocese over the weekend because of the Eucharistic Congress at the DCU Center, but the bishop said yesterday that he attended all Sunday Masses at Our Lady of Loreto as celebrant and homilist to explain that he was placing Rev. Aquino on leave. He remained at the church to talk to people and answer questions, according to Raymond L. Delisle, diocesan spokesman.
The bishop yesterday detailed the events of the past year, noting that the Las Vegas incident happened five months before it was brought to his attention. The legal process was under way when he learned of the charges, the bishop said. He was told it involved a reduction of charges and a possibility the charges would be dismissed.
"These facts gave rise to questions about whether misunderstanding had been involved in the initial detainment," he said.
Bishop McManus said that until recently, he thought his decision to leave Rev. Aquino in his parish was appropriate, based on the legal facts of the case as they were presented to him at that time. "But that has now changed," the bishop told parishioners on Sunday.
While the canonical process is ongoing, the bishop told parishioners that Rev. Aquino could no longer serve as pastor of the parish. He said Rev. Aquino was aware of the bishop's action, and knows that he is unable to function publicly as a priest.
The bishop said a "canonical investigation" will be held on this issue. The Roman Catholic Church is internally governed by a body of law called canon law and the church has its own judicial system. The workings of the judicial system are not public.
The Rev. Rocco Piccolomini, Vicar for Priests and secretary to the bishop, is temporary administrator of the parish. Bishop McManus has not yet named a new director for the diaconate program. The training center for education of new deacons is at Our Lady of Loreto, 37 Massasoit Road.
Rev. Aquino, a Worcester native, graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in 1956 and from St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vt., in 1960. He prepared for the priesthood at St. Bernard's Seminary, Rochester, N.Y.
He earned a doctoral degree in education from Boston College in 1979. He formerly taught at Marian High School, Sacred Heart Academy, St. Stephen's High School in Worcester and at St. Mary's Central Catholic High School, Milford.
He also served at St. Anne's parish, Shrewsbury, St. Mary of the Assumption, Milford. He served as diocesan school superintendent from 1980 to 1986 when he resigned to serve as full-time pastor at Our Lady of Loreto. Rev. Aquino, 66, was ordained here in 1965.
Taryn Plumb of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report. • Victims' Validation. - RCC.
[1970s onwards Hartford Archdiocese 14 clergy] $US 22m. 43 complainants.
[Przybylo]
Hartford Courant,
By DAVE ALTIMARI, MATT BURGARD, And FRANCES GRANDY-TAYLOR, November 1, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - Some of the priests involved in the Hartford Archdiocese's $22 million sex abuse settlement had well-documented histories of alleged misconduct. In other cases, churchgoers were shocked by the news Monday that clergy members they had known and trusted for years had been accused of abuse.
For parishioners of SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in Hartford, the revelation that the Rev. William Przybylo was among the priests involved in the deal was especially difficult. Przybylo, who adamantly proclaimed his innocence Monday, is the only one of the 14 still in active ministry.
The settlement was among the largest in the country but represents a portion of abuse cases in the archdiocese.
Discussions began two years ago with a roomful of lawyers, an archdiocese representative and a federal court magistrate in Bridgeport with a history of mediating sexual abuse claims against priests.
Along the way, the 43 accusers told their painful stories to U.S. Magistrate William I. Garfinkle. In many cases lawsuits were never filed. Some date as far back as the early 1970s.
• Priest still on duty despite settlement. - RCC.
[1970s onwards Hartford Archdiocese 14 clergy] $US 22m. 43 complainants.
[1976 Przybylo] 2 altar boys.
The Connecticut Post,
By DANIEL TEPFER, dtepfer@ctpost.com , ~ November 01, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - In its state record-breaking $22 million settlement to 43 victims of abuse by 14 priests, the Archdiocese of Hartford included payment to two men who claimed they were abused by the Rev. William Przybylo.
But archdiocese officials Monday said they are not relieving Przybylo of his duties and in fact, are dubious of the allegations against the priest.
"These two men are very credible and were found to be credible by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel," said their lawyer, Cindy Robinson, of the Bridgeport law firm Tremont and Sheldon.
Archdiocese spokesman Rev. John Gatzak said Przybylo, who is currently at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Hartford, has been allowed to remain active because the archdiocese and its Sexual Misconduct Review Board could not substantiate allegations against him.
Robinson said her two clients claim in 1976, when they were 11 and 12, they were abused by Przybylo at Holy Cross Church and school in New Britain. Przybylo was principal of the school and in charge of the altar boys.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:45 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Tue November 01, 2005
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed. • Catholic Church Has Much To Explain. - RCC. [1970s Glynn, Paturzo] 2 boys [Other clergy of Hartford Archdiocese] 41 others.
Hartford Courant,
www.courant.com/ news/local/hc- ubinas1101.artnov 01,0,7844857. column?coll= hc-utility-local , by Helen Ubiñas, ubinas@courant.com ,
November 1, 2005 [This is a longer version of the item above in Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker for Nov 1, 05]
BRIDGEPORT (CT) - I was driving out of Bridgeport when I turned a corner and saw the hulking presence of St. Augustine Cathedral and, I'm still not sure why, felt a sudden need to stop.
Maybe it was because my insides were still in knots after hearing Kevin Zile and Jim Hackett recall horrendous acts of betrayal at the hands of the Catholic church.
Maybe because after two hours of listening to the men talk about the torment visited upon them by priests they trusted, I was looking for some sort of explanation.
Explain to me how parish leaders sworn to protect their flock could have allowed their most vulnerable to be abused?
Explain to me how the same church that preaches morality could have turned its eyes and back on such behavior?
Explain to me, I naively thought, how God could have allowed something like this to happen?
They couldn't have been more different, these two men who came to their lawyers' offices on Lyon Terrace to talk about the $22 million dollar settlement the Archdiocese of Hartford agreed to pay to 43 people who say they were sexually abused by priests.
Kevin Zile's pain was palpable as he recollected being abused for years by the Rev. Thomas Glynn in the 1970s, starting when he was 13. Glynn would get him drunk, Zile said, and sodomize him. He spoke of years filled with alcoholism and drugs as he tried to erase the memories of what Glynn had done to him. He talked, almost with disappointment, of his three failed suicide attempts.
"I was a nurse," he said, tears running down his face. "I should have done it better."
And he talked of healing and moving on. But when he said Monday that it really wasn't over, you not only believed him, you wished you could take away some of his pain.
No one person should be burdened with this much agony, I thought. No one who has been through what Zile's been through should blame himself the way he does for the grief he put his family through. His wife watched him relive his nightmares in fitful sleeps. His daughters didn't understand what drove their father to block out the memories with booze.
"At least now we are receiving the help we deserve," he said. "But what about our spouses, our children and friends and family who have been forever negatively impacted by our abuse. Who will speak for them? Who will comfort and treat their pain?"
Who will comfort and treat yours? I thought.
On the table were pictures of the two men around the time of their abuse. Zile still wore a tie, just like he did in his photo. But that little boy, with the cute grin and chubby cheeks, was gone.
Jim Hackett, though, still resembled the 12-year-old altar boy in his picture. He still had that easy smile, that mischievous glint in his eye. He joked about the shirt he wore in the picture being all the rage in the '70s, when he was being abused. I wondered, is this what people mean when they talk of a child's resilience?
Hackett was contained as he described standing in his father's workshop, telling him about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Louis Paturzo. "Father Lou," who years later was elevated to hero's status for his work with Hartford youths.
That's what prompted his mother, Elizabeth, to write that anonymous letter in 1993. She had seen a story about the state police donating a van to Father Lou for his work, and knew.
"He was still hunting," she said Monday.
She wanted to tell the police everything then, she said, all that she and her husband had told their parish priest that went unheeded. She wanted to warn other mothers, to protect other sons. But first she had to protect her own. And she said, "It was Jimmy's secret to tell."
So now he and Zile are speaking out - in different ways, but for the same reason. Because as different as the men appeared Monday, they had one thing in common: A long time ago they were two little boys who were betrayed. And now they are two grown men digging deep to survive.
How is that possible, I thought, to suffer so much and still persevere?
I pulled on the church doors, but they were locked. I banged on them, and yelled for someone to come. But no one answered.
Helen Ubiñas' column appears Thursdays and Sundays and alternate Tuesdays. She can be reached at Ubinas@courant.com . #
[Emphasis added]
[Nov 1, 05]
#### Clergy Sex AbuseTracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Wed November 02, 2005 edition:- • Bishop apologizes to local parish. [2002 Erickson] - RCC. 2 killed.
Ironwood Daily Globe,
By MARGARET LEVRA , Globe Staff Writer, November 02, 2005
HURLEY (WI) -- A closer relationship between the Superior Diocese and its parishioners is necessary, Bishop Rafael Fliss told about 50 people Tuesday night.
They gathered at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hurley to talk about the late Rev. Ryan Erickson and the recent determination that he probably murdered a Hudson, Wis., funeral home director and his intern in February 2002.
"It is highly unusual for a bishop to stand up in front of his people with humility and say, 'I messed up bad and I need your help to make sure it doesn't happen again,'" said the Rev. Michael Hayden, pastor at St. Mary's. "He was sincere in seeking the help of all of us.
"We're looking at a serious oversight here. He (Fliss) needs the advice of a broad base of the diocese. He needs to pay attention to the people," Hayden said.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:51 PM]
• Pastor pleads not guilty to sex charge. [2005 Roelke] - Methodist. "Boy".
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,,
www.jsonline. com/news/ozwash /nov05/367 414.asp ,
By DAN BENSON, dbenson@journalsentinel.com , Posted: Nov. 1, 2005
WEST BEND (WI) - A local youth pastor on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to solicit sex on the Internet from someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy but was instead an undercover police officer in New Hampshire.
Russell F. Roelke, 45, also posted $50,000 bond on Monday and was released from the Washington County Jail, nearly a month after he was charged with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, child enticement, exposing a child to harmful material and possession of child pornography, all of which are felonies.
If convicted on all counts, Roelke could be imprisoned up to 57 years.
Until his arrest, Roelke was employed as director of youth and children's ministries by Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church in West Bend for 2 1/2 years, the church's pastor, the Rev. Jon Claude Bartlett, said.
• Families not pleased with Bishop's apology for Erickson.
[2002, 2004 Erickson] - RCC. 2 killed.
CBS 5,
Updated: 12:41:15 PM, Nov/02/2005
WISCONSIN - The bishop who was in charge of the Rev. Ryan Erickson apologized last night for Erickson's actions.
A judge has ruled that Erickson likely killed two people three years ago at a funeral home in Hudson. Erickson committed suicide at that church last December, just days after authorities questioned him in the murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison.
Bishop Raphael Fliss faced parishioners at St Mary's church in Hurley, Wis. last night. Fliss tried to urge his parishioners to look to the future, but they urged him to take responsibility of his priests. At the meeting, the bishop admitted he failed and took responsibility for the actions of Erickson.
"I look back on it and I have to say that I certainly failed. I should have gone further and inquired more," Fliss said.
• When Catholics have to choose. [Ratzinger, Rigali, Law] - RCC. Hitler Youth? Child abuse enablers.
Philadelphia Daily News,
By DONNA GENTILE O'DONNELL, ~ November 02, 2005
PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- THE RATZINGER brothers "made a different choice."
These were the words of Elizabeth Lohner, lifelong resident of Traunstein, Germany, the hometown of Joseph, now Pope Benedict, Ratzinger. As reported earlier this year in the Sunday Times World, Lohner, whose brother-in-law was sent to Dachau as a conscientious objector, doesn't buy the line adopted by the Ratzinger brothers and their Vatican allies.
The Ratzinger defenders claim that conscription into Hitler's war machine was inevitable, and resistance was impossible. Lohner, a Ratzinger neighbor said, "It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others. The Ratzingers were young and had made a different choice."
The concept of choices made and examples set is important in understanding the deep-seated corruption that is now evidenced in the pedophilia grand jury documentation. These cardinals, alleged moral leaders, elected Ratzinger - a man surrounded by astonishing acts of evil against his neighbors, and who was incapable of personal risk to resist.
We shouldn't be surprised that the men who elected him did the same. Philadelphia's Cardinal Rigali, a participant in the election of Ratzinger as pope, continues to publicly demonstrate his lack of moral compass, despite some recent public efforts to try to ease the pain.
More worthy of note is the fact that, in the time preceding the papal conclave at the Vatican, multiple high masses were held in connection with the funeral of John Paul II. One of them was celebrated by Cardinal Bernard Law, who, after being run out of Boston's archdiocese for his participation in that criminal pedophilia cover-up, was brought to Rome, living under the protection of the Vatican. Only one other cardinal concelebrated the Mass with the disgraced Cardinal Law: Justin Rigali.
• McManus knew earlier of charges against priest. - RCC.
[2004 Aquino] Man in sex shop.
[2005 Bishop McManus] - Statement to public.
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass., USA),
By Kathleen A. Shaw, kshaw@telegram.com , November 02, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) -- David Roger, district attorney of Clark County, Nev., said yesterday that he notified Bishop Robert J. McManus in February of the scope of the criminal charges lodged against the Rev. James J. Aquino of Worcester, and provided the bishop with copies of the citation and police report.
Mr. Roger's account of when the bishop was made aware of details that led to charges against Rev. Aquino appears to differ from recent statements by the bishop concerning the situation. Attempts to reach Bishop McManus and Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the bishop and the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.
On Monday, the bishop said his decision to remove Rev. Aquino from his pastorate at Our Lady of Loreto Parish last weekend was based on new information he received in the past week.
"From early February until a few days ago I believed I was in possession of the truth. A few days ago, I realized with deep regret and disappointment that I did not possess the whole truth," he said.
• Abuse victim: Laws need to protect children, not abusers. - RCC.
Duluth News Tribune,
By DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press, ~ November 02, 2005
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A woman who settled a federal lawsuit that accused a Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse and two dioceses of helping conceal it says she's speaking out to try to lift statutes of limitation that protect abusers instead of victims.
Judy DeLonga said she didn't recognize that she was abused until a few years ago and that it has taken her 40 years to begin to understand the ramifications of the abuse.
DeLonga did not a sign a confidentiality agreement but would not disclose the settlement amount. She said she doesn't want the focus to be on money but rather on changing the laws in South Dakota and other states to better protect children.
"This could take decades to unbury what is so deeply hidden," said DeLonga, speaking Wednesday during a news conference in front of the federal courthouse in Sioux Falls. "You can't put a set limit on when or where it will happen."
• Former Sunday school teacher pleads guilty to sex abuse.
[2004-05 Stevenson] - Eastmont Church. 2 girls.
KATU,
www.katu.com /news/story.asp? ID=80819 , ~ November 02, 2005
BEND, Ore. - A former Sunday school teacher has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexually abusing two girls, both under 12 years old.
Scott Rodger Stevenson, 34, of Bend, admitted to four counts of sodomy, eight counts of sexual abuse and one count of attempted unlawful sexual penetration, according to Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Kandy Gies.
A June indictment said Stevenson had sex with the girls between July 1, 2004 and July 9, 2005.
Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Kandy Gies declined to say if a plea bargain was involved.
Officials at Eastmont Church in Bend have confirmed that Stevenson taught Sunday school there for a few months, more than two years ago.
Senior Pastor John Lodwick said the offenses were not committed at the church or at any church-related function. [...]
• Priest held for lewd act!.
[2004 Aquino] Man in sex shop.
[2005 Bishop McManus] - Statement to public.
Hindustan Times,
Associated Press, Worcester, Massachusetts, November 2, 2005
WORCESTER (MA) - A Roman Catholic priest arrested in Las Vegas last year for allegedly performing a lewd act on another man inside an adult bookstore was removed from his post as pastor of a parish after an advocacy group posted the arrest report online.
The Rev. James Aquino has been relieved of his duties at Our Lady of Loreto parish, where he'd been pastor since 1986, Bishop Robert McManus told parishioners Sunday.
McManus, who called the situation "a grave scandal," had known of Aquino's October 2004 arrest for several months. But the bishop had allowed him to remain in his post because Aquino denied the charges and McManus believed he might have been arrested due to a misunderstanding.
Just last week, Aquino, 66, took to the pulpit to publicly deny the charges, telling parishioners he had just entered the Adult Super Store, which sells sexually explicit books, magazines and videos, when police swooped in.
• Bishop's apology .
[3 clergy of Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin] - RCC. €133,835 so far.
Carlow Nationalist,
By Majella O' Sullivan, ~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - ALLEGATIONS of sex abuse have been made against three priests in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in the past 20 years.
In the wake of the Ferns Report, a letter of apology from the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr James Moriarty to victims of clerical abuse and their families was read out at Masses across the county over the weekend.
The Nationalist has learned that the diocese has made one compensatory settlement with a victim of sexual abuse. In 2004 it paid out €133,835 to a victim of one of the three priests against whom an allegation of sexual abuse was made.
Of the priests against whom an allegation was made, only one is living but he is said to no longer be in active ministry. Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr James Moriarty wrote an open letter to all priests and Catholics in the diocese last weekend.
• Former BG priest sentenced on sex charges.
[~ 2000s Arflack] - RCC. Men.
The Daily News,
By ALICIA CARMICHAEL, acarmichael@bgdailynews.com , 11:53 AM CST, Tuesday, November 1, 2005
BOWLING GREEN (KY) - U.S. Army Chaplain Gregory Arflack, who once served as associate priest at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Bowling Green, was convicted today on multiple counts of forcible sodomy and two counts each of indecent acts and fraternization with enlisted service members at a court-martial in Bamberg, Germany.
"He also was convicted on one count each of disobeying orders and conduct unbecoming an officer," according to The Associated Press.
Arflack's guilty plea was part of a pretrial agreement, according to the AP.
• Sexual abuse prompts police appeal . - RCC. Boys.
NZCity,
http://home.nzcity. co.nz/news/default. asp?id=56392& c=w , 2 November 2005
NEW ZEALAND - Police want to speak to past and present students of a Feilding Maori boys college, after a second former employee was charged with sexual abuse.
A 66-year-old retired member of the Catholic Church has been charged with sex offences committed in the 1970s and 80s.
Detective Chris Webster says the offences were allegedly committed while the man was a teacher at Hato Paora.
That is the same school where Brother Andrew Cody committed sexual offences.
• Second arrest in historic Hato Paora sex abuse case.
[1970s-80s Cody] - RCC. Boys.
Radio New Zealand,
Posted at 8:46pm on Nov 2, 2005
NEW ZEALAND - A second retired member of the Catholic church has been arrested over alleged historic sexual abuse at a Manawatu school.
Earlier this year, Andrew Cody, 67, from Upper Hutt was jailed for two and a half years for indecently assaulting three students at Hato Paora Maori Boys Catholic School at Feilding 20 years ago.
Police say the latest man to be charged is due to appear in the Lower Hutt District Court tomorrow.
They say the offences allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 80s when the accused was a teacher at the school.
• Sex abuse inquiry expanded to include audit of all dioceses. - RCC. 70 accused in Dublin area.
The Irish Times,
by Liam Reid, Political Reporter, November 02, 2005
IRELAND - The proposed statutory inquiry into the Dublin archdiocese is to be expanded to carry out an independent examination of every other diocese in the Republic, to establish whether there are current child protection concerns relating to serving priests.
The audit is to run as a parallel module to the inquiry, which will be investigating primarily the response of the church authorities to allegations of sexual abuse against more than 70 priests in the Dublin area.
It is envisaged the examination will then recommend whether or not other dioceses should be the subject of a full statutory investigation by the inquiry.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is expected to bring proposals to Cabinet next Tuesday on the expanded inquiry. The Irish Times has also learned that Circuit Court judge Yvonne Murphy has been asked to chair the inquiry.
[ALSO visit:
"IRISH CATHOLIC LEADERS TO FACE NEW ABUSE PROBE:
The role of senior churchmen in dealing with allegations of child sex
abuse in the Dublin Diocese will come under scrutiny in a new
investigation. -- CathNews, Australia, Nov 10, 2005: www.cathnews. com/news/511/ 61.php ]
• McDowell planning sex abuse audit of all dioceses. - RCC. 70 accused in Dublin area.
Online.ie
November 02, 2005
IRELAND - Justice Minister Michael McDowell is reportedly planning to order an independent examination of every diocese in the Republic to establish if any serving priests pose a threat to children.
Reports this morning said the examination would run in parallel with the proposed statutory inquiry into the Church's response to allegations of sexual abuse against more than 70 priests in the Dublin archdiocese.
The audit would then recommend whether or not other dioceses should also be the subject of statutory inquiries.
• Pastors don't recall issues with accused priest .
[Paturzo, Glynn (deceased) , Maguire, Muha (deceased)] - RCC.
The Bristol Press,
By JACKIE MAJERUS, Nov/02/2005
BRISTOL (CT) -- One of the priests named in the Archdiocese of Hartford's sexual abuse settlement this week served as recently as five years ago at St. Joseph Church and St. Anthony Church in Bristol.
Louis Paturzo, who is no longer a priest, spent time serving Mass at the two Bristol churches from 1997 to 2000, though pastors from those churches said they're not aware of any problems within their parishes while he was there.
In addition to Paturzo, three other priests who had area parish assignments were among the 14 accused in the lawsuit settled Monday, according to the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
The Rev. Thomas Glynn [deceased] served at St. Matthew, Forestville, 1966-67; the Rev. Felix Maguire worked at St. Pius X, Wolcott, 1968-72; and the Rev. Edward Muha [deceased], served at Immaculate Conception in Terryville, 1969-96.
• Priest's Parish Reacts To Settlement.
[Przybylo] - RCC. Sexual misconduct.
Hartford Courant,
By JEFFREY B. COHEN, November 2, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - On the day set aside each year to honor Catholic saints, Katherine Carlman went to a noon Mass at SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in Hartford, hoping to hear one of the inspiring sermons she has come to enjoy from the Rev. William Przybylo.
But Przybylo didn't say any of the Masses on All Saints Day Tuesday, the day after he was one of 14 priests named in a $22 million settlement between the Archdiocese of Hartford and 43 people who alleged sexual misconduct. Przybylo is the only one of the 14 still active in the ministry.
In his place for the day was Monsignor Gerard G. Schmitz, a seminary classmate of Przybylo's and the archdiocese's vicar for priests. Schmitz spoke of a difficult and painful day - for the parish, for the church, for Przybylo, for his alleged victims and for their families.
And for people like Katherine Carlman.
"He is a great priest, and I was looking forward to hearing one of his sermons today, because he speaks so well and he's so inspirational that, on this feast day, it would have been nice to hear him speak," Carlman said after a Mass that drew about 70 people. "So we missed him in church today."
• Settlement Can't Erase The Pain.
[14 Hartford Archdiocese clergy; Przybylo] - RCC. $US 22m. 43 accusers.
Hartford Courant,
~ November 02, 2005
HARTFORD (CT) - This week's $22 million settlement involving sexual abuse claims against 14 Catholic priests in the Hartford Archdiocese is a sad reminder of a shocking scandal that refuses to go away.
Priests who were esteemed as trusted guardians of children too often took advantage of that relationship by fondling, raping and otherwise sexually molesting youths too scared to report the criminal abuse, fearing that no one would believe them. Cash settlements in dioceses across the nation indicate that the assaults involved many hundreds of priests and thousands of children.
The Hartford settlement covering complaints by 43 accusers came after two years of mediation in Bridgeport federal court. Six of the accused priests have died, four have retired, three were stripped of their priestly faculties, and one, the Rev. William Przybylo of SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in Hartford, remains in active ministry.
• Such abuse should never again be visited on children.
[1960s-2000s Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 clergy. 100 assaults.
Connaught Telegraph,
~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - THE report by Judge Frank Murphy into the rape and sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in the Diocese of Ferns over nearly 40 years, is the most damning indictment of a Church that failed in the extreme to protect children from a wave of alleged abuse at the hands of evil men who preyed on innocent victims.
The document outlines the terrible abuse of over 100 people and how the Church, and at times the State, turned a blind eye on the shocking deeds that were perpetrated against youngsters both male and female.
By now the implications of the report have been well debated and analysed as we all try and come to terms with the shocking depraved acts of priests who were looked up to by the children.
The revelations have shown the Church tried to discredit the victims when they came forward and pointed the finger at their abusers.
They were accused of lying, despite having bottled up the abuse, in many cases for years.
• Dr. Neary addresses Church controversies.
[Tuam Archdiocese clergyman] - RCC.
Connaught Telegraph,
~ November 02, 2005
"LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME; DO NOT STOP THEM; FOR IT IS TO SUCH AS THESE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD BELONGS".
IRELAND - HIS Grace, Dr. Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam, has spoken publicly of the difficulties facing the Catholic Church following a number of controversies.
Delivering a homily at Tuam Cathedral, he stated: "This has been a difficult week for the Catholic Church.
"It has been difficult for those who have suffered abuse, for you the laity, my fellow priests and bishops and for all those with a love for the mission of the Church.
"In our own Diocese of Tuam we have had an extra challenge to deal with this week.
"As you are already aware, this week, I requested a priest of the diocese to stand aside from his ministry pending the outcome of investigations.
• Statistics regarding allegations of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Tuam.
[Tuam Archdiocese 27 clergy] - RCC. Children.
Connaught Telegraph,
www.con- telegraph.ie/ article-detail. asp?article_ id=3096 ,
~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - The following is a summary of statistical information regarding child sexual abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Tuam:
For the purposes of this exercise the term "allegation" is used in a broad manner so as to include information, from whomsoever received, which suggested that a child may have been sexually abused or at risk of such abuse.
It does not necessarily mean that a reasonable suspicion ultimately emerged that child sexual abuse had occurred. Every allegation which has been made against a living priest is known also to the Gardai.
No priest is currently in ministry who is the subject of an investigation involving child sexual abuse or about whom there has been reasonable suspicion that child sexual abuse may have occurred.
1. Number of priests of the Archdiocese of Tuam against whom allegations have been made: 19 (of whom 6 are now deceased). The earliest date of alleged abuse is 1940.
2. Number of priests of other dioceses against whom allegations have been made and who held appointments or did supply (i.e. occasional ministry) in the Archdiocese of Tuam: 7 (of whom one is deceased).
3. One allegation has been made against a priest whom it has not been possible to identify.
Of the forgoing:
* Eight priests (living at the time the complaint was received) have stood aside from ministry following a reasonable suspicion that child sexual abuse may have occurred.
* Two priests about whom, following a Garda investigation, a decision not to prosecute has been taken by the DPP.
* Four priests have been the subject of criminal charges in respect of offences within the realm of child sexual abuse.
* Three priests have been convicted of charges within the realm of child sexual abuse.
Eight civil actions involving child sexual abuse have been brought, of which 7 have been settled involving compensation payments amounting to €327,000.00. The total sum paid in related legal fees to date is €170,000.00.
(The above information was supplied to the Connaught Telegraph by Dr. Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam). #
• Cincinnati priest who faced rape, sex charges acquitted. - RCC. Acquitted.
The Plain Dealer,
Associated Press, Wednesday, November 02, 2005
CINCINNATI (OH) - A judge has acquitted a Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a boy while a pastor in the 1990s, saying the accuser's story was not believable.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman found the Rev. Raymond Larger not guilty of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition.
Ruehlman heard about two hours of testimony Monday from the now 21-year-old accuser, who came forward last year. He said he was abused in 1995-97, while Larger was the pastor of St. James Church.
"It's silly to go any further with this case. The testimony I heard just isn't credible," Ruehlman said after the prosecution rested.
• Paedophile priest to be defrocked.
[Priest] - RCC. Children.
Kilkenny Today,
~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - Bishop Laurence Forristal plans to defrock a paedophile priest who lives in Kilkenny and was the subject of the largest single child abuse investigation in the history of the State.
The diocese has disclosed that it is not supporting the convicted child abuser financially and has made settlements with the shamed cleric's victims. Other cases are pending.
The man was found guilty on a number of counts of sexual abuse and served six years of a nine year sentence.
Diocesan spokesman Fr Dan Carroll told the Kilkenny People that the former parish priest will shortly be stripped of all ecclesiastic status.
"The Vatican has been informed and we hope that the process will be expedited as quickly as possible," Fr Carroll said.
"We recognise the victims' grevious hurt and we will do everything in our power to help them. Hopefully this move might bring some closure to some of his victims."
• West stunned as 27 Tuam priests in abuse scandal.
[27 Tuam Archdiocese clergy] - RCC. Children.
Western People,
~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - A total of 27 priests from the Archdiocese of Tuam have been linked to allegations of child sexual abuse, the Western People can reveal. The figure is one of the highest in the country and will come as a major shock to parishioners in counties Mayo and Galway where the alleged paedophiles were based.
In a statement released at the weekend, the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, revealed that seven of the 27 priests are now deceased. The earliest date of the alleged abuse was 1940 and eight priests who had been identified as probable child sexual abusers have since left the priesthood.
Archbishop Neary said 19 priests had been based solely in the Archdiocese of Tuam while a further seven had held temporary positions or had occasionally administered in the Archdiocese. The Tuam diocese covers a vast area of South and West Mayo, including Claremorris, Ballinrobe, Westport, Castlebar, Achill Island, as well as parts of North Galway.
• Bishop Lee apologises for clergy child sex abuse.
[Waterford and Lismore Diocese 7 clergy] - RCC.
Waterford Today,
~ November 02, 2005
IRELAND - The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Most Rev. Dr. William Lee has apologised for the "damage done by a number of priests in the Diocese of Ferns who have sexually abused children."
In a letter read out at all Masses throughout the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore on Saturday and Sunday last, he said that allegations of abuse were made against seven priests of the Diocese.
Bishop Lee's letter read as follows:
"We have all been deeply saddened and hurt by the Ferns Report published on Tuesday last. It describes the enormous damage done by a number of priests in the diocese of Ferns who have sexually abused children.
I take the opportunity to outline the detail as it pertains to child sexual abuse allegations against priests in this diocese. I can confirm that allegations leading to "reasonable suspicion" that child sexual abuse may have occurred were made against 7 priests of the diocese. All have been reported to the civil authorities. Five are currently out of ministry, one is deceased and one is in limited ministry.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:08 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
Wed November 02, 2005
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont118.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed. #### Clergy Sex AbuseTracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Thu November 03, 2005 edition:- • Paedophile priest abused in Dundalk.
[? 1970s+ Fortune] - RRC. Unfit, but ordained. Boys.
The Anglo-Celt,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - Paedophile priest Fr Sean Fortune spent a year living outside Dundalk where, the Ferns Inquiry reveals, he abused at least one young boy.
The rogue priest had been sent to Mount Oliver after complaints had been made about his behaviour with boys in Belfast.
Concerns about the priest's fitness had been raised even before his ordination, with a psychiatrist deeming him unfit to be ordained and surfaced again when he was posted in Belfast. After his ordination Fr Fortune in Holy Rosary Parish in South Belfast served for less than a year in 1979.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:31 PM]
• Paedophile priest abused in Dundalk.
[? 1970s Fortune] - RRC. Unfit, but ordained. Boys.
The Anglo-Celt,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - Paedophile priest Fr Sean Fortune spent a year living outside Dundalk where, the Ferns Inquiry reveals, he abused at least one young boy.
The rogue priest had been sent to Mount Oliver after complaints had been made about his behaviour with boys in Belfast.
Concerns about the priest's fitness had been raised even before his ordination, with a psychiatrist deeming him unfit to be ordained and surfaced again when he was posted in Belfast. After his ordination Fr Fortune in Holy Rosary Parish in South Belfast served for less than a year in 1979.
• Sex abuse victims publicize that ex-priest, an alleged pedophile, lives in city of Westlake Village .
[Barmasse] - RCC.
Thousand Oaks Acorn,
By Daniel Wolowicz, danielw@theacorn.com , ~ November 03, 2005
CALIFORNIA - "Warning! Alleged child molester lives near you."
The words on the flyer left little doubt as to why members of a group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) recently went door-to-door to speak with residents living on the 31000 block of Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village.
Members and supporters of the priest abuse survivors' group handed out the flyers to notify residents that one of their neighbors, Kevin Barmasse, is a former priest accused of sexual abuse.
The group's actions raised the question as to how far the public can go in its quest to draw attention to accused sex offenders. Barmasse has never been convicted of any sex abuse charges and his name is not listed on the Megan's Law website, an Internet resource that carries the names of sex offenders.
• Choosing her shepherds wisely. - [Seminaries] - RCC.
Harassment of 'straights'.
The Cowl,
www.thecowl.com/media/paper493/news/2005/11/03/Commentary/Choosing.Her.Shepherds.Wisely-1044629.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.thecowl.com ;
Section: Commentary, By Michael Rubin, Issue date: Nov/3/05
PROVIDENCE (RI) - Three weeks ago, Joe McCormack '07 questioned the justice of the upcoming Vatican document that is expected to bar homosexuals from the priesthood. After all, asked Joe, if these men promise to be chaste, what's the problem? He reasoned that to exclude such men from the priesthood is "profoundly un-Catholic."
He goes too far. The Church has both a right and a duty to be exacting in the selection of Her priests, especially when failure to do so could lead to scandal-as it plainly has with regard to the ordination of homosexuals in recent decades.
In any case, it seems that the anticipated "ban" will not be absolute. According to National Catholic Reporter columnist John Allen, the document will call for restricting homosexuals who 1. have not lived celibately for three years, 2. are part of a "gay culture" (i.e. participating in gay pride rallies), or 3. have a homosexual orientation that is "strong, permanent, and univocal" enough to make a common life in a rectory with other men a risk. What's so unreasonable-or "un-Catholic"-about that?
The need for a policy that limits homosexuality within the priesthood is well demonstrated, especially in America. Investigative reporter Michael S. Rose, author of Goodbye, Good Men, has amply documented what he calls "the institutionalization of a gay subculture that has earned some seminaries nicknames such as the Pink Palace, Notre Flame, and Theological Closet." Upholding this culture is a homosexual network dubbed the "Lavender Mafia" which favors gays in admissions, ordinations and promotions and which covers up the frequent harassment - even sexual molestation - of straight, celibate men. It also retaliates against seminarians who complain by diagnosing them as "disintegrated personalities" and forcing them into psychological counseling, resulting in many lost vocations.
As I suggested earlier, the Church's sex abuse scandals clearly result from the presence of active homosexuals with blatant hostility toward priestly celibacy. Media claims to the contrary, the problem isn't pedophilia (adults having sex with children) but pederasty (homosexual sex with boys): Peter and Paul Catholic Ministries reports 95% of the victims since 1950 have been boys, not girls. For this reason alone, the Vatican is right to screen out openly gay seminary applicants.
Moreover, far from being "un-Catholic," such a policy is of long pedigree within the Church, and is based not so much on doctrine as on the practical wisdom She has gained over the centuries. On Feb. 2, 1961, for instance, the Sacred Congregation for Religious issued a document reiterating long-standing policy that "advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers." This is common sense: having a homosexual man share a rectory with other men would be as taxing to his chastity as living in a house full of women would be to a heterosexual.
• Priest and child porn .
[Brooks] - RCC. Child porn.
Loudon Times-Mirror,
www.zwire.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=15495337&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=564239&rfi=6 ,
By Mark V. Serrano, National Advocate for Child Sexual Abuse Victims, Board member, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Lansdowne,
Nov/01/2005
VIRGINIA - There are many things that should concern parents and citizens about the child pornography case against the Rev. Father Robert Brooks, former pastor of Saint John the Apostle Catholic Church in Leesburg who will be sentenced Dec. 12 after pleading no contest to a child pornography charge.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials caught Father Brooks as "part of ICE's Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to safeguard children against Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, child sex tourists, and human traffickers."
Child pornography is an inherently heinous crime. Those photographed boys and girls have, by definition, all been sexually exploited and abused even before the camera shutter goes off. Many are enslaved, drugged and forced into prostitution.
It is incumbent on Bishop Paul Loverde of the Arlington Diocese to take action to safeguard children immediately in the wake of Father Brooks' prosecution.
• Bishop delayed handing over files to probe despite doubts.
[27 priests, and Ferns Diocese] - RCC. Files missing, but €100,000 account prompt.
Irish Independent,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - BISHOP Eamonn Walsh knew of suspicions about a number of priests in Ferns in 2002.
But their files were not handed over to an inquiry until it almost collapsed in September.
Eight out of the 27 priests identified would not have been included in the report and its appendix had support organisation One in Four not contacted the inquiry, precipitating a last-minute trawl of diocesan documents on the order of Bishop Walsh.
This was done when the inquiry learned that not all documents concerning allegations or suspicions had been handed over.
The Irish Independent has learned that prior to being called to a plenary hearing of the inquiry, which was to consider the serious state the investigation had reached, the diocese had submitted a legal bill for €100,000 to cover its legal costs.
• More Lawsuits Claim Sexual Abuse At Pueblo School.
[1960s-70s Mueller] - RCC. Children.
TheDenverChannel.com ,
POSTED: 8:56 am MST, November 3, 2005
DENVER (CO) -- More lawsuits were expected to be filed in Pueblo County District Court Thursday in connection with the sexual abuse allegations of five people who once attended the former Roncalli High School.
The suits are the latest in a series claiming abuse at the hands of Brother William Mueller, who served as a music director and religion instructor at the school.
A Miami law firm said that each of the five alleged victims whose suits were being pursued Thursday went to Roncalli during the late 1960s or early 1970s, before the school shut down in 1971.
The former students said that Mueller abused them in the band room or an office after asking them to take part in a science experiment on sleep.
• Bishop of Kilmore expresses shame at child sex abuse.
[1947-1080s Kilmore Diocese, 3 clergy] - RCC.
The Anglo-Celt,
By Sean McMahon, ~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - FOUR priests in the Diocese of Kilmore have been reported to the gardai over the years in relation to alleged child sexual abuse, while complaints about three others came to the attention of the diocese. Two of these were not deemed to give rise to reasonable suspicion that abuse had taken place. The earliest complaint dates back to 1947 while the remainder relate to dates in the late 1970's early '80's
However, one priest is currently being investigated by the Gardai and being processed according to the Church's guidelines. Having conferred with the Gardai, informed the HSE, and taken the advice of the Advisory Panel, it was decided that the information, thus far available in the investigation, was insufficient to constitute a reasonable suspicion that abuse had occurred.
Bishop Leo O'Reilly told The Anglo Celt this week it is for this reason that the priest remains in ministry, pending the discovery by the Garda investigation of evidence that would give rise to reasonable suspicion, that abuse had occurred.
The number of priests living at the time a complaint was received and who stood aside from the Ministry, following a reasonable suspicion that child sexual abuse may have occurred is three.
• Fr. Fortune victim regrets not telling his story sooner. [Fortune] - RCC. Boy.
The Argus,
Exclusive, By Margaret Roddy, ~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - Peter, whose ordeal at the hands of Fr Fortune is detailed in the Ferns Inquiry, was just a thirteen year old Dundalk school boy when he came in contact with the notorious paedaeophile through a group called 'Youth Encounter'.
"It was a very enjoyable group and I loved going to it," he recalls.
"A priest came along to help with the running of it, and his name was Fr Sean. He was very nice, very friendly and just seemed to take a shine to me. The next thing I knew, I came home from school one day and he was sitting in the living room and he got friendly with my family."
A retreat weekend was planned for Bellurgan and the young people were told that they would be staying with families out there.
"When I got there, there was no family for me, and I now wonder if there was never a family for me," says Peter.
• 'Ferns Report shamed me as your bishop'. [40yrs Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 priests. ~ 100 assaults.
The Kerryman,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - THE publication last week of the Ferns report shamed me as a man, a priest and as Bishop. There are no excuses. I am not going to offer any.
This should not have happened. Shame, disgust, pain, neglect and shock are all words that come to mind when I think of what took place.
The historical dealing with such abuse cases we now know was inexcusable in the extreme. We in the Church and indeed in the wider society who were placed in positions of power and trust, all failed in our primary duty to protect children. We must live with this shame and one day be answerable to God. Today, however, we must be answerable to the children, the State and to you.
• This must never again happen to our children.
[40yrs Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 priests. > 100 assaults.
The Kerryman,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - The Ferns Report, delivered to the Minister for Health and Children, makes for shocking reading. Story after story of innocent victims - whose lives were devastated at the hands of more than 20 vile human beings - is compiled in a document that has rocked the Catholic Church like never before.
Through persistent media exposure, we have almost become accustomed to the issue of child sexual abuse within the Church.
Yet so harrowing was the detail and the meaning of the Ferns Report that it forced an entire nation to sit up and listen to people who, for years, were never heard.
The fallout from the report and the lessons and actions that follow in every diocese in the country have now come in for close scrutiny.
• Diocese sells off property; archdiocese settles 43 abuse claims. [Providence Diocese] - RCC. 43 claims.
Catholic Explorer,
By Catholic News Service, ~ November 03, 2005
WASHINGTON (DC) (CNS) -- The clergy sex abuse crisis continued to have financial, legal and pastoral ramifications for U.S. Catholic dioceses, as one diocese sold off property, another settled some 43 claims after a more than two-year mediation process and a third faced a new claim stemming from an alleged incident in the 1980s.
Property owned by the Diocese of Providence, R.I., at the former Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick Neck was sold for $1.8 million, said Michael Sabatino, the diocese's chief financial officer. Known as the "caretaker's house," the property sits on 10 acres and is separated from the former seminary by a public street.
The property was sold to a private developer planning to subdivide the parcel into lots for private homes. "A condition of the sale was that homes would be consistent with the style present in the neighborhood," Sabatino said.
Assessed for $1.5 million, the property was part of the collateral used to secure a $15 million, three-year line of credit in 2002 used by Providence Bishop Robert E. Mulvee to settle dozens of lawsuits against the diocese brought by victims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese is in the process of renegotiating that line of credit.
• Sexual abuse: Bishop sets up new range of protection measures. - RCC.
The Sligo Champion,
By HARRY KEANEY, ~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - Bishop Jones has also encouraged victims of abuse to report what happened to them, if they had not already done so.
"If you have suffered abuse from a priest or any church personnel and have not come forward with your story, I urge you to do so now," he said.
He again offered his apologies to any person of the diocese who had been sexually abused by a priest.
"We know that apologies must sound hollow for people who are suffering but this apology is made with the utmost sincerity," Bishop Jones said.
• Voices from hell.
[40yrs Ferns Diocese] - RCC. 21 priests. ~ 100 assaults.
The Sligo Champion,
~ November 03, 2005
IRELAND - Listening to a tormented priest on RTE radio confessing his innermost feelings of disgust and shame at the revelations contained in the Murphy Report into the rape and sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Ferns gave some idea of how let down and isolated many of his colleagues feel at present.
He told of his mortification and fury - not to mention initial incredulity - at the sheer scale of what has been uncovered and admitted to the nation that he felt like simply staying on in bed when his alarm clock rang at 7 a.m., rather than having to face his parishioners on the morning after the report was published. He simply hadn't the heart to carry on, but eventually, he rose and, with head down, reluctantly went out into the world.
Among the many victims who have been scarred and brutalised by this appalling scandal - and there are many - it is easy to forget that ordinary priests going about their daily work, have been victims too.
• Statement On The Ferns Report</
