[2007 Tester*] - Christian. Drunken driving, exposure, offered oral.
Short News,
www.short news.com/ start.cfm? id=63935 ,
~ August 01, 2007
TENNESSEE -- Tommy Tester, an employee of a Christian radio station, and also a pastor, has been charged with indecent exposure and
DUI. Tester, who was wearing a skirt at the time, got out of his car and urinated in a car wash bay in front of children.
Police arrived at the scene and Tester offered to give the officers oral sex. Tester had an empty bottle of oxycodone and an open container in the car and failed all sobriety tests. Tester says the police "scared him" says Al Morris, Tester's boss.
(This is the first item ofAbuse Chronology:
http://www. multiline. com.au/~ johnm/ethics/ ethcont139. htm ,
and of the Clergy Sex AbuseTracker,
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abusetracker ,
A Blog by Kathy Shaw,
for Wed., August 01, 2007.)
[2007 Battersby -NEW*] - Church of England. Internet child pornography.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph,
~ August 01, 2007
UNITED KINGDOM -- CHURCH leaders have spoken of their shock and hurt after a former Blackburn vicar admitted downloading child pornography.
The Rev Paul Battersby, who was priest in charge at St Mark's Church in Witton for four years and was previously a rector at St Peter's Church, Darwen, is awaiting sentence after admitting three counts of downloading indecent images of children.
The father-of-two, who has been vicar at St Ambrose Church in Leyland since 2003, was arrested in May after police seized his computer, and appeared at Chorley Magistrates Court on July 20, where he admitted the charges.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 1, 2007
6:25 PM]
[1979-83 Cloutier-NEW*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC). 2 boys.
The North Bay Nugget,
Local News, 08:00, Wednesday, August 01, 2007
CANADA -- A Roman Catholic priest in North Bay will have a court date next Wednesday on allegations that he sexually assaulted two boys in Sudbury dating back to 1979.
Father Bernard Cloutier, 65, remains free on bail.
He was charged last month with two counts of sexual assault, indecent assault and gross indecency involving two boys sometime between 1979 and 1983 while he was parish priest at St. Mathieu Church on Pioneer Road, and L'Annonciation Church on Northway Avenue in Sudbury.
[2006-07 A few parishes in San Diego Diocese] - RCC. US$500,000 to circumvent bankruptcy administration.
NBC Sandiego,
~ August 01, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- The finances of San Diego County's Catholic Diocese are being called into question. Monday night, a court-appointed financial expert released an audit that found inconsistencies and problems with the diocese's accounting system.
According to the 175-page report compiled by financial expert R. Todd Neilson, a handful of parishes deliberately concealed or inappropriately handled about $500,000 in funds in sometimes "purposeful attempts" to circumvent federal bankruptcy proceedings,
The "openly questionable activities" appear to be limited to a small number of parishes and most pastors and lay personnel demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with church financial procedures, the report noted.
- Fundamentalist LDS. Is law valid?
The Salt Lake Tribune,
The Associated Press, Article Last Updated 01:40:43 PM MDT,
August/01/2007
VICTORIA, British Columbia, CANADA -- No charges will be filed against members of a Canadian polygamous community affiliated with a sect in Utah - but the Province of British Columbia province may determine the validity of the law against multiple marriages by referring it to the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the attorney general said Wednesday.
Provincial Attorney General Wally Oppal said he has reviewed a report by special prosecutor Richard Peck and agrees no charges should be pursued against members of a sect in Bountiful, British Columbia.
The group is part of the southern Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, known as the FLDS and headed by Warren Jeffs.
[2005 Osborne (Marianist), 2007 St Louis Archdiocese] - RCC. Still officiating. Male.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
By William C. Lhotka, August/01/2007
KIRKWOOD (MO) -- Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests criticized the St. Louis Archdiocese today because the former president of Vianney High School, the Rev. Robert Osborne, is listed as a visiting priest at St. Peter's Catholic Church in downtown Kirkwood.
In June, the Marianist province of the United States -- the religious order to which Osborne belongs -- settled a civil suit with an 18-year-old who had accused the priest of molesting him two years ago when he was a Vianney student.
SNAP official Judy Jones and national director David Clohessy said at a news conference today that Archbishop Raymond Burke violated the church's national child sex abuse policy by assigning Osborne to St. Peter's, or allowing him to take part in ministerial duties at the church.
- RCC.
City of Angels,
By Kay Ebeling, ~ August 01, 2007
LOS ANGELES (CA) -- The LA Times came through with an article Monday that was orchestrated by the LA archdiocese PR machine. You can see Teachers Assistant Sitrick in front of Public Relations 301 class holding up a PERT chart saying, You take this action, (points to cardinal meeting with crime victims) and the result just a few weeks later is this (points to rosy articles all over the news about crime victims meeting with the cardinal).
CLOSEUP: Tear willowing down the Cardinal's bony cheek.
Here is the beginning of the article. The first few sentences are right out of Journalism 101 in adult school. Come on, this is the LA Times, or it was:
Abuse victims turned to Mahony in anger, pain
As lawyers worked on a payout, the archbishop met individually with more than 70 victims.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 1, 2007
7:30 PM]
[? 2006 Steger] - RCC. Girl.
Democrat & Chronicle,
August 01, 2007
GATES (NY) – The prosecution and defense in the case against the Rev. John J. Steger could not come up with an out-of-court settlement, so a new hearing has been set for 6 p.m. Oct. 31. Both sides had four months to come up with an agreement.
Steger, a priest at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Gates, faces four misdemeanor charges involving inappropriate touching of a 12-year-old girl.
He was arrested in May 2006 and pleaded not guilty. Steger has been a pastor at St. Jude on Lyell Road since 1968, but now is on administrative leave.
[1980s Orange Diocese teacher (Mater Dei High School] - RCC. Abortion. Girl.
Ms. Magazine
By Bill Frogameni
~ August 01, 2007
CALIFORNIA -- Joelle Casteix was a 15-year-old Catholic schoolgirl in the mid-1980s when a teacher began molesting her. The abuse ended when she was 17, but not, she says, before she contracted genital warts, got pregnant and had an abortion.
At the time of the molestation, Casteix confronted the administrators of her school, Mater Dei High in Orange County, Calif., but says she was asked to keep quiet. Behind the scenes, administrators eventually verified her claims and elicited an extraordinary signed confession from her abuser, who also admitted molesting another student.
But it wasn't until 2005–after the original statute of limitations had expired–that Casteix finally found justice. Thanks to a California law enacted in 2002, she was able to compel the Church to hand over its documents, which allowed her to join a then-record $100 million settlement reached between abuse victims and the Diocese of Orange. Casteix received $1.6 million herself.
The 2002 California law gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a one-year "civil window," allowing those with otherwise expired claims to sue retroactively. Lawmakers recognized it can take years for sexually abused children to confront their abuse–a task made all the more difficult if the abuser is a religious authority.
An estimated 800 litigants took advantage of the window and filed suits, and many of those suits were settled in July when the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay a total of $660 million to 508 victims of priest sexual abuse.
[≤ 1989 Lee] - Mormon. Failed to register.
Deseret Morning News,
By Rebecca Palmer, ~ August 01, 2007
UTAH -- A 64-year-old man who was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1989 and removed from his calling in the First Quorum of the Seventy has been arrested for investigation of failing to register as a sex offender in Washington County.
George P. Lee, the church's first American Indian general authority, was excommunicated for "apostasy and other conduct unbecoming a member of the church."
In 1994, after being charged with first-degree aggravated sexual abuse of a child, Lee pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree felony attempted sexual abuse of a child and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.
- Fundamentalist LDS.
CBC,
The Canadian Press, July 31, 2007
CANADA -- A lawyer appointed to look into allegations of sexual abuse among members of a polygamist sect in Bountiful, B.C. has completed his report.
Vancouver lawyer Richard Peck has given his findings to the provincial attorney general's Criminal Justice Branch, and branch spokesman Neil MacKenzie says justice officials are studying it.
He says no public statements will be made at this time. ...
The people of Bountiful are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believe men must marry as many wives as possible in order to get into heaven.
[2006 Riley*] - Episcopalian. Cruelty pictures of boys.
Baltimore Sun,
August 1, 2007
MARYLAND -- A former organist and choir director of a Timonium church was ordered yesterday to serve three years of probation for possessing photographs that depicted young boys as the subjects of sadomasochistic abuse.
David R. Riley, 59, of Roland Park was granted probation before judgment on one count of possession of child pornography. He resigned his position as organist and choirmaster of the Choir of Men and Boys at St. Stephen's Traditional Episcopal Church after a plea hearing in April. By entering an Alford plea, Riley did not admit guilt in the case but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
Police searched Riley's home in September after painters working in his house spotted several 8-inch-by-10-inch photographs of partially clad boys. According to charging documents, several images depicted boys with their arms bound over their heads and their chests "subject to torture with clothespins."
[2006 Gable*] - Baptist. Girl.
TCPalm ,
~ August 01, 2007
PORT ST. LUCIE (FL) – Had the case gone to trial, it would have involved the word of a former youth minister against a 15-year-old girl he counseled who claimed he molested her.
In the end, Jermey Patrick Gable, 31, reached a plea deal with prosecutors that kept him out of prison and allowed his accuser to avoid the ordeal of testifying at trial. Gable was originally charged with sexual battery in the April 2006 incident, but pleaded no contest to a charge of child abuse instead and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Gary Sweet to five years of probation.
"I'm still claiming my innocence," Gable said, adding the plea was in his best interest. He could have faced up to five years in prison on the charge.
Gable, who worked at First Baptist Church of Port St. Lucie and counseled the girl at her mother's request, was accused of inappropriately touching the girl while they were painting his office at the church on Northeast Solida Drive. The girl claimed he also propositioned her for oral sex.
[2006-07 A few parishes in San Diego Diocese] - RCC. US$500,000 to circumvent bankruptcy administration.
Meadow Free Press,
By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer, 7:36 AM ET,
Tue Jul 31, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- A handful of parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego deliberately concealed or inappropriately handled about $500,000 in funds in sometimes "purposeful attempts" to circumvent federal bankruptcy proceedings, according to an auditor's report.
Church finances, specifically the question of how much the diocese is worth, has been hotly contested since the bankruptcy petition, which came after four years of unsuccessful settlement negotiations.
Still, the 175-page report published late Monday found no overall system of accounting throughout the diocese.
[2006-07 A few parishes in San Diego Diocese] - RCC. US$500,000 to circumvent bankruptcy administration.
10 News,
~ August 01, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- A handful of parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego deliberately concealed or inappropriately handled about $500,000 in funds in sometimes "purposeful attempts" to circumvent federal bankruptcy proceedings, according to an auditor's report.
The "openly questionable activities" appear to be limited to a small number of parishes and most pastors and lay personnel demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with church financial procedures, the report noted.
Still, the 175-page report published late Monday found no overall system of accounting throughout the diocese.
[2006-07 A few parishes in San Diego Diocese] - RCC. US$500,000 to circumvent bankruptcy administration.
Catholic Online (WASHINGTON),
By Patricia Zapor, Catholic News Service ( www.catholic news.com ), July/31/2007
SAN DIEGO (CA), (CNS) -- While much of an audit of the finances of the San Diego Diocese showed recordkeeping was above-board, it found some cases of parishes moving tens of thousands of dollars around at the time of bankruptcy filing - in ways that apparently violated diocesan policies.
The 175-page first report of R. Todd Neilson, a forensic certified public accountant who conducted the audit on orders of the judge overseeing the diocese's bankruptcy case, included an analysis of the records of 48 of 93 parishes and 26 of 43 schools.
The audit was ordered in April by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler, who said she was mystified by what she called "the most Byzantine accounting system I've ever seen," involving hundreds of bank accounts.
[Toledo Diocese] - RCC. 25% staff cut.
"Fascinating path to a conviction,"Toledo Blade,
By DAVID YONKE, BLADE RELIGION EDITOR, August 01, 2007
TOLEDO (OH) -- The Toledo Catholic Diocese is eliminating more than 40 jobs and a number of programs to cut $700,000 from its $7 million annual budget, citing financial concerns and a renewed commitment to efficiency.
Nonclerical staff will be reduced from 170 to 127, a drop of more than 25 percent.
The cutbacks were necessary because income has been stable while expenses have risen – particularly the cost of health care, which jumped 18.9 percent for the 2007-08 budget year, according to Sally Oberski, the diocese's director of communications. ...
Donations at Catholic churches in the Toledo diocese – and across the nation – have fallen as parish attendance has dropped, Ms. Oberski said. It is unclear how much of that decline is a result of the national clerical sexual-abuse crisis.
- RCC.
Daily Southdown,
By Ken O'Brien, August 1, 2007
JOLIET (IL) -- When he was introduced last year to replace Bishop Joseph Imesch, Bishop J. Peter Sartain talked about healing the wounds of people who accused priests of sexually abusing them.
But critics of how the diocese handled sex abuse claims say they see little change under Sartain's leadership.
Two months before Sartain moved to Joliet, the Diocese of Joliet released the names of 22 priests accused of molesting children. Of those, six of the men were criminally convicted. Eleven have been named in civil lawsuits, and the others were announced in 2002 when they were removed from ministry.
Imesch became a target because of how he handled the cases. Attorneys who've sued the diocese say he protected priests at the expense of children.
- RCC grilling complainants in 40s.
The Day,
By Joe Wojtas, August/1/2007
NORWICH (CT) -- Attorneys representing the Diocese of Norwich in two pending cases have changed the approach the diocese is taking to defend itself against claims of sexual abuse by priests, asking alleged victims detailed questions about their lives since childhood.
In the two most recent cases pending against the diocese, the Branford law firm of Milano and Wanat has submitted almost identical sets of written "interrogatories" to James Fish of Pawcatuck and Mary Jane Leverone of East Lyme.
The lawyers asked Fish, 47, and before that, Leverone, 48, to identify every person they've ever had a relationship with and provide details about them. The plaintiffs have also been asked to name every medical provider who has treated them, along with the conditions for which they were treated, and for details about every medication they've taken, the schools they attended, what they studied and the grades they received.
[2006-07 Parishes in San Diego Diocese] - RCC. US$500,000 to circumvent bankruptcy administration. Two hid money.
Union-Tribune,
By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer, August 1, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- A sweeping financial review has found that the Diocese of San Diego made conflicting statements about its assets, that Catholic parishes withheld millions in surplus funds and that churches hid money in two instances. Attorneys representing about 150 victims of sexual abuse by priests and other church personnel seized upon the findings by court-appointed financial expert R. Todd Neilson as proof that the diocese is not being honest in its bankruptcy case.
"(Bishop Robert Brom) and his legal advisers have demonstrated their utter contempt for the bankruptcy court and the legal system," said Irwin Zalkin, an attorney representing about 30 percent of those who filed sexual-abuse lawsuits against the diocese here.
[Decades - Los Angeles Archdiocese] - RCC. Hiding facts. > 150 priests. US$660m. 508 victims.
Catholic Online,
By Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter -- ( www.ncronline.org ), July/31/2007
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (National Catholic Reporter) - When Cardinal Roger Mahony announced a settlement July 15 with people who were suing the Los Angeles Archdiocese for sexual abuse by clergy, some called the occasion "historic."
Part of that designation results from the numbers involved in the case: 508 plaintiffs; more than 150 priests accused of abuse; and $660 million in settlement (approximately $1.3 million per victim), the largest such payout in U.S. church history. Of that money, $240 million will go to lawyers' fees. Late last year, the archdiocese, the largest diocese in the United States, settled 86 other cases for $114 million.
Adding to the sense of epic was the four-year battle between lawyers, during which the archdiocese fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court against plaintiffs' attempts to pry open priest personnel files.
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker ,
Wed, August 01, 2007
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont139.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[~ 2007 Robert Grant -NEW*] - RCC. Boy.
The Hartford Courant,
www.courant. com/news/ custom/top news/hcu- naugatuck pastor0802,0,7 22461.story ,
By HILDA MUÑOZ | 2:07 PM EDT, August 2, 2007
NAUGATUCK (CT) -- The pastor of a two local parishes was arrested this morning on charges that he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy, police said.
Rev. Robert J. Grant, 63, is charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. He is free on $200,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Waterbury Aug. 8, police said.
Grant is currently assigned to St. Mary's Church at 338 North Main Street and St. Hedwig Church at 32 Golden Hill Street. Grant is also the director at St. Hedwig Parish School, according to the school website.
[2007 Mr Novinski -NEW* (Ursuline Academy)] - RCC. Teenage girl.
NBCi,
POSTED: 6:51 am CDT July 27, 2007;
UPDATED: 7:41 am CDT July 31, 2007
DALLAS (TX) -- Dallas police said a Dallas private school teacher was fired and then arrested after a student claimed to have had an inappropriate relationship with a teacher.
A 17-year-old girl told police in June that she had a sexual relationship with David B. Novinski, 35, one of her male teachers at the Ursuline Academy of Dallas all-girl Catholic prep school on Walnut Hill Lane near Inwood Road. School President Margaret Ann Moser said school officials acted quickly.
"We suspended the individual and he is no longer in our employment," she said.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 2, 2007
10:06 PM]
- RCC.
[1928 Louisville Archdiocese priest] - Boy.
[1928 Sisters of Charity of Nazareth] - Boy.
The Courier-Journal,
By Peter Smith, psmith@courier-journal.com , August 02, 2007
LOUISVILLE (KY) -- Years after the eruption of the sexual-abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, James O'Bryan's story might seem drearily familiar.
He recalls that as a little boy, the church was the center of his life -- until he lost his faith after he says a priest molested him.
But what makes this case unusual is when O'Bryan says this happened: 1928.
That's earlier than any other case among the hundreds against the Archdiocese of Louisville and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 2, 2007
7:40 AM]
[1960s-70s Bellemore (Marist College)] - RCC. 3 boys.
ABC,
www.abc.net. au/news/stories/ 2007/08/02/ 1994961.htm? site=northtas ,
Posted 13:17:00, August 2, 2007
LAUNCESTON (TASMANIA), Australia -- The trial of a former Burnie priest who is accused of sexually assaulting three young boys has been aborted.
71 year old Roger Michael Bellemore had pleaded not guilty to three counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 17.
It is alleged the offences occurred while Bellemore was working as a priest at Burnie's Marist College in the late 1960s and early 70s.
In the Launceston Criminal Court this morning, Bellemore's lawyer asked for the trial to be aborted because of evidence given by one of the witnesses.
Justice Alan Blow agreed and discharged the jury.
Bellemore was released on bail to return to court in October. #
[~1980s 2 priests] - RCC. Male.
The San Fernando Valley Sun,
http://sanfern andosun.com/ sanfernsun/ index.php? option=com_ content&task= view&id=1515& Itemid=2 ;
Written by MARIANNE LOVE,
Thursday, August 02, 2007
[PICTURE] Abuse victim Kevin McParland at the age of 20. McParland requested his current photo not be published.
CALIFORNIA -- Kevin McParland faces an unwelcome anniversary next week. It's been over 20 years but the trauma of being sexually abused by a Catholic priest is still present. It's unsettling for the valley resident to hear about the recent arrest of former priest George Miller of Guardian Angel Parish in Pacoima, and the record-setting, $660-million civil settlement between the Los Angeles Archdiocese and 500 others last month.
These recent incidents involving other sexual abuse victims and Catholic priests are all triggers that can set him off into the dark world of despair that took over his life in Greenville, Pennsylvania and continued when he was a college student at Penn State.
Admittedly a naïve, 20-year-old devout Catholic, McParland, now 47, had just lost his father to a heart attack. He was upset and acted out by displaying rude behavior to the neighborhood priest. Disturbed by his own behavior, McParland called the priest and told him he wanted to apologize. [...]
McParland had been drinking and his good judgment was off. The priest asked him if he wanted a massage and then began touching him. McParland bravely shared the details of the abuse, but they are too graphic to print.
"I disassociated. It was like I was watching it happen to someone else,"McParland said. It's was a lot of trauma. I didn't know what it was. This priest touched me, and I was going to hell. I let him do what he did just to get him out of there the fastest way possible." [...]
As it turned out that priest - 200 miles from the other - began to ask McParland irrelevant questions in the confessional box.
"I thought he was just trying to learn the facts, but then he began to breath heavy and asked inappropriate questions, such as did I reach an organism, how big was his penis." McParland said. [...]
[~ 2007 Robert Grant*] - RCC. Boy.
The Connecticut Post,
~ August 02, 2007
NAUGATUCK (CT), (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest was arrested Thursday on a sexual assault charge involving a child, then suspended by church officials.
The Rev. Robert J. Grant, 63, was taken into custody Thursday morning and later released on a $200,000 bond, said Police Chief Christopher Edson.
Edson said Grant was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. The chief said he could not elaborate because the alleged victim is a juvenile.
Grant is the pastor of St. Mary and St. Hedwig churches. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Hartford, which oversees Naugatuck parishes, said Grant has been placed on administrative leave.
[2 nuns, janitor, Fr Laughlin, Fr Harris - Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. 6 more lawsuits.
The Oregonian,
By STEVE WOODWARD, Thursday, August 02, 2007
OREGON -- An attorney for six alleged sex-abuse victims says he intends to file federal lawsuits today against the Archdiocese of Portland -- the first new cases to be brought since the church resolved its bankruptcy in April.
Kelly Clark, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, also represented many of the dozens of plaintiffs whose accusations forced the archdiocese into bankruptcy more than three years ago.
Those accused include two priests already accused in other cases -- the Rev. Thomas Laughlin and the Rev. James Harris -- as well as two nuns and a janitor named for the first time.
[1960s McSheffery] - RCC. Boy.
NBC 30,
~ August 02, 2007
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A man in his 40s has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Hartford and his former parish priest, claiming he was sexually abused in 1974 by the priest in Guilford, Conn.
The man, identified in court papers only as Michael Doe, a former altar boy at St. George Catholic Church, claims the Rev. Daniel McSheffery sexually abused him when he was an 11-year-old boy.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court July 18, is the most recent in a series of sex-abuse claims against McSheffery, a priest who served in several churches in Connecticut since the 1960s.
Doe's attorney, Thomas M. McNamara, said his client is seeking "the value of what McSheffrey and the diocese took from him that he'll never be able to regain. We'll let a jury decide what that is."
[2005-06 McCormack*] - RCC. Fondled 5 boys.
WBBM,
~ August 02, 2007
CHICAGO (IL), (WBBM) -- A month after predator-priest Daniel McCormack pleaded guilty to molesting young boys, the leader of Cook and Lake County's nearly 2.5 million Catholics is commenting publicly for the first time about the case.
WBBM's Bernie Tafoya reports.
Francis Cardinal George tells WBBM Newsradio 780 in an exclusive interview for the At Issue program that better systems are in place now and he insists children are safer in church now, according to statistics on sex abuse he says, than they are in their own homes.
[~ 2007 Robert Grant*] - RCC. Boy.
WTNH,
12:29 PM. Posted Aug. 2, 2007
NAUGATUCK (CT) -- A 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest was arrested today on sexual assault and risk of injury charges.
Under arrest is Father Robert J. Grant, who is assigned to St. Mary's Church on North Main Street, Naugatuck police said.
Police began an investigation of Father Grant in July "after a complaint of inappropriate sexual contact involving a minor," Lt. Robert Harrison, Jr. said.
[2005-06 McCormack*] - RCC. Fondled 5 boys.
CBS 2,
~ August 02, 2007
CHICAGO (IL), (CBS) -- A month after predator-priest Daniel McCormack pleaded guilty to molesting young boys, the leader of Cook and Lake counties' nearly 2.5 million Catholics is commenting publicly for the first time about the case.
As CBS 2 sister station WBBM 780's Bernie Tafoya reports, Francis Cardinal George said in an exclusive interview for the At Issue program that better systems are in place now and he insists children are safer in church now, according to statistics on sex abuse he says, than they are in their own homes.
The cardinal says it'll take awhile, however, before people "trust" the church fully to handle sex abuse allegations properly.
"I think it's not a question of safety. They're very safe," he said. "Whether or not there's trust, that's another whole question. I pray that can be rebuilt."
[1988-91 Miller] - RCC. Children.
The San Fernando Valley Sun,
Written by MARIANNE LOVE, Thursday, August 02, 2007
PACOIMA (CA) -- A member of Guardian Angel Parish in Pacoima on Sunday confronted Mary Grant, (l) Western Regional Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests) as she handed out information about former priest George Miller who was arrested last month on charges of child sexual abuse.
Two adult survivors of sexual abuse by separate priests were met by angry parishioners after Mass at Guardian Angel Parish in Pacoima as they handed out leaflets with information about former priest, George Miller, who has been criminally charge with child sexual abuse between 1988 and 1991, while he worked at the church.
A man dressed in an altar server frock and waving a thurible of burning incense told Mary Grant, Western Regional Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests - a group of men and women sexually abused by clergy and who belong to a confidential support group) that she had to leave.
[Ryan] - RCC. Boy.
New York Post,
By STEFANIE COHEN, August 2, 2007
LONG ISLAND (NY) -- A one-time Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old boy on Long Island slashed his throat the day before he was to go to jail.
Barry Ryan, 59, survived the suicide attempt, said Suffolk County district attorney spokesman Robert Clifford.
[1974 McSheffery] - RCC. Boy.
Newsday,
8:09 AM EDT, August 2, 2007
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- A man in his 40s has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Hartford and his former parish priest claiming he was sexually abused in 1974 by the priest in Guilford.
The man, identified in court papers only as Michael Doe, a former altar boy at St. George Catholic Church, claims the Rev. Daniel McSheffery sexually abused him when he was an 11-year-old boy.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court July 18, is the most recent in a series of sex-abuse claims against McSheffery, a priest who served in several churches in Connecticut since the 1960s.
[2005 Osborne (Marianist), 2007 St Louis Archdiocese] - RCC. Still officiating. Male.
KMOX,
www.kmox. com/pages/ 746492.php? contentType= 4&contentId= 743960 ,
Kevin Killeen Reporting, ~ August 02, 2007
ST. LOUIS (MO) -- The Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests is accusing St. Louis Arch Bishop Raymond Burke of breaking the rules on allowing an accused priest to say Mass...
[2005 Osborne (Marianist), 2007 St Louis Archdiocese] - RCC. Still officiating. Male.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
By William C. Lhotka, Aug/02/2007
KIRKWOOD (MO) – The Rev. Robert Osborne should be barred by the St. Louis Archdiocese from serving as a visiting priest and celebrating Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Kirkwood, say members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
At a news conference Wednesday in front of the New Cathedral on Lindell Boulevard, SNAP official Judy Jones and national director David Clohessy criticized Archbishop Raymond Burke for allowing Osborne – accused of sex abuse of a teenager – to perform ministerial duties.
But Monsignor Richard Stika, a spokesman for the archbishop, said Osborne has been cleared by three investigations of any wrongdoing. Osborne is the former president of Vianney High School in Kirkwood.
- RCC. 98 parishes have < 1000 bank accounts. Hidden money.
10 News,
~ August 02, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- A financial expert whose review of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego found that parishes within the diocese withheld millions in surplus funds and hid money will be questioned about his findings in federal court this month.
Attorneys representing about 150 victims of sexual abuse by priests and other church personnel seized upon the findings by court-appointed financial expert R. Todd Neilson as proof that the diocese is not being honest in its bankruptcy case, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Neilson, a former FBI agent and expert in bankruptcy and forensic accounting, was appointed in April by federal bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler to examine nearly 1,000 bank accounts held by the diocese and its 98 parishes.
- RCC. 98 parishes have < 1000 bank accounts. Hidden money.
Union-Tribune,
By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer, August 2, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- DIOCESE IN TURMOIL - An attorney for Catholic parishes and a top church official said yesterday that churches and schools will comply with a policy to deposit surplus funds with the diocese.
"If a given pastor doesn't comply, we'll be having a conversation with him," said the Rev. Steven Callahan, the diocese's vicar general.
In a memo sent to pastors, administrators and school principals last week, Callahan said funds beyond the normal operating expenses for a two-month period are to be deposited "as soon as possible" with the diocesan banking system.
[1974 McSheffery] - RCC. Altar boy.
New Haven Register,
by Abbe Smith, Aug/02/2007
GUILFORD (CT) – A former altar boy at St. George Catholic Church is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford and Daniel McSheffery, claiming the priest sexually abused him when he was a young boy.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven on July 18, is the most recent in a string of sex-abuse claims against McSheffery, a popular and charismatic priest who served in several churches in Connecticut since the 1960s.
According to court documents, McSheffery is accused of sexually abusing the plaintiff, identified in court papers only as Michael Doe to protect his identity, when Doe served as an altar boy at the church in 1974. He was 11 years old.
During one of the last alleged abuse episodes, Doe ran out of the sacristy, a room in the church used to prepare for Mass, and was later dismissed as an altar boy by McSheffery.
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
Thu August 02, 2007
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont139.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed. • Clergy in push to be allowed to marry.
Clergy in push to be allowed to marry
The West Australian,
www.thewest. com.au ,
p 3, Friday, August 3, 2007
SYDNEY (NSW), Australia -- A group of nuns, priests and Catholic activists have revived the thorny issue of married and women priests, circulating a petition urging Australian bishops to reverse the Church's opposition to a more inclusive priesthood and warning there are not enough priests to run local churches.
The petition said there was "a major crisis of ministry and leadership" in Australian Catholicism limiting the Church's capacity to provide Mass and the sacraments for the nation's five million Catholics.
Lead petitioners included high-profile Catholics and was without precedent in Australia, according to Bryan Coyne, editor of online magazine Catholica. The petition asks bishops to accept there is no doctrinal or theological bar to the ordination of married men and to take practical steps to do so and invite priests who have left the ministry to return.
They also want a thorough discussion of the role of women in ministry, including women's ordination.
The petition indicates growing frustration among progressive Catholics about the pace of reform, especially since the accession of Pope Benedict XVI.
The group sent letters to about 50 bishops in June and received 11 replies. Only one response was negative.
"What I think it indicates is there is a strong realisation that the situation is becoming quite desperate in regards to shortage of clergy," said Paul Collins, one of the petition's architects.
He said there was one active priest for every 2400 Catholics in Australia and 90 per cent of lay workers in Catholic parishes were women.
The 36 signatories include a group who made a complaint last year to Rome about the teachings of Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell.
They include Loreto Sister Veronica Brady, philosopher Max Charlesworth, Melbourne priest Eric Hodgens and Sydney judge Chris Geraghy. #
[~ 2000s Gelmini -NEW*] - RCC. Males.
Independent,
http://news. independent. co.uk/europe/ article283 3905.ece ,
Published August 04, 2007
ITALY -- A "celebrity" priest, founder of an organisation with more than 280 drug rehabilitation centres around the world, is under investigation in central Italy for alleged paedophilia.
Don Pierino Gelmini is one of the church's best-known faces on Italian television, a close friend of top politicians including former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a rent-a-quote figure with right-wing views on drugs and family values.
In 2004, while still Prime Minister, Mr Berlusconi made the 80-year-old priest, founder of "Comunita Incontro", a public gift of 10 billion lira (£3.5m) for the organisation's work.
But yesterday La Stampa newspaper revealed that the priest has been under investigation, on suspicion of sexually molesting young people, for more than six months. "It seems that the accusations are numerous and coherent," the paper reported. "They revolve around a closed community in which a figure of enormous charisma seems not to have restricted himself to taking care of souls."
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 3, 2007
8:52 PM]
[2003, 2007 Ryan] -- RCC. Boy.
TCPalm,
By Charlie Reed (Contact), Originally published 02:55 p.m., August 3, 2007;
Updated 02:55 p.m., August 3, 2007
MARTIN COUNTY (FL) – A former Catholic priest and one-time teacher of the year at Martin County High School is facing arrest after dodging jail for more than two years since pleading guilty to molesting a 5-year-old boy in New York.
Palm City resident Barry Ryan, 58, who has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, has missed 17 sentencing hearings because of his medical condition since being convicted in October 2004, Suffolk County authorities said Friday.
Ryan, who is being treated in a church-run facility in Missouri, had been cleared by doctors to attend a hearing Thursday in New York but cut his own throat to get out of it, said Robert Clifford, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.
That's when the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
[LOOKBACK: "Priest pleads guilty," Newsday, www.newsday. com/news/local/ longisland/ny- liryan01399 0510oct01,0, 5675262.story? coll=ny-linews- headlines ; October 1, 2004.
ENDS.]
- RCC.
[1978 Buffalo Diocese] - Sent known paedophile to new area.
[1980s James Cotter] - RCC. Boy.
The Buffalo News,
By Jay Tokasz, Updated 9:18 AM, Aug/03/07
BUFFALO (NY) -- The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is accused of transferring a sexually abusive priest to San Diego, where the priest then allegedly molested a 7-year-old boy in the late 1980s.
A lawsuit filed in California claims that the Rev. James H. Cotter, a Buffalo native ordained to the priesthood in 1950, was a known pedophile whom the Diocese of Buffalo sent to San Diego in 1978 as part of an arranged early retirement.
But a spokesman for the Buffalo Diocese denied the claim and said Thursday that the diocese learned of accusations against Cotter only after he died in 1991.
"In 1978, when Father Cotter retired and chose to leave the Diocese of Buffalo and move to San Diego, to the best of our knowledge, no accusations of abuse had been made against him," Kevin A. Keenan said.
[1988-91 Miller] - RCC. Boy.
California Catholic Daily,
~ August 03, 2007
CALIFORNIA -- "Based on new evidence," defrocked priest George Miller was arrested on July 24 for allegedly molesting a boy between 1988 and 1991, said a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. Police took Miller into custody at his home in Oxnard. He is being held on $600,000 bail.
"As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests," said Cooley, according to the July 25 Los Angeles Times. "As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so."
Following the archdiocese's $660 million settlement with clergy sexual abuse victims, Cooley said his office has done all it could under California law to investigate molestation cases. Investigations will continue, said Cooley, depending on what he can obtain from priests' confidential personnel files.
[2 nuns, janitor, 2 priests - Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. 6 more lawsuits.
KGW,
Associated Press, August 02, 2007
PORTLAND (OR) -- Six more sex abuse lawsuits were filed Thursday in federal court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, the first complaints since the archdiocese resolved its bankruptcy with a massive settlement in April.
The lawsuits were filed by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who also represented many of the alleged abuse victims covered by the $75 million settlement.
The settlement set aside about $20 million for future claims. The new complaints seek a total of $16.6 million in damages.
An archdiocese spokeswoman said church officials had no comment on the new cases.
Two nuns and a janitor were named in the new complaints, along with two priests who had been named in earlier lawsuits. The new lawsuits did not identify the alleged victims.
[2003-07 San Diego Diocese] - RCC. Court manoeuvres.
Union-Tribune,
By Mark Sauer, August 3, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA) -- Anticipating that the bankruptcy court may soon send child sexual-abuse lawsuits to trial, lawyers for the San Diego diocese are seeking to have a different federal judge determine how much the cases are worth.
Attorneys for Bishop Robert Brom say a reason for the move is that they plan to make a legal challenge on constitutional grounds that is unsuited to be heard in bankruptcy court.
But lawyers for nearly 160 men and women who have sued the Roman Catholic diocese for covering up sexual abuse by clergy members and others say the bishop is merely trying to duck the public specter of jury trials.
Meanwhile, weeks of closed mediation talks with a federal magistrate have failed to produce a settlement of the abuse claims, nearly all of which were filed in 2003.
[1971, 2007 Rosensteel*] - RCC. Child.
Renew America,
by Matt C. Abbott, August 2, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA -- The following is an edited version of a paper reportedly sent to certain priests in the Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., Catholic diocese regarding Father William Rosensteel, who committed suicide in late June 2007 after an allegation of sexual misconduct became public. The paper, provided to me by a source in the diocese, was written by a supporter of Father Rosensteel.
Chronicle of Father William Rosensteel's Last Months
March, 2007- June 24, 2007
'In early March 2007, Father Rosensteel was summoned to the bishop's office where he met with the bishop and the vicar general. He was not accompanied by a canonist or anyone else. He was told that a parishioner from a parish in which he served from 1971 to 1972 had contacted attorney Serbin and claimed Father Rosensteel had had inappropriate contact with him in that period.
[~ 2007 Robert Grant*] - RCC. Boy.
Hartford Courant,
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON | August 3, 2007
NAUGATUCK (CT) -- A Catholic priest who oversees two Naugatuck parishes and a parochial school was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
The Rev. Robert J. Grant, 63, was placed on administrative leave by the Hartford Archdiocese shortly after he was released on $200,000 bail. The priest was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
Grant has been the pastor of two churches - St. Hedwig and St. Mary's - in the Union City section of Naugatuck since June. He was appointed administrator of St. Mary's in 2005, and he served at parishes in Windsor and East Hartford prior to that appointment. He also served as chaplain of St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury.
[2 nuns, janitor, 2 priests - Portland Archdiocese] - RCC. 6 more lawsuits.
Statesman Journal,
BY WILLIAM MCCALL, The Associated Press, August 3, 2007
PORTLAND (OR) -- Six more sex abuse lawsuits were filed Thursday in federal court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, the first complaints since the archdiocese resolved its bankruptcy with a massive settlement in April.
The lawsuits were filed by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who also represented many of the alleged abuse victims covered by the $75 million settlement.
The settlement set aside about $20 million for future claims. The amount is the total the church can finance from various sources to meet any claims and not a separate pool of money, said Mary Jo Tully, chancellor of the archdiocese.
[2003, 2007 Ryan] -- RCC. Boy.
Newsday,
www.newsday. com/news/local/ wire/newyork/ ny-bc-ny-- priest- abuse0803 aug03,0, 269 4113.story ;
August 03, 2007
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- A former Catholic priest is facing arrest after remaining free for the nearly three years since he pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old boy.
A judge had previously agreed to postpone jail for Barry Ryan because of the ex-priest's health. But the judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday, after prosecutors suggested the one-time cleric was contriving to avoid incarceration.
Ryan pleaded guilty in October 2004 to sexual conduct against a child. Assigned to parishes in Brooklyn and Queens in the 1970s and 1980s, he had been suspended from the priesthood in 1995.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 3, 2007, 7:43 AM]
[Smith] - RCC. Male.
Navy Times,
By Randall Chase, The Associated Press,
Posted 19:54:20 EDT, Friday Aug 3, 2007
DOVER, Del. – A Navy doctor who was awarded $41 million in a civil lawsuit against a pedophile priest filed a second lawsuit Friday against Catholic church officials.
Attorneys for Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell, 39, of Quantico, Va., filed the lawsuit in Kent County Superior Court against the Norbertine religious order, Archmere Academy in Claymont, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Bishop Michael Saltarelli, and Rev. Edward Smith.
In March, a federal jury in Wilmington awarded Whitwell $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages for four rapes by Smith during ski trips to Vermont. Whitwell was awarded a default judgment by the court after Smith failed to respond to the lawsuit.
[2003, 2007 Ryan] -- RCC. Boy.
Newsday,
BY TOM MCGINTY | tom.mcginty@newsday.com , August 3, 2007
LONG ISLAND (NY) -- A Suffolk County judge Thursday issued an arrest warrant for a former Catholic priest who recently moved to Missouri, after spending the past three years saying he was too ill to return from Maryland to Suffolk to go to jail on child molestation charges.
Barry Ryan, 58, of Palm City, Fla., confessed to abusing a 5-year-old boy while visiting a private home on Long Island in 2003.
Ryan pleaded guilty in October 2004 to sodomy, but because he was suffering from terminal liver cancer, the victim's family agreed on a sentence of only two years, possibly to be served outside of prison.
Observer-Tribune,
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
MENDHAM (NJ) -- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national self-help organization for victims of clergy child sexual abuse, has presented its first-ever national "Red Badge of Courage Award" to five recipients, including borough residents, Lou and Patricia Serrano.
The awards, the first ever issued in SNAP's nearly 20 year history, are to those who demonstrate extraordinary courage in advocating on behalf of survivors of clerical child sexual abuse and in support of legal measures that will make children safer, a statement said.
The Serranos, who have been married for 53 years, are the family outreach directors for SNAP New Jersey. Mrs. Serrano is also the founder of Healing Our Survivors Together (HOST) in Mendham, a local support organization.
- RCC.
The Freeport News,
~ August 03, 2007
BAHAMAS -- OSWALD BROWN Writes...
William Nairn, a prolific letter-writer, recently launched a scathing attack on the Roman Catholic Church in a letter published in The Freeport News. His vitriolic epistle apparently was prompted by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently agreeing to pay $600 million to settle a number of lawsuits related to sexual abuse scandals involving clergy affiliated with that diocese.
A former Catholic himself, Nairn said he made the decision to leave the "Catholic faith" after reading a book in 1990 written by a former Catholic Priest about the "many acts of homosexuality and immoral acts" within the church.
"My problem was, and still is, how will the leaders of the Catholic Faith be able to justify the mentioned acts to God upon his return?" Nairn wrote. "What will the Catholic leaders say or do to account for their stewardship of so many Catholics on this earth?"
As a practicing Roman Catholic, the overall tenor of Nairn's letter was offensive to me, but his attempt to cast a broad net of disrespect over the collective leadership of my Church made my blood boil. There is not one member of the Catholic faith who would not acknowledge the fact that the Church is faced with a very real problem in trying to address the sexual abuse scandals that have taken place over the years and have resulted in the Church having to pay compensation of more than $2 billion since 1950.
[~ 2000s Gelmini*] - RCC. Males.
Pravda (Russia),
~ August 03, 2007
ITALY -- An Italian priest Pietro Gelmini, 82, has been accused of abusing people at a rehabilitation center for drug-takers he founded. The priest, famous for his long-term fight against drugs is still under investigation.
The Rev. Gelmini insists there was no abuse and that he is being targeted by a group of addicts who had been kicked out of the center, said his spokesman Alessandro Meluzzi.
Prosecutors in the central Italian town of Terni have been investigating Gelmini for the last six months based on the statements of the men, but no indictment requests have been made so far, Meluzzi said, noting that in Italy authorities are obliged to investigate all reports of a crime.
[Smith] - RCC. Male.
The News Journal,
By ESTEBAN PARRA, ~ August 03, 2007
WILMINGTON (DE) -- An Archmere Academy graduate who was awarded $41 million in damages earlier this year after winning a civil suit against a from priest who taught at the school, filed a lawsuit today in state court against the Norbertine religious order, Archmere Academy and others who allegedly enabled the Rev. Edward Smith to rape and molest him.
In this lawsuit, Navy Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell is seeking $50 million in relief.
Although a federal court awarded him $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages in March, because Whitwell was only allowed to sue Smith, he is not likely to receive that money from a priest who took an oath of poverty. The award is believed to be the first made to an alleged victim of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in Delaware.
[~ 2000s Gelmini*] - RCC. ~ 4 males.
Reuters,
By Phil Stewart, 4:26 a.m., August 3, 2007
ROME, ITALY -- One of Italy's most well-known priests, 82-year-old Pietro Gelmini, is being investigated for sexually abusing drug addicted young men treated at his charity rehabilitation centre, the priest's spokesman said on Friday.
Gelmini, a respected figure who counts powerful allies in Italian politics, strongly denies any abuse, his spokesman Alessandro Meluzzi told Reuters.
He has also not yet been accused of any crime by prosecutors, who under Italian law are obliged to investigate all reports of illegal activity.
Meluzzi, a former senator, said he believed the accusers were 'four or five' men who were between the ages of 25 and 30 when the supposed abuse took place.
[~ 2000s Gelmini*] - RCC. ~ 4 males.
International Herald Tribune,
The Associated Press, August 3, 2007
ROME, ITALY: An influential Italian priest, hailed by many as a hero for his decades-long fight against drugs, is under investigation for allegedly abusing men being treated at one of the rehabilitation centers for addicts he founded, a spokesman for the priest said Friday.
The Rev. Pietro Gelmini, 82, insists there was no abuse and that he is being targeted by a group of addicts who had been kicked out of the center, said his spokesman Alessandro Meluzzi.
Prosecutors in the central Italian town of Terni have been investigating Gelmini for the last six months based on the statements of the men, but no indictment requests have been made so far, Meluzzi said, noting that in Italy authorities are obliged to investigate all reports of a crime.
Calls to the prosecutor's office in Terni were not answered Friday afternoon.
- Christianity.
The Marietta Times,
By Brad Bauer, bbauer@mariettatimes.com , ~ August 03, 2007
OHIO -- A survivors network for clergy sex abuse victims is forming a support group in Marietta, with a first meeting scheduled for later this month.
The meetings are sponsored by a Chicago-based organization called S.N.A.P., the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. S.N.A.P. is the nation's oldest and largest self-help group for men, women and children who have been abused by clergy members.
Judy Jones, area S.N.A.P. leader, said at least 15 victims have come forward out of the Steubenville Diocese, which includes the Marietta area and southeast Ohio.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 3, 2007
11:50 AM]
- RCC.
Our Sunday Visitor ( www.osv.com ),
Catholic Online, By Emily Stimpson, Aug/3/2007
HUNTINGTON, Ind. -- The storm is passing. In mid-July, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a $660 million settlement with more than 500 victims of clergy sexual abuse, it also brought to a close the largest number of abuse cases in one diocese still pending in U.S. courts.
Attempts to lift the civil statute of limitations in other states, allowing victims abused as long ago as the 1930s to bring suit against their diocese, have failed everywhere but Delaware. That means the tidal wave of clergy-abuse allegations that followed California's temporary lifting of its statute of limitations is not likely to recur.
Throughout the United States, the number of criminal allegations against priests and religious also continues to drop.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 3, 2007, 10:01 AM]
[COMMENT: This RC newspaper is still living on hope! Imagine putting MEN who have taken a no-marriage and no-sex vow in charge of trust-based faith communities! Or of orphans and/or juvenile delinquents!
ENDS.]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker ,
Fri August 03, 2007
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont139.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[2006-07 Mr Wilkerson -NEW*] - Methodist. 5 teenagers.
Philadelphia Daily News,
www.philly. com/philly/ hp/news_up date/20070804_ Trusted_youth_ minister_held_ as_youth_ molestor.html ;
By DAVID GAMBACORTA, gambacd@phillynews.com , 215-854-5994, ~ August 04, 2007
KENSINGTON (PA) -- By most accounts, James Wilkerson was a model youth minister at his Kensington church.
Parishioners young and old were naturally drawn in by his warm and friendly personality and delightful musical talents.
Wilkerson was so well-liked - and trusted - at the Summerfield-Siloam United Methodist Church that some parents let their kids hang out - and even sleep over - at his house.
But that goodwill was replaced by fury and outrage when Wilkerson was arrested on Thursday, accused of molesting five teens over the past year.
[1983-84, 1990-91 Bro. Leimbach -NEW* (Sacred Heart Brothers)] - RCC. 3 students.
The Call,
By JOSEPH B. NADEAU, July/20/2007
BURRILLVILLE (RI) -- A brother living with the local Brothers of the Sacred Heart order since Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Gulf Coast home is now the focus of a sexual abuse claim from a former student of the Mississippi Catholic high school where he was a dorm supervisor in the 1980s.
Brother William Leimbach was reported to have sexually assaulted the then 15-year-old male student, Michael D. Stevenson, on a number of occasions during the 1983-84 school year, according to a report published by The Sea Coast Echo of Bay St. Louis, Miss., Friday.
The alleged victim of the sexual assaults, now a resident of Wyoming, filed a federal civil suit against the school, St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, and the Brothers of Sacred Heart organization operating it, according to the report.
[Couch -NEW*] - Christian. Students.
This is South Devon,
www.thisis southdevon. co.uk/display Node.jsp?node Id=135239 &command= displayContent& sourceNode= 135077&content PK=18005651& folderPk=79060& pNodeId=134831 ; 11:00, August 03, 2007
UNITED KINGDOM -- A former priest who sexually assaulted his students at a Devon school will face jail, a judge has warned.
Paul Couch, 61, was found guilty at Exeter Crown Court yesterday, after a jury of four women and eight men took less than eight hours to reach their conclusion.
Couch, of Wyndham Street West, Plymouth stood motionless as the guilty verdicts were delivered on two serious sexual assaults - a verdict which was reached by a majority of 11 to one.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw on August 4, 2007
9:45 AM]
- RCC. "Clericalism" the cause.
Father Lasch,
by Paul Lakeland, Continuum ISBN 978-0-8264-2810-3,
164 pages $19.95 (U.S.) 2007
A Book Review by Regina Schulte, Ph.D., rschulte8@execpc.com ,
for CORPUS REPORTS,
A Bi-monthly Newsletter of the CORPUS COMMUNITY,
July / August 2007
Posted with permission of Regina Schulte and CORPUS REPORTS.
UNITED STATES -- The Catholic Church is in
crisis–certainly not "breaking news" to the clergy and laity, although it might be to some of the hierarchy. Scandalous sex crimes and their cover-ups are not the source of the crisis (nor what this book is about), although they have made us acutely aware of the shadow side of perpetuating an exclusivist clergy. Thus, even though it is a good thing to do, creating mechanisms to insure the safety of children from sexual exploitation will not address the root problem.
"The real scandal is clericalism," says Paul Lakeland, author of this little gem of a book. The entrenchment of a "clerical culture" in the church has provided a fertile environment for clericalism to insidiously metastasize throughout the structures for governance, ministry, and leadership in the church. He warns that the church may crash if we don't upgrade some of the elements involved.
[Layperson member] - Unitarian Universalist Church. Child.
The Boston Globe,
By Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer | August 3, 2007
HOLYOKE, Mass. --It was a moment of shock for members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Manchester, N.H.: one of their congregants was accused of sexually abusing an underage relative.
Rather than panic at the prospect of having a child molester in their midst or spend months wondering whether they should fit him in or kick him out, church leaders gave the man one chance to remain: He had to sign an agreement to stay away from any church setting where there were children, limiting himself to events like adult education classes and one-on-one meetings with the pastor.
He refused, and decided to leave. But the ultimatum let the church stick to its mission of trying to minister to all while keeping its children safe.
- Christians. 70 molestations p.w.
The Salt Lake Tribune,
by Corey J. Hodges, Article Last Updated 08:25:46 PM MDT, Aug/03/2007
UNITED STATES -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $660 million in lawsuit settlements to almost 500 people who were allegedly abused by clergy affiliated with the diocese. The deal is the largest settlement in the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal, which began in the 1990s and has seen compensations totaling more than $2 billion for incidents dating as far back as the 1940s.
The Catholic Church has received mass media attention in the last few years, but the church pedophile problem has lurked in the shadows of public awareness across a spectrum of denominations for many years.
Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a publisher of tax and legal advice for religious organizations that conducts an annual survey of about 1,000 churches, reports that over the past decade, child abuse in American churches has averaged 70 occurrences a week.
[? 2000s Mr Comford] - Faith Baptist. Boy.
Post-Tribune,
BY STAN MADDUX, Post-Tribune correspondent, August 4, 2007
LAPORTE (IN) -- A lawsuit alleges church youth leader Mark Comford spent two years gaining the trust of a boy, buying him expensive gifts then molesting him, even at the church.
The lawsuit also contends the suspect's grandfather, Jack Cox, the pastor at Faith Baptist Church in LaPorte, turned a deaf ear.
The allegations are contained in a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in LaPorte Circuit Court against Comford, the church and its pastor.
[~ 1988 James Cotter] - RCC. Boy.
United Press International,
Aug. 3, 2007
BUFFALO, N.Y., (UPI) -- A California lawsuit concerning sexual abuse by a Catholic priest claims the Buffalo diocese knowingly sent the accused priest to San Diego.
The victim, now 26, says he was molested at the age of 7 by the Rev. James Cotter. Cotter, who died in 1991, moved to San Diego in 1978 when he retired.
A spokesman for the Buffalo diocese told the Buffalo News that church officials had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by the priest. Kevin Kennan acknowledged charges were made more than a decade after Cotter left the diocese.
[Decades - San Diego Diocese] - RCC. Many victims.
Catholic World News,
Aug. 3, 2007
SAN DIEGO (CA), (CWNews.com) -- In an unusual legal maneuver, lawyers representing the San Diego, California, diocese in US bankruptcy court have asked for a federal judge to estimate the potential value of claims by sex-abuse victims.
Judge Louise DeCarl Adler, who is presiding over the bankruptcy case for the San Diego diocese, has said that she will not make any determination on the damages that should be paid to abuse victims. That matter must be weighed by other courts, Judge Adler has said, if the parties cannot reach an out-of-court settlement.
Lawyers for the abuse victims involved in the case have asked for a California district court to set trial dates, putting added pressure on the diocese to reach a settlement before an open trial, at which damaging information could become public. In response, diocesan lawyers filed papers on August 2 asking for a federal district court to provide an estimate of the damages.
- RCC. "O'Keefe" to go.
The Chronicle of Higher Education,
~ August 04, 2007
DAVENPORT (IA) -- The governing board of St. Ambrose University, a Roman Catholic institution in Davenport, Iowa, voted today to remove the name of the late Bishop Gerald O'Keefe from its library.
- RCC. "O'Keefe" gone.
Quad-Cities Online,
By Jonathan Turner, jturner@qconline.com , ~ August 04, 2007
DAVENPORT (IA) -- St. Ambrose University removed the late Bishop Gerald O'Keefe's name from the SAU library, a concession to victims who say he failed to protect them from sexual abuse by priests in the Davenport diocese.
Mark Powell, a former seminarian, was sexually abused as a teenager by a former Bettendorf priest. Last September, he asked SAU to "acknowledge the struggle of sexual abuse victims in the Diocese" by removing Bishop O'Keefe's name from the library.
The request maintained the removal was warranted because of the bishop's failure to take necessary precautions to protect children from clergy sexual abuse that occurred during his tenure as bishop, SAU spokeswoman Jane Kettering said.
- RCC. "O'Keefe" to go.
WQAD,
by Stacie Boudros, ~ August 04, 2007
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Saint Ambrose University is changing the name of its library.
During a special meeting of the university's board of directors, the decision came to remove the late bishop Gerald O'Keefe's name from the building.
The decision stems from the sexual abuse claims during O'Keefe's tenure as the diocese bishop.
- RCC.
The Examiner,
by G.M. Corrigan, 3:00 AM, Aug 4, 2007
BALTIMORE (MD) -- Onward, Christian soldier.
Army jump school-qualified and trouble-shooter for God at Catholic seminaries and remote Vietnam War firebases alike, Archbishop-designate for the Archdiocese of Baltimore Edwin F. O'Brien will begin his service with an archdiocesian listening tour.
"I want to get out to meet the priests and the people ... and [ask them] what they think my priorities should be," said O'Brien, currently archbishop for the Archdiocese for military services in Washington. ...
As to one cause of priestly low morale – the clergy sexual abuse scandal – O'Brien conceded that "a lot of damage has been done." He added, however, that he couldn't yet comment on claims that Maryland statute of limitations laws prevented alleged victims from filing claims against the diocese.
"The law is the law," he said, possibly alluding to a reform bill directed largely at the church, "and Catholics shouldn't be singled out."
[~ 2000s Gelmini*] - RCC. ~ 4 males.
The New York Times,
By PETER KIEFER, August 4, 2007
ROME, ITALY, Aug. 3 – A prominent Italian priest who is close to some of Italy's most powerful politicians has been accused by men who were once clients of his drug rehabilitation charity of sexually abusing them, his spokesman confirmed Friday.
The priest, the Rev. Pietro Gelmini, 82, is the founder of Comunità Incontro, which has nearly 200 centers in Italy that care for drug addicts and homeless people.
Father Gelmini's spokesman, Alessandro Meluzzi, discussed the investigation after a newspaper report made it public on Friday. Mr. Meluzzi, a former senator, pointed out that Father Gelmini had not been charged by prosecutors with any crime.
"For an American this probably seems bizarre, but this kind of thing happens in Italy, that this can be revealed on the front page of a newspaper without ever formalizing the accusations," he said.
[~ 2000s Gelmini*] - RCC. ~ 4 males.
Mainichi Daily News,
August 4, 2007
ROME, ITALY -- An 82-year-old priest is under investigation in Italy after addicts accused him of sexually abusing them at a rehabilitation center, a spokesman confirmed Friday. He said the allegations were baseless.
The Rev. Pietro Gelmini insists there was no abuse and that he is being targeted by a group of addicts who were kicked out of the center, according to his spokesman Alessandro Meluzzi.
Prosecutors in the central town of Terni have been investigating Gelmini for six months based on the statements of the men, but no indictments have been sought, Meluzzi said, noting that in Italy officials are obliged to investigate all reports of a crime.
[Chu-Cong (Trappist)] - RCC. Female.
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA),
By Shaun Sutner, ssutner@telegram.com , August 4, 2007
BROOKFIELD (MA) -- A Brookfield woman who accused a Trappist monk of sexually assaulting her, only to see the 84-year-old monk found not guilty in court, has appealed a decision of the state Board of Bar Overseers that there was no cause to discipline the lawyer who handled the case from District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.'s office.
Keri M. Burnor, who considers herself a "hermit nun," complained to the board in May that Assistant District Attorney Anthony J. Marotta did not properly or effectively prosecute the state's 2003 case against the late Rev. Joseph Chu-Cong, a monk at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer.
Ms. Burnor said that she has forgiven the monk, who has since died, and does not want to sue the monastery, but maintained that Mr. Marotta was too eager to cooperate with the defense. ...
Now, she says, the new district attorney has been uncooperative with her, yet eager to inform a local weekly newspaper, the New Leader of Spencer, last month, when the bar overseers found no fault with Mr. Marotta.
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