• 'Credible' abuse accusation brought against dead priest
[1960s Wyrsch -NEW*] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC).
NEWS LEADER,
www.news-leader. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20080101/ NEWS01/80101 0355/1007 ,
By Linda Leicht, January 01, 2008
SPRINGFIELD (MO) -- The sexual misconduct review board of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese has announced its determination of a "credible" accusation of abuse.
The event dates back 40 years, and the accused priest died in 1997, but the diocese is taking steps to address the impact of the abuse, said Recy Moore, spokeswoman for the diocese.
Louis Wyrsch is the fifth priest in the diocese to be named as having sexually abused a minor. Three were removed from the ministry following the accusations. Like Wyrsch, the fourth had died before the accusations were made.
[A sidebar called Accused Priests contains synopses of allegations against Revs. Louis Wyrsch, Eugene Deragowski, Lawrence E. Gregovich, Amil Antonine Shibley, and Leonard Chambers Jr.]
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:39 AM]
(This is the first item ofAbuse Chronology:
http://www. multiline. com.au/~ johnm/ethics/ ethcont144. htm ,
and of the Clergy Sex AbuseTracker,
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abusetracker ,
A Blog by Kathy Shaw,
for Tue January 01, 2008.)
- RCC.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO,
By Barbara Bradley Hagerty
December 31, 2008
[Includes the audio version of this broadcast and two video clips from depositions of Revs. Aaron Joseph Cote, O.P. and Dominic Izzo, O.P.]
WASHINGTON (DC) -- When it comes to sexual abuse, the religious orders have flown under the radar.
About a third of all Catholic clerics serve in religious orders – they're the Jesuits who teach high school or the Franciscans who serve the poor.
The sex abuse scandal that broke five years ago focused on parish priests and forced dioceses to push big reforms. But when it comes to religious orders, their reforms are voluntary, and the orders are not accountable to anyone. As a result, abuses may go undetected.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:56 AM]
- RCC.
LOS ANGELES TIMES,
By Anthony M. De Marco, January 01, 2008
LOS ANGELES (CA) -- Sister Sheila McNiff's recent Op-Ed article "Tallying church abuse" is nothing more than the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' latest attempt to have the laity and public simply trust that the church will protect children placed in its care. Sister Sheila opines that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' policies since the mid-1980s are the reason why fewer victims of abuse from the late 1980s, 1990s and early this decade have so far come forward.
These policies did not prevent Father George Michael Miller from allegedly sexually molesting boys in his rectory bedroom at Santa Clara parish in Oxnard in the 1990s. Nor did the church's purported openness result in parish staff, priests or the archdiocese reporting to law enforcement that Miller was routinely witnessed having boys spend the night in his bedroom.
These policies did not prevent Father Lynn Caffoe in the mid-1990s from allegedly taking boys up to his parish bedroom and locking the door more than 50 times and having "a good time" with them, while current archdiocese leaders such as Timothy Nichols allegedly did little more than watch.
These policies did not prevent Father Michael Stephen Baker from molesting altar boys even after he had previously admitted to Cardinal Roger Mahony that he was a child molester.
These policies are slim comfort to the children Carlos Rene Rodriguez molested in the 1990s when he was appointed as the head of the Office for Family Life in the Santa Barbara and Santa Paula region, even after a police report was filed alleging he sexually abused a boy.
These policies did not prevent Father Fernando Lopez from sexually molesting numerous altar boys in 2003 and 2004.
- RCC.
The Boston Globe,
By Robert C. Bordone and Robert J. Bowers,
BOSTON (MA) -- As the Catholic community continues the difficult process of healing and reconciliation in the wake of abuse scandals, church closings, and critical social issues, the decision by Pope Benedict XVI to avoid Boston on his US visit next spring is a missed opportunity. A face-to-face meeting with Catholics in Boston would have signaled a desire to begin honest and open dialogue on the hurt, anger, separation, and alienation many still feel.
If history teaches us anything, it is that avoidance of conflict rarely leads to reconciliation or healing. Failing to face those on the opposite side of the breach tends to breed more resentment, bitterness, and misunderstanding. The resulting alienation poisons people's hearts, stunting generosity and feeding cynicism that leads to hopelessness.
Years after the revelation of clergy sexual abuse, the Catholic community struggles to understand how such crimes could have happened - and been tolerated by the church hierarchy. In the wake of the Boston Archdiocese's church closings and hurtful statements made during the gay-marriage debate, the Roman Catholic Church finds itself at a crossroads. The leadership of the church and those aggrieved by it can continue down the current path - a slow but constant parting of ways. They can pretend that the hurt never happened, clinging desperately to the fallacious notion that "time heals all wounds."
[Erickson] - RCC.
STAR TRIBUNE,
By Chao Xiong, December 31, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL (MN) -- A judge dismissed the suit seeking names of priests suspected of sex abuse. It stemmed from two killings in 2002 at a funeral home.
A Wisconsin judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to force the Roman Catholic Church to disclose the names of priests suspected of sexual abuse.
Washburn County Circuit Judge Eugene Harrington dismissed the case Friday, saying the court did not have jurisdiction to issue such an order in the suit, filed against U.S. bishops by members of the family of Daniel O'Connell. He is believed to have been shot to death in 2002 by the Rev. Ryan Erickson, a Catholic priest.
O'Connell, 39, and another man, James Ellison, 22, were shot to death at the Hudson, Wis., funeral home owned by O'Connell's family. O'Connell was believed to be planning to confront Erickson over whether the priest had sexually abused children in the local parish. In 2005, a judge had found probable cause that Erickson killed the men.
- RCC.
PIONEER PRESS,
By Elizabeth Mohr, January 01, 2008
ST. PAUL (MN) -- A judge has halted an unprecedented attempt by the family of a slain Hudson, Wis., mortician to force the Catholic Church to release the names of clergy accused of child molestation.
The family of Dan O'Connell, one of two men shot to death by a priest at his family's Hudson funeral home in 2002, sued the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in August 2006, asking for the names and locations of some 5,000 clergy members "credibly accused" of sexually assaulting children. The family said the lawsuit, which sought no monetary reward, was an attempt to make the information public to protect children and families.
But on Friday, Judge Eugene Harrington dismissed the lawsuit, which he termed an "ambitious request," and said the court cannot legally make the church release such information.
- RCC.
JAMESTOWN SUN (ND),
ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ January 01, 2008
HUDSON, Wis. - A judge threw out a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Superior, saying the diocese can't be forced to release information about how the church deals with sex abuse by priests.
The lawsuit was filed in 2006 by the family of Daniel O'Connell, 39, a funeral director who, along with one other man, was fatally shot four years earlier.
A St. Croix County judge in 2005 found probable cause that the Rev. Ryan Erickson shot O'Connell and James Ellison, 22, at the O'Connell family's funeral home in northwestern Wisconsin.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:23 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker ,
Tue January 01, 2008
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont144.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[1970s Green -NEW*] - RCC.
WIGAN OBSERVER,
www.wigantoday. net/wigan- news/Priest- arrested- over-sex- abuse.3634 663.jp ,
By David Taylor, ~ January 02, 2008
WIGAN (ENGLAND) -- A priest from Wigan has been arrested by police investigating allegations of sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
Father William Green was arrested by Greater Manchester Police last week in relation to an "historic allegation of sexual abuse" dating back to the seventies.
Shocked worshippers at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church on Cale Lane, New Springs were told about the claims at Saturday mass by a bishop from the Diocese of Salford.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 1:35 PM]
[~ 1990s-2000s Newman -NEW* (Franciscan)] - RCC. Money US$900,000. Drugs, alcohol. Male molested.
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS,
By Valerie Russ, ~ January 02, 2008
PHILADELPHIA (PA) -- A scheduled New Year's Eve preliminary hearing for the Rev. Charles Newman, the disgraced former Archbishop Ryan High School president accused of stealing $900,000 from the school and his religious order, was postponed Monday until March.
Newman, 57, who had been living in a Franciscan friars' retirement home in Wisconsin in recent years, had no comment for reporters Monday, nor did his lead defense attorney, Frank DeSimone. But members of the Archbishop Ryan High School Alumni Board had plenty to say in a statement released Monday.
The board said that Newman's alleged crimes were more than four years old and that the alumni group has complete confidence in the administration of the high school, at Academy Road near Chalfont Drive in the Northeast.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
APPLETON POST-CRESCENT,
By Dan Wilson, January 02, 2008
APPLETON (WI) – Two brothers who were sexually assaulted by a priest 30 years ago filed a lawsuit today claiming fraud by the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.
Troy and Todd Merryfield allege in the lawsuit the diocese knew that John Feeney was a danger to children and that officials concealed that information from parishioners at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom.
Feeney, who turned 80 on Tuesday, is serving a 15-year prison sentence at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution for the 1978 assaults of the Merryfield brothers, then 12 and 14 years old.
Feeney was convicted in Outagamie County in April 2004 and was stripped of his priestly duties by the church.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 1:44 PM]
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WKBT,
ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ January 02, 2008
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A group that supports victims of sexual abuse by priests is filing another civil lawsuit -- this one against the Green Bay diocese.
The lawsuit alleges fraud against two brothers, Troy and Todd Merryfield, who were molested at ages 12 and 14 by the Reverend John Feeney at St. Nicholas parish in Freedom in the 1970s.
Feeney was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2004.
The latest fraud suit alleges church officials continued to move Feeney to parishes, schools and hospitals across Wisconsin, despite repeated warnings that he had sexually assaulted children.
- RCC.
WSAW,
ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ January 02, 2008
WAUSAU (WI) -- A group that supports victims of clergy sexual abuse says it will file a fraud lawsuit today against the diocese of Green Bay.
Peter Isely of Milwaukee represents the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He says the suit would give the diocese an opportunity to be transparent and accountable to Catholic faithful and to children who were sexually assaulted by clergy.
In a letter to be given to Archbishop Timothy Dolan this afternoon, Isely calls upon the diocese to argue the lawsuit on its merits, not legal technicalities.
- RCC backs more illegals.
THE DAILY TIMES, SALISBURY (MD),
By Gary Soulsman, The News Journal, January 02, 2008
GLASGOW, Del. -- Trish Gerhart feels blessed by Jesus' birth and is pleased to celebrate it for the first time this Christmas as a convert to Catholicism. [...]
None of this is by accident. Similar stories of growth can be heard around the Diocese of Wilmington, which serves people in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Since the late 1990s, Bishop Michael Saltarelli has asked parishes to look decades ahead, resulting in a period of expansion.
The Catholic faith is America's largest faith, representing almost a quarter of the population from 1965 to the present, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The 195 dioceses report a total growth of 19 million members during this time -- to 64.4 million.
Catholicism is Delaware's largest faith, too, flourishing in places where the state is growing. In Delaware, the church listed 126,000 members in 2,000; today, it lists 220,000. This is despite setbacks in recent years -- such as the closing of some Wilmington-area schools because of declining enrollment and lawsuits filed by victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
- More RCs at Sunday services than C of Es.
THE TELEGRAPH,
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, December 26, 2007
LONDON (ENGLAND) -- Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as the country's dominant religious group. More people attend Mass every Sunday than worship with the Church of England, figures seen by The Sunday Telegraph show.
This means that the established Church has lost its place as the nation's most popular Christian denomination after more than four centuries of unrivalled influence following the Reformation. [...]
The statistics show that attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dropped by 20 per cent since 2000. A survey of 37,000 churches, to be published in the new year, shows the number of people going to Sunday Mass in England last year averaged 861,000, compared with 852,000 Anglicans worshipping.
The rise of Catholicism has been bolstered by an influx of immigrants from eastern Europe and Africa, who have packed the pews of Catholic parishes that had previously been dwindling.
• A Priest's Lonely Ministry: As Fewer Join The Catholic Clergy, Many Must Contend With Isolation
- RCC. 46% drop in massgoers, 26% in RCs.
THE HARTFORD COURANT,
www.courant. com/news/ local/hc- lonely0102. artjan02,0, 1740799. story?coll= hc_features_ lifestyle_ util ;
By Elizabeth Hamilton, ~ January 02, 2008
HARTFORD (CT) -- The rectory is very peaceful – a little too peaceful, if the Rev. Joseph Looney is being honest about it. [...]
Whether the church lost status, or how much it lost, might be debatable, but the number of people going to Mass on Sunday has undeniably declined. According to the count taken by the Hartford archdiocese each October, the number dropped by 46 percent from 1969 to 2005. The total number of Catholics in the archdiocese dropped 26 percent during the same period.
By the time the priest sex abuse scandal broke in the media several years ago, the ranks of priests were diminished, fewer Catholics were attending Mass regularly and priests like Looney and Pushpanathan were already feeling fairly isolated.
"I'm Catholic to the core. It hasn't hurt my relationship with the church," Looney says. "But [the sex abuse scandal] has had a negative effect. It's devastating when we read about one of our classmates or one of our fellow priests being accused and I think it hurts our relationship with the people."
- RCC downsizing. Vatican reprieves St Hedwig's, but not St Adalbert's.
THE BUFFALO NEWS,
By Maki Becker, January 1, 2008
BUFFALO (NY) -- 3. Diocese announces the closings and mergers of churches and schools.
In 2005, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec announced that he was embarking on a journey -- a "Journey in Faith and Grace" -- to downsize the Buffalo Diocese.
With the numbers of parishioners and priests diminishing, the bishop was faced with the difficult, and unpopular, task of closing churches and schools and merging parishes to form new, more vibrant, congregations.
In March, the Bishop Kmiec announced his first round of closings and mergers.
By the end of the year, 14 elementary schools had been closed and mergers involving more than 130 parishes across eight counties were in the works.
Some parishes fought back to stay open. St. Hedwig's in Dunkirk staged protests and won a reprieve. St. Adalbert's parishioners also tried to stay open, but just this past week, the Vatican upheld the diocese's decision to close it.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 7:21 AM]
[~ 2000s Kim*]- Presbyterian. Teenage girl.
LONGMONT TIMES-CALL,
By Pierrette J. Shields, January 1, 2008
LONGMONT (CO) – A local church's failure to do a background check on a man later accused of sexually assaulting a teenage parishioner exposed the girl to abuse at the hands of a mentor, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Boulder District Court.
A woman who claims Peter Kim initiated an increasingly sexual relationship with her while she was a teenager in the youth group he directed at Central Presbyterian Church filed the suit, claiming the church failed to take steps to protect her.
A Boulder County jury in November deadlocked after a weeklong trial in which Kim was charged with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. Kim is expected to be retried in the case.
[2007 October - Dr Schum*] - RCC. "Woman" loitering for prostitution, or for Hallowe'en?
THE FREE PRESS,
~ January 02, 2008
MANKATO (MN) -- Dr. Paul Schum, 50, the principal of the Catholic Bethlehem High School in Bardstown, Ky., was arrested in October on prostitution-related charges after he was discovered loitering in an alley, dressed as a woman, in leather and fishnet stockings and with fake breasts.
A local priest, presumably intending to help Dr. Schum, said dressing as a woman didn't sound like something Schum would be involved in, “(b)ut again, we're in the Halloween season.”
(Dr. Schum eventually resigned, and the prosecutor chose to drop the charge.)
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 7:07 AM]
[LOOK BACK: Nov 1, 2007.
ENDS.]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
Wed January 02, 2008
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont144.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• White Salmon police investigate accusations of sexual misconduct against priest
[~ 2007-08 Whitten (Jesuit) -NEW*] - RCC. Alleged porn, touching boy.
THE OREGONIAN,
http://blog. oregonlive. com/breaking news/2008/01/ jesuit_priest_ under_invest igat.html ,
THE WHITE SALMON ENTERPRISE, ~ January 03, 2008
WHITE SALMON (OR) -- Law enforcement officials have reported that a visiting Jesuit priest on assignment to St. Joseph Catholic Church in White Salmon is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct.
The visiting priest was Carlton Whitten, 76, of Los Gatos, Calif. Whitten was in White Salmon to temporarily take the place of St. Joseph Catholic Church's usual priest -- the Rev. Felix Rodriguez -- who was on sabbatical.
The investigation was related to alleged adult pornography on a parish computer, and the alleged inappropriate touching of a 17-year-old boy.
[2007 Dec. - Mr Greenwood -NEW*] - United Methodist. Girl (5).
KNXV-TV - ABC15,
~ January 03, 2008
[Includes video]
PHOENIX (AZ) -- A Sunday school teacher at a Chandler church has been arrested on suspicion of molesting a child in his care.
Terry Greenwood, 62, of Chandler is accused of forcing a 5-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him last month, according to a police report released Monday.
Under questioning by detectives, Greenwood admitted he sexually assaulted the girl twice at Chandler United Methodist Church, 251 W. Chandler Blvd., police said.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:12 AM]
[~ 2000s Mr Benyo -NEW*] - United Methodist. Pornography.
WHEELING NEWS-REGISTER,
By Fred Connors, ~ January 03, 2008
WHEELING (WV) – A Wheeling man will face a Wood County jury this month to answer several charges related to child pornography that allegedly were committed at a church parsonage.
Steven Richard Benyo Jr., 36, of Route 2, Box 433, Wheeling, is charged with two counts of displaying obscene material to a minor, two counts of use of obscene material with intent to seduce a minor and three counts of sexual assault in the third degree.
Assistant Wood County Prosecutor Sean Francisco said Benyo is a cousin to Jeff Nolte, 41, a former pastor of the Sand Hill United Methodist Church in Williamstown, who is in jail for his involvement in the case.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:08 AM]
[≤ 2004, and ? 2007 Yarrosh] - RCC. > US$23,000. Porn;
? 2007 Interstate to meet girl (7) while on parole and probation. 4-10yrs prison.
THE REPUBLICAN & HERALD,
By Peter E. Bortner, ~ January 03, 2008
POTTSVILLE (PA) -- Three state Superior Court judges have upheld the state prison sentence of an Orwigsburg Roman Catholic priest who possessed large quantities of child pornography.
The Rev. Ronald J. Yarrosh, 60, a former associate pastor of St. Ambrose Church, Schuylkill Haven, must serve four to 10 years, the three-judge panel ruled in a seven-page opinion filed Wednesday in Pottsville.
Yarrosh, who is serving his sentence at SCI/Albion, continued to possess and acquire child pornography, traveled out of Pennsylvania to meet a 7-year-old girl and drank alcohol, all of which violated both his probation and his parole, the judges wrote.
[LOOK BACK: Arrested originally on May 12, 2004, sentenced in August 2005 for child pornography and money taken; see November, December 2006, April 2007. ENDS.]
[Covarrubias*] - RCC. Not announced.
IDAHO STATESMAN,
By Bill Roberts, ~ January 03, 2008
BOISE (ID) -- Idaho's Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll should provide more details on the misconduct of a Mountain Home priest who has been placed on administrative leave, a national support group for victims sexually abused by clergy said Wednesday.
But church officials said the case involving the Rev. Raul Covarrubias, who was pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Mountain Home, is a personnel matter and won't divulge details.
"This kind of secrecy is reckless," said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP - Support Network by those Abused by Priests - who spoke at a news conference in front of the diocesan office. "In this case initially, the diocese put this priest on suspension without saying what type of offense, when it occurred, where it occurred ... and even now they refuse to give any of those details."
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 11:53 AM]
[? 2000s Glazier*] - Methodist. Boy.
TIPP CITY HERALD,
By Melody Vallieu, ~ January 03, 2008
TIPP CITY (OH) -- A Houston man was arraigned in Miami County Court last Wednesday for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a minor.
Seth Glazier, 23, of Houston, has been charged with one count of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony.
Allegations were brought to the Miami County Sheriff's Office by Miami County Children's Services according to Det. Mark Slater.
Glazier is accused of having inappropriate contact with a now 10-year-old boy during church- sponsored activities at Richards Chapel of Troy and Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, near Tipp City, according to Slater.
He said Glazier is a volunteer with both churches.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 11:49 AM]
[1960s, 1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL,
By Tom Heinen, ~ January 03, 2008
[Includes copy of the legal complaint and map of Feeney's assignments]
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- Two brothers who were molested as youths by a Catholic priest with a long history of sexual abuse allegations filed a civil suit Wednesday in Outagamie County Circuit Court, accusing the Diocese of Green Bay of fraudulently hiding the priest's background from the public as it transferred him from parish to parish in the 1960s and '70s.
The suit includes diocesan documents as exhibits, including one from 1983 that cites "widespread accusations, allegations and rumors regarding sexual improprieties" on the part of Father John P. Feeney at parishes in Appleton, Freedom, Suamico, De Pere, Chilton and elsewhere.
Todd Merryfield, 43, of Cedarburg, and his brother, Troy Merryfield, 42, of Suffolk, Va., are the first to file such a suit in the Green Bay Diocese since the state Supreme Court ruled in July that four men who were childhood victims of priests could still sue the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for fraud in decades-old cases involving coverups.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 7:14 AM]
[1960s, 1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
TMJ-4,
ASSOCIATED PRESS, By Katie DeLong, ~ January 03, 2008
MILWAUKEE (WI) -- Two brothers molested by a priest filed a fraud lawsuit Wednesday, alleging the overseeing diocese knew the priest had a history of abusing children and allowed him access to the pair anyway.
Defrocked Roman Catholic priest John Patrick Feeney, now 89, was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting two adolescent brothers in 1978 at St. Nicholas Parish in Freedom, which is in Outagamie County. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The victims, Troy and Todd Merryfield, claim in the civil suit filed that the Diocese of Green Bay knew Feeney had a history of molesting children and continued to give him unsupervised access to the pair. The suit, which alleges fraud and negligence, claims Feeney had sexual contact with boys during the 1960s and 1970s.
[1960s, 1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
DIOCESE OF GREEN BAY,
~ January 03, 2008
GREEN BAY (WI) -- As reported in today's news, the Diocese of Green Bay has been named in a civil lawsuit alleging fraud by the Diocese pertaining to abuse in 1978 by John Feeney, a former priest of the Diocese who is now in prison.
The Diocese of Green Bay and its leaders wish to express their compassion for anyone who has been abused, particularly those who have been harmed by Church ministers. One of the primary responsibilities of the Church is to be the face of God to others, and causing harm to anyone is contrary to our mission.
In terms of the lawsuit, our nation's legal system is based on an adversarial relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. Today, the lawyers for the plaintiffs in this case have tried to present the Diocese in a damaging light. In the weeks ahead, the Diocese will have its opportunity to respond to the allegations of the lawsuit in Outagamie County Circuit Court.
- RCC.
WBAY-TV - ABC2,
By Emily Matesic, ~ January 03, 2008
[Includes video]
GREEN BAY (WI) -- In addition to a lawsuit filed by two men molested by a priest in the 1970s, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay is being asked to come clean about clergy members that it knows abused children.
Brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield and SNAP -- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- want the community to be given the names and whereabouts of clergy members the diocese knows sexually assaulted minors.
In a letter to Archbishop Timothy Dolan, SNAP asks the Green Bay diocese to release the names and locations of more than 50 clergy members. It states the Green Bay Catholic diocese released that figure in 2004 but not their names.
[19760s, 1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WBAY-TV - ABC2,
By Natalie Arnold, ~ January 03, 2008
[Includes video]
GREEN BAY (WI) -- Todd and Troy Merryfield are suing the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay for the molestation they suffered at the hands of a priest as teenagers.
When the abuse happened in the late 1970s, the Merryfield family went to police. They dropped the charges when the diocese assured them the problem would be solved.
Standing on the steps of the diocese offices Wednesday, the Merryfields said they don't want to fight this battle. Instead, they say, they
have to.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WBAY-TV - ABC2,
By Elizabeth Ries, ~ January 03, 2008
[Includes video]
GREEN BAY (WI) -- Two men molested by a priest as teenagers filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, claiming officials there covered up the abuse.
"They are going to be held accountable. They have to be. It can't ever occur again," victim Todd Merryfield said.
Former priest John Patrick Feeney was convicted in 2004 for molesting two brothers, Troy and Todd Merryfield, in the late 1970s. The Merryfield brothers are now in their 40s. Their lawsuit claims officials at the diocese not only knew Feeney sexually abused numerous children but secretly moved him from parish to parish to cover it up.
[1960s, 1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE,
By Andy Nelesen, ~ January 03, 2008
GREEN BAY (WI) -- The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay covered up years of sexual abuse by now-defrocked and imprisoned John Patrick Feeney and lied to parishioners about what they knew about previous incidents of molestation, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.
The suit, filed in Outagamie County Circuit Court, seeks unspecified damages for Troy and Todd Merryfield, two brothers originally from Freedom who attended St. Nicholas Church in the late 1970s.
The men, complainants in the 2002 criminal case that sent Feeney, a former priest, to prison for 15 years, said they decided to file a civil lawsuit after learning the diocese knew about Feeney's assaults and failed to take action to protect others.
- RCC sells a church to Methodist Episcopal Church. Connected to child sex seduction.
JAMAICA PLAIN GAZETTE (MA),
By John Ruch, ~ January 03, 2008
FOREST HILLS –The former St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church complex has been sold to the local Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Bethel AME, currently headquartered on Forest Hills Street, is a large congregation headed by well-known activists Rev. Ray Hammond and Rev. Gloria White-Hammond. The church leadership could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bethel AME presumably will reuse the church building as a church. The nearby Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot School reportedly has been in talks with the congregation about occupying part of the five-building complex.
Local resident Maryetta Dussourd is seeking to have the St. Andrew's site landmarked and made the site of some type of memorial for its connection to the Catholic Church's child sexual abuse scandal.
[2007 Dec. - Mr Greenwood*] - United Methodist. Girl (5).
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC,
By Sarah Muench, ~ January 03, 2008
PHOENIX (AZ) -- Members of Chandler's oldest church are leaning on each other for support after a Sunday-school teacher was arrested on suspicion of molesting a 5-year-old girl at the church.
Police say Terry Greenwood, 62, a Chandler United Methodist Church Sunday-school teacher, molested the same girl on two Sundays at the church.
He was indicted Monday, Dec. 31 by a grand jury on counts of child molestation, sexual conduct with a minor and indecent exposure.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:18 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.bishop- accountability. org/ abuse tracker ,
Thu January 03, 2008
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont144.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[Hoppe - NEW*] - Christian. Teenagers.
TMJ4-TV, MILWAUKEE (WI),
www.todays tmj4.com/news/ local/1301 8617.html ,
By Mick Trevey and Katie DeLong, ~ January 04, 2008
[Includes video]
WALWORTH COUNTY – He dedicated his life to preaching and helping others.
Now, one Wisconsin pastor is headed to prison. The final chapter in a case that shook a community.
A pastor convicted of sexual assault gets his punishment - but not before facing his victim.
This is a disgusting case. It involves a total abuse of trust. Scott Hoppe was hired to pray with teens. Instead, he preyed on them.
[1984-94 Mons. Fushek] - Suspended RC priest. Founded Life Teen. Cost RCC US$100,000, now taking people as well. 7 young males.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC,
By Jim Walsh, ~ January 04, 2008
PHOENIX (AZ) -- The Diocese of Phoenix is urging Catholics not to attend a suspended priest's non-denominational services, but Dale Fushek's magnetism keeps filling the Mesa Convention Center while he awaits trial on misdemeanor sex charges.
The former longtime pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, Fushek's latest service at his Praise and Worship Center is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the Mesa Convention Center. His last service on Dec. 23 drew an estimated 700 people and his first service on Thanksgiving drew about 500.
"We're actually encouraging Catholics to refrain from attending. We would hope that they don't," said Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the Diocese. "I think most leaders in the church would say your devotion should be to Christ, not an individual leader."
[1960s-70s Fr. Morse (Jesuit), Bro. Gates (Jesuit)] - RCC. US$4.8m compensation on top of $50m. Hundreds of children
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW,
By John Stucke, ~ January 04, 2008
SPOKANE (WA) -- The Jesuits have agreed to pay $4.8 million to 16 people who were sexually abused as schoolchildren by priests on the Colville Indian Reservation in the 1960s and early 1970s. The abuse happened at the Catholic order's St. Mary's Mission and School near Omak.
The allegations involve two Jesuits, John J. Morse, a priest now living in Spokane, and James Gates, a Jesuit brother living in Michigan.
The settlement also calls on the Jesuits to raise at least $200,000 within a year to pay for a homeless shelter or homeless services in the Omak area. [...]
With this latest settlement the Jesuits have now paid about $73 million to settle 194 sex abuse allegations. The numbers include $50 million paid to more than 100 Alaska Natives who said they were victimized by 15 Jesuit priests, brothers and others who were sent to villages.
- RCC says "maintenance costs" are the reason.
CBC NEWS,
January 04, 2008
TORONTO (CANADA) -- The Roman Catholic Church on P.E.I. is pushing back its plans to amalgamate parishes on the Island, so it can take the time to explain the process to its parishioners.
Originally the Diocese of Charlottetown planned to start the process of amalgamating parishes this spring, but pastoral initiatives committee chair Kerry Moore says more time is needed.
The cost of maintaining the churches is one of the reasons for closing them.
(CBC) "Rather than forge ahead and try to have something solid on paper by May, and have people not fully understand what it is we're trying to do, the council is now looking at prolonging that for perhaps another year," said Moore.
[Robinson]
RENEW AMERICA,
By Matt C. Abbott, January 04, 2008
WASHINGTON (DC) -- The following is the text of a brief (which, as you can see, isn't exactly brief) filed by prosecutors last month in the case of Father Gerald Robinson, who "was convicted in May, 2006, for the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, a 71-year-old Catholic nun who was strangled nearly to death, then stabbed 31 times," according to a Dec. 15, 2007 article in the Toledo Blade by religion editor David Yonke.
The brief, "filed with Ohio's 6th District Court of Appeals, makes point-by-point rebuttals to arguments Robinson's attorneys made in August claiming the 69-year-old Catholic cleric did not receive a fair trial."
[1970s-1997 Lanner] - Judaist. Prison ends. Former youth leader. Boys, girls, kicking, knife.
JEWISH WEEK NEWS,
By Gary Rosenblatt, ~ January 04, 2008
Former NCSY leader will have served three years of seven-year sentence for sexually assaulting two teenage girls. NEW YORK (NY) -- After serving nearly three years for sexually assaulting two teenage girls in his charge in the mid-1990s, Rabbi Baruch Lanner, the former yeshiva principal and a longtime leader of the Orthodox Union's National Conference of Synagogue Youth, is scheduled to be released from a New Jersey state prison next week, The Jewish Week has learned.
The rabbi, 58, was sentenced to up to seven years and has been in custody at Southwoods State Prison in Bridgeton for 35 months, following his conviction for criminal sexual contact.
The charges leading to his arrest and imprisonment came from two former students who attended Hillel High School in Deal, N.J. where Rabbi Lanner was principal.
[1960s-70s - Jesuit priest and brother] - RCC. US$4.8m more for seductions. 16 indigenous children.
THE SEATTLE TIMES,
By Janet I. Tu, ~ January 04, 2008
SEATTLE (WA) -- The Jesuit order in the Northwest has agreed to pay $4.8 million to 16 Native Americans who were sexually and physically abused years ago when they were students at a boarding school near Omak.
The Roman Catholic order – formally named the Society of Jesus – and attorneys for the 15 women and one man announced the settlement Thursday. It comes two months after the Jesuits agreed to a record $50 million settlement stemming from abuses in Alaska.
The victims in Thursday's settlement had all boarded at the now-closed St. Mary's Mission and School on the Colville Indian Reservation. They say they were abused in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a Jesuit priest and a Jesuit brother.
[1960s-70s - Jesuit priest and brother] - RCC. US$4.8m more for seductions. 16 indigenous children.
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
~ January 04, 2008
SPOKANE (WA) – An order of Roman Catholic priests announced a $5 million settlement Thursday with 16 people who said they were sexually abused while attending a boarding school on an American Indian reservation.
The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuit Order of priests, will pay $4.8 million in cash to the abuse victims and raise another $200,000 for the homeless in the area, the Jesuits and lawyers for the accusers said.
The Jesuits operated St. Mary's Mission and School near Omak for more than 60 years until turning it over to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in 1973. The tribes now operate the school as the Paschal Sherman Indian School.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
NBC 26 - WGBA-TV,
By Mike Conroy, ~ January 04, 2008
[Includes video and photo of Feeney]
GREEN BAY (WI) -- In the late 1970's John Patrick Feeney, now stripped of his priestly duties, molested Todd and Troy Merryfield. They say it's because the diocese repeatedly covered-up his sexual indiscretions.
Now they want justice in the form of a lawsuit. The brothers have filed suit against the Green Bay Diocese claiming the church let them down.
After uncovering one confidential document after another, the Merryfield brothers say the Green Bay Diocese knew Feeney had a history of sexual indiscretions involving kids. The brothers claim one diocese official suggested Feeney be reassigned to an area where his reputation was not well known.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
KVBC-TV - NEWS 3,
~ January 04, 2008
[Includes video]
LAS VEGAS (NV) -- Did a Catholic priest, already in jail for abusing children during the 70's in Wisconsin, abuse any children here in Las Vegas? That's what representatives from SNAP, or Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, want to know.
The two known victims of father John Patrick Feeney filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay yesterday. And as News 3's Jesse Corona reports, those victims believe the church simply transferred Feeney to other dioceses, including here to Las Vegas, instead of dealing with the allegations of abuse.
"If it wasn't for the Diocese, Feeney would have never happened," victim Troy Merrifeld told News 3. Troy and his brother Todd Merrifeld say the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay was a willing partner in the abuse they endured at the hands of Father John Patrick Feeney.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WKBT (LA CROSSE, WI),
ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ January 04, 2008
LAS VEGAS -- A victims' advocacy group wants church officials in Nevada to open records and look for possible victims of a former Catholic priest who was convicted of sexually abusing adolescent boys in Milwaukee.
A Diocese of Las Vegas spokeswoman says the church will respond if allegations are raised about the conduct of defrocked Roman Catholic priest John Patrick Feeney while he was in southern Nevada in 1985 and 1986.
Spokeswoman Rachel Wilkinson says records kept with the Diocese of Reno, which administered the region before the Las Vegas diocese was created in 1995, show Feeney served as an associate pastor at St. Francis De Sales church in Las Vegas. He also served as a prison chaplain under the auspices of St. Joan of Arc in Las Vegas.
The 81-year-old Feeney was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting two adolescent brothers in 1978 at St. Nicholas Parish in Freedom, Wisconsin. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
KLAS-TV,
By Travell Eiland, ~ January 04, 2008
[Includes video and photo of Feeney]
LAS VEGAS (NV) New information is surfacing about a convicted pedophile priest who once served in Las Vegas. Now the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says 81-year-old John Patrick Feeney may have victims here.
Members of SNAP -- the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests were here Thursday from Wisconsin, one of the states where John Patrick Feeney served time as a priest. They're hoping his picture will help uncover if he had any victims during his time in Las Vegas.
Feeney is actually serving 15 years in prison right now. In 2004, a jury found him guilty of sexually molesting two young brothers in Wisconsin when he served there back in the 1970's.
[1960s MacArthur*] - Christian. 3 girls.
FOND DU LAC REPORTER,
By Colleen Kottke, January 04, 2008
JUNEAU – A criminal case against a former priest accused of sexually assaulting three Beaver Dam girls more than 40 years ago will be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Dodge County District Attorney Steven Bauer filed charges two years ago in Dodge County Circuit Court against Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 85, who worked as a chaplain during the mid-1960s at St. Joseph Hospital.
The former priest, who resides in a nursing home in Missouri, is charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
- RCC diocese changes its rules.
THE PLAIN DEALER,
By David Briggs, ~ January 04, 2008
CLEVELAND (OH) -- The Cleveland Catholic Diocese has revised its policy on sexual abuse of minors to discourage anonymous tips.
In addition, the revised policy calls for diocesan legal officials to direct investigations of non-clergy.
The old policy did not specify whether the legal office or individual church agencies would direct the investigation of church workers and volunteers.
The diocese says the revised policy also adds less confusing language to encourage greater reporting of abuse and requires parishes and church agencies to show they are complying. But a critic says it returns the church to "the bad old days" of cover-ups.
"It is a legalistic document that is meant to cast a veil over their own behavior," said Cleveland lawyer William Crosby, who has represented abuse victims. "This makes me want to weep."
- RCC. Clergy moves to protect children from -- clergy.
CALIFORNIA CATHOLIC DAILY,
~ January 04, 2008
SAN DIEGO (CA) --The Archdiocese of San Francisco has established the Office of Children and Youth Protection, which will merge into a single office all existing archdiocesan agencies responsible for protecting children under archdiocesan care.
“Parents must be assured that their children are safe while in our care,” Archbishop George Niederauer told the Dec. 21 Catholic San Francisco.
Headed by Deacon John Norris, the office, according to the archdiocesan newspaper, will “consolidate the efforts of the various offices of the Pastoral Center that have become involved over time with carrying out mandates for dioceses issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis of recent years.”
- RCC seductions' affects on school network.
THE PRESS,
[Letter to the Editor], ~ January 04, 2008
ATLANTIC CITY (NJ) -- Let's face it, the obvious reason the Diocese of Camden is closing/merging so many of our schools is because of the "white elephant" in the middle of the room that no one is talking about - the money paid out in sexual-abuse lawsuit settlements, money that was donated by parishioners who assumed it would be used for admirable, charitable donations, such as subsidizing local Catholic schools. The money is no longer there.
Andrew Walton, director of communications for the Camden Diocese, says it is courageous to make these difficult decisions to close/merge schools. The courage, however, is not on the part of the Diocese, but on the part of the dedicated parents and school faculty who put their blood, sweat and tears into making our school, Blessed Sacrament, the best it can be.
But the Diocese seems to have a calculated plan to get out of the business of educating students. The timing of this right before Christmas, when all the school parents were overwhelmed with planning for their holy day, was apparent.
Because of a handful of bad priests and the bishops who covered up their crimes, many fine priests, bishops and parishioners are left to clean up their mess. This has trickled down to the closing of our Catholic elementary schools. Once again, the youth of our church are the victims.
Tricia Walsh Rafter,
Longport
- RCC seeks regular Internet donations.
THE DAILY ADVERTISER, LAFAYETTE (LA),
January 04, 2008
CINCINNATI -- No cash for the collection basket at church? No problem.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati has made online giving an option for its 230 parishes and 110 parochial and diocesan schools in its 19-county region.
"It's a way to make things a little easier for people and for them to be a little more regular in their giving to the church," Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk said.
The new way, he said, won't replace the old: the collection basket during Mass.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 6:43 AM]
• Designing a Liturgy for Dialogue
- Boston RC archdiocese inviting "safe" discussions.
HARVARD LAW BULLETIN,
www.law.harvard. edu/alumni/ bulletin/2008/ winter/feature_ 2.php ,
Hands On, ~ January 04, 2008
CAMBRIDGE (MA) -- The curriculum includes more clinical opportunities than HLS has ever offered
From Jamaica (Plain) to Panama: Three Stories
[Scroll down to read Story 2]
2. Designing a Liturgy for Dialogue
Adam McCauley For 2L Dave Baron, who is Catholic, it was the prospect of the clinical component that drew him to the class; he feels called to help his Church reach out and listen. 2L Becky Jaffe, a training director at the Harvard Mediation Program, signed up to learn more about dispute resolution. She just hadn't anticipated how much learning she'd be doing in church.
Jaffe and Baron are both enrolled in the Dispute Systems Design seminar, in which Clinical Professor Robert Bordone '97 introduces students to the use of alternative dispute resolution to tackle complex conflicts within organizations and institutions. It's the first year that HLS has expanded its offerings in ADR to include a negotiation and mediation clinic, and this fall one of its five projects involves evaluating a method for promoting reconciliation within the Catholic community.
At the behest of the Paulist Fathers in Boston and the Paulist Center's reconciliation and outreach consultant, Bob Bowers, the students are facilitating three “safe-space” dialogues for Catholics who are alienated from the Church. The aim is for participants to speak in an open and frank exchange with members of the Catholic hierarchy in Boston, including members of Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley's Cabinet. It's part of a wider reconciliation effort by the National Paulist Community in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that first broke in Boston in 2002, the closing of parish churches that followed and ongoing dissension over Church doctrine.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 4:00 PM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
Fri January 04, 2008
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont144.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[Mr Pratl -NEW*] - Christian school. Girl touched.
SOUTHTOWN STAR,
www.southtown star.com/ news/727321, 010508coach arrested. article ,
By Nathaniel Zimmer, ~ January 05, 2008
TINLEY PARK (IL) -- A volunteer volleyball coach at St. Gerald School in Oak Lawn has been charged with having "inappropriately touched" a 12-year-old girl at a holiday party for team members held at his home last month, authorities said Friday.
Dennis Pratl, 47, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The girl told police the alleged abuse occurred as she and three other students were leaving the party about 11 p.m. Dec. 28, Oak Lawn Police Chief Bill Villanova said.
The girl, a volleyball player, was in the doorway of Pratl's home at 9333 S. 54th Ave. when the contact occurred, police said. The other students reportedly were just outside and about to be picked up and taken home.
[2008 Vatican -NEW* ]- RC laypeople asked to adore perpetually in reparation for clergy making victims of laypeople's children.
Corriere della Sera,
January 05, 2008
CITTA' DEL VATICANO (= VATICAN CITY) - Prayer and perpetual eucharistic adoration, at world wide level, for the victims of pedophilia and abuses committed by priests.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:31 PM]
[COMMENT: Oh, dear! Oh, dear! First marry off the clergy as St Timothy and St Titus ordered, so that they will do less "preying", and we won't need more "praying."
COMMENT ENDS.]
[? 2007 Mr Young -NEW*] - Christian. Girl.
KEYE - CBS 42,
By Seema Mathur, ~ January 05, 2008
[Includes video]
AUSTIN (TX) -- A maintenence man at this church was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Police are looking for a man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl in an East Austin church.
The alleged assault took place at The Rock of Austin on East Martin Luther King Boulevard.
According to the police affidavit, Gene Young, 27, worked at the church, and knew the girl since she was 12.
- Perpetual RC prayer for victims.
Reuters,
11:43pm, Sat Jan 5, 2008
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A top Vatican official has proposed creating prayer groups to pray for victims of sexual abuse by priests, in an effort to help heal wounds from recent abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes, head of the Congregation for the Clergy which oversees the world's 400,000 Catholic priests, told the Vatican's official newspaper that he had already written to bishops urging them to promote such groups in which priests and the faithful gather to pray together.
"There have always been problems because we are all sinners," Hummes told the L'Osservatore Romano. "But in these days, truly very serious issues have been revealed."
- RCs to pray for priests' victims.
La Repubblica,
~ January 05, 2008
CITTA' DEL VATICANO -- Una preghiera su scala mondiale per "le vittime delle gravi situazioni di condotta morale e sessuale di una piccolissima parte del clero", cioè per le vittime di pedofilia e abusi perpetrati da sacerdoti. [translation]
VATICAN CITY: a world wide prayer for the victims of the pedophile priests
The proposal was explained by the prefect of the Congregation for the clergy, Cardinal Hummes "the episodes are very bad but most of the clergy has nothing to do with these facts"
[Photos of Bernard Law] Former archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law, [now of Rome] is responsible for one of the gravest cases related to pedophilia CITTA' DEL VATICANO - A world wide prayer for the "victims for the grave situations of moral and sexual conduct of a very small part of the clergy", that's for the victims from pedophilia and sexual abuses perpetrated by priests.
The proposal is made by the Vatican and it's announced in the "Osservatore Romano" by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the prefect for the Congregation of the cledrgy, who deems to be a "priority to open "cenacoli eucaristici" which have to stir a great spiritual movement for prayer for all the priests and for their becoming saints". There are always been problems among the priests, he says, "for we are all sinners, though in this period very grave facts have occurred".
• LIVE from Boston, 6th anniversary of Globe breakthrough stories, reports from vigil throughout the day at City of Angels Blog tomorrow
- STTOP rally to expose RCC cover-up on anniversary,
City of Angels,
http://cityof angels4.blog spot.com/ 2008/01/ coming- sunday- january-6- 2008.html ,
for January 06, 2008
BOSTON (MA) -- Sixth Anniversary of first Boston Globe articles that broke the story, Sunday Jan. 6, 2002
City of Angels blog will post reports and updates on the vigil outside Boston Cathedral starting at 10 AM Pacific Time tomorrow, Sunday Jan. 6. STTOP activists have stood outside Boston Cathedral on Sundays since the story broke, especially a loosely organized group called Sidewalk VOTF.
Tomorrow's vigil honors the sixth anniversay of the Boston Globe articles which broke January 6, 2002, and sparked national interest in the pedophile priest issue.
A link in the left column of this blog takes you to the Jan 6 2002 Boston Globe article at bishop accountability, which was first in a two-part series. [ www.bishop- accountability. org/news/ 2002_01_06_ Rezendes_ Church Allowed.htm ]
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WINONA DAILY NEWS (MN),
ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 05, 2008
-- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay promised a vigorous fight Friday against allegations it knew of a priest's history of sexual misconduct but gave him access anyway to two brothers he molested.
Deacon Tim Reilly, the diocesan director of administration, declined to discuss a newly filed lawsuit over the abuse but promised to fight what he called “utterly preposterous” allegations that the diocese intentionally allowed the two boys to become sexual abuse victims.
The civil lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Outagamie County Circuit Court.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
Post Crescent,
By Corinthia McCoy, January 05, 2008
APPLETON POST (WI) -- Allegations that the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay intentionally allowed two boys to become sexual abuse victims are "utterly preposterous," Deacon Tim Reilly said Friday.
Reilly, the diocesan director of administration, said the diocese plans to vigorously fight the accusation.
Reilly spoke to the media Friday in response to comments made by the plaintiffs in a fraud lawsuit, but did not discuss the suit.
[1978 Feeney*] - RCC. In prison. 2 brothers.
WBAY - ABC2,
By Chris Duffy, ~ January 05, 2008
[Includes video]
GREEN BAY (WI) -- Days after two victims of abuse filed suit accusing the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay of covering for a pedophile priest, the Church is responding.
The suit was filed against the diocese on Wednesday, claiming the Church covered up sexual abuse by former priest John Patrick Feeney.
In 2004, Feeney was convicted of sexually abusing Todd and Troy Merryfield in the 1970s. He's currently in prison serving a 15-year sentence.
- RCC.
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLICAN,
By Jane Gargas, ~ January 05, 2008
YAKIMA (WA) -- The Catholic Diocese of Yakima says it has started the new year with good news: It passed a recent audit of its sexual abuse policy.
Local Catholic officials learned this week that the Yakima diocese, which encompasses seven Central Washington counties and includes 41 parishes, was found to be in full compliance with the United States Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
This is the third time since 2004 it has been found to be in full compliance. The latest audit covered slightly more than 18 months, from November 2005 through last June.
- Protestant sect.
CHURCH CENTRAL,
By Ken Walker, ~ January 05, 2008
LOUISVILLE (KY) -- Back in the early 1990s, a friend loaned me a copy of "Integrity" by Richard Dortch, an account of the problems at the now-defunct PTL Network that wound up with founder Jim Bakker and the author going to prison. [...]
I'm well aware that many states have placed limits on the confidentiality of pastoral-parishioner confessions, particularly when it comes to clerics learning of sexual abuse.
Recently, three pastors in Colorado experienced legal problems for failing to report sexual abuse by a church member, who reportedly fondled children during church functions.
- Religions and civil power. Indigenous children.
EDMONTON SUN,
By Andrew Hanon, ~ January 05, 2008
EDMONTON (Alberta), CANADA -- If you stand in the parking lot of the new leisure centre in St. Albert, you can look north and see a historic red barn, standing like a lonely sentinel on a rise in the field.
It's a serenely bucolic image, one that is enjoyed every day by the owners of the million-dollar McMansions that have recently erupted from the earth just a few hundred metres to the southwest.
What they likely don't know is the barn's shameful and evil place in history, a site where hundreds of aboriginal children were tormented and abused in a church and government-sponsored campaign to eradicate native culture and assimilate them into mainstream society.
- RCC's industrial schools and reformatory institutions, but RCC will escape proper responsibility.
IRISH INDEPENDENT,
~ January 05, 2008
DUBLIN (IRELAND) -- This year will see an attempt to conclude the long, sorry, dishonest saga of supposed recompense and healing to the thousands of men and women who suffered lifelong damage and injury in Ireland's industrial schools and reformatory institutions.
The Commission on Child Abuse, though it has reached no acceptable conclusion, will nevertheless conclude. Compensation through the Redress Board will dwindle out. The Church will escape without telling the full truth or satisfying those it has damaged.
Those who attended the schools will live out the remaining years of their lives conscious of having been repeatedly betrayed. They were betrayed as children, given false comfort as adults, and have watched the passage of the last eight years with growing despair and disbelief.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 8:08 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
Sat January 05, 2008
Abuse Chronology:
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont144.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
[2006-08 A priest -NEW*] - RCC. Married woman.
ANSA,
www.ansa.it/ site/notizie/ regioni/ puglia/news/ 2008-01-06_ 106160654. html , January 6, 2008
His wife betrays him with a priest.
In Ostuni, a husband reports his wife's behavior at the carabinieri's station
(ANSA) - OSTUNI (BRINDISI) ITALY , - He finds out his wife has a relationship with a priest, who teaches religion to his daughter, and reports the fact to the carabinieri.
The story, published today in some local newspapers, happened in Ostuni, in the Province of Brindisi.
It seems the relationship started in 2006.
The man, a 44-year-old blue collar worker, is said to have found a diary where his wife logged the affectionate SMS messages exchanged with the priest. "It seemed I went to heaven", was one of the messages sent her by the priest.
- RCC. 40 or 50 attend 1700-seat cathedral, say critics.
City of Angels,
By Kay Ebeling, ~ January 06, 2008
BOSTON (MA) -- In Boston this morning Bob Sidorowicz said: “We used to have a sign that said honk if you're for justice. The church called the police because of all the honking. The next week our sign said You Can't Honk for Justice.”
Sidorowicz was at the cathedral in downtown Boston this morning at a vigil honoring the sixth anniversary of Boston Globe articles which brought the pedophile priest issue into national view. However, the group, aka Sidewalk VOTF, has continued to hold vigils on Sundays in front of the cathedral in Boston since 2002. (A link to the first article in the Globe is in the left column of this blog.)
Sidorowicz: I've been doing this about five years now. I read about it in the Globe when it first broke and I was really angry and wanted to do something. I came down here and asked these people if I could stand with them and I haven't left.
“About 40 or 50 people showed up for Mass today in a cathedral that holds about 1700. They have one major mass and this is it.
- RCC attenders less.
City of Angels,
By Kay Ebeling, ~ January 06, 2008
(First report on vigil outside Boston Cathedral today honoring sixth anniversary of Boston Globe 2002 reports on pedophile priests.)
BOSTON (MA) -- “I realized the Catholic Church had manmade rules and I was following them,” said Rosemary Morgan explaining why at age 80 she still shows up almost every Sunday to protest on the sidewalk outside Boston Cathedral. “I was mentally abused in my marriage," she said. “If I got married again I'd be excommunicated so it discouraged me. Then having this happen and other things in my life.”
She's known as Our Lady of the Lawn Chair, one of a group of 25-30 who keep the fires burning in Boston while accusations of sex abuse by priests continue across the country. They show up every week, even as those in the news business see pedophile priests as old news.
Most who come to the vigils are not "survivors" or family members of crime victims. These are just plain outraged people who aren't going to go back home now and let the church get away with years of covering up and aiding and abetting pedophiles. Perhaps three of the 25 persons outside Boston cathedral this morning are reportedly survivors. Those three left early.
“We came 6 years ago to the cathedral and we were stunned at the response we got [? ... ?] shocked at the whole thing,” said Ruth Moore.
[Willis]
WCAX-TV,
~ January 06, 2008
BURLINGTON (VT) - A new development in the case against a former Vermont priest accused of molesting several young men.
Superior Court Judge Matthew Katz ruled Friday that the statute of limitations does not apply in the case of James Turner, who recently won his lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese. In early December, a jury agreed Turner had been abused by former priest Alfred Willis, and awarded him $15,000 in damages. But the jury also said the statute of limitations in the case had run out, so Turner could not collect that money. This latest decision from Judge Katz might change that.
After the jury's ruling, Turner's attorney filed a post-trial motion, asking Judge Katz to re-examine the statute of limitations issue. Ruling on that motion, Judge Katz agreed with the lawyers that the Roman Catholic Diocese did not prove the statute applied in this case.
[Willis]
RUTLAND HERALD (VT),
By Kevin O'Connor, ~ January 06, 2008
BURLINGTON (VT) -- A judge has thrown out a jury decision that Vermont's Catholic Church isn't liable for a pedophile priest because an accuser's civil lawsuit was believed too old to prosecute under the state's statutes of limitations.
"This defense of statute of limitation should not have been submitted to the jury," Judge Matthew Katz wrote in a ruling this week.
As a result, the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese will have to pay $15,000 to James Turner, a 47-year-old Northeast Kingdom native, for his claims that it failed to protect him from the former Rev. Alfred Willis, a priest in Burlington, Montpelier and Milton before being defrocked in 1985.
[Willis]
The Boston Globe,
ASSOCIATED PRESS, ~ January 06, 2008
BURLINGTON (VT) –A Superior Court judge has overturned a jury ruling that Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese isn't liable for a pedophile priest because a victim's lawsuit was filed after the statute of limitations had expired.
The ruling by Judge Matthew Katz could mean the diocese will have to pay $15,000 to James Turner, 47, who claimed the church failed to protect him from the actions of the former Rev. Alfred Willis.
Last month a jury found that the Diocese failed to supervise adequately the now-defrocked Willis and awarded Turner the compensatory damages. But the jury also found that under the statute of limitations, Turner should have brought the claim by 1998.
[≤ 2004, and ? 2007 Yarrosh] - RCC. > US$23,000. Porn;
? 2007 Interstate to meet girl (7) while on parole and probation. 4-10yrs prison.
THE MORNING CALL,
By Chris Parker, ~ January 06, 2008
ALLENTOWN (PA) -- A Schuylkill County Catholic priest serving a four- to 10-year state prison sentence for having hundreds of child pornography images has lost his state Superior Court appeal to reduce the term, and officials say his massive collection will be destroyed.
The sentence against Ronald Yarrosh, 60, former assistant pastor at St. Ambrose Church in Schuylkill Haven, was upheld by a three-judge state Superior Court panel.
District Attorney James P. Goodman said the ruling, by President Judge Kate Ford Elliott, Robert E. Colville and Susan P. Gantman, means the county can finally obliterate the extensive collection of pornographic magazines, pictures, books and videotapes Yarrosh kept in a rented Hazleton storage bin and a vacant Jim Thorpe home.
- RCC.
CATHOLIC ONLINE,
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE, By George P. Matysek, Jr., ~ January 06, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Repealing the death penalty is among the actions Maryland Catholic Conference leaders believe can be accomplished this year. The conference also has high hopes that a business tax credit to help nonpublic schools can be established, along with a proposed program to benefit women with unplanned pregnancies. [...]
The conference will be fighting expected legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and a bill that Catholic leaders say would cripple the church's ministries by allowing child abuse-related civil suits that had been previously prevented by the statute of limitations. [...]
Saying that it would cripple the many outreach ministries of the Catholic Church in Maryland, the conference will again oppose legislation allowing civil lawsuits against the three Catholic dioceses serving Maryland -- the archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington, Del. -- for sexual-abuse claims stretching beyond the current seven-year limitation. While such a bill was defeated last year, another is expected to be introduced this session, Dowling said.
[Posted by Terry McKiernan at 8:24 AM]
[COMMENT: Repealing the death penalty is NOT standard Roman Catholic teaching -- or rather, it wasn't for the past 1700 years or so! Those who learn history know that RCC courts used to hand over "heretics" and "witches" to the civil arm to be executed. The various Inquisitions were only part of this evil policy. The RCC plainly taught that the civil power was entitled to execute murderers and rapists. RCC lesson books and other literature up to the 2nd Vatican Council plainly taught such doctrines.
Orthodox, Lutheran, other Protestant, Anglican and other Christian sects also taught similar doctrines, and some still do so. But the RCC used to trumpet that it alone had kept teaching all that Jesus Christ had taught, and never deviated from the Truth that he taught. So this about-turn on the death penalty and its hypocricy on the matters is shocking to some RCs and some other observers.
The attempt to avoid penalties and compensation for the RCC's long reign of seduction terror among children is evidence enough of the man-made nature of the policies of its leaders. They are not being guided by holy spirit.
COMMENT ENDS.]
RIVER FALLS JOURNAL,
By Judy Wiff, ~ January 06, 2008
RIVER FALLS (WI) -- A bill recently introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature would remove the time limit for filing civil lawsuits for injury resulting from sexual assault of a child.
While the new law would apply mainly to future victims, it would also give victims of earlier abuse a three-year window to file a civil suit.
“We've been very pleased with the support. It's a bipartisan effort,” said Bill Berndt, River Falls. Berndt, a former state senator, is the Wisconsin representative and lobbyist for the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children.
TIMES UNION,
By Richard J. Bartlett, December 30, 2007
ALBANY (NY) -- A recent Times Union Perspective article by Marge Markey, a member of the state Assembly, and Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at Cardozo Law School, requires response. The article [Victims in law] supported Assemblywoman Markey's bill to loosen the limitations of time, both criminal and civil, applicable to cases alleging sexual abuse of minors.
The proposal would amend the Criminal Procedure Law by extending for an additional five years the current law
