• Priest accused in theft says deal ignored [CURRENT]. The Boston Globe,
www.boston. com/daily globe2/313/ metro/Priest_ accused_in_ theft_says_ deal_ignored+. shtml ;
Associated Press, Nov 9, 2003
NASHUA (NH): A priest accused of stealing cash from the Christmas Eve collection and other occasions at a Merrimack church says that prosecutors
have failed to honor a deal he struck with police.
Steven Kucharski of Lynn, Mass., was indicted on a felony theft charge in
June. He's scheduled to face trial Nov. 17 in Hillsborough County Superior
Court.
Kucharski and his lawyer, Gary Lenehan, asked the court to enforce a plea bargain he negotiated with Merrimack police Lieutenant Michael Dudash on
Jan. 9, soon after learning that police were investigating thefts from St.
John Neumann parish, The Telegraph reported yesterday.
The plea deal called for Kucharski to receive a 12-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine, both suspended. It also called for him to pay back the
money and perform 100 hours of community service.
Dudash and Lenehan signed the agreement, and Kucharski planned to plead guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge the next day in Merrimack District
Court, his lawyer said in court documents.
But late that afternoon, Dudash called Lenehan and told him the
Hillsborough County attorney's office had told him not to go through with
the plea, The Telegraph reported.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker]
[Nov 9, 2003]
(This is the first of the Poynteronline Abuse Tracker edition for Sunday, November 9, 2003.)
• Diocesan official tries to calm Nashua parish [CURRENT].
NASHUA (NH): The chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester chose calming words
for Mass yesterday while filling in for the Rev. Gerard Desmarais, whose
controversial resignation last week stunned parishioners at his church.
Arsenault, who said he came on behalf of Bishop John B. McCormack, urged
parishioners at St. Joseph Parish to continue coming to church despite the
"grief, anger, hurt and shame" they may be feeling.
"Whether you're a pastor or a janitor, every part of the Church survives
our absence," he told them. "None of us are irreplaceable, but every one
of us is important."
Desmarais, who led St. Joseph's for nine years and helped construct the
large white church building on West Hollis Street two years ago, told
parishioners last weekend he was leaving in protest of the church's
leadership, particularly that of Bishop McCormack.
Since then, sources in the church and the New Hampshire gay community told
The Union Leader that Desmarais left because the bishop opposed his wishes
to live in the church rectory with his homosexual lover. Desmarais has
denied the allegation.
Many parishioners expressed skepticism at the report, which appeared in
yesterday's Union Leader.
-- New Hampshire Sunday News,
(http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=28696)
By Scott Brooks,
Sunday News Correspondent
• Archdiocese Asks For Closed Hearing.
CINCINNATI (OH): The Archdiocese of Cincinnati wants to bar the public from a hearing next week that will determine whether prosecutors can see all church records
related to clergy sexual abuse.
Hamilton County prosecutors say the documents may be crucial in their
investigation of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
Archdiocese officials have said most records related to abuse have been
given to prosecutors. But they contend some records are protected by
attorney-client privilege and should remain private.
The Ohio First District Court of Appeals will hear arguments on Wednesday.
-- Ohio News Network,
(http://www.onnnews.com/story.php?record=27597)
• Bishops slowly facing up to sex abuse scandal.
MILWAUKEE (WI): The nation's Catholic bishops are reluctantly but slowly
"coming on board" in facing their long-standing clergy-abuse scandal, a
leading member of the National Lay Review Board said yesterday.
"It's not been easy," said Illinois Appellate Court Justice Ann Burke,
vice chairwoman of the 12-member board commissioned 17 months ago to
investigate the crisis. "It's not because bishops wanted to, but they knew
they needed to and it was time."
Her speech was a rare window into the workings of an unprecedented
lay-led board with the power to investigate the Catholic Church's own
bishops and priests.
She was addressing a conference of Call To Action, a
liberal Chicago-based Catholic organization that supports female priests
and married clergy. The group also opposes official church teachings
against contraception and homosexuality.
About 2,800 attendees, mostly persons over 50 who reached adulthood
during the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, were at the
three-day conference at the Midwest Airlines Center downtown.
-- The Washington Times,
(http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031109-123642-7630r.htm)
By Julia Duin, Nov 9 03
• Church sex abuse audits advancing.
USA: Only one Catholic bishop has been uncooperative with investigators
studying whether the country's Catholic dioceses are taking steps to
protect children from sexual abuse in compliance with a new charter, the
chair of a lay panel on the charter said Saturday.
The U.S. Conference of Bishops crafted the charter and established the
Office of Child and Youth Protection to enforce its implementation in June
2002.
Anne Burke, the interim chair of the National Review Board, which oversees
the office, said that steps taken so far have been "radical" but
necessary. She was speaking at the annual conference of Chicago-based Call
To Action, a group of reform-minded Catholics, at the Midwest Airlines
Center.
"We must admit the grotesque failure of the institutional church," said
Burke, an Illinois Appeals Court Justice. "This is the only way to bring
justice to victims and people of faith."
At the request of the Office for Child and Youth Protection, former FBI
agents have been auditing every diocese and archdiocese in the country,
Burke said. Among other things, they are are checking to make sure
coordinators are put in place to work with victims of abuse.
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
(http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion/nov03/183720.asp)
By Megan Twohey,
mtwohey@journalsentinel.com ,
Last Updated: Nov. 8, 2003
• Group asks Vatican to oust N.H. bishop.
CONCORD (NH): A Roman Catholic group has petitioned the Vatican to
remove New Hampshire Bishop John McCormack, calling him unfit to lead the
church.
The complaint, filed Oct. 28 by New Hampshire Catholics for Moral
Leadership, says that McCormack and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian
lost their moral authority during the clergy sexual abuse crisis and that
church law requires the resignations of bishops unfit to serve, according
to a draft copy of the documents sent to Rome and obtained by the
Associated Press.
"The credibility of the church's moral leadership is horribly eroded,"
the group wrote. "The effectiveness of these bishops as teachers of the
faith has been unspeakably compromised by their hypocrisy and bad
example."
The complaint also says "a terrible injustice infects our diocese and
both bishops remain a source of great scandal." The group asks the
Vatican, "for the good of the church in New Hampshire, to remove these
bishops as our pastoral leaders."
The Rev. Ed Arsenault, a spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester, which
encompasses all of New Hampshire, said yesterday that he had not seen the
complaint and did not believe McCormack and Christian were aware of it.
Neither bishop plans to step down, Arsenault said.
The Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, would not comment on the
matter yesterday.
Jim Farrell, a member of the group, said the Vatican had yet to respond to
the complaint, which was written with the help of New Hampshire priests,
canon lawyers, and lay Catholics. He said that 20 people signed the
complaint.
The group was formed in March to push for McCormack and Christian's
resignations.
-- Boston Globe,
(http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/313/metro/Group_asks_Vatican_to_oust_NH_bishop+.shtml)
By Associated Press, Nov 9 2003
• Druce's lawyer wants more time to search records.
WORCESTER (MA): The lawyer for the man charged with killing a priest in a
Shirley prison asked for more time to examine information collected by a
panel investigating the state Department of Corrections at a pretrial
hearing Friday.
John LaChance, defense lawyer for Joseph Druce, said the investigation,
called for by Gov. Mitt Romney, might uncover facts relevant to his
client's case.
Druce is charged with murder after he allegedly beat and strangled
defrocked priest John Geoghan in Geoghan's cell at the Souza-Baranowski
Correctional Institute in Shirley on Aug. 23.
"The investigation could be relevant to our case if they interview the
same people and those people give different statements," said LaChance.
"It may be nothing, but we need to look through it."
As a result of Geoghan's murder, Romney appointed former state Attorney
General Scott Harshbarger to lead an independent review of the Department
of Corrections in October.
The 15-member blue-ribbon commission will look into procedures at the
prisons, such as classifying and disciplining prisoners.
-- Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise,
(http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/Stories/0,1413,106~4992~1754244,00.html)
By Hillary Chabot, hchabot@sentinelandenterprise.com
• Abuse has deep roots in the past.
IRELAND: The continuing controversy about abuse in religious institutions has many
roots in a misunderstood and misremembered history. How could it be
otherwise? It would be miraculous if this debate were to achieve a
maturity impossible without a remembering that has never occurred, writes
John Waters
The discussion is characterised by a self-serving amnesia on all sides.
Some of those making accusations of abuse are undoubtedly beset by a
degree of misremembering. Their supporters, too, are guilty of the same
condition, inspired in some cases by political animosity, in others by
neurosis. It sometimes seems that the accused suffer from false memories
also.
I received some negative responses to my recent column about corporal
punishment in the Marist Brothers school I attended as a child, from
people who saw this as a departure from what they perceived as my previous
stance in support of the accused. It is possible that I, too, am
misremembering, but I heard also from one of my fellow past pupils who
dismissed my recollections as rose-tinted.
The majority of Irish males who attended one of the hundreds of CBS
institutions run by the brothers have bracing stories to tell of the
brutality they suffered at the hands of their teachers, although a number
of ex-CBS pupils have contacted me to say that they seem to have had a
softer time than we did. To the ears of my own generation, and others on
either side of me, the very name of the Christian Brothers has become a
byword for virtually all the reactionary phenomena associated with pre-
1960s Ireland.
-- One in Four,
(http://oneinfour.org/news/news2003/roots/)
By John Waters In The Irish Times
(http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2003/1103/3996826086OPJWATERSNOV3.html)
• Child molesters will strike again.
MISSOURI: Guaranteeing a child molester never again hurts a child is no more
possible than ensuring a sober alcoholic will stay away from the bottle or
a dieter will steer clear of the refrigerator.
Child molesters can join group therapy sessions, study what drives them to
prey on children and even ponder their problem for years behind prison
bars.
But like the alcoholic and the dieter, the child molester's success at
staying out of trouble comes down to a daily decision to reject his or her
urges, experts say.
A recent wave of sexual abuse allegations in Eastern Jackson County,
including two more charges against former Blue Springs priest Hugh Monahan
filed earlier this week, begs the question: Why do they do it?
Counselors who treat pedophiles say there is little data about what causes
a person to molest a child.
-- The Examiner,
(http://www.examiner.net/stories/110803/new_110803019.shtml)
by Ben Embry, Nov 8 03
• Scahill complaints with Church merit consideration.
AMHERST (MA): The Catholic Church sex abuse scandal has been big in the news for more
than two years, going back to before the conviction of John Geoghan in
February of 2002.
Since the initial shock of the scandal wore away and the width and breadth
of sexual abuse cover-ups in the Catholic Church have been exposed, the
story and damage control have been spread out across the nation and the
world. And while the Church has done everything it can to squelch the
public relations nightmare that exploded, certain stories still slip
through the cracks, reminding all of us that the problem is not solved.
That includes stories within our own area, the Springfield Diocese.
Recently, Rev. James J. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish in East
Longmeadow, testified in a deposition against the Most Rev. Thomas L.
Dupre, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. Scahill said
Dupre told him he could be suspended for holding back the portion of
weekly collections earmarked for the bishop's office.
Scahill has refused to send the funds in protest of the diocese
financially supporting Rev. Richard R. Lavigne, a man accused of abusing
more than 30 children. The diocese is trying to have him defrocked.
We at the Massachusetts Daily Collegian see Scahill's position as one that
is both courageous and controversial.
-- Massachusetts Daily Collegian,
(http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/30/3fa079490590a?template=pda)
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker)
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Sunday, November 9, 2003
!!!: Boston priest gagged, exposing pro-harlotry group's lessons to kids!
BOSTON: A priest in the Boston archdiocese has been told to stop speaking to the media. (http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm?task=singledisplay&recnum=1201).
Now you're probably thinking: "At last! A bit of discipline to rein in dissident liberals!" You're probably thinking that this priest must have called for the ordination of women, or endorsed a pro-abortion political candidate, or testified in favor of same-sex marriage.
If so, you're wrong.
You can find priests in Boston taking those public postures, but Father Dave Mullen (a friend of mine, as it happens) was told to keep quiet because he has been raising objections to the hideously inappropriate and immoral "Talking about Touching" program that has been mandated in archdiocesan schools and religious-education programs, in a response to the sex-abuse scandal.
Father Mullen argues-- and I heartily agree with him-- that this program is a form of child abuse. If you're not familiar with the "Talking about Touching" program, you'll find the astonishing facts in Catholic World Report www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=22707 .
Would it surprise you to learn that students in Boston archdiocesan schools are getting their education on sensitive "touching" issues from an organization that started out by promoting public acceptance for prostitution?
Read on, and see if you don't find your sympathy for Father Mullen steadily growing. You'll also understand why this tidbit of news drew an unusual number of comments from readers in our Sound Off section. www.cwnews.com/soundoff/soundoff.cfm?soundofftask=viewallrecent.
-- Catholic World News,
www.CWNews.com ,
Weekly News Summary,
Nov 9 03
########## Poynteronline Abuse Tracker, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46,
Monday, November 10, 2003 edition follows:- • Parishioners mixed on removal of NH bishops.
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
A brief sent to the Vatican that calls for removing New Hampshire Bishop
John McCormack and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian is being met with
mixed responses from Catholic parishioners.
There's also a strong call from some Catholics to stop the action and let
the church heal.
"I think the church is stronger than this," said Richard Simoneau as he
left a morning service at the St. Pius X Catholic Church in Manchester
yesterday. "Just think of the history of the church . . . there have been
so many crises. We'll get through this. Let's just move on."
Others also say Catholic leaders have been scolded enough.
"We don't have a lot of leaders, young leaders, coming into the church as
it is," said Lynda Fellows, another Manchester Catholic. "It's time for
these groups to let it go."
The call for removal, penned in large part by members of New Hampshire
Catholics for Moral Leadership, charges that the two high-ranking members
of the state's Catholic clergy lost their moral authority during the child
sexual-abuse scandal.
-- The Union Leader,
(http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=28724)
By Gary Dennis
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynteronline)
• Charitable immunity act under attack.
NEW JERSEY: The iron-clad immunity that churches, schools, youth groups and other New
Jersey charities have against being sued when their employees sexually
abuse youngsters will be challenged Wednesday before a state appeals
court.
John Hardwicke, who claims he was molested while a student at the American
Boychoir School in Princeton three decades ago, is appealing a judge's
ruling that the school cannot be sued for the sexual misconduct of its
former musical director, "no matter how flagrant that conduct may be."
Hardwicke's lawyers contend that if New Jersey's 45-year-old Charitable
Immunity Act is really that sweeping, then it violates the constitutional
rights of children.
If that argument succeeds, it could have far-reaching impact: It would
open the door to similar lawsuits by other victims of sexual abuse at the
hands of clergy members, teachers, volunteer coaches and other employees
of charitable, religious or educational organizations, said Keith Smith,
one of Hardwicke's lawyers.
-- The Star-Ledger
(http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1068444740272720.xml)
By Robert Schwaneberg,
Monday, November 10, 2003
• Ireland pays up for abuse.
IRELAND: Teddy Gill often resorted to eating newspaper and cardboard to curb his
hunger pangs at St Michael's Orphanage in Waterford, Ireland, during the
1950s. Later, when he was transferred to St Patrick's, Upton, an
industrial school in Cork, he was regularly beaten.
"It was a prison. There were bashings and beatings. They put the fear of
God into us because it brought control," 53-year-old, Mr Gill said
yesterday.
Rejected by his mother, who could no longer afford to clothe and feed him
and his 13 siblings, Mr Gill was removed, at three years of age, from a
foster family where he suffered from neglect.
He spent the next 13 years in institutions, enduring mental and physical
abuse.
This year, Mr Gill, who now lives in Horsham, applied for compensation
through the Residential Institutions Redress Board, set up by the Irish
Government in 2002 to assist people abused in state institutions,
including orphanages, industrial schools and reformatories.
-- The Age,
(http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/1068329486772.html)
By Rachel Wells, November 10, 2003.
• Bishops meet in a shift away from sex scandal.
WASHINGTON (DC): When the bishops of the Catholic Church meet Monday in Washington, they're
expected to shift focus from the sexual abuse scandal that dominated their
gatherings for nearly two years to the lives of everyday believers.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will consider a pastoral letter on
private devotions, the personal prayers, meditations and practices of
everyday Catholics, such as reciting the rosary or wearing a medallion
honoring the Virgin Mary.
And outside their Capitol Hill hotel, church reform activists are expected
to call for celibacy to be optional for diocesan priests -- a move they say
will bring thousands of new men and now-married former priests into the
priesthood and alleviate a clergy shortage.
The sex scandal, which engulfed the church in January 2002, is still on
the agenda. The Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse will update the bishops
on the progress of two major studies due early next year. One looks at
dioceses' compliance with the bishops' policies on identifying, reporting
and preventing abuse. The other is a nationwide assessment of the number
of priests and victims and the costs involved in abuse.
-- USA Today
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2003-11-10-bishops-meeting_x.htm)
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, Nov 10 03
• More scrutiny, training for church youth workers.
NEW JERSEY: Are there hidden areas on church premises that should be monitored closely
or sealed off? Are there any staff or volunteers working with children in
the parish who always seem to discourage the participation of other
adults?
A decade ago, these questions might have seemed out of place. But in light
of sex abuse scandals that have gripped the Roman Catholic Church in
recent years, church officials are now asking these and other questions -
part of the church's "safe environment" program established last year in
Dallas at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the Archdiocese of Newark, which covers Hudson, Essex, Bergen and
Passaic counties, the program calls for: a three-hour training session for
every parish employee and volunteer who works with young people; a
background check for staff persons and volunteers who put in more than 20
hours a month; and a "code of conduct" agreement that the archdiocese has
asked every employee to sign by Nov. 15.
By year's end, archdiocese leaders plan to put 20,000 individuals in 235
parishes and more than 170 parochial schools through the three-hour
workshop.
-- The Jersey Journal
(http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1068462623210170.xml)
By Ken Thorbourne,
Monday, November 10, 2003
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen battles abuse.
METUCHEN (NJ): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen is
introducing a new policy to protect children from sexual abuse.
Fingerprinting will be required for more than 400 priests and deacons. The
fingerprints will be used to conduct criminal background checks on the
clergy members. Some churches have been doing it for years, but until now,
it was never mandatory.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) group
said the move is a positive step, but don't believe it will do much to
protect children. Members of SNAP did say that the diocese Bishop Paul
Bootkoski has been very aggressive in his approach to combating sexual
abuse within the church. He said he is committed to doing whatever it
takes to provide a safe environment.
-- News 12, Nov 09 03.
(http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=94467)
• Sins of the fathers [CURRENT].
LEE (MA): The behavior of the Rev. Paul C. LaFlamme II and the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Springfield toward the priest's pregnant paramour shows how
little the clergy have learned from the scandal in Boston. They blame the
victim, they blame the media and they stonewall. Father LaFlamme, in his
"apology," calls their tryst an "indiscretion," avoiding its clinical
name, "sexual relationship," or religious definition, "sin." He denies
that he was Josephine DiZoglio's counselor, confessor or friend,
describing her instead as a sex predator.
-- Berkshire Eagle,
(http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~1756731,00.html)
• Ousted priest marks a milestone.
WORCESTER (MA): People who attended the Rev. David Kerrigan's first anniversary
Mass as a priest operating independently of the Worcester diocese received
a surprise.
Instead of taking the usual weekly collection, lay leader Robert Blozie of
Charlton gave $5 to each of the people who worshiped with them at the
recent Mass.
Then, an even more unusual thing happened, Rev. Kerrigan said. A donor,
whom he described as an inactive Catholic, gave Catholics for Positive
Change a donation large enough to keep the organization operating until
the end of 2004.
Rev. Kerrigan was called more than a year ago by Mr. Blozie and his wife,
Elizabeth, to celebrate Mass for them and other Catholics who no longer
felt comfortable in the Roman Catholic Church because of the clergy abuse
scandal or for other reasons.
The church scandal was the last straw for the Blozies, who stopped
attending Mass in their Charlton parish. They go by what they interpret as
a provision of the church's canon law that allows them to do this.
Rev. Kerrigan said the Catholics attending the anniversary Mass two weeks
ago at the Marriott Courtyard, 72 Grove St., did not know how to handle
the unexpected gift. Several stopped on the way out and wondered if they
should return the money. "Are you sure you can afford this, father?" was
the common question.
"I told them to use it anyway they wanted. We were going over to the
brunch after Mass and I told them to use it to pay for part of their
breakfast," he said. He chuckled and said it seemed to be a "Catholic
thing" where lay people see themselves as being asked only to give and not
receive.
Rev. Kerrigan, who said he was fired as a diocesan priest by the late
Bishop Timothy J. Harrington for being a "free spirit," celebrated the
first anniversary of his independent congregation Oct. 26. The group
gathers for Mass at 10 a.m. on Sundays at the Marriott Courtyard.
The group started as Catholics for Christ, but made a name change so as
not to be confused with other groups that might be considered to be
dissident. "We are not against the Catholic Church and we are not trying
to convert anyone. We are trying to offer an alternative for people who no
longer attend Mass or who want a sense of community," he said. Rev.
Kerrigan is registered with Rent-a-Priest, based in Framingham.
-- Telegram & Gazette,
www.telegram.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20031110/NEWS/ 311100384/1006/ NEWSLETTERS07 ;
by Kathleen A. Shaw, Nov 10 03
• Bishop says church has 'turned corner' on sex abuse crisis.
WASHINGTON (DC): The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said
yesterday that the Catholic Church has "turned the corner" on the sexual
abuse crisis, but that the process of restoring trust will take years.
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, speaking to the Globe in an interview on the eve
of today's opening of the fall meeting of the bishops' conference,
acknowledged the church's moral authority has been damaged by revelations
that hundreds of priests sexually abused minors during the last five
decades. But, he said, the church will continue to speak out on moral
issues as the presidential campaign intensifies.
Gregory said the bishops' conference has discussed, but has not yet
decided whether to pursue, launching a public relations campaign to call
attention to the ongoing "good works" of the church as the bishops
prepare for the February release of a church-commissioned quantitative
study of clergy sexual abuse that Gregory has predicted will be
"startling."
"We want the truth to be told, and the truth won't be told unless we make
it available," Gregory said.
"I believe that it is important that we not lose context of all that the
church has done, and continues to do with such clarity, generosity, and
effectiveness," he said. "We still feed the poor, we still assist
immigrants, we still are engaged in international questions of import --
that's part of who we are as Catholics."
-- Boston Globe,
(http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/314/metro/Bishop_says_church_has_turned_corner_on_sex_abuse_crisis+.shtml)
By Michael Paulson, Nov 10 2003
• Church puts house in order on abuse.
BRITAIN: The new and comprehensive Church anti-abuse structure is now in place and
has helped foster a fresh and welcome culture of vigilance and awareness.
That was the resounding message from the Catholic Office for the
Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults as it released its first
annual report this week.
COPCA was formed to implement the recommendations of the Nolan Report on
child protection issues in the Church, and director Eileen Shearer
explained that in line with the recommendations, 90 per cent of parishes
in England and Wales now have child protection officers with 12 dioceses
recruiting external lay professionals as child protection officers.
In addition, Ms Shearer confirmed that the organisation is now working
closely with the Criminal Records Bureau. "The message is that if anyone
wants to work for the Catholic Church then we will check up on you and we
are not a soft touch," she said.
The report stated that there were 132 reports relating to sexual abuse and
16 of physical abuse recorded by COPCA in its first year of operation,
figures which include "both clear allegations of abuse and lower levels of
concern which would not require referral to protection agencies."
-- Total Catholic,
(http://www.totalcatholic.com/pages/newsframe.html)
Sunday, November 9, 2003
• Reform Group, Church to Meet on Progress.
UNITED STATES: A new discipline policy for abusive priests is in place. A former top FBI
agent is monitoring compliance. An unprecedented, official church study on
50 years of molestation claims is under way.
But when America's Roman Catholic bishops gather in Washington this week
for their fourth meeting since the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted, victim
advocates will be there to say the prelates still haven't done enough.
"The bad actors among the bishops aren't being sanctioned," said Jim
Post, president of the lay reform group Voice of the Faithful. "It's like
once you're one of the boys, you're one of the boys."
While the bishops are meeting, Voice of the Faithful will meet with two
victims' groups -- Survivors First and the Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests -- at a nearby hotel to discuss ways they believe church leaders
have failed to protect children.
Paul Baier, president of Boston-based Survivors First, which maintains a
public database of accused priests, said the bishops have set aside too
little time to address abuse at their meeting, which starts Monday.
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
(http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V5835.AP-Catholic-Bishop.html)
By Rachel Zoll,
AP Religion Writer
• When will diocese see victims' viewpoint?
CALIFORNIA: In the opening scene of the fine but disturbing new movie, "Mystic River,"
three young boys - Sean, Jimmy and Dave - are trying to figure out what to
do to kill the time in their South Boston neighborhood after their
street-hockey ball rolls into a sewer. They settle on carving their names
in a fresh concrete sidewalk, when two men in a black car approach them.
The men claim to be police, and then haul off Dave for further questioning
about the kids' misdeed. The men, however, are not officers, but child
molesters (one apparently is a priest), who abuse Dave in a dark basement
for four days before he escapes through the woods.
It's a harrowing scene. Harrowing also is the impact of that event on
Dave's life. He is emotionally scarred by the ordeal, and lives out a sad
and drab existence. The abduction also haunts Jimmy and Sean decades later
as the three men's lives become intertwined again as a murder mystery
unfolds in the neighborhood.
"Mystic River" was as powerful a depiction of the impact of child sexual
abuse as one could comfortably bear in a movie. After seeing it, I'm even
more stunned by the lackadaisical response by many Roman Catholic leaders
to the very real sexual-abuse scandal within the church. In one scene,
Dave mutters about the wolves that have preyed on the sheep.
Yet instead of protecting the sheep, the church too often has aided and
abetted the wolves. It too often has made excuses (the scandal is the
result of the media, or Catholic-haters, or whatever). It too often has
victimized the victims a second time by treating them as adversaries.
-- The Orange County Register,
http://www2.ocregister.com ,
Nov 9 03
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynteronline)
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Monday, November 10, 2003
•
Politician Urges Hobart RC Archbishop To Step Aside For Inquiry.
Church Resources, Monday Headlines,
"Politician Urges Hobart Archbishop To Step Aside For Inquiry,"
http://www.cathnews.com/news/311/41.php ,
Mon 10 Nov 2003
HOBART, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA:
A Tasmanian Liberal politician has called on Archbishop Adrian Doyle to stand aside while an independent inquiry is held.
The Mercury reported at the weekend that Bass MHA Peter Gutwein[based at Launceston] called for an urgent inquiry into the way the church has handled allegations of sexual abuse laid against its clergy.
Mr Gutwein, the first politician to take a public stance on the issue, said it would be appropriate for Archbishop Doyle to stand aside while the matter was investigated.
The Archbishop, who has admitted mishandling sexual abuse complaints against Monsignor Philip Green, said he would not be resigning or standing down.
Some members of the Catholic community have been calling for the Archbishop to hand in his resignation over the issue.
"I have met Archbishop Doyle on a number of occasions and while I believe that he is a good and decent man, as the inquiry would need to primarily investigate his handling of these claims it would not be appropriate for him to have any active role whilst the inquiry was being conducted," Mr Gutwein said.
########## Poynteronline Abuse Tracker, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46,
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 edition follows:- • RPI grad accuses priest of sex abuse. [1984-87 Celeste]
Albany Times Union,
www.timesunion.com/ AspStories/story.asp? storyID=188331&category= REGIONOTHER&BCCode= HOME&newsdate= 11/11/2003 ; By Brian Nearing, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
ALBANY (NY): A 38-year-old former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student on Monday accused a Roman Catholic priest of sexually abusing him in the 1980s.
Randall Sweringen, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., charged that the Diocese of Albany is ignoring its own rules on clergy abuse by not suspending the
Rev. Charles R. Celeste. The priest is pastor at Holy Family Parish in Little Falls, Herkimer County.
Sweringen said Celeste sexually abused him from 1984 to 1987, when he attended RPI. Celeste at the time was chaplain to the Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity, where Sweringen was a member. He was 18 when he met Celeste,
who at the time lived in the rectory of nearby St. Paul the Apostle
Church.
Sweringen gave his account by telephone during a morning news conference
organized by his attorney, John Aretakis, outside the fraternity house on
13th Street. Sweringen is director of alumni and church relations at the
Pacific School of Religion, a multidenominational Christian seminary in
Berkeley.
(Posted by Kathy Shaw. Poynteronline Abuse Tracker)
• Nolin's lawyers want more data from prosecutors; priest-therapist Turlick to give evidence. Cape Cod Times,
"Nolin's lawyers want more data from prosecutors,"
(http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/nolinzxslawyers11.htm),
By Amanda Lehmert.
FALMOUTH (MA): More than 400 evidentiary documents in the case against accused
murderer Paul R. Nolin were handed over to his lawyers yesterday.
But Nolin's defense team thinks Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael
O'Keefe is still withholding evidence in the case.
Nolin, 39, a convicted child rapist, pleaded innocent Oct. 2 to the Sept.
20 kidnapping and murder of Jonathan Wessner. Nolin has been held without
bail at the Barnstable County House of Correction ever since. ...
The Rev. Donald Turlick, 68, a priest and friend of Nolin's, is expected
to testify later this month when the grand jury reconvenes. Turlick was
also Nolin's therapist while Nolin was committed to the Massachusetts
Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous in Bridgewater during the late
1980s and early 1990s.
Turlick has been out of state at a conference for several weeks so police
could not deliver a grand jury summons to him. He returns to the Cape this
week, his spokeswoman, Kathleen English, said yesterday.
When Nolin was released from prison in June 2000, he rented a basement
apartment in Turlick's Mashpee home.
• Bishop: Scandal is 'rallying point'.
WASHINGTON (DC): The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said
yesterday two years of turmoil over clergy sexual abuse have done more to
damage the ties that bind Catholics together than anything else "in our
recent history."
"If the scourge of sex abuse is to be effectively eliminated, then the
energy of the whole church needs to be directed to this end," Bishop
Wilton Gregory told fellow church leaders gathered for their semi-annual
meeting here.
As he has during each of the previous three meetings since the scandal
broke in January 2002, Gregory apologized for the failure of some bishops
to adequately protect their flocks and appealed for forgiveness.
Yesterday, he went a step further and said the crisis should become a
"rallying point" for Catholics who want to make a safer church and a
safer society.
The remarks were noteworthy in part because Gregory is a theological
conservative and outspoken supporter of the church's hierarchical nature.
-- Boston Herald,
(http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/chur11112003.htm)
by Eric Convey, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
• O'Malley agrees to meet with Voice of the Faithful.
WASHINGTON (DC): Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley has agreed to meet next
week with leaders of the lay group Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] - his first
sit-down with representatives of the organization.
"It's to establish a dialogue with our archbishop," said Steve Krueger,
executive director of Voice of the Faithful.
VOTF was formed in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse revelations of
January 2002 and has had an at-times rocky relationship with the Boston
archdiocese.
Bernard Cardinal Law blocked the formation of new chapters on church
property before resigning in December 2002 but did not force existing ones
to disband. Bishop Richard G. Lennon, who ran the archdiocese for seven
months before O'Malley took over, continued Law's policy.
-- Boston Herald,
(http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/votf11112003.htm)
by Eric Convey,
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
• Inside the Bishops' Conference, Part I: Why the American Bishops Lack Accountability.
UNITED STATES: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is often called powerful, hierarchical, and centrally organized. Actually, it's none of
these things. Nor is it accountable.
About three miles north of the U.S. Capitol, there's a plain five-story
building on a wide lawn. It sits a block south of The Catholic University
of America and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. In between is a quiet, almost rustic four-lane road; on the
northern end are two groves of 30- and 40-foot high trees. If you travel
due south, you can't actually see the building for another 200 yards.
Then, in a clearing off to the left, past a large sea-green oxidized
statue of Christ, is the drab thing itself. It looks like a huge cardboard
box made out of glass, steel, and concrete. If not for the low, wide sign
outside that reads "THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS," the
building would be unidentifiable.
This is indeed the headquarters of the nation's Catholic hierarchy, and
the modesty of the building and its location are no accident. The USCCB is
a modest organization. It has few formal powers and little actual
authority. As John Carr, director of the Social Development and World
Peace Committee, said when I asked, "What power? I wish we had some
power." Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, president of the
USCCB from 1989 to 1992, likened the organization to a "union of
independent grocers. It's a confederation, a trade association.… It's not
a super-church. It's not my boss."
They exaggerate only slightly. Compared with its two putative competitors,
the Vatican and each diocese in the country, the USCCB has little
authority. It can't hire or fire bishops; only the Vatican can do so. It
can't laicize or defrock a priest; only a bishop can remove a priest from
ministry (although the actual process to make a priest a layman is much
lengthier and more complicated). The USCCB's bevy of committees (34
standing, 15 ad hoc, and five executive) don't coordinate the activities
of the nation's 195 sees. Each bishop--by which I mean auxiliary and
diocesan bishops as well as archbishops and cardinals--reports not to the
conference's leadership but to the Vatican.
This is not to say that the USCCB is, like Dickens's Mrs. Nickleby,
weak-kneed and purely deferential. It has stature. Its controversial
pastoral statements on the nuclear arms race, the economy, and war have
been much cited, and its lobbying shop takes credit for helping to pass
congressional legislation on issues ranging from a $15 billion measure to
combat AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean to a ban on partial-birth
abortion. It has national reach and collectively represents 66.4 million
American Catholics, according to the 2003 Official Catholic Directory. And
provided that the Vatican and two-thirds of its members approve, it can
mandate certain things. The national policy to handle priestly sexual
abuse is the most recent example.
-- Crisis Magazine,
(http://www.crisismagazine.com/october2003/stricherz.htm)
By Mark Stricherz
• Prison guards stage mass protest.
CONCORD (MA): The debate over staffing at state prisons, an issue fueled in
part by the slaying in August of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan, an
inmate at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, resurfaced yesterday
during a rally outside Concord State Prison.
Aiming to create a collective voice on the issue, about 200 correction
officers from Massachusetts and 11 other states carried the message that
their safety, and that of inmates and the public, is at risk because of
low staffing levels. Some said the death of Mr. Geoghan might have been
averted if at least one more guard had been on duty in the unit where he
was fatally beaten.
The rally yesterday was organized by the Massachusetts Correction Officers
Federated Union, which represents about 3,500 workers at 18 state prisons.
The union said statewide staffing has dropped in the last 27 months by
more than 700 correction officers. Many of the spots were unfilled after
retirements, and about 280 positions are empty because of work-related
injuries.
Correction Commissioner Michael T. Maloney, who recently told legislators
of similar staffing statistics, did not respond directly to claims made at
yesterday's rally. A spokesman defended staffing levels.
-- Telegram & Gazette,
(http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031111/NEWS/311110411/1003/NEWSLETTERS03)
by Mike Elfland
• Croteau files sealed.
BOSTON (MA): The effort to unseal files in the Daniel Croteau murder
investigation suffered a major blow yesterday as a Massachusetts Appeals
Court judge upheld the original order to keep some of the file impounded.
Appeals Judge John H. Mason's ruling throws out the recent order by
Hampden Superior Judge Peter A. Velis to open the files - except for the
names and addresses of witnesses.
The lawyer for a sexual abuse plaintiff, who was joined by The Republican
newspaper in his fight to unseal the documents, said the Appeals Court's
decision will be appealed to the state's Supreme Judicial Court.
"We will continue to battle onward. This is just a small skirmish in big
war," said John J. Stobierski.
Stobierski is seeking the files for a client, John Doe, who says he was
molested by the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne, a convicted child molester who
was the chief suspect in the murder of Croteau.
Larry A. McDermott, publisher of The Republican, said, "We believe the
impounded information regarding the murder of a young boy 30 years ago
should no longer be kept secret. The public has a right to know, and the
community has an enormous interest in this information. We will confer
with our legal counsel regarding the merits of an appeal to the state
Supreme Judicial Court."
Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett was joined by
Lavigne's lawyer in arguing against the file's release.
-- The Republican,
(http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1068540617267311.xml?nnmw)
By Bill Zajac, wzajac@repub.com .
• Special grand jury for clergy abuse cases.
CINCINNATI (OH): A special grand jury will be sworn in this week to investigate how
officials at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati responded to allegations of
sexual abuse involving Catholic priests.
Hamilton County prosecutors, who received permission in September to
convene the grand jury, will have up to four months to present evidence
and testimony to the jurors.
A pool of prospective jurors is scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday in
Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. The jury could begin work a few days
later.
The new grand jury is part of an investigation that began more than a year
ago, when clergy abuse scandals erupted in Cincinnati and other cities
across the country.
A previous grand jury investigation resulted in indictments against two
priests, but the new grand jury is expected to focus more on church
officials who supervised abusive priests than on the priests themselves.
-- The Cincinnati Enquirer,
(http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/11/11/loc_wwwloc1chu.html)
By Dan Horn.
• St. Louis archdiocese begins talk of resolving abuse suits.
ST. LOUIS (MO) (KRT): The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis has quietly begun talks to resolve sexual abuse suits pending against it because of alleged assaults
by priests -- even though the church may have no legal liability to pay
damages to potential victims.
Bishop Joseph Naumann touched briefly on the behind-the-scenes efforts at
a news conference last week.
Naumann is the Archdiocesan Administrator until a successor to former
Archbishop Justin Rigali is appointed. Naumann said he hoped to have a
mediation process in place as early as next month.
After the news conference, Bernard Huger, an attorney for the archdiocese,
confirmed that preliminary talks about mediation have begun with attorneys
Patrick Noaker and Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., and Kenneth Chakes
and Susan Carlson of St. Louis.
Other archdioceses have used mediation to settle their own cases, most
notably the Boston Archdiocese which agreed in September to pay $85
million to settle abuse claims.
-- Centre Daily Times,
(http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7228192.htm)
By William C. Lhotka, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• More sexual abuse allegations.
(http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=47259&SecID=33)
ALBANY (NY):
-- Capital News 9,
By: Capital News 9 web staff.
More sexual abuse allegations are surfacing in the Albany Catholic
Diocese.
Attorney John Aretakis held a news conference outside the Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity at RPI, leveling a charge against Father Charles Celeste.
Aretakis claims Celeste abused a former pledge of the fraternity.
The alleged victim, Randall Sweringen, said the abuse took place while he
was an undergraduate student at RPI in the mid-1980's.
Aretakis said, "He came to Father Celeste for spiritual guidance at the
age of 18 as a college freshman pledging this fraternity that's behind me,
because he felt a calling to become a Roman Catholic priest, which
eventually he did become. And that's the context under which Father
Celeste made his inappropriate advances and abuse and molestation of Mr.
Sweringen."
Aretakis has represented more than 60 people who claimed they were
sexually abused by priests in the Albany Diocese.
In response to the most recent allegation, the Diocese said the matter
involved two adults some 20 years ago.
• Leader Praises Catholic Bishops.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23961-2003Nov10.html)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- Washington Post,
By Caryle Murphy,
Tuesday, November 11, 2003; Page A02.
The leader of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops commended his peers yesterday
for their "solid steps" to prevent future abuse of children by priests,
but he said they still have an "urgent obligation" to seek reconciliation
with past victims and to pray that they can "forgive us" for what happened
to them.
"I understand that this is not something that will always be sought
immediately by those who have been harmed, nor will it be easy for any of
us," said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops. But "if the scourge of sexual abuse is to be effectively
eliminated, then the energy of the whole church needs to be directed to
this end."
Gregory's remarks came on the first day of the bishops' semiannual meeting
at a Capitol Hill hotel.
Gregory, bishop of Belleville, Ill., became conference president in late
2001, just before the child abuse scandal erupted in the Archdiocese of
Boston with revelations that for years, its bishops had reassigned priests
known to be pedophiles.
The scandal quickly spread to dioceses across the country, prompting the
bishops last year to adopt their strictest-ever policies on disciplining
guilty priests. But the bishops' response to the scandal is still a
contentious matter among some Catholics.
• Celibacy on unofficial agenda.
(http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion/nov03/184073.asp)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
By TOM HEINEN,
theinen@journalsentinel.com ,
Last Updated: Nov. 10, 2003
Sexual abuse was in the footlights, not the spotlights,
for a change, and optional celibacy was not on the stage at all as the
nation's Catholic bishops began their annual fall meeting on Monday.
But even though there are no plans to bring up celibacy at this session, a
discussion may yet occur down the road.
Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said in a brief interview Monday
afternoon that he thought the issue should be considered by the bishops,
though not necessarily at one of the conference meetings. George, reacting
to requests from some of his own priests, said he planned to bring the
matter up with Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
After 169 Milwaukee-area priests who want the priesthood opened to married
men sent a letter to the bishops over the summer, Gregory said he did not
plan to open discussions.
"There are all different venues that might be possible," said George,
adding that he had promised to raise the issue after being urged by about
115 Chicago-area priests who wanted optional celibacy and about 175 others
who thought it should at least be discussed. "I think it has to be
discussed, I'm not sure this is the venue.
• Bishops discuss sexual abuse.
(http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031110-112115-5359r.htm)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- The Washington Times,
By Julia Duin.
The nation's Catholic bishops yesterday were encouraged by one of their
leaders to move quickly in resolving the legacy of sexual abuse in their
dioceses.
They also were asked for advice on dealing with dissident Catholics,
especially those holding public office.
Holding their annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, the
296 prelates at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were told by the
Most Rev. Wilton Gregory to pray "that our brothers and sisters who have
been victimized will, with God's grace, find the strength in their hearts
to forgive us for what they have suffered."
As demonstrators marched outside carrying childhood photos, teddy
bears, candles and signs, Bishop Gregory reminded his audience that the
sex abuse crisis is not over.
"Our solid steps to prevent future abuse must be accompanied by a
healing and reconciliation with those who were abused," he said.
• Catholics push for married priests.
(http://www.detnews.com/2003/religion/0311/11/a10-322268.htm)
WASHINGTON (DC):
Detroit News,
By Cathy Lynn Grossman / USA TODAY.
Amid complaints of a shortage of Catholic priests and calls
to make celibacy optional to attract more men to the priesthood, one
expert says there are enough priests to meet the demand.
Today, Call to Action and FutureChurch, two groups pushing for change in
the church, say they will present 7,000 letters to the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops meeting here that call for the church to "open
discussion" on letting priests marry. The groups are alarmed that the
ratio of parishioners to priests -- the only ones who can consecrate bread
and wine -- has hit a historic high. There are 66.4 million U.S. Catholics
and 44,487 priests. That translates to 1,493 Catholics for every priest.
But the Rev. Paul Sullins, a sociologist at Catholic University in
Washington, is researching the distribution of priests, and he said Monday
that the shortage may not be a crisis.
• Ousted priest faces another accuser.
(http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1068535598313320.xml)
NEW ORLEANS (LA):
-- Times-Picayune,
By Bruce Nolan.
A former New Orleans priest relieved of his ministry for alleged sexual
abuse of a minor is now the subject of another complaint dating to his
days as a seminarian in Baltimore almost 40 years ago.
Robert Mahoney, who now lives in Puerto Rico, said he filed the complaint
against Charles Coyle, who served at Jesuit and Holy Cross high schools, a
number of New Orleans parishes and did personal ministry around New
Orleans in the 1980s and 1990s.
In a letter to The Times-Picayune, Mahoney said he had several sexual
encounters with Coyle in the mid-1960s, when he was about 15 and Coyle, in
his early 30s, was a student at the now-closed Woodstock College, a Jesuit
seminary near Baltimore.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore posted a statement on its Web site Oct. 7
acknowledging the allegation against Coyle. The Rev. Tom Stahel of the
Society of Jesus' New Orleans province, also confirmed that it had
received the complaint, although neither office as a matter of routine
would identify the complainant.
Coyle was relieved of his duties as a priest in April 2002 when an
unidentified youth filed suit in Newton, Mass., claiming that in the early
1970s Coyle molested him and another youth, who later committed suicide.
Coyle was then working as a guidance and drug counselor in a public
school.
• Catholic bishops urged to mend rift.
(http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/7231905.htm)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- The Sun Herald,
By RACHEL ZOLL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
The leader of America's Roman Catholic bishops urged his
fellow prelates Monday to repair the bonds with rank-and-file Catholics
that have been broken during nearly two years of crisis over clergy sex
abuse.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, opening a national meeting of bishops, said the
clergymen should reach out to victims "with perseverance and with love"
and pray that they will forgive church leaders who had failed to act
decisively against guilty priests.
"If the scourge of sex abuse is to be effectively eliminated, then the
energy of the whole church needs to be directed to this end," he said.
Gregory, of Belleville, Ill., said bishops also should realize that their
actions within their own dioceses affect all church leaders and said that
bishops can "do better" in helping each other serve Catholics.
"Rather than being something that divides us, the sexual abuse crisis can
and should become a rallying point not only to make the church a safe
environment for all children, but our whole society as well," said
Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• Bishops Refocusing on Sex Abuse Scandal.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3373753,00.html)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- Guardian
By RACHEL ZOLL,
AP Religion Writer.
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are refocusing their
attention on the clergy sex abuse scandal even though they had planned for
it to be just a small part of their fall meeting.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, opened the four-day assembly Monday by saying the "energy of the
whole church" should be directed toward reaching out to abuse victims and
rebuilding unity among Catholics divided by the crisis.
On Tuesday afternoon, a watchdog panel, composed of laymen selected by the
bishops last year at the height of the molestation crisis, will report on
the progress that dioceses are making toward protecting children in the
church.
The National Review Board is monitoring how bishops are implementing their
new mandatory discipline policy for guilty priests and is overseeing an
unprecedented diocese-by-diocese count of abuse cases over the last 50
years. That report is expected to be released in February.
The bishops plan votes on a wide range of other issues - from proper
religious observance to the plight of farmers. On Tuesday morning, they
will discuss a proposed statement on same-sex unions.
Monday, November 10, 2003
• Top bishop says Catholic church leaders must reconcile with sex abuse victims. (http://www.projo.com/ap/ma/1068500179.htm)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- Providence Journal,
By RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press Writer.
The president of the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops opened
the group's national meeting Monday by saying the "energy of the whole
church" should be directed toward reaching out to victims of clergy sex
abuse and rebuilding unity among Catholics divided by the crisis.
Bishop Wilton Gregory said that nothing has damaged the American church
more than the scandal over predator priests and the bishops who failed to
stop them. He said too many victims "have experienced that some of us did
not act like good shepherds when they came to us" and the bishops have a
responsibility to reconcile with them.
"If the scourge of sex abuse is to be effectively eliminated, then the
energy of the whole church needs to be directed to this end," he said.
Gregory's remarks refocused the church hierarchy's attention on abuse at a
four-day meeting where the topic - though listed on the agenda - is not
the dominant subject it was at last year's gatherings.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused
by Priests, welcomed Gregory's remarks, but said he questioned whether
bishops would follow through and work more closely with victims.
"There's only one way we'll know how to judge them and that is on their
actions," said Clohessy, who helped organized a protest vigil outside the
bishops' meeting.
• Diocese unveils updated misconduct policy and first-ever code of conduct.
(http://www.iobserve.org/rn1107c.html)
SPRINGFIELD (MA):
-- iobserve ,
By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff
The Diocese of Springfield unveiled Nov. 6 an updated
policy manual for the handling of sexual misconduct by its employees and
volunteers, and a first-ever diocesan-wide code of conduct.
Speaking at a press conference at the Bishop Marshall Center here,
Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré announced that he had hired a veteran
law enforcement professional to monitor priests accused of misconduct.
The new "Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth" is largely a
compilation of misconduct policies that have already been in place in the
diocese, including some that have been applied for many years.
It restates some of the decade-old rules of the diocesan Commission on
Improper Conduct of Diocesan Personnel, popularly known as "the diocesan
misconduct commission" locally or "review board" in national policy
statements.
• Croteau file ruling victory for disclosure.
(http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1068281202233080.xml?oned)
SPRINGFIELD (MA):
-- The Republican
Ajudge ruled last week that documents in the investigation of a
Springfield altar boy's murder in 1972 should be made public.
The impounded materials include summaries of statements, investigators'
reports, a laboratory report and results of an autopsy that will show what
murder victim Daniel Croteau had to eat in the hours before he was killed.
Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett argued unsuccessfully that
the files should remain sealed to protect the integrity of the murder
investigation, and he is appealing the judge's decision.
This newspaper believes that the public has not only a compelling interest
but also a right to know what's in the file.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis agreed and ruled in favor of a
motion filed by The Republican and a man suing the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne
and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
We have reported extensively on the Lavigne case for more than a decade,
and we believe truth will be better served with the release of the
documents.
• Dealing with human pain: Bishops, sex abuse victims hold meetings.
(http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20031023.htm)
WASHINGTON (DC):
-- Catholic News Service,
By Agostino Bono.
As U.S. bishops craft new programs to prevent clergy
sex abuse of minors, they also are seeking ways to deal with the human
pain of victims.
One bishop has washed a victim's feet on Holy Thursday. Others have cried
with victims. Some have prayed in silence with the people who say their
lives were wounded forever by the priests who abused them.
These symbolic gestures have resulted from unpublicized private meetings
between bishops and victims. Such meetings are part of the church's
pastoral outreach to balance monetary compensation with human compassion
in seeking solutions to the crisis.
"I show concern for them and their well-being. I listen to their stories.
I apologize and offer to be of help in the healing process," said Bishop
Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland, who has held 22 meetings -- mostly
one-on-one -- with victims.
"The bishop represents the church, and they see this (clergy sex abuse) as
an offense of the church," he said.
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
• Official welcome home for Cardinal Pell.
SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA:
Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell will be officially welcomed to the city's St Mary's Cathedral this evening following his elevation to the College of Cardinals last month in Rome.
Original source: Archdiocese of Sydney.
-- Church Resources, Monday Headlines,
(http://www.cathnews.com/news/311/51.php)
Mon Nov 11 03
• Scottish archbishop says safe sex advice encourages teenage sex.SCOTLAND:
Glasgow's Archbishop Mario Conti has attacked the so-called values-free safe sex advice that is readily available to school children from family planning clinics.
Original source: Sunday Herald.
- Church Resources,
(http://www.cathnews.com/news/311/52.php)
Mon Nov 11 03
FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED
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