References cont. (66) -- Clergy Child Molesters
• Three clergymen opposing extradition to NZ;
Priest gravely ill: lawyer; 82 accusers [3 (St John of God Order)]
- Roman Catholic Church.
Otago Daily Times Online Edition, New Zealand;
www.odt.co.nz/ , NZPA Staff Correspondent,
Thursday, January 22, 2004
SYDNEY (NSW) AUSTRALIA:
One of the Roman Catholic clergymen facing child sex abuse charges in New Zealand was gravely ill with cancer, his lawyer told a Sydney court yesterday.
Three members of the St John of God order are opposing an extradition bid by New Zealand authorities which would have them facing 37 charges in Christchurch relating to allegations of sexual assault.
The allegations, some of which go back almost 50 years, relate to the trio's time working at Marylands , a school for boys with learning and intellectual disabilities, in Christchurch. The school closed in 1986.
One of the men is a 56-year-old priest and the other two are religious brothers, aged 82 and 68.
Lawyer Greg Walsh told the Downing Centre Local Court the priest was "gravely ill", while the other two were also ill.
The priest had throat cancer. "He has to take morphine every four hours," Mr Walsh said.
The three were granted bail in the Parramatta Local Court on December 29 pending a date being set for their extradition hearing.
But Mr Walsh said in court he was "taken aback" to hear yesterday the prosecution now opposed bail. [continues]
INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts:
www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
Visit
www.ncrnews.org/abuse
INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.
Heather Armstrong, representing the New Zealand solicitor-general, at one stage opposed bail but later said it had to be regularised because it had been granted last month under an incorrect procedure. The Extradition Act required a higher standard of bail than that which had been granted.
The matter was adjourned until January 29 when the bail application will be reheard. After that, a date will be set for the extradition hearing.
The bail conditions set at Parramatta continue until the fresh application is heard.
Mr Walsh said the men opposed extradition. They had no criminal history, had co-operated with the authorities, complied with their bail and the complaints against them could turn out to be false.
Last month, Mr Walsh said it was possible the complainants had an ulterior motive in making their allegations after publicity about the St John of God order's $NZ4.5 million payout on abuse claims in Australia.
The order had published a hotline number in New Zealand and 82 former residents of Marylands came forward and said they had been abused.
Two alleged victims were later prosecuted in Christchurch after admitting they invented claims in a bid to get compensation. One was jailed for a year and the other was sentenced to 200 hours community work.
[Jan 22, 04]
• Accused priest gravely ill, says lawyer
Stuff, New Zealand,
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2789965a11,00.html ,
January 22, 2004
SYDNEY:: One of the Catholic clergymen facing child sex abuse charges in New Zealand was gravely ill with cancer, his lawyer told a Sydney court yesterday.
Three members of the St John of God order are opposing an extradition bid by New Zealand authorities which would have them facing 37 charges in Christchurch relating to allegations of sexual assault.
The allegations, some of which go back almost 50 years, relate to the trio's time working at Marylands, a school for boys with learning and intellectual disabilities, in Christchurch. The school closed in 1986.
One of the men is a 56-year-old priest and the other two are religious brothers, aged 82 and 68.
Lawyer Greg Walsh told the Downing Centre Local Court the priest was "gravely ill", while the other two were also ill.
The priest had throat cancer. "He has to take morphine every four hours," Mr Walsh said. . . .
• Clergy to re-apply for bail
The New Zealand Herald,
www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3544842&thesection=news&thesubsection=general , NZPA,
Jan 22, 2004
SYDNEY (NZPA):
Three Catholic clergymen will have to reapply for bail in Australia before a hearing opposing their extradition to New Zealand to face sex abuse charges.
The three members of the St John of God order, aged 56, 68 and 81, were arrested by federal police in Sydney last month after warrants were issued in the Christchurch District Court in November.
Christchurch police have laid 47 charges against the three - one a priest and the others brothers - after complaints from former pupils going back almost 50 years. The three taught at Christchurch's Marylands school for boys with learning and intellectual disabilities. It closed in 1984.
. . .
-- NZPA, Jan 22, 2004
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• Reports of child abuse up 60,000
The Age, Melbourne,
www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/21/1074360831967.html , By Carol Nader, January 22, 2004
AUSTRALIA: Reported cases of child abuse have surged by more than 60,000 in the past year to just under 200,000, but only a third have been investigated, a snapshot of the nation's child protection system reveals.
The number of substantiated cases of child abuse has almost doubled in five years, and in the past year jumped by 10,000 to 40,400, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, to be released today.
Victoria is one of only three states in which notifications and substantiations of abuse did not rise. For the first time since 1999, child abuse notifications last year dropped marginally in Victoria to 37,630, but only 12,400 of those cases were investigated, and 7287 were substantiated.
Some children are subject to more than one notification, suggesting the recurrence of abuse; the 37,630 notifications in Victoria involved about 28,400 children.
But a Government spokeswoman said once a notification had been lodged, if the child was not believed to be at risk of harm then the matter was dealt with locally.
Emotional abuse is the most common type in Victoria, affecting 44 per cent of abused children, while a quarter were physically abused, and another quarter suffered neglect. Less than 10 per cent were sexually abused.
Boys are more likely to be physically abused, but girls are more vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Babies aged under 12 months are the biggest victims of all types of abuse - affecting 15.5 babies per 1000.
Abused children are most likely to come from one-parent households headed by women, but the abuse is not necessarily inflicted by that parent. The report suggests this is because single-parent families are often financially stressed and socially isolated.
The report's author, Susan Kelly, said doing a state by state comparison was difficult, as each state had different child protection policies. Western Australia is the only state that does not have mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse.
Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci attributed the slight decline in notifications in Victoria to the public "getting fed up with a system where they're reporting and there's no effective response".
He said people were unclear about how the Department of Human Services defined abuse.
"The threshold that triggers the investigation and that the department is setting for proving cases of child abuse is too high," he said. "There is a mismatch between what the community and the department is defining as child abuse, and that mismatch is leading to children possibly being reabused."
Mandy Coulson, the child protection industrial officer at the Community and Public Sector Union, said the report did not take into account more than 1000 children who were "slipping through the cracks" because they were not allocated a worker to look out for their interests.
(By courtesy of CathNews from Church Resources, www.cathnews.com)
January 22, 2004
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Thursday, January 22, 2004 edition follows:-
• Black and white ribbons for victims of clergy abuse
NBC 15,
www.wpmi.com/common/printstory/default.aspx?content_id=c2ca65c6-5482-4e40-a4cf-7776b4ad1481 , January 22, 2004
NAVARRE (FL): There are ribbons for breast cancer, AIDS, and teen suicide; now there is one for clergy sex abuse.
Brian Pierre is a clergy sex abuse victim, "It's something you never forget especially where it is someone that has that much power and priests have that much power." he said from his home in Navarre, Florida.
As a student at Mobile's Mcgill-Toolen in the mid 70's, he says he was sexually abused by Father Alexander Sherlock.
"I think it's more painful now than it was ever before because of the way I've been treated by the church, especially the archbishop." Pierre added.
To aid his healing, Brian recently set up an on-line non profit organization called MASK. It stand for Making All Secrets Known. This week the organization started a ribbon wearing campaign.
Brian's wife Marianna is the organization's Vice-President. She said, "I wanted for people to just say I have compassion for you and that's why we call it the compassion ribbon."
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:52 PM
• Bishop tried to get help fixing windshield night he was questioned, witness says [2003]
The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0122obrientrial-ON.html ,
by Jim Reaves,
01:45 PM Jan. 22, 2004
PHOENIX (AZ): Four police officers were at Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien's home trying to question him about a fatal hit-and-run accident when he telephoned his secretary and asked for help getting his shattered windshield repaired, a witness testified Thursday.
Sgt. Steve Fullerton of the Phoenix Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Unit told jurors he and three other officers already had rung O'Brien's doorbell at least twice and gotten no answer when they decided to ask for help from the bishop's secretary, Julie Deck.
One of the officers called the Phoenix Diocese offices and reached Deck, who told him she had just spoken to the bishop 10 minutes earlier. She said O'Brien had called from his home and wanted to find out how to have a damaged windshield repaired.
The bishop eventually answered his door and cooperated with the officers, who arrested him after seeing the damaged windshield.
• Pastor's accuser comes forward; 2nd victim awaits? [~ 1986-88]
Staten Island Advance, www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1074609979124470.xml ,
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
NEW YORK: In the week since Dan O'Dougherty's allegations of sexual abuse 17 years ago at the hands of an Oakwood priest became public in the Advance, a second potential victim has surfaced with a disturbingly similar story, according to O'Dougherty's attorney.
Yesterday O'Dougherty, 29, his family, supporters and attorney called for the immediate removal of the priest, Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood, while the Archdiocese of New York investigates the allegations.
Monsignor Gaffney has denied the accusations.
O'Dougherty, speaking in person for the first time during a press conference in the Livingston, N.J., office of attorney Bruce Nagel, said the monsignor raped him repeatedly over a three-year period when he was a student in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at St. Charles School and an altar boy in the church.
Nagel said that in the last week he has been contacted by a young man who was a student at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School when Monsignor Gaffney was principal there.
• Pastor Accused Of Sex Abuse Hospitalized [1980s]
Staten Island Advance,
silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/107478276221950.xml ,
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek,
Thursday, January 22, 2004
NEW YORK: A Staten Island pastor newly accused of sexual abuse in the 1980s has been admitted to a local hospital, the Advance has learned.
Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, 79, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood, is a patient at St. Vincent's Hospital in West Brighton, according to Monsignor James Dorney, the Catholic vicar for Staten Island.
Monsignor Dorney said he had no word on Monsignor Gaffney's condition or the nature of his illness.
The hospital would not provide information on the monsignor, but a source close to the pastor said the priest was suffering from stress-related symptoms brought on by an allegation of sex abuse.
Dan O'Dougherty, a 29-year-old Morristown, N.J., man, has accused the monsignor of raping him when he was an altar boy in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at St. Charles School. The pastor has denied the accusation.
• More accusations against priests and former bishop
The Examiner,
"More accusations against priests,"
www.examiner.net/stories/012204/new_012204019.shtml ,
By Dan Curry, Jan 22, 2004
MISSOURI: Three Kansas City-area Catholic priests, one a former bishop, have been accused of sexually abusing nine men as minors over the span of 30 years.
Former Bishop Joseph Hart, Monsignor Thomas O'Brien and Thomas Reardon were each named in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Reardon was briefly stationed in Buckner at the Santa Fe Church in 1978. O'Brien served at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Independence from 1982 to 1983, when the diocese sent him to New Mexico for psychological evaluation after reports of sexual abuse first surfaced.
The lawsuit is the largest yet in a series of suits against Kansas City area priests that began last year.
In this case, none of the plaintiffs were from Eastern Jackson County, and none of the alleged abuse occurred there, said Rebecca Randles, the lawyer handling the case.
• When Parish Council wrote, Bishop came
Herald,
"Diocese visit helps local church,"
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10850794&BRD=1408&PAG=461&dept_id=463231&rfi=6 ,
By: Charlene Bielema, Herald Editor January 22, 2004
GRAND MOUND (IA): Upset with what they believe to be a lack of communication on the part of the Diocese of Davenport concerning sexual abuse allegations against a priest, Sts. Philip and James Catholic Church's Parish Council drew up a letter to the diocese to detail their concerns.
What they received was a surprise visit Sunday from the Most Rev. William Franklin, bishop of the Diocese of Davenport. His visit led to a two-hour meeting with parishioners that has developed a sense of optimism on the part of parishioners.
"It surprised and shocked us," parish council president Neil Mason said Wednesday about Franklin's visit. He said the visit left parish members feeling "much better" and with the hope that communication about sexual abuse allegations affecting the parish will become much more open.
The diocese currently is facing four Clinton County lawsuits that allege sexual abuse by priests. The concern with the Grand Mound parish arose after a lawsuit was filed in November by Donald Green of DeWitt, one of the church's current members, who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. James Janssen of Davenport. Janssen served at the parish from 1980 to 1990.
!!!: Leonard backers question removal although he admitted molesting in their parish [1970s]
Times-Dispatch, "Leonard backers question removal,"
www.timesdispatch.com/ servlet/Satellite?c= MGArticle&cid=1031773218663 &pagename=RTD/MGArticle/ RTD_BasicArticle&path=! news&s=1045855934842 ,
By Alberta Lindsey, Jan 21, 2004
RICHMOND (VA): For two hours, parishioners at St. Michael Catholic Church vented their anger, raised questions about their parish's future and insisted that the Rev. John Leonard is innocent of wrongdoing.
Emotions ran high among the large group gathered at the Glen Allen church last night. At times, voices grew loud. Some people fought back tears as they spoke. Many recalled times when "Father John," as parishioners call him, had helped them through a crisis.
St. Michael members made it clear that they want Leonard back as their priest. They said there was a conspiracy against Leonard and that his accusers were lying. And they denounced the media, especially The Times-Dispatch and the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk.
Responding to the questions and concerns of the parishioners were the Rev. Pat Apuzzo, diocesan spokesman and priest secretary to Bishop-emeritus Walter F. Sullivan of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and the Rev. Mark Lane, a priest and counselor in the diocese.
Leonard resigned from priestly ministry and as pastor of St. Michael's last Thursday. His decision came after Cardinal William Keeler, apostolic administrator for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, placed the priest on administrative leave.
Two days earlier, Leonard had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault against two teenage boys. He was originally charged in Goochland County Circuit Court with three felony sex offenses. Two of the felony charges were reduced to misdemeanor charges and the third was withdrawn under a plea agreement. He will be sentenced March 30.
[Emphasis added]
• 2 girls were sexually abused by priest in '70s, suit says
[1976-79 ]
Indianapolis Star, www.indystar.com/articles/7/112282-3337-009.html ,
By Kevin O'Neal,
kevin.oneal@indystar.com ,
January 17, 2004
INDIANA:
A lawsuit alleges that two girls were sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest in a southern Indiana parish.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Marion Superior Court, says the girls were abused for three years in Spencer. The names of the girls were not disclosed, but the lawsuit identifies the accused priest as the Rev. Samuel T. Curry.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis declined to comment Friday because the litigation is pending.
According to the lawsuit, Curry was a priest at St. Jude's Parish in Spencer, 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The abuse allegedly occurred from 1976 to 1979, when the girls, who are sisters, were attending church at St. Jude's.
The suit said the girls would have been 9-12 years old and 12-15 years old when they were abused. The manner of abuse was not stated.
• Canon law does not require RC Church to tell police about sex abuse
FindLaw, "Subject To The Approval Of The Vatican,"
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20020620.html ,
By Marci Hamilton, hamilton02@aol.com , Thursday, Jun. 20, 2002
UNITED STATES: There is some little-remarked fine print in the United States Conference of Conference of Catholic Bishops' proposal as to how to address the Church's problems with child abuse by clergy. It reads: "subject to the approval of the Vatican."
From this side of the Atlantic, it is hard to imagine the Church hierarchy impeding the bishops' attempts to put the church here back on its own two feet, but one fears it looks different on the other side.
Disturbing ground was being prepared for the "Vatican approval" aspect of the proposal in the days leading up to the Dallas meeting of the bishops. Two Church legal experts close to the Vatican, including one who may be the Pope's successor, announced that canon law does not require the Church to give information about clergy sexual abuse to legal authorities.
Then Cardinal Avery Dulles closed an op-ed in the New York Times with the following: "If [the bishops] yield too much to the present atmosphere of panic, the Holy See can be relied upon to safeguard the theological and canonical tradition." While this may have been intended to be reassuring, it ought to have had the opposite effect.
If the Vatican is planning to veto the bishops' proposal to work with legal authorities in the prosecution of crimes against children, as these indications suggest, it should understand the severe consequences that will follow. In the United States, the refusal to abide by the rule of law -- especially when children are at stake -- would be disastrous for the Church.
Thus, if the Vatican sticks with the "canon law, and canon law alone" position, there will be only two options for the United States Roman Catholic Church: schism from Rome, or marginalization.
[FOOTNOTE, COMMENTS: Thanks to Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse this important 2002 newsitem has now been discovered and distributed with this edition. It is also copied into its chronological order at Jun. 20, 2002 in a previous "References" webpage, given the CSAT identity number there and here, 000748.
This newsitem confirms the contention that the Vatican has a well-entrenched policy of secrecy in such matters. The publication on July 29 2003 of a "secret" Vatican secrecy orders document, the sad story of the Vatican denial, and the August 27 2003 rebuttal of that denial, are explained in "Crime of Solicitation, Extracts" on this website and its Links.
Ab omni peccato, libera nos, Domine. -- FPP Jan 25 2004. FOOTNOTE, COMMENTS, END]
• Victims' group demands names of accused priests moved by diocese
Jefferson City News Tribune,
www.newstribune.com/articles/2004/01/22/news_local/0121040006.txt ,
By Michelle Reagan, Jan 22, 2004
MISSOURI: An advocacy group is charging that Catholic priests accused of abusing children are being quietly moved from the Jefferson City Diocese, and that children are still at risk until the names of such priests are released.
David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Tuesday that six known or suspected abusers within the Jefferson City Diocese have taken up residences in other dioceses.
He based his conclusion on the Gavin Report for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That report stated Jefferson City is in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Church officials note that the diocese has a zero tolerance policy for substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against a priest. And the diocese has a mechanism to report abuse of minors by church officials to appropriate authorities.
• Lawsuit accuses three priests of sexual abuse [1960s-1980s]
The Kansas City Star, www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/7765692.htm ,
By Kevin Murphy and Judy Thomas
KANSAS CITY (MO): In the most extensive sexual abuse lawsuit against Kansas City area clergy, three Catholic priests were accused Wednesday of molesting minors during a three-decade period.
The 210-page lawsuit names Thomas M. Reardon, Thomas J. O'Brien and retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart. Nine men make a series of allegations against each of the priests. Some of the abuse allegedly took place at a lake home or church facilities, often after liquor was given to the victims.
The suit alleges that most of the abuses occurred from the 1960s through the 1980s, when for a time the priests served together in local parishes. Reardon left the priesthood in 1989. O'Brien and Hart are retired.
Hart denied the allegations Wednesday. O'Brien could not be reached, and Reardon declined to comment.
The priests are accused of sometimes conspiring to lure the boys into sexual situations, and the diocese is alleged to have covered up the abuses.
"We have a cabal of priests who together and separately engaged in sexual abuse and molestation of children for in excess of 30 years," said Rebecca Randles, attorney for the plaintiffs, at a news conference outside the Catholic chancery. "We needed to include all of these plaintiffs so you could see the extent and duration of abuse these poor children suffered."
• Sexual abuse charge against former priest is dropped [1966-68]
The Courier-Journal,
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/01/22ky/met-front-dear01220-4747.html ,
By Gregory A. Hall,
ghall@courier-journal.com , Jan 22, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): A sexual abuse charge against former priest Charles F. Dearing has been dropped after a prosecutors cited weaknesses in their case that made a conviction unlikely.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Thomas B. Wine dismissed the case Tuesday at the request of prosecutor J. Bryan Fantoni, an assistant Jefferson County commonwealth's attorney.
Theresa Harp had accused Dearing of abusing her between 1966 and 1968, when he was a priest at St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church.
"There was a different version of the story given by" witnesses other than those for the prosecution, said Jeff Derouen, a spokesman for the commonwealth's attorney's office. Derouen said the office would not release names of the witnesses not connected to the prosecution.
• 2 priests can't be charged [1980s]
Miami Herald, www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/7769627.htm ,
By Lisa Arthur,
larthur@herald.com
MIAMI (FL): Broward County prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against two Archdiocese of Miami priests accused of molesting a former altar boy in the late 1980s. But the report closing the investigation raises concerns about the priests and the church's handling of the case.
Under Florida law, the time for prosecuting the Revs. Ricardo Castellanos and Arnulfo Arandia expired in 1993, said Dennis Siegel, head of the Broward state attorney's office sex crimes and child abusedivision.
But Siegel added that detectives were not able to fully investigate the allegations because the lawyer representing former altar boy Kenneth Matias in a civil suit against the archdiocese did not cooperate.
The attorney, Joel Magolnick, said he wasn't aware the state attorney's office was investigating and did not recall being contacted about Matias by investigators.
• Attorneys will renew talks on settling sex-abuse case
The Courier-Journal,
www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/01/22ky/met-3-kelly0122-4192.html ,
By Gregory A. Hall,
ghall@courier-journal.com
LOUISVILLE (KY): At the request of the Archdiocese of Louisville, attorneys involved in the oldest remaining child sexual abuse lawsuit have agreed to meet again to discuss a settlement.
An earlier effort to mediate Kyle Burden's case, which alleged that the archdiocese covered up knowledge of child sexual abuse by priests, teachers and others connected to the Roman Catholic Church, was unsuccessful.
The new effort at mediation comes as Burden and his attorneys were seeking sworn testimony from Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly.
Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer for the archdiocese, said the effort to get a deposition from Kelly had nothing to do with the renewed effort at mediation.
!!!: Accused priest lecturing kids about sex
Chicago Sun-Times,
www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-priest22.html ,
By Cathleen Falsani and Ana Mendieta, January 22, 2004
CHICAGO (IL): Officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago are investigating whether a Chicago priest who was removed from ministry because of allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage boys has violated church policy by returning to his former parish to talk to groups of Catholic school students about sex.
On several occasions since his removal from ministry in 2002, the Rev. John Calicott, former pastor of Holy Angels parish in the Bronzeville neighborhood, has returned to the parish at the request of his former parishioners to talk to children at Holy Angels School, said the Rev. Robert Miller, Holy Angels' current pastor.
"He comes by at the invitation of the staff, principal and teachers to come by and say something to the kids," Miller said. "He has friends, he has family, he comes back, they say hello to him, they say 'Father John, come in. I want you to sit and talk to the kids, the kids need to hear this. The pregnancy rates are up, gang activity, come on. Talk to the kids about what's important in life.'"
On some of his visits, the 56-year-old Calicott, who could not be reached for comment, also talked to Holy Angels students about sexually transmitted diseases, drug use, gang violence, and other problems facing their community, Miller said.
• O'Brien friend, key priest, may testify today
The Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0122obrien22.html ,
Joseph A. Reaves,
Jan. 22, 2004
PHOENIX (AZ): One of the most prominent priests in the Phoenix Diocese could be called to the witness stand today to testify about a call he made to let Thomas J. O'Brien know police wanted to question the bishop about a fatal hit-and-run accident.
Prosecutors said they plan to complete questioning of three police officers early in the day and have advised Monsignor Dale Fushek to be ready to testify in the afternoon.
Fushek is co-vicar general of the diocese and a close friend of O'Brien's. He told investigators he telephoned the bishop the night after a fatal hit-and-run accident and told O'Brien police were looking for his car.
O'Brien was at his sister's house that night. He went home shortly after getting the phone call but never contacted police, who arrested him the next morning.
• New Sex Abuse Lawsuits Filed Against Former KC Priests [30 years]
TheKansasCityChannel.com , www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/2783503/detail.html
KANSAS CITY, Mo.: A new lawsuit accuses three former Kansas City priests of molesting nine boys, and church officials of failing to act, KMBC reported.
On Wednesday, lawyers, plaintiffs and supporters held a news conference outside Kansas City diocese headquarters. The lawsuits claim the abuse took place for years at church rectories and at a lake home the church owned at Lake Viking, 60 miles north of Kansas City.
Rebecca Randles, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the abuse went on for decades.
"These men took children four at a time to Lake Viking over a period of 30 years and would choose one of them each weekend to molest. That is something that is absolutely intolerable and something that must stop," Randles said.
The lawsuit accuses former Bishop Joseph Hart, former Monsignor Thomas O'Brien and the former Rev. Thomas Reardon with abusing the children. O'Brien and Reardon left the priesthood, and Hart retired.
The suit also accuses Bishop Raymond Boland and Vicar General Patrick Rush of negligence and fraud.
• Fundamentalist Mormon cult of abuses
The Arizona Republic, "A cult of abuses,"
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0122thur1-22.html ,
Jan. 22, 2004
ARIZONA and UTAH: Children kept out of school. Adolescent girls given as second and third wives to old men. Teen boys banished. Out-of-favor men expelled, and their wives and children assigned to those who please the ruling elite.
A backward, Third World nation?
No. The USA. The land of the Bill of Rights. The home of the rule of law.
For more than 50 years, an enclave of lawbreakers and advocates of child sexual abuse has straddled the Arizona-Utah border, unrepentant and unchallenged. Girls were property, boys were competition, women were chattel. All were denied access to the justice system and the protection of the Constitution.
Until recently, state officials responded with the scalded-dog routine. A botched raid in 1953 produced such political embarrassment that everybody ran away from this thing.
Not anymore. The attorneys general of Arizona and Utah are investigating crimes including child abuse, child labor law violations, income tax evasion, welfare fraud and civil rights violations in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the practice of joining young girls in polygamous unions with older men in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was so widespread, and the "horror stories" from those who fled human bondage so egregious, that "I couldn't sleep at night."
• Archdiocese asks to resume talks in abuse case
WHAS, www.whas11.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D807NA8G1.html ,
Associated Press, Jan 22, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): Settlement talks will begin again in a remaining child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville.
The new effort to settle comes as Kyle Burden and his lawyers were seeking sworn testimony from Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly.
Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer for the archdiocese, said the effort to get a deposition from Kelly had nothing to do with the renewed effort at mediation.
"Since the beginning of the litigation process, we have consistently suggested that mediation would be the best process for resolving these," Reynolds said of child sexual abuse lawsuits.
• Archdiocese to pay abuse victim
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jan04/201645.asp ,
By Meg Kissinger,
mkissinger@journalsentinel.com ,
Posted: Jan. 21, 2004
MILWAUKEE (WI): The Archdiocese of Milwaukee agreed this week to pay a Milwaukee man up to $52,500 in education and living expenses to settle any claims he might have of having been sexually abused by a priest 29 years ago.
The agreement, signed on Monday by Barbara Anne Cusack, chancellor for the archdiocese, establishes two funds for Scot Edgerton, 42, of Milwaukee. One account will be set aside for living expenses and tuition for Edgerton to attend college. A second account, for $12,000, has been established by the archdiocese to pay for the utility and credit card bills that Edgerton incurred over the past several years. The archdiocese also agreed to pay up to $500 for Edgerton to undergo career testing and evaluation.
Edgerton was 13 years old and an eighth-grader at St. Aloysius School in West Allis in 1975 when the assistant pastor, Father Richard Nichols, reportedly sexually abused him after a funeral Mass.
Edgerton says that for several years after that, Nichols continued to harass him. Edgerton and his parents complained to the pastor and ultimately to then-Archbishop Rembert Weakland, but Nichols remained active as a priest. In a letter to Edgerton from Weakland in 1980, the archbishop asked Edgerton to try to forgive Nichols.
• New Haven parishioner: change of Church's structure may be in order [abuse early 1980s]
Yale Daily News, "Church scandal hits New Haven,"
www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=24597 ,
By Stephen Gikowdietadieta
NEW HAVEN (CT): The public has responded viscerally to allegations of sexual abuse against priests in the Catholic Church in recent years. Last weekend, the issue came closer to home for some when a New Haven priest resigned from the church.
In response, some Catholic Yale students said they think it is time to find a way to make changes before adherents lose their trust in the church's hierarchy.
The Rev. Andrew Brizzolara of St. Michael's Church in New Haven resigned Saturday. He faces allegations that he abused a minor while working in the Archdiocese of Boston in the early 1980s, the Associated Press reported Sunday. Brizzolara was stripped of all his ministerial powers by the Archdiocese of Hartford.
Mary Hollis, a Catholic and member of St. Thomas Moore, said she has decided a change in some aspects of the church's structure may be in order. She said she is distraught by the growing allegations, but she does not want to leave her faith behind her.
!!!: Priest gives sex education at Holy Angels despite 1970s abuse allegations
["Teaching" 2004, Abuse allegations: late 1970s]
NBC 5,
"Priest Teaches At Holy Angels Despite Abuse Allegations,"
www.nbc5.com/news/2783511/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65172
CHICAGO (IL): A Chicago-area priest barred from his duties because of alleged sexual abuse is back at his old parish, NBC5's Mary Ann Ahern reported.
The Catholic bishops approved a zero-tolerance policy 18 months ago, so even those with a past sex abuse allegation -- like the Rev. John Calicott have been removed from public ministry. Calicott is appealing his case, but in the meantime, NBC5 has learned that he's not only been teaching religion to students at Holy Angels, he's also been teaching sex education.
Holy Angels Parish on the city's south side has known for the past 10 years that Calicott faced allegations of sexual misconduct with two teenage boys in the late 1970s. He denied the allegations, but spent a year-and-a-half in treatment.
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin reinstated Calicott with the full blessing of his parish, but when the Catholic bishops approved the zero-tolerance policy 18 months ago, Calicott was removed. He is appealing that decision with the backing of many parishioners.
"I have a problem with this whole concept of zero tolerance," said the Rev. Robert Miller of Holy Angels.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:22 AM
[COMMENT: Problem with zero tolerance? Yes, and so did Cardinal Bernadin and his successor Cardinal Law, as sex-abusing priests were transferred, sometimes to other States, when complaints came in. Is this God's Church, "without wrinkle or spot"? Oh, other Churches, and other religions, have the same problem, but seemingly not at such a high percentage. -- FPP 30 Jan 04. COMMENT ENDS.]
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Thursday, January 22, 2004
• SJoG clergy too ill for extradition, claims lawyer [1960s]
CathNews,
www.cathnews.com/news/401/122.php ,
Jan 23 2004
SYDNEY: The lawyer for three Sydney St John of God members facing extradition to NZ has claimed they are ill and should not face extradition. The 82 y.o. Brother has throat cancer "and has to take morphine every four hours" the lawyer told the court in Sydney.
The priest (56) and the two brothers (68 and 82) are facing prosecution in New Zealand over allegations, some of which go back almost 50 years, related to the trio's time working at Marylands, a school for boys with learning and intellectual disabilities, in Christchurch. The school closed in 1986.
Last month, Mr Greg Walsh, the lawyer representing the men in Sydney, said it was possible the complainants had an ulterior motive in making their allegations after publicity about the St John of God order's $NZ 4.5 million payout on abuse claims in Australia.
The order had published a hotline number in New Zealand and 82 former residents of Marylands came forward and said they had been abused.
Two alleged victims were later prosecuted in Christchurch after admitting they invented claims in a bid to get compensation. One was jailed for a year and the other was sentenced to 200 hours community work.
SOURCES -- FULL STORIES:
Otago Daily Times -- Three clergymen opposing extradition to NZ
stuff.co.nz -- Accused priest gravely ill, says lawyer
NZ Herald -- Clergy to reapply for bail
HAVE YOUR SAY Click here
[Jan 23, 2004]
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Friday, January 23, 2004 edition follows:-
• Hart faces new abuse allegations [1960s-1980s]
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle,
www.wyomingnews.com/news/more.asp?StoryID=101336 ,
By Cara Eastwood,
rep4@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE (WO): Retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart was named in a sexual abuse lawsuit Wednesday, along with two other Catholic clergymen who had served with him in Kansas City.
The suit adds new accusations to those made in 2002 that Hart vehemently denied.
The suit alleges the three Catholic priests molested minors when they worked together from the 1960s to the 1980s. According to the lawsuit, some of the abuse allegedly took place at a lake home north of Kansas City and at church facilities, sometimes after liquor was given to the victims.
The 210-page lawsuit names Hart along with Monsignor Thomas J. O'Brien and Father Thomas M. Reardon. Nine male plaintiffs make a series of allegations against the priests, ranging from inappropriate tickling to supplying drugs and alcohol and forcing sex on the victims when they were young boys.
The lawsuit also names the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and its current leaders as defendants, asserting that the diocese failed to monitor its priests.
"It's apparent that the plaintiffs and the SNAP group were desperately reaching to include a bishop - even a retired bishop - in their lawsuit," said Cheyenne attorney Jack Speight, who has represented Hart in the past.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:37 PM
• Woman sues Spokane Diocese, alleging abuse by priest [1991]
KGW,
www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D808RR580.html ,
By Nicholas K. Geranios / Associated Press,
01/24/2004
WASHINGTON: A Portland-area woman who contends that as a 12-year-old she was molested by a Catholic priest filed suit Friday against the Spokane Diocese.
The woman, identified in the lawsuit only as "K.F.," said she was molested at Jesuit House in Spokane in 1991 by the late Rev. Peter O'Grady, her lawyer said.
"She was instructed by O'Grady to tell no one," attorney H. Douglas Spruance III of Spokane said.
The lawsuit, which also named Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, does not seek specific damages, he said.
The Rev. Steven Dublinski, vicar general of the Spokane Diocese, said the diocese has been in talks with the woman for some time and expected the lawsuit.
"We are very sorry for the pain she has gone through," Dublinski said.
• Henrico County pastor charged with abuse of female teen [1999-2002]
WVEC,
www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D808SEI80.html ,
Associated Press, 01/24/2004
VIRGINIA: A pastor was charged Friday with five felony counts of child abuse involving a girl who is now 16.
The Rev. Joseph F. Ellison Jr. was charged for alleged abuse over a four-year period beginning in 1999, according to court records.
Ellison, founder of Essex Village Community Church in Henrico County, was arrested Dec. 19 after Henrico police investigated a child-abuse complaint referred to authorities by the Henrico Department of Social Services.
Ellison, 42, denied the charges, telling the Richmond Times-Dispatch the charges are "the most painful blows I've experienced in my ministry."
• Bishop is hearing their pain
Modesto Bee
www.modbee.com/local/story/8041864p-8903789c.html ,
By Jeff Jardine,
Bee Local Columnist,
January 23, 2004
CALIFORNIA: Priests are trained to deal with many situations and circumstances.
They counsel people who are dying and help others understand loss.
They help couples prepare for marriage and parenthood.
They prepare children to follow the church's sacraments.
They console the depressed and feed the poor.
But when a parishioner is molested by another priest?
There is no training to cover this, nothing in the manual.
There are no answers, just apologies.
So Bishop Stephen Blaire simply listens to those who were victims of child abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton since it was formed in 1962.
He hears their stories -- stories that shake their moral foundations and trust in the church.
• Boone judge hopefuls must file by Tuesday
KENTUCKY:
The Kentucky Post,
www.kypost.com/2004/01/23/judge012304.html ,
By Feoshia Henderson, Jan 23, 2004
Candidates for a November special election for Boone Circuit Judge have until Tuesday to file for the seat.
Chief Justice Joseph Lambert notified the Secretary of State's office of the opening Thursday, which was the first day to file.
The election is non-partisan, and candidates must file with the Secretary of State's office in Frankfort by 4 p.m. on Tuesday. That is also the filing deadline for candidates for all races in the upcoming primary and general elections. The filing fee is $200.
Judge Jay Bamberger unexpectedly retired from the circuit Jan. 5, in the midst of a dispute with attorneys for the Covington Diocese who tried remove him from a class-action lawsuit filed by those claiming sexual abuse by priests. He said the conflict was unrelated to his retirement. Though he's officially retired after 22 years, he said he would stay on until a replacement was named.
• Church releases abuse data [1962-2003; $US 9.535m wasted]
Modesto Bee,
www.modbee.com/local/story/8041644p-8903643c.html ,
By Amy White,
January 23, 2004
CALIFORNIA: Ten priests in the Catholic Diocese of Stockton were accused of sexually abusing minors from 1962 to 2003, with $9.535 million paid in settlements and court judgments, according to a review of diocesan records released Thursday.
The diocese collected the figures, based on its records, for a comprehensive study compiled by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The diocese sent copies of its review to member churches Thursday; information will be distribu-ted to members at services this weekend.
The national study, to include statistics on clergy abuse nationwide, is set for release Feb. 27. It will not include a diocese-by-diocese breakdown.
Commissioned in June 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the study tracked cases of abuse and costs nationwide back to 1950.
Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire said Thursday that the diocese already has implemented many of the recommendations in a separate audit last year.
• Stockton Catholic diocese apologizes for clergy abuse [1962 on]
Lodi News-Sentinel,
www.lodinews.com/articles/2004/01/23/news/05_clergy_040123.txt ,
By Ross Farrow, Jan 23, 2004
CALIFORNIA: The Stockton Roman Catholic Diocese issued its own mea culpa Thursday, apologizing to anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest in its diocese.
"With sadness and profound regret, the Diocese of Stockton apologizes to the victims and their families for the pain and hurt caused them," according to the statement, issued by Bishop Stephen Blaire. "Sexual abuse of minors is a serious crime, a grave sin and a reprehensible violation of a sacred trust."
The apology accompanied a report on how many priests had been accused of sexually abusing minors since 1962, when the diocese was formed. Other statistical information was compiled.
Since 1962, 29 individuals alleged sexual abuse by clergy affiliated by the Stockton Diocese. Seventeen of the allegations were against one priest, Oliver O'Grady, who served at Lodi's St. Anne's Catholic Church in the 1970s.
• Campus crawl: Of faith and free speech for homosexual marriage; attacked
The Dallas Morning News,
"Campus crawl: Of faith and free speech,"
www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/fea/texasliving/stories/012404dnlivholycross.c5c6b.html ,
By David Tarrant / The Dallas Morning News
WORCESTER, Mass.: Set on a hill overlooking this town, the ivy-covered brick buildings and immaculately groomed landscape of the College of the Holy Cross would seem an ideal place to contemplate the world and current events from a lofty and safe distance.
That's just how the Jesuits, who founded this Catholic college 160 years ago, envisioned it.
But these days, more than just leaves swirl around St. James Hill. Many of the same issues whipping up debate during this presidential election year - gay marriage, the war in Iraq, abortion and race relations - also churn over this campus.
One student's support of gay marriage landed her on the front page of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Kathryn Meyers, co-editor of the student newspaper, The Crusader, wrote an opinion column in November supporting a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that a ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.
"I was pretty sure people would object" to the column, she said.
In fact, she found herself at the center of a lot of sturm und drang from alumni. Leading the anti-column charge was a familiar adversary, Victor J. Melfa, Class of 1957. Mr. Melfa is president of the Holy Cross Cardinal Newman Society, an alumni group he has formed out of concern that Holy Cross has strayed from its Catholic roots in recent years. ....
On his Web site, Mr. Melfa states that the permissive culture at Holy Cross is linked with the sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.
"Just as Catholics were remiss in not being more vigilant in pointing out the truth of what was often cloaked in silence, political correctness, amorality and permissiveness, alumni are just as guilty for not learning more and informing others of what is flourishing at the Catholic colleges in the name of progress, diversity and academic freedom."
• Sins of The Father
Inlander,
www.inlander.com/topstory/279643201825262.php ,
By Paul Seebeck
WASHINGTON: On August 29, 2002, Randy Coston was getting into his car in Pullman, to return to Spokane after a sales trip to the Palouse.
"I remember looking at the clock," says Coston. "It was 12:03." When his cell phone rang, it was a friend calling to talk about the story in the newspaper that morning -- a story about a person he preferred to forget, Father Patrick O'Donnell.
As Coston chatted about the latest scandal surrounding O'Donnell, he says he felt a strange sensation start to wash over him. Next, he called his wife. It was 12:10.
"As I began talking to her, I had this overwhelming thought come into my mind," Coston recalls of that pivotal day. "This can't occur anymore. Whatever it takes, you must help to stop it."
What Coston didn't know was that at precisely that same time, one of his best friends, Tim Corrigan, was ending his life after only 39 years.
• Vatican Official Remarks On Gibson Film, Medjugorje, And Church's Abuse Crisis
Spirit Daily,
http://spiritdaily.com/archbishopfoley.htm ,
By Michael H. Brown
In a wide-ranging interview, Archbishop John P. Foley of the Vatican says that while the upcoming movie on Christ's Passion by Mel Gibson may not be an historic "watershed" -- and while he knows nothing of any papal comments -- the film is a gripping one that caused him to meditate on his own sins. The archbishop also defended Rome's response to the sex-abuse crisis, warned that the secular media is catering to the society's wealthy, and stated that there has been no official Church decision yet on the famous site of apparitions in former Yugoslavia known as Medjugorje. ...
When asked about the Vatican and its own social communications, particularly in regard to the abuse crisis, and why it took so long for Rome to publicly respond -- which many feel hurt the Church's reputation -- Archbishop Foley defended Rome's response time as a prudent one.
"If there are cases of any type reported to the Holy See, there are appeals or required references from local dioceses, so you have the usual judicial process, or the process through a Congregation," said the Vatican official. "The usual judicial or jurisdictional responses to a crisis are not done with the thought of how we can best respond to the media. They are done with the thought of how we can best respond to the situation in justice to all concerned."
In further defense of Rome's response, the archbishop added that "the bishops came over here and the presidency of the U.S. bishops' conference has been here a number of times meeting with people from the various competent congregations, so I don't see how, in the light of the organization of the Church, the response from Rome could have been much more swift. The American media usually like to have their responses yesterday. Is that just under the situation -- or do you need some mature reflection on the situation so that rash decisions are not made?"
[COMMENT: Medjugorje has a "seer" hearing and seeing a "lady" invisible and inaudible to everyone else, and the seer's support group disseminates the messages world-wide. But, there are priests and brothers in courts, pleading guilty to child and women sex-abuse, whom we CAN hear and see. "There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see." -- FPP 27 Jan 2004 COMMENT ENDS.]
• Monsignor Is Accused Of Sexual Molestation [1980s]
Staten Island Advance,
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1073838635128210.xml ,
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek, Tim Gray, Aaron Smith And Doug Auer,
Sunday, January 11, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): A former Staten Island resident is alleging that a revered pastor of an Oakwood church sexually molested him when he was an altar boy nearly 20 years ago.
Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church, denied the charge at two masses last night, challenging his accuser to prove the "false allegations." Monsignor Gaffney also was expected to speak at masses today.
The alleged victim has refused to be interviewed by officials of the Archdiocese of New York. Because of that, and because this is the first allegation of its kind against Monsignor Gaffney during his 54 years in the priesthood, he remains in his position.
"I want everyone in this parish to know the allegations are false. They are outrageous," Monsignor Gaffney told parishioners during the standing-room-only masses, before asking his flock to pray for his accuser.
"My reputation as a priest of New York has been defamed by this person," the monsignor said, adding that his mother, father and brother had also been defamed by the allegations.
• Accused pastor won't face sex charges
Staten Island Advance
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/107391877684420.xml ,
By Tim Gray,
Monday, January 12, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): An Oakwood pastor will not face criminal charges for newly alleged sex crimes because the statute of limitations expired more than 12 years ago.
During weekend masses, Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church, strongly denied the accusations made by a former Staten Islander.
The pastor has been accused of sexually molesting a pre-adolescent altar boy nearly 20 years ago.
Sources close to the case say a civil suit is likely.
Monsignor Gaffney spent much of yesterday and Saturday defending his reputation from the pulpit of his Oakwood parish, calling the allegations that he molested the former altar boy on numerous occasions "scurrilous." He promised parishioners during three packed masses that he had not done, and would never do, anything to "embarrass" them.
Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York, has told the Advance that the Staten Island district attorney's office contacted church officials in October to report allegations concerning the monsignor.
• Priest Accused In Abuse Case Hires Lawyers [1987]
Staten Island Advance,
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1074089756252520.xml ,
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek,
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): An Oakwood pastor has hired two attorneys to help him battle an accusation that he molested a former Staten Island altar boy 17 years ago.
Staten Island attorney Matthew Santamauro called the accusation against Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church, a "baseless claim" with an uncertain future.
The Staten Island district attorney's office has not pursued criminal charges in the case, presumably because the statute of limitations has long since expired.
"At this point I don't believe there can be a civil lawsuit," Santamauro added, citing the long lapse of time.
Santamauro of the New Dorp firm DePalma, Lasky and Santamauro would not say when Monsignor Gaffney hired him.
The second attorney, Steven Weinstein of Morris County, N.J., could not be reached last night for comment.
• Monsignor defends his record
Staten Island Advance,
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1074435383238220.xml ,
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek, Sunday, January 18, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): A Staten Island priest accused of sexually abusing an altar boy 17 years ago has no memory of his accuser and is considering suing the 29-year-old for defamation of character.
Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood, said he has been aware of the man's identity since November, when the Archdiocese of New York told him an accusation of sexual abuse had been leveled against him.
"I am aware of who he is, but I have no memory of this man in this parish," the monsignor said. "I have no recollection of him whatsoever."
The alleged victim, who attended St. Charles School and was an altar boy for the parish, is planning to speak publicly for the first time tomorrow at a press conference in the Livingston, N.J., offices of his attorney, Bruce Nagel.
• Corrections and Clarifications
Staten Island Advance,
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1074869145183750.xml ,
Friday, January 23, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, the priest accused by a former altar boy of sexual assault, was admitted to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze earlier this week. The name of the hospital was incorrect in a report in the Advance yesterday.
• Statement Regarding NY Priest
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests,
Statement By David Cerulli, Director of SNAP New York City,
www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/012204_NY_priest_in_ministry.htm ,
Jan 22 2004
NEW YORK: "It is distressing to learn that a priest with credible allegations of the sexual abuse of a minor is being left in ministry in direct violation of the Charter passed by Catholic Bishops in June 2002. Allowing Msgr. Gaffney to continue to wear his priestly attire after formal charges have been lodged against him only serves to needlessly place children at risk.
According to the attorney for the victim, a second person has come forward with credible allegations of sexual abuse by Gaffney while he served at a different school. We applaud the courage of these victims to overcome the many obstacles to speaking out about their abuse. This is the only way the truth will be known and that children will be protected. The Archdiocese of New York now needs to do the right thing, follow the spirit of the Charter, remove Msgr. Gaffney from all contact with children and inform him that he is no longer allowed to present himself as a priest. Only in this way can children be protected.
The excuse given by the Archdiocese of New York, that the victim has not presented his testimony in person, is not a requirement of the Charter. A sworn statement, which has already been presented to the Archdiocese, is sufficient. The most accurate reason why Gaffney needs to be removed from ministry was stated by the mother of the victim in a recent news account, "This man has robbed my son's soul." she said, "and robbed his youth." We need to insure that other children don't suffer the same fate."
• Marijuana in a rectory closet; arrest
Cleveland Plain Dealer,
"Norton priest arrested on drug charges,"
www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/summit/1074853969256800.xml ,
by Karen Farkas, 01/23/04
NORTON OHIO: A Catholic priest has been charged with cultivating marijuana after police found 35 plants in the closet of a spare bedroom of the rectory next to his church.
The Rev. Richard Arko, 40, was in Summit County Jail Thursday after bond was set at $3,000 in a video arraignment before Barberton Municipal Judge Michael McNulty.
He was placed on a "leave of absence from priestly ministry" Thursday, according to a statement from the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. It said Arko would hire an attorney.
Jensen Powell, 24, an unemployed man living in the home with Arko, was charged with trafficking in marijuana, police said. His bond was set at $10,000. He was in jail Thursday.
Arko, who was ordained in 1990, is pastor of Prince of Peace Church on Shannon Avenue. Norton Police Chief J. Gregory Carris said he could not say why his department, the Summit County Drug Unit and Barberton police began investigating Arko or what led to the search at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
At that time, officers found the plants - ranging from 6 inches to 4 feet tall - in the closet, along with grow lights, air purifiers and books on how to grow the plants. Carris said each plant is worth about $1,000.
Two plastic sandwich bags containing marijuana and $1,100 were taken from Powell, Carris said. Police said Powell was selling marijuana from the home. The men were arrested Wednesday.
• Group asks bishop to take action
Chicago Daily Herald,
www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=38009379 ,
By Garrett Ordower Posted January 23, 2004
ILLINOIS:
The "destructive culture of silence" that enabled widespread sexual abuse in the church continues today at the Rockford Diocese, as evidenced by its failure to respond when a priest publicly scolded a parishioner who criticized a Geneva church and the diocese, a victim's advocacy group said.
The Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] has called on Bishop Thomas Doran to discipline the priest involved and commend the courage of the parishioner.
But the man involved, Geneva resident Frank Bochte, said rather than an apology or commendation, he would prefer the diocese heed his original request to release documents related to sexual abuse allegations against former priest Mark Campobello.
Bochte echoed the sentiments in the survivor group's letter that Doran, the head of the diocese, "correct the situation at St. Peter's quickly and affirm your commitment to the moral integrity of your priesthood and that of the church."
The spat between Bochte and the parish started on Nov. 16, when he wrote a letter to the Daily Herald in response to an appeal from St. Peter Catholic Church for increased donations. The church said donations for the first quarter of the year were 21 percent, or $91,000, below its budget because of a shaky economy.
• Coach accused of sexual abuse [~ 1984]
Chicago Daily Herald,
www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=38009113 ,
By Christy Gutowski and Kari Hartman,
Posted January 23, 2004
ILLINOIS:
For decades, Naperville teacher Phil Cappelleri has coached countless teens in community schools, private camps and on traveling baseball teams.
"Coach Cap" is what his players call him. But many of them were stunned by what was said about him Thursday.
Administrators placed the popular teacher on paid leave from Jefferson Junior High School after he was accused of molesting three students 20 years ago while teaching at De La Salle Institute in Chicago.
Cappelleri's accusers, two brothers and their boyhood friend, filed lawsuits in Cook County against Cappelleri and the Christian Brothers of Illinois, which operates the private high school.
They are seeking money, but Arnie and Christopher Alberts and Patrick Sierzega said their goal is to protect children and encourage other possible victims to come forward.
• Judge seeks inventory of records
Republic,
www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1074847660234070.xml ,
By Bill Zajac,
wzajac@repub.com ,01/23/2004
SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Hampden County and Northwestern district attorney offices have been ordered by a judge to produce an inventory of investigative documents related to convicted child molester Richard R. Lavigne and the reasons the offices are withholding the documents from plaintiffs in clergy sexual abuse suits.
Hampden Superior Court Judge John A. Agostini ordered the inventory of documents yesterday while hearing a series of pre-trial motions in 30 or so consolidated cases of clergy sexual abuse civil suits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
Agostini said he expects a response from both district attorneys offices regarding the matter within about two weeks.
The documents include thousands of pages of witness statements and state police files from investigations of Lavigne into possibly dozens of accusations of sexual abuse, according to Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski, who represents about 20 people who have filed clergy sexual abuse suits.
"This could be extremely significant if these documents are released," Stobierski said.
Only those documents related to Lavigne's conviction in 1992 have been released. At that time, he was charged with five counts of sexual molestation, but three charges were dropped when he pleaded guilty to two counts and was placed on 10 years probation.
• Priest ran afoul of policy on abusers, archdiocese says [1976]
Chicago Sun-Times,
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest23.html ,
By Cathleen Falsani, Religion Reporter, January 23, 2004
CHICAGO (IL): The Rev. John Calicott, a Roman Catholic priest who was removed from ministry because of sexual misconduct with minors, clearly violated church policy by returning to his former parish to talk to school children about sexuality, the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago said Thursday.
"We believe teaching and involvement in the classroom is ministry, and Father John, if he was in the classroom teaching, should not be involved in ministry," Chancellor Jimmy Lago said. "Clearly this was a violation of his protocol and of his instructions from Cardinal [Francis] George to withdraw from public ministry."
Calicott, 56, has admitted to engaging in sexual misconduct with two teenage boys in 1976. George removed him from ministry at Holy Angels parish 18 months ago. But at the request of his former parishioners and staff, Calicott has returned to Holy Angels School on several occasions to lecture students about sexuality, drugs, violence and other issues facing their community.
Lago said Thursday that the archdiocese also recently learned that Calicott, who has lived in a "monitored setting" in a retreat house on the campus of Mundelein Seminary since his removal in 2002, "spends some time at the parish every day, or most days . . . doing some of his own work in the parish."
• Priest gets one year for child porn possession
[~ 2002]
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier,
www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/01/23/news/breaking_news/d5db35cd43e9ef0086256e240041f2d8.txt ,
Jan 23, 2004
DES MOINES, IOWA (AP): A Roman Catholic priest convicted of downloading images and movies of child pornography on a laptop computer he used to publish a church newspaper was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison.
The Rev. Richard Poster, the former director of liturgy and publisher of the newspaper for the diocese of Davenport, pleaded guilty in August to receiving pictures of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Federal sentencing guidelines gave U.S. District Judge Ronald Longstaff a range of 21-to-27 months in Poster's case. But the judge departed from the guidelines and opted for a lower sentencing window, citing Poster's commitment to recovery and taking responsibility for his behavior since his arrest 14 months ago.
• Bishop Hart named in church-abuse lawsuit
Casper Star-Tribune,
www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=76794
KANSAS CITY (MO) (AP): Retired Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Hart, leader of the Archdioscese of Wyoming for 25 years, and two others are accused in a lawsuit of molesting Kansas City-area minors.
Hart was a priest in Kansas City before he became a bishop in Wyoming in 1976. He retired in 2001.
The other defendants in the lawsuit filed Wednesday are Thomas J. O'Brien, a retired priest who served for a time as principal of St. Pius X High School and later became diocesan superintendent of schools, and Thomas M. Reardon, who served five area parishes and was administrator of a youth camp before leaving the priesthood in 1989.
Nine men, six of them anonymous, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges a series of abuses at a lake home north of Kansas City or in church facilities, often after liquor was given to the minors. The suit alleges that most of the abuse took place from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Also named as defendants are the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and its current leaders, Bishop Raymond Boland and Vicar General Patrick Rush. The suit said the diocese failed to monitor its priests.
!!!: Archdiocese finds sex-ed teacher/priest needed some ethics education
Daily Southtown,
"Priest shouldn't be teaching,"
www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/yrtwn/seast/231seyt4.htm ,
By Allison Hantschel, Friday, January 23, 2004
CHICAGO (IL): Archdiocese of Chicago officials say they are investigating how a priest removed from his duties after sexual abuse allegations remains a teacher and frequent visitor to his South Side parish.
Archdiocese chancellor Jimmy Lago said church leaders were aware the Rev. John Calicott visited Holy Angels Catholic Church "most days" and had permission to attend Sunday mass.
However, Lago said Calicott did not have permission to be teaching in the parish's elementary school or talking to students about sex education, which he had been doing at the invitation of his pastor, the Rev. Robert Miller.
"We feel the issue of safety has never been an issue," Lago said. "This is an issue with the local administration of the parish, that we don't agree with. This is a situation we will look into and make sure it is corrected."
Calicott's situation illustrates the difficulty American Roman Catholic bishops face in complying with rules that forbid any priest with an accusation of abuse against him from ministry work.
!!!: Masses, yes -- but Opium for the masses?
Beacon Journal,
"Police arrest priest in Norton drug raid,"
www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/7774977.htm ,
By Gina Mace and Colette M. Jenkins,
Beacon Journal writers
OHIO: The three books confiscated by Norton police seemed out of place in the private office of a Catholic priest.
Opium for the Masses. Marijuana Growers Guide. Marijuana Medicine.
But police said what was going on in the Prince of Peace Catholic Church rectory had little to do with church business.
Following a search of the residence and office of the Rev. Richard A. Arko, Norton police announced Thursday they had arrested the 40-year-old pastor on a charge of illegal cultivation of marijuana.
A second man, Jensen J. Powell, 24, who is unemployed and living at the four-bedroom Shannon Avenue rectory, was charged with trafficking in marijuana.
Both are fifth-degree felonies carrying prison sentences of six months to a year.
• New era when PP means it's a Priestless Parish
Irish Independent,
www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1112406&issue_id=10336
IRELAND: PRIESTLESS parishes are now a reality in Ireland. This is the inevitable consequence of two factors, namely the enormous number of Catholic parishes that serve this country, and the continuing vocations crisis.
In response to this, the Catholic Church has begun to copy the long-established Church of Ireland practice of clustering parishes.
Limerick has become the first Catholic diocese to do so and it is a bold step that other dioceses are certain to follow.
It has grouped its 60 parishes into 13 clusters so as to use their dwindling personnel to the best effect.
In the short-term, clustering will mean that a group of parishes can pool their available talent.
• Priest Accused of Growing Pot at Church
Fox News,
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,109273,00.html ,
Thursday, January 22, 2004
BARBERTON, Ohio: A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly growing marijuana in his church living quarters.
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, 40, was charged Wednesday with illegal cultivation of marijuana. He remained jailed Thursday on $3,000 bail.
Police said they found a marijuana growing system in a spare bedroom and confiscated about 35 potted marijuana plants ranging from 6 inches to 4 feet tall, along with grow lights, electric transformers, air purifiers and instruction books for growing marijuana. They also seized two small plastic bags with marijuana.
Arrested with the priest was Jensen J. Powell, 24, who police said also lived in the Prince of Peace Church rectory. He was charged with trafficking in marijuana and held on $10,000 bail.
Powell was unemployed and had no affiliation with the church, about eight miles southwest of Akron.
Both men were scheduled to be arraigned next Wednesday. If convicted, each faces six months to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
• Bishop's defense attormey attacks police handling of evidence in hit-and-run case
Tucson Citizen,
www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/012204_bishop_trial.html ,
The Associated Press
PHOENIX (AZ):
A defense lawyer Thursday attacked the Phoenix Police Department's handling of some evidence in the hit-and-run trial of Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien.
Attorney Tom Henze cross-examined prosecution witness Sgt. Steve Fullerton about the crime scene in the hours after the June 14 accident that killed pedestrian Jim Reed.
Henze asked about the whereabouts of Reed's black cowboy hat that was lying in the roadway after the accident. A color picture of that scene was shown to jurors Tuesday.
"It's not in police custody," said Fullerton, adding that the hat was given to Reed's family members at their request.
"Don't you think it was an important piece of evidence for us to make that determination?" Henze asked Fullerton, who works in the Phoenix Police Department's vehicle crimes unit and was key in the investigation.
"I would prefer it was impounded but I wasn't there when the decision was made," Fullerton said.
On Wednesday, Fullerton described the accident scene in graphic detail, including discussing two pools of blood.
Under questioning from Henze on Thursday, Fullerton acknowledged that there were signs of tire marks through one blood pool because a car could have gone through the crime scene before it was secured by police.
• Key witnesses testify for prosecution
The Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0123obrien23.html ,
Joseph A. Reaves,
Jan. 23, 2004
PHOENIX (AZ): Testimony from two key witnesses Thursday revealed that Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien knew authorities wanted to question him about a fatal hit-and-run accident but he never called police, in part, because he didn't know how to get the number.
"I wouldn't know how to call the police, except 911," O'Brien told Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Fullerton. "I wouldn't know how to call the police, what the number is, so I wouldn't know where to start."
O'Brien made the remark in a recorded conversation with Fullerton and three other officers who arrested the bishop 36 hours after a hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of pedestrian Jim L. Reed on June 14.
Portions of the transcript of that conversation were read in court when defense attorney Tom Henze cross-examined Fullerton for three hours.
O'Brien is charged with leaving the scene of a serious or fatal accident. His attorneys acknowledge he hit Reed, left the scene and never notified police. But they say he is innocent because he never knew he hit a person.
• Phoenix Diocese attorney quits abruptly
The Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0123bishop-side23.html ,
by Michael Clancy,
Jan. 23, 2004
PHOENIX (AZ): The longtime attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, who played a key role in how the diocese handled allegations of sexual abuse against priests, abruptly left the position late Wednesday.
No reason was given.
Gregory J. Leisse, who for more than 11 years served as a close adviser and attorney for Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, "no longer works here," said Mary Jo West, public information officer for the diocese. She said Leisse and Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted were working out details of Leisse's departure, and no other statement is planned.
She declined to say whether Leisse resigned on his own or was forced out, and Leisse declined to comment Thursday afternoon when contacted at his home.
"This is huge," said Paul Pfaffenberger, the Phoenix leader of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "SNAP has hoped there would be a change in chancery leadership under the new bishop, and this is a positive sign that the group that has allowed this problem to fester is leaving."
SNAP members believed Leisse to be the architect of the diocese's hardball tactics against sex-abuse victims.
• Church refuses to name 4 new names; $US 8.6m wasted so far
North Coast Journal,
www.northcoastjournal.com/012204/news0122.html#anchor533429 ,
By Emily Gurnon, Jan 22, 2004
CALIFORNIA: Catholic officials are refusing to name four additional priests involved in sexual misconduct with children in the Santa Rosa Diocese, which stretches from Petaluma to the Oregon border and includes Humboldt County.
The diocese published a report in its November-December newsletter, sent to all church members, which described the molestation scandal as being wider than previously reported.
In response to a national survey by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York, the local diocese tallied its statistics on "misconduct" by priests: Since 1962, out of 410 priests who have worked in the diocese, 16 were "involved in misconduct" -- four more than had previously been reported. The cases involved 59 known victims, and the diocese paid $8.6 million from insurance and its own funds to settle claims brought by victims.
Deirdre Frontczak, spokeswoman for the diocese, said this week that Bishop Daniel Walsh, who authored the newsletter report, was not releasing the names of the four additional priests.
• Syracuse Catholic Diocese reacts to lawsuit
SYRACUSE (NY):
News 10 Now,
http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=7588 ,
1/22/2004 8:55 PM
A Manhattan-based lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese for what he claims is another sexual abuse case by a local priest.
Attorney John Aretakis said the suit is against Father Thomas Keating of the Syracuse Diocese.
A Manhattan-based lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the Syracuse Catholic Diocese.
The lawsuit claims Keating abused three sisters many years ago.
Currently, Keating is listed as Pastor of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Maine, New York, which is in the Endicott area.
The lawsuit came as a surprise to the Syracuse Catholic Diocese
Thursday, officials of the Church were quick to respond and to offer healing.
• Abuse victims react to accused pastor teaching about drugs, gangs and sex
CBS 2,
Abuse Victims React to Teaching Pastor ,
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_022173953.html ,
4:35 pm US/Central, Jan 22, 2004
CHICAGO (IL): (WBBM Newsradio 780): A group representing victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests wants action from the Archdiocese to prevent the former pastor of Holy Angels parish, in Bronzeville, from teaching in its school.
Holy Angels parishioners invited Father John Calicott to speak with seventh and eighth graders about drugs, gangs and sex. Parish administrator Father Robert Miller agreed to it, even though Calicott was barred from public ministry in 2002 under terms of the American bishops' zero-tolerance policy.
Father Calicott in 1994 admitted engaging in sexual misconduct with two teenaged boys while assigned to St. Ailbe Church. He has long maintained that he is cured.
Survivors' Network President Barbara Blaine is outraged and has written Francis Cardinal George demanding not only a review of Calicott's monitoring arrangements, but removal of Miller:
"There's no exception in the so-called zero-tolerance policy for abusive priests who happen to be popular," Blaine said.
There are no recent complaints against Father Calicott. The late Francis Cardinal Bernardin removed Calicott from the ministry in 1994, but a year later allowed him to return at Holy Angels' pastor after obtaining a pledge from him that he would not falter again.
• Sexual Abuse By Priest Alleged [1980s]
SYRACUSE (NY)
WBNG,
www.wbng.com/data/web_5017.shtml ,
by Grant Loomis
Jan 22, 2004, 20:41
The three sisters, now in their 30's, say they came forward today for one reason: To help keep other boys and girls safe from abusive priests.
Holding back tears, Amy, Kristin, and Karen Hanson went public with their story. They say Father Thomas Keating sexually molested them.
"We are here to provide you with names and faces," states Karen Hanson, "to share publicly the very real event that happened to us."
The sisters say the sexual abuse took place over a period of years during the early to mid 1980's here at Saint Mary's Church in Cortland.
"What he did hasn't changed," asserts Amy Hanson. "It still exists and it is possible he is still doing it today."
Currently, Father Thomas Keating is a priest here at Most Holy Rosary in the Town of Maine.
• Victims Group Wants Priest Gone
Newsday,
www.nynewsday.com/news/local/brooklyn/nyc-priest0123,0,521040.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-brooklyn ,
By Stephanie Saul, January 23, 2004
STATEN ISLAND (NY): A victims group yesterday demanded that the Archdiocese of New York remove a prominent Staten Island priest who remains in ministry despite sexual abuse allegations.
Msgr. Thomas Gaffney is still pastor of the Church of St. Charles even though a Morristown, N.J., man has accused Gaffney of repeatedly raping him when he was an altar boy.
Dan O'Dougherty, now 29, said he was in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades when the abuse occurred at St. Charles.
Gaffney could not be reached for comment yesterday. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York said the priest of 54 years has "adamantly and vehemently" denied the charges.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], a national organization, yesterday said the Archdiocese has failed to follow a procedure established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The procedure requires that priests facing "credible allegations" of sexual abuse be removed pending an investigation.
• Children's bodies on the auction block
Observer,
www.jamaicaobserver.com/ columns/html/20040122T190000 -0500_54702 _OBS_CHILDREN_S_BODIES_ ON_THE_AUCTION_BLOCK.asp ;
by Barbara Gloudon, Friday, January 23, 2004
JAMAICA: THE STORY OF LAST WEEK, some would say, was the news that a teenage girl (first media report said 13, but it was later ascertained as 15 going on 16) had been found living with a priest who, if reports are to be believed, saw her less in the light of a soul to be saved than a toy to be dressed in provocative underwear. Before the ink was dry on the newsprint, the church had acted with dispatch, de-frocked him and bundled him out of the island, back to north Italy from whence he came.
Many people asked why the man wasn't charged for having relations with a minor. Why wasn't he brought before the judge in court and made to pay for what is still an illegal act, despite the epidemic of reported sexual misconduct among many under-age girls? I was among those enraged, my anger fuelled by hearing one too many stories about the numerous young girls who have been used and abused by older men. I was ready to "chaw fire".
When I spoke to Bishop Boyle, of the Mandeville jurisdiction under whose authority the priest worked in the church, he confessed to being distressed and appalled. He said he had no idea what had been going on. When the matter was brought to his attention, he said, he had a meeting with the priest. The bishop did not reveal the contents of the discussion except to say that the girl claimed to be in love. The priest was later taken to the police station where he was officially questioned.
• Parole hearing for former priest set Feb. 11
The Town Talk,
www.thetowntalk.com/html/C07E708B-376A-4ED6-8EAC-806DE30AFF65.shtml ,
by Bill Sumrall,
January 23, 2004
ALEXANDRIA (LA): A parole hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 11 for a former Catholic priest convicted of molesting a teenage boy.
The victim's mother said the hearing will be held at Camp Beauregard in Pineville.
John Wesley Andries, 48, was pastor of St. Margaret Catholic Church in Boyce when the allegations against him surfaced in the spring of 2001, according to previously published reports. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a two-year prison term in May.
Andries is serving as a trusty at Rapides Parish Work Release Center 1.
The nation's largest support group for clergy sex abuse victims has released a statement urging that Andries' parole be denied. Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have written Alexandria Diocese Bishop William Friend and 15th Judicial District Judge Marilyn Castle about their concern, according to a statement from the group.
In a letter to Judge Castle, SNAP National Director David Clohessy wrote in part: "It is our understanding that Andries will be eligible for parole without ever having received the court ordered treatment for sexual predators."
• Former Naples, Cape Coral priests sued on sex abuse charges by ex-orphan ward
Naples Daily News,
www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_2598089,00.html ,
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, aszagier@naplesnews.com ,
January 23, 2004
NAPLES (FL): A former Naples priest who was recently removed from the clergy after sexual misconduct charges now faces a civil lawsuit in Miami filed by a former teen orphan.
Neil Flemming, 72, was pastor of St. William Catholic Church on Seagate Drive from 1982 to 1991 before moving to other assignments in Southwest Florida. He retired in 2000 but continued to work as treasurer for the Diocese of Venice until sex abuse allegations surfaced in May 2002.
Earlier this month, Venice Bishop John Nevins permanently removed his one-time confidant from the public priesthood, even though Flemming denied the allegations.
On Tuesday, a Broward County attorney sued Flemming and his younger brother James - also a priest - on behalf of a 48-year-old man who claims the pair made him their "personal sex servant" while he lived at Boystown, a Miami-area orphanage, more than 30 years ago.
• Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse by K.C. priests [1960s - 1980s]
Lincoln Journal,
www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/158990 ,
The Associated Press,
Friday, January 23, 2004
KANSAS CITY (MO): A retired Catholic bishop, a retired priest and a former priest are accused in a lawsuit filed Wednesday of molesting minors from the Kansas City area.
Among those named in the lawsuit is Joseph Hart, who was a priest in Kansas City before he became a bishop in Wyoming, a job from which he is now retired. The other defendants are Thomas J. O'Brien, a retired priest who served for a time as principal of St. Pius X High School and later became diocesan superintendent of schools, and Thomas M. Reardon, who served five area parishes and was administrator of a youth camp before leaving the priesthood in 1989.
Nine men, six of them anonymous, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges a series of abuses at a lake home north of Kansas City or in church facilities, often after liquor was given to the minors. The suit alleges that most of the abuse took place from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Also named as defendants are the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and its current leaders, Bishop Raymond Boland and Vicar General Patrick Rush. The suit said the diocese failed to monitor its priests.
• Priest's parole hearing set for next month
The Times-Picayune,
www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1074841741126900.xml ,
The Associated Press,
1/23/2004, 1:03 a.m. CT
ALEXANDRIA (LA) (AP): A former Catholic priest convicted of molesting a teenage boy is scheduled for a parole hearing Feb. 11, the victim's mother said.
John Wesley Andries, 48, was pastor of St. Margaret Catholic Church in Boyce when the allegations against him surfaced in the spring of 2001, according to previously published reports. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a two-year prison term in May and is now serving as a trusty at a Rapides Parish work release program.
The nation's largest support group for clergy sex abuse victims has released a statement urging that Andries' parole be denied. Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have written Alexandria Diocese Bishop William Friend and 15th Judicial District Judge Marilyn Castle about their concern, according to a statement from the group.
"It is our understanding that Andries will be eligible for parole without ever having received the court ordered treatment for sexual predators," SNAP National Director David Clohessy wrote in a letter to Castle.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:58 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Friday, January 23, 2004
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Saturday, January 24, 2004 edition follows:-
• Ex-clown, Presbyterian volunteer, gets 17 years on child porn charges
Palm Beach Post,
Ex-clown gets 17 years on child porn charges ,
www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/local_news_04f0d456a54c0018008c.html ,
By Alan Gomez, Thursday, January 22, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH (FL): David Deyo already was facing a lengthy prison term after the former clown and Sunday school teacher pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in October.
But on Wednesday, prosecutors requested, and got, a longer sentence for Deyo by arguing that he not only took pictures of juvenile girls, but molested them.
Deyo, formerly known as "Noodles the Clown" and a one-time volunteer at First Presbyterian Church in North Palm Beach, listened as prosecutors laid out his routine. At least twice, they argued, Deyo befriended a single mother, gained her confidence and then molested her daughter. One allegation was made by a Martin County child.
District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley called Deyo the most dangerous kind of pedophile because of the "surrogate father" role he took with the vulnerable girls, who were 8 and 10 years old at the time of the incidents.
The judge wasted little time in sentencing Deyo to 210 months -- or 17 1/2 years -- in federal prison followed by three years of strict probation.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:22 AM
• Children asked to attend mass for accused pastor
Staten Island Advance,
www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1074953786154360.xml ,
Saturday, January 24, 2004,
STATEN ISLAND (NY): Students at St. Charles School in Oakwood received letters Thursday requesting their presence on Monday evening for a mass in honor of the beleaguered pastor of the church.
Monsignor Thomas Gaffney, 79, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church, is currently in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, reportedly due to stress brought on by the accusation that he sexually abused an altar boy during the 1980s.
The letter, issued by Sister Jeanine Conlon, the school's principal, asks students to attend a mass of solidarity and healing to pray for the monsignor's innocence.
Monsignor Gaffney was accused of raping Dan O'Dougherty, 29, of Morristown, N.J., when O'Dougherty was a student at the school and serving as an altar boy during the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Monsignor Gaffney has denied the accusations and has not been removed from his position.
• Affidavit sealed in marijuana bust
Akron Beacon Journal,
www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/7786490.htm ,
By Gina Mace,
Special to the Beacon Journal
BARBERTON (OH): Questions surrounding the arrest this week of a Catholic priest accused of growing marijuana in the church rectory will remain unanswered for now.
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, who is on leave of absence from Prince of Peace Parish in Norton, allegedly turned a rectory bedroom into a marijuana greenhouse.
A second man who was living in the residence with Arko, Jensen Powell, 24, faces trafficking charges for allegedly selling the drug from the rectory.
An affidavit to obtain a search warrant -- which could have shed light on how police came to suspect Arko -- was ordered sealed by Barberton Municipal Court Judge Michael McNulty on Friday.
Barberton Assistant Prosecutor David Fish filed a written motion to have the affidavit and search warrant sealed. In the motion, Fish states that the affidavit "contains enough information that would reveal the information sources that were used in the case."
• Friends believe trusting priest was betrayed
Cleveland Plain Dealer,
www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/summit/1074940259112691.xml ,
by Karen Farkas,
01/24/04
BARBERTON (OHIO): The Rev. Richard Arko is known as a gentle man - a vegan, yogi and massage therapist. He also takes in strays - animals and people.
His friends believe his trust was betrayed by the most recent recipient of his giving nature, an unemployed man he allowed to live with him in the rectory next to Prince of Peace Church. That man, Jensen Powell, and Arko were arrested Wednesday after police found 35 marijuana plants growing in a closet in a spare bedroom.
"Father Rick takes a lot of risks with people who are not the cream-of-the-crop characters," said Cathie Finn, director of Barberton Area Community Ministries, which Arko helped found in 1997. "I wouldn't be surprised if his trusting attitude is involved here."
But Norton police said an investigation led them to search the rectory and charge Arko, 40, with cultivating marijuana. Powell, 24, was charged with trafficking in marijuana.
Arko is out on bond and may be living in a home he owns in Barberton. Powell is in Summit County Jail. They have a pretrial scheduled for next week in Barberton Municipal Court.
Arko, who has been placed on leave by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, could not be located for comment. Finn said she and those who know him are stunned at the allegations.
• Awards raised for sex-abuse victims; sharing $US 25.7m
The Courier-Journal
Awards raised for sex-abuse victims,
www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/01/24ky/met-front-settle01240-7212.html ,
By PETER SMITH, psmith@courier-journal.com , Jan 24, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): A court-appointed master commissioner has awarded additional money to 23 victims of sexual abuse who had appealed their original share of a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Nick King, a retired Kentucky Supreme Court justice, approved additional payments of between $4,500 and $55,750.
Attorney William McMurry, who represented the plaintiffs in settlement talks with the Roman Catholic archdiocese last June, said the appeals mark "the last chapter" in the nearly two-year legal case.
The additional payments totaled $500,000 and come on top of $25.2 million awarded late last year by another court-appointed commissioner. Most plaintiffs are paying 40 percent of their awards in attorney's fees.
• Former Wyo bishop sued for sex abuse
Casper Star-Tribune,
www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/01/24/news/wyoming/6605b1c2b8f38bfb87256e24006de184.txt ,
By Tom Morton,
Saturday, January 24, 2004
CHEYENNE (WO): Bishop David Ricken of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne "offers continued prayers and support for (retired Bishop Joseph) Hart," who is named in a civil lawsuit alleging that he sexually molested three children while he was bishop in Wyoming and as a priest in the Diocese of Kansas City.
Diocesan spokeswoman Paula Glover said Friday that neither Ricken nor Hart would answer any other questions about the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Jackson County (Mo.) Circuit Court by attorney Rebecca Randles, who is representing nine male plaintiffs -- three who are named and six who are anonymous.
While Ricken's statement did not mention prayers for alleged victims, Glover said "there should be."
Hart, Glover added, issued a statement through his Cheyenne attorney Jack Speight in which he denied any wrongdoing.
Hart issued similar statements in April 2002 when three people, now plaintiffs in the lawsuit, made similar allegations.
But those who raised accusations then are now taking their claims to court against Hart, Monsignor Thomas J. O'Brien and The Rev. Thomas Reardon.
All three have been friends since the 1950s and 1960s, Randles said.
• Removed priest can't go back to his old parish
Chicago Sun-Times,
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest24.html ,
By Shamus Toomey,
January 24, 2004
CHICAGO (IL): Cardinal Francis George on Friday barred the Rev. John Calicott from further visits to Holy Angels parish in Bronzeville after ruling the priest violated church rules concerning priests accused of sexual misconduct.
The cardinal's move comes two days after it was disclosed that Calicott, who has admitted to sexual misconduct with two teenage boys in 1976, had returned to his former parish to talk to school children about sexuality.
"Father John Calicott's recent activities at Holy Angels Parish and School are in violation of the archdiocesan monitoring protocol which supports the Charter for the Protection of Young People adopted by the U.S. Bishops Conference," George said in a statement.
"I have issued a canonical decree, effective immediately, to clarify the requirements of the protocol," George said. "Father Calicott cannot teach in or visit any school and must absent himself from Holy Angels Parish until his case is fully adjudicated."
• A third of potential jurors expressed bias
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0124obrien24.html ,
by Joseph A. Reaves, Jan. 24, 2004
Court documents unsealed Friday show that roughly one-third of the 70 potential jurors in Thomas J. O'Brien's hit-and-run trial admitted they had formed an opinion, or expressed an opinion, about the bishop before testimony began.
Those potential jurors were excused before a final panel of seven men and five women was sworn in.
The jury pool in O'Brien's case began with 155 men and women, but 85 were excused when they told the judge they faced extreme personal hardship if they were forced to sit on a lengthy trial.
Attorneys for both sides in the case asked the remaining 70 potential jurors to fill out a 16-question survey, which Judge Stephen A. Gerst of Maricopa County Superior Court promised would be kept confidential.
However, The Arizona Republic and 12 News asked Gerst to reconsider his ruling because jury selection is supposed to be open to the public, except in compelling and narrow circumstances. After a 26-minute hearing Jan. 15, Gerst agreed to make the juror questionnaires available once he was sure all deeply personal details and information that could identify the respondents was blacked out.
• Amid abuse reports, Conservatives issue new guidelines on harassment
JTA News (Global News Service of the Jewish People),
Amid abuse reports, Conservatives issue new guidelines on harassment,
www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13691&intcategoryid=4 ,
By Joe Berkofsky, Jan 21, 2004
NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (JTA): Moving to combat reported sexual harassment and abuse in Conservative synagogues, the movement's congregational body is issuing a new set of guidelines to deal with the problem.
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism unveiled the non-binding guidelines on its Web site last week in response to what Rabbi Jerome Epstein, the organization's executive vice president, said were a series of reports of "abusive behavior" by clergy and synagogue staff.
"It wasn't widespread, but over the past 17 months I've heard of 15 to 16 cases," Epstein told JTA. "Some of it may have bordered on sexual" harassment, he added, and some cases "were hushed up."
"The more this is out in the open, the better the chances will be of diminishing it," he said.
In proposing the guidelines, the association of more than 800 Conservative synagogues in North America joins several congregational and rabbinic bodies in the other major denominations that have issues similar standards over the past decade.
The move also comes more than a year after the culmination of one of the most highly publicized sex-abuse cases to hit the Jewish community, that of Orthodox youth leader Rabbi Baruch Lanner.
In fact, some of the new guidelines reflect efforts to grapple with fallout from the Lanner case.
Lanner, 54, of Fair Lawn, N.J., a regional director of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2002 for sexually abusing teenage girls and women and physically abusing boys and girls as a principal of a New Jersey yeshiva.
The case drew fire in part because a report by an investigative commission of the youth group's parent organization, the Orthodox Union, criticized O.U. leaders for failing to intervene even though they knew of the abuse allegations for several years.
Other instances have surfaced involving sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior by Jewish clergy:
• An Orthodox chaplain, Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, 55, of Highland Park, N.J., was caught in an undercover sting and pleaded guilty last August to charges of trying to arrange a sexual tryst with someone he met over the Internet who he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
• Reform Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, 58, resigned as president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan in December 2000 after HUC said he had carried on "personal relationships" with members of his congregation while serving as a pulpit rabbi.
• Cantor Howard Nevison, 61, of a prominent New York City Reform synagogue, Temple Emanu-el, was accused of molesting a young nephew and remains on trial.
• Cantor Robert Shapiro, 69, of the Reform Temple Beth Am in Randolph, Mass., was charged with raping and molesting a mentally challenged woman.
• A Conservative rabbi, Sidney Goldenberg, 58, of Petaluma, Calif., pleaded no contest in February 1997 to charges of sexually molesting a Bat Mitzvah student.
Other charges against Jewish clergy have surfaced as well, including one incident that Epstein said helped spark the latest United Synagogue move.
Rabbi Richard Marcovitz, 66, of Oklahoma City, pleaded guilty last March to groping two women and two girls at the Solomon Schechter Academy at his Emanuel Synagogue. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
However serious, reports of such cases have remained limited and haven't approached the proportions of the Catholic Church's clergy abuse scandals, which have generated hundreds of charges nationally and sparked multimillion-dollar lawsuits by victims.
Since the church scandals surfaced, Epstein said he has worried that the Jewish community "had taken a self-righteous position that at least it's not us."
• Archdiocese Hires Advocate
WOWT,
www.wowt.com/news/headlines/596497.html
NEBRASKA: A clinical social worker has been hired by the Omaha Archdiocese to help anyone who alleges sexual abuse involving priests or other church employees.
Mary Beth Hanus specializes in child abuse and neglect. She will serve as an advocate to help meet the victim's needs. "I see it as a mission of hope. I'm independent, although I answer to the board. The church really wants people to know there's somebody out there that will listen and will respond and that they care. So I really see it as a position of hope."
• Henrico Community Church founder faces child-abuse counts
Richmond Times-Dispatch,
Henrico pastor faces child-abuse counts,
www.timesdispatch.com/ servlet/Satellite?pagename= RTD%2FMGArticle% 2FRTD_BasicArticle&c= MGArticle&cid=10317732 78790&path=!news&s= 1045855934842 ,
By MARK BOWES, Jan 24, 2004
VIRGINIA: The Rev. Joseph F. Ellison Jr., an eastern Henrico County community leader who founded Essex Village Community Church, has been charged with five felony counts of child abuse involving a 16-year-old girl.
Ellison, 42, was arrested Dec. 19 after Henrico police investigated a child-abuse complaint referred to authorities by the Henrico Department of Social Services.
Ellison, known as "Joe" in the community, strongly denied the charges yesterday, calling the allegations "the most painful blows I've experienced in my ministry."
His attorney, Michael Herring, said he and Ellison plan to "fight this all the way."
"I expect Joe to be acquitted in the end," Herring added.
Ellison said the weeks leading up the charges were an "emotional roller-coaster for me, because I've cooperated with the authorities for three months in this investigation."
Now, "we just have to put it in the hands of the Lord."
• Church to Pay $3 Million for repeated rapes [1980s]
Los Angeles Times,
"Church to Pay $3 Million in Rape,"
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priest24jan24,1,7487220.story?coll=la-headlines-california ,
By William Lobdell and Jean Guccione, Jan 24, 2004
CALIFORNIA: The Roman Catholic Church agreed Friday to pay $3 million to a woman who was repeatedly raped as a young girl by a priest, setting a state record for the amount paid by a diocese to a single victim of clergy sexual abuse since the scandal broke two years ago in Boston.
The settlement is among the first to resolve claims against priests under a state law that allowed victims to sue the church for decades-old childhood sexual abuse. As many as 800 such claims, most in Los Angeles, were filed against the Roman Catholic Church last year while the statute of limitations was temporarily lifted.
Jennifer Chapin, 31, said she was pleased to put behind her the case against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. It involves accusations of 20-year-old abuse.
"I've run the whole gamut of emotions," said the Oakdale psychiatric nurse. "It's very validating to be believed."
Church officials also said they were satisfied with the settlement.
. . .
Raymond P. Boucher, the court-appointed liaison counsel for the Southern California cases, said that it is "a pretty good indication of case values.
"We know a few cases in California that have settled for $500,000," Boucher said. "And on the high end, there is this $3-million settlement." He said several other cases have been settled for amounts in-between.
The Chapin settlement for a single victim exceeded that paid by the Diocese of San Bernardino and a religious order last July. They agreed to pay $5.2 million to two brothers who accused a priest of molesting them.
There have been larger settlements against individual priests — $26 million in a San Bernardino claim, and $16 million in an earlier Oakland case — but no one expects them to be paid.
Before the most recent clergy scandal began two years ago, the largest pretrial settlement of molestation claims against priests was by the Los Angeles and Orange dioceses, which paid $5.2 million to a man. A jury awarded $30 million — later reduced to $13 million — to two brothers in a 1998 case involving the Diocese of Stockton.
CSAT ID = 000804; Jan 24, 2004
• Church pays $700 claim by sex abuse victim
MaineToday.com ,
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D808PPA00-22.shtml ,
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has paid $700 to cover the cost of an unusual treatment for a Biddeford native who during childhood was sexually abused by a priest, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Sue Bernard said the check was mailed in mid-January, a week before David Gagnon, 39, of Ottawa, filed a court claim against Bishop Joseph Gerry.
Gagnon, who was abused more than 20 years ago by a priest in Biddeford, said the diocese reneged on a promise to fund his Jin Shin Do therapy , described as an accupressure treatment for chronic tension.
Bernard said the payment was delayed until the diocese could find out more about Jin Shin Do.
• Diocese defends handling of priest [1972-94]
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review
www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/pittsburgh/s_176212.html ,
By Tony LaRussa
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese officials Friday defended their handling of a case involving a priest accused of molesting a boy during the mid-1970s.
The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, said the diocese acted within its guidelines when allegations surfaced in 2002 about then-Rev. M. Eric Diskin, director of the diocesan Worship Office.
"When the diocese was informed about the allegations against Father Diskin, we followed our established guidelines, which clearly outline the steps that must be taken," Lengwin said.
Diskin is one of four priests named in civil lawsuit filed Jan. 14 against the diocese by four men who say they were molested between 1972 and 1994.
• Church not suable says Bishop Henry
CANADA:
Calgary Sun,
www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-01-24-0021.html ,
By KRISTEN ENEVOLD, Sat Jan 24, 2004
Victims of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church shouldn't hold that body responsible, says Calgary Bishop Fred Henry.
"Let's go for the individual that has direct, provable negligence or liability," he said in response to a group of Newfoundland victims seeking to sue the church.
"The Roman Catholic Church isn't a corporate entity or an individual, so why sue them in general," he said.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops intervened in the decades-old case, which has the now-adult victims of a Newfoundland priest seeking millions of dollars in damages from the church.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:36 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Saturday, January 24, 2004
• 1500 Confessions;appalling that nothing happened about the priest's actions for so long
The West Australian,
"A dilemma, confess it,"
in "Belief & beyond" column , by Gavin Simpson,
p 14, Weekend Extra, Saturday January 24 2004
PERTH:
The secrets of the confessional have long played a lurid role in the popular imagination. Just what goes one and what exactly is revealed there?
Why would anyone want to reveal their innermost secrets and have someone sit in judgment on them anyway?
And if the secret is really a terrible one, isn't it unfair that you should be able to confess it and get away with it? That you could just go out and to the same thing next week and be absolved all over again?
... people always need someone to unload their guilt on to. These days it is often a counsellor, a psychologist or just a trusted friend. [...]
... Certainly the abuse of the innocent can never be condoned and steps must be taken to ensure that it is not repeated
But there are things that can be done without breaking the seal of the confessional. These can include refusing the penitent absolution until they do something about the problem such as reporting their offence to a religious superior, a counsellor, the victim's family or some relevant secular authority. [...]
The recent case of a Queensland priest who confessed more than 1500 times to sexually abusing boys without being brought to justice has caused widespread outrage and calls for reform of the confessional.
Michael Joseph McArdle, now nearly 70, confessed to the abuse weekly or fortnightly to about 30 priests over 25 years, without his crimes being disclosed to the authorities, according to an affidavit from the jailed former priest.
... many people find it appalling that nothing happened about the priest's actions for so long [...]
How many abusers would confess their sins if they knew they would be reported to the police ... charged ... to jail? [...]
... murderer ... someone else wrongly convicted ... commonsense answer is that the killer would be told he will not gain absolution of his sin until he goes to the authorities and confesses. [...]
And for all its faults, confession seems to play a vital role in the spiritual and mental health of many people.
There is also the fact that as Catholics and Orthodox Christians regard it as a divinely ordained practice which is essential to the practice of their faith, it is not just going to disappear.
email: gavin.simpson@wanews.com.au
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Sunday, January 25, 2004 edition follows:-
• Bishop speaks to 4,000 teens about church abuse scandal
Mercury News,
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7795804.htm ,
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown addressed the sexual abuse scandal involving the Roman Catholic Church in a speech before 4,000 teens gathered for a weekend youth event.
Brown, whose diocese faces about 50 molestation lawsuits, played a three-minute video featuring local Catholic high school students discussing the importance of speaking out against sex abuse. He then urged the teens to continue the discussion in their home parishes.
"The subject of sexual abuse of minors in our churches and in society needs to be confronted by all of us - by you and by me," Brown said Saturday at the Relying On Christ youth event. "I'm sure you are aware a number of priests and lay leaders in our church have betrayed their positions of trust and have caused a lot of pain."
An estimated 800 lawsuits have been filed against the Catholic dioceses statewide.
Victoria Baker, a 17-year-old Mater Dei High School senior, said the bishop's words were welcome.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:15 PM
• Fomer Cortland Priest accused of sexual abuse of sisters [1980s]
CORTLAND (NY)
News 10 Now,
Fomer Cortland Priest accused of sexual abuse,
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=7815&SecID=83 ,
By News 10 Now Staff,
1/25/2004 5:35 PM
A former Cortland priest is accused of sexually abusing women from his church.
He spoke about those allegations at the Syracuse Diocese last week.
Father Thomas Keating held mass as usual Sunday morning at the Most Holy Rosary Church in Maine, which is in Broome County.
Parishioners said he spoke briefly of the lawsuit three sisters filed against him at the Syracuse Diocese late last week.
The Hanson sisters are accusing Keating of sexually abusing them two decades ago when he was a priest at Saint Mary's Church in Cortland.
Keating is denying all allegations.
• Three more cases; lawyer says diocese knew of risks with Father Teczar
Worcester Voice,
"Current News,"
http://worcestervoice.com/Current%20news.htm .
WORCESTER (MA): New suit filed December 30, 2003 naming Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, individually and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester a Corporation Sole, as defendants in a clergy sexual abuse case.
Today in Tarrant County, Texas, 153rd Judicial District Court in case number 153 198356 03 the Diocese of Worcester must answer to a sexual abuse suit filed which names Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, individually and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester a Corporation Sole, as defendants on behalf of John Doe I and John Doe II.
Attorney, Tahira Khan Merritt, who has specialized in sexual abuse cases for more than 10 years, said she has "uncovered a long trail of evidence that proves that Bishop Delaney was fully aware of the risks and dangers involved in appointing Father Teczar to serve in the Fort Worth diocese.
In 1986, Monsignor Raymond J. Page, vicar general of the Worcester diocese, wrote to Bishop Reilly, then in charge of the diocese serving Norwich, Conn., "Father Teczar is a priest of this diocese. Bishop Harrington has granted him a leave of absence with the suggestion that he seek a benevolent bishop."
• Bishop Brown confuses penance and public relations
The Orange County Register,
http://www2.ocregister.com/ ocrweb/ocr/article.do? id=77616 §ion=COMMENTARY &subsection=COMMENTARY&year= 2004&month=1&day=25 ;
By STEVEN GREENHUT, Senior editorial writer and columnist,
sgreenhut@ocregister.com , Jan 25, 2004
CALIFORNIA: In normal times, one would expect a Roman Catholic bishop, when looking to atone for grievous sins leaders of his church had committed, to turn for advice to the teachings of his own church, rather than to a pricey public relations firm. These, apparently, are not normal times.
Bishop of Orange Tod Brown is spending $90,000 over four months in diocese funds to hire a PR agency to advise the diocese on how to handle an ongoing sexual abuse crisis that is threatening the diocese's fund-raising and cathedral-building efforts.
The result, announced at a press conference at a Garden Grove hotel on Jan. 15, is called "The Covenant With the Faithful." It features seven "theses," or promises, to local Catholics. In a follow-up act last Sunday, Bishop Brown, surrounded by supporters, nailed those theses to the front door at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange.
Call him Martin Luther Brown.
Apparently, the PR firm needs to brush up on Catholic theology. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg door as a form of protest, having failed in his efforts to get the Catholic Church's leadership to listen to his criticisms. But Bishop Brown is the top man in the Diocese of Orange. He need only do the right thing - he doesn't need to nail anything to the door to get anyone's attention.
In this dumbed-down world, it's the pictures that matter. The bishop, whose new covenant is filled with therapeutic language more suited to sociology than Christian theology, has proved once again that it's all about public relations. By the way, as one local Catholic jokingly asked me, "Which public relations firm did Jesus use?"
• Orthodox bishop rejects plea agreement in fondling case
MICHIGAN:
WHAS,
www.whas11.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D809U30G0.html ,
Associated Press, Jan 25, 2004
An Orthodox bishop accused of groping a woman's breast at a northern Michigan casino rejected an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge.
Bishop Demetri Khoury of Toledo, Ohio, rejected an offer Friday to plead guilty to attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and pay travel costs for the alleged victim, who had to come from another state to attend an earlier court hearing.
Khoury, 55, is scheduled for trial Feb. 26 on charges of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and being drunk and disorderly.
Michigan authorities said the incident involving the woman was recorded July 9 on the Turtle Creek Casino's video surveillance system.
If convicted of the sex charge, the bishop faces as much as two years in jail, a $500 fine and mandatory HIV/sexually transmitted disease testing. The drunk and disorderly charge carries a 90-day sentence and/or fine of $500.
Khoury is assigned to the Toledo Chancery of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, where he oversees the church in eight states and Ontario. Shortly after his arrest, Metropolitan Philip, head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, temporarily barred Khoury from preaching or performing liturgies. Khoury also was ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse.
• Parish acts to remove pain
The Hawk Eye of Burlington, Iowa,
www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln6_0125.html ,
The Associated Press, Jan 25 2004
DES MOINES (IA): Members of the tiny Saints Philip and James parish in Grand Mound are learning that pain is not easily erased or denied.
When abuse allegations began to surface about the Rev. James Janssen, Grand Mound's parish priest from 1980 to 1990, members tried to erase his name from one of the church's stained glass windows, where parishioners' and priests' names are engraved to commemorate service or special anniversaries.
They tried varnish remover, paintbrush cleaner and nail polish remover to lift the name of the man who has been accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing eight boys during his 42 years as a priest in the Davenport diocese. Finally, they took the whole window out and had that pane of glass replaced.
As of mid-December, Janssen had been named in seven lawsuits. Two lawsuits claim Janssen abused boys at St. Joseph Parish in Fort Madison, where the priest served as assistant pastor from 1961 to 1967. Janssen served at 13 Davenport diocese parishes from 1948 until his retirement in 1990.
While people claiming to be victims of abuse have filed lawsuits, victim advocacy groups have accused the Davenport diocese of being slow to act in responding to both victims' claims and the mandates of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, which required dioceses across the country to complete studies of past abuses and to develop policies aimed at preventing future abuse.
• Dissident bishops embarassing
SPRINGFIELD (MA):
Republican,
http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/scratch-32/1074933999191840.xml?zzz-bc ,
01/24/2004
The news that more than 90 percent of the Catholic dioceses are cooperating with the audit of sexual abuse cases by the clergy is a reflection of the good will and pastoral common sense of the vast majority of bishops.
Exceptions, such as the clamorous dissent of the clamorous Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., embarrass the body of bishops as much as they do Catholics in general. Bruskewitz, who earned his reputation as a loose cannon years ago by threatening to excommunicate members of the Catholic reform group Call to Action, has exploded in a self-righteous denunciation of the procedures approved by the very body of bishops of which he claims to be a super-loyal member.
While Bruskewitz struts and frets in this brief moment on the stage, the important thing is to notice he is standing alone, that no other bishop has aligned himself with his erratic position, that he is, as he advertises himself, out of step with the bishops who are trying to manage their way through the greatest crisis in American Catholic experience.
The same goes for two other bishop musketeers who have blundered their way into press coverage recently. Bishop Andrew Burke of LaCrosse, Wis., might as well be speaking to the dairy herds that graze in his diocese when he proposes to deny the Eucharist to Catholic officeholders who support the "pro-choice" position.
• Diocese conducts training program
NORTH DAKOTA:
The Dickinson Press,
www.thedickinsonpress.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=7954&SectionID=3&SubSectionID=83 ,
By KALEN OST
In 2002, about 4,000 cases of child abuse were reported in North Dakota. About 7,000 cases of child abuse were suspected in the state.
And while Diocese of Bismarck Chancellor Joel Melarvie said Saturday that none of these specific instances included a cleric, there is a need for those involved with the Catholic Church to help stop emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children.
"We don't want to suggest to anyone, just call the diocese," Melarvie said. "My hope is that we will have training programs under way in all parishes by the end of (March)."
In an effort to stop possible child abuse within the church, and to help Catholic parish members to recognize tell-tale signs of abuse, the first child abuse training program provided by the Diocese of Bismarck was held Saturday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Dickinson.
• New child sex abuse allegations against two priests [1970s, 1980s]
NEW ORLEANS (LA):
Herald Tribune,
www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040124/APN/401240910 ,
By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writer
An acting priest has been removed from his parish because of new sex abuse allegations against both him and a retired priest.
Father Michael Fraser, placed on administrative leave this month from The Visitation of Our Lady Parish in Marrero, and retired priest Bernard Schmaltz, both have denied the allegations, said the Rev. William Maestri, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
The alleged victims are now men who told the church they were abused as children. The allegation against Schmaltz dates back to the 1970s and the one against Fraser to the mid-1980s, when Fraser was pastor of St. Peter and Paul Parish in Pearl River.
The victims told the church they did not intend to report the matter to police and did not want their names made public. But Maestri said the church intends to present some information to authorities.
"What we are attempting to do is craft a presentation to civil authorities that protects their anonymity and at the same time keeps civil authorities aware of the issue," Maestri.
• Oakland diocese agrees to pay rape victim record $3 million
The Desert Sun,
"Oakland diocese agrees to pay rape victim record $3 million,"
www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/state/20040125042015.shtml ,
The Associated Press,
January 25th, 2004
OAKLAND (CA): The Roman Catholic Church agreed Friday to pay a record-setting $3 million to a woman who was raped repeatedly as a girl by her parish priest.
Jennifer Chapin, 31, an Oakdale psychiatric nurse, said she was pleased to put the case filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland behind her.
"I've run the whole gamut of emotions," Chapin told the Los Angeles Times. "It's very validating to be believed."
Chapin said she was raped by Msgr. George Francis over a four-year period, starting when she was about 6 years old. The abuse included ritualistic assaults involving ropes and religious objects in hotel rooms, Chapin said.
Francis had been pastor of St. Bede Parish in Hayward during that time. He died in 1998.
After the rapes, Chapin said Francis would sprinkle holy water on her.
• 2 priests face new sex-abuse allegations [1970s, 1980s]
NEW ORLEANS (LA):
Times-Picayune,
www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1075015103225010.xml ,
By Bruce Nolan
Sunday January 25, 2004
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has placed a Marrero pastor on indefinite leave based on a charge he sexually abused a child in Pearl River in the mid-1980s, a church spokesman said Saturday.
Separately, the archdiocese said it had a fresh allegation that a retired priest who left New Orleans under a cloud 11 years ago sexually abused a boy at a Metairie parish in the mid-1970s.
Both complaints involved boys who were under the age of 13 at the time of the alleged incidents, said the Rev. William Maestri, spokesman for the archdiocese.
Both men have been the subject of past sex abuse complaints.
In Marrero, parishioners at Visitation of Our Lady Church learned Saturday evening, and will be told at all Masses today, that the Rev. Michael Fraser has been placed on leave and forbidden to function as a priest, Maestri said.
The archdiocese did not disclose Fraser's whereabouts.
It said he has denied the allegation.
• Archdiocese finds adman to help improve its image
CHICAGO (IL):
Chicago Tribune,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0401250353jan25,1,85943.story?coll=chi-news-hed ,
By Geneive Abdo
Tribune religion reporter
January 25, 2004
Ferdia Doherty's advertising clients include a posh Italian hair salon and spa, a national brewery, and a social network for Irish singles.
So when he saw a notice in a trade magazine that the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago was seeking an agency willing to donate work to help improve its image, he was tempted to turn the page. But then he read the fine print: "We offer eternal salvation."
"I thought I'd give it a try. I thought I'd give something back to the church," said Doherty, whose first name in Gaelic means "man of God."
On Monday, Doherty will begin distributing a four-page booklet to priests in the Chicago archdiocese in hopes of inspiring them to inspire their parishioners to give money to the Annual Catholic Appeal, a charity campaign.
The pamphlet, which Doherty is producing free of charge, is only part of the new public relations campaign. Posters similar to the pamphlets will be posted later in parishes, and television ads are in the works through another company.
• Making peace in the parishes
PEMBROKE (MA):
Boston Globe.
www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/025/south/Making_peace_in_the_parishes+.shtml ,
By Joanna Massey, Globe Staff, Jan 25, 2004
The Rev. Robert Sullivan started noticing the faces last October, shortly after the Archdiocese of Boston reached an $85 million settlement agreement with more than 500 victims of sexual abuse.
Slowly, in a "one-person-at-a-time kind of return" over recent months, attendance at his Catholic parish, St. Thecla in Pembroke, has been on the rise. It's happening in Kingston, too, where parishioners at St. Joseph's Parish "have an entirely different mood than a year ago," said The Rev. Joseph Hennessey, and in Mansfield, where St. Mary's Parish is slowly bouncing back from a sharp decrease in churchgoers.
"Trust is being rebuilt where trust had eroded," said the Rev. George Bellenoit, the pastor at St. Mary's. "People are realizing that the church is very serious about dealing with the sexual abuse crisis."
Catholic churches throughout the region report an uptick in not just attendance, but in donations and volunteerism as well. Two years after the sexual abuse scandal first broke, some Catholics who have felt alienated and distanced say they are beginning to make peace with the church.
"You can feel things turning; people are feeling better, more comfortable," said Stephen Dodge, a Pembroke resident and parishioner at St. Thecla. "We've all been wounded in some respect by the crisis. Some of those wounds will heal quicker than others, but the important thing is that they're healing."
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:55 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Sunday, January 25, 2004
• Strong continued action needed to get Roman Church corrected
Bishop Accountability,
"Fireside Chat Part 1,"
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/event/transcript-1.htm ,
With Susan Archibald, Jason Berry, David Clohessy, Tom Doyle, and Richard Sipe
Moderator: Paul Baier, Survivors First, Inc.
Sponsored by BishopAccountability.org
January 25, 2004
WELLESLEY (MA):
This is Part 1 of a transcript of a Fireside Chat that was held on January 25, 2004 at the Wellesley Middle School in Wellesley MA to benefit BishopAccountability.org, The Linkup, and SNAP. This transcript was produced by Cambridge Transcriptions Inc., and has been minimally edited.
TOM DOYLE: That’s a statement that I got out of the self-report that was published a couple of weeks ago, erroneously called the audit, [laughter] which was effort number-one in creating more delusional thinking. They admitted, they said in there that there were two bishops out of the 400 and some in the US of A that had actually spent time with victims and survivors. One was a bishop in South Dakota, and the other was a bishop in I think they mentioned Cleveland.
(Part 2 can be accessed by changing the 1 in the URL to a 2.)
(Part 2) RICHARD SIPE: But I think one thing we should make ourselves conscious of: we are living a myth. We are living a myth and we, many of us, most of us contribute to it, and the myth is that a priest is a sexless being. You asked why the priests don’t speak up. It is because they themselves have a sexuality and that many of them express it, often times in legal ways, but the myth is that if you are a priest, you are celibate. That is not true. That doesn’t mean there are not priests who are heroic and celibate, but as long as we preserve that myth, that priesthood equals celibacy, we cannot get through this. Priest is sexual. Marriage is not opposed to sexuality or , priesthood. Celibacy is opposed to marriage. We have the equation wrong. You cannot be married and celibate. You can[not] be married and sexual and be a priest. The point is, that that’s gotten translated and that myth is preserved over, and over, over again. You and I don’t look at a bishop and say, what is his sexual life like? Well, I do, now. [laughter]
• Church Must Be Held Accountable
One Catholic Voice For Action,
"Church Must Be Held Accountable,"
http://www.ocvfa.org/messages_012504.asp ,
As printed in the Miami Herald -- Neighbor’s Section -- January 25, 2004
MIAMI:
We commend the author of the article about the Archdiocese of Miami’s lack of fiscal and management responsibility (Miami Archdiocese Must be Accountable, Jan 18) These few words articulated many of the concerns we have been raising for more than a year about the situation at St. Richards in Palmetto Bay.
A number of us have had personal meetings with the archbishop’s office (Monsignor Hennessey and Monsignor Souckar), only to be told that "we are the problem" or that "we will get back to you", but, of course, there never has been a response to commitments made. Obviously, this is the "modus operandi" for Archbishop Favalora as pointed out in previous SOAPBOX letters.
Now in the face of this total lack of respect, and concern, for the parishioners directly affected by the negative behavior of Father Stephen Hilley and Archbishop Favalora, the Archdiocese of Miami is about ready to begin its latest fund drive referred to as ABCD. The purpose of this fundraising activity is to perpetuate the same practices which have created the current problems at St. Richard, Our Lady of The Holy Rosary, St. Maurice and other parishes within the archdiocese. More funds, more unnecessary purchases of second rectories for parishes that have only a few priests assigned there, more lack of accountability to the people who contribute.
For those who say that the Church is not a democracy, let them contribute blindly as they wish. For those of us who say that the archdiocese is accountable to the Catholics who comprise its membership and fund its very existence, we say: "no contribution will be made until you correct the problems you created."
We directly request that Archbishop Favalora explain why the situation at St. Richard’s exists; why there has been no full financial disclosure since Father Hilley arrived. We directly ask Archbishop Favalora to explain why there has been very limited (and incomplete) financial disclosure regarding VISION 2000 and why this fund has only a seven year legal existence.
If the only way we can get disclosure, accountability and transparency is through cutting off funding, then we encourage everyone to use the one weapon they have to fight this intolerable arrogance.
For more information, e-mail Churchcampaign@aol.com
January 25, 2004
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Monday, January 26, 2004 edition follows:-
• Letter to Bishop Franklin
GRAND MOUND (IA):
Des Moines Register, http://desmoinesregister.com/life/religion/dioceseletter.html ,
Jan. 19, 2003 ["2003" received in message; presumably it ties in with next item]
Dear Bishop Franklin,
As stated in I Corinthians 13:24-26, "But God has constructed the body . . . so that there be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share the joy."
A respected member of our parish has identified himself as a victim of inappropriate sexual behavior by a priest while ministering to our parish, and S.S. Philip & James parishioners have been directly affected by these allegations facing the Diocese of Davenport.
As members of Christ's body, we are writing this letter in hopes that you may fully understand the impact this situation has on our parish. We can no longer maintain our silence, as silence constitutes consent to sexual abuse of our children. We use the words of our Holy Father; that sexual abuse of young people is "by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God." (Address to the Cardinals of the United States & Conference Officers - April 23, 2003.)
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:29 PM
• Parish acts to remove pain left by abuse
Des Moines Register,
http://desmoinesregister.com/life/stories/c5351764/23347344.html ,
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
Register Religion Editor
01/24/2004
GRAND MOUND (IA): The human history of tiny Saints Philip and James parish is recorded on the church's stained glass windows, where parishioners' and priests' names are engraved to commemorate service or special anniversaries.
When abuse allegations began to surface about the Rev. James Janssen, Grand Mound's parish priest from 1980 to 1990, members tried to erase his name from one of the windows.
They tried varnish remover, paintbrush cleaner and nail polish remover to lift the name of the man who has been accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing eight boys during his 42 years as a priest in the Davenport diocese. Finally, they took the whole window out and had that pane of glass replaced.
The 200 Catholic families in this farm community are learning that the past is not easily erased or denied.
On Jan. 17, after weeks of reflection and discussion, the parish council sent a critical letter to Davenport Bishop William Franklin. The council then sent the letter to several local newspapers.
Don Green, a respected member of the congregation, had identified himself as one of Janssen's victims. Parishioners were concerned there might be others. They wondered if abuse was the reason some men raised in the parish walked away from the faith.
• Bishop talks of issues facing diocese
Clinton Herald
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10867637&BRD=1408&PAG=461&dept_id=463231&rfi=6 ,
By: Charlene Bielema, Herald Editor January 26, 2004
DAVENPORT (IA): Faced with lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests, the Davenport Diocese has its hands full.
No one knows that better than The Most Rev. William Franklin, bishop of the Diocese of Davenport. Franklin has found himself at the head of a diocese in which members, their families and other congregation members are in turmoil over how to handle the allegations from multiple lawsuits and attain healing.
Communication is key in both parts of the equation and it was to open up communication that led Franklin recently to the Ss. Philip and James Catholic Church in Grand Mound. Parishioners there have said the diocese has not followed its protocol in informing the congregation about an alleged sexual abuse case involving one of its current members.
In an interview with the Clinton Herald, the bishop said he was compelled to go to the church Jan. 18 to talk to the parish and answer questions.
• Truths may be hidden in a maze of 'maybes'
Richmond Times-Dispatch,
www.timesdispatch.com/ servlet/Satellite? pagename=RTD%2FMG Article%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c= MGArticle&cid=10317732 88497&path=!news! columnists&s=1045855935174 ;
By JERRY FINCH,
"OMBUDSMAN," Jan 25, 2004
RICHMOND (VA): Choose one from these two headlines:
1) "Local priest falsely accused because of national scandal."
2) "Glen Allen priest pleads guilty."
Judging from reaction over the past two weeks to Times-Dispatch coverage of the Rev. John E. Leonard situation, many parishioners of St. Michael Catholic Church in Glen Allen would pick No. 1. Maybe those who favor that headline, proposed by an upset reader, would be correct.
Which headline would be absolutely true? That would have to be No. 2. Leonard's plea of guilty to two misdemeanor assault charges involving two minors is a recorded fact. The headline appeared as a streamer across the top of Page One on Jan. 14.
Phone calls and e-mails commenting on the case have piled up on reporter Alberta Lindsey. While the phone calls mainly have come from angry voices, the e-mail reaction has been varied. Of 21 e-mails read by the ombudsman, eight supported the coverage, eight expressed concern or raised questions about the guilty plea, three called the situation sad, and two criticized the reporter in ugly words. "Your reporting is nothing but trash," one wrote.
Tuesday night, hundreds of parishioners met at the church founded by Leonard and where he served as priest. Lindsey, a silent observer, said the congregation applauded when speakers accused The Times-Dispatch of sensationalism and of ignoring the facts of the case. The newspaper was attacked as being on a mission to destroy Leonard.
• Former Cortland Priest accused of sexual abuse [1970s]
MAINE (NY)
News 10 Now,
http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=7824&SecID=83
Updated: 1/26/2004 8:04 AM
By: News 10 Now Staff
This Sunday's sermon at the Most Holy Rosary Church in Maine was a personal one for Father Thomas Keating. He talked about the sexual abuse allegations made against him late last week.
"I obviously deny the allegations of course," Father Thomas Keating said.
Father Thomas Keating was still holding mass this Sunday, but this time in Maine. The former Cortland Priest has been accused of sexual abuse.
Long time parishioners said they were shocked by the news. Many don't believe a word of it.
"I think everyone's gonna stand by him," John Sienko, Parishioner said.
Three sisters are accusing Keating of sexually abusing them twenty years ago when he was a priest at Saint Mary's Church in Cortland. A Manhattan based lawyer filed a lawsuit against Keating and the Syracuse Diocese last Thursday.
This is the second lawsuit filed against Father Keating in less than a year. Last April a woman only identified in court documents as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit accusing Keating of sexually abusing and raping her at the same church in Cortland in the 1970's.
• Muslim cleric jailed for wife-beating tips
Total Catholic
http://www.totalcatholic.com/pages/newsframe.html [Date not shown on source]
SPAIN: A Spanish Imam has been put in prison for inciting violence after advising local Muslims how to beat and punish their wives.
Mohammed Kamal Mustafa, 45, an Islamic priest at the mosque in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, was sentenced to 15 months and fined the equivalent of £1,480 by a Barcelona court for inflammatory statements in a book in which he said disobedient wives should be disciplined with verbal warnings followed by sexual inactivity and physical chastisement.
"The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light, so as not to leave scars or bruises on the body", Mustafa added in the book, which was distributed free to Islamic centres throughout Spain.
(From the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse in the
Monday, January 26, 2004 edition, ID 000838)
• Marrero church hears of claims [1980s]
MARRERO (LA)
Times-Picayune,
www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1075100322272760.xml ,
By Aesha Rasheed,
Staff writer,
Monday January 26, 2004
Following a Mass focused on unity and faith, parishioners of Visitation of Our Lady Catholic Church learned from archdiocese officials Sunday that their pastor has been put on indefinite leave in response to a charge of sexual abuse of a minor.
On Saturday evening, the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced that the Rev. Michael Fraser has been placed on leave and forbidden to function as a priest. Earlier this month, the archdiocese received a complaint alleging that Fraser sexually abused a child in the mid-1980s while he served at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Pearl River. Last week, the archdiocese's lay review board judged the complaint credible.
At each of four Sunday Masses at Visitation of Our Lady, the Rev. William Maestri, archdiocese spokesman, read a letter to parishioners from Archbishop Alfred Hughes explaining Fraser's removal and urging worshipers to remain faithful.
"During this crisis time, let us turn to Our Lady of Visitation . . . and follow her example," Hughes' letter read in part.
As they left the Marrero church and attempted to dodge Sunday morning rain storms, parishioners could be heard discussing the troubling news, but most declined to comment to waiting media. Those who did speak displayed a mix of emotions from shock to relief at the archdiocese response to the abuse allegations.
• Panel calls for RC Church system change to end sex abuse
TheBostonChannel.com ,
"Panel Calls For Church Change To End Sex Abuse,"
www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2792365/detail.html ,
POSTED: 7:27 AM EST January 26, 2004
WELLESLEY, Mass.: The Roman Catholic Church must undergo systematic change in order to bring the clergy sexual abuse scandal to a close, but the bishops don't seem inclined to make the needed changes, members of a panel concluded.
"This is the result of an addiction to power," the Rev Thomas Doyle, co-author of a 1980s report on clergy abuse, told a crowd of about 400 Sunday at Wellesley Middle School.
Journalist Jason Berry, who wrote of Doyle's efforts in his 1993 book, "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," said there are few signs that the church is prepared to undergo major change.
"I find it wretchedly appalling that the pope, a good man, a dying man, should be so blind on this issue," said Berry, who has spent 20 years chronicling the church scandal.
A. W. "Richard" Sipe, a psychotherapist and former priest, said he held out little hope for change in studies commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on anti-abuse efforts.
"It's as if the IRS comes to you and says, 'Look, do an audit of your own taxes,"' Sipe said. "The real audits are in the reports of the grand juries."
In response to Sipe's claim that numerous priests and even bishops continue to have sexual relationships with adult women, Carmen Durso, a victims attorney, told the Boston Herald, "That's probably a major reason why in the past they haven't exposed abusers in fear that their own secrets would come out."
Also on the panel were the national presidents of two victims groups, Susan Archibald of The Linkup and David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
• Parishioners rally behind priest ousted over sex abuse claims
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priest26.html ,
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL AND CURTIS LAWRENCE
January 26, 2004
Holy Angels parishioners rallied Sunday behind a priest removed from ministry because of sexual misconduct allegations, blaming his on-again, off-again status on disgruntled critics, troubled accusers and double jeopardy.
The priest, the Rev. John Calicott, was in Mercy Hospital on Sunday. He said he had suffered chest discomfort that may have been caused by stress -- and said he has never acknowledged sexual misconduct with minors, contrary to statements from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
Calicott, 56, wouldn't say Sunday whether he intends to continue playing a role at the parish at 607 E. Oakwood.
"I can't say anything until I see the documentation from the bishop, and I've got to deal with canon laws and things like that," he said from his hospital room.
Some parishioners wore "Justice for Father John" buttons at Sunday mass.
"He is our spiritual leader," said LeRoy Gill, 46, who is studying to be a deacon.
"This is double jeopardy," church member Jackson Lucas said of the latest dispute.
• Troubled priest hospitalized
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northshore/chi-0401260227jan26,1,1103792.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorthshore-hed ,
By H. Gregory Meyer
Published January 26, 2004
A beleaguered Catholic priest spent Sunday in a hospital instead of the Bronzeville church he is banished from, but the change of plans only emboldened more than 100 parishioners to use a midday mass to rally on his behalf.
Rev. John Calicott, 56, was hospitalized with heart palpitations after he attended the Saturday funeral of a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church, 607 E. Oakwood Blvd.
Calicott was removed from ministry at Holy Angels Parish in 2002 after U.S. bishops drafted new rules on sex abuse.
Rev. Robert Miller, parish administrator, said Calicott was in stable condition in Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. He was expected to undergo tests and observation through Monday, church officials said.
Saturday ended a week of tumult in which Cardinal Francis George ordered that Calicott "must absent himself" from the church he once led after reports surfaced that he was giving lectures to Catholic schoolchildren.
• Shanley civil, criminal trial dates may flip-flop
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1494 ,
By Eric Convey and Robin Washington
Monday, January 26, 2004
The civil suit involving the Rev. Paul R. Shanley will be flip-flopped with the criminal case against him if a judge grants a request from prosecutors for a mid-spring trial.
While stopping short of asking for a delay in the civil proceedings based on allegations against the priest, Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley told a judge last week that justice would be better served if the criminal case were tried first.
"We feel that the (criminal) case is ready to go to trial," said Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for Coakley.
Prosecutors would like the criminal trial to begin in April or May, LaGrassa said. "We can't control what happens in the civil case. We only hope to get our case moving faster."
Frank Mondano, Shanley's criminal defense attorney, said it was too early to schedule a trial.
• Panel: RC addiction to power and blindness at the top preventing systemic change
WELLESLEY (MA)
Boston Herald
"Panel: Church must change for crisis to end,"
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1493 ,
By Robin Washington,
Monday, January 26, 2004
Despite having paid millions of dollars to hundreds of victims in Boston and around the country, the Catholic Church remains embroiled in the clergy sexual abuse scandal that won't end until bishops agree to systemic change, a panel of leading national figures on the crises said yesterday.
"This is the result of an addiction to power," the Rev. Thomas Doyle, co-author of a 1980s report on clergy abuse ignored by the church, told a Wellesley crowd of about 400.
Journalist Jason Berry, who wrote of Doyle's efforts in his 1993 book, "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," said the hierarchy has shown little penchant for change.
"I find it wretchedly appalling that the pope, a good man, a dying man, should be so blind on this issue," said Berry, who said despite spending 20 years chronicling the scandal he remains a Catholic.
Joining them were A. W. "Richard" Sipe, a psychotherapist and former priest widely regarded as a leading expert on abusive clergy, and the national presidents of two victims groups, Susan Archibald of The Linkup and David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:20 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Monday, January 26, 2004
• Public funds child-abuse offenders
The Sunday Times, Perth, W. Australia,
"Public funds child-abuse offenders,"
by Fiona Adolph,
p 27, January 25, 2004
PERTH:
Dozens of child abusers in WA escape justice each year under a taxpayer-funded scheme.
Michelle Stubbs, whose stepfather was jailed in 1985 for molesting her during her childhood, claims the Safecare sex offender program leaves children open to even more abuse.
Ms Stubbs, spokeswoman for Advocates of Survivors of Child Abuse
[ASCA], says confidentiality contracts mean abusers also get off scot-free.
Safecare is not required to report perpetrators to police -- even if they offend during the program.
Though, if an abuser fails to complete the two-year program or if Safecare has reason to believe a child is at risk, it is obliged to alert the Department of Community Development. But only 10 such cases have ever been reported to the DCD
Safecare gets about $200,000 in State Government funding each year and has treated about 500 offenders since 1989. [...] They are ... free to work with children once they complete the program. ...
The scheme's clinical director, Christabel Chamarette, claims it provides more protection for children than the criminal justice system . ... "Victims would not report if they knew it could mean their dad or their brother would go to jail -- they just want the offending to stop," she said. ...
She also had concerns about a Safecare policy that sanctioned supervised home visits by abusers. ...
Safecare's website [www.safecare.com.au/ ] ... early intervention and open ... honest disclosure ... more likely if offenders do not have to worry about the threat of criminal convictions or penalties.
Ms Chamarette said ... where reporting of child abuse was mandatory, authorities channelled resources into getting convictions rather than healing and supporting abusive families. ...
• Confession seal, or used in evidence against you?
The West Australian,
"Opinion," Letter, Joe Goerke, Lesmurdie (Perth outer suburb),
p 16, Monday January 26 2004
PERTH:
Can't the correspondents who attack the confidentiality of the confessional understand what would happen if it's removed?
It's getting that way now with professional counselling where the counsellor must start each session by saying to the client: "You do not have to say anything but anything you do say may be taken down ..."
Where will people with a problem then go to talk it over?
• Apologists defend Confession doctrine, but not the sex-abuse victims
PERTH:
by Faith Purification Programme,
Monday, January 26, 2004
While respecting the faith of Catholics defending the seal of
confession, let me say that two Queensland bishops had received complaints
about Michael McArdle's child sex abuse. No seal of confession is involved
if complaints come to the diocesan head.
Many Christian sex-abuse apologists defend the dogmas and the
institutions, but forget that the real head of Christianity, Jesus, showed
common sense in his firm dealings with hypocritical sinners, but forgave the
ordinary sinners.
He condemned hypocrites like the Scribes and Pharisees out of hand.
Clergyman who lead children into sexual acts are hypocrites, are they not?
The apologists usually don't express regret and repentance at the loss of
innocence of the children.
The Churches of the apologists transfer the priests, and fight against
the extradition of molesters, just as is now occurring in Sydney courts (New
Zealand wants three clerics back to face charges of molesting slow
learners.)
Each of Father McArdle's 1500 Confessions ought to have been a clear
turning away from those sins and the "dangerous occasions of sin," or the
confessors ought to have acted like Jesus, and refused to say the
absolution.
Just being a priest was, for Fr McArdle, a "dangerous occasion of sin."
because that vocation gave him access to trusting children and their
believing parents.
The Roman Catholic, Anglican and other leaders ought to ponder over the
"forgotten" New Testament texts, such as one that says it is impossible to
revive Christians to repentance if they fall away again (Hebrews 6:4-6).
The two bishops and 30 priests who betrayed children for 25 years ought
to have pondered the text that says it is no use praying for a Christian who
has fallen into mortal sin (1 John 5:16, 18). It's called "deadly" or
"fatal" in other translations. Surprised?
There are other New Testament scriptures, such as the Jesus saying at
Matthew 12:32, and shaking the dust off your feet when leaving disbelievers,
and some about not even greeting a "brother" who is known to be a sinner.
Church apologists show a great lack of mercy to the victims, but are soft
on the criminals, and they lack honesty in dealing with the other
churchgoers and the general public.
Whose misbehaviour has led to the worldwide attacks on the cherished
"seal of Confession"? Answer: Clergy at all levels.
Isn't it the LEADERS who helped cause, overseas, headlines like "Oakland
diocese agrees to pay rape victim record $3 million"?
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 edition follows:-
• Pope laicizes Richard Lavigne
iobserve,
http://www.iobserve.org/rn0127b.html ,
By Father Bill Pomerleau,
Observer staff, Jan 27, 2004
SPRINGFIELD (MA): Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré announced Jan. 20 that Richard Lavigne has been laicized.
Lavigne's change in status became effective last Nov. 20, when Pope John Paul II signed a decree returning him to the lay state. Bishop Dupré learned of the pope's action in a letter from the Vatican he received Jan. 9, then followed a provision of the laicization decree which required him to notify Lavigne of the decision, which he did in a face-to-face meeting at the bishop's residence on Jan. 17.
"It brings me no pleasure to make this announcement today regarding the laicization of Richard Lavigne. Indeed no priest or bishop can ever take pleasure in seeing such a severe penalty handed down.
"As Christians, we must remain faithful to the church teaching of love and forgiveness and as such I commend Richard Lavigne to our prayers," said Bishop Dupré.
In a prepared statement, the bishop noted that "while today's announcement on the Vatican's decision certainly brings with it some sense of closure for our local church, we know the same cannot be said for the victims and their families.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:56 PM
• Man's fight after sex abuse by priest
Ic Coventry,
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/ 0100news/0100localnews/content_ objectid=13861637_method=full_ siteid= 50003_headline=- Man-s-fight-after-sex- abuse-by-priest-name_ page.html ;
Jan 27 2004
BRITAIN: A former soldier who was sexually abused by a paedophile priest at a Warwickshire orphanage for six years has not received a penny in compensation.
Jonathan Lacey, 49, has suffered a lifetime of psychological trauma and stigma following his systematic abuse at the hands of convicted paedophile Fr Eric Taylor in a Father Hudson Home, in Coleshill between 1965 and 1969.
The former altar boy was not believed when he spoke out about the abuse to police, his GP, or his adopted family.
He had to wait almost 30 years to see his abuser brought to justice at Warwick Crown Court in 1998 where Taylor, then 78 and since defrocked, was convicted of a catalogue of sexual abuse and jailed for seven years. He died behind bars in 2001.
But almost six years later, Mr Lacey has not received any compensation from the Catholic Church or the Father Hudson Society.
• Charitable shield bill stalls
TRENTON (NJ)
The Times,
http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/107519986715440.xml ,
By KAREN AYRES
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
A former student at the American Boychoir School told state legislators yesterday that he and his schoolmates were "objects for sex" some 30 years ago at the elite Princeton Township music school.
John Hardwicke appealed to the state Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday to approve a bill that would eliminate the so-called "Charitable Immunity Act" as it relates to child sexual abuse cases.
The measure would allow Hardwicke and others who claim they were sexually abused as children to sue institutions, such as the music school or the Catholic Church, that are now protected from such cases by the immunity law.
"A network of uncounted numbers of staff systematically and regularly molested untold numbers of children without fear of penalty or punishment," Hardwicke said. "We were devastated by those who abused us and we were devalued by those who didn't help us.
"We are abandoned in New Jersey if laws weigh the good works of the charity above a child's right to be safe from sexual abuse."
• Church's lawyers want abuse cases moved [Mons. Francis cost $US 3m]
OAKLAND (CA)
Alameda Times-Star,
http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~1486~1917891,00.html
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
Lawyers representing Roman Catholic churches throughout Northern California requested Monday that an estimated 150 sex-abuse civil lawsuits against their clergy be channeled to a Santa Clara County judge.
"Asking one court and one judge to take jurisdiction minimizes confusion, streamlines procedures, and makes the judicial process more straightforward for both sides," Diocese of Oakland attorney Stephen A. McFeely contended in a written statement. "The Diocese of Oakland has settled a number of the cases against it, and we hope that this procedure will facilitate the fair settlement of the rest of them."
A lawyer fresh from negotiating a $3 million settlement for a woman repeatedly raped as a young girl by a priest at a Hayward church condemned the move as a tactic to stall cases with looming trial dates.
"It is an attempt to derail the process and deny justice to the victims," said Stockton attorney Larry Drivon, who was left with 463 sex-abuse cases after the diocese agreed Friday to pay 31-year-old Jennifer Chapin $3 million for abuse by the late Msgr. George Francis while he was pastor at St. Bede Parish in Hayward. "There is no reason on the face of the Earth why clients of mine with perfectly good trial dates pending should go back to square one."
• MCI-Concord boss removed from office in shake-up
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald,
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1519 ,
By Jennifer Rosinski and Maggie Mulvihill
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
MCI-Concord Superintendent Michael Grant, who ordered the transfer of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan to a maximum security prison where he was killed, was removed from office yesterday.
"This is all part of the acting commissioner assembling her own management team . . . She has an agenda on reform and she is implementing it," said Department of Correction spokeswoman Abbe Nelligan. "I can definitely say these changes have nothing to do with the Geoghan incident."
Geoghan was killed in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center allegedly by convicted murderer Joseph L. Druce on Aug. 23, five months after his transfer.
Nelligan would not say if Grant, a Carver resident at the helm of MCI-Concord for almost two years, was let go or reassigned. "We're not going to discuss personnel changes," she said.
• Hundreds turn out for pastor
STATEN ISLAND (NY):
Staten Island Advance,
http://www.silive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/107521472731170.xml ,
By Tim Gray
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
With sexual allegations swirling around him, Monsignor Thomas Gaffney found comfort last night in a refuge where he seems to have almost unconditional support -- his Oakwood church.
In an overwhelming display of solidarity, students, parishioners and clergy from throughout Staten Island filled St. Charles R.C. Church to overflowing to pray for Monsignor Gaffney and the man who claims to have been molested by him in the 1980s.
Hundreds of people packed the pews, filling the aisles and standing four deep along the rear wall. Many were forced to listen to the mass from the church foyer.
Monsignor Gaffney, 79, sat solemnly throughout most of the service, arms crossed, directly under an outstretched figure of Jesus hanging on the wall.
The rising temperature inside the church -- heat from the many people present -- apparently caused at least two people to faint during the mass, adding drama to an already emotionally charged atmosphere.
• Diocese of Covington reaches more settlements with sexual-abuse victims
KENTUCKY:
WHAS,
http://www.whas11.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D80B99HG0.html ,
Associated Press
01/27/2004
A northern Kentucky Roman Catholic diocese settled out-of-court claims of sexual abuse by priests with five people this month, a diocese attorney said Tuesday.
The Diocese of Covington has reached settlements totaling $8.3 million with 39 victims since September, Carrie Huff said. The names of the victims and the individual settlement amounts were not disclosed.
The settlements come while a class-action lawsuit against the diocese is pending in Boone County Circuit Court. The class action automatically includes all victims in 57 northern and eastern Kentucky counties since 1956 unless individuals decide not to participate. The deadline to opt out of the class is Jan. 31.
• Bishop will discuss sex-abuse lawsuits
APTOS (CA):
Santa Cruz Sentinel,
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/January/27/local/stories/07local.htm ,
January 27, 2004
Bishop Sylvester Ryan of the Diocese of Monterey will discuss the sexual-abuse litigation facing the diocese at a meeting from 7-8:30 tonight at Resurrection Church. Diocese parishioners and parents have been invited to the meeting.
The diocese released a statement Monday saying it had filed papers with the state Judicial Council asking that all cases be assigned to the same Santa Clara County courtroom to streamline proceedings and ensure consistent standards are applied.
One case has been served against the diocese so far, said spokesman Kevin Drabinksi. That case involves alleged abuse of several altar boys in the 1960s by a now-deceased priest who served at St. John's in Felton.
• Diocese of Monterey, Calif., facing millions in sex-abuse lawsuits
PISMO BEACH (CA):
Sun Herald,
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7808187.htm ,
BY LAURIE PHILLIPS
The San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune
Bishop Sylvester Ryan assured fellow Catholics on Monday that no money for parishes or schools would fund any payout the Diocese of Monterey might make on seven pending civil claims of sexual misconduct by its clergy.
"This has been a wrenching experience for those of us in the Catholic church," the leader of the diocese told about five dozen people gathered inside St. Paul the Apostle Church in Pismo Beach. The Diocese of Monterey includes San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.
St. Paul The Apostle Church was the employer of a former priest who is alleged to have sexually abused an 11-year-old altar boy three decades ago.
The charges against the Rev. Gregory Kareta were dropped last year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a California law that erased the criminal statute of limitations for molestation in criminal cases.
• Prison chief out; Geoghan case cited
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe,
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/27/prison_chief_out_geoghan_case_cited/ ,
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff, 1/27/2004
Six weeks after the state correction commissioner was fired, a second top-ranking official lost his job yesterday, and a Romney administration source said the dismissal resulted from the slaying of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan in a state prison.
Michael Grant was replaced as superintendent of MCI-Concord, the facility where Geoghan's lawyers say the former priest was abused and harassed by a handful of guards, even after the lawyers repeatedly complained directly to Grant and other top prison officials.
Kathleen M. Dennehy, the acting commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, said yesterday through a spokeswoman that the removal of Grant was not related to Geoghan's problems at Concord and subsequent transfer to another prison, where he was killed.
"She wants her own team," Abbe Nelligan, a spokeswoman for Dennehy, said of Grant's removal, which was one of three changes announced yesterday. But a high-ranking Romney administration source said the Geoghan case was the cause.
"The Geoghan murder exposed some cultural and operational issues at Concord state prison and the removal reflects Commissioner Dennehy's desire to put things right," said the source.
• Senate considers retroactivity for bill ending charitable immunity
TRENTON (NJ):
The Press of Atlantic City,
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/newjersey/012704IMMUNE_J27.html ,
By PETE McALEER, Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935
A state Senate committee plans to move forward with a bill that prevents nonprofit groups from using the Charitable Immunity Act as a shield against sex-abuse lawsuits, but first it must decide whether to make the bill retroactive so that old cases can be reopened.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on the bill Monday after listening to testimony from men who said the law barred them from filing lawsuits seeking compensation for damage done to them when they were sexually abused as children.
Committee Chairman John Adler, D-Camden, promised the bill would be voted on in March. He said the majority of the committee supports eliminating charitable immunity as a defense in future sex-abuse cases, "but we're not yet set with retroactivity."
"We're going to discuss it again, and we're going to vote it out of the committee," Adler said.
New Jersey is one of nine states that shield nonprofit groups - such as churches, schools and the Boy Scouts - from lawsuits filed by one of their members. Although class-action lawsuits have still been filed against nonprofit groups in sex-abuse cases, the plaintiffs are often limited to suing only the alleged abusers and not the institution that hired them.
• Abuse Victim's Kin Sues Diocese
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday,
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lihand0127,0,1850118.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines ,
By Rita Ciolli, January 26, 2004
The family of the Suffolk teenager who was abused by Michael Hands, a former priest at the center of the Long Island priest sex abuse scandal, has sued the Diocese of Rockville Centre for $150 million, claiming officials knew of Hands' predatory behavior and did nothing to stop him.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Nassau State Supreme Court, charges that the diocese knew of Hands' sexual relationship with the minor and failed to report it to police because of a "deliberate, covert policy and practice" to protect priests and shield the diocese from embarrassment.
The diocese has not yet been served with the papers and could not comment on the lawsuit, said Joanne Novarro, a diocesan spokeswoman. Newsday is withholding the identities of the victim and his family because the boy was sexually abused when he was a minor. The teen's father said Monday that the family had no comment on Hands or the litigation.
Meanwhile, the Vatican recently notified Bishop William Murphy that Hands has been defrocked. Hands, once a rising star in the diocese, is no longer a priest, Novarro said.
• SR diocese joins 5 others in request to coordinate sex abuse suits
SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat,
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/27church_b3.html ,
By RANDI ROSSMANN
January 27, 2004
The Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa and five other California dioceses filed a court request Monday to coordinate all pending sexual abuse lawsuits to one courtroom, calling it an attempt to streamline legal proceedings.
Lawyers for the dioceses of Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Monterey, Oakland, Stockton and San Jose joined the request to the State Judicial Council. Lawyers noted that they are not requesting that the cases be consolidated, simply handled by the same court -- Santa Clara County Superior Court.
If granted, the move would allow nine pending cases against the Santa Rosa diocese to be sent to Santa Clara County, along with as many as 150 cases from the participating six dioceses, said Dan Galvin, Santa Rosa diocese attorney.
Galvin said the dioceses requested Santa Clara County because of its central location and ability to handle complex cases. Having one or two judges handle the numerous cases should result in more consistent standards, Galvin said.
• Chip-data analysis may aid defense
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0127obrien27.html ,
by Joseph A. Reaves
Jan. 27, 2004
One of the nation's foremost investigators of car-pedestrian accidents testified Monday that Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien's vehicle appeared to be coasting toward an intersection when he hit a jaywalker last June.
The testimony of Rusty Haight, an expert prosecution witness, could be significant for the defense, which claims O'Brien didn't know at the time that he hit a person.
O'Brien's attorneys also are expected to highlight portions of a tape recording the prosecution played in court on Monday to support their claims the bishop was unaware he ran down a pedestrian.
The recording captured O'Brien's conversation with four police officers who went to his home to arrest him 36 hours after the accident that killed Jim L. Reed.
Prosecutors tried to play the entire recording from a poor-quality computer file but only managed to get through about a third of it because of technical difficulties.
• Diocese reports 46 abuse victims
HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2372155 ,
By TARA DOOLEY
Houston Chronicle Religion Writer
Twenty-two priests and four deacons sexually abused 46 minors in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston over the past 53 years, according to church officials.
Eighty percent of the abuse occurred before 1980 but was reported in the past 10 years. The confirmed sex abuse allegations cost the diocese $3.6 million in settlements, counseling and legal fees.
The numbers were released in a letter from Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza published in the recent edition of The Texas Catholic Herald, the diocesan newspaper.
"It is a very sad part of our history that I deeply regret," Fiorenza said Monday. "Even if it were just one person I would be very sad."
• Guest commentary: Venice Diocese works to heal wounds, restore trust
FLORIDA
Naples Daily News
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/pe_local_guest_commentary/article/0,2071,NPDN_14963_2606442,00.html ,
By GAIL M. McGRATH, Special to the Daily News
January 27, 2004
The Jan. 21 editorial, "Church owes the faithful timely, forthright justice," is misleading. In its handling of allegations of sexual abuse of minors by church personnel, the Diocese of Venice "owes" only the alleged victim-survivor and the accused "timely, forthright justice." To state that cases are "allowed to drag out until suspects are elderly and infirm, or in hopes the public memory fades" is unjust and inflammatory.
The rights of victims and the accused are the diocese's main concern. The diocese has a policy which it follows and will not compromise the integrity of its investigation process in response to pressure from outside sources. Each case has its own distinct time line. While respecting confidentiality constraints, the diocese deals with these situations in an open and forthright manner. Regardless, some people always will find fault with how the diocese handles allegations.
At times there is no definitive determination of guilt or innocence, e.g., what the alleged victim-survivor says versus what the accused says; no witnesses; no substantiation either way. However, Bishop John Nevins takes the position that if he is to err, he will err on the side of caution to ensure the well-being of those served by the church.
• Senate panel to further examine allowing suits against the church
TRENTON (NJ):
Gloucester County Times
http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-5/107518779943620.xml ,
By Terrence Dopp
tdopp@sjnewsco.com ,
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Attacking what some call an impediment to lawsuits by victims of clergy sex abuse, the state Senate is considering changes to a 1958 law protecting non-profit organizations from litigation.
New Jersey's "Charitable Immunity Act," one of only nine laws in the nation protecting charities from members' suits, is tantamount to government protection of abusers, according to proponents of the measure.
Under the plan before the Legislature, sexual abuse would nullify the legal shield.
"We've seen this from churches, schools, scouting groups and other charities trying to protect themselves," said Richard Garner, a New York City psychologist who counsels victims of boyhood sexual abuse.
He said the 1958 immunity law creates a state-sanctioned "stone wall" before victims.
• Judge to rule on priest’s fate in sex abuse case
WISCONSIN:
Green Bay Press-Gazette
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_14383317.shtml ,
By Andy Nelesen,
anelesen@greenbaypressgazette.com
A Brown County Circuit Court judge will decide if the Rev. James Stein was in Wisconsin long enough over the last decade to avoid prosecution by the statute of limitations.
Stein, a Norbertine priest, faces three counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly fondling a 14-year-old boy in 1988. The boy, now 29, alleges Stein touched him while they swam and used the hot tub at the St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere.
State law sets the time limit for prosecution on second-degree sexual assault at six years, but the clock stops ticking if the defendant is out of Wisconsin.
Prosecutors maintain that Stein was assigned outside of Wisconsin since July 1992 and did not return until September 2003.
Abbot Gary Neville testified at a motion hearing Monday, listing Stein’s assignments over the last decade.
• Church seeks one judge to oversee abuse claims
CALIFORNIA:
Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7805634.htm
By Brandon Bailey
Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Church asked state officials Monday to select one judge in Santa Clara County to oversee an estimated 150 legal claims from people who allege sexual abuse by priests in Northern California -- a move fiercely opposed by the victims' attorneys.
The request comes just three days after the Diocese of Oakland agreed to pay a record $3 million to a woman who was raped by her childhood priest. And while the church's lawyers said they only want consistent standards for the remaining claims, victims' attorneys called it an effort to put the brakes on further settlements.
"My initial reaction is that some of these cases are coming up to trial and they don't want to deal with that," said Lawrence Drivon, an attorney for dozens of victims.
Church attorneys specifically are asking the state Judicial Council to appoint one judge who will coordinate all pending lawsuits involving sexual abuse by clergy from the Catholic dioceses of San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Monterey, Stockton and Santa Rosa. They said Santa Clara County is preferable because of its central location.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:07 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
• Doing things to children, why go to mass? Answering Perth's Archbishop Hickey.
CathNews by Church Resources, Discussion Board,
"Re: Labelling is just what Archbishop Hickey is doing
,"
http://members4.boardhost.com/cathtelecom/msg/116057.html , Posted by "Last One Out" on January 27, 2004, 4:49 pm, in reply to "Labelling is just what Archbishop Hickey is doing ( 116039.html )"
January 27, 2004
AUSTRALIA:
On a recent trip to Ireland, I could not help notice Mass attendance appeared to have fallen off dramatically since my last visit there some time back. It was described to me by several people thus: "Who would go to Mass? The same old time clergy who for years told us it was a mortal sin to miss Mass, use the pill, divorce, masturbate or marry outside the Church are now all in jail for b.gg..ing small children. Who would believe anything this hypocrite-led morally bankrupt organization told us?" There must be an answer to all this, but, whatever it is, Barry Hickey certainly doesn't know it.
PREVIOUS MESSAGE was:
Archbishop Hickey, you are doing just what you
criticise, "labelling" people in
the church.
Sorry but I don't fit into your labels, Arch,
I want change so I get a decent sermon from a
decent parish priest, but not a whole moral
free for all. Sorry if I don't fit into your
label. Not everyone who wants some change in
the church is an evil menace, but that is in
effect what you are saying.
Archbishop Hickey, you say you are concerned
about people leaving the church but blame it
on secularism. Therefore you believe you
don't need to change anything in the Church
in reality.
But face some facts. The young people don't
come because the church as presented by your
priests is irrelevant, and they go to
evangelistic churches not because they are
liberal sexually (they aren't) but because
they are culturally relevant. The facts are
that you and your priests are failing and
your methods of stonewalling and blaming
society are not working.
Parishes evangelise or don't because of the
performance of the parish priest, start there
if you really want to evangelise.
MESSAGE BEFORE THAT
[Along the lines of the Church dispenses Sanctifying Grace, and leads people to holiness, so Archbishop Hickey was right.]
• Voices of Outrage asked not to focus on the RCs
E-mail sent Jan 27, 2004
AUSTRALIA:
To Voices of Outrage: Where's the Justice?
www.voicesofoutrage.com :
If our exposures are to have REAL effect, we must convince enough of the goodhearted churchgoing people, and the journalists, police and the courts, that we are NOT anti-Catholics, or "No Popery" enthusiasts. We are calling on the Vatican -- which has been overturning local bishops' expulsions / defrockings -- to clean up its act. But we are ALSO calling on each Church, right down to the little independent Churches, and the Muslims and Hindus, to DISMISS every clergyman for even one act. But all religions have the problem of trying to hide the abuse.
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 edition follows:-
• Oakland Diocese to pay out $3 million [raped from age 6, 1980s]
CALIFORNIA
Tri-Valley Herald
www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~1914048,00.html ,
By William Lobdell, Los Angeles Times
and Jean Guccione
The Roman Catholic Church agreed Friday to pay $3 million to a woman who was repeatedly raped as a young girl by a priest at a church in Hayward, setting a state record for the amount paid by a diocese to a single victim of clergy sexual abuse since the scandal broke two years ago in Boston.
The settlement is among the first to resolve claims against priests under a state law that allowed victims to sue the church for decades-old childhood sexual abuse. As many as 800 such claims were filed against the Roman Catholic Church last year while the statute of limitations was temporarily lifted.
Jennifer Chapin, 31, said she was pleased to put behind her the case against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. It involves accusations of 20-year-old abuse.
"I've run the whole gamut of emotions," said the Oakdale psychiatric nurse. "It's very validating to be believed." Oakdale is northeast of Modesto.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:44 PM
• Church settles for $3 million [religious objects from age 6, holy water, 1980s]
CALIFORNIA
Mercury News
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7793075.htm ,
Mercury News Staff and Wire Reports
In a record-setting payment to a single victim of clergy abuse, the Roman Catholic Church has agreed to pay $3 million to a woman who was repeatedly raped by her childhood priest in Hayward.
Jennifer Chapin, 31, now an Oakdale psychiatric nurse, said she was about 6 years old when Msgr. George Francis began raping her over a four-year period. The brutal assaults included the use of ropes and religious objects. After the rapes, Chapin said that Francis would sprinkle holy water on her.
Francis, who died in 1998, was pastor of St. Bede Parish in Hayward during that time.
"The conduct was as abhorrent as you can possibly imagine," said Richard Simmons, one of Chapin's lawyers. "She is truly a survivor in the best sense of the word. After many years of struggle, she is, I think, on a path to healing. This was part of the process."
• Woman makes plea to victims of clergy abuse [$3m award; ritualised sex from age 6]
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/26/BAGNS4HNND1.DTL ,
by Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, January 26, 2004
Clutching her 2-year-old son to her side, Jennifer Chapin faced the media in Oakland on Sunday to tell of harrowing sexual abuse by a Catholic priest and to urge other victims to come forward.
Chapin, a 31-year-old psychiatric nurse now living in Oakdale, has been awarded $3 million in a settlement reached Friday with the Diocese of Oakland. It is one of the largest disclosed settlements in the state between a diocese and a single victim. On Sunday, she brought a small photo of herself dressed in white Communion dress when she was 7 years old, an age when she said she was already a victim of the late Monsignor George Francis, pastor of St. Bede Parish in Hayward, where Chapin's family were members.
"I was raped several times by Msgr. Francis, very ritualistically and sadistically," she said. She said the abuse started when she was 6 and continued about four years.
• Screening Methods Kept Sex Offenders From Working in D.C. Archdiocese
WASHINGTON (DC) (AP):
ABC 7,
www.wjla.com/news/stories/0104/122143.html
New screening methods have kept five convicted sex offenders from working in the Archdiocese of Washington, officials said Wednesday.
The archdiocese is the first in the nation to use electronic fingerprinting machines to screen people who work with children, said spokeswoman Susan Gibbs. The fingerprint screenings are part of an overall change in the way the archdiocese's employees deal with children to avoid the appearance of impropriety. The policies were developed in response to the nationwide concern about allegations of abuse by priests.
"We run background checks on any employees, volunteers and clergy who will have significant contact with children," said Gibbs.
Screening information is processed through background check systems run by the FBI (website) and state of Maryland. The checks also provide the diocesan personnel office with information on whether a staffer or volunteer might have a history of drug or alcohol offenses or violent behavior in their background.
• Bishop Addresses Sex Abuse Allegations
APTOS (CA):
KSBW,
www.theksbwchannel.com/news/2800035/detail.html
The bishop of the Monterey Diocese met with parishioners at Resurrection Catholic Church in Aptos Tuesday night in the first of four meetings planned on the issue of sexual abuse allegations against priests.
Bishop Sylvester Ryan updated those in attendance on the status of multi-million dollar lawsuits against the diocese and what the church is doing about sexual abuse cases.
Emotions were high at the meeting, as parishioners and sexual abuse victims listened to what Ryan had to say.
"Parishioners have certainly have had a difficult time. They expect more from those who they place this kind of trust, and so I think there's more of a concern. (They have) questions ... for example, what are you doing to prepare men for the priesthood today?" Ryan said.
"It's kind of bittersweet in a sense. This is surreal for me to be here ... 51-years-old and now seeing the Catholic church being held accountable for these molestations and pedophiles. I never though they would be held accountable and the bitterness is having to relive it," said Kim Allen, a victim in a pending lawsuit.
• Detective: Bishop 'may not have seen' pedestrian [2003]
PHOENIX (AZ):
The Arizona Republic
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0128obrien28.html ,
Joseph A. Reaves
Jan. 28, 2004
A senior police investigator admitted in court on Tuesday that he thought Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien may never have seen the man he ran down and left on a Phoenix street last June.
The dramatic admission by Detective Alan Pfohl, a key prosecution witness, came near the end of 140 minutes of grueling and sometimes-riveting cross-examination by defense attorney Patrick McGroder in the bishop's trial in Maricopa County Superior Court.
"I think I felt it was possible that he may not have seen him," Pfohl said.
McGroder set up the surprising statement by reading from the transcript of a recorded conversation Pfohl and three other officers had with O'Brien the day the bishop was arrested in June.
At one point in the transcript, O'Brien said, as he does time and again throughout the interview, that he didn't see what he hit or what hit his car.
• Suit filed in Boston against diocese [1980s]
ALBANY (NY):
Albany Times Union
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=213065&category=ALBANY&BCCode=&newsdate=1/28/2004 ,
By BRIAN NEARING, Wednesday, January 28, 2004
A lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Boston against the Albany Catholic Diocese in a two-decade-old case of clergy sexual abuse, in hopes that the courts there will do something no local judge has done -- force the diocese to open a priest's personnel file to public scrutiny.
The lawsuit by Joseph Woodward accuses the Albany Diocese, former priest Dozia Wilson and the Boston Archdiocese of Wilson's alleged sexual abuse of Woodward between 1980 and 1985, when Woodward was a teenager.
Woodward's lawyer, John Aretakis, said he decided to file the suit in Boston, rather than Albany, because extended statute of limitation laws and judges there are more favorable toward victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Lawsuits in Boston against priests for sexual abuse forced the archdiocese in 2001 to disgorge dozens of personnel files, which sparked the crisis that ultimately forced Cardinal Bernard Law to quit.
• Bishop nails 'promises' to cathedral door
CALIFORNIA:
National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/013004/013004d.htm ,
By ARTHUR JONES
By knocking nails in doors, Orange, Calif., Bishop Tod D. Brown is attempting to open a few. On Sunday, Jan. 18, Brown nailed to the door of his cathedral "seven promises" to Catholics of the Orange diocese outlining the diocese's attempts to rebuild trust following the clergy sex abuse scandal.
When in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany, he was challenging the church structure, rather than apologizing for it.
Though eyed warily by sexual abuse survivors and their organizations, Brown has taken the initiative on several occasions to air sex-scandal-related issues ahead of the episcopal pack. The Orange diocese was one of the few to make its compliance goals public ahead of the bishops' national child protection policies report (NCR, Jan. 19).
While Brown's stated goal in his "Covenant with the Faithful" -- now tacked to the Holy Family Cathedral door -- is to "provide an atmosphere of openness and trust" with everyone in the diocese "as partners," abuse survivors see it more as a ploy or window dressing.
The diocese confirmed it paid $90,000 to the public relations firm, Softness Group, for assistance in crafting the covenant and seven points. But with all 56 Orange parishes set to receive copies of what Brown nailed to his door, with instructions to pastors to nail the copies to their doors, Brown still is stepping out front in his bid to rebuild trust.
• Catholics asked to protest bill dealing with priests reporting
DODGE CITY (KS)
Dodge City Daily Globe
www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/012804/loc_0128040028.shtml ,
By Charlene Scott /
Dodge City Daily Globe,
and
Michael Schweitzer / Daily Globe
An attorney for the Diocese of Dodge City will testify on behalf of the Kansas Catholic Conference regarding a new House bill to be introduced Thursday that deals with priests and ministers reporting child abuse.
Thousands of Kansas Catholics are being asked to contact Kansas legislators today to protest House Bill 2575. Attorney William Trenkle, who represents the Diocese of Dodge City, and Attorney John Jurcyk, who represents the Archdiocese of Kansas City, will testify with amendments from the Catholic Conference.
Also testifying with the same amendments will be Rev. Dr. Joe Hendrixson, executive director of Kansas Ecumenical Ministries in Topeka, which represents nine different denominations.
Bills challenging the privacy of the Catholic confessional were brought to the Kansas legislature this legislative session and also last year. Recently introduced House Bill 2371 would have required that priests report information revealed in the confessional concerning child abuse or abuse of persons with disabilities.
• Welcome to Voices of Outrage
Voices of Outrage,
www.voicesofoutrage.com/index.html
UNITED STATES: VoicesOfOutrage.com invites survivors of sexual abuse and non-survivors to join their voices and work together to bring justice to those abused by Roman Catholic priests, bishops and other sexual predators.
Stories continue to emerge that highlight the Roman Catholic Church's cover up of sex crimes against children. And while the Catholic Church isn't the only institution or organized religion that is guilty, it continues to make daily news throughout the United States and abroad.
Child sexual abuse is a worldwide epidemic. Child pornography has vastly expanded its accessibility via the Internet. We care passionately about stopping the sexual exploitation of kids. Kids who are abused today become tomorrow's survivors.
• Bill extends time to file sex-abuse lawsuit
South Bend Tribune,
www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/01/28/local.20040128-sbt-MARS-A1-Bill_extends_time_to.sto ,
By MARTIN DeAGOSTINO, Jan 28, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Indiana's Roman Catholic dioceses, embroiled in the clergy sex abuse scandal, oppose an effort to make it easier for victims to sue their abusers.
The dioceses say the proposed legislation does little to protect victims but exposes churches, schools, civic associations and other child-oriented organizations to "deep pocket" lawsuits aimed at financial damages.
"It is a punitive, vindictive bill, and it will not help victims," said William Wood, a lawyer for the Indiana Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of Indiana's five Catholic dioceses.
The bill is also opposed by the Insurance Institute of Indiana, which said it would bear the costs of successful lawsuits.
The House Judiciary Committee sent the bill to the full House anyway, but only after removing two controversial provisions that snagged debate for nearly an hour.
• SLU High grad wants apology [1970s, Jesuit]
ST. LOUIS (MO):
The University News,
www.unewsonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/01/22/40109a7ea5db2 ,
By Susan Berger, January 22, 2004
Tom Kevin O'Connor, who was awarded a settlement from the Jesuits of the Missouri Province and a public apology from St. Louis University High School in a sexual abuse case involving a priest, now brings complaints against Saint Louis University.
O'Connor, 49, graduated from SLUH in 1972. He claims that during the years before his graduation, he was sexually abused by John Campbell, S.J., who has since been removed from public ministry and has several other cases of sexual abuse against him. O'Connor was awarded $185,000 in the settlement and a public apology from SLUH President Paul Sheridan, S.J.
The incident occurred, according to O'Connor, in the rectory of St. Francis Xavier College Church and at an office in Lewis Memorial Hall. He believes that because of the buildings' locations and relationships with the University, SLU also owes him an apology.
• Civil lawsuit against Allentown Catholic diocese
WFMZ,
www.WFMZ.com/ php/Display-Start.php? Title=CIVIL+LAWSUIT+ AGAINST+ALLENTOWN+CATHOLIC+ DIOCESE&datCreate
ALLENTOWN(PA): The lawsuit says the top leaders of the Allentown diocese knew about the abuse... and did nothing to stop it. Today the alleged victims of that abuse spoke out. WFMZ's Brendan Fehily has the story.
Reporter: 39 years after she says she was sexually molested by her priest... Juliann Bortz still can't sit through church without breaking down.
Juliann Bortz: I made it halfway through mass....
Reporter: Bortz and four others are accusing their former priests of sexually abusing them when they were children. All the priests were in the diocese of Allentown ... Including one whose parish was at St. Catherine's of Siena in Mount Penn.
Now all the alleged victims have filed lawsuits -- not against the priests, but against the Diocese of Allentown and its two leaders over the past 21 years.
[THIS LOOKS LIKE IT HAS BEEN INSERTED BEFORE ON THIS WEBSITE - jcm 29 Jan 04]
• Geoghan report blasts Concord
BOSTON (MA):
Boston Herald,
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1546 ,
By Franci Richardson
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The investigative report on the prison slaying of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan will slam hard the leadership at MCI-Concord, faulting inept administrators for allowing their largely undisciplined staff to run amok, a source said.
"Concord is going to get their wings clipped, torn off and thrown away," the source said. "There is no discipline (there), no respect for the superior staff. Officers did much of what they wanted and nobody stopped them."
The report, which other sources say is due at the Executive Office of Public Safety any day, is a look into the August murder of 68-year-old Geoghan, allegedly at the hands of fellow inmate and convicted killer Joseph L. Druce at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
The report also delves into the Department of Correction's classification system that allowed Geoghan, a convicted child molester, to be housed in the same section as Druce.
Geoghan suffered so much emotional and physical abuse from guards at Concord that he welcomed the transfer to Souza-Baranowski, sources have said.
• Bill would allow sex abuse victims more time to sue attackers
INDIANAPOLIS (IN):
Indianapolis Star,
www.indystar.com/articles/5/115554-7135-127.html ,
The Associated Press
January 28, 2004 3:37 AM
A House panel approved a bill that would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to sue their attackers despite opposition from the Roman Catholic church.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 on Tuesday to advance the proposal to the full chamber.
Currently, victims have until age 20 to sue their attackers, or two years if the victims were older than 18 when the abuse occurred. The bill authored by Rep. Mae Dickinson, D-Indianapolis, would have eliminated the statute of limitations and allowed victims to file lawsuits at any time.
Dickinson agreed to a compromise extending the age limit to 30 after an attorney for the Indiana Catholic Conference testified against the proposal. The conference represents all five Indiana dioceses.
• Lawsuit: Diocese hid abuse by priest [1953 "leave" due to boys]
DAVENPORT (IA)
Des Moines Register,
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4788993/23378113.html ,
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE,
Register Religion Editor, 01/28/2004
The 11th sexual-misconduct lawsuit in 13 months was filed Tuesday against the Davenport Catholic Diocese, this one alleging the church tried to hide information about a priest's abuse of boys.
A former Fort Madison altar boy identified as John Doe VI filed the lawsuit in Scott County against the diocese and the Rev. James Janssen. The lawsuit says diocese files show that Janssen's 1953 leave of absence was a result of complaints about his sexual contacts with boys.
The lawsuit also alleges that the information was kept in "secret archives" located "downstairs at the chancery and inside a locked combination safe." The files allegedly were not readily available to all diocesan authority figures.
The diocese replied that the new allegations "are totally improper under court rules."
The petition "states allegations in a sensational manner, apparently calculated to generate publicity," said David Montgomery, spokesman for the diocese. "Many allegations in the petition are false, incorrect and take previous informational responses by the diocese in other cases totally out of context."
• Sealing of sex-abuse lawsuits rejected
KENTUCKY:
The Courier-Journal,
www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/01/28ky/met-front-abuse01280-8317.html ,
By PETER SMITH
psmith@courier-journal.com
Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett has declared unconstitutional a section of a Kentucky law that requires the sealing of lawsuits that allege past sexual abuse.
Willett ruled Monday in favor of The Courier-Journal in a lawsuit filed in 2002 against the state. The newspaper sought to void a portion of a 1998 law that required the sealing of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse that occurred more than five years in the past.
"Obviously, we're very pleased with the decision," said Jon Fleischaker, an attorney representing the newspaper. "It's another recognition that courts are open to the public, and the functioning of the courts is a public issue, not a private issue."
Willett has given Jefferson Circuit Clerk Tony Miller 30 days to unseal any lawsuits that may have been sealed under the 1998 law. But court officials said they don't know of any such cases.
• Church faces big financial hit from sex-abuse cases [7 priests]
CALIFORNIA:
Santa Cruz Sentinel,
www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/January/28/local/stories/12local.htm ,
By DONNA JONES
The Diocese of Monterey is largely on its own as it faces claims of up to $65 million from plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases, church officials said Tuesday.
But officials told more than 100 people who attended a meeting at Resurrection Church that officials are committed to protecting the assets of parishes and schools.
"The asking price at this period of time is rather astronomical," Bishop Sylvester Ryan said before the meeting. "We want to reach out to victims, but we have a responsibility for our parishes, churches and schools."
The diocese, which covers Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo counties, has seven pending lawsuits, said Susan Mayer, the diocese's lawyer. There are 13 alleged victims and seven accused priests. Four of the priests are dead.
• Diocese in Ky. settles 7 claims [so far 39, $8.3m since Sep 2003]
KENTUCKY:
The Cincinnati Post,
www.cincypost.com/2004/01/28/dioc012804.html ,
By Kevin Eigelbach
Since early last December, seven more people have settled claims alleging sexual abuse at the hands of employees of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington.
That brings to 39 the total number of victims the diocese has settled with since September, said Carrie Huff, a Chicago attorney working for the diocese.
It also brings to $8.3 million the amount of money that the diocese has paid to settle claims since September, she said.
The average payout for the Covington Diocese has been $212,820 per person, nearly twice as much as the $105,761 average for the Archdiocese of Louisville, which paid $25.7 million to settle 243 lawsuits last June.
• Lawsuit accuses priest of sex abuse [1960s and 70s]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
www.stltoday.com/ stltoday/news/stories. nsf/News/B996E88609BA3 79686256E2900181F0C? OpenDocument&Headline= Lawsuit+accuses+priest+ of+sex+abuse+
MISSOURI: A Catholic priest who served at churches in Madison County in the 1960s and 1970s sexually abused a young girl for more than a decade, even fathering her son, according to a suit filed Tuesday in Madison County Circuit Court against the dioceses of Springfield, Ill., and Belleville.
The suit filed by Virginia Galloway, now 46 and living in Georgia, alleges that church officials did nothing to stop the abuse by the Rev. Richard Niebrugge. Galloway says the abuse started in 1967 when she was 10 and continued into her adulthood.
The suit also names as defendants two other priests, Msgr. Theodore Baumann and the Rev. Herman Niebrugge, Richard Niebrugge's brother, who Galloway says knew about the abuse but covered it up. Galloway is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
• Diocese rebukes latest suit [boys, for 50 years]
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times,
www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1023483&t=Local+News&c=2,1023483 ,
By Todd Ruger
A new lawsuit filed against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport includes allegations that church officials continue to support a retired priest even though the diocese has received complaints about him committing sexual abuse of boys for more than 50 years.
A man identified only as "John Doe VI" also claims that the diocese admitted a four-month leave of absence by the Rev. James Janssen in 1953 "could be interpreted" to show it was a result of complaints about Janssen's inappropriate sexual contact with adolescents.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by an adult male alleging sexual abuse by Janssen in a Fort Madison, Iowa, parish beginning in 1961, is the fifth of its kind to be filed in Scott County District Court and joins four similar lawsuits filed in Clinton County and two filed in Lee County alleging sexual abuse by priests.
A news release issued Tuesday afternoon by the diocese says many of the allegations in the petition are false, incorrect and stated "in a sensational manner, apparently calculated to generate publicity."
• Church to release report on priest abuse allegations
DAVENPORT (IA):
Quad-City Times,
www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1023484&t=Local+News&c=2,1023484 ,
By Todd Ruger
The Catholic Diocese of Davenport will issue a public report detailing allegations of sexual abuse by priests over the past 50 years once an internal review of personnel files is completed, the diocese announced Tuesday.
The review will include every priest who serves or has served in the eastern Iowa diocese over the past five decades, including the Rev. James Janssen, who is named in eight of 11 lawsuits that have been filed against the diocese, according to a news release issued Tuesday.
"First and foremost, the people of the diocese need this information, and they're going to get it," diocese attorney Rand Wonio said.
• Diocese of Monterey reaches settlement with sexual-abuse victim [1964-66, McDonald, $760,000]
PISMO BEACH (CA):
Mercurcy News,
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7812773.htm ,
Associated Press
The Diocese of Monterey has reached another settlement with an alleged victim of sexual abuse by its clergy, it announced in a statement Tuesday.
The diocese, which includes San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Fresno counties, has agreed to pay $760,000 to settle claims that Rev. Michael McDonald committed sexual abuses between 1964 and 1966, the statement said. McDonald died in 1971.
Since a California law allowed alleged victims of clergy abuse to file lawsuits by Dec. 31, 2003, 13 victims have made claims against diocese clergy.
There are currently seven outstanding claims of sexual misconduct against the diocese.
• Diocese discusses abuse cases [$760,000]
CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald,
www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/7815258.htm ,
By DAN LAIDMAN
dlaidman@montereyherald.com
In the midst of a tour of Central Coast churches to talk about sexual misconduct cases, the Diocese of Monterey says it is currently defending itself against seven such lawsuits and that it recently settled at least one other for more than $700,000.
Many of the suits were filed under a California law that suspended the statute of limitations on child molestation cases for the duration of 2003. The timing provoked Bishop Sylvester Ryan to schedule this week's speeches to priests, parishioners and other interested parties.
"Now's a natural time, after the dust has settled," said Kevin Drabinski, spokesman for the diocese.
The diocese released a report laying out seven pending lawsuits and revealing that the organization settled a case this month for $760,000.
• Woman's suit claims priest abused, impregnated her [girl lived in, 1967-83]
EDWARDSVILLE (IL):
The Telegraph,
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10876654&BRD=1719&PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6 ,
by SANFORD J. SCHMIDT, 01/28/2004
A former area resident filed a suit Tuesday claiming a now-deceased Catholic priest sexually abused her and made her pregnant while she lived with him as he served in churches in Alton, Edwardsville and other Illinois communities.
Virginia Galloway, who lives in Georgia, filed suit in Madison County Circuit Court, claiming the late Rev. Richard Niebrugge abused her from the time she was 10 years old, in 1967, until he died May 5, 1983.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville; Niebrugge's brother, Herman Niebrugge, also a Catholic priest; and another priest, Theodore Baumann.
The suit claims that although Richard Niebrugge abused the girl, the other defendants covered up the acts and contributed to the psychological problems she developed.
Springfield Diocese spokeswoman Kathie Sass said church officials are aware of the suit but have not reviewed the specifics. She said they are interested in learning about potential abuse and acting on the information.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:40 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Thursday, January 29, 2004 edition follows:-
• Tempers flare in trial of bishop
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0129obrien29.html ,
Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 29, 2004 12:00 AM
The hit-and-run trial of Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien erupted in angry confrontation Wednesday with defense attorneys demanding a mistrial, accusing prosecutors of prejudicing the jury.
Tom Henze, O'Brien's lead counsel, waited until jurors had been excused for the day before protesting a line of questioning in which prosecutor Tony Novitsky implied the bishop had been coached about how to deal with police.
Pointing emphatically at the prosecutor, Henze said the questioning caused irreparable harm to O'Brien and insisted Judge Stephen A. Gerst of Maricopa County Superior Court declare a mistrial.
Gerst said he would review a transcript of the questioning overnight and rule on the mistrial request this morning.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:51 PM
• No grounds for mistrial, judge in O'Brien case says
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0129obrien-update.html ,
by Joseph A. Reaves
Jan. 29, 2004 11:15 AM
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that there were not sufficient grounds for a mistrial to be declared in the hit-and-run trial of Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien.
Tom Henze, O'Brien's lead counsel, protested a line of questioning Wednesday afternoon in which prosecutor Tony Novitsky implied the bishop had been coached about how to deal with police. Henze said the questioning caused irreparable harm to O'Brien and insisted Judge Stephen A. Gerst declare a mistrial.
On Thursday, Gerst admonished the prosecutors, but said the line of questioning was not sufficient grounds to grant a mistrial. The court, he said, did not find any attempt by the prosecutor to "mislead the jury."
Gerst cited a legal precendent that said a mistrail should be granted "only when it appears that justice will be thwarted."
After his ruling, the judge called the jurors into the courtroom and gave them the background of what went on outside their presence. He told them he had "admonished" the prosecutor and instructed them to ignore both questions and both answers. He said there had been no evidence and he expected no evidence to show that O'Brien was coached about how to answer police questions before he was arrested
• Church Sex Scandal Headed to the Stage
Contra Costa Times
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/7826517.htm ,
by MARTIN FINUCANE,
Associated Press
BOSTON (MA): He was cardinal and defendant at the same time, a prince of the church who was questioned by lawyers about a sex abuse scandal among priests.
Now the real-life story of Cardinal Bernard Law's depositions in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse cases is coming to the stage.
A new play, "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," to be produced by a small Chicago theater company, uses Law's testimony in a series of depositions for dialogue.
"I think people will leave the theater full of questions, full of comments, full of wanting to discuss it more. To me, that's the best kind of theater ... and that's what this piece can do," said David Zak, artistic director of the Bailiwick Repertory Theater.
The play, written by Michael Murphy, a 46-year-old playwright with several off-off-Broadway shows to his name, is set to open March 1 for a six-week run through mid-April.
• Statement by the Boston Archdiocese on Foley settlement
BOSTON (MA):
Boston.com,
www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/29/statement_by_the_boston_archdiocese_on_foley_settlement/ ,
By Associated Press, 1/29/2004
A statement issued Thursday by the Boston Archdiocese regarding the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the children of a woman who had an affair with a priest:
"The Archdiocese of Boston is pleased to announce that a settlement agreement has been reached among the Archdiocese and the members of the Perry family. The settlement agreement was reached through the offices of Mediator Paul A. Finn of Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation.
Archbishop O'Malley sincerely regrets that a sexual relationship existed between a priest of the Archdiocese and Rita Perry, as well as the involvement of Father Foley in the tragic circumstances of her death. Archbishop O'Malley has already met with the members of the Perry family to express his apology directly to them and to express his further regret with regard to all that the Perrys have suffered since the revelation of these tragic events last year.
• Archdiocese Settles With Priest's Children
The Ledger
www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040129/APA/401290833 ,
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer, Jan 29, 2004
BOSTON (MA):
The Boston Archdiocese has settled a wrongful death lawsuit in one of the most notorious cases to emerge from its clergy sex abuse crisis - a priest who fathered two children with a woman, then fled when she overdosed on drugs.
In announcing a settlement Thursday in the case against the Rev. James Foley, Archbishop Sean O'Malley issued a strongly worded statement condemning priests who have sexual relationships with parishioners.
"Archbishop O'Malley sincerely regrets that a sexual relationship existed between a priest of the archdiocese and Rita Perry, as well as the involvement of Father Foley in the tragic circumstances of her death," he said in the statement.
"This tragic situation illustrates the inherently exploitive and harmful nature of sexual relationships between priests and parishioners."
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. As part of the deal, Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston, has agreed to meet privately with the woman's four children.
• Judge questions open-files ruling
Republican
www.masslive.com/news/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/10753662323272.xml ,
By Bill Zajac Staff writer
wzajac@repub.com ,
01/29/2004
BOSTON (MA): A state Supreme Judicial Court justice questioned yesterday a lower court ruling that struck down an effort to unseal files in the investigation into the 1972 slaying of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau.
While listening to arguments regarding the public's right to gain access to the files, Justice Robert J. Cordy questioned whether Appeals Court Judge John H. Mason properly applied "a change in circumstance" standard while ruling in November that a 1996 impoundment order sealing the files remains intact.
Cordy is expected to rule within several weeks on an effort to open the files by this newspaper and a lawyer representing about 20 plaintiffs in current clergy sexual abuse suits. Croteau's father filed affidavits supporting the release of most of the documents, and the Boston Herald also filed papers in support of the case.
Whatever decision is rendered by Cordy is likely to be appealed to the court's full seven-justice bench. Hampden County District Attorney William J. Bennett's office and a lawyer representing Richard R. Lavigne, a defrocked priest who was the only identified suspect in the slaying, are arguing that the 1996 impoundment order by Appeals Court Judge Elizabeth Porada should remain intact.
• Embattled Priest To Fight Cardinal's Stay-Away Order [1970s]
WBBM,
www.wbbm780.com/asp/ViewMoreDetails.asp?ID=33557 ,
By Steve Miller,
WBBM Newsradio 780
CHICAGO (IL): The Chicago priest ordered to stay away from his parish by Cardinal Francis George tells WBBM Newsradio 780 he thinks the Cardinal's action is illegal in church law.
To bring you up to date: Father John Calicott is out of the hospital, where he was treated for a racing heart rate.
Father Calicott believes stress may have been part of the problem.
Calicott was removed from public ministry almost two years ago because of sexual misconduct allegations from the '70s.
What Calicott told WBBM last year was this: "It is something which should not have happened, that I have done," he said.
Calicott says his record since then has been clean.
• Protect children from all abuses, pope says
Reuters AlertNet,
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2956431.htm ,
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Jan 29 (Reuters): Pope John Paul, whose Church is still reeling from a big sexual abuse scandal in the United States, on Thursday urged Catholics to defend children against all forms of exploitation and violence by adults.
The 83-year-old pope chose children as the theme for Catholic reflection during the 40-day season of Lent, which begins this year on February 25 and ends on Easter Sunday.
"There are young people who have been profoundly hurt by the violence of adults: sexual abuse, forced prostitution, involvement in the sale and use of drugs ...," he said in a message for Lent.
The scandal in the United States exploded two years ago with revelations of a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston that led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.
Law was accused of failing to act on evidence that priests were abusing children. The church covered up the facts and allowed offenders to be transferred to new parishes, where they continued to victimise children.
• Bill would require church supervisors to report clergy sex abuse
OREGON:
KGW,
www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D80C78E00.html ,
By SARAH LINN / Associated Press
01/29/2004
Church supervisors would be required to report clergy who sexually abuse children under a Senate bill that supporters said Wednesday would prevent abusers from simply moving to another congregation.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, would oblige bishops, senior pastors and other clergy members in supervisory positions to report suspected child abuse to authorities.
They're excluded from such obligation under a 1975 law that requires professionals such as nurses, psychologists, school counselors and probation officers to report suspected abuse or face a gross misdemeanor charge.
"Almost all clergy would never participate in this behavior, would not condone it ... but it happens," Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, told the Senate Children and Family Services and Corrections Committee.
• Ellison Steps Down
VIRGINIA
WRIC,
www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=1621054&nav=0RcxKU9a
We first told you about sex abuse charges involving a local pastor last week. Now, Pastor Joseph Ellison is stepping down from his ministry until his name is cleared.
Ellison wanted to defend himself against the allegations, so he spoke with the community Wednesday night at the Essex Village Community Center. He assured them that he is innocent.
"It's unfortunate that this was blown out of proportion...again the allegations are not true," said Ellison.
He openly discussed allegations that he sexually abused a minor. "I'm not a monster or child molester...it hurts, it hurts bad," he added.
Kendra Ellison is standing behind her husband. "We've grown stronger. We've grown closer," she said.
Ellison who is the founder of the Essex Village Church Community Center and Daycare wants parents to know the alleged incident did not involve anyone at the daycare but a child living in his home.
• Church of God pastor Holcomb's statements admissible [2003]
Roanoke Times,
"Holcomb's statements admissible,"
www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story161822.html
PEARISBURG (VA): Prosecutors can tell a jury about statements given by a former Pembroke pastor accused of sexually abusing five children, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The defense attorney for Roger Holcomb, 52, argued during a motions hearing that jurors shouldn't hear about the three-hour interview last summer because investigators ignored Holcomb's request for an attorney.
"He said, 'Get me a lawyer'," attorney Thomas DeBusk told Circuit Judge Colin Gibb. "There's nothing ambiguous about that."
Although Holcomb was told about his rights before questioning, he wasn't entitled to an attorney, Gibb ruled. Miranda rights only apply to people who have been charged with a crime or are in police custody, the judge said. Holcomb wasn't arrested until the next day and had agreed to go to the sheriff's office for the interview, Gibb said.
Holcomb, once pastor of the Pembroke Church of God, is charged with seven counts of aggravated sexual battery and four counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor with five children. The children, four girls and a boy ages 7 to 10, accused Holcomb of fondling them between January and September 2003 at the church's parsonage.
• More Victims Opt Out Of Class Action Lawsuit Against The Northern Kentucky Diocese
WCPO,
www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/01/28/churchabuse.html ,
Reported by: Bill Price,
Web produced by: Stacy Puzo,
Photographed by: 9News,
5:13:23 PM, 1/28/04
KENTUCKY: Another seven victims of alleged priest sexual abuse have now settled their claims against the Diocese of Covington.
They will now be among 39 alleged victims to opt out of a class action lawsuit against the Northern Kentucky Diocese.
In a statement issued Wednesday the Diocese of Covington said it is setting aside over $8 million to settle the 39 claims, meaning the payout to these alleged victims will top $210,000 a piece.
That is five times the average amount set aside by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and twice as much as the Lexington Archdiocese for settling over 300 other pending sexual abuse lawsuits.
• Extradition hearing for St John of God men on sex abuse to May
New Zealand Herald,
"Extradition hearing for churchmen on sex abuse charges set,"
www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3546353&thesection=news&thesubsection=general ,
29.01.2004 8.10 pm
NEW ZEALAND: A hearing opposing the extradition of three Catholic clergymen to New Zealand to face child sex abuse charges will be heard in Sydney in May.
A three-day hearing has been set down in Downing Centre Local Court, starting on May 10, the two brothers and a priest were told today.
Magistrate Robert Abood continued their bail until then.
The men - aged 82, 68 and 56 - are members of the St John of God order.
New Zealand police have filed 37 sexual abuse charges against them.
• Bishop limits priest in sex abuse case [1960s]
Star-Ledger,
www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1075359381210960.xml ,
By Jeff Diamant,
Thursday, January 29, 2004
PATERSON (NJ): Bishop Frank Rodimer of the Roman Catholic diocese of Paterson has barred an 87-year-old priest who was accused of sexual abuse from preaching and celebrating Mass.
Monsignor John Henry Dericks, a former pastor at parishes in Pequannock and Morristown, also will not be able to administer church sacraments unless the recipient is on the verge of dying, according to a letter written by Rodimer two weeks ago.
Rodimer's decision apparently ends a case in which Dericks was accused of sexually molesting a teenage girl who was younger than 18 in his country house four decades ago. Dericks paid his accuser, Cheryl Christopher of Passaic, $25,000 in a legal settlement almost 10 years ago, according to a letter sent last year from Rodimer to the Vatican.
Dericks, who retired in 1986 and lives in Andover, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
• Statutes stop priests' and diocese abuse lawsuits
Chicago Daily Herald,
Priests' abuse lawsuits dropped
www.dailyherald.com/mchenry/main_story.asp?intID=38015149 ,
By Tona Kunz,
Posted January 29, 2004
JOLIET (IL): In one of the first tests of the state's newly broadened law dealing with the sexual abuse of minors, a Will County judge dismissed two lawsuits against two former DuPage County priests and the Joliet Diocese.
Judge James Garrison said Thursday the lawsuits against the Rev. Michael Gibbney and the Rev. Lawrence Mullins failed to qualify under the repressed memory portion of the state's statute of limitations.
Garrison said the nine men who filed the lawsuits failed to prove they were emotionally or psychologically incapable after turning 18 years old of recognizing the alleged abuse was wrong and could have caused their stress.
The men had argued they did not draw a connection between their alleged abuse and current emotional problems until hearing about other priest abuse cases.
• Joliet diocese wins dismissal of suits [1970s, 80s]
Chicago Tribune,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0401290209jan29,1,2510783.story?coll=chi-news-hed ,
By Karen Mellen,
January 29, 2004
JOLIET (IL): Lawsuits filed by five men alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet more than 20 years ago have been thrown out by a Will County judge, despite a change in state law to extend the statute of limitations in such cases.
The men, all in their mid- to late 30s, sought to reinstate previously dismissed lawsuits against two former priests and the diocese under a new provision allowing some lawsuits to be filed long after the offenses allegedly occurred.
But in the ruling made public Wednesday, Judge James Garrison granted the diocese's request to dismiss the cases, agreeing that the men's claims--that they did not realize they had been harmed until 2002, when they saw intense media coverage of the clergy sex-abuse scandal--were not believable.
The law now allows accusers to sue until they are 28 years old or within five years of when they understood they were abused and had suffered psychological harm. Previously, plaintiffs had to bring court claims by age 20.
• Pickerington priest Martin Weithman asks to be removed [1980s]
COLUMBUS (OH):
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette,
"Pickerington priest asks to be removed."
www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20040129/localnews/312650.html ,
By From staff and wire reports
A Pickerington pastor accused of sexual misconduct has told the Columbus Roman Catholic Diocese that he will ask the Vatican to remove him from the priesthood.
The Rev. Martin Weithman had been on leave from his duties as pastor of Seton Parish in Pickerington while the diocese investigated allegations that he molested a teenage boy in the late 1980s.
Weithman has denied the allegations of sexual molestation of Dennis Palmer, now 32, formerly of Columbus.
Bishop James Griffin previously had requested that the Vatican remove Weithman and two other priests who did not leave voluntarily.
Griffin's decision was based on recommendations from a diocesan board reviewing sex abuse cases. Under rules adopted by U.S. bishops last year, abusive priests must be removed from public ministry and could be forced out of the priesthood.
• Cardinal asks Vatican to speed priest's appeal
CHICAGO (IL):
Chicago Tribune,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0401290207jan29,1,7444585.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed ,
By James Janega,
Published January 29, 2004
Cardinal Francis George has asked the Vatican to speed the appeal of a South Side pastor removed from ministry for charges of abuse, a spokesman for the cardinal said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the suspended priest, Rev. John Calicott, said he would spend the coming weeks with out-of-town relatives after at first challenging last week's order from George that he "absent himself" from Holy Angels, his former parish, as his case moved forward.
Calicott's case has become a sticking point within the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and at Holy Angels. Though parishioners have rallied around him, rules set in 2002 by U.S. bishops in Dallas require the removal of priests found to have committed sexual abuse.
Calicott has said he never admitted to the charges, which were brought in 1994. After undergoing psychological counseling, Calicott was reinstated by then-Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1995. He was removed by George in 2002 but has appealed his case to Rome.
"They're doing what they can to expedite procedures," archdiocesan spokesman Jim Dwyer said.
• Another sexual misconduct suit filed against area diocese [? before 1953, Janssen affair]
Gate City,
www.dailygate.com/articles/2004/01/28/news/news4.txt , Jan 28, 2004
DAVENPORT (IA) (AP): The 11th sexual abuse lawsuit in just over a year has been filed against the Davenport Roman Catholic Diocese, this one alleging the church tried to hide information about a priest's abuse of boys.
A former Fort Madison altar boy identified as John Doe VI filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Scott County against the diocese and the Rev. James Janssen.
The lawsuit says diocese files show that Janssen's 1953 leave of absence was a result of complaints about his sexual contacts with boys.
The lawsuit also alleges that the information was kept in "secret archives" located "downstairs at the chancery and inside a locked combination safe." The files allegedly were not readily available to all diocesan authority figures.
• Davenport diocese to detail child abuse
Des Moines Register,
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4788993/23389363.html ,
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE,
Register Religion Editor,
01/29/2004
DAVENPORT (IA): The Davenport Catholic Diocese plans to issue a public report on child sexual abuse by clergy over the past 50 years, following similar reports by Iowa's three other dioceses.
Davenport also soon will take disciplinary action against certain priests, diocese attorney Rand Wonio said Wednesday. He declined to name the priests or specify the action.
However, in an interview published Wednesday in the (De Witt) Observer, Davenport Bishop William E. Franklin said that paperwork required by the Vatican to defrock the Rev. James Janssen has been initiated.
Janssen has been named in eight of 11 lawsuits filed against the diocese by men who say they were sexually abused by priests as children.
The report will explain why in April 1996 Franklin ordered Janssen removed from all priestly duties and informed other diocese priests of his order, Wonio said.
• Paterson diocese extends suspension of priest accused of molesting girl
NJ.com,
www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1075285761162680.xml ,
The Associated Press,
1/28/2004, 4:37 a.m. ET
PATERSON, N.J. (AP): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson has extended the suspension of a priest accused of molesting a teenage girl in the 1960s.
Monsignor John Henry Dericks was first barred from performing his duties about two years ago, after the allegations were made and the diocese began its investigation. Church officials then sent a letter to the Vatican last summer, asking that they conduct a trial, but it was determined that the 87-year-old Dericks was too old to face a tribunal.
Bishop Frank Rodimer announced this week that Derick's suspension would continue indefinitely. Dericks, who declined to comment on the decision, can appeal Rodimer's ruling to the Vatican if he desires.
"Monsignor Dericks has been instructed that he can no longer function as a priest," said Marianna Thompson, a diocesan spokeswoman.
• Sis: Fired jail boss lied about Geoghan
Boston Herald,
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1562 ,
By Franci Richardson,
Thursday, January 29, 2004
BOSTON (MA): Just days before the superintendent at MCI-Concord was fired, Catherine Geoghan told officials investigating her brother's prison murder that the administrator lied to her to protect an allegedly abusive guard.
"He said he witnessed John assaulting (the guard) and she knew for a fact that he did not," Charles Houlihan, cousin and spokesman for Catherine Geoghan, said yesterday.
The West Roxbury woman, who had a conference call with state police Lt. Frank Matthews last week, told him Superintendent Michael Grant lied to her after she watched as former correction officer Jason Harris "bodychecked" her brother as he walked into the visiting room in 2002.
After the incident, Geoghan told Harris, "You assaulted me," and was written up for lying.
• Evidence against ex-priest at issue [1970s murder]
Boston Globe,
www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/029/metro/Evidence_against_ex_priest_at_issue+.shtml ,
By Kevin Cullen, 1/29/2004
BOSTON (MA): The lawyer for a defrocked priest who is a suspect in the 1972 murder of a Springfield altar boy yesterday accused an attorney for alleged sex abuse victims of trying to "stampede" prosecutors into charging the ex-priest with the unsolved homicide.
Arguing before Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert J. Cordy, Max D. Stern insisted his client, Richard R. Lavigne, did not kill 13-year-old altar boy Daniel Croteau 32 years ago, and said the police file on Croteau's slaying should remain impounded.
Stern accused Greenfield attorney John J. Stobierski of trying to force Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett to seek "an intemperate indictment" of Lavigne in the murder case. Stobierski, who represents 15 people who say Lavigne sexually abused them when they were young, said his only interest in the murder file was to show that the Diocese of Springfield knew about Lavigne's proclivity for molesting minors as far back as 1972 but left him in a position where he had access to children. Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who last week announced that Lavigne had been laicized, has said the diocese first became aware of allegations of sexual abuse against Lavigne in 1986.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:42 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Thursday, January 29, 2004
• Fostered 100 abused; Carers get the benefit of doubt, critics claim
The West Australian,
"Fostered 100 abused; Carers get the benefit of doubt, critics claim,"
by Pamela Magill,
p 13, Wednesday January 28 2004, PERTH:
One hundred WA [Western Australian] children have been abused sexually, physically or emotionally while in foster care in the past four years, according to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
They show that in at least 26 of those cases the abuser was a foster parent -- but the number is likely to be higher because that statistic was not available for the past financial year. [Australian financial years end on June 30.]
Since 2000, the Department for Community Welfare has deregistered 25 foster carers as a result of substantiated child abuse allegations or inappropriate parenting.
[COMMENT: More than six months after June 30, the statistics are not available? Check a national general child-abuse newsitem earlier. In Queensland the under-funded department have been letting abuse reports go unchecked, and now an election campaign will take the public's attention off that. -- FPP, 30 Jan 04 COMMENT ENDS.]
• Pleasure to read
The West Australian, letter, Fr. Timothy Deeter, Mt Lawley, W.Australia,
p 20, Wednesday January 28 2004, PERTH:
Gavin Simpson's column Belief & Beyond (A dilemma, confess it, 24/1) was a pleasure to read.
Informative, even-handed and non-judgmental, it presented a relevant topic in a way that was respectful of traditional belief yet addressed contemporary concerns.
I'd like to see more of this type of writing in the religion column.
[COMMENT: Well, so would we. Mainly it was saying what COULD have been done. No-one tried to answer why 30 priests and two bishops (and all the other people who knew about the sex abuse) couldn't tell the police or the news media 25 years earlier. There's no spiritual leadership in this crowd, but the worrying part is there isn't much common sense, either. -- FPP, 30 Jan 04. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Follow-up to "Voices of Outrage"
E-mail sent from FPP, Jan 28, 2004
AUSTRALIA:
To Voices of Outrage: Where's the Justice?
www.voicesofoutrage.com :
I want anyone who follows my link to your homepage to feel at home, even if they are a curious or reformist RC. It's hard enough for people like RCs who believe JC and the Holy Spirit are guiding their leaders, to have to face the harsh hard facts of CONTINUING sex and sex abuse, some of it being
exposed right now. Let's make it a bit easier for them to absorb the necessary information, can we?
[RESULT: The VoO leader won't change the website.]
• 2 US lay groups organising massive survey of priests on optional celibacy
CathNews from Church Resources, Australia,
"2 US lay groups organising massive survey of priests on optional celibacy,"
http://www.cathnews.com/news/401/150.php ,
Jan 29, 2004
UNITED STATES:
Triggered by a number of well-publicised open letters from diocesan priests, two of the new lay groups that have arisen since the abuse crisis are planning a massive survey of US priests on the question of optional celibacy. The results of the survey are expected to be published in May.
In a joint media release sent out yesterday, "Call to Action" and "Future Church" have indicated they are planning to canvass the views of parish priests in 52 dioceses across the US from Baltimore to California
The "Future Church" website link below provides a full description of what is being planned. The planned action follows the initiative of the 163 Milwaukee priests calling for discussion of optional celibacy last August.
Source - Full Story: Future Church -- Corpus Christi Campaign for Optional Celibacy
http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/corpus/index.htm .
(By courtesy of CathNews from Church Resources, Australia, www.cathnews.com)
[COMMENT: The campaign, and an associated petition form, plus one devised for Australian use, have been on this website for some time. To find them, please use the "Search This Site" panel provided.]
Jan 29, 2004
• $105,000 bill in police sex case [Not religion]
Herald Sun, Melbourne,
"$105,000 bill in police sex case,"
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8523045%255E26462,00.html ,
By Elissa Hunt,
January 29, 2004
MELBOURNE:
Victorian taxpayers will be hit with a huge legal bill after a woman won a $105,000 settlement over sexual misconduct by police.
But the case, which the woman says could have been avoided if police had said sorry, is likely to cost taxpayers several times that amount in legal fees spent fighting her civil claim for two years.
Legal sources estimate taxpayers could face legal costs of more than $300,000, and as much as $500,000, for the state of Victoria and three of the five officers involved.
One of the policemen, whose defence was taxpayer-funded, had been fined and transferred after admitting the woman's claims of sexual misconduct were true.
"I'm more than grateful for what I have been awarded but in no way is it ever going to make up for what they did," the woman told the Herald Sun.
"It's taken me a long time to come to terms with the fact my life is never going to be the same."
An ombudsman's probe into 50 claims by women against some members of Maryborough police from 1989 to 1996 backed her allegations of sexual misconduct and intimidation.
"The conduct of a number of male police in their dealings with vulnerable women and teenage girls . . . has been disgraceful," Dr Barry Perry said in his November 1997 report.
The woman was 16 and homeless when she came forward with claims that two policemen on duty in Maryborough took her and another girl to a park for sexual activity on two occasions in early 1996.
She says she was harassed, intimidated and threatened as she tried to pursue her complaint.
After the damning ombudsman's report into the Maryborough police, the woman received a letter from police acknowledging her claims - but no apology.
"If I had just received an apology . . . it would have been over and done with," she said.
The woman, now the mother of a young child, lodged her civil claim at the County Court in 2001.
It was against the state, three policemen accused of misconduct and two supervising officers.
One of the men was sacked, one resigned before his disciplinary hearing and another was fined. None of the men are still at Maryborough.
The sacked officer funded his own defence, the Police Association covered the officer who resigned and taxpayers paid for the others.
The case was settled for $105,000 plus costs just weeks before a County Court jury trial was to start late last year, with no liability being admitted by the defendants.
But the woman is outraged her taxes helped fund those fighting her court action: "It's ludicrous. I can't describe how it makes me feel."
Victoria Police Commander (legal services) Luke Cornelius said members were generally defended where they had acted reasonably or necessarily, in the course of their duties, and in good faith.
"Police can expect to be held publicly accountable and a way that is achieved is by civil action against them," Cdr Cornelius said.
"The question is what is the fairest way of resolving it in the interests of the public and the parties."
Cdr Cornelius said external legal advice was sought in deciding to fund the three members.
January 29, 2004
[COMMENT: Other people's money used to defend the offenders, no real apology, and "flim-flam talk." The woman says she was "harassed, intimidated and threatened."
Does is sound like some Churches, readers?
In the US a protester was traduced from the pulpit during Sunday mass recently.
John Strange, an editor of the Raleigh RC newspaper in the US, was dismissed just before Christmas for publishing a review of a book about the problem.
(Independent Weekly, "Editor of NC Catholic fired for publishing an article with criticism of the church,"
http://indyweek.com/durham/2003-12-31/news2.html , by Patrick O'Neill, Dec 31, 2004)
Notice that the Press have just got hold of this police story, evidently hidden since "late last year."
We hope you enjoyed the Police HQ legal services commander's statement "Police can expect to be held publicly accountable and a way that is achieved is by civil action against them," Cdr Luke Cornelius said. Sure! Through a court case costing thousands! Well, a humbug is a humbug, no matter what station in life they are in! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Simpson is right; people find it appalling
"Simpson is right; people find it appalling,"
Letter sent to newspaper/s, by Anonymous,
Thursday, January 29, 2004
AUSTRALIA:
Your columnist [The West Australian] Gavin Simpson wrote truly about Queensland priest Michael McArdle's child sex abuse being known to the Roman Catholic Church for 25 years, "... many people find it appalling that nothing happened about the priest's actions for so long ..." (Belief & beyond, 24/1)
Father McArdle's affidavit that, at Confession, he told his crimes of child
abuse 1500 times (to 30 other priests) and he had to face the RC hierarchy
twice about complaints of his abuse, opened my mind to the sacrilege
involved, world-wide.
Have hundreds of priests and their bishops, and don't forget their thousands
of victims, been going to Confession and getting no better direction than
"Go home and pray," as Fr McArdle got? How much sacrilege is being committed
right now?
More than 1000 priests have been caught in the United States alone, and the
reports from Australia, the Philippines, Malta, Ireland, England, and
Canada, covering all religions, have been shattering.
The Churches don't seem able to get back to the right path laid out
centuries ago by Jesus, which was, if someone persists in sinning, let
him/her be shunned. This is in Matthew 18:15-18 and 2 Thessalonians 3: 6 and
14.
The shunning method is backed several other times in the New Testament.
These teachings ought to be heeded, not such forgeries as "The Woman Taken
in Adultery" story and the saying "they know not what they do".
Read 1 Timothy 5:20-21 for guidance about reproving bad people publicly.
Most people know that is hard to put into practice. It is also admitted that
more child abuse occurs in the circle of family and friends than occurs
through religious affiliations. But we are entitled to expect clergy to be
like Caesar's wife, and to act as if bishops were shepherds, not the friends
of the wolves.
In Western Australia there have been priest and brother convictions, the
last known to me being that of transferred priest Adrian Richard van
Klooster, 60, of Australind (reported Jan 21 2003).
New Zealand police are trying to extradite three accused clerics from
Australia, and instead of going back to face trial, they are opposing it in
a Sydney court. (The New Zealand Herald,
www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3544842&thesection=news&thesubsection=general ,
NZPA, Jan 22, 2004)
All these un-Christian attitudes are an indictment of the secrecy doctrines
of various religions, and of the RC headquarters, unknown to ordinary
mass-goers until exposed by Kathy Shaw in a US newspaper on July 29, 2003,
and publicly proved in an Irish newspaper on August 27, 2003.
I thank the kind people who rang me with support after my letter (17/1)
backing the editorial (13/1) saying, "Church must act to stop child abuse".
The apologists who have been in the news media since have been defending the
"seal of the confessional", not apologising to the innocent children taken
in by their parents' gullibility. It shows the truth of the West's
editorial that "the Church was more interested in protecting its reputation
than children"
[QUOTATIONS WITHOUT COMMENT:
Scripture cited above:
Matthew 18:15-18: [Jesus said:] If your brother sins, reprove him ... if he does not listen take along with you one or two more ... if he does not listen ... tell the Church ... if he does not listen even to the Church, let him be to you as the Gentiles and the tax-collectors.
2 Thessalonians 3: 6 and 14: Withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. ... But if anyone is not obedient to our word through this letter, keep this one marked not to associate with him, in order that he might become ashamed.
1 Timothy 5:20: If anyone is at fault, reprimand him publicly, as a warning to the rest.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1459: Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. . . . the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin ... "make satisfaction for" or "expiate" ... "penance."
(§ 1459; Page 366, St Pauls, Homebush, 1995 Australian edition; Latin copyright 1994; Imprimi Potest + Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.)
Other Scripture references for confessors, and bishops! (The "forgive everything" Church people "forget" these most of the time! They pretend that the "rigorists" in the early Church were "heretics", but when explaining Indulgences tell us that severe penalties were usual in Christianity.)
Hebrews 6:4-6 "impossible to revive", 1 John 5:16, 18 "fatal sin", Matthew 12:32 "not forgiven",
Matt 10:14 "shake the dust", Matt 10:34-35, Matt. 18:6-8, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2 "millstone",
1 Corinthians 5:7 "purge out old yeast", 1 Cor. 5:13,
2 Cor. 13:2-10,
2 Timothy 3:5, Titus 3:10,
2 John 9-11;
and read Jude, verse 3, Galatians 1:8, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, and 2 Peter 2:1-2, 18-19, 22,
John 14:23, 24, 1 Corinthians 16:22.
QUOTATIONS WITHOUT COMMENT, END.]
Letter sent: Jan 29, 2004
• Lavigne's victims cost $US 1.4m so far, convicted 1992, defrocked 2004; murder suspect as well
The Record , Western Australia Catholic newspaper,
"Child abuser laicised," by Father Bill Pomerleau [According to the Internet, of the Observer staff, see
http://www.iobserve.org/rn0127b.html of Jan 27, 2004.],
p 13, January 29, 2004
UNITED STATES:
Convicted child molester Richard R. Lavigne has been laicised [i.e., defrocked] by papal decree.
Bishop Thomas L. Dupre of Springfield announced on January 20 that the former priest's change in status took effect last November 20, when Pope John Paul II signed a decree returning him to the lay state.
Bishop Dupre said he received notice of the Pope's action on January 9 in a letter from the Vatican. He said he met with Lavigne on January 17 to inform him of the decision. [...]
Lavigne, 62, ... was convicted in 1992 and received ... 10 years' probation ... accused in more than 30 sexual abuse lawsuits ... Seventeen ... settled in 1994 for $1.4 million.
He is also the only publicly identified suspect in the unsolved 1972 killing of a 13-year-old Springfield altar boy, Daniel Croteau.
In December 2002 the Vatican approved special U.S. norms for handling cases of sexually abusive priests, including a provision "in exceptional cases" for a bishop to seek an expedited administrative procedure of laicisation by papal decree without a trial. [...]
... Detroit ... Joseph Sito, ... 68 ... guilty ... Michigan ... criminal sexual conduct ... teenage boy ...
Bishop Dupre said that with Lavigne's laicisation he will no longer receive financial support from the diocese under the church law.
Picture: US bishops at a press conference wrapping up their annual meeting in Washington last year. During their four-day meeting, US bishops accepted new revised norms and a charter to address sexual abuse by clergy. Photo CNS/Reuters. [And the disgraced Cardinal Law was the only face in focus!]
January 29, 2004
[COMMENT: Convicted of child abuse in 1992 and still in the clergy! And getting money from the Church donations! Added to that, the overdue defrocking decision took from November 20 to January 17 to be relayed to the accused priest. These are not exactly the marks of a Church fighting against child corruption, or on top of communications! Perhaps the Vatican needs a new overseer (episkopus) or elder (presbyteros), and certainly needs a faster messenger (angelos, in Bible Greek) :-)
There are possibly dozens of accusations against Lavigne, according to a January 23 2004 newsitem.
No Church trial. Shades of the 1215 "annulling" of Magna Carta! Is it any wonder that many people shake their heads in wonderment? Many wish they didn't have to read yet another tale of the dismal dearth of holy "shepherding," of sanctity, and even of commonsense. -- FPP, Jan 30 04 COMMENT ENDS.]
Article: January 29, 2004
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Friday, January 30, 2004 edition follows:-
Series starts:
www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
Visit
www.ncrnews.org/abuse
• He Says He Wants a Reformation, and to help -- AFTER diocese ignoring a victim cost churchgoers $US 5.2m
Orange County Weekly,
"He Says He Wants a Reformation,"
www.ocweekly.com/ink/04/21/news-arellano.php ,
by Gustavo Arellano
CALIFORNIA: Bishop Tod D. Brown says he wants a Reformation. Following an afternoon Mass on Jan. 18 at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, the lavender-robed head of Orange County's Catholics tacked a copy of his "Seven Theses" to the church's door, mimicking pound for pound Martin Luther's nailing of his Ninety-Five Theses to the doors of the cathedral in the German town of Wittenberg in 1517.
Luther's posting remains history's most influential use of a bulletin board; Brown's "Covenant With the Faithful," however, isn't likely to foment the same social change. Promising to end decades of sex abuse among Catholic priests and to handle sensitively the rising wave of legal claims that resulted with his seven-point plan, Brown merely reiterates old sex-abuse policies that his diocese has promised to live by for years but never followed.
Brown would be best advised to ignore himself. His first thesis -- the promise that church officials will "do everything possible to help" victims of priestly molestation -- would bankrupt the diocese.
Consider the church's handling of the 2001 Ryan DiMaria case. DiMaria sued the dioceses of Orange and Los Angeles for alleged abuse inflicted by defrocked principal Michael Harris while DiMaria was a student at Santa Margarita High School. All DiMaria sought when he told church officials of his molestation in 1997 was $100,000 to cover counseling.
"When we submitted our offer, church lawyers laughed at us and said, 'No way,'" says DiMaria, now an attorney with the Costa Mesa-based law firm Manly & McGuire, which has about 20 sex-abuse lawsuits pending against the Orange diocese. "It wasn't my intention to file a lawsuit initially, but the reaction I got from them was that they didn't care what happened to me or other victims."
Four years later, Superior Court Judge Jim Gray made them care. He ordered the two dioceses to pay DiMaria $5.2 million in civil damages, then the largest pretrial settlement ever against a diocese in the nation. Gray also forced the Orange diocese to adhere to some of the toughest zero-tolerance policies in the United States Catholic Church -- precisely the policies that Brown plagiarized for his "Covenant with the Faithful."
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:36 PM
• Priest won't return to duties after maijuana court hearing [2004]
Cincinnati Enquirer,
Priest won't return to duties after court,
www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/01/27/loc_loc1ztsbrfs.html , Jan 27, 2004
AKRON, OHIO: A Roman Catholic priest accused of growing marijuana in his church living quarters won't be allowed to return to his duties in the parish after the case is resolved, church officials said.
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, 40, was charged last week with illegal cultivation of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony. He has been placed on paid leave, church officials said.
"We are confused and concerned that this man who has done so much good could allow marijuana to be growing in his church residence," said Bishop Martin J. Amos, auxiliary bishop for the southern portion of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, on Sunday.
• Parishioners stand by priest in court [2004]
Beacon Journal,
www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/7820690.htm ,
By Ed Meyer and Gina Mace
BARBERTON (OH): She was sitting in the middle of the front row of the public seating area in Barberton Municipal Court, clutching a rosary in her lap and praying for the defendant.
Beth Douglas, a 41-year-old mathematics teacher at Akron's East High School and a mother of four, was one of more than 20 Prince of Peace Catholic Church parishioners watching in court Wednesday as their pastor, the Rev. Richard A. Arko, appeared before Judge Michael L. Weigand to have an arraignment scheduled.
Arko, 40, was arrested by Norton police last week on a felony charge of cultivating marijuana in the church rectory.
Douglas said she and many other Prince of Peace parishioners are "completely devastated" by the charge and are praying that, somehow, it's not true.
"It's just the most painful thing," Douglas said, her voice shaking as she left the courtroom. "It's like losing somebody, like they're taking him away from us."
• Parishioners stand behind priest accused of cultivating marijuana
iobserve,
www.iobserve.org/nn0129a.html ,
By Dennis Sadowski,
Catholic News Service, Jan 29 2004
BARBERTON, Ohio (CNS): A week after the arrest of Father Richard Arko on a charge of cultivating marijuana, parishioners at Prince of Peace Church say they support him and hope he will return as their pastor.
"Parishioners are willing to forgive and have him come back," said Lawrence Lauter, a lay ecclesial minister who was named parish life coordinator at the church Jan. 23, the day Father Arko began a leave of absence.
"Father Rick has given us a vision of what a caring community is supposed to be about, ... to be an adult faith community, to be in relationship with Jesus and one another," Lauter told the Catholic Universe Bulletin, newspaper of the Cleveland Diocese.
The priest's parish is located southwest of Akron on the border between the suburbs of Norton and Barberton. The rectory and church are in Norton while the parish hall and parking lot are in Barberton.
• RC Church apology reaction mixed; victim unbelieving [1963]
The Hawk Eye, of Burlington, Iowa,
"Church apology reaction mixed,"
www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln11_0130.html ,
By Craig T. Neises,
cneises@thehawkeye.com
IOWA: For a Burlington man who came forward almost two years ago with the story of how he was the teenage victim of sexual abuse by a priest, an apology issued by a council of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport to abuse victims rang hollow.
The southeast Iowa area's most senior priest, in the meantime, said the statement by the Presbyterial Council was a genuine attempt to aid healing in a diocese now facing 11 victim lawsuits for abuse during the past five-plus decades.
"This is one of the first steps," Monsignor John Hyland said.
According to an article published in Thursday's issue of The Catholic Messenger, the diocese's weekly newspaper, the Presbyterial, or priest's, council, recently adopted a pair of motions related to the issue of clergy abuse.
The first was an apology for the "gigantic betrayal of trust," and the pain caused by the "hideous nature of sexual abuse by priests." [...]
To David Waldorf, words like that run counter to his experience trying to get answers from the diocese the past year and a half.
"Propaganda would be a great word. Damage control," said Waldorf, who stepped forward in 2002 with a claim that he was abused in 1963 by an assistant priest at St. John's Catholic Church.
The only sure way for the diocese to help victims heal, Waldorf said, is for it to give a full public accounting of who among its priests have been accused of abuse, where they were and when, and how they were dealt with after the allegations were made. So far, Waldorf said his efforts to obtain such information have been thwarted or ignored.
A lack of openness seems to suggest that there is more yet to uncover about pastoral abuse in the diocese. At the very least, Waldorf believes that by having authority over investigations into past abuse, Bishop William Franklin is like the fox guarding the henhouse. Waldorf questions why law enforcement agencies haven't taken a deep interest in the issue.
Waldorf said he believes that Franklin's definition of pastoral care is taking care of pastors, and wondered aloud whether Franklin had something to hide.
"Doesn't that make anyone else suspicious?" he asked. [...]
"They keep saying they can't do anything," Waldorf said. "I think it's cowardly to hide behind the victims." . . .
• Former Protestant orphanage resident creates group to help victims [1970s]
The Journal Pioneer,
"Former orphange resident creates group to help victims of abuse,"
www.journalpioneer.com ,
By Jim Brown,
Monday, January 26, 2004
CANADA: Halifax resident Roch Longueepee spent five years during the early 1970s in Prince Edward Island's Mount Herbert orphanage. He says the years spent in the home were to scar his childhood and impact on his future happiness, but they have also led him to prepare two lawsuits and found an organization for institutional abuse victims.
Now, decades later, he is fighting back against all the abuse he claims he suffered at the hands of people who worked at Mount Herbert.
He plans to sue the Protestant Children's Trust, which is in charge of monies raised from the dissolution and demolition of the orphanage and the sale of its assets. Fifty-seven other former residents are also suing the trust.
Longueepee is naming the Province as a co-defendent in his suit of the trust.
He's also going a big step farther and preparing to launch a second suit.
• Dioceses of Worcester makes name and membership change to Pastoral Care Committee to comply with the Charter to Protect Children.
Worcester Voice,
http://worcestervoice.com/Current%20news.htm
WORCESTER (MA): The Pastoral Care Committee, first established in May 2002 has undergone a name change and added four new people to the enrollment. The committee will now be known as the Diocesan Review Committee. The established purpose of this committee is to deal directly with the accusation of clergy sexual abuse from within the Worcester Dioceses. An updated policy is to be released soon according to Mrs. Patty Engdahl, director of the Office of Healing.
Of the twenty-one member panel, eleven (11) members are represented as being part of the initial review committee. Theses members would be responsible for the original contact with the complainant. Member Mrs. Frances Nugent, victim coordinator will make the initial contact and will be accompanied by at least one member of the initial review committee. Mrs. Nugent returns a signed statement by the complainant, which is then forwarded to the Bishop and District Attorney in jurisdiction.
A presentation of facts is then conducted by Mrs. Nugent to the entire Diocesan Review Committee, which then reviews the presented facts and makes a recommendation to the Bishop. The committee is of an advisory capacity only. This committee is bound by no time limit to make a recommendation. Bishop Reilly and only Bishop Reilly makes the decision to remove a Priest. The Bishop may allow an accused clergy member to remain in ministry if he feels the accusations are inaccurate. This Committee is not mandated by law to report any forms of sexual allegations.
• Testimony paints troubling picture [2003]
PHOENIX (AZ):
The Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0130obrien30.html ,
by Joseph A. Reaves,
Jan. 30, 2004
Prosecutors used testimony from friends and relatives to paint a picture Thursday of Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien hiding in his home, ignoring phone calls and refusing to acknowledge he was aware police wanted to question him about a fatal hit-and-run accident.
O'Brien is accused of leaving the scene of an accident that led to the death of 43-year-old Jim L. Reed on June 14 in a central Phoenix street. The defense admits O'Brien hit Reed and left the scene, but says the bishop can't be convicted because he never knew he hit a person.
The case resumes Monday.
On Thursday, the bishop's sister, nephew, office assistant and housekeeper offered seemingly innocuous bits of information that the prosecution pulled together into a disturbing scenario.
• Jury told that Phoenix bishop ducked police probing hit-and-run fatality [2003]
Tucson Citizen,
www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/013004_bishop_trial.html ,
The Associated Press, Jan 30, 2004
PHOENIX (AZ): Prosecutors assembled testimony by friends and relatives of Catholic Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien and painted a picture of a man who hid in his home, ignored phone calls and refused to acknowledge he was aware that police wanted to question him about a fatal hit-and-run accident.
O'Brien is on trial on a charge that he left the scene of a June 14 accident that led to the death of 43-year-old Jim L. Reed.
O'Brien's lawyers acknowledge the former leader of the Catholic diocese hit Reed and left the scene, but contend O'Brien can't be convicted because he never knew he hit a person.
On Thursday, the bishop's sister, nephew, office assistant and housekeeper offered seemingly innocuous bits of information that the prosecution pulled together into a disturbing scenario.
According to that testimony and earlier evidence, O'Brien left the dinner table at his sister's home around 9 p.m. on Father's Day, June 15, to take a phone call from a friend who told him police wanted to question him about a fatal hit-and-run accident.
O'Brien then told his family he was going home to wait for police to contact him.
Once there, however, O'Brien ignored at least a half dozen telephone calls from worried friends and relatives.
• St. Joseph's victims still seek settlement [1950s-70s]
CBC,
http://ottawa.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ot_stjosephs20040130 ,
Jan 30 2004
OTTAWA, CANADA: The latest chapter in a decades-old sex-abuse scandal will take place in an Ottawa courtroom Friday morning.
A judge has been asked to approve a settlement in a class-action suit brought by 230 former students of St. Joseph's Training School in Alfred, just east of Ottawa.
The men suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers, who ran the school in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
David McCann was a student at St. Joseph's in the mid-1950s, and was the first to come forward with allegations of abuse. He says today's decision could go a long way towards healing old wounds.
• Alleged victims of sexual abuse to sue Philadelphia Archdiocese
NEPA News,
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10889983&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6 ,
The Associated Press, January 29, 2004
PHILADELPHIA (PA): Five people who claim to have been molested by priests plan to announce Friday that they are suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Lawyers representing the alleged victims declined to reveal their clients names Thursday or provide details on the suits. The suits involve three priests in the archdiocese, according to a statement released by attorneys Richard Serbin and Jay Abramowitch.
The suits would be among several that have been filed against Catholic church officials across the state in recent weeks. Four people who claimed to have been abused by priests filed lawsuits against the Pittsburgh diocese on Jan. 14. Five people sued the diocese of Allentown on Jan. 13. A 44-year-old man who claimed to have been abused as a child sued the Philadelphia archdiocese in December.
!!!: Priest named citizen of year accused of sexual abuse in lawsuit [1967-70]
Contra Costa Times
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/7829382.htm ,
Associated Press
WALNUT, Calif.: A Catholic priest named Walnut's citizen of the year last weekend has been accused in a lawsuit of molesting a Riverside woman in the 1960s when she was a teenager.
The Rev. Michael Carroll, pastor of St. Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church in Walnut, was named in a lawsuit brought against the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese. His accuser, now 50, said she was 14 when the abuse allegedly began in 1967, adding that it continued for four years. At the time Carroll was pastor at St. Anselm's Catholic Church in Los Angeles.
The accusation came to light over the weekend after a letter revealing the lawsuit and explaining why Carroll was still in the ministry was read to his congregation during Saturday Mass. On that same day the Walnut Chamber of Commerce named him its citizen of the year.
The woman's attorney, R. Richard Farnell of Newport Beach, said his client reported the alleged abuse to Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1996 and, after being confronted, Carroll apologized.
• New steps for clergy-abuse claims
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion/jan04/203744.asp ,
By Tom Heinen,
theinen@journalsentinel.com ,
Posted: Jan. 29, 2004
MILWAUKEE (WI): Three former Milwaukee police detectives will investigate claims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy under a new, more independent mediation process the Milwaukee Archdiocese and a Marquette University professor unveiled Thursday.
The announcement began a three-month period for victims to come forward and launched an eight-week campaign to publicize the effort through parish and school announcements, and ads in print and broadcast media in the 10-county archdiocese.
Victims can seek mediation after the period ends, said Eva Soeka, the MU professor, but she hopes as many as possible will enter now.
"The idea is to get a handle on the numbers of cases that may exist," said Soeka, whom Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan appointed to design a system after few victims entered the church's previous pastoral mediation. "And right now, we have no way of knowing that."
!!!: Seminarian accused of molesting 16-y-o girl [CURRENT]
Connecticut Post,
"Seminarian arrested in sex assault,"
www.connpost.com/Stories/0,1413,96~3750~1922362,00.html ,
By Daniel Tepfer, dtepfer@ctpost.com
BRIDGEPORT (CT): A Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport seminarian has been charged with molesting a 16-year-old girl.
Leonardo Montoya, 30, of West Avenue in Norwalk, surrendered at Bridgeport police headquarters Tuesday night after being told there was a warrant for his arrest.
Montoya is the first religious figure of the diocese to be arrested for sexual misconduct. Twenty-five priests in the diocese have been accused of sexually assaulting children and teenagers since the early 1960s, but the statute of limitations had passed before they could face criminal prosecution.
Montoya was charged with one count of fourth-degree sexual assault and was released after posting $10,000 bond.
A diocesan spokesman said Wednesday that the accused was dismissed from the seminary earlier this month.
• State Senate OKs requiring clergy to report suspected abuse; Silence to be ended by legislature.
The Virginian-Pilot,
"Senate OKs requiring clergy to report suspected abuse,"
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=65389&ran=201571 ,
By Justin Bergman, Associated Press, January 29, 2004
RICHMOND (VA): After lengthy and at times forceful debate on the floor, a divided Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require clergy to report suspected instances of child abuse.
The bill, which passed on a 22-17 vote and now heads to the House, would add clergy to the list of professionals already required to report suspected abuse. They include teachers, health care workers and law enforcement officials.
Democratic Sen. Janet D. Howell's proposal was seen by many as a response to the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.
"What we've read in the newspapers and heard in the media over these past few years speaks volume about the silence, the silence of these abuses," Sen. H. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, said in a passionate appeal in the Senate chamber.
• Q-C priests apologize for abuse
Quad-City Times,
www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1023572&t=Local+News&c=2,1023572 ,
By Kay Luna
DAVENPORT (IA): A council of priests in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport issued a public apology Thursday to the victims of sexual abuse by clergy, calling the abuse a
"gigantic betrayal of trust" that causes "unimaginable pain."
Representatives of the Presbyteral Council, made up of more than 25 elected and appointed priests from the diocese that covers eastern Iowa, said they will focus on learning more about how to prevent such "hideous" abuse and strive to promote healing in their parishes.
Their statement comes after watching 11 lawsuits filed against the Davenport diocese in rapid succession since May. The lawsuits accuse certain priests of sexually abusing young children in the church 20-50 years ago.
"On behalf of my clients, we certainly are appreciative of the admission of the betrayal of trust," said Quad-City attorney Craig Levien, who represents alleged victims who have filed lawsuits against the diocese in Scott and Clinton counties. "We look forward to the day the diocese takes responsibility for the abusive priests' actions."
• Victim's kids to see Cardinal Law: James Foley details shock family he abandoned as mother lay dying. [1960s-1973]
Boston Herald,
"Victim's kids to see Law: Priest details shock family,"
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1599 ,
By Eric Convey, Friday, January 30, 2004
BOSTON (MA): Bernard Cardinal Law will meet with the children of a woman who had a long-term sexual relationship with the family priest - before overdosing in his presence - as part of a settlement reached with the Archdiocese of Boston.
The Rev. James Foley, according to diocesan records made public 13 months ago, not only fathered two of Rita Perry's children but also fled her home as she lay dying of a drug overdose in 1973.
Church records dealing with Foley were made public in December 2002 by the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which obtained them during legal proceedings against the Archdiocese of Boston. Perry family members said the eventual publicity was the first they learned about the nature of their mother's relationship with Foley.
"To say that we were shocked is an understatement," James Perry told The Associated Press yesterday. "It was a huge betrayal by him as a priest and by the church, just to know that as far back as the early 1960s, and in 1965, when I was born, there were conversations that went on in the chancery regarding my birth."
• Children fathered by priest settle suit
Boston Globe,
www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/30/children_fathered_by_priest_settle_suit ,
By Michael S. Rosenwald, Globe Staff, 1/30/2004
BOSTON (MA): The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston reached a settlement yesterday in the case of a priest who fathered two children with one of his parishioners, a Needham woman, and then fled her home the night she died of a drug overdose.
Church officials announced an agreement with the family of Rita Perry, who died in 1973, in the case against the Rev. James Foley. The priest acknowledged having a lengthy affair with Perry, and paternity tests eventually proved he was the father of two of her four children, Emily and James Perry.
The archdiocese issued a strongly worded statement in which Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley condemned sexual relationships between priests and parishioners.
"Archbishop O'Malley sincerely regrets that a sexual relationship existed between a priest of the Archdiocese and Rita Perry, as well as the involvement of Father Foley in the tragic circumstances of her death," the written statement said. "This tragic situation illustrates the inherently exploitive and harmful nature of sexual relationships between priests and parishioners."
Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed, but the agreement calls for Cardinal Bernard F. Law to meet privately with Perry's four children. Foley's church personnel file showed that in 1993 he admitted to Law and other church officials that he had an affair with Perry in the 1960s and 1970s and had been with her the night she overdosed. Foley was removed from ministry in December 2002, and Law resigned a week later.
• 1 in 6 go to Mass, data show
Boston Globe,
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/030/metro/1_in_6_go_to_Mass_data_show+.shtml ,
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent, 1/30/2004
BOSTON (MA): About one in six Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston attends Mass during any given week, a weak attendance rate that contributes to the need to close parishes, the archdiocese said yesterday.
The figures confirm the archdiocese's estimate that participation in Mass dropped by about 15 percent as a result of the clergy sexual-abuse crisis that began in early 2002.
For the first time, the archdiocese released attendance figures for most of its 357 parishes as well as for the number of key sacraments performed at each church, publishing the statistics in today's edition of The Pilot, the archdiocesan newspaper.
The Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, the archdiocesan spokesman, said the church decided to release the attendance figures, which the church previously considered confidential, as well as the sacramental numbers, in an effort to help people understand the need for church closings and to help local groups of churches begin their conversations about which churches should close.
"We decided to make them public, because people need to have information in front of them in order to make a reasoned decision," Coyne said. "These statistics will be used in the process."
• Suits charging priest abuse expected today
Philadelphia Daily News,
www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7831941.htm
PHILADELPHIA (PA): Lawyers planned today to announce lawsuits alleging sexual abuse involving five victims and three priests from the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Archdiocese.
One of the attorneys, Richard M. Serbin, has filed priest sex-abuse suits in other dioceses, including Allentown and the Altoona-Johnstown.
Serbin and attorney Jay Abramowitch gave no details in announcing a press conference for today, other than to say that one or more of the victims might be present, along with John Salveson of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP].
Kathy Rossi, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said last night she knew nothing about the suit and had no comment.
• Trial of ex-priest accused of sex abuse set for May [1999]
Chicago Tribune,
"Trial of ex-priest accused of sex abuse set for May,"
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0401300163jan30,1,3222619.story?coll=chi-newslocalwest-hed ,
January 30, 2004
KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS: A May trial date has been set for a former Geneva priest charged with molesting a female student in 1999 while he lived at St. Peter Catholic Church.
Mark Campobello, 39, of Belvidere is charged with five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse for incidents that are alleged to have occurred between January and May 1999, when the girl was 14. His jury trial will begin May 24 before Kane County Judge Timothy Sheldon.
If convicted, Campobello faces a sentence ranging from probation to 15 years in prison.
Campobello was working at Aurora Central Catholic High School at the time.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:55 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Friday, January 30, 2004
• Irish abuse commission says government, religious orders obstructing work
Catholic World News,
"Irish abuse commission says government, religious orders obstructing work ,"
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=27343
,
Catholic World News,
Jan. 30, 2004
DUBLIN, Ireland, Jan. 30 (CWNews.com):
A commission investigating clergy sex abuse in Ireland said in a report on Friday that the government and most religious orders are obstructing its work. The commission is specifically investigating Church-run institutions to which the government sent "problem" children and orphans. [See a similar newsitem]
Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Saturday, January 31, 2004 edition follows:-
• Pope urges protection for children
Wichita Eagle
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/7839568.htm ,
BY VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY: Pope John Paul II said this week that "little ones" must be protected from violence perpetrated by adults, including sexual abuse, forced military service and exploitation for organ trafficking.
Children were the subject of the pope's annual message for Lent, a period for penitence and fasting between Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, and Easter, April 11. The Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by a clergy sex abuse scandal involving children in the United States and other countries.
In his message, the pontiff praised parents who are willing to have large families and those adults who care for the underprivileged.
"Together with such great generosity, however, a word must be said about the selfishness of those who do not 'receive' children. There are young people who have been profoundly hurt by the violence of adults," he said.
The pope's examples included sex abuse, forced prostitution, involvement in drug trafficking, being forced into military combat and "little ones caught up in the obscene trafficking of organs and persons."
John Paul also discussed the toll of AIDS on children, particularly in Africa.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:24 PM]
• Priest admits he groped girl, 15 [2003 Tanilong]
The Orange County Register
http://www2.ocregister.com/ ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id= 78797§ion=LOCAL& subsection=LOCAL& year=2004&month=1 &day=31 ,
By JEFF COLLINS and GREG HARDESTY, Jan 31, 2004
CALIFORNIA: A Catholic priest admitted in court Friday to groping a 15-year-old girl last July as her parents were chauffeuring him around Orange County to perform private religious ceremonies, officials said.
The bishop for the Diocese of Orange promptly removed the Rev. Gerardo Jarencio Tanilong, 72, from its clergy, calling the crime "particularly heinous," a church statement said.
"I deeply regret the abuse of a minor and pray for the recovery of the victim and family," Bishop Tod D. Brown said.
Wearing a blue blazer, black dress pants and a collarless, cream dress shirt buttoned to the top, Tanilong changed his plea from not guilty to guilty during a pretrial hearing in Fullerton, conceding that he committed two felonies of sexually abusing a minor.
Superior Court Judge Richard Stanford Jr. set sentencing for April 2.
He faces up to 44 months in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Sheila Hanson, although he could go free on probation, too.
• Judge upholds plea deal in priest’s molest case
The Daily Courier
www.communitypapers.com/DAILYCOURIER/myarticles.asp?P=887136&S=400&PubID=11933 ,
By MIRSADA BURIC-ADAM
PRESCOTT (AZ): A judge ruled Friday that the defense did not present sufficient evidence to justify withdrawal from the plea agreement that former Catholic priest Lawrence Joseph Lovell agreed to enter on Oct. 23.
Lovell, who pleaded guilty to two Class 2 felonies of child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor, filed a motion to withdraw on the premises that his previous attorney, Alex Harris, was ineffective.
Citing various legal precedents, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Thomas Lindberg said that withdrawing from a plea is merited only in circumstances where "a strong manifest injustice" would take place.
"I do not find manifest injustice" in this case, he said. "This plea agreement was entered knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently."
• Covington Diocese Faces Class-Action Lawsuit [1950s]
WCPO,
www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/01/31/covdiocese.html ,
Reported by: 9News,
Web produced by: Neil Relyea,
Photographed by: 9News,
1/31/04 12:20:33 PM
KENTUCKY: The Diocese of Covington is being faced with a historic lawsuit -- the first class-action lawsuit in the nation over sexual abuse by clergymen.
The plaintiffs' lawyers say they could represent as many as 500-people who claim alleged abuse.
The alleged abuses date back as the mid-to-late 1950s.
The lawsuit claims the diocese mishandled claims against its priests.
Church leaders are hoping to settle cases out of court.
The deadline to opt out of the class-action suit is Sunday.
• Report on Clergy Cases
District Attorney
http://worcesterda.com/Clergy/report_on_clergy_cases.html
WORCESTER (MA): The District Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Massachusetts generally does not issue statements or reports about criminal investigations. Such a practice is necessitated by the high volume of investigations that are undertaken and concluded each year. This practice is also consistent with the government’s obligation to protect victims, informants, and suspects from unwanted notoriety.
While it continues to adhere to its obligation to protect interested parties, the District Attorney’s Office has determined that this report is essential to respond to widespread public concern about allegations of sex abuse by members of the clergy. This information is provided to encourage victims to come forward, assist victims at understanding the investigative process, and assure the public that this office has been following the evidence wherever it leads.
From the beginning of this investigation, the District Attorney’s Office has pursued two equally important goals: (1) prosecuting all cases within the statute of limitations, and (2) removing all suspects from positions that pose a risk to children.
Although a substantial amount of work has been done up to this point, this report is not intended to signal the end of the investigative effort. The District Attorney’s Office continues to encourage witnesses to come forward (if they have not already done so) by contacting the District Attorney’s Office, State Police, or local police. [. . .]
No one can predict whether these factors will decrease the likelihood of clergy sex abuse in the future; however, the evidence reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office suggests that there are already positive forces at work in reducing clergy sex abuse. As illustrated by the chart on the last page, clergy sex abuse in the Middle District peaked 25 years ago in 1979, and has significantly declined following the prosecutions in the 1980’s. In that peak year of 1979, clergy members are alleged to have committed 56 criminal offenses related to sex abuse. The offenses were committed by 11 priests abusing 32 different victims in that year. (Note that the chart records repeated offenses in a given year as a single offense). Although it reflects the devastation caused by clergy sex abuse, the chart also reflects a trend that such abuse has been declining since 1979 and may be avoided in the future.
Summary of Current Status
As of this writing, the District Attorney’s Office can report the following status of clergy cases in the Middle District:
• A total of 86 priests, brothers and sisters of religious orders, and ordained ministers have been named as suspects by victims. Three lay persons have also been named.
• A total of 37 suspects are living priests incardinated in the Diocese of Worcester. One lay person is also connected to the Diocese of Worcester.
• A total of 20 suspects are deceased priests incardinated in the Diocese of Worcester. One lay person connected to the Diocese is also deceased.
• A total of 29 suspects are priests and religious persons connected to the following institutions: Stigmatine Fathers, Benedictine Order, Sisters of St. Anne, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Assumptionist Order, Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Xaverian Brothers, Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, LaSalette Order, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Greek Orthodox Church, First Congregational Unitarian Society, Rollstone Congregational Church, Morning Star Metropolitan Community Church, Federal Church of Southbridge, and Gray Nuns. One lay person is also connected to an undetermined religious order.
• To date, 113 victims have provided statements to State Police investigators or local police. An additional 18 victims have expressly declined to give statements to investigators. ...
• Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse News
One in Four
http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/laffoy3rdreport/
IRELAND:
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse today published its Third Interim Report. A copy of this report can be downloaded by clicking here. www.childabusecommission.ie/Statements/Rulings/abuse.pdf
Related links: The publication of Judge Ryan Review into the working of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. A copy of this review can be downloaded here. www.childabusecommission.ie/Statements/Ryan%20Review.pdf
See our news articles http://oneinfour.org/news/
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• Demands for abuse inquiry to be removed from Education
Irish Times,
www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2004/0131/3660920874HM1OFFLEAD.html ,
by Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, Jan 31, 2004
IRELAND: The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, is expected to respond in the next few days to demands that responsibility for the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse be taken from him and his Department.
Opposition politicians and abuse victims yesterday insisted that the inquiry be taken away from the Department of Education and given to the Department of the Taoiseach after Miss Justice Laffoy strongly criticised the Government, the religious congregations and the lawyers in the commission's third interim report, published yesterday.
There was no response from Mr Dempsey, whose spokeswoman said he was studying the report which singles out his Department for criticism.
The judge, whose resignation as chair of the commission came into effect last month, said it had had no real independent capacity to perform its statutory functions since early June 2002. The organs of State either did not make the necessary decisions, or did not make them quickly enough.
"The committee is not satisfied that, since its establishment, it has received the level of co-operation which it is entitled to expect to receive from the Department of State which is its statutory sponsor," the report said. Miss Justice Laffoy resigned over what she said was an inability to carry out her mandate. The commission's problems also emanated from the attitude of the survivors' solicitors to compensation, she said, and the attitudes of lawyers for other parties involved to the State's liability for legal representation costs.
• Alleged Victims Of Priest Abuse File Suit
CBS 3,
http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_031093010.html ,
Jan 31, 2004 9:07 am US/Eastern
PHILADELPHIA (AP): Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania are facing a wave of lawsuits by people who say they were molested by priests as children and believe they should be exempt from time limits that have largely protected the church from legal action.
Within the past few weeks, at least 15 alleged victims have sued dioceses across Pennsylvania, claiming church officials failed to remove abusive priests from duty and covered up their actions for decades.
Five of those plaintiffs filed lawsuits against the Philadelphia archdiocese on Friday.
Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been filed nationwide, but these latest cases are notable because they challenge an assumption by many legal experts that Pennsylvania law makes it difficult, if not impossible, for adults to sue for abuse that happened long ago.
State law gives victims of sexual assault only two years to file suit once the abuse had stopped, or until age 30 if they were children at the time of the attacks.
The barrier against middle-aged victims bringing lawsuits for assaults committed in the 1960s and 70s has been widely viewed as ironclad.
But the new spate of suits claims the clock on lawsuits should not have begun to run until recently because victims were not fully aware of the church's actions until 2002, when U.S. bishops removed hundreds of priests from duty who had been suspected of molesting children.
• Danvers priest accepts voluntary leave of absence after abuse allegation
Providence Journal,
http://www.projo.com/ap/ma/1075595770.htm ,
By MARK PRATT, Associated Press Writer
DANVERS (MA), BOSTON (AP): A Roman Catholic priest has taken a leave of absence at the request of Archbishop Sean O'Malley while the Boston Archdiocese investigates a decades-old allegation of sexual misconduct against a minor.
O'Malley asked the Rev. William M. Walsh to step aside as parochial vicar of St. Mary the Annunciation in Danvers until the investigation is completed, according to the archdiocese.
The alleged abuse occurred decades ago, before Walsh's present assignment in Danvers, the archdiocese said.
A message left by The Associated Press for Walsh at the church rectory was not immediately returned Saturday.
A call to the archdiocese's spokesman for further details was not immediately returned.
Walsh, who was ordained in 1971, has twice been cleared of abuse allegations dating to 1980, according to archdiocese files. It is unclear if the latest allegation is related to the previous two.
• District attorney releases two-year church abuse investigation
Providence Journal,
http://www.projo.com/ap/ma/1075575942.htm ,
The Associated Press
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP): Worcester County District Attorney John Conte released a report on his ongoing investigation of clergy sex abuse, saying he wanted to encourage victims to come forward and assure the public his office was aggressively pursuing cases.
Conte's report showed 17 clerics in the Worcester diocese have been charged with criminal sexual abuse since 1985, seven as a result of the investigation, which began in February 2002. The seven include Robert E. Kelley, 61, of Worcester who was sentenced in October to five to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to child rape.
Another of those seven priests was found not guilty, but the cases of five others are pending. Eight others were not criminally charged, but were removed from ministry, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Saturday.
Of 113 statements taken to date, 35 resulted in charges and 58 were barred by the 15-year statute of limitations, according to the report, released Friday. The other statements didn't point to criminal conduct, required more investigation, were outside Conte's jurisdiction or accused dead people. Two alleged victims did not cooperate with prosecution.
Conte said his investigation is unusual because it obtained old records and used grand jury subpoenas to prosecute clergy, rather than responding to reports from alleged victims. He said some victims came forward after the subpoenas, but most had to be found by state police detectives.
• Putting his faith in justice: Greenfield lawyer represents alleged abuse victims
Religious News Online,
www.sweenytod.com/rno/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=747 ,
By DIANE BRONCACCIO,
Recorder Staff
GREENFIELD (MA): In 1992, soon after a Shelburne Falls parish priest pleaded guilty to sexually abusing five altar boys, Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski heard from a Catholic family who said Richard R. Lavigne had also molested their son.
"They knew I was a good Catholic, and they were still committed to their religion," Stobierski said. "They asked me, as a Catholic lawyer, to ask the diocese to pay for their son's therapy, which the diocese did. They didn't want to ruffle any feathers or press charges; they just wanted help."
• Tape reveals details of priest's double life
Boston Herald,
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1626 ,
By Eric Convey,
Saturday, January 31, 2004
BOSTON (MA): The Rev. James D. Foley confessed in a tape recording broadcast last night that he lived a double life in which he served as a popular priest while also carrying on an affair and deliberately fathering two children.
"I always tried to, to be a good priest," Foley told the children of the late Rita Perry, who had been his lover. "I knew that I was a hypocrite. And that I, I had done things that I regretted deeply, deeply, deeply."
James, Emily, Rich and Chris Perry recorded an extraordinary conversation with Foley last year - with his consent, they said - after the archdiocese inadvertantly released documents disclosing the affair with their mother to lawyers. The family allowed the broadcast of the tape last night on the TV program "Dateline NBC."
The conversation with Foley, who has been unavailable for comment, provides painful details of his affair with Rita Perry.
Having children was her idea, he said. "She begged me and begged me and begged me to be able to bear my child," he said.
• Correction Boss: Geoghan's fatal move was a mistake
Boston Herald,
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1630 ,
By Maggie Mulvihill and Franci Richardson
Saturday, January 31, 2004
BOSTON (MA): State correction officials should not have transferred ex-priest John J. Geoghan to a maximum-security prison where he was strangled to death by a homophobic murderer, the acting commissioner of the Department of Correction said yesterday.
"Minimally, we have to express our apologies, our condolences, for a tragic end to a life," Kathleen M. Dennehy said, marking the first time a DOC official apologized for the slaying since the August murder.
Dennehy, with nearly three decades in the corrections system, said the 68-year-old convicted child molester was not enough of a disciplinary problem to be moved to the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.
"I think the level of D-reports (disciplinary reports), the types of D-reports, did not rise to that level," Dennehy, 49, said during a wide-ranging, three-hour interview in her Milford office.
• Ireland, church hit in report on abuse
Boston Globe,
www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/031/nation/Ireland_church_hit_in_report_on_abuse+.shtml ,
By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press, 1/31/2004
DUBLIN, Ireland: A commission investigating child abuse in institutions run by the Catholic Church in Ireland published a scathing report yesterday, accusing the government and most religious orders of obstructing its work.
The 442-page report by the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse said its efforts to investigate abuse complaints by 1,712 individuals, many now more than 70 years old, were unreasonably on hold because of bureaucratic and legal delays.
The commission had put off publishing its report because of the resignation in September of its chairwoman, Judge Mary Laffoy, who accused the government's Education Department of making her work impossible. The government replaced her with another judge, Sean Ryan, who earlier this month said the commission must severely edit the cases it handles to complete the investigation within the next decade.
Opposition politicians and victims' groups appealed yesterday to Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to take personal control of government oversight of the commission.
• Class-action suit set to proceed against Kentucky diocese
Boston Globe,
http://mail.peoplepc.com/ jump/http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/031/nation/Class_ action_suit_set_to_proceed_ against_Kentucky_ diocese+.shtml ,
By Ellen R. Stapleton, Associated Press, Jan/31/2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky.: A class-action lawsuit over sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests is moving forward in Kentucky, with plaintiffs' lawyers expecting to represent as many as 500 people following a deadline today.
The lawsuit, certified as a class action by a judge last October, was filed on behalf of alleged molestation victims in the Diocese of Covington since 1956. It alleges the diocese mishandled claims against its clergymen.
Church leaders are fighting the litigation, and working to settle cases out of court. By today, potential plaintiffs must have opted out of the class-action suit if they want to sue the church on their own -- otherwise, they'll be included in the suit and will lose the right to bring cases individually.
The diocese said it has received 158 reports of abuse and, since September, has settled with 39 people for a total of $8.3 million, according to Carrie Huff, an attorney representing the diocese.
• Report on clergy abuse released
Telegram & Gazette,
http://www.telegram.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20040131/NEWS/ 401310372/1025 ,
by Roger Leo, T&G Staff
UNITED STATES: To assure the public that his office has followed evidence of clergy sexual abuse wherever it leads, District Attorney John J. Conte yesterday released a report of investigations that began in February 2002 and continue today.
Mr. Conte's report showed 17 clerics have been charged with criminal sexual abuse since 1985, and eight others were not criminally charged but have been removed from ministry.
Ten of the accused priests were charged between 1985 and the mid-1990s, while seven others have been charged as a result of an ongoing investigation that began in 2002; one of those seven has pleaded guilty and one was found not guilty. The cases of the other five are ongoing.
The report also showed that allegations of clergy sexual abuse peaked in 1979, when 56 offenses were alleged, and dropped precipitously after 1989.
Explaining the unusual step of releasing information about ongoing investigations, the report, titled "Report on Clergy Cases January 2004," states: "This report is essential to respond to widespread public concern about allegations of sex abuse by members of the clergy.
"This information is provided to encourage victims to come forward, assist victims at understanding the investigative process, and assure the public that this office has been following the evidence wherever it leads.
"From the beginning of this investigation, the District Attorney's Office has pursued two equally important goals: prosecuting all cases within the statute of limitations and removing all suspects from positions that pose a risk to children," the report states.
• Diocese shatters fund-raising goal despite cloud cast by abuse scandal
The Express-Times
http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-9/107554536027400.xml ,
By BETH BRAVERMAN
Saturday, January 31, 2004
ALLENTOWN (PA): The Diocese of Allentown raised almost twice its 2003 capital campaign goal, taking in a total of $53.6 million.
More than 20,000 people contributed to the campaign, despite a turbulent year for the Catholic Church, which has been rocked by a widespread clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said people may have been moved to give during this campaign to support their belief that the church would get past the scandal.
"I think that may have had something to do with it," he said. "People think, this is my church and this is one way I can show my support."
The diocese had hoped to gather $28 million.
• Priest removed from ministry after guilty plea in sexual assault case [2003]
Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7839211.htm ,
Associated Press
FULLERTON, Calif.: A Roman Catholic priest from Orange County was immediately removed from the ministry after pleading guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year.
The Rev. Gerardo Tanilong pleaded guilty to two felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child as he and the girl sat in the back seat of a car on the way back from a church function last July.
Tanilong, 72, is scheduled to be sentenced April 2. He faces as much as 44 months in prison.
He had been on paid leave since his arrest, but Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange removed him from the ministry after he entered his guilty plea Friday.
• Alleged victims of priests press new wave of lawsuits
Pocono Record,
Alleged victims of priests press new wave of lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA (AP): Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania are facing a wave of lawsuits by people who say they were molested by priests as children and believe they should be exempt from time limits that have largely protected the church from legal action.
Within the past few weeks, at least 15 alleged victims have sued dioceses across Pennsylvania, claiming church officials failed to remove abusive priests from duty and covered up their actions for decades.
Five of those plaintiffs filed lawsuits against the Philadelphia archdiocese on Friday.
Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been filed nationwide, but these latest cases are notable because they challenge an assumption by many legal experts that Pennsylvania law makes it difficult, if not impossible, for adults to sue for abuse that happened long ago.
• Grand Island diocese says it has had no priest sex abuse cases since 1950 [None since 1950]
OMAHA (NE)
The Independent,
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/013104/new_diocese31.shtml ,
By Joe Ruff,
The Associated Press, Jan 31, 2004
The Diocese of Grand Island is the only one of three dioceses in the state that has released the findings of its internal audit on the number of reported child sexual abuse cases by priests since 1950.
The Rev. Mike McDermott, chancellor of the diocese headed by Bishop Lawrence McNamara, said it had no reported cases of child sexual abuse and is fully cooperating with church efforts to prevent abuse of children.
McDermott's comments came ahead of the Feb. 27 release of a national tally of clerical sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church.
Bishops in the nation's 195 dioceses were asked to fill out a confidential survey on abuse cases over the last 50 years, including the number of accused priests and the cost of settlements in abuse cases.
The Omaha Archdiocese has completed its survey but no decision has been made about releasing information from it, said the Rev. Michael Gutgsell, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
• Lawyer sues Philly archdiocese alleging abuse cover-up
PENNSYLVANIA
Allentown Morning Call,
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a16_2priestsjan31,0,424359.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed ,
By Pervaiz Shallwani, Jan 31, 2004
ST. DAVIDS, Delaware County: A Blair County lawyer on Friday continued a statewide crusade for people who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests - filing three lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on behalf of five accusers.
The archdiocese covers parishes in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
With three of the five at his side during an afternoon news conference, Richard Serbin of Altoona and co-attorney Jay Abramowitch announced they are suing the archdiocese and recently retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
• Judge drops charges against priests, diocese, bishop [1976, stalking RECENT]
<1>Troy Record
http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10896074&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6 ,
By James V. Franco, 01/31/2004
SCHENECTADY (NY): One by one, a judge methodically dismissed all 12 charges against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard and seven active and former priests Friday that were brought by an alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse.
Supreme Court Judge Barry D. Kramer, after hearing oral arguments last week, said he could not look at the alleged abuse which Timothy Sawicki said occurred in 1976, because the statute of limitations had long expired. He determined the recent behavior that led to the charges were not "outrageous" enough for the lawsuit to move forward.
Sawicki claimed that Rev. Alan Jupin stalked and harassed him to keep him from going public with a lawsuit regarding the alleged abuse.
He further charged Jupin engaged in the activity on behalf of Rev. Donald Ophals, Rev. Louis Douglas and Rev. Michael Hogan, all of whom Sawicki said abused him in the 1970s.
Ophals, of St. Frances DeSales parish in Troy, and Jupin, of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Schenectady, both took voluntarily leaves of absence. The diocese, in a statement, said the priests will remain on leave until an internal investigation into the alleged sexual misconduct is completed.
• O.C. Cleric Admits Lewd Act on Girl, Is Removed From Priesthood [2003]
Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priest31jan31,1,6700784.story?coll=la-headlines-california ,
By Claire Luna. Jan 31, 2004
SANTA ANA (CA): A Santa Ana priest pleaded guilty Friday to molesting a 15-year-old girl while they rode in a car with her parents, becoming the first Orange County cleric to be removed from the priesthood after admitting to criminal sexual misconduct since the national scandal erupted two years ago.
Father Gerardo Jarencio Tanilong, 72, assistant to the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe-Delhi church, could be sentenced to up to three years and eight months in jail for the two felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child.
The girl accused Tanilong of groping her breast and trying to reach into her underwear while they were in the back seat of her parents' car July 12, as they drove between churches to celebrate Saturday evening Mass.
She told her parents when the family got home, and Anaheim police arrested Tanilong when he came to the station for an interview two days later.
• Pinoy priest in California sexual assault defrocked [2003]
ABS-CBN,
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=NATIONAL&oid=43717
FULLERTON, California: A Roman Catholic priest from the Philippines pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and was immediately removed from the ministry.
The Rev. Gerardo Tanilong pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child as he and the girl sat in the back seat of a car on the way back from a church function last July.
Tanilong, 72, faces up to 44 months in prison when he is sentenced in April.
Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange County removed him from the ministry after he pleaded guilty, and said Tanilong would not be permitted to wear the clerical collar or perform the functions of a priest.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:28 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Saturday, January 31, 2004
WEBSITE OF INTEREST, for OUTREACH PAGE:
Voices of Outrage: Where's the Justice? http://www.voicesofoutrage.com ; exposes injustice of religion sex-abusers.
Entered 28 Jan 04
ANCHOR LIST (After reading article, use Browser's "Back" button to return to Anchor List)
* 000741 =
Accused priest lecturing kids about sex,
Chicago Sun-Times,
www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-priest22.html ,
January 22, 2004
* 000748 = Subject To The Approval Of The Vatican [RC Church law says RC Church officials not, in the eyes of the Church, subject to report sex abuse to the civil authorities.],
FindLaw, http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20020620.html , By Marci Hamilton,
hamilton02@aol.com , Thursday, Jun. 20, 2002 (yes, 2002)
* 000915 = Victim's kids to see Cardinal Law: James Foley details shock family he abandoned as mother lay dying. [1960s-1973]
Boston Herald, "Victim's kids to see Law: Priest details shock family," http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1599 , By Eric Convey, Friday, January 30, 2004
* 000918 = Seminarian accused of molesting 16-y-o girl [CURRENT]
Connecticut Post, "Seminarian arrested in sex assault," www.connpost.com/Stories/0,1413,96~3750~1922362,00.html , By Daniel Tepfer, dtepfer@ctpost.com
* 000946 = Ireland Government, Church hit in report on abuse,
Boston Globe, By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press, Jan 31, 2004 .
DUBLIN, Ireland: A commission investigating child abuse in institutions run by the Catholic Church in Ireland published a scathing report yesterday, accusing the government and most religious orders of obstructing its work.
AND SEE:
Irish abuse commission says government, religious orders obstructing work,
Catholic World News, Catholic World News, Jan. 30, 2004
* Gravely =
Accused St John of God priest, 56, gravely ill, says lawyer,
Stuff, New Zealand, SYDNEY, January 22, 2004
* Ill =
SJoG clergy too ill for extradition to New Zealand, claims lawyer,
CathNews, SYDNEY,
Jan 23 2004
* Lavigne = Lavigne's victims cost $US 1.4m so far, convicted 1992, defrocked 2004; murder suspect as well
The Record, http://www.therecord.com.au/ , Western Australia Catholic newspaper, "Child abuser laicised," by Father Bill Pomerleau , p 13, January 29, 2004
* Reports = Reports of over-all child abuse up 60,000 around Australia,
The Age, Melbourne, www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/21/1074360831967.html ,
By Carol Nader, January 22, 2004
* St John = St John of God male "Clergy to re-apply for bail,"
The New Zealand Herald , Jan 22, 2004
* Three oppose =
Three SJoG clergymen opposing extradition to NZ; Priest gravely ill: lawyer,
Otago Daily Times Online Edition, www.odt.co.nz/ , NZPA Staff Correspondent Thursday, SYDNEY, January 22, 2004
FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED
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The Boston Globe Spotlight
http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse
The Needle periodically, and books:
pbpress@iinet.net.au W. Australia
References at: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
Overview at: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/minilist.htm
Books: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/carnalbooks.htm
Buy Fidelity magazine
www.j23.com.au Australia
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